On Creativity and Time Management
I’ve realized lately that I am an absolutely terrible multi-tasker. Sure, I am capable of doing a lot of things: I can play the piano, I can sing, I can write music – I can cook, I can make a mean drink (I can even make two at one time!), I can design graphics, I can make and sell jewelry, I can organize and execute events, and I can even come up with some really fantastic business ideas sometimes…but I am pretty much the worst at keeping up with everything simultaneously, and managing my time accordingly. I’m also great at sitting outside and staring into space for extended periods of time. In fact, I might be better at that than at anything else.
When I was growing up, I was very self-conscious about the way I spoke. I had a tendency to speak so quickly that either people couldn’t understand what I said, or I would get so far ahead of myself that I would stumble through the last few words of each phrase. The speeches I was required to give in front of my high school class were some of the most terrifying experiences of my life, and sometimes even today, when I’m on stage, behind a piano and a microphone, I still hesitate to talk to my listeners between songs out of fear I will sound far more nervous or drunk than I am. I finally grew tired of being anxious about it and decided to tell myself that it wasn’t because I was poor at speaking, but rather because I was too quick at thinking that my words sometimes got jumbled. “My mouth just can’t keep up with my brain,” I would say…at least it made me feel better.
I think that my multi-tasking ability is very similar. I get so caught up in and excited by each of my many goals and desires, that I end up neglecting one for pursuit of another, and stumbling over all of the tiny steps that are necessary to make each endeavor simultaneously successful in the process. My jewelry business is no exception. I started designing and making jewelry when I first moved to Charlotte in 2013, and either out of a desire to occupy my time or in the hope of potentially generating additional income, I began playing with chain and charms and beads. I made a matching necklace for my best friend and I, and enthusiastically posted photos of them on Facebook to share my excitement about the finished result. To my great surprise, I received several comments asking if they were for sale, and I inadvertently started my business on Facebook.
Initially, it was nothing more than an expensive hobby, but it ended up turning into something that many people were as excited about as I was, and it earned me a decent amount of income on the side. I introduced my leather beaded wrap bracelets to a boutique just outside of downtown Charlotte, and they have carried an entire wall of my products ever since. They even ran an ad in the Charlotte Observer and sent out a mass e-mail blast about my Carolina Panthers bracelets before the Super Bowl, and blew through more inventory in a two week period than I’ve sold in several months combined.
Speaking of multi-tasking, those few weeks before the Super Bowl were some of the most stressful I’ve experienced in a long time. Making 30 bracelets, suppressing anger toward the USPS for not delivering on their “2 day priority express” promise, calming the boutique owner and assuring her the bracelets WERE on their way, practicing and perfecting my set list for my Main Street Pizza performance, all the while working 5 nights a week and traveling back and forth from Columbus to Macon…I’ll just say that if I never had to do all that again in such a short period of time, I’d be just fine.
You can find my jewelry on Etsy and on Facebook, but my favorite kind of work is custom orders. If you have an idea and can help me visualize it, I want to make it for you. If you know of a place where you would like to be able to go browse through my jewelry, I want to reach out to them and form a partnership. If you know of a way that I can more efficiently manage my time and ideas so that I don’t feel like such a hopeless scatterbrain all the time…please share it with me. I could definitely use some guidance.
