Hi everyone, I’m Divya from the Community team and, today, I want to talk about vision boards! Gaining popularity over the last few years, they have become a sort of ritual for starting a new chapter with a clear vision. A vision board is a space where all your aspirations, goals, and plans for the new year can live and motivate you towards them. I like to think of it as a creative calendar that you can look at every day. Planning for the new year is on everyone’s mind right now, and whether you're going all out with cut-outs and glue sticks or prefer to go digital, these simple tips will help keep the focus on what’s most important to you. Let’s dig in! ✂️ Reflect on your goals—and also your achievements 💫 Before jumping into what’s next for your shop, take a moment to ground your vision in what’s already working. For Julie of JuliePeach , that means starting the year with intention and curiosity. “I start every January with a deep dive of the previous years’ business,” she shares. “Which styles were best? Was it a trendy graphic, or was it more about the mood?” A new year can feel like a fresh start—but that doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel. Once you’ve identified your goals for the year ahead, take time to look back at your top-performing listings to see what can be learned or repurposed to support those goals. “January is really about deciding what I am inspired to design,” Julie adds. “From there, I create slideshows with loads of inspiration and make manic notes about what palettes I think would resonate, what graphics I want to be sure to draw, and what best-selling patterns could be recolored to live with these new collections.” Try: Getting your repeat buyer, launching a new collection, adding personalization to your listings, or even investing in tools to elevate your craft to the next level. Treat vision-boarding as an ongoing practice 📆 For Emily of VanOordtsKnittery , vision-boarding isn’t confined to a single season or moment. Instead, it’s a living list of ideas that grows over time. “Vision-boarding, for me, isn’t an end of December task, I am constantly adding to a list of ideas throughout the year,” she explains. “Throughout my daily life, vintage rummaging, or social media scrolling, I see little tidbits that I like and want to incorporate,” she adds. “ Deciding which ideas to act on can be the hard part, but there’s always one idea from my list that I can’t stop thinking about, and that’s the one I act on first.” So kick off your vision board, but keep it flexible and let it evolve as you grow and learn. It’s there to help you stay focused, channel your energy, and find motivation on the days progress feels hard. Try: Curate from all the screenshots you’ve taken recently, ideas you saved on social media, and even notes you might have scribbled in your journal. Let it be an authentic representation 💟 Lastly, don’t worry about the aesthetics and give the perfectionist in you a break for the moment. This activity is to get down to the core of what direction you want your shop to go in this year—from the creative aspect to the financials. Feel free to include things that aren’t traditionally “visual,” like the number of sales you’d like to reach, the percentage you want to grow your inventory, or even words that describe how you want your business to feel. Your vision board doesn’t need to be pretty, it just needs to be authentic. A tip Emily shares, “Take a deep breath and really think about what makes your shop ‘you.’ Make your shop atmosphere authentic. Make your products match your taste. And, most importantly, make sure your shop matches your unique style through listing photos, colors, adjectives… Make 2026 the year for ‘you’ (not someone else) and I promise you, people will notice.” Try: Make a list of five characteristics that you’d like to associate with your brand—and then look at your shop. Are there changes you could make to bring it more in line with those same five qualities? What’s one thing that’s going on your vision board for 2026? Share with us in the comments below! 🎨
