Prosperous & Creative Soul Year 4

jwil

Great progress with the lunch

lucielle

Glad you enjoyed lunch and pushing through boundaries. 

L

TallGirl

Great progress and lovely to hear the business is still plodding along sounds like you are getting closer to taking the scary step of going more public with your art. Well done for doing the lunch too!

doingitanyway

That art group has all sorts of pluses 

Merlin's_Beard

congrats on making that connection!

savingholmes

Thanks KK, Jwil, Merlin, TG, DIA and Lucielle

Yes relationship with DD better now we no longer live together. Growing maturity too probably helps and time distance from the divorce.

Saw DS and his partner, my youngest sis and her family and we went to a sculpture park this weekend which was lovely. My house (downstairs only) finally looks tidy. But I still need to get rid of more stuff. I bought a new mirror, rug and 3 solid wood stools and a mini-bookcase ahead of the 'open house'. I was utterly exhausted from my cleaning and tidying efforts and they ended up buying some food and cooking it (lots of allergies). I had brought desert and did buy DS and his partner a meal at the park - sis had brought a picnic. Trying to take pressure off and avoid perfectionism but it's hard. 

IIt's nice to be in a brighter clearer environment. I'm still trying to sort insurance and it looks like it could easily be 700-1000 because all the different elements are bundled differently and it's a modular approach. I need 3 or 4 things and want as close to global protection as I can get - the US element pushes up costs. Currently awaiting a call back. The bank has continue to be a pain and is not yet resolved.

I've concluded I've effectively been 'under-capitalising' my business and that is getting in the way of launch - where I actually need to just go for it instead. We are coming up to peak gift buying season so having something available for sale needs to be my priority. 

I've therefore finally ordered a printer (£220 + £21 inks) . It arrives Wednesday. The procrastination / analysis paralysis was getting ridiculous - and hopefully it will be a good first step in my business. I'm debating buying a separate phone for my business during Pr!m3 day sales - for c£700 and getting a separate sim - as I want there to be some separation between my business and personal life and think otherwise I could find it very stressful. I then need to set daily alarms at various times through the day and week to check social media. I also need to investigate apps I can use that can post content consistently for me.

My exhibition piece didn't sell - but it is a quantity game. Other artists said to me it should have sold which is encouraging. I have been offered another opportunity to exhibit - this time for portraits in November - so who knows where that could lead.

Hope you are all well. 

lucielle

It sounds like you’ve had a really busy time. Well done on getting the house sorted. 

L

savingholmes

Some front garden photos (the back garden still needs work)



About to buy some insurance. Going to start with UK and Europe and add wider if needed later. Wish me luck!

edinburgher

Is there any reason you need to spend £700 on a phone for business? Seems decidedly expensive! 

savingholmes

hi Edinburgher

I'm using my personal phone currently for video recording for my new business and it gets full up really quickly with videos. So the idea is that the new phone would supplement that - and have it's own email and insta separately etc. I'm hoping that will also reduce my personal cyber security risks from running a business too - as whereas at the moment I don't open things from people I'm unfamiliar with - I'll need a different mindset for my business. I'd rather any banking apps weren't on the same phone as I'm using for business in case I'm hacked etc. I also don't want to go on social media messaging apps and see business stuff when I'm trying to switch off. It should also mean that I can record myself from different angles to make it a more interesting video when I publish it. I'm also using my personal laptop to help with that and editing - but at some point may need to upgrade that too.

Because I'll effectively be an artist and (phone) videographer - I need a decent quality phone. It is cheaper to buy outright - and then have a sim only deal of £8-10 a month than buy it as a package deal. It's the equivalent of a £30 a month package over 36 months that others want to charge £60+ a month for. It is a good challenge, as I do have a really basic phone I could use if all I wanted was a separate sim. However possibly because of its nation of origin, my current virus protection software refuses to cover that phone which has put me off using it...

Right off to do some business admin... and then hopefully create some more art ready for sale and see where I can upload it to - to get launched. Wish me luck... Back to the day job tomorrow...