Time Management....my old friend

I have spent years in and out of the military managing my own time from flying over a target within 5 seconds of the planned time to managing my personal itinerary over half the world, coordinating with relatives, booking flights, accom, things to do, finding a job etc etc. I set goals, I set time limits to realise them and I make sure they are realistic, I just did it naturally as that is what drove me........BUT what I didn't CONSCIOUSLY realise is that managing your time is a full time job when it doesn't come naturally and for me, creativity and time management have never been a natural partnership.
I have noticed that in order to let my creativity flow I need to turn off to the world outside and just let it happen, allow myself to feel happy or sad or whatever it is I feel that day and work with that in the studio or here on my blog or the website. Now that could be argued as a requirement for the job and I would agree......but and this is a big but.......where does the creativity need to get turned off and the business head turned on? That is what I have struggled with whilst setting up this company and I am sure many others do too.
At first I thought it best to just go with what I felt like on the day (surely that is the luxury of working from home and being an ARTIST no?), if I felt creative I would go to the studio and work and if not I would stay in and do computer work\bookkeeping. Sounds good but didn't work, I ended up indoors a lot, watching the TV, baking and not bookkeeping.
I started to read success stories from other small businesses and bloggers and I noticed a theme, many of them had children and thus a set routine, emails in the morning, making things in the afternoon and packing in the evening and of course they worked it all around the children. I wondered how they managed to find the time to do it all when I don't have any kids and struggle to get out of bed some days! But then it dawned on me (and it's not rocket science) they have limited hours in their day.......they had time management forced upon them all the time and the creativity was not on tap or free flowing it was more given a chance once a day to rear it's strange head and play...and that worked for them........time to give that a go me thinks (the routine not the kids!).
Now I know you are all thinking 'doh, we learnt that at primary school' but it's so different when you have to actually instigate it for yourself and discipline yourself (no teachers here)and there is no motivation around other than yourself (even travelling there are always others around to tap in to)so here I am forcing myself to get up at 6am everyday with the husband and stick to a routine, computer work in the morning but with a strict cut-off time (or I seem to disappear in to the ether for hours on end) followed by exercise (cross country skiing these days) followed by the afternoon in the studio.
Well it's only few days in to it and already I feel like I am gaining ground on everything.....I am almost excited that I can see the potential for my new website to be up and running and a routine whereby I make something, photograph it and post it up all within a week. I even have a new Facebook page for my business where I can separate my business affairs from my personal, hurrah.
So time management, tricky little devil if you take your eyes off it for too long or even misinterpret how to best use it for yourself.....even in the name of creativity. I have found that in order to tap in to my creativity and keep momentum within the business I need structure to tell me when it's time to do those things, even the deadline to get off the computer drives me to finish my web updates first instead of wondering off to Facebook and as for the creativity well that just pours out of me the minute I see my stones in the studio so right now I have no problem with that....more with putting the lid back on it in the evenings ;o)
Time management is so personal to everyone, as with the ladies with children who also run their businesses, there are often factors beyond our control that drive our choice of how we manage it but when you find yourself with the luxury of being able to choose it entirely for yourself it then gets really personal....you need to tap in to yourself and know what you need to get the best from yourself...AND JUST DO IT! Nike spokes girl maybe?

See you next week

Jingle Bells

Christmas has indeed come and I am still shoveling snow daily but it will be a very beautiful and white Christmas here in Sweden. Here is a quick picture of my gingerbread house that I entered in to the competition to win a trip to the Ice Hotel:






The Christmas postage deadlines have past now so the main bulk of orders have been completed and I can safely say that this year I have succeeded in maintaining a balance between too many orders and too little. I will confess that my capacity is not exactly 100% yet but routine is forming in my life and thanks to the launch parties I had enough business to keep me busy up till now and I still have 5-10 orders left to do. I also have a sales day in a shop in Gothenburg at the end of January where I hope to sell items in advance of Valentine’s Day so I have to get going on those items too.

We are rapidly heading for year end (and another new tax nightmare approaching I am sure!) so this is the time I will sit down and go through the plan for 2011, month by month, using my lessons learnt from 2010 to try and improve on all fronts and there is plenty room for improvement.

The first improvement, as mentioned last week is the new Swedish Kroner based website (written in English) the second, a Facebook fan page. I have decided that the shop will be my silverbyk8.se domain page, I have a blog and I will have a FB page too....so that I can keep my personal and private lives separate, as can my friends on FB. I will be looking at my marketing of these sites and networking in and around Sweden primarily (magazine adverts, newspaper adverts, listings at local tourist information offices, local internet company listings, local bloggers, even local jewellery shops to network, network, network). I will also be looking at the UK market too and doing the same.

Whilst networking I will be looking out for shops to sell\display my items too. I have one in Scotland already interested so I will be looking to take them up on the offer as soon as I have items completed. I need to have displays I can show to potential shops to entice them to display my goods and then of course target appropriate shops and industries.

I will look in to partnerships with home party sellers of beauty products and also reaching out to larger companies to give them ideas for gifts to employees etc.

Right, I feel like I need to get going already!!

I will be here again next week......Mondays is working MUCH better for me.

Networking with small businesses in Sweden

The Christmas orders are nearly complete, I have submitted the photos for my gingerbread house competition and I (and the husband thank goodness) have been on another Tax course and this time he understood all that I missed….twice before!! So I am now ready to really put all the pieces of my business together to make 2011 a strong year for Silver by K8.

In the studio my confidence is growing in leaps and bounds with both the soldering and the design of the pieces and I am really looking forward to doing some ‘freelance’ pieces again after the orders are done.

As for business I met a couple of people in the past few weeks I want to mention:

The first is Tina of Kuckilura


www.Kuckilura.se, who is a mum and sews hats and jackets and clothes. She organized one of the Christmas markets that I went to and a couple of friends were in and I bought a fab little hat for my niece (no pics yet as it’s a Christmas prezzie surprise ;o) ).

The other person was Sarah from Country Living

http://www.storegardencountryliving.com/. She is originally from the UK and has lived here in Sweden for 20 odd years now. Her store and café is only 45 minute drive from where I live and we visited this weekend, what an inspiration! All the things that are wonderful and come from the UK (not just the UK either) have been rooted out by Sarah and brought back to this adorable place in the Swedish countryside not to mention the Peony fragrance hand soap and lotion which I am going back for at the first chance I get. Even the clothes, which I thought would be the same as any other place really, were from many different countries and the Norway brands were FAB! She has Angora and Cashmere items which are trendy and very reasonably priced. If you can imagine bringing together the items that you think are the best from all the places you ever have been too, but only the best ones, and then put them all together in a house….that is Country Living.

Both ladies have been inspirational for me and more connections in this new country and new life. I have decided as a result of one of the conversations with Tina that I will purchase a service for a Swedish shop now instead of running my Etsy shop to sell on. I like the fact that Etsy can reach more people and is commercially better known but I am not a commercial seller and I need to ensure that both I and my customers get the best service available and that means being as simple as possible. For a customer in the UK or Sweden to buy something in US dollars only for me to have to change it back to SEK again is crazy not to mention costly so I am working on getting the SEK based web shop up and running ASAP. I will keep the Etsy shop there but I will not be actively promoting it as much as the Swedish shop. I am still focused on building my clientele within Europe first……Europe first, the world second (and I am not the only small business with big ideas either huraaahhh).

So no pictures of jewelry this week, more of Christmas things ;o)
Have a great week and hopefully see you again next Monday.

London's over, Swedish Christmas markets begin

The London launch party was great! I had a wonderful time with friends and family and the whole week was wonderful for my company too. Not only did I get my advertisement out there but I got future ideas for ways to sell when in the UK....home parties here we come.

I got to spend some time with friends of an evening and show them my wears. I found when there is no pressure, some food and drinks available and time to explain and play with stones and ideas it produces a much satisfying outcome for both the customer and me. The larger party was great for advertisement and volume of sales but not something I think I would venture to do more than once a year.

Pictures from the event:




So with my sales strategies coming together slowly I look towards the next week and I have 2 winter markets in one weekend! I still have the card accept machine for this next week and I am interested to see how many Swedish people use it at these country markets....time will tell. I anticipate these markets to be hard to sell high value items at (although I may be proven very wrong) so I am pitching myself with low to middle priced items and a few high end items. I will only have on sale the stones that are set already and the rest will be silver items and a mixture of silver and beads.

Once the markets are over I will be head down, bum up, producing the Christmas items for Swedish and English customers alike in my newly refurbished and insulated studio (courtesy of my father in law and my husband) which is just fantastic!! Just try getting me out of there ;o) It was such a suprize when I got home I couldn't stop crying for a full 20 mins (I was a little tired too ;o).....hence the pictures are still a little bit blurry from the shaking! Who can ask for more in life? I am a very lucky and happy girl x

London baby!!

No, the cufflinks are not finished! Just a 'what they will look like roughly' picture.


Last week update:
We did not make it to the next round in the Ikea challenge which is a mixed blessing, we would have loved to have done it but I just don't actually have the time to do it right now! So maybe a little later on when I have my feet under the table with this company I will look for some more exciting things.

General update:
I had my launch party in Sweden just a few weeks ago now and it went really well, I had 6 orders in total and it well exceeded my expectations :o) I have even had my first cold caller on my Etsy shop from Sweden and so far so good....we'll wait until she leaves the feedback to be sure she liked them! So things are rocketing along in the Christmas season and time is whizzing past but I am in high spirits whizzing with it!

It's nearly time to head to London for my launch party. Very excited and a little nervous but it's all healthy. It's a chance to do some supply shopping at Cooksons now that I have set up an account for tax free purchases and have a look around the big smoke again with some Swedish friends.

I had to source a credit card accepting machine to do the London event as I can't use the Fakturing system I use here in Sweden.....it's far too risky. The other option was for people to use Paypal but if they don't have an account it's quite complicated to send them an email then wait while they use a computer that's not theirs and input their details and I only have 2 hours to get as many sales as I can so speed and efficiency is the name of the game. We shall see if it off-sets its own costs for the 1 month hire fee. I also have 2 Christmas markets when I return home that I will have it for so there is more opportunity to use it there.

It will be very interesting to see how my business is doing by the end of the year in my tax return....I am using that as my goal right now and then I will sit down and do a marketing plan for 2011 which will begin with a pre-Valentine’s day display in a shop in Gothenburg in January.

It's lucky I love what I do so much but I guess that is the whole point when it comes to art, I never turn off and love to look at everything people wear but I do it in a slightly different light now, I look for inspiration from the piece and see what I don't like about a piece and try to work out why.

Here are some pics from this week in the studio and I will post again when in London.

VOTE !!!!

To all and anyone who reads this out there.........please take a look at this website

http://www.ikeagarderob.se/261

and vote for it by pressing the 'gilla' button (with the thumbs up sign). It will possibly give my friend and I the chance to have a wadrobe in an IKEA store in Stockholm and it's purely a numbers game, i.e. the one with the most votes etc etc.

So thanks in advance and I will update soon about life in the studio...

Finishing a piece

Finally I finished that ring! It became that job I just had to do.....finish that ring but it was also one of those pieces where anything that can go wrong, did. Many lessons learnt on this one so it made this ring personal and more so once it was finally done...want to see it? Well I want to show you!!






So I was very happy and inspired to continue....here are just some of the pieces I continued with.....













As pictures speak a thousand words...I'll leave it this for today's blog. U

Stones

Progress has been made with the all inclusive new website and I can see it coming together at last. Still work to go but over the end of the year and in to 2011 that will be my big effort. I will have to upload all the pictures of products and stones etc for customers to see and choose and do a little page in Swedish for my Swedish customers too.

Talking of stones, a lot of work this week has been on stone setting. As it's the first time I have ever done this kind of work I was pleased with the initial outcome...at least until the bezel splintered so low I couldn't save it......so close but so far! I was so upset I have put the ring to one side to work on again when I have emotionally detached myself enough!

The learning curves of this new venture are huge but so worth it. To see the finished product gives me a sense of pride I have never felt before when it comes to work. Even the process of making the pieces is exciting and spurs me on as I can't wait to see the end product. However patience is the name of the game with silver work and some days I tune in better than others. I try to keep a few projects on the go at once so that they are in different stages and I can do what my mood suits best on the day.

So dates have been decided and my first party in Sweden will be on the 3rd of October and I am working flat out to get enough stock together and as many gems as I can set. I have the (healthy, adrenalin kind) fear! I want to ensure I don't run out of pieces before I go to London and then the Christmas party here in Sweden again.....work work work :o)
Opening party in Sweden: 2nd October
Opening party in England: TBC but between the 4th and the 7th of November
Christmas market in Sweden: 21st November, Horla Marknad

I have been taking some pictures of the progress on the stone setting as I do it in the studio..I will post them now and next week.....even the bit where it all goes wrong!!


My thought for the week..........
I have also had an idea to run a course next year on silver wire jewellery making. Wire is much easier to work with and you get results much faster. Whilst this is not where my work is currently focused, I think it can be a great introduction to jewellery for both adults and children.

So I leave you with pictures of the week from my studio xx

August Update

With the end of the summer holidays in site the tempo is picking up again and I feel the need to plan for Christmas and all it's glory.

Having picked up some gems in London I plan to set them and do some new silver designs in the next few months with the goal of having my first ever evening parties (yes there will be two!). It is ambitious but I plan to have one in London and one in Sweden.

There is lots to do and with custom orders still trickling in and the tax man knocking I must remember to update my blog and look towards my marketing plan. I really would like to have my own website up and running before Christams this year so that everything can be found in that one place and easily.

So off to check out some winter designs and make some stunning, unique pieces.

My shop is OPEN at http://www.etsy.com/shop/silverbyk8

Link to shop


I have spent the past month or so getting to grips with Etsy as a website that I can set up my own shop on. It sells handmade, supplies or vintage items from small businesses or people with a hobby they would like to share.

I have found many different levels of quality and prices but I generally believe you get what you pay for on Etsy and you get a huge choice where you can decide according to your taste. It also a good community for small time sellers who are starting up and they send us advice on how to improve our shops. For now, this is the best option for me as a start up, in the future I hope to have my own site where people can shop directly and easily see the price in any currency, email me directly from the site and see the site in both English and Swedish, all that to come....in time!

Enjoy the updated pictures on Flickr which include my commissions and if there is anything you wish to order that you don't see please do send me an email or have a conversation with me on my Etsy site to see how much something might cost and what is possible :o) I LOVE to make people happy!! x

Email me at: kate@silverbyk8.com
(all emails to katebrennan2000@yahoo.co.uk will be forwarded there automatically)

Spring in to Silver

(more pictures of my silver below)

Spring is here, the flowers are blossoming in the garden and the weather is as erratic as ever in Spring this far north. I have been working away building and decorating the new studio, ordering business cards (due this week), shopping for lots of silver and display stands\cases etc and trying to get my head around the bookkeeping!

So as summer edges closer every day I think I had better open a Silver by K8 website. I have purchased my own website and am developing it so that I can take sales direct from it but until it is ready to go I am starting up on Etsy. It's an American owned marketplace for people who create their own things, I love it just to buy something original now and again. Have a look around it, you could even sell your own things on there? Why not? If you do, let me know ;o)

Etsy.com

Expect my shop on Etsy shortly, until then a taste of things done and things yet to come......

The garage before building the studio




And after...






Some products of the studio