challenges and a New Year!

I just completed another challenge.  I did a 1/2 hour watercolor sketch of my St. Francis statue.  I wouldn’t say it’s my best work nor will it be a greeting card someday but it is something on paper that I completed!  It’s practice.  It’s discipline.  It’s a New Year and a time for new habits to be formed…one of which is creative challenges!

I’ve always created little challenges for myself.  A way to motivate me.  Or maybe I’ve got ADD and I’ve figured out that making up little games helps me stay focused!  I think everyone has ADD these days…our technology driven world seems to encourage ADD thinking as we jump from one website to the next, one facebook post to the next, not to mention the mental gymnastics it takes to read twitter (I just can NOT get into reading those short tweets).

It’s also 2013 and for the first time since 2006, I don’t have a calendar to hang on my wall.  That makes me sad.  I tried to work with my printer last year to see if we could figure out costs for a calendar but my printer is in San Francisco and we could not get the pricing to pencil out for me to wholesale to retailers.  I did meet a calendar publisher last May at the NYC Stationery Show.  They are located in Indianapolis, of all things.   Initially when contacting them was told that though my work was “nice” they really didn’t need another inspirational, watercolor artist.  This past October I flew home (Indiana) for my nephew’s wedding.  I contacted the publisher and asked if I could just pop in and meet face to face with them explaining I was flying in for a wedding.  “Sure”, the reply.  I knew if I wanted to have ANY chance of licensing for another calendar that I’d have to come up with a unique proposition.  On the plane from Houston to Indianapolis I opened my notebook and started brainstorming with myself (I love doing that).  What poured forth was this idea for taking my penchant for creating challenges and creating an entire year of challenges!  Challenges that will allow others to stretch, grow, develop and well, challenge themselves!  The person I met with loved the idea too and asked for me to write up a proposal. I did so and am happy to report that I made it through the first cut of new product titles for 2015!  More to follow as I learn more about the opportunity!  In the meantime, I’m going to keep challenging myself!

I also had fun creating my “vision” for 2013 the other night as I “played” with my markers and thoughts!!  Admittedly, today I was a bit overwhelmed at my obvious enthusiasm for a BIG Leap of a Year!  One foot in front of the other…that’s what it will take.

Happy NEW YEAR!!

It’s a NEW YEAR holding all sorts of promises!

creative challenge for the day complete!

learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable!

Being an Entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart.  It is easy for me to revert to overwhelm. I’m in a bit of it at this moment but choosing to write about it, in addition to reminding myself of the power of plain old breathing.  Breathing allows for movement, which is what I need to keep doing.  All this a result of hanging up the phone after talking to Andrew Behla.  I’ve just committed to having my website upgraded.  It costs money.  And I hate to spend money.  Though I do know the old adage “it takes money to make money”.

Plus, I don’t understand 1/2 of what he’s outlined in his proposal.  As I said, it all looks like greek to me.  Widgets and plugs in…Woo Canvas Theme and Woo Commerce extensions…I’m trusting that it all makes sense to him and he knows what I want….Thank You Andrew for what will be some hand holding as we go through this process.

Over the weekend, I remembered reading somewhere that being an entrepreneur requires one to “learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable”.  Boy how true is that!!  I’ve been getting ready for 2013 with new cards, new catalog printed.  Launching with Focused Sales as a rep group.  Packages shipped to reps.  Spent a good portion of 3 days last week counting cards as Corina, my bookkeeper, stressed the importance of accurate inventory.  John is going to be putting shelves up along 2 walls of the office that currently holds my cards.  I’m so excited about getting organized.  But in overwhelm when I see ALL the product that is printed in All the boxes waiting for the orders to come in so we can ship out!  Planning for the Vegas gift show the end of January.  So much work to do…breathe and do the next thing…breathe and do the next thing…breathe….

It’s worked, I’ve calmed myself down a bit…now to do the next thing….work on Vegas….

Focused Sales!!

So happy to report that I’m stepping into a NEW YEAR with Lots of FOCUS and plans for tons of SALES!!  How is this possible you ask??  I’ve just joined the Focused Sales family!  It was official on Monday, December 3rd as I did a Powerpoint Presentation on a WebX Conference call to all their reps (33 and growing) across the West and some in the Midwest.  Check out their site at http://www.focusedsales.com

As serendipity would have it I met Dale Manson, of Focused Sales, last June at the Dallas Gift Show.  It was a slow day on the show floor and I had spent some time writing in my journal “asking” for representation in the Atlanta and Dallas market areas.  I noticed the Focused Sales booth as I had walked by and thought they looked like a rep group.  Leaving that evening at 6pm, I was waiting at the bank of elevators along with quite a few guys all wearing Focused Sales badges.  I asked if they were a rep group and who I might talk to in order to introduce my line.  Dale answered that would be him but he was on a plane the next morning.  He handed me his business card and suggested I email him.  I was so excited when checking out their website.  It was the perfect group for me, I thought, with representation in so many locations plus a unique philosophy in going to market.  It took quite a few conversations but after a period of months, Dale decided I might be a fit for their organization and so began the “how to implement” conversations.

Spurred on by knowing I would need to ship out “rep boxes” filled with a complete deck of cards plus catalogs and samples of other product, I sped up the production for new cards and catalog.  I haven’t written in here much as I’ve been so busy getting all this together.  Thanks to Sarah, graphic designer extraordinaire, we spent a very busy end of September through mid November working on 28 new card designs + designing a larger format (8.5×11) catalog!  John, my angel of a printer, started printing new cards as we designed them and by mid November all was done but the need to collate and box everything up.  Thanks to Sandra, the Queen who pulls my orders and organizes things at Leewood, all boxes were shipped the week after Thanksgiving (when I was in Florida!).  I’m forever grateful for this team of people!!

And speaking of Florida, Mark and I had a lovely visit/vacation.  We flew to Ft. Lauderdale on Thanksgiving day to visit with his Mom who has lived there many years.  We loved the warm breeze (not the chill of SF) and hung out at the Beach most days plus rented bikes and just plain relaxed.  We took a few days for ourselves and drove down the Keys to Key West.  Lovely!!

I can’t believe we are already one week into December!  I have NO signs of Christmas up yet and few presents purchased.  All I can think about is the inventory I need to complete to get my Quick Books accurately updated and the other reps that need product shipped out to them within the next 2 weeks.  Better to sign off and get busy sending out new catalogs!  Oh Yeah, between all of the above activity, I’ve also been talking to a few people about updating my website.  That is going to start happening soon too….soooooo much to do….and I’m happy to report that I am so happy to be “Living the Creative Life”!….

Speaking of, as a follow up to the last post…I received a very positive email this week from the Calendar publisher and it looks like I may have a NEW calendar for 2015!!  Plus had a great meeting with the publisher in Berkeley this week…Journals are nearly underway!!  So exciting to see my dreams materialize!  What we all have to look forward to as the world continues to shift with the 12.12.12 and 12.21.12 dates!  26,000 years of change wrapping up with the planetary alignment with the Sun on the Winter Solstice!  I first learned about that when taking an “Esoteric Philosophy” course in 1998 or so.  2012 seemed like so far out into the future…and here it is!

Thanks for reading all this if you made it to the end!

 

creativity challenges

“How can I differentiate myself?”  The question I wrote in my notebook on my flight home to Indiana last month.  I was flying home for my nephew’s wedding but also, always one to make the most out of a trip, had been able to talk myself into an appt with a calendar publisher in Indianapolis.  Sad that I don’t have a 2013 Calendar to hang on my wall (or the walls of friends, families and others who have bought my calendars since 2006) I’ve been trying to come up with other ways to have a calendar published.   I passed by the TF Publishing booth at the NYC Stationery Show last May. Stopped and chatted.  I didn’t get to meet the person who works with licensed artists then because it was the last day of the show when I stopped by their booth and she had already flown back to Indy.  I did contact her, though, after the show.  Sending some examples of my work she replied along the lines of “nice work but we are not really looking for another watercolor, inspirational calendar. ”  Therefore the question.  I had to come up with another idea to propose or my chances of calendars in my future were slim to none.  So I began….

I love to brainstorm…ideas start pouring forth from my pen.  I started thinking about all the various products I’d love to see my artwork on (wallpaper, sheets, kitchen towels, ceramics, tile for kitchen/bath, the list goes on and on…) then slowly circled in on the calendar idea.  I was challenging myself and that brought me to my own “creativity challenges” I often create as a way to not only motivate me to get the pencils, brushes and watercolors out to play with but I often find I end up with some pretty cool pieces of art!  I started dreaming up different ways one could challenge themselves each month.  January would be a great time to clean out the closets and organize yourself!  Or maybe if the challenges were strictly artistic ways to express oneself the challenge could be to write about your dreams for the  New Year or draw/paint what you’d like to see yourself doing in the New Year.  At 30,000 feet, or however high you are in a plane,  I felt I was up in the clouds, literally, and the angels were pouring in all sorts of challenges for me to capture on paper.  I was scribbling so fast afraid I’d miss something. Before I knew it, I had about 5 pages complete.  Certainly I can present from this, I thought to myself.

And present I did.  Thankfully I had a quick sketch of a recent watercolor challenge I did for myself, a beautiful old fountain at Golden Gate Park that I captured in an hour one sunny fall afternoon, to show plus other work and my notebook full ideas for each month.  I began reading them to her and we both got excited!  I left promising that I’d collect thoughts into a more coherent Word document proposal.  Though it’s fall of 2012, they are considering calendar titles for 2015.  I’m not surprised given that I worked 2 years out on my previous calendars.  After receiving my document last week, she thanked me and said it will be in consideration and I should know mid December.  So send good vibes!  I think this could be such a fun calendar.

As I was scribbling, I realized that I had more than a calendar…I could “see” a book or a book/journal.  Last week I had a meeting with Maggie, the minister at Unity SF.  I’m going to be doing a Gratitude workshop on Sunday afternoon there…a 2 hour writing/drawing workshop with the subject of Gratitude for Thanksgiving.  I told Maggie that I had seen her endorsement on a book I had recently picked up.  She asked if it was “Imperfect Spirituality”.  “Yes!”.  She explained that it was published by the same publisher who is doing her next book (she’s written about 5).  Her next book is on Crafting and Spirituality.  I got excited and told her my idea of a Creativity Challenge Calendar.  She suggested I contact her publisher and said I could use her name.  I realized it was the same publisher that was 2 tables away from me at the NorCal Independent Bookseller Trade Show I attended last month.  That’s where I had gotten the book AND I had talked to the publisher!  So I sent an email to Brenda.  A few emails back and forth and I’ve got a meeting scheduled for the first week in December!  WooHOO!!!  Fingers crossed that these opportunities pan out and I can help challenge lots of folks to open up to their creative natures!

I’ll close with a sketch/watercolor I did the other day.  Inspired by the large clumps of Pampas Grass I see around here.  A friend and I walked out to Heron Heads Point on Tuesday afternoon, at the time of the eclipse.  Of course we knew we wouldn’t see anything but I wanted to acknowledge that we were aware of the eclipse energy…I took a photo of this huge Pampas Grass that stood well over 7′ tall.  This was my interpretation of it.  Go challenge yourself to creating something!!

Together…We’re Giant!

I had no idea when I started using some baseball analogy in this blog that our San Francisco Giants would go all the way this season…not only clinching the West early but then winning the National League Pennant and then easily sweeping the Detroit Tigers for the 2nd World Series Championship in 3 years.  It has been inspiring to follow this team!  Today was the big parade through downtown ending in the Civic Center plaza with speeches from Team Management, Announcers, Players and Tony Bennet himself closing out the festivities with the song played after every home game “I left my heart in San Francisco!”…I was inspired as I listened on the radio.

I thought to myself again…so many lessons appropriate to life played out by this team and their journey to being the absolute best in baseball!  As I drove to the Post Office this afternoon, I pulled over to jot down Bruce Bochy’s (the manager) words as he spoke: “There’s no heights you can’t rise to when you let service trump self-interest”.  He followed that up with “Never say Die” and “They never gave up”.  And they didn’t…from being 1 game out of elimination twice (both to the Reds then the Cardinals) they played to win and win they did…6 games in a row which got them into the World Series.  From there it looked easy…sweeping the Detroit Tigers in 4 games.  Bruce Bochy could have been talking about any endeavor as could Buster Posey whose words on the podium today were “if you think something is achievable, as long as you believe it and work hard you can get it done.”  I know one thing for sure…I’m going to lean on their words when I’m questioning myself and feel like I should give up (believe me, I’ve had many of those days when I wonder what the hell I’m doing) but then I can rally myself when I think about all I’ve accomplished with the help of Sarah, John, my reps, my husband who supports me and the friends, family and stores who believe in me, not to mention the people who buy my cards!

So given all that…I’m going to take the “I CAN DO ATTITUDE” with me each day as I go about building a card line, a brand and a company knowing that it will take sacrifice and hard work…but ultimately, we’ll be GIANT!

World Series!!

It’s emotional, for me at least, as I read the SF Chronicle the past 2 mornings my eyes almost brim with tears.  There is SO much emotions in the stories…from the fans, the history of baseball in the city, the past championships, the reminder of Buster Posey proclaiming 2 years ago at the World Series Rally/Parade that we just have to get back to work.  I’ve read nearly every article related to the Giants Pennant Win, the upcoming World Series start and everything in between..the MLB gala at the Fairmont last night, the story of Bochy as best manager ever in SF, the differences between the 2 cities, San Francisco and Detroit…even Mitch Albom from the Detroit paper’s recollection of his coverage of the 1989 World Series that became coverage of the Loma Prieta earthquake.  Then there is the players themselves and as they tell their own story of how this team developed the incredible chemistry that allowed for this opportunity.  You can’t buy chemistry (ala NYC and Dodgers), it’s organic…

I read all this and ask myself how I can channel these emotions, the incredible belief in winning against all odds, and bottle them into success for my own Words and Watercolors endeavors?  I guess I can learn from watching Zito endure the years of challenges he had and yet maintaining a strong work ethic and positive framework, he gets to pitch game 1 of the World Series…2 years ago he didn’t even make the roster.  I’ll continue to watch with awe over the next week and hope that the 2012 Giants can once again create Magic!  That’s what it is all about!  It’s Magic….and believing in it…and watching it…and when the opportunities come…saying YES!  I can see how a city can get so energized over sports.

I continue to work on being OPEN to the ALL the possibilities that come my way…and even create some for myself as I go along!

GO GIANTS!!!

A toast to the Giants!

I had intended to write last week after the Giants managed to do the unthinkable and win the last 3 games of their Series with the Reds.  That improbable win streak allowed them to head off to the Pennant race…trying to win the National League Championship.  Alas, I didn’t write and what was such a high, everyone feeling the magic of the 2010 World Series Win had returned, has dissipated a short week later.  We are not faring so well in the next series with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Down 3-1.  If the Cardinals win the game tonight, on their home turf, we’re done for the season.  It seems so sad and yet, the team should be feeling great for making it as far in the playoffs as they have, as Mark stated last night.

Funny how life works, you work hard to accomplish so much and yet often don’t give yourself the credit deserved or see the incredible progress you’ve made.  That said, I am feeling good about the growth W&W has gone through this year.  I’ve got some shortcomings, like a website that needs overhauled yet has been on the back burner.  I’m also learning that just by nature of being in business you will make decisions that are not the best but you go forward, putting things behind you.  I’m 2 plus years into this and can see some mistakes I’ve made but also successes…most of which are due to that dogged determination and persistence honed in the years of Corporate Sales.

I give thanks for all the support and encouragement received by my husband, those on my team, family and friends as well as the people I meet at Gift Shows, Trade Shows, etc…who love my work and place orders!  I could not be this far without each and every one of them.  I will continue to put my best foot forward and watch as Words and Watercolors grows into the mantra I hold for it….Words and Watercolors…around the World…enriching and inspiring!!!

To close, here’s a painting I did last week as Mark and I celebrated 5 years of Marriage!  We drove up to the wine country.  I had fun doing this little sketch as we sat overlooking the vineyards of Gloria Ferrer, makers of incredible bubbly!!

A toast to the Giants for a Great 2012 Season!!!!

Here we go…game 5

In keeping with my Baseball analogy…the Giants just advanced to Game 5 in the series with the Cincinnati Reds and I’m advancing with production of New Cards as well as Reprinting cards that are running low.  I was doing Press Checks this afternoon for reprints while the proofs for 8 new cards were waiting for my approval.  In addition to that, I’m advancing with another new product idea!  We (John, Sarah and I) have been considering what other new products we could introduce.  Both of them have been voting for Wrapping Paper based on some of the designs Sarah and I came up with for our Quilting Fabric Submittal.  I’ve been all hung up on how to package wrapping paper for the stores.  Trying to decide if it would be wrapped around a cardboard tube (where do you find the tubes? …googled and wasn’t happy with what I was finding) and then slipped into plastic sleeve or folded and in a clear bag.  Once again, grateful for my daughter Emily, a buyer at NW Art and Frame in West Seattle, who is always a wealth of information for me when it comes to how to price or pack or what to include for new product.  So a phone call to Emily confirms what I’d started researching when in Seattle in August and talking to Suzie and Chris, my reps.  If John can make the pricing work, we may be offering wrapping paper sold as packs of sheets to retail stores starting in January.  That way, we don’t have to worry about wrapping around a cardboard tube.  Shipping should be easier.  Sarah and I are going to work on designs this weekend (she began a new full time job so I’ve got to catch her after hours).

Tomorrow I’m participating in the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association Trade Show.  I’ll be setting up in the afternoon with the show 5-8 tomorrow evening and 10-4 Friday.  Love these reasonable hours!  I’ve never done this show so don’t know what to expect.  I’m going to hope for great exposure and orders!

Looking at my Quick Book reports at the end of September, I quickly calculate that I’m 20% ahead of total sales for 2011!  WhoHOO, I have been advancing this year….

On my way to the World Series myself!

Go Giants!!

My business is growing and expanding…Advancing for sure!

clinching the division

This isn’t quite timely as I intended to write this Sunday after the SF Giants clinched the Western Division title on Saturday night.  Of course, my baseball loving husband was estatic that we made it to the playoffs, again…hoping for another miracle October and play in the World Series.

I, however, thought of the metaphor of baseball appropriate to the game of business.  When listening to the post game interviews, I kept hearing how the Giants persevered throughout the season.  Here’s a quote from the MLB.com site.  The article:  Top ten reason why Giants won the West: “Resilience defined these Giants, who weren’t rattled by anything.”  Another quote referring to their leader: “Bochy’s perpetual calm helped guide the Giants past the injuries to Wilson and Sandoval, Aubrey Huff’s decline from everyday status, Tim Lincecum’s first-half ineffectiveness and the Cabrera suspension. Moreover, Bochy always handles his bullpen expertly, which is one of the toughest challenges for any manager.”  You gotta admire that guy who knows how to keep his players motivated throughout a long and arduous season.

So Resilience and Strong Leadership from the top…2 things I can adapt to Words and Watercolors.  As I’ve always said, it is my dogged determination that gets me places…my never give up attitude despite what challenges, disconcerting comments or problems I may encounter.

I’m going to try my darndest to keep making good decisions (not waste time conjuring up all kinds of what ifs), pursue new products and opportunities even when I’m out of my comfort zone (“successful people must learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable”, a quote I heard somewhere and totally resonated with…) and hold the vision for the incredible success I want: “Words and Watercolors…around the World…enriching and inspiring…” as my mantra states….

That’s MY vision for reaching the World Series!!  I’ve got a long way to go but hey…I’ve got all the time in the world as well!!  I’ll try to adopt the Bruce Bochy calm and zen like attitude toward it all!

all a twitter!

On Monday night I attended a meeting of the BALA (Bay Area Licensing Artists) and Surface Pattern Design Guild.  The topic was on using Social Media for expanding your business.  There was a panel discussion with 3 women, all who had lots of experience with various forms of social media.  I learned that twitter wasn’t as scary as I’ve always considered it.  One of the women flat out told how Twitter, literally, changed her life!  Now I’m not planning on that happening to me (I’ve already been through the BIG change up) but I was intrigued enough to sign up for my own twitter account when I got home that night.  Since then I’ve been playing around with it at various times throughout the day.  I’m up to following 33 and 14 followers!  It all happens so fast…it’s immediate!  Even more so than facebook, it seems.  I felt like I needed to check it out, in order to stretch beyond my boundaries/comfort level.  I feel like I’ve just entered into another world as I’ve been so easily connected to people all over the world…all amazing folks!  It seems that I read then click on a link, read another tweet, click again, see a notice that someone new is following me, click to see their website…etc…there is SO much stuff out on the web!!  OMG, I could get sucked into this but try to limit myself.

Speaking of limiting myself, I’m going to stop here and go watch Jon Stewart with my husband!

You can find me at peg_conley on twitter!  tweet on!!