An Adventurous Life Archives - Page 28 of 34

Unfinished

Last week I wrote (and thought) a lot about systems, in preparation for the class with Cairene. (That class is no longer available)

After taking the class, I realized I've been ignoring one HUGE aspect of my systems:

I'm not done yet.

My systems are fallible.
They have holes.
I make mistakes.
Last week I just completely skipped over someone's international order, and I didn't find the mistake for over a week. Fortunately, my people are awesome and she was incredibly understanding.
But I was bummed.

Of course, you know that I'm wonky (I have a whole manifesto!) , but this isn't just personal wonky-ness…this is something specific in my systems I can fix.

There's no real point today, I just wanted to share that things are still unfinished here. And systems are probably unfinished in your business.

And that's ok.

We're all learning as we go.
And we're all in it together.

If you have something frustratingly unfinished, why don't you share it in the comments and keep me company?

Who You Know – Tara’s story

Last week I shared Diane's story of reaching out to people helped her quit her dayjob (missed it? Watch it here) and today I'm going to share mine.

Well, this isn't about quitting my dayjob, but it IS about how making friends (on the internets!) led to a new income stream (and fulfilled a long-held dream of being a professional photographer).

If you're reading this in a feed reader (or your email), you may need to click through to watch the video)

This is the yarn that is in the photos I sold:

We'd love to hear YOUR stories of how getting to know someone new turned into an awesome opportunity

Share them in the comments!

Who You Know – Diane’s Story

In celebration of our upcoming class about Who You Know, Diane and I are sharing our own stories about how getting to know some awesome people has resulted in biggification.

Check out Diane's story (and my ridiculous responses) here:

If you are completely smitten with Diane, after watching this silliness, you can get to know her better at CraftyPod.com

And if you're interested in getting to know people in your industry, you can check out the class here.

Systems? What systems?

Way back, when I first flirted with the idea of quitting my dayjob, all of my business mentors + friends said things like,

“Make sure you have your systems in order, before you quit. Now's the time to work on that”

And I thought,

“Systems? What systems?”

Systems = the things that you do when X happens.

Building or having or fixing your systems is simply making those things-you-do make more sense for you. To make space for consistency and flow. It's about bringing consiousness to those systems, which lets you run a business and still live a life.

But WHAT systems?

What systems do I already have?
What systems need work?

Enough of this philosophy of systems stuff, it's time for the airing-of-the-systems.

Systems I like

(I've worked on and have gotten mildly happy with them)

Post-sale (email inviting customer to my newsletter, note in the package)
Shipping (weekly printing of labels, packaging everything (including note!))
Inventory (keeping enough unddyed wool that I can always be dyeing, dyeing enough wool so that I can always be spinning)
Bookkeeping (monthly downloading of Paypal info, organizing it into income + expenses)
Analyzing the numbers (monthly checking it all out, making notes on what worked (and didn't!))
Communicating with customers (regular newsletters, Yarn-Love Notes)

Systems that still need work:

Production (keeping it all flowing, keeping a steady stream of new yarn coming out of my studio)
Listing (photographing, writing descriptions)
Other writing (articles, etc)
Rest (remembering to stop)

What are the systems you're happy with?
What are the systems you need to work on?

Tell me in the comments!

(And if you want to start working on your systems today, join me at 3pm. Get the details here)

In which I prove better systems lead to more time on the beach

Why systems?

Because I want a thriving, smooth, full-of-ease business.
And I want a life. A thriving, exciting, space-to-do-my-thing life.

Having systems in place, allowed me to take last weekend off and drive 5 hours to the nearest beach (and the adorable Charleston). I didn't have to worry if things were going to ship late or students were going to get their details for the class they bought. I could go, knowing that the important stuff was done and the immediate (seeming) stuff could wait.

Systems = Containers

Working on my systems provide me with containers (this is Cairene's word, and I love it). Containers of time, containers of space, containers for doing all the tasks and processes. This (shipping) goes there (Wednesdays). This (spinning) goes there (afternoons).

I like to think of containers as the baskets I keep my yarn in (I probably got this from Cairene too). I can move them around, I can rearrange the contents, but the basket holds what I need it hold until I'm ready to come back from it. And it keeps my studio from becoming a yarn-covered mess.

When something has a container; a start time, an end time or a ritual to usher it in or out; it has a boundary. It isn't a sprawling never-finished mess of muck. It has a space, a time, and a little container to hold it when I'm done.

I need boundaries to start and stop or I would just be an endless loop of doingdoingdoing while nothing feels done. Without boundaries I would answer emails as soon as they come in and never get anything done. Without boundaries around my writing time, I'd let interruptions keep me from finishing a post.

The boundaries, the containers, the systems, they give me confidence.

Confidence that if I move this container over there, it will still get done.
Confidence that if I take this weekend off, everything won't fall apart.
Confidence that emails will get answered, yarn will get made, posts will get written, orders will ship.

What kind of containers and boundaries do you have in your business?

Tell me in the comments!

Do you need to work on your systems so that you can (one day or NOW) take time off from your biz? Check out my course with Stacey Trock of FreshStitches: Take a Break (without breaking your biz!)

Excitements! Announcements! New classes!

Today I have a pile of awesomeness to announce.
I have been working double-time to bring the expertise of 2 (!) guest-teachers for 2 (!) classes that will help you with exactly the things you (and other crafty people) have been asking me.

But before I get to the classes, I wanted to introduce you to something that's been slowly baking in the background:

The CraftyBiz Kitchen

I'm starting with this first, because if you like BOTH of the class I'm about to introduce, then you'll save money by signing up for the Kitchen.

What is it?

In the CraftyBiz Kitchen, we'll bake up some customers for you, we'll test your recipes, we'll come up with some new ones. We'll sit around the table (Twitter) with our cups of coffee and share where we are, what we need and where we hope to go. It's welcoming, low stress and super simple.
The CraftyBiz Kitchen is where we take what we've learned in the class and we apply it to our businesses and then get feedback, suggestions and support from each other.

How it works

Joining the Kitchen gives you, automagically, access to every class I teach. That's at least 2 every month, many with guest experts. But on top of the normal class stuff (the live class, the recording, the summaries), you'll also get the tools to apply what you've learned to your own business. And weekly check-ins on Twitter.

The cool thing? You're not making a long-term commitment. As soon as you're ready to leave the Kitchen, you can.
You can read more about it (and sign up) here.

Systems for your Crafty Biz

July 22, 2010
Guest expert: Cairene MacDonald, of Third Hand Works

Systems are those sneaky things that you don't even realize you need.
Systems make your crafting smoother, your shipping smoother, your time management smoother. They bring ease and support and awareness.

What is it?

This class is a one hour live telechat/interview with Cairene. We'll talk about what systems are, how to build them (hint: you already have some!), and how to recognize the ones that need tweaking.
You can read all about the class (and sign up for it) here.

It's Who You Know

August 3, 2010
Co-teacher: Diane of Craftypod.com

You've probably noticed by now that the awesome things happen in your business when you connect and get to know people with an audience of your Right People. Magazine articles, local press, or a referral to a boutique owner. We'll teach you how to figure out what you want, who can help you and how to build those relationships without being slimey or awkward.

What is it?

This class is a one hour live class, in which Diane + I will teach and then take your questions. Afterward you'll get a recording, a summary and an invitation to a Twitter Q+A session.

You can read all about the class (and sign up for it) here.

Woo! Brunched!

And now that I've brunched (you remember what a brunch is, right?) two classes + a Kitchen, I'm going to dance!

And I invite you to dance with me in the comments!
What are you dancing to?
What are you learning this summer?

In which I briefly consider networking

This morning, I accompanied my husband (who just started his first business as a financial representative-extraordinaire) to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast.

Now, this isn't normally the sort of thing you bring your spouse to.
But since I also own a business, I decided to go and see what it was all about it (and yeah, provide some moral support).

Networking = Yawn

It was everything you'd expect from the words “chamber of commerce breakfast in a Holiday Inn banquet room.”

Boring.
Old men.
Politicians.
Really disgusting coffee.

Oh, the people were delightful, even the old men politicians.

And for businesses like Jay's, it makes perfect sense.
He needs to meet people, build relationships, earn trust, get referred as a “great guy” (and he is, so that shouldn't be too hard).

My business needs all those things too

Trust
Relationships
People who like me (and I like them)

But I don't need old-school networking.

I know I'm about 10 years late in extolling the virtues of the internet, but dudes! Do you know what it's saving us from?

Bad coffee! Boring elevator speeches! Smiling and nodding while old men talk tee times (not tea times, which I would have found slightly more interesting)!

I don't do networking events like these because I have Twitter. And Raverly. And the Boutique. And this space right here.
I've built a business that caters to my personality and strengths (I'm a hermit that needs to nap after lengthy exposure to more than 3 people).

But you might.

Jay can tweet till his eyes fall off (and I finally convinced him to try), but his business success will depend entirely on the local market. So he can't skip the Chamber of Commerce breakfasts (but he'll be alone from here on out!) or the lunches with old dudes or the shaking hands and smiling.

So don't assume, just because you have (and love!) social media, that it does everything you need. Maybe you should brave an early morning meeting just to see how you might do it old-school

And I hereby promise to only have the best coffee when you come by to shake my hand and talk about (anything but) golf.

Funday #2 – Dollywood Edition

Mondays = Fundays, the day I recap my success (and failures) with my #funeveryday project.
Here’s the how it works:
I try one fun thing everyday (and so do you).
I tweet it (and so do you) with the tag #funeveryday.
Each Monday (no! FUNday!), I round ‘em up: What did I try? What did YOU try? What will I do next week?

The fun that was funny

(that's a Dr. Suess thing we say to refer to real, actual fun):

Dollywood!

On Tuesday I went with my family to best amusement park ever!
You know how sometimes, the excitement leading up to the day is better than the day?
Not true here! The whole day was fabulous: the family got along, the rids were fun, the lines were short, the pizza (at Mellow Mushroom) afterwards was gluten-free.

Celebrating my own Independence (from The Man) Day
The free Q+A was a lot of fun and I got some great questions.
I (finally) wrote about the joy of quitting. And that helped me remember to quit a few other things I'm not loving.

Live Music!
Completely unexpectedly, on a day that had gone ridiculously wrong (internet connection went down right before the Yarn Camp chat, etc), I stumbled into some live music. I was waiting for Jay to get off work (at Scratch) when a group of kids started playing.

Fun for the Future

The Big Crafty
This Sunday I'm peddling handmade yarn at the biggest craft show in the area! Super excited to meet local yarn-lovers and to be a part of the fabulous Asheville arts scene. Come see me at The Big Crafty!

Something else?
I'm drawing a blank here…I need some fun-spiration!

How are you going to have a little fun everyday this week?

Happy Anniversary!

Today's my anniversary!

I have been self-employed, making handspun yarn, full-time for one year!

Instead of writing about, let me tell you what it's like:

But most importantly?

I want to say, THANK YOU!

Without you and your support at the Boutique, I wouldn't be able to pay the bills.
Without your delightful emails, I wouldn't love what I do.
Without your encouragement and sympathy during hard times, I wouldn't be able to go back to the wheel each day.

Thanks for making this last year awesome.

Here's to many more fabulous, yarny, colorful adventures!

PS. If you have questions about this self-employment thing, ask 'em during the Twitter chat today (3p ET, but you can use #asktheChicken to ask them anytime) or on the free Q+A.

The Joy in Quitting

I'll just say it: I'm a fan of quitting.

If I don't enjoy a book, I quit reading it.
If I don't like a movie, I quit watching it.
(even when I'm supposed to love it, like Fear + Loathing in Las Vegas)
If I'm frustrated with a knitting project, I quit working on it.
If an idea doesn't keep it's spark, I quit trying to make it work.
And if my work is satisfying and full-of-life and challenging, I quit.

One year ago today was my very last day of working for The Man.

I quit because I wanted to.
I quit because I knew I was ready to work for myself.
I quit because it was time for something new.
I quit because I had for 3 years on weekends and evenings building Blonde Chicken Boutique into something wonderful.

But is that a good reason to quit?

My dayjob wasn't bad. Compared to the really freakishly horrendous jobs I've had in my life (McDonald's for 2 years! Opening mail for Accounts Payable in a windowless basement office!), it was a cakewalk. Lovely coworkers, a reasonable + kind boss, sometimes challenging work.

I didn't quit because of what the job was.

I quit because of what the job wasn't.

It wasn't exciting. It wasn't challenging me daily. It wasn't…
It wasn't my life.

And I wasn't prepared, at 27, to resign myself to just living my life on the weekends.
I want my life to be lived daily, from 9-5, heck, from 8-11 (yeah, I like to sleep all the other hours).

And so I quit.

In the quitting, I gained a lot.
Sure, the hours are mine.
But so is the responsibility. And the momentum. And the hard.
Hard work, hard stress, hard relationships, hard mistakes, hard decisions.

But all that hard, it reminds me that I am living.

And that's what quitting gives me: Life. My life.

Hard and complicated.
Peaceful.
Exciting.
Challenging.
Life-giving.

What does quitting give you?

PS. This last year hasn't been easy or glamorous, to ask me what it's really been like, join me in a free Q+A tomorrow. Get the details here.