Welcome to this month’s blog progress report.
It’s been great to feel like I have had time to really get stuck into work again, with the kids back at school and few distractions.
My motivation is back in full and the ideas and creativity are beginning to flow freely once more. It’s a lovely feeling, long may it continue!
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The Bring Back Paper series and all that this involves remains at the core of what I’m doing.
Whenever I pause and wonder about this area, readers reassure me that this is a key part of my business. It matters to people, they tell me so. It lifts people to communicate like this, relationships are forged based on Bring Back Paper activities and days are brightened.
It’s wonderful to receive feedback like this. It’s lovely to hear little anecdotes from you about what Bring Back Paper has meant to you and I’ve been receiving an increasing amount of gorgeous happy mail recently, telling me just this. I love it.
The Bring Back Paper community really means something to me. I had no idea when I started this how it would grow and the directions it would take, but grow it has and I have ‘met’ some fantastic people through it. Lots of people are finding the Bring Back Paper Facebook group which continues to grow, and this blog, YouTube channel, social media and newsletter reach more and more people daily.
This month we have had a postcard mailing and we also had the book readalong, both kept me busy and these activities are attracting more people every month.
My Bring Back Paper Memberships are still going strong and we’re nearly at 30 members over there now. It’s great! There are a fair few people signed up to receive happy mail from me monthly, which is an excuse for me to buy pretty stationery regularly, a definite perk of the job!
I have next month’s activity and writing paper all ready for the members, so I do hope they go down as well as they have in previous months.
Last month I shared that my key focus for this month would be my Etsy store as I am keen to grow this area of my business. The plan was to get a new product in store every single week throughout May, and I’m pleased to say that I have achieved that.
I have also had fun diversifying by introducing different products over there, along with more of the popular stationery. It’s been good coming up with fresh ideas and then designing them. I also shared more about the Pen Pal Fun Packs here on the blog a couple of weeks ago, so I hope that helped.
Other plans I shared last month were around an SEO course I am enrolled on. I have been working on this, so it’s all behind the scenes work. I still have plenty to work through, but it’s good to feel like I am making progress.
I also mentioned, as I tend to, the desire to get back to my YouTube channel, and hooray, I have done so! A new video went up last week and it was a fun one to share.
Of course I have been sending out weekly emails to my readers and Flodesk, my newsletter provider, continues to make that a pleasure to do.
I like to share a little snippet of my life each week, along with content and news, and it’s been great to have people telling me how much they enjoy receiving the newsletter.
If you’re on the lookout for an email provider for your business they do offer free trials and if you use my affiliate link to sign up with, you will also get 50% off the monthly fee. Here’s the Flodesk link, do let me know if you give them a go, I’d love to hear your experiences with them.
Plans for next month
I am aware that I have a few things on in June that could impact on how much I achieve. We have half term this week and a teacher training day which means I will have less time than usual at my desk. A real treat will then be a few days off with my husband as we celebrate our birthdays. I am looking forward to it, but I am also aware that I need to get lots done to work around it! I will just be very clear on where my priorities lie this month and focus on those.
As I am on something of a roll now with my Etsy store, I want to keep that going throughout next month and maintaining the discipline of designing regularly.
As always, there will be a new Bring Back Paper activity here on the blog and a new readalong, so I will be promoting those and getting on with organising them. They are both set up and all ready to share with you.
I have lots of new goodies for my Patreon members happy mail, so I will be getting those parcels ready and posted out, along with running June’s activity over there. I think it’s going to be a popular one!
As I have got some fresh content on YouTube I will aim to get at least one video ready, just so I keep my hand in with it.
Blog content will keep on going out, I will work on the collaborative projects I have lined up and I will keep up with the social sharing. These things are like breathing to me now!
Along with keeping content and products going out, my main focus will be on the SEO course that I am getting through. I think as long as I keep everything else ticking over, this will make the greatest difference and seems a good place to spend time. Driving traffic impacts on every single area of my business.
What are your thoughts on my activities and plans?
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