Dusting off the crystal ball.
2026 predictions + mini annual report
Mini Annual Report — Diana
Stability is a rogue word these days. And I’m not a big numbers person. But every year-end I like to test my mettle by pulling up a profit and loss comparison between the past year and the year before. I print it out, grab a colored pencil, and underline the categories that went the way we wanted them to, either up or down.
This year I noticed something else. It was the first time I learned to toggle a little button comparing quarters (Q1, Q2, etc.) and the difference by percentage. Seems simple but remember that I draw on and stack paper for a living.
The revenue we drew in each quarter in 2025 fit within the realm of “predictable”. The troughs and valleys on the income graph smoothed out once we backwards-pinched the screen to show three month chunks of time. Is this what “stability” looks like?
I know it won’t be the same every year but this pattern has emerged post-pandemic.
Every small business has its own rhythm and I’m just now able to feel our beat. January, despite our best efforts to “take it off” and stem the flow of new projects coming in to catch up from the holiday time bomb, is chock full. February through April is steady with artists needing us to print inventory for them around Milwaukee Zine Fest, usually held before Mother’s Day. Summer slows down. We’re usually traveling, with Lake Michigan pebbles knocking around our sandals. The entire Midwest hangs up a Gone Fishin’ sign. Then comes the Tower of Terror ride that is September. Click, click, ratcheting up through October before the gut-gobbling drop of holiday shopping, beginning around October 15th. By then it’s a giant tug-o-war of what to advertise. Do we want people to visit us in person more? Or order a calendar online? By the time we remember the word “strategy” the ball has dropped and we’ve each turned into a soggy bottom figgy pudding.
Some 2026 goals:
Release new titles and merchandise every month or so. Give a reason for people to revisit our website to check for newness.
Focus on making our own work. We make content and we print. Despite our deep love for collaborating with other artists on new titles (looking at you Kai, Taylor, Claire <3) we want to be better known for what our weird little brains and hands can do, not just what our riso can spit out.
Make a thoughtful line of notebooks/simple stationery. I don’t ever want to buy a greeting card again. But I also don’t want to focus my life on designing for a 4x6 rectangle that has tons of competition and horrible margins.
Make a curated line of prints in frameable sizes. S, M, L.
Build the BearBear visual-audio-dream universe. I’m good at the fail-fast method and throwing spaghetti at the wall. But that often mixes signals up around branding, voice, and what we stand for. Ben and I want to bring more intentionality to how we show up online and in print. He had to call me out for picking Brat tracks for our reels (too many times).
Compared to 2024 we’re already up on these goals:
Less beer label illustration and branding work for our biggest account. We’re billing -14% less graphic design gigs overall, which sounds bad but means we’re reducing our risk of relying on one big client.
Riso printing for clients is up 20% and many of the projects are from repeat clients! That means less initial set-up, education, and risk. The majority of this printing work does not go into our portfolio or onto social media.
Workshops up 17%
Wholesale and Paid Newsletter up over 100% each
Costs of goods sold is down 33% but overall expenses have gone up by 33%.
One of our biggest goals of 2025 was to diversify income streams (we set up a paid newsletter, sent more wholesale inquiries, set up Faire, co-ran a holiday pop-up market, prioritized lucrative festivals even when it was a logistical strain, etc.) and I think it helped us have a chubby bear year.
Our overall income was up 7%.
Another year in the green since establishing in 2019. We don’t expect this to be an upward trend in growth because we aren’t actively scaling, and it’s crazy to expect businesses to grow every year. But it sure helps brush our fur down when we get red, anxious and poofy.
Looking ahead!
For the first time in BearBear history, we’re scheduling Riso Basics workshops for a full year. We took January, November, and December off. Those months will be for catch-up, retail, and holiday markets. It’s taken us HOW MANY YEARS to figure this out???? Ticket links will be up on Cactus Club’s events and on our website soon.
As for predictions for the world at large, I’m guessing…
Extremes will (still) reign.
A surge of positivity will fill the doom-void. Focus on what you can do, to connect and see friends and fam, to listen, to organize, to nourish yourself. Slow down. Don’t feed into the frenzy. We don’t need to be productive all the time. All is not lost even though the headlines will get wackier and money will continue to pour into sports, building ugly buildings (or renovating the White House), and the military. Shop small and in-person. Take breaks from shopping on Amazon or at box stores. Reading rec: The Velvet Revolution.
A return to DIY.
Ready for sourdough bro 2.0? Or for mending, homemade, and up-cycling to be in the mainstream (as a commodity, lol) again? It’s always there but I think a return to baking at home and 2012’s boho-chic revival will create a new DIY crucible with a 2026 flavor.
Traveling boom boom.
Folks will be looking to literally escape more than ever.
Return to kidhood.
What did Diana at 16 and at 5 years old want? The overlap on that venn diagram includes whole albums on repeat, art movies, doodling, dancing, concerts, theater, and play. PLAY! Simple stuff. Seeing friends. No fronts, no fear. Returning to the basic building blocks of my joy. I think others may be doing the same.
Tracking.
I’m seeing a lot of end-of-year wrap ups on social media. Not just Spotify style, but personal ones that feel real. I think predictions will be a bigger and bigger thing — dovetailing with our continued obsession with all things tarot and oracular — which means that people may be tracking and documenting during the year more. I’m personally going to track my outfits / consumables like makeup to make informed shopping choices based in proof and not in a fantasy self.
Final Scene
Next up? Details on Other Virtues and a return to the BearBear-preneuer series. I finished reading a few books on writing what you know, the Art of Spending Money, Bobbi Brown’s new memoir, and am looking forward to reading Wuthering Heights and Bread of Angels in January. The reading is helping me write BearBear’s story as clearly and concisely as I can.
Can’t wait to share and thanks for reading this long-bottomed post it note. Happy new year.
Soolaimon & Blue Jeans, « click it if you dare!!!!!!! This hyperlink is dedicated to Rob Collier. Haha I love the idea of dedicating links to friends <3
Diana