Apparently Jenn's husband, Carlos, picks this book up whenever he sees it at secondhand bookstores and hands them out to friends. So, I received my copy from him maybe a month ago. It's a quick read; you can probably get through it in an evening. I think I put off reading it because I figured it was something aimed at those who work "regular" jobs with big companies that face downsizing. But the discussion section at the end of the book made me see how the lesson can actually be applied to many areas of life. I plan on reading this book out loud to my kids as part of their homeschooling.
The main story chronicles the lives of two mice and two little people who must navigate an enormous maze in order to find sustenance (cheese). At one point, they find what seems to be an unlimited supply of cheese and decide to get comfortable. Little do they realize that the cheese supply is dwindling, until one day it is all gone. The mice simply shrug and move on to find another source of cheese, but the little men struggle with whether they should risk the unknown to go out into the maze and find more cheese, or stay put and wait for someone to bring back their cheese.
I hear people say that the economy is failing and that we all should just tighten our belts and wait it out. But my sales have increased every year since I've been in business...and not just by a meager percentage. I'd like to think that I am this amazing business guru that always makes the right business moves, but I tend to think that my ADD keeps me from sitting still too long. I get bored doing the same thing every day and am always looking for new products and services. I've stepped out of my comfort zone of exhibiting at small face and body art conventions with 100-400 attendees to exhibit at huge hair and make-up shows with 10,000 - 50,000 attendees. Yes there's a greater financial risk, but the payoff has been huge.
But maybe you don't have the kind of funds available that would allow you to launch a costly advertising campaign or to buy all sorts of new equipment. What can you do that won't cost you a thing other than your time and brainpower? In this day and internet age, there are loads of free non-traditional advertising venues. And there are probably tons of markets that you haven't even tapped into because you've become comfortable with your own little market segment, whether it be in a salon or working private parties. When I start feeling like the business is getting stagnant and I need a creative boost, I like to pick up a motivational book (or six) and spend some time reading industry forums to see what everyone else is doing. If you've run out of ideas, keep in mind that you're never more than a few keystrokes away from someone else's great idea. A fellow colleague once said, "A good artist steals some things, a great artist steals everything."
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
The art of competition
We just returned from a week in Calgary, Alberta where we attended Bodyssey, the Canadian face and body painting convention. After last year's event in Toronto, which was held in April, we were looking forward to a summer event. Much to our surprise, summer does not necessarily equal warm weather in Calgary. While we did not have to contend with snow and ice this time around, the outside temperatures were comparable to what we experience during a Florida winter. Fortunately, the convention kept us busy enough that we stayed indoors most of the time anyways.
This convention is one of the smaller conventions in the industry, but as far as conventions that are specific to face and body painting, I'd venture to say that it's the largest in Canada. And the best advantage to a small convention is the one-on-one time that you get with some of the top instructors in the industry. Some of my classes only had a handful of students. At bigger conventions, you'd have to pay upwards of $125 per class for that kind of personalized teaching. These small classes were included with your convention registration at Bodyssey. While the larger conventions have a lot to offer, smaller events can really pack a lot of value.
I was asked to judge the face painting and body painting competitions at Bodyssey. While I don't consider myself a professional body painter, I have competed a few times at the World Body Painting Festival in Austria. For me, competing was a way of forcing myself to try something new. I was being provided with a model, photographers, and a challenge. And no matter how many times I tell myself that I'm going to try to learn a new technique or a new design, it's not until I have a hard deadline that I actually go through with it. And since competitions don't come around every day, they can be a really great source of motivation to break out of your comfort zone.
Unfortunately, most competitions don't provide the artists with feedback that might help them with improving their work. This is mostly due to time constraints, but also due to not wanting to say anything that might discourage someone.
So as someone who has judged several compeitions, I thought it might be useful to some of you to know exactly what it is that the judges are looking for when they judge your work.
Linework
Trying to create a body painting masterpiece when you can't paint a straight line is like constructing a brick building with old crumbling bricks. No matter how great the overall composition, your art is going to look less polished and will give the impression that it was created by a beginner. When you first start painting, the bulk of your practicing should be simply painting lines over and over again.... straight lines, curved lines, lines on faces, teardrops, thin-to-thick lines, etc...
Basing and Blending
Creating a smooth base on a face takes a little practice. Creating a smooth base on a larger surface, like a body, takes a ton of practice. With so many different brands of make-up available, most artists have more than one brand in their kits, especially when you attend a convention and see a color that would be perfect for your competition piece. Each brand of make-up requires a different quantity of water to get smooth coverage. Some brands blend better than others, and some brands don't mix well with other brands. When you buy new make-up brands and colors, spend some time applying them to your legs or some other large surface so you know how to get the best results. If you don't have good results using a sponge for your base, try a large brush instead. Rubbing mica shimmer powder over your base can help smooth out your base as well.
Color choices
You're the artist and of course you want to choose the colors that you've envisioned when you designed the piece. But you also need to make sure that you've chosen colors that allow you to see what the piece is when someone is looking at it from 20 feet away. Too many times, I've seen body paintings that are done completely in pastels or completely in dark colors and you really can't tell what the design is until you get within a few feet of the model. You want to use colors that show a good amount of contrast and make your design more visible. Even when doing small body art applications like glitter tattoos, you can see that using lighter colors on dark skin and using darker colors on light skin makes the tattoos more visible.
Theme & Originality
If the competition has a theme, then adhering to the theme is going to be part of the scoring process. I think a lot of people decide what they want to paint and then try to reach for some vague connection to the theme. Once you know what the theme is, research the theme so you can find a unique aspect that the other competitors may not have thought of. The last face painting competition that I judged was themed, Dungeons and Dragons. Nearly all of the competitors painted dragons, so not a lot of points for originality. But one competitor had really researched dungeons and dragons and brought in elements that no other competitor had. Talk to your model about the work. In many competitions, the artist is not allowed to enter the judging area with the model, so you want to be sure that the model can answer any of the judges' questions.
Accessories and Embellishments
This may sound like a plug for Amerikan Body Art Liquid Bling and Mica Powders (and it is), but when two works of art are at a similar skill and creativity level, the design that has a little bling added to it is going to stand out. I'm not necessarily saying that more is better....as all of us are aware that some face painters will use excessive glitter to cover up less-than-stellar face painting...but knowing where to highlight and accent your painting is important. Be careful that you are not relying on accessories to make the design. Most of the time (unless it is a special effects competition) we are told to exclude (or even subtract from the score) any items that are on the body other than make-up. One contestant that we judged was probably the best work as far as skill and overall impression, but when we excluded the costume and headpiece, we had to give a low score on the theme because without those elements, the painting was too abastract to look at and see the connection to the theme.
Pay attention to the rules
When there is a rule that the whole body (or face) needs to be covered, some artists panic and decide to just accept losing a few points rather than changing their design. When I decided to paint a model as a belly dancer, my workaround was to fill in the blank spots with a sheer pink/ bronze that added a little shimmer, but didn't detract from the outfit I had painted on. If you are painting a mask, you can use the same technique to be sure that the whole face is covered when that is part of the competition rules.
The biggest rule-breaking has to do with adding elements like prosthetics and costume pieces. Choose a design that can stand on its own without all the added fluff. Get your piece judged, and then you can add whatever elements you want to add so you can get great photos for your portfolio.
Many competitions are won by a fraction of a point. You don't want to lose points simply because you didn't understand the rules. If you have a question, ask one of the organizers before you get started.
Completion
It's usually pretty obvious when someone has a really detailed design on the upper part of the body and then hardly anything on the lower part of the body that they simply ran out of time. Body painting takes way longer than you think it would. Just completing the face (which is often a large portion of the score in body painting) can easily take upwards of an hour. If you are allowed to fix the hair and nails before the competion timing starts, definitely take advantage of that. If you have the opportunity, paint the entire design on a model prior to the competion. If you don't have access to a model, at least paint portions of the design and time yourself so you know how long it should take to complete the design. Decide ahead of time which design elements you will sacrifice if you run out of time.
If you are fortunate enough to enter a competition where you receive feedback from the judges, try not to take it personally when you receive negative feedback. Some of us artsy folks may be lacking in communication skills and tact...and to add to that, we're incredibly sensitive when someone critisizes us. Don't be afraid to put your stuff out there and each time you try something new, you're learning what works and what doesn't work and you'll do even better the next time. I tell my kids this a hundred times a day... You have to try and you have to keep practicing. You don't miraculously wake up one day and you're great at something. First you suck at it, but you keep trying and you keep getting better, and eventually you're great at it.
This convention is one of the smaller conventions in the industry, but as far as conventions that are specific to face and body painting, I'd venture to say that it's the largest in Canada. And the best advantage to a small convention is the one-on-one time that you get with some of the top instructors in the industry. Some of my classes only had a handful of students. At bigger conventions, you'd have to pay upwards of $125 per class for that kind of personalized teaching. These small classes were included with your convention registration at Bodyssey. While the larger conventions have a lot to offer, smaller events can really pack a lot of value.
I was asked to judge the face painting and body painting competitions at Bodyssey. While I don't consider myself a professional body painter, I have competed a few times at the World Body Painting Festival in Austria. For me, competing was a way of forcing myself to try something new. I was being provided with a model, photographers, and a challenge. And no matter how many times I tell myself that I'm going to try to learn a new technique or a new design, it's not until I have a hard deadline that I actually go through with it. And since competitions don't come around every day, they can be a really great source of motivation to break out of your comfort zone.
Unfortunately, most competitions don't provide the artists with feedback that might help them with improving their work. This is mostly due to time constraints, but also due to not wanting to say anything that might discourage someone.
So as someone who has judged several compeitions, I thought it might be useful to some of you to know exactly what it is that the judges are looking for when they judge your work.
Linework
Trying to create a body painting masterpiece when you can't paint a straight line is like constructing a brick building with old crumbling bricks. No matter how great the overall composition, your art is going to look less polished and will give the impression that it was created by a beginner. When you first start painting, the bulk of your practicing should be simply painting lines over and over again.... straight lines, curved lines, lines on faces, teardrops, thin-to-thick lines, etc...
Basing and Blending
Creating a smooth base on a face takes a little practice. Creating a smooth base on a larger surface, like a body, takes a ton of practice. With so many different brands of make-up available, most artists have more than one brand in their kits, especially when you attend a convention and see a color that would be perfect for your competition piece. Each brand of make-up requires a different quantity of water to get smooth coverage. Some brands blend better than others, and some brands don't mix well with other brands. When you buy new make-up brands and colors, spend some time applying them to your legs or some other large surface so you know how to get the best results. If you don't have good results using a sponge for your base, try a large brush instead. Rubbing mica shimmer powder over your base can help smooth out your base as well.
Color choices
You're the artist and of course you want to choose the colors that you've envisioned when you designed the piece. But you also need to make sure that you've chosen colors that allow you to see what the piece is when someone is looking at it from 20 feet away. Too many times, I've seen body paintings that are done completely in pastels or completely in dark colors and you really can't tell what the design is until you get within a few feet of the model. You want to use colors that show a good amount of contrast and make your design more visible. Even when doing small body art applications like glitter tattoos, you can see that using lighter colors on dark skin and using darker colors on light skin makes the tattoos more visible.
Theme & Originality
If the competition has a theme, then adhering to the theme is going to be part of the scoring process. I think a lot of people decide what they want to paint and then try to reach for some vague connection to the theme. Once you know what the theme is, research the theme so you can find a unique aspect that the other competitors may not have thought of. The last face painting competition that I judged was themed, Dungeons and Dragons. Nearly all of the competitors painted dragons, so not a lot of points for originality. But one competitor had really researched dungeons and dragons and brought in elements that no other competitor had. Talk to your model about the work. In many competitions, the artist is not allowed to enter the judging area with the model, so you want to be sure that the model can answer any of the judges' questions.
Accessories and Embellishments
This may sound like a plug for Amerikan Body Art Liquid Bling and Mica Powders (and it is), but when two works of art are at a similar skill and creativity level, the design that has a little bling added to it is going to stand out. I'm not necessarily saying that more is better....as all of us are aware that some face painters will use excessive glitter to cover up less-than-stellar face painting...but knowing where to highlight and accent your painting is important. Be careful that you are not relying on accessories to make the design. Most of the time (unless it is a special effects competition) we are told to exclude (or even subtract from the score) any items that are on the body other than make-up. One contestant that we judged was probably the best work as far as skill and overall impression, but when we excluded the costume and headpiece, we had to give a low score on the theme because without those elements, the painting was too abastract to look at and see the connection to the theme.
Pay attention to the rules
When there is a rule that the whole body (or face) needs to be covered, some artists panic and decide to just accept losing a few points rather than changing their design. When I decided to paint a model as a belly dancer, my workaround was to fill in the blank spots with a sheer pink/ bronze that added a little shimmer, but didn't detract from the outfit I had painted on. If you are painting a mask, you can use the same technique to be sure that the whole face is covered when that is part of the competition rules.
The biggest rule-breaking has to do with adding elements like prosthetics and costume pieces. Choose a design that can stand on its own without all the added fluff. Get your piece judged, and then you can add whatever elements you want to add so you can get great photos for your portfolio.
Many competitions are won by a fraction of a point. You don't want to lose points simply because you didn't understand the rules. If you have a question, ask one of the organizers before you get started.
Completion
It's usually pretty obvious when someone has a really detailed design on the upper part of the body and then hardly anything on the lower part of the body that they simply ran out of time. Body painting takes way longer than you think it would. Just completing the face (which is often a large portion of the score in body painting) can easily take upwards of an hour. If you are allowed to fix the hair and nails before the competion timing starts, definitely take advantage of that. If you have the opportunity, paint the entire design on a model prior to the competion. If you don't have access to a model, at least paint portions of the design and time yourself so you know how long it should take to complete the design. Decide ahead of time which design elements you will sacrifice if you run out of time.
If you are fortunate enough to enter a competition where you receive feedback from the judges, try not to take it personally when you receive negative feedback. Some of us artsy folks may be lacking in communication skills and tact...and to add to that, we're incredibly sensitive when someone critisizes us. Don't be afraid to put your stuff out there and each time you try something new, you're learning what works and what doesn't work and you'll do even better the next time. I tell my kids this a hundred times a day... You have to try and you have to keep practicing. You don't miraculously wake up one day and you're great at something. First you suck at it, but you keep trying and you keep getting better, and eventually you're great at it.
Sunday, August 1, 2010
Beware of Email scams
I've been receiving an increasing number of emails lately that look like legitimate job offers but are a new spin on the Nigerian letter scams that have been around for years. Most of you are probably aware of these types of letters, but I know that many of you are just starting out and may not have seen one of these letters yet. I just wanted to post a little information here to be sure that none of you falls prey to these criminals.
The letters typically come from someone outside of your area and state that they will be visiting your area, for whatever reason. Usually the letters are quite vague and may not even mention exactly which services they hope that you can provide, but the scammers have been getting smarter and are trying to tailor their letters to seem more legitimate. Most scam letters are poorly written with spelling and grammatical errors.
The scam happens when the "client" sends you payment in the form of a cashier's check or a money order. The check is always for more than what you were going to charge and they want you to send the remainder to another service provider for the event...like a caterer or a photographer. The checks that they send look so legitimate that banks happily cash them for you, but then realize (perhaps even several weeks later) that the check was fraudulent. Then they take the funds back out of your bank account. By this time, you have already sent some of your own funds to the scammers or their partners. You'll never see the "clients" or your money again.
Here is a copy of a recent email that I received. If you are ever in doubt, send a copy to a colleague to get an opinion before responding to a suspect email.
Hello,
My name is Scott Hamilton,you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed by our agent for us saying your work got the features we need for our catalogue update,I have a pay Fashion job for you if you are interested,My client wants to update her
Catalog with her new year release Fashion outfits and i'm interested in you for the professional shooting as Tattoo Artist. so if you are interested you can get back to me.
The shooting will hold at a rented photographers studio in your location,so you don't have to worry about traveling,the name and address of the studio will be froward to you before the date of the
shooting, all make up will be taken cared of in the studio you can come along with any body of your choice on the day of the shooting,your mum,dad,friend,body-guard anybody you wish to come with just for you to feel comfortable .
Get back to me ASAP for me details about the job.
The letters typically come from someone outside of your area and state that they will be visiting your area, for whatever reason. Usually the letters are quite vague and may not even mention exactly which services they hope that you can provide, but the scammers have been getting smarter and are trying to tailor their letters to seem more legitimate. Most scam letters are poorly written with spelling and grammatical errors.
The scam happens when the "client" sends you payment in the form of a cashier's check or a money order. The check is always for more than what you were going to charge and they want you to send the remainder to another service provider for the event...like a caterer or a photographer. The checks that they send look so legitimate that banks happily cash them for you, but then realize (perhaps even several weeks later) that the check was fraudulent. Then they take the funds back out of your bank account. By this time, you have already sent some of your own funds to the scammers or their partners. You'll never see the "clients" or your money again.
Here is a copy of a recent email that I received. If you are ever in doubt, send a copy to a colleague to get an opinion before responding to a suspect email.
Hello,
My name is Scott Hamilton,you are one of the few people chosen out of the screening exercise performed by our agent for us saying your work got the features we need for our catalogue update,I have a pay Fashion job for you if you are interested,My client wants to update her
Catalog with her new year release Fashion outfits and i'm interested in you for the professional shooting as Tattoo Artist. so if you are interested you can get back to me.
The shooting will hold at a rented photographers studio in your location,so you don't have to worry about traveling,the name and address of the studio will be froward to you before the date of the
shooting, all make up will be taken cared of in the studio you can come along with any body of your choice on the day of the shooting,your mum,dad,friend,body-guard anybody you wish to come with just for you to feel comfortable .
Get back to me ASAP for me details about the job.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Purple Cow
Believe it or not, we have been freezing our tushies off here in Florida. I know it’s a joke relative to what the rest of the country has to deal with, but it’s still quite shocking to us. My husband was commenting on how sexy the women are looking with their long jeans and sweaters. Mind you, these are the same women who would be walking around nearly naked for 350 days out of the year. But something about being different from the norm, makes them seem so much more appealing, even all covered up. You’ll see teenage girls still wearing short skirts and tank tops in freezing temperatures, because they haven’t matured enough to realize that they’d get more attention by being different from their friends than by looking exactly the same. I remember chatting with a young Danish friend, Mathilda, and realizing that she was naturally a blond and dyed her hair brown. It would seem sacrilegious to do that here in the US, where we pay a fortune for blond highlights. But apparently, a brunette in a sea of blond goddesses is a novelty.
This got me thinking about one of my favorite books, Purple Cow, by Seth Godin. It’s a short book and an easy read, as most of Godin’s books are. I really appreciate that style of writing though, direct and to the point, but with enough examples to illustrate important subjects. A Purple Cow is something remarkable, something that makes you stop and say, “Wow…a Purple Cow!” As a business person, you don’t want to look like every other brown spotted cow. You want people to notice and talk about what makes you stand apart from all those other businesses. You might find it hard to believe, but often, being the best face and body artist or the least expensive face and body artist are not necessarily the most significant qualities that will make you stand apart from your competition.
I’ve talked about the Purple Cow in at least one past newsletter, but I think it’s a subject worth revisiting. I think we all go through lulls where business is going along just fine and we don’t want to put in the extra effort to push it to the next level. It’s all too common an occurrence for me to come up with a great idea and then not follow through on it. I’ve had several new products sitting on the shelves in my warehouse that I haven’t even bothered to start packaging and putting up on the website. You should see a few of those new products popping up on the website this month.
As difficult as it may be to imagine at the moment, spring is right around the corner. If you tend to take it easy through the winter months, your business should start picking up right about now. I should say, that the face and body art business will start picking up right about now. Whether that is your business or another local artist’s business, is going to be up to you. Rather than letting your customers find out what makes you special after they’ve hired you, why not tell people about it before they hire you. When local businesses and families start planning their warm weather activities, what is it that will make them hire you instead of another local artist? What makes you a Purple Cow? Figure out what makes you a Purple Cow and create a marketing plan that features your unique offerings. If you’re not a Purple Cow yet, start studying your competition and figure out what they are not offering and that you could offer.
This Valentine’s Day, my husband did something very special for me. I had mentioned to him that Valentine’s Day was my favorite holiday as a child because although I didn’t have many friends in school, I’d always get a Valentine’s card from every student in the class. Of course, it would be thanks to the parents and teachers insisting on everyone giving a card to everyone in the class, but it still made me feel really good. I was in Las Vegas for the Face Painting and Body Art Association Convention for the entire week before Valentine’s Day. During that week, my husband had all of my friends, neighbors and family fill out little Valentine’s cards. He even called Jennifer in Las Vegas and had her get my friends out there to fill out cards for me. I had no idea until he handed me the basket full of Valentine’s cards. It was the most special and memorable Valentine’s Day of my life. And the reason why I mention it here is that it was something that probably cost him little or nothing in terms of money, but its value was immeasurable.
There are extremely inexpensive things that you could do at a party that would create an interactive experience for guests and hosts, and that would make you seem like the ultimate party entertainer. As the economy shifts, more people are realizing that experiences and memories with our loved ones are more important than material things. Here are some examples for creating memorable experiences at your parties.
~ Take photos of the guests as you paint/ tattoo them. You could copy them to a CD for the party hostess, create an online photo album accessible only to the party host and guests, or bring a small photo printer with you to the party and give each guest a photo of themselves. Even if you just take a photo of the guest of honor, you could make a thank you card for the party host and include that photo with the card.
~ Bring a craft project like a T-shirt, a tote bag, or a giant card where all of the party guests can write a message for the guest of honor. Use a 40% or 50% off coupon at Michael’s or Joann Fabrics to get very inexpensive craft materials. You can also find craft project supplies at www.OrientalTrading.com <http://www.OrientalTrading.com>
~ For baby shower henna parties, you can do belly henna design that has an open space where each guest can henna a blessing for the new baby.
~ Baby Showers and 1st Birthday parties are ideal events for having the guests write messages that the child can read later in life. Use pretty scrapbook papers to make small cards for each guest to write their message, and put them into a small decorative box from the dollar store.
I hope I’ve given you all a few things to think about this month, and maybe some good ideas for your business. I’d love to hear other people’s ideas for inexpensive party extras, so I’m going to post this newsletter on the forum. Feel free to reply with some ideas that you use in your business. Even the smallest tidbit of advice can be invaluable to your fellow artists.
Have a wonderfully prosperous month!
Love,
~Erika
This got me thinking about one of my favorite books, Purple Cow, by Seth Godin. It’s a short book and an easy read, as most of Godin’s books are. I really appreciate that style of writing though, direct and to the point, but with enough examples to illustrate important subjects. A Purple Cow is something remarkable, something that makes you stop and say, “Wow…a Purple Cow!” As a business person, you don’t want to look like every other brown spotted cow. You want people to notice and talk about what makes you stand apart from all those other businesses. You might find it hard to believe, but often, being the best face and body artist or the least expensive face and body artist are not necessarily the most significant qualities that will make you stand apart from your competition.
I’ve talked about the Purple Cow in at least one past newsletter, but I think it’s a subject worth revisiting. I think we all go through lulls where business is going along just fine and we don’t want to put in the extra effort to push it to the next level. It’s all too common an occurrence for me to come up with a great idea and then not follow through on it. I’ve had several new products sitting on the shelves in my warehouse that I haven’t even bothered to start packaging and putting up on the website. You should see a few of those new products popping up on the website this month.
As difficult as it may be to imagine at the moment, spring is right around the corner. If you tend to take it easy through the winter months, your business should start picking up right about now. I should say, that the face and body art business will start picking up right about now. Whether that is your business or another local artist’s business, is going to be up to you. Rather than letting your customers find out what makes you special after they’ve hired you, why not tell people about it before they hire you. When local businesses and families start planning their warm weather activities, what is it that will make them hire you instead of another local artist? What makes you a Purple Cow? Figure out what makes you a Purple Cow and create a marketing plan that features your unique offerings. If you’re not a Purple Cow yet, start studying your competition and figure out what they are not offering and that you could offer.
This Valentine’s Day, my husband did something very special for me. I had mentioned to him that Valentine’s Day was my favorite holiday as a child because although I didn’t have many friends in school, I’d always get a Valentine’s card from every student in the class. Of course, it would be thanks to the parents and teachers insisting on everyone giving a card to everyone in the class, but it still made me feel really good. I was in Las Vegas for the Face Painting and Body Art Association Convention for the entire week before Valentine’s Day. During that week, my husband had all of my friends, neighbors and family fill out little Valentine’s cards. He even called Jennifer in Las Vegas and had her get my friends out there to fill out cards for me. I had no idea until he handed me the basket full of Valentine’s cards. It was the most special and memorable Valentine’s Day of my life. And the reason why I mention it here is that it was something that probably cost him little or nothing in terms of money, but its value was immeasurable.
There are extremely inexpensive things that you could do at a party that would create an interactive experience for guests and hosts, and that would make you seem like the ultimate party entertainer. As the economy shifts, more people are realizing that experiences and memories with our loved ones are more important than material things. Here are some examples for creating memorable experiences at your parties.
~ Take photos of the guests as you paint/ tattoo them. You could copy them to a CD for the party hostess, create an online photo album accessible only to the party host and guests, or bring a small photo printer with you to the party and give each guest a photo of themselves. Even if you just take a photo of the guest of honor, you could make a thank you card for the party host and include that photo with the card.
~ Bring a craft project like a T-shirt, a tote bag, or a giant card where all of the party guests can write a message for the guest of honor. Use a 40% or 50% off coupon at Michael’s or Joann Fabrics to get very inexpensive craft materials. You can also find craft project supplies at www.OrientalTrading.com <http://www.OrientalTrading.com>
~ For baby shower henna parties, you can do belly henna design that has an open space where each guest can henna a blessing for the new baby.
~ Baby Showers and 1st Birthday parties are ideal events for having the guests write messages that the child can read later in life. Use pretty scrapbook papers to make small cards for each guest to write their message, and put them into a small decorative box from the dollar store.
I hope I’ve given you all a few things to think about this month, and maybe some good ideas for your business. I’d love to hear other people’s ideas for inexpensive party extras, so I’m going to post this newsletter on the forum. Feel free to reply with some ideas that you use in your business. Even the smallest tidbit of advice can be invaluable to your fellow artists.
Have a wonderfully prosperous month!
Love,
~Erika
Friday, January 1, 2010
Setting goals and the Theory of Relativity
A few weeks ago, my husband came home from work, complaining about mistakes that had been made at his company, which could very well result in the loss of hundreds of jobs. I countered with my crisis of the day which occurred when someone in the warehouse mistakenly put holographic gold glitter into the brilliant gold glitter bottle and I wasn’t sure whether or not any of that glitter had been bottled and shipped out. I know that my husband had been thinking of starting his own business for quite some time, but comparing my version of a bad day with his version of a bad day was all he needed to start making serious plans to get his business started in 2010. He’s been working the same job for 20+ years and is terrified at the thought of not having a stable income, but at some point, you have to question whether or not you are living the life you really want to live. Why should we continue to do what others want us to do, just so we can “retire” when we’re too old to appreciate the freedom?
This is the time of year that we all start making goals and plans for the New Year, and for many of us, it’s also the time of year that we start feeling guilty about not accomplishing everything we had set out to do last year. My personal goal last year was to completely pay off my credit card debt by the end of the year. Considering the amount of debt that I had from getting my business started and from a few too many years of living beyond my means, one year was truly not enough time to accomplish this goal. I did pay off over $20,000 in debt, and yet I still beat myself up over not meeting my goal. In my quest to find ways to increase income and decrease expenses, I’ve come across many stories from other people who are dealing with debt. I’ve read stories of people with $6000 in credit card debt who are considering filing for bankruptcy. And I’ve read stories of people who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that they are figuring out how to pay off. So what is it that makes someone with $6000 in debt think that they have no choice but to give up and someone with $400,000 in debt think that they will get it all worked out? I am finding that the best way to explain this phenomenon is my own personal Theory of Relativity.
When I was a child, my step-father aspired to find a job where he would be paid $200 per week. This was in the mid-80’s, so it’s not like $200 went all that much further than it would today. His goal of $200 per week was chosen simply because it was more than he had ever earned in a week and it was more than his friends were earning. So basically, he was aiming for a life that was relatively better than that of his friends. The problem with his way of thinking was that he was an alcoholic and drug addict and so were his friends. He did eventually find a job that paid him $200 per week, so having met his goal; he had no further need to try to better his life. Many of us have a goal of having a relatively better life than our parents had. People who know the sort of family and life that I came from are incredulous that I could have achieved all that I have achieved. Had I chosen to set my sights on a life that was only relatively better than that of an alcoholic and drug addict, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now.
We all have moments in life that stay with us because someone said something so profound that it changed our lives, whether you realized it at the time or not. When I was in high school, I was in foster care and would visit my great-aunt and cousins at Christmastime. I was engaged to my high school sweetheart and we had our lives all planned out. He would be a psychologist and I would be a teacher, and our combined income would eventually be around $100,000. When I proudly discussed my plans and goals with my cousin, Sharon, she said, “Well, that’s a good start…” I thought she was insane at the time. It made me think, “How much does her family earn that $100,000 was simply a start?” I was sure that $100,000 was more than anyone I knew was earning. But going back to my theory of relativity…At the time, I was in foster care with kids who were destined to be on welfare when they turned 18, the staff that took care of us were being paid minimum wage, and prior to being placed in foster care, I lived in a drug den. I knew that I could rise above where I was, but I didn’t dare to believe that I had as much potential as someone who came from a good family, and I really didn’t even have a concept of what was considered a good annual income. In that one conversation, Sharon opened my eyes to the fact that, maybe I was limiting myself in my belief of what was available to me and what I deserved in life. I still had to convince myself that life was full of infinite possibilities and that I could achieve whatever I set out to achieve, but knowing that one person did not think twice about my ability to succeed, was the spark of hope that I needed.
My new goal for this year is to finish paying off my credit card debt and to save up enough money for our family to go on a three-week vacation in Europe. To achieve my goal, I have to increase my income by 50%. When I told my husband what I needed for this year, he only paused for a moment. He said, “Two years ago, I would have considered that a crazy idea, but now….I know it’s do-able.” That’s the sort of response you really need to hear when you decide what it is that you need and want. Many of our friends and family are trapped in jobs where they can predict exactly what they will earn for the year because they work 40 hours per week and earn relatively the same amount of money as anyone else with their educational background and experience. As business owners, we have the privilege of having a flexible income. This means that we could choose to continue as we have in the past year and maybe earn slightly more than last year. Or we can radically change our business plans, step out of our comfort zone and double, triple, or infinitely increase our income.
Increasing income may not necessarily be what you need to do in order to start living the life you want. If my husband could do a job that he loved, but only earned half of what he earns now, we would consider our lives to be improved. But if you feel that increasing your income is what you need to improve your quality of life, you may need to assess your potential streams of income.
Can you increase your client base to do more gigs or get more business from your current clients? Most of us have a hard time finding gigs during the week. Send out a postcard to all of your current clients and offer them a discounted price for weekday gigs. In an effort to save money, many parents are opting to have a smaller after-school birthday party during the week, rather than having a big weekend party. There are plenty of other events such as kids’ nights at restaurants and bookstore events which are held during the week and would benefit from having a face painter entertain their guests.
Perhaps you can increase the scope of your current business. No matter how much you feel that you still need to learn, there is much that you have already learned and can share with others. Think about teaching workshops and selling supplies to your students. You probably already have everything you need to teach a class at your kitchen table. If you don’t have the money to buy supplies for resale before your class, take orders at the class so you can buy the supplies immediately afterwards. Reinvest those profits into buying more supplies for your next class. Most people will buy more if you already have the products on hand. If you have a lot of artists in your area, you could hold a jam instead of a class. You’d still have the opportunity to sell products.
Maybe you have talents that have nothing to do with face and body art. I am a rubber stamp and collage artist in my spare time. The problem is that I have very little spare time and over the years, I’ve collected enough supplies for dozens of artists. I’ve decided to start a second online business selling collage supplies. I’m also working on a few writing projects that I’ve been putting off for years.
Rather than waiting for opportunities to find us, we have to go out and find or create those opportunities. We have to completely discard the notion of what we believe that someone in our position deserves, and accept that we are worthy of anything and everything that we want from life. Surround yourself with supportive people and recognize when you need a little inspiration. I like to plug in The Secret DVD or read Chicken Soup for the Soul when I start wondering if I really can live the life of my dreams.
There are two quotes from Wayne Dyer that I’ve had printed on my computer mouse pad, and that sum up my feelings for the upcoming year:
“There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.”
“Within you is the divine capacity to manifest and attract all that you need or desire.”
I look forward to working with all of you for another year of freedom, prosperity, and living in the moment.
Love, Erika
This is the time of year that we all start making goals and plans for the New Year, and for many of us, it’s also the time of year that we start feeling guilty about not accomplishing everything we had set out to do last year. My personal goal last year was to completely pay off my credit card debt by the end of the year. Considering the amount of debt that I had from getting my business started and from a few too many years of living beyond my means, one year was truly not enough time to accomplish this goal. I did pay off over $20,000 in debt, and yet I still beat myself up over not meeting my goal. In my quest to find ways to increase income and decrease expenses, I’ve come across many stories from other people who are dealing with debt. I’ve read stories of people with $6000 in credit card debt who are considering filing for bankruptcy. And I’ve read stories of people who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that they are figuring out how to pay off. So what is it that makes someone with $6000 in debt think that they have no choice but to give up and someone with $400,000 in debt think that they will get it all worked out? I am finding that the best way to explain this phenomenon is my own personal Theory of Relativity.
When I was a child, my step-father aspired to find a job where he would be paid $200 per week. This was in the mid-80’s, so it’s not like $200 went all that much further than it would today. His goal of $200 per week was chosen simply because it was more than he had ever earned in a week and it was more than his friends were earning. So basically, he was aiming for a life that was relatively better than that of his friends. The problem with his way of thinking was that he was an alcoholic and drug addict and so were his friends. He did eventually find a job that paid him $200 per week, so having met his goal; he had no further need to try to better his life. Many of us have a goal of having a relatively better life than our parents had. People who know the sort of family and life that I came from are incredulous that I could have achieved all that I have achieved. Had I chosen to set my sights on a life that was only relatively better than that of an alcoholic and drug addict, you probably wouldn’t be reading this right now.
We all have moments in life that stay with us because someone said something so profound that it changed our lives, whether you realized it at the time or not. When I was in high school, I was in foster care and would visit my great-aunt and cousins at Christmastime. I was engaged to my high school sweetheart and we had our lives all planned out. He would be a psychologist and I would be a teacher, and our combined income would eventually be around $100,000. When I proudly discussed my plans and goals with my cousin, Sharon, she said, “Well, that’s a good start…” I thought she was insane at the time. It made me think, “How much does her family earn that $100,000 was simply a start?” I was sure that $100,000 was more than anyone I knew was earning. But going back to my theory of relativity…At the time, I was in foster care with kids who were destined to be on welfare when they turned 18, the staff that took care of us were being paid minimum wage, and prior to being placed in foster care, I lived in a drug den. I knew that I could rise above where I was, but I didn’t dare to believe that I had as much potential as someone who came from a good family, and I really didn’t even have a concept of what was considered a good annual income. In that one conversation, Sharon opened my eyes to the fact that, maybe I was limiting myself in my belief of what was available to me and what I deserved in life. I still had to convince myself that life was full of infinite possibilities and that I could achieve whatever I set out to achieve, but knowing that one person did not think twice about my ability to succeed, was the spark of hope that I needed.
My new goal for this year is to finish paying off my credit card debt and to save up enough money for our family to go on a three-week vacation in Europe. To achieve my goal, I have to increase my income by 50%. When I told my husband what I needed for this year, he only paused for a moment. He said, “Two years ago, I would have considered that a crazy idea, but now….I know it’s do-able.” That’s the sort of response you really need to hear when you decide what it is that you need and want. Many of our friends and family are trapped in jobs where they can predict exactly what they will earn for the year because they work 40 hours per week and earn relatively the same amount of money as anyone else with their educational background and experience. As business owners, we have the privilege of having a flexible income. This means that we could choose to continue as we have in the past year and maybe earn slightly more than last year. Or we can radically change our business plans, step out of our comfort zone and double, triple, or infinitely increase our income.
Increasing income may not necessarily be what you need to do in order to start living the life you want. If my husband could do a job that he loved, but only earned half of what he earns now, we would consider our lives to be improved. But if you feel that increasing your income is what you need to improve your quality of life, you may need to assess your potential streams of income.
Can you increase your client base to do more gigs or get more business from your current clients? Most of us have a hard time finding gigs during the week. Send out a postcard to all of your current clients and offer them a discounted price for weekday gigs. In an effort to save money, many parents are opting to have a smaller after-school birthday party during the week, rather than having a big weekend party. There are plenty of other events such as kids’ nights at restaurants and bookstore events which are held during the week and would benefit from having a face painter entertain their guests.
Perhaps you can increase the scope of your current business. No matter how much you feel that you still need to learn, there is much that you have already learned and can share with others. Think about teaching workshops and selling supplies to your students. You probably already have everything you need to teach a class at your kitchen table. If you don’t have the money to buy supplies for resale before your class, take orders at the class so you can buy the supplies immediately afterwards. Reinvest those profits into buying more supplies for your next class. Most people will buy more if you already have the products on hand. If you have a lot of artists in your area, you could hold a jam instead of a class. You’d still have the opportunity to sell products.
Maybe you have talents that have nothing to do with face and body art. I am a rubber stamp and collage artist in my spare time. The problem is that I have very little spare time and over the years, I’ve collected enough supplies for dozens of artists. I’ve decided to start a second online business selling collage supplies. I’m also working on a few writing projects that I’ve been putting off for years.
Rather than waiting for opportunities to find us, we have to go out and find or create those opportunities. We have to completely discard the notion of what we believe that someone in our position deserves, and accept that we are worthy of anything and everything that we want from life. Surround yourself with supportive people and recognize when you need a little inspiration. I like to plug in The Secret DVD or read Chicken Soup for the Soul when I start wondering if I really can live the life of my dreams.
There are two quotes from Wayne Dyer that I’ve had printed on my computer mouse pad, and that sum up my feelings for the upcoming year:
“There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there’s only scarcity of resolve to make it happen.”
“Within you is the divine capacity to manifest and attract all that you need or desire.”
I look forward to working with all of you for another year of freedom, prosperity, and living in the moment.
Love, Erika
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