I don’t know how I even got here. Was it lockdown? Is that how I ended up with my own little business making prints and textiles? I’m really not sure.
However here I am. It’s been a very strange year for so many reasons but as 2021 draws to a close, I’m getting ready to leave my job of the last 10 years and commit to my print making and painting.
Apprehensive. Yep I’m definitely feeling that. I never really want to repeat things or stand still. I find the process of printing exciting but not if I allow it to become to repetitive. People seem to love the lobsters but I get more excited making a composition of garden leaves. Playing with colour, shape and composition.
So there is definitely potential for me to get bored of the actual process if I’m not careful how I manage things.
The other thing you very quickly realise in running a creative enterprise, once you open up the website, allow shop online, pick up a couple of physical outlets, you spend about 70% of your time on admin and 30% of the time doing the thing you set out to do. Websites need content, photographs, descriptions. Prices need to be calculated, wholesale, retail. Postage needs to worked out. I think I’ve used my kitchen scales more often to weight pictures, packaging and tea towels this year than I have for weighing ingredients.
I’ve no idea what next year will be like. My intention is to do more physical selling, attending print shows and art shows and perhaps some craft fairs too, Organising all these things of course will take up even more time.
I'm not sure how other small creative businesses manage building their presence online, but I do find the need to be constantly present and posting a tricky thing to manage. Sometimes I simply don't have anything to say that is noteworthy. How much of my personal life do I want present on social media. How much do I NOT want to be in front of the camera. I think growing the traffic to my website will be one of the biggest challenges I face in the coming year. So wish me luck!