Running a Business Archives | Page 30 of 49

Running a Business

Miscellaneus

how I develop my photos

I thought I would take a break from the projects and share a bit of behind the scenes stuff. For the first several months of my blog, I didn’t edit my photos. Not at all. I finally picked up on the fact that photos were important for the growth of a blog, so started adjusting the brightness and contrast and basic stuff in Windows Live Photo Gallery. I still didn’t do it on most of my photos. It was so tedious and time consuming. Well, welcome to blogging, Marian. Anyway, my father-in-law sent me an extra disk he had hanging around – Abode Photoshop Elements. So, my mom bought me a PSE for Dummies book and I started to muddle my way through the digital darkroom. I never got very far with PSE. I liked it, but when I upgraded to a more recent version, I felt lost again. I

March 6, 2013 No Comments

Photography

tutorial on making tutorials

I currently have a huge to-do list of tutorials to make for HGTV.com, so I thought while I was in the middle of making all of these tutorials, I would share some tips with you on making a tutorial. A tutorial on making tutorials, if you will. Good tutorials to be exact. 1.) Pick a good project. Try to show how to make something that’s totally original, a hack of something really expensive or take the mystery out of a project that seems complicated. Tutorials like these will get the most views, pins, comments, thank yous, etc. 2.) Do your research and know what you’re talking about. I’m going to admit that I have sometimes figured things out as I’m making the tutorial (and I really wish I could go back and redo some of those), but I usually do a lot of research and practice what I’m going

February 2, 2013 33 Comments

Running a Business

where to begin…

I have to tell you a funny story that relates to this post. When I was at the breakfast event in Houston, I had the chance to speak with many women about how my business started and grew…how it’s dramatically exceeded every expectation I had. When I finished telling the story at one table, the woman I was sitting next to look at me with a puzzled face. “So, when did you do the counter tops?” “My counter tops?” “No…the counter top business…” It suddenly dawned on me what she was referring to and I started to howl. When I said my business started out as a “counter top business”, I meant that I was painting ornaments, using my kitchen counters as my work surface with little babies at my ankles. She thought I installed counter tops! So funny. Anyway, so…where to begin when you’re beginning a business like mine.

January 21, 2013 84 Comments

Balance

getting off the merry-go-round

In my business I’ve had to make some tough decisions. The hardest thing for me is to say no and to set limits. I want to fly as high as my wings can carry me and I don’t want to be limited by things like sleep and time to crash on the sofa to watch a movie. I love my work and I love being productive, so it’s hard for me to sit, be still and rest. It’s hard for me to see the great potential in something and then say no to it and make a clear decision to not pursue it. Well, after about a year of going back and forth about it in my mind, I have made the difficult decision to leave The Old Lucketts Store as a vendor. I know, I know. It’s Lucketts! How could I leave Lucketts?! I know I don’t need to

December 31, 2012 No Comments

Running a Business

Running a Business | Having a product line

On April 7, 2012, I shared some of my dreams for the future. One of those dreams included having my own product line. Here’s what I said… “I love the idea of creating my own line some day. A line of what? I’m not sure. Maybe furniture? Accessories? Fabric? Again, I’m really open to how that idea transpires. I do have a few specific ideas, but I’ll keep those on the DL for the moment. I’m also really excited about the possibility of collaborating with someone else, but I have no idea who that is or what we would collaborate on. I just like the idea of it. This one feels most “pie-in-the-sky” to me right now, but so did the dream of writing a book…” One of those specific ideas I decided not to share at that time was having a milk paint line. Just a few weeks later,

December 23, 2012 No Comments

Shop Lucketts Giveaway

If you’ve read my blog for any amount of time, you know I have a great fondness for the Old Lucketts Store. I loved shopping there for years and had the privileged of becoming a vendor there about two years ago. Working with Suzanne, the owner, and all of the other talented vendors and designers there has been great for creative inspiration, but I’ve also been able to see first hand how much heart is at Lucketts. Suzanne and the other folks behind the genius at Lucketts don’t always look at just how to make money, but how to make a difference as well. When brainstorming about this month’s Shop Lucketts giveaway, they wanted to make it about paying it forward. Not just entering a giveaway for yourself, but winning it for someone else. What a lovely idea, right? I know you’ll love playing along and we’ll all love reading what you

December 21, 2012 No Comments

Photography

writing a book | the photography

I’ve written a few posts about the experience I had writing my book and it’s been a while since the last one. I thought it was about time I picked it up again. When the reality of a book offer from Thomas Nelson was right around the corner, it needed to be decided if I would do the photography or if we would hire a professional or perhaps a hybrid where I take some pictures and a pro swoops in for the money shots. I was not 100% confident in my photography abilities, so I sent them some of the shots I did for Cottages & Bungalows and HGTV.com to get their opinion. We had a conference call about it a few days later. I was out shopping with my mom and I remember sitting on a planter outside of Kohl’s when I learned that I would be the photographer

December 18, 2012 No Comments

Running a Business

Writing a Book | Acknowledgements

Since today is a day of Thanksgiving here in the US, I thought it was a good time to combine saying thanks and sharing just a little more about the book-writing process in one post. I had already turned in the final manuscript and my editor, Michelle, asked me to write my acknowledgements. Oh…I hadn’t even thought about that! I felt like I could write a book of thank yous to people, but I didn’t want to bore readers, so I mentioned the key people and kept it brief. I’d like to expand on those acknowledgements here, though, to let you know why I mentioned who I did… My family, of course, for all of their love. This one is obvious. My family has been a huge part of this entire journey. My mom prodded me to start a business and my parents were my initial investors. They have also

November 22, 2012 No Comments

I’m Marian, a painter, writer, and lover of all things creative. From art and antiques to home projects and everyday life, I share my journey in hopes of inspiring you to embrace your own creativity and make beauty in the spaces you live.

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