I'm the one-woman show behind Paper + Oats where I quite frankly have my hands in a lot of different things — teaching creatives how to use Adobe InDesign to grow their business, designing books for authors, creating resources for learning design, marketing, and productivity, sharing my journey as a single mother, and even making pottery in my basement ceramics studio. It's a lot. Subscribe below to follow along with my weekly updates 💛
9 months ago
Hey friends,
Remember 9 months ago, when it was January, and we had all that Big New Year Energy? We were making resolutions, planning out the next 12 months, and carefully choosing our word of the year.
Well I'm here to confess something.
My word of the year was RESET. I've been burnt out on work since Covid hit, throwing spaghetti at the wall in the some ways, and I decided 9 months ago that this would be my year to reset my business. To find joy in it again and breath new life into its stale bones.
But if I've learned nothing else in the last decade, it's that I make plans and the universe laughs in my face.
To say the last 9 months did not go according to plan would be the understatement of the year.
I set out with high hopes of resetting my branding, my website, my offerings, my email marketing, maybe even add in some brand new products to liven things up.
Well here's how it went — I updated my logo design, swapped out the main photo on my website for one that wasn't 6 years old... aaaaand then everything came to grinding hault.
I was living my best life when I was hit with one of the most painful breakups I've ever experienced. I hit rock bottom in a lot of ways. My business — this reset — was honestly the last thing on my mind. I focused on healing, getting back up, and finding peace again.
I was tired, to say the least. I was given the opportunity to contract for a fellow course creator who's business has exploded over the last few years, and the timing just felt right. I needed to put my energy and focus into something not directly connected to me. It was a relief, a weight off my shoulders in so many ways. The pressure of running your own business for 10+ years can be exhausting, and it was hitting me hard this year. While my courses aren't going anywhere, something had to give.
Oof, we're gettin' vulnerable here.
And so change came a-knocking. I would say I put my reset on the back burner, but actually — maybe it just changed into a different kind of reset. A reset of ME.
More BigChange™ has been developing in the second half of 2023 than I ever could have planned for in January. I started writing this very email thinking it would be about how I abandoned my word of the year. But in writing it out, of course things CHANGED.
My reset was not found in my website, my courses, or my email strategy. My reset was found in myself, my relationships, my heart, my priorities, my mental health.
2023, you've been a DOOZY. Sheesh. But the reset continues. In fact, big changes might be coming to this space – this email list – before it's all said and done. We'll see where the wind carries us.
Has your word of the year changed its meaning since January? Surely I can't be the only one.
Thanks for reading and sticking around as I reset my reset. If nothing else, I'll keep you on your toes 🙃
More soon,
Kelsey
Kelsey Baldwin at Paper + Oats
I'm the one-woman show behind Paper + Oats where I quite frankly have my hands in a lot of different things — teaching creatives how to use Adobe InDesign to grow their business, designing books for authors, creating resources for learning design, marketing, and productivity, sharing my journey as a single mother, and even making pottery in my basement ceramics studio. It's a lot. Subscribe below to follow along with my weekly updates 💛
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