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I've seen a lot of 'rah, rah, just try harder' cheerleading type posts on the internet lately.

Erin The Cheerleader From Barrhead!
Creative Commons License photo credit: † Jimmy MacDonald †

Sometimes 'just try harder' is rocking advice: it's just what you need to hear on the days when a boot up the arse is helpful.

Now, I'm all for working hard and doing your thing and being stubborn and persistent, even when things are tough.

But sometimes 'work harder and keep going' is actively harmful.

This is because of The Law Of Diminishing Returns.

You already know what The Law Of Diminishing Returns is. You've been there, you’ve done that and the t-shirt is mouldering unwashed at the bottom of your laundry basket.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns is when the energy you’re expanding far outweighs any benefits you will receive.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns is when you’re too tired, hungry or burnt-out to work but you keep going anyway. You do bad work that will need to be redone later but hey, at least you were in the office showing your face so no one can accuse you of ‘slacking'.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns is when you hit your email button on your phone just one more time before bed. The Law Of Diminishing Returns is when you endlessly rehearse a conversation that you know you'll never have because the other person refuses to hear you. The Law Of Diminishing Returns is when you read that same page five times but don't take in a single word.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns is this conversation from When Harry Met Sally:

Marie: The point is, he just spent $120 on a new nightgown for his wife. I don't think he's ever gonna leave her.
Sally: No one thinks he's ever gonna leave her.
Marie: You're right, you're right, I know you're right.

The Law Of Diminishing Returns happens in offices & workplaces all over the world every single day. It happens to me after about 3 hours of working, when I hit my internal limit. Now what I should do at this point is take a break and go do something else or rest.

If I don’t switch gears, I invariably start going round and round in endless internet circles like a dog chasing its tail. Mine goes email; Twitter: Pinterest; RSS feed; Twitter; Ravelry; Facebook - rinse & repeat until I get cross with myself or my eyes fall out, whichever happens first. You’ll have your own version.

Sometimes what you should be doing is not ‘trying harder’ or ‘being more magnificent’ but resting. Or thinking. Or playing with your kids. Or sleeping. Or reading. Or watching TV with your sweetie. Or even - whisper it if you dare – quitting completely because you're trying hard at the wrong thing.

By all means, be magnificent if magnificent is where you are right now. If you are magnificent, I will applaud you and tell my friends.

But no one can be magnificent constantly. It’s just not possible. So if your well is empty, you need to bloody stop. There is no more water there. So you need to either find another water source or sit down and wait for some rain.


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Woah, there goes another tumbleweed bowling past.

A Good One
Creative Commons License photo credit: Claire L. Evans

Yes, sorry about the dusty ghost town feel around here of late. There is a very simple reason. 365 Jars has been kicking my ass. Hard.

In my enthusiasm for starting a new project - 'yay, new art project, yay' - I forgot that new projects are always intense and all-consuming. 365 Jars is especially full on because it is a ton of work: I seriously underestimated how much time it was going to take every day. Plus starting a new daily walking habit has been a shock to the system. Don't fret, I'm OK but between all that and recovering from The Hideous Flu, I've been distinctly overwhelmed and I'm still behind with everything.

I don't know about you but I live with the pretty fiction that I can somehow Get On Top Of Things.

Let us pause for a moment for the hysterical laugher to subside.

Despite 43 years of solid evidence to the contrary, I persist in believing in a mythical point at which I will be Up To Date.

I secretly believe that it's possible that my inbox will be empty, the laundry will be washed and put away and I won't have any urgent outstanding work. Furthermore, I believe that it's possible for all this to happen on the same day!

There is no indication that this is humanly possible but like a fervent believer in the Loch Ness Monster, absence of hard scientific evidence does nothing to dissuade me. The truth is out there, Scully, the truth is out there.

Surely it's theoretically possible that one day I will complete all my unfinished knitting projects? And all my paperwork will be correctly filed with no missing bank statements and my accounting shall be done to a level that would make the Inland Revenue smile and pat me on the head. And the floors will be clean and I will have cooked in recent memory. And angels shall sing and fairies shall dance in my spotless kitchen and all will be well with the world. And all this shall happen before civilisation crumbles into oblivion, the sun explodes or we are invaded by aliens who eat our brains.

In short, I believe that it is possible that I will be On Top Of Things Like A Real Person.

IMGP1957
Creative Commons License photo credit: Don Fulano

Now, I do not know who these Real People are but apparently they are capable of a mystical level of organisation that I can barely aspire to.

In truth, like many people, I exist in a state of barely controlled chaos.

Recently I had a staggering insight. There will never be a point at which everything is working. Never. There will always be something undone, something lost, something falling off the bottom of the list, something a mere moment away from a crisis. Always.

So what to do with this insight?

I could forgive myself.

Hard for a perfectionist but OK, I'll give it a go. But then I just wind up crying into my cornflakes about how I'm not forgiving myself perfectly enough. Oh wait, I see a slight problem with this approach.

I could seriously cut back on what I'm doing.

Ah, this feels better. Is everything on my list really necessary? Is it all equally important? Will the world end if the laundry is not put away? Ah wait, perhaps this is that mythical 'prioritising' of which I've heard? Why, goodness me, I do believe it is.

But truthfully, right now, even the thought of prioritising makes me want to cry. It seems to demand more competence and energy than I currently possess.

Oh dear, we're back to forgiveness again.

So I'm falling back on that old standby: 'tiny steps'. It's not big and dramatic but it works. I'm not taking on new responsibilities and I'm patiently nibbling away at existing ones like a harvest mouse.


Creative Commons License photo credit: Chris Barber

In the meantime, does anyone want to come round and put my damn laundry away?


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For the last few years, I've been taking photographs of house numbers and I've just released these photos under a Creative Commons license. So if you have a need for some images of beautiful numbers, please check them out.

No 7 - 3-D
Kirsty Hall, No. 7, Jan 2011

Giesela Birgit over on my Facebook group asked me how Creative Commons works. I realised that other people might be confused about it, so here's a quick explanation.

What is Creative Commons?

Creative Commons is a way of licensing your creative work in a more adaptable way than traditional copyright. It replaces 'all rights reserved' with a more flexible 'some rights reserved' model that recognises that the basis of a free, open internet is sharing.

Creative Commons offers six different licenses, which allow you to control the way your work is used. All Creative Commons licenses require that you, the creator, are credited so people can't take your work and pass it off as their own.

If I use it on one thing, will all my work be Creative Commons?

No 20 - flowery close-up
Kirsty Hall, No. 20, Jan 2011

No, licenses are specific to that particular work, not your entire body of work.

I don't use Creative Commons for all my work. I retain full traditional copyright on all images of my art, any photographs I might want to sell in the future and all my writing. If you scroll down this blog you'll notice that I have a copyright notice that explains how people can use my work and when they need to ask for permission. As far as I'm aware, most people respect it. I also further protect my work by only releasing my images at 72dpi, which is not high enough for good print quality.

Is Creative Commons legal?

Yes. All Creative Commons licenses are an extension of traditional copyright and they have a 'Legal Code layer' written in lawyer language. Of course, that doesn't mean that it won't be challenged in court and there have been a couple of court cases about Creative Commons but there are even more court cases based on traditional copyright.

Won't people steal my stuff?

They might but that's a risk you take whenever you release any kind of creative work in public. Personally I only release stuff under Creative Commons that I'm not particularly bothered about and I don't worry about what happens to it.

If it bothers you, traditional copyright might be a better choice but be aware that dishonest people aren't bothered about any kind of copyright and all you're doing is stopping the honest people from disseminating and sharing your work.

Can I take public domain work and make it Creative Commons?

No, definitely not. You should only license works that you have created. The Creative Commons website states:

Creative Commons licenses should not be applied to works in the public domain. Our licenses are intended for works protected by copyright only.

Why I use Creative Commons

I currently have 410 images available for other people to use.

I take a lot of documentary-style photographs and I'm not very emotionally attached to them. Last year I decided to make these photographs available under a Creative Commons license because I'm a big fan of internet sharing, the concept of 'free' and enabling other people's creativity. I've benefited from using other people's images on my blog and I wanted to return the favour. It's a gift. It's also a strategic way to get more people to visit my Flickr account, which could lead to more people seeing my art.

No 85 - black paint
Kirsty Hall, No. 85, Jan 2011

I use the least restrictive license for my Creative Commons collection:

"This license lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation."

So someone could take one of my images and use it as the basis of an artwork or add it to a video, a blog post or a Powerpoint lecture. They could change the colour, flip it around, add it to a collage, even use it as the basis of a commercial work (although all my images are only 72dpi, so it wouldn't be great for printing). The only thing they have to do is credit me.

I chose the least restrictive license because I wanted my images to appear in awesome WordPress plugins like Photo Dropper.

Further resources

If you have other questions, read the Creative Commons FAQ or check out the Creative Commons entry on Wikipedia (which incidentally, also uses a Creative Commons license).

Disclaimer:
I am not an expert in this stuff. If you have serious copyright questions about protecting your creative work, please consult a lawyer.

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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When we moved into our house 13 years ago, the garden was so neglected that I thought I’d have to dig up the lawn just to have a few flowers. Then I started cutting back the hedge and discovered to my surprise that I already had large flowerbeds. They were just completely hidden by a ridiculously overgrown hedge and swathes of ivy, brambles and ground elder.

Garden before
Kirsty Hall: Garden after the hedge butchery but still full of brambles & ivy, May 2003

If I wanted to reclaim my flowerbeds, I had to get serious.

One of the first things I did in my garden was to completely remove three enormous leylandii trees that were shading the entire space. It was obvious that nothing very interesting would grow in such deep shade. Most flowers and vegetables need light.

Your art or business is the same. You’ve got to make space in your life for Your Wonderful Thing or nothing will grow.

If your life is full of crap, there will be no room for Your Wonderful Thing. It will be strangled to death by other people’s needs and shaded out by all those sneers and subtle little put-downs.

You’ve got to clear the ground. Get rid of that clinging, stifling ivy and those spreading brambles.

Oh, you know what I’m talking about. That friend who's oh-so-entertaining but only talks about their stuff and is mysteriously absent when you need help. That family member who pours scorn on Your Wonderful Thing and tells you to Get A Real Job. That clinging person who just won’t let go and insinuates herself into every space in your life.

Sometimes those people can be contained. There is still ivy in my garden – it’s good for wildlife & I am happy to have it on walls, trees and in the hedges - but when it starts to rampage through the flowerbeds, I know I have to pull it up or it will smother everything else.

Some people need firm boundaries or they’ll choke out Your Wonderful Thing. They won’t even mean to but they will, so you need to protect your flowerbeds. Arrange to have a pressing appointment so you can cut short that person who goes on too long. Graciously go into a conversation with that self-absorbed friend accepting that you’ll be in listening mode for an hour. Phone a different friend when you need help.

Garden after
Kirsty Hall: New shrubbery and path, May 2009

Unfortunately there are some people and situations that you simply cannot afford in your life. Not if you’re committed to Your Wonderful Thing.

After three years of pulling up ground elder, I finally realised that all I was doing was spreading the damn stuff around. It is virulent as all hell and will spread from the tiniest bit of root that’s left in the ground. And it makes a lot of roots. I’m not quite sure what the Romans were thinking when they introduced it to Britain. I’m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Eventually I guiltily resorted to weed killer and I’m now ground elder free. Similarly I have at least one person that I cannot let back into my life even the tiniest amount because they absolutely will not accept boundaries.

I’ve dropped friends who were such drama queens that they sucked the life out of me. Sometimes I’ve been the person who’s been dropped. It is Not Fun to be on either side of that situation but sometimes it’s needful.

If boundaries won’t work & they’re killing Your Wonderful Thing, well, you have a hard choice to make.

Do you want flowers or not?


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Ooh, categories vs tags, it's like The Sharks vs The Jets. Except not.

Other ways I could describe them. Categories are like tags on steroids. Categories are like your troop carriers and tags are the specialist troops that live inside them. Tags are little goblins but categories are orcs.

Look, I've been up all night, I stopped making sense quite some time ago...

Watch this 7 minute video that I made to launch my fantabulous Artist's Eyeball service and you'll see that both categories and tags have their place.



Huge thanks to my second brave volunteer, Julie Shackson for being a guinea pig: you'll be receiving your free Artist's Eyeball soon, Julie.


What's so great about Artist’s Eyeballs?

Remember Carol Nunan, who featured in our first video? Well, Carol got her free Artist’s Eyeball on Wednesday and promptly impressed the hell out of me by staying up to midnight to revamp her sidebar. If you visit her site, you’ll see she’s also got rid of the problematic ‘Monotypes’ button that I objected to.

Here's what she wrote on her blog:

Well I won myself a free 'Artist's Eyeball' from Kirsty Hall and I received her much anticipated report today. Veeery useful. Nothing like getting an objective view point from someone who obviously knows what they are talking about and who is prepared to be brutally honest. I like that.

So... hard on the heels of her report I've been doing some serious tidying up for my blog. I've done the easy stuff first. I hope you approve Kirsty. It's still a work in progress but I have some direction now.

Damn right, I approve - way to go, Carol!

These are the kind of results that people get from The Artist’s Eyeballs. They can really light a fire under you. In a good inspirational way, not in a 'call the Fire Brigade' way. Because that would be bad.


What do I get?

A highly detailed, written report that will in no way cause your house to burn down but that will tell you what you need to fix on your website to stop people wandering around uselessly like drunken chickens.

You get a lot of eye and brain for your money: Full Eyeballs tend to be between 5 and 10 pages long, sometimes even longer. It's a big old to-do list with a fairly large amount of to-don't's thrown in. I don't just say 'do this', I also tell you why you should do stuff.

And if I can't find anything to say about your site or you don't find the report useful, I'll give you a full refund.


What if my site isn't ready yet?

There is no expiry date: you can buy an Artist's Eyeball now and use it later. Just make sure that you tell me on the order that you want to wait. It would also be helpful if you can give me a rough idea when you're likely to need it, so that I can make a note to follow up with you.

You could even treat someone to one for Christmas & I promise to wear tinsel when I write it. Although it might be a bit like giving someone a diet book for Christmas; 'Hi honey, your website sucks, Happy Holidays!'


Last chance for cheap Eyeballs

And let's face it, who doesn't want cheap eyeballs?


Blog Eyeball (including up to 3 static pages) - £50, now only £35
The Blog Eyeball is down to £35, which is £15 off - a truly delightful bargain, I'm sure you'll agree.

Add to Cart


Full Artist's Eyeball - £100, now only £50
A Full Artist's Eyeball normally retails at £100 but during this sale I'm offering it at £50, which is a rather splendid half price.

Add to Cart


Full Eyeball with consulting - £160, now only £100
The Full Artist's Eyeball with an extra brains consulting session is currently going for £100 instead of £160. That's a full written website analysis plus 45 minutes of follow-up on Skype where you can delve deeper into what I've recommended. It's the dinner and a date version.

Add to Cart


Deadline

This offer closes at 5pm GMT on Friday 3rd December 2010. That's today, people! If you're going to buy one, you should do it now.

If you know you need an Artist's Eyeball but find yourself temporarily low on funds, please email me and we'll organise a payment plan that suits you. I am more than happy to do this - I've been where you are and I know what it's like (it sucks!) - all you have to do is ask.

P.S. I am going to bed now: do not panic if you email me & I don't get back to you instantly. As long as I get your email before 5pm today, we're good.

Please note:
If there's a high demand during this sale, it will take me longer than the usual 7 days to do your Eyeball.


Honeys, please do me a huge favour and pass this on by clicking on one of the share buttons below...


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Welcome to the Artist's Eyeball launch party! Woo, streamers, balloons, cakes and small children peeing themselves with excitement (what, it could happen).

Pull up a chair, pour yourself a drink and have a slice of cake...

Gâteau mousse de Framboise
Creative Commons License photo credit: Rubyran

The Artist's Eyeballs were quite insistent that they had never had a proper launch and that not enough people knew about them. When they heard that I was meant to be launching something at the end of November for Customer Love, they started tugging on my sleeve. Since I felt kind of bad that I'd launched them accidentally and then buggered off to Holland for a week, I gave in.

Besides, it meant I didn't have to create something new - ssssh, don't tell them!

Btw, this is what I'm doing instead of a Birthday sale because My Inner Businesswoman decided that 10 days before Christmas was a mind-bogglingly stupid time to try to sell anything that wasn't Christmas related. Although if you do want to buy someone an Eyeball or a session of consulting as a Christmas present, rest assured that I will find a way of putting ribbon on it, even if I have to wear the ribbon myself.

A present for you

First of all, a fabulous freebie, wherein I demonstrate 'stuff that I know' and you get to think, 'shit, I'm doing that wrong' and rush off to your site to fix it. Even if you're not in the market for an Artist's Eyeball, I hope you'll watch this 5 minute demonstration video and share it with your friends.



Huge thanks to Carol Nunan for bravely volunteering to be a guinea pig in exchange for a free Artist's Eyeball.

Btw, this is why you should sign up for my newsletter. Last week I put a call-out to my newsletter peeps for volunteers and got a fantastic response - thanks so much to everyone who responded, I was hugely impressed at your willingness to volunteer. I've also picked a second victim, Julie Shackson: her site will feature in another demo video later in the week.


Why you should buy An Artist's Eyeball

Well, because they're awesome!

Of course I would say that, I'm their mama. However, I can report that the majority of people who've received one of these have been instantly fired up and usually started making changes to their websites straight away.

Kirsty cut right to the chase - what worked, what didn't, what would make my sales page better. I felt encouraged & excited to have some concrete steps to make improvements. I was a bit afraid the critique might hurt, but Kirsty knows how to make you feel good about what you have, while helping you make it even better.

Melissa Dinwiddie from A Creative Life

The Artist's Eyeball was an eye opener. Kirsty gently but firmly told me my sales page isn't about ME but my CUSTOMERS.

LaVonne Ellis from The Complete Flake


What you get

You get a highly detailed written report that points out everything that I think you're doing wrong on your website or blog. Lest this sounds too depressing for words, rest assured that I also enthuse about the stuff you're doing well. You get a lot of eye and brain for your money: Full Eyeballs tend to be between 5 and 10 pages long, sometimes even more and even a Mini-Eyeball will usually contain several pages of suggestions.

Now I know this might not seem like the most exciting thing in the world to buy but holy cow, these are seriously useful. You get a nice big list of things to tackle and often a bit of longterm strategy thrown in for free. Instead of aimlessly going around in circles for months or years wondering why this internet lark isn't working out for you, you get pointed in the right direction at last. You can also work through things at your own pace, confident that you're making positive changes.

And if I can't find anything to say about your site or you don't find the report useful, I'll give you a full refund.


Super-duper Special Offer

I highly recommend snagging one of the larger packages because they're an amazingly sweet deal. In fact, I won't be offering these prices ever again, this is an introductory offer only.

....Drumroll please....

Mini Eyeball - £20
The mini-Eyeballs are staying at £20 because that's already ridiculously cheap and my Inner Businesswoman wasn't having anything to do with a deal on these.

Add to Cart


Blog Eyeball (including up to 3 static pages) - £50, now only £35
The Blog Eyeball is down to £35, which is £15 off. That's some kind of complicated percentage that I can't work out because my maths guru, Colin Beveridge has gone on holiday to America. How inconsiderate!

Add to Cart


Full Artist's Eyeball - £100, now only £50
A Full Artist's Eyeball normally retails at £100 but for 3 days only I'm offering it at half price. £50 for an entire site analysis is crazy: I had to lock my Inner Businesswoman in the basement to get away with this.

Add to Cart


Full Eyeball with consulting - £160, now only £100
The Full Artist's Eyeball with an extra brains consulting session is currently going for £100 instead of £160. That's a full written website analysis plus 45 minutes of follow-up on Skype where you can delve deeper into what I've recommended. Total bargain.

Add to Cart


What if my site isn't ready yet?

There is no expiry date: you can buy an Artist's Eyeball now and use it later (thanks to Skaja for asking this question). Just make sure that you tell me on the order that you want to wait. It would also be helpful if you can give me a rough idea when you're likely to need it, so that I can make a note to follow up with you.


Deadline

You've only got three days to take advantage of this: the offer will close at 5pm GMT on Friday 3rd December 2010.

If you're absolutely desperate for one but you can't afford it with Christmas coming up, email me and we'll sort something out. Please don't be shy or embarrassed. I know what it's like to need something when you're skint and while I can't lower the price any further, I'm happy to work out a payment plan with you. But you've got to brave enough to step up and ask.

Please note:
If there's a high demand during this sale, it will take me longer than the usual 7 days to do your Eyeball.


Honeys, please do me a huge favour and pass this on by clicking on one of the share buttons below...


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Happy St Valentine's day
Creative Commons License photo credit: ShironekoEuro[busy]

1) Customer Love challengers are amazing
The support, love, ideas and kindness I’ve received from fellow challengers has been incredible. I've met cool new people and deepened relationships with existing people and this was undeniably the best part of the experience for me.

If you are thinking about doing the next Customer Love Challenge in February 2011, it's worth it for this reason alone.

2) I need to get better at promotion
This is an area where I totally fell down. I did lots of great things but then either got coy about telling people or just didn’t have the time. This is a long-standing issue for me but Customer Love brought it into sharp relief.

All month I could hear my art college tutor saying the words, “Kirsty, you need to do more with less”. He was right 9 years ago and it’s still true today but my ADD nature struggles with that limitation. My brain is always all, ‘ooh shiny, new thing, shiny new thing! Oh wait what was I doing again?’

I need to do some Big Thinking about how to work with this aspect of myself because I'm clearly never going to eradicate it.

3) A stronger strategy would have given better results
When I take part in the next challenge, I plan to be more prepared. That said, being spontaneous was a lot of fun.

4) I overestimated the amount I could get done
You know, I don’t know why this is always such a surprise to me since it happens all the freaking time. Yet I am always blithely convinced I can do twice as much as humanly possible in half the time. What can I say, I’m an eternal optimist. Completely clearing the decks before doing Customer Love would also have been smart. We live and learn, people, we live and learn...

5) Deep strategy stuff fascinates the hell out of me
I love it to death. I even love the word ‘strategy’ and wish it hadn't been overused by boring corporate types. Part of my mission is to reclaim it. We can have strategy, people and it can be fun strategy with extra cakes and biscuits.

6) I need to be more strategic about 'free'
I talked about this in my Customer Love guest post – The Volunteer Junkie. Please read the incredible wisdom in the comments.

7) It's a bit crowded in my head
I have an Inner Businesswoman, a Volunteer Junkie and a Girl Reporter who's in charge of the newsletter (she's very keen, bless her and survives on biscuits and cups of tea because I don’t pay her). Unearthing these metaphors was one of my favourite parts of Customer Love.

8) Not everything I tried worked
I attempted a bit of public Twitter loving but it felt slightly icky to me. I realised that I’m not comfortable singling people out for public loving - unless there’s a good reason to mention them, it feels artificial and weird. I also worry about the hurt feelings of those I haven't singled out.

But that's OK, it's good to try stuff to find where your edges and tolerances are and I value learning this.

9) Be clear about what you’re offering
Saying ‘I’ve got some free time, who needs help’ on Twitter won’t get nearly as many responses as something specific like, ‘who wants a mini-Eyeball on their sales page?’

10) I sometimes swallow my words
But it's not my fault, it's because I'm Scottish.

I discovered this whilst listening to the audio interview I did with LaVonne Ellis about my art, business and the importance of respecting our limitations.

[PS. To anyone interviewing me in the future, get me to say the words ‘film’ or ‘iron’ – the way I say them will make you laugh your ass off.]

11) I rocked the tiara on VYou
I loved making these little videos but the VYou thing didn't take off as much I'd hoped, probably because I didn’t promote it enough. Although I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook a few times, I never told you guys about it (sorry, my bad!)

I intend to carry on with it though and would be delighted to answer questions in my newly repaired tiara, so please pop on over there and ask one.

12) I'm loathe to ask people what they want
I get shy and embarrassed about asking people what services and products they want or need, in case I can't deliver. Getting the hell over that piece of ridiculousness will be my challenge for the next round of Customer Love.

13) It IS important to launch something
My Inner Businesswoman wasn't at all happy that I said I wasn't going to sell anything in my first Customer Love post, so I've revised that decision. We're not letting The Volunteer Junkie make those kind of choices any more. Plus my Artist's Eyeballs insisted they wanted a party with streamers and buns since they never had a proper launch and hey, nobody wants sulking services.

Coming tomorrow:
The official Artist’s Eyeball launch with a special 72 hour Customer Love sale!

14) I can't tell the difference between peers & customers
It quickly became apparent that I'm way more comfortable loving on my peers than on my clients and I’m hazy on the difference because I tend to think that everyone is a potential peer. In fact, I’ve realised that I'm still not clear who my ideal customers are. More Big Thinking is required on this issue over the next few months.

15) I'm not comfortable pitching to my friends
In fact, I'm not comfortable selling at all. This wasn't exactly news but again, Customer Love highlighted it. However, I’m about to take Pam Slim’s Ethical Selling That Works course in December, which I’m hoping will sort out some of these tangled emotional threads.

16) My business needs a new name
SOS For Artists was never right and now it feels like a shoe that’s too tight. I think it's limiting and far too negative. An amazing late-night Twitter brainstorming session revealed that the core of what I do is about seeing and explaining patterns, which makes total sense when you consider how important patterns are in my art. The lovely Amy from Antemortem Arts dubbed me a Patternista, which I just adore.

17) Sometimes old school is better
When I bought a mic & headphones set, I should have bought one with a traditional jack instead of a USB connection. However, even with that caveat, my audio quality is hugely improved - get a headset, people, it makes a world of difference.

18) There are awesome people outside your niche
Who knew that an elf who does tiling would be so funny and delightful? Who knew that a sex therapist could teach me so much about newsletters? Who knew that I would become good friends with a maths tutor?

19) And finally...
I will use the word ‘trebuchet’ in one of my sales pages even if I have to invent a brand new product to do it!


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Face facts, my little cupcakes, you are not good at everything.

I know, I know, your mother told you that you could do anything you wanted in life. She did not, however, tell you that you could do everything. And if she did, she was wrong.

Pressure...
Creative Commons License photo credit: Casey Serin

Creative people have a bizarre tendency - probably born from the Starving Artist Mindset - to believe that they can do everything. Sadly, it just ain’t so.

Can you have a stab at it? Yes, probably. Will it be any good? Debatable. In truth, other people can often do things better than you and in far less time.

For example, whenever possible I outsource my graphics. I can kind of do graphics but I suck at them: it takes forever and makes me all stabby. Nasty, tricksy graphics, we hates them, Precious.

So I will budget like crazy to hire my wonderful graphics person, Lisa Valuyskaya. Lisa does in a couple of hours what it would take me days of hysterical sobbing to achieve. Ha, who am I kidding? Even with the sobbing, my efforts are pitiful compared to hers. Know why? Because she’s a professional graphic designer and I am not.

Help, help, I have no money

It’s sucky - you’d love to hire someone but your kids/pets/landlord need to eat. It’s just not an option.

In that situation, there are several choices:
Barter
Go without
Find a creative work-around
Outsource those tasks to parts of yourself

The first three are pretty self-explanatory but what about that last one? Outsourcing to yourself? What the hell?

OK, here’s what it means. When I have a task that I dislike and I can’t afford to hire someone, I try to find an aspect of myself that can deal and then I delegate to that sub-personality.

For example, my Inner Businesswoman is now responsible for financial decisions. I find asking for money difficult, so she does that bit. She overrides my Volunteer Junkie who likes to say things like, ‘oh hey, we could just barter instead’. My Inner Businesswoman is in charge of the bottom line and she reminds my Volunteer Junkie that there are bills to pay and the Inland Revenue does not accept vegetables and eggs, no matter how happy the chickens are.

Right now my Inner Businesswoman is very cross about the state of my book-keeping and is threatening to hire an Inner Accountant.

Another example. I have been struggling with newsletters but I was brushing my teeth the other day when to my surprise, an inner Girl Reporter suddenly turned up. She’s keen as mustard and doesn’t need to be paid because apparently she’s an intern. I hope she likes typing.

Hmm, this could be getting a leetle bit out of hand…

It does work though. Marketing making you cringe? Create your own PR person. Having trouble standing up for yourself? Oh honey, your Inner Diva has that one covered. Need help with the filing? Just access your Inner Secretary


Stock photo of Joan from Mad Men

And no, it doesn’t matter if you’re male, you can still imagine yourself as Joan from Mad Men. You’ve probably got better legs for stockings anyway.

Just don’t blame me if tidying up the studio requires an Inner Archaeologist.

A Caveat

This only works if you can access a part of yourself that is vaguely competent.

My Inner Graphic Designer is clearly an eight year old child who’s prone to temper tantrums and doesn’t understand what’s wrong with Comics Sans. If your Inner Accountant seems like the kind of guy who’s going to run off to Bermuda with your money, you should definitely hire a real one or find a more competent friend you can barter skills with.

Get a hat. Get lots of hats

‘Wearing several different hats’ is a critically important skill for any self-employed person.

I have taken this to its logical conclusion and frequently wear my sequin tiara when I’m working on business stuff. Apparently my Inner Businesswoman is a bit of a princess. But because I do it often, putting on the tiara now sends my brain the message, ‘hey, we’re doing business stuff now’. I’m thinking of expanding this: I’d like a writing hat and an art hat to add to my business tiara.

Dammit, I heard that. No, my art hat will NOT be a beret!

Given the choice between sticking their toe in a blender and having to market themselves, many creative people would have to sit down and think about it.

I understand. It’s cringe-worthy, embarrassing and gruelling putting your delicate, precious, creative endeavours out there.

In my experience, anything that helps you stand slightly apart from your creative work helps immensely. It could be silly hats, a public persona, a pseudonym or parts of yourself temporarily taking charge. Start thinking of yourself as a one-person publishing company instead of just a writer. Hell, delegate to your cuddly toys or draw paper doll alter-egos if it helps. You could even ask the cat to take charge. Actually, no, don’t do that, most cats have no work ethic and they’ll screw things up just to mess with you.

Now excuse me, I have to go, my Inner Businesswoman is tapping her foot, apparently time is money or some such shit…


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One day I’m going to come up with a clever title for these round-ups. But not, apparently, today.

Prize Update

About a million years ago – OK, two months ago – I asked for name suggestions for my coaching service and offered a free consulting session for the winning name.

I got some wonderful ideas but none of them felt quite right to me. I’ve been brooding away on it ever since & have finally hit on the right name. The sales page for 'Pertinent Questions' will be up as soon as I've finished writing it.

I’m going to award the consulting prize to Amber Dawn for her suggestion ‘Knotty Fixes’. Even though I haven’t used it as the final name, I utterly adored this and I’m going to nab it for my sales copy. Well done, Amber.

Thanks to everyone else for their awesome suggestions: every single one of you helped so much with my tortuously slow thought process and I am deeply grateful. And I’m sorry that it took so long to update you all, I really did need to sit with it for this long.

Customer Love Update

Wonderful stuff has been happening with Customer Love.

David Crandall's guest post, 'What Is A Customer?' was an eye-opener for me. I also enjoyed 'Who's Got Time For Customer Love?'by Sandi Faviell Amorim from Deva Coaching.

I found Sue Mitchell's hour-long interview with Customer Love founder, LaVonne Ellis, deeply inspiring.

People have been loving hard on their peeps. Here are my pick of the offers so far:

Get free help with numbers from my favourite maths tutor, Colin Beveridge. OK, so he's the ONLY maths tutor I know, but he's still my favourite.

Melissa Dinwiddie from A Creative Life is offering free Sandbox Sessions throughout November. If you’d like a bit of accountability while you work on Your Wonderful Thing, this will be right up your street. Melissa is a delightful, kind and interesting person and I’m sure she’d be a joy to work with.

My Stuff

Thanks to Helen Birch from the wonderful drawdrawdraw blog for featuring my Diary Project drawings. Turns out that Helen & I have a shared love of drawing on envelopes.

Don't forget you can still sign up for the Within Limits class that I'm teaching with Tara Swiger on Wednesday 10th November.

Cool stuff from around the web

Pretty by Kate Makkai is 3 minutes of absolutely astounding, powerful, hard-hitting slam poetry that every woman needs to see. ‘Slam poetry?’, I hear you say. Yep. Just trust me on this one and watch it. There is one swear word in it.


This week I also fell head over heels in love with comedian and ace pianist, Tim Minchin. Most of his stuff is entirely NSFW, so again, please don’t click if that bothers you. I should also warn you that this is ridiculously, insanely catchy - I've been singing it all week.

Enjoy your weekend, my lovelies...