New Year: New Goals

Well, it has been an awesome winter break for me- I can’t believe it’s over now. I took some time away from the blog, away from social media and away from the everyday grind. Today I can’t wait to share with you some goals for the new year, as well as recap some of the best parts of 2018.

I worked hard in 2018… like really hard! It was an epic year for Engineer Mommy. I worked with some amazing brands (I’m looking at you… Kohl’s, Boston Market, and Energizer) and created some cool content (stop-motion videos, lifestyle videos, slideshows, and more). I actually have a plan for an upcoming blog post that outlines my favorite collabs of 2018, outlining some of my favorite partnerships and also detailing my favorite elements of the collaboration. Stay tuned for that in the upcoming days.

As for today, I’d love to share some of my goals for the new year: personal and professional.

As far as professional goals, I’d love to continue to grow Engineer Mommy. Here are some trends I noticed for 2018:

• In 2018, I had more Instagram-only partnerships than ever. These are collabs that involved posting to my Instagram feed or Instagram stories… without including any blog coverage. I love Instagram-only work! They’re fun and creative!
• In 2018, I published more sponsored posts than in 2017, beating my blogging income from the year before by ~25%! However, I worked long, hard hours… my husband estimates that some weeks involved over 60+ hours! So while this is a fun, creative job that I generally enjoy, it is certainly quite time-consuming. There were some weeks, where I didn’t feel I was as available to my husband and kids as I would like. I probably said “Mommy has to work” more than I would prefer… on a number of occasions.

Here are some things I’d like to work on for the upcoming year…

1. I’d like to streamline my work flow… maybe I will hire a virtual assistant to handle some of my more mundane tasks, like social media promotions or responding to emails.
2. I will try to automate my work flow a bit more. Trying to save time in the normal course of doing business is an important, worthwhile goal that will be an essential component of my goals for 2019.
3. I will say “no” more! While I generally avoid turning down work, sometimes I take on more than I should. Sometimes my schedule is already full but I still take on an extra job (or two or three). In cases of high volume like this, I will raise my rates and/or request a longer-than-typical turnaround time.
4. I will try to further expand my blog’s reach on Instagram by posting high-quality content often and trying to engage with the community. I will also put some more focus on my YouTube content. I will develop more video content and really put some effort into it. I never really took YouTube seriously as a social media channel (Silly, I know!!) but I would like to change that in the upcoming year. I’d like to create regular videos about a wide number of topics: cleaning, organizing, blogging, cooking, makeup/beauty, and more.

As far as personal goals, I have a number of things in mind for the upcoming year:

1. I have been committed to a healthy lifestyle for years now, but I would like to continue that in 2019. I would also like to kick it up a few notches and really streamline some meal prep solutions to make my life easier. I have been loving cauliflower and broccoli rice with some sauteed veggies and lean chicken (love the marinated, grilled chicken from Trader Joe’s).
2. I don’t think I drink enough water on a daily basis. I do drink a TON of (unsweetened or lightly sweetened) teas and I know those count toward hydration, but I would like to drink more plain, ol’ water! Maybe I’ll try buying a huge bottle and making sure I finish all the water throughout a given day!
3. There are some organization projects in the house that have been on my mind. I would love to organize and streamline our garage set-up. I’d love to create functional stations in there for car care, lawn / garden gear, and more.
4. I would like to spend more time with the kids… like set aside at least some time every day to do something special with them… no matter how busy I get! Maybe it’s taking my older daughter to the nail salon with me or maybe it’s doing an arts & crafts project together at home. Every single day!

I’m excited about the new year… I have a lot of goals and there’s a lot I want to achieve! I hope to find balance and wisdom as I try to balance it all and keep all the balls in the air.

I want to thank all of you, my loyal readers, for staying with me and joining me on this incredible journey. None of this would be possible without you. It has truly been a pleasure sharing my life with you!

Now I’d love to hear from you. What topics would you like to see in 2019? Any specific posts or videos you’d like to request? Feel free to share some of your New Year resolutions with me!

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