What a year 2022 has been for us here at KK&S Designs! Over the past several weeks I’ve sat and reflected on what this year has meant for me, my family, and my business. What I’ve found has only reinforced that being a business owner is not for the faint of heart. I’ve experienced very low lows and I’ve experienced really high highs, but even with the rollercoaster this year has proved to be, I'm grateful for the experiences it’s given me – something I’m sure any business owners can relate to! So to close out the year I’m sharing some of the highlights of this year for me, some of the things I’ve learned, and how KK&S plans to grow in 2023.
If you’re curious about what I’ve learned from this year as a business owner and creative, interested in some of our recent accomplishments, or you’re eager to hear about our upcoming plans for the new year, stick around and have a read!
Meeting Our 2022 Goals
Over the past year, I’ve tried to focus on three broad goals: create memorable designs, be more transparent, and grow my community. As a creative design fabricator, creating unique and memorable designs will always be important for me and 2022 was no different. This past year has seen numerous new designs from KK&S Designs – I even debuted my first trio of mini collections during black history month and revisited my For a Cause collection in October to raise awareness for Breast Cancer! Between custom commissions and the various themed collections, this year has been chalk full of new designs. My biggest hit has to be my Social Media QR Code Plaque though – designing is truly an amazing blend of stylish practicality which is why this plaque stands on top for me this year. The design allows you to plaster a company’s social media codes onto a branded acrylic signage, making that business quickly and easily discoverable on their various social media! Something essential to reaching a greater audience for many businesses, mine included.
I’ve never been a huge social media person - it can really be exhausting if I’m being honest. However, I understand how effective it is at reaching people, and have seen just how important it is for growing a business–as evidenced by the success of our Social Media QR Code Plaque! So, this year we kicked our social media presence into high gear. Over the past year, we’ve become more active on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, and through this have seen the impact of posting frequently, creating content that people connect with, and engaging with those who follow and support the company. Utilizing these three techniques, we’ve increased our social media presence by over 40% and we have gotten to work with so many newcomers and interesting clients this year. The latter two techniques don’t stop with social media though.
Transparency is important to many customers these days–customers want to know who they’re supporting and clients want to know more about the person they’re working with. That's why the creation of our blog has been so exciting for me. I have so many thoughts and ideas that come to my mind each day and with so many things going on it can be easy to forget them or difficult to find the right space to share them. That’s why I decided it was time to finally start a blog. I wanted an outlet to bring all my ideas to the forefront and a place where I can share my knowledge with the world. Furthermore, I wanted a place to let people get to know me, and in turn make a community where I can get to know my audience and they feel confident about who I am and who our company is. This year we’ve pushed out seven insightful and informational blog posts. I can’t wait to carry our blog posts into 2023 and share more tips, tricks, and anecdotes with you all. Be sure you subscribe to our website and check out our social media so that you know exactly when we upload a new post!
Some Highlights from This Year
Some of my proudest moments this year came from being a part of some amazing projects that landed us in magazine publications. Nobody ever tells you when you become a business owner how hard it is to get recognized and to get your work seen so these publications are near and dear accomplishments for me. Here are some of the magazine publications I was so lucky to have our acrylic signage take part in:
Aside from the opportunity to feature in these publications, I’m also quite proud of the various acrylic business signage projects I’ve taken on this year.
Over these past few years I’ve had the pleasure to work with a slew of other small business owners. Some I’ve done several projects with, and others have been one-offs, but all of them have been impactful and have shown me the importance of collaborating with other small business owners. I’ve also had the pleasure of creating wood signage and acrylic signage for larger organizations; most recently Aflac, Coppins State Golf Tournament, The Real Housewives of Potomac, and the Mid Level Managers Symposium. To say this year has been a whirlwind would be an understatement! I can only be thankful for the experience these projects have given me.
So What's Next?
2022 was a blast but 2023 is going to be epic! The new year is bound to bring new opportunities and more journeys and I can’t wait to explore it with you all. My goal for the new year is to build on everything I’ve worked so hard on this year. You’ll see an increase in my social media presence alongside blogs each month of the year. We’ve got so much great content in the works for the new year, we can’t wait to share it!
And of course there are the designs themselves. I always try to push myself when it comes to new designs and this coming year I have several ideas I can’t wait to bring to light. We’re also looking to update our online customer experience so keep an eye out on the website to see what changes we have to come. When it comes to this business, I want to leave a mark on the people that I come in contact with. I want you all to be able to say, “Tracey really came through for me. She really did that.” So, with that all said, happy holidays to you all, and we can’t wait to see you in the new year!