Welp, that was a year. 

Before I get into it, can I give a shout out to reflection?

Reflecting over the year is one my favorite practices. It takes a while but its wholly worth it, and I hope it's a practice you put into...well, practice. There's so much good and learning that comes out of it! 

As I look over 2025 from a business perspective, there’s a concerning through-line in it: time scarcity and feeling behind. This realization is making me shift how I work in 2026. More on that in a bit. 

On the whole, it was the best business year so far. I’m waiting on the final report but I think I came out at a net 0 or about $2k profitable. Yep, that’s the best year I’ve had so far *sad realization* but I’ll take it! It’s heading in the right direction. 

The two things I’m most excited about are this:

1. I hired 2 crucial people to help free up my time.

2. I didn’t need to use our personal funds to pay for products for the first time ever.

The most transformative part of 2025 had nothing to do with business. It all started at a concert in November 2024, and a beautiful bow wrapped it up in November 2025. I can’t wait to share about that below. 

When I reflect on my year, I read through my monthly reflections and I write down the things that truly stood out. Taking that same idea, I’m going to break down each month in Sprouted Planner. 

But first, here’s a quick glimpse of where Sprouted Planner stands at the end of 2025. 

Month by Month

January

I started out the year already behind. This set the stage for the year ahead, unfortunately. A big focus of January was releasing YouTube videos, such as setting up your planner, my year in review, and how to plan series. I was also in the middle of designing a planner/journal for a different business that is dear to me. 

February

Finished reconciling finances from 2024 in order to project for 2025. I have a book keeper who does this officially but I have my own spreadsheets that make sense to my non-finance brain. This is also the month our dear Nicole shifted from helping me pack orders to helping me in emails and YouTube comments. Lastly, I started exploring if I can move manufacturing stateside. 

March

I sent my annual feedback survey to everyone who bought a 2024 planner. This process is incredibly helpful and invaluable. I also love getting to reward 5 people with Amazon gift cards! I also held my annual garage sale at the end of this month and into April. There was also a ton of hustling to create the 2025 planners, which is incredibly late. 

April

Tons of order packing happening at the beginning of this month. I also JUST started the cover design process with Karla. More pushing to design the planners. I completely redesigned the front pages, which took even more time than usual. Continued exploring into manufacturing here in Minnesota. 

May

I finally finished the planners and got them submitted to my manufacturer, including the cover art, and all the other product designs. There are always weeks of conversation with my manufacturer at this point, which means many late nights. The number of details at this point is insane. We also arrange all the product samples, which I also use for photos. I also squeaked out a launch plan before the kids got out of school for the summer. 

June

Working with my photographer, Lydia, to make a plan for photos (product, lifestyle, and look book). I get my samples to Lydia this month, and she gets all the product pictures done so she can return them at our lifestyle photoshoot in July. I also seriously explore fulfillment centers because I cannot keep packing order #burnout. 

July

I have my lifestyle photoshoot this month. On the limited days I work (summer with elementary-aged kids), I’m working through a YouTube course. This ends up being a waste of time and money over all. The program is great, but executing the way she teaches makes me want to die (ok, that’s an extreme but it was soul sucking). I also find a 3PL (third party logistics) to take over fulfillment this month! 

August

The fall launch runway begins this month with releasing YouTube videos leading up to the collection reveal. I sent advanced products to a few planner YouTubers, including Amanda’s Favorites and HanCanPlan. The look book also gets finalized this month. 

September

Launch month! This month is always absolutely insane. The moment the kids go back to school is when the most intense 3-weeks of my year begins. It’s both exhilarating and exhausting. YouTubes, Emails, Affiliate stuff, Entering products into Shopify, Revamping every page of the website, Giveaway management, and a million other small details. Also, the planners arrive the day before launch 🫠 My new fulfillment center didn’t love that but handled it with so much class. I also grabbed the remaining things from my business storage garage and handed the keys back. 

The only business picture I took in 2025, apparently.

October

I learned my lesson from the year before and released the “setting up your 2025 planner” series on YouTube. Let me tell you, YouTube takes a ton of time and work. I also start designing midyear and yearly planners. There is a lot of communication with the fulfillment center to work out kinks and order corrections. 

November

This is the month I turn 40 years old. Much of it is spent celebrating with my people and feeling extremely lucky and blessed to have such amazing people in my life. I prepped for the Black Friday sales week by creating email campaigns. I also restart blogging. 

December

Reconciled 4 months worth of finances and projecting for the year ahead. I quality check the midyear planners and figure out which products should go with them. I submitted all this to my manufacturer. This is also the month of reflecting on the year and setting up my new planner + giant wall calendar. 

The Personal Transformation

Much of 2025 was spent on personal things. Yes, I did a lot of work on the business side but also, not really. I made a lot more business plans than I executed. 

There were some big things happening on the personal side. We were trying to buy a house, we experienced our first kid sport for 4 months of the year (swim team). I tried my best to show up for one of my dearest people who was going through an incredibly difficult time. I got one of my kids into weekly Occupational Therapy. We took some trips. My husband traveled for work 3 different times. My daughter started the braces process. We did a bunch of outside projects on our house/yard. So much more, and all these things add up on the ol’ schedule. 

In the midst of all these things, the biggest thing that happened in 2025 was God moving in my life. 

At a Chris Tomlin concert in November 2024, I heard/felt God say to me: “I want you to stop drinking for a year because I want totransform your life and I want you to be present for it.” 

Excuse me? Stop drinking, like…after the holidays?! 

No, now. 

I had no idea what this all meant. I didn’t know if God wanted to transform our physical circumstances or if this was going to be heart work. I truly had zero idea. All I knew was that I had to be obedient and trust. The word “transform” kept echoing in my head. That was the word I clearly heard, and the meaning I understood least. 

Thus began my year of not drinking. It was difficult at first, and during certain times and triggers throughout the year (my gosh I missed a good Gin and Tonic on a hot summer’s evening). But I got into a rhythm and I was grateful to have a break to keep my mind clear. 

Nothing much happened through most of the year. We never ended up finding a house. Nothing major changed in our family. We just kept on keeping on. But things were changing in my heart, at first without me knowing it, and then it became more clear. I’m unsure I can ever articulate it clearly but my heart shifted away from what the world was pounding into me, and shifted back to my family and God. For so long, I bought into the messages of this world: girl boss, your family is holding you back, your husband doesn’t do enough, kids are a burden, God is bad and if you’re a Christian, you and your beliefs are bad, too. 

Around August, these chains of belief started falling off. My marriage and attitude towards it/my husband has never been better. I’m so grateful for my kids and believe it’s an honor and a privilege to have and raise them. I wish we had started earlier and had more, to be honest. I no longer viewed my role in our home with resentment. I get to make our house a home.It’s the biggest impact I will ever have, this role I’m in. What a gift. 

In the beginning of November 2025, my husband was asking me about the year of not drinking and what it meant to me. I told him I didn’t know how to explain it but I truly felt like my heart and mind had changed over the year. A couple of weeks later, one year to the date that I stopped drinking, God served me up this verse during our church service: Romans 12:2. “Do not be conformed to this world, but betransformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God and what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

It was like God wrapped an entire bow on the year…that or he mic dropped. Either way, I was awe-struck. 

There is still so much I question in my faith, and for God’s will for us. I will never know why such horrific things happen on this side of heaven. But I know this for sure: even in the terrible things on this earth, He is with us. 

If you are not a believer or have been hurt by the church, I’m sorry if that all made you uncomfortable (or maybe even upset). That was not my intention at all.My intention was to share about my year, and that was the biggest part of it. 

Favorites of the Year

• Movie: Flow (I think I only watched movies with the kids, but this was a solid movie)
• Show: Severance
• Book: The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young
• Song: Take It All Back - Tauren Wells
• Podcast: Compelled 
• Things You Made: 
  • The new reflection booklets
  • LMNT Lemonade & strawberry popsicles
• Meal: Blueberry/peanut butter/cottage cheese breakfast bowl
• Place: There's no place like home! 
• Memory: God wrapping my year of transformation in a bow by dropping Romans 12:2 in my lap at the one-year mark (see the story below)
• Thing That Made You Laugh: when my daughter pointing out the sign that said "early bird special" with the big finger pointing at a bunch of birds
• Adventure: our hikes at Osceola Falls in Wisconsin
• Purchase: 
  • 20# weights
  • Jump rope (a good one)
  • The kids room furniture/storage

2026: The Year Ahead

As for 2026, I have no idea what’s in store for Sprouted Planner. To be honest, I have questioned if I want to continue with it at all. At times, it feels clear to shut it all down. But there’s still something holding me here. 

At the beginning of this year, I was presented with a huge opportunity to hire a big up and coming PR business that works with celebrities to endorse brands. One of their new partnership celebrities liked my business and products (!) and wanted to move forward with a partnership. OMG! It was really exciting but I ultimately passed on the opportunity because I could not justify the cost, even though it was a KILLER deal for what I was going to get out of it. I was sad but at peace with my decision. 

Nonetheless, it renewed my zeal for this business and what could become of it. 

However, I do not want to sacrifice my important roles at home to grow it, so I have to work smarter, not more hours. 

I don’t have much detail of what the year will entail other than some main anchors:

• Products: midyear (small) and yearly (big) launches

• Marketing: emails, YouTube (more shorts), blog, Pinterest

• Money: Pay myself $1000 every month (I've never paid myself consistently yet). Pay down debt. Have enough excess to pay for products in full. 

• Time: Prioritize designing the products ahead of everything else, because that stress last year sucked. 

Those are my marching orders. I just need to do the tasks at hand, and we shall see where the business goes from there. 

I don’t know what this year will hold. Great and terrible things. Good and hard. That’s a given. I’ll just keep showing up. That’s my job.