Have you ever thought about what your why is? You know, why you do what you do? Why you are in the business you are? Why art or creativity chose you? And why you chose to make it important enough that it is your business?

Frederick Nietzsche said, “He who has a why can endure any how.”  I believe that when you know your why, it helps you figure out meaningful goals that lead to creating a meaningful life. It acts as an anchor when you need to find the courage to keep going or even just to take the next step. It helps you stay motivated and can lead to a life you can only imagine. It even helps you get out of bed in the morning.

That sounds good, but how do you really find your why? Your why may just come to you easily or it may take lots of thought. (I was in the lots of thought category.) It may also change over time as your life circumstances change.

For years I never really gave it much thought. I was working to add income to our family coffers. When I first started my business, it was actually at my accountant’s suggestion. He saw I loved quilting and thought I could turn it into a business on the side. That was great, and I never really gave it much more thought. As the years went by, the business grew and changed. I earned a graduate degree in journalism and thought how wonderful it would be to combine the quilting and journalism together, which I did. Again, not really giving it a huge amount of thought as to why beyond I enjoyed it.

The past couple of years, I decided to actually put real thought into the process. I can now articulate what I do and why. I believe it is so important to start to do the work of our why that we spend time working on this individually at the Creative Arts Business Summit. And knowing this absolutely makes a difference. Once you figure our your “big why,” you complete your tasks, reach your goals, make a difference in the lives of those you serve, and live your own life with so much more ease.

Here are some ideas to get you started figuring out your why along with some good resources.

1. If you are having a hard time answering yourself why. Complete the sentence: “I am doing this because ….”  or “I’m doing this so that….”

1. Take a look at your top passions and try to see what they have in common. That can lead you to your why.

1. What are your innate strengths? What are things you are naturally good at? Sometimes you dismiss these thinking everyone is good at this thing. And how do these connect with your passions?

1. What gets you out of bed in the morning. What is it that drives you to take inspired action?

1. What was your youthful joy? Ask people who knew you as a child what they remember about your strengths and passions.

1. Remember that the why is the driving force behind our actions. We need strong, or Big, Whys to keep going.

1. Our Big Why can change over time. It is a good exercise to revisit yours occasionally.

Some resources to check out:

How Great Leaders Inspire Action,  a TEDx talk by Simon Sinek.

The Element and Finding Your Element by Ken Robinson, PhD, with Lou Aronica

What is your why? I know you have one and I would love to hear what it is. Please share it below or on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages?

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Over the weekend, the quilt world lost a visionary, Yvonne Porcella. I do not remember when I first met Yvonne in person. I know her influence came into my life back in the early 1980s with her book Pieced Clothing. I came to quilting from a garment/sewing background and still dabbled in garments even though quilting had taken over my life. Her book was all about how to used patchwork and pieced techniques to construct garments. The garments were not fitted; all the pieces were cut from rectangles and had their roots in folk clothing. I went onto make vests and jackets for myself in this fashion. Eventually, this concept formed the basis for the commissioned garments I made for others. Over the years I followed what she created, both her own work and the Studio Art Quilt Associates that she founded. We chatted in Houston when we were both there. I learned that my pronunciation of almond did not match with hers, and she was, after all, an almond grower.

Fast forward to 2014. I remember having a conversation with Yvonne at the SAQA Conference in Alexandria, Va. I gave the keynote address and talked about how important it was to know your why. Yvonne came to share with me details of her upcoming book Defining Why. What struck me over this weekend as I looked at the tributes that poured in was the gifts she shared and received. It really was all about love.

Here is a shot of me with Iris Karp of Mistyfuse and Yvonne taken at Quilt Market in 2014.

To learn more about Yvonne, the Quilt Show has its legend show on Yvonne free for the rest of the month. To access it click here. In the meanwhile, maybe you have memories about Yvonne Porcella from the Quilt Show, or a  another tribute about the books she has written. Feel free to leave them on our on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages?

Facebook is a fact of marketing life for just about everyone. It ranks right up there with Google and YouTube for searching. I found that to be true myself yesterday. With an impending storm, rather than searching for weather on Google I searched on Facebook for the Capital Weather Gang, the group from the Washington Post that tracks weather.

Recently I got a few questions on handling friend requests. I have been on Facebook a long time and over the years developed some guidelines for how I use Facebook. Do you have guidelines? It is a good idea to put some in place. You can always change them. However, it helps to be clearer on how you will use Facebook. Here are some to consider:

1. Decide if you want to keep your Facebook personal profile page just for your family and close friends. When I started Facebook back in 2008, you only had a personal page. It was not long before the friend tally grew. I had decided early on that I was using this as a “business” portal to let my friends, both business and personal, know what I was doing, again both business and personal. When Facebook introduced Facebook Pages, which are intended for businesses, I had so many “friends” that I decided to continue using the personal page for connecting with business friends. In my case, I also believe it acts as a referral source for business.

1. Set parameters on who you decide is your “friend.” This came up relatively early in my Facebook journey. A personal trainer from Pittsburgh asked to be my friend. I wondered what I could possibly have in common with him. We had no friends in common, and I could not see any art connection. He was not wearing a shirt in his picture. That created my “you must be wearing a shirt” rule. What other rules might you create? Perhaps you choose not to friend people who are not really personal friends.

1. What if you decide that you do not want to friend someone? Most of you have a Facebook Page. The easiest thing to do is to message the requestor and let them know that your personal page is only for family and close friends. Suggest that they “like” your Business Page and tell them that is where you share all kinds of info on what you are up to. In all likelihood, they are interested in your business side, not what you and your family did last weekend. And, it is possible for you to go back and do this now.

1. Someone asked me if it was possible to go back and make adjustments to move everyone to their business page. The answer is yes, just start doing so. You can message people that you are only posting business info on your business page and will be deleting them. Also post this on your personal profile page and encourage people to head over to your business page.

1. How about those requests from real strangers? Lately a lot of people are getting requests from people who have no friends in common and no real basis for connection. I think a lot of these come from men trolling Facebook. One of the recent ones I got was from two men with the same first and last name, only reversed. What are the odds? Look at who are friends with these strangers. I was surprised to see a good friend of mine “friend” someone without any other connections. I dropped her a note about it. She had not really even looked, just clicked friend. She removed him.

1. One of the other problems is friend requests from people you are already friends with. First you might wonder if you did not friend them after all. Or perhaps they accidentally unfriended you. Perhaps you click “confirm” without even thinking about it. What is likely happening is someone is impersonating your friend. Reasons can vary from hackers trying to collect personal information about you and others, to stalkers who are trying to gather information on your real friend. Whatever the reason, do not add the imposter as a friend, let your real friend know and report this to Facebook.

Facebook can be lots of fun and valuable as a business tool. Take the time to figure out how it will work best for you.

Please share your experiences on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages? By sharing your approach, you may help someone else.

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A couple of weeks ago, I started back at my yoga class. I have been practicing off and on for more than 10 years. I got a little sidetracked over the last year. When an email from Heather, the local yoga teacher, showed up in my in-box, I jumped on the chance to get back into my regular practice on a serious level.  I knew it would be a gift to myself, one that I really needed.

I love my yoga class and practice for a variety of reasons. We are a small group of women largely my age. We have fun in class — last week could have been called laughter yoga. (I love when the chickens peek in the window.) It is a low-key, no-stress zone. Plus the studio is on the street next to mine — no excuses for how long it takes to get there.

How did I fare in class? Well, my body just loved being back for a longer period of time, and I found that in the days after I felt more limber and alive. During class, one woman shared how the pose she had disliked a year ago had become her favorite with practice. We all like some poses better than ever — I still dislike pigeon pose and look for an alternative. One pose that we often do is triangle pose, shown in the photo above. I like revolved triangle pose because it is easy for me to get into an open position, though my hand does not always get to the floor. Not so for everyone, and we use blocks as props to help be more open. We had a further discussion on triangle pose and I shared that when I learned the pose, I was told to visualize my body between two panes of glass. Someone else shared her tip. Heather talked about how different people are able to hold poses for longer periods of time or in more revolved postures. It is about working with your body and doing what you can.

So what does this have to do with your creative arts business? Here are the lessons I took from the class.

1. We all have different skills and abilities. Focus on what you can do at the present time and build on that.

1. Don’t compare yourself to others. It’s not about being as good as, or better than, someone else. In the end, your only real competition is yourself.

1. We can all get to the end result via different means.

1. You can only start in one place, where you are now, and grow from there.

What is stopping you from starting where you are?  I am very interested to hear about it. Why not share what those hinderances are to you in the comment section below or on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

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Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

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What is in a word?

It seems that lots of people are choosing a “word” as a focus tool for the year. I have been doing this since probably 2005 when Kathy, the owner of the yoga studio where I practiced, passed around a basket with words. I chose “openness,” and at the time I asked if I could pick a different word. After all, the woman next to me chose love, which seemed like a much better word. I remember Kathy telling me that I was stuck with openness because the word had chosen me.

I went home, taped the word onto my computer, and let it be a reminder as I went thorough the year. Looking back, I know that this made a tremendous difference in my year.

What it did was focus me on being a person who was more open to opportunities, more open to challenges, and more open to other people. It required me to “be” or work on “becoming” a certain person.

That is what I like about choosing the theme. It is not about resolving to do something. It is about becoming, becoming the person you want to be.

Here we are at the beginning of 2016. I have been thinking about my word, or rather my intention for being, for the year. I looked back at the words from previous years — openness, abundance, challenge, joy, consciousness, trust among others. I mulled over a group of new words and finally found one that seemed to stick.

Before I share the word, I want to share what my friend Stephanie Bonte-Lebair does with her intention. She chooses two words. One is an inner intention about how she wants to feel. The other is an outer intention, a more practical intention. I like that approach. How will you feel by being?

What is my word? It is impact. I want to create a bigger impact with the people I work with. I want what I do to have a positive impact on people I may not even know. I want to have what I do have a greater impact on my own life. And, I want to feel mindful inside about what I am doing. This will all require me to take specific actions. Some, probably lots, will challenge me, which is good.

Have you picked a word to guide you for the year? If you have not, give it a chance. You just need to think of the quality or direction that you want your year to take. Need some help getting started. Think about what you might have resolved to do and ask yourself what quality is necessary for that? Or try a search online for character qualities and go from there. Lots of people immediately come up with a word that resonates with them. Others need a bit more time. My best advice is think of a word, mull it over, and if it keeps showing up, that is the one.

Once you come up with your word or intention, what do you do with it? Here are three tips:

1. Write it down where you can see it. I put mine on a sticky note and attach it to my computer where I will see it every day.

1. Share it with someone else, especially if the person will hold you accountable. Over the years I have shared mine with some of my mastermind partners or family members, and we talked about why we chose the words we did.

1. Do something that lets you take action on your intention.

What word did you end up with? And, if you picked a word last year? Share your word below to make that commitment and see what you can create in 2016! You may also share your word on our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages and leave a comment there.

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Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

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Happy New Year! From all of us at ICAP – Morna, Suzanne, Bernadette, Laurie and Caroline.

It’s Christmas week around my house. I have been busy baking breads, decorating, wrapping presents and spreading holiday joy. I am known for two favorites: a cranberry walnut bread and a chocolate chip pumpkin bread. Neither lasts long once they are baked. This last batch is headed for friends and some family members. My husband also has one to share with a woman he has befriended on the streets. One of the ways we spread joy throughout the year is with “homeless helping bags.” I fill gallon plastic zip bags with a bottle of water, a variety of healthy snacks and small bag of toiletries, including toothpaste and a toothbrush. We keep a couple of the bags in our cars and share them with those in need.

What are your holiday plans? I know that Hanukkah ended earlier this month and Kwanzaa celebrations start later this month, so lots of you are celebrating. I am headed off today for lunch with my aunt, cousin, two of my sisters and one of my nieces. We’ve been holding annual lunches since the 1980s when it was just one sister and my aunt, each of us traveling an hour to find a spot in the middle. It will be a reunion of sorts as my cousin has never joined us. We are excited about all we will share. On Christmas Day, I will have the same sisters and niece over for dinner. I have not picked a menu, but I am leaning towards a McEver Christmas Day favorite. We always had spaghetti because it was easy after the busyness of the day.

What would Christmas be without a few gifts? We have a few specials to offer before the end of the year, so stay tuned for more details in the next week.

Whatever your tradition, I hope that you have a peaceful and joyful holiday and that you celebrate in a way that is meaningful to you. We are always tugged by so much, it is nice to stop and remember what it is that brings joy and meaning into our lives.

What is your favorite way to add meaning? I would love to hear about your plans, just leave a comment below or go over to the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages and leave a comment there.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

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Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

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Have you been watching holiday movies? I know I have several favorites. I love “White Christmas” because of memories of my sisters and me as young girls. We used to love to sing and dance along with Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy Haynes (Vera-Ellen) as they sang “Sisters.” And, who does not enjoy “It’s a Wonderful Life” and George Bailey taking stock of his life? The movie has lots of lasting messages. One is that we all have gifts that impact others. You will remember Clarence the angel showing George that many things would be different without his life touching others. I know we lose sight of what we contribute. One of the other lessons was about appreciating how blessed we really are. I know I try to take that to heart every day.

Yesterday I offered a virtual planning day. This opportunity was exclusively for those people who purchased tickets to CABS or joined our Creative Passion to Profit Boot Camp. I found it valuable, as I know that those who joined me did.

One of the exercises that we did was taking stock of 2015 — celebrating our accomplishments, understanding where we had difficulty, acknowledging what we learned about ourselves in the process, and understanding how we limit ourselves. We are our own Clarences, in a sense. I always find this practice eye-opening on a variety of levels, and it is valuable as you step into planning and achieving in 2016.

What questions did I ask and answer for myself? Here they are. I hope you will find time to answer these for yourself.

1. What were your successes? What did you accomplish? For many of us, it is so easy to move onto the next thing on our list, that we forget to stop and look at what we did accomplish. By acknowledging these accomplishments, you build confidence and set yourself up for future success. I know people who create a list of 100 accomplishments per year. How many can you list?

2. What were your biggest disappointments? Yes, we all start out with lots of big goals, and we don’t always accomplish them. And, it is really hard to admit where we didn’t get what we wanted, personally or professionally. But we can’t grow either as human beings or business owners if we do not look at this honestly.

3. What did you learn from your successes and your disappointments? These can be things you learned to do or things you learned about yourself. This has always been powerful for me to consider. I have know that life is a classroom, and it shows up here.

4. How did you limit yourself and what was its impact? What did this belief cost you? How has it benefited you? I think looking at the pros and cons of your limiting beliefs is powerful. Once you look at this, consider how you might reframe your limiting beliefs so they no longer limit you.

Here are some of the resources I shared during our planning day. You will find additional questions for planning in Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler. And if you need help getting past your limiting beliefs, I think The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks is a wonderful resource.
Let me know how your planning goes. What were your big successes? And, of course, what your favorite holiday movie is. Just leave a comment below or go over to the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages and leave a comment there.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just use it in its entirety and be sure to include the blurb below:

Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLE LIKE THIS?

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It is December! The one time of year when you have a once-a-year opportunity to make some last-minute decisions that can dramatically affect your 2015 taxes. Within limits, you can increase or decrease your 2015 taxable profit from your business. Come January 1st, it is too late.

Here is an annual list of “Seven Strategies” from Bell Springs, publisher of Small Time Operator, Write It Off! Deduct It!, and 475 Tax Deductions for Business, that can save you a bundle on your 2015 taxes:

Strategy #1. Pay all of your bills, including January’s monthly bills, in December and get a tax write-off in December. Expenses are deducted the year paid (cash basis taxpayers; some exceptions). However, if you do not need an extra deduction this year, if your profit and taxes are going to be very low for 2015, hold off paying bills until January. You will get the deduction next year when it will help you save on next year’s taxes.

Strategy #2. Buy office equipment—a new computer, copier, office furniture—before December 31st, and write off the entire cost this year. This is as long as total purchases for the year are less than the first-year write off maximum of $25,000. Or if you do not need an extra deduction this year, delay major purchases until 2016 and get the deduction next year.

Strategy #3. Stock up on, and pay for, business and computer supplies, stationery and other consumables, and write off the entire expense in the current year.

Strategy #4. Pay your 2016 service contracts, Internet fees or similar recurring charges by December 31, and write off the entire amount in 2015.

Strategy #5. Make and pay for needed repairs to your office and equipment in December and get a full deduction this year.

Strategy #6. Wait until January to bill your customers for December’s work. Income is taxed the year received (cash basis taxpayers).

Strategy #7. Hire your children to work in your business over the holidays. If they are under 18, you can pay each of them up to $6,200 a year, write the wage off as a business expense, and the children owe no income or payroll taxes. There are many limits and requirements to this law, but it can be a significant tax savings for you, and a fun opportunity for your kids.

These are just a few of the bigger and better known year-end tax strategies. For more strategies, deductions, and tax-saving tips, treat yourself to a copy of Bell Springs’ best-selling guidebooks Small Time Operator, Write It Off! Deduct It!, and 475 Tax Deductions for Business. We think you will find these guidebooks to be a most worthwhile investment. Learn more about them on our web site www.BellSprings.com.

The above was taken from Bell Springs annual update and used with permission. I have been a long-time fan of all these books and use them every year. Let me know how time blocking works for you. I would love to know, just leave a comment below or go over to the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages and leave a comment there.

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WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE?

Please do! Just use it in its entirety and be sure to include the blurb below:

Morna McEver is the founder and CEO of the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals where creative arts entrepreneurs craft business success. Her weekly e-zine offers tips, techniques and inspiration to help you craft business success from your creative arts passion. You can sign up for a FREE subscription at http://www.creativeartsprofessional.com.

WANT TO SEE MORE ARTICLE LIKE THIS?

See the ICAP blog at http://www.creativeartsprofessionals.com/weblog/

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving here in the United States. Since it is a holiday, we are not sending out our regular e-zine this week.

This is one of my favorite holidays, and not just because it could be termed our National Day of Eating! I am excited to be headed to our home in Saint Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore where my husband and I will celebrate with one of my sisters. It is a smaller group than usual, and we are looking forward to enjoying the outdoors and the peace and quiet our home offers. My sister and I also have plans to hit the local boutiques on Friday.

Since Thanksgiving is often a time for reflection, I did want to take this opportunity to share my gratitude. I am grateful for everyone who reads this e-zine, takes time to comment on our blog, has joined the International Association of Creative Arts Professionals, follows me and comments on Facebook and other forms of social media, has taken our classes, attended or is planning to attend our annual Creative Arts Business Summit or works with me on a private or group basis. I am truly honored that you have allowed me to contribute in some small way to your business growth. It is so rewarding for me that I can make a difference. Thank you!

If you are celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow, I hope your day is filled with traditions and gratitude, as mine will be. I have had a gratitude practice for years now, writing down three to five gratitude items each day. Do you have a similar practice?

As I have done in the past, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite quotes about gratitude:

“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”
Marcel Proust

“Feeling grateful or appreciative of someone or something in your life
actually attracts more of the things that you appreciate and value into your life.”
Christiane Northrup

What are you grateful for this year? Please share it on the blog. Or, feel free to jump over to our ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages and leave a comment there.