how to do a mid year re-set as a creative business owner
I have spent the past few months moving all my craft courses to a new site, and it’s making me reassess a lot of my offerings and the way I run my business.
In a good way. This is a good thing to do, every so often. I think. I hope.
I’ve been running my business for more than 17 years, and the whole time it’s sort of been make-shift. I spent many years having no idea what I was doing. Making a lot of mistakes. And many years doing excellent and amazing things.
My online courses are one of those amazing things. I have shared my work with over 7000 students online, and thousands in person over this time. And - wow does it sound something else writing all that out! That’s a lot of people I’ve connected with in a real sense.
This might be the easiest business plan you’ve ever (not) written!
While this sounds amazing, it’s been hard work. And I look at my courses now and don’t love them all. While moving my craft courses from Teachable to ThriveCart I have been re-watching these courses. I’m not sure if you film yourself much, but I do have a hard time listening to myself and watching it back. Some of it makes me cringe. Which is ridiculous. Because I know the content is amazing and valuable.
But some of the filming quality itself leaves quite a bit to be desired. Which is to be expected considering I had no idea what I was doing, no tripod, an old phone, a baby in the other room, a messy studio floor, no fancy set up, no lighting….. So, I should give myself more credit for it all.
And I do. But that doesn’t stop me from looking at it all with fresh eyes, and making sure it still represents my values as a teacher and a business owner. Is it still something that I want to put out into the world?
Some of it yes, and some of it no. So, I made the decision to retire some of my craft courses. This means I won’t have the opportunity to be earning an income from those ones. So, what I need to do is work out was to counteract that loss.
This is where the whole Mid-Year Business Re-set has come in.
I’ve been wanting to do one for a little while. When I officially started this new Ellie Beck Creative Business I knew I wanted to go into it with a little more forethought and use the skills I have from years of running Petalplum. So, with the first half of 2025 almost down, I’m using this almost-solstice as a re-set time.
I wanted this to be easy. I don’t have time, space (physical, emotional or mental), or energy to do some giant week-long assessment of my business. I don’t want to write an epic new business plan on endless pages of paper or online notes. I don’t want to have a giant to-do list of things or content ideas or how-to or marketing.
What I want is a simple list of things I want moving forward, and how I think I can do that. Simple is the key.
I sat down this morning with a lovely notebook. Don’t tell me you don’t have one lying around somewhere. Some blank pages. Mine was a special one, that I was keeping for a special time. Well - I declared today to be the special project and time.
I pulled out my son’s colour pencils. The wonderful ones that remind me of my childhood at Steiner school. Lovely intense colours, strong solid marks. Intention. It actually felt a bit more special doing it with coloured pencil than with pen.
Here’s some things that I asked myself. One simple page with some big bold answers in big bold pencil words. No need, at this stage, for all the little endless details. I wanted to give myself a chance to get it down and move forward. To decide what my priorities might be moving into the next 6-months of my business. Two businesses - Ellie Beck Creative and Petalplum.
What do I want to do each day?
How can I do do? How will I do this?
What does less ‘work’-work mean? How to achieve this?
What do I love most about the work that I share?
What do I want to continue to share?
What are my main ‘gifts’?
Better planning - what will I do each month, week, fortnight.
What can I remove to give space for the things I want?
→ the email app from my phone
→ focussing on one - two main projects each week only (for work and for creative making)
→ decide my priorities in my business. What do I want to do more of moving forward and what can I remove or do less of (ie - will I make more stand-alone courses for Petalplum, or will I focus only on Stitch Circle membership, or will I focus mainly on Ellie Beck Creative courses and coaching).
Running a business as an artist, and having an arts practice means it’s important to differentiate those two aspects of myself. Which means that the number one answer to ‘what do I want to do each day?’ was
CREATE and MAKE.
Sew, quilt, write, paint, dye, photograph.
To manage this I need to remove things from my work section of life. Sometimes I find I get caught up in all the mundane things (but moving the courses has been such a brain drain that I feel like that’s all I’ve done for years on end).
So, I spent less than an hour and eleven A5 pages in a notebook (with big writing) and wrote my business plan for the whole next 6-months. Ok… sort of not quiet. But close to.
And I want you to know that it can be that simple. If you want it to be. Of course, I have all of the tools in place to do the things I want and need, for my business. And you might not. And that’s ok. That might be on your list
→ learn how to do Instagram better.
→ start and write a newsletter list (hey - I can help with that with my Art of Newsletter online course.
→ make a website (keep your eyes open as one major project on my list for July, Aug and Sept is create two website templates!).
→ find new stockists for my work.
→ set up an Etsy shop.
→ upload digital products to a site. Read my blog post about multiple income streams for artists to help with this idea.
→ create a series of artworks (a series of artworks is on my list - want to do it together!).
→ apply for an exhibition, or maybe a grant
→ sell your first piece of art!
What’s on your list for your creative business re-set?
The images in this blog post are from my Eco Printed and Hand Bound Art Journal online course that you can find on Petalplum. You can make your own notebook for writing your business plan!
