The Best Things in Life in January

Happy 2014! We're continuing our blog series 'The Best Things in Life' inspired by a regular top 'best thing'; Red magazine. We follow the Red questions asked to contributors in each edition of the lifestyle magazine but add our own question for good measure too!

Katie

Best things in life...

A fresh new year – I love the feeling of starting over with the New Year, setting new goals to reach and thinking of all the things I will try to accomplish in the next 12 months!

A diary – This goes hand-in-hand with the above; I love getting a new diary and filling it with all the things I have planned in the upcoming year. Of course this year I’ll also have my most favourite diary – our app Countdown Keeper to keep a track of all my events, birthdays and celebrations!

Giving back – This year I wanted to give some of my time to helping out at my local shelter for the homeless and lonely on Boxing Day. The Coventry Open Christmas Shelter provides 24 hour food, clothes and a place to sleep for a week every Christmas. While I was there I helped kit out people with new clothes and toiletries that had been donated and spent time chatting and playing cards. If you would like to get involved next year head to www.coventryopenchristmas.co.uk

The moment that changed my life was...

It sounds such a simple thing, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and say yes to starting a business with Jane the moment she showed me her mind map! I had been worrying about how I’d survive financially and it was starting to hold me back and making me have second thoughts, even though I knew it was what I really wanted to do. Jane had created a mind map of all the options she had for starting a business and once I saw it that was it, I couldn’t resist just going for it! Mind maps have become a key tool we use in planning our many business ventures now!

The thing I'm looking forward to achieving in 2014 is...

Our second year of business and enjoying the journey! There is nothing more exciting than chasing your goals and dreams with a great partner and going into this year I’m excited to see where we will be and what twists and turns our business has taken this time next year!

Jane

Best things in life...

New Year spent in Southwold! Every December mine and my best friend's families venture to Southwold for a week to see in the new year in the fresh sea air. We spend time walking the dogs, eating delicious local food and having fun in our beach hut - I couldn't think of a better way to see in 2014.

New Kikki.K stationery... I love stationery, especially when it's flown all the way from Australia from my favourite stationery shop Kikki.K. Opening a fresh notepad, filling in a new diary with un-used pens and starting the year right by filling in my wellbeing journal are a few of life's little pleasures!

Books! All the books on my Christmas list were ticked off this year given to me from various family members. I'm excited and intrigued to be starting Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO this week and am already halfway through Build a Business from Your Kitchen Table jointly written by Not on the High Street co-founders Sophie Cornish and Holly Tucker. I have a resolution this year to read all the books I own (before buying anymore!) so have a lot to get through!

The moment that changed my life was...

Although I feel the need to say 'when I met my future husband' that's not me so I'm going with 'the day I decided to take the plunge, quit a stable job and launch Katie & Jane!' This was such a big thing for me; I'm from a family who like steady jobs (teachers mainly!) so having their support despite them not understanding why was a major factor in going for it! Having my own business comes with its ups and downs but I wouldn't change it for the world. I have an amazing co-founder who inspires and motivates me every day, I've been able to meet lots of new people and I love living my life on my terms. Getting excited for the new year instead of fearing going back into work is the best feeling in the world.

The thing I'm looking forward to achieving in 2014 is...

Starting all our app ventures! Although the plan for Katie & Jane was to initially focus on social media, we couldn't get away from our passion of creating meaningful lifestyle apps. Our first app Countdown Keeper will finally launch in January and we already have a plan to launch a number of further apps in 2014. It's going to be an interesting learning-curve for us venturing into the exciting world of apps... I can't wait!