Catching Up: A Summer Recap

Summer seems to be flying by and I'm really not OK with it.

Does any one else have that feeling? I feel like before we know it, we'll be back fighting off the cold and snow and wishing it was warm again. I'm not ready for that! 

This summer has been pretty laid back and it has given me a chance to really fine tune my vision for Holy Noley and work on where I wanted to go with it while I've been a bit slow. It has also been a time of immense change and upheaval in my personal life so I've been glad that I had time to focus on that. 

June : Move, Change, Shift

Most of June was spent preparing myself mentally and physically for my family to move. My mom and brother decided to make a huge life change and move across the country so I had to move most of my belongings into storage. Though this was extremely stressful for me, it also felt cleansing. I had a big room at home, therefore I had a lot of STUFF. Lots of things that didn't serve a purpose in my life anymore. Having to pack gave me a chance to clear out some of the clutter. It is seriously refreshing to let go of things! 

July : Craft Fair and a Big Change

July seemed to be over in a blink. Holy Noley was a vendor at a craft fair and it was the first time I had to do a single table set up. It was a learning experience for sure! I honestly love selling in person. It is so much fun connecting with people, both buyers and other vendors. 

I also decided in July to take a huge step and open up my own ecommerce site independent of Etsy. I love Etsy but decided it was time to diversify. This was huge for me and working on building a website had a bit of a learning curve but overall I think it came out nicely. I like the freedoms that it offers over Etsy, but plan to continue to sell on both platforms for now. 

August : New Releases

I opened the new shop on August 1st, amid the shock of my grandmother's sudden passing. With this shop site opening, I added a bunch of new pieces, mainly stacking bracelet sets. Some of my favorites pieces include the Amethyst and Bronze Heart Set, Lepidolite Bracelet, and Amazonite Moon Mala. I'm looking forward to continuing to grow this site and continue on the path of the style of jewelry I am currently making.

Looking Ahead to the Fall

Now that the summer is winding down, I'm looking forward to a lot for the end of the year. I have some big plans for Holy Noley (what else is new ;] ) and can't wait to crack down and really get into the nitty-gritty of it. 

Hope you all had a fabulous summer! See you next month for the next update! 

Finding The Balance Between Being a Business Owner and a Blogger

I am not a blogger. 

There, I said it. I have tried numerous times but as you can tell  my frequent absences and "I'm back!" posts, there is just something about it that I find so difficult to keep up with. No matter how many times I try to create a content calendar, or scribble down post ideas or read blogs and articles about creating content and blog management, I just can't seem to get my act together. 

But something has happened. I think I've been approaching this all wrong and two things that I have been doing recently have kind of opened my eyes to this. 

The first is a podcast I have been listening to, called Elise Gets Crafty. In it, Elise discusses different aspects of being a creative entrepreneur. In one episode, she talks about blogging as a business owner and says something to the effect of "I am not a blogger, I am a business owner that blogs. There is a difference." This seemed to strike a chord with me, up until hearing that felt like I needed to be both. It was almost freeing to let myself off the hook for not "being a blogger".  

The second thing that has happened is that I have been participating in a class over at Studio Calico called Marketing For Creatives. I'm finding it to be super inspirational and informational, but an important message that keeps being brought up is to do one thing at a time. It is really eye opening to allow myself to only work on one thing at a time. Sometimes I get stuck in a mindset of having to do it all because I see other creative entrepreneurs who seem to do it all. What I need to remember is that I am still just starting out...Holy Noley is not even a year old yet! I should not expect to be doing it all, because that is setting myself up for failure. But now that I have that in my mind, it is allowing me to approach blogging in a different way. 

I'm thinking that for a little while at least, I am just going to try and treat this blog a little less like a serious component of Holy Noley and just post when I can. This way I am not obsessing over imaginary deadlines and making myself crazy. Maybe one day I will figure it all out, but until then, this is what I have to do. 

So how do you juggle it all? Do you have a secret to making it all happen that you can share?