book, Uncategorized

Stubbornness

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Little Miss Stubborn

Little Miss Stubborn

Just to say…. wooohooo…. number 1 best seller!!!!!!

One of the key things for successful artisans seems to be the capacity to be stubborn. Something I had in abundance as a child, but being a good girl learned to let others have their say and put their own point of view across.

It got me thinking in being the respectable selfless woman that I am expected to be, do I loose some of the edge and that I need in business. Does the polite and gentle woman that others want me to be, stop me from being myself and get in the way of me promoting myself. And the answer for me is probably it does.

Now the truth is sticking your heals in and now moving an inch is not a good thing as I have discovered that I’m not always right. Sarcasm really doesn’t work when your typing hey.

Listening to other people when the say what you are doing is wrong when you know it is right means you loose a little part of yourself. Each part of you that you loose means its harder to stick your heels in and keep going when times get hard with your business.

Stubbornness and the refusal to give up when things are tough is so very important to making your business work.

I spoke about using the blog and the things I have learnt in the book to launch Oliopix ( www.oliopix.co.uk , www.etsy.com/shop/oliopix ). So the lesson Andy and I are having to learn this week is stubbornness.

Firstly because Etsy for some reason keeps removing the ability to pay for the digital download sheets by PayPal. We are working with them to try and work out what is happening but when your product only costs £2.50 no one will use a credit card to buy it.

Secondly we have only had one response to the survey we have put out to work out what other people want from our product. Even with the incentive of 90% off our digital download sheets for those who respond.( https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BMW2MTC ) It would be really easy to see this as a bit of a failure. But what about the positives? We have had people follow the Facebook page who are not personal friends. We have seen a constant stream of people visiting the Etsy page.

So what do we need to do now?

I recon we need to find some other places where our ideal customers hang out so we can ask them what they think. We need to show our products in finished items and get those seen and we need to see what our competitors are doing. After all if they are selling they are doing something right which we are not doing.

Stubbornness at this stage says we don’t give up on the project. This is primarily Andy’s project after all and something he is really enjoying doing which I love seeing. Stubbornness says we find other options to discover what our customers want. Stubbornness says although we’ve had limited sales, part of this is about needing to create a damn good reputation for ourselves.

book

Best Seller

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Thank you so much guys, my little book has made it into the top 10 of its category. You have officially made me a best seller, thank you so much

blog from the bath, book

Bank Holiday Monday Musings

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My husband and I launched a digital download company Oliopix at the beginning of June. To be fair sales are slow, there was a technical hiccup that made this worse and the initial shine of a new project has worn off. That along with the pressure we feel going the the final stages of an adoption and the official launch of the book on Wednesday my little head is screaming drop it, that’s the thing that has to give.

So I got to thinking, if I was coaching Oliopix what would we be looking at. The answer is the chapter in my book Cut The Rope, help my work isn’t selling!

There are so many questions in there which we haven’t answered, and I guess we really ought to. The key to it is knowing your product and knowing your audience, or research! Research! Research!

With decorating rooms, buying car seats, meeting foster carers and trying to find a new home for my crafty stash this is not the answer I was looking for. I wanted a magic wand to suddenly appear from below the pile of fabric I’ve had stashed in the bedroom we’ve been sorting. No luck I’m afraid.

The idea of research and asking people what they think of my ideas when I don’t yet have a connection to them feels challenging. Yet how will I have a connection to them if I don’t engage them in conversation?

So with that in mind I will be taking my own advice and ignore the short term discomfort of reaching out to strangers. Instead I will be focusing on the consequence of having income from something my husband and I have made together and the potential of reaching many new friends who I am yet to meet.

Uncategorized

2 days and Counting

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Cut the Rope: Sell Your Art Not Your Soul

In two days my book Cut the Rope: How to sell your art not your soul will be launched. I will explore the journey of creativity to launch an authentic business you love. The secrets shared in this book have been generously shared by 9 full time creatives who thrive from their artwork. Join me as we discover those secrets together

coaching, personal work

Blogs from the bath

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One of the things I talk about I. The book is doing social media in a way that feels right for you. It struck me that I have the perfect opportunity to blog daily but miss it.

Every morning in the bath I check my social media. It got me thinking, If I check my social media why don’t I do my social media too.

So for the next few weeks before the invasion of the kids and life changes forever, I’m gonna try this. I haven’t worked out the pattern of what I will do, I just know I need to be regular.

I’ve attached a picture I painted quickly for myself yesterday. With all the book prep I realized I hadn’t got my hands covered in paint for about a month. That causes my anxiety levels to gently rise. As I was playing with my gelli plate I realized something really profound. My heart is healed. I may have scars from all the miscarriages but my heart has been stitched back together. I feel more whole than I have done in years

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book, Passion

Bringing my dreams of being an author into reality

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I’ve completed my first interview for my book which is about how those of us who are frustrated creatives can launch their creative career and get paid to create work they love. A subject which is close to my heart as over the last 8 years I have watched artists I love succeed where I have struggled. I know its not the quality of my work, but there is something more than just producing things people love. I can do that and my work sells.

I’ve done courses on marketing, on using social media and can totally do all of these things and for a period of time I have increased my sales and done well. But I haven’t succeeded in the way that I would want to. It has always struck me that there is something more. What is that more? So as I always do I am going on a journey of research. A journey to interview those who are experts, those who have succeeded and made that jump.

Some of the answers will be very personal and will answer my questions, but I’m sure I’m not the only creative who is saying I want more, I am more, I want to be able to make a living doing the things I love. So the answer is to talk to people who have “made it” creatively, I want to talk to psychologists and neuroscientists because I’m sure the answer is in the way we think about it.

As an Occupational Therapist the things a I will always look at is volition, so our motivation, our values and our beliefs. It will be in our habituation so the roles we hold and the way we view them, and how we spend our time. It will be in the environment we create for ourself, both the physical atmosphere we create in but the social world we inhabit. All of these along side the important skills set of how to use social networks, how to platforms for sale and how to market ourselves.

Join me on my journey of “More”

WE ARE MORE than our histories, WE ARE MORE then the self defeating thoughts we have. WE ARE MORE and together lets discover some practical solutions so we can be MORE

If you are interested in finding out about the progress of the book and be the first to know when it is launched, head over to the front page there’s a sign up form on there