2017 wasn’t great for me. It especially wasn’t great for my design business. Part of that is because of a seemingly constantly changing market, and part of it is because I didn’t have the…I don’t know…the desire to do much work. I made the decision at Thanksgiving to do nothing related to the business for the rest of the year. It was time to reevaluate and rest. That month of reevaluation led to some realizations.

My guiding word for 2017 was Roots. At first glance, I felt like 2017 wasn’t reflected in that word. But when I looked at it in depth, there was a lot of things that led right back to my roots. I spent a lot of time reading. You could call it researching if you want. And all of that shows up in my plans for 2018.

Yesterday, I sat down at my desk for the first time. I made lists. A list of design ideas. A list of changes to make to the way I work. A list of things that need to be done. A list of things I want to do this year. I’ve made a list of plans for the business every year; but this year, I took a leap. I made a list of big plans. Plans that are, quite frankly, scary. They are pushing me way out of my comfort zone. It’s time to take a leap. It’s time to grow. It’s time to bloom.

My 2017 guiding word has led directly to my 2018 guiding word…