Crafting Education?

Okay, so now we have seen that some of us are talented with our hands, some with our writing, some with our minds.  Some have tried and, in their opinion, epically failed.  Although some don't think they have a creative bone in their body....ahem...Grace....you actually do if you consider how entertaining your writing is!  It pains me that my daughter won't so much as put a sticker on a paper let alone try some of the creative ventures I try to entice her to, but she sure is a hell of a writer.  In fact, she wants to be a novelist.  I guess she will be living with me forever, huh?

Which brings me to my topic...crafting education.  You can find these at colleges, high schools and local craft shops and bead stores.  I actually graduated from high school wanting to either be a journalist or an artist.  The artist in me won out as I entered college majoring in Fine Arts.  I relished in this and was swaying towards art therapy then totally shifted into psychology.  Then neuropsychology.  I ended up with a Bachelor's degree in Biological Psychology with a minor in Biology from a state university.  Problem was I couldn't afford grad school.  Bummer.  So, I took my degree and entered the work force.  I landed a job with Child Protective Services as an Intensive Family Therapist.  I met with families 5 days a week for three months counseling them in parenting, daily living, drug and alcohol abuse, etc. in an effort to keep the kids at home as well as attending family court cases to report on the families progress.  I was so talented in connecting with the clients that I ended up with the severe cases...way too many severe cases.  I ended up disgusted with the bureaucratic red tape and the snidely CPS workers that were just too quick to tear apart families without understanding the dynamics of the family and the lack of parenting education while I watched everyone else care for my kids, so I quit to get back into my creative life.  Wow...major digression!

To sum it up, the only traditional instruction I received for the arts was those two years of college and most of that was core design and photography courses.  I didn't stay in the Fine Arts program long enough to actually get involved in what I really wanted to.  I never pursued any other instruction and basically taught myself through trial and error.  Today, I teach jewelry and design classes in the adult education program at my local high school, but still fail to take classes when I want to learn new techniques.  I am one of those learners where I want to make the mistakes and want to figure things out for myself.  I am currently swaying towards soldering and metal forging....and as you can expect, are making all the mistakes I need to make.  At this point, I have very few pieces in my shop that I feel are worthy to sell.  The rest go in the scrap bin!

So, for those of you who started venturing in the creative arts early on, did you ever seek training for your crafts or are you a self-learner?

Goals: Trying to Avoid the Epic-Fail

Goals.
We all have them.
My goal for this year (and I have said it before)...Taking my blog to it's potential.

How is my progress?
EPIC-FAIL!

It always seems that something gets in the way and I always have an excuse.  Work is busy, the kids are sick, I'm a whiny-poutin'-baby...blah, blah, blah.  This goes for being active in the blog community, too, not just working on my own blog.

I used to have it worked into my daily schedule, however, this has changed somehow.
Presently, my schedule is as follows:
      6am - 7:30am  .....Get up, get ready, take kids to school.
      7:30am - 8:30am  Come home, do an hour of housework and a load of laundry.
      8:30 - 9am ..........Take pictures of products completed the previous day.
      9am - 11am  ........Price said items and fix said pictures for posting.
      11am - 11:30am   List buttons I won't use for work on my button selling site and my destash site.
      11:30am - 3pm ...Creating in the studio.
      3pm - 7pm  .........Dinner, kids homework, family time.
      7pm - 8pm ..........List new items and work on shop.

So you see, I got it down to a science, but now to work in the blog time.

Here's where you come in:
Where is your blog time worked into your schedule?
What do you find that works to keep you on your blog schedule?

Go ahead, don't be bashful....Share!
     

Obstacles

And isn't that oh, so true!

I have hit many obstacles over the last several years of running my own business.  However, of all the obstacles I have hit and over come, I think that the most difficult one is...

Finding a Balance between Family and Business

This is a tough one.  Without my family, I am nothing.  Without my business, I'm working for Big Corporate America again.  Sheesh.  

The first step in finding that balance was gaining support from my family and coaxing them to believe that my business is more than a hobby.   I used to be asked to babysit during the day all the time.  I used to be asked to be the family taxi.  I used to be asked to do all the errands.  While I did all these things in the beginning, I still attempted to put in an 8 hour day with my business at the very least...many times, a few hours more.  Soon, my family saw that my life was full of errands, babysitting and work with not much time for anything else.  I had to stay firm with my discipline in getting work done and they saw this.

The second step was to stick with my discipline.  I only get asked to babysit when it is an absolute emergency now.  My husband has taken over the stupid errand running on the weekends.  And I am not asked to taxi everyone around unless it is a serious medical condition.  I drew the line in the sand and firmly planted my feet just behind that line.  Now, I don't let anyone cross the line again.

The benefits?  I saw a profit in my second year.  Last year's profit was even better, and isn't that the goal of every business?  To make a profit?  My accountant was impressed that I pulled a profit in my second year.  I do strive to keep overhead down, which does help.  But the bottom line is that I stuck to my guns and continue to yield them on a daily basis.  

I do all this because I believe my business is definitely worth fighting for!

Business Decision of the Week

This year I decided that I would try and concentrate my efforts on my jewellery business Zazu Jewellery.
I decided to attend craft events like I did last year but I have to say the majority have been absolutely appalling for numerous reasons.

So, I decided after carrying out a survey that I would use the money I have been spending on events and use it to advertise through Google, get a brochure printed and get some flyers made up to promote my jewellery parties.

I am also re building my website which will include new ranges including Sterling Silver, Wedding rings, jewellery, accessories and favours.

So where will you see Zazu Jewellery this year? We are going to try and attend a market in London once a month, jewellery parties can be carried out in the comfort of your own home and we plan to extend our stockists and galleries around the country.

Business Trip

I havent been on here much lately, I seem to be really busy which is deffinately a good thing.

Myself and my sister Sarah went on a business holiday to Cornwall last week. What a great week we chose.

We visited sooo many places and racked up over 800 miles on the 5 day trip.
We passed on our information to a number of companies and have lots of contact details.

Since coming back I have become a lot more focussed and am determined to turn this business into a well known name (this may take a while!).

I have a gallery to go and see on Monday which is really exciting.


I am still on the hunt for new stockists so if you know any shops or galleries where my bits would fit in please do get in touch.

Speak Soon
Chloe
xx