Creative Business 101: Newsletter Blues

by Linda | Apr 19, 2012 | my creative journal

For all businesses, the email newsletter list is supposedly the holy grail. It’s a direct connection to your fans, so that you can communicate with them like friends. The idea is that your list should be your biggest fans, otherwise they wouldn’t sign-up in the first place. I realized the importance of building a list and started a while ago, even though I didn’t know what I was going to send out. I still haven’t figured it all out… but I’m grateful for all the sign-ups. It means people care!

Or do they?! This week I’ve had some newsletter blues, aka unsubscribes. I started sending weekly Wednesday emails introducing a new Girl With A Message along with my thoughts. It’s supposed to be short and direct, but a constant connection to my audience. Since my newsletter sign-up offers a printable girl, I thought it would naturally be the most pertinent news to the list right now.

When the unsubscribes started rolling in, I started questioning the purpose of everything (in life). It’s inevitable to sink into despair at some point – “Oh, what’s the use! I don’t even know what I’m doing. There’s no point…” I think it’s difficult to NOT take an unsubscribe as a personal rejection and nobody likes rejection.

After calming my nerves, I tried to look at the situation objectively. Unsubscribes are normal! The statistics show that all businesses have unsubscribes and the bigger your list grows, the more there will be. It’s actually a good thing because it means uninterested people are leaving. In fact, I was elated to learn that April from Blacksburg Belle actually encourages people to unsubscribe from her list when they sign-up, if they aren’t going to be a good match. The key is creating a true list of fans. Think of it as a natural cleansing of your email list.

It’s not personal. If you think of your own email subscriptions, it’s easy to come up with completely impersonal reasons of unsubscribing. Every once in a while, I go through a massive sign-up phase and massive unsubscribe phase. It’s just a cycle of exploring new things and then deciding that I have too much going on or that it wasn’t what I wanted. It doesn’t mean I hate the person behind the business!

Think of your fans! We all seem to dwell on what we’ve lost, but’s it’s way more important to concentrate on what you have instead. You still have loads of people on your list, so think about serving them. Those people want to connect with you, how cool is that?

I definitely felt better after thinking a bit about this week’s experience. Thanks to all those on my list and it’s okay if you need to unsubscribe – I won’t take it personally. On the other hand, you can totally sign-up for my newsletter if you’d like to get a free printable girl and weekly updates of what’s new!

Do you have thoughts about how to handle an email list? What do you send out to your fans?

Feed Your Soul and Print Some Motivational Art

by Linda | Feb 29, 2012 | my creative journal

I must have mentioned Indie Fixx before and Feed Your Soul: the free art project, offering printable art downloads as PDFs from amazing artists. I’ve been a fan for a long time, since it first started way back in 2009. I was recently visiting the site to print some art for my inspiration board and it got me to thinking about my artwork. I suppose it’s no surprise that I’m now offering my own art as printables. Perhaps it was inevitable…

The goal for my artwork is very similar to the whys of the free art project as well. Art is an important part of our culture and I think it offers inspiration, empowerment and thought-provoking emotions in the viewer. Yes, both feeling and thought. Visual communication is so powerful and really grabs attention, especially today. In our fast paced environment, it’s much harder to get folks to slow down and read. Books are getting shorter and shorter, because people don’t have time. It’s amazing how an image, can stop someone in their tracks.

I want to brighten your day, no matter what the situation. Just a little smile or even a chuckle here or there. That emotional reaction is a connection. A piece of art can do that, even when you feel melancholy and especially when you need help. A little print tacked on your cubicle wall, in your art journal or framed on your wall – they all can do so much good. From the littlest, shabbiest copy to the most prized original painting, they all make a difference to provide energy, hope and joy to people like you and me. Even when we can’t explain or provide the fancy analysis of why… we know and feel the power and effect that Art has on us.

I really want to spread that energy through my artwork. Not just all over the world but into all facets of our life. I suppose, that is why I’m so intrigued by art licensing, because getting art onto everyday products means you are going to affect people in even the most mundane activities of life. Drying your dishes with that towel that has impactful imagery. You think twice, think happy, smile… that’s pretty darn cool. You are feeding your soul with Art and perhaps we are all lacking a bit of that in everyday life.

I’ve been thinking about my foray into digital downloads of “fine art” and how many people disagree with the offering. They think it devalues Art. My pricing seems low in certain communities and high in others (have you seen the pricing on digital scrapbooking products?) I suppose, my pricing was based on what I think everyone can afford. That fits better with my goals for the series – I simply want everyone to enjoy the work. Actually, if you subscribe to my newsletter you get a free printable… so I’m trying to reach as many people as possible.

So why charge a price at all for my Art? Well, because I want to be sustainable! I want to keep doing what I do. I’m sure it’s been said too often, “we all have to eat, you know!” But it’s true. Ultimately, I’m not charging for the cost of materials, I’m asking you to contribute to my work as a whole. It’s your contribution to me as an Artist – and for that, I’m truly thankful to all who have supported me.

Of course, I want you to realize that there are so many ways to support someone. For me, you can buy printables from my shop, but you can also spread the word, leave a nice comment, just be happy seeing my work online – literally, yes! Smile! I know there are folks out there who simply enjoy my work online and that’s cool too. We are all on different points of our journey and contribute with what we have. I appreciate it all and respect it all. I’m at the point of jumping head-on into making a living from my artwork, so that’s what I’m working towards… but I think we can all feed our soul with Art and especially motivational art, in some way.

You can learn more about my series of Girls With A Message in this post.

Creative Business 101 – Check Yourself

by Linda | Jan 31, 2012 | my creative journal

When you need to check yourself and really get planning and organized, use a weekly planner printable page to start.

I’m sitting in my room and it’s the last day of January 2012. I try to ignore the feeling, but now and again I get that numbness of realizing how old I am, how much time has passed already, and how little time there is left. Yes, I know it’s a bit morbid, but those thoughts pop up every now and again.

Download Cute Bird Weekly Planner Page PDF

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I would like to blame it on the snow outside and how everyone is grumbling about the troubles of bad weather. I would blame it on hormones and some kind of biological funk I can’t control. Maybe it’s the winter blues? I could blame it on something, but what’s the point? I realize that it’s totally okay to freak out a bit and worry about things. The bright side is that it means I’m alive and thirsting for more. There’s energy, perhaps misdirected, but it’s there.

Last year I started blogging creative business 101 posts, sharing my progress of building a profitable business. I was happy with the general progress, the accountability, the momentum of it all. Unfortunately, I fell off the wagon when the holidays rolled around. I totally lost my momentum and it’s the last day of the first month of the following year now. Jeepers.

I’ve been watching videos, reading blogs and listening to podcasts (all under the guise of researching) and slowly, but surely, realizing that I am failing myself. It wasn’t a dramatic or sudden epiphany – it was a bonk on the head in slow motion, because it took me so long to  maybe, perhaps, snap out of it.

I have been avoiding those reality checks and simply brushing the surface with others, in attempts to avoid the truth. Total FAIL. This is when the Ice Cube song suddenly started to play in the soundtrack of my life, Check Yo Self.

No matter what the circumstances are in life, no matter what crazy huge mistakes I might have made, I always have the opportunity to check myself. That ultimately means I can change course and move forward in the right direction. And if you think about this rocky road of life, we always have to change course. Change with the times, because we never can predict how things will go.

The worse thing is stagnation and inaction. That’s how I’ve been feeling and it sucks. It’s about time to check myself out of this situation.

I’ll be taking some time to re-align, formulate a plan and actually use the resources that I have at hand.

Do you need to check yourself about something? I hope that by sharing the free printable, it might help spur some action in you as well. Sometimes you need someone to shake you to your senses, but sometimes it’s just a very slow and gradual realization. All that matters is that you want to move forward…