2015 Highs & Lows / 2016 Plans

Can you believe 2015 is over?! It feels like not long ago I celebrated last Christmas and now it’s come around again so quickly and 2015 is over. I’m sure many of you feel the same way, oh how time flies!

I wanted to take a bit of time to share with you how my year has been; highs, lows and everything in-between as well as what I’m planning for next year.

The beginning of the year is always super busy for me since my Hungry Indian food cards are always a hit with everyone. I added a few extra designs to this as well as launched a new food range too with repeated design and brighter colour. It’s always a great feeling to see when you guys have taken a photo of my cards or gifts and it makes me smile so much and be like “Owww I made that,” I don’t think that feeling will ever get old. I also designed my first printables later for Diwali which was enjoyable as well as funny prints which could be framed.

I only had time to take part in two events this year which was Birmingham Mela and AYB Weekender. Although the weather wasn’t good at Birmingham mela it was great to finally meet incredibly talented Aman aka Inkquisitive Illustration face-to-face! I also had my products stocked at Alchemy Festival at London’s Southbank Centre with is a big deal for me AND they are stocking goods there over Christmas too.

Since 2015 was a bit of a financial struggle, I decided to go back to work full-time again. It’s helped me take a step back and think about what I want for the business in future, what works, what doesn’t and start analyse things with a clearer mind. I do find it hard to be sat at a computer screen from 9-5 and come home to do the same but I’ve made plenty of doodles and plan to work on these for the coming year.

I have learnt a lot this year about myself and my business.

• I’ve learnt about social media – analysing the stuff helps and planning is key
• I’ve connected with a lot of inspirational people – Inkquisitive Illustration, Binny’s Kitchen, Santushi Style Edge fashion blogger, Spice Kitchen and the lovely people at Alchemy Festival are just a few.
• Sometimes you have to work through the night to meet deadlines – I’m not a work-through-the-night kinda person
• Breaking promises I made to myself – I am NOT GOOD at doing my accounts every month
• I’m too easy on myself – sometimes I just don’t want to do things that will help my business growOne thing I am glad of is all your support and love for the things I designs. I do hope it makes you smile as much as it does me 🙂

So what will 2016 bring for The Playful Indian?

In short, I want to add a lot more products this year.

• More cards – in particular birthday cards. Even though most of my cards can be used for any occasion I think it would be good to have special ones for birthdays.
• Colouring stuff – maybe even create a small book. If you have any suggestions too, do let me know via Facebook or Twitter.
• More tees – for kids and possibly in larger size for adults since a lot of you want to order them for partners.
• Gift sets – you guys seem to be loving these so I’m going to be working on creating some for various occasions
• Home ware stuff – like pillows, posters, aprons etc

Other plans include to keep learning about social media as it’s always evolving so I made myself, and you, a collection of Pinterest articles that are business and blogging related to help! Now I have myself a lovely Ban.Do planner I have no excuse to keep on top of things and make lots of lists, the planner is too pretty to be making mistakes in! I am currently working on updating the website and blog but this will always be a work in progress.

Overall I just want to keep learning and building up the business, introducing new products and more learning. That means I need your help too to tell me what you want to see more of, or less of too maybe? I hope that 2016 connects me to a lot more awesome people that I can learn from and are inspiring.

So, I think I’ve talked enough now, how do you feel this year went for you and what are your goals and plans for 2016?