oh my! handmade goodness

#OMHG: Businessy Goodness + A Call for Help

By Jessika, Thursday, January 26, 2012

Know those moments when you are so excited and everything is so fabulous that you could just burst into a million glittery pieces? It’s been one of those days. From the minute I sent out the first sneak peek to contributors & sponsors announcing our Guide to Businessy Goodness to the #omhg chat on it that just ended, its been non-stop tweets, emails and ads being snatched up! Obviously this is something our creative community wants and is ready to support. Thank you for all your help spreading the word and sharing your suggestions-we are going to make this un*%$^ingbelievable. Who knew I would love selling ad space? Not me!

Today’s #omhg chat was the biggest yet with 52 amazing people joining in to share their ideas and suggestions for our guide. You can get the whole transcript right here-it is packed with awesome!

<<I NEED YOUR HELP!>>

Remember this guide is for you and you know best what your business needs. Let us know who you want to see in the guide in the comments on this post and share what kinds information you think should not be overlooked. If you need it to grow your creative business then it should be in the guide.

Who do you look to for inspiration and support? What packaging suppliers & printers do you love? What are the best online marketplaces to sell handmade or creative goods? Which illustrators, designers, developers, books, products, accountants, coaches etc should every creative business owner check out?

Shout out our guide to them by clicking below and personalizing your tweet or forward them the link, post it on Facebook, blog your list of suggestions-bring it on! Use the #omhg hashtag to be sure I see your choices on Twitter. Let’s build and grow this guide together.

Would love to see_____in the @ohmyhandmade Guide to Businessy Goodness bc___________! Get the details: http://bit.ly/zxhdAy #omhg click here to tweet it

And in other breaking news-it looks like OMHG and I are going to start seriously working towards building a conference/summit for Canadian creatives and our international friends. Like the graphic says, today businessy goodness, tomorrow the world!

Don’t worry, I’ll keep you posted, we are in this together after all.

Stay Calm! Businessy Goodness & Services are here

By Jessika, Wednesday, January 25, 2012

On the 1st of January I declared 2012 the Year of the Creative Entrepreneur-now its time to make good on this promise. Are you ready?

For almost 2 years I’ve had at least one email a day from creative businesses asking me everything from how to choose a designer to where they can find help with marketing + all things in-between. You want to know the ins and outs of hiring help and I love replying and referring to various resources and services or finding someone with the answer to write for us. The best part is watching these collaborations lead to amazing things or transformations!

In my decade of community work I loved being the girl with the answers. When a youth was suddenly homeless I knew where to go. If a small non-profit wanted to expand I told them how to find funding. I could connect a new mother struggling with breastfeeding or postpartum with the help she needed.When a young girl told me she was being abused or wanted to change her life, I knew who to call and what to say. I loved this part of my work the most! I always kept a binder stuffed full of numbers and contacts so that I could easily find the right info. Over the years I made a number of different resource guides for youth, families, and communities.

So when I was brainstorming ideas for how I could bring my all skills to Oh My! Handmade and our own community I had a major eureka moment. Why not create a resource guide specifically to help creatives navigate growing their businesses and find the help they need? One that would reassure as much as it informed and inspired…the Oh My! Handmade Guide to Businessy Goodness was born.

Inspired by your questions, emails and tweets, our guide is going to put the information and contacts you need into one easy to search place. When you are ready to grow and expand or if you are already in the process our guide will be there to help. Of course it will also be beautiful, creative and engaging, just like Oh My is. I got playful and created a guide that I think is the love child of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the Yellow Pages (but not in a copyright infringing sort of way). No boring list for us, this baby will be fun AND functional! The place to come when you need to know where to turn.

<<download the promo kit>>

Available here April of 2012 the guide will be offered by donation with a suggested price of $2. Our Shopping Guide is also getting a makeover and will become an online extension of the guide. Exciting times!

<<check out the online guide>>

Do you offer a service, supply or resource for creative entrepreneurs that needs to be showcased in our guide? Join us now! Ad space is available to fit all budgets starting today but spaces are very limited and must be reserved by March 1st.

<<buy your ad here>>

I am making a home for all my skills here on Oh My! and have created services + supports for creative businesses-I have my wand and am ready to sprinkle magic stardust on your business!

<<visit services & supports>>

Let’s get excited about April and make sure all the right services and supplies are listed in our pages. Does the idea make you shout hallelujah, this is just what I need? Thinking of someone or something that a creative biz owner HAS to know about? A question you need to see answered? Tell us in the comments or shout it out on Twitter. Let everyone know that this is something our community has been needing!

<<Tweet it out!>>

PSA: Stay calm. Please don’t panic: the @ohmyhandmade Guide to Businessy Goodness arrives April http://bit.ly/zxhdAy #omhg click to tweet

The love child of the Hitchhikers Guide & yellow pages the @ohmyhandmade Guide to Businessy Goodness is due April http://bit.ly/zxhdAy #omhg click to tweet

Psst! You should be in the @ohmyhandmade Guide to Businessy Goodness because… http://bit.ly/zxhdAy #omhg click to tweet

3 words to nix from your vocabulary today

By Tracey Selingo, Tuesday, January 24, 2012

I don’t know.

Those three words, said in unison and uttered without thought, whispered, spoken, screamed or umphed will slowly, but surely, do no good. It really doesn’t matter if you work independently or dependently. I don’t know is at the top of the toxic-communication chart.

Think about it.

“Does this come in blue?” I don’t know.

“Can you fix this for me?” I don’t know.

“Will you deliver that product by next week?” I don’t know.

Fail. Fail. Fail.

When a question is asked an answer is needed and wanted and hoped for and expected. I don’t know dismisses all of that with the shrug of a shoulder and the bat of an eye.

In the rush of daily business and life it’s important to remember that answers don’t need to be delivered immediately. Really. It’s okay to replace I don’t know with I’ll find out or let me get back to you. At least then you will show that you’re actively trying to help someone by answering their question.

As if that’s not reward enough, you might actually be surprised by what you learn when you start hunting for an answer.

{Boutique Mama } $100 Sponsor Giveaway

By Jessika, Monday, January 23, 2012

I am super happy to share this opportunity to win a $100 gift certificate from our sponsor Boutique Mama! BoutiqueMama.com is a full-service web design studio specializing in affordable, boutique-style web design templates and matching graphic design. They’ve been in business since 2006 and have helped thousands of women launch their businesses. None of their templates, WordPress or otherwise, are more than $50 which includes basic customization (business name, slogan, etc.) making them an affordable option for upgrading or updating your brand.

Check out their links and then head to the comments to enter to win and give your brand a facelift!

<<WEBSITE>> <<BLOG>> <<FACEBOOK>> <<TWITTER>> <<ZAZZLE>>

HOW TO ENTER:

What would you do with your $100 gift certificate? Maybe a new look for your blog, fancy business cards-anything goes. Tell us how you would use your $100 Boutique Mama credit in the comments for your chance to win!

BONUS ENTRIES:

Get extra entries by leaving a separate comment (1 comment=1 entry) if you:

Become a fan of Boutique Mama on Facebook
Follow Boutique Mama on Twitter
Shout out this giveaway on Twitter or Facebook
(be sure to include @ohmyhandmade/oh my handmade in your post or tweet!)

This giveaway closes January 29th at midnight EST with the winner announced at the bottom of this post January 30th. By entering this giveaway you are agreeing to the oh my! handmade giveaway policies.

Come Reignite Your Fire With Us in New Mexico!

By Jessika, Saturday, January 21, 2012

Woohoo! I’m going to headline the Spark-the creative entrepreneur retreat, in New Mexico with Alexandra Franzen in May to lead a workshop on Cultivating Our Creative Sparks! A few months ago after a long day of parenting I sat down at my desk with my head in my hands and thought, “I really need a vacation”, an hour later I had an email from Tania of Manus Made inviting me to lead a workshop for the retreat she was creating with Deanna of Apples & Oranges. A true believer in synchronicity I didn’t over think it-I just said yes. My spark needs a little rest and nurturing and the company of other women who can relate and help stoke my creative fire, so I’m betting you do too.

Join us for a weekend of rest, creativity and community building in the mountains of Santa Fe. We have the whole gorgeous Hacienda Dona Andrea to ourselves to lounge, play and create (plus I’m dreaming of sleeping in one of these soft, quiet beds that I don’t have to make, you know you are a mother when!).

What is Spark Retreat?

It’s a place where you will push past your limits and grow as a creative entrepreneur in a safe and positive environment. It’s a nurturing place for creative women to learn from and share with each other. It’s where you’ll dig deep inside, figure out what makes your creative spark your own, and then relight that sucker! It’s a place to clown around and experiment with new ideas and skills. It’s where you’ll get to be a kid for a few days and just play. It’s where life-long relationships and friendships are born.

So if your spark needs a little loving, head on over to the Spark Retreat website and register now. You’ll be spending the weekend with myself and the incredible wordsmith Alexandra Franzen-two firey creative Sagittarians in the mountains, yes! It’s going to be a bonfire of fun, new friendships and inspiration. I hope I’ll see you there and help you stoke your creative fire!

Follow along with the adventure by checking out Spark Retreat on Facebook & Twitter @SparkRetreat.

#OMHG Transcripts January 12 & 19

By Jessika, Friday, January 20, 2012

Sorry friends, three weeks of struggling with a mutant antibiotic resistant throat infection left me SO behind on our #omhg transcripts. I am still catching up and healing, so this week we are skipping the highlights part of the post. I’ll be back good as new (hopefully) for our chat next week! Both chats were packed full of insight and strategies, our January 12 #omhg chat focused on our best laid plans and how they rarely go as planned, inspired by my unexpected sickness interfering with all my goals for January. Check out the transcript right here.

This Thursday co-host Lisa Bacon of Moxie Pear joined us to talk about websites and design for creative businesses. She answered lots of great questions and shared a bit about the common things many small business owners might need to make a dynamic impression on customers and media. We also chatted a fair bit about the importance of a press kit. The chat and both Arianne and Lisa’s posts help fuel me to finish up our own media kit and do some housekeeping and updating for Oh My! Handmade (more on this next week when I announce some exciting new projects!). Don’t miss all the useful info we shared, get the whole transcript here.

What is #omhg? We are a community of talented, creative and caring people who visit from 1-2EST every Thursday on Twitter with the hashtag #omhg to chat about our monthly theme on Oh My! Handmade + life, business & everything in between. Empowering, honest, supportive & full of ideas, our chats leave us all feeling ready to take on the world-come join us and make some new friends!

Money Making Party Plan + FREE Planner

By Mayi Carles, Thursday, January 19, 2012

I love money.

O0ps did I just say that out loud?

I think I did. Oh well. Enough of feeling guilty + a bit self-conscious about it. After all, I quit my day job to become a full time artist + I should be oh so proud that I get to do what I love AND bring peanut butter + jelly sandwiches to the table.

Gosh, why is that so hard for my heart to compute without feeling icky inside? Part of me blames all those years at an all-girls Catholic School. Another part of me accuses the starving artist syndrome trend. Neither are really at fault, but it takes some of the load off my shoulders.

But anyhoo, I didn’t come here to whine about my love/guilt relationship with money, pinky promise. As a matter of fact, I actually stopped by to chat about how I’ve managed to build a 5-figure business in spite of this internal struggle; a tension I couldn’t help to noticed many of my fellow creatives + handmade crusaders experience too.

So how do I cope? How do I transcend beyond the messy parts into forward momentum? How to a befriend money without contesting my most treasured forms of currency – friendship + love + trust?

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Six simple ways to refresh your site without redesigning

By Arianne Foulks, Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Whether you’re the resolutions type or not, it’s hard not to think of each new year as a great time to make improvements and plans for your business. We always get lots of redesign requests at Aeolidia in the new year, as well as people wanting to start with something new.

Maybe a redesign isn’t in your budget right now, or your site is looking and working just fine, but could use a bit of sprucing up. Here are some ideas for improving your site without doing a full redesign.

Spruce up your content

Add photos or wide banner graphics to the category pages of your site. You can use this area to feature certain items or show the items “in action” or just make nicer looking titles for each category. Most website software will allow you to add images and text to category pages.

Category page banner example - Olliegraphic

Work on your product descriptions. Could you adjust your text to make it so your customers just have to have the item in question? Here are two great articles from the Oh My! archives:

Improving Your Product Descriptions and Product Listings With Personality.

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Finding Your Perfect Online Print Shop

By Kristen Hodges, Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Screen printed poster by whatkatiedoes

A new year for small businesses means new marketing projects—and most often these fresh ideas require printing. I’m often asked by my clients where should they go for online printing services? Here’s a quick guide to finding your perfect online print shop:

A Match Made in Heaven

They will have free sample kits.

I love it when printing sites offer free sample kits. It’s “proof in the pudding” as they say. They are so confident in their work, they’re willing to bare it all before you buy. I prefer sample kits so I can have something tangible in my hand for comparing to other sample kits, confirm a crisp print in varying finishes, and to get a good idea for how large an item is.

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Shine Online with the Girl’s Guide to Web Design

By Jessika, Monday, January 16, 2012

Calling all artists, designers and handmade enthusiasts: you may not know it yet, but guess what? This is YOUR year to shine online with a gorgeous site or blog – and The Girl’s Guide to Web Design is going to help you do it!

The Girl’s Guide to Web Design is a fun and feisty online video training course specifically designed for creative women who want to learn super-empowering web, graphic design and coding skills in a friendly, non-intimidating way. Past students have called the course ”life-changing” , “brilliant”, “a fabulous investment in myself”, and “worth every penny” – and it could be the same for you in 2012. Don’t forget to read through to the end of this post to find out how you could win your spot in the course, totally free!

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