Trends

I'm stuck. Stuck in the research phase for Jessie Marie Studio's Right Brain Business Plan. I need to move forward. I need to be okay with not knowing all the answers.

Trends. Trends are what's been holding me here like super glue. 

What are today's trends?

What trends are my clients a part of?

How do I define them?

How can a utilize these undefined trends for future business?

And then it hit me. Move on. Take what I have read, written & looked at regarding trends over the past three months & be okay with letting go of organizing & documenting answers.  

Because really trends are an ever moving target.

barbie & ken date night. 1982. cool then. retro now.

PS This doesn't mean I'm ignoring trends. Just over the past three months I have acted on two trends I had identified: Instagram & my social group being made up of a whole lot of young families.

Time Tracking

I use Freckle to track my time. Hands down it is the best $12 I spend every month. It's easy to use. The weekly reports I create (see below) have helped me reach my hourly goals. It's made invoicing almost, dare I say it, fun. AND it's pretty to look at.

Plus. Yes, there is more! Freckle has this great view called Pulse. This view (see below) shows me a month at a time with great little pie charts on each day. The charts visually show me how I am using my time. The bigger the chart the more time I've worked that day. And then each project I worked on that day is shown by a piece of the pie. I use this information to delegate certain days for different kinds of work once I see a pattern form.

I love Freckle. And, if you are in need of time tracking software, I think you might too.

Capturing Moments

Last week I didn't talk about a new service Jessie Marie Studio started to offer this fall. Lifestyle photo shoots for young families. Families who are still trying to navigate what it means to be a family. Much like my own family.

For these Moms & Dads it is sometimes hard to comprehend that they are living the moments their kids will remember forever right now. I have personally found photos to be the best way to capture memories for my family. However, as I commented on Monday, sometimes it's more important to live on the other side of the lens. Because of this, I invite young families to use me as their photographer for an hour or two while everyone from Mom to baby brother enjoy the moment together.

Moments like family walks, playing on swings, playing catch & coloring with chalk. These are all moments my first family, the Tiras, shared while I took photo after photo. It was a joy to spend a Saturday morning capturing moments for this young family.

 

 

 

 

Living in the Moment

The Vacation

by Wendell Berry

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.

He went flying down the river in his boat

with his video camera to his eye, making

a moving picture of the moving river

upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly

toward the end of his vacation. He showed

his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,

preserving it forever: the river, the trees,

the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat

behind which he stood with his camera

preserving his vacation even as he was having it

so that after he had had it he would still

have it. It would be there. With a flick

of a switch, there it would be. But he

would not be in it. He would never be in it.

Ever since my husband, Jarrod, read this poem to me I've challenged myself to live on the other side of the camera. It's been hard. Really, really hard. I felt like I would lose my memories.

I started small. I didn't take my iPhone to the park with me. I enjoyed having my hands free to climb with Cadence. I shared the moment with her instead of documenting it.

I will never stop taking photographs.

I love taking photos, editing photos & sharing photos. However my relationship with my photos needed to change. The mountains of photos are controlling me & I need to control them.

I began to challenge myself to focus on storytelling with my photography instead of using it to preserve a random memory. To keep myself accountable I joined Instagram. Once I joined I started following some amazing photographers for inspiration. And now I've been purposely posting my Instagram photos with words to create a one frame story.

I may not end up with a picture of Gavin's first time in a swing, but I will be there. And then the second time I'll be there camera in hand.

Follow my stories @jessiemariestudio on Instagram.

Something Small

Small business with a small budget? We're here for you!

 
Thanks to the internal business research I've been doing to create The JMS Plan my target market has become more clear.

I give to you new copy to use on my website & future ads.

Let me guess, you are in need of something.
Something amazing.
Something wonderful.
Something beautiful.

Is it a logo for your start up business?

A monthly eNewsletter for your home based business?

Or are you afraid to say because it's too vague & hard to explain?

No worries. Contact us today & we can help you turn your something into something amazing, wonderful & beautiful.

Jessie Marie Studio is a small design studio that focuses on meeting the needs of business with small budgets. Such as work-at-home moms, churches, non-profits, small businesses & start-ups.

Website Traffic Ahead

Artist: James Rizzi, American (1950 - 2011)

"There is a lot of 'build it and they will come' hype about web sites, but it's simply not true. You may build it, but then it's one of billions out there, with millions of sites added every day. Talk about information overload! That's why it's your responsibility to drive traffic to your site."

- Page 105 in The Designer's Guide to Marketing and Pricing by Ilise Benun and Peleg Top

This year I have been learning how to build Wordpress websites for others. Sadly when I finish a website everyone on the Internet doesn't come running to see it. It may be functional & look amazing, but you, my friend, have to tell people about it.

How you ask?

Talk About It
This new website is your baby. Treat it as such. Tell everyone you know about it. Online & in real life.

Put it in Print
Put your URL on everything. Business cards, brochures, even your truck. The more people see you have a website the more apt they will be to go there when they need your services.

Pick a Focus Point
What do you want a visitor to do when they get to your new site? Sign up for a newsletter? Subscribe to your blog? Let's put that action 'above the fold' (in the area before a visitor would have to scroll). This way your website will not just be a wallflower, but will build a relationship.

Keep Your Website Fresh
Try to update your website with new content regularly. Do you have a Facebook page to link to it? How about new work to brag about? For visitors to come back again & again something new needs to be happening.

I am not an expert at increasing website traffic by any means. SEO, Google analytics & keywords sound like a list of foreign languages - that I am learning. I will promise to make your website functional & look amazing, if you promise to tell people about it.

Now to go update my website.

Mission Possible

"With your Right-Brain Business Plan, you'll use your vision and values to help you pen a Passion and Purpose Proclamation instead {of a mission statement}. This proclamation describes what has heart and meaning for you and your perfect customers, and how you're making a positive impact through your work." pg 45 Right-Brain Business Plan

The JMS Plan started with "Educate Through Visual Solutions" as it's Passion and Purpose Proclamation {mission statement}. However, as I began to fully understand my services this statement didn't encompass my design AND photography offerings. I felt the statement worked for the design services but not the photography ones.

Old Mission Statement Card  |  Front.

 

Old Mission Statement Card  |  Back

Back to the drawing board I went. I imagined a fancy mission statement with all the bells & whistles. And then I reread my current daily inspirational quote:

"The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so the necessary may speak." 

Hans Hofmann

So with that in mind, I bring to you The JMS Plan's mission statement.

Jessie Marie Studio's Mission Statement Card  |  Front

Jessie Marie Studio's Mission Statement Card  |  Back