Year in Review: 2022
Continuing the tradition I started last year, I took some time recently to review 2022 in my business and plan for 2023.
I revisited my 2021 in Review post and realised that I’d achieved much less in 2022 than I hoped for, but that’s OK! The war in Ukraine shook me up immensely and I felt under the weather for the largest part of the year, so I’ve been prioritising self-care and slow living following my inner rhythms. I also discovered that I have ADHD, which helped me understand how my brain works and be kinder to myself regarding some issues that I previously considered to be personal flaws.
Major projects of the year:
1// Levelling up my Shopify project management, design & development skills
In 2022, I’ve built a couple of websites for service-based businesses, but looking forward, I’d like to book more e-commerce website projects. As more and more creatives wish to dip their toes in online sales, most website projects require online shop integration anyway. The world of e-commerce is a different beast, so in order to step into its lore and coding practices with confidence, I dived into two courses from the experts. The first one was The Shopify Codex from Arq Design Studio, which mainly helped me to set up project management stages and processes. The second one was Standout Shopify by Squarestylist, a course I was looking forward to since joining Standout Squarespace in 2021. I love Rache’s teaching style, and her courses’ value is incredible.
2// Consulting and blog content creation for the Kyoto Artisans Concierge
Once a month, we visited one of the craft ateliers available for visits via the Concierge’s booking system. The purpose was to revisit the ateliers, interview the makers, reassess the available hands-on experiences and look for new ways to improve them for international guests. Each visit resulted in a couple of blog posts to introduce the creatives and their practices. Check out the round-up of 10 atelier visits that inspired us in 2022 here.
Plans for 2023:
Restructure & redesign my website: I recently merged my 2 websites (Arigato Creative and Arigato Kyoto) into one, so I’m brainstorming ideas on how to structure the menu and layout of the site to make it as simple and user-friendly as possible. I’m also considering renaming the studio to reflect this change. I realised that both sides of my business (website production and Kyoto crafts & design curation) serve the same audience: design professionals, artists, makers and creatives, so it is logical to set up one hub for all my offers.
Craft a couple of Squarespace templates to offer in the online shop and to use in Arigato Website Intensives for semi-custom Squarespace site builds.
Refine my productised offers for Squarespace and Shopify (Arigato Website Intensives) to empower emerging brands in establishing a memorable and strategic online presence on an affordable budget.
Focus on content marketing and SEO, and publish journal posts consistently.
Start a catalogue of Kyoto design spots, local brands and independent makers. I’m still reflecting on the exact form it will take, but one part of it will be online in form of Journal posts while the other will be assembled in e-guides & itineraries. We’ll see how it goes!
Japan has finally reopened for inbound tourism, so I’m resuming my Custom Kyoto Design Tours. I’m specialising in local traditional crafts and visiting ateliers in collaboration with the Kyoto Artisans Concierge. A couple of fixed-itinerary thematic tours are also in the making, so stay tuned.
That’s it for now. Wish you peace and success in all your projects!
