24 Things to try in 2005

Twenty-four Actions you can take to improve your business in 2005:

  1. Take a vacation. Get away from your shop/business. (Take a
    sketchpad if you’re obsessed like me!)

  2. Visit a studio(s) - metalsmith, goldsmith, silversmith, lapidary,
    or jeweler, whose work you admire.

  3. Update or redesign your business card, printed materials
    (brochures/advertisements), and website

  4. Teach a class, workshop, or give a demonstration on your
    techniques. (You’ll find that you will learn more from teaching than
    your students do)

  5. Subscribe to new trade journals and website forums. Write an
    article about one of your projects for a journal or a forum.
    PARTICIPATE in the forums! SUPPORT the forums like Orchid fer
    instance!

  6. Update your resume, artists’s profile, and statement, your
    complete publicity package.

  7. Invest in yourself, become a lifelong student. Take a business or
    techniques workshop, continue your education even after you
    "Cretire" (see number 4 above)

  8. Lead an effort to form a guild or join an existing guild.

  9. Attend trade shows and exhibitions where work similar to yours
    may be found.

  10. Start or update your mailing list, contact list, supplier list,
    and website resources

  11. Investigate and purchase new machinery or tools that will ease
    or increase your production.

  12. Send a press release to local publications, or post it on
    websites. Get your name out there.

  13. Research a new show, apply, and submit your work to a jury.
    Enter design competitions.

  14. Design a new product to utilize your scrap. “Found” money is the
    best kind!

  15. Organize your patterns, “Crecipes”, dies, etc., so you can find
    what you need when you need it.

  16. Clean up and organize your studio to make it easier to work as
    well as impressing your clients.

  17. Review and update your business plan, and financial strategies -
    allowing for changes in the past year.

  18. Read a personal development book. (Or two or three!)

  19. Clean up your computer. Purge the old stuff. Learn new computer
    skills. Anything from bookkeeping and inventory management to
    Photoshop manipulation and CAD - whatever will help you be more
    productive.

  20. Review your prices - INCREASE THEM! (You are worth a raise
    aren’t you?)

  21. Join your local Art League or similar organizations.

  22. Try to add a minimum of 3 new contacts/clients per week.

  23. Sharpen tools such as shears, do maintenance & oiling on tools
    & machinery, repaint items that need it. (This may include your
    walls!)

  24. Begin building a reference library if you don’t already have
    one. Books and videos are TOOLS!

Brian P. Marshall

I think you forgat the most important one.

Have fun. 

Have a great New Year to all

Brian,

Thank you so much for your post. I have to admit that there are
times when I stare at the wall and think there’s nothing to do
(mostly when I’m having a creative block and wondering how to give my
brain a jump start). The ideas on your list will keep me busy for
most of 2005.

Orchid is the Best!

I think you forgat the most important  one. Have fun

Nope… an early newspaper article about my studio was titled
“Making A Living Playing.” This was some 30 years ago, and I do it
every day.

Brian