Be inspired!

Have no fear, keep learning, and practice, practice, practice!

What inspires you to create?

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Chelsea

 

 

Thoughtful Thursday – Branding: Lots of words and a little math

As a small businessperson, I sometimes feel a little bombarded by advice. Usually, it’s a different version of the same information, or an article about something I already do without really thinking about it, so it can feel redundant. I don’t stop seeking out those “business for dummies” kinds of articles, though, because sometimes you come across one as good as this:

http://diybusinessassociation.com/gobrandyourself/

In fact, I’m finding this site has a lot of well-written, easy and fun to read, legitimate information for entrepreneurs.

So, this particular article discusses the 20/10/4 method, which, simply put, means you come up with 20 words or short phrases to describe yourself, then narrow that list to 10, then, finally, the 4 most important words on that list.

Now, even if you don’t own a business, this is honestly a pretty cool exercise to try out to help you figure out who you are and what you want to present to others. Obviously, we’re all complex people with different aspects of our lives and personalities, so the list may change depending on the context (social environment vs. work environment, for example,) but it’s worth the effort.

I won’t re-hash what’s already been written – I encourage you to visit that link up there – but I will share my 20/10/4 journey with you. As a self-proclaimed eclectic, it hasn’t been easy, but keeping our first shop, Buy Me Love, in mind, that narrows it down some. It starts with these words:

artisan
crafty
persistent
detail oriented
eclectic
geeky
classy
theatrical
thoughtful
optimistic
sweet addict
open minded
wordy
eco-conscious
animal lover
planner
tactile
creature of comfort
introvert
friendly

Then it goes a little something like this:

artisan
crafty
detail oriented
classy
theatrical
thoughtful
sweet addict
open minded
eco-conscious
friendly

In the end, though …:

artisan
classy
theatrical
eco-conscious

So, my personal brand is a theatrical but classy, eco-conscious artisan. I can’t wait to share this exercise with my mom to see what she comes up with, and to use the exercise to brand our newer shop, JuJu Eyeball. I’m sure we’ll come up with all kinds of fun words for that one!

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Chelsea

First show of the season – Art Hunger

Just wanted to share some pictures of our first show of the season, and our first show representing our newest shop, JuJu Eyeball!

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The day was slow (we guessed that about 20 customers passed by our booth,) due to little advertising, a festival down the street blocking traffic, and an electrical outage issue on the block. We did make some new vendor friends, and made a couple of great contacts with customers! Mom sold a couple of her sand castings and that was it, but the booth fee was very inexpensive. We ended up spending a little money on ourselves and for Christmas presents, and my husband (while running home to get the purse I forgot, and the wallet he didn’t realize he left at home until he was on his way back) brought one of our good friends back with him, so we ended up having a great time.

Share the Love,

Chelsea