reflecting on 2025

i think it’s easy to look at where you’re at right in this moment, to know you’re not exactly where you want to be, and to feel as though you must have done nothing, or at least not enough, in the past months or year to still be in this same place. but, if you actually sit back and think about it, you’ll find you’ve actually done a lot. and you’ve come a long way from the place you were three months ago or eight months ago or at the beginning of the year.

that’s how i feel at least, when i think about this past year for my small business. at first, i felt as though nothing had changed, but in reality almost everything has.

a look back at 2025.

in 2024, i had decided to take a break from my small business, no rain. i no longer felt connected to what i was doing and selling. i didn’t feel as though i had much sense of direction in terms of where i wanted my business to go or what i wanted it to be. so, i took about 6 months off, and completely shut down my online shop. by the end of the year, though, i began to feel a new sense of direction and purpose. i started to rebrand my business and realign my goals.

i brought this rebrand into life at the start of 2025.

a few thing i had decided for my business: i wanted to focus on selling vintage & secondhand clothing instead of new. i wanted to sell more home decor and lifestyle items, not just clothing. and, i wanted my brand to be about more than just selling product. i wanted it to be a source of joy and inspiration, and a community.

so, i started sourcing secondhand clothing and accessories, i designed and printed some art prints on handmade paper, and started posting creating and posting content that wasn’t just focused on selling a product.

i started selling my art prints on etsy in february and dropped my first collection of secondhand clothing and accessories in april. before this drop, i completely rebuilt my online shop.

candles were a best selling product for me in the past, so i made more but in thrifted glass pieces this time. i also started sourcing secondhand home decor.

by summer i had found a love for making jewelry. i made safety pin brooches with vintage beads. then beaded necklaces and keychains. this was the start of more handmade product collections for my shop.

i dropped three more seasonal collections of secondhand clothing and accessories throughout the rest of the year.

i created more—new prints, new keychains, a calendar, recipe cards.

and i continued to work on building the lifestyle brand i aspire to be.

i started this substack, the no rain journal, a simple life & style journal. sharing my styling tips and outfit ideas as well as thoughts on romanticizing your life and finding joy. i carried that over to my socials, posting more consistently to my tik tok.

so, no. i’m not exactly where i’d like to be, but i’m definitely not where i was 12 months ago. i essentially rebuilt my whole business, i have a product assortment i feel good about, a vision for my brand i’m excited about, and i have so many ideas for the future of my small business.

reflecting on this past year has served as a good reminder that slow progress is still progress. and acknowledging that has made me more motived going into this new year, and excited to see what i can accomplish in the next 12 months.

a few of my goals for this year:

continuing building the no rain journal and grow my community

travel more—with the purpose of sourcing product for my shop from new places

continue creating and expanding my product assortment

connect with other creators and makers and vintage curators

sell my products in personal at markets

make the no rain journal into a physical print

curate more vintage collections

<3

to 2026 and more growth!!