Goodbye 2017

I'm gonna admit, 2017 has been both super amazing and the worst year of my life... I don't really know how that can happen apart from there have been two sides.

Silly Badger Designs has gone above and beyond my wildest dreams! At the beginning of this year I made some business goals that I was really unsure about... I had little hope that I would actually achieve them.

These goals included:-
- Reach 100 sales
- Reach 100 orders
- Attend a craft fair

Well... I not only reached 100 sales overall, I made over 100 sales alone this year! The moment I hit 100 sales during the summer months I had no idea that I would also be hitting 200 sales in the same year! There are so many other sellers out there who achieve this much quicker than myself etc but to me this goal has just been so incredible. 200 sales had me in tears of shock and joy because it felt like someone was telling me I was getting things right.

Reaching 100 orders was one of those awkward ones... sales are items that are bought so these go up a lot quicker than individual orders from each person. So I was desperately hopeful to hit 100 orders this year... again... I hit that and then went on to make nearly 150 orders alone this year! Now that one had me staring in shock at the screen for a long moment.
I'm not an overly confident person so I tend to go in to things with a slightly negative attitude to myself so hitting these things were like my positive side giving my negative side a good slap in the face!

And lastly, attending a craft fair. Something I was terrified of and when I looked in to them I got very nervous. "We only accept THE BEST." was plastered everywhere and for someone who had never attended one before this was insanely daunting and left me feeling like I would be laughed at or shouted at. How dare I even apply for such a thing that I am not good enough for!
But I was lucky to be approached by a lovely lady who was starting a new craft fair and was looking for local sellers. I ended up attending 2 craft fairs here and although they may not have been the most successful fairs ever they were such good experiences and I was left feeling proud that I'd managed to get through everything and even sell a few items.
A kid spending her pocket money on one of my colouring pages was probably the highlight.

So, yes. 2017 has been filled with happy and success and I am just so completely overjoyed with my little business.

Aquarium visits, pet portraits, beach and wood adventures, good food, new friends, fun family moments, love, getting gerbils are a few other highlights of this year.

Okay so there were bad parts too, this year has been full of stress and ended up with me falling back in to my anxiety and depression pretty badly but at the same time there was good and that's a good reminder that even in the darkest of times there is light.

We can't control every aspect of our lives and shit does happen. But it's how we deal with it that counts.

I'm looking forward to 2018 however as Silly Badger Designs has got a lot of new adventures happening!
I'm actually getting these ideas down on paper and in the new year I'm looking forward to exploring new options! Lots of new products are involved ;)

Thank you for a fantastic 2017 and I'll see you in the new year!
Have a great one!