Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Reflection

I have been trying to figure what it is that I am doing wrong. Not wrong as a parent or wife, but wrong as an online jewelry seller. Of course, some things pop into my head right away such as~ not blogging like I should be... not spending enough time figuring out what SEO really is and how to implement it correctly. These are two things that come to mind right away. But what about the things I DON'T know? What about the things that I am not doing because I DON'T KNOW that I should be doing them? What about the things that I WANT to do, but I just don't know HOW to do them?
I tuned into a free webinar offered by Handmadeology last night and I have to tell you, it got my wheels turning! They have a six week course that they will be offering soon and I CAN'T WAIT! Timothy Adam and Lisa Jacobs are two smart cookies! They helped me to realize that it is not all about WHAT I am doing, but HOW I am doing it. I realized that I need to take some time and really REFLECT on my goals and what I want as a small business owner. I need to LEARN and FIGURE OUT some things so that I can become better at what it is that I truly want to do!
Now don't get me wrong, there are some things that I am dong right. For instance, I have a Facebook page, a Twitter account, boards that I pin to on Pinterest, and accounts with Stumble Upon and Linked In. These are some of the things that I know I MUST do to sell online. I hope to learn how to utilize these tools to the best of my ability in the upcoming workshop, but I know that I am at least doing some things right by having my presence known in these locations and posting to these places. It is the UNKNOWN that has me beating my head against the wall right now. Have you ever felt that you have more ambition than you ever dreamed possibly, just to have that ambition create ABSOLUTELY no solid results? How frustrating this is for me! I am sure that I am not the only one out there that feels this way BUT...I finally believe that I may be on to something that may just change all of this! I am just really hopeful that Lisa and Tim bring it in this 6 week course! (I am so sure they will, as I have not been disappointed yet!)
Now, I have been thinking about other things too. I think we all try to reflect on ourselves and try to come up with ways that we are going to improve when it is the start of a fresh new year. I have a few groups on Facebook that I am a member of, and someone in one of these groups asked what *word* was our *word* for 2013. I had never heard of this before, as I had always heard of *goals* and *resolutions*, but never *word*. Now, I thought long and hard about this before I responded. I wanted a word that I could utilize in every aspect of my life. I wanted a word that really MEANT something when I thought about it. I thought about *productivity* but quickly dismissed it. *Productivity* is somewhat of a mundane word that really doesn't get to the bottom of what I feel I need to achieve. I thought about *organize* but this too was quickly dismissed. I organize all of the time without ever really ACCOMPLISHING anything. Then it hit me, I needed *consistency* to become part of who I am. I am not *consistent* and this has caused so many problems for me. I have become a sporadic blogger. I don't enter things into BeadManager Pro as I should, I don't manage my workbench as well as I should. I always start out well and with good intentions, always gung ho in the beginning, but then I falter. If I could stay *consistent* and keep doing what I started out to do, then maybe I would have less issues and problems. If I could stay *consistent* in every aspect of what I do, then I should accomplish things much better. Yes, for me the word *consistent* needed to be my word for 2013. Lisa Jacobs reinforced this word for me last night in the webinar. She insisted  that we MUST be *consistent* it our daily journey. We must do things *consistently* to reap the rewards. I knew right then and there that *consistent* was definitely the best word for me for 2013.
I have started this blog, once more today, knowing that my word for 2013 is *consistent*. I plan to stay on track and keep to my *word*. No more excuses, no more whining and complaining that it takes too much time. I have moments to dedicate to the most important aspects of my life and my jewelry business is one of the things at the top of my priority list. My family is first, of course, but I have always made them my *priority* before anything else. I am often asked how I do it, a full-time job, a husband, young boys, grand children, and running this jewelry business on top of it all. My answer is *consistent*, I don't just have the time, I make the time. I make the time to create my pieces. I create the time to post to Facebook and my other social media outlets. I make the time every single day because it is that important to me. I hope that soon I will be learning how making this time can pay off for me.
I have used my inner voice to speak these things today. I needed my inner thoughts to be put in writing. I need to be able to work through the details of what is going through my mind and really focus on getting my goals to come to fruition. This is the challenge that lies before me, and I plan to act upon it.
Now, I know one thing that I do on my blog that I love to do and that is, give to you the Daily Wire Transfer. I love to take you on a journey with me into another realm and give you something that I think is spectacular in some form. This is one thing that I plan to stay *consistent* with as well... so, without further ado, here is your Daily Wire Transfer. Go, look, and enjoy!