new year, new ideas

13 Jan new year, new ideas

so… i started this year as you do with new ideas, ambitions, and endeavors for myself and my business. i thought of new bag designs, new materials, and other fun things to try in my creative process. i know for sure that i did not think about that little pesky aspect of having a business: actually running it. I had and still have no idea. this is all new to me.

but i did happen one evening upon this gem entitled 11 things i wish i knew when i started my business. it sounded like a good start. i don’t know if it was the rain pelting sideways on my window or the wine, but this article started me on a web labyrinth which lead me into obscure places such as webinars on marketing strategies (what!? how boring) and on to reading articles by James Altucher, a hedge fund manager (what?? gross). 

i don’t know what happened that evening, but something changed. i finally succumbed to the fact that in order to run this thing, this creative endeavor that i love, i needed to open my mind to important aspects of business that i had not dared to think of before. One of those evils was what Stephanie St.Clair states as her ninth thing she wished she had known before starting her business,

“You must devote time to becoming a brilliant marketer. MUST. I know you just want to spend all your days making hipster sarsaparilla-scented mustache wax, or needle pointing edgy throw pillows for Etsy, or writing your YA zombie novel, or life coaching women to stratospheric success, but if you don’t spend time marketing you will not make money”.

my initial reaction: “noooo! …i mean do i really?” the answer of course is yes. and yes. and yes.

i have found my nemesis, and it is called business. i have vowed this year to punch it in the face, over and over again until i can stand with my hand in the air and say “ha! i’ve won.” well, that’s the idea for now. I’m sure after the fifth session of drafting my business vision, my hand will be hurting a bit, but hopefully after some time i will have at least poked business in its eye a couple of times. 

happy 2014 to everyone trying something they’ve never done before.