Friday 13 June 2014

Staying Motivated in Certain Situations


Staying motivated when you are working from home can be quite difficult sometimes.  Everyone will have those days where they just don't feel inspired, when a design isn't coming together, when they feel sluggish and you don't seem to get as much done.  You need to find some ways of tackling this head on, because if you leave it, it can go on for days and who has time for that!

There are loads of factors that may make you lose motivation, apart from just having 'one of those days'.  I'll often feel a little down in the dumps when a rejection email lands in my inbox, but it can be from buying a lot of stock and nothing is happening on Etsy or when you don't get any email back!  When a craft fair doesn't go well or when you hear a rude comment about your work.  There are so many things that are trying to keep you down and are wanting to prevent you from succeeding!

So here are some ways I handle these things.

No. 1

When you get a rejection email....these can be the worst, it's almost better not to hear anything than to get an email saying 'nope we don't want you'.  It really isn't the end of the world!

I write all of these companies down in a big excel document and it has become my 'I'll show them' list.  I have faith in myself and my designs, so maybe I'm just not a good fit for their company (in which case I'll find one I do fit well with) or maybe now just isn't the right time.  If some of them don't say my work isn't a good fit, then I'll highlight them as ones to contact again in the future.

How to tackle it! - When you get that email, your heart will be beating so fast before you open it and then it'll sink when you realise it's a no.  At that point you need to go and do something you love, what I do is put on a song which makes me feel happy, motivated and as if anything is possible!  At the moment, for me, this is Coldplay - A sky full of stars, don't forget to play it loud!!

No.2

So you've spent all of your money on stock and now you're facing the daunting task of selling it.  To who?  Well you've got the choice of online, in person at fairs or gain stockists who will sell it through their shop.  I'm tackling all three of these at once, which is quite the juggling act, but it's not impossible.
Feeling overwhelmed can make you shy away from what needs to be done, so write down what you want to achieve, for example 'sell £X of stock in a month', and then figure out how you will achieve it. Once you have a plan of action for what needs to be done you won't feel so overwhelmed.

What is you have stock that isn't selling?  This can be quite tricky, you can either just keep going and eventually it will sell, just veryyyyy slowly, or what I saw one of my designer friends doing (Louise Wright) is give away these items (as long as they're not costing you loads of money) to customers who buy from you regularly or who spend quite a bit on your stall.  I saw it first hand, and it makes them feel extra special, plus they will remember the kindness.

How to tackle it! - When things aren't selling it is easy to get disheartened but what you may need to do is find another route for selling your products.  For example if you only sell online, try going to stockists, or if wholesale isn't an option then sell straight to the public at fairs.  Look at all of your options if you aren't already.
Have a sale or reduce the stock that isn't moving so you are at least getting some money back that you can then put towards a product that will sell a lot better.

How do you cope with getting rejection emails?  What do you do about stock that isn't selling?

Next week I'll talk about craft fairs not going as planned!

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