I am a horrible salesperson. I hate shameless self promotion. To be honest, I feel a little naughty every time I talk about what I do as an artist...like every sentence is a sales pitch to constantly remind people to "buy my shit!". Instead my friends, family, and husband bombard people with my work, which makes me feel even more guilty as I sit in the shadows while they promote me. I stand back with a dumb grin and a shrug that says "yeah...I make stuff, but you don't have to buy it."
Where do these feelings come from?
A while back NPR was talking about the income gap from the most wealthy to the poverty stricken...and the emotions that run rampant, especially during this election year. They brought up how some people do feel guilty making money knowing that there are those in much worse off conditions. Somehow that subconscious attitude gets ingrained in our actions to a point where we no longer really succeed...or want to succeed. As if that extra money we earn gets taken from those who already have less. Meanwhile the money-makers have it ingrained in them to succeed and to always want more. People with dwindling finances see this as a greedy attitude. But can the desire to succeed and make money really be considered greedy? I don't have any clips from the NPR show, but I did come across this article which sums up a lot of what was said during the show.
When it comes to promoting myself and my business, I know what I have to do. But like any good Virgo, I have to plan, practice, and be prepared. We are in an era where technology is unavoidable and necessary for most to succeed. I have to back up my art and ideas with a one-two punch website that can go into complete detail. People like websites. Sure, at an art fair they can physically see my work, but people LOVE to go home and Google me...check me out and browse through my website (now that's naughty). And at the very least, if it's hard to talk about myself face to face...at least a website can say it for me!
Secondly, I will at some point have to verbally communicate my business and talk myself up. I've decided to really take on the networking challenge. Early spring I made it to a Women's WOTV4 Networking Conference at Standale Interior. There was food, wine, and about 200 chatty women... I wasn't one of them. My usual routine is to stay on the sidelines, observe, and talk when someone speaks to me. I actually learned a lot! A lot of what to do and especially what not to do. There were some women who really conducted themselves professionally and were quite pleasant to talk to. Half the time it seemed as if they weren't even trying to promote themselves. As far as what not to do? Well, there was this woman who was not subtle...at all. In fact, kind of downright rude. As the conference was dismissed and people were packing to leave, she was practically cramming business cards down peoples throat.
"Here's my business card!"
"Here take one! it's for $20 off a haircut at my salon!"
"Here's my card!"
..........
Really? One of the speakers at the conference had, not just 30 minutes ago, ended a lecture about why it's a bad idea to pass out business cards all willy nilly. People just throw them away, or they don't remember you because there was never any one on one conversation...and they end up tosings it out anyways.
As she came closer I hoped to just slip by unnoticed. She stopped me with her card and a "HI!!"
"Here's a card for $20 off!, it works for hair color too!"
I tried to at least sound interested and spark a conversation.
"That's great! I've been needing some fun colors! Do you have purple?"
She nodded in a mild distraction and said "yeah", then turned to bombard people with more cards. Well...I tried. The card went in the trash.
............
The whole point of doing these networking events is to help me think less about the guilt I feel when promoting myself. Because I shouldn't feel guilty about wanting to get my business out there and to succeed. I may have a website that can say it all, but no one will find it if I don't get out there. And, it's easier to just think of it as simply talking about my ideas and what I want to start up. Because that's what every one else there is doing. Just talking. It's harmless. When people are interested, they will want more information and I'll be able to back that up with a healthy guilt-free conversation and a bad ass website!
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Summer Draws a Blank....
Well, at least in my blog.
As per usual my posts stop as soon as summer hits. On any given day I would be doing many various things from DIY craziness to my start-up business. I'll break it down:
Gardening:
Every spring brings in new experiences with a garden... you never know what you're going to get. This spring was an explosion of dill and fennel along with random tomatoes popping up and a wonderful vine of spaghetti squash right next to the compost.
I tried to keep things neat and organized this year. Before anything could even be planted I wanted to build 2 new garden beds with trellises for my tomato vines to grow nice and neat.Yeah right.
Canning:
When spring hits, I get in canning mode and I was just itchin' to get started. Tomatoes weren't coming in yet so I decided to make a strawberry chipotle chutney. The recipe was something like this:
3 quarts strawberries
4 cloves garlic
1 onion sliced
cinnamon
8 cloves
some nutmeg
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar
1/2c brown sugar
and 3 chipotle peppers
I just kind of simmered these ingredients together and adjusted the flavors as needed. I also added a bit of Pomonas Universal Pectin just to make it jell up a little.
Once the tomatoes started coming in, however, I was canning once a week. The first batch of tomatoes went to making a nice marinara sauce using the fennel and basil from the garden as well. I don't have any written recipe, but it's pretty simple.
Saute onions, garlic and fennel on low for 45 minutes (adds sweetness). Then add all your tomatoes, some of the herbs, and season with salt. Simmer for a couple hours until the right consistency, blend, then add the rest of your herbs. Simmer for another 15 minutes, then can.
Super easy trick with canning: USE THE OVEN!
Rachael told me about this trick. Essentially the oven method is the same as the boiling method. Just bring your oven to 200 degrees. Sterilize your jars for 15 minutes, take them out, put your filling in, then throw them back in the oven for however long you would usually boil. Since tomatoes are easy and really acidic, I just threw them in for another 15 minutes. Works great!
Then came the enchilada sauce. Similar style as the marinara just different herbs and spices. Saute garlic and onions, then throw in some soaked Guajillo and Japones peppers. Toss in all your tomatoes along with some cumin and oregano...maybe some beer, then simmer until thick. Blend and can.
There were definitely days where I didn't feel like chopping, dicing, and pureeing. For those times I just did stewed tomatoes. No seasoning. Nothing. Or I would simmer it down into a paste.
This is the bounty...with still more to come and a salsa having just been made:
Artisans Market:
Every other Sunday I was at the Fulton St. Artisans Market. And every week I wasn't there I was making, adjusting, and re-designing my jewelry displays. I think I've finally come up with something that works:
A lot of these components like the wood slabs and shelf came from Salvation Army where I got it for super cheap! All it takes is a little money and a lot of creativity. So many people complemented me on my displays, I felt so proud!
Studio:
I generally try to be in my studio at least 3 days a week which can be had to do with everything else that is going on around me. I have a part-time job that I go to every evening around 4, so for me to be productive I need at least a good 5 hours before hand in my studio. When I'm here I usually develop new ideas. Probably the latest and greatest are the Michigan birch bark pins.
I work with a lot of things from nature. Back in July, my mom gave me a nice handful of the bark which inspired me to create these. Little did I know that people are just as excited about birch trees as I am. After putting these up, there were lots of little nibbles on my Etsy site, but no bites. At least not until a month ago when a woman from Interlochen MI contacted me. She said she was trying to find something for herself and stumbled across my birch tree copper cuff:
She was in love with my stuff and wanted to know if I do consignment. This woman, Paulette, owns a shop in Interlochen that is all Michigan made items. It's called Michigan's Gifts and Treasures. Awesome! So I sent up a package of goodies along with the contract in hopes that something may be sold.
GROW/ Business plan:
Late Winter/early Spring, I started attending the GROW program and am glad to say I have now officially completed the program! All summer long I've been gathering information, contacting, networking, writing, researching, and getting my business plan under way. It's about halfway done but still a lot more to go with finding an attorney, tax consultant, realtor, and writing up my first 5 years of accounts.
Internet and other horrible computer duties:
As many know...I am not that computer savvy. I struggle with these things and loathe technology. But it is essential to not just growing a business but getting ideas out there. Time has come to bite the bullet and get my own website. Luckily I've managed to find an awesome techie! Andrea Napierkowski. She is not only designing my page, but teaching me the steps along the way. Because the key to making a great website is making it relevant and keeping it updated.
So all summer long, I've been watching her tutorials and slowly figuring things out. Many times I build an idea, only to decide I don't like it, scrap it, then learn how to do something different. Frustrating, but totally worth it.
In a crazy nutshell this was my summer. Filled with gardening and harvesting the bounty to my head-jam of learning frustrating new things on the brink of creativity (and I think I did some natural dye baths in there as well).
The days are getting longer, cooler, and more colorful. Plants are slowing down which means *sigh* I can finally slow down and relax a little as well. Just a little.
More posts soon to follow.
As per usual my posts stop as soon as summer hits. On any given day I would be doing many various things from DIY craziness to my start-up business. I'll break it down:
Gardening:
Every spring brings in new experiences with a garden... you never know what you're going to get. This spring was an explosion of dill and fennel along with random tomatoes popping up and a wonderful vine of spaghetti squash right next to the compost.
I tried to keep things neat and organized this year. Before anything could even be planted I wanted to build 2 new garden beds with trellises for my tomato vines to grow nice and neat.Yeah right.
 |
| Looks tame now...this was back in June |
My biggest downfall this year with my tomatoes was planting too much of them. I was a little over zealous and got carried away with over 30 tomato plants. An even bigger oops was maybe not pruning them early on and continuously throughout the season. Despite the trellis...they just went wild, spilling over into the grass and the neighbors yard (I don't think she minded too much when I told her she could have whatever tomatoes grew on her side). The rest of my garden grew with a bit too much gusto as well.
In fact, it went crazy. Not just in sheer number, but it all just OVERFLOWED.
I was expecting the zinnias to be about 18" high. And they were. But the more you prune them the taller and more abundant they get. They are now 2.5-3 feet tall. Sunflowers...ok, I got the mammoth. It was mammoth as I expected it would be. No problem there, but the sunburst sunflowers that I thought would only grow to about 24-36" actually grew to 5 feet.
 |
| August. |
Another lesson well learned were the tomatillo plants. Apparently there has to be at least 2 plants next to each other for cross-pollination to occur. We only had one and it got HUGE with tons of gorgeous little tillo flowers...that never came to fruition.
I also learned about the squash vine borer. A nasty little bug that gets into the vines of squash and eats it from the inside out. This makes it appear like some kind of rot...but it isn't. Luckily my vine survived and was able to get 5 nice big yellow spaghetti squashes.
Canning:
When spring hits, I get in canning mode and I was just itchin' to get started. Tomatoes weren't coming in yet so I decided to make a strawberry chipotle chutney. The recipe was something like this:
3 quarts strawberries
4 cloves garlic
1 onion sliced
cinnamon
8 cloves
some nutmeg
balsamic vinegar
apple cider vinegar
1/2c brown sugar
and 3 chipotle peppers
I just kind of simmered these ingredients together and adjusted the flavors as needed. I also added a bit of Pomonas Universal Pectin just to make it jell up a little.
Once the tomatoes started coming in, however, I was canning once a week. The first batch of tomatoes went to making a nice marinara sauce using the fennel and basil from the garden as well. I don't have any written recipe, but it's pretty simple.
Saute onions, garlic and fennel on low for 45 minutes (adds sweetness). Then add all your tomatoes, some of the herbs, and season with salt. Simmer for a couple hours until the right consistency, blend, then add the rest of your herbs. Simmer for another 15 minutes, then can.
Super easy trick with canning: USE THE OVEN!
Rachael told me about this trick. Essentially the oven method is the same as the boiling method. Just bring your oven to 200 degrees. Sterilize your jars for 15 minutes, take them out, put your filling in, then throw them back in the oven for however long you would usually boil. Since tomatoes are easy and really acidic, I just threw them in for another 15 minutes. Works great!
Then came the enchilada sauce. Similar style as the marinara just different herbs and spices. Saute garlic and onions, then throw in some soaked Guajillo and Japones peppers. Toss in all your tomatoes along with some cumin and oregano...maybe some beer, then simmer until thick. Blend and can.
There were definitely days where I didn't feel like chopping, dicing, and pureeing. For those times I just did stewed tomatoes. No seasoning. Nothing. Or I would simmer it down into a paste.
This is the bounty...with still more to come and a salsa having just been made:
Artisans Market:
Every other Sunday I was at the Fulton St. Artisans Market. And every week I wasn't there I was making, adjusting, and re-designing my jewelry displays. I think I've finally come up with something that works:
Studio:
I generally try to be in my studio at least 3 days a week which can be had to do with everything else that is going on around me. I have a part-time job that I go to every evening around 4, so for me to be productive I need at least a good 5 hours before hand in my studio. When I'm here I usually develop new ideas. Probably the latest and greatest are the Michigan birch bark pins.
I work with a lot of things from nature. Back in July, my mom gave me a nice handful of the bark which inspired me to create these. Little did I know that people are just as excited about birch trees as I am. After putting these up, there were lots of little nibbles on my Etsy site, but no bites. At least not until a month ago when a woman from Interlochen MI contacted me. She said she was trying to find something for herself and stumbled across my birch tree copper cuff:
She was in love with my stuff and wanted to know if I do consignment. This woman, Paulette, owns a shop in Interlochen that is all Michigan made items. It's called Michigan's Gifts and Treasures. Awesome! So I sent up a package of goodies along with the contract in hopes that something may be sold.
GROW/ Business plan:
Late Winter/early Spring, I started attending the GROW program and am glad to say I have now officially completed the program! All summer long I've been gathering information, contacting, networking, writing, researching, and getting my business plan under way. It's about halfway done but still a lot more to go with finding an attorney, tax consultant, realtor, and writing up my first 5 years of accounts.
Internet and other horrible computer duties:
As many know...I am not that computer savvy. I struggle with these things and loathe technology. But it is essential to not just growing a business but getting ideas out there. Time has come to bite the bullet and get my own website. Luckily I've managed to find an awesome techie! Andrea Napierkowski. She is not only designing my page, but teaching me the steps along the way. Because the key to making a great website is making it relevant and keeping it updated.
So all summer long, I've been watching her tutorials and slowly figuring things out. Many times I build an idea, only to decide I don't like it, scrap it, then learn how to do something different. Frustrating, but totally worth it.
In a crazy nutshell this was my summer. Filled with gardening and harvesting the bounty to my head-jam of learning frustrating new things on the brink of creativity (and I think I did some natural dye baths in there as well).
The days are getting longer, cooler, and more colorful. Plants are slowing down which means *sigh* I can finally slow down and relax a little as well. Just a little.
More posts soon to follow.
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