Set Yourself Up for Success in 2012 in 3 Simple Steps

By Tiffany • Updated on 10/23/2021

This contributor post was written by Tiffany Moore.

Even though you’re likely stuck in the midst of holiday craziness, the time is here to start thinking about 2012 and how to set yourself up for success in the coming year. Today I’m offering three steps that will focus your efforts and to help ensure that 2012 is the best, most successful year to date in your creative business:

1. Set your intention for 2012

Spend some time figuring out what you want 2012 to look like for you. Not just your creative business, but your entire life. Who do you want to be? How do you want to spend your time? What goals (both personal and professional) would you like to accomplish? See What’s your Vison to help clarify if you need some tips.

2. Calendar out your big goals

Take a calendar and write out your goals for the year. Do you have a stationery business, but can’t seem to stay ahead of the holidays? Take a look at the year as a whole and determine now when you’ll need to get started on those mother’s day cards to get them to your wholesale accounts on time.

This is a great tool for helping you establish deadlines and processes as well as to help you figure out what jobs you’re able to say yes to as the year commences. The key is to stay deliberate and in control of your business, instead of having to approach it from a reactive standpoint.

3. Reflect & Repair

Now is the time to sit down and look at what worked and what didn’t work in 2012. Once you recognize what didn’t work, take some time to come up with a game plan for the new year.

For example, if you have no clear way of tracking the financial components of your various income streams (full disclosure: I’m totally guilty of this myself), now is the time to devise a system for 2012 so that you don’t find yourself scrambling in February to backtrack and set something up on the fly.

The key is to start with systems in place on January 1 so that the year will run as smoothly as possible. It can be done, I assure you!

Resource Roundup:

Jessica Swift’s printable 2012 Goal & Intentions Kit
Jennifer Lee’s Right Brain Business Plan
Craft Inc. Business Planner
Outright for small business accounting (Note: I have heard amazing things about this system and will be checking it out shortly. I’ll definitely report back to let you know what I think!)
Ali Edwards’ One Little Word 2012

What are YOU doing to set yourself up for success next year? Do you have any helpful resources to share?

I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

*image via stefanie renee photography: pink royal typewriter

Tiffany Moore, co-founder of Teahouse Studio is an artist, life coach, change agent and magic maker. She helps creatives live their happiest, most sparkly lives (starting NOW) and thinks that everyone in the world is beautiful, including you.

9 comments | Click here to reply

[…] my last post, I offered 3 quick ways to set yourself up for success in 2012. Warning: in this post, I’m going to completely contradict […]

Doing Less to Do More in 2012 | papernstitch

i actually will use the ebook that i’ve bought from you at the beginning of this year. this year i learned a lot and when i got the kit i was forced to think about so many things and then i was so overwhelmed that i didn’t complete it.
but i will definitely use it for next year now that i’ve learned so much this year and are more aware of what i’m doing and what i want.
the kit helps a lot!

lou

Thanks for the motivational post! You are right; goals are important – I am going to sit down and list everything, and than put it up on the blog for the world to see, hoping that this will help my motivation throughout the year 🙂

Kalina

I love that calendar Tiffany. Hard to go wrong with Paper Source. I just bought this calendar from Fab for next year http://fab.com/inspiration/2012-calendar-post-xmas-delivery and I am pretty pumped about it. I’ll be able to see the entire year at once, just like you’re saying. Yeah!
-Brittni

papernstitch

These are great tips! I’m a planner junkie too!

One of my favorite wall calendars is this one from Paper Source (http://www.paper-source.com/cgi-bin/paper/item/2012-Paper-Source-Great-Big-Wall-Calendar/3205.001/436910.html) We put up 8 months at a time at Teahouse and it’s so great to see everything in one place!

Tiffany

“If you can see what you’re working towards you can visualise the reward at the end! ” So true Mrs Yoke. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I love wall planners (and handheld planners as well). Definitely a great way to track things.
-Brittni

papernstitch

We were just talking about this today! Thanks for the great post- pretty much sums up what we decided. The best way to progress is to set goals, it makes you work harder and achieve more. If you can see what you’re working towards you can visualise the reward at the end! 2012 will be the year YOKE really gains momentum and recognition with our own personal goals running along side too.
A wall planner is a key tool- makes it really easy to see deadlines and keep you on your toes!
Thanks again!

Mrs Yoke

Hey Tina. Thanks for sharing your methods. That’s a great way to start your year off on the right foot. There are so many craft fairs and events throughout the year it can be difficult to keep track. So this sounds like a great way to get on top of it right at the beginning. Thanks for stopping by.
-Brittni

papernstitch

Every Jan, I take the time to email all the shows I attended, thanking them for letting me join in the fun and ask that they put me on the pre-list for this coming year. On the shows I did not get into or heard about to late (I keep a notebook in the car for when I am driving around town) I look them up, send them a little email stating I am interesting in being part of their show next year and provide a link to my jewelry, then ask them to send me an application when they start looking for vendors.

This helps to get you a start on planning what show you will attend all year long !
Take care
Tina

Tina - CreatedWithFire Studios
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