Creative Business Goals - week four

http://mycreativebusinessgoals.blogspot.com/

What is week four going to look like for me? My first thought is positive attitude. And that is because I can clearly see what has and hasn’t worked for me over the last three weeks. I tend to put more on my short term goals list than is realistically possible, so I set myself up for failure. That is going to change with week four. Most of my goals are going to stay in the medium and long term lists. I‘m going to attempt to make my short term goals list that more doable, less vague or project oriented. I will have only small, defined weekly goals. I purposely put “Take care of myself physically, emotionally and creatively” on medium and long term lists, for a visual positive reminder of how important that is for my success. For my weekly short term list, I will put specific tasks like walk with my sister to accomplish that. I changed up the medium and long term goal a bit, defined what I consider medium and long term. Last week I backed off my time spent on the internet. It was a good decision, but it’s an important part of the process, so I need to keep a steady online presence.



Short Term Goals - week 4

Twitter once a day

Blog once this week

FB once or twice week

Picture summer online class each day

@ home with Claudine Hellmuth 15 min - half hour each day

Buy flat long boards for craft room for more surface area to work on

Move storage bins around in 2nd bedroom/craft room, for work surface area

Goals for week 5



Medium Term Goals - things I would like to accomplish over the next 6 months

Take care of myself physically, emotionally and creatively

Keep connected on twitter, blog, FB

Organize art/craft supplies

Set up work surface and shipping area

Create lists:

Supplies to sell/set price

Type of things to sell/set prices

Future ideas

Resources for packaging, craft-art supplies, surfaces, etc

Log type of materials/paint color used on projects

Set up second Etsy shop

Taxes

Business license

Copywrite

Accounting log/books

Sales tax exempt #

How to get published

How to sell designs

Networking

Online courses



Long Term Goals - things I hope to accomplish in the next year or two

Take care of myself physically, emotionally and creatively

Keep connected on twitter, blog, FB

Establish a website

Business plan

Calculate minimum income necessary to quit day job

goals for week of July 5th (week 2)

This week I am going to mostly focus more on creativity than business and even as I write this, I feel tiny bits of guilt creep in, because I have so much to do for the business aspect of my Art business.  But I have been seriously neglecting the creative part, so I will comtemplate as I create this week on how I can find a happy rhythm and pace to accomplish both. 

1.  Do something with paint everyday.
2.  Write/journal everyday.
3.  Sort and do a bit of organizing with my craft/art supplies.
4.  Do a happy dance if some of my supplies arrive in the mail for my online class.
5.  Make do, if they don't.
6.  Share my creations in progress or complete on twitter, blog & facebook.
7.  Support and encourage my classmates (former & present)

That's it!
The photo is today's submission for my Picture Summer online class.  This is a glass of iced tea sitting on my outside metal table that has a whole in the middle and I photographed it from the bottom up, about half an hour ago.  It's as hot out as it looks.

This is the beginning of my painting of Owl's Head Lighthouse.  It being a long holiday weekend for me, I had the luxury of time and energy to settle down to some serious painting.  Until recently, most of my painting has been on a very small scale, so it was challenging to use larger brushes.  I can usually complete a small (miniature) painting in a few hours.   This size painting is going to take much more time and I need to practice patience and not get distracted with too many other projects until I complete it. (I'm also taking an online course to learn mixed media art)   I've been wanting to make the transition to a more tradition size canvas and then move to a really large canvas and then wall murals.  I've deperately needed to get a paint brush in my hand, and for quite sometime have let the distractions and responsibilites of everyday life get the better of me, so I hope this to be a new beginning of serious dedication to my art, whether it be tranditional, mixed media, decorative, sewing,  or photography.

Vintage lighthouse

The painting above is my first painting, back in 1977.  The artwork below it is something I created earlier today using a technique called gesso transfer that I learned from an online class I'm taking with http://claudinehellmuth.blogspot.com/

The first class project is nothing like this, but I'm still waiting for the supplies to arrive, so I improvised and used what I had because I couldn't wait! 

Let me tell you, this process is rediculously fun and the possibilities are endless.  I'm in heaven.  I can't wait for the next lesson.

I've always loved the look of mixed media art, but never tried it and now I'm hooked. 

Progress on goals for the week

1. Walk with my sister Kim 2 or 3 mornings - walked wed & thurs and will be walking Saturday.

2.  Twitter at least once or twice a day - so far, so good.

3.  Post to my blog 2 times.  -  posted Tuesday and today. 

4.Gather class materials for ecourse that is starting July 1st.  - been picking away at this all week, almost done. (I crossed out half of this task, because it's actually almost done) -my dry sense of humor, can't be helped.

5.  Do something creative, just because.  - 6am this morning, base coated a couple of wooden surfaces for a couple of projects that I hope to complete this weekend, using new techniques that I'm learning with online course with Claudine Hellmuth.  I will post more pictures this weekend as I complete them.

6.  Respond to all new friends from Flying Classes - slow progress on this, hopefully more of this on sat/sun.

7.  If overwhelm sets in, go to craftroom to touch and look at craft supplies, Oh wait a minute, do that anyway, overwhelm or not.  -  did this thursday, refer to photos above :)

8.  Work on medium and long term goals.  -  hopefully this will get done Sat/Sun or will have to bump to next week's list - it's all good.