The Burroughs Taking a couple of weeks off was a fabulous idea (wait, vacation is good for you?!). Even though the rest of my life more or less continued apace, I freed up enough time and brain space to set a few goals for the blog, and to just cook some random stuff. It was deliciously freeing.
I also took the opportunity to move the blog to a new host. Fortunately I have a techie friend who assisted me; unfortunately, the blog is still being rather strange. I got the recipe index back up, but I’m having trouble finding myself on Google and I’m sure that’s not the only weird thing. I’ll be piecing all the bits back in over the next few weeks, but if you notice something weird, I would be indebted to you if you’d kindly drop me a comment so I can investigate.
2018 Goals
Who here loves hearing about other people’s goals and planning? I have been binge-watching YouTube videos on bullet journaling, despite the fact that my bullet journal looks in no way Pinterest-worthy.
This year I wanted to talk about my goals, largely to help me iron them out for myself. I heard a phrase once, “Goals are dreams with their work pants on.” So here’s me, putting work pants on my dreams.
Setting goals is always difficult for me (last year I told you I’d show off my goals and then I never finished setting them). I told you in my year in review that I had burned out a little bit. For this year’s goals, I started not with “What do I want?” but “Why do I want it?” Here I present you with the three Super Sekrit motivations for why I blog:
- Make money.
- Use writing as a creative outlet.
- Share fun things with fun people.
That’s it. Those are why I do this. Given these, here’s my one big goal for Bear & Bug Eats in 2018:
- Make money.
That’s it. Perhaps you’re thinking, “But Katie, that’s not a SMART [Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound] goal. How will you measure success?”
Aha! See, it is measurable, because what it really means is “Make $1 or more in profit.” This means I have to actually track my expenses (please don’t tell my day job boss, because I’m so good at expense tracking at work and AWFUL here), and then I have to make more revenue than I spend in upkeep. That’s what that means. It won’t be easy, because Bear & Bug is small and of, shall we say, beginner quality, but that’s what will guide me through deciding what opportunities to pursue.
There’s one other thing that these three motivations demonstrate. All three point to Quality. I’ll make better money if I output a better product. Writing at all is helpful, but the discipline of writing is amazing. And you guys want good stuff, right?
So Quality is something I’m keeping in the back of my head. Producing better quality work means a few things: selecting only the best (for me) opportunities, planning (hopefully working) at least a month ahead at all times, and actively improving my photography. It’s not a goal because I’m not sure how to put hard limits on it, but it’s something I’m working with.
And perhaps most importantly, only doing opportunities I really enjoy. So while January is a huge month for healthy stuff, and tons of blogs get good traction doing Whole30 or health challenges, I’m…not. My first few posts will have a better-for-you focus, but I’m not pouring a ton of time and emotional energy into doing the keto diet so you can all follow along, or something like that. Instead, I picked out recipes that are fun, easy, not bad for you, and taste good. And when I tested them, I enjoyed cooking them.
It’s my hope that this focus on motivation and quality will help me produce better work, make more money, and also to be consistently proud of the work I do.
Thanks for sticking with me! Tell me, what are some of your goals for 2018?
