10 Day (maybe this is a 14 day) WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 9 Showing Up

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light and not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be ... " - Marianne Williamson

When my daughter was very little and raced around with other children she would always run with her arms out and behind her to keep herself in the lead - quite genius I think.

(of course, this could have been an attempt to steady herself when she ran full out fast or maybe she thought she would take off and fly if she was fast enough)

My intention with this new year of deciding is to gently

(although I may throw my arms behind me sometimes, so please forgive me if I knock into anyone or look like the prima ballerina's understudy who has left the star tied up in the broom closet and stepped out into the spotlight not really sure of what she is doing)

explore what it means to me to really show up.

I think sometimes I have expected the world to draw me in and engage me - easier for me to hide behind my work and this busy-ness and so I have set up my life in such a way that this busy-ness is overwhelming and real -

(how can I be expected to take a deep breath when I only have time for little gasps of oxygen after all)

but this reality was created by me and I can create a new reality.

Showing up, for me, will be about allowing other people to sometimes be disappointed in my choices ... and making them anyway.

No hiding. No comfort zones. Showing up is about our everyday choices. Working out in the morning again because otherwise I will never do it.

Saying "I" when I mean "I".

When I worked in a bank it was all about the "we" and being the teamplayer that I was I got in the habit of saying "we" even when I was the one doing the work.

These days, although I am the only one here,

other than Olive of course - who does provide daily inspiration, but spends way too much time lazily dangling over the heater and yawning at me when I try to send her to the hardware store for flux, to be included in this -

I still say "we" about my business when maybe I should be claiming it with the word "I" more often.

(I should say that this "I" thing is a lesson for me in really owning my work and showing up - for some of us the lesson may be in the "we" and the big picture thinking and team sharing this word creates)

No more standing myself up in 2011. I resolve to show up - even if I have to run around with my arms behind me - like that overbundled brother in A Christmas Story.

* beautiful You are an ARTist said the little bird keepsake box by Danielle of herpaintedword

Why "DECIDING" Means Ditching the Get It While We Can Mentality #8 counting down to 2011, maybe this is a countback

Yes, I realize it is already 2011, somehow these posts got a wee bit behind (sigh) ....

You might know this feeling, too.

The feeling that makes you say yes to work when you really need to say no.

When I had a cart in the mall, I never sold anything in the first 2 hours of any day

and yet everyday during this period I would start to get nervous like I would never sell another thing ever again -

it is the same feeling when you start to sell regularly on Etsy and then you don't for a day or two or maybe a week.

(now sometimes this is a good feeling - well, not a good feeling, but it produces a good outcome - a little kick in the keester that we need to encourage us out of a rut and into something new)

But, it is also the feeling that leads us to take on any work, any opportunity that comes along whether it fits in with our intention for our business and our life or not because this could all end tomorrow - doomsday - get it while we can - thinking.

This mentality can be the death of us in almost a literal sense because we will run ourselves ragged, undervalue our work and make promises that will be impossible to keep -

(although we will beat ourselves up trying)

We have to trust in our process.

Saying no sometimes is about self-love. To quote Dr. Phil -

(yes, I am quoting Dr. Phil now - don't hate me - does anybody else find it really weird the way he grabs his wife's hand and practically races her out at the end of every show - very odd - imagine if Oprah did that to Stedman, people would throw a net over her)

It teaches people how to treat us and more importantly confirms to us how we want to be treated. It tells the universe that we trust it; that stuff will still be there for us later - the right stuff.

(and that little voice in your head that screams - are you crazy, you can't turn this down, you are lucky to get paid for this - you can make 10 scarves in 2 days for $150.00 and ship them to Peoria - may get a little quieter - that voice may even crack open a bottle of champagne and whisper hallelujah)

* magical cupcakes print by raceytay

Happy 1/1/11 Everyone!

I think I am going to pay all my bills today

(maybe)

just so I can write 1/1/11 over and over - it feels so much like a do-over year to me - a year when anything can happen!

We managed to be awake at midnight

(but only because a stinkbug crashed into our ceiling, sending me flying for the lightswitch and Olive running under the bed - yes, the stinkbugs are back - if anyone has any stinkbug prevention tips let me know - we can't seem to figure out where they are getting in)

and someone on our street was setting off fireworks, very brave of them with the new state trooper station across the road.

I had a couple people email me about a previous post where I said something like our businesses are either busy growing or they're busy dying.

I definitely did not mean to imply that we have to have a big business. I think a small, profitable

(and there are kinds of profit other than monetary profit although monetary profit is usually pretty important at some point in the life of a business)

business is a wonderful, miraculous thing we should all be proud of. Maybe instead of growth I should have used the word change.

Because I could see where growth might infer something getting bigger and bigger which does not have to be our intention at all with this creative thing we are growing.

(oops there is that word again)

I do think that when you create something from your heart you give it one thing and it gives you back another thing and this process is about growth even if nothing ever gets any bigger ....

Anyhoo, I hope everyone gets to write 1/1/11 at least once today!

* Year of the Rabbit calendar print by Brooke Woolley

Happy New Year's Eve Everyone!

I am making guacamole and cleaning the house

(the thrills never end here folks)

we used to have movie marathons to keep our daughter up until midnight, but now we are the ones trying to stay awake -

(sigh)

hoping everyone has an amazing and safe New Year's Eve - tomorrow starts a brand new year and I have decided that it is going to be fantabulous for all of us!

*photograph by matt allen photography

6 Business Lessons I Learned in 2010 - advice from one crafty maker to another

1. Deals with big catalog companies do not always translate into big dollars for little maker companies

(enough said)

2. Stores are not always ready to buy when we are ready to sell - repetition is a key to success with mailings and store contacts.

(maybe with everything now that I think about it)

Instead of moving on to new stores too quickly when a postcard doesn't generate any interest, I have found if I mail to the same store again (and sometimes again) I usually get the account.

(note - make sure your postcard is awesome,

< ---- mine is

the store is a good fit for your work and you mail directly to the owner, manager or buyer and follow-up with a phone call - I always call just to check in that the postcard arrived and let them know about a "special" I am having that week)

3. Store accounts need to be reminded to re-order.

When I started calling shop owners to see if they needed more stock (instead of just assuming my stuff wasn't selling because I hadn't heard from them) - my re-orders went way up.

(shop owners are as busy as we are)

4. Being in control might make us feel safe but that is pretty much the only benefit. Sometimes things fall apart so they can fall together.

We need to let go sometimes.

5. Some of this social networking has got to go. I am becoming less averse to automating certain things or just eliminating them all together.

There are only so many hours in the day.

6. I have been avoiding growth and change (partly because I want to stay small and personal, but mostly from pure exhaustion) but static, maintenance mode doesn't work - no matter how firmly we dig in and put in roots we will be uprooted -

Our business is alive.

It is changing everyday - whether we like it or not.

(we cannot stop this anymore than we can stop our toddlers from becoming preteens, although we would sometimes like to)

Static, maintenance mode will not work for long -

our income will drop, our work will become outdated, the competition will swoop in and undercut us, we will stop innovating -

for our business to survive it must be growing. The good news is we get to decide how that will happen.

It doesn't have to mean more work for us, in fact it has to mean more freedom and more creation because otherwise we might as well all get a real job with a 401K and dental insurance.

(if such things exist anymore)

There is a way to do this without putting in more hours (I don't have any), learning any more techno crap (my head will explode) or losing the personal nature of my handmade, upcycled business - I refuse to sell out.

We will find the way.

(I probably learned way more than this, but my head cold is still causing my noodle to be even foggier than usual and these are the first things that come to mind - hope someone finds them helpful)

*learn more things print by NayArts

10 Day WE CAN DO THIS Countdown to 2011 - # 7 Allowing

Now at first allowing seems like a backstep for someone who has chosen to make 2011 my year of deciding.

But I have enough living under my belt to know that there is an ebb and flow to this thing called life and I have never been an all or nothing, black and white, kind of thinker.

Making decisions and not settling doesn't mean I am suddenly turning my canoe upstream -

(I don't want to end up on that "I Survived" tv show after all)

but, I do need to steer my canoe, that's why canoes come with paddles after all, unless I want to end up crashed along a rocky shoreline.

(where I can imagine some kind of Tom Hanks falling in love with his volleyball future for me that would not be pretty)

Part of this deciding thing is about getting in touch with what I want, so that this all becomes alot more effortless - allowing things to flow in and out of my life as I make decisions based on my intention without second guessing myself with indecision or hanging on too tightly ....

And I should mention that even though 2011 is still a couple days away, I have already started making decisions:

hubby - "what should we have for dinner?"

old me - "I don't know - what do you want?" <--- this didn't happen

new decisive me - "egg and ham omelets with crispy rye toast" <--- this did

hubby - "mmm, sounds perfect"

(of course we are still shoveling out from our snowpocalypse and the cupboards are pretty bare, but see how yummy decisive action can make anything sound)

* free spirit print by the amazing Shira Sela