July 2012 .:. Biz Goals

June was full and fuller. Busy in the studio. Busy on the computer. Busy doing research and making plans. All in all a good month, and now we’re on to July.

I realised in the midst of attempting to cross all things off my list for June that there was more thought and more work that needed to go into the”About Liz” section of the website. In fact there was (and is) a lot more thought that needed and needs to happen.

I have become totally wrapped up in creating the jewelery I am making. The art pendants I’ve been doing for a little while, and in addition the creation of my initial pendants (see above), with an alphabet and flower patterns of my own creation. But I realised in the process it’s about more than creating beautiful things for people to wear around their necks and wrists, there is a deeper meaning to the work for me, and that’s what I need to tease out. Comb out words and thoughts from the beads and the colour and the gold and the silver and look at them, and then write about them. So that’s my biggest goal for July.

So here was JUNE

1. Contact the potential licensers I identified in March. Try to get all contacts out by end of June. – one potential license in the works!
2. “About Liz” on website – still working on this one
3. Finish contacting potential retail outlets and keep researching more. – Research happened but no contacts yet.
4. Etsy shop research and planning to get more sales going. – Research and planning and lot of new ideas
5. Press releases and announcements for jewelery – move to July
6. Walk everyday for at least 30 minutes in the morning. Breathe the air, listen to the birds, and feel my feet touch the ground. – Most days this happened, a few days it didn’t and on the days it didn’t my day was lacking.

JULY

1. About Liz section of the website, and also a deeper diving into why I’m making jewelery.
2. Retail outlets.
3. Paint
4. Have some holiday time
5. Walk on the beach at least 5X
6. Dream

Welcome in July, and all its summer-y loveliness. Hope you all have a wonderful month!

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IF you are new to The Meetup or would like to play along, here’s the scoop:

• Post a list of your business related goals for the current month on the 1st of each month on your blog. {If the 1st falls on a weekend, post on the following Monday.}
• Come back over here and leave a link to your goals blog post in the comments of my current month’s goals.
• And then {and this is the most important part, since we are a community} visit all the links in the comments, stop in and say hello, have a conversation, meet and greet and etc.

What’s in a Name?

I’ve always been pretty happy with my name, though I have to confess that I’ve never used my full given name in a day-to-day way. Elizabeth. It always felt so formal, kind of like a Victorian dining room in a large house with wainscoting and lots of crystal and starched lace curtains and the side board loaded down with a full china tea service.

I’ve pretty much always been a Liz. I did try on Beth for a brief period around the age of 9, but that didn’t stick, I just so wasn’t a Beth, and it never felt right.

I find it fascinating how we live inside our names with ease or with discomfort. I’m comfortable in my name, but then, Elizabeth has something like 27 diminutives, so I had a lot of nick names to try on before feeling like there was a good fit. I know quite a few people that don’t like the name they were given by their parents, they had a name that didn’t feel like who they were, it never fit right, kind of like uncomfortable shoes. So they changed their name to something that felt totally right, a name that had meaning for them, a name that they could answer to.

We are all (in our own ways) looking for who we are, where our place is in this world, who our people are and having the name that you feel is just right, just you, can go a long way to making the journey more manageable, more agreeable, more “right”. Because when you’re stepping forward to say: “Hi, my name is . . .”  it wants to feel true, it wants to feel like you’re already telling a part of your story, in a name.

How do you feel about your name?

October 2011 .:. Biz Goals

 

After doing extensive research and polling influential marketers (i.e. sending mock-ups to good friends for feedback) I have a card for my jewelry pieces. Artful Jewelry Constructions is what I'm calling my pieces, I came up with it while thinking about something completely else, so often the way things happen, and I'm really happy with it… and so, here's my card!

And so September was:

1. Finish out the 2 remaining design projects over the next month and a half. – almost done!
2. Make room for lots of jewelery design. – making room everyday
3. Design 3 covers for journal series I want to produce on my own. – OOO need to move this to Oct.
4. Start flower painting series for licensing. 12 images. Seasonal. Pen & Ink and Paint. – October
5. Allow myself to re-schedule something when I am on a roll with something else. Remember to remember that going where the fire is and re-scheduleing (if possible) is where my best work is going to come from. Oh this has been my motto for the month.
6. With whatever free time is left, make things that make me happy, and don't think past that. Love this one, keeping it for Oct.
7. Take out The Money Book again, and do a thorough read, and thorough note taking/plan for the "new" year/financial assessment – Add to October
8. Get some Long walks in this month. Many short ones, need some really long ones, we're moving this to Oct too!

And October will be:

1. Jewelry
2. Journal Covers X3
3. Get Holiday cards into Etsy shop
4. Flower painting series
5. Start making contact with potential licensors – at least 3 contact this month.
6. The Money Book
7. Incorporate #5, #6 and #8 from September back into October.

OK, I think I'm ready! The first "winter" storm is on it's way in from somewhere across the Pacific, and it's gray and gloomy and verging on chilly here, perfect weather to be inside and DOing. Hope you all have an amazing October.

It's the 4th quarter of 2011, and there's no time like the present, so let's do this!

Going with What’s Happening

Much of September has been about throwing away the daily to-do list and going with what is happening for me. I have some deadlines. I have some contract jobs. And then I have the rest of my time. Time that is spent on what I choose to spend it on.

Until this month, I have been blocking out chunks of my days: 2 hours for design time, 3 hours for painting, 1 hour for a walk, etc. Well, this month I changed all that, and opted to experiment a bit with my time and my schedule. I have my larger to-do list, but the day to day one: gone.

I have been spending the time that is not taken up with a deadline or a client, doing what I am excited about in that moment, on that day. So today, I had planned to paint, but, today, I am way into printing miniature images of my paintings and setting them into various and sundry bezels and flats, and pouring resin.

Today, the only brush I am using is the one that's coated with matte medium to seal the ink on my prints, and then it's mixing and pouring the resin, and hovering, waiting for the air bubbles to form and rise to the surface so I can get rid of them. It's what I MOST want to do with the time that is mine today.

I think I might be onto something with this experiment in how I use my time. It's just a bit past 11am and I count 20 something pendants poured and setting.

 

Do those Things . . .

My new-est bracelet idea, with minature art pendants and beads, and chain and wire. Wrap it 4x, wrap it 5x and clasp it shut… it shines and shimmers, and tinkles and clinks, and there's always something different to look at….

* * * * * * *

Do those things that make you happy.

Do those things that make you want to get up and do a little happy dance.

Do those things that make you feel 5 years old all over again. Remember bringing home a drawing that you spent an afternoon making in kindergarten, a drawing you loved making from start to finish, to give it to your Mum.

Do those things that make you grin so wide, that your eyes get squinty and your face feels a little stretched out afterwards.

Do those things that you put at the bottom of your list, because there's more important things like: balancing the check book or picking up the dry-cleaning, sweeping the kitchen floor or meeting a deadline. Turn the list upside down, and do the *fun* things that might be at the bottom of yours too.

Do those things that you wake up thinking about.

Do all of those things because they feed every other little thing you could possibly have on your list of must-do's, to-do's and need-to-do's.

Do those things that you are moved to do because they feed your soul, your imagination your spirit and your chi.

Just do those things . . .