The Year in Review

2012 was pretty excellent. Here are the top ten moments of the year for Merriweather!

10. Taking this photo

Pretty sure taking this photo was the smartest thing I did all year…. I am not actually certain I took this photo in the year of 2012, but I do know that I photoshopped the new chains into it in 2012 and that counts as far as I am concerned.

09. Going to texas

Merriweather made her outside-of-new-england debut this year when we went on the road to Austin, TX to participate in Renegade Craft Fair. While it was not a blockbuster show experience, it was SO fun to hang out with my mom and put my feet in the Colorado River and be warm.

08. Meeting or exceeding my sales goals!

At the beginning of the year, I set a monthly sales goal for my Etsy shop, in April I upped it a little for the extra challenge. I met or exceeded the upped sales goal 9/12 months! And I was especially pleased when I met my yearly sales goal 4 months early!

07. Exceeding my long standing Best-Sales-Month-Ever!

November 2012 was my best month on Etsy. I exceeded my previous best-month by more than two times! I was very tired in November.

06. Being invited to Martha Stewart’s first American Made event in NYC.

It’s always fun to meet up with fellow etsians and this event was no exception. I traveled down to NYC in October to sit on the Etsy Panel at Martha Stewart’s American Made event in Grand Central Station.

via

05. My website finally turned a profit!

This is something I have been working on for a bit. My website has been around since last september  (2011) but of course right after it launched, I was getting busy with Christmas already. So it kinda got neglected. I admit it. I completely neglected it for about 8 months. I would make a sale here or there – and basically, I was happy it just paid for itself.  At the end of this summer I started getting serious about it. The biggest challenge was getting over the learning curve of navigating and using the back end/ admin area. Once I got comfortable with that, I was all set to go. And now I know how to use it to my advantage rather than let it sit and maybe it does me some good sometimes. Quite pleased.

04. Mother’s Day.

Mother’s day 2012 was by far far my best Etsy-holiday! Well, up until that point at least. I spent most of April and May thinking “Mother’s Day is the New Christmas.”

03. Being featured in Country Living

Over the summer I sent a bunch-load of necklace samples out to various publications that has requested them. So I put about 15-20 samples in the mail, did my good-luck dance (no, I don’t have one of those, I made it up…) and waited. And I was thrilled out of my face when Country Living confirmed they’d be featuring my initial necklaces in their holiday issue!!!

02. Being featured in People Style Watch

Full disclosure, I have never heard of People Style Watch before this year. I am not much of a magazine person and for anyone who has ever met me/ knows me, it is not a shock that I am not reading up on the latest/ greatest fashions and trends. However, I can certainly appreciate a solid hour’s worth of fashion mag browsing whilst getting a pedicure, so I was QUITE pleased when PSW ALSO confirmed they’d be featuring my necklace in their December/ January issue as well. And when it came out and I saw that T. Swift was on the cover, I was even more excited… I don’t really love T. Swift the way the majority of the population does – although I do find her to be cute and even interesting at times-  but I know lots of people in my target demographic do. I also know that lots of people who love celebrities will buy stuff just because they are in/ on it… because I am one of these people. Anyways, this was spectacular and I went to bed every night in December thinking “is this real life?! T Swift may have seen my necklace. I want cheese.”

01. Being Etsy’s Featured Seller!!!

Holy guacamole batman!! HOW? WHAT?! OMG!!!

AHH I was so excited!!! I know it’s really called “featured shop” now, but I’m playing it old school and calling it Featured Seller.

Being featured seller is like …  dreams. This is sort of my Mount Everest.  And it was awesome. I am so so grateful to the folks at Etsy who put this whole bit together! It really was such an honor!! I had some help making it all happen/ holding it all together from a few good friends who know who they are and should know they have my eternal thanks and appreciation and apologies for any insanity I spoke out of stress.

While 2013 looms on the not so distant horizon, I am still making and shipping necklaces and pendants and hoops and quietly plotting for Valentine’s Day, trying to remain organized and getting excited about a year of working smarter not harder and setting some new goals.

Thank you to everyone who has helped make this a very exciting and awesome year!!

Cheers!!