Entry 7 of 12: December – January: A Busy Year Ahead

December was a slacker month for me. With all the holiday hustle and bustle, plus all the aftermath I just haven't had the time or energy to do much. I took a good bit of time off from my freelance "career." Before Christmas I received another job from the company I had done a digital illustration for last month. They hired me to create a Christmas money holder in my dimensional style. It was a tight deadline, but I got it finished and it looked great! Now I have another project to add to my press release! Speaking of press releases, I really need to send one out. I've somewhat made a schedule of when I need to send them out. My plan is to do one every month. I don't know what I'm going to do if I have nothing to announce one month but I'll have find something.

One big step I took at the end of December (New Year's Eve actually) was to start a blog. I'm an introvert so this is kind of a challenge for me to let people know what's going on in my life. I really want to network with other illustrators and force myself to be creative. Having a blog will do that for me. I'll be participating in Illustration Friday and possibly A Month Of Softies just to keep creative. You can check it out here. I've already gotten some comments and feedback about the blog so that has been a big encourager plus I've added some people to my mailing list.

I've also jotted down a general marketing plan for myself. I find it hard to stick to with personal deadlines, but I've convinced myself that I HAVE TO in order to reach the goals I've set for myself. I am really rethinking the postcard promotion route. I need to think of something creative, inexpensive (to make and mail), and easy to have reproduced, yet gets attention. That is one of the top things on my list that I really need to work on in January. I also have a plan/goal to sell some original dimensional illustrations online and in specialty stores. I'm hoping I can get this stared soon. I have my ideas all sketched out, I just need to execute them and figure out how to make shadowbox frames cheaply. I'm really hoping January will be a productive month for me!

Click here to read Holli's previous installment.