2017 – Looking back
2017 – what have I done?
Well, looking back at the blog I wrote at the start of 2017, it seems things didnât really go according to plan.
I had intended to give my website a complete overhaul in 2017 and add a shop. While I did manage to redesign my website, I didnât manage to add the shop because I encountered a number of problems. I ran out of server space and once I overcame that issue, I was then unable to find a third party shop interface with safe and secure card transaction facilities that I could (with my limited web design and development knowledge) make work to my liking.
Another thing that I failed to do was to write this blog regularly. I had thought that doing it once a month would be manageable, but I failed to do that. Iâm not sure why I didn’t manage it, time just seemed to get away from me.
Also, my experiment of using Redbubble to sell my images was something that didnât work out. Iâm not sure why it didnât. Perhaps it was because I didnât promote it enough. Maybe it just isnât the right platform for me to sell my work. Whatever the reason, it didnât work for me. Iâm going to keep the store open for now and see if anything changes.
That was all a bit negative, wasnât it? Well, now for the more positive stuff that I did in 2017.
Although selling my images through Redbubble didn’t seem to work for me in 2017, selling through my Etsy shop did. My sales increased, along with my product range. If you head over there to have a look before 31st January 2018, you can get 30% off orders over ÂŖ15.
Iâve started selling images through a photo library. I started contributing images to it in 2016, but it was in 2017 that my images started to sell. A lot of work goes in to choosing images and preparing them for an image library. Itâs work that isnât seen by anyone else, but it has now started to pay off for me, which is always gratifying.
Also in 2017 I started selling my cards at the Three Daggers Farm Shop in Eddington, Wiltshire. They currently stock 12 different designs of my cards, and the designs they carry will change roughly every three months or so.
I did a number of photo shoots with bands and musicians, which was something I planned to do and actually managed to see though. I did photo shoots with Jamie R Hawkins, Phil Cooper and Scout Killers.Â
Another thing I did in 2017 was my first craft fair. I had hoped to do more than one in the run up to Christmas, but I was about a week or so too late applying so they were mostly already fully booked. I did manage to do one, which was local to me and was only on for a few hours so it was a good introduction into what it takes to do a craft fair.
Learning
Something else I did was learn. Somewhere, I canât remember where, I read an âinspirational quoteâ. It said something like ârunning a business without advertising is like winking at a woman in the dark, only you know you are doing it.â Which, despite the weird winking at women thing, made me realise I really need to promote myself better. I think that is something I started to do.
Thank you
Thank you for reading, and thank you for your support. I will try to write my blog more regularly. My next one will be about what I intend to do in 2018.