Synchronicities Everywhere, Or Many Bangs to My Head

I keep thinking, like a mantra, "Our Mountain Scene Jewelry story is so good, someone's gotta love it." But, these thoughts have been tinged lately with anxiety and futility - caused by my not doing much about it, of course.

So...

Synchronicity #1
Then, I started reading Andrea Learned's "Learned on Women" and found a post on marketing with stories (posted on May 22) and commented there. She replied to me:

"After a recent storytelling webinar I presented, a woman emailed me to tell me the story of this very cool company founded by a guy who was really good at presenting the tale of his "brand" and the people who interacted with it. Needless to say, I went straight to his site and bought something. Two weeks later, I went back and bought something for my brother to share the fun story with him."

Synchronicity #2
Then, my post on the client story that made our eyes juicy, where a sister bought a mountain ring for her brother who is getting ready for a 4th tour in Iraq. The mountains are in Bishop, Ca where they grew up and he calls them "his".

Synchronicity #3
Then, yesterday's post on Doc Searls and "Markets as Conversations".

Now today, I hit the wall again, whining to Sandy, "I can't do this! I have no experience with marketing, business, etc., etc."

Synchronicity #4
Yesterday I realized that LadyK over at her Twisted Thicket blog had commented on our blog and added us to her links. How cool. Reciprocated, for sure. Thanks LadyK!

Synchronicity #5
Then, I started going through her links. You all do that don't you? Anyway, I landed on Luann Udell's blog.

Wow. If you need some inspiration, useful information and to laugh, I mean really laugh about the work you're doing that seems like a stinking waste of time - just click that link! Luann is truly a gem - and we can read all of this for nothing. I really wish I could reciprocate somehow that would be as meaningful.

The cake is here - She wrote a story about stories in November of 2005, that's just exactly what I needed, called "The Ultimate Story". The gist: as someone who gives talks to artists on self-promotion she came to realize that of the 5 W's (who, what, etc.) the "Why?" was the hardest. Clip:

"We all have a story to tell about our art. In fact, our art IS the story. Self-promotion is simply telling this ultimate, unique story about ourselves to others.

It's the process of getting your story about your art out into the world.

Why should we tell that story?

Because it is why people will care about buying our work.

The story is what will create the connection between us and our audience."

And, no one is going to do it for us, even the hired publicists won't do as much as we think, nor will they tell our stories with as much passion as we can ourselves.

OK - time to write the story...

New Link - thanks Doc Searls!

Whoohoo! Ok, trying to be a little calm, but I'm really just trying to get going with the blog thing after fits and starts for a year.

Anyway, I've been reading Doc Searls blog for a while now. He's a senior editor for Linux Journal, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Center where he heads ProjectVRM (Vendor Relationship Management), and co-wrote "The Cluetrain Manifesto" in 1999 with David Weinberger, Christopher Locke and Rick Levine.

For any small business people trying to make it on the web, you will be heartened by Doc's ideas about marketing and the internet. The Manifesto's first 3 theses are:

"Markets are conversations"
"Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors", and
"Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice."

Obviously, I was out of the loop because this was quite the buzz. But I highly recommend checking out all the links above if you haven't before. He had posted on 2 issues that I struggle with often: linking (or not) and relationships between vendors and clients that both really resonated with me. I left a long comment, a post from this blog actually, and Doc posted and commented back on his blog on June 11.

One thought has guided all my web design: to make it very clear that Sandy and I are just 2 people, working out of our home and that Sandy is a talented jeweler. Well, 2 thoughts, but, figuring out how to show this, both in design and tone has been a real challenge that keeps paying off. Here's the post to read in full, but the gist is that I've not utilized linking, yet we are making our living through web sales. People dream, use their search skills and find us - and then the stories, or conversations begin...

New Client Story Made Our Eyes Juicy

Ricki Hughlett bought a Bishop, CA mountains ring from us in May of 2006. She just sent Sandy an email and gave us permission to put her and her brother's story on our website.

“Hi Sandy,
I finally got to give the ring of the Bishop skyline to my brother. He was in Iraq when you made it for me a year ago. Well long story short is he is home at least for now. I wish I could have been there when he opened it. But he is in Texas now and won't be moving back to California. He loves it. His wife asked what mountains and he simply replied those are my mountains. We grew up seeing them everyday. I knew he would like it. So I would like to say Thank You for giving me a way to give a little part of home to him, and next year I will be getting a piece for my sister. I just wish I could truly convey how much it means with simple words. Got to go,take care. I'll be in touch. Ricki

By all means you have my permission [to use these emails]. I will try to get him to send a letter too. But time may run out as he is maybe being re-deployed to Iraq for a 4th time. Actually it is my younger brother. 20 year retirement is looming about 1 1/2 years away, just not soon enough.
Thank you again,
Ricki”

What gratifying jobs Sandy and I have!
Big thanks to Ricki and her brother from both of us.

Incredible Jewelry Resource

This morning I found an incredible resource for info on many aspects of jewelry creation and buying, including...

- Guides to gemstones and metals
- Various histories of jewelry art
- Production: from mining gems to lists of mines to blood diamonds to cutting gems
- Markets
- Jewelry Design
- Gemology and Geology
- Lists of designers by area
- Onsite galleries

Here's the link: Diamonds, Gemstones - Contemporary Jewelry Information

ENJOY!

Vacation to Arizona Ignites Creativity

Sandy and I finally took a 2 week vacation for the first time in years!

We went south through Nevada to Arizona and visited many hot art spots, like, Jerome, Phoenix, Sedona and Scottsdale. Seeing many different types of art and different media in different towns was not only educational, but inspirational. Those of us who own our own businesses often forget to stop working and not only relax, but learn from other artists. Being in nature, seeing mountains that look so different from our huge vertical peaks was what got Sandy really going...


We'd had a custom order for an Arizona pendant right before the trip. What an amazing piece! It took a lot of thought to get all the elements arranged in a way that matched the client's vision. The pendant is sterling silver with copper pots and a 14kt yellow gold crescent moon and measures about 1 1/2" in circumference.






So now, since we've been back, Sandy's created 2 new Arizona pieces - a man's ring and a pendant. Haven't photographed the pendant yet, but will post a pic soon.