Running a Business Archives | Page 4 of 49

Running a Business

getting out of a creative slump

If you drew out the first five years of my business on a graph, it would show a pretty consistent line that started at the bottom lefthand corner of the page and disappeared off the top right corner. There was so much new, so much growth, and there really was nowhere to go but up. But after those five years, things started to settle into a cycle that is much more typical for businesses and creative work. It became cyclical…a straight line up morphed into a line that curves, loops, and zigzags. I went from feeling like the wind was at my back to feeling like I didn’t know which way the wind would blow. Sometimes it filled my sails and things were easy and other times, I was pushing with full force against a resistance I couldn’t see. Sometimes that resistance even came from me. (Shaunna and I chatted

May 18, 2021 14 Comments

my business story

A Fresh Look & New Prints

Notice anything different? I’m sure you do because my site got a complete overhaul! My business has changed quite a bit over the past few years and it was time for the website, blog, and online shop to reflect those changes. In addition, I wanted to make it easier to navigate all of the content on the site (there are over 3500 blog posts, an online shop, art courses, resource pages, home tours, and we’ll be adding more. My hope is that readers will be able to quickly find the things of most interest. We’ve been working on the new site for a few months and it’s finally here! “We” includes me, Heidi (my assistant and graphic/web designer), and my “tech people” who manage the technical aspects of my site along with the hosting. Since we just launched, there will be some housekeeping and tweaking that needs to be done,

April 9, 2021 28 Comments

Art

Rufus Porter Style Mural & My First Paintings

A part of organizing this month has been scanning old documents and photos (I’ll share more on that in another post) and uploading old photos that were saved to a disc to an external hard drive. At first, I didn’t even know if I had a way to scan a disc onto the drive! I remembered that we had an external disc scanner, so I was able to get everything uploaded. While photos and videos were uploading, I worked on organizing some of my computer folders. Oh, man! I need to do some serious sorting on my computer. At first glance, it’s pretty organized…everything is in folders, my desktop isn’t cluttered with a bunch of documents, but my photos are all over the place! It’s from years and years of taking thousands of photos. So, I’ll slowly chip away at that when I have the time. Anyway, as I was

February 4, 2021 40 Comments

Furniture Makeovers

A huge announcement about Miss Mustard Seed’s Milk Paint

I wrote a post almost 10 years ago entitled “Everything is for sale“. At that time, I was becoming known for selling pretty much anything including furniture we were actively using in our house. It was a common occurrence for Jeff to come home to a large hole that a piece of furniture occupied that very morning. Maybe it’s the military brat in me that learned not to hold onto things too tightly. Maybe it’s the optimist in me that believes that something else will come along. With all of the things I’ve sold over the years, I never even considered the idea of selling a portion of my business. But, a couple of weeks ago, that’s exactly what happened. Let me back up for a minute… Over eight years ago, almost nine, I sent an e-mail to a milk paint company in Canada, presenting the idea of creating a

June 30, 2020 83 Comments

a slice of life

creative retreat | feb 2020

I went on my first creative retreat almost two years ago. It wasn’t a conference that was packed with classes and activities. It wasn’t a family vacation where I was wrangling kids between pockets of relaxation. It was a time away specifically for the purpose of filling my creative tank and stepping outside of my daily routine, so I could think without distractions. I came back from that first retreat with clarity and excitement and I immediately knew this had to be a regular thing. Since then, I’ve done a few creative retreats and they’ve all been beneficial in different ways. Last week, I went down to Panama City Beach to spend a few days with Shaunna at her parent’s condo. We had a to-do list, but it wasn’t so aggressive that we wouldn’t have free time to read, journal, paint, walk on the beach, or just go to bed

March 2, 2020 9 Comments

a slice of life

My Daily & Weekly Planning Sheets | Free download

Historically, planners have lured me in and then fell short. I would try to use them to get myself organized and stay on top of my schedule, but the format always felt forced. It didn’t work the way I needed it to work. So, a few months ago, I finally designed my own daily and weekly planning sheets. In developing these, I discovered that I needed a planner that was content-driven and task-driven instead of calendar-driven. I do have some appointments and meetings each week, but I don’t need a dedicated page with an hourly breakdown of each day. I also have to put my appointments and important due dates on my Outlook calendar, so I can set alarms and reminders. If things don’t ding, blink, and pop-up at me, I might forget them. So, for my planning sheets, I just need an overview of my meetings and appointments… 10:00

January 15, 2020 49 Comments

Running a Business

Mentoring for the Creative Entrepreneur

Back in June, I launched Mustard Seed Mentoring, a mentoring group for creative entrepreneurs. I must admit, I was a ball of nerves when I first launched it. Would anyone even be interested? I know I don’t have all the answers… Would I have enough answers and experience to make an impact on the creatives who join? Now that I have three months of official mentoring under my belt, I can say that it was worth all of the nerves that came with launching something new. I absolutely love this group. Yes, it takes a lot of energy, but it also gives me a lot of energy. I’m seeing creatives motivated, focused, and taking strides towards reaching their goals. It’s inspiring and encouraging to me! It makes me want to do better. And that’s what community is all about. This group isn’t about pushing to do more and more. It

September 25, 2019 5 Comments

my business story

Miss Mustard Seed is 10 years old!

A little over 10 years ago, I did a google search for “home decor blog” and discovered a whole new world. Well, new to me. I found “my people”…housewives, moms, and decor enthusiasts sharing their love of home on the internet. They were Myquillyn of The Nesting Place, Melissa of The Inspired Room, Sarah of Thrifty Decor Chick, and Layla of The Lettered Cottage. I devoured their posts and the comments left by others in that growing community. I soaked it all in. Pretty quickly, a thought took hold in the back of my mind. Initially, it was a quiet, gentle nag. You know, I could do this too. I can’t explain it, but that quiet nag became insistent. I felt compelled to do it. I was being pulled by a strong current and something within me knew I needed to do it. In my complete ignorance of how blogs

August 24, 2019 92 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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