Wow it’s hard to believe the month of May is almost past. I’ve been back from my 12 day Hiatus for just over a week now. I highly recommend it to everyone running a small business. I learned quite a bit about myself, my business and the life I want and need. My husband complained that I was working harder during those 12 days than I did for the last 6 months. I was working at my kitchen table (those chairs are extremely hard by the way!) , working on my business. Getting caught up, attending conferences, doing online training and general administration. I enjoyed the majority of it. Here’s what I learned during this time:

I learned that nobody is going to die if I don’t return an email, immediately after I receive it.

I learned that I can’t rely on technology to do what it is supposed to do when it is supposed to do it.

I learned that I don’t have to pick up the phone on the first ring every time. Let it go to voice mail.

I learned that having a break (and leaving the office) for lunch improves my mood and my production level.

I learned that I love learning new things. Especially in an online video format.

I learned not to leave your books for 6 months at a time! A little bit everyday is much better and less overwhelming. I also leaned that having a bookkeeper working 3 feet away from you is a blessing.

I learned that taking an afternoon off once in a while to pick up my kids from the bus is very rewarding for all of us.

I learned I need to ask for help and not feel guilty about it.

But most of all I learned that I love my business and want to see it grow. I love my clients and I love seeing them happy with their final product.

I will be making some subtle changes over the next month or so to my business, most you won’t even notice, but I will. Thank you to all my clients for your patience while I was “away”

Have you taken a break from your business? did it help or hinder you? Did you learn anything from it?

New logo/label for Heather’s Pies & Sweets! Heather’s Pie will be debuting at the Paisley Farmer’s Market this Saturday.

My Ideal Day

I am in the middle of reading a book (surprise, surprise) about becoming wealthy, specifically a wealthy freelancer. The wealthy freelancer is not about gauging your customers and working till you drop dead to give your children a great inheritance. It’s also not a myth as most freelancers, parents & in laws seem to believe. It’s about taking control of your working habits, and changing how you prioritize, to have the clients, income & lifestyle you want and deserve.

In the first chapters of the wealthy freelancer the authors, Steve, Pete & Ed (I feel like we are on first name basis from listening to the audios, reading the books,watching them on YouTube and seeing their tweets on twitter) suggest I write down my ideal day. Apparently this will give me a good idea as to where my priorities are and what future goals I should put in place.

Goal setting is one of the 12 secrets to achieving wealth in finances as well as lifestyle the book says. I see goal setting as more of a resolution I made at new years I have no intention of keeping. So I thought. Fine. I will work through these exercises and see what happens… The first one: “write down your ideal day”. Now I know what you are thinking. A lazy day in the sun by the pool, masseuse on one side, cute cabana boy on the other, serving tequilla induced girly drinks with pretty umbrellas all day long. Well, they tell me I’m not supposed to write that down. I’m supposed to write down an actual “reality” driven day. So here goes.. here is my Ideal day.

Reality sets in about 5:30 am with my husband getting up to head to work in my house so let’s just adjust that a bit. 6:30 am…. nope, 7:30… 8:30….9:30 . Ahhh there we are 10:30 am. This is the perfect time of the day for me to wake up. I’m a night hawk and you will see why by the end of my day the necessity of getting up at 10:30 am.I’m also a sleeper. I need min of 8 hrs sleep to function.

I once had a design professor that said no true creative person gets up before it’s legal to have a gin & tonic for breakfast. Hence design class did not start until 11am for the 2 years I was in college. And there lyin the habit forming practice.and the fact that I think I had a vampire for a room mate.

10:30 awake & Yoga for an hour or so, shower – 20-25 minutes of pure 120 degree hot water bliss. (reality = 4.5 minutes with a 3 yr old trying to shave my legs for me) on to a hot green tea with a fruit plate & yogurt for breakfast at my kitchen table reading a book for 20-30 minutes or so… reality: 8:30 am Cold tea, leftover congealed cheese whiz on cold burnt toast my son insisted he had for breakfast but didn’t eat. #1 one son late for bus, #2 son on his second set of clothes for the day cause he tried to give the cat a shave in the shower too. so Ok. get dressed (without having to look through 6 baskets of clean unfolded laundry for a pair of semi matching socks) do my hair in peace and quiet and out the door to work at my state of the art office stacked with imacs, ipads and 26″ monitors with 6 employees who unlike me haven’t set goals and have been there since the crack of dawn.

For the next hour or two I would organize my day make sure everyone had things to do, call a few clients, write a blog post, return some emails and just make sure everything is running along tickety boo.

Around 2 ish I would have lunch with a friend or colleague or star client. or maybe just by myself down by the river with a good book. Realty is a half eaten bagel leftover from yesterday or greasy take out from Marty’s bar & grill across the street or nothing at all. It’s pretty bad when I don’t even have to say who’s calling or what I actually want when I call over there.. they know. And it will be ready in 10 minutes. And if they are really feeling sorry for me they will walk it across the street too.

So a relaxed lunch thoroughly enjoyed, back to the office to work on my star client stuff that I enjoy and have kept for myself, put out minor fires that me, being the linchpin of this company can only solve and meet with my team to brainstorm or see what their needs are from me.

3:15… pick up the kids from school or meet them from the bus, take them home, or to an extracurricular activity (anything but hockey), go shopping or do some running around with them. Reality… walking across the road nearly getting hit by my son’s school bus to get my 3 o’clock chocolate & tea fix. Kids are on their way to the sitters where they will safely stay out of my way for the next 2 hrs.

4:30 husband calls: I’m on my way home. I’ll start supper. Don’t forget to pick up the kids! “Ok honey I’ll start shutting things down right now” 5 pm. working…. 5:15… working…5:30 husband calls: Dinner is ready in 5 minutes, have you picked up the kids yet? OH CRAP> I forgot to stop working at 5 and pick up the kids. “I’m locking up right now honey”

Dinner at my house is a family event. Nobody misses dinner at the kitchen table unless you are deathly ill or you have made other commitments that occur during that time. So the real reality is I wouldn’t change this part or the next 2-3 hrs in fact. dinner, dishes, homework, playtime, stories, bed time routine and kids all tucked in with multiple hugs and kisses, trips to the potty, glasses of water and snuggles with critters of various sizes, shapes, breeds and colours by 8:30 pm.

That’s when things get serious. A twitter friend/follower/fan and illustration expert von glitchca (“Vonster”) refers to this time as going into “mole mode” so I go Mole: this is when I do my best work. This is when the ideas flow and things just magically happen. I love this time of day. This I wouldn’t change it either. This in reality only lasts till about 10 pm cause in real life I have to be up and functioning by 7 am. My ideal day would actually end about midnight or 1 am. Then I would take myself to bed and read for another hour or two. Hence the getting up at 10:30 am.

Now you are probably thinking this sounds like an awful long day with quite a bit of work in it. but really I only “worked” for about 4-5 hrs. and mostly after 8:30 pm. This would be my Monday to Thursday routine. Fridays would be a couples day ( Husband doesn’t work on Fridays, kids in school). Saturdays & Sundays Family only time.

After writing out my ideal day I realize that family time is important to me but not the focus of my life. My work is just as important.

One goal I haven’t ever been able to accomplish is eating regular healthy meals so perhaps this is a goal I need to set for myself. Don’t get me wrong I do eat healthy food. I love healthy food. (grilled chicken on spinach flat bread with avocado & sprouts being my fav) I just don’t enjoy the preparation of it. Did you notice… simple breakfast, restaurant lunch, husband makes dinner… I think that is great reality.

Other things I noticed I didn’t incorporate into my ideal day was housework… so I guess that means when I am a wealthy freelancer I will also have a maid! I need to start working on those goals quick the laundry is piling up!!!

And I. Every once in a while we need to take the time to invest into ourselves & our businesses. We need to take the time to learn new things, get caught up in what our competitors, colleagues and clients are doing. Spend time working on our businesses instead of in it.

I am a firm believer in continuing education. My first career choice would have been “Student” if I could.
I am also a firm believer in doing my best to keep up with trends, business goals and making things simple and less costly for my clients.

This past quarter has been one of my most productive & fullest yet. Thank you to all of my current & past clients that have got me to this point. And all of you who consistently refer me to your clients and colleagues. Celebrating my fourth year in business (March 26th) was a huge milestone for me.

Key Lime Creative has grown and even made a minuscule profit in the last four years. And to continue to do so I need to make some business changes and “go back to school”

So… from May 1-12th I will not be taking on any new client work, I will not be answering the phone or replying to e-mail. (extreme emergencies excepted) I will be investing in YOU. and I.  I will be in online training courses, out of town conferences & work shops, meeting with suppliers and working on my business to make it better for you.

I have a half a million ideas for your business (and mine) to make it better & more profitable. And probably will have a half a million more once I am done training. I will be calling on you to answer some questions for me to make my business better for you. Up until now I really have been flying by the seat of my pants. I know I need to make changes and I want them to be for the better.

If you currently have a project in progress with KLC, It will be done before the first of May, pending approvals & print schedules. I will not be starting any new jobs between April 23 & May 12th, and any rush jobs that come in between April 23rd & May 1st will be subject to a 15% rush fee.

I appreciate your patience and support during this time.

So here’s to Investing in YOU!! and I!

Jennifer

PS. and just to help you out a little …. Printing of 4×6 or 5×7 post cards will be 40% off until the 23rd! Here is a link to the current costs. http://keylimecreative.ca/tips/KLC_PRC_tipsheet2.pdf ***(delivery time is 7-10 days after approval, only on orders of 1000 or more, design not included)

Recently there has been a surge in “free” logo websites and articles pointing people to “free” logo design websites. This irks me to no end, not because this is my business, but because I know it will do more harm than good. So I ‘m going to tell you why I think getting a free logo sucks:

1. You are not supporting your local designers. By supporting this type of design you are cheapening the art, the research & the creative/intellectual process of logo design & brand identity and the experience the designer will bring to the table.

2. Your business is unique, most likely original and deserves to have a unique and personal logo/brand

3. It will end up costing you valuable time & money that I know you do not have as a start up.

4.You will not be able to give the people who need it (printers, newspapers, organizations) the proper files when needed. Therefore costing you time, effort and usually extra fees to get it right.

5. 25, 000 other companies might have downloaded the same “free” logo and this might get you into copyrighting hot water later on. The effort to get something-for-nothing turns out to be very costly because it requires a COMPLETE overhaul of your brand identity and ALL of its marketing materials when you realize that someone else has used the same image / clip art.

6. It will look very generic and will not be customized to fit the look and feel of your company culture and brand.

7. Because you wouldn’t download a free Will from an unknown source or trust a plumber to do your electrical work would you? Or even expect them to do it for free?

Give the Brand of your company a healthy start by letting a designer, design your brand it will be very worth it in the end! Hire a graphic designer who specializes in identity design. It’s worth the expense and is also a legitimate write-off on your business taxes. To see how the design process works and to understand the worth of your logo here is a post I wrote a while back .

The Google Street view vehicle passed through Paisley last summer giving viewers a really good picture of what Paisley looks like. Here is my office store front.If you are a visual person like me this is a blessing!

Google has some pretty amazing tools for entrepreneurs like this one as well as Google Calendar, Google Alerts, Google Locator and Google Keywords. I use many of these tools on a daily basis to make my workflow much easier. Which ones do you use? why do you love them?
View Larger Map

As Dave Fleet put it  “hanging out with 900 friends” this past weekend  at PodCamp Toronto was a great experience. It was a great experience because:

1. I got to see some amazing presentations by some of the best in the industry.

2. I got to go with a friend & colleague who introduced me to many new people & ideas.

3. I got to meet some “friends” from social networks in person and realize that we can really be friends outside of twitter, facebook & other networks.

4. I got to network with over 900 people and not feel intimidated by names, brands or knowledge.

There was something there for everyone whether you were a newbie or an “Expert”

One of my favorite sessions was about Pie Charts. Sound Boring? nope. It wasn’t and I think it had a lot to do with the presenter Zoe Siskos. She was able to combine a deathly boring subject (to some) with a great sense of humour and a new approach to visualizing and creating pie charts. For a Graphic Designer this was especially refreshing. Never again will I design a pie chart in the shape of a pie.

There was even something there for the “mummy” in me. One of the sessions was a panel discussion with Erich Ehm about communities for women. Her website is one of my favorite mummy communities “The Yummy Mummy Club” which started from the need to vent about the very real, very difficult career of being a mom.

There is much to be said about these types of events I have never come home and said “that was a waste of time” Here is what a few local friends have said about the weekend:

Andrea Stenberg at The Baby Boomer Entrepreneur wrote a great post about making the most of going to an event like this.

Ryan Wiseman from “Take on the Web”  who was also a speaker at #pcto2010 (that’s twitter talk for PodCamp Toronto 2010) posted a video blog about the weekend here.

It truly was a fabulous weekend. Thank you to the many organizers, volunteers and speakers for making it so worth while. See you in 2011!

Just finished up designing my new business cards in preparation for PodCamp Toronto next weekend. I wanted a simple card that would really point people to my website quickly. Ryan at takeontheweb.com suggested I use a QR (quick response) code on my business card. I had a vague idea of what they were because I had seen them recently in a magazine I receive.

A QR code is like a bar code/UPC code. Using your cell phone, you can take a picture of it and it would either 1. take you to a website, 2. start dialing a phone # or 3. send you a text with the information on it. I created my QR code at this site: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ You need an app for your phone for it to be able to work.

This article better explains the technical & historical side of it

So when you see my business card next you will see this little code on it. Oh, and hey look at that… there is one on my Hydro One bill too!

Heres a sneek peek at my new business card as well:

Key Lime Creative
Are you attending one of the many Home Shows in the next few months? If you are take advantage of these packages to get your handouts properly branded for the show. These packages will only be available until May 15th!

Pre/Post show Direct Mail campaign
Includes:
Design of 3 4×6* Post Cards:
1 designed, printed & mailed, 1 week prior to show with value added coupon
1 designed, printed for show with value added coupon
1 designed, printed & mailed, 1 week post show with customer appreciation coupon
Design Rate: $499
Print Cost & Mail cost to be determined by the pieces ordered, sizes and mailing qty’s.
*larger sized post cards are available for additional rates

HomeShow Information Package:
Design 9×12” pocket folder with 1 die cut for Business cards
Design of 3, 8.5×11” Single sided sell sheets
Plus:
Design of double sided Business cards or Magnet or Sticker FREE!

Design Rate: $699
Print Cost per 1000: $1699.99 includes 1000 4/4 business cards Free!
*Magnets and Stickers are additional

Homeshow Brochure Design
8.5×11” Tri folded Brochure Design
Includes: 3 stock photographs
Design rate: $275
Print cost (per 1000): $379

Combine any 2 of these design packages and receive 15% off design rates

***Fees and rates do not include shipping & taxes.
All logos, images and copy must be provided in high resolution digital format.
Any additional graphic design fees will be billed at a rate of $60 per hour.

KLC is now offering Custom designed Twitter, YouTube & Facebook Fan page backgrounds.  I know you are asking yourself, “Why would I want that? or Why would I need that?”  Standing out in a crowd is what it’s all about, you have a visual brand in the form of a logo, your CMS website is nicely designed, your store signage and business card are designed… your business social media profiles on Twitter, Facbook & Youtube should be too! It maybe the first place someone “talks” to you and Branding is all about making a great first impression.

So to celebrate adding this service to my laundry list of offerings, I have designed some relatively generic backgrounds I am going to give away free.  I aim to do this once or twice a month.  But if you see something you like and want to have it customized just for you and your business, don’t hesitate to ask!And of course I would love to design something for you to match all of your other Branding you have in place, and if you have nothing… I can help you with that too!

Enjoy! (click image to download)