Sharing Scher :: Finding A Creative Outlet

 It's not everyday we get to meet our hero. But, last week, Jen, our junior designer (pictured left), got to attend a presentation and meet one of hers! Here is a recap of her experience:

This past week I had the distinct pleasure of meeting one of my design heroes–Paula Scher. Now, I'm certain that most of you are probably unfamiliar with the name “Paula Scher”. However, if I were to name… Truvia, Bausch and Lomb, Target, Swatch, Tiffany and Co, or Citi Bank; surely some images would come to mind. Well, Scher is responsible for those brand images! That’s why I'm proud to admit that I’ve been stalking her since I was a lowly graphic design student. That being said, you can see why I was so excited to meet her. (For a second time I might add. But that’s a whole other story.)

During her presentation, Paula let us in on a little secret. She had become bored with design. BORED?! Often times I find myself frustrated with the same problem. However, until recently I honestly thought it was just a lack of my own creativity and that it made me a mediocre designer. Paula shared with us that her personal solution to this common obstacle was to find an outlet. Her outlet is painting. Why is an outlet so important? We all need time to re-charge the juices that make us best at what we do.

So what’s my creative outlet? Well, my outlet is actually not so creative. I use my free time to let my brain soak up the subconscious inspiration. I love to just be with my friends and socialize. One of my favorite things to do is “Play House.” Nothing makes me happier than to have guests over for a nice home-cooked meal or even just to be a hostess and have people in my home.  Kim (my boss for those of you who don’t know her) has a creative outlet too. She is part of an adult modern dance company–Equinox Dance. And dances and performs for several hours each weekend.

So what's your creative outlet? I'm sure you have one. It can be anything. It doesn't have to be creative. It's just something that is yours, that makes you feel relaxed and happy. Something no one can judge because it's for no one to judge. It is the key on your chain that “unlocks something inside and lets the intuitive unconscious side of you do its work”. –Paula Scher

911…Emergency Business Plan

So, last week I was hit with a very scary family disaster. Jimmy, my husband and avid motocross* rider, was in an accident at the track. He ended up getting rushed to shock trauma (in Baltimore, MD, almost an hour away) with a partial collapsed lung, lacerated liver and internal bleeding. Needless to say, as a wife, I was terrified out of my mind. And, after the first 24 hours of shock, various ER treatments (including a chest tube...um, yea), and with reassurance from both doctors and Jimmy, my mind turned to my business. As a microbusiness owner, I went into "Business Disaster" panic mode.

How was I going to get work completed (mind you, the week was jammed packed with multiple LARGE deadlines)? How was I going to communicate with clients? How would I mentor my brand-spankin new employee (who was originally scheduled to start working the Monday of our ER visit)? How could I balance being with my husband during recovery while still maintaining some sort of business presence? How was I going to "kill" my husband (after he recovered, of course) for crashing his stupid dirtbike…again. But, I digress.

Luckily, Jimmy recovered much faster than the doctors originally anticipated and his shock trauma stay only lasted about 3 days. And luckily I have some wonderful clients who were more than understanding. Plus, I had a few other things that helped out during this crisis:

The Kalico Makeshift Disaster Plan
1. iphone. Ironically, we had only gotten our iphones a week prior to "the incident". I definitely learned how to use that sucker quickly. I was able to group text jimmy's status updates to family and friends while emailing and responding to clients. Not to mention, the one and only night I didn't stay at the hospital, I was reassured with a few face chats with Jim as well.

2. G-RAID mini. Again, I had only just set up my new G-RAID portable mini backup drive a week or two prior. Boy, was I glad I had taken the recommendation from another designer/programmer friend! Just a simple unhook of a firewire cable and I had all my work with me. I was able to set-up a small makeshift office for two days: laptop, G-RAID and me!

3. Responsible Employee. Yet again, the timing seemed uncanny. As I mentioned, my new (and very first) employee started the week we were at the hospital. I was fortunate that my new hire, who had interned with me the previous summer, was already familiar with some of Kalico's clients. She was (and still is) also responsible, trustworthy, and someone I could rely on to work from home for a few hours per day until things got back to a normal schedule. How's that for a job crash course!

4. Support System. While I knew Jimmy and I had a wonderful personal support system (both coming from close families and a tight network of friends), I was also reminded of what an amazing business support system and network I have as well. Clients were understanding of late deadlines, and actually asking how they could help me! Colleagues from one of my organizations took care of my responsibilities, cards came from business contacts, and I even had another design firm offer to help with a job or two if needed! It was humbling and reassuring to know so many people were in my corner! I am one damn lucky business owner!

So, to conclude:
1. I'm am SO glad this incident is over and my husband is on the mend for a quick recovery.
2. As a graphic design business owner, invest in an iphone (or comparable smart phone) as well as a good, portable backup drive.
3. Work hard to surround yourself with other talented, supportive and caring business contacts—be it employees or fellow entreprenuers.
4. Don't let your husbands ride dirtbikes (I'm kidding...or am I?)

**To learn more about motocross, check out this article featuring my husband in the Spring Issue of Find It Frederick magazine!

Multitasking, Schmultitasking: Improving Your Productivity

I recently sat in on a teleforum by Design Coach On Call discussing how creative professionals can improve their productivity. Holla! As a micro-business owner who balances just about every part of running her business, I can say first hand that it can be overwhelming at times! I'm constantly looking for better ways to discipline myself to be more productive. Pam Bryan, the forum facilitator, had some great tips and advice. Here are my favorites, all of which I hope to start implementing within the next few weeks (seriously, can someone hold me to this?)

1. Multitasking is Worse Than a Lie: To sum it up, multitasking, or more appropriately called "switch-tasking" just isn't productive. Switching from one task to the next, back and forth, and so on can cause you to loose up to 28% of your time. So, try to discipline yourself to make changes in your work day that will deter you from switch-tasking as much as possible.

2. Gather Your Gathering Places: A "Gathering Place" is any place where unprocessed work items go. This can include your desk, your briefcase, your office, even your car…any and every place where you might do work. The key is to consolidate all gathering places so that you only have one physical "inbox". Then, set a time each week or day to sort through this inbox, usually 30-60 minutes. Obviously, sort through the more pressing items first…this way you won't be stressing about them throughout the day, so you're able to focus on other tasks throughout the day.

3. Conquer Your Digital Space: These days, your digital space can be a real time sucker throughout the day! Digital Space includes your email, social media accounts, voicemails, etc. Similar to your "Gathering Places", try to consolidate your digital space as well. For instance, direct all your emails (personal and business) to one account. You'll still have the separate accounts, but you'll only have to check one master email account, thus saving you time logging on and sorting through various accounts. In addition, Pam recommends turning off your email alarms and setting yourself a schedule. Check your email 2-3 days per day, answering all inquiries during your set timeframe. Use this time to check your social media accounts like facebook and twitter as well.

OK, so these are a few of the changes I'll be making here at Kalico World Headquarters in order to increase my productivity throughout the day. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. What changes would you like to make? Let me know!

Save Your Eyeballs!

So, lately I've been designing like a mad-woman, trying to stay on several deadlines for the myriad of end-of-the-year projects. This heavy workload is great for business, but bad on my eyes! I've been experiencing terrible eye strain, followed by headaches and more headaches. It's not like I can just take off a few days to recover, so I started researching other ways to help relieve the eye strain. Here's two of them:

1. Take a Time Out (literally)
Another graphic designer recently introduced me to Dejal Time Out, a program specifically designed to gently remind (or force) you to take time outs throughout the day. Time Out has two kinds of breaks: a "Normal" break, typically for 10 minutes every hour, so you can move about and relax, plus a "Micro" break: a very brief 15-second every 10 minutes, so you can remember not to tense up too much for long periods. You can disable either kind of break if desired, and the breaks are automatically paused when you go away from your computer, and can be reset when you come back.

Now, I'll admit it, the 10 minute breaks are too long for me to take right now, so i just skip over them. But the micro breaks (while sometimes annoying when they arrive right when I'm in the middle of something) are actually really helpful. Just taking those few seconds to shut my eyes, take a few deep breaths and then continue on has decreased my eye strain problems immensely! By the way, did I mention this program is FREE! Go, download it now, your eyeballs will thank you!

2. Have a Cup of Tea (no, really!)
The second eye strain tip came from a life coach I recently had the pleasure of meeting and it involves, well, having a cup of tea. A chamomile tea compress will help reduce eye swelling, and it will also help you relax while you have tea bags on your eyelids or drink chamomile tea to your health. Get the full directions here!


Do you have other suggestions for combating eye strain? I'd love to hear them!

PS-Special thanks to Jessica Menk for introducing me to Time Out and to Jeanette Eleff for the Chamomile tea compress article!

Combating the Burn-Out Crisis

This past winter was rough, and not just because of the abnormally large amounts of snowfall we had here (Maryland)! Work has been crazy busy, personal life has been crazy busy, family life...yep, you guessed it, crazy busy, and so on. I'm sure you can relate. I feel like I have been going nonstop for the past 3 months (or more), and I'm coming close to my breaking point.

As a self-employed business owner, this is scary and overwhelming. Don't get me wrong, I am ecstatic Kalico has been so busy, and I continue to enjoy what I do. In addition, I also love the extracurricular activities I'm involved with, and I enjoy serving as a director on multiple Boards. On top of it all, I do try to manage a normal life, spending time with my husband working on our house, or visiting with family and friends. But sometimes it just all gets to be too much! I'm the first to admit it—I am reaching my "Burn-Out" point, and I'm not entirely sure what to do.

As I talk with more and more people, I've discovered I am not the only one feeling this same way. This winter really took it's toll on businesses as well as individuals. So, I decided focus on ways to overcome this Burn Out mentality. OK, maybe I haven't done all of these things yet, but just writing them down will help motivate me to make some changes, which will hopefully bring me back to my normal self! Here goes:

1. Always take a lunch break! (Not at your desk)

2. Get plenty of rest and sleep.

3. Get outside (especially now that the weather is nice). That fresh air can REALLY make a difference!

4. Listen to relaxing music while working. Lately I've been switching up what I listen to, and it has really helped keep my mind fresh.

5. Set a cut-off time...sure, we all need to work late now and again. But, you get to a certain point when you just aren't productive anymore. Figure out when your stopping point is, then come back to your task in the morning. You'll be likely to get more accomplished.

6. Exercise. If work permits, take a walk during the day (I am going to try to take the dog on daytime walks), get up and walk around the office a bit, do some light stretching. Anything that gets you moving for a bit.

7. Breathe. Sometimes just taking a few minutes (away from your computer, or your current task), to do some deep breathing exercises can really have a calming effect. Plus, it gives your mind a small break to just be and relax.

8. Break your tasks down into smaller, more direct steps. I recently started using a task management software program called things. It allows me to break down each of my tasks into smaller, more manageable steps. I check off each of these steps when I'm done then move onto the next one. It really helps to break down those big To-Do Items into less daunting tasks. Plus, it looks like you've accomplished more at the end of the day!

These are just a few of the things I pledge to try, and hopefully these little changes will help get me back on track! Any additional suggestions are greatly appreciated! How do you cope with burn-out?