A New Year, A new Goal!

Hello All,

It is shortly into the new year, and I have decided that I am already slacking in my new goals for this year. So the solution is to get off my duff and start being more disciplined.

The new goals I have set for myself are quite simple really. Most importantly, being more disciplined in working toward my goals. The ones I have set for myself all revolve around finally starting my own business, and improving my health.

So, in order to achieve the business goal, I need to work on my blog more, learn about and start using Instagram, take a business prep course, and start designing my own knit patterns.

I also need to ask for advise from people I know who are small business owners. I have a few lined up already. One lady who does a lot of her business online, since I will probably end up going that route for the first few years, and another lady who bought into a small business in the industry I would be drawing from. I have a few other friends who sell through Etsy so I plan to pick their brains, and I have been paying attention to what my current boss does with his small businesses, and asking questions and reading the books he brings through the store.

I've already taking one small workshop about starting a small business, through the Women's Enterprise Center in Winnipeg. It was very helpful. My "fear factor" with starting a business is the business plan, and the market research. Thanks to that little workshop, I now have a better idea of how to go about doing that, and I sorely wish I could afford the 6 week course starting next week. But I can't, so I am saving up for the one that starts right after that one finishes.

And I have a better, but still pretty vague, idea of how to gather my market research. That is the next major step I hope to accomplish before taking the course. And of course having some product ready.

And for improving my health, again, that goal is very simple. Now that I know I am gluten-intolerant, but still waiting on the formal diagnoses, I want to improve my gardening skills. I would love to get to the point where I produce as much, if not all, the food I need.

I already have a friend's yard to garden in. Last year I started quite late in the season so I only used containers, but I prepped the yard for some in-ground plots in the fall. I'd love to produce a lot of potatoes, and my own corn for milling and popping. It would also be neat to grow enough tomatoes to turn into sauce. I probably could have gotten a few cans of sauce last year, but I did not take the time to learn how to can, so I need to get on that.

Anyway, that's my set of goals for 2015. Thanks for reading!