101010 Project: Leanne Wargowsky

LeanneWargowsky

Name of Business: From Chaos ComesHappiness

Social Media Links:
Blog: www.fromchaoscomeshappiness.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/From-Chaos-Comes-Happiness/125848910797771
Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/chaostohappiness

Years in Business: Approaching 1

Brief Bio:
Born,raised, and living in the Chicago land area, this happily chaotic soul is definitelya newbie in the universe of creative businesses. Last August, after 25 years inhealthcare, I was released from days of insurance and hospitals and I started listeningto my inner artist. My dream, From ChaosComes Happiness, was born. I'm not doing it alone, though, as my supportsystem is wide and deep with a husband who encourages me and two beautifuldaughters who inspire me. While I have a long way to go in this business ofmine, I'm determined to remain true to who I am, and stopping just long enoughto smell the roses along the way.

Success in business is defined as . . .
I'd love to say that success in business has only to do with following your dreams, and nothing to do with maintaining financial independence while doing it . . . but I wouldn't be honest if saying that. In a perfect world; I would be able to sit in a studio from sun up to sun down, painting my heart away, as little blue birds flew in and out of my house, tending to the dishes, laundry and children. Of course, money would grow on the trees outside of my little studio and I would simply GIVE my art away to the hundreds lined up outside my door, as "selling" would be of no concern.

However, life is not always perfect. So, to my realistic creative soul, success in business is being true to my artistic thoughts and ideas, being able to produce and create my work, and selling my art to others in a manner that will offer greater financial stability to my family and myself. All while maintaining a healthy balance between my life and my art. That, to me, would be success.

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101010 Project: Stephanie Amos

Stephanie Amos

Name of business: KoiStudios

Social media links:
Web: http://www.koi-studios.com
Blog: www.samos-koistudios.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stephanieamos
Etsy: www.muddypotts.etsy.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/samos

Years in business: 7 years

Brief Bio:
I live in the mountains of Colorado with my amazing husband, three loving dogs, two handsome horses, and the queen of all cats. When I'm not out riding, I am usually in one of the two studios at our home where I paint, throw, sculpt and shoot my camera. I am more or less a free spirit in the sense that I can never sit still and am easily distracted by my interest in trying something new. I am fascinated with color and texture which is not limited to just art, but architecture as well. I love to travel and have been to many beautiful places and look forward to seeing the rest of the world real soon.

Success in business is defined as….
I’ve been pondering how to end this statement for days. And what I have concluded is that my own personal success in business is defined by customer satisfaction and my own contentment with the creativeness that I have shared.

Let me explain: If we don’t care about our customer’s happiness, then why are we in business? I’m a people pleaser by nature anyways, so it only makes sense that this idea carries over while selling my work. This concept helps me to strive for excellence in creating my art and in working with my clients. I also mentioned that my own satisfaction is also important to the success of my own personal business. I believe that if you’re not happy with the art you have created, it will reflect in how you present the piece. For example, if I created a painting that I absolutely love, it will show in how I present it to people. My enthusiasm will shine through and others may also find the piece intriguing. But if I created a painting that I really didn’t care for, that feeling would carry on with that piece as well, making it more difficult for me to sell because I don’t even like it, and so why would someone else?

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101010 Project: Kelly Warren

Kelly Warren

Name of business: Happy Shack Designs

Social media links:
Website: http://www.happyshackdesigns.com
Blog: http://happyshackdesigns.blogspot.com
Jewelry shop: http://happyshackdesigns.etsy.com
Art and photos shop: http://kellywarrenphotoart.etsy.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Happy.Shack.Designs
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kellynwarren

Years in business: 7

Brief Bio:
An artist with a short attention span, I create work in artisan jewelry, fine art photography, mixed media, and book arts. I've also been known to sew a thing or two. I work full-time by day as the Director of Student Life and Leadership Development at a large four-year college in Florida, and am the lucky mama to wonderfully sweet eight-year-old twin red-headed daughters. I have been married to a handsome man of great patience who's put up with my art shenanigans for 17 years now.

Success in business is defined as….
I think this is a very interesting topic, and I think it all depends on your goals and your outlook. For me, my art business is not my main source of income.

I have a pretty demanding full-time career in higher education on top of my art. So for me, success in my art business is simply finding the time to put a little bit of me out into the world for others to enjoy.

Would I love to be able to “quit the day job” and devote more time to my art? Absolutely, but I know that’s simply not a possible reality at this point in my life. So maybe for me, success in business is defined as knowing what my limitations are (time!) and embracing them rather than fighting them. Fighting them takes an awful lot of energy that could be better spent on enjoying the process instead.

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101010 project: Robin Norgren

Robin Norgren

Name of business: Robin Norgren Studios

Social media links:
Website: http://www.robinnorgrenstudios.blogspot.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/robinlnorgren
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wellofcreations.myetsyshop

Years in business: 4 years

Brief Bio:
I strive to live life to the fullest. No matter what. I have grown into myself through my love for Jesus and HIS LOVE FOR ME. Art, motherhood, business, creativity and yoga are the cherished vehicles for this deepening. Life can be FULL, JUICY, MEANINGFUL, PURPOSE FILLED, LOVELY. I want to help you come to your fullest life. I create workbooks, ecourses and workshops that chronicle my change and growth and offer you ways to find out what YOUR FULLEST life will be.

Success in business is defined as….

For the first couple of years of my online business I wanted so much to really make all the money that people seemed to allude to. More marketing, more connecting, constant blogging, relisting on etsy, social media at all hours of the day and night. Oh! And make sure you are near your email just in case that huge wholesale order comes in…

After months and months of questioning my work ethic (maybe I was not committed enough) and my pricing structure (are my prices too high?), I finally stopped. I had to take a good hard look at the reality: the business was running me.

I had to admit that I felt this pressure ALL THE TIME about this business which at best was making a supplemental income for the hours of labor I was putting into it. Here are some things that helped me to redefine my definition of success:

1. I began logging EXACTLY how much time I was spending in each area of my business and correlating that with sales

2. I got REAL about my accounting for my business.

3. I took a break for about 30 days where I created NOTHING.

Today I define success in business as:
The ability to be able to create what I love in a manner that inspires me and thus flows into the quality and design of my products and feeds not just my pocketbook but my soul.

Robin Norgren is currently completing her life coaching certification and would LOVE to offer you a FREE 15 minute mini session – sign up for her mailing list here: http://www.robinnorgrenstudios.blogspot.com/p/life-coaching.html

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10 women 10 businesses 10 questions project starts today !

Hello !

I am happy to be part of a fantastic project initiated by Robin from Well Of Creations. She gathered 10 women who were all part of the first tribe of Kelly Rae Roberts' «Flying Lessons» online class. It was two years ago already... and it completly was what I needed to begin to make art my business. I still struggle but it was the kick I needed. If you are interested, Kelly Rae made a fantastic e-book from what she taught, see the link on my side bar -------»

We will all answer 10 questions about our creative business, each answer is assigned to one blogger (to make it clearer you will have 10 answers/blog to the same question).

My question is:«Success in business is defined by.......», so stay tune to discover each day one of the participant's answer and then mine in two weeks.

PS: the first blogpost will be up in a few minutes from now