Nurturing Creativity while Running a Business

One of my business goals for 2015 is to set aside 2-3 hours each week to make "things" without worrying about finishing it, selling it, or promoting it. This might mean a few of my other goals take longer to complete (building out my About page on Etsy, getting my website up and running after a 2 year hiatus, using Instagram for marketing), but I think making time for creativity will spill into the business side of things and bring greater success - not to mention happiness!

I'm out of practice when it comes to simply enjoying the process of making things and not worrying about if it will sell. I haven't totally figured out how to get over this hump so for now I'm just trying new things.

Last night a friend of mine hosted a gathering to make vision boards. Over 20 of us showed up and we started with a meditation and then just went crazy on the pile of magazines. Honestly I still don't totally understand how to make a vision board or how to use a vision board, I am so creatively blocked that I found myself ripping out images and words that would look good together so I could show it off on Instagram. It looked good, but it wasn't authentic so I tore them off my poster board and started over.

The woman next to me brought a Marimekko magazine and once I got my hands on images of their patterns the flood gates opened. I was able to tap memories of being a middle school kid making collages and suddenly it started to make sense.

My vision board is still a work in progress, I had to go home to start dinner and tend to my sick toddler, but I also wanted to leave some room so that I can add more later this week when I take time to create freely. I'll keep everyone updated as I find new ways to spend my creative hours. If you have any ideas or want to share what works for you I'd love to hear them!

How To Break through A Creative Block

Spring, the season of renewal, has arrived. Tulips and daffodil shoots have pushed their way several inches above the ground. The lawn is free of all but a few patches of snow, and the spring peepers sing loudly at night. The first crocus  has poked it's pretty purple head out from a ground cover of dried leaves. A variety of birds are visible.

With spring comes the beginning of craft show season. With craft show season comes the need to build up an inventory. The pressure of having to create on a deadline can often lead to a creative block.

Here are a few helpful ways to break through a creative block;

1. Step away from what you are working on and take a break.
2. Clean, organize, or rearrange your work area.
3. Take a walk. Often the environment can be an inspiration.
4. Flip through a collection of crafting books, art books, magazines, or other artists work.
5. Shop for new materials, or just go shopping.
6. Get some sleep.
7. Write down any inspirational ideas or thoughts.
8. Talk it out with someone.
9. Stay positive.
10. Don't pressure yourself.

Creative blocks can last for any amount of time, and hopefully not too long. A creative block can be what is needed to help refresh the motivation and inspiration that is needed to create.

Jenny - Reclaimed Designs

Inspirations for 2014, the computer saved the radio!

With the New Year comes an evaluation of the last year, followed by plans to improve the upcoming year.  Lately I have been improving my outlook on the world through many different outlets on the internet.  Many of them have been very inspiring for me to plan my year and take a new look on how I go through my life.

As a busy business owner and mother, it’s hard for me to go to lectures and workshops.  Lucky for me in today’s savvy media world, I can put on my headphones and take a class, listen to a lecture or have a discussion in a topic of my interest.   Radio shows about human struggles and accomplishments can inspire you in your everyday.  Now with streaming, I can listen  to most radio programs on my schedule.  I listen to my favorite programs or podcasts while working in my workshop.  Two I enjoy often are Hidden Kitchens and This American Life.  Don't miss King's Candy: A New Orleans Kitchen Vision.

Ted Talks offers diverse subjects and many inspirational speakers. 

Jarret J. Krosocczka offers his amazing journey from kid to an artist here.

Amy Cuddy’s Ted Talk about body language ends with a personal story at the end that is so inspiring. 

When I want to learn something new and want more then a how to book, I have been turning to online courses. Craftsy has been great. Classes I can watch or rewatch, paced on my own time.  They also offer free courses to get you hooked.

A new site I found is Skillshare.  They have designed their learning experience to be a project.  There are videos followed by assignments that apply to how you want to use the skill they are sharing.  I promised myself that I would become better organized so I needed a system to get all the to dos out of my head so I could be less stressed and get the important things done to achieve my goals.  I got myself set up with a system with Tiago Forte’s Get Stuff Done Like A Boss:Design your Workflow and double your productivity in 21 days.  

I have also enjoyed Jeff Staple’s A Staple of Branding: How to Start Your Fashion Company.

His story with mistakes and successes in business is useful beyond just making apparel.

A friend has started Creative Life Coaching, Karmen Lizzul where she does radio broadcasts with people about creativity.  One broadcast was  with Erin Cochran of Revealing design.  If you have ever found your workspace has gotten a little out of hand this is the lady to listen to.  She has some great ideas and revelations on how to create a space that lets you enjoy and focus on what you do.  

Listen Here

I've got my space cleaned out, my goals set, my inspirations and mentors playing in my ears.  2014 is going to rock!

Karen - LarkPractial

Signposts and Guides for the Creative Life

"Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner  vision and its ultimate expression."  Isaac Bashevis Singer

I've sure experienced this!  You start out with a great idea and the result is so disappointing.  When you examine what went wrong, it may be readily apparent - the materials were hard to work with, you didn't have the right tools, perhaps your skill level isn't there yet.

I suspect a more frequent problem is that the "idea" has not yet formed into a "vision".

I have one project that has been in my mind for over eight years.  I feed the crows in winter.  When I have scraps that I know they can use I put them out in my driveway early in the morning.  They watch the neighborhood and swoop in immediately.  One blustery day I threw out a bag of fortune cookies that were sitting on the counter.  The crows came down and as they plucked the cookies apart the fortune cookies swirled in the wind amidst the circling birds.  It was such a great picture!
I've bought the canvas.  I know the size I want, I have an idea of colors to use.  But I can't quite get the image settled in my head.  The ideas are there, but not the vision for the painting.  I can feel myself reluctant to start, not wanting to facethat disappointment that I screwed it up.

So the canvas sits in the corner.  The chicken heart sits at the computer writing this.
Have you had these experiences?  Is there something calling to you for expression that you're reluctant to tackle?  Good luck and courage to us all!

Creating Success from the Inside Out - Chunk It Down

If you were a fly on the wall of my studio of late, you would find a half-crazed woman with glue on her hands, half-buried alive in boxes full of beads with a trail behind her of camera set-ups and half-made jewelry pieces.  Not to mention the pile of items by the computer yet to be described and added to Etsy.  Perhaps you can identify.  Indeed, it is the holiday season in the land of Etsy shop owners everywhere.

That’s why it’s serendipitous that the next principle in Jack Canfield’s self-improvement book, Success Principles, is Chunk It Down.  As busy Etsy shop owners in the midst of holiday madness, knowing how to take our goals and break them down into manageable tasks could prove helpful.  At the very least, re-reading this chapter may very well have saved my sanity.

In this chapter, Canfield discusses making overwhelming goals more attainable by breaking them down into a series of tasks from beginning to end.  He suggests a couple of different ways to do this.  One way is to work backwards from successful completion and identify each step along the way.  Another way is to create a mind map.  A mind map is pretty much a to-do list that is set up in a visual way.  Start off by writing your goal in the center of a big piece of paper and circling it.  You can also do this on post-it notes on your wall or on a magnetic board.  I prefer post-its because it’s dynamic (and because I’m completely addicted to them).  Divide your goal into major categories of tasks.  Underneath each of these subcategories you can write your spokes or task items.  You can break it down as far as you need to until you get to individual tasks or steps.  I took my insane and unfocused attempt at my goal and turned it into a mind map that has structure to it (see below).  My major goal is to make a certain amount in sales by the end of the year.  That is written on the orange post-it note in the center of the map below.  Next, I identified my sub-categories (in pink).  In this case, I wrote the vehicles for my profits:  repeat customers, local shop sales, Etsy sales, and craft fair sales.  Lastly, I broke down into steps the things I need to do in order to generate more sales within each of these subcategories.  These tasks are written on small blue post-it notes.  I may break this down even further.

Once you have your mind map, you can use it to create daily to-do lists.  Ideally, you would create your next day’s to-do list the night before so that you are ready to go in the morning.

How do you chunk it down?  I’m interested in how you all organize your busy lives so that you can be efficient and focused when you do have time to devote to your business and your shop.  How are your holiday preparations going?  Please share!

Creating Success From The Inside Out - Writing Goals

Lisa from Merry Alchemy is back with part four of her series about creating success from the inside out - today we learn to believe it is possible.

I don’t know about you, but when I go to the supermarket without a list, it leads to all kinds of bad.  Not only does it take a lot more time to gather what I need, I usually forget items (like the beef for that night’s beef stew!).  And of course, I end up buying things that I don’t want (or need) to begin with.  How did that Nutella end up in my basket anyway?!
Achieving your goals is a lot like shopping.  It’s best done with a list.  By taking the time to write down what you want to achieve, you are acknowledging what you want and, by nature of exclusion, what you don’t want.  There are lots of ways to record goals: a list, a goals book (put one goal at the top of each page and you can add drawings or photos to strengthen your vision), or put goals on individual index cards.  No matter how you choose to record your goals, make sure it is easy to read and something that you will go back to.

Also, just like shopping, you will find yourself closer to achieving your goals if you follow your list.  Your list will help you focus your energies on the things that are important to you.  So when you write out your to-do list for each day or week, you can be sure that your tasks are going to help you achieve those goals.

Hands Notecards by Karmabee on Etsy

Here are some tried and true tips for writing goals:

Make sure when you are writing your goals that you are specific so that they are measurable.  Instead of “I will do more craft fairs”, say something like “I will participate in 10 craft fairs by June 30^th of 2013.  That way you have a day of reckoning and it will also help you measure progress.

Write different levels of goals – smaller short term goals as well as longer term goals and even a “breakout goal” (that goal that seems like a pipe dream, but if you achieve will change your life)

When you are done writing your goals, be sure to read them every day.  The more times a day you read them over, the more internalized they will become and the more your subconscious will draw to you what you need to achieve those goals.

What are your suggestions for writing goals?  How do you keep track of your goals?

Happy goal writing!

Check out the first three parts of this series.....
Creating Success From The Inside Out
Taking 100% Responsibility For Your Life
Believe It's Possible

Signposts and Guides for the Creative Life

"I can't imagine having a hobby." said Yolo.  " I can't either." said Kate.  "Everything I do I want to be essential."  Alice Walker in Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart

"Hobby" is defined as something a person does for pleasure, not as his main business.  It's an interesting word to consider.   On the one hand, to do something that you love, that gives you such delight that you'd do it whether or not you got paid, is an engagement that is to be envied!  How lucky we are to find such a pursuit!  And yet, it is sometimes used as an epithet; at the very least it makes the person whose work has been described as a hobby feel defensive.  We want to put space between our passion and that label.

I remember being at a women's event one evening where we were asked to introduce ourselves by telling one thing that we loved to do.  It was before I'd discovered painting for myself and I think I lamely said that I loved to read.  Further down the table another woman described some activity that she was involved in - some kind of creating.  She said that time stopped for her; she lost track altogether. She forgot to eat.  That caught my attention.  I never forgot to eat!  I'd never gotten so engrossed in what I was doing that I didn't miss food.  I might not be able to stop what I was doing but it wasn't that I forgot about it, that my hunger didn't make itself very apparent.

On occasion, I now know what she was talking about.  I can become totally absorbed in my work on a painting.  Not always, but sometimes.

And yet, I fall into the definition of having a hobby.  I do not earn my living with my painting.  I couldn't even if I tried;  I'm not at that level of accomplishment.   But I take my work seriously.  It is part of myself that I share with others, that sometimes speaks to others.  It is totally essential to being who I am at this point in time.  In that sense, it is my business.

Signs and Guideposts for the Creative Life

Howard Thurman suggests, "Don't ask what the world needs.  Ask what makes you come alive and do that.  Because what the world needs is more people who've come alive."

And Fred Buechner states this in a slightly different way: your vocation is "the place where your deep gladness meets the world's great need."

We are programmed from an early age to consider certain things more noble than others.  And if we are "good", we try to meet others' and our own expectations, trying to fit into those ideas.  It then often takes some failures, perhaps depressions, to kick us in the butt, make us examine our lives and what we want out of them.

Are you still struggling to fit into a mold that is not meant for you?  How might you engage your creativity to let your true self emerge?  How will that change your life?  How might it affect the world around you?

Creating Success from the Inside Out - Believe It Is Possible

Lisa from Merry Alchemy is back with part three of her series about creating success from the inside out - today we learn to believe it is possible.

Sunrise Tree With Fairy Pendant from Get Glassy

I’m a firm believer in the law of attraction – Ask, Believe, Receive – because of a profound experience I had two years ago.  After several wrong relationships and one failed engagement over the course of my adult life, I was growing disheartened about ever finding a life partner.  I had recently broken up with a long-time boyfriend.  I had one big disappointment on Match.com.  I was ready to throw in the towel and go become a monk in Tibet.  Then I watched my DVD of The Secret.  I recognized that until I really believed it was possible to find a wonderful man and a great relationship, I would never draw that to me.  So I double downed my efforts and spent a lot of time prepping mentally to accept the right partner into my life.  It may sound cheesy, but I visualized the way I wanted my life to be with this special person in it.  As the experts tell you in The Secret, you need to do more than visualize what you want.  You need to believe you already have it.  That means conjuring up the feelings of happiness and elation that you will experience when you do have what you want.  So I did that, too.  I convinced myself that it was possible for me to find that person.  As a result, I became happier.  Within two months, I met him.  After all the struggles of previous relationships, I finally felt the rightness of a good relationship.    The fact that he lived in New York and I lived in Boston when we met added to the amazement of our meeting.  How did we find each other?  In redoubling my efforts on Match, I accidentally typed in a wrong zip code without realizing it.  A happy accident, yes; but I also think the Universe had something to do with it!  And now Kris and I are getting married this October and are incredibly excited.

That’s why I firmly believe in the law of attraction for all things, not just love.  When it comes to our business or our craft, we can employ these same techniques to obtain the life we want.  Ask, Believe, Receive.  Ask the Universe for what you want.  Believe that it is possible to have what you want.  And then you will receive it. Believing it is possible is the hardest part of this tenet.  But when you believe something is possible, there is no limit to what you can achieve.  I really want to run my jewelry business full-time and receive an income from it that will allow me to quit my day job.  Right now, I’m struggling with believing that it’s possible.  I come from a long line of people who worked long hours to make ends meet working for someone else, so running your own business is a foreign concept.  My challenge now is to employ the same thinking exercises that I did to find love to find success in my business. 

What are the things you want to ask the Universe for that have been difficult for you to believe possible?  What successes have you had that your beliefs helped you to achieve?  How did you get there?

Check out part one & two of this series.....
Creating Success From The Inside Out
Taking 100% Responsibility For Your Life

Taking 100% Responsibility For Your Life

Meet Lisa from Merry Alchemy, a jewelry maker and member of the team from Beacon. Lisa will be sharing a running installment of different takeaways and exercises learned from her library of business improvement & life coaching/motivational books with team members and blog readers as we all look for ways to be more successful in our business.

I don’t profess to have all the answers to life and success…far from it. However, I have an insatiable appetite for self-improvement and a core desire to feel successful and happy. Therefore, I look to the experts - those who have achieved their wildest dreams, found inner peace and happiness – and written books geared towards helping others do the same. I hope you will join me in this and future blog articles as I share the ideas, strategies, resources and principles that I find and learn along my own journey to success that, in turn, I hope will help you on your journey. I do hope that you will use the comments section to share your thoughts, experiences, and wisdom that comes from your life as well as your handmade journey. Keep in mind that I’m sharing personal thoughts that I don’t normally bring to a public forum. I hope that you will feel equally comfortable to do so in the comments. I promise to always treat you with dignity and respect and I ask that you do the same for me and anyone else who contributes. That being said…

I am confessing that I have a dirty little secret. Up to now, only my close friends and family have been privy to (and have borne the brunt of) this marker of shame for me. The fact is I am a HUGE complainer. I complain about everything.

“OMG, I cannot believe how long it’s taking my computer to boot up!”
“There were so many people in the supermarket and they were ALL in my way!”
“I can’t believe the scale says I’m two pounds heavier. I only had a SMALL bowl of ice cream yesterday!”
“Why does EVERYONE else have thousands of Etsy sales and I only have 65? It’s not fair!”

Enter Jack Canfield’s book, Success Principles, which I am in the midst of reading. Perhaps you have read this book or something like it. Jack Canfield is the successful author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. This highly informative book is the closest thing to an instruction manual for becoming successful in life that I have read thus far.

Principle 1 in this book is “Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life”. We create everything that happens to us. That can be hard to swallow. It means that all of my complaining has been my way of deflecting responsibility to outside circumstances. I need to stop complaining, stop making excuses, stopping being a victim, and stop blaming people and events for the things that I don’t like about me, my life or my business. Canfield suggests asking yourself the following questions when you get results that you don’t like or didn’t intend: “What did I do or not do to create that result? What do I need to do differently next time to get the result I want?”

Charms of Faith

Canfield presents this concept as a formula. E+R=O (Event +Responsibility = Outcome). Canfield explains that events you experience now (success, happiness, failure, illness, etc.) are direct outcomes of your earlier responses to other events in your life. So if you want your life to change for the better, you need to alter your responses to events you are experiencing in the present. For instance, if the event is that it rained during a craft fair, I should change my response so that my outcome isn’t just that my profits were dismal. What could I have done during that craft fair for a better overall outcome? I have a smart phone, so I could have renewed Etsy listings during the fair. I could have brought some tools with me and been spending that time making new items. The fact is having dismal profits at a craft fair is not the reason why I am not successful. If that were the case, then no one would be successful jewelry artists because everyone, even the most successful artisans, have experienced dismal profits at craft fairs during some point in their careers.

Understanding and internalizing this principle is one thing. Implementing it is the more difficult part. Have I banished all complaining from my life? My fiancé would say, “Hell no!” But it has made me acutely aware of my dirty little secret and now I can begin the hard work of stopping myself when I do complain (believe me when I say there is a whole topic on gratitude that remains untapped here…) and, instead, ask myself what part I played in that unwanted outcome.

I welcome your comments, experiences, stories, nuggets of wisdom, etc. regarding this topic.

Signposts and Guides for the Creative Life

I love a good quote.  I find them on little scraps of paper all over the house, tucked into books, scribbled on programs, left in the car on the backs of wrappers.  A friend and I were recently talking about our mutual addiction to them and she keeps a notebook dedicated only to these pearls of wisdom.  I’d like to get so organized.

I’m thinking that offering some of the ones I’ve come across might be of interest to followers of this blog.  And maybe, in return, they will be so kind as to share some of their favorites. 

 So here is my first offering.

 “Consider every path, carefully testing it in whichever way you feel necessary, then ask yourself, but only yourself, one question: ‘Does this path have heart?’  The path that has heart will uplift you, ease your burden and bring you joy.  The path with no heart will make you stumble, it will break your spirit, and finally cause you to look upon your life with anger and bitterness.”  Carlos Casteneda

Does this resonate with your experience as it does with mine?  If so, how did you learn this?