The contemplation continues

I am having a very hard time getting motivated this morning. Just as I typed that I realized I had forgotten my coffee this morning. Now, with my coffee in hand, I hope to find my motivation.

I had a wonderful talk with my dad yesterday. He sounded absolutely great. I was telling him some exciting news and he was fully rejoicing with me. He so gets me, and that makes me so happy.

I have a busy weekend planned, and got an email about an upcoming craft show in the area... the lady found me on etsy :-). My initial reaction was "noooo.... not enough time". But... I will email her back, asking for more information. After all, I do have over 50 journals made, and I'd like to move them from my shop... new directions coming soon with that. The craft show is about an hour away, but I will weigh all the pros and cons throughout the day to decide.

In so many ways, business-wise, I feel as though I've arrived. I have found my photographic voice. I am following my heart. Life is pretty amazing.

The deep contemplation that's been within me for days is continuing today. I'm getting there... slowly. For a person with 0 patience, this is going well.

I wish each of you a completely present, mindful day.

A rewarding week, but a week of exhaustion too

I am exhausted. I've slept so much this week (well, the extra 8 hours on Wednesday), but I went to work for a full day yesterday and today I'm exhausted. I am going to relax this weekend. And sleep in. Heaven.

I'm no longer creating for nothing... creating and listing with no sales. I'm selling, I'm relisting, I'm making more. It's awesome. I can't believe all the places I've mailed my items off to! I love when I address the packages... "oooh, this one's going to Tennessee :-)". And I'm starting to see repeat customers, so that's really cool too!

I will be working on the friendship journals this weekend. Or Mother/Daughter, Brother/Sister, Sisters.... and hopefully will be debuting them next week! Along with some others, and hopefully some more photos. I have so many stored, just haven't listed them yet!

Another thing I've been doing is stocking up for Christmas. All through Etsy! There's such a wide variety of items on there. In fact, I've even started buying bubble mailers for my business on there! And I have some amazing promotional items on order. I just have to show you something amazing... I have a wonderful friend now, she goes by PromoPixie on etsy... and look what she created for me!!!
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=24353277 I can't wait to receive it! Now if I do craft shows, I'll wear that, and I'll also have lots of other promo materials for it! All thanks to such a smart little pixie!

It's really beginning to feel like a real business now! It's evolving every single day! It's been very rewarding!

Getting Organized, Everything in it's place

My space that I live in is small. Thankfully, it's an apartment, so it's cheap, and it's temporary. But it's small. I've taken over one section of the living room and one couch with my papers, my paper cutter, my cutting mat, my finished journals, my packaging supplies. Yesterday, a table was moved in for me and put over the coffee table. Strangely enough, it works.

So all my supplies are nicely arranged on the table, with finished journals in a box, and packaging supplies on the coffee table. It's a really nice feeling to have it all organized and I feel that all of a sudden even my brain is less cluttered!

I have my projects in progress in one section, so I can see what I need to finish. By the end of the day tomorrow, I should have several journals ready to list! Including one new design that was a special order! If it works the way I envision, I'll be making more to list!

It's amazing how change can stimulate action. Thankfully this is change for the better. I've had a rough week, and getting my supplies organized really helped me to come up out of the rut. This organization has been a long time coming. A really long time. And since I didn't even have to move a table, it was so easy!!

I stated the other day, in the Etsy forum, that my dream is to make my business flow.... from the conception of the idea, all the way through to packaging. To make it easier on me to be able to create, and run my business, and not freak out when I have a dozen sales to ship out. (It could happen!!! Actually, two days ago, I had 5 items ordered in one day!) And now it's coming to fruition.

Sometimes, life is good. Sometimes even when it's not, something small can happen to make it all worthwhile.

Not long now!

It's just a few short days now til I go to Utah. I'm keeping up on my to do list so I'm not too overwhelmed, and I am so amazingly excited. If I didn't have that to do list, I'd probably be going insane!

I got my application for the spring craft show. I'll fill it out and turn it in before I go. I'm also taking all the makings for small journals so I can have a sort of make and take with my nieces. Aside from the journal making though, I'm sure it'll be all about photography. My own little retreat. In so many ways... I'll get away from my job for a week, but I'll also reconnect with family and have some quiet time as well. Last time we went to Utah, we were on the go... so many people to see... so much to do. And so many in my family unit to please, like as far as seeing/doing everything. But not this time.

I'll be spending a couple of nights at my brother's house, but the bulk will be spent at dad's. No rush, no hurry... that might be difficult for me. I constantly am doing something. I will figure it out. I do know I will be journaling quite a bit. I have some things I need to figure out. And most likely I will be planning out where I want this business to take me.

Happy Tuesday everyone!