When you wish upon a goal....

When it comes to your life, do you make wishes or do you make goals? Because there's a difference!

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They both start with the same thing: a vision! But making a goal involves taking actionable steps towards making your vision a reality. A wish is just Hopefulness without feet to take it anywhere!

One of the ways you can help your wish become a goal become a REALITY is just taking the time to write it down. Check out some of these cute ways to record your goals:

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When I started my little shop over a year ago, I had one goal: Make enough profit to go to Starbucks once a week and not feel guilty about it :). I'm excited to say, I've hit 150 sales!

And thanks to my handy spreadsheet, I actually know how much I've made :)

For about a year before I actually opened up shop, I sat around wishing I owned an etsy shop. Wishing, and wondering if I could really do it. Does this sound like you? Write down what you want to happen, and then start taking baby steps!

What about you? Have you made (or reached!) any goals lately?

PS: Have you entered my giveaway here?

My goal today

My plans today aren't anywhere near as fun as they were last Saturday... This is what I'll be doing today:

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What about you?

Keeping track of sales

I'll be honest. I did not open up shop because I loved balancing numbers. I've never considered myself business minded. Keeping track of numbers is a bit of a challenge for me! I just like to make pretty things, haha!

But as January rolled around and a new year started, I knew I wanted to keep better track of things. With the help of my super talented husband, I created a spreadsheet to help me do just that! I thought I'd share that here in case any of you were wondering if you've made a profit yet.... (Note: these are all fake numbers I input for this example!)

You might notice a few things:

*All the numbers in red show the money I've spent (fake numbers though, remember?). Excel will do this automatically if you just put a minus sign in front of the number.

*You may or may not want to add a column on the left side for the value of amount of products you've given away for promotional stuff.

*Materials: Save your receipts, or have a little notebook handy to track how much your spending on your materials so you can input that stuff into the spreadsheet later. ALSO!! I don't count materials that I consider as an investment. For me, that would be rubber stamps, because I can reuse those over and over. For you, it might be your rotary cutter. If you want, you could create another column for start up costs.

*The right side of the spreadsheet is for money coming in. I sell advertising on my blog so I have a column for "Blog Sponsors". If you don't do this, don't add it!

*If you have other ways that money is coming in (like craft fairs), add a column for that too.

*Take your total profit (on right) and subtract your total spent (on left). Then try not to weep! Especially if you're in the beginning stages of your business, it will take a while for you to see all of your hard work and investments pay off!

Did I leave anything out? Is there a fool-proof way you track your business related stuff? If so, please enlighten the rest of us!!

Also, if you'd like a copy of this template, just shoot me an email (sarah at yesteachercrafts dot com) and I'll send it to you free of charge. Because I like you!

Crafty goals

Do you have goals?

As you may have guessed from my last post, one of my goals is to have a pretty, functional, organized work space. I've already made some great strides in making that happen. I have other goals and dreams as well: producing creative cards more quickly, connecting with other crafters, and building my store into an actual business.

I have personal goals and dreams too... like riding in a hot air balloon, hosting a murder mystery dinner party, and snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef (just to name a few!).

Thinking about my goals (and even crossing some off my list!) prompted some searching on Etsy. Hope you enjoy these finds as much as I did!!

Here's a handy journal to keep track of your bucket list from Blue Toad:


I love this inspirational print from Honey Boo:


Or you could wear your inspiration with this lovely necklace from Gratitude Jewelry:

Here's a great idea to make sure you cross those goals off of your list with this mini goal clockboard from Mary Kate McDevitt:
And I love this customizable to-do list from My Soul Shines:


After all, there's nothing like seeing your goals written down to motivate and inspire you to accomplish them!

What are your goals?