Blue Eyed Sun

Blue Eyed Sun - gorgeous greetings cards

BES Blog

  • Blue Eyed Sun launch new Touchy Feely card range

    Touchy Feely Cards

    Blue Eyed Sun have launched a brand new range of everyday cards called Touchy Feely.

    Based on original hand stitched artworks by textile artist Jo Corner, Touchy Feely are embossed to give a beautiful look and a realistic feel. Hand finished with jewels the new 24 new designs include 12 open birthday captions and 12 occasions cards.

    Touchy Feely cards all come cello wrapped with a coloured envelope that is 165mm x 165mm square. Sold in sixes the designs are available for trade customers to order through our agents, at shows or logging into Blue Eyed Sun's trade only website.

    You can see them all first in person at the events below:

    Home and Gift at the HIC in Harrogate 12 - 15 July 2020 - DP 1 - Stand D110

    Autumn Fair at the NEC Birmingham 6 - 9 September 2020 - Stand 6A43

    To stock these cards in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here. You can also visit our stockists page to find a store near you that may be selling them. To see an overview of Blue Eyed Sun ranges click here.

  • Does size matter at Trade Shows?

    Does Size Matter At Trade ShowsAt least year’s Speed Dating for Dragons event, ex-Clintons Buyer Brett Smith, was asked if exhibiting on a larger stand made any difference to retailers at trade shows. Having always bought shallow 1m deep stands to save money, I’ve often wondered about the retailer perspective on this.

    Shallow Savings

    From a publisher’s point of view, greeting cards are flat (like paintings) and just need a gallery wall to display them on. The closer that wall of product is to the aisle (and therefore the buyers) then so much the better. 

    More importantly, deeper stands cost more. A 6x2m stand is twice the price of a 6x1m booth and you only get one additional metre more of wall space (assuming one side of the stand is open). Incidentally, you ideally want an open side as it means you have access to two aisles and can benefit from increased footfall.

    Footfall

    Footfall is vital for exhibitors. A location in a part of the hall that a people don’t visit means lower footfall, meaning less leads and weaker sales. For example, upstairs at Olympia has often attracted less traffic. It can be the same with aisles that don’t run unobstructed (by larger stands) through to the front of the Halls at the NEC. The trouble is, shallower stands are rarely near the main and busier aisles.

    Location, Location…

    Being in the wrong location for product type can also affect success. This one is tough for us to get completely spot on at Spring Fair with Blue Eyed Sun’s growing mixture of cards and eco-friendly giftware. Our compromise was to move to the border of Hall 2 (cards) and Hall 3 (gifts) near to other card companies like Wrendale, Rachel Ellen and The Little Dog Laughed - that all offer a mix of cards and gifts.

    Not Hot Enough

    You also want visitors to have warmed up a little before they get to you. Being at the front of the show is great for presence, but sometimes people aren’t ready to buy as they enter. They might go past you again on the way out at the end, but can often be tired or in a rush, so you can miss out being at the front. 

    Having said that, if your stand is buzzing with people you’ll always attract buyers because none of us, including retailers, likes to feel like we’re missing out. I’ve often joked about creating a company called ‘rent-a-crowd’ to draw more people onto our booth at trade shows. 

    It can be relatively quiet for a while, then a couple of people come on the stand and the next thing you know it’s heaving and you can’t cope with the volume. It’s always a difficult one to judge the numbers needed for staffing at shows. With the extra hotel rooms, meal and travel costs you don’t want to overpay. Equally you don’t want to miss those all important customers.

    If we have too many of us on the booth, it’s not been unknown for us to pretend to take orders from one another to draw interest from passing buyers. Hard to believe isn’t it? You know… that Blue Eyed Sun isn’t mobbed every hour of the day at shows. Sigh. It happens though. However hot your product is, no matter how your stand is positioned, there will still be quiet patches - like the entire final day at Spring Fair.

    It’s not my fault

    Furthermore, you can have the biggest and best stand at the show with the hottest products and footfall can still be down because of external factors. As if the new layout and re-edit of Spring Fair wasn’t enough to contend with this year, a new health epidemic called the CoronaVirus was ballooning in China and just starting to spill onto our shores.

    Yes, China! Where the world’s stuff is made and which always has a significant presence at the NEC show. Have you noticed how they’ve started labelling the annual foreign flu as a virus? It’s always from another country too isn’t it? Newspapers rub their hands with glee as they reach more eyeballs and sell more ads, whilst the rest of us run around dripping in fear and anxiety checking their sites and pages for updates.

    We all had reason to be a tad nervous attending the NEC this year. Given that we’re shaking hands and kissing cheeks all day, it wasn’t entirely unwarranted. I grabbed a hand sanitiser dispenser (couldn’t find anything for cheeks) and had it available on the stand. Plus we ran like hell from anyone who looked like they were about to sneeze! Fingers crossed. So far, so good.

    Since we started exhibiting, we’ve been through so many of these external issues. We once had a show in Scotland that we were flying to immediately after 9/11, there’s been foot in mouth disease, swine flu, snow storms, heat waves and once our hall flooded at Harrogate. Whatever the issue, there will always be someone blaming this external factor for their poor show. 

    Sure, they have an impact, and yet we’ve always seen serious buyers, who have shops that need stocking, attending shows despite such events.

    Size isn’t everything

    For a long time, my priorities at trade shows were simple: let the product do the talking and get to (and in and out of) them with minimal hassle. Whilst others spent days constructing booths, I would set up our stand up in less than two hours with only thirty minutes needed to take it down at the end. Plus the whole thing fitted into my car - saving on van hire. It was not uncommon for me to be pulling onto the M42 twenty minutes after shows closed.

    I’ve done good business at shows over the years this way and it suited me for a long time. Sometimes retailers want to find a small company that they can champion. Who was I to deny them? Plus, if you go too big and need to reduce then you can look like you are doing badly. Something I used to be wary of. Anyway, size isn’t everything. Right? 

    Stand is Brand 

    Still, from time to time, I’d have a case of size envy at shows. Back in the day I’d watch contemporaries like Cavania and others do incredible jobs with their stands and always wondered whether sales increased enough to make it worth it or not.

    When Brainbox Candy launched, their big pink presence reminded me of something obvious that I’d missed: your stand is your brand. It is literally a stand for who and what you are. When we were selling handcrafted cards, a handcrafted stand wasn’t massively in conflict with who we were. Things are different for us now.

    This year, Blue Eyed Sun took the plunge and built its first ever space only stand. There must have been something in the air (apart from COVID-19), because so many publishers constructed amazing new stands this year. The Art File, Wrendale, Five Dollar Shake, Paper Salad, Tache Crafts, Louise Tyler, Rosanna Rossi and Belly Button (amongst many others) looked incredible. In fact, the card hall at Spring Fair looked the best I’ve ever seen it and it was a privilege to be amongst such fantastic brands. Watch a short video of Hall 2 here.

    What’s the Verdict

    So, what did Brett Smith say about stand sizes in the end? Well, you’ll have to attend GCA events or watch the GCA YouTube videos to find out, as you get what you pay for. 

    You’d think that after doing over a hundred trade shows I’d have known about the answer to the size question. I’ve done small stands and big ones now. I’ve attracted big buyers to both set ups and I’ve done strong sales and leads at both. 

    This year at Spring Fair was about our stand being more about our brand. We sell beautiful, design-led, quality products and are passionate about sustainability and the environment. That’s what we care most about. That’s our brand. That’s making a stand.

    Do Trade Shows Have a Future?

    How to make the most of Trade Shows

    Are Trade Shows still worth it?

  • What's Hot at Spring Fair 2020

    Whats Hot at Spring Fair 2020

    With the new layout / re-edit at Spring Fair 2020 plus the CoronaVirus emerging from China, there was plenty for everyone at the show to be nervous about this year. As Blue Eyed Sun's stand had been moved from a fantastic position at the front of Hall 4 to a new spot at the front of the card section in Hall 2 (perhaps not ideal with our growing mix of gifts and cards) we were slightly apprehensive too.

    Say what you like about Birmingham and the NEC, the reality is that we do great business there. I worked out recently that I've spent over seven months of my life at the NEC. The main reason being that Spring Fair is always our most important show of the year. For the first time in over 100 trade shows, we committed to a space only stand to open ourselves up to new possibilities.

    It turned out we weren't the only ones wanting to create something special at the Spring Fair 2020. The card hall looked the best I've seen it in twenty years. The Art File, Five Dollar Shake, Wrendale, Paper Salad, Pulp's new Thomas Street brand, Belly Button and many others all built beautiful new stands. In fact, the whole front aisle of Hall 2 looked so amazing that I shot this video of it (below) and shared it on LinkedIn. It's been my most viewed video so far:

    As well as a lovely shiny new stand in a new position, we also advertised in several trade magazines, we sent emails to our list and we mailed our new giftware brochures to all customers and prospects before the show. It's so important not to rely on footfall at shows and to really push hard to get buyers to take notice and come and see you there.

    On Sunday I spoke to retailers on Sustainability on the Inspiring Retail stage and we did several posts and videos on social media. We also gave all the speakers at the show one of our gorgeous new Bioloco Loop Bottles. Keen eyed visitors may have also spotted these ads on the screens at Spring Fair 2020 showing off our latest eco-friendly gifts:

    Blue Eyed Sun Eco Gifts

    The response to our new products has been fantastic. Visitors were pleased to see a different looking bottle flask on the market and loved the shape and the patented loop handle. Everyone loved the new colours and Bioloco Loop looks set for a strong year of sales.

    We also had a good response to our new Bioloco Office cup which keeps liquids warm for up to three hours. The twelve new BambooCup designs were well received and all of our other eco-friendly gifts, that help people live more sustainably, were very popular.

    On the greeting card side, our new Jade Mosinski range sold like hotcakes; as did Jo's new hand stitched Touchy Feely range (shipping mid-March). Customers loved the fact that we have moved over to compostable bags and that we offer naked (unwrapped) cards upon request.

    You can watch a short video tour of all of these hot products and more in this short video below:

    To everyone that visited us at the show, thanks so much for taking the time to see us and speak with us. We look forward to working with you if you enquired and we are grateful to all who ordered.

    To stock our products in your shop click here. If you'd like to see them in your local shop please tell them and point them in the direction of www.blueeyedsun.co.uk or recommend a shop to us by clicking here.

    To see what's new from Blue Eyed Sun ranges click here.

  • The secret to successful marketing

    The Secret To Successful Marketing

    It can seem quite daunting marketing a small business in retail or publishing, can’t it? With so many ways to market your products, where do you even start? 

    According to Kevin Kelly’s viral essay, ‘1,000 True Fans’, successful marketing does not need to be complicated. Simply start by making 1,000 people very, very happy.

    You Don’t need Millions

    For successful marketing, you don’t need millions of dollars, customers, clients or fans. To make a living as a creator you just need 1,000 true fans. These are people who will buy anything you produce. If you have roughly this number of super fans then you can have a decent income. 

    To do this you need two criteria. First, you need to create enough each year that you can earn, on average, £100 profit per true fan. For some endeavours, this is easier to do than for others. What makes this work well is that is easier (and cheaper) to sell to existing fans than to find new fans. 

    Secondly, you must have a direct relationship with your fans. If they pay you directly and you can keep the full £100 profit from each true fan then you will earn £100,000 per year. This would put you in the 97th percentile for annual UK income. To match the median annual UK income, you only need £29 profit per 1,000 true fans per year.

    1,000 true fans is an achievable goal. More realistic than aiming for millions and the goal itself opens up distinct possibilities in a massive array of niches. One way to get to this number is to add one true fan per day for three years and you’re there.

    A Day’s Wages

    Of course the number 1,000 is not absolute. To be your own boss and match the UK median annual income, you could have 500 fans each generating you £58 profit a year. Achievable as a retailer. Alternatively, you could be a card publisher chasing £290 profit per customer with 100 true fan retailers each year to generate the same income.

    Another way to measure the support of true fans is to see if you can please them enough to earn the value of one day’s labour from them. Pleasing your true fans is much more pleasurable than trying to appease the masses. Super fans tend to value and appreciate your uniqueness and authenticity.

    Not every fan will be a super fan. For each true fan you may have 2-3 regular fans. Like layers of an onion, you will have an inner circle that is surrounded by further layers of fans and customers. The processes that you develop to please your true fans will nurture peripheral fans too. Even though they don’t purchase as often, they may still add another 50% in profits to your business.

    From Small Acorns

    Everything big starts small and focussed. Whilst the 1,000 true fans makes a key point of suggesting that size isn’t everything, this approach is also how you create best sellers that can lead to break out hits. 

    Being laser focussed helps to build the loyal fan bases that leverage your work onto bigger things. Starting the other way (with size in mind) means that you may compromise by trying to please everyone and ultimately pleasing nobody. Not only do your loyal fan base tell you what works, they are also pretty vocal about what doesn’t, which can be helpful for staying on track with your niche vision. 

    Remember that size isn’t everything. Do you really want to be running large company? It’s not always fun and can become an all consuming task master the runs your life instead of you running it. Small, niche and profitable can be more enjoyable for most.

    Repeat custom

    One of the key points to remember about successful marketing from the 1,000 true fans essay is that these fans buy anything you produce. There are three key ways to grow your sales and true fans help with all of them. First, is grow more fans (by referrals). Second, is sell more to those fans (by increasing price or volume). The third is to sell to them more often (by releasing more products). 

    Jeffrey Ingold is a Mariah Carey super fan who’s spent over £8,000 on her music in his life time. He even owns multiple versions of the same albums. He buys everything and he raves about her music to others.

    Your Marketing Force

    Focus on your true fans, because they will also tend to be the primary driving force of recommendations, referrals and marketing. Their enthusiasm tends to increase the patronage of regular fans.

    To be really effective with your marketing you need to maintain close relationships with these true fans. Have a good CRM or database of who they are, what they like and how they like to buy. Having a direct relationship with true fans, wasn’t always possible. The internet and software systems make this all much easier and more efficient. It also means less fans are needed to maintain the same levels of profit.

    Technology now also helps total sales of lower selling obscure items to rival sales of best sellers. Called ‘the long tail’ by Chris Anderson, this effect can really benefit your bottom line. For example, Blue Eyed Sun has hundreds of older designs on our website that continue to generate ongoing sales, despite newer ranges dominating orders from our sales agents who tend to favour new.

    With the right website and emailing campaigns some customers can end up buying more from you directly, with higher average orders and more often than they do with agents or other marketing approaches.

    Discoverable Niches

    Before the internet, obscure items were much harder to track down. Remember Fly Fishing by JR Hartley? Now you don’t even need the Yellow Pages. Search engines help us to find almost anything. No matter where you are. Got something that only one in a million will like? No problem. There are still 7,500 people on the planet that will still like it. 

    You just need to have them find you. With social media and the internet it has never been easier to draw them to you and to keep them close. The good news is that big corporations aren’t interested in these niches and are not set up to service them. You can be.

    One way to build your audience is through crowd funding. With over 2,000 different such platforms now available, raising money through crowd funding campaigns is within all of our grasp. A friend of mine does over a million a year in online training courses and he still test new projects with kickstarter campaigns to build his core fan base before launching.

    Building your base

    Cultivating your fan base can be time consuming and hard work. Like business building, it’s not for everyone. Some should just create and others should market and sell. That’s why publishers and retailers exist and work so well as routes to market for some designers and creatives. They can add value to the equation. 

    On social media, micro-influencers who have built small bases of 1,000+ true fans can be a great way off getting your business out there and growing your own fan base. It can also work well for the influencer by adding value to their loyal followers. We have done several successful BambooCup promotions with such influencers who have boosted our sales, given their fans a fun competition with prizes and increased goodwill with the influencer and their true fans. A win-win for all.

    You can combine your 1,000 true fans with other approaches, like licensing and distribution deals. For example, Doodle Girl has a loyal fan base online and the brand benefits from our extensive greeting card distribution by licensing their designs with Blue Eyed Sun on cards. The right partnerships can increase the size of your fan base.

    The ultimate goal is build this base into one of genuine and true appreciation. You don’t have to have millions of followers, just an achievable number of true fans that you delight with your work. That’s the secret to successful marketing.

    How to get started with digital marketing

    How marketing has changed in recent years

    A sweet and simple marketing idea

  • Blue Eyed Sun add new BambooCups to market leading range

    New BambooCup from chic.micBlue Eyed Sun is excited to launch 12 new designs in their best selling reusable BambooCups.

    BambooCups by chic.mic were recently found to be the top choice in an independent study of bamboo cup brands by Stiftung Warentest. It's a great, market-leading gift for those looking to help find the war on single-use waste.

    Over 100 billion plastic lined single-use cups globally are used for less than ten minutes each and then end up in landfills and in the environment every year. The plastic takes a very to break down and when it does it contaminates our eco system with micro-plastics which affect our soil, our water and our wildlife.

    Scotland has recently passed a law charging a levy on single-use coffee cups and the laws on single-use waste are expected to change in the UK and Europe soon. This means more people will need to start using reusable coffee cups. Be part of the change by buying and using reusable BambooCups and by stocking them in your store.

    The great thing about bamboo is that it's very sustainable. It grows within four years, is pesticide free and has very little disturbance of the soil when harvested.

    We have loads of great products made from bamboo fibre, including lunch boxes and kid's tableware.

    Click here to order for your store now

    BambooCup by chic.mic

  • Spring Fair 2020 - Essential Information

    Spring Fair 2020 - Essential InformationSpring Fair 2020 brings together a huge range of products including an inspirational showcase of over 300 British greetings card publishers at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

    Register for FREE tickets to Spring Fair by clicking here

    When is Spring Fair 2020?

    Spring Fair 2020 runs from Sunday 2nd February until Thursday 6th February from 09:00 - 18:00 each day.

    Where to Eat at Spring Fair

    We've tried lots of different restaurants at Spring Fair. Here are some of our favourites:

    5 Great Restaurants near the NEC

    Where to Stay at Spring Fair

    Consider hotels in Birmingham City Centre (which is a short train ride from the NEC).

    Find accommodation for Spring Fair here

    How to get to Spring Fair

    The sat nav post code is B40 1NT. Parking on site is free. There are free shuttle buses to take you around the complex.

    Birmingham International Rail Station is a 5 minute walk from the show as is Birmingham International Airport. It is an 80 minute train ride from London Euston Rail Station.

    Save 25% on Virgin Rail Advance Tickets

    Seminars at Spring Fair 2020

    Improve your business at Spring Fair 2020 with some great seminars and talks.

    Blue Eyed Sun's MD, Jeremy Corner, will be speaking on the Inspiring Retail Stage on Sunday 2nd February at 13:00 on 'How can you be a sustainable retailer.'

    Click here for a full list of seminars.

    What's New from Blue Eyed Sun at Spring Fair

    We'd love to show you all of our amazing new products on our new stand at the front of Hall 2 (Stand 2L12). You will be amazed at the range of cards and gifts on offer. Some highlights are:

    Our gorgeous new hand-finished Jade Mosinski greeting cards, which launched this month

    A fantastic selection of new BambooCup, SlideCup and BambooFriends designs.

    Click here to follow our blog feed of what's new from Blue Eyed Sun

    Quote coupon code: SFB20 when ordering during the shows (online or offline) for FREE CARRIAGE until 10th February 2020.

    Can't make the show? Click here to request access all of our designs online.

    Read 12 Top Tips for Trade Show Visitors

    See if you can find Blue Eyed Sun's Stand 2L12 in Hall 2 on the show map below:

    Spring Fair 2020 - Floorplan

  • Blue Eyed Sun launch New Bioloco Office thermal cups

    Bioloco Office Thermal CupBlue Eyed Sun are very excited to launch a beautiful new thermal cup called bioloco office.

    Available in 5 gorgeous designs, the stylish bioloco office cup has a capacity of 400 ml (14.2 oz) and is made of double walled kitchen grade stainless steel 304. The elegant shaped reusable mug keeps drinks warm for up to three hours.

    The clean and chic design has a convenient lid for sipping from. It's also BPA-free, Phthalate-free and toxin-free. Hand washing is recommended and it's not suitable for microwaves. These new products are available to pre-order and are shipping from April 2020.

    Blue Eyed Sun are the exclusive UK and Ireland distributor of Bioloco products created by German supplier chic.mic.

    See all Bioloco products

    Retailers can order online here

    Bioloco Office Reusable Cup - Flamingo

  • Top Drawer Spring 2020 - Essential Information

    Top Drawer Spring 2020 - Essential Info

    Top Drawer Spring 2020 features many of Britain's leading design-led home, gift, craft and greeting card suppliers. Here are the essentials you need for this top trade show for retailers:

    For free tickets to Top Drawer Spring please click here.

    When is Top Drawer Spring 2020?

    Top Drawer Spring 2020 runs from Sunday 12th January until Tuesday 14th January from 09:30 - 18:00 at Kensington Olympia in London and features a stunning edited showcase of over 1,500 hand picked brands. 

    Where to Eat at Top Drawer Spring

    We've tried lots of different places to eat near Top Drawer Spring. Here are some of our favourites:

    5 Great Restaurants near Olympia and 5 Great Restaurants in Earls Court.

    Where to Stay at Top Drawer Spring

    Olympia is well serviced for hotels and there are good transport links to local London areas.

    Click here for an interactive map of hotels near Top Drawer Spring

    How to Get to Top Drawer Spring

    There's an overland train to Olympia Station to Top Drawer Spring 2020 from Shepherd's Bush (central line) or West Brompton (District Line)Click here for the TFL website.

    The Sat Nav post code for Olympia is W14 8UX for drivers. You can park next to the venue. Do book in advance as it is more expensive on the day. Click here to book parking at Olympia.

    What's new from Blue Eyed Sun?

    Blue Eyed Sun are expanding our beautiful new Everyday card range by Jade Mosinski at Top Drawer Spring 2020 on stand P49. You can also order any last minute Valentines, Mothers or Fathers Day cards as well as getting a sneak preview of forthcoming eco friendly giftware.

    Click here to see what's new from Blue Eyed Sun

    To order Blue Eyed Sun's new designs for your shop or request a brochure click here.

    Top Drawer Spring 2019 - Show Map

  • New Bioloco Loop Flasks now available in Eleven Colours

    Bioloco Flasks 2020

    Blue Eyed Sun are very excited to add six new colours to our gorgeous new flasks called bioloco loop. There are now have a total of eleven beautiful irridescent shades to choose from.

    These stylish bioloco loop bottles have been a big hit with our retailers. Each has a capacity of 500 ml (16.9 oz) and is made of double walled kitchen grade stainless steel 304. The elegant shaped flask keeps drinks warm for up to 18 hours and cool for up to 12 hours.

    The design is complemented by a unique wooden lid and a silicon looped handle. Plus these eye catching accessories are BPA-free, Phthalate-free and toxin-free. Hand washing is recommended.

    We all need to do our bit tackle the war on waste and these reusable bottles help users to reduce the million plastic bottles being sold every minute, most of which are not recycled and many of which end up in our oceans and affect our wildlife.

    Biloloco Loop are available to order now and you can see them in person at Spring Fair 2020.

    See all Bioloco products

    Retailers can order online here

    Bioloco Loop Flasks

  • How to have your best year ever

    How to have your best year ever

    I recently read ‘Your Best Year Ever’ by Michael Hyatt. If you’d like to have an awesome year ahead and aren’t sure how you can do this, here are some useful tips from his book…

    Upgrade Limiting Beliefs

    Do you ever have beliefs that hold you back? ‘I don’t deserve this’ or ‘I can’t sell’ are examples of messages we might give ourselves that have an effect on how we see our future. They are like wearing red sunglasses that colour our vision and distort what’s possible for us. We do it to ourselves, the world around us and others. It keeps us living in a restricted space of fear and scarcity instead of thriving abundance.

    The good news is that upgrading your limiting beliefs is like choosing a different colour of sunglasses. ‘I don’t deserve this’ can become ‘I’ve worked hard for this’ and ‘I can’t sell’ can become ‘I love to share my products with the world.’

    I used to have a limiting belief that key account buyers wouldn’t talk to me because they are too busy. My focus now is on how our products can help them grow their sales and make the world a better place.

    It’s important to recognise the power limiting beliefs have over us, to face them head on and to create more powerful and inspiring possibilities for ourselves going forward.

    Completing the Past

    There are things we may have wanted to happen in our lives and they didn’t. For example, you may have wanted a long and happy marriage and it didn’t work out that way. We carry the story of our failures, rather than acknowledging what happened, learning from the experience, adjusting our behaviour  and moving on. Such stories can hold us back from living our lives fully and they fuel our limiting beliefs.

    Regrets can be a feedback loop for when we have steered off course. They can also create opportunities. Think of them like a road sign, rather than a road block. Pointing you in the right direction, rather than getting in your way.

    Instead of wallowing in regret, anxiety or suffering, as my grandma used to say ‘count your blessings.’ Indian yogi, Sadhguru, reminds us that “over a million people don’t wake up each morning. So, if you wake up, is it not a great thing? If those dear to you also wake up, it’s a fantastic day.” I like this, because you don’t have to accomplish or do anything to feel grateful. It is a blessing to simply be alive.

    Be Smarter

    Hyatt has adapted the popular SMART goals strategy to make them even more achievable by being:

    Specific
    Measurable
    Actionable
    Risky
    Time-keyed
    Exciting
    Relevant

    I found this useful when creating the Rising Retail event for retailers. Being specific about the date (1st June 2020), location (The Shard), number of speakers (14), delegates (30) and subjects (10) made organising the whole event easier than if we’d just said let’s produce an event to support British High Street Retailers.

    Choosing to be healthier, fitter, richer, better, doing less, doing more, etc are all too vague and don’t tick the boxes above. So don’t set goals like these for yourself. You’ll only be disappointed. Set SMARTER goals, take the first step towards their attainment immediately after setting them and then make further steps habitual.

    Life Goals

    It’s important that your goals aren’t all work related. They should ideally cover a range of areas that make up your life in addition to the usual physical, financial and vocational goals we often set ourselves. Design goals and habits for your spiritual, intellectual and emotional life. As well as those that nurture your relationships and hobbies.

    You also need to make sure your achievement goals are supported by habits that are installed through winning streaks. Let me give you an example. Last year my son, Sam, set me a challenge of watching 104 great movies on a Gift Republic poster that he gave me as a gift. It was a fun goal. 

    I worked out that I needed to watch two movies a week for the entire year. Achievable, right? It’s important that goals have some discomfort in them, but aren’t delusional. It was a big ask of my time (100 hours+). It was also something I could share with my son to enhance our relationship and it was doing something I love. I am a Cinephile with two Humanities degrees in Film.

    As with most of my goals I set off at a good pace and was on track at five months in. Then the Summer arrived and I fell off the wagon. I got to October and had sixty films still to watch. I spoke with my son about not making it and he said that I’d have to agree not to eat chocolate for six months if I failed. A fate worse than death for me! It helped me to knuckle down and nail a winning streak in ten days that made completing the list habitual. In fact, I got ahead and even had time to spare.

    Your Why

    That messy part in the middle is where we so often fall down with our goals isn’t it? Although I had good motivations for doing the challenge, I lost my way. We lose our way, when we lose our why.

    Sam gave me a new ‘why’ in October, which helped massively. It was deeper than just chocolate for me. It included being true to my word, both to myself and to others. Being an example of this (and of determination) to my son is important to me too.

    Getting back on track with my movie challenge also helped me become more organised and focussed in other areas of my life. I could see the benefits of being smarter about my goal setting and habit creation.

    Having someone who cares for and supports me also made a big difference. It’s something I think I’ll need more of in certain areas with this year’s goals to help me grow, encourage me and hold me accountable for reaching them.

    Plan your work and work your plan

    Make first actions easy to gain momentum. You don’t have to do the hardest job first. Do something easier to get going and then work on the more difficult stuff. 

    Remember to chunk down seemingly daunting tasks into smaller more manageable actions. It’s much easier to break the mountain climb down into smaller sections. You can then celebrate achieving them as you head towards completing the whole.

    Don’t rely on your willpower in the moment. Set triggers for yourself. Want to improve sleep? Leave your electronic devices in another room before going to bed. Set your gym clothes out the night before. Book gym appointments with friends or a trainer. Then take action according to your plan.

    Do, or Do Not

    In Star Wars, Yoda reprimands Luke Skywalker for saying he’ll give a task another try. “No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try,” he says. Ditching the word ‘try’ from your vocabulary reinforces your commitment to action and from there to achieving your goals. The difference between saying you’ll try and do something and saying you’ll do it is huge. Commit to steps that you can do, not try to do. 

    Review

    Review your goals and motivations daily, weekly and quarterly. If they are written down, they are easier to track, adjust and maintain. Keeping these lists manageable is really helpful. For example, choose 3 key goal focussed tasks per day, 3 per week and 3 per quarter. Make sure they all help you move towards your overall goals. Review how it’s going and what needs doing next and remember why you are doing it. You can always change and adjust as you go.

    I wish you all a very successful year ahead with making your dreams come true. Remember to write down where you want to go, make sure it’s ‘smarter’ and track your progress to adjust as you go. I hope that it’s your best year ever!

    Jeremy is speaking on the Inspiring Retail stage at Spring Fair on Sunday 2nd February at 13:30 at Spring Fair on “How can you become a sustainable retailer?”

    Why New Year's resolutions don't work

    How to change your habits for good

    How to achieve your goals

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