End-of-year review and thank you!

It’s that time of year again! 🙂 It’s December and apart from the Holiday hustle end-of-year reviews and annual plannings for the year ahead pop up everywhere. And I like it! Looking back on what happened in the current year, what went well and what did not went so well. Maybe I had some goals, what happened with them? Did I accomplish them or not (and why) or did I forget about them (yup, that really happens)? Maybe something else became more important?

Since several years I write myself a letter in the time between Christmas and New Year answering these questions. I also put my wishes and goals for the year ahead in there (I will tell you about this in the next blog post).

Today I would like to share with you what happened in my 2023. It feels like quite a lot happened this year. I opened my online shop! That is the most exciting thing ever. It was something I dreamt about since several years and now it is a reality! Still unbelievable. I am happy and proud and grateful that in 2022 I did all the things necessary to put up the shop (talking tech stuff, taxes and legal texts here – big, big hurdles to me!).

So 2023 would be “just” about selling. I remember talking to a friend about how happy I was that all the mentioned stuff was done and that when the shop runs in 2023 it would mainly be about tweaking bits and pieces here and there, doing a little bit of SEO (search engine optimisation) and optimising. And even if that might be true to some extent, boy, was I naive!

In late spring it turned out that I had no idea about how to optimise or even establish some kind of SEO – because I did not know at all what I actually wanted the interwebs or better – you, guys! – to know and read about my art. Yes, Kurrent script was the stylistic element in all of the art pieces. But it was not the message. But what was the message then?

At the same time I recognised that actively selling my art was so hard for me. I highly struggled talking about it and the shop in general and was even afraid when someone asked me about it.

Not to mention I never brought up the topic myself. I did not know what to say about my art. I even struggled putting out flyers! My gosh. I was honestly embarrassed about that. 

It felt like these two problems were somehow linked. So after some thoughtwork I decided to give myself an orientation line about what my art should be about. It now is dedicated to the topic of “Going Your Own Way”. I want my art to help and invite you to think about what is important to you in life. I want it to be an anchor for living your self-determined life when everyday hustle kicks in. Read more about it here.

After opening the shop this content-related redirection was the second big thing this year. A tweak totally different from what I expected but so necessary. Since this decision it is way easier for me to talk about my shop and my art and instead of feeling lost I am excited for what will emerge from that.

I think this experience again showed that it is worth taking a closer look in case of a strange gut feeling.

Usually it wants to tell us something. Sometimes we don’t want to listen because it might be painful or embarrassing. But facing it can also be relieving. Because then you can focus on how to deal with the topic, what to do next instead of trying to ignore and buffer a vague but clearly dissonant feeling.     

It’s been an exciting year, gone by so fast. I learnt a lot and did many things out of my comfort zone (of which some turned out to be ok and some will just remain close to panic zone).

Thank you everyone for being interested in and enthusiastic about my art. Thank you for your cheers and support on this journey. And also thank you for your purchases! I am so grateful for all of you! This is truly fantastic.

Have the very best holidays whatever this may look like for you! 

And let me know: Are you into end-of-year reviews? Do you do them for yourself? What are your thoughts about 2023? If you like feel free to share in the comments below or write an e-mail to hello@annikaruhwedel.com.

Cheers to you!

Annika