Creative Business 101 – Digital Clutter Clearing

by Linda | Nov 2, 2011 | my creative journal

Whenever you hear about organization or decluttering, you think of closets, desks and hidden boxes around your house. But have you considered you digital clutter? Oh yes, those old hard drives, mysteriously  named folders within folders and random files are sitting in digital cyberspace dust!

So why should you clear clutter, including digital clutter? I must admit that any attempt at reorganization presents a huge challenge – such a daunting task – especially today when we all have so many things to account for. The best advice I can give on that front is to take it one little bit at a time. Folder today, another folder tomorrow. One drawer today, another tomorrow. Slowly but surely is the way to go.

So although digital files don’t take up much physical space, the clutter weighs on your mind. The more “things” there are in your life, the more you are emotionally pulled in different directions. Cleaning and throwing out trash makes you feel good – the rush of getting rid of unnecessary things and clearing up free space. The funny thing is, you can’t miss these things that you probably never even knew were there.

With cleared space and peace of mind, you’ll finally have room to take on some new and exciting projects. Whether it be literally in your harddrives or metaphorically in your mind. With a clean slate, you can concentrate on new things.

I should note that digital clutter applies to digital accounts as well, not just files on your computer. Those dead accounts you signed up for – who knows when – just go and delete them!

Remember the feeling of getting your brand new computer? The blank slate, pristine, clean, sleek – it just makes you so energized to dive right in. Why not revamp and declutter to get that feeling again? Not only that, getting rid of excess usually means you’ll be getting more organized along the way. You will know what you have and where it is.

I also know that your backups will be faster after cleaning up. No need to backup 25 versions of the same thing. You digital life will be a bit more efficient…simply because there are no duplicates to deal with – generally less things.

So take a look at your digital life and see if you can clear up some clutter before the holidays. You might actually find some useful things along the way…

A Halloween Minibook

by Linda | Nov 1, 2011 | my creative journal

Hope everyone had a fabulous Halloween… I was actually busy putting my minibook together! It’s sort of a compilation of best hits from year to year, which will be nice to put out on the table each October. The funny costumes, the pumpkins we have carved – that kind of thing.

I actually made a huge boo-boo in scratching up my front cover photo (shouldn’t have printed it on glossy paper I think!) But I was determined to go with it and starting scratching purposefully on it…so my pumpkin is saying boo! It turned out quite nice and reminded me again that perfection is silly indeed.

The cute little images are my own Halloween illustrations. I printed them onto canvas paper and added a panel for the top of the front cover. But will be cutting out the little bits to spread throughout the pages. I love using my own products in a hybrid way…there’s something about canvas paper.

BTW, the vampire bat paper is actually my design printed on kraft paper, another digital doodle I created. Hope you enjoyed a little peek into my mini… now I have to add all the journaling strips. The most tedious part for me, although I love the look of them!

Creative Business 101 – What Are YOU Worth?

by Linda | Oct 26, 2011 | my creative journal

I just had a thought… about how an unknown designer or creative professional usually has to work really long, hard hours to make just a little money. Then there are the big names that don’t necessarily need to work as long or as hard, to make much more money. I realize there are many legitimate reasons to account for the difference, such as skill, experience, and quality. Of course, there are also many cases where the end product or service is not much different. I suppose one is the name brand, the other is an unknown little guy we are afraid to trust.

My thoughts drifted to state of mind. Those who are successful obviously believe in their own worth. They price accordingly and put their work out there with confidence. I believe that energy transmits. So part of the issue for beginners, is perhaps simply confidence and believing in oneself. One of things I’ve heard before, from formally trained fine artists…is that they definitely got confidence and “approval” from going to art school. Everyone believed in art as a profession and gained a sense of overall confidence from their years of education.

So maybe the first step to success, is shifting your state of mind and re-evaluating your feelings about your own work. Are YOU acknowledging your own worth? This could be in your business in terms of setting up your pricing and present yourself…but it also is an emotional battle. Self-confidence. You have to believe that you are totally awesome. Otherwise, how can you expect others to think so?

Creative Business 101 – Is It Worth Your Time?

by Linda | Oct 19, 2011 | my creative journal

When it comes your creative business, there’s no doubt that countless hours are spent, pouring your heart and soul into the everyday tasks that keep it going. You spend so much energy putting your ideas into action, researching, marketing – following your creative path. It’s a fabulous thing, because it means you enjoy what you do and obviously have a commitment to your passion. Unfortunately, having fun, exploring and experimenting can often lead you astray. What were you doing all this time?! You can’t believe that hours, days, and weeks have passed.

Oftentimes we keep ourselves really busy and don’t understand why we seem to be so far off from our goals despite the effort. Although staring out at the window, watching the leaves fall might seem like a huge waste of time – I totally love admiring nature and find that my walks give me lots of inspiration for my illustration projects.

I’ve realized that for many creatives, we not only forget to track our time, but also to evaluate if time spent was worth it. Have you ever documented an entire day or week in detail? Literally keep a log, so that you can see exactly how much time you really spend on specific tasks.

When you have your time log, you can then go into the important step of evaluating if time spent was of value or not. What did you get out of spending those 3 hours reading those marketing blogs? Did you get any replies from that campaign you spent 8 hours perfecting to the last pixel and word? Is that product you sell actually profitable at the end of the day?

This doesn’t have to be an in-depth analysis with statistics, percentages or numbers flying around a spreadsheet. It’s simply an exercise in being more aware of your time and how you spend it. Only then can you make more informed decisions about how much time to spend on certain tasks…or if you should stop something altogether.

Something to think about and try this week – keep a time log. Review it and honestly evaluate your time spent. We can’t work 24/7, but it’s important to know what is worthy of your time. Keep things that work, shake up the rest, so you can figure out what works for you. Let me know what you think 😛 I’m currently tackling the same issues myself!

Let’s Make Decorative Tape

by Linda | Oct 12, 2011 | my creative journal

During my random Internet surfing one day, I came across List Girl’s post about printing your own decorative tape. We’ve all seen washi tape make a rampage on the crafting scene and they ARE oh-so cute indeed! Just not so affordable, especially if you want ALL colors and patterns. But when I saw the post, my DIY spirit had to give it a try. The mailing label stickers are a nice size, if you just want snippets for decorative purposes.

DIGITAL
First, I tried printing out some of my own digital patterns onto a sheet of mailing label stickers. Pretty easy to do and it’s cool to be able to print custom or intricate designs. However, printer ink can be costly and I was running out of ink – probably shouldn’t have printed out a whole page!

PAINT, INK, SPRAY
So then I decided to try paint for bolder color. I mixed in a lot of water with my acrylic paint and just spread it over the sticker sheet. This is probably the cheaper way to go for an entire sheet of bright color 😛 Of course, you can use inks and spray mists to create different background effects.

GLUE
I looked up some other tutorials online and realized that I could use my double stick tape, which works for creating a longer strip of design. It’s easy to glue on patterned papers. Turns out you can do this with masking tape as well, but the double stick tape makes it a super fast process.

STAMP
Then I thought to use my rubber stamps to decorate some of the painted paper. Even stamping on white sticker labels created a nice design, especially when using tape on darker papers.

MIX IT UP
My experimentations made me realize that we can use a combination of techniques to create the final design. Paint, inks and sprays are really good for creating the base color. Or you can print an intricate design or glue on materials like book paper or fabric.

Stamping or printing on top of your foundation can add more patterns and certain repeat motifs for your designs. I also tried drawing on lines with gel pens.

For little snippets of cute tape, the DIY version is actually pretty sweet looking! I also used my decorative scissors to cut the edges instead of the regular tearing method, but realized that the tearing of the tape is what makes it look more like tape. Check out all the versions I made…

If you are looking for more ideas, I’ve found some lovely sites to check out…
– TapeSwell, a whole blog about what to use your decorative tape for
– Using double-sided tape
– Use masking tape Youtube video

I’m sure there are many other ways to hack your way into pretty tape kingdom, so please feel free share in the comments below. Hope you have fun making some deco tape today. I have to say it’s pretty addictive. Enjoy!

Creative Business 101 – Audioboo Social with Sound

by Linda | Oct 12, 2011 | my creative journal

Looking for a fast and easy way to share your voice, opinion or audio tidbit with the world? There’s this new audio social network called Audioboo that I’ve been seeing on various blogs and sites. It’s basically a way for you to record an audio tidbit with your smartphone, then post it into your account online for friends and family.

However, you can also record through the website itself…making it a little podcasting engine, if you choose to use it in that way. You can also set it up to auto post to Twitter or Facebook and/or embed the audio onto your blog. Seems like a great way to communicate with others online, showing more of your personality than writing, but not so up close and personal like video, for those who are especially camera shy! No special equipment needed, they pretty much do it all for you. Pretty cool. Now I wonder how I could use this…what to share?!

I [heart] coffee

by Linda | Oct 8, 2011 | my creative journal

As my cravings grew stronger, I was soon compelled to write a love letter…to my dearest coffee and make it a scrapbook page.

Here’s what I wrote:

Dear Coffee,

I have tried to let you go, substituting my mornings with a variety of other liquid refreshments for a change. But I really miss you and I’ve come to realize that resistance is futile. I need and want to drink you, my dear coffee. I long for you every morning and as the weather turns cooler, I miss your warmth even more. You might be my drug for life, but why should I be denied something so simple and wonderful?

I should not have acted so rashly, wanting to rid you from my life in attempts to be healthier. In fact, I have since learned that you are not so unhealthy after all. You give me positive health benefits in fact…with relatively few drawbacks. Oh my wonderful coffee, what have I done?

I really adore you so…

– I look forward to you every morning

– you make me more alert and boost my ability to concentrate

– you have a protective effect on my central nervous system

– you lower the risk of diabetes, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s amongst other issues

– you actually contain some good vitamins and minerals

You are more good than bad, when consumed in moderation. You are my beautiful, warm, soothing, wonderful, delicate, enjoyable, smooth, flavorful, satisfying, magical stimulant. You are an important part of my life, so I surrender myself to you, my dear coffee. I am sorry to have betrayed you. Please take me back. Please accept my love and devotation from this moment forward.

forever yours,

linda

October 2011

I used my coffee illustrations as stickers and created the page digitally, then I printed it out on canvas paper – very cool texture. Then put it all together on kraft paper with old school golden photo corners. Super simple layout that truly reveals how I feel at the moment. In withdrawal 🙁

Creative Business 101 – SEO Is Easy and Good Sense

by Linda | Oct 5, 2011 | my creative journal

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is a term that usually scares most people away. It’s that complicated techy nerd stuff and I agree that most of us don’t have time to fiddle around with. That’s exactly the reason why you should learn the basics and work it into the best practices of how you communicate online…because your time is so precious.

In reality, SEO is not rocket science…in fact, we know that technology changes constantly and there is no exact science to SEO. Optimization simply means you are striving for the most effective result and I think it’s a way of doing things in general – that is why I say SEO is good sense.

We all go to a search engine like Google and search for the information we are looking for. SEO is an attempt to make your content show up when people are searching for it. Of course, there are tricks out there and methods to push your website up the ranks, but the search engines can readily change their algorithms and scoring methods. In fact, it happens a lot and many of the tricks no longer work and sites lose ranking that they spent a lot of time tinkering around to create.

What doesn’t change is the fact that search engines are trying to give the people what they want. If someone wants to find a plumber in San Francisco, it’s pretty clear what they expect the search engine to list for them. So ultimately, as a creative entrepreneur, artist, whatever your business…you want people to find you when it pertains to your business. In the crafting world, a whole lot of people get traffic from posting tutorials because it’s exactly something someone would search for – “how to make” or “how to sew” something.

So what best practices do you need to pay attention to when it comes to SEO for your small business?

• Write for humans. Tips and tricks aren’t going to last…ultimately, you want people to consume your content, so write for real people reading your content.
• Use descriptive titles and sections. I know sometimes we want to be clever or cryptic with our titles and it’s okay for the occasional blog post, especially when it is something cryptic or personal. But if you are writing a tutorial or article about a specific topic, please title it properly. Don’t unnecessarily confuse readers or lead them astray.
• Try to be descriptive with your image file names and add those captions, alt and title tags as well. Again, it’s just goes back to being clear about your content. If someone happens to link directly to your image, will they have any idea what it’s all about? I get lazy with these things as well, but at least try to do it for those posts that are meant to attract users like tutorials and information articles.
• WordPress users, I recommend the All in One SEO Pack to ensure your basic meta tags are in place.
• WordPress users should change the default permalink structure. Basically, when someone goes your blog post, do they see cryptic numbers and symbols in the address bar? That doesn’t help anyone. It’s so much better to have the category, the postname or some combination that makes sense to a human reader. Again, it’s just good sense!

Although I’ve learned many tips and tricks in SEO for building websites, the ultimate goal is really about being clear with your content. If you do a good job with that in mind, keeping everything as clear and descriptive as possible…you are doing a service to your readers in general…not just trying to boost your rankings. The icing is that your content will naturally be optimized. Remember that you are not competing with the big shots who have the money to hire a team of SEO specialists…because yes, there are people who’s sole responsibility in their job is optimize a website, manage paid campaigns and all that jazz.

If you are interested in learning more about SEO, blogseo is filled with informative articles.