Today I received a question that I have heard often, both online and in person:

How did you get here? I make things that I love, are well made, and are unique in the market – and other people love! But no matter how much work I do I can’t get the following/sales I need to make my work successful. Is there something I’m missing?
~Anonymous

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Dear Anonymous:

Having a “plateau” of productivity or success is really frustrating and we all have them, whether its in our professional ventures or our personal lives. I feel for you and I would love to share with you some lessons I have learned.

1. Ask for help and do your due diligence.

First, do some research by talking to other professionals and experts in your field whose work you admire–both online and in person! What are their goals in their businesses? What are they doing to reach them? Do they make business plans, do they strategize? Who are their mentors and influencers?

I will tell you that I set one huge pie-in-the-sky goal each year. Last year my goal was to start a line of dresses, which came to fruition just last month after 18 months of work and planning. This year my goal was to start a coworking space to offer a common workspace for local entrepreneurs and creators, which we launched as CAMP. My goal for next year is to write a book showing brides how to plan their weddings with a “party planning” mentality, taking the cultural pressure out of what should be the most joyful day of their lives. I have a whole book full of goals and project ideas that I read often to remind myself about the direction I want to be steering my business in, while remaining open to opportunities that present themselves along the way.

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Website for the dress line which hearkens back to many established aspects of the PL brand

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I never wrote a business plan when I started my business. Most people don’t remember that in my first year doing Princess Lasertron I created everything from ring bearer pillows to “just married” banners for cars to stuffed animals and necklaces–it was chaos! While it was fun dabbling in all of those little projects, I would never advise someone now to forge ahead in business without seriously considering the financing, growth, and long-term goals of their project. What if you are running behind? What if you need to hire an employee? What if you lose touch with your friends because of your business commitments? What amount of return do you want? How do you make up for your shortcomings? What if you are left with no time for your own personal development?

It’s easy for us to be fixated on the FUN of being our own bosses that we overlook the more mundane but important details that will make our businesses successful. That was one of my errors and I think that if I had taken the time to consider these points more carefully, I could be much further ahead than I am now.

In any case, ask yourself what your goal is when it comes to sharing your passion with the world. Do you want to teach? Then start a blog, record some videos, and share them with the world! Or put some kits together and give others the opportunity to learn from your experience! YOU are the expert at your craft, and your confidence should communicate that.

2. Deliver a “whole package” by focusing on branding.

Another way to communicate to your adoring public that you are an expert in your industry and a formidable businessperson is to invest in making your branding consistent and tight. There is some controversy about the concept of “personal branding” because people don’t want to impersonalize the significance of their encounters and relationships and experiences by slapping a marketing term on it, but for lack of a better phrase I’m going to use it.

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A tv interview during Omaha Fashion Week

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Brands evoke cherished emotions–when you remember them, you relive positive experiences. In that sense, branding principles can be applied to almost anything–not only your business, but your blog, your packaging, your summer vacation, your office, your fashion sense. More things affect your business than just your interactions with customers–everything you do is a chance to make an impression on someone you will develop a relationship with, from the way you dress, the way you treat waiters, the events you attend, the attitude you exude. And when you are dealing with customers, you can take your best self and give them a little something extra, as a way to say “Thanks for supporting me and believing in my dream!” For example, going the extra mile with your packaging tells your customer, “I care about you, you deserve to get something really beautiful and exciting in the mail.”

Your brand is not just how you interact with customers. It’s the “whole package,” an experience that people have every time they interact with you.

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The whole package

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3. Show some vulnerability.

With that said, sometimes when your personality is so closely tied to your brand, it’s hard to decide what belongs in your personal life and what should be shared with your readers and customers. It’s important to maintain a professional image but taking a risk and sharing some of your struggles–whether they are personal or business-related–helps people identify with you and build trust. Just reveal who you are and people will want to know you. Don’t do it to gain customers or attention or sympathy–just show your readers and followers that you are a real person. They will care.

4. Ask your customers!

Every year I do a “reader survey” designed to collect feedback from my loyal customers about what they like and dislike about my posts, my products, what they’d like to see more of, and to open myself up to any questions they have. Besides getting tons of great information from people who already like you, you will get ideas for ways to engage new customers. It’s also a great way to share some vulnerability by showing readers that you value their opinions and need their feedback to improve your business. If you don’t have a blog, you can do things like this through twitter, or just by sitting down for a heart-to-heart with some of your trusted friends.

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Boxed corsages!

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5. Use local resources

Investing time in meeting other people in your city is just as valuable as the time you invest in your business, especially if you have found that you are hitting a wall with your business growth. When you reach a point where you are working harder and harder in your own studio but not seeing results, go somewhere else! Literally! Log on to your computer, get on Facebook, Twitter, Meetup.com, local networking websites (such as your chamber of commerce), and use them to open a channel between you and your community. Where do cool, creative, inspiring people spend time? Do they attend events or meetups? When you find out, leave your house and go there! Not to pitch your business to them, not to figure out what they can do for you, but just to make new connections with people who have something new to teach you. You will be shocked by what you learn by engaging at that level of interaction.

Also, check out your library. My favorite books about business are “The Martha Rules” by Martha Stewart, and “The E-Myth” by Michael E. Gerber. For marketing inspiration, a great book is Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, and Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It. All of these books were greatly inspirational to me at times when I didn’t know where to go next. And hey, someone else might notice what you are reading and strike up a conversation. I would!

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I believe that to expand your business, you have to increase the impact you have in each customer’s life beyond each initial sales transaction. You have to make people care about your success because they care about you as a person. Every strong, confident person from entrepreneurs to teachers to parents to bus drivers to world travelers–all of us who feel successful and self-satisfied–owe our happiness to the relationships we have cultivated with those around us who have helped lift us up and support us through our achievements and challenges.

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With Eric Downs, one of my dearest friends and greatest supporters

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Sure, maybe there is a fair amount of luck involved when it comes to finding success with a new business venture. But as they say, luck is where preparation meets opportunity. I believe that if you are doing everything you can do, the opportunities will come through those relationships. I have been doing Princess Lasertron full-time since 2005 now, and none of this happened overnight. If it’s only been a year or so and you are feeling burned out and disappointed with the lack of return, entrepreneurship may not be for you, or you may need to re-evaluate those “big picture” goals I mentioned. Are you a teacher or a salesperson? A technician or a manager? There is no harm in taking a step back and slowing down for a while.

No matter what you decide to do–speed up with the marketing efforts or slow down with the business plan, keep moving forward! Keep learning about your craft, your passions, and stay active in your community. You can never go wrong there.

xo
meg

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What say you, readers? What is your best advice for someone who has hit a wall or is feeling growth slowing, whether professionally or personally?

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1. A big box of vintage buttons I recently purchased–they often come to me sewn onto cards and plates like this, it’s a great way to organize them! Photo from Kristin DeKay. 2. Boiling bottles to get the labels off. 3. A big yawn. 4. Part of an upcoming diy project I can’t wait to share with you.

5. Visiting at Birdhouse Collectible down the hall from my workspace. 6. Backstage at a fashion show we did Sunday for the Hope Venture, which benefits women and children who are victims of sex trafficking. 7. WONDERFUL models! 8. WONDERFUL outfit!

9. Details of a new corsage pin I made this week. 10. I love these Betsey Johnson bow shoes! 11. Experimenting with using beads in a boutonniere. 12. A red and teal headband for a friend.

Other little moments that made me smile today

Wooden wick candles ♥ Going to Design & Wine at Birdhouse this week ♥ Pink-striped carnations ♥ Digging my fingers into a sheepskin rug ♥ Rearranging my living room ♥ Seeing my friend Kristal for the first time in months ♥ Alice standing up holding onto the back of the couch ♥ Rain at night ♥ “I wake up every morning, want to be a nice person, but by three o’clock the bitch come out.” ♥ Arranging two rows of books by color in my bookcase ♥ Drizzling chocolate over popcorn ♥ “OH HERE GO HELL COME.” ♥ “I called locks of love but they don’t take any hair from below the neck.” ♥ My assistant coming over to hang out at my house ♥ Finding two stuffed animals I made the first month I started my business–thank goodness I changed directions ♥ Meeting my husband for lunch at Whole Foods ♥ Reading Schneewittchen to Alice auf deutsch ♥ Vaccuuming…I hate dragging the vaccuum out but everything is SO MUCH better afterward ♥ An e-mail from an author I admire ♥ Coast to Coast AM podcasts ♥ Putting new photos in my frames ♥ The satisfaction of pushing a stroller ♥ Egg pancake for dinner ♥ You

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Dear Alice,

Hip hip hooray, you’re six months old! You big girl! This month proved to be a wonderfully transitional one for you. You went through the most emotional growth and every day you reveal more and more of your personality to us in your smiles, laughs, worries, and snuggles.

Ohhhh the snuggles. You have started reaching out for us and crawling over to lay in my arms–especially in the morning. It is such a gift to feel loved by a baby.

We are still co-sleeping. It started months ago when we realized that everyone slept better when you could nurse through the night. You no longer wake up at night to eat, but you still love the warmth and security of bed-sharing. You have also started napping pretty predictably–once around 1pm for up to an hour, and once around 10pm. Bedtime is between 1-2am, and wake time is between 10-11am.

This month you had an explosion of mobility! You started by sitting up unassisted. You are scooting everywhere, rocking on your hands and knees (but not yet crawling on them), and pulling yourself up to standing from your hands and knees by grabbing furniture. As a result, you need less entertainment from me, but more supervision. And your sweet little soft knees are getting rougher and more scuffed, so we wear pants or tights every day.

Other new things you started doing this month include yanking my shirt down to eat in the morning (which is cute but pretty rude), eating solid foods (you love sweet potato from our friends’ farm, applesauce, and spiced lentils), and babbling (and squeeeeealing!) to yourself.

You love playing with the mirror and talking to the baby inside. You are starting to get a little stranger anxiety. You know that when someone walks out the front door, it means they are leaving. You love dropping and throwing toys, and hitting objects. You love reading (eating) your (junk) mail and magazines. You spy things strategically situated across the room to be unnoticeable to you–from a lamp cord to a stack of magazines–and dash over to chew on them or knock them over. Yes, we are in that stage. I am rethinking my anti-playpen stance.

You’ve also started whining and are becoming a little manipulative. To describe your personality as it has been revealed to me, I’d say you are adaptable, intuitive, focused, communicative, and a little bossy. Quite an even mix between your dad and me.

My favorite thing about being your mama is watching you shift you focus between objects or people, seeing you furrow your brow, and the look of satisfaction that spreads across your face when you are finished with a project or learn something new or reach a new realization. I wish I could read your thoughts, but I like to imagine that the world seems so wonderful and fantastic and terrific to you. You inspire me, Alice, to see the world that way, too.

We love you. The world loves you! You are special.
Mama

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a holiday wedding
a New Years celebration
a Christmas party
a birthday
…because you deserve it!

Because each dress is made to order, we work with each customer personally on their questions about fit and style. We are happy to make your dress in YOUR size–start by looking at our size chart and then please do contact us if you have questions about ordering a dress in other measurements!

Also don’t forget that each order is entered in a giveaway drawing for a free bridal order (flowers for your whole bridal party!) and a free dress from our collection! When we sell 100 dresses I’ll draw for that giveaway!

xo
meg

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For months now I have been so excited about the opening of Birdhouse Collectible, the amazing new interior design shop full of one-of-a-kind pieces to style, furnish, and decorate your space. Curated by Jessica McKay, the coolest interior designer in Omaha, Birdhouse Collectible is the perfect source for affordable and original pieces hand-picked by Jessica and her expert design team.

The Birdhouse Collectible team goes to market in different cities to find vendors. Most of the furniture is found at auctions or through estate sales, and they are the only place to find handmade pieces by local furniture designer Peter Cales (who created beautiful meeting tables at both CAMP and Birdhouse!). They also contact small vendors scouted on Etsy and through other blogs.

The aesthetic at Birdhouse is a mix of shabby chic, Anthro, rustic log cabin, and upcycled vintage–truly eclectic and easy to integrate into your own aesthetic.

Every time I visit, Jessica has rearranged or redecorated the showroom in a new and interesting way that inspires me to experiment with my own spaces in my home. There’s always new inventory coming in, whether it’s a vintage reupholstered
swivel chair or a collection of lab glass-inspired vases.

One of Jessica’s strengths as an interior designer is creating spaces that truly reflect the personal style of her clients. Visiting Birdhouse Collectible is like shopping with your own personal stylist–I always leave with something that is within my budget and perfect for my space, and plenty of ideas and inspiration for my next furniture arrangement or color scheme.

Follow Birdhouse Collectible on twitter and add Jessica’s blog to your reader–she is always talking about tips for your space, sharing super inspirational photos of homes she has redesigned, and giving readers a peek into the design business. I love it!

The Birdhouse Collectible showroom is open Saturdays from noon-6pm in the Mastercraft Building at 1111 N 13th St!

Go find something special here. It’s my favorite place to buy things for my home, hostess gifts, and browse for inspiration.

xo
meg

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