If you aren’t already doing so, wear your own art everywhere you go. Everywhere. And bring it with you everywhere. Obviously you can’t carry around display cases full of your work but if you make jewelry, it’s easy to take a dozen or so of your best selling styles and put them in a soft jewelry roll that you can pop in your bag. Then when someone comments that they like the piece you have on, tell them you have some with you that you can show. As soon as you bring it out, everyone crowds around looking at your work. All it takes is one person to purchase and it’s contagious. Always, always have your cards with contact info to hand out. If someone admires a piece, write the style name  or some identifiable memo on the card for them so that they can refer to it later.
Also carry a small notebook to jot down the person’s name, contact info and what they liked so that you can let them know when you have similar pieces. Ask permission to add people to your mailing list so that they will know when you have new designs or are doing shows.

Having your jewelry with you is also a great way to book home parties because if someone loves your work, they will want their friends to see it as well. You can make an arrangement with them that in exchange for hosting the party for you, they will get a discount on your jewelry or a complimentary piece as a hostess gift.

Particularly in the next couple of weeks, you’ll have lots of opportunity to sell your work to men who are at a loss for what to do for Valentines Day. Make sure you wear it and have samples with you everywhere.

Check out these other tips for selling jewelry for Valentines Day HERE

If you have an idea, however vague, that keeps popping back up no matter how deep  you bury it, it’s probably worth your time to finally take it seriously.

While I never make a major business decision without weighing it intellectually with facts and figures, I am a true believer in tuning into the subconscious. When an idea returns even after I have dismissed it, I know it’s time to give it serious consideration.

Because boomerang ideas can be pesky for a reason, Barbara Winter and I have planned something we’ve never done before. We’ve reserved a suite in Las Vegas to sit down with a select group of artists and aspiring entrepreneurs and bring those neglected ideas to what I call the “possibility circle”. That means you put your concept out there and we all put our “problem solver” hats on to bust through the obstacles and create a viable business.

This won’t be a lecture and it isn’t for you if you are looking for a “what do I want to do when I grow up” seminar. It will be a hands-on, hats-on how-to-make-it happen NOW workshop. If you’ve been sitting on an idea that won’t leave you alone until you do it, if you are ready to roll up your sleeves, dig in to the details and bring it to life, click HERE to learn more about how you can be part of this powerful mastermind. And if you do it NOW, you’re still in time for a pre-workshop phone consult with me. Here’s how you can join the circle.

My friend and mentor, Barbara Winter asked this question on Facebook, “How do you keep your curiosity alive?” My initial response was that curiosity is an innate trait rather than a skill that needs to be honed. However, Barbara replied that all two year olds are curious-we all are born with curiosity  but it is often discouraged. That makes sense to me. While in my family of origin, curiosity was valued and encouraged, I married into a more reserved family and my husband was embarrassed when I would ask too many questions, calling it “nosey”.

This conversation on FB reminded me of all the valuable human traits we are born with but taught to suppress in favor of politeness, safety or fitting the mold.

About a year ago, I read an article in a Canadian newspaper about a study done in Ottowa schools. As I recall, the conclusion was that career counseling should start as early as 6th grade. That may seem very young for a student to begin planning for a career but think about one of the first questions nearly every re-careering coach asks you. What kinds of things fascinated you when you were a child? What could you spend hours doing?

Since our earliest interests are key to our ideal livelihood, it sure seems reasonable that we’d begin exploring viable career options with kids in elementary school. The occupation a child aspires to at that age is based on passion, not paycheck and external expectations. So, exploring different careers at such an early age may just keep young people more focused on making a living doing something they love rather than what their parents, teachers or society deem an appropriate career for them.

Many schools do have a career day of some sort that involves parents coming to school and discussing what they do and students have the opportunity to shadow an adult at work for a day. When my son was in grade school, there were two commercial pilots and a pitcher for the Padres among the parents. When I suggested that either my husband or I go to talk about being entrepreneurs, our son said, “no one wants to grow up to be a business man.” I agree that if we went to school and talked about sales quotas, projections and balance sheets we’d have put the kids to sleep (and embarrassed our son). But talking about getting paid to do what you love and the benefits of self employment (like taking your dog to work or  taking your work and your kids on a  snorkeling vacation) would have peeked their interest in entrepreneurship.

In primary school, all the boys wanted to be firemen or policemen because they were heros. Why not show them examples of businesses that make a difference and improve lives; entrepreneurs who teach a whole village to make a living and bring schools,  clean drinking water and shoes to children their age? Almost daily I hear from middle aged adults who’ve spent decades in a career they were bored with, chosen because they were told they had an aptitude for it or because it was expected of them. They are looking for something that has more meaning, that they enjoy. What would happen if we didn’t have to go back and reconnect with the passions of our youth because we were encouraged in grade school to start thinking about doing something we love for a living instead?

Do you remember what you loved to do as a child? Were you encouraged to think about doing that for a living? What kinds of messages did parents, teachers and advisors give you about career choices? Were they based on your passions or your aptitude and societies expectations? As always, you are invited to share your thoughts with our readers below.

So how can you increase your income as a crafter if you’re already selling as many pieces as you can comfortably produce?

You need to find other “profit centers” as my friend Barbara Winter calls multiple income streams. (she says “streams sounds wimpy”.) So what other ways can you bring in income without having to ramp up production?

The best way I know is to leverage your time and knowledge. Let’s look at some opportunities for increasing revenue that will also help get your name out there.

If you produce a product that is based on your signature design, one great way to leverage is to sell kits with all the supplies and instructions so that others can duplicate it but you are still getting paid. I wouldn’t worry about losing sales because the person who would purchase a kit to make a piece like yours is a different customer altogether than the one who would buy a finished piece. Say for example,  you are a jewelry designer. You can make a piece once and then sell the instructions, beads, findings, etc as a Make-it-Yourself kit. Or, if you make handbags, for each style you design, make up a pattern that you can sell along with the fabric, buttons, zipper, thread and any other supplies needed to make the bag.

Another very simple way to leverage your revenue from art is to teach both live classes or virtual. It’s very easy to make a video demonstrating “how-to” do your craft and sell either a digital version online or a physical DVD. Again, the client who will pay for your instruction video is not the same client who will buy the finished work.

Go through the craft section at any bookstore and you will see color plates in the “how-to” books featuring different artists’ work. An added source of income is the sale of your pattern or instructions to an author or publisher. Of course, submitting articles or patterns to craft magazines is another great vehicle for selling your design.

Some artists will choose to have two or more different series in their line. One can be a higher end, labor intensive limited edition while the other can be more competitively priced. This works well if you sub out assembly to work-at-home parents who can each have their own cottage industry. You pay them by the piece and it’s a winning scenario for everyone, including the customer who may not purchase your higher end work. Making sure the lines each have a distinct look will help to maintain the prices on the more upscale pieces.

When you offer to do a demo along with a trunk show at a home party or local boutique, you will be able to reach the crafters who will pay you for lessons and kits as well as the collectors who will pay for your work rather than do it themselves. Any exposure you can get will be a marketing step.
If you want to be sure not to miss any of the helpful hints on how to leverage your craft and time, go to the right of this page and click on the “RSS Feed” or “subscribe” button to receive updates via email or you feed-reader.

Because I’ve been self-employed for over three decades,  I probably take my freedom more for granted than many of my clients and friends who are  corporate refugees, so I’m grateful for this nightly reminder to celebrate  independence.

And speaking of celebrating Independence and “bosslessness”, I want to invite you to join me for a celebration of self-employment.  My friends Sandy Dempsey and Alice Barry have gathered together a posse to plan the Joyfully Jobless Jamborree.  Sandy initially came up with this idea to honor our friend and mentor Barbara Winter, author of best selling “Making a Living without a Job”.  The theme of the event is “more time, more fun, more money”.  Unlike the typical “pitch-fest” events, this is all about celebration, lifelong learning and the joy of being jobless. I hope to see you there. Read more about the Joyfully Jobless Jamborree here.

That’s the kind of question I get from clients.

My friend and mentor, Barbara Winter, shares this story of Inspired Livelihood in action:

Last weekend when I headed to California to visit my family, I had a short list of things I wanted to do while there. One of those items was to visit Betty Belts, a small shop in Ventura which had recently bestowed one of their tote bags on my sister Margaret in a store contest. Although I didn’t need a belt, Margaret insisted I needed to see the store.

She was absolutely right. From the moment we entered this cozy shop, I knew we were in a special place. I learned that the store is named after a pioneering woman surfer who inspired other women to master the sport.

We began our visit by admiring the beautiful silver jewelry made by the group of artisans that stock the store. Owner/Designer Donna von Hoesslin was puttering about the place. Within a few minutes, I discovered that she was passionate about jewelry, the environment, surfing and Bali, Donna has found a way to integrate all these passions into her life.

She also proudly announced that her business had recently reached its seventh anniversary. The shop is a recent addition to the successful online business that Donna’s run for most of that time.

When I admired a bracelet she was wearing she told me the story of its inception. She and several members of Team Betty had gone to Bali, Donna challenged them to each come up with a new jewelry design, give it a name and choose a cause that would receive 15% of the profits from its sales. The bracelet she was wearing was called Compassion and the designer had been so moved by the huge number of stray dogs in Bali that her cause was a pet rescue mission there.

Jewelry wasn’t all that this shop had to offer, however. There are magnificent scarves imported from Bali, large framed photographs of surfers taken by Donna’s boyfriend, and her own signature beaded belts.

I’m quite sure that Margaret and I were both smiling when we walked back to my car.
“I just love meeting people who love what they do so much,” Margaret said. Of course, I agreed. All that passion is positively contagious when it’s put to such good use.

After I got home, I paid a visit to her gorgeous Web site where I read, “Donna von Hoesslin takes her inspiration from her love of the ocean and the beach lifestyle, combined with the influence of 17 years of living in Europe.

“She believes in giving back where she can and does so by supporting many causes, among which are environmental fundraisers, at-risk youth, women’s surfing (through athlete and event sponsorship), 1% For The Planet Membership, Coop America, and support for the mostly female artisans in Bali who make the products and much more.”

This lovely field trip reminds me that people who practice inspired livelihood just keep spreading all that goodness around.

Barbara Winter shares ideas and inspiration with other creative entrepreneurs through her blog Buon Viaggio, her long-running print newsletter “Winning Ways” and “Joyfully Jobless” News ezine. In addition, Barbara conducts seminars and retreats across the country and internationally. Since it first appeared in 1993, her book “Making a Living Without a Job” has been a handbook for thousands of people. An updated edition hit the market in Sept, 2009 and was an instant best seller.

If you know you want to find more meaning in your livelihood doing what you love and making a difference in a few lives, your community or the world, April is the time to step up and get started.

Are you having trouble figuring out how doing what you love can improve lives and earn the income you need?

I had such a tremendous response to the March Idea Generating special that I’m extending the offer through April. I’ve bundled my “Idea Generating” sessions and you can now sign up for a package of 3 Private One-to-One Phone Sessions with me for $270. My single session rate is $185 an hour but because NOW is the TIME to TAKE ACTION, I’m opening up a limited number of session hours to a select few who are ready to Spring into Action.

you can purchase a
3 Session Package for $270 ( less than half the usual hourly rate.)

Find out More about these Idea Generator Sessions

STOP beating yourself up for not accomplishing what you planned to earlier this year. Forget those New Years resolutions. Winter is hibernation season in nature for a reason. But, NOW is time to SPRING into action!

By now you are likely back to work after the holidays. I hope you enjoyed time with family and friends or just relished some quiet solitude, if that’s what you desired.

“Back to work” has a different meaning when you’re self employed, particularly if you love what you do and where you do it. If you are in an area of the country experiencing winter storms, you’re probably feeling extra grateful that you don’t have to bundle up and scrape the ice off your windshield before you brave the icy roads for your longer than usual commute. This morning as the airwaves buzzed with school closures, traffic delays and treacherous road conditions, I sure appreciated my self employed status. If you already work from home, is your business meeting your financial expectations? Are you finding your work fulfilling? How are you dealing with potential isolation?

Maybe you are still working for someone else but have promised yourself that 2010 is the year you’ll break free and start your own business.

Whether you’re looking for ways to supplement your income, increase the volume you are already doing in your business or just starting out, January is the time to map out your immediate and long term business strategies.

What are you doing right now, this week to ensure that you will have income this month?

If you’re thinking that people are not spending after the holidays, you’re missing out. Whether you sell a tangible product, information or service, January can be a strong month if you stay open to thinking differently about your potential clients or customers.

Think about all the people who receive cash gifts for Christmas! They may have been eyeing that handmade piece you showcased in December but were in the giving rather than “self-gifting” mindset before the holidays. Now, they have “me” money but unless you remind them you are still out there making fabulous stuff, that money won’t find it’s way to you.

What about the people whose new year’s resolutions involve eating healthfully or learning a new skill? Now is a better time than pre-holiday to market your personal chef, fitness training or voice coaching services. Let’s say you teach macrobiotic cooking or  jewelry making or sell supplies? Both the recipient of cash gifts and the new student are your potential customers.

There are also a number of little known holidays in January. Just google “January holidays” and you’ll find that today is National Bird Day. Who knew?  I have no idea who comes up with these fairly obscure days of celebration but had you known this earlier and planned ahead, you could have arranged a show and sale of your handmade bird ornaments or bluebird earrings at the Audubon club.

Think of what you could have done had you known that tomorrow is Dia de Reyes.  Tonight, January 5,  figurines of the Three Wise Men are added to the nativity scene. Before bed, Mexican children place their old shoes under their beds, where the Wise Men will leave them presents.

Next week is Japanese Coming of Age Day and the 24th is the Anniversary of Gold Discovery Day in California. (1848). My head is spinning with ideas for marketing your creative services and handmade crafts on those and other January holidays like Chinese New Years and Australia Day, both Jan. 26th. If you’re asking yourself what those  celebrations have to do with you, have you forgotten that you are reading this on the “world wide web”? As my friend Barbara Winter says, “your clientele is no longer limited by geography.” So, go explore what’s being celebrated in your neighborhood and around the world. Rather than thinking you’re too late for Christmas, you’ll find you’re early for some creative offerings or craft selling opportunities. What are you doing now to ensure you’ll have cash flow next month?

Today my sister Margaret is headed to the garment district in Los Angeles on a field trip for her business. I know she’ll return with all sorts of treasures that will take on a new life in one of her hair ornaments.

Yesterday she participated in a bridal show, introducing brides to her Over the Top Fascinators. Since starting her business earlier this year, Margaret has acquired feathers, jewels, fabrics and combs of all shapes and sizes. She’s also acquired two rescue dogs that need a lot of attention. Happily, she can combine both in her living room.

A few days ago, she and I were having one of our frequent Skype chats (where she often shows me the latest creations she’s working on) and for some reason the conversation turned to the subject of resumes and cover letters. Margaret suddenly looked thoughtful and said, “I’d be working on my resume right now if I hadn’t found the feather.” 

“If I Hadn’t Found the Feather could be the title of your autobiography,” I joked. She laughed, too, but is quite aware that this happy enterprise has made a huge difference in her life. Her perpetual enthusiasm is downright contagious.

Like many wonderful enterprises, this one seemed almost accidental. Last fall, Margaret’s daughter had a friend who was getting married. Alexis, the bride, asked Margaret to make a fascinator for her to wear at the wedding. I’m not sure if Margaret knew much about fascinators at the time (I was oblivious until she introduced me), but she found the experience so delightful that she bought a few feathers, some veiling and began creating a few more. Then she had some new ideas and turned those into hair ornaments. Suddenly, she was headed in a new direction.

Margaret’s daughter Gretchen shared her enthusiasm and offered to build a Web site for her. Gretchen rounded up some friends and a photographer and scheduled a photo shoot. In its brief lifetime,  Over the Top Fascinators has had disappointments and detours, but Margaret’s passion has moved it right past those interruptions. 

Watching my youngest sister evolve as an entrepreneur got me thinking about tiny Bhutan, a small country in the Himalayas. Bhutan is an unlikely place for the birth of an international trend, yet its policy of determining success based on Gross National Happiness has gotten the attention of leaders from around the world. The term was coined by Bhutan’s King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, when he ascended the throne in 1972. GNH defines prosperity based on spiritual well-being and environmental responsibility rather than consumption. 

Imagine that…building prosperity that takes into account personal happiness and well-being. And to think it could start with finding the feather.

Barbara shares ideas and inspiration with other creative entrepreneurs through her blog Buon Viaggio, her long-running print newsletter Winning Ways and Joyfully Jobless News ezine. In addition, Barbara conducts seminars and retreats across the country and internationally. Since it first appeared in 1993, her book Making a Living Without a Jobhas been a handbook for thousands of people. An updated edition makes its appearance on September 1, 2009.

Margaret Winter’s stunning designs may be viewed at http://overthetopfascinators.com

As my mentor and friend Barbara Winter  commented on the adman’s fear of running out of ideas, “That’s scarcity thinking. He doesn’t know that inspiration must be nurtured.” 

And that nurturing takes different forms  at different time for different people.

When my sister Pam moved to Nashville at 23 to pursue her songwriting career, she signed a contract to spend every Friday in a publishing office on Music Row cranking out lyrics. I couldn’t imagine how she cold be creative in that environment.  It’s always been a puzzle to me how employees who have to be creative on demand find inspiration sitting in an office building.  . I thought about where my own inspiration came from for paintings and realized it never happened in the studio. That was just where I went to implement. 

Think about songwriting. How may lyrics are inspired by new love, lost love or betrayal?  The experience that trigger those emotions don’t happen in the cubicle.  Creativity, like friendship, needs to be nurtured to thrive, and that nurturing can be both internal and external. 

That nourishment for me comes from walking on the beach, though the redwoods or driving on the open road. The ideas flow continuously. The colors, textures and motion feed the idea bank. Not all ideas are born in solitude, thought. In fact, I find watching travelers in airports to be a red hot creative spark.  A conversation with a stranger can be a great jump start for inspiration. Visit a preschool class or a farmer’s market and you can’t help but find ispiration. And of course read. A lot.  Read  about people who’s lives look nothing like your. Have a conversation with a five year old. And an eighty five year old. Watch a foreign film the first time through without reading sub titles. 

My favorite, and the most powerful recharger of all is a live workshop.  Whether you’re an introvert or extrovert,  there’s nothing like the charge you get from being in a room of people with curiosity, enthusiasm and  passion.  It’s not just about exchange of information. When you put ten entrepreneurs in a room together, the creative energy is palpable.  That’s why the concept of a mastermind is so powerful and I’ll be talking about that in future posts. 

Even if you’re someone who requires frequent periods of solitude, which I do, you owe it to your business and your art to put yourself in a room with people who “get” you.  Not a huge informational conference although some people do find those stimulating. ( I find them so draining and go into information overload quickly. It takes me days to recoup.) I’m suggesting you go to an interactive, live meeting of creative minds where everyone benefits from the exchange of ideas,feedback, brainstorming and problem solving.

Where do you find inspiration? Out in nature,  while traveling, on a crowded subway, at a lumber yard? Of course you’re invited to share your sources of inspiration. We’d all love to know what makes you tick .

This morning, in an attempt to procrastinate a few minutes prior to beginning a project I’d been resisting, I checked my inbox and found an email from my friend and mentor, Barbara Winter,  complimenting a post by Todd Henry of Accidental Creative. Henry encouraged members of his community “to spend some time this week in unnecessary creating”. He goes on to say that  “One of the ways we grow, uncover long-lost interests and curiosities and develop new skills is through unnecessary creating. It’s important that we not neglect our personal creating for the sake of our create-on-demand role. In fact, it’s been my experience that the more we neglect our personal creative exploration the more it affects our ability to create when we have to.” I found this the perfect reason to procrastinate awhile longer and go down to the beach for a little unnecessary sand doodling with my toes. And what an accidental creative experience it was. Lost in my “pedi-art”, I forgot about my dog, Lucy until I heard her crunching yet another oyster shell. Knowing if she swallowed it, we would be in for another sleepless night with a sick dog, I demanded she drop it. Normally, she clenches her jaw tightly and refuses to let me have a look, quickly swallowing her treasure before I can rob her of the delicacy. But today, she let me have her sandy prize and as I dug to bury this disgusting morsel before another dog found it, I spotted a lovely aqua piece of glass  Rubbing my tumbled treasure on the way back to the house, I remembered an artist I know who makes jewelry from found sea glass, and another who uses recycled glass and I knew I had to do a story about artists who make their living using recycled and found objects.  (link to recycled art)  Thank you, Todd and Barbara for permission to spend some time for “accidental inspiration.”   ]]> http://www.craftbizblog.com/uncategorized/procrastination-inspiration/feed/ 0