Another year has gone in the blink of an eye. 2022 was a bad year for two main reasons. The first was the death of an old high school buddy from an unfortunate accident and the second was a stroke affecting a family member which resulted in flying down to Florida where I am still at. Granted, it was a pretty bad year for the country overall with inflation, the recession, war, and our politicians just screwing everything up. But, I’m not here to talk about politics. I’m here to talk about the goals I am setting for myself in 2023 and what I achieved in 2022.
So what did I accomplish last year? First and foremost, I added more designs to my Redbubble shop and went from 270 designs to 608 designs as of this post. I was able to drive more traffic to the shop but, unfortunately, sales only increased a little. While I would like to blame inflation on it entirely, I think it has more to do with my designs and that I have to continue and improve the ability to drive traffic to the shop and then closing those sales.
I would like to shoot for a grandiose number like 1,000 designs but, considering how much time that would require, I am going to make 800 designs my goal for 2023. However, I will need to come up with better designs to try to drive up the sales numbers. It’s nice to see it pull in some passive income, but I want to greatly increase what it can produce.
Speaking of passive income, it did go up a bit because of all the new designs in the shop. But I didn’t start posting on other sites. Things just kept coming up and the time required for me to post on multiple storefronts is time-consuming.
I had planned to self-publish my first ebook which is a small children’s book. But a family emergency prevented me from entirely focusing on getting everything set up so I could self-publish it and start selling. Especially when the money I had planned to put into advertising, web development, some legal stuff, and setting up the shop had to be used while I have been down here in Florida.
It was supposed to be published in October but, as of right now, I don’t expect to publish it until the start of summer.
However, I plan to post at least one other ebook alongside the children’s book. It will be more like a companion book, but for adults and parents. In addition, another goal of mine is to finish and self-publish at least two short stories. One is a Christmas story and another a near future sci-fi story that I will talk more about in future blog posts.
I really need to buckle down and not just crank out stories. But actually post them online for people to buy and read. To not do so means I’ve wasted my efforts. Which is how I look at it.
As for podcasts and blogging. I wasn’t able to start back up my Knight Writer Podcast and, while I would like to make it a goal, I don’t know if I will be able to do so. Which means I am going to put it on my list of things I would like to do this year.
On the blogging front, I was far more productive than I have been in years. In fact, I wrote more in 2022 than 2020 and 2021 combined. But that productivity was severely dampened by the aforementioned family emergency. Unfortunately, it is going to be next-to-impossible to set a schedule and stick with it until the family member I am helping can start to live a more normal life on their own without constantly being watched or requiring help with physical therapy and getting to their doctor appointments.
But I do want to further increase my productivity when it comes to the blog. With a focus on bringing back my old columns such as Stud or Dud, Giving a Face to the Voice, and The Captain’s Chair. Otherwise, just go back to how I used to blog in the old days. Talk about anything that grabs my attention and just give my worthless opinion on it (my opinion isn’t even with two cents!).
Aside from blogging, I did get some writing done. Though not the kind of writing I expected to do. I wrote the lyrics for four songs and posted them on the blog.
FOUR!
I still can’t believe it. Granted, I wouldn’t call myself a lyricist, but I think I have done alright when it comes to writing lyrics for the songs I titled “Los Santos Freeway Song,” “Fool For Loving You,” “Champion of Fate,” and “No Legacy After Tragedy.”
Now I just need to record myself singing them or take the coward’s way out and find someone else to do the vocals…
What else did I want to do last year? Oh right, lose some weight. I did lose some weight. In fact, I went from a waist size 40 and can squeeze, emphasis on the word squeeze, into a waist size 38 now. My goal for 2023 will be to drop down to at least a waist size 34. Though I will endeavor to drop even lower. Not just drop the weight but regain some muscle.
Other than that, I still need to transition into being more of a creator than a consumer. While I have produced more last year than I have over the past few years, I am still consuming way too much. Especially if I want to progress further in life.
So my main goal is to increase the speed I do things. Really jumpstart myself as if I only have a few years left to live and want to make some kind of mark that will last for a while after I am gone.
However, I won’t be able to truly get going on things until I can get back up to New Jersey where all my belongings and equipment are located. Which, God willing, might be towards the end of February.
Those are my main goals for 2023. What are yours?
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