Kilnformed Glass Art

Only the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-02-03T09:37:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful IdeaOnly the Best of Etsy Sample Packages GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

My Thoughts

2010-02-01T16:02:00.000-08:00

I always wanted a retail store. I always wanted to share my passion. I thought it would be the epitomy of being a real artist.you know, being cool, hangin' out talkin' about art and business; and drinkin' whisky on fridays. I had this whole idea of the "fun" of business. What an illusion that was, or was it a delusion? Somehow it always looked to be easy. I had no idea what it would take to own a business. Now, more than ever, I question my dreams. What were they really? They were about me being nice to others, helping, teaching, sharing my joy?!I never thought about who will "run" the business? Who will do the daily's, who will maintain the agendas, who will create an ad campaign and make it happen? Who would deliver the goods?" That is how I feel today while I try to clean my house. I am curious how well I will be able to manage all of the above and more. Kt is good with taking on projects and the internet, and she has managed to learn so much about the industry and the market that I can relax just a little.
I always just wanted to do my art, I am tired of wondering how I am going to make it happen. I just want to do the art, create the visions, and revel in their beauty. We have close to four weeks to leave the studio. Once again no time for art, only time to pack. Change is an inevitable of my life. I can count on it. This move will be good for me, for us, for our business. We are focused to succeed and right now it is just a bump in the road. Been here before, I shall survive!

Eternalsourceglass.com

A Rainy Day

2010-01-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

It is late. I have been thinking about this blog all day. There is so much happening in our business right now. Kt and I have been organizing our thoughts, priorities,and just trying to keep up with creating our new ETSY.com store. KT is really the struggling and learning artist that turns her left brain on and does great work with our internet based business. It seems to me that even though she is so much younger than me, I am learning quite bit from her. She is very patient with me. I seem to have so many questions.As you all know by now, we are downsizing our business. In the beginning my dreams were much grander, I wanted a staff, and I wanted 40 artists to work for me so that I could make art workshops available to the public in my small Northern California town. I was so naive,and broken hearted after six months in this studio. I needed to remember what my passion is and how I had lost it. So, I looked at my vision board. It was built about 6 months before I began looking for a building. My vision board said it all. I could see my vision, it was all about family, and teaching my craft to women who were progressive in their thinking. And what magical places that I wanted to visit when I became successful. There was much more on this collage than my dreams, my love of life was on that board, each passion evident, and in the middle of this vision board was a nice stack of money. Yup, money. I had reached a point in my life that I was ready to go public. I had to, I was in dialysis for the last seven years and and now I am 61 with a new kidney. I knew that once I got a kidney at my age that I would not be so hireable ( I have many credentialed skills) and realizing that I just wanted to do art I told myself that it is time to reach for my dreams.Now, as the way of life, there is also the way of business. We have to move from this retail environment to a place that will give us serenity. A place where we can focus on developing an internet based business and creating our visions in glass and offer them up for sale. That is the driving force now, feel serenity, feel passion, and feel love of the glass. That love will truly transcend when we create your visions in glass. By the way, this new studio is a small town near Trinidad, Ca. As well, it is on the top of a small mountain and it sits high enough above the redwood tree line that one can see the ocean. It is a great barn on 40 acres with a couple of houses, and true extended family, and they are artists too. This was a part of my vision board, a house in the woods. It seems that the vision keeps developing. Nice to realize. Until my next chatter,
In Spirit, Maureen Rose www.EternalSourceGlass.com

glass art business journey

2010-01-20T15:50:00.000-08:00

Another day and a few more to go in the week. I have been having trouble getting to work by 9a.m., but I have been challenged by myself to get better at it.
KT and I went to an SBDC workshop last nite and it was about capital and money. I was intent on keeping up with the topic, it seems that my brain bucks up when it has to go to the left side these days--or maybe that has been happening for a number of years. The workshop was so interesting that it was easy to stay interested. I really have the desire to learn, to succeed, to continue to stay on track and build a workable business plan and create a successful business.
We left, drove home from Eureka and said "manyanna"(?sp.)which brings us to this moment. Kt and I have been discussing what we each learned last nite off and on throughout this day. I am so blessed with Kt's understanding of the money/numbers thing, she said she just needs to wrap her head around the concept and stay focused. NOW, what does that say about me, the "other"partner...I think it says that I am older and had a lot of left brain challenges in my life and i am happy to support Kt in what ever she feels successful at:)
When I started this business about two years ago I had a good deal of cash to spend and so I was sure I could create a good business without a business plan-NOT! I lost all my money in six months and had to be on my knees emotionally when I realized I needed a business investor and partner. Voila! Kt came into my life. We became involved in a flight program and we are almost through the process and we are almost done with a "workable" business plan. Now, if I only had that large sum of money now. It was my mistake to think I could run a business, but all I really wanted to do was my glass art but I was so into the whole business system that I had no "direction" yet I was into all the numbers and advertising and marketing etc. against my left brains will. It was a very tough time. Now, 2 years later we have learned what we need to do to be successful and how to delegate between each other what we can (wrap our heads around). Kt does such a good job with business plan, that I am going to take responsibility for the tax information and how to better organize it. It's a little left brain, but we have a bookeeper and a tax man. Thats a lot of help for me and Kt uses our business counselor. So, our lesson last nite was to chek out our money flow and how to create a better budget for the business and how to create interest in that subject. I'll let you know how I am doing. Thought For The Day----create a good business plan, then spend your money on your dreams. In Spirit, mo