Hello everyone! It’s that time of year again and boy, I am ready for it. Many of you may well know that June 1 kicks off my summer break on the channel. I typically would resume uploading on July 1st, this year I’m a little uncertain and I may end up extending my break into July this time. More on that later!
I have tons in store for you all when I resume my upload schedule. For those of you who don’t know, I use this hiatus to project plan, record new content, write patterns, and relax! Since my last break, I have gone from uploading once per week to three to four times a week. That’s so crazy! I’ve been enjoying the various ventures that I’ve taken on in the last 12 months and have seen so much growth in that time. I can partly credit this growth to some awesome fellow Crafties who have shown nothing but their caring support for me such as Kim from ClassyKim’s Crochet, Jane from scraptastic yarns, and Alysha from Littlejohn’s yarn. I would also like to thank all the family and friends who have supported my content to this point as well!
This year’s hiatus is going to be really big for me in many ways. A lot of you may recall that I got accepted into my university of choice this year! There has been a lot of back and forth and paperwork that I’ve been trying to get through preparing for this transition into Fall 2020. I’m supposed to be a part of the class of 2024 and in this time frame, I aspire to double major so that means I have to be on my grind! Through faith, grace, and mercy from the Most High, I believe I can get it done. With these ambitions in mind, I’m heading into Uni taking five classes. The scheduling for these courses is a little odd but it’ll be manageable, I’ve taken five classes before, I’ll survive.
With this in mind and the prospect of job hunting later in the summer/year, I want to make sure I have enough content prepared in the event that I don’t have time to record later. This worked out really well for me last year and IF I’d stayed on top of it while I was ahead, I’d have been totally fine going into December ’19.
What’s New?
Being an opportunist, I’ve been silently doing a lot of behind the scenes work for my brand. Anyone who has been around at least since December 2019 will have noticed the immense changes that have gone on since the start of this year. For one, I did a massive overhaul and rebranded my logo, YouTube intro cards, banners and photos on my social media. I’ve also been adding steadily to my Etsy store! During all this down time, I’ve been able to put more effort into launching my brand and since May 8th, I’ve been listing my physical makes in my shop. At this time, I have mostly, my recent projects posted but, over this hiatus, I’ll photograph and list the rest of my inventory. This is kind of a trial run but, I do hope to find success in this venture. It’s something that I’ve prayed about and I feel as though I am being led by the Lord to explore this as it does fit into the overall vision, He’s given me for my life. Here’s to big dreams!
I was able to get my PO box back in April and all the other little things so, I’m excited to start shipping! So far, I’ve listed face coverings, shawls, hats, and a blanket...maybe a scarf. Head on over and heart the shop though because, again, new listings are coming!
What’s coming?
So, this is really just a grand ole to-do list for me over my break. There are a lot of things that I want to prepare for the future of the channel and my brand!
Kofi Blog
Editing the donation goal – Some things have shifted since I’d set that goal and I’d just like to go in and optimize that!
Edit the coffee amount – just as a social experiment, I do this ever so often. It’s about that time.
Drive more traffic – I don’t get paid for traffic to my blog but, I do enjoy releasing content on the platform and I’ve love to see more people noticing my content here. I post my artwork, current projects, small and large updates, teasers, patterns, and other announcements here.
I know that I say it but, going forward, I’ll be more consistent when mentioning that I use affiliate links in some of my posts.
YouTube
Experiment with that DARN banner – it gave me such grief while I was placing all my rebranded images. Despite using YOUTUBE’S dimensions for my channel banner, the thing just won’t fit right. I essentially rage quit.
Editing the About section – I’ve thought of a more eloquent way of representing my vision for my channel now!
Hash out the details for my next giveaway – I absolutely enjoyed doing the last channel giveaway and I’d said that I’d do that again once I hit 750 subscribers! Well that was January. As of May 20, 2020, I have grown from 500 to 684! With the day of reckoning just over the horizon, I want to start planning now! That being said, be on the lookout for the upcoming giveaway survey.
Playing with my notification settings – So YouTube tends to go into super parental control mode, and I have just realized this the other day. I’ve been getting way more comments on my channel and content and had no idea because the platform either doesn’t notify me or places y’all’s comments under review and never tells me. My apologies and I thank you all for your love and support. I also read a comment for a towel topper on the knitting machine I have… that’ll be a challenge, but I’ll sure try!
My over all goal for the channel is to hit 1000 subscribers by my channel anniversary of October 1st!
Organize and consolidate playlists- some of these can be merged or deleted. I’ll be doing all of that!
Create Intro card for Tunisian Crochet – An oversight on my part, I want to go on and make a separate video intro card for Tunisian Crochet!
Create End Cards- I want to make end cards to advertise both my Reddit and Etsy accounts!
Camera Manner – I’m not perfect and I constantly work at being comfortable on camera. I used to deal with pretty bad social anxiety and one of the characteristics of the condition is that it’s really hard maintaining eye contact. I constantly play with new ideas on how to maintain that contact with the lenses though, please bear with me.
Pattern Release Videos – I think it’d be a fun idea to make short videos here on the channel that showcase new pattern releases! I typically will mention them on my blog or I’ll just release them without the fanfare. This will be largely experimental but, I believe it’d be helpful with marketing.
Etsy
Drive more traffic/shop admirers- I plan to go in and rewrite my shop description, update the announcements and edit some of my listing descriptions.
Add more items – I have quite a few things that I’m wanted to offer, and I may do these in batches due to listing fees associated with selling on Etsy. I’m optimistic but, I’m still starting at ground zero here, so I’ll need to pace myself on this one.
Add a video for my shop – After fiddling around in my settings, I see some new opportunities for my Etsy store and I think it’s high time that I experiment!
Reddit
Reddit is a complicated and odd place – I think my main goal here is to keep posting and collecting Karma. I may eventually form a community but that’ll be much later. More on Reddit another time.
TeeSpring
Promotions to be added over hiatus – More of that traffic building stuff going on! I really want to see more popularity among my designs!
Update the Crafting is my Zodiac Series – I’m just going to go ahead and design/release them all and advertise them when the seasons rise!
Write Patterns
I have 5 patterns that need to be typed and one that I need to write, work and typed. I plan on making two of them available for free on my blog upon release. However, if you ever feel compelled to support the content, my patterns are always available in PDF format on Etsy.
