What's on the cards for 2018

I started writing this post on the 8th of January, then I blinked, and now it's February. And that's a good thing - everything I was going to write back then has already changed. 

Good thing I've read "Who Moved My Cheese" and can deal with change. When you work in digital marketing you need to be able to adapt – things can change overnight. For example, Instagram finally changed their API to allow for fully-automated scheduling last week which is a huge relief for social media managers everywhere. 

So, on a more personal note – what's on the cards for me this year? 

Holidays and self-care

I didn't take a break last year. I felt frantic all year and had a lot of tough times with family illness and bereavement. Our flat got robbed, and my passport got stolen. It was exhausting and so this year I'm taking things a bit more easier. I'm going to be kinder to myself and take more time out to recharge. I've set myself a personal goal of getting back into running (with Joffrey!) as well as doing yoga at least every week. 

We took a mini-break in Belfast last month and ate at a delicious restaurant called Edo (see the main picture for this post). Jay Rayner went a couple of weeks later and enjoyed it too, so you know it's good.

Support more local businesses

I was reflecting on my business "brand values" and realised that a couple of things were out of whack. I'm not going to get too deep and spiritual here, but it was bugging me. Sometimes, I didn't practice what I preach. I love supporting local businesses but often turned to Amazon Prime out of sheer laziness. So I've cancelled my membership and kicked myself up the butt.

Work less yet work deeper

I'm going to work on less projects and schedule my calendar more methodically. 

"Work deeper" sounds like I'm planning on taking up diving as a hobby. But I just mean focussing on just a few projects at a time, and not spreading myself too thinly. I feel like that's when things really work for me and for my clients.  

Blog more

I'm going to write this blog more. I really enjoy it, and people have told me they like the behind-the-scenes kind of chat.

I want to write more about the challenges of freelancing as I (sometimes) pretend that everything is awesome. I mean, it is mostly awesome but I learned a lot last year and I think I could share some useful gems.

And I'm going to write more reviews on the food blog, I promise. 

I love a side project

I've got some side projects on the go including The Finnieston Food Crawl which got a mention in the New York Times in January! What a way to start the year. I knew the journalist was writing about it but I didn't know what publication it was for, so it was an awesome surprise. 

So that's how my 2018 is looking so far. January was a great month so it felt like a really nice start to the year. Touch wood that continues!

Let me know if you have any big plans for 2018.