Monthly Goal Review–May

It’s that time again–the first day of a new month and time to review my Etsy goals! Its like New Year’s Resolutions, only once a month. And like New Year’s Resolutions, when I look back I usually realize that I didn’t do half the things I meant to do, but did also accomplished things I hadn’t planned on.

My goals for may were:
1. Reach 25 sales. That’s 2 sales a week.

Nope. Elephunk’s Trunk was at 14 sales yesterday. I sold three things in May–one of which was a trade, the other two were through the $20 thingy with the sneak attackers, which means I didn’t actually make any money in May. The good news is that I got some of my stuff out in the world, and people liked it! I also got some awesome things in return. I also got 4 sales in Elephunk’s Eyes (1 trade, 1 $20 thing for two items, and 1 regular sale) which brings my sales total for May up to 7. I’d like to do better, but I also haven’t had nearly as much time as I’d hoped for creating and listing things, so I am not surprised that sales have been slim. Here is what I sold this month:

This was a trade with EverImprovingMe. I got another reusable sandwhich bag in return.

I sold this to HappyCloudMoments through the $20 Thingy. This sale enabled me to buy the awesome vintage scarves from iwundervintage.

And finally, I sold the green beret that was my Etsy avatar for a long time. This beret was one of two that I made from the pallu of my Eid sari. The other one was a custom order for Ranzangel and my first Etsy sale. I sold this one to MichiganHemp in the $20 thingy, which allowed me to buy awesome hair sticks from LaBeq.

From Elephunk’s Eyes, I traded an “ACEO of your choice” to PhotoTeresa. She chose my Should I Stay or Should I go Now? Squirrel Photo and trade me a Squirrel ACEO of her own.

I sold a pack of Cuddling Baby Elephant Cards and a Giraffe Says Hello print to verveinteriors in the $20 Thingy, enabling me to buy awesome elephant coasters from goodgosh.

And I sold a Year-Old Elephant Orphan print to LizardQueen, whom I met through Eclecticasia’s 35 Sales or Less thread.

Back to my goals for the month:

2. Reach 200 Shop Hearts.
Did it! I had 226 shop hearts on May 31, 2009. Thanks for the love everyone!

3. Blog every other day.
Did it! (sort of) There were definitely stretches of more than a day between posts. But there were also times when I blogged every day, or more than once a day. My total posts for May was 16, which works out to about one every other day for the month. Thanks for reading!

4. Reach 50 items in my shop.
Nope. I wish I could blame that on sales, but as we’ve seen I can’t. As of May 31 I had 35 items in my shop. I need to find more time for crafting!

Two out of four isn’t bad! And I accomplished a lot I didn’t set out to do. I opened a second store, I started Elephunk’s Orphans sections in both of them, and I’ve raised $12.50 for the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I got to be a guest curator for Etsy Stalker. I participated in sneak attacks, and met some awesome people.

Goals for June:
1. Get 2 sales a week in each shop on average for the month. I’m going to keep setting this goal. Someday I will actually reach it! That would bring me to 24 sales in Elephunk’s Trunk and 18 sales in Elephunk’s Eyes.
2. Raise enough money to sponsor an elephant orphan. That’s $50–I can do it!
3. Continue to Blog, on average, every other day.
4. Get 50 items in Elephunk’s Trunk and 75 in Elephunk’s Eyes. That means finding time for crafting!
5. Figure out a way to deal with the whole financial side of this–how much I’m spending, how much I’m making…all that boring stuff!