New Year New Goals

I often think about the pros and cons of social media. One of the pros to me is that when you put something into the world of social media, it helps hold you accountable. So, today I am sharing with you my goals for the new year. Now, really these aren’t quite new year new goals, as much as they are more new year new and improved goals. Because really, my goals have been the same for the past few years!

I think lifestyle changes, diet and exercise habits specifically, are the easiest to document and witness on social media. I often think back to my body building days and wonder how social media would have impacted that time in my life. Would I have made a career out of it? Or, would documenting everything mess with my mental health? I guess we will never know because I pretty much only shared the day of competition back then!

But, what will social media mean now for achieving my goals?

I would like to say that making them public will help manifest them into being!! So, here goes!

Passive Income

One goal I have been working towards is to create evergreen or passive income. That means I want to put something into the world that makes me money over and over again. Selling antiques is the opposite of passive income, because, in order to make money I have to physically sell an item. To make more money I have to physically (buy &) sell more items.

I have already succeeded selling antiques. I actually went from six figure sales back to low five figure sales because I decided I do not want to constantly be on the hamster wheel. I want to relax a little bit and have some free time instead of working 24/7 or feeling like I should be working 24/7.

This was one of the reasons I started my Coaching Group for antique dealers and my First Dibs Subscriber group, both of which I have since “retired.” While they did create passive income, I found it wasn’t something I wanted to keep up with long term.

So how can I create passive income? The answer – growing my blog and YouTube channels. Both of these platforms are places people search for content and it can always be accessed. And people viewing and interacting with that content makes me money. Let me explain…

Goal ONE

Blogging

I started my first blog years ago on Blogger and since then have started a second blog, this one, on my own website. The nice thing about blogging is that I can write about life, decorating, vintage, etc. in one place. Having a home for my content is important because it makes finding that information easier.

Everyone who reads the blog helps me make money. So, I am getting paid for creating content. Readers don’t care if it’s content I made this week, last month or last year. Good and helpful content or information is going to be sought after no matter how long ago it was written. Essentially I could have 20 awesome blog posts and those could support my family for years! Isn’t that crazy!?

Now, I am FAR from supporting my family from my blog, but that is the idea. I have also written way more than 20 blog posts and I’m sure when you do a Google search for something I have written about, I may or may not even populate in your search results, but that is the ultimate goal!

I am all about being realistic in my goals. That means gradual improvement. Success doesn’t happen over night.

So, in 2025 I want to write ONE good blog post a week. This will be shared on my social media accounts, to my email list, and on Pinterest. If it is a DIY project, then I will also share it on Hometalk. I do this promoting in hopes of getting more eyes on my blog. More eyes means more revenue. I also changed ad platforms this year, so I am excited to see if that makes a difference in my revenue.

I know ads can be annoying, but ads are everywhere and essentially it’s how I get paid. Do you want to go to your job every day and never bring home a paycheck? Neither do I. So I need ad revenue otherwise I am creating content and working every day for free.

Besides viewers reading my blog posts and seeing ads to earn revenue, I will also continue to place affiliate links in my content. Affiliate links are a way for you to shop products I use or share. I get a little kickback from those and it does not cost you anything. It really should be helpful because it saves you time having direct links to products I use and like!

December was the best month I have ever had, generating over $1,000. Now if I could just continue to do that month after month!

I also try to share a YouTube video in every blog post which brings us to our next goal.



Goal TWO

YouTube

YouTube is a lot like blogging. People search on YouTube for directly for certain things. And YouTube also populates as an answer in a Google search too! Just like blogging, when you watch a YouTube video you will see ads, which earns me income.

Now both platforms, Google and YouTube, require A LOT of views to make any kind of substantial income. I have increased my subscriber count on YoTube from 1,000 subscribers in July 2022 to 7,400 in January of 2025. While I am happy with this growth, my video views have not grown at the same rate.

In 2024 I really focused on quantity. I put out two videos a week all year and shared multiple YouTube shorts. I figured quantity also helped with quality as it forced me to do a lot of video editing, thumbnail creation, and just practice with doing tasks necessary to produce videos. All of this practice has sped up those processes.

This year, I am going to focus more on the style of video I record, edit and share. So, the plan is to take viewers thrifting with me and then share my haul at the end. Often times I will work in a view of my home showing where I am putting something I purchased. I will also have all of the items that are for sale already listed on the website at the time the video goes live.

I will still do styling, decorating and room makeovers as well as the occasional DIY project, but I am going to focus on sourcing for my website. It’s easy to call sourcing thrifting because that is a word everyone understands. It is also something everyone searches for, so it should help me pull up in search results. Along with thrifting, I will also share shopping at antique stores, antique malls, and flea markets.

Some of being successful on YouTube is knowing what terms are frequently searched and Goodwill is one of those, so you will see a lot more of Goodwill in my videos this year!! I will also really focus in on location and promoting that I am in the Des Moines metro area.

My guest home tour videos have also been very popular. I have already had two people reach out to me about filming their homes in 2025!

Goal Three

Another goal is to average 30 sales from my website a month. I have already accomplished this goal the past few months, so I should probably pick a higher number, but I am curious if it will stay like it is in the warmer months. This goal is not passive income, so it is not as much a priority to me at this time.

However, if I am going to thrift weekly for YouTube content, then I need an outlet for reselling those items I buy. Plus, I really enjoy flipping pieces for profit. So…while it is a goal, my main focus will be goals ONE and TWO.

I started listing products on my website in 2019, but it wasn’t until 2022-2023 that I really made it a priority. Now, in 2025 it will be the only way that I am selling inventory. For me, I sell with WooCommerce on my WordPress Site. I think however you see online impacts what works for you. I have learned that paying attention to SEO on my product listings is very important. Frequent smaller restocks seem to do better for me, while having a SALE on my website has no impact.

New Year New Goals

While I am putting a dollar amount to each of these revenue streams, my main focus is YouTube. However, I thought it would be fun to compare my goals to reality next January!

  • Website Sales – $3,000/month
  • YouTube Revenue – $1,000/month
  • Blogging Ad Revenue – $500/month
  • Affiliate Links – $500/month
  • Social Media Revenue – $200/month

Bring on 2025

I am very excited to see what happens in 2025! I know that I have good systems and procedures in place to help me reach my goals. What do you think? Will I reach them?

antique dealer goals for 2025 Pinterest pin

This post may contain affiliate links for the products I use and recommend. I am not paid to promote these products. If you purchase using my affiliate links, I could make a small commission at no charge to you.

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