Athena Dreams Design

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!

June to July .:. Monthly Goals with Modish Biz Tips

So June was short and sweet. My focus was working on promoting the etsy shop, and my work. 

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

#1: I sent out e-mails to 15 blog sites that cover art/artists, and got responses from all but one that they would have a look at my work and get back to me. Nothing for sure, but it was a really good start I think, and I am feeling more comfortable approaching people and writing some words about my art and my work.

#2: Website. Got some ideas together and realised that I want to re-think how I want/need to use a website to show my artwork. There are a lot more questions I need to answer for myself before I jump into a big re-design. And, this is not a stall. I realised as I was sketching up some ideas  that the whole time I was sketching, I was thinking to myself: what is the web site for, and I couldn't answer the question. So, more questions to ask of myself.

#3 Blog. No streamlined editorial calendar developed but a bunch of ideas for topics I want to start doing as series. 

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.

Some Things You Might Want to Know

For the month of June I have been spotlighted over on Jena's blog Modish. This is the last week of discounts at my etsy shop, through the Modish blog. So stop on over to Jena's Modish and read all about it! 

And since we are on the topic of Modish, some of you may have read my monthly goal posts and linked back to Jena's other blog Modish BizTips where she has organised a group meet up to help keep us all accountable with our "to-do", "need-to-do", and "i-really-want-to-do-but..." lists. Many of you noticed the top thing on my list for the month of June: 

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.  

And asked me to let them know how that went. Well, bring it on Jena... she recently did an Etsy Virtual Lab about how to submit your work to Bloggers. If you missed it, you can read her recap, and see the cutest video grabs of her talking, as well as follow the links to an incredibly generous and informative list of submission sources and a step by step tutorial on how to approach bloggers about your work.

With her design and style blog Modish, Jena is one of the most supportive voices out there for the handmade-artist-community. And with her new-er blog she has opened up even more opportunity and information for the creative business entrepreneur.

Visit Jena's blogs, and don't forget to check out the Modish discount at my etsy shop that runs for the rest of June.  

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]

A Little Renovation Goes a Long Way

More often than not a little cleaning up, dusting off, some furniture rearranged, maybe some new curtains and a different throw rug make you feel completely different about a room that you spend lots of time in. It always makes me feel happier and, lighter. But then this is coming from a girl who as a kid rearranged her bedroom every Sunday morning for many many years.

I have now discovered that blog renovations have the same happy effect on my disposition. And so, in honour of the blog re-design, and the addition of my soon to be new Monthly Newsletter (see button over there to the left), for the month of June I am offering discounts on all the product in my Etsy shop. Sign up for the newsletter, and you will receive a coupon by e-mail, easy!

Hope you all are having a happy start to June!