To blog, or what to blog? 50 ideas for creative businesses

Over the past several years blogging has evolved from personal journal to marketing platform, given the rise of social media. While platforms such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook may come and go in popularity, a blog is home to all your platforms. A directory for your portfolio, podcasts, products, services, and information while creating additional online visibility.

Given that blogging is slower and more expensive than social media, the key is quality over quantity. Below is a list of 50 blog topics to inspire you to create original, authentic content for your client base, while building community. Whatever your creative business or niche, you will find inspiration for your blogging content.

Ok, here we go!

Image: Christina Lowry

1. Restate your brand vision. Your why.

2. Q&A - They ask, you answer. Comb through your client emails for your most commonly asked questions, or use social media to put a call out for client questions, then answer them in this post. Invite readers to leave further questions in the comments.

3. Create a library of free training – a one stop post for any tutorials, how to’s, lists of tips etc

4. Include client testimonials and photos of clients using your products – the more creative the better

5. Share behind the scenes of look books or photoshoots – shout out to the team, the location, relay stories from the day

6. Create a mosaic of your nine favourite images from Instagram with a call to action to follow you on Instagram

7. Share your successes – awards, features, published work, do a recap on your/ your businesses achievements

8. Travel diary – going away for the weekend, heading overseas on a holiday or buying trip? Create a travel diary with tips from your experience

9. Summer reads – books that fit your niche that they may not have heard of and will thank you for

10. Curated gift ideas – Create a collection of products from your range that would be perfect for a special occasion, like Mother’s Day. Or, inspire with a selection of local makers products for a Christmas wish list

11. ‘Meet the Maker’ interviews – take five with a crafter you employ or represent, interview a staff member

12. Recipes – whether your brand is food related or not, recipes often add a sense of connection

13. Seasons – from seasonal products, to imagery of the seasons, nature is always a great starting point

14. Tips or advice – your favourite apps, the best way to do something, how to get a job in your industry, share your knowledge

15. Behind the scenes – everyone loves to take a peek behind the exterior and see the details of how things are made

16. Insider’s guide – share the secretes of your niche, your hometown, styling etc.

17. A studio/ workshop/ shop/ office tour – allow the audience to connect with and be inspired by your spaces and what they say about you or your brand

18. How To – use a product, make something, fix something. People love to learn.

19. The making of – a step by step visual of how something is made

20. Sneak peeks – create excitement about an upcoming collection

21. For the love of – share beautiful images relating to your audience. For the love of linen, gardens, lipstick, stationary

22. Highlights from the previous year, season or market – create a round up of images and info

23. Launch details – whether it is a book, product, event, share share share

24. Half yearly check-up – open up on how you working towards your goals, or encourage others to make plans for the next half of the year

25. Summer bucket list – things to do this Summer

26. Brand history – what has changed, what has stayed the same. When and where did you start out and where are you now?

27. Personal or funny stories – what you wanted to be when you grew up, how you thought Tasmania wasn’t a part of Australia, how you got a nick name

28. Create a regular feature – you can create a monthly challenge, feature a maker each week, a weekly editorial, a collection of inspiring images and quotes

29. Future plans – what are your big dreams? What direction do you see the business going in? If you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do?

30. Write a list of your favourite accounts to follow on Instagram/ podcasts

31. Travel essentials – what do you pack when you go away overnight, overseas, with children?

32. A ‘day in the life' post – people are always fascinated by a day in the life of an entrepreneur or business owner.

33. Your routine – morning/night – do you wake at 5 am to do yoga and write your diary, or are you a night owl?

34. Share videos – video content is getting bigger and bigger. You can make a video out of most of the topics in this list.

35. Celebrate your businesses birthday – do a giveaway, celebrate your achievements, thank your customers

36. Your must-haves – what’s on your rider? Is it kombucha and lip balm? Coffee and a great bag? A certain pen, organiser or night cream?

37. Overcoming a creative funk – how do you find inspiration? What is your go to for self-care?

38. Explain one of your services – imagine a client came across your page for the first time and you were explaining what you do, or how a product works.

39. Your road to success – the path to overnight success is usually a long one.

40. Overcoming failure – think of a time when you used a failure to achieve a bigger goal, or to motivate you to do even better.

41. Things you won’t ever do – perhaps you won’t sell your originals, perhaps you will never buy caged eggs, we are as much what we do as what we don’t do.

42. Organisation hacks – do you batch production, are you a compulsive list keeper, are you terrible and being organised and have found ways to make it easier?

43. Create a roundup of your best content – save them from reading the whole blog and create a post that has the best of the best in one place.

44. Staying motivated – what keeps you motivated when business is slow, or you haven’t reached goal, or someone has copied you

45. Charity – do you support an organisation, do you fund raise, do you work with a company that pays living wages in third world countries?

46. How to style – a dress, a cushion, an office

47. Which _____ is the right one for you? This is great if you offer several similar products

48. Re-publish your email newsletter with a call to subscribe

49. Share something new – a product, team member, idea, business cards. People are attracted to new things.

50. Steps you have taking to have less environmental impact – recycled packaging, non-toxic dye, compostable mailers, timeless style.

Now, it’s time to get writing! Grab a cuppa and a notebook and brain storm some of the ideas on this list to create blog posts of value, with personality, that connect with your audience. Use you blog to inform, entertain and ultimately, give them the details that help them decide to work with you.

How to set up an online business - Tips from Christina Lowry

When I started my online business I wasn't sure that I could run a business without a business degree. I laugh now at how innocent I was and I want to share my top tips and techniques to first create a business and then build it online.

I’m Christina Lowry, a jeweller and photographer. I created an online jewellery business, Christina Lowry Designs, when my first son was just a toddler and worked from home for several years. I started my online business after completing a bachelor of fine arts visual arts at Griffith University and working for ten years in the jewellery industry. I studied photography and gold and silversmithing as part of my degree and decided to pursue a jewellery apprenticeship upon completing my degree.

In my business, I handmade collections of gold and silver jewellery in my workshop, as well as taking custom orders. Recently I closed my online store for this business as it was generating more work that I could manage since I took on the opportunity of home-schooling our three children, which I love. Looking for greater flexibility, I followed my passion down a different avenue that emerged out of that business and now I run Christina Lowry Photography. I work with small businesses to create beautiful product photography for their websites, advertising and social media. This grew out of my initial business after creating several photoshoots for my jewellery collections and having other business owners contact me for the photographer’s details. I have been able to apply the knowledge gained from my retail years and online business experience into this new business

Image: Christina Lowry

Find your ‘why’

There is a saying that not every great baker should open a bakery. Is it a hobby or a potential business? Businesses are hard work. You need passion and commitment to even start a business, let alone maintain one through the ups and downs. So before we start discussing how to start a business you need to find your why. You’ll hear this all the time. ‘Find your why’. And that why may even change over time. Why do you want to start a business? Do you want to work from home in your pjs? Do you want to take control of your career? Are you looking for a way to contribute to the finances while raising children? Are you looking for pocket money in retirement? Do you make something that you want to sell? Do you want to help people? Help the environment? Knowing your why helps answer the questions that will follow. The why is not just about money.

If your why is because you want to earn over $100,000 a year while travelling the world, your business model will look very different to that of someone whose why is to follow a passion in retirement.

My why is that I want to get paid for doing what I love. I need a creative outlet that is flexible enough to fit with my lifestyle, I want to contribute to the family finances while staying at home and homeschooling my children, I want to follow my photography passion and use my skills and knowledge to work with other small businesses to up-level their brands. I’d like you to take to write down your why. Maybe next time you are sitting with a cuppa try explaining to yourself why you want to do what you want to do.

What’s your product?

Every business sells something. Product is the starting point of business. What is your product? A product can tangible, physical, expertise, virtual. Like online bookkeeping, stylist, business coach. Can you create a viable business around it? If your why is to support your family with your business, how much money do you need to make each year? If your product is hand carved wooden spoons, can you carve enough spoons a year to reach your goal? Or can you supplement that income by selling spoon carving kits and teaching workshops? Your product needs to fill a gap in the market. It needs to be useful to the client. A bag they can carry their groceries in, a wedding ring, a light shade for their lounge room, a candle as a gift for a loved one. So once you have decided on your product, it’s time to think about the client. Some clients will buy a $2 wooden spoon, some will buy a $60 hand carved wooden spoon, you need to find the right clients.

A note on pricing…

As a rule retail price is twice your wholesale price. To be a business and not a hobby you need to make a profit. Too many businesses start by charging too low, then worry when they lose customers once they adjust their prices. Start where you need to be. Being the cheapest is not a great strategy long term. Be the best. People pay more for great products and great service. For instance, Australian handmade businesses cannot compete on price alone with products coming from countries overseas with a lower cost of living. But we can compete on quality, design, innovation and customer service.

In terms of pricing, keep in mind that jewellery has up to a 300% mark up while stationary can be a lot less. Perceived value, cost of stock, insurance, overheads; there is a lot to take into account. But this rule of thumb is a great place to start.

Materials + labour x 2 = wholesale

Wholesale x 2 = retail

Even if you aren’t yet selling wholesale, you need to price accordingly for growth. When you are approached to sell in a bricks and mortar store you can do so. (Don’t be scared to lose clients by putting your price up. Educate them on why the price is the way it is. Your tools, experience, skill, aesthetic, customer service, overheads etc.)

Find your market

Once you have a product you need to find your market. Who are you selling to? You can have a great product, but if the people who need your product can’t find it, you won’t have a business. If your product is nappies, you need pregnant women and mothers to see you. If your product is silk ties, you want businessmen and women to see you. So, a nappy advertisement in the magazine on a first class flight would miss its mark. Silk ties in a mother and baby magazine is missing its mark too. You want to define your audience and then find where they are, what they are reading, what they are looking at. Who is your audience? I can guarantee it isn’t ‘everyone’. Is it you? People like you? Male or female? Age range? Are they buying for themselves or as gifts? This is going to affect the way you write about your product. There are a lot of exercises online about finding your ‘ideal client’. It may be a customer you already have. It might be an imaginary dream client. You can look at your current followers to research further. Knowing who they are gives you the tone on how to talk to them.

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Tip: Your budget is not their budget. This was a great piece of advice I got early on. I have never spent over $1000 online on a product I have never seen, but I have made $1000 plus sales in my online shop. Don’t underprice because it feels expensive to you. Something is only expensive if you can’t afford it. Other people can afford it.

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My ideal customer for Christina Lowry Designs jewellery was a female, 25 and over, university educated, working in a creative field like graphic design, who doesn’t buy mass produced items, is eco-conscious and prefers shopping online with small businesses.

Next, what is a brand?

Do you need a brand? I want you to think about some big, recognisable businesses. Big businesses have spent a lot of money on marketing and research and we can learn a lot from them that we can apply to our own businesses. Think of McDonalds. The golden arches. Red and Yellow. A fast, inexpensive, family-friendly restaurant. They never go off brand. Think of Tiffany’s jewellery. That duck egg blue box. Luxury Diamond jewellery. Their brand is simple and memorable. Your brand is everything about your business – your name, your logo, the colours you use, your tone of voice. Have you seen ‘who gives a crap’ toilet paper? Their tone is humorous, from the wrapping around their toilet rolls to the toilet humour in their emails. But they are also eco-conscious and installing toilets in third world countries.

What is your name? Logo? Colours? Copy Tone?

My brand for Christina Lowry Designs was black and white, clean and minimalist, my images had a creative and slightly vintage feel. My logo was cohesive across all my packaging. My tone was personable.

Image: Christina Lowry

On to the second part – building an online business.

Once you have your why, your product, your market and your brand you can start building your actual online website. Please, don’t even start until you have these things or it will be random rather than cohesive.

It’s not an online business without a website, and there are many platform providers out there these days. Your decision will depend upon your product, market and brand. From my experience, I love Squarespace for their websites, portfolios, blogs etc, and Shopify for an online storefront. You may want to sell on Etsy, Madeit on another online platform. This may work great for you. In my experience, even if you sell on one of these platforms you still need your own website to be sending your traffic too. Online marketplaces can close, or shut your account without warning. When people shop on Etsy you have more chance of losing a sale than if they shop directly on your website.

Even without much experience, you can create a great website using the templates Squarespace and Shopify provide. Or, support another small business and hire a graphic designer to create your logo, brand and website with you.
Once you have your name, claim your website and get an ABN. You can’t run a business if you aren’t buying your materials at wholesale. Research any other relevant legal issues pertaining to your business – eg, if you sell food or baby items. I don’t give legal advice. There are lots of government sites online that you can find out about things like registering your business, when you need to register for GST etc.

A mailing list!

It’s a must. It is easier to sell to a past client than to find a new one. Keep them up to date with what it happening behind the scenes, with promotions and product launches. Don’t be scared to email them. They love your business and they want to know about you and stay up to date. If you lose some subscribers don’t worry, they weren’t going to buy off you anyway. Most people use an opt-in to get subscribers. Be careful that your opt-in is attracting the right subscribers. If you do a giveaway of your product to drum up mailing list subscribers, you may just end up with subscribers who are after freebies and never buy.

Social Media

Social Media is a must in today’s day and age, but you don’t have to do it all. By knowing your market and researching where they are spending time, you will know whether you should be targeting Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Youtube or a blog. Pick one or two and do them well. You can’t and don’t need to do them all. You will have the most success with the one you enjoy spending time on the most.

As a visual person I love Instagram and I love curating my feed, writing captions and creating conversations in this space. I tick the box in IG that posts the same post to Facebook, which gives me a facebook feed for my business with minimal fuss. I love Instagram and I could talk all day about it. But a few tips for Instagram.

• Only post your best pictures. If you only have a crappy picture don’t post it. Can you imagine Tiffany’s posting a crappy photo?

• Be genuine. Leave genuine comments and always answer comments.

• Use hashtags and locations

• Write a list of content ideas, batch shoot and edit them and have them ready in an app like Mosaico

• Don’t use bots to gain fake followers

• ‘Like for like’ and ‘follow for follow’ are the saddest sayings on the net - again, 100 genuine followers are better than 1,000 fake followers

Keep it maintained

So, once that is all in place you are done, right? You have created a business. You created an online storefront and you can sell to the world. Well, like a garden, it is never done. Your online store needs constant maintenance. But just chip away at it. One thing a day for your business = 365 things in a year.

Show up, set goals, embrace rejection as another step closer to a yes.

Image: Christina Lowry

Social media check-up for your business

What exactly had happened? I had been so inspired, so committed, so diligent! An active social media user, a devotee to producing beautiful content and engaging with my audience. I suppose the romance wore off, or I burnt myself out? Over time my enthusiasm lessened, my focus shifted elsewhere and I realised I was simply taking social media for granted. Accounts that once received daily attention were now gathering virtual dust. I had fallen out of love with my businesses social media accounts. 

When was the last time you gave your social media accounts a check up? Are you guilty of a set and forget approach too? I couldn’t remember when I had last fine tuned each platform. Yet these platforms had grown my email list, brought me numerous clients, made most of my sales and offered up unexpected opportunities like collaborations and speaking events. All rather good reasons to reengage with the online corners of my business. The only thing for it was to make myself a to do list and make it a priority.

Whatever your platform/s of choice, use these steps to service your online presence and refresh your virtual image. My online business presence consists of a website with a shop and blog, a Facebook page and Instagram feed. I generally access these from my phone or tablet, however I find a tune up is best achieved with a laptop, a cuppa, notepaper and pen. 

1. Update 

Whatever platforms you use and whatever your device of choice, ensure your software is updated to the latest version so you aren’t missing out on any functionality or resolved glitches.

2. Compare 

Open all your sites in tabs and compare them. Are the aesthetics consistent across each site?  Are they speaking the same visual language? Is your branding strong? Make note - what do you like, what do you want to change?

3. Delete

Be ruthless and give your sites a good pruning. Old sales posts on IG, images that don’t fit in with your look, items that flopped. Delete, delete, delete. Give new customers the very best impression by letting go of anything you wouldn’t happily repost. 

4. Refresh 

An updated bio, a new head shot, seasonal banners, there are lots of simple ways to refresh your social media feeds to reengage interest and generate more clicks. Perhaps a new blog theme or some professional product shots will get you excited about spending time in your online spaces.

5. Check links

Click around on each site and check for broken or outdated links. Ask a friend to send you a message on your Contact form. Test your mailing list sign up forms.

6. Research

Take a look at your competition, are they doing anything new or interesting? Choose a few of your current customers and see what hashtags they are using. Use google to check the top hashtags in your niche. Fall down the rabbit hole and make note of new hashtags to trial.

7. Plan

Create a realistic plan going forward so as to keep the cobwebs at bay. One Instagram post a day shared to Facebook? One blog post a week? Two newsletters a month? Then schedule days to create content to fulfil your plan. Batch photography, editing and writing, then schedule your posts. 

8. Engage

Remember, it isn’t social media if you’re not being social! Engage with your audience. Like, follow, comment. Leave meaningful comments. Reply to direct messages in a timely way. I have found it to be true that the number of followers are not as important as the kind of followers you have. 100 genuinely engaged supporters of your business are more important than 1,000 luke-warm followers, or 10,000 purchased followers.

Christina Lowry is a designer and jeweller who makes fine jewellery for creatives. Her work is featured in several Australian galleries, as well as in her online store. Christina fell in love with jewellery making while studying a Bachelor of Fine Art/Visual Art. Each piece is lovingly made by hand in her Brisbane workshop, incorporating precious metals and gemstones, using traditional metalworking techniques.

From now until Christmas... 10 questions to help you review, plan & succeed

Jewellery by Christina Lowry. Photo credit: Trudi Le Brese Photography

When the paperwork and tax returns are out of the way my next step is always to take a little time off to daydream about the second half of the year and turn those dreams into a plan.

I used to wing it, working day by day, when I had more time and fewer commitments. Now I know that taking this time to set goals is the secret to a productive and successful second half of the year. I can realise larger goals by working on them long term. I have a plan to fall back on when I feel like no one is buying or engaging. I know where to focus my time and I can review my progress.

Now is the time I devote a weekend to sketching ideas and playing with gemstones. Often I’ll stay up late, once the whole house is asleep, lay out my notebook, diary and coloured pens and scribble out ideas. I’ll journal about the successes and failures over the past six months. I’ll write about the way my business is feeling and the direction I want it to travel. I’ll chat with my business brain trust, scroll back through my Instagram feed. Then I’ll schedule time to sit down and write down my goals from now until Christmas. I’ll break them down, step by step, month by month and create a timeline and marketing calendar. Refreshed, re-inspired and with my direction confirmed, I will dive into the second half of the year.

So, grab a cup of tea or a glass of wine and join me in this process of reviewing, planning and setting goals. Be honest and ambitious as you put pen to paper!

1. What felt good about the year so far? 

Look over your sales receipts, scroll back through your Instagram feed, and pull out your magazine clippings – what have been your favourite parts of the year so far? Write a list as long as you can. For me it might include a certain jewellery collection I’ve created, working with a wonderful client, a goal achieved, a new stockist, my most financially successful month, a thank you note.

2. What didn’t sit well? 

We have to take the good with the bad, but we can choose to learn from it and be more prepared in future. Negative client relationships, deadlines not reached, bad investments, broken tools, and unfair feedback – write it all down.

3. What investments did you make that paid off? 

It’s all about how you used your time and money. Perhaps you engaged a graphic designer to create a new logo, launched a new product, invested your time in a new course, or bought new tools that expanded your capabilities. Make a list of the ways you used your resources that gave the greatest reward.

4. Where did you most enjoy spending your time in your business?

Where are you in your element? What do you love and want to do more of? Is it the designing aspect, chatting with clients, sourcing materials, posting to IG, getting into the zone when you work with your hands, pushing your creative abilities? Keep coming back to add to this list over a few days. When you feel stuck it will bring comfort and inspiration.

5. What did you enjoy the least?

I am not a not a fan of paperwork. I love knowing where my business is at, how each month compares, whether I am hitting my goals and where I could cut down my expenses. But the actual act of entering everything into my accounting program leaves me cold. There are also times in my business that I knew I should have said no, and as I am doing the work I am not enjoying it. These are certainly the two things that I enjoy the least. What are yours? Problem solve ways to outsource, learn to say no or minimise these unpleasant tasks.

Jewellery by Christina Lowry. Photo credit: Trudi Le Brese Photography

6. If time and money were no obstacle, what's your biggest goal?

Think big! Do you want a hundred stockists? Do you want a six-figure income? Do you want to hire staff? Write it down! 

Right now in my life, I am content with the level of work my business is bringing in. I love the flexibility of working from home while homeschooling my three children. In the future, I know it will look very different and I will once again be able to devote more time to my business. I still have big dreams that I am working towards!

7. What do I want? 

We all probably want more sales, more money, more email subscribers, which is great! But what else do you want? More time with family? More travel? To exhibit your work? To collaborate with someone you admire? See your work in a magazine?

8. How will I get it?

Choose two or three of the ‘wants’ above and brainstorm ways to achieve them. If you want more money, you want to travel and you want to exhibit, start investigating ways you can work towards all of these goals simultaneously. Perhaps you could get a grant to exhibit your work overseas? If you want more sales, more email subscribers and to collaborate, perhaps you could reach out and start that collaboration process which will result in exposing your work to their audience and creating a buzz around a new product for sale. Write down the steps you will need to take to make it happen.

9. Where could I be by Christmas?

Look back over the answers above and think about what you can reasonably achieve in the next six months. Go further and start a list of projects for the New Year. Imagine yourself posting off your last parcel, or closing your laptop for the last time before Christmas. What would give you a feeling of joy and satisfaction as you looked back over the previous six months?

10. What will each month look like?

Grab your calendar, create a-to do list and make a marketing calendar! I personally love doing this. I am a list maker and ticking things off my list gives me more drive to continue. Even if you aren’t the type that likes to do lists I urge you to start plotting out your goals on your calendar. Write in your time off, your cut off dates for Christmas orders, special occasions. Then, schedule in product launches, VIP nights, sales, free postage events, etc. Batch days for creating marketing images, making stock, working on custom orders. Or pick a theme to focus or each month eg. August – social media, September – New Collection Launch, October – Christmas Photoshoot, November – newsletters, December - sales. Your calendar will quickly fill up and you will have a plan in place for your most successful Christmas yet!

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Christina Lowry is a designer and jeweller who creates fine jewellery for creatives. Her work is featured in several Australian galleries, as well as in her online store. Christina fell in love with jewellery making while studying a Bachelor of Fine Art/Visual Art. Each piece is lovingly made by hand in her Brisbane workshop, incorporating precious metals and gemstones and using traditional metalworking techniques. To see more of her work, visit her website, Facebook page, and follow her on Instagram (@christinalowrydesigns).

Five lessons learnt from working from home with children

When I grew up, I wanted to be an artist, complete with the romantic notion of living in a loft full of canvases, drinking red wine with poets and writers. Alas, my foray into painting at university was less than satisfactory and my creativity took a different path when I discovered gold- and silver-smithing. Tools, gold, gemstones! After becoming a jeweller and working in the industry for several years, my journey took another turn when I decided to become a stay-at-home mum.

For three delightful years, I cooked, cleaned and cared for my son and husband, filling in my spare time with creative hobbies. I began playing with my tools again, and after much urging from family and friends, I started my own business. Over time, I taught myself everything I needed to know as I needed it. While I researched how to run a business, I learnt many lessons on how to run that business with a child, then two children, and now three children...

Five years, and many nappies and sales later, here are five of the lessons I have learnt.

1. Make time instead of finding time

This was a huge mindset shift for me. When I was trying to ‘find’ time, I could only find the odd block of free time. But somehow when I had an appointment booked, it was non-negotiable. When I changed my mindset from hobby to business, I realised I needed to ‘schedule’ in work. If I don’t schedule time to go to the gym, I don’t go. If I schedule in work time, I say no to playdates, ignore the laundry and get to work.

I was told early on that if you give your child ten focused minutes of your time, he or she will give you an hour to yourself. This depends a little on the age and temperament of the child, but I have found that even as toddlers, getting down to my children's level and joining in with them, or simply listening to them fills their cup and they are less likely to even notice that I am now doing my own thing.

Naptimes, nighttime, weekends are all great times to get to work. Depending on the type of work you do, you may be able to work at your laptop while your children play beside you. Think about when you work best. Are you a morning person or a night owl? I know I am fresher in the morning for tasks like writing, while I can do repetitive tasks at night. Schedule time for chores, too. Embrace the flexibility of working from home to create a routine that works for your whole family.

2. Enlist help

I am blessed to have a father-in-law who comes to our house and babysits one day a week. That is my bench day. I have tried working with my children in my workshop, and while it is sweet at first, it almost always ends in disaster. There was the time my toddler dropped a steel block on his toe, which resulted in a trip to emergency to stitch it back together. Or the time another of my little ones drew beautiful pictures all over my professionally printed postcards. Or the time my daughter was playing with my metal ring size gauge, which does make a lovely rattling sound, and which has never been seen again.

If you don’t have the convenience of grandparents, enlist friends for babysitting swaps: you take her child one day, she takes yours the next. The kids get two playdates and you get a whole day of work. Think creatively about other blocks of time you could use to work. My gym offers two-hour crèche sessions, which means I can work out and then write on my laptop in the coffee room before collecting my treasures.

Free up your time in other ways by enlisting help. You may not be ready to hand the reins over to an employee, but perhaps you could hire an intern, get a cleaner, hire a courier to pick up your parcels rather than going to the post office, have your stationary orders delivered instead of picking them up at the store and indulging your paper addiction… Think about your rate of pay as a business owner. Is it worth driving half an hour to pick up that item yourself, or would you be better off paying a ten-dollar delivery fee? Can you hire a bookkeeper, invest in a product photographer or ask for guest articles for your blog to free up your time to do the things that only you can do?

3. Batch your days

When I was working full-time (before there were small humans dependent on me), I answered emails, ordered supplies, posted to social media, did paperwork, did bench work and went to the post office each day. Now, I have themes for each day. It stops me from multitasking and is the best use for my time.

One day might be for emails and ordering, another day is my bench day, another is for scheduling social media and another day for packaging and posting orders. Even if I am interrupted a million times, I know exactly what I am up to that day and there is no time wasted getting out the packing supplies five times a week, or making five trips to the post office.

4. Set boundaries

This applies to both yourself and others. It’s easy to get lost in your workday and forget to make time for your children, too. When your scheduled work time is up, resist the temptation to do just a little bit more and focus on your children instead. Go to the park, take a walk, paint a picture, read them a book, bake with them or do your chores with them. These are the things they will remember. These opportunities are the reason you are working from home.

At first, I felt ‘mama guilt’ whenever I was working, feeling like I should be with my children instead, while with my children I felt guilty that I should be attending to my business. I couldn’t win! Over time, I have realised I need to be where I am in the moment. By scheduling my time I can be present with my children while I am with them and forget about work, and while I am working, I need not feel guilty about expressing my creativity and contributing to our finances.

Setting boundaries for others can be more difficult. I am a people pleaser and try to oblige whatever is requested of me. Oh, you need that tomorrow? Sure, not a problem! Argh! It is your business. You make the rules. Learn to say no. Ask for what you need: the time you need, the money you need, even the help you need from your partner.

 5. Take Sundays off

Your business won’t love you back, but your children will. Early on, I treated my business like a newborn, attending to its every need immediately. Now I realise it is more like a tween. It needs my help, but can exist independently for longer periods of time without my undivided attention. The separation between home life and work life are blurred when you work from home. There is always so much to do on both fronts that it is easy to become overwhelmed.

Several cycles of overachieving followed by burnout have taught me that much of the pressure is of my own design. Everything doesn’t need to be done at once. Give yourself at least one day off a week when you don’t think about work and focus on your family and yourself instead. Reconnect, do self-care, ignore your emails, work on projects for fun with no pressure or financial goals attached to them.

It's not always easy, and I am often asked how I do it all. I think all business owners have a streak of crazy! But the satisfaction of having my children home with me and being able to build a business and watch it grow as they grow has been the best decision I have ever made.

Christina Lowry is a designer and jeweller who creates fine jewellery for creatives. Her work is featured in several Australian galleries, as well as in her online store. Christina fell in love with jewellery making while studying a Bachelor of Fine Art/Visual Art. Each piece is lovingly made by hand in her Brisbane workshop, incorporating precious metals and gemstones and using traditional metalworking techniques. To see more of her work, visit her website, Facebook page, and follow her on Instagram (@christinalowrydesigns).

Photos by Trudi Le Brese Photography

How to make the most of the holiday season

I’ll let you in on a secret. Every December, I write a business preparation checklist on an A4 piece of paper and stick it into my brand new diary. I tape it in around the October section so I can remember the lessons I learnt this season to be as prepared as possible for the next holiday season. Future Christina is always thankful that I take the time to do this. As a jeweller, the last three months of the year are my busiest, and account for the largest percentage of my earnings. Most small businesses see a rise in sales in the lead-up to Christmas. Being disorganised at this time of year leads to missed opportunities, negative word of mouth and worst still, loss of sales. Managing your time, cash flow, stock and production for the holiday season really begins in January. But fear not! Here's what you can do right now to make the most of the holiday season and be better prepared for next year. Your future self will thank you!

Holiday season business prep checklist

Stocktake consumables: Make a list of the items and packaging you will need between now and the new year. Include everything, then overestimate how much you will need of each item and start stocking up as cash flow allows. For my business, this includes mailers, packaging, business cards, stickers, ribbon, metal, drills, emery, flux and wrapping paper. Most supply businesses shut down before Christmas and open again mid-January. Rushing to order branded gift boxes or ribbon at the last minute is not only stressful, but is time better spent working on revenue earning tasks. Buying in bulk will also save you money with lower prices and postage costs.

Restock your shop: Stock up on all the product offerings you will continue to sell in the new year. For me, this means ordering metal, gemstones and castings, then turning these into products to fill my safe. It can be hard to know which products will be the best sellers during the holidays, but keep in mind that price points between twenty and ninety dollars do well. In my business, earrings sell well as they don’t require resizing like rings do. Review your best sellers for the year and make predictions based on these numbers. Stock up on any items you will be promoting.

Organise a photo shoot: While you are stocking up on products and consumables, stock up on images as well. If you are producing high-quality items, you need high-quality visuals to represent your brand. Consumers are bombarded by images and have higher expectations than they used to. Take the time to plan a Christmas-themed photo shoot with images that will stop your clients mid-scroll. What will your theme be? What will be the focus of your Christmas marketing promotion? Create a Pinterest board of inspiration, gather your props, secure a model or friend, get out your camera or hire a photographer and set aside a few hours to style and shoot your products. If you can aim for thirty images, you will have a library to use across all your platforms in the lead up to Christmas. Use free online editing software like Canva to create Facebook, blog, newsletter and shop headers and save them to a file for Christmas branding. Then these will all be ready to go on December 1st, or whenever you choose to start your Christmas promotions.

Organise a holiday-themed photo shoot for your products

Schedule social media: Once you have the images ready, draft blog posts and newsletters and use scheduling apps to plan your social media. When things get busy, social media is often the first thing we stop paying attention to, but is a huge revenue earner at this time of year. I use Dropbox and Mosaico for this. I can then upload every edited image from the shoot, write a caption, create a list of tags and post to a twice-daily schedule on Instagram.

Review your online presence: Check that your product descriptions are up to date, re-read your policies, check for continuity in your branding. Are you using the same profile image across all social media? Send a dummy email from your contact page to confirm there are no broken links. You don’t want to miss customer inquiries, or confuse customers across platforms with mixed branding.

Promote yourself: Start planning and promoting. How will you reach out to prior customers? How will you engage with new customers? What offers will you use to entice customers to purchase now, rather than putting it off? For my business, I print postcards using an image from my Christmas shoot, hand-write a thank-you note and send it on the 1st of December to every customer I had that year, offering them a ten percent discount online. This is the only discounting I do, as I feel discounting is the death of small business, and value adding (for example, offering a free polishing cloth with an order) is a more sustainable practice. I also create limited numbers of lower-price pieces that include postage and offer them exclusively for sale on Instagram. The limited number, price point and time sensitivity mean they sell quickly. I also offer free upgrades to express shipping as my mailing cut-off approaches.

Set cut-offs: I like to sell up to the last possible moment, but knowing when your cut-off dates are is crucial to ensure you can deliver on your promises. Look at your calendar and write down the last possible dates you can mail products to clients overseas, interstate and with Express Post (keeping in mind that even next-day delivery takes two days in many places in Australia). If you sell your goods wholesale, you will also need to advise your retailers of your wholesale order cut-off date. If they place an order mid-December, will you realistically be able to fill it and keep up with your online sales? I tend to make my wholesale cut-off mid-November, but stay as flexible as I can to serve my retailers right up until Christmas. If you create custom work, you will need another cut-off date. In my industry, client work can involve several different processes, from casting to engraving, handmaking to gem setting, and each of these suppliers are likely stretched to capacity. Jobs that can usually be done in one day take a week at this time of year. Start educating your clients about these cut-offs so you get a manageable flow of orders rather than a flood at the last minute. Keep reminding customers of your cut off dates: include them in your newsletters, on your website and again on social media.

Relax: Schedule time for family, friends and social activities this holiday season. By following the checklist above, you will have more time to spend enjoying the season, not just working through it.

Christina Lowry is a designer and jeweller who creates fine jewellery for creatives. Her work is featured in several Australian galleries, as well as in her online store. Christina fell in love with jewellery making while studying a Bachelor of Fine Art/Visual Art. Each piece is lovingly made by hand in her Brisbane workshop, incorporating precious metals and gemstones and using traditional metalworking techniques. To see more of her work, visit her website, Facebook page, and follow her on Instagram (@christinalowrydesigns).

Photography by Trudi Le Brese Photography for Christina Lowry Designs           

Taking a leap: going out on your own

I always wanted to be an artist. As a teenager, I had romantic notions of living in a studio surrounded by canvases, paint, red wine, and cigarettes while I suffered for my art. I lived this dream for a while when I moved out of home and undertook a Fine Art/Visual Arts degree straight out of high school. I rushed through my early foundation classes in sculpture and silver-smithing, awaiting my longed-for painting instruction. Alas, after undertaking my foundation course in painting I realised that my love of arts and passion for creating weren't enough. I was surrounded by amazing artists, I was invisible to my lecturer, and my work was far below my expectations. I hadn't learnt yet that comparison is the death of joy. I didn't know not to compare my "chapter one" to someone else's chapter twenty. I just felt a sense of failure and fear. And as a seventeen-year-old living in a world of adults, I assumed the answer was to drop out.

I’m so pleased that a friend and fellow student talked me out of such ideas, so pleased that I stuck it out. I fell in love with and majored in my next foundation area: intermedia (a mixed-media approach to fine art). Here I learnt how to become an artist: how to question, see, experiment. I was given free rein over photography equipment and a darkroom. I learnt early Photoshop and built a website, created sculptures and installations, journaled, and exhibited my work. I still didn't know what I was going to “do” when I grew up, but I trusted that I would work it out.

To complete my degree, I needed to tick off two final classes. My financial situation had changed by this point, and studying silver-smithing became a viable option. It seemed like an enjoyable way to meet the requirements of the degree. After three years at Uni, these last two classes actually decided my future, for it was here that I found my medium and decided to become a jeweller. I fell in love with the rigidity and flexibility of metal. I was enthralled with the techniques and history of the practice. It was sculpture in miniature, designed to be worn. It was craft, art, and a trade. The day after I graduated I started applying for jewellery apprenticeships. I wanted to be a “real” jeweller, with a secure, guaranteed income as I learnt the craft, and the ability to create work and exhibit in my own time.

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Finding an apprenticeship is no easy task. I spent the next several years working in jewellery stores as a sales assistant, getting whatever time and training I could at the jewellery bench and learning anything else I could in the process—from pearl threading to Diamond grading, gem identification to antique hall marks. I learnt sales strategies, stocktake, and stock and package ordering. I met suppliers and went to industry launches and trade fairs. I took a twelve-month jeweller vocation course at the Goldsmith school. I worked with several jewellers and finally started an apprenticeship, only to lose it when the business ran out of capital. After all this time, effort, and learning, I still wasn’t a real jeweller.

By the time I took maternity leave with my first child, I was so burnt out on the jewellery industry that I settled in to being a stay-at-home mum and didn’t touch the tools in my workshop for more than eighteen months. Eventually, I made a silver pendant as a gift for a friend. Then I made my sister a pair of earrings. Online sales platforms like Etsy and Madeit were taking off and friends suggested I sell my jewellery online. So I did, as a hobby.

With hindsight, I can join the dots, but at the time I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. The thought of starting my own business hadn’t occurred to me. I thought I would return to the workforce as a jewellery sales assistant and keep trying to get an apprenticeship, chasing the elusive dream of becoming a “jeweller.” I thought receiving my apprentice certificate would remove the imposture syndrome I felt. But as I kept making and selling my jewellery, I realised that the certificate was only important to me. When people brought my pieces, they didn’t ask if I was a “real” jeweller, self-taught, or a bit of both.

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Change came rushing in after listening to Clare Bowditch speak at a Big-hearted Business morning tea. I had begun tossing up the possibility of selling my wares at a local craft market in a school hall, still with a hobby mindset. Clare encouraged us to get out pens and paper and write down where we wanted to be in five years’ time. For the first time, it clicked that in five years’ time I could still have a hobby—or I could own my own business. I decided to apply for that craft market! After the event I chatted with creative business owners and shared my revelation. They were pleased, but offered another revelation: don’t aim small. Find the best market around for what you want to sell, and apply for it. That day, a fire was lit inside me that still hasn’t gone out.

My hobby became a business the moment I decided to treat it like a business. I had to embrace fear and question my belief that I wasn’t the sort of person who could own a business. I applied for the Brisbane Finders Keepers market and spent the next couple months making stock and learning everything I could about business. I launched Christina Lowry Designs in November 2013 at Finder Keepers.

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Now in my fourth year in business, I consider myself not only a “jeweller,” but a designer, mentor, and businesswoman. Everything I have learnt, from my fine arts degree to my sales work, has been incorporated into Christina Lowry Designs. I define my own work life balance. My family is my priority. My passion and drive continues. I believe in lifelong learning. I read, listen to podcasts, collaborate with other creatives, and take courses. And every day, I am so glad I took the leap and went out on my own.

Photos by Trudi Le Brese Photography for Christina Lowry Designs

Christina Lowry is a designer and jeweller who makes fine jewellery for creatives. Her work is featured in several Australian galleries, as well as in her online store. Christina fell in love with jewellery making while studying a Bachelor of Fine Art/Visual Art. Each piece is lovingly made by hand in her Brisbane workshop, incorporating precious metals and gemstones, using traditional metalworking techniques.