CREATIVE BIZ MARATHON

Hi there! Today is June 1st so it's time for me to give you guys an update on where I am in my creative business!  Here's a little video - it's just 5 minutes.  Thanks for watching!

I just read a blog post from iHanna, which some of you may already know.  iHanna does a lot of fun things, one of which is art journaling.  Her post was about a class in Amsterdam by the author of The Creative Entrepreneur, Lisa Sonora Beam!   I'm not anywhere near Amsterdam, but if any of you are, I would recommend registering for her class!  I know it would be totally awesome and inspiring, and put you on the road to getting your business plan lined up. The Creative Entrepreneur is business strategy designed especially for creative thinkers. Read more: http://www.creativeentrepreneur.biz/about_the_book.html#ixzz1ES40UODc I wanted to share this information with you, just in case you were anywhere near to this class.  I would definitely take this if I could! Hope you all are well and journaling your way to fulfilling your creative business goals!! ~Kelly

photo credit Thank you for following the first 24/7 (24 hours, 7 days) of The Creative Biz Marathon.  We are so glad you've joined us in this space.  Now that the first 24/7 of this journey is coming to a close, we're super-excited about following this journey / our hearts / our biz dreams even further in 2011! In fact, we've been so tremendously blessed by this experience that we aren't stopping now! Here's how you can continue to follow our journeys... 1.  Join the CBM email list.   We've created a handy sign-up process that will allow you to submit just one email signup form to join each of our email lists.  You'll be free to leave at anytime if you so choose.  We're sure you'll stay, though, because we're on a roll and can't be stopped! Email Signup form here and at the end of this post. Please subscribe! 2.  Follow each of our personal creative biz blogs , and look for the " Creative Biz Marathon" tags  there. We'll b...

Hi everyone!  I was without internet for a few days, so I am sorry that I have been absent!  I just wanted to stop in and share one exercise with you that I found interesting.  I didn't post this earlier during the marathon, but looking back at my journal, I liked this exercise.  I have always confused the different hemispheres of the brain and the thinking/feeling skills that come with each side.  This exercise helped me to understand which side handles what and to understand where the weaknesses are.  It's funny - the left side of the brain works, but only in fits and spurts.  I will go on a rampage, getting things organized, thinking about strategies and tactics, etc for a while, and I get to where I'm feeling great about things.  Then the next thing you know is POOF and all that is gone and all I want to do is avoid all of that stuff.  I see now that those times are when the right brain is dominant.  So my goal is to try and b...

Haven't you ever looked up your competition online? Have you ever checked out their resume or their CV, or see what is in their Etsy shop, and for what price?  What you are effectively doing is a Competitive Analysis - checking out your competition! The Creative Entrepreneur recommends doing this, because there is so much to learn from others.  See what is working for them.  What kind of promotional tactics do they do, and does it work?  What is their target audience, and is it the same as yours??  I plan to do a bit more of work on this section.  This is just one part of the last chapter in the book, but here is the journal page I did earlier today on competitive analysis. There is even more info I could add in this page, by really observing and researching more artists.  But this certainly gives me  plenty to think about! And besides, my page was getting full.  But the biggest thing I took from this exercise??  Is that my fear is gett...

This morning, I did some Brainstorming on things important to me and my business.  I discovered that I needed a bigger page or at least to write smaller! Oh well.  I got most of the things on the page.   In the very center is Balancing Family with Artwork, because that is the biggest thing for me.  My family comes first - always - and then artwork.  And if that means a few dishes stay in the sink while I dash off to the studio, then so be it.  Keeping my house spotless isn't on my brainstorming page, and probably won't ever be on there.  Not to say my house is dirty - it isn't - but I don't put away every single thing all the time! :) The curious thing to me was that I couldn't decide where to put a couple of the bubbles.  Two of the strategies had blurry lines between them... I think I need to spend more time going through this strategy thing.. 3 Steps to Creating Effective Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics.  Not my easiest journ...

I never knew what to call this feeling of discontent I usually feel with my business.  I've been selling my artwork for a while now, but only last night I discovered what to call it.  Structural Tension is explained in The Creative Entrepreneur as "You know how it feels when you have decided you want a certain outcome but you are still living with things are they are before the desired change??"  There, that feeling!  That's the one I'm talking about! So last night, I broke out my PanPastels (which I love for art journaling, by the way!) and got busy working on this tension. It was such a relief to spell out this scenario!  Now I know why this frustrated feeling often plagues me when it comes to my business.  Not to mention that I totally love the shade of purple from the PanPastel and I decided to use it again (although more sparingly) in the next journal page: SWOT: Strengths, Weakesses, Opportunities, and Threats.  Last night, I really noticed t...

In my last post, I talked a bit about the Pathways used to create a mandala for your creative business.  The mandala is made up of several pathways, and each one is important and specific.  Each one needs to be explored to complete the mandala and help you figure out the things you are struggling with in your business.  I shared two of my pathways with you in the previous post , and now here is the finished Mandala for my business. I drew from each pathway some of the information, and compiled it in the flower shape, recommended in the book.  This may not be my favorite journal page of all time, but the point here is that you are doing the thinking, and going through the process of figuring things out.  For me, the hardest of the pathways was the Value and Profitability, because that is the territory that I am the least familiar with.  One thing that I do to help surprise my customers and add value to their experience of buying a piece of my artwork, is ...

I am SO excited to be on this journey!  2010 was a good year for me.  I got back on track with my artwork and felt my old self come back to life.  This was so thrilling for me!  Now that it's been a few months and I've got a new line of sculpture that has found life, I am ready to figure out my plan for 2011.  I received this book, The Creative Entrepreneur, a few weeks ago, and got started on the exercises, but I lost steam as the holidays rolled around.  I was also juggling creating some more work for an exhibition, with the exercises in the book, and suddenly, I found myself a bit overwhelmed.  Fast forward to now, post-Christmas, and I am ready to get my plan prepared for 2011!  Join me as I work through some of the exercises, learning my strengths and weakness, and so many other things! Let's get started! I'm going to dive right in, so here we go! In this photo, I'm showing my workstation, which last night was at my kitchen counter. :)...