In the first post, I wrote about how wrong one of my goals from a year ago turned out to be, and how thinking about that got me started coming up with new goals.

In the second post, I wrote about my thinking process, and some tips for other people struggling with coming up with good, realistic goals for themselves.

Now I’m going to share some of my new goals, and begin outlining how I will work toward these goals.

First, a theme for where I want my business to go: I want to make creative, interesting work, write about it, and teach other people about techniques, creative projects, and related topics. I want to incorporate other creative pursuits, in addition to jewelry making, that I’m interested in and that fit well with my current lifestyle: for instance, mixed media art, craft projects for kids, and photography.

The writing is fairly straightforward – I have a fantastic web host, Lunarpages, that makes it really easy to set up wordpress blogs, so I’m setting up several to keep my different topics somewhat separate. The hard part, for me, is that I need to make attractive banners and other graphics for the blogs, but the writing is (mostly) something I enjoy doing. I will continue writing about jewelry (mine and other peoples’) here, as well as adding tutorials and other informative articles related to jewelry and the business of making jewelry. Other topics, such as kid craft projects, will be moved to new locations.

I will be moving my business to a different physical location (which doesn’t affect anything visible online, but does affect how I function behind the scenes), and using my name as my business name (instead of Michon, my middle name). Michon will still be what I call my jewelry line, but my business will be me — because it will encompass more of the things I do, in addition to the jewelry.

Check out my writing progress so far at my MommyCraft blog, and the beginnings of my photography endeavors on my photo blog. If you are interested in keeping up with everything I’m doing, I’m working on a website that will link to all my current projects.

As for my etsy shop, it is open and will stay open, but my focus will be shifting away from production jewelry and back to what I (used to) do best – one of a kind art jewelry. Rather than make jewelry based on what I think my business model should be, I’m going to make jewelry that I want to make, and hope that the right person, the person who loves a piece and has to have it, will find it. Yes, my sales might suffer at first, but I actually think that if I’m making the things I love to make, it will show and eventually I will be selling (and making) more jewelry, and I’ll be much happier about getting to be in the handmade jewelry business.

Finally, and this particular goal is still a bit vague, I want to teach people jewelry making skills. That might take the form of written and video tutorials, articles in magazines, in person workshops, or all three. The in person teaching isn’t going to happen in 2010 – I need to be home with my babies as much as I can right now – but in the meantime, I can work on some more tutorials and articles. In fact, I have an article being published very soon in an online zine….will post a link when it is live.

To sum up, this year, I am following my heart – and hoping that it takes me in a prosperous new direction for my business. If I could describe my goals in one phrase, it is that I want to make creative work that leaves me feeling inspired to keep going (and hopefully inspire other people along the way).

1. Why do you want this? One of the problems with my goal of earning $2000/month selling handmade jewelry is that my reasons for wanting it didn’t really work. I want to make and sell all that jewelry so I can be a stay at home mom and spend more time with my kid? Um…if I’m making and shipping all that jewelry, I’d actually have *less* time to be a good mom. In order to create a more realistic goal, I need to consider whether my motivations make sense. Which brings me to…

2. Does your goal fit in with other goals you have? Mine didn’t – and I found myself struggling between trying to be the best mom I could be while at the same time being the best businesswoman, and a good employee at my part time job. It was too much all at once, and because the business was the easiest thing to slack off on…that’s what always got put on the back burner when things got too busy.

3. What obstacles might come up that you haven’t thought of? Do you have a back-up plan? I didn’t know, when I was writing up my goals, that I’d be having my second child so soon. At the time, I was thinking in terms of growing my business before having another child, so that when that happened, I’d be able to stay home full time afterward. But when it comes to having children, you don’t know how long it will take, and my pregnancy happened really fast. It came with really awful nausea and fatigue in the beginning, and it was all I could do some days to stay awake until my son’s bedtime, much less make time to work on anything for me (like designing jewelry, for instance, or editing photos). I was lucky if I woke up in time to shower before work on the 2 days a week I went to my day job….

4. If you reach your goal, will it make your life better? If your goal is to lose weight, maybe it’s because you have high blood pressure, and by losing a few pounds, you could be healthier. On the other hand, maybe it’s because you think thin people are happier than people who need to lose 10 pounds, which isn’t necessarily true. (I’ve been both the thin person and the one who needs to lose weight, and after 2 pregnancies, I’ve been both women more than once!) I thought that if I could only sell enough jewelry to quit my job, I’d be happy, but as I started selling jewelry more regularly online, it didn’t make my happier. Sure, I’d be happy when I saw that I’d made sales, but doing production work turned out to feel like a chore, and I realized I wasn’t very excited about a sale anymore unless it was a piece that I’d already made. As it turns out, I have certain personality traits, as a creative person, that don’t mesh well with a production business. I’d be better off creating a design and paying someone else to make all the copies, but that is a completely different business model than the one I was using, involving more of a monetary investment than I was prepared to make. If I want to sell a style of earring in my etsy shop, I should make however many pairs or variations of that style as I feel like making at that time – then sell them, and when they run out, remove that item from my shop. Unfortunately, because there is time and work involved in photographing and writing about a piece, that means that some of my bread-and-butter items, which sell for a low price point, are not good pieces for me to be in the business of selling/making. That was a touch conclusion to come to, believe me.

5. If your goal is starting to seem unrealistic, think about what you love or are passionate about. One thing I did was think a lot about things that have been consistent for me throughout my life. Things I do regularly even if nobody pays me to do them. I came up with: making jewelry, writing, taking photographs, reading, listening to music, spending time with people I love, coming up with fun activities to do with my kids, yoga, pilates, trying new crafts. Things that scare me a little but I get a rush when I do them: singing (in front of people, ie karaoke), letting people read my creative writing, trying to make art (as opposed to craft projects), teaching my classes at the gym, teaching jewelry classes, dancing (sober, anyway – I used to dance drunk all the time in college but I’m much more self-conscious now that I rarely have more than a single drink). Here’s another tip: stuff that scares you but gives you a rush is the stuff you probably really want to be doing, all the time if possible. I’m convinced that a lot of people, like me, are a little bit scared of doing certain creative things in front of other people. It’s like artist stage fright. I think that has a lot to do with why so many creative people have substance abuse problems, but that’s a whole other LONG article to write, maybe some other time. For now, if there’s something you love doing after a few drinks but are afraid to do sober….try doing it sober. Trust me, huge rush. The first time I sang karaoke completely sober felt amazing. I’m never going to be a professional singer, but having the guts to sing in front of actual people, without drinking, felt like a major accomplishment to me.

So what did all this thinking tell me about my goals? How did it shape my new goals for my business? First, I need to be doing more of the things I get a rush from. Making art pieces, whether using jewelry as my medium, or photography, or any other medium. The things I do all the time, such as making jewelry and taking pictures, are things I could develop into product lines. The things that scare me a little bit are things I should spend more time working on, to see where it takes me.

Next post in this series: my new goals, and how I’m working on them!

Guess what – it’s been almost exactly a year since I wrote that, and I’m nowhere near being self-employed…unless being on maternity leave from my part time job is somehow the same thing (ha hah).

I had even written out a strategy for how I was going to be earning $2000/month profit from my jewelry business. It doesn’t even sound like that much work, on paper – if I was selling a few pendants and a few less expensive pairs of earrings every day, which is certainly an amount I would have time to produce, if it was my only job, I’d be well on my way. The key, I thought, would be getting sales every day, and keeping my costs down by purchasing everything, from materials to packing supplies, in bulk.

I just did my taxes, and my profit from jewelry sales for the whole year of 2009 wasn’t even $2000. Of course there were expenses that came up during the year I hadn’t thought of, and I didn’t sell a piece every day, and the galleries that used to provide a lot of my sales went out of business, leaving me needing to replace that income through online sales, something that is really hard for me to do.

I think my jewelry sells better when people can see it, touch it, maybe even try it on. My unique pieces, in particular, need to be seen and touched to appreciate the detail and work that goes into them. So I refocused my business on producing jewelry I could sell online, and my online sales were better last year than ever before. (And yes, I could have sought out new galleries and shops to sell at, but I didn’t.)

I learned that I’m not happy producing production work. It’s not exciting the way designing new work is, and it’s not as profitable as my day job. And really….if I’m going to be doing something that feels like work, not passion, for a living, might as well do the job that pays the best, right?

Also, little did I know when I was working out my goals, that I’d have a second child in just a year. Being pregnant and all the fatigue that goes along with it, makes it hard to focus on building a business (and in fact, I probably used it as an excuse not to, since my business wasn’t exactly making me happy the way I hoped it would…)

So: I didn’t meet my goal. I’m disappointed in a way, because I’d love to do what I love for a living full time, however, since I learned that selling jewelry on the internet isn’t exactly what I love doing…it’s okay that I’m not doing it full time.

Do I love making jewelry? Yes, more than just about anything…when it’s one of a kind work and I’m spending most of my time and effort designing it. No, when I’m just cranking out the tenth pair of identical earrings that I’ll get paid maybe $10 for. Especially when I let myself think about how much work goes into selling that $10 pair of earrings. Marketing is not one of my biggest strengths, which is another reason that I think selling my work through a few galleries was working out so well….until the galleries became casualties of the bad economy.

I think it’s a good thing that I didn’t reach my goal. There’s no way I’d be able to keep up that pace – making lots of pieces every day, plus packing, shipping, photographing, etc. – with a new baby in the house, and I’m not sure I’d want to even if I wasn’t sleep deprived and distracted.

But I know that I do want to be more financially independent, that I want to earn income from work that is creatively fulfilling, and that there is a way to make my business work — both in the sense of paying the bills *and* being something I’m passionate about. So I’ve been thinking a LOT about what I love and hate about being a business owner and a creative person, and I hope to have a new business plan soon. Taking time off to think has been wonderful, I feel like my creative batteries are getting recharged, and I have tons of great ideas that I’m excited about, if only I can find the time to try them all out…

There is a lesson buried in all my babbling here. If any of you reading are also entrepreneurs, or want to be, make sure that the business you are trying to do is something you are passionate about, and that financial success in that business would be worth all the work you have to put in — because otherwise, you’ll find yourself burned out and rethinking everything instead of basking in the glory of being a self employed creative person!

Edited to add: I’m working on another article about my process of re-crafting my business, with tips for creative people, so check back soon to read it if you enjoyed this one.

Unfortunately, I didn’t hit my online sales goal for the first quarter. I know some things I need to work on, and I’m hoping that I’m able to catch up during the second quarter.

(For those of you reading who sell on etsy, make sure you have good photos, try to have a consistent look for your shop, tag correctly and remember to use all 14 tags, and use titles that accurately describe your item. And try to add new items as often as possible so that people want to come back to your shop and see what’s new. These are just a few things I’ll be focusing on in the next three months.)

For the most part, I’m doing really well on my other goals though! Organization is an ongoing struggle, but I’m feeling a lot more organized than last year.

One thing I love about writing down goals is that I can see which ones I still want to do, and edit my list. It really helps me focus.

I have two new goals that I want to work on in the second quarter of 2009:

1) file paperwork once a week
2) enter numbers for both my business & my husband’s into our tax spreadsheet monthly so we know how much estimated taxes we should be paying, as well as have a vague idea of how profitable our businesses are at any given time.

These definitely fall under “organization” but are so different from organizing inventory, and a lot less fun. Still, I think they are important. Although I keep pretty good records, as does my husband, if you don’t total things up regularly, it’s easy to make major financial mistakes with your business. For example, last year I had way too many general expenses for how much I made in sales, and my husband spent way too much on equipment rental (we could have just bought some of the stuff and paid less). Had I been tracking these things better along the way, we both could have made more profit in 2008.

Well. All of my pearls and semiprecious stone beads are inventoried! I can’t believe it! And I even have little tags made up for the next few purchases I make, just in case, so it won’t be hard to update that.

Now I just need to go into my etsy shop and match each listing with a bead inventory number (or several, in the case of pieces with more than one type of bead).

In my head, I’m working on an inventory system for the metal stuff I make – head pins, earwires, and the like – things I need to be able to make lots of that are virtually identical – so that I can start selling multiple pairs of earrings with handmade wires, for instance.

Here’s the funny part – I’m one of those people who has piles of bills on either side of the computer, and all my tax paperwork in an overflowing shoebox (yikes!) – in other words, organization is something I normally only do under extreme pressure (like, if it’s April 14th, for example). But I’m enjoying organizing my business! If I keep going at this rate, I’ll have my tax stuff finished in a spreadsheet way ahead of time for next year!

It’s been about a month since I made my list, so it’s time to check in, see if I still think the goals are realistic, and see which ones I need to focus more on in order to reach them.

The first was stocking my etsy shop with things I can make in editions. I’m doing great on this one – several styles of stud earrings are available, as well as pearl drop earrings in a variety of shapes and colors.

#2 was organizing my inventory. I’ve made progress on this one, and actually wrote about it a while ago. I have big plans this weekend to tackle another organizing task, and if I get it done you can be sure I’ll be bragging about it – I want to set up a dedicated photo area with daylight lamps and everything – but I’ll need to get rid of some clutter first in order to do that.

#3 was to sell 100 things online. I’ve sold 3 so far – definitely need to pick up the pace if I’m going to reach that goal!

#4 was to be able to do 25 push-ups. I’m really close to accomplishing this – most days if I try, I can do 15 to 20 in a row – so if I keep working, I’m confident I’ll reach this goal in the next month or so.

#5 was to take two fitness certifications, and I’ll be making progress on that in March, when I’m planning to take a personal training workshop.

#6 was to earn an extra $200 a month compared with last year, from a combination of my jewelry business and other non-day-job sources. I’m not there yet, but I’ve started a bit of freelancing work, and jewelry sales are (so far) up from this time last year.

#7 was to get 2000 twitter followers. Currently at 799. If I want to reach that goal, I have to start following more people & posting my twitter link in forums.

#8 was to have over 200 blog visits per day. Not there yet, but I think this one is within reach over the next few months.

#9 was to teach a jewelry class. I am signed up to teach a class in May, tentatively, so hopefully that will happen and then I can check this off my list.

#10 was to take lots of photos. Of all my goals, this one is the one I’m doing best at – I’ve been obsessed with taking photos lately!

#11 was find a good babysitter – haven’t done that yet – but I think I will before the end of the year.

#12 was take a vacation. This is tentatively planned in early summer, we’ll see…

#13 was to find another gallery or boutique to carry my jewelry. Have not done this, and sadly, one of my galleries is about to close its doors, so I’d really like to find at least two new ones now.

I was actually feeling like I hadn’t made much progress yet this year, but going over my list, I’m not doing as badly as I thought! How are you doing on your goals/resolutions? Have you forgotten what they are yet? (Most people forget by the end of January, or at least forget to do what they said they were going to.)

One thing that really sticks out is that I need a better system to stay organized (actually, technically, I need a system to GET organized in the first place, then stay that way).

So – goal #2 is organizing my jewelry inventory. (Goal #1 was stocking my online shop, in case you missed that post).

Luckily, I don’t have a lot of finished jewelry in my inventory at the moment – I did a pretty good job of selling off a lot of old stuff in 2008, and I even took apart a bunch of things that weren’t quite right. At the moment, my stock of finished jewelry that is listed on etsy fits in a small box, and my stock of jewelry to send to galleries is basically non-existent because as soon as I have enough to send somewhere, it gets sent off. (Is this because I’m selling more, or because I don’t have as much time to make stuff now that I’m a mom? I wish it was the first, but I suspect it’s more the second….)

So, what I need to organize is my inventory of beads, findings, metal, and all the other raw materials (and tools) that I use to make jewelry.

This is no small undertaking.

I have been collecting beads and tools and small objects that might look neat in jewelry for years. I have resin. I have boxes of found objects. I have broken vintage jewelry I might remake into new stuff. And then there’s the stuff I use on a regular basis – pearls, gemstone beads, wire, pliers, files, hammers, steel block, stuff for polishing, torch & accessories, and the various findings that I make a bunch of at once – earwires, head pins, fused and unfused jump rings, etc.

In 2008, if I wanted to make a pair of earrings, I’d either grab a readymade pair of earwires & head pins & a few beads, or make the metal stuff myself, and put it all together. I didn’t worry about whether or not I could make another pair exactly like them.

But in 2009, I’m selling limited editions online, so I need to be able to duplicate a pair of earrings after I sell them. That means I need to know where the beads are that I used, exactly which findings, handmade or manufactured, were used, and if handmade, the length and gauge of wire I used, so that the next pair will be very nearly identical to the original.

My brain kind of hurts just thinking about what an insanely organized person I need to become to accomplish all of that.

But I am happy to say that I’m at least off to a good start. I located the item number of the pre-made earwires I use, so that hopefully when I run out I can order more.

And I bought some bead trays and a carrying case for them, and have started organizing my beads. I’m even giving each type of bead an inventory number! (I hear that more organized business owners use these numbers to track their inventory.)

I’m not sure what I’ll do with these numbers except make a note of what number bead was used to make an item. I did find out that my favorite pearl earrings are made with bead # FP041. I feel more organized already!

I’m hoping to sort and number at least all of the things I use frequently, so that it’s easy for me to find what I need and see what I’m running low on. Wish me luck!

*For some reason the Thursday Thirteen site seems to be down, but it’s usually here*

Now, I know most people seem to want to forget that 2008 ever happened, and I can understand that. A lot of bad things happened last year.

But I’d like to focus on the positive things, and work on improving the things that weren’t so good.

I know that I can have little to no effect on the major issues my country is facing, like a health care crisis and a recession, but I can do all kinds of things to make 2009 a great year for me and my family.

I’ll be writing more about my goals and plans for the coming year in the next few weeks. If you need inspiration for your own resolutions, feel free to copy some of mine. I hope that they will help me build a more profitable business, create some gorgeous jewelry, explore other creative outlets, be a better mom, wife, and friend, and look fabulous in my pre-pregnancy jeans.

I may not accomplish EVERYTHING I set out to, but I think it’s good to dream big. And then break down the big dreams into smaller and smaller steps until you know what you can do right now, for the next five minutes, to bring yourself closer to reaching a goal.

So – now I’ve blogged, which is one of the things on my list, and I’m off to do just a few minutes of yoga. I would like to say I’m going 30 minutes on the stairmaster, but the baby is teething and I’m short on sleep – so a little relaxing yoga while my husband distracts him is about what I can handle today. It still counts as exercise, and “me” time!

So – here’s to 2009, hopefully our best year yet!

By fully stocked, I mean every item I can make multiples of should be listed on my website and my etsy shop.

This way, it will be easy for people to purchase my most popular items online, using the method they feel most comfortable with.

I think this will increase my online sales – my etsy sales have certainly increased since I started listing the series of freshwater pearl drop earrings and the silver and copper studs that I make. That may not be the reason my sales have increased, but I think that it can’t hurt. It’s definitely less work to relist an item on etsy than it is to list a new one of a kind, so this streamlines my business a bit: galleries get the one of a kinds, and limited editions go online.