It's Friday! And you know what that means!
It's time for Mary's accountabili-blog! I do like the idea of blogging every day to kind of kick things off and get me in the headspace for overwhelming excellence.
The day started with notification of an Etsy sale, which is always intensely gratifying. I'm really pleased with how quickly the shop is lifting off. I'm not saying we're making millions, but it's only been about a week, and we've only got a handful of products up (with more to come soon), and we are already in the double-digits for sales. So that pleases me.
One of the things I'm just now remembering (having run several micro businesses over the course of my long and distinguished career) is how much time it takes to do all the stuff *around* a business. The administrivia. Managing bank accounts and books and ad campaigns, updating websites, managing social media, creating and producing marketing materials, etc. Looking back on my list of activities over the past couple of weeks, I would say about 80% of my effort has been focused on business infrastructure, leaving precious little for creativity. That kinda sucks.
But I also realize that some of this work is front-loaded, and once it's done it's done, so hopefully that balance will shift over time. What I have to watch out for is the tendency I've noticed before in owners of creative-type businesses (myself included) to use "admin" tasks as a form of procrastination. That is, instead of signing on for the hard work of creating something beautiful, you busy yourself with endless minutiae so you can tell yourself you were productive.
Me: "You mean endless minutiae like writing blog posts, Mary? 🤣"
Also Me: "Shut up, Me, that's not what I mean. This is important self reflection."
Third Me: "Are we gonna get counseling any time soon?"
Anyway, that's it for now. I think I've done some good important work here. I've earned a coffee break. And Lil Boo and I are getting together later for a big important business meeting! I'm hoping to get her blogging on here as well. Not like anyone's reading it, but I'm used to obscurity. It's where I feel most at home.