2023 Recap:

We started 2023 with our beloved matriarch, Corkey’s mom, Lynn, in the hospital with complications from Covid that turned into long Covid.  Prior to this, I thought long covid was ongoing health issues that one deals with after testing negative and recovering from Covid.  We learned with Lynn that long covid can also be when one continues to test positive for a long period of time.  In her case, she was positive for five weeks leading up to her death on January 30, 2023.  She was only 77.

In the weeks following Lynn’s death, I helped the family as best I could.  The truth is, I didn’t know what to do with myself.  I had left my job of five and a half years as Executive Assistant at our church to take care of Lynn after she had a massive stroke in 2020 that left her paralyzed.  I cared for her part time, in our home a few days a week from September, 2021 until she was hospitalized with Covid in December, 2022.

I found caring for her to be very emotionally draining.  Good days and bad days left me feeling elated or very low, and every day was dramatically different, it seemed.  I had been applying for jobs since August, 2022. By my last count, I had applied to at least 30 with no more than two responses, neither of which panned out. I could not think of one thing I wanted to do outside my home.

I had previously owned an award-winning wedding business for 10 years, from 2007 to 2017.  Over the years that I worked at the church, people had continued to contact me about wedding planning or floral design from time to time, and I did a few jobs on the side. I have often told friends that wedding planning is the one thing in life that I know I truly EXCEL at.  However, I was hesitant to return to the wedding world because that job caused a lot of stress. I became a workaholic, and had trouble setting boundaries, which resulted in some problems in our marriage.  Still, I had loved being able to work at home, and the pressure was off this time around, financially speaking. 

With my first wedding business, I felt pressured to contribute to our mortgage and expenses, especially when our son was young and we wanted to grow his college fund.  Now, I am so very fortunate that we can get by on Corkey’s salary and our home is paid off. Our son is grown now and opted not to go to college.  Although he still lives at home, for the most part, he takes care of his own expenses.  Knowing that I needed something to keep me busy, we decided to move forward with starting a new business.

We had no sooner come to this decision than a friend called to ask if I still do floral design?  When our kids were in school, she used to help me part time, and even rode along to the floral wholesaler with me once to see what all the fuss was about.  Heather is now a very successful realtor and needed a florist to provide centerpieces for an awards gala. By February 7, I had a new business name and logo.  By March 10, I was providing centerpieces for the Cobb Realtor’s Association Annual Awards Gala in Atlanta.  With this one job, I made enough profit to cover the initial business startup costs and I was back in business.  It was truly a Godsend and I don’t take lightly what a blessing it is to work with friends!

A second part of what I wanted to do in my new business was to be a blogger again.  I previously had a blog called The Stylish Planner from 2009 to 2011 that was specific to the wedding industry.  Thanks to a shout out from Twitter, and a dear friend who was a magazine editor at the time, the blog went viral and had incredible growth in a very short period of time.  The blog provided some awesome opportunities, and before I knew it, I was traveling around the country speaking to various wedding associations about social media and online presence. Unfortunately, I never monetized the blog, and I burned out quickly on writing content. For my new endeavor, I knew that I wanted to earn affiliate income by recommending things that I liked and shared online.  I especially felt a calling to blog about midlife, aging, health and wellness along with many other difficulties that we go through in life. 

I launched the blog on July 15, 2023, writing posts that cover about nine categories:  food, home, garden, fashion, health and beauty, books, travel and events.  I know this seems like a lot to cover, but I still feel that it would be difficult to give up even one category, as these are all part of my daily life.

By the end of the year, I had written and shared 52 posts and the website was visited by 783 unique visitors.  The top three most popular posts were:

My Experience with Ozempic

Wal-Mart Fall Fashion

Keratin Treatment for hair

The top three most popular products that readers purchased in 2023 were:

I had some success with affiliate income, earning $61.59 in October through purchases made by readers through Amazon Prime Deal Day Sales.  I also earned $7.50 through Mavely, another affiliate program that I partner with for all non-Amazon links.  So an obvious goal for this year is to earn more affiliate income, and spread that throughout the year instead of concentrated in one month. I wasn’t at all successful with affiliate Holiday shopping, even though I posted Gift Guides, so I’ll be reevaluating that as well in 2024.

The greatest problem that I need to overcome is my number of followers on Instagram.  I am currently sitting at 878 followers.  That is barely considered a nano influencer in the world of social media.  I have over 14,000 followers on Pinterest, but I need to re-learn how to best utilize Pinterest. That is an objective that I have already resolved to conquer this year.

As for the bread and butter of my business, event planning, floral and garden design did very well considering that I operate purely by social media and word of mouth.  I did the Cobb Realtors Gala in March – I consider 50 centerpieces to be a big job, but for some florists that would be very small potatoes.  I did three weddings last year, one of which was floral design only.  The other two were wedding planning and coordination as well as floral design in October and November. 

I worked on two garden projects, one of which was a full-scale installation of a cutting garden and a pea gravel walkway to a beautiful she shed.  I hope to get invited back in the future to work on additional aspects of this property. 

The other garden project was some new plantings, along with installation of edging and pea gravel walkways, and ground preparation for a stock tank pool installation at a friend’s home.  I’m actually a little sad that my friend sold her home and it isn’t likely I will get to see the space again!

While I brought in $18,746.50 in accounts receivables, most of that was unfortunately not income.  I estimate that I made about $6,000 in profits after all my expenses were paid.  Now that doesn’t sound like much, and it certainly isn’t sustainable, but it isn’t unusual to not earn anything at all for up to the first three years of starting a new business. 

Additionally, I rarely worked a full 40 hour workweek unless it was the week of an event or project.  We traveled a lot and I didn’t work at all when we traveled.  I ran the business the way that I wanted to and did just fine.  Considering that I started 2023 thinking that I would be an unpaid caregiver, I think I made the most out of the eleven months that I was given! 

Goals for 2024?  Yes, I have many.  I want to break the 1K threshold on Instagram.  I want to niche down a little bit with my online presence, without giving up any categories on the blog, so I am contemplating a way to do that well.  I’d like to do at least six weddings, I currently have contracts for three.  I’d like to begin earning consistent affiliate income every month, and really capitalizing on the Holidays.  I won’t be putting any effort towards garden projects this year, other than my own.  Also, I realize that the world of social media is ever changing, but I’d like to get in a rhythm with my posts, always working at least one day ahead of schedule, preferably a full week ahead.  There is lots to do and tons of room to grow.

Most of my goals and resolutions for 2024 center around personal health and wellness more than professional goals.  I’ve had some health challenges recently that have me living with daily pain.  Everything about my situation indicates the pain will pass, and it seems to be, although very slowly.  I haven’t worked out more than occasional short walks in over nine months and my strength has suffered greatly.  I plan to start back exercising with walking, and increase my mileage over time, but I am lacking motivation.  Can anyone relate?

Coupled with the pain, I think I am experiencing seasonal affective disorder.  The cold weather plays hell on my joint pain, so sleeping in and daily naps have become normal for me. I suffer from a little depression every winter, but this year is different.  There are days when I have lost all confidence and I repeat the same negative thoughts in my head all day long.  These are fruitless thoughts – I worry about things I said or did to people YEARS ago, or some days I feel the sting of rejection or criticism from people in my past as if it were a fresh wound. 

Right now, I am not interested in a professional diagnosis or taking prescription medication, though I acknowledge that is helpful for many people.  I recently read a book on brain health by Dr. Daniel Amen, and with some knowledge gained from that, I’ve added a supplement that is mild and has helped some with the sadness.  I’m sure I will be fine once Spring arrives and I am able to get in the garden again. I am grateful for every day that gets a little longer, bringing the promise of Spring and Summer.  It is a sadness of its own to have every blessing you have ever hoped for, no reason to be sad at all, and to still be melancholy day after day.

Well, that is certainly enough of that for now! I have always wanted to be transparent and vulnerable about what is going on with me, especially if it helps even one person to know they are not alone.  Several friends have asked if I stopped blogging, and the answer is of course, NO!!  I planned on two weeks off after Christmas and sadly that turned into a month of much needed rest.  I promise things will return to normal this month!

I pray you also had a time of rest over the Holidays and that 2024 has ushered itself in to you with kindness. XOXO

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