Sunday Thoughts (Ep. 36)

Happy Sunday from Sunny Seattle!

No kidding, my friends and patrons. As I type the sun shines in a perfect blue sky, and its been this way for most of the week. And of course that means all of the Seattelites walk with their dogs and families in their flannels and vests, or sit to bask in the sun (like me!) Camellias have already started blooming in my neighbors yard. 

Weather like this tricks you into thinking it’s almost spring. But I know better, Seattle.
However, I have also learned the Seattle Way of savoring the sunlight that we do get, when we do get it.

This week has been about returning to full-time self-employment. Zach was away for the week, so I could have literally sat on the couch for 7 straight days and no one would have known. But I'm happy to say I used the solo week as a way to build good habits, and slowly wrench myself back in to working for myself. By the end of the week that meant yoga daily, cleaning up after my meals immediately, going for walks, and actually accomplishing boring but important business things. It really has felt like such a strain getting back into this whole work from home thing, emphasis on WORK, but I'm happy it's finally coming together. My creative thoughts are starting to percolate again, I'm facing some small application based fears, and other little mental improvements. 

In a way, self-employment feels very meditative. In that you have nothing to hide you from your own focus and fears and failures. There's no median of someone else's rules or judgement or structure. Just you. Hm.

Anyway, I promised I'd share some of my GOALS for 2019 with you, now that they've had time to clarify and percolate and solidify! Some of them are goals I have for the next 5-10 years, some are my goals just for 2019, and some are goals for just this month.

. . . 2 0 1 9   G O A L S

• Rent a studio space. My current ultimate goal. Inspired by studios like Outlet PDX , Lisa Congdon's Studio , and Fotini Tikkou's Studio. I would love to have a space that is part studio, part retail shop, part workshop venue.
• Make enough money from my art to pay my living expenses. I don't mind working as a barista or a server, but I see how easy it is to lean on a job that quickly and easily pays the bills, to start to devote all of your mental and physical energy to it. On top of that, many of my other goals require money to achieve. No shame, a business needs money to grow, and boy howdy do I want to grow. Having this as a goal helps me plan the actions I can take to get revenue into my business.
• Get a larger client job. This is one of those things that I haven't really pushed, partially because it intimidates me. And it intimidates me because I feel like I "don't know how" to do it. I don't know how to invoice, how to make a contract, how to price my time, or how to find more clients! But I won't learn unless I try, and this is a major way that illustrators make an income.
• Table at at least 5 new markets/conventions/art fairs. A big part of this includes applying for ECCC, perhaps trying out a few of the city's farmer's markets, considering applying to conventions in nearby cities (Portland, Tacoma, Vancouver.) This is another huge way artists make income, as I saw at Geek Girl Con last year.
• Design more products for my online shop and to sell at markets. A big emphasis in this field is greeting cards (apparently customers love them), sticker sets, shirts, and more pins. Possibly, a book or zine of some kind, calendars, journals, or patches!
• A few smaller scope goals: Revamp my Patreon (adjust the rewards so they're more achievable, attract more patrons so I can make this even more a space about education, inspiration, and community, and less about... me.) Revamp my Etsy (take new pictures, adjust the branding, write new copy.) Adjust the way I make custom portraits, and expand the availability. Finally live stream! Share some tutorials! Make a mini cookbook! Host a drink and draw! I could go on and on...

I think I'll cap it there. This is a ton of goals, and I almost definitely will not get to all of them. And as I was writing this I thought of a few things that I could do, but in the process of writing this I realized could be put on the back burner. Like learning to wholesale my goods, showing at Art Walks, starting a vlog/youtube channel, making a Skillshare online class. All things I would love to do at some point, but perhaps should not be my priority this year.

Well there we have it! Feels great to type it all out. After a slow start to the month, I'm happy to finally be getting back in to the swing of actually working.

If you like answer in the comments with your major and minor goals for 2019, and if there's anything you've decided doesn't have to be a focus for you, even if you feel like it should or could. Anything you can let go of.

Thanks for stopping in, and being a part of my artistic journey this year! We're going to make this a great one TOGETHER!

xoxo,

Ragon