New Year, New Focus

Instead of resolutions or concrete goals for my business, I set a guiding principle for the year to come. In 2024 it was take the time to quality check, and I had a post-it on my computer screen all year that said “Don’t forget to QC”. (Yes, the post-it was removed for my photo shoot below because a post-it on a screen for almost 12 months is GRIMY!)

This mantra served me well, but as I sat down to think about 2025, I asked myself, “what does quality check mean?” The initial purpose was to ensure quantities were right, shipments were made on time, no unnecessary print errors occurred, etc. etc. But it became bigger. I started checking if what I was producing for my clients lived up to the fresh design I promised and the price point that I charged.

So as we enter a new year, my post-it for the next 12 months will now say…

“Good art takes time”

We live in such a fast-paced, ASAP, free-overnight-shipping world that it’s easy to forget that quality work is not done in a rush. And the truth is I’ve caught myself at times falling back on easy design.

I started listening to a new podcast, and the host talked about how they had created an entirely different podcast on the subject, but never published it because it wasn’t up to their quality standards. It would be easy to say, “What a waste of time!”, and forget that the first draft should really never be the final draft. It’s the initial design, the struggle, the stops + starts, that get us to something truly special.

So I wish you all a year of keeping pace with this intense world we live in, but making the active choice to not rush the age-old process of a final quality product.

Photos 1 & 2: Caitlin Page Photography, Photo 3: Julie Shuford Photography

And now I leave you with a look back on this incredible year in business….

photo credits: @caitlinpagephotography @peterson.design.photo @katenoelle @laurenlarsenstudio @carmenlopezphoto @stephanieklotzphoto @sodafountainphoto @clayaustin @siobhanstantonphotography @truedaughters @stacey_lillian_photography @danforthneal @colleenannelennehan