The endless quest to get my shit together: {the homespun life – small business}

Those of you who know me at all will know that I am constantly fighting a losing battle to get (and keep) my shit together. It will come as no surprise to you, then, that despite having lived in Houston for over 2 full months now I still have yet to get my studio unpacked. Right now it looks like this:

Which, believe it or not, is a huge improvement over yesterday. Hopefully, over the next few weeks it will slowly become usable as various tools and materials emerge from their two-month hibernation. I look forward to dusting off the Fire Arts section of this blog, and maybe even posting some new jewelry items up in the shop.

In a further attempt to get my shit together, I’m attempting to schedule my writing for this blog in such a way that I can get up 5-6 posts a week. Quixotic, you say? Well, probably. But I do have help! I found a gem of an organizational resource the other say while browsing the much-neglected ranks of my google reader feed.

Those of you who found this blog while looking for online hand-embroidery resources probably already know about Wild Olive. (She’s a crafty blogger with a fun, modern style and great business savvy.) She recently posted a free .pdf download of a blog planner that she and Tara of Sew Tara had collaborated to make, and I snatched it up as soon as I saw it.

As I try to amp up this blog into something a bit more serious – you know, like, with regular posts and stuff? – this little planner may be just the ticket! I didn’t print mine in the fun color scheme (trying to save my pennies), but I did throw together a quick personalized cover. I bound the thing myself with my zimmer bind-it-all (that I had to unpack three boxes to find, and that I’m clearly not very good with, but it’ll do!) and I’ve already begun using it. Get your own and let me know much you love it!

Love the One You’re With: {The Homespun Life – Small Business Blog}

I don’t know about you, but I often find myself feeling depressed and cynical about the limits of internet communication.

For example, just this morning I was enjoying my (second) cup of coffee while perusing one of my absolute favorite blogs – The Pioneer Woman. Ree is an absolute delight, and I can’t help but love her despite the fact that she helps run a ranch, has a cooking show, writes an amazing blog, home schools her kids AND manages to look completely fabulous in every photo all the same time. I really think, as I read her warm and personable posts, that we’d be great friends if we ever met, and I often find myself wanting to leave a comment or two.

But I never do.

An Authentic Mess

This morning, browsing through my daily blog feeds, I came across this nugget of advice from Seth Godin:

If you’re not getting paid what you’re worth, there are only two possible reasons:
1. People don’t know what you’re worth, or
2. You’re not (currently) worth as much as you believe

The first situation can’t happen unless you permit it to. If you’re undervalued, then you have a communication problem, one that you can solve by telling accurate stories that resonate.

Creating Action – Part Three

Today we’re picking back up with the Creating Action series. For the last week, I’ve been blogging through my experience with Tara Gentile’s 8-part course, Creating Action. If you missed some or all of the earlier posts, catch up here:

Creating Action – Intro

Creating Action – Part One

Creating Action – Part Two

Today, we’re on to:

Assignment 3: What can you accomplish today?

Creating Action – Part Two

As many of you know, I’m blogging through my experience with Tara Gentile’s 8-part course, Creating Action. If you missed some or all of the earlier posts, catch up here:

Creating Action – Intro

Creating Action – Part One

Today, we’re on to:

Assignment 2: Action is Dirty

Creating Action – Part One

A few days ago, I mentioned that I had signed up for Tara Gentile‘s Creating Action course, as part of my ongoing effort to get myself and my business wrestled into some sort of manageable order. It’s a 3 week course involving 8 “assignments”, and today we begin the journey:

Assignment 1: What’s your Goal

Creating Action – Intro

Today, I signed up for a 3-week course offered (for free!) by Tara Gentile, editor of Scoutie Girl. Scoutie Girl has become one of my favorite and most-relied on blogs, thanks in large part to Tara’s generous and accessible wisdom, so I’m excited to see where the next 3 weeks take me!

The course is called Creating Action, and to my understanding it’s basically just what it sounds like – a series of exercises and challenges designed to help me put my goals down on paper and start making them happen.

Of course, the first step to any of that is actually creating some goals, which I suspect will be the topic of the first lesson. It can’t come soon enough! My dreams for my art and business have been vague and undefined for far too long – I’m never going to get anywhere that way.

Anywho, the point to all of this is to inform you that I’ll be blogging my way through the experience. Hopefully this will allow you to take something away from it as well, as I expect most of the exercises will be just as applicable to personal goals as they are to my business-related ones.

So, here’s to turning our dreams into goals and finally making them happen! We begin on Monday. I’ll see you there.

If you intend to join me on this journey, whether wholeheartedly or just in part, leave a note in the comments section – we can cheer each other on.

The Lady Who Couldn’t Purl

I recently had a rather odd encounter with a woman at the local knit shop that I frequent, and it taught me perhaps one of the most valuable lessons of my professional life.

I was loitering after an instructional class, enjoying the chance to just sit and knit and chat with the other regulars who happened to be in the shop at the time. On the other side of the table was a woman I’d never met, knitting away patiently at a garter-stitch scarf (which is a scarf composed entirely of knit stitches  – quick and easy, but incredibly tiresome after a while).