KNITATUDE: A YEAR IN REVIEW 2019
Holy. How did another year go by?
As that clock strides towards midnight tonight, I can’t help but sit and contemplate how far Knitatude has come. My baby girl is now 5 years old. What started as a circle scarf that I didn’t get for Christmas has now become a full fledged business. I’ve gone from selling scarves when I didn’t know how to purl, to diving into designing and now leaving the world of markets in a 5 year span.
So I figured I would write down a few thoughts about this year, including what I think I did well and things that were detrimental that I could have improved on - both personally and for Knitatude as a business. Hopefully some of them will spark something in you, while acting as a checklist for me in the next year. I’ll also go through some highlights of what happened this year to my company, and a few topics that hit the community hard.
KNITATUDE 2019 HIGHLIGHTS:
Knitatude had it’s 5th birthday!
Was invited and went to New York for the Lion Brand Blogger Bash
Met my designer mentor and friend Alexi from Two of Wands
Spoke at Our Maker Life
Got to have the full Maker Strong team together for the first time
Knitatude hit 30K on instagram!
Had my first collection ever with Lion Brand
Released TWENTY ONE patterns (6 sweaters, 3 cardigans, 6 accessories, 4 shirts, 1 dress) (Shop here on Rav and here on Etsy)
OUR COMMUNITY IN 2019
Racism in our community was finally brought to the table, and though I think there is a lot of hard work still ahead of us, we’ve been growing and having some really constructive conversations on how to put a stop to it
Size inclusivity became an increasingly important topic and conversation in the design world. Again, we still have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s been wonderful to see more designers and companies make changes to their businesses to make patterns more accessible to others
The “hustle” was downgraded and we started to look more about what the effect was taking on our lives and businesses. I saw many people putting up more boundaries and putting their mental health first
The world of Instagram became less about the pretty things, and more of the “real things”. i saw so many more honest stories and posts about real life, and I am HERE FOR IT!
Onto the business side of things:
THINGS THAT I THINK REALLY HELPED KNITATUDE GROW THIS YEAR
I feel like I’ve finally hit my pattern designing stride and style. My designs are becoming more cohesive as a whole, and I’m learning so much more about making well fitting garments
My eyes were opened to the ability of monetizing my website through ads. Check out Google Adsense if you have a blog and haven’t done this
Affiliate marketing started to take a larger role in my online strategy, and it’s so fun to see those dollars come in
Newsletters and blogs became more important to me, and they have been a great way to share more of the Knitatude universe
THINGS THAT I DROPPED THE BALL ON
Pinterest got the best of me. I was planning on really tackling it this year… but alas…
I got sucked into the drama online, and instead of focusing on my work, I let the fear of others get to me too many times
I am ashamed to say, but I haven’t done much with my hashtag strategy… I REALLY need to improve on this in the upcoming year.
Engaging with you guys! I used to be so good at answering every single comment, and going outside of Knitatude to say hello to the multitude of people in our community. I need to get back into the rhythm of this again. Sorry guys!
The education side to Knitatude. I used to do lives and give info about running my business and tips and tricks of being a designer. I need to boost these, as I loved them and I think you did too!
2020 GOALS
To publish at least 12 useful + educational blog posts
To get my Pinterest game going (Feel free to give me a follow here if you like!)
Have a consistent game plan of working ahead at least 2 months in advance
Stop getting sucked into the drama online and curb the comparison game
What are your 2020 personal and business goals? Comment below :)