Have you ever heard about that one before? The your “Not-to-do-list”?
In these times, I feel it’s just as important to figure out what you DON’T need to do, as it is to figure out what will keep you moving in the right direction. I’ve seen tons of lists of what I can get done, now we’re all working from home and to be quite frank with you, I HATE it. It’s not that I don’t like checking things off my to-do-list, but I don’t see the point of adding more to your plate than necessary. I don’t get why I, besides working on my business, also need to paint the shed in the garden, read up on the great thinkers of the 18th century or deep clean the whole house. I mean, seriously?
When I decide what to do with my time, I like to keep my priorities straight: My family, daughter, friends, business (and growing my business), learning, resting, being in nature. That’s about it. I don’t see why I would want to add more, just for the sake of being “busy”. Busy is not a badge of honor, it’s a necessity in times of growth or when you’re working on a big dream of yours. It’s not an end goal in itself.
I’ve come to value a simple tactic: Use the path of least resistance.
What do I mean by this?
This means: I’ll not overcomplicate things for myself. (Still learning!). I’ll practice to not overthink (also still learning!). If I can get a job done easily, I will not do it the hard way, just so I can feel more “accomplished”, because work is supposed to feel hard and life’s hard and my floors need to be sparkling clean all the time.
NO!
When creating a “Not-to-do-list”, it’s about freeing yourself from all the pressure we tend to keep on ourself. We don’t need to be doing more, we don’t need to be more productive – we need to do the RIGHT things, so we still move forward. But there’s no reason to make it even harder for ourselves.
When you’re building your own business, you wear all the hats. You need to make the product itself, photograph it, market it, sell it (and maybe do the accounting yourself), order supplies, keep tracking of packing materials, pack and go to the post office to ship it, talk with customers, - you’re the one putting in all the hours and the sweat, blood and tears. It can feel overwhelming and I know the struggle. It’s not that I can take all the work away for you, but I want you to think of areas, where you could make things easier on yourself. Maybe it’s a product that takes a ton of time to make and it’s honestly not brining in that much money in the bank. Maybe it’s something you make, that you find easy to make, so you feel like cheating when it sells so well? Hear me here: Make more! Do it! Do not make work that’s too difficult and that earns to little. Remember the path of least resistance.
Are there other areas where you could make things easier on yourself?
Do you find it difficult to build your own website? You don’t need to learn coding and HTML and all those things (I don’t know how to do it either) – a lot of sites makes it perfectly easy for you to build your own site – see shopify.com or squarespace.com for example!
Your not-to-do-list is not about you just laying around in your pajamas binge watching Netflix all day, it’s about taking those things off your plate that simply stresses you out or take way too long time for you to complete.
This is a permission slip from me to you. Let it go. You hereby have permission to let that thing that do not serve you in any way go.
What is your time worth? Sit with this with me for a moment. What’s your time really worth? Is it priceless? How much is an hour of time with your loved ones worth versus an hour working on your business? Is there a difference?
I want you to really let this one sink in. Is there a difference in the worth of the two above? If there is, it’s now you need to get crystal clear on what you need to work on in your business to build it into the dream you have, and what needs to go. I hope to be a part of this journey with you, and the tools I’ll teach you in my new book will help you do this. (You can find it at the bottom of my front page).
As we grow and learn, it’s easy to let old habits stay the same. “I’ve always done it this way, and it’s working just fine” is not useful anymore. What can you cut back on?
I wish you a wonderful day – you’ve got this!
Xx Caroline
How did you start your business?
As some of you may already know, I started my business as a late-night hobby after I had dropped out of my (second) master’s degree in 2015. Yup, I dropped out twice. I was (and still am) a single mom and back then my daughter was 1 year old. After a couple of months, I started to show my pieces on Instagram and then it slowly grew from there. After I got my first customer, she soon grew into a few more and then a few shops contacted me about having my pieces in their shops on a consignment basis (that means that if they sell a piece, I then get a percentage of the sale and if they do not, I do not get paid). My customers would start to share photos with my pieces in them and people I did not know would also from time to time share some of my photos on their own profile. Back then I decided that I wanted to show up, share and continue to build my small business if the next month was better than the last. I did not have an obvious alternative on how to support me and my daughter, so pretty early on I decided to stick with it, work hard, try to become better and better, learn new skills on the way and build the life I truly wanted. Has it been easy? Hell no! I had no plan B. (Later on, in my journey I tried to make a plan B, but this almost costed me my business and my health and that’s a story for another time.)
All in all – I started my business small, no fancy equipment, no studio other than my dining table and room in a corner in my bedroom for packing supplies ect.
How to start marketing yourself?
Here I would have loved to know what business you are in, but if we for the sake this blog post say you are in a creative field like myself, I would say Instagram, Facebook and a newsletter is the way to start. (I found out about the newsletter waaaaay to “late” and today I really wished someone had told me about that earlier!)
EVERYONE starts with an audience of 0! Everyone you see on Instagram now with a huge following started out with absolutely zero people knowing who they were or following them. Everyone embarrassed themselves (me included and I still do it from time to time), and you have to start somewhere. Put out your content and be consistent about it. Even when your audience only consists of your mom and your cat. Decide for yourself that you will post/write/capture something every single day. (Do not send a newsletter every day – you get the drift, right? 😉 )
Then, when you start to post, try and take a bird’s eye view on your own profile: If you were scrolling and found your own profile, would you like find out more about this business? Are there any calls to action? Is it engaging? Do you evoke any feelings in your audience? If any, what are they? To whom are you speaking or writing? Who is your target audience? Try and nail these down as good as you can and then get clear on what your message is.
How did you get 115K followers?
Slowly over the course of 5 years. I remember after the first year I hit the 6K follower mark and I was ecstatic! (I still am, and I sometimes have to pinch myself that so many people find my content good enough that they want to follow along). Then after three years I hit the 50K mark. The growing has always had more fast-paced periods where there would be maybe a thousand new followers in one week for a month and then it will stand still for a longer or shorter period and then there is a growth spurt again. I have found, that the more consistent I stay with my content and the more I engage with my community, the more my profile grows. I love to connect with people, so this has been quite the ride so far!
How did you find your customers?
In some way I feel that my customers find me – I have never done any paid advertising and I don’t plan to do so at the moment. I believe it has been word of mouth and then Instagram has played a crucial role. I also know that some of my customers first found my work in one of the shops where it’s carried and then they find me online afterwards. I’m so extremely grateful for this and I LOVE the feedback from my wonderful customers!
Do you have a business-related question or anything else you would like to ask me? Comment below or send me a line on Insta and I’ll maybe include it in my next blog post!
Xx Caroline
]]>Then the work begins. The material is formed, mixed, applied, dried and in the end, it goes through the fire.
Out of the fire comes a landscape from another dimension, it’s something recognizable but still eerily different, otherly. It’s the ceramic piece, all these materials have become something unique.
In these platters, made from clay and glazes, I have discovered hidden universes and created pieces of art in the form of art prints.
I hope these will bring tranquility and beauty into your life. It’s the essence of my inner universe, inner vision, that has come to life.
I have decided to name them "Glaze Stories". Maybe you have already seen them and if you have not you can see them all on my website.
So is it just clay?
]]>Does this sound weird? If it does, you are on the right track. If you can see yourself in some of this, please read on. (Also please read on, as we can all use some inspiration, right?)
One of the easiest ways I bring more nutritious, deliciousness into my life is through green juices. You’ve heard of the juice-trend? Like, you need to practically survive drinking only juices for days/weeks on end and it’ll transform your life? Maybe it will! I tried only juicing for a week earlier this year and while it certainly was an experience, I simply wasn’t willing to keep up with it. For me, it’s about balance. I’ve often fallen into the trap of “ALL OR NOTHING!” and it honestly exhausts me. I still carry around too many pounds, but I am WAY happier than I’ve ever been in my life. It’s not all or nothing. Everything makes a difference.
If you are ready to bring something new into your life or you just want some inspiration, here’s my easy reciepe for a juice that won’t break the bank or make you miserable.
You’ll need:
A juicer (mine is about 10+ years old and has no fancy features, but it does the job and remember; done is better than perfect!)
A good handful of kale
An apple
A lemon
Two handfuls of carrots
A bunch of celery
Two beets
I’m so lucky to have a garden where I grow the kale, beets and also the carrots (but they are all used up by now so I’m buying them) and remember that organic produce is always best -BUT – done is better than perfect!
Juice everything, drink it and feel better.
You don’t need to do this every day. Don’t make these rules for yourself you can’t keep and that’ll make you end up disappointed in yourself. Once a week is perfect for starters. When doing groceries, try and pick up the produce you’ll need and store it somewhere you see it, so you remember it. You can also print one of my photos or the whole post and hang on your refrigerator with the text “I’ll feel better and I deserve it” if it could help you. Be gentle with yourself.
Please let me know if you tried this and how it went. Send me a line with a photo! I love to hear from you.
If you have a specific topic you would like me to write about – let me know! You can hit me up at caroline@arnecke.dk
All my love,
Caroline
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As you may already know, my work is hugely inspired by nature. I keep (many!) houseplants in my home and I try to grow many different vegetables and herbs in my garden, adding more each year. Also, when it comes to my personal health and well-being, I use what I believe nature has gifted us with. In this blog post I will share one of my favorite plants that I hope you will find helpful in your own life! (And if you are not already, you may want to start to grow it at home).
Let’s start!
Please let me present: Rosemary!
I have not always loved rosemay, but that changed about a year ago after I just suddenly could not get enough of it. I put it in every meal I can possibly thing of, I use it in my tea, and should I ever decide to try essential oils, rosemay will be one of the first ones I’ll get! (Also I looooove the smell!)
It’s latin name is “Rosmarimus officinalis L” and it’s a pretty common plant. The story goes that it was named after the Virgin Mary, who put her coat on top of a rosemary bush with a white flower on top. During the night the flower turned blue and then the plant became known as “Mary’s rose”.
Rosemary is known for its energizing qualities and it will provide you will clarity of mind and better capabilities of concentrating. It is used for it’s medical qualities and you can use it in many different ways. The most common way of usage is as a herb.
What most people don’t know is that it contains a lot of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds (and we love those, right?). Also some scientific studies suggest that rosemary can be good for your brain. It contains something called “carnosic acid” which can improve brain health and even prevent brain aging.
Also, some studies have shown, that rosemay may promote eye health and that it can help to fight off some kinds of cancer cells! A lot of the rescearch is still in the making as far as I can tell, but I'm a believer.
This is truly astonishing! I whole heartedly believe, that a lot of natural cures can be found in nature but please note that high doses of rosemary can cause miscarriage, so please don’t use it in supplemental form when pregnant! Also, extremely large doses can give you side effect which includes vomiting, spasm and coma. If you are on any medication, I advise to consult a doctor before starting to use additional supplements (like rosemary) as I am by no means a medical advisor. I have often experienced that many people believe that when it’s a plant you are consuming, you can’t really overdose, but this is not true – and it shows how powerful plants can be!
Have you had any experience using rosemary yourself? Did you find this helpful? Please let me know in the comments!
Much (plant)love, Caroline
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