Yesterday I went to the post office to pick up some Priority Mail envelopes and drop off a certified letter. In Laytonsville, population 353 at the last census, the post office is the center of the town activities and full of activity. I always see someone I know. Yesterday it was my dentist. I can meet new people, as I did yesterday when I learned about a local dog trainer. And I can find resources on the bulletin board. I left with two cards and a name of a third repair person I could call about some equipment that needs work.

I remember when I lived other places that there was always a place where locals congregated and you could learn all the news. When I lived in Connecticut, it was Luke’s Donut Shop. At our home in Saint Michaels, my husband would tell you it’s the local YMCA.

What is a “third place”? It’s that place where people gather other than work or home and feel a place of community. I’m sure you can think of places you know of, whether that’s the fictional Cheers of TV fame or the local coffee shop.

According to Ray Oldenburg, an urban sociologist who wrote The Great Good Place and Celebrating the Third Place, all third places have the following eight characteristics: neutral ground, a leveler, conversation is the main activity here, assessable and accommodating, has a the regulars, maintains a low profile, has a playful mood, and home away for home. The idea is that people are free to speak their thoughts and opinions freely.

It is easy to see the coffee shop or the local book store as the “third place.” I think it’s also easy to think about the local quilt or creative arts shop as the “third place,” even though it doesn’t technically meet all the eight characteristics. I think it’s about a sense of belonging, and I think that all creative arts and quilt shops foster that. Think about your experience at the local quilt shop and what made you feel like you were part of a community.

If you own or manage a creative retail shop, what are you doing to create that third place community feeling? Here are some of the ideas from shops I know or frequent.

• Be welcoming. When customers come into your shop, greet them. Ask them what project they are working on. Nothing makes you want to come back like feeling welcome on the first visit.

• Have a space set up where customers can congregate to look at quilting or art books and/or share their projects. I used to love to go to Borders Bookstore when it existed because I could find a chair to sit and look at a book.

• Create special events. Look at other businesses outside the industry to see how they create events that draw customers in and make them feel welcome. We are all looking for an experience, a shared experience, so look for ways to create experiences. Disney is a great example here. Another example: in September I went with my neighborhood book club to an annual book club party hosted by author Lisa Scottoline at her home in Pennsylvania.

• Look for ways to create shared connections. A monthly stash buster club or fabric club is an idea here.

• Consider a monthly show and tell for your customers. This encourages them to engage with others.

• Set up a gallery in your shop and showcase different artists. Have an opening reception with a talk from the artists.

• Serve food. I don’t know a quilter who doesn’t like a beverage and a cookie. In the winter have some hot cider and gingersnaps. In the summer, lemonade and sugar cookies. Some of you may remember a shop called Patchwork and Pies in New York that was owned by Clara Travis. I loved the image of stopping in the quilt shop and picking up a slice of pie.

• Run a book club that focuses on a particular artist’s work or designs.

• Host a monthly “sit and stitch.”

• Think about ways that you can offer your space to other uses in your community, e.g., let the local knitting club meet there, or depending on the size of your town, even an association that needs space for a small meeting. It’s about encouraging community.

I’m sure you can come up with other ideas. Remember that in creating the experiences that lead to your third place, you don’t have to do them for free. I think you can create a sense of community with a bit of exclusivity with a small fee. And, remember that you are never done. Creating your third place is ongoing.

If you are a shop owner, what you are doing to create a “third place”? And, as shoppers, what makes you designate someplace your third place?

Recently I attended a conference where I had a chance to talk with a number of different business owners, not all in creative fields. One of the topics that came up was the dreaded “F” word — finances. In fact, we heard an entire presentation geared to helping us understand financial terms and creating a dashboard so that we could look at our key indicators. Remember, if you do not measure, you cannot make changes, and that is why we need to track through those indicators.

One of the questions from the group was about paying yourself. When should you pay yourself? Should you just reinvest all the money in the business and not take any out as a salary? Should you wait until the end of the year and then see if anything is left? Should you pay yourself first?

I know we always hear we should do this; yet, how many really do? I know I hear people say, “Wait, I will take extra out at the end of the month.” This is particularly true for those who are just starting their business and who are not relying on their business to support the household. The thought is to wait until you get some experience and cash flowing in.

It seems like I have had a trip a month beginning in June. Many of you travel as well, whether that is to teach or vend at shows or to take classes or just to see the sites. And, of course, tipping is required on these trips.

Tipping is an area that used to trip me up. I did not know how much to tip or when. After traveling a great deal, I feel comfortable with tipping. It is easy to remember to tip for your meal in a restaurant, or even the cab driver. It is not so easy to remember all the other people who help you out during your travels. Many of the people who are helping you out are also minimum wage workers. For many of us, a couple of dollars may not make a difference. For those minimum wage workers, it just might, so I like to err on the side of generosity. Spellcaster Maxim reviews.

As I note below, I like to leave a tip for the hotel maid on a daily basis since I do not know if it will be the same maid every day. When I traveled to Hartford, Conn., a few years back, I left a few dollars at the foot of the bed when I went off for the day. When I came back, the note you see on this page was on my bed. I do not know who felt better about this. It was positive feelings all around.

Here are some general guidelines for tipping.

• Cabs: 15-20 percent of the fare, plus $1-2 per bag. For short trips, tip a minimum of $1.

• Airport shuttle drivers:$2 for the first bag; $1 for additional bags.

• Baggage handlers (Skycaps, hotel bellhops, curbside check-in): $2 for the first bag; $1 for additional bags.

• Complimentary hotel shuttle: $1-$2 per person.

• Maid service: $1-$5 a day depending on type of hotel. According to one of our ICAP members who used to manage a hotel housekeeping staff, just leave the cash at the foot of the bed each day.

• Restaurant: 15%-20% of the bill pre-tax, depending on service.

• Take-out: nothing is required. 10% is nice if the order is complicated or extra services are required (delivery)

• Bartender: $1-2 per drink or 15%-20% of the tab.
• Valet: $1-5, tipping on the higher end for extra services (loading bags in your car) or inclement weather. Tip only when the car is returned.

• Tip jars: nothing is required, so it’s your call.

During your stay, you will encounter many instances where someone does something extra to help you out and that requires a tip. In your travels, be sure to keep track of all the tips you give, as they are tax deductible – and carry lots of dollar bills.

How do you handle tipping in your travels? Please share your thoughts below. I would love to hear them. You are also welcome to go to leave a comment on the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

Do you still use your “to-do” list and prioritize all the items on it? According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine by Kevin Kruse, millionaires do not make to-do lists. What they do instead is live by the calendar.

What is the problem with making a to-do list? According to what Kruse discovered after talking with more than 200 successful people, the to-do list does not consider the time involved in completing the tasks, so you do not complete what is on the list; it does not let you distinguish between the urgent and important; and not completing items adds to your stress.

If successful people do not make to-do lists, what do they do? They live and work from their calendars. Yes, they may make a list, but they schedule the time to complete the specific item on their calendar and adhere to it.

One of the most successful approaches to this is to use time blocking. This is something that I do and that most of my private clients do.  Time blocking is a method of allocating or pre-assigning time for specific activities throughout your day. It helps me keep my day and life more balanced. I accomplish more because I have structure to my day, I can focus on a specific task with a high value, and I am able to manage interruptions. I am the one in charge of my day. Here is how to do this:

1. Review your daily and weekly activities.

• Can you determine how much time you spend on specific tasks? It might be helpful to track your time for a few days so you can see how much time you do spend on those activities. For example, do you check your e-mail every couple of hours and find that you spend at least 15 minutes each time answering them?

• Do you have like tasks that are spread through out the week, e.g., teaching every day, working with new clients, or taking in new quilts to longarm? Can these tasks be handled on one or two days, so your energy focuses on one activity?

• Do you have tasks that need attention that do not seem to get any? For example, dedicated marketing time is key for any business. Artists want to spend their time creating and often have trouble reconciling the need to spend so much time marketing. This task is often relegated to the leftover time when it needs to move to the front burner.

• Do you have uninterrupted time for creative work? Even though we run creative-based businesses, the time should still be dedicated to the task.

2. Consider your short- and long-term goals.

• Do you have a big project that needs to be completed? Start with a list of the tasks involved to complete it and estimate how much time is involved for each.

3. Consider your own personal work habits. When are you most effective? I’m a morning person, and I know I am more productive in the morning. For me this translates into activities that require brain-power earlier in the day.

4. Consider your life values and block time for them first. If you do not block time for your vacation, for your family, or exercise if these are important to you, they will get short shrift.

5. Armed with answers to those questions, get out your calendar and begin to block off time for your activities. What most of us do is set appointments with others and that’s what is on our calendar. We then fill our time with items on our goals or to-do list. This system lets you set an appointment with yourself for your work. Once you have shifted to an “appointment” mindset, it is often easier to accomplish tasks on your list. I like to start with the time that has to do with my life values and block that first. With your goals in mind, then put the important tasks first so you will accomplish them. If I do not block time for the key tasks, I can easily spend lots of time on simple tasks, like straightening art supplies or reading the latest quilt or art magazine or checking Facebook or Pinterest. These items don’t move my business forward in a significant way.

Here are some things you might like to time-block:

• Quilt intake time on one or two afternoons or evenings a week, rather than spread out at odd times.

• Time dedicated to longarm or production work

• Creative time to design

• Marketing time

• Bookkeeping, if you don’t have outside help

• Order fulfillment, if you don’t have outside help

• Learning time

• Time to work on blog posts and your communications with clients

• Writing time if you are working on a book

• Time to complete samples

• Time to read and respond to emails (I know you will have times when you need to check for something particular. When that happens, just handle that one item and save the rest for the blocked time.)

• Time to develop new classes

• Breaks in your day (This can be crucial if you are standing or sitting at a machine most of your day.)

To give you an idea of how I time block my week, I have our ICAP member calls and coaching calls on Tuesdays rather than spaced throughout the week. I block Monday afternoons for work with my mastermind clients. I allot one block of several hours during the week on one day to work on my blog and ezine articles. When I am working on a new program, I block time during each day to work on that. It is a goal with many smaller tasks that need to be completed. I also block out time twice a day for e-mail, so I am not checking constantly. I have an hour each day blocked out for reading or learning something new I can apply to the business. I block out Wednesday afternoons for errands. Because I know that is the day for errands, I try to schedule doctor appointments during that time, and I have already scheduled my hair appointments through the end of the year. And, I block out time for family and self-care first so they do not get lost.

I am not rigid with the time blocking, and, of course, I have other appointments to put in. I may have a networking meeting that comes up or the opportunity to go to a gallery opening. Because I accomplish more by time blocking, I am freer to make adjustments.

In the end the reason I think this works is because when you pre-assign the time for a specific activity, you are more focused on getting it done. In a sense, you created a deadline for yourself. And by batching like tasks together in the same block (like the quilt intake sessions), you work more efficiently.

Let me know how time blocking works for you. Leave a reply below or leave a comment on the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

The beginning of July. Halfway through the year. I like to take this week and look back at what I have accomplished so far this year and adjust my goals for the year. Why do I like to do this now? Other than it is half-way through the year, this is the week of July 4, Independence Day here in the United States. It is a day meant for celebration – picnics, fireworks and gratitude. I like celebrating where I started and where I am. I like celebrating that I am able to work both independently as an entrepreneur and interdependently with so many wonderful people.

How do I take this look back? I ask myself a series of questions, and I have asked my private clients to answer the same questions for their businesses. I look at the questions taking two forms: concrete and introspective. First the concrete questions:

1. What was my revenue for the first six months?

2. What were my expenses for the same period?

3. What was my profit?

The second series of questions take more thought since I cannot find their answers easily on a spreadsheet.

1. What were my biggest accomplishments these past six months?

2. What were some of the lessons I learned during this time?

3. What were the weak points? What could be improved?

4. What opportunities did I miss?

5. What marketing worked? What else created my wins?

6. How can I use this information going forward for the rest of the year?

At this point, I will go back and look at my goals and see how I need to adjust them. Do my existing goals look too easy? Do they stretch me enough? I will update them so I have broader, bigger goals for the rest of the year.

I hope you will take the time to do this exercise. If you started the year with written goals that stretched you some, I hope you are surprised and thrilled to see that you need to be stretched some more. What can you do to stretch yourself for the rest of the year? Please share some of what you learned below or on the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

Are you a procrastinator? Well, who isn’t at times?

I send out a weekly email known as a “Mornivation™”to the clients in my private coaching program. Part inspiration, part motivation, part accountability. This past week I shared with them a short video on procrastination. I know it resonated with them as it did with me. And, I know as I sat down to write this ezine, I felt in a procrastinating mood. After all, how many trips can I take to kitchen?  Then as I was thinking about what to write about, I looked down and saw the little stickie on my computer screen. It reads “DING. Do It Now Girl.” Isn’t that a great acronym, too? DING. As in the door bell is ringing, and you are going to answer it. As in the work is calling, and you are going to do it.

Here are some tips to help you DING:

1. Try to figure out why you are putting off the work. Is it because you don’t really care? Are you scared to put yourself out there? Is perfectionism holding you back?

1. Have a schedule or deadline. Nothing like a deadline to spur you on to action.

1. Remove the distractions. That would be all the bright shiny objects in your field of vision or the latest issue of your favorite art publication. You’ll have time for them later.

1. Get clear about what you are accomplishing and why.

1. Break the task down into manageable bits if it is really large. You do not have  to do it all, you just have to start.

1. Set a timer. If you promise yourself to work for 15 minutes, odds are that you will keep going once you are into the project.And, if Do It Now Girl does not resonate with you, try Do It Now, Go!

Please share your tips about getting yourself away from procrastination.

Do you have a DING solution? How do you get past procrastination? I would love to hear from you and what your techniques are. Just leave your thoughts below or on the ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

My two-week vacation in Aruba  was ending and my husband and I were on the way to the airport. As I often do, I engaged in conversation with our cab driver. Frankie was a native Aruban and had lived in Aruba his entire life. He had been driving his cab for 27 years. He shared some stories about politics, how the island has changed over the years and his restaurant recommendations for our next visit.

My husband asked Frankie if he had met many “famous” people over the years. He told us about driving Rev. Jesse Jackson to the airport for a last minute flight from his cruise ship back to the States. He was Ice Cube’s personal driver during a weekend wedding a few summers back.

The passenger he was most excited about was boxer Evander Holyfield. Evander (we are obviously on a first name basis) had come to Aruba for the annual Soul Beach Music Festival. Frankie spent several days driving him and also watched the event with him.

How did that job come about? Frankie is a big boxing fan so he followed Evander. He also knew about the festival and that Evander would be coming. Frankie wrote to Evander, who lived in Atlanta, and offered his services. As they say, the rest is history.

I loved hearing Frankie share this story. He wanted something and he asked for it. That was a simple reminder of a powerful lesson from my cab driver. Ask and it is given.

What have you asked for lately? There is a saying, ask and you shall receive. I welcome your response below or on a ICAP Facebook or Google+ pages.

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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/

“When a person really desires something, all the universe conspired to help that person realize his dream.” ~Paul Coelho

Way back when we were kids, we learned to ask for permission. It was perfectly normal, and we were good at following instructions for the most part. This continued through school and likely in our corporate jobs, if that’s where our path led us.

Before I really began coaching creative entrepreneurs on a formal basis, I can remember a conversation I had with my friend Barbara. Barbara wanted to leave her corporate job and turn her passion at art into a business, only she was waiting for someone to affirm her decision that it was OK. She asked me what I thought. She asked our circle of friends. She asked her sister. She asked her mom. She asked her husband.

She wanted someone else to say that she was ready, that her work was good enough, that she would be successful. In other words, she was looking for permission outside of herself to take a chance on herself, to invest in her own skills and talents.

When did it become necessary to get permission from someone else to live our own lives? Sure, Barbara did need to talk with her spouse to make sure their family needs were met. Ultimately the decision was really Barbara’s.

What happens when you wait for permission? Ultimately I think it cheats both you and others. You because you are putting off being extraordinary at being yourself. And others because you are denying them your gifts.

If you are someone who recognized you are waiting for permission, here are a few tips:

1. Begin to visualize the beginning and the end. Where are you now and where do you want to end up? This will lead to clarity. Do not worry about the journey in the middle.

1. Start the journey. State what you are doing. Take the first step, then the second step. The other steps will show up when you are ready for them.

1. Don’t apologize for missteps along the way. We all have them, and we all learn from them.

It’s hard to visualize someone as a leader if she is always waiting to be told what to do.”
Cheryl Sandburg, Facebook

Please share a time that you didn’t wait for permission and what happened as a result.

– – – – – – – – – –

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/

Are there basketball fans in your house? I occasionally watch college basketball, and this time of year — March Madness — is always lots of fun. While none of the local men’s teams are still in the running, we are routing for Wisconsin, since my niece is a freshman there. On the women’s side, the University of Maryland Terrapins are on their way to the final four. Last week, The Washington Post ran an article on the Terps working regularly with a “performance enhancement coach.” The coach’s job is to keep the players minds in the right place, and it looks like it is paying off.

Perhaps you have had an experience with a mentor in the past, or played a key part in that role for someone else. Maybe there were things about your experience that you appreciated and maybe did not appreciate. Feel free to comment below, on our blog or go to our ICAP Fan Club Facebook page?

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