Effectively Focused: Building the Fenceposts of the Creative Corral - Part II

More advice: the additional bit of advice I have at this point, is to start putting some fence posts around your Creative Corral. I have friends whose creativity is a steady stream and it's easy to focus. However, some might be like me: the creativity was unleashed in a blinding storm and may want to go off on a variety of tangents. When you think about what you dream in, it may be a huge list. I picked up the book, The Martha Rules - 10 Essential for Achieving Success as You Start, Build, or Manage a Business. I'm a glass-half full person and I focused on the bits of wisdom that I thought would help me. In particular, "When you are starting out, it is wise to keep your ideas focused on manageable. You do not want to become overextended. It is far better to start out slowly on a firm foundation with one great idea and build from there." (Page 34)

With that in mind, as you are establishing yourself, narrow the list down. You can add your other dreams later once you have a solid base and foundation. For me, that meant holding off on soldering and metalsmithing until I have a solid foundation in glass, wirework, stringing, and chain maille. And I'm NOT going to explore knitting, colored pencils, photography, or sewing for business purposes.

What I can't stop thinking about: how to interpret that cute little pair of shoes into a set of glass. Oooh! That skirt makes we want to try this technique in glass and then make that into this piece of jewelry. And since I'm asked advice from very new artists, how can I interpret my experiences into something useful for them?

This little paragraph is a slightly different version of my mission statement. These are the things I dream in.

What medium fires your dream, drives your imaginations, and ignites your creative fires? This is your mission statement.

Effectively Focused: Building the Fencepost of the Creative Corral - Part I

I had been starting down the road of helping to translate some of the business experiences I have had into useful articles for the artistic person launching their own business. This particular article was going to be on breaking down some of your lofty ideas into activities that will help you achieve your goals.

However.

I started reading Modish Biz Tips and found she was already creating some fantastic business advice. One of the exercises that I'm looking forward to doing is writing my business plan for my business, Kanna Glass Studios. So, I've decided to continue my "A Business Bite" section but focus on my experiences as a project manager and translate stuffy business terms into "artish" (a term coined by the lovely Ms. Plume.)


Dreams and Imagination
What do you dream in? [Stuffy business term: mission/vision statement.] Do you look at something and think of how you can express that in: glass, silver, yarn, fabric, paint, words, poetry, a play, a photograph, a story, music? What is it you do that you would do freely simply because you love it so much? What do you do that money isn't an object...you simply must do? This is your passion.

Additional food for thought: when I started my newsletter, I was looking for help to create a newsletter that was useful and inspirational. On the newsletter service I use, Constant Contact, I found a link to Blue Penguin Development which is a very specific service of helping you write a good e-newsletter. I perused his archived newsletters and found this little gem on writing a vision statement. (Note on semantics: mission statement or vision statement...that's the stuffy business term...we're going to go with what do you dream in.)

Part II Next Monday!