As we've been goal setting and planning for 2018, one of the first things we are taught to do is reflect on the past year. I'm sure you are not the same person, or the same business that started in 2017. We've gone through challenges, we've had celebrations and accomplishments, and we've had setbacks through 2017. 

 January of 2016 I had many goals for my little side-hustle design business. They were modest goals, but I felt that they would get me where I needed to go - to launch a full-time design business in 2018. Well, if you’ve been around here for very long, you know that in July of 2017, the opportunity presented itself for me to do just that, launch Hayley Bigham Designs as my full time gig, and I jumped at the opportunity without looking back.

As thankful as I am for that opportunity, there wasn't a lot of time to do much planning beforehand. One day I had a full-time salary, and the next I had this little business. There was no road to launch and no rollout. I jumped headfirst into the sea of entrepreneurship and learned to tweak things as I went along.

But now that I’m six months into the entrepreneurship journey, the many ideas that were put on the back-burner so that I could build the foundations of my business are now being purposefully thought out and planned for so that I can serve you better in 2018.

So, below I've included some things that you can expect from me in 2018, to be able to serve you, my audience and my clients, better! 

• Website and Offering Updates. In the next few weeks, you can expect a few updates on the website, especially the Experience page, but also little tweaks throughout! The process is clearer than ever and the packages have been simplified. I was able to take all of the feedback from my 2017 clients and make tweaks to the packages and experience, so that they are jam-packed with beneficial content and exactly what a small business owner would need as they go through a rebrand, or a brand new logo design. I’ve also implemented a few exciting things into my client experience that I can’t wait to put into practice!

• Batch Scheduling. If you haven’t heard of batching, it is sitting down and cranking out several things in one sitting. Whether it’s writing three blogposts in one sitting, scheduling out social media posts for the next week, or planning all of your client calls on one day. It’s all about streamlining your business as efficiently as possible so that you have less distractions and more time to focus. I’m hoping that this will allow me more consistency, especially on social media. With this, you can expect daily posts on instagram, weekly posts on facebook, and Thursday morning blogposts each week.

• Coffee Chats. I enjoyed a goal so much last year that I’m copying it for 2018. It was being more involved with others by asking one person to lunch or coffee each month. If this aligns with one of your goals, please reach out! I would love to meet up, even if it’s for virtual coffee! ( : I also would love to do more collaboration with other creatives. I'm not sure what this looks like just yet, but I'll be talking more about it as the year goes along.

• What Email List? An exciting goal that I’ve had for awhile is launching my email list! You may have noticed that I have a sign up on my website, but in all transparency, my email list has been on the back-burner for awhile. This year, I'm building a list that sends out beneficial tips, tricks and advice for small business owners and entrepreneurs who want to learn more about how design, branding, and creating an experience for your customer influences your business.

• Blog Series! I’m also relaunching the Design Transparency series on the blog. You guys seemed to enjoy the peak into the design process and working with a designer. I'll be sending out another set of questions, so that I can write posts that connect with where you are in your business and what I can do to help. If you're curious about what the Design Transparency Series is, read about it here and then follow the seafoam and coral blogposts for each post in the series.

• Course Creation. I have an exciting course coming mid-year that I am pumped about! I think it will be so helpful to you creatives who work with calligraphy, hand lettering, and illustration. It will teach you how to save so much time, be more efficient, and be able to focus on selling more of your gorgeous work. Can't wait!! Stay tuned for the launch!

So there you have it! Six things that you can expect from me in 2018! I can't wait to see how these changes serve you better in 2018!

If you are curious about if your branding is working for your business, or if you know for a fact that you need branding to reach the people you want to reach, grow you business or just be proud of your look, head over and fill out my inquiry form! I would love to talk to you about how we can make that happen!