My 2024 year-end review

Hey friend,

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and Happy (almost) New Year!

Today I’m sharing my 2024 year-end review with you.

I love a good review, reflection, debrief, whatever you want to call it. In fact, I do one every single week, quarter, and year.

The yearly review is one of my favorites because I get to reflect back on things that I forgot about but were still very special and important to me.

I get to show my gratitude and prepare my mind for the next year.

My yearly review process is very simple. I answer 4 questions:

1. What went well this year?
2. What didn’t go so well this year?
3. What’s ONE lesson I want to carry with me into next year?
4. What would I like to focus on next year?

So without further ado, let’s go—

What went well

A lot went well this year, but here are some of the highlights.

I got married 💍

Starting out with something a little more personal and totally not art or business related, but it’s still my favorite thing to happen this year.

I’ve been with my partner for over 8 years and we’ve known for a very long time now that we were in this forever and would eventually make it official. So I didn’t expect to get quite so emotional over all the marriage stuff.

But there really is something special about finding someone you love so much that you’re willing and choosing to be on their team for the rest of your life, and them reciprocating that.

So yeah. I got married this year and it was pretty awesome. 10/10, would recommend.

I experimented a lot with my business

Something you don’t really learn about business until you get into the weeds of it is that making it successful requires a lot of experimentation.

In the past, I’ve been a bit of a perfectionist, all-or-nothing thinker when it comes to making decisions and moving forward. I’ve always wanted to make the right decision from the get-go so I don’t have to fail and try again.

I don’t like to waste effort.

Well, in business that mindset doesn’t really work. There are so many possibilities and ways to succeed that you can’t predict what the “right” thing is. You have to try it and figure it out in action.

This year, I built up the courage to just make a big fat mess. I tried so many different ways of creating, marketing, and selling. Some were very uncomfortable, some showed some promise, and some were big fat failures.

But overall, the experimentation was a working strategy. Without it, I’d likely be feeling quite stuck with no results to show for the year.

Focusing in on Spoonflower

Towards the end of last year, I started playing around with selling my pattern designs on Spoonflower. If you’re not aware, Spoonflower is the company I use to print my designs on fabric, wallpaper, and home decor.

I saw some quick wins there and decided to invest in my knowledge on how the platform works and take building my shop more seriously, and it’s been a successful approach for me.

I love the process of researching the trending styles, having the freedom design what I want, and help customers without needing to deal with the fulfillment myself.

My earnings there are growing steadily and I’ve even had the pleasure of seeing my designs out in people’s homes!

What didn’t go well

I experimented a lot with my business

Wait, wasn’t this in the “wins” list?

Yes, but the way I went about experimenting created some headaches for me this year.

In the process of experimenting, I lost sight of what was working well for me in an effort to chase down the perfect solution.

I brought my perfectionist, all-or-nothing thinking into the experimentation which led me to bounce from experiment to experiment without any focus. It distracted me from what was really working for me (i.e., running my Spoonflower shop).

Experimenting is great and necessary, but it also needs to be done with intention in order to be helpful.

I put a lot of pressure on myself

Another symptom of perfectionism.

When things weren’t going well, I could be pretty mean to myself.

From about May-October, I was pretty sad. I felt stressed and under fire almost every day.

I’m in a community of business owners, and someone in the community mentioned a phrase she started telling herself—you’re not in trouble!

This was something I really needed to hear. My inner child felt like she was constantly in trouble because of the pressure I was putting on myself.

Thankfully with the help of my business coach, I recognized what was going on and managed to pull myself out of the shame spiral. I feel much calmer and at ease now.

Going forward, I will be reminding myself that I’m doing this mostly for fun. There’s no pressure or rush, and I’m not in trouble!

The #1 Lesson

If I had to sum up my biggest lesson in one word, it would be FOCUS.

This year I did a lot of experimentation, but as you read above, that experimentation was both a blessing and a curse. The experimenting was great, however I didn’t set up enough parameters around the experiments.

I didn’t decide ahead of time how long I would work on something and what was considered a success or failure. So when things got challenging or uncomfortable, I would end the experiment and move on to something else.

Doing this meant that a lot of experiments “failed” but they maybe could have been successful if I had stuck with them longer and set up better parameters around them.

So next time I’m experimenting with something, I will be more intentional. Decide how long to run the experiment, define exactly what I’ll be doing, what a success/failure looks like, and only do ONE at a time.

Looking ahead to 2025

Keeping my #1 lesson in mind, I only have three simple things I’ll be focused on for next year.

Continuing to pour into my Spoonflower shop

I love this work and it’s been extremely successful for me, so of course I’ll continue to invest my energy here and expand. I’ve quieted all of the other noise in my business to give my Spoonflower shop my full attention.

I’m hoping to design A LOT next year and have fun doing it.

Maintain my mental and physical health

While I wasn’t very kind to myself mentally this year, I actually was very kind physically. I didn’t over-work, exercised regularly, ate nourishing foods, and got better sleep. And the last couple of months of the year have been much better for me mentally.

My focus will be on riding that wave and continuing to take care of myself.

Sharing more of my process

I mentioned in the beginning of this letter that I do a weekly review every single Monday, but I’ve only been sharing that with a tiny group of people in my life.

Next year, I want to pull the curtain back and share a lot more of what’s going on and I’ll be using this space to do that.

So expect more raw, unfiltered, vulnerable, but relatable thoughts and reflections from me.

That’s it! If you’d like to do your own yearly review, take 30-60 minutes and answer these questions for yourself.

And if you’re feeling generous, you can reply to this email and send me your #1 lesson. I’d love to add your wisdom to my collection. 🙂

Cheers to 2024, and hello 2025! 🥂

~Rachel

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