The end of the second quarter means we’re halfway through the year! So I’d better be halfway through my yearly goal list, right?! Let’s find out how I’m doing.
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New to This Series?
Every year I set big goals, and every quarter I set smaller goals that will add up to helping me achieve the big, annual goals. Catch up on my business journey here:
80% to my B.A.G. (Big Audacious Goal)
If you’ve read one of these reviews before, then you know I’ve set a B.A.G. (big audacious goal) for myself of selling 1,000 copies of my book, Homemade Happy Hour. Book sales continue to be strong, with most books going to wholesale orders for retail shops.
As of June 30, I’m 80% of the way to my B.A.G.! And since I love celebrating any kind of random anniversary for my book, free shipping is coming in July when we celebrate 2 years since the Kickstarter campaign. My mailing list people will get the code first, so be sure you’re signed up for my weekly newsletter!
Shifting Summer Goals
My original goal was to work ahead to take all of the month of July off this year. But the reality is as soon as kiddo started her 10 weeks of summer vacation back in early June, my days started being more about parenting than working.
So I’ve pivoted and changed that goal to be working 10 hours or less each week for the 10 weeks of school summer vacation. That gives me lots of time to spend with my kiddo and enjoy the summer with her, while still being able to maintain the website and do a little work, especially while she’s at her summer camps.
Ads are Paying for the Site!
Ad revenue has been steadily climbing as traffic has rebounded from the winter holidays. I am now at a point where the ads on the site are paying for all of the things - hosting, software, design, etc. - that go into running a successful website.
We are halfway through the year and my ad revenue is halfway to the breakeven point for the website. Which means that any additional revenue during the super busy holiday time this fall and winter might actually pay me a little bit for all of the time that goes into working on my site.
New Photography Website is Live
In April, I launched a new website at katymcavoy.com to promote my food and drink photography and help make it easier to connect with businesses and brands that want to work with me.
The focus of this new site is solely on displaying my photography and letting people know the various ways we can work together. All recipes will continue to be on mittengirl.com.
Coming Up in Q3
Some of my remaining summer work time will be dedicated to pitching my book to large holiday gift guides. They take pitches mid-summer so I need to be ready for that. Landing Homemade Happy Hour in a large online gift guide would definitely help me hit my B.A.G. for the book!
Moving my newsletter list to better software took a back seat in Q2, so it’ll move to the top of the priority list in Q3.
I’m exploring the idea of offering recipe digital downloads for a small fee on the website. These would be custom designed recipe cards that could be immediately accessed and printed at home. Pricing would be $1 to $2 per recipe. They would launch in a store front alongside digital cookbooks on my website. This is still very much a concept so if you have thoughts on this idea, let me know in the comments below!
Free Ways to Support my Business
- Review my recipes on this website. Google prefers recipes that have star ratings and reviews. If you’ve made any of my recipes, please leave a comment and some stars!
- Share my recipes. Made something from this site and liked it? Pin in, share it on Facebook or email it to a friend you think might enjoy it.
- Sign up for my weekly newsletter (and open the emails). Each week I send out a newsletter with a new recipe and links to other new and seasonal recipes on my site. >Subscribe here
- Follow me on social media. I’m the most active on Instagram, but am also on Facebook and Pinterest. Join me on whichever social channel you prefer!
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