I spent the last day of 2018 packing tiles and feeling grateful. It is an amazing thing for me to have spent another year doing a job that I love, and it would not have been possible without the support I have received from all of you. The fact that people find my little website or see my tiles in a gallery and respond positively to what I am doing has made such a difference in my life. That people are willing to spend their hard-earned money on products that I designed and then make with my hands is truly humbling. This is going to sound cheesy, but it is one hundred percent true: words cannot express the gratitude I feel to all of my warm, creative, and interesting customers! Thank you for another great year!
2019 is so full of possibility.... I am very excited to make more tiles this year! I am currently working on several new animal designs which I will share here soon. Until then, here are some more of the last tiles I shipped in 2018..
Other goals for 2019? Posting my backlog of beautiful customer installation photos! I say I will do this every year, but now I just might find a bit more time to do it, since another goal for the year is to cut back on Instagram.
Cutting back on Instagram may seem like a weird goal for a small business owner in a highly visual field. Aren't I supposed to post as much as possible to social media? Maybe not... Near the end of last year, I realized that Instagram had started to take up too much of my mental space. I was feeling guilty if I didn't post something interesting every week day. I was stressing about what to say about each photo, and about what the response would be. It was starting to make me nervous if I wasn't up to date on the feed of everyone who I followed all the time. In short, I was treating it like a job. But it is NOT my job. Making tiles is my job!
When I do have pictures to share (either my own or from a customer), I have decided that a better and less-stressful use of my limited non-tile making work time would be to post them here on my website. Fewer people may see the pictures, but they will be the people who actually need to see them- my customers.
Currently, I don't plan to delete my instagram account or abandon it completely. I will just treat it like I do my facebook and twitter accounts- update it once every month or two, giving me more time to make tiles, update this website, and of course, interact with customers.
Thank you again! Here's to a great 2019!
