My Vision Statement

Ok, I think I've gotten my vision statement into pretty good shape -- what do you think?!

"As someone who has had the pleasure of seeing an expectant mother thoroughly enjoy and appreciate the hand-crafted crocheted baby gift I've given her, I want to help you experience that feeling as well and "be thoughtful" and true to your giving nature.  Gifts of crochet, whether to someone special or to yourself, are a great way to nurture your peace of mind, health, and sense of satisfaction.  In striving to be thoughtful towards you by providing beneficial and beautiful products and services, we at Many Creative Gifts are expanding into other areas also, like recipe books and meditation beads, to take a more holistic approach to health and happiness.  Join us on our journey to enhance and savor beauty and well being in the world through mind, body, spirit, ... and of course crochet!"

I need to tinker more with it I'm sure, but at least it's a start, and I hope you've been working on your own vision statement as well -- even if you're not going into business on your own, it's good to think through these five factors and how they are operating in your life in general.

Creating Vision

So, I'm still trying to recover from all of the travel and the resulting cold, but I think I'm back!  And, of course, the business is always on my mind, and I came across this book "Creating A Vision" by Corey Criswell and Talula Cartwright.  I've talked before about how important it is to really think and know about what it is you are trying to accomplish with your business, but this book really organizes the thought process you should be going through in order to be able to carefully craft a mission/vision statement for your work.

It's worth getting the book, but here's a little bit about what the authors are recommending.  Basically, it's a five-step process to capturing your vision for your business.  You need to think about 1) the big idea, 2) your values, 3) the story, 4) future growth, and 5) change.

Rather than use "rhinestone widgets" as the generic example, I'm actually going to use what I've been putting together for Many Creative Gifts.  First, I really need to articulate the big idea -- the fundamental enduring ideal on which MCG is built.  Thanks to my husband, who articulated it best, MCG is all about "being thoughtful".  I want to be thoughtful towards my customers and provide them with what they are looking for.  I want to help my customers be thoughtful in figuring out gift items for others and themselves.  But, even more than that, it's about being thoughtful, internally and externally, in all aspects of your life -- "mind, body, spirit, ... and of course crochet!"

Next, you want to think about your values -- what do you stand for?  My business is all about thoughtfulness, sharing, and appreciating  and savoring beauty.  I want people to find peace of mind, health, spiritual satisfaction, and to utilize crochet, either by crocheting themselves or sharing crocheted items, to help them achieve these goals.  Crochet can help someone relax and distract her or his mind, get some physical activity (about 100 calories an hour!), give of herself to others, and have fun!

So, what's your story?  What got you to this point where you're sharing with the world of potential customers out there?  I learned how to crochet in 6th grade from a favorite teacher, who taught one of my closest friends and me to make a scarf.  I intermittently crocheted over the years until 2005 when, while cleaning out a closet, I found my hooks and a ton of yarn and decided that either I had to give all this stuff away or really start making use of it.  Since a number of my friends were having babies, I decided I'd start making some (or what I hoped would be) keepsake crocheted items for their shower presents.  It was such a great feeling for me when they would ooooh and aaaaah over the gifts, and I hoped that they felt my love and caring for them and their babies.  My friends encouraged me to try to sell my creations, and this was about the same time that crafting was really making a comeback and Etsy was gaining in popularity.  So, I formed MCG as a limited liability company and I was in business!

Ok, so you've identified your story, where are you planning on going from here?  How do you plan on growing and expanding your business?  Of course, being a "scanner" (that'll be a topic for another post), I couldn't just stick with crochet, oh nooooo, I started to experiment with tie-dye, jewelry, and meditation beads. Now, I've expanded into healthy recipes and gluten-free cooking (more on that later too!).  And, you know, it all fits with my values of helping others with their "mind, body, spirit, and crochet" growth, so it makes sense, at least to me, to expand into these areas.

And, finally, the change factor -- how is your business going to reflect the changing times, and what will you need to do to get yourself moving into the future?  For me, it's going to be about utilizing all these new technologies becoming available to get my message out.  As I've talked about before, I hope to be getting a podcast going soon and making ebooks available.

Now what?  Well, you've got to put all of these thoughts and concepts into one encompassing statement that embodies your vision for your business.  Ok, I'm going to go work on mine and post it later today or tomorrow -- feel free to post yours!

Benign Neglect

Here I am, pontificating about how to run a small crafts business and my Etsy shop looks like *&^$#.  I've been neglecting it, but you will soon discover, it's impossible to stay totally on top of all aspects of your business.  So, choices have to be made, and you have to stop and step back often to assess where you are spending your time.  Early on, I think you have to spend your time establishing your presence in your field.  Ironically, that means a lot of time on the computer (for us creative types, that hurts; but, think of it as just another aspect of being creative).  People need to know you exist before they can even think of buying your rhinestone widgets!  As that starts to fall into place, then you need to start making strategic choices about how you spend your time.  Of course, time needs to be spent actually making your product, but then, back to the computer to let others know your latest designs, etc.  For me, I've been concentrating on coming up with crochet patterns (as opposed to the actual items themselves, but I'm glad to make custom orders ;-)  Thus, I've been spending more time on Ravelry (a community of knitters, crocheters, and designers) posting patterns than on Etsy posting real products.  And, I probably need to step back and think about whether that's a good use of my time or not (I think so, but I do need to think about how to optimize my Etsy shop presence -- any suggestions more than welcome!)

In conjunction with figuring out how to optimize your time spent on your business and establishing your presence on the web, you need to figure out "who you are", "what's your message" and how best to express these answers.  Most business mavens will tell you that you need to formulate a mission statement, tag line, etc.  Don't get caught up in the jargon or formula -- just think about what it is you are trying to do -- "Rhinestones for a shinier world", "My mission is to create the shiniest rhinestone widgets to brighten your day" -- just try to say whatever it is that motivates you to create what you create. Believe me, it will resonate with your customers and yourself much more if you just let it come from your heart.  You will be more motivated to keep creating and getting your message out, and your potential customers will feel your vibe and energy!

Speaking of vibe and energy (or lack thereof), time to go to the day job ;-)