Please note that the answers submitted by participants are only for the purpose of the Good to Know project and should not be reproduced in any other format or publication unless given due credit (individual blog posts with a link back to this page are most welcome!)
What goals have you set for your business?
1760 Sunday House is my laboratory. It is the place where I experiment with a rt ideas, techniques and concepts. So, my Etsy store is a place where these ideas are tested. There are no concrete goals for it in terms of how many sales there should be per month, per year, or per week. Rather, I am interested in the response to the pieces that I post in it. Eventually, my goal is to develop a line for artistic licensing, but right now, I am in the phase of my creativity where I am finding myself in all this big, amazing palette of colors, materials, styles and artistic voices. So for now, I’d say my goal is to arrive at a place that I can comfortably and consistently call my own style.
How do you measure success?
To me, as an artist, it’s all about how well I communicate and how well my audience responds to me. So ultimately, it’s feedback from people, whether it is through my blog, or through coverage from other blogs, writers, magazines, etc. that affirm my success at communicating or conveying an idea. I have a very practical view on the “success” of my art: I strongly feel that my work should be accessible to a lot of people because I feel that there is no point in speaking a language that you cannot use to communicate effectively and to a wide audience. Of course, it’s always nice to get commisions from people, and even better if those commisions multiply by word of mouth.
How do you celebrate your successes?
I love indulging in other people’s creations. I do have my favorites from Dawanda and Etsy whose work I follow closely, and I indulge in. That, or buying art materials or new tools to work with. Plus, there’s always that CD, piece of music, or book that is just waiting on my list of treats to have.
Anna M. Rosete
www.1760sundayhouse.typepad.com
Because both of my other businesses (graphic design and chain maille jewelry) require me, when a client makes a purchase, to be creative “on demand,” the primary goal I set for Cloudery is that I will only do what I want, when I want. I decided that I will draw only when I want to draw, whether that is for hours every day, or with a break of several days or several weeks. I keep drawing as a creative endeavor for myself, and a meditative one as well. I don’t want to be in a position in which I feel forced to produce and lose the enjoyment and happiness it brings. It can be tricky to balance Cloudery with my other work — for which I do have schedules, deadlines, and obligations — but it also means that just sitting down to draw, or to work on my web portfolio, can feel like a relief. That’s when I know Cloudery is working for me.
I sell prints on Etsy to help benefit the non-profit First Book, which donates new books children from low-income families. Though I don’t make a profit from selling the prints, I am able to watch the number of book donations Cloudery has funded rise over time as I make sales. 126 books donated to date — this, for me, feels like some of the best possible success. And I know I am achieving further success when my work is noticed, and I am invited to participate in projects, or in an interview, or the like.
How do I celebrate? I’m lucky that I love what I do, whether drawing or chain maille or design. There are so many other aspects to running businesses than just the creative element, than the actual MAKING. Running multiple shops, websites, advertising, promotion, blogging, photographing, packaging, trips to the post office, writing up listings, chasing down opportunities, and looking at what else is going on in the world around me . . . well, it may seem ironic, but my “celebration,” that is, doing that which I truly enjoy, that which makes me truly happy, is the MAKING. Whether sitting down in a quiet spot to weave a bracelet, or getting out my pens and drawing, I think those are the times in my business-life when I am happiest and most at peace. The last drawing I finished was in March, and because life gets in the way, I wasn’t able to start drawing again until July. My new drawing is called “Chase,” and whenever I find the time to work on it, yes, I feel like I’m celebrating.
Cloudery
somethingcloudery.com
Goals I have set for my business:
- Get a children’s picture book published;
- Do what I love, for people and businesses that I support myself; and
- Minimize work that stresses me out, and minimize projects that don’t reflect my personal artistic views and creativity.
How do I measure success?
Mostly by the satisfaction I find in creating and finishing my artwork. Money usually does not reflect the joy I find in a project. Most of the time, the projects I enjoyed the most or thought turned out the best don’t pay my rent. So I make sure to keep a balance in the work I do, to what people want and what I want. When they both go together, that is the peak of success for me.
How do I celebrate success?
- I buy more music on Itunes to listen to whilst I work
- I blog about it
- I give my wife a big hug!
Colt Bowden, The Nourishing Flourish
www.nourishingflourish.etsy.com
My goals are to create, make, and sell. My long term goal is to always be creating something new to sell in my shop. My short term goal is to market, advertise, create friendships, and make new clients.
I measure success in happiness and creativity. If I am happy about what I am making it makes me more creative. As far as stationery and illustration, if what I am making is new and people are interested in it – I find that successful in my eyes.
I celebrate by smiling! And also maybe going out to buy new art supplies.
Denise Holmes
www.niseemade.com
I measure success on how people respond to my work —- not just my client but his/her intended audience. If the feedback is good, then I know I did a good job, regardless of the difficulty i may have experienced in completing it. I celebrate my success by taking a much needed vacation from work 🙂
lette
www.urbanfaerie.net
We are working hard to make our passions visible and salable. We are passionate about farming, food and art. We identify very specific goals and check them off one by one. Success is savoring home.
Kate Gatski
www.gatskimetal.com
My goals are to make my business allow me to continue crafting. I would love for it to become a full time job, but if it doesn’t then I’m perfectly happy breaking even. Crafts allow me to break away from the daily grind and this is a celebration in itself. As long as I am happy, that is my measure of success. I usually celebrate all the time, even when I have nothing to celebrate by buying something from a fellow artist or indie business owner. We both win that way!
Meghan Bialk
http://nitelily3.etsy.com
My number one goal is always to do better and push myself. I measure success by the quality of my work and how I feel about it. When I create something I am proud of I feel successful and fulfilled, which is usually reward enough.
Lisa Evans
http://www.firefluff.blogspot.com
What goals have you set for your business?
Within the year I plan on introducing art prints, illustrations & other paper-related products to my shop. I want to get back to my painting background, hence the additional section in my shop.
I am also planning on adding a wider selection to my current jewelry line that will eventually include my original artwork.
How do you measure success?
I would consider myself successful when I can do what I am currently doing (which I really really love!) and have my monthly sales match or surpass my previous job’s paycheck. Having that, staying at home with the kids, not contending with traffic & being able to express myself creatively – what more could I ask for?
How do you celebrate your success?
My past small successes (e.g. making a sale) were celebrated with me and my hubby doing a small dance of joy around the laptop as I discovered I had made another sale.
If I am able to achieve the level of success I mentioned in my previous answer, I’d take the family out on a holiday & go away for the weekend somewhere nice — maybe the beach or the lake.
Kathy
http://thegreenzebra.etsy.com
Goal setting for me is very fluid. I set goals on many different timescales, from what I want to do today to what I’d like to have achieved before I die. I have a strong vision for the future, for where I’d like to be with my business in so many years time (the number of years is unspecified!), but rather than concrete goals I see it as a general direction that tends to evolve and change because there is so much I want to achieve and I’m always having new ideas. Here are a few: I want to ‘quit my day job’ (though I do love my part time job) and be a full-time artist. I want to finish my graphic novel and have it published. I want to do an MA. I want to have a studio that I don’t also have to sleep in. The list goes on and on, and I constantly have new ideas, projects and thoughts about where to take my business. Having these things to strive for is what drives me, so though I hope to be successful, I doubt I’ll ever consider myself to have fully succeeded: that would mean I’d have nothing to get out of bed for!
So long as I do something constructive every day that inches me towards any or all of my goals I consider my day to have been successful. I think it’s important to notice tiny successes: a positive comment, a tiny sale or even the beginning of a new idea can be a success…especially at times when larger goals seem far away. We all have moments when we think we’re never going to make it, or wonder why we bother when there are so many talented people out there being ‘more successful’ than us. I think you have to measure success on your own terms, not comparing yourself to anyone else. If you’re moving towards where you want to be, however slowly, that’s success.
As for celebration, now that’s tough. I’m the kind of person who can be extremely self-critical, and can sometimes see successes not as something for celebration but just as the minimum I should expect of myself. I often just go straight back to work, hardly noticing. I’m learning to be more appreciative of my efforts and to reward myself. Sometimes the success can be the reward in itself: a positive blog comment or a sale is a pretty good thing and worth savouring. Other times I’ll treat myself to a new book, an evening off watching trashy TV or something like that. Bigger successes usually mean I can afford a much needed back massage or to go clothes shopping!
Katie Green
www.katiegreen.co.uk
I launched in Oct ‘08 with an ambitious business plan. This has enabled me to strive for my goals so far, and has given me the opportunity to define what success would look like over a three year period – and measure if it has been achieved!
When something cool happens (sale of artwork/ new commission/ blog feature etc) I celebrate by dancing in the kitchen with my boyfriend Steve. I think it is really important to stop and acknowledge when you have succeeded, but then it’s even more important to set new goals and keep going.
I try to treat success and failure equally, with a short acknowledgement, but the most important thing for me and my business is to keep my focus on drawing and improving.
Kerry Lemon
www.kerrylemon.co.uk
A previous goal had been to quit my “day-job” and be full-time freelance. Even if that meant sometimes working in-house as a designer, I wanted to be self-employed so I could make my own schedule and travel more. I was able to make that happen by working with a couple of larger clients on a regular basis to stabilize my income.
Now that I’m full-time freelance, my main goal has become to work with more clients who are looking for my specific illustration and design style, as well as to create a consistent, regular pool of clients. The projects I work on this way make my work stronger and ultimately more enjoyable for me. My website is easy for me to update, so I celebrate the success of these projects by updating my portfolio on a regular basis to show the variety of projects I’m working on. It’s a great way for me to be able to see everything in one place and be proud of the new clients and types of illustration/design I’ve been able to do.
Lauren Denitzio
blackandredeye.com
My goals for my business right now are very simple – slow steady growth and to make enough clear profit to help pay the bills. If I can do that much, I consider my business a success. I do want to grow and branch out, add more inventory to my Etsy Shop, grow a wholesale following, but all in due time. I’ve got a plan, and I’m following it.
I measure my success by how I feel inside at the end of the day. Did I make someone smile? Did I make myself smile? Did I create something? Did I do my best at whatever I did? These are the questions I ask myself every night and this is how I measure my success. Money, sales, profits and losses all come and go, but in the end, its my own thoughts, my spirit I have to live with. If my spirit is content and happy, if I’m satisfied, I’m successful.
I celebrate my BIG successes (like a new product launch or large wholesale order) usually by giggling! It sounds silly but those things just tickle me. And maybe with a nice pair of silver earrings 😀
Cher Carter – Smoot, aka Pixi
http://pixitogs.com
Success is a strange word, when I’m starting to think in the direction of myself. Well, one thing I know for sure – I’m drawing for some other reasons in general, but of course when I see that people like my pictures, I feel amazing support and this inspires me to do more. I don’t buy that much into this system of how to make your career successful. I never did the right things, like how people in books or agencies suggest. So perhaps, in general I’m actually unsuccessful. Well I guess, the easiest way to measure success is in the numbers of people, who likes what you are doing and the ammount of money they are ready to pay for your works.
Let’s say this is a businees point of view. If I look deep into my personal world, I will find some other important things. For me success is when the person who doesn’t know me writes me nice feedback and comments about my works. Success is when I make e-cards for my friends and they are printing them out to put on the wall. Success is when someboy wants to buy an artwork from me. All this is just amazing, when i’m imagining how the thing I created is living its own life. This is something from my own point of view. Celebration of success sounds for me pretty mysterious, I need to admit). If it’s about money – I spend them on my friends, have nice time with them, dinners, BBQs or whatever. If it’s about the exhibitions… ah, the same!) I like to share good results with my loved ones and with our friends. I like to share with my parents – they are always supporting me… but in some cases where my successes are small and private.. all I want to do is to share joy and good mood with people who important to me.
rdw [Daria Rychkova]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/robordw/
What goals have you set for your business?
The goals for my business are ever changing and evolving. First they were just playing around and thinking about how I can make a little money with it. Then, it turned to be a venture that I hoped would bring me a stable income and career. Who knows what I will expect later? Once I hit a goal, I usually start a bigger one. After enjoying a goal achieved, that is. Don’t forget that part!
How do you measure success?
I measure success by thinking about what I want and need to happen, and then re-evaluate after time. I ask myself, did you do everything in your power to try to achieve what you wanted and needed? If my answer is yes, wither or not I achieved the goal, than that is success in my book. Sometimes there are things that get in your way and hold you back by no fault of your own. That’s life. Roll with the punches and try harder next time. Plan better, and I remember that not giving up on an idea is also success.
How do you celebrate your successes?
Share with friends and family. Reward myself with things I like and enjoy. Which usually means putting money right back into my business and making more fun cute things.
Shawna Stobaugh
Nonna Illustration & Design
www.shawnanonna.etsy.com
For my business, I set small, working goals. I try to set “working” hours creating my craft, marketing my business, and reading blogs + visiting sites for inspiration and information about the handmade industry.
Each time I show my work, I measure success by the signs and sounds coming from those looking. When eyes brighten and smiles happen, when there’s a moment of “ooh” or “wow” I consider myself successful, having achieved that connection with another individual(s) through my art. Each moment of connection is a gift, a success and gives me energy as I move forward.
Since my art can travel and gives me energy as I doodle in the car, at the coffee shop, or at home, I celebrate my successes with down-time and rest. We need to recover, rekindle, and reconnect. I need those times of visiting museums, the botanical gardens, walking & hiking as well as the time cooking, reading, and being. The balance of time is a working goal. When I am restful and at peace, when I am spending quality time with my family and productive with my art + craft, I know I am achieving my definition of success.
Suzanne L. Vinson
www.silvertreeart.net
My goals are (in no particular order) get work from key areas that interest me, for example; fashion editorial, books, and music. I want to keep producing work that I’m proud of and enjoy making, earn enough money to exist and to organise my own exhibtion of work. Some of these goals/successes are easier to measure than others but I guess getting editorial work this year means I’ve achieved that one. I find it quite hard to celebrate as if it’s a small financial success, I don’t want to spend my art money as it feels too precious! But I try to go out for a meal/buy clothes as a treat and maybe take time out to produce personal work.
Vicky
www.vickysworld.co.uk
Being an illustrator just starting out, at the moment most of my works are commissions from various magazines. At the current stage, my way of celebration is a bit sneaky- taking photos of the magazine pages in bookstore; it is the sense that my works belong to the public really energize me to keep producing.
When one day my friends tell me they saw my works while waiting for their dentist appointment; I know I’ve succeeded.
Justin Chen
www.jkhc.blogspot.com
