I wrote awhile back about having the opportunity to work with Martha Zlatar at the SF Small Business Development Center. Her expertise lies in coaching Artists in Business. I feel lucky to have the support of a business coach that not only “gets” Artists but also gets the “woowoo world” (as my friend Mary Cleary would refer to it). Last Friday part of the homework assigned to me from Martha was to get very clear about my list of “non-negotiables”. As she suggested, my “non-negotiables” would be my “formula for sanity”. By being conscious of what feeds me..what I need to have/do/be on a weekly basis…I’ll be much more inclined to make sure I DO exercise or write in my journal, have a “date night” with Mark, connect with my family, etc. I had shared with her that I was allowing the business of my business to keep me so busy that I wasn’t devoting the time to exercise daily, like I used to, or write in my journal or play with my watercolors. I thought of all this on Wednesday evening as I sat at the kitchen table working on a watercolor. Here I was painting! WooHOO!! That’s when I asked myself the question, was this a result of my being “conscious” of my non-negotiables? I had to answer an unequivocal YES! I thanked, silently, Martha right then and there! And tonight, it is Friday after all, Mark and I are going to see a movie! It’s working. What’s on your list of non-negotiables??
In the busyness part of the business, I worked with Sarah today on a rough mock up for the catalog that will accompany all the new product for the summer gift shows. I’ve had 2 catalogs since January. One from last summer and one from this January (I had so many left from last summer that it made sense to just print one for the new cards in January and combine that with last summer’s). Now it will all be in one! 3 weeks from today I’ll be in Denver for the “New Age Trade Show”. That was my coming out party last year. It truly has been a year of growth and overwhelm and fear and self doubt (to be totally honest). Thankfully I’m feeling more grounded and confident. I’m hoping that translates to more orders in Denver!
Next week’s “to do” list, which I just completed, has a whole host of things already on it…priority though is getting product and card racks shipped to both Denver and Atlanta…the summer gift show season is heating up…Here comes Words and Watercolors!!