I have been spending the past couple months quietly rethinking my business and the items I create. Reflecting back on my first couple years in business, I realize it was a time of experimentation, scatter brained creativity, and learning from the handmade community.
It was the past holiday season that really put my creative business in perspective for me and I realized a couple of important things: along the way:
1) I love the handmade market and community. It is a lot of hardwork but extremely fulfilling and a place I can see myself working in for a long time.
2) I can't do it all and that's okay. I love blogging. I love the blog universe and understand the immense advantage of social media when it comes to promoting my business online but staring at a computer screen for 8 hours each day and then some doesn't really appeal to me. And I'm okay with that.
3) I offer too many products! My desire to manifest new items and work in different fields is a great and keeps things exciting. But guess what? It can actually work against you if you are trying to build a creative business.
4) I am ready to start planning the next big step. For me, this entails lots of quiet musings, reorganization, and executing some serious discipline with my business. It also requires patience. A lot of it.
All of these thoughts have lead me back to pursuing what I love most, embroidery. I really neglected it the past year which is a pity considering I had initially planned on it being my primary medium when I first started my business. This weekend I took the first step towards returning to this medium that I love. Above is a sneak peek of one of my new creations which is a more detailed version of my "Married Hands" greeting card.
What about you? Do you have any new commitments/directions with your creative business?
That embroidery is great! And I can completely understand where you're coming from! when I first started my etsy shop, it was geared more toward my polymer clay foods. But I've grown a little weary of that. and i've grown fond of my childhood craft of embroidery. it reminds me of my grandmother and time spent with her.
ReplyDeletei definitely have a shop with A.D.D. right now as it goes off in every direction. I recently started weeding out the photography-related items and put them in a 2nd shop.
Now I just have to find some focus and figure out what I really want to create. I have to remember that I can make whatever i want for myself or as gifts, but the shop needs to be cohesive.
it's just a bit difficult to let go of some items because I wonder if I would do better selling them. And I haven't had enough sales to really get a feel for what does best
good luck to you! it's something I'm also struggling with myself. so I feel for your situation!
Tuski- I know! Keeping a shop cohesive is so hard! I am taking the next couple months to experiment with my shop to see how I can tie certain products together through my product photos. I'm hoping that will help and even increase my sales. Good luck to you too!
ReplyDeleteI struggle with these same thoughts about my etsy shop and also my life in general. I have a full time job as a self-employed attorney, but I still want to keep my shop, and my blog, and these areas are not always in harmony. I would like to be better about creating and keeping the shop updated. But that would mean spending less time on getting my practice to a level where my revenues meet or (hopefully someday) exceed my expenses. I feel torn. But it seems to work ok if I don't think about it too much and just keep plugging away. Good luck with your shop and photo experiments!
ReplyDeleteExcellent work. I am going through an experimental phase with my creativity - so I think I can relate. I am certain of one thing, I will stick with the handmade community.
ReplyDeleteI'm encoutering the same struggle. I am most definitely my own worst editor - something I think is essential to creating a 'design identity.' sigh. I like your game plan, and I look forward to seeing even more of your beautiful embroidery. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for sharing your thoughts! Just another reason why I love the handmade and blog community. It's great knowing you are not alone and somehow makes dealing with all the stress of a creative business that much easier. :)
ReplyDeleteI love that embroidery piece. Great job!
ReplyDelete