July 4, 2012

The Balance ~ Giving vs Receiving ~ is philanthropy part of your business model?

image by Simple Complexities

We talk a lot about the making money part of business.

What we don’t talk about so much is what we DO with that money – specifically, do we keep it to ourselves, or do we incorporate giving back into our business model?

I’m talking about this issue all week on Epheriell Designs, in support of a crafty charity drive for cancer patients that I’m running in July (the #100BeanieDrive), and I wanted to share a few ideas with you all here on Scoutie Girl, too.

I understand the wisdom of keeping all of the money you earn to re-invest into your business in the early days – I think it was Richard Branson who said you should just focus on making money in the beginning, and only think about giving money away when you’re already a success. I admire that guy, and he’s certainly an amazing businessman! But… What do you think about that?

I can see where he’s coming from – but that model of business and life is just not for me. I think giving back (even in a teeny-tiny way) should always be part of our lives and businesses.

But how can you be a philanthropist when you can barely pay your own bills?

Here are a couple of easy ways to give without breaking the bank.

1. Buy handmade
This might sound like a no-brainer, but as part of the New Economy, we help other people like ourselves grow their businesses by buying from them.

So if you make handmade (or hey, even if you don’t!), do the absolute best you can to buy handmade and local – and that way, you’re keeping the money circulating amongst the people, rather than sending it off into the ether of ‘big business.’

I found this happened naturally to me as I became more and more a part of the handmade community. These days, I always go to Etsy first whenever I want anything. It’s permeated other parts of our lives, too, like shopping for fruit and veg at the farmer’s market rather than the supermarket, and buying from small businesses rather than large chains wherever possible. Every little bit helps keep other businesses and lives like mine afloat!

2. Invest in a Kiva Loan
Kiva is my favourite charity… although, it’s kinda not a charity in that you get your money back!

For those of you who have never heard of Kiva, it’s an organisation that allows you to give small loans to micro-businesses all over the world (primarily in developing nations) so that they can either start or grow their own business. Part of the model is that this is a true loan, in that it’s the responsibility of the recipient to pay back all the loans they get over time!

So, if you can spare as little as $25 for a period of time, you will eventually get your money back. However, you might find that you enjoy the feeling of helping grow these businesses so much that you just continue to re-invest that money over and over again!

What I LOVE about this is that you’re not just throwing money at at the symptoms of poverty (hunger, disease, etc.) – you’re actually investing money into the people and their businesses, which helps them help themselves and their communities.

You know, that whole “teach a man to fish” thang.

Brilliant.

3. Create a product of which a percentage of the sale goes to charity
This seems to be a pretty common thing in the handmade community – creating a product or product line that is specifically geared towards promoting and giving to a particular charity.

The great thing about this is you can raise awareness (and funds) about a cause that is close to your heart. And you don’t have to lose money to do so – just make sure you incorporate the donation into the pricing of your item.

Here are a few great examples of this:

with love pillow by Olive Handmade

red fox ring by Angela Grace Jewelry

charity water tee by movementee

photographer mouse by The House of Mouse

chunky cowl by Smoking Haute

How do you feel about making philanthropy a part of your life and business?

Is it already a part of what you do, or is it something you’ve been meaning to make happen in your life?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You Tagged With: , , , , , 3 Comments
May 30, 2012

the balance ~ working at your business vs. working on your business

Grey Cat Working from home by SchmetzPetz. Click for more info.

At the beginning of a business, a great deal of our time is spent working on our business as we get it set up.

We have a dream, a plan… a lofty goal.

We start our blogs and websites, launch a mailing list. We research and put all of our prices, policies, and procedures in place.

We get started with marketing and social media. We hustle.

Then we get busy.

We get stuck in the treadmill of making and shipping.

Of responding to our clients and customers.

Of just trying to keep everything working smoothly – and not just our business, but our lives, too.

In other words, all of the REALLY IMPORTANT daily tasks that actually mean we HAVE a business.

However, somewhere along the line – unless we’re careful and we plan for it – we stop working ON the business at all.

We get so caught up in the day-to-day that we don’t take that step back to critically examine our business.

Is this selling venue really the best one for me? Are my photos really up-to-scratch? Am I spending my marketing and money wisely? Am I growing the business in the right direction? Do I need help?

There are SO many interconnected aspects of our business, and even when things are going well, there is ALWAYS something that could be grown, changed, or improved.

I always find that when I take the time to work on my business – even if it’s just an hour to reflect on the next 6 months and what I’d like to achieve – it leaves me energised and re-motivated to tackle projects head-on.

Conversely, when I don’t take the time to look at the big picture, or to tweak aspects of my business, I find I get worn down by the day-to-day tasks, and sometimes forget my purpose and mission.

So, I challenge you to take a step back today and spend just 30 minutes working ON your business instead of in it.

What will YOU focus on in this time?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, creating action Tagged With: , , , , , 5 Comments
May 2, 2012

The balance ~ Don’t be a ‘Nice Girl’. Be a business woman.

image by courtney oquist - click for more

“Yes, I’d be happy to do this. Now, with the amount of time you’ve given me, here’s realistically what I can give you. Or with this amount of money, here’s realistically what I can provide. Now, if you want to give me more time or more money, I can get closer to what you want.” – Lois Frankel, Ph.D.

Does that statement sound strong and empowered to you? Or does it make you cringe?

It’s from an article on Inc. – an interview with businesswoman Lois Frankel, Ph.D. The article is called Why Nice Girls Finish Last.

It certainly got me thinking. About me and my business. About how much I am willing to give, and what I am worth.

See, I’ve reached that point of ‘success’ (how do you even define that, anyway?) where people come to me for advice or help with their own businesses.

It used to be that I would help out anyone who came my way – for free.

But a while ago now I decided it was time to draw the line.

I have so many projects going on that I barely have time to keep on top of my business, let alone helping people with theirs for free.

My time truly is limited, and precious, and I simply couldn’t justify giving away my time any more. And honestly? I love teaching, but my core business is jewellery making and blogging – not coaching. I needed to make sure I had the time to focus on the core of my business.

So, I decided to charge people for my time. If they wanted my help, they needed to pay me what my time was worth.

Boy oh boy, was that a HARD decision to make!

See, I’m a “nice girl.” I like to help people, and I hate to say no. It makes me feel uncomfortable, like I’m letting people down.

I’m guessing you’re a “nice girl,” too. Because gosh, doesn’t it feel great to be thanked, and praised, and loved? It does. And we, as women, have somehow gotten it into our heads that if we say “no” or stand up and ask for payment for what our time is truly worth, that we are being “unkind” or “greedy.”

But we’re not.

We’re in business; we should treat what we do as business.

That’s not to say we can’t be kind, compassionate, caring, and helpful… but we need to be these things in a way that doesn’t result in us losing out!

We need to stop being afraid of charging what we’re worth. We need to stop being afraid to say no.

I have been saying “no” for a while now, and you know what? Every person who I’ve had to say no to has been gracious and understanding.

Of course, when I say “no” I say it in a respectful and kind way that explains my point of view. And very much like the quote at the top, I often say an “if, then” rather than a flat-out no.

For example, “I’d love to help you; however, due to the volume of requests I receive, I can no longer assist people with their businesses for free. Here is the link to my ‘hire my brain‘ page. Please get in touch if you’d like to work with me!.”

When I am confident of what I can and cannot give, other people seem to sense that and are satisfied.

I’m sure I’ll come across the odd person who doesn’t respond this way, but that’s life. I can’t let that hold me back from asking for what I’m worth.

I think I’ll let Louise sum it up:

“It would be, to get the things that you want in life, you need to take risks. You need to get outside your comfort zone and be willing to deal with other people’s discomfort, because if you spend your life making other people comfortable, you may feel good, but you’re not going to get what you really want.”

How do you tread this line in your own business – and life?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You, creating action Tagged With: , , , , , , 40 Comments
April 4, 2012

The Balance: Creativity vs Drudgery

Click to see more - image by Flourish Cafe

Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or small, has its states of drudgery and triumph; a beginning, a struggle, and a victory.
~ Gandhi

Now, running a business is certainly not on the same level as liberating a country, but Ghandi’s statement still rings true for me in the context of my creative business journey.

If you’ve been in business for any length of time, you will have discovered that there is a WHOLE lot more ‘drudgery’ involved that you first thought. Drudgery being endless email, admin, stocktaking, organizing, packing… and even, perhaps, the actual making of your products. Now, I get a lot of satisfaction out of the business side of what I do – learning new skills and techniques, etc. – so it’s not the business ‘stuff’ per se that is drudgery, it’s more the repetitive tasks that hold no challenge. I’m a bit Gen Y like that – I like being challenged to learn new things constantly, and get bored if that’s not happening.

I designed my Epheriell range so that almost every piece I sell is remakeable. On one hand, this saves me an immense amount of drudgery – the photographing, editing, writing descriptions, tagging – because when something sells, all I have to do is hit the ‘relist’ button (or, nothing at all on my own site).

However, when you’re making the same pair of earrings for the 234th time, a certain sense of drudgery is certainly present.

I’m going to make a pretty solid assumption here: You got into your business because you loved creating things.

You love working with your materials to create something new and challenging. That’s where we feel the buzz, the satisfaction of creation, when it all works out and voila, we’ve brought something new into being.

However, the day-to-day business of, well, business involves an awful lot of non-creative tasks that are unavoidable. Sometimes, it gets to the point where we feel that we are doing nothing BUT these unavoidable non-creative tasks. And that just sucks the joy out of it all, doesn’t it?

The only way around this that I have found is to deliberately carve out ‘creative time.’

This is time where we set aside those ever-present ‘to-dos’ and just allow ourselves the space to create. The way I do this with my jewellery business is to release collections twice a year – kinda like the fashion houses do. This means I am forced to be creative! I have to come up with a coherent range of pieces, make them, perfect them, and then share them with the world.

This process satisfies my creative needs, and reminds me why I started my business in the first place: because I loved creating!

Do you find it a struggle to balance drudgery & creativity in your business? How do you deal with it?

Filed Under: Buy You, For You Tagged With: , , , , , , , 7 Comments
February 22, 2012

The Balance: Flexibility vs. Routine

image from Heidi Stock Digi Design

Working from home is awesome.

You can hop out of bed (or not!) and be at work in seconds. No long commute for you!

You’re close to your kettle, your fridge, your TV, your bed, your couch, possibly your significant other and children, your pets…

In short, you’re close to all the things that make life relaxing and sweet, but that can also distract the heck out of you!

Those of you who have a ‘regular’ job (or those of us who remember what it’s like) will know that having a J-O-B brings with it a certain routine. You have to get up at the same time, get showered/dressed/fed. You have an external force that drives the shape of your day.

There’s a certain rigidity to this, sure – but there’s also a certain sense of peace that comes with routine. You don’t have to make the decision to get up, dressed, and out the door anew each day – it’s just something you do. A habit.

For those of us who work at home (and especially those of us without kids to organise), it can be a real struggle to create this same sense of routine in our lives.

Part of the joy of working from home is that we don’t have to adhere to routine. We have a sweet, endless sense of flexibility to our day. If we want to brush off work and go for a bike ride, we can. If we want to sleep in, we can. If we want to have an impromptu 3-hour lunch with a friend, there’s nothing stopping us.

However, within this flexibility lurks the danger of laziness. No one but us is making us work/get up/exercise/answer those emails.

Spending every day in this flexible state can end up resulting in feelings of stress and overwhelm, where we just jump from one task to the other without any sense of calming daily structure.

I know I’ve struggled with this a lot in my own life; when I don’t impose some sort of routine on myself, it all just turns into a bit of a hot mess.

I asked my fellow creatives how they cope with this – to share one core routine or ‘keystone moment’ in their day that helps them to stay focussed and feel in control.

The existence of this constant balancing act between flexibility and routine came out loud and clear in their responses.

Ensuring I have a lunch break is really important. Also acknowledging that sometimes I can be flexible and work in the evening rather than only 9am-5pm ~ Cate Lawrence

* * *

Dedicating/ scheduling a day for certain activities such as bookkeeping activities. That way there is more or less a dead line to be met to have all information to be gathered by and provides a routine. ~ Megan Beverley

* * *

I generally write off my mornings! I’m a night owl and am not very effective in the morning, so instead of trying to fight it I see that time as being for catching up on the news, socialising online and having a good, leisurely breakfast. At lunch time-ish is when I get started with work and I generally do some sort of work until bed time. ~ Simone Walsh

* * *

I found getting up in the morning, eating a good breakfast and having a shower as if I was going to work helps. ~ Elle Roberts

* * *

I start with a morning walk with my dogs and a friend and we chat about our day to come, then breakfast and all the ‘get ready for the day’ stuff then go to the studio. I have different admin tasks each morning, I love creating my daily ‘to do’ list. Afternoon is for making and creating. I always have a lunch break and plan meetings at the local cafe so I can see people and not go stir crazy. ~ Lorna McKenzie

* * *

I work on the 45/15 rule: Each hour I’ll do 45mins focused work, 15mins check emails, twitter, or put a load of washing on, etc. I tried to be a good little worker but can’t focus for 8 hours straight so this works a treat for me. ~ Poppy & Bliss

* * *

Flexibility is the key, if I’m not in the right headspace for book work, then I’ll sew or do some social networking. I would probably put at least 8-10 hours into my business 5 days a week, often more. That’s with 4 children, it’s amazing what you can achieve if you’re passionate about what you’re doing. ~ Middlemost Clothing

Everyone seems to have a slightly different mix of routine and flexibility. Some work on an hourly basis, some daily or even longer.

I think the key is finding your own balance.

Find the point where you feel calm and in control of your work/life while still feeling the freedom that working from home can bring.

So, if you work from home – how do you walk the tightrope between flexibility and balance in your life?

Filed Under: Dialogue Tagged With: , , , , , , , 8 Comments