Before we ring in the New Year, I wanted to take a chance to look back on 2018. It was a year of hitting goals, pushing myself further than I thought I could and a whole lot of change. I may have moved back to Washington mid-2017, but in many ways, a lot of those changes rolled into this year and now that we’re inching into 2019, I finallyyyy feel a little more grounded. About dang time right?! Listen, uprooting your life and making allll of the changes can take some time to get used too though! All-in-all 2018 was a pretty dang great year and I wanted to give it a proper send-off by celebrating the progress that was made.
Crushed ALL of the Biz Goals
2018 was a game-changer for Bold & Pop. We’ve been working our booties off since we started 3+ years ago and THIS was the year where I feel like everything really started to line up. We increased our business by 38%, hit our income goals early, doubled our web traffic, and grew our community to nearly 900 biz owners, side hustlers and bloggers — just to name a few! Seriously though. It was a HUGE year for our business and every success has felt really damn good.
Another one of our big goals this year was to work on a better work/life balance and I’m so proud of the progress we made. When you start a business, it can all-encompassing and this year we learned firsthand why time off is one of the best things you can do! We still had our moments, but we were able to take more time off this year than the last 3 combined and I think it was a big reason we found so much success! We both went through a huge year of growth both personally and professionally and I cannot wait to see where we go in 2019 because the bar has been set!
Moving to a New City + Apartment
This year, I joined the adult world again and moved to a new apartment in a new city! Tacoma to be exact, which definitely deserves a blog post of its own. It’s kind of funny because if you would have told me that I would have not only moved back to Washington, but to Tacoma, I would have laughed at you a few years ago. I’ve learned that sometimes the best things in life are unexpected though and Tacoma has definitely surprised me in the best way. I still love Seattle and dream of living there one day, but Tacoma’s small city vibes have been a nice transition. Plusss, the rent prices here are kind of amazing. Having a 2-bedroom for less than I paid for my studio in NYC will never get old.
Paid off My Student Loans
BOOM baby, I paid off my student loans this year! I think this is exciting for anyone, but I wasn’t really expecting to do it this year so I’m really proud of this one. My personal financial goals were really just focused on building my savings back up to where I wanted them to be. They definitely took a hit the last few years after starting a business, moving cross-country, and buying a new car so building those back up was my top goal. With such a high increase in our business though I was able to build up my savings and pay off all of my remaining loans almost 2 yeas earlier than planned!
Made Personal Development and Self-Care a Priority
As I mentioned earlier, having a better work/life balance was a big business goal of ours this year and that really goes hand-in-hand with this one. We’ve really lived and breathed our biz the last few years and while we still do, we realized we both reallyyy needed to take some time for ourselves. Thank goodness for biz besties who are literally on the same page as you. Really though, this year I learned just how important self-care is and how bad I really needed it. So I worked on myself a lot.. I took up hiking and walks around the new neighborhood, I listened to podcasts, I read a ton of self-development books, and started scheduling “Anna days” to literally just relax by myself. Becoming a healthier, better version of myself both physically and mentally was a top priority and I am really happy with the progress I made this year.
Tried More New Things
I set a lotttt of personal goals this year (I talk a little more about in this post) to push myself! Which resulted in doing some things I never thought I’d do + finding some new hobbies I really love! Some of my fav things that came from those goals were doing my first public speaking appearance, attending 4 local business owner events in the Seattle/Tacoma area, recording our first podcast interview, running my first 5k, joining a community garden, learning how to pickle and how to make jam, going on longer (and harder) hikes, starting a regular workout routine and joining PNW online communities!
2018 is definitely one of those years I’m going to look back on and remember. It was a year of so many amazing memories, a ton of growth and one that has really set a strong foundation for what’s to come! Bring it on 2019, I’m ready for you!!