Plans (Note: don’t mind my bumbling in the dark.:D)

As many of you know, I have been marketing and selling my art work for about a year now. I have been amazed, excited, and humbled by how well I’ve done, all things considered. It started as a hobby and now I am seriously researching the development of my business. How hard can that be? You put product up where it will be seen and you put a price on it, right?

Wrong.

Since I started with a hobby in mind, I did not really research all the points I should have that regard marketing and the business side. This isn’t so bad, I find that many things in my life seem to start out backwards and they almost always turn themselves around the right way before it’s over. However, I’m at a point where I need to really start getting serious if I want to see serious results. This is good, this does not intimidate me, it exhilarates me because I finally know, at almost 26 years old,  just what I want to do in the way of job and income long-term.

I really want to accomplish so much more than just creating and selling art, though. I want to be that business where when you purchase something from me, you feel like you got a superior product for an amazing price. I want to connect with my customers and be more than just “an artists I bought a piece of art from”, I want to build relationships. I don’t want to be that annoying online business that sends out emails every other day and posts on their Facebook wall about their product until when you see their avatar you just automatically scan over them or worse, delete them.

That being said, I am trying really hard to find new and interesting ways to connect and market and promote. Since setting up shop on Etsy I have learned so much from other small businesses and online shoppers. I really admire all the unique and handmade items I’ve seen and I’m striving to be just as unique in my own field.

I will be taking some time out all this next month of April, mainly to move my household once more,( this time at least we’re getting a bigger house with more room to create and be productive) but also to work on my new business and give it some TLC. I want to be a little more organized, a little less all over the place, figure out my short-term and long-term goals, work out my exact costs to price tag ratio, and work on new items and new kinds of items. I’ll have my Etsy shop on vacation mode for all of April, but I’ll be back at the beginning of May, hopefully with a clearer vision and consistent direction.

Feel free to keep up with me on Facebook and leave any suggestions about what you’d like to see me do. I love feed back!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skye-Blue-by-Natasia-Champion/362725131270

"In Spite of the Pain" (SOLD)

Just Outrageous

If you believe outrageously, outrageous things WILL happen.

What a concept! But is it true?

Here is what I know:

1. Man lives on a planet that is governed by the law of gravity and he does not posses natural wings, yet he has made it into the air countless times and even walked on the moon.

2. In spite of barriers such as trees, houses, oceans, mountains, etc., we are able to audibly hear another person speaking to us through a telephone.

3. We can flick a tiny nub of plastic on our wall and a room lights up.

4. A banana grown in South America can make it all the way to New York City, where such fruit cannot even generally be grown, within days, and still be perfectly fresh.

5. A baby can be born at 29 out of 40 weeks and have a fair (not even poor, but fairly promising) chance of survival.

6. Within less than 100 years the African-American has gone from not even being able to sit in the same room as “white people” to holding the office of President of the United States.

7. You can open your freezer in the dead of summer and find ice.

8. The distance it took early American settlers to travel in 8 or so months can now be traversed in 2 or 3 days.

9. Mt. Everest is summitted several times a year by many people.

10. I am going to hit the publish button at the end of this post and somehow people all over the world will be able to read the relatively insignificant ramblings of my mind.

Well, the list goes on, but I think I have made my point.

So, when I say that I believe great things are about to happen in my life, my bills are about to start diminishing, my quality of life will begin improving, I’ll find a house much cheaper and just as nice as the one I’m in – where I will also be able to grow a garden and keep a few farm animals – that we can RENT, I will be able to be with my baby and do something I’m passionate about while still bringing in an income, and we will all grow closer and healthier as a family in 2011, maybe I am just outrageous. Or maybe I’m outrageous ENOUGH.

I have already seen things begin to move into place in the last 2 months since I started this wacky idea of believing so outrageously.

I am home every day, caring for my child and my home after leaving my serving job, doing what I love which is painting and being creative, and wonderful people continue to find worth in my pieces (I never went to college by the way, never got a degree in art) and buy them.

Our landlord decides, almost on a whim, to mention to his realtor that he’d like to sell this house and days later somebody decides to buy it, in this economy no less. This enables us to be able to move into a cheaper place without breaking our lease and paying a bunch of money in fees. Moving to a more country setting will enable us to grow a garden and become more self-sufficient while also promoting a healthier, more active lifestyle.

I can only imagine what other doors will open in 2011. I only know that God will continue to open them, because outrageous belief is called faith. It’s what gets results when everyone around you is looking at you strangely with their arms crossed shaking their heads.`