Monday, July 19, 2010

Sorry this is a rambler~McDonald's Coffee High


 Wow, it's been almost a week since I last posted.  It shouldn't seem so busy. Especially since we only have a couple kids in the daycare.  It has been really hard on my mom and I for the last couple months.   We will have parents come to look at the daycare, but we never get a call back.  I think it is for various reasons: old dog, wanting educational based care, cheaper care.  Whatever it is, we're hurting and wondering if we should even still do daycare.  My mom has been doing daycare for 20 years and I have helped her for at least 13.  I love being able to work with her because it enables me to also care for my son and also my dad's mom.  And who doesn't love working from home (or mom's home).

I have hope that my little online shop will flourish so I can really do what I love and not have to worry about not having very many kids.  And that in lies a bunch of stuff I not sure I can handle. 

I should be jumping up for joy because I finally made another sale.  But instead I felt discouraged, frustrated, and to tell you the truth plain stupid. 

I have been doing a lot of reading on entrepreneurship, Kelly's workshop, Deepak Chopra. There has been a lot of questions like, "If you could do anything, what would it be?", "What is the one main thing that's calling to you?" Or implying it's better to pick one thing to specialize in.  But thinking of just one thing makes me feel like I have Crafter's ADD. My mind jumps from one photo, scrapbook page, vintage item, sewing pattern, clay brick, paint bottle.........I could go on and on.  I wouldn't want to have it any other way.

So as far as etsy goes.  I would like my shop to be like a gift shop of sorts.  Some vintage items here, natural body products over there,  with my other crafty whatevers interspersed.

I became enamored at the possibility of making collaged canvases with the ton of ephemera I have collected over the years.  Some being images that I have cut out of various calendars/books/magazines.  But then came the issue of copyright, since I have no way of remembering who the images are from.  Granted I can just make them for myself but what fun is that.  Copyright laws are so obscure and hard to figure out anyways.  Anyone have any advise or a link to some that are easy to understand?

Lately I have been posting my business-type stuff to-do list here on Mondays as a form of accountability.
  1. Practice driving!  (I know I am almost 30)
  2. Change shipping on etsy.
  3. Fix up shop page- policies, bio, what-nots
  4. Work on website
  5. Finish up tutorials
 I feel like I can babble on for days but I'll spare ya.

Hope you all have a good week!

This picture above in my take on the Echo challenge - Stripes.  You can visit the group here.

4 comments:

Robin Norgren, M.A, R-YT, Spiritual Director said...

My friend, I know when I started on etsy I picked a name that was a bit vague for that very reason. You are forced to pick a name and it is kind of yours forever and I was still trying to commit to what it meant for me to be a creative person. So here I am a year and a half later and it is NOT the same shop. There is a blog I read where the owner started in jewelry and made a HUGE shift into sewing handbags. If you are interested, just google "Gussy sews" Good luck...

HowtoBEaCOOLoldLady said...

Its hard to know what to do sometimes. I feel like that. There is not a huge amount of focus to my work either! I don't want to stop doing somethings.... However re copyright I can advise a little. Collage in an original artwork is fine, the problem may come if you take photos of it, or make prints of it. I am sure that there wouldn't be a problem if you are taking photos for etsy, I reckon if someone sees it and complains, apologise and take the piece off etsy. What are they going to do? Copyright is all about making copies, if you buy a magazine and it has an image in it you can use the magazine image itself, but you can't photocopy it, photograph it etc. The same goes for maps as it happens which are often copyrighted material. Artists do use collage as a medium and its rare that anyone complains. But say your work was used for a book jacket and you had used a famous image in your work you might get into trouble. officially. I hope that makes some sense.

Rebecca Everett said...

That makes total sense. Thank you!!

Michele said...

I don't think that you have to pick just one medium to work in. I say keep doing them all and see what speaks to you and/or what gets the biggest response from your customers. Perhaps you can think of your shop as a menagerie of many wonderful things and decide that is what makes you different. Good luck on whatever you choose- we'll be cheering you on!