Athena Dreams Design

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!

April 2011 .:. Biz Goals

First of April, April Fools Day. Does anyone else ever get curious about the origins of some of these "holidays"?  Wikipedia is not always totally reliable, but it's a quick source of information, and so, April Fools Day:

The earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (1392). In the Middle Ages, New Year's Day was celebrated on the 25th of March in most European towns. In some areas of France, New Year's was a week-long holiday ending on the 1st of April. So it is possible that April Fools originated because those who celebrated on the 1st of January made fun of those who celebrated on other dates. The use of the 1st of January as New Year's Day was common in France by the mid-sixteenth century, and this date was adopted officially in 1564 by the Edict of Roussillon.

OK, end of the research, and on to the goals:

March went a little something like this:

1. Finish up design for at least 2 more product categories, and submit. - done! New shop at Society Six! I need to upload more art, but there are 2 pieces available as iPhone covers, and more coming for laptop skins!
   
2. Work more on re-branding and asking for testimonials/words from peers. - asking really does work, and I need to do more!
3. Be BOLDER in presenting showing and talking about my work - this is a life lesson for me. - baby steps, working on the bold, shoulders back, chin up!
   
4. Create AND finish 2 new paintings or illustrations, and I mean FINISH! - ignored my own directive, BUT got a few pieces started.
5. Make some time to dig in the garden a bit, pull some weeds and make a plan for planting.- started!
6. When feeling down or frustrated or impatient (or any other related feelings) spend a moment to count all my blessings. Mmm-hmmm, always a good list item

And then there is April.

1. Come up with work for one more product category, and that will complete the list of 4 new products. And then it's on to marketing...
2. Approach the finding a mentor thing a little differently. I am going to get really really specific with myself about what I would like a mentor help with, and put it out there again.
3. Work on portfolio for fabric designs, so I will have something to show when I arrive here in May.
4. Write some announcements and info pieces on my work to send to blogs for stories, and get them out by mid April. 
5. Hire a Wordpress coder to finish the site. THIS is my second lesson in how to work smarter. 
6. Put design portfolio together and target places that I'd like to design work for.
7. Paint, that's all I'm saying, no quantity directives, no finish dates, just paint.
8. Walk. Every. Day. Rain or shine. Get your butt (and feet) up on the hill and Walk.

OK, GO April. Hope you all have a great 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.
• You can also "meet" the Meet Up peeps, go here and visit the links.

My Word for the Year .:. 2010

My word for 2010 came to me in early December while I was watching  Julie and Julia.  It's a movie that I had wanted to see, but it completely captured me in a way I was not expecting. Anyone who truly knows me knows that I am not a cook, the making of food is about filling an empty belly, nothing more. The fewer dishes and pans used, the better, less time spent cleaning up. So, the cooking was not the thing that got me, it was the story of a woman (Julia) who finds her gift, and in the best and most powerful sense of the phrase: Goes for it. 

I have now spent almost a month trying to push this word aside and come up with another one. Part of me wanted a word that was more cozy, more comfy, less of a challenge, and easier to hold in my two hands. 

I've now come to realise that when a word wants you, it will not sit around and watch while you wish for it to wander away - kind of a like a really good friend who always tells you the truth. No matter what. It follows me around, like a balloon sticking to my static-y winter hair, or a pesky younger sibling always wanting to play, or maybe a dog who jumps up and runs to the door, every time I take a step.

My word for 2010 is... Passion. 

I think that I have tried hard to find another word because there is something about choosing this particular word that will see me through the year that feels a little like ripping off a band aid... no actually a better image might be the first strip pulled whilst experiencing a bikini wax. YOW, okay, definitely felt that. And I wonder, on a more deeply felt level, will I be able to live up to my word?

It is another layer pulled off in the process of my own growth, my own journey to wherever it is I am going, and my own experience of experiencing my world. Truthfully, it feels a little unwieldy and large, and when it sits in my lap, it's all elbows and heavy thighs. But here is what I wrote after watching that movie twice:

... it made this idea of passion for something in my own life come even more fully alive for me. Passion for one's life, passion for my own life, and i knew this was my word for 2010. Instilling passion, feeling passion - in all facets of my life - bringing passion to all the little and medium and large things I think and do. Spending time with the things that I am passionate about, and defining: what are the things that fill my dark spots with light, what are the things that make me smile and say Yes, what fills me up from the inside out...

And so I enter 2010, wearing my heart a little bit higher on my sleeve, and here comes Passion.

September .:. Monthly Biz Goals

My August goals were, well, they were long, and with all the getting married and the other life stuff going on this past month and a half, it was a struggle to get even a few of them done.

I DID take some time and energy to focus on my own artwork, which felt Great. Creating just for the sake of the piece rather than for a client or for a deadline, is such a freeing thing... More of this for September.

I am going to skip the re-cap of August because I am not finding the recap where I say, yeah, didn't do that and did part of that, an energy drainer. I know what I have accomplished from my list, and what I have fallen short of, and am getting to know (intimately) where I need to put my time and energies. SO, onward to September:

1. PAINT. Paint with no quota of time. Paint because it feeds you. Paint because you need to.
2. Design more patterns for cards and for licensing 
3. Attend Squam Art Workshops and have an Awesome time 
4. Pack and move into a new (to us) house 
5. Listen to that inner voice and let it guide me more, listen and really hear what it is saying to me. 
6. Evaluate my Goals: Review last few months of goals and come up with a personal recap to evaluate my progress. Are there goals that have been on the list that are no longer appropriate, are there goals not on the list that really should be, and truthfully look at the goals that I have consistently avoided.

If you want to join the Monthly Goal Meet Up with Jena from Modish Biz Tips and Modish blog, it's a wonderful support network, and you can join up anytime here.
 

Keeping Track of 2010

2010 Calendars are here! The designs and artwork I created back in 2008 for these 2010 calendars are now printed and bound and ready to go. It's always so exciting and gratifying to see the work that was created, scanned, designed and produced so long ago, arrive on my doorstep in sturdy cardboard boxes in the form of touchable, 3 dimensional, finished pieces. 

These 2 lines - Whirls & Swirls and Flower Silhouettes - come to you through Brush Dance. There are 2 wall calendars, a Date Book, a Pocket Engagement calendar and a mini wall calendar (not pictured).

These calendars are for those of you (like myself) who have not made the complete transition to electronic scheduling, because we still like to write things down in neat squares or on straight lines with a favourite pen or pencil. But even if you do schedule everything in your iPhone, or Blackberry, art and special dates on a kitchen wall are still a lovely thing.

All of these products are available in my etsy shop. I invite you to have a visit and check out the special offer for the month of August. 

July to August .:. Monthly Business Goals

I think the phrase that best sums up July was: Worse than Lame on the Biz Goals. Here's my list from July:

JULY Goals:

1. Send out 15-20 more e-mails to blogs who cover art and artists
2. Work on developing web site that will work for my art as well as tying together etsy shop, and blog 
3. Work up ideas for the 3 different series of posts for blog: goal is to launch first series in early August: So You Want to Be a Freelance Designer 
4. Write and send out my first newsletter by 15 July. Plan ahead, and send out once a month at mid month
5. Create 3 new card sets for the shop.  
6. Update the shop with new prints of paintings 
7. And finally, remind myself in the lulls of activity, that there are so many others out there doing and trying and experimenting and learning and working with their art, with their craft, with their skills and with their full hearts... I may not know them all by name, but they are out there, and there is huge comfort in that.

I have to honestly say that I cannot cross one single thing off this list. I did a few things to work towards about half of these goals, but never completed one of them. My reason is largely that I was gone pretty much the whole last part of July, and probably should have thought about that before making this grandiose list, BUT I also think as I look back on the month that sometimes I get in my own way. How? Well, reading others' blog posts, visiting other artists' web sites, and then realising that 2, 3 or even 4 hours have sped by. Please tell me you all do this sometimes too (?).

I also had a big realisation: That I do not stay as focused on my own business tasks as I do on my deadlines for other clients. SO my goals for August are going to include:

• allowing time and energy to focus on my own work
• reminding myself that this is just as important as the work I am contracted to do for others  

And so, August Goals

1. Send out 25 e-mails to blogs who cover art and artists
2. Develop a web site that will work for my art as well as tying together etsy shop, and blog 
3. Work up ideas for the 3 different series of posts for blog: goal is to launch first series in mid-late August: So You Want to Be a Freelance Designer 
4. Write and send out my first newsletter by 15 August. Plan ahead, and send out once a month at mid month. Create "columns" and regular topics
5. Create 3 new card sets for the shop 
6. Update the shop with new prints of paintings  
7. Brainstorm another product type for the shop 
8. Get in 10 hours of painting/creating a week - away from the computer 
9. Practice thinking beyond the paying clients, and even think of Myself, as my own best client 

Want to join the Monthly Goal Meet up with Jena at Modish Biz Tips? Think that maybe having some instant accountability might help you on your path? Go here!

Place of Reflection .:. Corner View

Just as some of my best thoughts come to me in the shower, my best reflecting happens when I am out walking on the mountain. The air is sweet, the grasses rustling, birds in conversation, the sky opening out in front of me, and the dusty trail keeps my feet on the path. I usually bring a small notebook or sketch pad, and write down ideas for paintings, possible solutions for a design job that has been troubling me, or just some words about the present moment. These thoughts and reflections that happen when walking, almost always get used in some way, shape or form.

Some days the skies are clear, some days the fog is laying gently on the hills, and other days there is a misty rain: but each and every day that I make it out onto a trail, my day is better for doing it. Getting away from the phone and the computer, and my never ending to do list, and the general distractions of a life; and putting one foot in front of the other, moving through the landscape, and remembering that breathing is essential for keeping my head clear and my heart light, then let the reflecting begin.

Now if only I could develop a waterproof pen and paper that is impervious to water, and all my great shower thoughts could be remembered in detail instead of forgotten in the foggy midst of waking up in the morning.

Where do you do your best reflecting?

For see more Places of Reflection, visit here.

"Spending" Time .:. A New Life Budget

This pile of laundry has been sitting here since Sunday. It is clean, it is (was) fresh off the line, or out of the dryer. Some was folded while talking on the phone, then the conversation ended, and so did the folding. And as you can see nothing made it to a drawer or a closet.

We have already begun to fish through the pile for a pair of socks, a t-shirt, some jeans, or a towel. Folding laundry is not the way I want to spend my time this week. Have you ever thought about the concept of spending time in the same way you would think about how you are spending your money? Well, I have been. A lot.

With 2 self-employed people, one household, no children, and an occasional stray cat, some months we have a surplus of money, other months not, and so we have defined for ourselves a budget of sorts. 

This is loosely how the "budget" works: 

• We each have a list of things we want. 
• We each have a list of things that we need. 
• When there is a surplus, we each get to choose something from one of our two lists. 
• When there is no surplus, nothing is bought from any list, but bills are paid, and there is food in the fridge and gas in our cars, and etc and etc.

So, again, maybe not so much a budget, but the system works for us.

So, now if I apply this same idea to Time, what would the options be? 

Here's my First Draft:

• I have a list of work deadlines I must meet.  
• I have a list of things that I want to experiment with, play with, paint on and otherwise create in my painting studio or on my computer. These are things I may never be paid for, these are things that no one else may ever see, and yet, I must do them, for my own happiness and peace of mind.
• Then there is the list of general things that must be done, let's call them chores. Much like the list of things that I want to experiment with and etc.: I may never be paid for them, no one may completely notice that I accomplished them, and in a few hours/days/weeks, they will all need to be done again, and yet, since we do like clean clothes, dishes, and etc., this list will continue to be done, though perhaps a little differently [Exhibit A: Clean Laundry Reclining on a Couch]. 
• And, when there is a surplus of Time, I will look at my 2 lists: Art things I want to do with that time, and Chore things I might need to do with that time, and I will choose one.

When I detailed this Time Budget out in my head I thought that Chores might never make it on to the Surplus Time list, but look here, I managed to strike a balance: the clothes are clean, just not put away, and a new watercolour series has been started that perhaps someone will see. 

Time budgets anyone?

May to June .:. Monthly Goal Meet up with Modish Biz Tips

My May Goals List was:

1. Spend at least 5 hours a week looking at ways to market/advertise my Etsy shop and increase monthly sales by 7%

2. Re-design my design website and create a new art website

3. Re-brand etsy shop 

(and I redesigned the Blog along with the shop, AND it will give me a jumping off point for the art website design). Not something on my list, but it needed to be done simultaneously. (extra point?). Also developed a mailing list for a soon to come monthly newsletter.

4. Develop an editorial calendar/weekly ideas and post more regularly to my blog

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#1 I did the first half and am back with my etsy shop on Paper n Stitch, am advertising on Modish for May and June (thanks Jena), participated in Jen Wallace's Feed Your Soul project on Indie Fixx, and am running a couple of different specials in my shop. So things have been started, but I realised that the percentage of increased sales was not realistic given I just started advertising (again).

As to #4 I did NOT develop an editorial calendar, but I have been posting more regularly, so I will put one half of #4 back on my June goals.

JUNE Goals:

1. Look for some more ways to promote my shop that are not the paid for kind. Send out more e-mails to folks asking them if they would be interested in writing about my work.  
2. Website Re-Design, back on again, third time's a charm (?) 
3. Develop editorial calendar with regular column ideas for the blog

I am going to leave it at that for this month. So, for June I am all about promoting my work, and making more contacts. OK, Go June!

[You can participate in the Monthly Goal Meetup by visiting Jena at Modish Biz Tips]

Staying on (a) Path - Monthly Goals

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement."   My new greeting cards  just in from the overseas printer... and such a fitting quote for this post topic...

Here is the lofty list of goals I created for myself for April. 

1. Paint all day, one day a week, and see if I can make time for that.

2. Organise and clean studio AND then keep my working spaces clutter-free and organised

3. Spend at least 5 hours a week looking at ways to market my Etsy shop and increase monthly sales by 15%

4. Re-brand etsy shop and re-design my design website and create a new art website

5. Research and submit work for group shows

6. Advertise and market my design work and get 2-5 new freelance clients for smaller end jobs

7. Develop an editorial calendar and post more regularly to my blog

8. Keep up to date with expenses and tax records

9. Create and post new paper product for the 2 Marketplaces I paid for at Etsy for April

10. Find an intern or assistant to help with some of the design production work*

11. Allot more time to work on developing designs for an exciting collaborative project with another artist

Overall a B- I'd say, eh, maybe a C+. I noticed as I was crossing off the did-do's, that the ones that remain un-done are the ones that I have historically always avoided: marketing and business plans. So, apparently I need to add to my May goals, "do not avoid the things that make you nervous". 

And so my May Goals List, which I will make shorter and much to the point:

1. Spend at least 5 hours a week looking at ways to market/advertise my Etsy shop and increase monthly sales by 7%

2. Re-design my design website and create a new art website

3. Re-brand etsy shop

4. Develop an editorial calendar/weekly ideas and post more regularly to my blog

OK, there it is. Marketing 101 here I come...

[You can participate in the Monthly Goal Meetup by visiting Jena at Modish Biz Tips]