E54 Section 1 Intro
Welcome back.
This is Part 3 of our year-end planning series for fabric creatives who want to head into 2026 a bit more prepared.
In Part 1, we talked about planning like a maker, not a corporation — starting with your actual capacity and choosing a couple of anchors instead of a long list of goals.
In Part 2, we looked back at 2025 through a different lens — not numbers first, but patterns, energy, and what felt supportive or heavy along the way.
Now if you haven’t listened to those two episodes, no problem, You don’t have to listen to those first. These are stand alone episodes, but if you get a chance, I highly recommend you go back and have a listen. They are super helpful!
So today, we’re shifting gears.
This episode is about moving from how 2025 felt…
to what actually worked.
And this is not a “list all your wins” episode.
It’s not about celebrating everything you did or proving that you were productive enough.
Instead, we’re going to focus on one small win from 2025 — something that worked, even if it just worked in the background — and why that single result matters more than a long list of accomplishments.
I’m going to walk you through:
• why one small win is often more useful than ten vague ‘yeah, that did okay” kinda thing
• how to identify the win that actually deserves your attention
• and how that win should influence the decisions you make for 2026
Most creatives either ignore numbers entirely because it feels too “businessy,” or they only pay attention to big numbers — big launches, big sales, big growth.
It’s that kind of planning that usually feels overwhelming and too abstract. This episode is meant to simplify things — and give you something concrete to work with before the year ends. Small wins are more reliable than big ones — because they’re repeatable.
So, let’s take a look at what actually worked in 2025.
So now that we’ve looked at how 2025 felt — the energy, the patterns, the quiet data — this is where we shift gears just a little.
Because feelings matter…
but results matter too.
And I want to be very clear about what I mean by “results,” because this episode is not about bragging, validating yourself, or proving anything to anyone.
The question we’re working with today is simple, but it’s powerful:
What is one result from 2025 — however small — that proved something works?
Not necessarily what made the most money.
Not what looked the most impressive.
And especially - Not what you wish had worked.
I’m talking about something that actually moved.
Something that led to a sale, a repeat request, or a clear “yes.”
Maybe something that happened more than once, without being forced.
Something where you can say, “Huh. That worked.”
Most creatives skip over these kinds of wins.
We naturally tend to look for big numbers, big moments, big growth.
And when we don’t see those, we assume nothing worked at all.
But that’s usually not true.
What’s more often true is that the small wins get ignored because they don’t feel important enough.
They don’t feel exciting.
They don’t feel like a headline.
But small wins are not about validation.
They’re about direction.
This episode is different because I’m not asking you to review everything.
I’m not asking you to list all your sales, all your shows, all your products, all your attempts.
I’m asking you to choose one.
One result from this past year that softly proved:
“This works for me.”
“This moves people.”
“This is worth paying attention to.”
Because when you try to analyze everything, you learn nothing.
But when you slow down and study one thing that worked, you start to see patterns you can actually build on.
And that’s where this becomes useful for 2026.
So the question isn’t just what worked —
it’s whether that win is actually worth building around.
And that’s where a simple filter becomes really helpful.
Because not every win deserves to be repeated…
but the right ones can tell you exactly where to focus next.
Once you’ve identified a result from 2025 that actually worked — in a small way — the next step is figuring out whether it’s worth paying attention to.
Because not every win deserves a sequel.
So I use three very simple filters. Not rules. Not a scorecard. Just a way to think clearly about what’s worth carrying forward.
The first one is this:
It happened without forcing.
This is a big one for fabric creatives.
I’m talking about things like:
– a show where people bought without you having to discount everything
– a product that sold without constant posting or explaining
– a class that filled without you chasing people down
– a repeat customer who came back on their own
Anytime something moves without you pushing it uphill, that’s information.
It doesn’t mean it was easy.
It means it wasn’t resisted.
And that’s important, because forcing things year after year is exhausting — and usually not sustainable.
The second filter is:
It’s repeatable.
This is where a lot of people get tripped up.
Ask yourself:
Could I do this again?
Not perfectly — just again. Could I do this as many times as it takes?
Could I do it quarterly?
Could I do it next year without dreading it?
A one-time win can feel exciting, but if it took everything out of you, it’s probably not the thing to build your year around.
A small win you can repeat beats a big win you can’t sustain.
Every time.
And the third filter is one we’ve already been talking about in this series:
It fits your actual capacity.
Not your ambitious version.
Not your “maybe next year I’ll have more time” version.
Your real life.
Did it fit your energy?
Did it fit your schedule?
Did it fit the season you’re in?
Because valuable wins don’t just work — they fit.
When something fits, it leaves you with enough energy to keep going instead of needing to recover for weeks afterward.
Now, at this point, some of you might be thinking,
“Well… I’m not sure what even counts as a small win.”
And that’s fair.
Because if you’re only looking for big numbers or dramatic results, it can feel like nothing worked at all.
So let’s get very clear about what I mean by a small win — because this is where a lot of people talk themselves out of seeing anything at all.
A small win does not have to be flashy.
It does not have to be your biggest sale.
And it definitely doesn’t have to impress anyone on the internet.
A small win is simply a result that moved.
It might be:
– one show that consistently did better than the others
– not wildly better, just noticeably steadier
It might be:
– one product that sold slowly but regularly
– not the one you promoted the hardest, just the one people kept picking up
It might be:
– one price point that moved without resistance
– no explaining, no justifying, no apologizing
It might be:
– one teaching format that felt natural instead of draining
– in-person instead of online, short instead of long, small group instead of big
It might be:
– one sales channel that worked more consistently than expected
– markets, word-of-mouth, email, a local shop — not necessarily social media
It might even be:
– one post that got real replies
– not likes, not opens — actual humans responding
Or:
– one collaboration that led to action instead of “we should totally do this sometime.”
All of those count.
Because this isn’t about scale.
It’s about signal.
A small win is something that proves:
“This moved.”
“This worked.”
“This didn’t need forcing.”
And I want to say this because it’s really important:
If you’re looking back at 2025 and thinking,
“Well… I guess nothing worked,”
you’re probably just using the wrong measuring stick.
Small wins don’t shout.
They tap you on the shoulder.
They say, “Pay attention here.”
And once you learn how to spot them, you start realizing there were more signals than you thought.
But a word of caution here — Noticing a small win doesn’t mean you immediately reorganize your entire business around it.
A small win isn’t proof that you’ve found the answer.
It’s a signal that something is worth paying closer attention to.
And what you do with that signal is where things either get clearer… or messier.
This is where a lot of creatives accidentally trip themselves up.
Because the instinct is to treat a small win like a verdict —
“This worked, so this must be the thing.”
But that’s not what a small win is for.
A small win isn’t saying:
“Drop everything else and do only this.”
It’s saying:
“Pay attention. This deserves a bigger seat at the table.”
There’s a big difference.
When we overcorrect — when we chase a single win too aggressively — we usually end up exhausted, boxed in, or oddly resentful of the very thing that worked.
Because now it’s carrying too much weight.
A small win is a signal.
Not a verdict.
It’s information.
Not a command.
The goal isn’t to squeeze everything out of it as fast as possible.
The goal is to let it inform your next year.
To ask:
What does this tell me about what people respond to?
What does this tell me about how I like to work?
What does this tell me about where my energy and the market overlap?
Oooh – BIG one right there- Let me repeat that one-
What does this tell me about where my energy and the market overlap?
When a little win can tell you that – that’s gold!
So here’s the line I want you to remember —
Your job isn’t necessarily to chase more wins.
It’s to notice the ones that already worked.
And then — instead of building your entire next year around that one thing —
you let it inform your other decisions.
You give it more room.
You see where it fits… and where it doesn’t.
You let it’s advice seep in to the other areas your interested in.
That’s very different from turning it into the plan.
Because when you use a small win as direction — proof of concept – not THE concept
it brings focus without pressure.
And that shift alone can take a year from chaotic to clear
without adding anything new to your plate.
Okay, so a little recap,
Today wasn’t about finding more ideas or setting bigger goals.
It was about noticing one small win from 2025 —
not because it was flashy,
but because it proved something actually works.
We talked about why that matters.
We talked about how to recognize it.
And most importantly, how to use it —
not as proof that you’ve “figured it all out,”
but as direction.
Because when you let a real result guide your choices,
instead of chasing new ideas out of pressure or panic,
your year starts to feel steadier.
And that’s really the through-line of this whole series so far:
building 2026 with intention instead of overwhelm.
Next week’s episode actually lands on Christmas Day,
and I’ll be talking about why staying with something matters more than people admit.
Then, when we roll into the new year on January 1st,
we’ll come back to the series with a very practical reset:
From Overwhelm to 2026 Creative Direction.
We’ll use your actual creative practice —
what you love, what you use, what you keep reaching for —
as data for what comes next.
No pressure.
No reinvention.
Just clearer direction.
Until then, take a moment this week and ask yourself:
What’s one small win from this year that deserves more room in the next one?
That answer might be quieter than you expect —
but it’s usually the most honest place to start.
