Turning the page

New Years is a few days away so now seems an appropriate time to wrap up what happened this year, and set my goals for next year. A virtual Board of Directors meeting if you will, and since my social media followers and fans are the closest thing I have to a BoD I figured I'd share the wrap up with you.
At the start of 2011 fencing was still something new, and Cookies were still mostly an experiment. In February I was told that I should start thinking about upgrading my equipment to the international standard, this or course came with a hefty price tag. at that point I set a sales goal of 200 dozen cookies. Thanks to some lucky breaks, a spotlight interview on Thrillist ATL andThrillist Seatle I was able to get my internationally rated uniform, unfortunately I came up a little shy on funds for my first international event in Montreal. It worked out better for me in the long run because it gave me more time to develop as a fencer. In March I went to my 3rd National event of my fencing career in Detroit Michigan. I won my first medal at this event and started to see all that all the hard work was paying off.

I lost focus on cookies in April and got away from sharing my story with my friends and customers and started to use social interaction to inundate time lines with sales pitches rather then interacting with customers. I still find myself falling into the "buy my cookies" trap but I'm trying to be more human and less corporate.
In May I had the opportunity to get away from the normal weekend practices with my team and go to an event in Oklahoma. I fenced well and learned how to enjoy myself on the fencing strip. The trip back home was..Well that's another story  

The cookie biz slowed for a bit during  "swimsuit" season and I found myself getting a little discouraged but the slow down gave me time to refocus on my goals for fencing as well as for Wheeling Chef.

Things started to pick back up in October and haven't slowed down since. Holiday sales were very good this year, my one week sales this year actually eclipsed a great month last year. Fencing has also seemed to have taken off. In Kansas City this month I fenced as well as I ever have bringing home two medals.

The next few months are going to be busy as far as fencing I'll be in Tampa in February, Cincinnati, in March and Virgina Beach in April.   The schedule is demanding but I'm looking forward to it.
Like last year I'm setting a sales goal for a major purchase, this year its a new fencing chair. The one that I use now is my team captains old one. It has served me well to this point but it is time I got one of my own that was built for me. A new fencing chair is approximately $2,000 or 333 dozen cookies. A big goal no doubt, but I have never backed down from a challenge.
Thank you all for your support over the last 12 months and for sticking with me during my cookie experiment and fencing adventure.