Abita Lovers Recycled Denim & Lace Fabric Flower Barrette
Last night was a very successful Katrina 5.0 event at my day job, the Louisiana State Museum. I stayed busy live tweeting from my own Twitter account and from @LaStateMuseum, and had the chance to finally meet some of my favorite Twitter peeps in person last night and see some others I already knew: @CallMeAlva, @champsuperstar, @geekandahalf, @YatPundit, @lunanola and of course my pal (and fellow @nola_craftmafia member) @artbymags.
I got into a discussion with YatPundit which I can’t stop thinking about. (P.S. thanks to YatPundit for the shoutout on his blog) He told me I should promote myself more. Which is maybe a little funny to me, because in some ways I feel like all I’ve done for the last 4+ years with this blog and my other projects is to promote myself. But I guess what I’ve REALLY been doing is promoting others, and along the way building connections, community, etc, which I hope to benefit me in the long run. But maybe I SHOULD be explicitly promoting myself a bit more? I don’t know, what do you think?
Here’s the thing: I think I’ve ALWAYS been better at promoting others than promoting myself. That’s part of why I’ve built my blog, and my shop, around supporting and promoting other artists, designers, and companies that I believe are doing good work. Even when I was little, I wanted to do something to change the world. I believe that this can be my contribution – by sharing a handmade, more sustainable alternative with my customers and readers, I think that bit by bit I can help change the way that people think about their purchases. Buy less cheaply made crap, created under possibly deplorable working conditions and environmental standards, and when you do buy, make it something that will last, and that means something to you. Just like people are starting to realize that we should know where our food comes from, so too should we know where the other things in our lives come from, and how they were made.
It’s been a slow, long, hard climb so far, I’m not going to lie. I see some people and success seems to come so easily to them. Maybe to some of you it seems like all of this has come easily to me. Believe me, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but I’ve also worked my ass off to get to where I am now. And I still feel like I have a loonnnnng way to go. (And I try to remind myself that those people with easy-seeming success work their asses off too. Appearances can be deceiving you know.)
I know I have an amazing group of people behind me, who do believe in and support what I do. I get great feedback all of the time, especially when I do live events – people ask me if I have a shop (meaning a brick & mortar retail store). I tell them that’s the plan, but I’m not quite there yet. I want to get there. Really, really, really bad. Not just for me. But for all of the artists that I work with, and help to promote. And most of all for the customers. I would LOVE to introduce tourists and locals alike here in New Orleans to this amazing handmade community. People fall in love with this stuff when they see it in person.
I’ve got a great support network, but I’ve got plenty of naysayers too. Anti-visionaries. People who tell me how lucky I am to have a great steady job with benefits. People who tell me retail is dead, the economy is in decline, it’s the worst time to start a business. (Apparently these people don’t read the news, seeing as New Orleans is the new hotbed of entrepreneurship.)
Sometimes all you have to do is ask. Maybe I don’t ask enough? So here it is… If you like what I do, if you like any or all of the amazing artists that I work with, share it with the people you love. Send your friends and family a link to my shop or my blog. Tweet it, Facebook it, or sign up for my email newsletter. (Did you know that if you sign up, you’ll get a coupon code for free shipping in the confirmation email??) If you’re REALLY enthusiastic, you can ask me about joining my ambassador program. If you’re local, you can come to one of my events, or host a home shopping party or trunk show. (Which, might I add, I think would be great for sororities – anyone have sorority contacts in New Orleans?) And if you have constructive criticism for me, I’d love to hear that too. Seriously, I WANT to learn, and grow, and create an amazingly successful business, not just for me, but because I think it can help so many poeple, in so many ways. Help me achieve that goal. (And if I can help you achieve your goals, let me know that too – I’m always up for potential collaboration!)
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
“(Which, might I add, I think would be great for sororities – anyone have sorority contacts in New Orleans?) ”
Sometimes you need to be better at looking at what is right in front of you.
Just saying.
Doh! You’re right of course. But just because you work at a university I still think of you as completely separate from sororities – give me your awesome hookups!
Sometimes I start thinking so big I can’t see the hand in front of my face, you know…
I love this: “Believe me, I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but I’ve also worked my ass off to get to where I am now. And I still feel like I have a loonnnnng way to go. (And I try to remind myself that those people with easy-seeming success work their asses off too. Appearances can be deceiving you know.)”
I wanted to quote it and tweet it, but even with a little judicious clipping it was still too long.
Anyway, I know exactly how that feels, only I think I’ve worked a lot less of my ass off so far, hence I am not quite as successful-seeming as you are. Hopefully someday I’ll be there … but in the meantime, it’s nice to hear someone who looks successful to *me* say exactly what I would say if I were where you are.
Thanks Crystal!
Yeah, that’s part of why I wanted to say that outloud (so to speak), because I know how easy it is to let the green envy monster sneak up, but I also have to remind myself that I only see the version everyone else does, the public, filtered version, of someone else’s success. We don’t see the messy, tiring, behind the scenes stuff, and we shouldn’t, but we do need to remind ourselves that it’s there when jealousy starts sneaking up, you know?
what you are doing- promoting indie makers, taking our stuff out to markets, blogging, thinking passionately about the world around you… that work is amazing and I think people can feel how passionate you are about it all.
What is better than brick and mortar dedicated to hand made. There is so much cheap crap out there and I can’t wait to shop at your store! I can’t wait for you to offer quality handmade goods from NOLA artists to people who visit here- it’s about time someone offered the public indie stuff that is made here that represents a larger picture of what the city is. I also love that you have a universal out look, so people who live here and want indie designed products can connect with artists and makers that make their living elsewhere.
Time for you to be more shameless about self promotion!
I think you do quite well in the self-promotional department. I don’t think that the person you referred to in your article is exactly in the demographic you want to target. I’m a firm believer that I DON’T want EVERYBODY to know about me and what I do. I think it just ruins the experience for the people who truly care and already “get it” without me having to spell it out to them. Some good things aren’t made for mass-consumption