February, you’re starting to look good from here. I took some time yesterday to do a little project planning for the month and I’m so ready to get started. February is one of my favorite months, I love Valentine’s Day (always have, even when I was without a date, and always will). I also [...]]]>

February, you’re starting to look good from here. I took some time yesterday to do a little project planning for the month and I’m so ready to get started. February is one of my favorite months, I love Valentine’s Day (always have, even when I was without a date, and always will). I also love that this month starts to hint a little at spring.

I’m putting myself through a six-week business boot camp, that starts today and ends right on my 29th birthday. If all goes well, I will write about the process.

This month I want to bring more original content to this blog. I see tutorials, home stuff, recipes, DIY, daily life and daily creative inspiration. I also want to share more about my design process with what I’m learning and how I apply what I know.

Bring it, February!

I’m learning to listen to myself more; riding the thin line between “I [...]]]> In the past year I’ve been trying to figure out how I want to make a living for myself. I’ve gone from being fully immerged in graphic design, jewelry design, blogging and catering to wanting to drop them and start all over.

I’m learning to listen to myself more; riding the thin line between “I could do this for a living” and “I should only do this for myself”.  What I’ve found is this: I need to take ownership for who I am and the work I do. In my attempt to find independence with self-employment I find that I’m still relying on everyone else around me to validate who I am and the work I choose to do.

In my mind, I can still see the big red letters “this is crap” on my freshman review, written of course, by a disgruntled professor. For some reason those three words are heard much louder than every other good and positive word that came my way in college. The critic is always much louder. Often the critic isn’t the professor, but ourselves. We are willing to give up, and resign ourselves to the words of the world. We let our peers dictate who we are and who we will become. We sit in our studios and stare at the blank screen or  sit in front of a pile of metal and tell ourselves before we even start: this is crap.

I have people in my life who will not acknowledge that I’m a designer. They call me an artist or dare I say a crafter. To them, I merely tinker with jewelry and peddle my wares.

There are others who only see me as a designer. A sell-out. Not a serious artist.

And then there are others who dismiss what I write, because I don’t proof, because I don’t rattle off the names of my favorite writers or the latest books I’m reading.

But, I still write, I still design, and I still come up with ideas even when I’m sleeping.

Those people are few, they are the minority in the sea positive and creative people I surround myself with on a daily basis. They are not just real people, but the thoughts that I have about myself. These words have never been spoken to me. Only from myself, to myself.

My point is this, those who I regard as good designers, artists or writers aren’t good because their work is especially amazing. They are good because they believe they are good. They stake their claim. This doesn’t mean they don’t make mistakes, or ever created bad work, it’s because they do it anyway. They are pushing themselves to be different and to learn. They are professional, but not falsely confident. They are humble, they collaborate and share ideas. This is who I want to be.

When I start a new business or project, I know it is often out of distrust for my current work. How can I master anything if I’m always starting something new? The truth is this: I am a designer, artist, creative person. I have failed many times. I’ve created disasters. I’ve made so many mistakes. But I can’t do anything else as my lifes work, because this is my life. I eat, breathe, and dream about design in all aspects. I love publications, layouts, logos, the way food is arranged on a plate, the way a piece of metal becomes a wearable sculpture. My life is in the aesthetics, in the hope of beauty. It is everywhere. It’s in an empty glass bottle or the veins in a leaf.

By default I was made to see the details. Without glasses I cannot see far away, or even a couple of inches past my nose. But without them I can see something much greater: all the details. I can see the pores in my hands, the hair follicles protruding from my skin, I can see the fine details that people often miss. And I think as a whole this is who I am, a person who works in the details.

This is a declaration to myself: I am a designer and I am an artist. You’re either on board or not. I’m still moving and this show is only going to get better. I take my work seriously and I believe in my abilities. I am regardless of the competitiveness and weary egos of my peers. I’m growing and constantly challenging myself. I say this as a reminder that I can and will get better if I’m willing to do the work. Sometimes I don’t challenge myself to create excellent work out of fear, fear of great work.

My husband always tells me that talent comes from hard work, no one is naturally talented. He says that you can play the same chords over and over on the guitar for years, but never become a good guitarist. You have to keep learning new techniques. This is a process that will never stop. You can’t mourn over all of the bad music you’ve played because you can’t become great without it.

My idea (that I’ve had for two years) is to [...]]]> I often say that a new idea is a curse because I just don’t have enough time to do it all. With that said an idea that I can’t shake away is probably a sign that I should find a way to make it work.

My idea (that I’ve had for two years) is to start a Floyd blog. I won’t get into detail about why or how this is happening just yet, but it’s in the works. I have a vision for this blog and I’m so excited to execute it. I’ve got a lot of plans and the goal is to debut it at the beginning of April. Time to order blog (business) cards!

Another project I’m working on is a workshop series with my friend Courtney. In our four hour workshop we will cover starting a website and blog using wordpress. We only have 10 slots open and our goal is to have everyone up and running with a new blog or website by the end of the class. If you already have a blog or website, we will cover the basics of blogging, making it unique to you and your business and tips for making money through blogging. We are aiming to hold it on April 17th. If you would like more information please feel free to email me at lorrieelizabeth(at)gmail.com.

I am loving this song and video  lately. I heard it at a party on New Years Eve and it’s been playing ever [...]]]> Oh man, I 100% got sidetracked from my little Home for the Holidays project. I just got behind, but I think I’d like to give it a go next Christmas. We’ll see.

I am loving this song and video  lately. I heard it at a party on New Years Eve and it’s been playing ever since.

I have a lot of focus right now with my other blog, so I’m trying to think of how I want to use this space. I like that not many people read my ramblings over here and I feel a bit more free to share whatever.

Here are some post ideas:

Home makeover projects

Planning a garden

Upcycled clothing ideas

Jewelry selling advice (etsy and shows)

Jewelry packaging

Graphic design: inspiration, projects and ideas

Recipes, catering and daily cooking adventures

To-do lists and goals

And that’s all that I can think of for now. I’ll be back tomorrow with one of these post ideas!

Simon ♥

Finished two weeks of the Clean Clense

Continued training with Couch to 5k (though behind at the moment)

Started work on the Floyd Holiday Market

Threw a Halloween party with friends

I recently got an email  from a full-time employed friend who has a good job in the area. She was looking for  ways to make extra Christmas cash. I tried to help her [...]]]> I’ve been having a few “a ha!” moments lately about life and work. So here is my post about working from home…

I recently got an email  from a full-time employed friend who has a good job in the area. She was looking for  ways to make extra Christmas cash. I tried to help her the best I could, and was sad that I didn’t have an easy solution for her. I was also sad that after working all week she needed to work more to make enough money for Christmas.

Me and Josh get asked by teachers, caterers, professional people with “real jobs” how we make a living at home. There is no real answer except that:

It is not easy.

I know, you were hoping that once you got out of your day job you could go home put your feet up and relax? This is what I thought. I’m not  office worker material. I never have been and never will be. This does not mean I am lazy, unmotivated, or have low work ethic. It means that if I’m going to work hard, I want to make myself financially free and secure, not someone else. Often that is what working for someone else is. We’re living is a  system that without office workers, most things would collapse. So if that’s what drives you, kudos. Seriously, the world needs more people like you!

I really thought working for myself would be easier. It’s not. I work a lot right now and the pay is minimal. This won’t always be the case, but right now it is feast or famine. I count on every dollar that comes into my bank account.

What is easier? I don’t have to request vacation days, I don’t have to worry about getting sick (except for not having insurance) and taking off work and not getting paid, I don’t have to worry about traveling in bad weather and not getting paid (and using up vacation days), I don’t have to deal with sensitive co-workers/office politics/getting a raise, I don’t have to “dress the part” even though I love dressing for myself, I don’t have any flouresent lights, I don’t have a scheduled lunch hour, I don’t have to worry about getting up at a certain time (although I often set my alarm), I can work at 5am or 10pm, I can work while on vacation, the harder I work the more money I can make, I can’t get fired, I can set my own hours, if I need $200 or $500 extra within a week I have the resources to make that happen, I can do three hours of concentrated work daily and make a decent living, I can be creative, I have time to learn new skills, I’m not too tired to :cook, exercise, blog, tend to projects when I get home (I’m always home), I can work on Saturdays and take Monday off if I want, I eat better, I exercise more, my stress is lower, I can take classes during the week…

Sounds great, right? This is what motivates me. Every time  I feel unmotivated or too overwhelmed to work, I tell myself that not working is a slap in the face to the me that has spent countless hours working for someone else and hating it. I talk to the old office-me and say “hey would you rather be at home, make your own hours in exchage for…writing articles, making  jewelry, taking photos, trying out new recipes, updating your blog…” I would have said YES and ran out the door. You have to work hard if you want to make it happen.

I have to remind myself of this daily. I need to make a living so I can choose A or B. A is getting  a regular job and B is working for myself.  I have about $900 in expenses a month (not including food) which means to make the bare minimum to live I need to make about $75 a day (fives days a week) to get by at my current state without savings, making progress on debt, and not spending a lot of money. That is $375 a week. I take that number and map out ways that I can make that happen. Again, this is the minimum for me, but I always aim to make more.

In office jobs we’re used to being there eight hours a day, but not actually working the full eight hours. I’m sure some people out there would say “but I DO work the full eight hours and I work many hours a week” well, my friend, it sucks to be you. Just kidding (sorta). Most office workers spend their time, reading stuff on the internet, hanging out on facebook/twitter, socializing with their co-workers, talking on the phone, smoking, eating snacks, doodling, balancing their checkbooks/checking online banking, writing blog posts, chatting on gmail… And if you don’t think this doesn’t happen, think again.

When you’re at home working for yourself, time spent on social network sites (aside from marketing) is money lost. Every minute spent doing something that doesn’t help you earn money, learn something new, or progress your business during your working hours is a lost opportunity.

What else?

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

This doesn’t mean you have to dip into a million projects to diversify your income. I struggle with this because I love doing so many things. It does mean having a few reliable back-up sources of money. Currently my income comes through the following: jewelry, article writing, freelance design, and blog projects. Most of my money comes from jewelry sold here in Floyd. My next source of income comes from writing internet articles for Demand Media. I also work one day a week doing freelance work. And another section of my time is spent working on projects such as Wear it Well, this is a small portion of income as well.

My husband writes articles, creates websites and makes money through comissions as an affiliate marketer. He has been doing this for five years and makes a decent living. He has the same benefits of not having an office job, BUT he works long hours, had to learn a lot of information, has had a lot of projects not work out, has to be very self-motivated and his work is tedious. You have to really want this to make it happen.

When people say to us “I want to do what you do” I always want to say (but never do, because I’m nice) “If you want to do this work because you hate working and want to escape your current situation, it won’t happen”. I would say that 90% of  people are not cut out to be self-employed or entrepreneurs. I’m not totally convinced that I’m self-employment material, but the alternative is not an option for me, so I work really hard.

There are also other downsides of working for yourself: getting insured is expensive and not always an option, you may be poor for while (this isn’t the worst thing in the world), you have to learn to budget your money and not spend it all when you start making more, projects will fail, sometimes it gets lonely (try to find other freelancers in your area-this helps!), you have to market yourself and what you’re selling, and you need marketable skills.

Here are some of my marketable skills/traits:

1) Graphic design: I took 4 years of art and design. I’m still learning and growing and evolving, but this skill is invaluable for landing freelance jobs and allows me to create my own marketing materials.

2) I am resourceful and creative. I can think outside of the box and am willing to task risks. I also believe things will be okay and somehow I will find the money to pay for my living expenses. These traits are invaluable.

3) I’m willing to learn new skills. A few months ago I knew nothing about making jewelry and now I know how to solder, cut metal, wire wrap and create interesting designs. I also didn’t know how to use indesign (I now use it for almost everything!) and didn’t know anything about safe food handling, baking pastries, using word press, to name a few. Learning as an adult means admitting to not having all of the answers. It also means learning from mistakes and changing.  You have to tame your ego, sometimes you will fail and you will be OKAY. If you want to learn more about a subject take a few classes, find an apprenticeship and spend a lot of time researching! Few people are born with talents and skills, don’t feel inferior because you have to work hard at something…everyone does!

4) I’m always looking for new opportunities. Look for open markets in your town or on the internet where your skills can be utilized. Sometimes just knowing a lot about any subject can allow you to make money through teaching or sharing your ideas.

Stay tuned for: Dream a Little Dream: How to make your little goals work towards you big dreams.