This blog post is sponsored by OLLY Nutrition. All experiences and opinions are my own.
2020 – it’s a New Year so let’s talk New Year’s resolutions! Did you make New Year’s resolutions last year? Are you making any this year? I want to talk about my three-year resolutions that I made in 2017 and how I manifested and made all of them happen without even knowing it.
SEE ALSO: 9 Reasons Why Austin Texas Is The No. 1 Best Place To Live
I’m kicking off the new year with my one-year ambassadorship with OLLY where I’ll be sharing how I stay strong, balanced and energetic starting with OLLY’s new Collagen Gummy Rings! Girls gotta keep this youthful glow – collagen helps improve firmness and resiliency & diminish those pesky wrinkles.
Now let’s talk about how I made my New Year’s resolutions happen and how you can too.
1. WRITE IT DOWN
In 2017, I bought the biggest notepad that I could find and wrote down three things I wanted to accomplish:
- launch a brand new atasteofkoko.com designed by hired designer + developer
- launch #shopkoko – branded merchandise
- publish my own book on Austin Texas
I found this notepad in the garage last month & totally forgot that I wrote down ALL OF THESE THINGS and I accomplished ALL OF THEM. Did I know I was going to do that? Did I know how I was going to? Nope
- Brand new website – I designed and developed the last seven versions of my website and I knew it was time to put on my big girl pants and actually hire a professional designer and developer to build a robust website.
- Shop Koko – time to dip into physical products. A Taste of Koko was 7 years at that time and I’ve always been online so I knew it was time to create a physical product. I was really into cute graphic t-shirts so I decided to put together two of my favorite things onto a t-shirt. Introducing the donut boobie tee.
- Koko’s Guide To Austin – this was really a wishlist item. Most people want to publish a book but few get around to doing it so I really didn’t think this was going to happen.
WHEW – this is a lot. I know, I know. You must be thinking – Koko, do you even rest? How do you take care of yourself?
Well, I’ll tell you that’s not candy in my hand – it’s OLLY’s new Collagen Gummy Rings. These gummy rings are packed with collagen that nourishes our skin on a deep level to improve firmness and resiliency while diminishing the appearance of pesky little lines and wrinkles. More importantly, the gummy rings are peach bellini flavored so they’re super yummy and colorful that I actually remember to take them every day!
Neuroscience says you are 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish your goals if you write them down than people who don’t.
No artificial flavors or colors added to the Collagen Gummy Rings and they are gluten-free.
2. BREAK IT UP & PRIORITIZE
There’s no way that I could have accomplished #1, #2, and #3 at the same time so I had to figure out what my priorities were and break it up one by one.
Priority one – launch a brand new website that looks professional, mobile-friendly, and SEO optimized. I looked at dozens and dozens of websites and put together a list of elements that I liked from each website. First, I hired a designer and walk her through my big picture, design elements, and my goal for the website. Then I hired a developer and SEO consultant to work together to build the framework of the website. The website design and build was supposed to be a six-month project but it quickly turned into a nine-month project. $15,000 later, yup $15,000, the new website was launched.
I’ve always said, it takes money to make money.
Priority two – launch a merchandise line to bring my online brand to IRL. I spent months researching different t-shirt brands and buying a lot of t-shirts. Not just to look and feel the quality of the t-shirts but sometimes just to see how they packaged the product to ship. I pulled dozens of t-shirt samples from t-shirt manufacturers and then gathered price quotes from different screen printers in Austin. I knew I wanted to produce these t-shirts locally in Austin even though that meant a higher production cost.
Priority two b – after hiring my designer, she told me I had only one chance to do a launch party for Shop Koko so we did a launch party. Museum of Donuts was a one-day pop-up highlighting my first t-shirt, the donut boobie tee, and over 675 people came. Experiential marketing – I knew nothing about but for some reason, it was a hit.
Priority three – the book.
But first, how I do keep my immune system going so I can keep going? OLLY’s Active Immunity + Elderberry with echinacea, zinc & vitamin C helps keep my immune system healthy and strong. It comes in two flavors: Blood Orange or Berry Brave. I keep mine on my vanity so I’ll remember to eat them while I’m doing my makeup.
Elderberry – this wise little berry has been used for centuries for support wellness and packs a powerful punch pf phytonutrient plant power
Immunity Blend – Echinacea and vitamin C & zinc help keep your immune system running strong*
3. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS
Does anyone else have shiny object syndrome? I have to constantly reel myself in and ask myself, how does this meeting benefit me? What am I going to get out of going to this event? How did xyz get xyz opportunity? Don’t get distracted by what everyone else is doing, what are YOU doing?
This past summer I was about to turn the big 3-0 when I had a panic attack from my midlife crisis. I decided, nope this is it, I have to do the book. I have to do the book now or else I’ll never do it.
I took a look at my finances and decided to take a gamble on myself and self publish the book. (I could write an entirely separate blog post on the pros and cons of signing with a publisher or self-publishing, just let me know down below!)
I gave myself a deadline of five weeks to create the book. Here’s what I did:
- created a master excel spreadsheet of all the sections and pages of the book and brain dumped of years and years of restaurant information from my head
- hired a writer to help me put all of this into pretty little sentences
- fired the writer
- wrote all the content myself
- organized hundreds of photos
- reshoot dozens of photos for the book
- re-edited all old photos with my current photo filter
- hired designer to design the pages of the book and create the brand identity of the book
- hired an illustrator to illustrate the maps
- hired an editor to edit the book
- hired a second and third editor to edit the book
- met with a local printer in Austin to pick out the paper for the pages of the book and the cover
- reviewed the proof with the printer
- printed several different covers with different shades of yellow
- reviewed the proof again before we printed 1500 copies
- books delivered to my book launch party one hour before it started
All of this was done in five weeks.
Insane? Yeah.
A typical author takes a year, sometimes two years to publish a book, and I did mine in five weeks.
How?
I was focused – very, very focused. I said no to almost everything for those five weeks and was basically on home arrest furiously writing and organizing content. I ate more takeout those five weeks than I’ve eaten in my entire life.
Not going to lie, I missed a couple of shower days and looked so bad that my printer guy didn’t even believe that the girl in the book was me. #truestory
Cue OLLY’s Laser Focus gummies in berry tangy tangerine that have a blend of ginseng, alpha GPC, and B vitamins to help you optimize your thinking power and stay on task without jitters!
- Ginseng – fast working botanical that helps you get int he zone to think fast and stay on task*
- Alpha GPC – this unique form of choline works on-site to help nourish the brain*
- B vitamins – hard-working nutrients that keep your brain’s signals firing so you can keep up with your to-do’s*
And that’s how I made all of my New Year’s Resolutions come true. What’s your goat setting strategy?
*These statements have not been evaluated by the food and drug administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.
