Year in review
…or life and business in the past 12 months.
Kaliko Journal is a free newsletter about natural dyeing, textiles, art practice, and life by Ania Grzeszek. Feel free to share parts of this letter wherever and with whomever you’d like. If you want to support my work, subscribe to this publication and/or purchase my handmade products. Thank you.
Every year in December I publish my annual business (and life) review and I think the first sentence of this post already gives you a hint about the past 12 months: unorganized. I didn’t even manage to publish it in December this time.
I’m not sure where to start, there’s not much more to say about 2022 other than that it was financially disastrous and still personally much more fulfilling than 2020 and 2021.
If you follow me for some time already, you might remember my previous review posts. Past 2 years, I wrote that I was struggling financially, but actually, going through my financial statements and filing taxes recently, I realized the business did quite well until last winter. (Why did I feel like I struggled, though? I was wondering the same but then I faced the uncomfortable truth: I’m obsessed with saving, you see, and I don’t count obligatory monthly savings as income. Insane, I know. This year I bought a piece of land and started building a house with that money while still being “poor”. Money is weird.)
End of tangent, back to Kaliko. I was still running on the momentum I build when I first went a full-time textile artist. 2018 and 2019 were such a grind and led me to a massive burnout. But I also created a solid business foundation that carried me through the pandemic and personal whirlwinds. Up until this year I was so proud to be able to say: I built a business that was fully supporting me ever since I went self-employment at the end of 2017.
Well, that changed in 2022. To be honest I didn’t work A LOT for almost 3 years now, which is not something I strive for anyway. Sorry, I don’t believe in working like a bee anymore. I was burnt out, so I physically couldn’t do it. I wasn’t working smart, either, I was completely exhausted and clueless. The business slowed down significantly as a result. Add the recession and algorithm changes and we have a recipe for a (small) disaster. In 2022 my business supported itself, paid for my projects and studio, and covered my health insurance and taxes, but that would be pretty much it.
Which is all good, but not enough to pay for the rent and food. And on top of that, as mentioned before, against any common sense I bought a piece of land and started building a tiny house last January. Long story short - I needed more money than Kaliko was providing. All my savings from 2020-21 went towards making this dream come true and I found myself quite strapped for cash. So after a 4.5-year break, I went back to the office. In 2022 I found myself working as an architect again, even if only for about 40 days total, scattered over a period of 10 months.
Some business facts that might be interesting: none of the sale patterns from previous years repeated this year, probably because of the ever-changing algorithms, at least that’s what I suspect. In the past, project bags put me on the map and sold like hot buns, then my eBooks and DIY sets became my staple. Also, when Kaliko first started operating, most of my customers were based in the US.
In 2022, most sales came from Germany, France, and the UK, my best-seller was the large loom, and I made OK money with private workshops and organized events. Instagram practically died, Substack caught my attention, I don’t remember bringing anything significant to the market (not ashamed of that) and I guess that’s all I can say about running my business in the past 12 months.
And yet, that was a rather good year. Much better than the previous 2 anyways! As mentioned, I started building a house I dreamed of, I kept going to weekly therapy sessions which made me feel significantly better and I even got “spontaneously” married. In terms of professional development, I worked on quite a few personal art projects, picked up oil painting which I’m tremendously enjoying, and I finally started to detach my sense of worth from my work. That’s a small win for me! All in all, I feel lighter and calmer (and I know there’s still much to work on).
As always, I will also dedicate a paragraph to my plans for the upcoming year, though it won’t be long. In 2023 I want to get better at painting and work more on my art (I even signed up for a painting class!). I want to finish my tiny house project and I’m sure furnishing and decorating it will be fun and creatively fulfilling. And I want to keep going to therapy, get happier, more confident, and enjoy life more.
No business plans? Not really. Let’s just see what I feel like as I go. In the end, freedom is what I wanted when going self-employed. And last year showed me that the rest will fall into place somehow. Maybe 2024 will be my year? I don’t know yet. But today I’m officially releasing all pressure of 2023.
Hey Gorika, sounds great! It’s all a sum of small steps and we get fed the idea of one “right” path but the truth is we all have different needs. Good luck with all your projects and let’s stay in touch :)
Dear Anika, I really love your blog entries. I admire your courage to be vulnerable and honest. I am also on a similar path of being an artist but also continuing with my regular job part time to meet my expenses and in the process of buying a piece of land to build my dream house and in therapy. Reading your blog gave me courage to keep going. Please keep writing.