Cha-cha-changes!

There's always room for improvement in any business, and this one is no exception. I'm addicted to lovely, beautiful organization, but ironically haven't ever really had the time to implement it. Things happen so fast around here that Mom and I are always throwing together a system that works in the moment, but might not be the best for the long term.

So it's finally time to slow down a bit and uncomplicate my life a little bit. That's the focus word I have finally chosen for 2013. What does it mean to me? Well, it means I have to stop pretending I'm some super human being who can do more than I say I can. I've had to make some hard choices in the last few weeks about postponing some big events in my life so that the quality will be the best it can be instead of me just rushing through it to hit a deadline. Making those choices was emotionally very difficult, but now that I'm on the other side of the decision, I see blue skies, sunshine, and the opportunity to build an even better and stronger business with stronger designs, more internal organization and structure, and a less frantic Jill.

Two of those changes are going to be happening in the next few months and I'm so excited (and a little terrified.) On Tuesday, Mom and I are going to start pulling every last little thing out of our infamous Bead Room so that we can sort, purge, catagorize, organize, and put it back in. Seriously - do you have any idea how much time I spend looking for stuff? It's STOOPID how much time I waste doing that! But when you keep bringing new things in the room and a specific place never gets established for it, well, you're asking for this kind of chaos. Yes, there will be plenty of photos to share as we go through it. I'm hoping the whole process won't take more than a week.

The other big thing I did today was hire a website designer. As you know, Mom has been my magnificent webmaster all these years, and she will continue to be the main worker bee behind it. But we want to add all sorts of products to the site (3 & 4mm crystals, chatons, rose montees, more kumihimo stuff....) and we really need a better shopping cart system to do it. A whole site revamp is due too. And I don't want Mom to spend any more long hours than she already does slaving away for me on all that! So if all goes according to plan, I should have it all ready to go by mid to late May. So excited! More on that as it progresses too....

And of course, there's more Beadwork Designer of the Year stuff to design....more work on the second book to be done....more teaching projects to be worked up... But in the midst of it all, Mom and I will be taking a vacation!  A cruise is in our immediate future, along with excursions to swim with the dolphins, play with the monkeys, and take an airboat ride! 

So hang around...it's gonna be a really cool Spring season around here!