Resolutions for a New Academic Year

When I first set up my business, it was geared towards this moment.
My daughter started nursery on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of her brother, who returned to school last week, leaving me with my mornings free.
Thanks to the New Enterprise Allowance, I’m already 18 months ahead of schedule in setting up my business, so now it’s all about growing it.
This has led to me making some new academic year resolutions!
Over the summer I’ve been tweaking my website with the help of Jackie Latham, of Jackdaw Web Design, a fellow member of The Inspire Network.
It needed a bit of TLC and definitely looks cleaner and prettier – check out the results here.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be putting some of the web-based marketing tips I’ve picked up over the last year or so into practice.
This means I’ll finally get round to doing Karen James’ 21-day Twitter tips and the 30-day Facebook challenge set up by Michelle Rose form Custard and Bear.
One of my other resolutions is to take part in more Twitter hours like #NorthEastHour, #WeddingHour and #HandmadeHour to showcase my skills to a wider audience.

This will probably involve a lot more time scheduling things on Hootsuite!

I’ve booked up for a couple of wedding fairs – and even a Christmas craft fair – and I’ll be starting my calligraphy class again to learn some more styles and techiniques and increase my offering.
But the biggest of my resolutions is to strike a better work-life balance.

Being a sole trader makes it hard to switch off and I’ve been doing most of my work in the evening, once the kids are tucked up in bed, and relying on my smartphone during the day.
So I’ll be making hay (or writing calligraphy) while the sun shines (apparently we’re in for an Indian summer) so I can clock off after the 3.15pm school run. At least until the evening if the marketing strategy works!