Eight Lessons Learned from my Third Year in Business

Eight Lessons Learned from my Third Year in Business

A couple of years ago, I wrote a blog post about all of the things I had learned from my very first year as a one-person business. As we small business owners are always so hard on ourselves, I thought it might be nice to revisit this process regularly. A reminder to myself of how far I have come, and a reminder to other small business folks that we are all in the same boat, facing many of the same challenges.

Then, last year hit me like a train, and this idea….like so much self care, got pushed to the back of the line.

So, having missed the lessons learned from my second year in business, here are the lessons from my third…

read more
The Sin Eaters

The Sin Eaters

My mother was watching television when I dashed into the room late at night, red eyed and snivelling, and pronounced that I just wanted to “do something” with my life.

I was, I think six or seven, and I think she was rather confused by what had provoked such an eruption. The answer was nothing, as usual, or perhaps it was just that I didn’t really know. In any case, I was becalmed and sent back to bed and it was put down to another one of my outbursts.

read more

Seventeen Days Later

Apparently today is the day that most of us will give up on our New Year’s resolutions. I found a few other sources which suggested it might even be earlier but pretty much everyone agreed that two and a half weeks was about the best we can hope for.

Two and a half weeks. Seventeen measly days.
Seriously? That’s the best we can do?

We spend the majority of the Christmas holidays taking stock of the year and thinking carefully about the things we want more or less of in the future. More money, less struggle, more water, less food, more love, less conflict.

If you’re like me, you fill in endless planners and goal setting worksheets and search for your word of the year. We think about the way we’d like our lives to be. We dream about how it would feel to be more organised, or more hydrated, or more fulfilled in our jobs.

And seventeen days later we decide it’s all too much of a hassle. Not worth the effort involved.

Not worth the effort? To get the things we want? I don’t think that’s it.

read more
Cynicism is Cheap

Cynicism is Cheap

Today I am furious. Enraged. Normally I’m the sort to take a deep breath, have a nice cup of tea and direct my energies elsewhere. Not this time I’m afraid.

read more
The Fork in the Road

The Fork in the Road

There are a few moments in life when we come to a big old fork in the road and our life will be forever altered by the path we choose.

Get married. Get unmarried. Have kids. Move to New Zealand.

These are the big choices and they deserve lots of thought and attention.

But, sometimes the fork stands next to a smaller decision. Sometimes we think the decision is so small and insignificant that we don’t even notice that big fat fork standing next to it.

read more
Do Your Practice and All is Coming

Do Your Practice and All is Coming

A little voice had been reminding me that I really wasn’t doing very much work that could be classed as art. I was caught up in a whirl of business tweaks and the endless search for a magic elixir that would suddenly catapult me to where I wanted to be….all without actually learning the lessons that are, after all, the point of the journey.

(And they say that adults don’t believe in fairy tales)

read more
Why I’m taking a mini sabbatical this summer….

Why I’m taking a mini sabbatical this summer….

When I exhibit my work at art and craft fairs, people often ask me how often I go out and take photos and I’m always reminded of those memes that were really popular on Facebook a while back which showed what other people think you do, as compared to what you really do.

The people I speak to are often shocked when I tell them that I don’t actually spend very much time at all taking photos, and how I really wish I could spend more time doing just that. Being a one-person business means that there are many hats to wear and many tasks fighting for your attention at any given moment and it can be difficult to do the things you want to do.

But this is only half the story. All of these tasks do have to be completed. Orders must be shipped, emails must be answered, websites must be built and marketing must be done. If you can’t afford to pay someone to complete these tasks for you, you must do them yourself.

But are they more important than the business of creating?

read more
Why I adore Game of Thrones

Why I adore Game of Thrones

So, an indifferent creator … a story full of twists and turns … beloved characters ripped from us too early or whose journey moves away from our own …. an elaborate series of crisscrossing plotlines whose meaning is maddeningly out of reach to those desperately seeking it….

Is this sounding familiar to anyone else? Anyone? Yeah, me too.

read more

This site is protected by wp-copyrightpro.com