Behind the scenes of fail I have been thinking long and hard about shaping the future of my brand and my place within it.  Moving into the new studio last year was a welcome shift in my focus and attention. It wasn’t really until the beginning of 2014 that I started to truly dissect how my studio was organized, how I was going to invest in my employees to encourage long-term growth (for us both), and how I was going to find more joy and excitement in my daily routine.

Over the past few months I have made several strategic changes to the way I work, but more importantly to the way I think.  I feel so fantastically good about how my studio functions, and am ever grateful for the lovely and amazing women I have working with me.  With that in order, it was time to focus on my own role within my studio.  I know that sounds crazy, but what most people don’t realize is that once you really start running a business you end up sitting in front of a computer all day, and rarely end up actually making and creating anymore.

Finding and organizing my time so that I could focus more on creating was at the forefront of my mind when I went to a CRAVEfuel event focused on creativity, hosted at Spruce last month.  My collaborator and good friend Natalie Davis of CANOE was on a panel along with Amanda Brown of Spruce, Mara Ambrose of Folk Fibers, Chelsea Fullerton of Go Forth Creative, and Jessica Sanders of drink.well, with moderation by Crave’s Andrea Genevieve.  I was not expecting to leave as inspired as I did, but everything that the panel hit on was perfect for me and my state of mind when I walked in the door.  I left with 4 bullet points that have changed the way I think, act and plan and I wanted to share them with you.

Amanda supplied the answer that gave me my first ah-ha moment of the evening.  The question was, “How do you foster creativity”, and her answer was about having a space to go where everything was in its place, tools and inspiration were readily available, and outside thoughts were kept at bay to allow you to focus on being creative.  That is when I realized that within my own studio I didn’t have my own creative space!  I know that sounds crazy, but I sit in front of a computer all day with emails popping up, alerts, social media, accounting…. you get the picture.  I don’t even have a jewelers bench where I can start and stop projects at will.

My marching orders are clear and I am now on a mission to establish my own creative space!  A jewelers bench is next along with a little more studio re-arranging. I think I will incorporate a physical inspiration board and more tactile items to see, hold and contemplate. It will be a work in progress for the next few months but I am excited to have yet another piece of the puzzle in my hands.  And now I throw the question back to you-  How have you created your own creative space?  What does it look like?  What does it contain.  I am all ears!

Stay tuned over the next few weeks as I continue to expand upon those 4 magical bullet points.  Hopefully we will all be a little more creative because of it!

 

Filed under: lifestyle, process, uncategorized