Goals and Intentions for the New Year

As we look towards 2023, I wanted to share some of my goals and intentions for Style Charade. Before doing so, thank you for following along and being so supportive. It means the absolute world to me! I am incredibly thankful to share life’s journey with you. It’s always a two-way street so I’d love to to know what your focus is moving into the New Year. Drop a comment below!

Hopefully, this post inspires you to sit down to establish your goals to. Remember they are goals for a reason. 🙂 While I may not achieve one (or any of them, lol), I’m excited to have a general goal framework for the year ahead.

Style Charade Goals for the New Year

#1: Capsule Collection Expansion

The Sail to Sable x Style Charade capsule collection continues to be my heart and soul literally on sleeves. If there was ever a goal, it’s the continued (and careful) expansion of this partnership and line. My hope is to work with more boutiques, stores, and fellow influencer friends to shed light on this amazing brand and our lines together.

Special thanks to the Sail to Sable team for all they do, and to all of you who continue to support it. I’m truly in awe and forever thankful. We have two collections coming your way in 2023 – spring and holiday. Spring is designed, and it’s exceptional (I’m biased, haha!). But if wholesale orders are telling us anything, Spring 2023 is truly a fun and fresh take for the line.

Also, my sincere thanks to the retailers, boutiques, and e-commerce sites that pick-up and continue to invest in the capsule line. If you are are a store interested in chatting with us about carrying the line, drop me an email at stylecharade{at}gmail{dot}com.

Industry Thought Leadership

After blogging since 2008 and working in integrated communications for nearly two decades, there are so many lessons and insights that I’d love to share with this wider community. Last year, I was thankful to sit on several panels to discuss influencer marketing trends, affiliate marketing insights, and beyond.

When and where there’s an opportunity, I look forward to more panel discussions and attending industry events. Two conferences on my radar is the Fast Company Innovation Festival and the 2023 Cannes Lions.

I’m a big believer that you need to continue to push your professional development. Invest in yourself, invest in your future, you know?

Team Structure

Last year, I included this goal and it was never achieved. Le sigh.

I’d love love love to expand the Style Charade team to include a part-time assistant to help support us behind-the-scenes. It takes so much work to plan the capsule collections, along with prepping for photo shoots, photo/video editing, and so much more.

If you know of someone in the Chicagoland area who would be interested in possibly being a part-time assistant and has background in it, drop me an email or DM. Would love to connect!

Less is More

Ultimately, 2023 is all about less is more. Is this a priority for you going into the New Year as well? Overall, it’s so easy for us to get bogged down in our daily lives. I don’t want to take on too many tasks or collaborations.

Instead, I love working with my fave brands consistently and repeatedly. To me, it’s important to showcase my true loves and ultimate must-haves. Any tips on how you try to live out this mantra in your life? I’d love to hear!

Small, Female, and Minority-Owned Businesses

Expect to continue to see even more small, female, and minority-owned brands on Style Charade. These elements have always been a core part of the DNA of Style Charade. My ongoing mission is to continue to amplify diverse voices and to highlight small, female, and minority-owned brands.

Videos, Videos, Videos

We dabbled in creating more video this year and really loved it. Therefore, I’d love to try more – especially Instagram videos (Reels, IGTV, etc.) and maybe even YouTube. Think home tours, fashion styling tips, and travel videos. Fingers crossed, as I love creating content and stretching myself with a talented team behind it.

Home + Interiors

As many of you know, we purchased a lake home last year. It’s honestly my favorite place to visit in the world. We’ve been spending a lot of time there, and it’s been so good for the soul.

Here’s the catch. 2022 was supposed to be the “year of interiors” – think major home projects, renovations, etc. Well, it didn’t happen (or least not in the way we originally thought). Sure, we renovated many aspects of our primary home – new siding on our home and garage, new gutters, heating system, tuck pointing, new windows, etc.

However, we didn’t get nearly as far as I’d hoped at the lake home. Thankfully, we found the most incredible residential architects in Chicago named Massey & Associates (a recommendation of Amelia, our interior designer). Their plans for our lake home renovation are amazing. I give Massey our highest recommendation. They’ve been beyond impressive. Legit.

Unfortunately, bidding out builders and contractors took much longer than expected. Things moved at a glacial pace (to no fault of our architects). Everything was just SLOW SLOW SLOW. Moreover, home renovation prices are INSANE right now. Thankfully, things are calming down a bit and the supply chain is in a better place.

Simply put – home renovation quotes took forever. Plus, the prices were all over the place. Thankfully, after an extensive vetting process, we finally (!) selected our home builder. We are relieved and thankful to have found a team we trust.

Lake home renovations should start this spring!

Our primary home will also see more renovations this year – our basement (finally!), outdoor deck, and bathroom renovations. Exciting!

Work / Life/ Blog Balance

My full-time job is my top priority – always has been, always will be. While my full-time job takes up the majority of my time, I try to keep things very church and state when it comes to the blog.

I try not to talk about my blog at work unless absolutely necessary, and I don’t talk about work on the blog.

At times, leaving out details about my full-time job is hard. Really hard. It plays such a big role in my life. As such, I plan to give a larger window into my career and job this year. Nothing crazy, but I’ve worked for two decades in my industry and would love to share more learnings and insights.

As I said before, the blog always takes a backseat to my full-time job. At the same time, this community is important to me, and I’m committed to Style Charade for the long-haul.

As long as I can find balance… everything will continue to be good (especially since Style Charade isn’t going anywhere). 🙂

Community

I’m one of the last to complain about algorithms. It’s a part of the journey and process. Plus, everyone is feeling it. I must admit that I’ve been heartbroken over my Instagram engagement.

Is anyone seeing my content? Liking it? Cares? Why does it feel impossible to grow and expand?

Since day one of Instagram, I’ve played by the rules and remained true and honest – no bots, no giveaways, no cheating. It’s really frustrating to witness people buying followers by the thousands/tens-of-thousands (and think nobody is the wiser).

Therefore, it’s been sad to watch my page just feel…forgotten. In fact, loyal SC brands have gone out of their way to do calls with me to ask, “why don’t I see your posts” and “whoa….what is happening with your engagement?!”

I will not make excuses – it’s happening and I don’t have the answers… but I’m trying.

In the end, this community comes first. Whether my Instagram posts get 1 or 100 likes, I will always show up for you. On a positive note, I’m so thankful to have this blog and for all of you who read and engage here. This is the corner of the Internet is my fave place to connect with you, and I’m excited to continue creating unique content here!

Style Charade Goals – In Closing

In closing, thank you, thank you, thank you for everything. While the journey has its highs and lows, I’m forever thankful for this phenomenal community. You make everything so much sweeter.