2016 Year in Review: BSD by the Numbers

2016-year-in-review

So last year I shared a few facts about how much BSD has grown over the past year. I love to set goals in order to dream big and challenge myself. And what better way to share in the joy in reaching those goals than to share them with others.

2016 wrapped up what will soon to be our second year in business.  It's hard for me to believe that BSD has been around for that long. I still feel like we are somewhat of a new business even though we have grown a ton this year.

Here's a few amazing things that happened to us this year...


Our little company grew from a business of 1 to a business of 3! That's right! My right hand woman, big time encourager and official COO, Mgeni Jumbe joined BSD back in March this year just when I was starting to get so overwhelmed that I had thoughts of quitting (ok, maybe not quitting, but at least taking some time off. Then in November, we hired testing coordinator (and the only person I have found that may actually be more picky than me about pattern details) Danielle Oliver. It's so much fun having a team of talented ladies to keep me motivated. Our group is super positive, and because of that I think we get a lot more done and are super successful. Plus all that positivity just makes you feel good!

We had more than 530,000 page views in 2016 at the time of this writing.  Holy smokes, guys! That's more than half a MILLION! Numbers like that seem incredible for any site, let alone mine! A lot of that traffic came from our post 15 Bad Sewing Habits You Need to Quit Doing that went viral back in January and February.

We had over 3100 orders in 2016!  This is over a 200% increase from last year! I think us simply getting our name out more made a huge difference in the the amount of new customers we got.

We have over 4500 members in our Facebook Group! This is almost a 240% increase over last year!  Even more exciting, we now have over 3,300 followers on Instagram! This is over a 1300% increase over last year! Yes, that's not a typo.

We released 14 patterns in 2016 including 3 ladies patterns! That brings our total pattern library up to 25. And being that we currently have 5 patterns in various stages of production, its looking like 2017 is going to be another busy year!

Goals for 2017


I am a huge goal maker. It's the main reason why I think we accomplish so much. So here is what I am hoping to accomplish in 2017.

Release more patterns: Now that BSD is now a team instead of just one person, I am hoping to release 2 patterns a month for a total of 24 patterns for the year.  That will basically double our current pattern library. We are currently on track to meet that goal for January and February already.

Blog More: This was also a goal for 2016, and while it started out great, I lost momentum halfway through the year. That being said, we still blogged more in 2016 than we did in 2015.  I'd like to continue that trend into next year.

Give Back: I want to release two free patterns next year. This is something we are already working on and I cannot wait for when we can share the official details with everyone.

Take Care of Myself: This is both a personal and a business goal. I did a crappy job of this in 2016. I was working too much and too hard and ended up with mono which took me over half the year to get over. 2017, I want to take care of myself and rest when I know I need it. I know my kids will appreciate that too.

What are some of your 2016 accomplishments and 2017 goals?  Let me know in the comments!

XOXO,
Melissa Prendergast
Bella Sunshine Designs
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