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Giveaway: 4 Copies of The War of Art

By on August 3, 2011 in Book Review, Creative Business Development, Goals

{Personal Image}

It’s giveaway time!

Why? We’ve been discussing time management and goal setting and I wanted to help some of you overcome something big: resistance. This nasty little thing called resistance is something that keeps us from doing our amazing work and moving ahead. We’ve got to learn how to deal with resistance and overcome it.

I’m giving away 4 copies of The War of Art, and I’m making it super simple to enter. All you need to do is:

1. Leave a comment below before Friday, August 5th at 5pm EST that answers this question: What keeps you from doing your work?

I want to know what gets in your way and what form of resistance you encounter. Do you struggle with balancing family and work? Do you procrastinate all morning and realize that you’ve gotten nothing done by lunch? Do you have a full-time job that zaps your energy?

2. Use a valid email address when you leave your comment, so I can contact you for your address if you’re a winner.

I will announce the winners on Monday, August 8th.

I’ll leave you with some of my favorite quotes from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield:

“Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul’s evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it.”

“The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, Resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it’s got.”

“There never was a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny.”

Comments { 120 }

Mr. Blacksburg Belle’s Top Time Management Tip

By on August 1, 2011 in Goals, Success

I got Mr. Blacksburg Belle to share his top tip for time management. And, after the tip, he shares a quick story about our competitive nature. I hope you enjoy!

BTW, my mother-in-law is in the room working on products while we’re taping, because we’ve got our annual craft show coming up this Friday. So, that’s who I’m looking at when I’m looking off the side and laughing–she’s making faces!

Comments { 13 }

Do The Damn Work {And Why I Envy My Husband}

By on July 27, 2011 in Goals, Productivity, Success

{Me and My Man}

Do you ever envy the people who make it look so easy?

I’m talking about the artist who spends most of her work time painting in her studio and sells more paintings than she can make or the jeweler who averages 10 sales per day on Etsy. If only you could figure out how they do it, then you could do it, too. Right?!?

I envy my husband.

He makes being a lawyer look easy. Within two years out of law school, he’s a pro. Most lawyers start off doing bitch work—the stuff the lawyers who’ve worked at the firm a long time don’t want to do. Not my husband {okay, he does some of it but…}. He’s already handled hundreds of cases, winning the majority of them. What I forget {because he makes it look so easy} is that he worked his butt off to get there. He worked at different firms all the way through law school, learning as much as possible. Even though we lived in the same apartment, we’d go days without seeing each other awake. That’s how hard he worked.

He didn’t get to this point by doing the minimum amount of work possible. He got there by working every chance he had. Now, we get to enjoy that hard work. Don’t get me wrong—he still works hard—but now we get to do stuff like exercise together in the mornings and cook and eat dinner together in the evenings.

There are lots of little pieces that go into making a business successful, but one of the biggest pieces of success is common sense: successful people do the damn work.

They don’t make excuses.

A lot of excuses are valid and true. You have children that need your attention. You have a full-time job to pay the bills. You get sick. But, for every excuse you make, I can give you examples of people who didn’t let those same excuses hold them back. J.K. Rowling wrote the best-selling series, Harry Potter, and she has 3 children.  Marie Forleo worked lots of “day jobs” while building her successful career. Lance Armstrong won the Tour de France seven consecutive times after surviving testicular cancer.

You’re not alone. Everybody has excuses.

I’ve got my own, but I’ll spare you, because I know that you don’t read my blog to hear me whine. The trick is to work with your limitations. If you have a day job, you’re going to have to wake up early to work on your creative biz and/or keep working in the evening instead of watching television. You might have to give up some of your weekends. If you have children, you have to use every spare minute that you can. Wasting time isn’t an option. If you get sick, you have to pay attention to your body and work when your body can handle it.

Lots of people come up with great ideas. It’s the people who actually do the work and put those ideas into action who succeed. It’s about putting in long hours, pushing yourself to work when your girlfriends are going out for dinner and wine for the second time in a week, and not letting your excuses keep you from doing the work.

Related Posts:

The Secret to {one of my least favorite phrases} Time Management

Stop Procrastinating: The 3-Step Solution

Comments { 12 }

The Secret to {one of my least favorite phrases} Time Management

By on July 20, 2011 in Creative Business Development, Goals

{Personal Image}

I know you wanna know the secret.

You want to know the one thing you can do to finally prioritize your to-do list, manage all the things you need to do to keep your creative business running, and find time to relax and enjoy your friends and family. Sounds like a dream, right?

Are you ready for it? Seriously? It’s a big one. Okay, if you’re really ready, here it is:

Stop following everyone else’s rules. Do what works for you.

Don’t allow yourself to get boxed in by what other people do. I let people know what works for me and try to give them tips on how they can adapt it if they have different circumstances. But, what works for me isn’t always going to work for you.

If you have a full-time job and work on your Etsy shop at night and on weekends, you shouldn’t be comparing yourself to shop owners who work on their creative businesses full-time. Of course they can get more products made and listed. Unless you want to go without sleep, you probably can’t keep up with their 60-hour work weeks where they concentrate solely on their businesses.

Learn from others. Keep what works and throw out the rest.

When I give out business advice, I often include a caveat that there are always exceptions to the rule and what works for one person may not work for others. There are some things that you almost always need in order to succeed in the long-term such as outstanding customer service, but you have to pick and choose the advice you want to put into action.

I’m going to be talking about time management, to-do lists, and goal setting over the next couple months. During that time, I’m going to give you tips and advice. I think the best course of action is try it out, keep what works and throw out the rest.

If someone recommends that you spend an hour on social media everyday but you only have two hours to work on your business daily, you shouldn’t take that advice because it won’t work for your situation. You can get great ideas from others, and I definitely think you should. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, but you shouldn’t try to force stuff that doesn’t work for you.

With that said, I want to mention that it takes time to build up new habits.

Don’t throw something out too soon. If you’re trying to get a handle on your to-do list and you take my advice of having a realistic to-do list of 2-6 items {depending on your situation}, it may feel uncomfortable at first. It might take you a week or two to really figure out what makes the cut and how to get all the important stuff done.

Research varies on how long it takes to turn something new into a habit, but it takes at least 21 days and up to 66 days according to research. Once you turn something into a habit, it’s much easier to do because you start to do it without thinking about it. You no longer have to make the decision to do that specific task–you just do it. So, if you start exercising, the first 21-66 days will probably be the toughest. After that, it’ll seem more natural and your body might even start craving it.

Here’s what it comes down to: 1. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Learn from others. 2. Try what you learn and give it time to work. 3. Don’t force something that doesn’t work for you. 4. Keep the stuff that works.

I know this sounds simple, but I’m pretty sure we’ve all fallen into the trap of trying to force something that just isn’t going to work for ourselves. There was a time that I tried to break things up by the day. For instance, I’d write blog posts on Mondays, make products on Tuesdays, work on marketing and the website on Wednesdays, etc. That didn’t work for me, because I crave variety. I tried to force it for a while and realized that I was getting less done.

I’d love to hear about what hasn’t worked for you. Have you tried out time management tips that just didn’t work for your situation? Please share in the comments below.

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Stop Procrastinating: The 3-Step Solution

By on July 18, 2011 in Creative Business Development, Goals, Success

{Personal Image}

Have you ever noticed that it’s harder to get started on something than it is to actually do it?

I have a battle within my head every morning when I decide whether or not to exercise. I don’t want to get out of my warm, comfortable bed. I want to turn over and cuddle up to my husband {Or do something a little dirtier that I really shouldn’t be talking about. Hey, I’m married–it’s allowed!}. I want to hit snooze and catch another hour of sleep.

I’m always happier when I overcome the resistance and get my butt to the gym {Even the dirty things are better when those endorphins are buzzing and I’m feeling good about myself}. It’s not difficult for me to get going once I’m at the gym. I turn on my iPod and stretch before hopping on the treadmill or grabbing a set of weights. When I’m into the workout, I’m not thinking that I wish it was over. Okay, I think that every once in a while. But, usually I enjoy the music or book I’m listening to and feel good about moving my body. It’s not difficult to do the work once I’ve started—it’s the starting that’s tough.

You have to learn how to push past that resistance and get started.

Dipping your paintbrush into the paint and making your first swipe on a canvas can often be the hardest part of painting. It’s the same with any creative venture. Do you frequently think about making your own knitting patterns but never get around to it? Do you say to yourself, “It’s fine if I put off writing my first blog post until tomorrow. What’s another day?” I’m telling you: IT’S NOT FINE! You’ll just keep putting it off.

When I notice that I’m procrastinating, these are the 3 steps I implement to get started:

1. Set a timer for 20 minutes.

Instead of telling myself that I have to complete the task at hand, I decide to work on it for 20 minutes. That’s doable even if it’s something that I don’t really want to be doing. Often times, the timer will go off and I’ll keep working to finish the task, because I’ve already gotten past the difficult part of getting started.

2. Shut off all distractions.

If I want to get distracted, it’s easy to do. I know when I’m procrastinating that I need to get rid of any and all distractions. For instance, if I’m sitting down to write, I’ll close out all social media pages and my email and put my phone on silence. This way I don’t have any excuses but to work on what’s in front of me.

3. Allow myself to produce crap.

You might not have expected this one, but it’s true, especially if fear is holding me back. If I’m staring at a blank page, I’ll remind myself that I can edit things later. If I’m staring at a blank canvas, I’ll tell myself that I can paint over it if I don’t love it. I don’t let that inner critic win—the one that says, “You’re not good enough.” Instead, I say, “If it’s not good enough, that’s okay.” I take away the power of fear by allowing for imperfection.

Even if I produce crap, I usually learn something from it {like never do that again}. I can take some of the ideas and use them in a new piece of writing or a new painting.

Read below to find out what I’m up to and why you should stay tuned.

Last Wednesday, I provided free consulting sessions in order to get to know some of my readers even better, and I loved every minute of delving into some major frustrations. With the exception of two people that I talked to, everyone spoke about time management and getting things done.

After those sessions, I thought about how I can reorganize my plans over the next few months to focus on helping you with these issues. I talked to my husband while we cooked breakfast and he smiled at me and said, “That’s perfect. You have a background in psychology and helped lots of people change their habits. Replicate that by putting together some kind of program.”

Note to husband: Thanks for that–sounds like the easiest thing ever. NOT! But, it is something I’m going to work on over the next couple of months.

I don’t know what form it’s going to come in. I’m still in the beginning stages of planning, but I wanted you to know what’s coming up on the agenda. I’ll be writing articles and making videos for Blacksburg Belle on the topics of time management, resistance, getting stuff done, prioritization, change, and decision making.

I don’t like the phrase “time management.”

Ugh. It’s waaaaay too boring and makes me want to punch myself in the face. It conjures up a picture of a geek with glasses {no offense–I’m a geek with glasses} sitting with his planner, sipping a mocha latte, and scheduling every second of the day. I just can’t live that way. I’m also not a fan of the phrases “to-do lists” or “goal setting.” I’d rather say, “amazing stuff I’m gonna do today” and “dreams that are absolutely gonna come true.”

I want to have some fun when discussing these topics—and if you make it fun for yourself, you’ll be more likely to follow through.

I’d like your input.

Leave a comment letting me know what you struggle with when it comes to {ugh} time management, goal setting, and to-do lists. Let’s get this party started {don’t forget to bring a martini–or a shot of wheatgrass juice if that’s more your thing}!

Comments { 38 }

Get Focused: 8 Tips to Help You Reach Your Goals

By on April 29, 2011 in Creative Business Development, Goals

{Personal Image}

Do you get new ideas on a regular basis? Do you have trouble staying focused?

I’m one of those people that constantly has new ideas. And, if you’re a creative entrepreneur, I’m going to guess that you’re one of those people, too.

I want to do it all—but I can’t. In order to reach the goals that I’ve set for myself, I have to stay focused.

Here are 8 of my best tips that can help you remain focused and reach your goals:

1. Turn your email off.

Oh boy. I struggle with this one. But, email can be a huge distraction. I used to check it every time I noticed that I had a new email, but then I realized that it can wait for a little while. Now, I close the email window and only open it back up after I’ve completed an item on my to-do list and am taking a quick break. This allows me to focus on one thing at a time, and I can cross off my to-do items much quicker.

2. List all the steps it’ll take to complete your task.

If you’re struggling to stay focused, you might just be confused. For instance, if you’ve decided that today’s the day that you’re going to send out your first newsletter, it could take you a long time if you don’t know all of the steps involved. Once you know exactly how to send your email newsletter, the rest will start to fall into place. Get specific.

3. Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize.

We waste so much time on activities that don’t really help us grow our creative businesses. You can minimize this wasted time by prioritizing your to-do items. Every evening before I write down my to-do list for the next day, I always look at my top 3 goals. I try to include at least one item for each goal. For instance, one of the goals that I want to reach over the next year is to grow my newsletter list to 10,000 subscribers. So, I want to continue to give people a reason to sign up for my newsletter. This might mean that I work on a free ebook or webinar that you get access to if you sign up. Every day, I try to keep this goal in mind.

4. Take breaks.

You need to make sure that you give yourself short breaks throughout the day to recharge and refocus. Every time I complete an item on my to-do list, I take a 10-15 minute break. During that time, I get up and move—sometimes dancing to a favorite song, check my email, grab a quick snack, get a glass of water, use the restroom, and/or check the ARTrepreneur forums. When that time is up {I usually set a timer}, I can focus on my next task feeling more energized.

5. Turn off notifications.

If you have to rush over to your phone every time you notice that you have a new text message, turn off the notifications! Check it during your break time. This also goes for email and any other “dings” that interrupt your flow.

6. Give yourself less time to get something done.

Many times, we take the allotted time given to complete a task. If you know that you have an hour to write your blog post, you might spend 25 of those minutes responding to email and finding pictures for the post on Flickr. If you shorten your time frame to 30 minutes, you’ll be more likely to get hyper-focused and complete the task at hand.

7. Figure out where you’re spending your time.

This can be a huge wake up call. Don’t change the way that you’re spending your time. Instead, carry around a small notebook for 3 days and write down everything that you do and how much time it takes. You might realize that you’re actually watching 3 hours of television every day or that you take 2 hours to get ready in the morning. Imagine what you could do if you only spent 2 hours watching television and you put that extra hour towards your creative business.

8. Track your goals.

If you’ve set a goal that you want to reach by the end of the year, I would suggest taking 20 minutes at the end of every week to note what you did to work towards that goal during that week and how much closer you are to reaching it. This will help you stay on track and focused.

Do you have a tip for staying focused? Please share it in the comments below.

Don’t leave, yet! I’ve got 2 Quick Announcements:

1. I redid my about page. Yikes–it needed a little makeover. So, for any of you who care, you can find out 22 things you might not know about me.

2. On Sunday, the super-snazzy, ulta-awesome bonus for ARTrepreneur ends. Currently, if you become a member of ARTrepreneur, you get free access to the Inspired Blogging for Creative Entrepreneurs program. It’s a 12-month program that’s valued at $397. So, if you’re thinking about joining, you should do it before Sunday. Word. SORRY-THIS BONUS IS UP!

And, if you join now, you’ll get instant access to:

Classes: 1. Legal Basics 2. How to Write Product Descriptions that Sell

Interviews and Workbooks: 1. Michelle Ward 2. Jessica Swift 3. Mayi Carles

Photography Tips: 1. Super Easy Tips to Improve Your Product Photos 2. DIY Light Box

One Online Shop Critique {and I’m about to add another one}

Technical Tutorials: 1. What the Frick is FTP? 2. How to Install WordPress

Creative Tutorials: Fun Drawing Exercise: Drawing Realistic Faces Tutorial

Access to our Book Club and 4 Book Club Worksheets

Access to the Forums

And, information on how to become an affiliate and make some sweet money!

Comments { 11 }

Celebrate the Small Stuff to Stay Motivated

By on February 25, 2011 in Creative Business Development, Goals, Success

{Original Painting from in ameliart on Etsy}

How do you stay motivated over the course of months or years when you’re trying to build new business habits? How do you talk yourself into staying up and working after you’ve put your kids to bed? How do you wake up an hour early to squeeze in more creating time?

In a workshop I led at the Etsy Success Symposium, I talked about a goal setting analogy of the rider and the elephant. I got this analogy from Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard {affiliate link} by Chip and Dan Heath. If you have no idea what I’m talking about when I say the rider and elephant, go back and listen to that workshop.

If you want to reach your long-term goals, you have to acknowledge and celebrate the small goals along the way. This keeps your elephant motivated and reinforces the change.

To build new habits, you’ve got to keep your elephant engaged in the change. One way to do this is to reward him.

Let’s say your long-term creative goal is to quit your day job and run your creative business full-time. There are a lot of little things you’re going to need to do to make that happen.

For instance, you might have to establish multiple revenue streams in case one starts to slow down. So, you decide to sell your jewelry on Etsy and at 6 craft shows per year. You also decide that you’re going to put together hour-long classes that teach people basic jewelry-making techniques and you’ll hold one of those each month.

If at this point, you’re only selling on Etsy, there will be a lot of work involved in developing those other revenue streams, and your elephant might get spooked.

But, you can coax your elephant.

Break down the task of selling at 6 craft shows into smaller tasks such as: finding 6 craft shows within driving distance, downloading the applications and making a list of everything you’ll need to fill them out, filling out the applications….so on and so on.

When you complete each of these smaller tasks, reward yourself.

You don’t have to spend money to celebrate your successes. You could take a 30 minute bubble bath, read a book that has been sitting on your shelf for months, or spend an hour working on a creative project that you’ve been wanting to dive into.

Make a list of 10 things that you really enjoy doing and can be done in under an hour. After you’ve completed one of your “smaller” tasks, pick one thing off your list and do it.

Don’t wait until you’ve actually sold at 6 craft shows to celebrate. Your elephant won’t wait around that long. He’ll get distracted—and you don’t want a distracted elephant.

Related Posts:

What In Your Creative Biz Needs to be Black and White?

How to Prevent Decision Paralysis

Stop Making Crap Excuses

Comments { 14 }

Rich, Happy, and Hot

By on October 19, 2010 in Creative Business Development, Goals

{My video entry for Rich, Happy, and Hot Live}

I woke up this morning inspired to write about goal setting.

I’m taking Laura Roeder’s Creating Fame course, and to put it honestly, she rocks. Like, seriously rocks. Last night, we had our goal setting session before the course actually begins.

I went into the session thinking that there wasn’t much I could learn on the topic of goal setting. I’m pretty good at setting goals and accomplishing them. I’ve found a rhythm that seems to work for me—but I learned so much from her in this one hour session.

The one tip that I’ll share with you that really made me sit up and say, “Holy cow Laura—I heart you and where have you been all my life,” is to figure out how to reach your goals by pretending like you’re giving advice to your friend. Many times we don’t know how to reach our goals—we don’t know what steps to take. To figure out the first steps on the path to reach your goals, pretend like you’re talking to a friend.

For instance, one of my goals is to launch my first information product in November, but I’ve been struggling with this. Not because I don’t have the content. I do. But, because I want to make it an amazing product. I don’t want to produce crap. Plain and simple. I want my products to rock your world.

If I was giving advice to a friend on how to reach her goal of launching her first information product, I’d tell her to make a product that she’s intensely passionate about, to learn marketing from people who really know what they’re talking about, and to take at least one step each day to make this goal a reality.

When I think about it like that, it becomes much more understandable and clear.

Try it. Think about a goal that you have but don’t know how to reach. If your best friend was sitting in front of you asking you for advice on how to reach that goal, what would you tell her?

Have I mentioned how much Laura rocks? You need her in your life.

So, I was going to keep writing about goal setting, but then as I was typing this post, two things happened to disrupt my train of thought:

1. My 3 dogs got up on the kitchen counter and ate the homemade raisin muffins we baked for breakfast {they’ve never eaten anything off the counter before}. If you’re not a dog person, raisins are really bad for dogs. So, I frantically called our vet who told me I would have to induce vomiting using hydrogen peroxide. With three 65-100 pound dogs, that’s a lot of vomit.

2. I found out that I was one of Marie Forleo’s Rich, Happy, and Hot Live contest winners which means I’m going to New York this November to hang with some awesome people including Marie Forleo, Laura Roeder, and Danielle LaPorte. And, how in the world am I supposed to concentrate on finishing a post when I found out this kind of news????

Marie’s generosity of offering 12 people tickets to Rich, Happy, and Hot Live inspired me—A LOT. When she ran the contest, she said that she was only giving away one ticket, and if that had been the case, I wouldn’t be going to New York for this conference that I’ve been dreaming about!

So, I’ve decided to pay it forward and give something to my wonderful newsletter subscribers. If you’re not subscribed, sign up below today, because my generous email newsletter is going out tomorrow. You don’t want to miss it.


Comments { 6 }

Why I Almost Didn’t Write This Post and How I Beat My Inner Critic

By on October 14, 2010 in Creative Business Development, Goals

{Mixed Media Original Art on Etsy}

Why I Almost Didn’t Write This Post

I sat down to write this post, and I almost talked myself out it. I’d decided that I was going to share my goals from now until the end of November with my lovely readers, but then my inner critic crept in and said, “What happens if you don’t reach those goals? Then you’ll have to tell your readers that you couldn’t do it, that you suck.”

Then I started thinking, “Hmmm, that’s unpleasant. Maybe I should keep my goals to myself…just in case I don’t reach them. That way, it’s not so bad.”

After a couple of minutes of brainstorming new topics I realized what was happening. I was letting that soul-sucking monster that lives in my head win. And, I’m too damn stubborn to let that happen.

Here’s the thing. We all have that inner critic. The voice that tells us we’re not good enough and laughs at our art. The one who constantly asks, “Who do you think you are doing that? Trying that? Making that?”

How I Beat My Inner Critic

Well, guess what inner critic? You don’t get to win today.

I beat my inner critic by reminding myself that I encourage others to hold themselves accountable by sharing their goals, and thinking about the worst case scenario that could happen if I didn’t reach my goals. It’s not like you’re going to come and egg my house if I don’t accomplish everything I say I want to achieve.

I mean, really, what’s going to happen if I can’t do it? Asking myself that question took away my inner critic’s power and made sharing my goals not so scary.

So, let’s get to it. Here are my goals from now until November 30th:

  • Write 20 guest posts. {I know this sounds like a lot, but I’m pretty intense. Plus, I love to write}
  • Interview 4 artists/crafters and post those podcasts.
  • Sell 20 items from our Etsy shop.
  • Launch our first online product. {more about this to come soon}
  • Gain 100 more blog and newsletter subscribers.
  • Publish two free ebooks.
  • Continue to post 5 times per week on Blacksburg Belle.

I think it’s going to take a lot of hard work to reach those goals, but I’m down for working really hard. In fact, I love to work hard. And I’ll share my results with you on December 1st.

If you want to help me reach my goals, you could:

  • Subscribe to my blog and newsletter {if you’re not already subscribed}
  • Invite me to guest post on your blog {contact me at blacksburgbelle@gmail.com}
  • Take a look at our Etsy shop, and keep us in mind when you do your holiday shopping
  • Or just send me a note of encouragement!

What goals do you have that seem too scary too share? What’s holding you back? And what’s the worst that can happen if you don’t reach those goals? If you really think about it, I bet it’s not as bad as it seems.

Comments { 11 }
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