My second year: a business review

“Who could be so lucky? Who comes to a lake for water and sees the reflection of moon” Rumi

I feel like it was just yesterday that I wrote this post about lessons learned in my first year of business. Now here I am at the end of year 2 for another business review, feeling the accumulation of more months and more lessons of all kinds. So much that’s happened this year has felt like stumbling across the moon’s reflection on the water: unexpected but beautiful.

Artwork

Scroll down for a snapshot of all the paintings I’ve done this business year (June 2015 – June 2016):

I love seeing sections of all of the paintings together, especially as patterns start to emerge when they’re side by side.

The patterns I see right away: my favorite colors to paint with are variations of blue and turquoise. Every painting I’ve done this year features an animal. Most of the recent paintings have no words included, which is a shift from last year. My artwork is becoming even more child-friendly.

I feel this year’s work is a great set-up for painting a children’s book, which I’ve been wanting to do for a while. Beginning the research for a book is one of my year 3 goals!

I’m so glad that I decided to begin sketching last summer (has it really been that long?). I was afraid to draw at first as I knew anything I drew wouldn’t look super realistic (hello, perfectionism!).

It’s taken me a long time to fully develop and embrace my own style. The biggest overall lesson: there’s room for all of our countless different styles! Embrace whatever form of creativity feels best to you.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Connecting with new people 

Year 2 gave me lots of opportunities to connect with new people, such as in-person at my first two craft shows in the fall and via my partnership with the online retailer UncommonGoods.

My booth at the Chestnut Hill Fall for the Arts festival

I felt continuously outside of my comfort zone this past year, never quite sure if a new project or direction would succeed until I tried and faced the possibility that it might not.

Exploring my first two craft shows truly stretched me well beyond my existing online business. I’ve been thankful to talk to so many people face to face about my art (thank you!), as each conversation has lifted my spirits, given me insights, and helped me to define the type of artist I want to be. Prepping for shows is an intense amount of work though, and we probably won’t be doing any shows this year until we have a working baby // business routine figured out.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Creating space for newness and growth 

My painting and shipping supplies in my studio

I spent a lot of time in year 2 organizing and creating space for future growth. I overhauled all of my systems (hello, Dropbox storage upgrade! goodbye, outdated files), trimmed down what I offer in the shop to make room for new art, moved all of my equipment into one larger studio space in our apartment, and purged everything I don’t need or want.

My main goal was to create lots of space for newness (new art, new partnerships, new baby), and to peel away whatever was cluttering up my energy.

Creating (mental, physical) space is one of my favorite things to do. Who’s with me??

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Top biggest lessons

I’ve been thinking about what I’ve learned from year 2, and a few top lessons keep coming to mind:

• Not everything can be planned perfectly ahead of time (did I ever learn this lesson with Isaac’s arrival! To be honest I’ve struggled to regroup since his birth, especially as I’m such a planner, but the more I’ve tried to go with the flow the easier it’s been. We can plan and plan and plan and still sometimes we just have to act and see what happens). 
• Pay attention to all gut feelings (every time a new project comes into view or someone asks me to do something, I check in with my gut. I’ve come to completely trust my instincts over the years and our bodies don’t lie. Do I feel tension in my shoulders or jaw when I think about a project? What about openness in my chest? General excitement? Do I have an idea that keeps popping into my head? Trusting my ideas and feelings has been a great business move). 
• Systems make everything easier (clutter and a lack of organization really take their toll – at least on me they do! I combat clutter by having a weekly / monthly plan for handling admin tasks like bookkeeping, keeping my to-do lists on Evernote so I can access them from my computer and phone, limiting my to-do list to feature one big project per day and no more than three per week, and scheduling in my creative time so I make sure it happens). 
• Resist the urge to focus on too much at once (my master to-do list is pages long and I’d drive myself crazy trying to work on multiple projects simultaneously. I have a few top priorities each month that I break down into weekly tasks and I keep working on them until they’re done before skipping to something else. Balance and focus are key, though I’m still working on truly finding balance – especially now with a month old baby!). 

That’s the recap, friends! I’m excited for year 3, curious about how the year will be different with a baby, and thankful as always for the opportunity to be doing this work.

Here’s to another great year!

With love,