Seven Days, Seven Jobs

For me, one of the hardest things about running a creative business is finding the most productive way to manage my time.  I have a lot going on.  And there are only seven days in a week. 

I am realizing that lately I have let myself get confused about the difference between being productive and bringing in an income.  It's easy to look at these two things as one and the same, but in reality, when you're running a creative business, being productive may not necessarily mean bringing in immediate revenue.  A lot of the time, it actually means setting yourself up to bring in future revenue while you work diligently with no immediate payoff. 

Ideally, if I could spend my whole week making jewelry with occasional teaching thrown in, I would be a happy girl.  But right now, I have 7 jobs.  Yes, SEVEN.

1. Making my own artwork/portfolio/gallery pieces. 
2. CopperTide (production jewelry work)
3. CopperDog Studio (etched copper dog tags, ornaments, etc. with 10% of proceeds going to animal rescue groups.)
(And let's not forget the marketing of all of the above, but we'll just include that as part of each of those jobs.)
4. Teaching (regular weekly classes at Sawtooth School for Visual Art and occasional weekend workshops traveling elsewhere.)
5. NC Black Co. (tool fabrication and design, and sometimes I teach with them as well)
6. Apprenticeship/Assistant to Betty Helen Longhi
7. Helping unpack/organize art, ship orders, refurbish machines for Art-o-Mat

While the last four provide more predictable and immediate income, it's the first four that are the most important to me and make the me the happiest.  Not that I don't enjoy the others or appreciate the opportunities afforded from each one.  It's just too much.  On top of the new-old-house that we bought a couple of months ago, with all of its new-old-house issues that must be dealt with, mostly by me, plus home chores, cooking, etc.  I don't get a lot of studio time to work on those first three.  So I know I need to adjust and not overextend myself into these other jobs that aren't focusing on my work.  But can I afford to lose the immediate income?  Will it pay off in the end if I can focus my energies properly on my work and marketing it well?  I'd like to think so.  But right now, I have bills that don't really want to wait for future payoff. 

So what to do? 

Well, leave it to Megan Auman at 'Designing an MBA' to have the perfect post!  "Making Multiple Revenue Streams Work for Your Business."  She's a clever girl, that one. Her first piece of advice in this post is to think of yourself as one business with multiple components.  Even though you may have very different facets of your work, if you think of them all as one package, or your one brand, it becomes easier to work with the natural ebb and flow of the business(es) and focus on the aspect of the business that needs the most attention at the time rather than trying to fit it all in and do everything at once.  Seriously, go read her post if you can relate to anything I'm talking about here today.  It's amazing how much you can change just by changing the way you look at things.

So I'm going to try to consolidate the way I am thinking about my jobs to :

1. My work
2. Teaching
3. Working for other people

And maybe if it's a little easier to wrap my brain around it like this, it will be easier for me to make time to do what I need to do. 

Now... off to the studio!  (And I've got a pretty sweet new space!)

The Creative Process : Leading up to a Show

Aaaack!  I've done it again!  It's not that I haven't thought about it, but the past few months, any time not spent in the studio has been guilt-ridden time!  Horrible from the marketing perspective, but really, who has time for all of this blog business when you're trying to get ready for a show?!?  And by show, I mean my first solo exhibition!  Super exciting!

Quirk Gallery is currently hosting an exhibition of my new work, right now through April 26.  So if you're in the Richmond, VA area, please stop by and check it out! 

 

SeaPod Wall Piece

photo by Linda Grimes

 

So yeah, it was pretty exciting to see it all up and installed!  With my name and everything!

 

 



 

Invitation Postcard

photo by Lauren Carroll

 

 

But let's go back for a moment, shall we?  It was last April that I planned this exhibition with Quirk.  A whole year.  So about July, I thought, "I have plenty of time, but maybe I'll start working on a piece before the move."

 

And that was as far as I got before having to pack up the whole studio and move to Winston-Salem in August.  Then I didn't touch it again until January.  So sad.  This piece did eventually come together... though I will admit, just a couple of weeks before my show deadline.

Apparently that's how I work best, because pretty much everything for the show came together in those last few weeks.  A few pieces in the last few days.  I don't know why I do this to myself.  I decided a week out from the deadline that I needed one more large neckpiece, and I did manage to finish it.  I had to leave on Wednesday morning, and literally finished the last piece about 7:00pm on Tuesday.  Geez. 

 

A friend of mine posted this to her facebook page when I was about 2 weeks from D-day. 

 

 

So true.  I guess we all do it.  Something about that last minute pressure.  Maybe it's just that you have no choice.  The last couple of weeks I was working all day in the studio, I'd have dinner with Mark, and then go back to the studio.  It felt like college.  But without the 1am trips to the bar.  Don't think I didn't think about it though...

 

 

Coming soon (I promise!) : lovely photos of show pieces taken by my lovely and talented friend Lauren Carroll and some shots show installation at Quirk!  Plese check back soon.  I swear it won't be another four months...