Another Girl at Play Newsletter

JUNE 2008

2008-06-23T19:32:24Z

Please go out there and do. Live. Don't be the same as yesterday. Don't live vicariously online. Don't use language that has no meaning or talk ideas you don't really live. Don't hide. Don't copy others or live their ideas or life. Don't fear doing your thing. Don't fear doing. Instead of reading a decorating magazine, paint that room. Instead of thinking of baking, do up a cake. Run, walk, bike. Put that self help book down and pick up yourself. Let go of the snark, your worries, your anger and fear and give into possibility, action, joy and life. Do. Do some more. Stop thinking about you. Stop blogging about just you and your kid and your pet. There's a world out there to connect to, really connect to and email doesn't count. Being of use is more important than being popular. Think about the lady down the street, the person at the drive through, the man fallen in the street, about politics, the environment, healthcare, another country and then do something about it. Never stop at thinking. Dream big, work harder. Have lots of fun, lift a finger, do something for someone else. Cheer your friends on. Cheer yourself up. Celebrate as much as possible. Enjoy everything. Right now. It's OK to want more and do more but be present with where you are or who you are with. Don't rush the situation - even if it's bad. Move on when you can. Don't settle. Try everything you can and get over everything holding you back. Go outside. Go outside yourself. Make a difference, make some change. Don't complain about someone unless you're talking to that someone. Don't complain about a situation you're not willing to make better. They don't have it better and you don't have it worse. Don't make excuses. You'll never see possibility if you do. And you're smart and worth more than settling for a life of complaining and limitation. Hope. Hope more. Give someone else hope. Get healthy and contribute to a healthy environment. Think about everything you do, you buy, you say. Only be lazy on Sunday and even then, be conscious. Rest is useful, giving up is not. Live with a light heart. Play more. Remember what it's like to be seven. Remember to listen to a seven year old because you just have more words and life experience, not necessarily more wisdom. Have more questions than answers and don't put everything into words. Sometimes just feel things and be. Be quiet more often, listen harder, talk exactly as you mean to. Strive for your best and not what you think someone elses' best is. Follow through. Don't let others' down. Don't let yourself down. You are better than your circumstances. Ask for what you're worth. Make magic happen don't wish for it. Don't envy others' lives, envy yours. Live it fully. Teach by example how to live well, how to be treated, how to be kind, how to be alive. Do. I can't stress that one enough. Take action on your life. Make the change. No more sulking, waiting, thinking, reading, talking about. It's time. You're ready.

MAY 2008

2008-05-09T16:31:46Z

Emira here guest posting at Another Girl at Play where I'm positively thrilled to be ending a four-part blog tour that my co-author (Lauren Bacon) and I have been doing in support of our just released business book for women The Boss of You. (To read the previous three posts, visit Anti9to5Guide.com, FeliciaSullivan.com and AllThingGirl.net). Why the excitement? Lauren and I first met Alex when she interviewed us for this site many, many years ago and we were honoured at that time to be included in the company of such awesome and inspiring women. Our book is a business book aimed at women just like those you find at this site: creative, smart women who dream of turning their passion into a self-sustaining career. It's wonderful to be back on this site, in the company of these women again all these many years later, so a big thanks to Alex for inviting us back. Now, onto the topic at hand: our blog book tour has been focused around the idea of hiring your first employee(s) as a business owner. (We've devoted a whole chapter to this in our book, so if you're still thirsting for more, do pick up a copy.) Today I'm going to talk about how you keep an eye on the bottom line when hiring employees, that is: how do you make sure they're helping you and your business make money, afterall you want to be able to pay them at the end of the day. When we first started thinking about hiring our first employee for our web design studio, we were really tempted to bring in someone who could do the more menial tasks in our days, leaving us with more time to handle the heavy lifting. Basically, we thought we'd get some kind of a Girl Friday, who could help out with administrivia and the like. When we floated this idea past some wise friends, who ran a PR company of a similar size to our business, and had recently hired their first employee they suggested we reconsider. "Make sure your staff person is doing billable work," they told us "otherwise, they'll never pay for themselves." Now that may seem a bit obvious on hindsight, but at the time, it was pretty novel for us. As the sole owners (and until then sole employees) of our business, we were pretty hung up on making sure that all the work that came out of our studio was up to our personal standards of excellence and getting someone else involved in producing that work seemed not only scary but darn right risky. And it was, but not as risky as bringing a third person onto the payroll who wasn't helping generate some real income for the business. With that piece of advice, we rethought things and ended up hiring someone who could help us by doing almost solely billable work, freeing us up for some of the more big picture work like thinking about marketing, client/customer relations, and putting systems in place to help our company run more smoothly now that it wasn't just the two of us.The other bonus? Work got done a lot faster, meaning we could take on more projects, finish them more quickly and keep money flowing through the company at a faster rate. So if your running a service based company make sure your employees are doing billable work. Easy. What if you make a product? Well the same rules apply, it may just not be as cut and dried to evaluate, but basically any work that an employee can do to help you produce your product or get it into customers hands more quickly is something you want a hand with. So if that means hiring someone to help package orders so that you don't spend half your week wrapped up in envelopes and post office lineups and can get back to designing/creating more products to sell that counts. If it means hiring someone to help you out with the production end of things so that you can increase your capacity to make more products for sale, also a worthwhile paycheck to write. We do hope that this hiring help series has been helpful for those of you who are considering starting up your own business, or who have maybe been in business for a while now and are thinking about taking the leap into hiring staff. We've tried to cover off a few angles you should consider, but you're likely to still have lots of questions, as I say, we did devote a whole chapter to this in our book and we encourage you to leave comments here or at our site if you've still got questions and we'll do our best to answer them. I also hope that those of you who have been following along on this tour may have found yourself some new resources in the sites we've been posting at, all these women -- Michelle, Felicia, Lorissa and Alex -- have plenty of wisdom to offer and we're so grateful to them for being a part of our book tour!

MARCH 2008

2008-03-01T10:31:31Z

After a long, dark, winter Spring has finally arrived here at Another Girl at Play. New things are blooming here including new artist profiles of women whose products you've seen in stores and books you've most likely read. Their stories will be up soon! In addition, we're changing up the newsletter. We've added a list of new features so you can subscribe to our RSS feed in your newsreader or choose to get the newsletter emailed directly to you. Also, you can share it on your favourite social networking sites. And if that's not enough, we're revising the newsletter with guest writers. Women featured on Another Girl at Play will be taking turns writing guest articles on what they've learned, ideas for being creative, how to run a business, and managing money. If you have another topic or a question for an artist, send it our way - it just might make it into the newsletter. The site has grown so much since its humble beginnings in 2002 but due to a myriad of reasons including one busy web hostess (me!) winter was a little long around here - I'm sure you've felt it, too. And that just makes us anxious for something new, colourful, and fresh. And that's just what we've got planned for Another Girl at Play this spring. So I hope you continue to stick around and be part of the new community that will continue to support each other on making creative dreams real. (PS: In the meantime, please forgive any links that don't work or pages that look funky. We're working on it!)

FEBRUARY 2008

2008-02-01T09:52:57Z

Last year Jenny Hart, Lauren & Emira and myself were on a panel called, "Boss Lady." At the end of that panel a young woman approached me with the question of how to start her own company. At the moment she was working full time, had a really busy life and a family that depended on her to keep those two things going. I offered her the idea of treating her new business as a part-time evening gig; working after all her other things had been taken care of. Her face squinted up at this. This, she said, seemed a little hard because she was already busy. I gently explained that working on your own is one if the hardest things you can do - especially at first. The effort, sacrifice and bravery required are often more than when you start a job with a company that has everything laid out for you. The cushion of a 40-hour work week with weekends off, sick benefits and coworkers to tag team with does not exist. Her face squinted more because she didn't like the sound of all that work; that's not what her idea of being self-employed was. She had the "9-5 grass is greener" syndrome. The one in which you imagine that if you were on your own, everything would be easy peasy or at least easier. You'd have freedom, creativity, total control, late mornings, time off, possibility. And while you do get to have these things, there is a price to pay for it and that price is not for everyone. So I suggested that perhaps she wasn't made to be an entrepreneur and I could tell she didn't like that answer because she was not happy where she was. And the opposite of unhappy is happy so the opposite of corporate must be freelance, right? Wrong. I know a lot of people who work for corporations, company's and star ups that are extraordinarily happy because they have found the right fit and the right company. These people know how they work, what they want to do and then target companies and other people that match their values, ideas and work ethic. And these people who go to offices each day are happy office people - they're sometimes happier than a lot of self-employed people who struggle every day. I asked the woman if she liked the company she worked for. No, she said. I asked if she even liked the role within the company. No, she said. I asked her if she had thought of defining who she was, what she could do and then taking that to a company that matched and she said no. She hadn't thought of going to a different company with a different job. She had believed (as I once had), that every job would be the same. Every office would be the same. And the only solution to cubicle hell would be to leave. It was the answer for me at the time, but it's not the answer for everyone. Especially someone like her who really needed financial security to meet so many responsibilities and who also did not want to really work all that hard on something else. But when the idea of finding a different company in a different area and taking on a different career came to her, she smiled and shook her head "yes" for the first time in our conversation. Sometimes when a person isn't satisfied with something they tend to daydream about the total opposite - if you're single you think being married would make you happy. If you have children that are driving you crazy you think about being childless. If you're in a job you hate you think about going on your own. But I don't think swinging to extremes is ever a really good idea because it's usually just you reacting and not really thinking. You'll end up with the same issues (perhaps more) if you just go to the opposite instead of figuring out what would really work best. There are great things about working for someone else just as there are great things to working on your own. If you're deciding weather or not to become an entrepreneur, writer or artist, you need to be honest about the amount of work that you'll have to put into it without outside help - especially until you can afford to hire an assistant, a manager, an accountant or land an agent. You'll have to ask if you're prepared to work more than 40hours a week (and it's true, you'll be working in an area you love so perhaps it won't feel like work, but then you run the risk of blurring the line between work and play. Burn out can be a problem). You'll need to ask yourself if you require financial stability which can be hard to come by, especially when you're first starting out. And you'll have to understand how you work - because no one will be handing you work and giving you yearly reviews. You're your own boss. If you need freedom, creativity, the need to be of service, be independent, run your own ship but can't quite make the leap to freelancer, see how you can rearrange your current life. Can you switch to another job within your company, can you go to a different company, can you work 4 10-hr days and have Friday off, can you go part-time, can you work in an entirely different area, can you work for an entrepreneur or a start-up to gain experience? All the women on Another Girl at Play, myself included, would agree that going out on our own was the right thing to do for us and that, despite all the challenges, has been so completely worth it because our personalities, our ideals, our needs, have all been met by being out on our own. But it's not for everyone. I think we all want to do work that we love and feel good about it at the end of the day. And for some working on their own is the way to do it whilst for others it'll be nothing but a miserable time. Vice versa for working for someone else. The trick is just to be truthful about what you need, how you work, and what you are willing to do. Maybe that's starting your own company or maybe it's working for someone else. Neither is better than the other - it's just a question of what works for you. (For another perspective, read Summer Pierre's Artist in the Office series.)

JANUARY 2008

2008-01-01T20:34:41Z

I'm asked a lot to be in books, to review books, to promote other's books and 99% of the time I decline. Everyone and their mamma seems to have a book nowadays and from what I've seen, a lot seem to just be riding the creative bandwagon which I hopped off long ago. Being creative but also business driven, it's hard for me to find books that cover both topics effortlessly as they tend to address only creativity or business - not both. Also, a lot of self-employed/creative books geared towards women tend to lack "meat" - they go for making a person feel good with words like "juicy" "blessings" and offer ideas that aren't appealing to me like pink markers, morning pages, breathing deeply and dancing wildly (ok - I like the last one). For someone like me who is a do-er, I want to be inspired with advice I can actually take from people who not just dish it, but have lived and are living it (I can't take another self-help guru with a messed-up life promoting how to live and work creatively!). Bitter much? Yes but I'm sure you'll agree that there's a lot of bad books out there. And when you're starting out you might be tempted to buy them all (I almost did!). That is why I am so, so, so thankful that Lauren Bacon and Emira Mear's new book, The Boss of You, is almost here (you can pre-order - so do!). Over 5 years ago, Lauren and Emira ran an amazing site called Soap Box Girls which let women talk about what women talk about but also had tid bits on business (they really highlighted women-run business) politics and crafting. It was a great zine ahead of it's time. I was so in-love with what these women were doing (running their own graphic business on top) that I asked them to be profiled on Another Girl at Play. Lucky for me they said yes and a great friendship started. It was in this interview that I received the best bit of business advice I've ever received: Don't undersell yourself! Women undersell themselves on so many levels that to read this from them really, really stuck. And I've always asked for what I'm worth and have never settled financially or with projects. That's thanks to them. They now run the site Boss Lady which has lots of great info. It was also the base for their Boss Lady Panel at SXSW last year that I, along with Jenny Hart and Vickie Howell, were able to be a part of. The five of us meshed so well and we offered great advice and stories - some of which are found in The Boss of You. Months ago, Lauren asked me if I'd review a proof of the book and if I liked it, would I send a blurb to the publisher. I read the book in one night because I kept thinking, "yes, yes, exactly! This is how it is. Oh I never thought of that. Great advice!" So yes, I wrote a blurb! Whether you're starting an internet based business, something crafting or a brick a mortar store, this book is something you need - and I don't say that lightly. It doesn't talk down to you and it's not dry. It's personable with real advice to get you rocking out. Isn't that what a great book does?

October 2007

2007-10-01T20:13:46Z

I think most artists, creative people, entrepreneurs go through very rough patches when they're young which then causes a lot of us to not do publicly what we were meant to do. In fact, I think we often hide behind "safe jobs/hobbies/days" whilst secretly engaging in our real passions/pursuits. But when a person finally believes even just a little in themselves to say "My talent is worth something - I am worth something" and then does something (no matter how terrifying or impossible) the result is always magic and life changing. So what is it in you that needs to come out? Even if you think you don't know, you do. And even if you think you don't know how, you do. You don't need to know everything, just one thing. Act on that and everything follows. For more related posts read my article "Belief and Action" and listen to the Boss Lady Podcast from SXSW this year in which Emira & Lauren, Jenny Hart, Vickie Howell, and myself speak to what it's like to run your own creative business.

August 2007

2007-08-03T20:14:18Z

Last month I was in Chicago at the same time Blogher was; I didn't go to any of the panels but I did go to one after party where I "randomly" bumped into none other than Kathy Cano Murillo or Crafty Chica as she's better known by. There were two reasons meeting her took me off gaurd. The first is that she was one of the original people to say yes to being on this site (and that was back in 2002) and it was so amazing to finally meet her and thank her in person for believing in this site enough to say yes. And then to see how far she's come since then and to know that the advice she's shared here isn't just words but advice built on a creative life that is actively working, changing and flourishing. The second reason I was caught off guard was because when we were talking, she asked about the site and I realised that I hadn't been posting here. There have been no newsletters, no real additions, no improvements to the site in a very, very long time. This site has always been a labour of love and I"ve always been committed to the idea of sharing all this information for free (free to read, free to be an artist). Because it's a labour of love, things get worked on as time allows and in the last few years, time hasn't allowed me much. Just like Kathy, my work has changed and grown. Unlike Kathy, I haven't been keeping up with a site that helped jump start it all. But people keep coming, emailling me, and connecting in our list serv. That's not something I want to forget. So I'm trying to carve some time to make a lot of site improvements and also to get back to writing the newsletters. If you have any time to help (ideas, you can code - anything!) please let me know. The one thing this site has taught me is that we're not alone - we're a community. And I want to do more for it.

JANUARY 2007

2007-01-01T10:26:54Z

Women today make up nearly half of the total workforce in [the U.S.]. Over the past thirty years, women's income has soared a dramatic 63 percent. Forty-nine percent of all professional - and managerial - level workers are women. Women bring in half or more of the income in the majority of U.S. households - a growing trend that made the cover of Newsweek and was front-page news in many of the nation's newspapers. Women-owned businesses comprise 40 percent of all companies in the United States. There are more women than ever before who can count themselves among the country's millionaires, more women in upper management, and more women in positions of power in the government. Ninety percent of women who participated in a 2006 survey commissioned by Allianz Insurance rated themselves as feeling insecure when it came to their finances. In the same survey, nearly half the respondents said that the prospect of ending up a bag lady has crossed their minds. A 2006 Prudential financial poll found that only 1 percent of the women surveyed gave themselves an A in rating their knowledge of financial products and services. Two-thirds of women have not talked with their husbands about such things as life insurance and preparing a will. Nearly 80 percent of women said they would depend on Social Security in their golden years. Did you know that women are nearly twice as likely as men to retire in poverty? - Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny by Suze Orman

So there you have it - both the good and bad news about women and money. We're making more of it, there's more opportunity out there for us, it's just when it comes to keeping it, making it grow, or getting more of so many are failing. Often when there's talk of making a living as an artist, the focus is on how you feel, the journey, the blessings. Art and money seem to be exclusive of each other for so many people. Not for me. I want to be creative but I also want to make a great financial living as well as have a great retirement income. Being happy drives me, doing what I love drives me, but if I do not financially make it, if I do not look after the money I make and invest it wisely, than I will not be happy and I will most likely lose the ability to choose what I do for a living. I think a lot of women - especially creative women - don't look at it that way. My first year as a writer, I barely made it financially because my focus was feeling secure as a writer and getting my head space wrapped around that and not in how to invest my money or what I was worth. Besides, all the books I read on how to write, be creative and be happy never talked about money. They never told me how to make it, keep it, or expand it. It was as though the majority of these books were just to make me feel happy about being creative and broke! So my first year was financially tough. That first year I was also extraordinarily wrecked with guilt and fear because I knew that I could not sustain myself with the low amount of money I made. And I didn't even know what to do with that low amount of money except just worry about it and that bothered me. Just getting by wasn't good enough for me. Worrying about every bill was not fun. There came a point that it didn't matter how great it felt to write something wonderful, worrying about rent always had a bigger place in my mind and heart. It was during this first year that I contemplated going back to the 9-5 grind and working in a job I didn't really like but I knew would pay the bills. But then I realised that I could make money on my own if I learned about money, took it seriously, invested, thought long-term and worked my extraordinarily hard in jobs I loved. So that's what I did and now I make several times what I would have made had I taken a corporate job that first year. I've written articles on how my (frugal yet wonderful) lifestyle has contributed to being financially sound but there's more to just saving pennies. There's understanding banking, investing, questioning fees, looking into retirement, asking the right financial questions to the right financial people, not underselling myself, not giving up my talent for free (unless it's for charity - I still donate time and efforts to two different charity groups a year), feeling OK for being paid, being competitive with rates, and most importantly, understanding my worth. Money and art should not be exclusionary whatsoever. Because I bet you, you cannot be happy with a painting, with your store, with your jewelery, with your book, if you are stressing financially everyday. You do not have to be a millionaire to not stress - if you take charge of your life financially you can be OK with $30K a year. You just have to make decisions that are sometimes tough and scary. But you do need to look at your financial picture. When I talk to women about business, money hardly ever comes up on their end. I bring it up - a lot. I want women to be financially responsible for not just their families, but for themselves. I don't want women to just financially survive - I want them to flourish. I do and not with a cost. I don't do work I don't want to do (being financially savvy has allowed me to really choose projects I take on), I don't have to cheat any financial system, I don't have to go without, I don't have to have a part-time job so I can be creative. And this happened that second year of me being on my own financially just as it does in my 6th year - because it's not necessarily the amount of money you make but what you do with it. And I always ask women what they do with their money just as I ask what they do with their hearts. I also make no apology for wanting money. I don't base my success simply on money but it does play an important role on how I see my growth, my worth, and how secure I feel about the future. It also allows me to be extraordinarily choosy about projects I take on. When there's money in the bank, I can say no. However, I don't often hear women talk about money - especially in not wanting it. They just want to be happy and creative but I tell you, nothing sucks out happiness and creativity more than stress. I encourage you right now - whether you make nothing, $15,000 a year or $500,000 a year, to look at your financial situation. Do you understand it? Do you have it together? Can you do better? There's so many self-help books out there to make you feel good but unless you take actions in other areas, you can't ever have the whole package. And I really, really want you to have the whole package. Because I sincerely believe you can have the career you want and have the financial life you want if you take charge of both. Even if you won the lotto, if you don't have your act together that lotto money will mean nothing. Money doesn't solve money problems and pretty pens and books with colourful writing doesn't solve life problems. That's all up to you.

We're at SXSW 2007!

2006-11-03T21:16:14Z

If you were thinking of going to SXSW 2007 but needed some convincing, here's a great reason: several artists on Another Girl at Play and myself have put together a discussion panel that's been selected for the Interactive portion! We all own businesses {all different kinds} with different backgrounds and ways of working. And we're going to talk about all of the good (and bad) about being a female boss. You can find Jenny's, Emira's and Lauren's profiles here. We're so excited about this panel and hope we get to see you there!

"Boss Lady" Panel Description Successful, creative and self-taught entrepreneurs (from graphic designers, to producers, to crafters) will discuss and offer advice on what it's really like to be the gal running the show. With experience running their own successful businesses on-line and off, each of these women has a wealth of information, advice and success stories to share. The panel will explore what makes business different from a female perspective, the particular challenges the panelists have faced, how to create/maintain a business with/without employees and how to achieve financial success – all without boas or pink markers. SPEAKERS: 1. Emira Mears and Lauren Bacon; Graphic Designers and authors of Boss Lady (scheduled for a Fall 2007 release) & BossLady.ca. Founding partners of successful Vancouver design firm Raised Eyebrow Web Studio and creators of the popular feminist webzine Soapboxgirls.com (a 2003 Bloggy Finalist for "Best Topical Weblog"). 2. Alex Beauchamp; New Media Entrepreneur and Travel Writer of the popular GirlatPlay.com (one of the first blogs dedicated to writing about starting your own business), GirlsGuidetoCityLife.com (a 2006 SXSW Finalist for "Best Blog") and AnotherGirlatPlay.com (a 2004 SXSW Finalist for "Best Female Website"). 3. Jenny Hart; Stitching Goddess, author of two books and the popular site SublimeStiching.com. Her work has appeared in celebrity homes, magazines and on TV. 4. Vickie Howell; author of three knitting books, host of the television show, Knitty Gritty, and founder of the Austin Craft-Mafia.

April 2006

2006-04-03T20:18:57Z

Many people go to work every day just thinking of payday, and the money they will get from the work they are doing. They can hardly wait for Friday or Saturday, whatever day they receive their money and can take time off. They are working for the reward, and as a result they resist work. They try to avoid the action and it becomes more difficult, and they don't do their best. They work so hard all week long, suffering the work, suffering the action, not because they like to, but because they feel they have to. They have to work because they have to pay the rent, because they have to support their family. They have all that frustration, and then when they do receive their money they are unhappy. They have two days to rest, to do what they want to do, and what do they do? They try to escape. They get drunk because they don't like themselves; they don't like their life. There are many ways that we hurt ourselves when we don't like who we are. If you take action because you have to, then there is no way you are going to do your best. Then it is better not to do it. No, you do your best because doing your best all the time makes you so happy. When you are doing your best just for the pleasure of doing it, you are taking action because you enjoy the action. Action is about living fully. Inaction is the way that we deny life. Inaction is sitting in front of the television every day for years because you are afraid to be alive and to take the risk of expressing what you are. Expressing what you are is taking action. You can have many great ideas in your head, but what makes the difference is the action. Without action upon an idea, there will be no manifestation, no results and no reward.

Excerpted from the wonderful article by Don Miguel Ruiz, author of The Four Agreements

MARCH 2006

2006-03-01T10:12:22Z

If there's one thing that the women of Another Girl at Play have have shown it's that success is based on two things: action and belief. Every one of these artists had to start with a belief in themselves and their art - however small - and then take an action to make their creative dream real - however small. The old adage is that if you truly believe you will struggle with paying rent, you will struggle with paying rent. If all you ever do is dream but never take any action, you will stay in an office job and never see your potential. If you believe you can make unlimited money and enjoy great things (I mean, really believe this from your core) and follow this belief with action (working, networking, taking risks, following up on all your ideas, baby steps and leaps), you will have unlimited money and enjoy great things. All it really takes is a true belief backed with plenty of action to get you to where you want to go. While the formula for success is simple (belief + action = success), it's the following up that is often hard. So many people get caught up in their fears or in limiting themselves with their beliefs that they are not able to do anything and therefore can't get anywhere. Instead of taking their beliefs and moving forward with action, they run on the same treadmill propelled by self-sabatoge, excuses, fears, bad beliefs. These people generally have lots of great ideas but little to show for it. They need to step off the treadmill, think about their beliefs and then follow up with action. But the trick is not to just believing anything and doing everything but instead really understanding your beliefs (both personal and professional) and taking actions that match. That is why it is so important to really take the time to really understand what you believe about yourself, your work, and your life. Ask yourself, what do you believe is your value? What do you believe you are entitled to? What do you believe you can accomplish? What do you believe you can do? What do you believe your future holds? What to you believe is your benefit to others? What do you believe is in you that needs to come out? And your beliefs need to come from your core, your gut, your soul and not from what you've read, have been told by your family or media or the part of the brain that makes you rationalise away what your heart is saying. It is important to note that beliefs are very, very different than wants. You can want something but if you don't truly believe it, no amount of action can manifest it. And ideas are very, very different than action. If you have lots of great thoughts but take not even one little action, you'll always be standing in the same place. So always be very careful and conscious about what you believe and the actions you take. If you don't believe you can do more than struggle, guess what, that's what you'll manifest. If you believe artists starve, you will manifest that. If you don't believe you can do anything, you won't. Be mindful of the language you use; instead of staying, "I'll never have an art career like so and so" say "I'm going to have a great career that I'm working on right now". Also, don't ever play yourself or abilities down. I find a lot of artists almost apologise for what they're doing or their talents so people don't "hate" them. These same artists are almost always struggling and tend to feel guilty for a life they've worked very hard for. It is very important to stand up for yourself because if you keep yourself down, no one will want to help you stand up. Don't undersell yourself. Really define your worth. Be conscious of who you are, what you're doing, where you want to go long term. And by taking action accordingly, things will fall into place. You don't have to have all the answers or money right now or with each step but you do have to have a strong belief system and the desire for action. The only addition to the formula above is happiness. One must really enjoy their work whole-heartidly to have continued success - even if the work changes. if you find down the line it turns out not to be what you thought or it isn't working the way you want, don't get stuck with the belief that you have to continue on a path that no longer suits you. Change your belief, do new actions and try something else. If you start out as a artist that works from home but one day decide you'd rather teach art to school children or you begin as a writer and then want to become a photographer, do it. Don't stick to a title, habit or idea that no longer works. Art and soul are so connected and both should constantly evolve so let them affect each other. Change is not only OK, it's natural and important. Just make sure you're conscious of what you believe and the actions that you're taking. If you find your thoughts and actions don't match, time to make that happen!

February 2006

2006-02-03T21:19:28Z

From time to time, we get a guest writer from Another Girl at Play to share real, useful, detailed information and ideas about the world of creativity and business. This month, the wonderful Alicia Paulson shares all that she's learned from selling her wares and running her own shop, Ella Posie. Originally written as a post on her blog, what Alicia has to offer about how to actually sell what you make to shops is priceless. Here's what she has to say: How to Sell Your Product By Alicia Paulson Lately, people have been dropping in to sell us things at Ella Posie right and left, and I wanted to write a bit about how to sell your stuff to boutiques, in my opinion. My position on this topic is a little unique, I guess -- I both own a small boutique where I buy products from designers, and I create a line of original handmade things myself. I have been on both sides of the handmade-stuff-selling-and-buying relationship, so I've had occasion to make lots of mistakes in both arenas. It took me a long time to learn these things, and I never really knew where to look to find the answers, so hopefully I can save you some of that confusion here. I'm assuming that most of you reading this are crafty-types, not unused to being asked to sell something that you've made, not unused to having your friends and family tell you that you are so talented you should be selling your things to stores. You are and you should! The world needs you! We are all fighting the war against the corporatization of American retail! Let's say you are singularly obsessed with making handpainted . . . toothbrushes. You've given them to all your family, all your friends, all your co-workers, and sold them at the cool indie holiday bazaar down the street. Everyone loves them, everyone agrees they are unique and wonderfully made, everyone says they've never seen anything like them anywhere else. A ha! think you. I'll start my own toothbrush-selling business! If you really are serious about starting a business, there are good reasons, even in the global/web-site-lush world of commerce, to sell your products to shops, the most obvious being the exponentially increased exposure you will gain. When you first start thinking in this way, it's helpful to familiarize yourself with the basic wholesale/retail structure that most little shops will expect you to understand. To that end, a little vocabulary: Product: What you've made, and what you will sell Product line: The entire range of things offered by a designer or manufacturer Manufacturer: Not a romantic term, but let's face it: If you're going to sell things to stores, this is what you'll be called. There is very little about this relationship that is romantic, anyway, I promise. Buyer: The person at a shop who makes the decision about what to purchase for its shelves Wholesale price: This is the price that you will sell your handpainted toothbrushes to shops for. Generally, it's 50% of the retail price. Retail price: This is the price that the customer who ultimately buys your toothbrush from a shop will pay, sometimes also called the "price point." It is generally double the wholesale price that the buyer has paid, and can be marked up to include shipping costs, neighborhood cache, etc. Consignment: The practice of "giving" your toothbrushes to a buyer without getting any money for them up front. The shop will sell them for you, and pay you a percentage of the retail price regularly when/if they sell. Products come to our attention in a couple of ways. We find them; a rep stops by and shows us a bunch of product lines that she represents for the manufacturers; or they find us. For the purposes of this post, I'm going to assume that you, toothbrush painter, are interested in finding us to see if we want to buy what you have to sell. Products make it to our shelves in one of two ways: We have either purchased them at a wholesale price from a manufacturer, or we have accepted them on consignment from a (usually local, but not necessarily) designer. When we purchase outright, the product is ours to sell, and ours to keep if it doesn't sell. It's always a gamble that we take, so we try to think carefully about the purchases we make, and that thinking involves many things: What do our customers want? What can we offer that will surprise them? What is unique to our location? Is the price point right for our customers? Do we have room to display it? Do we have other things like it? Do we love it? Many of our stores exist quite precariously in this economy and retail culture to begin with so we try to be quite careful in what we buy, much as you are careful with your own purchases. We may like and want lots of things, but we are limited by some of the above criteria. You shouldn't take it personally when a store says no to carrying your products. You should also learn to edit the advice you receive quite carefully. Success involves both flexibility in the marketplace and integrity; don't automatically sacrifice either when someone rejects you or tells you to change. All of us must, in the end, find our own way, and no one has a crystal ball. But when you approach a store with the intention of selling us your toothbrushes, it's important to think like a buyer, and recognize that the above questions are paramount in that buyer's mind whenever they are considering carrying a product. We really aren't thinking about you and how long it took you to make that thing. We aren't thinking about how much it cost you (financially, emotionally, physically), how many bills you have to pay, or your hopes and dreams at all. We are thinking almost exclusively about ourselves, and whether we're going to be able to sell your product at the price point you are suggesting. I hate to be mean about it, and I'm not being: But understanding what is going through the mind of the buyer considering your product will help you have more success with the transaction and ultimately more success with your business, I think. Nevertheless, there are certain things you can do before the buyer even sees your product that will help you curry favor. Here's one: Research. When people start out selling their handmade things, they usually start with local stores in their city or town. If you're not a big shopper and you aren't familiar with your local shops, take a day off and get out there. Look at what they carry, how it's displayed, what the general aesthetic and price point is. Take a business card. Buy something, and get a feel for the climate of the retail staff, how they package things, what's emphasized among the product lines they carry. Don't introduce yourself as a local artist looking to sell your toothbrushes! Nothing, and I mean nothing, will result in an icier reception. I can't say exactly why this happens, but it happens. Resist the temptation to introduce yourself. Pretend you're Veronica Mars and just spy. You're doing research here, remember? You're trying to save yourself the ultimate pain of approaching stores that are completely inappropriate for you and having them bitchily say, "Lady, do you know what we sell here?" (I of course never say this, I hope, but I do think it, and bitchily, too.) I have great compassion for people who muster up the courage to pound the pavement. Trust me when I tell you that no one who loves sitting alone in their studio painting toothbrushes can possibly have the same Myers-Briggs personality type as someone who loves selling . . . anything. You are not alone in not wanting to do this. I promise you. But this is how people start out. And there are certain ways not to do it. I can't tell you how many people we've never seen before come into the shop with a bag full of stuff and expect us to drop whatever we're doing to consider their offerings. They may be out there, but I don't know of a single buyer who appreciates this. Please don't make this mistake -- it is the surest way to make a buyer think you are unprofessional. Unless you've got some cupcakes for us in that bag, too, we will talk about you behind your back and think you're dumb if you do this. On principal, we never buy things from these folks, and I can't think of any book on business I've ever read that suggests it as a tactic. It is an inconsiderate and amateurish approach, and sends up warning flags to your potential buyer that you will be inconsiderate and amateurish to work with in general. I'm vehement about it because it happens so often, amazingly. Instead, try this. Research the stores you think would be potential candidates to carry your products. Make sure they are in different neighborhoods, or that they aren't in direct competition with each other; stores want to be unique, and they don't want their customers to feel like they can get the same stuff on every corner. If the store has a web site, go to it and read it. Discover whether or not they are strictly brick-and-mortar or if they also might sell your things on line; be prepared to have an answer if they ask you where else you sell your things, or whether you make them available on-line. Know your pricing. Don't expect your potential buyer to figure this out for you. Pricing is a complicated topic for another post, perhaps, but I will say this about it: You need to look hard at your toothbrush and think about what's gone into it: How much time have you spent painting it? How much money have you spent on its materials? How many miles have you put on your car driving around looking at shops? You need to think hard about what its perceived value is in the marketplace: How much are people willing to pay for a toothbrush, no matter how cool? Can you live with receiving half of that for every one you make? How will you feel if someone orders 100 of them? If you intend to sell your toothbrushes to many stores, and also sell them off of your own web site, and also at craft shows, you should know that the retail price at all of these venues should be the same. I know you will tell me that this isn't fair/true/necessary, but I will insist that it is, if only because it will make your life exponentially easier if you start out pricing your products in this way. If you have different prices for different people or different places, or you try to sell your toothbrushes on-line at a price that undercuts the retail price your stores are selling them at, you will run into problems. I urge you to be realistic about your pricing, but to also value everything that you've brought to your product, and set a wholesale price that you are very comfortable living with. If you can't let it go for 50% of the retail price, you might consider working out a different percentage (60% to you, 40% to the shop, or even 70/30) especially if you are willing to place things on consignment, but it's fairly uncommon for a standard retail store to accomodate this. More on this, and consignment, another time, perhaps. In addition to your wholesale/suggested retail prices, this is what else your buyer will want to know: Where else are you selling your stuff? What is your turnaround time? What are your terms (i.e.: how and when do you accept payment)? What is your minimum opening order amount (i.e.: how much do we have to spend to make it worth your while at all)? What is your reorder amount? If you're just starting out, I think it makes sense to set your minimums fairly low -- around $100. This gives a store more incentive to take a chance on you, and reorder when/if things sell without risking a bigger investment. It is lovely if you take the time to think about these things before you make contact with a buyer; it's even lovelier if you've typed it all up along with your contact information and some really good pictures of your products. When you've done all this, I'll bet you'll be more than ready to make your informed, confident approach, which will hopefully result in the buyer setting up an appointment to see your things.

December 2005

2005-12-03T21:20:11Z

When someone posted on the Another Girl at Play Discussion List that they had just gone freelance and were in need of some advice, I had a simple offering:

I believe success is based on two things: action and belief. If you truly believe you will struggle with paying rent, you will struggle with paying rent. If all you ever do is dream but never take any action, you will stay in an office job and never see your potential. If you believe you can make unlimited money and enjoy great things (I mean, really believe this from your core) and follow this belief with action (working, networking, taking risks, following up on all your ideas, baby steps and leaps), you will have unlimited money and enjoy great things. All it really takes is a true belief backed with plenty of action to get you to where you want to go. While the formula for success is simple (belief + action = success), it's the following up that is often hard. So many people get caught up in their fears or in limiting themselves with their beliefs that they are not able to do anything and therefore can't get anywhere. Instead of taking their beliefs and moving forward with action, they run on the same treadmill propelled by self-sabatoge, excuses, fears, bad beliefs. These people generally have lots of great ideas but little to show for it. They need to step off the treadmill, think about their beliefs and then follow up with action. But the trick is not to just believing anything and doing everything but instead really understanding your beliefs (both personal and professional) and taking actions that match. That is why it is so important to really take the time to really understand what you believe about yourself, your work, and your life. Ask yourself, what do you believe is your value? What do you believe you are entitled to? What do you believe you can accomplish? What do you believe you can do? What do you believe your future holds? What to you believe is your benefit to others? What do you believe is in you that needs to come out? And your beliefs need to come from your core, your gut, your soul and not from what you've read, have been told by your family or media or the part of the brain that makes you rationalise away what your heart is saying. It is important to note that beliefs are very, very different than wants. You can want something but if you don't truly believe it, no amount of action can manifest it. And ideas are very, very different than action. If you have lots of great thoughts but take not even one little action, you'll always be standing in the same place. So always be very careful and conscious about what you believe and the actions you take. If you don't believe you can do more than struggle, guess what, that's what you'll manifest. If you believe artists starve, you will manifest that. If you don't believe you can do anything, you won't. Be mindful of the language you use; instead of staying, "I'll never have an art career like so and so" say "I'm going to have a great career that I'm working on right now". Also, don't ever play yourself or abilities down. I find a lot of artists almost apologise for what they're doing or their talents so people don't "hate" them. These same artists are almost always struggling and tend to feel guilty for a life they've worked very hard for. It is very important to stand up for yourself because if you keep yourself down, no one will want to help you stand up. Don't undersell yourself. Really define your worth. Be conscious of who you are, what you're doing, where you want to go long term. And by taking action accordingly, things will fall into place. You don't have to have all the answers or money right now or with each step but you do have to have a strong belief system and the desire for action. The one last thing I would offer is to enjoy your work as you can but if you find down the line it turns out not to be what you thought or it isn't working the way you want to not get stuck on a path just because you think you have to. Success is also based on happiness and so sometimes one has to be flexible in their ideas to keep achieving success instead of holding tight to something that's not working. If you start out as a artist that works from home but one day decide you'd rather teach art to school children or you begin as a writer and then want to become a photographer, do it. Don't stick to a title, habit or idea that no longer works. Art and soul are so connected and both should constantly evolve so let them affect each other. Change is not only OK, it's natural and important.

The Holidays, I think, are mostly about hope - hope that it will snow, Santa will come by, things will be easier, we'll connect with others and that next year will be different. So I offer to you instead of picking up yet another self-help book and just having information, to really invest in yourself, discover what you really believe and then manifest it with action in 2006. There is no gadget, no stocking stuffer and no elf that can give you that. So give yourself the gift of you this year and rock out during the next. A warm holiday to you all from all of us here. ARTIST NEWS: * Katherine Dunn's site now has an on-line store where you can buy her greeting cards, archive prints and select original paintings, as well as her "Shepherd Girl" line of framed 3" prints. She also has launched a fun new product line at Cafe Press that is an extension of "Shepherd Girl" featuring her farm animals [including goats for peace, a ram too busy to be nice and a gassy pug, to name a few]. And finally, "Apifera Farm - Where Animals, Art and Lavender Collide" , her new blog is now online! * Sharyn Sowell's book, Papercutting Techniques for Scrapbooks and Cards is now at stores nationwide and available online at Barnes & Noble and Amazon. In it Sharyn shows how you can make your scrapbook pages, jourals and greeting cards special by adding delicate cut paper elements. With this book near your workspace, you'll never run out of ideas for cool embellishments and projects that can be applied to your home decor. * Summer Pierre is selling her annual Great Gal Calendar. Celebrate great women 365 days a year--with exhuberant hand drawn art! Perfect for the great gal in your life or just for your great self! Go to her blog for more info! * Jenny Hart at Sublime Stitching has a new crop of designs just in time for Christmas! SUSHI BAR - ROCK 'N ROLL - WINTERLAND - KRAZY KITCHEN! And did you know that Jenny Hart's Stitch-It Kit won a prestigious design award? It was included in the Regional Annual of PRINT Magazine. Yay! Get the award-winning kit for yourself! In Brooklyn? Jenny will be signing copies of her Stitch-It Kit at the BUST Holiday Craftacular, Sat. December 17th, 7pm at Warsaw. * Tammy Raybould is on her way to Hawaii on December 6th to do the Honolulu Marathon raising money for diabetes. She's part of a team called Team Diabetes, in which everyone raises between $5900 and $6200 (depending on race destination) and all the proceeds go towards finding a cure for diabetes, education, advocacy, and making life just a bit easier for all diabetics, Type 1 and Type 2. Tammy is running in honour of her brother, who's been diabetic since he was 11 years old. He's since been on insulin needles every day and is now on approximately 6-7 needles every day at 22 years old. If anyone would like to donate to the cause, please email Tammy and she'll give you step-by-step instructions on how to donate. Tammy's new CD is almost complete as well, in which a portion of sales will also go towards the Canadian Diabetes Association. If you'd like to be emailed as to when the CD is ready for sale, again, email Tammy and she'll add you to the email list, or go to her website and click "send Tammy a message". Also, email her for holiday specials she has on CD's and other merchandise. Happy holidays everyone!" * Jennifer Griggs Sebastian has her ScoutDog Studios Holiday Barktique is now open in time for holiday shopping. Order holiday cards featuring your favorite pooch or feline pal as well as some gifts for the pet lover on your list. Happy Holidays from ScoutDog Studios.