I’m entering a 10 day series of Instagram challenges hosted by Flourish & Thrive Academy to learn how to create FREEDOM in my business so I can focus more on doing the things I love! This is my #FREEDOMMethodChallenge. Come Follow me on Instagram here & Follow Flourish & Thrive here.
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 1 » What does freedom mean to you?
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Freedom in my life looks like seeing my own schedule! Owning & running my own business to nee dies NOT mean waking up whenever I want d staying in my PJ’s all day. No way, not this business woman. I set a strick schedule for myself during the week, waking up at 6AM Monday-Friday. On the weekend, though, is a while other story, heehe! On Saturday’s I wake up around 9AM-11AM & I like to work as I do during the week. On Sundays I wake around the same tone but I like to take sista for myself & so whatever I want (however, it usually consist on making my business better cause that’s what I truly love to do!). I love the freedom of bring able to make all the decisions same day & now having to go through 20 people to just use the color purple in a design. That to me is what FREEDOM looks like!
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 2 – If you were able to design jewelry purely because it was your passion, what would an average day in your life look like?
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My days are filled with tons of things I need to do. I have to-do lists for everyday. If time & money were no issue & I just designed jewelry only cause its my passion I would start practicing mediation & yoga. It would be nice to sit for 30 minutes to an hour & just BE in the moment. Letting go of any thought that comes to mind. Its hard to do that knowing I have to ship these packages or finish this order but I’m going to make it a priority to learn to let go. I want to learn yoga to form a better relationship between my mind, body & soul. I’d love to be more flexible too, of course, heehe! Maybe in the morning, from 6:30AM – 7AM, I will dedicate to practicing meditation & yoga. Since I wake up at 6AM that will give me 30 mins. to wake up. You can’t accomplish a goal if you don’t have a plan, right? So that’s what I’m going to do, now you all have to hold me to it! 😉 Other tid bits; grow an herb & succulent garden, explore nature, go mushroom hunting, play with my kitty more, read more physical books during the day instead of reading them on my phone at night before bed. This would be a day in my life… xoxo
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 3 – Map out your perfect morning routine!
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My perfect morning routine goes as follows… I wake up at 6AM Mon.-Fri. My boyfriend leaves at 6AM so I get a quick kiss before he leaves. Then I reflect on the dreams I just woke from & try to interpret how it reflects my life. Then I like to get a glass of grapefruit or OJ along with some water. When I drink water before my coffee I feel more rejuvenated & fresh! Then I grab my cuppa coffee & have some yogurt &/or toast to get in my morning fiber. Ill say hi & cuddle with my kitty if he’s home. My next assignment is to check my emails, Facebook messages & social media notifications. I’m what you’d call an “early bird” so I love connecting with everyone in the morning. Next I like to write down my to-do list (if I didn’t write it the night before). By this time I’m ready to start my day so I make my bed, get dressed & tame my crazy dreadlocks, heehe! I feel more confident when I get dressed even though I may not see anyone our go anywhere. Staying in PJ’s is not an option for me. After all this is when I start in my days tasks & projects. I’m hoping to add providing yoga & meditation in there soon! As long as I keep my mine on it & surround myself with reminders & motivations!
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 4 – Get out of your work environment & write down your biggest areas of overwhelm in your business.
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My biggest area of overwhelm is definitely time management. I often take on too many projects & give deadlines that are unrealistic. I have to realize that I can’t do it all in one day. I need to spread out my tasks so I don’t feel un-accomplished when I don’t complete 20 things in a day. I wear a lot of hats since I do everything from designing to shipping, marketing to website building. Another area of overwhelm would be trying to keep my jewelry consistent while keeping things fresh & new. I think the solution for that would be creating different collections of jewelry so I can create different designs but keep it cohesive with my other collections.
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 6 – How do you rejuvenate?
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I like to have a nice fresh grapefruit, yogurt or any kind of fruit for refreshment & rejuvenation. Eating healthy & drinking lots of water feels very rejuvenating for me. Soaking up some sunshine is also a great way to rejuvenate! It’s a nice way to take a break from working on something really hard. I feel I think more clearly & I’m more at peace. Plus you can’t beat the long term benefits! I’m happy, healthy, productive & rejuvenated! 🙂
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 7 – Show us your production process!
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My production process starts at a spark of inspiration! Usually it’s a crystal that inspires me to make, say a necklace. Designing can take anywhere from 30mins. (if it’s a thin bracelet) to 3 hours, sometimes more! Then photographing comes next & I must wait for the right lighting outside (cloudy or early morning preferred). Ill snap about 20 photos in all angles before narrowing it down to just 5 to use for my Etsy listing. Listing a single item can take up to one hour. I must write out a great copy that explains how beautiful the piece is since we all know that photos never do justice! After that necklace sells it’s time to write a ‘thank you’ email then print the suing label. Then I head off to the kitchen table to spread out for shipping. I will bubble wrap the piece(s), then wrap in colored tissue paper (that matches my brand color palette), then ill wrap in some Kraft paper, add a cute bow using scrap hemp strings. I gift wrap all my pieces, no extra charge, so it’s ready for you to gift to a friend or to yourself! I always hand write a ‘thank you’ note, add a few business cards, package it up & stick it in my mailbox. Ill send a follow up email sometimes just to make sure the customer received everything in good condition. And that leads to the 5-star review!
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 8 – Design something new!
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I could go on & on about why I love to design but ill keep it short & sweet. I love to design because it fills every ounce of my soul with happiness! I love that feeling of being a part of something much greater than yourself! Lately I’ve been getting into more copper metal work from electroforming to working with copper sheet cut outs. Today I wanted to try out some wire wrapping cause I have these cute crystal points I want to use to make some tassel necklaces with. YouTube is my best friend for learning anything new & that’s where I just learned this cute wire “basket” weave for one of my points! Its not the best, obviously I’m dominate in macrame but its cute & raw & perfect to me! I love that split second burst of excitement right before your about to finish something amazing! It makes me feel like a little girl again, that feeling is priceless!
#FREEDOMMethodChallenge Day 8 – Commit to automating one area of your business.
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I am more FREE when I jot down my schedule for everyday. But one thing I did today was schedule evening posts for all next week & ill continue to do this every Sunday. I’m an early bird so connecting & creating morning posts comes naturally but when evening comes around I’m usually finishing up & getting everything wrapped up for the day that I tend to forget to create a post. So I’m usually hurrying to snap a photo of my recent work before the sun goes down or finding something to share that it takes me away from my “wind-down” time I like to spend with my love & creating “off-the-clock” pieces.
Today’s the last day of the #FREEDOMMethodChallenge hosted by @flourish_thrive! I’ve had so much fun documenting my life as a jewelry designer/small business owner! Today is about doing something I love!
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I LOVE to create jewelry! I’d be lying if I said I loved doing anything more other than what I do. I’ve been expanding into copper metal jewelry & its just been so much fun! Today I’m sanding down a piece of copper wire so I can attach it to a crystal & electroform it to make a cute pendant. Other little tid-bits; I love spending time with my boyfriend whom I love with every ounce of my soul, I love hanging out with my handsome cat Icarus, I love eating healthy, I love expanding my consciousness & experiencing different people & culture. There’s so many things I’d still love to so ill just have to wait & see how my life unfolds!
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Passion Maker Project 