Author: Edwige Bouyer

January is the time to take stock of the year ended and to plan for the coming year. Just as people make resolutions on a personal level, in a company, we must adjust our future objectives to continue to progress.

I must admit that I am rather disappointed with 2021. 🙁

I had had good growth in 2020, despite the pandemic, which gave me hope that the lean years of starting a business were over. But in 2021, my sales stagnated 😞. I barely made the same turnover as last year, and lucky that the Christmas markets 🎄 went very well, because I even left to do less. 😱 I'm still far from saying that I live from my business, again this year, although I devote myself to it full time. 😱

However, I have been working for more than 4 years without counting the efforts and the time to develop it. My products are appreciated, you tell me that regularly, but I can't manage to obtain a constant and sufficient volume of sales to live on. I spend a lot more time looking for customers than serving them. 😫

Online sales work well around the holidays🎄, but otherwise it's average. You have to put a lot of effort and time into marketing and social networks. And every year the algorithms penalize us more for not paying for sponsored posts and advertising. The visibility decreases, and therefore the interactions decrease, and then the algorithm penalizes us more because nobody reacts. It is an eternal restart.

Points of sale do not order regularly: at the beginning of a relationship it's madness 🤪, then it falls dead 🙄, and I don't understand why. I find it difficult to maintain a dialogue with them, so I am lost in guesswork on the reasons for the drop in interest. My efforts to develop other business relationships are not bearing fruit.

In-person markets operate mostly around the holiday season. But I need income all year round, like everyone else. What can I do? Where am I going wrong? What do successful people do that is different from me?

I am there in my reflections. If my sales don't take off more this year, I might have to close shop... 😞 or at least find myself another job to supplement my income. Still, I love what I do with Taille & Retailles. I have a purpose and I pursue my values. But ideals don't feed the family. 🍞

Will I find a way to progress this year? I'll tell you about it later, when I've finished my 2021 report and my 2022 planning. If you have any ideas for me in the meantime, let me know. 🙋‍♀️