Join the CWC Board of Directors!
Hey everyone - great news. After a unanimous decision to incorporate CWC into a registered non-profit association (thanks to all the Members who placed their vote!), we're now ready to build our Board of Directors and push CWC into an exciting new era!
To kick things off, we're holding our first Board meeting from 10am-4pm on Saturday 1 August 2015 in Melbourne. We'd love as many Members as possible to attend and help us plan a roadmap for CWC going forward.
If you're enthusiastic about CWC and building it into an even better organisation for creative women across the country, and want to be a part of the Board of Directors, we'd love you to come along. Women from all industries (especially marketing, comms, graphic design, web design, small business management, admin, social media, PR, event coordination) and with all sorts of skill sets will be welcomed with open arms!
For more info, and to register your interesting in attending the meeting on 1 August, email Tess at admin @ creativewomenscircle.com.au by 22 July 2015 and tell us a little about yourself, your background, and what you think you could bring to the CWC Board.
Interstate members or those unable to attend but who want to be involved, please get in touch as well :)
Studio visit: Reny Kestel, Milliner
By Kristen Marano
Perth’s fashion scene continues to emerge, and Millinery Designer Reny Kestel is one of the city’s talented designers at the forefront of this movement.
Reny is a young and inventive hatmaker in a competitive industry that got its start in the 1800s. She designs and produces hundreds of headpieces a year for weddings, horse races and fashion weeks that range from edgy wearable art to classic and elegant hats, leather headbands and hand-beaded combs.
Reny, a Perth native, set up her studio and gallery two years ago in the city. Previously she was living in London, England, where she also discovered her interest in millinery.
Some might expect that attracting customers outside of Australia’s most isolated state might be difficult, but Reny’s future-thinking designs and respect for tradition keep her top of mind among a diverse customer base. Women rely on Reny to make custom hats for big racing events of the year like the Melbourne Cup and ongoing regional events throughout the country. She currently designs headpieces for Alana McLean, the face of WA Country Cups.
I visited Reny's Perth studio to ask her about her designs and learn how she stays relevant.
How did you get started in millinery?
I was going to Royal Ascot, and I must have spent hours in this small pokey shop looking at all the trimmings and hat blocks available. This exploring led me to inquire about millinery classes, and from there I have never looked back. I’ve fulfilled my vision by returning to Perth and launching my own label.
It’s kind of an ironic path as I’ve been fascinated with birds from a young age. In fact, I wanted to be an ornithologist when I was 12-years-old. So, it’s nice to be able to work with bird feathers.
Reny Kestel works on a headpiece in her studio, one of hundreds she produces every year.
I have also always had a keen interest in art and design from a young age, and I continued this interest by studying Fashion Design at Central Institute of Technology in Perth. I love the idea of wearable art, and fashion is a great form of self-expression. The 3D shape in art and sculpture, and designing with patterns from flat fabrics has always been exciting.
How have you set up your space to help you be productive?
Being organised is definitely key. I need to have materials that I use frequently, easily accessible and colour coordinated so I can grab them with minimal fuse.
My other essential items are clearly positioned in the right workspace areas, such as millinery wire on hooks with tape measures and wire cutters hanging next to them. I have two large steel rulers fixed to the large central table, so when I need fabric straw materials or Petersham ribbon I can quickly measure the exact amount and be able to note the amount I use.
I always go by the rule that everything has a home. My materials are arranged and labeled so I know with a quick glance what I am looking for. I try to clear the workshop table space every few days or weekly, and put things back in their place after an artistic explosion. I find I can’t get into a creative mode and think clearly without using a clean space.
Reny and her father created this thread spool holder to make her material easily accessible and keep it organised.
What's your biggest creative fear and how are you overcoming it?
Not really fearful, but I’d call it…creative pressure – that is balancing my creative time with the general operations of the business, which involves emails, calls, sales, bookwork, administration, public relations and social media.
I also have to ensure that the time I spent creating each piece aligns with the price of the piece. This can create a bit of pressure to get things made within a certain time period.
A leather headband in progress on Reny's work table.
How does living in an isolated state help and/or challenge your business?
Since the whole Internet revolution, I don’t notice how isolated Perth is anymore. Connecting to people, finding inspiration, and material sourcing is not a problem now.
Perth’s population is small, so it does help in terms of networking. We are lucky to have a strong supportive fashion industry in Western Australia, and I think this is because the state is so isolated.
One last question…
At the end of our visit I asked Kestel if she has attracted any North American clients yet, where I anticipate her designs could catch on. “Not yet,” she said, but one thing is certain, Australia is lucky to have a defining homegrown designer like Kestel.
Follow Reny’s designs and shop online at www.renykestel.com.
{Studio images by Kristen Marano}
Kristen Marano is a writer living in Perth, Australia. Kristen helps companies build relationships with their audiences through compelling content programs. She also shares her fashion and lifestyle perspectives with Huffington Post Canada, and produces a weekly newsletter, Creative Women Weekly, featuring stories of creative women from around the world. Follow Kristen on Twitter @kmarano and Instagram @krismarano.
Learning from mistakes
By Jes Egan
I’ve made some errors in my career, believe me. Some of them I’ll call mistakes; some of them I’ll call a steep learning curve that took many directions (not always upwards); and others I’ll blame on my madly creative upbringing (at least one of them has to be someone else’s undoing!).
Although at the time most of these mistakes were either painful, stressful, financial or just pure embarrassing, I don’t look back at them in as much horror as I probably felt at the time. Because making mistakes aren’t always a bad thing. Yes, the dictionary definition of a mistake is something misguided or wrong in the context of what it was intended, but that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. Maybe, just possibly, a mistake can that intention into a new (maybe better) direction or as a result you might simply know what to do differently in the future.
Mistake: not understanding a creative brief Lesson learned: let the experience go and re-do the work (paying careful attention to the client’s needs/wants this time and next)
Perhaps you have spent hours (or days) working on a project, to then sit with the client and realise before anything is said that you’ve made a mistake in the direction or misunderstood part of the brief, and that it’s back to the drawing board. The heart sinks, the fear pops it’s little head up, and then there is the frustration of ‘I should have asked this question/not assumed that/clarified their needs’. I’ve done this enough times now to know that these feelings, although totally genuine at the time, will pass and I’ll get something out of this experience in the future. I will think about it again, in time, when I’ve processed and I will learn from it. Sometimes an experience like this lead you somewhere you may never have got to before and sometimes it’s just extra work (that you will have to do. For free.). My importantly, hopefully you learn how to better understand a client’s wants and needs for a project before diving head first into the solution.
Mistake: under-quoting for a job Lesson learned: ensure your quotes are always detailed and that the client is aware of what is covered and what is not
I know that I’m not the only one who has made mistakes when putting together a cost estimate for a job. Simple things, such as not including enough detail about the tasks to be completed, or quoting a ‘fixed price’ and not telling a client when they increase the scope from the original brief the price will increase. These are easy mistakes to make. (Once, when I was starting out in the advertising industry, I was tasked by my boss to put a quote together. Before sending it to the client, I consulted with a senior member of staff to check the numbers added up and that there was an appropriate amount of detail. The thing I didn’t explain to the staff member who kindly checked it was the full brief detail, which I also didn’t put it in the quote. The next day my boss told me the quote I had sent should have been closer FIVE TIMES what I had estimated. Way off track. Fortunately for me, I had a great boss – and client – and they agreed to let us resupply the quote that better reflected the project brief. Phew...).
This is where a mistake can put you in a poor (or even dire) financial position. If you work for yourself, this is often the part that can hurt the most. As I’ve written about before, when it comes to quoting, the devil is in the detail: be very clear about what is included and not included in the cost, it allows you to more successfully negotiate more when it is needed.
Mistake: Saying something silly Lesson learned: It’s good to have a laugh at yourself sometimes!
A few years ago now I was sitting in a big creative ad agency meeting. There was much discussion and different ideas flowing, everyone was on a different page. To end the meeting and action everyone into gear (as was my job), I said, quote, ‘Let’s all go and get our pigeons in a line’. To which everyone went silent and the copywriter (naturally) said, ‘Jes, I think you’ll find it’s “let’s go and get our ducks in a row”’. Yep. That was where I was trying to go with it.
I am notorious for getting my metaphors wrong and just as I think I’ve got them all straight, I let another doozy slip and there I am again, back to the beginning. (That one I’m going to connect to my madly creative upbringing, because I heard a family member do just the same thing recently, to a metaphor that I have in the past been corrected on, and it made me smile).
Mistake: Making an error in your creative work that can’t be ‘undone’ Lesson learned: Adapt to the change in direction and see where the work goes from there
These days, my creative work sees me spend many hours cutting intricate designs out of paper. While I try to me methodical (and careful!), in the past when I’ve cut something vital out of a work, instead of a total ‘re-do’, I ask myself – ‘Did anyone else know that was supposed to be there? Nope? Well, what they don’t see they won’t miss”. I always continue with what I’m doing and find a new / different direction, which might not be what I initially intended, but I’ve found that being adaptable is sometimes creatively more challenging and rewarding at the end. However the nature of a commission means there is certain expectations, and this if I make a mistake is when my perfectionist self will kick in and it is a start again. But I don’t throw it out, I carefully put it away and one day I may pick up again and repurpose and reuse for something else.
Over my career thus far, what I’ve learnt from my experience (or lack of) is the pain associated to a ‘mistake’ at the time is sometimes worth it. We can’t always get it right the first time or be perfect in each and every transaction. And it is totally okay to not to be. I encourage you to think about the mistakes you’ve made, and consider how you can use them to find a new direction and earn from what you have done wrong. What doesn’t kill us just makes us stronger (or should I say, better?). I believe so.
Jes is a ‘practical creative’ and a very busy lady, doing the business in a digital agency, being an artist, a university lecturer, and small business owner who can creatively be found cutting up a storm at paperchap.com. Follow Jes on Instagram and Facebook.
Regional Creative: Melanie Muddle of HoutenPlank
By Christina Atherton
With so many of us are searching for that illusive work/life balance it’s refreshing to see someone who has been able to achieve that while creating a thriving small business from her passions. Based in Redhead, south of Newcastle, Melanie Muddle of HoutenPlank has managed to create an inspiring business that combines her love of food styling, woodwork and Dutch heritage while allowing her to spend precious time with her family. Here she shares an insight into her fledgling creative business and how she got to where she is today.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I’m a small town, big family kind of girl. My dad, a scientist come oyster farmer, moved the family from Sydney back to my mum’s hometown on the Tillegery Pennisular when I was young. I spent a lot of time outside, building bush cubbies, riding repurposed bikes from the dump, eating wholesome food and hanging out at the oyster block.
I’m a third generation ‘Dutchy’. My Oma and Opa came to Australia in 1952 and have been a big part of my life. It was my Opa who started the family oyster farming business and even in his nineties, he continues to demonstrate that working hard is in our genes. My family heritage is something I cherish and it was important for me to incorporate this into my business.
Inspired by a 1980’s food styling video at school, I decided I wanted to be a food stylist. After chatting to my science-loving dad, I shifted my focus to becoming a dietitian and took myself very seriously at uni. Soon after graduating I was surprised to find that typical dietetics wasn’t for me. I spent the next decade working in corporate dietetics, I enjoyed a stint in private practice, I met my husband at ‘The Worlds Biggest Disco’ and eventually returned to a management position in the Health and Wellbeing division of Sanitarium. And then came our babies.
What made you want to start your own business?
I loved my corporate job but motherhood has a way of changing your perspective (often without your permission). I tried to balance everything when baby Eve arrived, but it was impossible. I found myself without work and I knew that I had an opportunity to rethink and reshape my career, a moment to pause and contemplate.
Like many mums, I wanted to find the elusive balance between work, mothering and life in general. I wanted to do something was fulfilling and fun, that was aligned with my passions and that positioned me to continue to learn and grow.
How did you come up with the idea of HoutenPlanks?
I have always loved food. I think about it A LOT. I find food photography mesmerising and adore quiet time with food literature. I had watched that the ‘serving board’ trend become entrenched in food styling. I noted that recipe books, food magazines and cafes where using serving boards frequently. Food commentators were talking about the popularly of share-plates and the decline of entrée-main-dessert dining. Jamie Oliver centred his styling on painted serving boards and people couldn’t get enough of it. I knew that with time, the serving board trend would permeate households, generating demand for such products. I knew that ‘fashion for food’ was on the agenda and that HoutenPlank, which is Dutch for ‘wooden board’, could meet this growing market need.
How did you get started?
My husband Brad often scoffs at the depth of my research and detailed documentation. He’s a ‘get-in-there-and-get-stuff-done’ kind of guy. I’m the opposite and don’t mind generating a spreadsheet or trying to articular market insights. My second baby Esther arrived and I’d spend nights dreaming and working on my business plan. On weekends, in between breast-feeding, I’d slip down to the workshop to start prototyping. Brad was incredibly patient and supportive. He had a few doubts about my woodworking capabilities but nonetheless allowed me to use his tools. He always believed in what I was trying to achieve. He collected discarded workshop furniture from construction sites until we had built a functional little workshop. One sleep-deprived year later, I finally had a plan and the confidence to launch my business.
What are the pros and cons of running your own small business?
HoutenPlank provides me with a platform to do what I love. It seems that I’ve finally found my ‘groove’. After previously struggling with work-life balance, I’m happy to be able to control my workflow and how work impacts my family life (well, most of the time). More recently, I’ve relished the freedom to support my friends and family when they’ve needed it. I’ve enjoyed connecting, supporting and being inspired by local creatives. I’m also thrilled that spending hours on Pinterest and Instagram is now considered productive market research!
Business administration is my foe! Lauren Hung from The Black Line penned my new motto “face it or face-plant in it”. Bookwork, quoting and filing are not my favourite things but I’m learning how to effectively manage these tasks. I also find it difficult to manage growth with limited capabilities. There’s a constant re-evaluation of how to increase production without stepping outside my brand values. Growth is exciting, but also anxiety provoking. Most of the time I am ‘one-girl-in-my-garage’, both a pro and a con on many levels.
What has been your proudest achievement to date?
I wish I could tell you about my proudest achievement, but it’s still under wraps. What I can say is that I have won an unearthed competition and have developed a collaborative product, which will be available Australia-wide later in the year. This is groundbreaking for my business and I am preparing for a crazy, busy, exciting few months. I can’t wait until I can share more about it.
Has social media played an important part in growing your business? If so, how?
Social media has been an essential tool to create buzz about HoutenPlank. It’s been a cost effective way for me to increase brand awareness, encourage word of mouth, expand my reach, share my story, show my products, develop my style, engage in conversations and build relationships. I’m constantly amazed at the connections, opportunities and friendships that social media can forge. It’s a daily thing for me and I’m now at the stage of developing a social media strategy and calendar to help ensure it’s easy for me to reap the benefits of this medium.
What advice would you give someone thinking about starting their own creative business?
I’ve mentioned that I’m partial to research and planning. I believe that a well thought out business plan is an excellent launch pad for a creative business. I’ve recently looked back at my initial plan and while much of it now seems irrelevant, it was critical in the beginning. Don’t make the mistake of planning yourself in circles. There’s a time to plan and a time for action. A good business plan forces you to think differently, to stretch your ideas, to anticipate the challenges, to understand the market place, to be realistic in your financial forecast, but most of all it gives you confidence to take a chance to be successful at doing something that you love.
Now that I’ve rabbited on about planning, I’ll sum up a few other thoughts…be open-minded, invest in building relationships with stakeholders and customers, embrace collaborations, have a ‘roll-with-it’ attitude, don’t put all your eggs in one basket and never forget your raison d'être (reason for being).
On a quest to live a more creative life, Christina loves any type of crafty project and has tried everything from watercolours and flower arranging to paper craft and calligraphy. She has an unhealthy obsession with Instagram and when not working in freelance travel and lifestyle PR, spends her time as a mama, wannabe photographer and magazine junkie. She currently coordinates CWC events in Newcastle.
7 tips to sell more at markets
By Monica Ng
It’s a bright sunny day, your stall is all set up and you’re waiting patiently for the doors to open and the flood of customers to enter the market place. You start to feel nervous and nagging doubts begin gnawing at the back of your mind.
Whilst perfectly natural to be a little nervous, it’s important to get into a positive mind set at the beginning of your day. Perhaps set an inspiration quote or mantra as your phone’s background. Look at it, close your eyes and repeat it in your mind. Take some deep breaths and off we go!
1. Greet everyone and be genuine! There’s nothing more annoying than approaching a stall and being completely ignored by the person behind the stall because they’re too busy chatting to their stall neighbour, reading a book or on their phone etc. If you do not look interested and open at all times, this can make customers feel they won’t get assistance with their questions/purchase so they may only browse quickly and then move on.
- Say “hello”, “good (time of day)”, “welcome to (shop name)”, smile and make eye contact.
- Gauge the customer’s response to see if they wish to engage in further conversation or they’re happy to browse on their own.
- If the customer is open for further conversation, you can always encourage them to pick things up to have a closer look, try things on and explain some features and benefits of the product to them.
- Tell them about your special market promotion and give them a business card as they begin to leave
- If the customer is happy to browse on their own, tell them if they need any assistance, to let you know and then keep your body language open and approachable.
- Stand up, tidy your stall and refill sold stock if it’s quiet
2. Have a creative and cohesive looking stall setup Your stall space should be welcoming so people are drawn to having a closer look! Imagine if you looked from afar, what’s the best way to attract a passer-by’s attention? Do some research at other craft markets and shop merchandising displays to get inspired. Do your products look best on shelves? Racks? Tiered? Laid flat on a wall? Standing upright? Can you buy these display items or will you be making them? Make sure there is enough product on display and that the display looks tidy.
Don’t forget to display your shop name. Get something professionally printed or perhaps you can turn it into a DIY project!
Sometimes market days can be overwhelming and customers prefer to buy online or at a later time. So don’t forget about marketing materials! These could be business cards, postcards, mailing list signup and branded packaging (which could be as simple as having a customised rubber stamp made) and stamping your packaging. As your customers walk around the rest of the market, your cool packaging with get people’s eyes looking and their minds wondering what cool items they bought from you!
3. Design a collection that has different tiers Consider creating a collection that contains ‘gateway’, ‘aspirational’ and ‘upsell’ products. Gateway products introduce customers to your products and brand. They’re often simpler in style and less expensive than your aspirational products.
Aspirational products are the higher end products that may be bolder in style and more expensive than your gateway products. Your customer shares and talks about these items with their friends/family and aspires to buy them further down the line when the time is right.
Upsell products are items that you may add onto an initial sale. They’re generally at the lower price end of your collection and have a matching item in the gateway or aspirational categories.
4. Run a special promotion especially for that market Create a special promotion in conjunction with your market appearance! The limited time frame of the promotion creates a sense of urgency and will naturally encourage customers to act then and there. This could be a Instagram (or other social media channel) competition to win item/s from your shop in exchange for reposting a pic and following your account, 2-for-1 deal, gift with purchase to coincide with Mother’s Day, Valentines etc or signing up to your mailing list for a future discount or free shipping coupon.
Although it’s fantastic to build up and have a large and dedicated social media following, in some ways, having your customer’s email address is even more valuable. Having this information allows you a direct line of communication to your customer. If your customer follows many accounts on social media, they may not see your updates or in the worst-case scenario, your social media account could get hacked or suspended and that could mean bye-bye to your large following.
5. Offer multiple payment methods As we move more and more towards a cash-less society, more times than not, if you offer EFTPOS/Credit card payment options, this will be the tipping point for the customer to buy your product. I personally use PayPal Here, which is a great app where you can either just use it via your smartphone or choose to purchase a mini card reader.
Of course, for those who still like to pay with cash, make sure you have appropriate change in your float.
6. Know your product and let your passion shine! Does your product have a concept or story behind its design? Did you use a special technique to make the item? Is the material used unusual? Is this a new product or a best seller? Is the item limited edition? But above all, ask your customer what their purchasing occasion is! Helping the customer picture using your product helps to develop an emotional attachment to your product.
Think of some unique adjectives to describe it and how it can be used or worn. For some of my bolder items of jewellery like the body chains, I often get asked how it could be worn or what it could be paired with. To address this question, I come up with different outfits ideas e.g. pairing a slim fit monochromatic dress with a bolder body chain to let the body chain shine as the statement piece in the outfit. What ideas do you have?
7. Don't forget about after sales care If a customer comes back with a problem with their product (faulty, wrong size, change of mind) listen to their problem and be solutions-oriented so both parties can walk away win-win.
Make sure you have determined your exchange/refunds policy prior to attending the market and let customers know what they are before they make a purchase. E.g. No exchanges or refunds on earrings due to health reasons, but other items such as bracelets, rings are fine. Also, don’t forget to pop in some business cards with your customer’s purchase, so if they need to contact you, they have your details.
Remember, success at markets isn’t all about sales. You’ve made new friends with other designers/makers, established new connections with customers and got your shop’s cool products in front of people’s eyes! You never know what opportunities may come to you later down the track, from a simple interaction you had at the market. Good luck!
{Image via www.pexels.com}
Monica Ng left her accounting career at the end of 2013 to run Geometric Skies, her Etsy jewellery business, alongside her jewellery and object design studies at the Design Centre in Sydney. Find Monica on Instagram @geometric_skies or at her blog.
Vote for the future of CWC
As you may well know, Creative Women’s Circle (CWC) has been independently run for over 10 years, the majority of that time by myself, Tess McCabe, with the assistance of a host of talented creative women across Australia contributing to the running of our events and blog.
Over that time CWC’s presence and importance to the Australian creative community has grown, as has its official Membership database.
Now, to ensure the sustainability of CWC and its continued growth into the future, the time is right for the structure of CWC to change from a largely ‘one-woman’-run micro-business, to a registered incorporated association.
What does that mean for CWC?
An incorporated association structure will allow Members to be more involved in the future direction of CWC and how it can best serve their needs via our events, website, Member services and more. Profits from CWC will continue to go back into the organisation to fund it, and the association structure will also make CWC better placed to apply for funding for special programs and projects to benefit Members.
Who will run CWC?
The association will utilise the skills, experience and enthusiasm of a Board of dedicated creative women to steer CWC into the future. This Board will ensure the sustainability of CWC as an entity that serves its Members and the creative community as a whole. All current CWC Members will have the opportunity to volunteer to be a board member once the registration and incorporation process is complete.
What can I do to help?
To start this exciting new chapter, we are asking all current CWC Members to vote to incorporate CWC. With the majority of you supporting this decision we can begin the formal process of becoming a registered non-profit association.
Please review the proposed ‘model rules’* of the association, LOG IN, and cast your vote to incorporate CWC here. (Votes are due by 18 June 2015. VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED - THANK YOU!)
Thanks for your support as we take this big step together!
Tess McCabe
P.S. If you're not currently a Member but would like to vote, you can join here.
*The Model Rules are a standard set of guidelines for registered associations, set out by Consumer Affairs Victoria. Questions can be directed to admin@creativewomenscircle.
How to integrate more travel into your creative work/life
But I have found that to operate your own business and live a creative lifestyle is hard work and not easy to disconnect from, especially in the beginning. The expectations you set for yourself usually exceed anything you've experienced in the corporate/commercial world and are most often the hardest to fulfil with complete contentment.
So where does travel fit into your work/life balance? Well, sometimes never for some of us. Working for yourself and doing something you love can make you a passionate workaholic and not the ideal candidate for putting time aside to travel.
Why travel?
1 / Sometimes a break from our daily routine and all-consuming lifestyle is what we need. To go somewhere where we can remove ourselves from the moment and feel untouched by others. To allow ourselves to breath and think beyond what we already know. I have learnt that this space and time is what helps fuel creativity and motivation in my business. For me, the greatest impact means immersing myself in another city, culture or the great outdoors.
So it’s no surprise that integrating more travel into your work/life balance is the key to success in both work and life. But this doesn’t always mean you need to plan a four week vacation to Europe each year. Not every trip needs to be a big one, somewhere faraway or an expensive one.
To begin, start small.
Sometimes all you need is to leave the office for a day and head out for a little R&R. But make it eventful and purposeful. Make sure you spend your time doing something for yourself (and not your business).
Then, grow this idea into a weekend getaway. Recently I jumped into the car for a road trip down to Bendigo (2 hours from Melbourne) with my husband. I’ve always wanted to explore this country town but never gave myself the opportunity to do so. We spent the day walking the streets, visiting the museum, having a coffee or two and sharing a lunch together. On the road, we listened to our favourite tunes and allowed ourselves to indulge in conversations that did not involve work.What should we do this summer? What’s next to renovate at home? Who should we invite over for dinner on the weekend?
The great thing about a short trip is that you don’t need to plan in advance or set up much preparation. If you wake and the weather is good, then just do it!
But for some of us, a day trip is just not going to cut it. And I hear you… So try to work your way up to a vacation over a long weekend or extend public holiday period like Easter or Christmas.
This will require a little planning ahead, so use this opportunity to inform your clients and suppliers of your absence. You can also set up social media posts in advance so you don’t need to worry about them while you are away, and if necessary, find someone to manage a few tasks until you return.
This time frame gives you the opportunity to explore outside your city and home environment. Why not jump into the car and hit the road? Or better yet, grab a cheap air fare and travel interstate. If you don’t give yourself a break from home and your daily routines, you may find yourself running errands and tying up loose ends at home for the week. Making the effort to travel, spend some time in a new location or outside amongst nature will give you the time and space you’ve no doubt deserved for clarity of thought and rejuvenation.
Why make a big change?
But there are some situations in life, where we seek more from travel, than just an opportunity to break away for a few days. Sometimes its about taking a different direction or new path altogether to allow yourself to grow. Maybe its about bringing something to a close and trying something new. Whatever your reason may be, trust in your own instincts if its calling for you to make travel a bigger part of your life.
And this no doubt can be scary and exciting at the same time. Taking time out from your daily demands and current work arrangements to give something back to yourself may help you determine which direction to take next. And for you, this may mean moving to a new city or better yet, a new country.
In any case, I have found that travel is an essential ingredient to keeping life interesting and entertaining. It’s not about just traveling in your 20s and then coaching yourself to settle down and take on life as an “adult”. And for this reason, I want travel to remain a part of who I am. I want to find ways to integrate travel into my personal life and also my work too. Travel injects me with enthusiasm, perspective and an appreciation for interior design around the world. I not only learn what makes my home important to me, but discover what it means for others too.
What next steps will you take to integrate more travel into your work/life?