Blog Carnival: Business Success Secrets

What does it mean to you to be "successful" in business as an artist? How do you walk the line between creativity and profitability? What is the best thing you've done for your business?

At this point in the evolution of my business, "success" is something that falls between creativity and profitability. I chose this business because I can be creative with the hope of being profitable. I spent a lot of time working in a non-creative atmosphere for a paycheck. When I left that career, I did so because I wanted to stay at home and focus on my family. I still want to do that, but can't do only that. I need to be able to both take care of my family and contribute to our finances. Success means not having to go back.

Creativity leads to profitability. When people shop of the kind of product that I make, they aren't presented with loads of exactly the same thing. If I can't pull them in with something creative, they are lost to me. In that way, there's no "line" between the two. Instead one feeds the other. Most of what I find fun and exciting, they find interesting. Sometimes, they don't. There are those times when I am excited about something and I make it, and it doesn't sell. Hopefully, I haven't made it into a piece of production work before testing the market. This creative business is something that feeds on response; response from peers or clients. When that overlaps it's really nice, so if I don't get a response, I usually lose interest as well. I once read that retailers should have 50% of their items be completely new each year. I'm not sure I'm that creative yet, but I try to keep it fresh.

Most of the time, I follow my business where it leads me. I browse sites and articles that offer business advise, but I don't worship at them. If I find an idea that could work for me, I might follow that lead, but I can't let that take up all my time. I suppose the best thing I've done to help my business grow is to be brave. I am nervous to try new things, but I don't let fear stop me. I have a long to do list, so I don't plan on running out of ideas for business or for creativity anytime soon.

Blog Carnival

Here are the EtsyMetal team members participating in this carnival:

stacey http://wildflowerdesigns.blogspot.com
victoria takahashi / experimetal http://vtakahashi.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-carnival-november-2010.html
2Roses: http://jewelrytutorial.blogspot.com/2010/11/etsymetal-blog-carnival-font-face-font.html
Jenny: http://ridgeschool.blogspot.com/
Beth Cyr: http://bcyrjewelry.blogspot.com/2010/11/etsymetal-blog-carnival-11810-business.html
Twigs and Heather: http://twigsandheather.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-carnival-etsymetal-team-what-does.html
Purified: http://purifiedart.blogspot.com/
Nodeform: http://nodeform.blogspot.com/

Gaby / India y a la Luna: http://indiaylaluna.blogspot.com/