Unplugging the Holidays

I Should've Done This A Long Time Ago

Hello everyone! Sadly I’m fully aware of how long it’s been since a new newsletter has been published. I’d like to blame it on general holiday busy-ness, but that’s not entirely accurate. It’s been several weeks since my last post, and there are actually several reasons (some of which I’ll go into more detail on):

• My wife & I agreed that I was spending too much time working on side hustle tasks and not getting enough sleep, so I decided to cut way back for the month of December (if not longer). We’ll strike a new balance starting in January.

• On top of that, my 9-5 job has been increasingly stressful and busy, leading to less time and energy to invest in other tasks. Family has to come first, so I’m been giving them whatever I can, and giving the scraps to tasks such as this newsletter.

• With all of those factors, I decided to take the first real holiday vacation from the 9-5 that I have in a long time. I won’t be reporting back until Monday, January 3rd, and I’m so surprised and invigorated by that concept that I will be making long(er) vacations a much more regular thing in the future!

• While a vacation from the 9-5 would theoretically free up time for more side hustle work, I want to be respectful of my family and our holiday plans and decided to not substantially increase this type of work until January.

It feels very freeing to be taking some time off from things, and we have lots of plans for treats, movies, game nights, holiday visits and so much more. If you haven’t already, take time for yourself to be yourself and to be with loved ones.

Hustle Updates

With that all said, I do have some updates and goals to share on the side hustle fronts. They will be more generic today, because I’m respecting the holiday vacations and not creating concrete goals until January:

• KDP products: As of today, (only) 350 products have been published or submitted to Amazon for approval. I’ve gotten the design and publishing process streamlined, so fully expect to make up some ground here in the new year. I’m really enjoying this process, and can’t wait to spend some time here and improve things!

• Etsy products: As of today (Dec. 23) no sales have occurred, but I’m not disappointed. I’ve been marketing this on Twitter, but need to be doing so much more. One goal for January is expanding this product line into Amazon; I’ve done some initial research, and with a little work and a little risk, it could be much easier than I originally thought.

• Twitter: lots of exciting stuff happening here! KDP is up to 1,051 followers, and Etsy 1,978. Again, I could be doing so much more, but I’m developing some good processes and am happy with the return on engagement levels for the amount of effort I’m putting in.

• Newsletter: One goal for January is to get this published every Tuesday and every Thursday schedule, or something like that. Also, more funny pictures.

Get Out There

Now that I can check this off my list, I’m going to work on some KDP fixes before we have family come over for a holiday baking day. I strongly encourage all of you to slow down this holiday season; we have a LOT happening out there in the world around us, with no signs of things slowing down anytime soon.

Turn off your phones. Log out of social media. Walk away from the TV. Spend time baking, visiting, drinking and planning what your new year and your new “you” will look like. Find ways to make long-lasting changes to your life starting in the year 2022; my holiday vacations are helping me do just that, and I could not be more excited for whatever this new year will bring!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

-Alex