New Year Resolutions 2016

Last week I posted about my New Years Business Resolutions. In previous years I usually posted my personal resolutions first but this year is so much about growing my business it was just an easier place to start (also business resolutions I find to be more concrete). That's not to say that I don't have personal resolutions for 2016.  Let's take a look back at the past year. Last year's resolutions were very simple: Exercise more regularly and Be more stylish.  Well, it would be sacrilegious to actually meet your yearly resolutions, wouldn't it?  I started off pretty good with the exercise.  And summer and spring are always a good time for me because I spend a lot of time in the garden, but I can't say I really stuck to any sort of "regimen".  As far as being more stylish, I did the whole capsule wardrobe thing for a few months which really helped clean out my closet and define my style, but I have realized now that I either focus my personal creative energies on my clothes or my house and right now it's my house.  So clothes have gone by the wayside. It's just too tiring to have to think about both.  But at least I'm happy thinking about my house and not thinking about my clothes for the time being.  So, on to 2016.

- Spend more ME time. I have come to realize that enjoying a glass of wine while feeding my children dinner does not constitute "me time". I always thought it was silly those moms that you'd see on TV shows who just didn't have time to take care of themselves because they were taking care of everyone else. Well the fact is, this sort of creeps up on you.  It's not that you don't want to take care of yourself.  For me, it's just that I can't find the time - between doing stuff for my house, business, kids etc. it just isn't feasible.  So this year I'm going to try to get the occasional massage (before I have a crick in my neck from carrying Lucy), a mani and pedi more than twice a year, and actually make it to girls' nights in the city with my besties.

- Get more regular exercise. I know - yet again (I hope I am not one of those people who constantly resolves to lose 5 pounds). I need to figure out what works for me exercise wise.  I don't know if it's regular walks, signing up with Team in Training to do another marathon or going to a yoga studio. But I do know that if I am held accountable to a partner or a group and if I have a goal (like a marathon) I usually do better. I'm competitive by nature so just signing up for a gym membership won't do the trick.

- Get our Airbnb suite up and running. I have always wanted to be an Innkeeper or own a B&B so I am super excited to have this little taste of hospitality.  I can't wait for our renovations to be complete, to get the space photographed and and to get the reservations coming in.

Of course I have a bunch of stuff related to our house that I hope to accomplish this year. All of that I consider super fun so I don't really feel the need to make resolutions around them (Except to make more money in my business to fund my projects :)  And I always strive to be a better mother - unwritten resolution - which I feel is helped along by also allowing myself to do some stuff for me. Already just emailed my neighborhood group to see if anyone wants to run or walk with me, so at least that's a step in the right direction.

What sorts of personal resolutions do you have for 2016?

New Years Business Resolutions 2016

Every year sometime close to the new year I write two posts. One is a personal resolutions post and one is a business resolution post. I like doing this exercise because it makes me focus on what my goals really are and it forces me to check in to see if I have achieved them.  So let's see where we are now that a year has passed. Last years goals included doubling my 2014 sales figures, focusing on marketing, launching two new lines of hardware and getting a major licensing deal.  Pretty ambitious.  I didn't quite hit the 2x mark but I definitely was able to increase my sales.  As far as marketing goes, I think I did a pretty good job here. Along with doing postcards, working on my social media presence and sending out press kits, I was able to get into Elle Decor, Consumers Reports, and on the front of HGTV magazine.  It was a great year from a PR standpoint.   Sadly, I didn't launch two new lines as hoped, but I am confident that in 2016 I will do so.  And I didn't start any licensing deals but maybe that should be a more long term goal as I expand my line.  One thing I have learned is to make my goals a bit more realistic!  So here goes for 2016:

- Launch two new lines of hardware. I have the Reveal Series prototyped and ready to go, so this should be out shortly. I can't wait to introduce it to everyone, plus the price point is a little more palatable.  There are a couple others in the works as well that I am confident should be in production by years end. The thing I have learned is that launching new product is a long road. Prototyping takes forever and designing and testing never end up being a priority over the day-to-day either for me or for the manufacturers I work with. In other words once I'm ready to finally get something under way, it takes a while for the rest of the cogs to start turning as well. Definitely important to keep up the momentum and to have several lines in the works just to see what sticks.

- Focus on marketing and PR.  This year I want to send out more press kits and get more press mentions both in traditional print publications as well as online.  I also have one big thing that I am doing and that will be to bring on a publicist / agent.  I am working with Gretchen Aubuchon at Fashion + Decor who is an old friend and serious mover and shaker in the industry. Unlike someone who just does PR, Gretchen is more like an agent. She will be out there trying to push Nest Studio and Jessica Davis as a brand. I can handle the press releases myself, but hopefully with the help of Gretchen's team, I will get more press mentions, speaking engagements, showhouse partnerships and overall brand exposure to help grow Nest Studio.

- Up my Social Media Presence. I've been working on this more this past year, but in 2016 I am trying to actually come up with a social media strategy and figure out the best way to showcase both my hardware line and my personal aesthetic via Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.  Some people may ask why I'm not doing the others (Twitter, Vine, Snapchat etc). After talking to a number of social media experts (such as my husband), it seems best to really focus on the core social media that drives my industry and to do all of those well versus do them all in a mediocre way. I'm still learning but I'm already increasing my followers and making meaningful connections that are very exciting.

- Increase my sales by 50%.  I realize that doubling sales was a bit of a reach last year.  That said, I think with the help of increased marketing, social media, and by launching more lines and therefore having more product to offer, a 50% increase is both more realistic and a good attainable goal.

Well, that's it.  I really should print out this post and put it up on the wall to check in from time to time.  Stay tuned for my personal goals for 2016. What sort of business ideas and goals do you have slated for the new year?

The New House: A Preview and Reasons Why

Well, you've seen the house that we are selling and now it's time to tell you about where we are going.  We are in contract on a crazy Queen Anne Victorian in South Orange.  I'm saying it's crazy, because it's large and ornate and possibly a money pit but a super cool house.  It's something I never thought I'd own because of it's size and because it's not a style that I would specifically peg as my own.  That said, I can't wait to get my hands on it. I've already been pinning concept images on pinterest like a fiend and am excited to share my concepting with you (more on that later, perhaps after we close. I don't want to jinx myself). Here are some photos of the house.

I'll share more detail shots and my plans for the house shortly but since people have been asking me why we are moving, I thought I'd take a stab at explaining myself in this blog post. There are a bunch of reasons but generally it boils down to the following three:

Reason 1: We need more space.  My business has been growing and in addition to having two part-time employees, we need more space to store my hardware and a more dedicated studio space for us to work. While I could rent out an office space in town, I love being able to work from home, multi-task and see my kids. I know it doesn't work for everyone but it works really well for me and I like keeping it that way.  We also now have an au pair who lives with us. We gave up our guest room to have live-in help which has been amazing, but it would be nice to have our guest room back.

Reason 2: We love the South Orange / Maplewood Community.  Don't get me wrong - Millburn is great too, but Soma (as it is fondly known, for all you non-locals) is just more our vibe. Most of our friends are there and there is such a creative feel to the community. Not surprisingly Maplewood is often called Brooklyn west and a lot of people who value the same sorts of cultural events and amenities live in the Soma community.  I've met so many moms who work part time in creative positions and I'm super excited to network with them.  The schools aren't as good on paper as they are in Millburn, but having done a lot of research on the school system we are happy that there is more diversity both racially and socio-economically and that there are still the same high level offerings for academically motivated kids.

Reason 3: We need a new project. It sounds sort of ridiculous but our house is basically done and I was itching for something new. There will forever be small projects to be done around our house, but I've kind of felt like our house wasn't a permanent solution.  I imagine there are people I know that would question whether any house would be a permanent solution for me.  That's a reasonable question given that I'm a designer and chronic mover, but I think there are certainly houses that feel longer term to me. Our LA house felt longer term even though we later moved for a job. This house feels more permanent too. Perhaps it's the ability to grow into it, or the fact that the house is liveable and I can work on it one space at a time at my own pace (versus our current house that I sort of had to do all at once). Whatever it is, I'm excited to stay put for a while and let my creative juices simmer.

So there you have it.  It took a lot of convincing to get Scott on board with moving (he is a creature of habit and generally more risk averse, and he also spends a lot less time in the community than I do on a daily basis, so it's just less important to him). But after making friends in South Orange and Maplewood and doing a little open house perusing he gave the go-ahead.  We have a little business idea up our sleeve too that pertains to the house.  I'm excited to share that with you later as it comes to fruition.  Let me know if you have any fabulous ideas for the house, great DIY suggestions or comments in general. I'm excited to hear what you think of our next adventure.

NEW YEARS BUSINESS RESOLUTIONS 2015

Did you guys see my post about my personal new years resolutions for 2015?

Last year I also posted about my new years resolutions for my business.  I figured I'd revisit these and set some goals for this year as well. There were some overarching resolutions like delegate, get organized and focus. I think in general I've done a good job on these things. Having someone here helping me has helped immensely. I've been able to focus on building my business while letting her deal with the day to day shipping, invoice making and admin.  And she's also really helped out on getting things organized in our back-of-house, putting systems in place for inventory management and client communication.  In turn I've been able to work on sourcing, creating new designs and doing a few projects.  From a focus standpoint, I turned down some design work and really thought hard about the projects I did accept. And because I like my clients now,I've been really enjoying the design work that I am doing.  Admittedly, some of my more specific goals regarding the hardware line didn't pan out and have been pushed to this year, but in general 2014 was a good one.  Now that the having of babies is behind me, I think I'll have more time in 2015 to really work on my goals. Here they are:

- Double our 2014 sales figures. This was a goal I had last year as well and I came really darn close.  Now that we've honed in more on pricing and margins, I think this is doable, especially because of my second goal below.

- Focus on marketing.  This year we are really focusing on our marketing efforts. After a fairly long hiatus we are putting new energy back into email campaigns. Don't worry, we don't plan to spam you every day but the idea is to create focused emails maybe monthly so we stay on designers' radars.  We already sent one email out about our Before and After promo and we got a huge uptick in site visits (granted, in the design world, that doesn't translate to immediate sales but hopefully it does down the line).  We are also working on our press collateral so that we can introduce the classic series and any new products to some key magazine editors out there and get featured in some higher profile publications like Elle Decor or House Beautiful.  We have some fun logo boxes in the making, are planning some new photography and are updating our press kits.  We also plan to scope out some trade shows and think about partnering with some other vendors on a booth in the future.  All very exciting and fun.

- Introduce two new lines.  This was a goal last year but sadly it fell by the wayside as I grappled with putting out fires with our production facilities. Now that those are out of the way, I'm really excited to show you some new product.  Remember the stepped series from my instagram? Well that should be out this year and be on the lookout for some other more abstract and mixed material introductions.

 - Partner with a large retailer to develop a line of licensed hardware. Yes, this was a goal for last year. I figure I'll keep it as a new years resolution every year until it actually happens.  Perhaps this year West Elm will pay me some attention. Of course actually approaching them is probably the best way to make this happen. Any tips on how to do so and who to contact?

That's about it.  Not too complicated (therefore more attainable).

Do you have any specific goals for your business and career in 2015?

Graphic by Cori Magee

New Year Resolutions 2015

Last year I posted my new years resolutions in March.  It was a little late but I'd been thinking about them for a while. This year I'm trying to tackle them a little earlier.  Let's take a step back and see how I did in getting to my goals, most of which stemmed around work life balance.

Goal Number 1: Separate home and work time.  I think I've done a pretty good job of this. First and foremost in making this happen was hiring an employee. Having less work on my plate changed my work / home scenario tremendously.  In general I try to step away from my work emails at the end of the day and we have two set days a week now where Scott catches an earlier train to have more family time.  The scenario has worked out well, and creating and actual plan that we could schedule into the calendar was the key here.  I could probably continue to work on this but so far so good

Goal Number 2: Spend more time with my husband.  We've managed to accomplish this with date nights here and there.  As I predicted, somehow date nights have become more frequent now that I'm not pregnant anymore.  Especially now that Lucy isn't such a teeny infant and she is weaned, going out together should become easier and easier.  We are still working on creating more regular date night plans, but again, so far so good. 

Goal Number 3: Take more "me" time.  So I'm not sure how good I am at this.  I can say that I now have a group of moms I go out with on a monthly basis and I consider that "me" time to recharge and be around women I like and admire.  As far as taking relaxing baths, enjoying yoga and the like, I can't say I've made that much headway but I feel like my to-do list is no longer running my life, so that's good.

Goal Number 4: Be Less Jealous. This has somehow happened even though I was not consciously trying to be less jealous. Perhaps its because things have fallen into place in other parts of my life that I feel happier and less need to compare myself against others.

So there you have it for 2014.  It was a good year - we welcomed a new member into our family and made a lot of headway on those resolutions.

On to 2015.

This year I think I have a few less goals. Perhaps that makes them more attainable? Or perhaps it just means I'm finding it hard to think of things - because my life is so perfect as it is- ha! This year's goals are a tad more "me" oriented and perhaps even a little superficial.  But you have to have something to reach for right?

Goal Number One: Exercise more regularly.  I have been coasting along for some time now on my genes. I didn't really gain much weight with the second pregnancy and I've lost most of it, but I'm not where I'd like to be.  And let's just say things have shifted around a bit (I'm sure all you mammas out there know what I'm talking about - especially after Baby #2).  Back in LA Scott and I ran a couple of marathons.  I loved training for marathons and having a concrete goal to work toward. It was fun to run as a couple and I love the changing scenery that running affords (and the fact that you can just start off from home).  I'm not much of a gym person given that you have to drive or walk to the gym in the first place.  But now that we live in a climate that is frigid for at least a quarter of the year, running is much less appealing.  I honestly don't have time to train and put in the mileage for a marathon.  So I need to figure out what my regimen is and whether I'm willing to suck it up and pay for a gym... and do some regular exercise that doesn't involve some sort of end game like a race.  Perhaps yoga is the solution - but finding classes that fit my schedule is another issue.  So I'm trying to figure all of that out and hopefully it doesn't take me so long to figure out that the same goal ends up on the list for 2016 ;)  Any constructive suggestions are more than welcome in the exercise arena.

Goal Number Two: Be more stylish. I know - this goal sounds more like an excuse to go shopping.  BUT, since I work in a style-based industry it's pretty crucial to dress the part or at least put out the image that you want people to see.  And let's face it, I do like clothes and fashion.  That said,  I tend to dress casually since I work from home and am constantly corralling a toddler and crawling baby. So that's not going to change.  I like casual, but I like casual but stylish - think J Crew or Madewell.  My goal this year is to take a hard look at my closet and edit things out that are too trendy or not on-look for what I'm going for and add in hard working, high quality staples that I can mix and match. I've been trying to do this for a while now already, especially in the shoe, jeans and bag departments, but I need to be a little more focused in my efforts.  Certainly a less cramped closet with some light would help.  And a stylist who could come in and help me rethink clothes pairings and give me suggestions on items to purge and add in would also help.  But since that may not happen any time soon I think I'm just going to have to suck it up and do this myself.  Perhaps this goal leads to a whole series of blog posts on what I'm wearing (although I hate posting photographs of myself).

So those are my 2015 resolutions. They all sort of stem around trying to spend a little more time on myself.  Oh and there's another teeny resolution that I can't share with you all until it happens, so cross your fingers that it does and I'll share it then :) And stay tuned for a business resolution post which should be much more chalk full of less self-centered and more serious-sounding goals.

Illustration by Cori Magee