Simply 14: Business

I'm usually not one for New Year's Resolutions. I think that if you want to change something in your life you shouldn't wait for a particular day to do it. But this resolution just happened to come to pass around New Years- Yay happy accidents!

My resolution is to this blog. it deserves a bit more of my time and effort- if you've noticed after my blog-a-day in October I've relapsed into hardly blogging and when I do it's just quick and small posts. I want this blog not only to track my family's history but be entertaining! I want to share products with my friends, and sell my art on here too. (I know, I've been saying that for what? two years??)

After our move to Big City, I felt like I needed something, something that wasn't a "wife" thing or a "mom" thing. Something that was completely mine to do everyday. I looked into part-time jobs from everything to day-care helper to photographer assistant- even sent a resume to one or two. I thought about taking an online course in art or writing. I meditated and prayed about all the choices, and discussed at length with Jake what I should do. A few days before Christmas (which by the way, DOES have it's own whole post coming up, promise!) I felt that I already had "my thing". This blog! This blog helped us out during that two week stretch-your-dollar time, it's been a way to for me to organize my thoughts, to showcase my art/crafts, to remember cute things Chucky Sue does, to share my life with the world of the internet. So my resolution is to blog more and blog better. I'm also focusing a lot more time on the "shop" part of the blog (yeah, there's been a shop button here the whole time folks!) and just providing higher quality content in general.

So here is what to look for on Simply 14 in 2012:

+well thought out and planned posts- this means less rambling, more concise descriptions of our family and our goings on. I assume the grandmothers are most happy about this.

+ better quality photographs. Yes, I will still post mostly cellphone photos cause dagnabit, that cellphone is far more convenient than Jake's point and shoot. But if I know something photographable is coming up- I will strive to take the point and shoot with us!

+ Jewelry LINE. I know it sounds so fancy to call it a line. I've actually spent quite a bit of time designing this line and can't wait to share it with you! I'm aiming to have the first phase available by the end of March, with a preview in February.

+ More product in the shop in general. I'm using Facebook's application called Payvment. It's great as a seller- but I want to know your thoughts as buyers- check out my store's current stock here.

+More Freebies/Printables, I want to create more just for the sake of creating and sharing it with you guys!

+Guest Posts. I have lots of blogging friends- all of them have interesting things to say and share. ALL of them are far more talented writers than myself, as well as more creative!

I hope all my plans work out- we all know how successful most New Year's Eve resolutions are. Here's to a GREAT 2012!

Photos are everything when selling online. As a buyer I understand this; a great, a bright photo will grab my attention and then I'll look at the rest of a seller's shop. However, working with a simple point and shoot I reached out to my talented friends for help. My good friend Tara recommended a homemade lightbox (cardboard box with giant holes covered in tissue paper. I'll pretend I understand what it does to the light.) so here are my before pictures of a future listing: