Even though this song is more than a decade old, almost two, it always comes back to me every December, and makes me think about the accomplishments and disappointments the past year has brought, and how I can make the next year better.
2011 started in New Orleans and it will end in Montreal. It was the first year that I really took my business seriously and tried to take it up to the next level. Looking back now, I'm really happy with what I've accomplished, but I am disappointed that I didn't reach my two main goals, which was 1) to get ready to do a trade show in 2012 and 2) to increase my online sales via marketing. This makes me wonder if it's better to pursue a goal-less strategy for my business.
But, what did I accomplish? And where do I want to go from here?
- At the start of 2011, Chelleline Cards had 6 distributors in the US. At the end of 2011, we now have 23 distributors in the US, Canada, and Russia.
- I incorporated Chelleline Cards as a sole proprietorship in North Carolina and applied for (and received) a selling license.
- I bought a cutting machine, which has helped immensely with my production.
- I applied for - and received - a wholesale account with my manufacturer. This helped a lot in terms of cutting down material costs.
- I hired a sales representative.
- I carved out time for product development, and produced more designs this year than I ever have before.
- After 4 years in business, I finally designed several Father's Day cards!
- I added two more lines to Chelleline Cards: Voyages (travel postcards by my husband, Dmitry Guimon) and Emily Lin (eponymous line designed by my mother).
- I participated in my first craft fair in Montreal and the first craft fair in two years, with great results.
- I finally went full-time with the business!
Some observations:
- I believe I'm starting to hit a production ceiling. Even though the machine cuts many of my images, I still have to assemble everything by hand. I also still hand-cut some of the images, particularly the ones that use origami paper, which is too delicate for the machine.
- Although this year was the most fruitful in terms of new designs, I did notice that with my holiday order build-up towards the end of the year, I didn't have very much time to create new product. I don't want this to always be the case.
- As much as I'm fascinated by local customs, I've sadly discovered that many of these local-inspired designs don't sell, especially outside of the area (and sometimes even in the locality!). When I was researching Canadian Christmas customs, for example, I found out that in Labrador, children hollow out turnips and put candles inside them. I loved the idea! But I decided not to make the card because..well, who would buy it?
- Many of my cards survived the transition to French-speaking Quebec, because most of them don't have words or greetings. This year was the first year I started to experiment with text on my cards, but after moving here, I found myself shying away from creating English language text because I knew that my customers here wouldn't be interested.
Where to go from here?
In the next year, I'm planning to launch a print line alongside the artisanal collage line that currently exists. It'll be available at a lower cost and can be mass produced, which will hopefully allow me to approach bigger stores and stores outside major urban areas. (I noticed that when I approach stores outside major cities, they all think that my cards are too expensive or that their customers won't be willing to spend $5.50 on a card.)
I'll continue to reach out to more potential wholesale customers, and continue to develop my relationships with my current ones.
I want to get ready to do a trade show in 2013. I know, I said that last year too, but I've been looking more into the logistics of it and rather than blanking out as I was doing at the beginning of this year, have seriously been strategizing about how to make this happen.
I'd like to be able to hire several more sales reps in new regions.
Other than that, I have no specific goals...we'll see what happens! Best wishes to all of you in the New Year!!
