Focus Five - The 5 Things That Describe Your Business

Find your focus, change the game

You and your business NEED focus in order to be able to help guide your day-to-day decisions and give you clarity. Narrowing down what you want your business to be will help you focus your efforts.

Let's get your message and your focus super clear.

Here are some things to think about when doing this exercise to help narrow in on the focus areas of your business:

• What do you want your business to say?

• What do you want portrayed?

• Why are you doing this business?

• What do you want to get out of it?

• What do you want to give to your following?

• What is important to you?

• Why is it important to you?

• Do you have a message you want to send? Or something you want to bring awareness to?

• Is there something you want to show your support of? Or speak out against?

• Are you trying to make money?

• If you could tell your followers just one thing, what would you tell them? What if you could tell them 5 things?

• Why do you do what you do?

Little Reminders:

• Limit it to about 5 things, so you can give those 5 things the time, attention, and focus they deserve. Fewer is also fine, but aim for 5.

• This is YOUR platform, this is YOUR business. YOU get to choose what it is, and what it isn’t!

• The truer and more honest you are to yourself, the more you will attract the audience of your dreams and have a greater impact on them. The things that make you and your business uniquely you will be the thing that draws in your people. Let your vibe attract your tribe. Be authentic.

• It doesn’t have to be set in stone! Done is better than perfect. You can ALWAYS change your 5 things as your business changes.

• Some of your areas of focus will present themselves to you easily, and some may come after a rearranging of priorities, or after you do the 5 year-to-1 year exercise. Pause and re-evaluate every quarter or at least yearly.

• Tape it up somewhere. It is good to be reminded often where your priorities lie, DAILY! Or better yet, write them daily. You can even make a digital image and turn it into your home screen on your phone, iPad or laptop.

Here is an example of my Focus 5:
Wood Burn Corner

1. Teaching

2. Collaboration with Artists and Companies

3. Building Community & Supporting Other Makers

4. Giving Back

5. Creating and Sharing Beautiful Art

All of the decisions you make, all of the pieces you make, all of the posts you write, all the things you do when it comes to your business should involve one or more of these categories.

This will help give you and your business consistency across the board and will help give you a framework to work around.

Pausing to take the time to figure out what you are about in the big picture will ensure your business is exactly what you want it to be.

Make it clear for you, and clear for your audience.

Exercise: Write your Focus Five. Take your time, but don't fret about it, because you can always adjust it.

---

Why you need to start an email list today!

If Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook were to disappear tomorrow, would your business survive? With these platforms, they decide what your audience sees, or if they see it at all. Do you have a way of getting ahold of your clients? Of your fans? Or your followers? THIS is one reason why it is important to have an email list. Having a back-up plan is really important.

Connecting with your audience is another really important reason. Your e-mails are a chance to make the person receiving them feel special and individualized. This in turn creates a closer, more personal connection and gives them a sense of trust making them more likely to choose you when they are ready to purchase that custom art piece for their living room. Consider building this list an investment. Over time you will build a faithful following which will show its value as time passes.

Email is King.

Repeat after me: Email is KING!

If you haven't started your email list, you will now. Having an email list is so very important for business.

Why is having an EMAIL LIST so important?

Email is your backup plan. It's your insurance in case your social media fails/changes...

It's also a list of your most loyal fans. (This is important)

Emails have a much higher success rate for reaching your people, then any social platform.

It's also YOURS. You own it.

You can build intimate relationships with the emails you write.

Your readers can refer back to it and search for anything you send them, whenever they like. (including coupons!) Can't do that on Tiktok...

They can stay up to date with your happenings.

Your audience can feel more connected to you and your brand.

What is one of the first things you do in the morning? For me, it is check my phone and my email. I know I am not alone. Email is effective in reaching your people for this reason. They will actually see what you send them (personally delivered to them), and that is half the battle. Your email list will naturally consist of your biggest supporters, and is a great way for you to connect with them on a more personal level.

How do I start an email list?

It is not hard to start an email list, you just have to do it. There are tons of free platforms that will get you started. I used to use Mailchimp before I had the squarespace integration. A lot of website hosts include a feature like this as well (usually at an extra cost). They make it easy to set it up and integrate it with your site making it cohesive with the look and feel of your branding. Once you come up with your first template and design, subsequent emails become much easier.

How do I get people to sign up for my email list?

To get people signed up, I suggest an incentive. You want to provide them with a reason to sign up in the first place. A free gift when they sign up can be a good way to get them in the door. This could easily be a printable or digital download of some sort. Keeping the overhead low is key here.

Also, make sure it’s easy to sign up. Include an area on your website that is clear and simple to fill out. Let people know on instagram and other social media platforms you have an awesome monthly newsletter filled with good stuff. Include those incentives for them to sign up in your Pinterest marketing and all other social media platforms you use.

I have a list, now what do i do? What do I even put in an email?

Think about sending out a monthly newsletter. This acts as a good reminder to your people about your business and what you offer. Give your email list coupons, special discounts, first access, behind-the-scenes information, freebies, and sneak peeks. Get them excited to open that email. Get them excited to learn more about you and the person behind the art and business, on a much more exclusive level. Think about what you would like to see in an email? Remember these are your most loyal customers. These are your best clients. Serve them well, and they will tell their friends.

Still not convinced?

What is the first thing you do in the morning? If you are like me, it is check your email. “Turns out 92% of adults in the US have an email address, and 61% of them check it DAILY!” (Quote from Alex Cattoni). That's huge!

We All Start Somewhere

Everyone has to start somewhere.  A lot of people, when they first pick up a wood burning tool quickly fall in love with it, but are stuck with what to burn next. They may not have the artistic skills to draw their own art yet, but love the creative process of wood burning.

This is where and when utilizing transfer techniques (how to transfer using heat or without heat) comes in handy. Now, when choosing an image to transfer, it is really REALLY REALLY important that you have permission to use said image, and I mean express permission. Copying is never ok.

There are plenty of free resources for images. You can check out: Pixabay, Unsplash, or Pexels - these websites host millions of royalty free images for your artistic use. If you are looking for some simple, line drawn templates, feel free to check out the free poppy pattern, the radial symmetry poppy template or The Wood Burn Community Book of Templates filled with over 50 designs to choose from, and there are many more project ideas and templates in my first book, The Wood Burn Book. You can also bookmark the blog post on 160 Things to Burn Next if you are ever in need of some inspiration or visit my Pinterest boards: Items and Ideas to Burn On or Pyro Projects To Try. Make sure to follow me on Pinterest for more ideas added on the regular.

Where it all began…

My first post to Instagram, and it still only has 9 likes.

When I first started, I did not consider myself an artist. I burned words from free fonts. It wasn’t super artistic, but it did take some skill. Sizing, placement, font choices, steady transfer, and burning hand, etc. I had to learn how to do all those things. Heck, I used to transfer with an exacto knife, because I hadn’t learned any transfer techniques, yet. It was trial and error.

I enjoyed burning for fun, and for friends. It was an inexpensive, rewarding, and fun side gig to my full time job as Mom of three (aged 3 and under at the time). When I joined Instagram in 2016, I found myself wanting to burn beyond just words. I kept wondering what different artists’ work would look like burned rather than painted or drawn. I was still building up my own drawing skills, and confidence.

So, I would message that artist and ask if they would want to see their art burned. Almost every time it would end in a collaboration. I met so many incredible artists and made so many friends by doing this. I also gained skill through practice. I bought art, pyrography, and drawing books and would practice. I would also make wood burned logos for small businesses for free as a giveaway. This was another skill building, following building, and friend/community building exercise.

I started the Burnt Challenges, so that I could push myself and my craft further and also meet and mingle with other pyrographers. I studied, and tried a dozen transfer techniques, and still utilize transfer techniques for almost every single burn I create, because I want to be able to recreate it, I want consistency, and a really good, clean burn.

Eventually, over time, I got to the point where I felt comfortable making my art from scratch almost 100% of the time, although, I still love a good collaboration. My iPad Pro and Procreate app also helped with this. (If you have one, you know, and if you don’t yet, I highly recommend saving up for one. They are game-changers!). When mistakes can easily be re-done, and lines can be smoothed and perfected in the design phase, it made it a whole lot less scary for me to make mistakes.

This is why I teach that if you can trace, you can burn. The method I found that works best for me, and the method I teach means that by the time I pick up my burner, all I am doing is following my lines.

Another thing that made a WORLD of difference in my growth was connecting with so many pyrographers around the globe who, like me, were willing to share tips/tricks/tools/techniques. Embracing community over competition, and having a community that embraces it, too, means everyone grows faster and easier. “A rising tide lifts ALL boats.”

I am still constantly learning, and pushing myself and my craft. Will I ever get to the point with my pyrography where I am making photorealistic pieces? Most likely not, because that is just not my goal. I don’t have the patience nor the desire to make them, but man, I do respect the heck out of those that do! There is no denying the skill of those pyros out there who can create photorealistic pieces.

The lesson to take with you

Here’s the thing that I hope people take in, though; I could easily look at their art and say to myself that what I make isn’t art in comparison. That what I do doesn’t count because it’s not good enough, and some people I am sure believe this. I could choose to have that competitive, comparison, limiting, scarcity mindset OR I can CHOOSE to have the mindset that their art does not take away from mine, nor does mine take away from theirs. Art is meant for people to enjoy, and I think there is more than enough space for every type of artist. Your art, whether it be burned fonts (royalty free, of course) or photorealism, is valid. REPEAT: YOUR ART IS VALID

Community over competition

The reason why choosing community over competition is so easy for me is because I believe whole heartedly that on this great big Earth of ours, there is more than enough space for all of us, and it is a whole lot more fun to be a community, and help each other out, rather than see each other as competition. It wasn’t always easy, and certainly wasn’t friendly when I first started on Instagram in the pyrography space, but any time I would feel that pang of comparison, or competition, I would lean in harder to community, and it quickly became clear how much better it was and felt all around to lift each other up and support one another. When I could be happy for their successes.

My goals with my pyrography is to make art that makes me happy, encourage others to pick up the pyro pen, raise awareness of pyrography and its mental health benefits, help people in any and every way I can, inspire creativity, and bring the community together. 

I want to give people permission to pick up the tool in the first place. I strongly believe that anytime someone takes the time to be creative and create something, they are making art, and I wish more artists would own that title.

We all know that art is therapeutic, this has been proven time and time again. The amount of goodness that wood burning has brought to my personal life and mental health over the years is staggering. I truly believe that allowing yourself to be creative is so important, so whatever stage you are at in your pyrography journey, know that I am right there with you encouraging you every step of the way. 

Much love, my fellow Pyros and happy burning,

Rachel 

How to Collaborate Effectively

Let’s talk about collaboration. Collaborating can be an excellent way to grow your audience and get your work in front of fresh eyes. It is an excellent marketing tool and an excellent way to make some great friends too.

Collaboration can look like a unique one-of-a-kind piece that you create with a fellow pyrographer, or a mixed media piece with artists from other fields, or a collaborative effort with companies. I have found success with all three. Click here to check out my collaboration pieces I have completed with other artists as well as companies I have partnered with.

When you get other people and other accounts talking about your work, it will grow your feed much faster than if you are the only one talking about it, and this is why I believe that collaboration is so fantastic, and why I attribute my past collaborations to a lot of my successes.

Collaborations can be scary and difficult to navigate, but I have some suggestions for you.

1. It needs to be a win-win-win situation. Be sure to set it up that way so that it is worth it for the person you are collaborating with for them and for their audience. It needs to make sense for all parties involved. If you are approaching someone with an idea, make sure you are clear on what it is you are asking of them and what it is you will be doing/providing.

2. Lay out all the details and agree to them before you continue forward. How are you dividing up expenses and profits? Where are you posting it? For how long? This should all be discussed before anything is made.

3. Communication is key. Have a backup form of communication if possible. If you are: running behind, have questions or concerns, don’t like something, or have an idea, I encourage you to speak up. Communicate your concerns and ideas with your collaboration partner. It will allow everything to run smoother.

4. Keep their aesthetic in mind when you are deciding if they are a right fit, and when you are coming up with your design/idea.

5. Workout your marketing strategy ahead of time. How many times will you post? How will you talk about it? Will you do a joint LIVE?

6. Follow through. Nothing is more frustrating than working on a group project with someone who is not pulling their weight.

But HOW?

Series/Collection Sale: Sell a collaborative collection on one person’s site, while the both of you promote it. Collaborative collections are fantastic, because you put in all the work for a collaboration and only have to ship one time, but create several pieces.

• Use whoever’s platform is larger to hold the sale whenever possible.

Giveaways: These are fantastic. This is a great way to motivate followers to follow the other members of the collaboration. Make sure the item(s), the rules, the photo, and the text are all very clear.

• Have people entering interact beyond tagging friends. Ask them a question, connect with them. It will feel more genuine for everyone, because it will be. Ask them to share about it too, to spread the word.

Auctions/bidding: Doing a blind/silent auction is also a great way to have a successful collaboration. You can also raise money for charity/cause. This raises awareness of the charity, but also of you, your art, and your values as a small business.

• A piece of mine that sold for the highest amount was from a blind auction sale. Don’t discount them, but do know that you need to promote them a lot; well before, and during the auction.

Promoting Products: Collaborating with companies can be a great way to make some extra money, get some great products, and extra exposure.

• Know what is expected of you. Read any contracts, and be carful of exclusivity. Only choose brands that make sense for your brand. Do your research.

I hope you consider bringing collaborations into your business as a regular practice. I think you will find the many benefits that that can come from them.

---

Let’s work together!

Are you a business or an artist that would like to collaborate with Wood Burn Corner or with the wood burning community? We would love to hear from you!

---

5 Revenue Streams for your Wood Burning Business

Having different avenues of revenue will strengthen your business. If Instagram were to disappear tomorrow, or Etsy or Facebook, would your business survive? Or, more realistically, you can no longer do in person craft shows or teach in person, are you set up online to sustain your business?

This is why it is so important to have several different revenue streams in place.

Couple additions to the video:

1. Craft Shows - See if any of the in-person craft shows you would normally participate in are pivoting to online, and if so, join them! Search for other online art/craft fairs that you can participate in. It will increases exposure and sales.

2. Selling Online - Artsy, Saatchi, Artpal, Society 6, Etsy, Singulart, VISUAL (art prints). People can’t buy things if they don’t know they are for sale.

3. Instagram - Also consider a LIVE sale. Set it up as you would an in-person booth, and walk the shoppers through it all, be sure to give everything prices and labels. You may sell some live, but you can leave it up for 24 hours and sell more. Don’t be afraid to sell customs that way, too!

4. Teach - I also want to suggest teaching online. You could do a pre-recorded class, or a burn together/live zoom style class.

5. Facebook - Share specific art pieces with the right audience. If you have an anteater piece, search for an anteater lovers facebook group to share there. Selling art is all about getting it in front of the right people’s eyes.

Check out the Passive Income Ideas for Artists blog post to learn how to make money while you sleep!

---

Pricing Your Art

I want to discuss how to price your art. Specifically, pricing your wood burned art. However, you can apply this formula to pretty much any medium you are selling!

Pricing, oh pricing. The bane of any artist’s existence. Why is it so hard to price your art? Could it be because you feel like you are putting a price tag on a little bit of your soul? Probably. Could it be because you are having to do the humbling task of assigning value to your time, thoughts and passion? How are you even supposed to be neutral and non-biased in that situation? You know all the hard work, years of training and mistake making, time, emotion and thought that went into it. It seems like an impossible task to put a price on it, but in order to make money as an artist, pricing is a must. There are things you can do, and systems you can put in place to make it easier on yourself.

Will pricing still not be very fun? Yes, but I am hoping this helps to at least make it a bit easier and more systematic to calculate.

Formula for Pricing:

Overhead

+

Hourly Rate

+/-

Content

=

Price

Overhead Costs:

These are costs that need to be recovered.

• Materials: Let’s start with the easy stuff, materials. This is where you calculate the price of your materials. These are items where they were used entirely for this piece. The variation in size, type of wood, and price of the materials used goes here.

• Supplies: You have many items that you purchase for your business that you will utilize to make the particular piece you are pricing. You may not use the whole item or you may just put a little more wear and tear on it. Think paint, colored pencils, shipping supplies, finishes, glue, tape, printer paper, graphite paper, your wood burning tool, your computer, etc. Take note of ALL the supplies you use. It may surprise you how many items it actually involves. You are putting wear on those supplies to create this piece, and you need to keep that in mind when you are coming up with your pricing.

  You are obviously not going to be tacking on the price of a ream of paper, the whole wood burning tool, or the price of a whole tube of paint (unless you used a whole tube, then it goes in the materials category), you just want to think about what the cost to your business creating that particular piece actually had. A lot of people forget this part.

  I think it is easier to just tack on a set amount (example: $2-$5) to any piece to cover some of those overhead supplies used and costs for materials used.

Time:

• Hourly Rate: I personally think the easiest way to take yourself out of the pricing process is to make it a calculation. If you just have a set hourly rate, based on your experience, skill, and what you want to pay yourself, then it takes the guesswork out of it. Do include your time communicating, designing, burning, and packaging. If it is for that piece, and it is taking up your time, it should be added.

  Keep in mind your speed in which you burn and operate(if you are slow, then lower your rate and work on speeding up your process), your skill level and years of training, and what value you put on your time when coming up with your hourly rate. I can not suggest a number here. This is highly individual.

  Once you have your hourly rate number, then it becomes easy to just plug it into your formula.

  Start by keeping track of how long you actually spend on a piece. Set a stopwatch. Write it down on a piece of paper, and attach it to the piece of wood. Add to that number as you add to the piece. People tend to underestimate how much time they actually spend working on a piece, so this is a good piece of information to have. It will also help make it easier to price custom work, because you will have a much better idea as to how long it actually takes for you to complete a piece.

Content:

• Content: Content matter matters. A simple lettered piece will not be priced at the same spot as a detailed artistic piece, even if it took the same amount of time to make it. This is where adjustments need to be made. Once you have put in your formula, then you can look at the price and either add or take away from your total. Content also includes how how good the finished product is and it’s subject matter. All things to keep in mind when adjusting pricing.

Make Adjustments:

Doing this exercise will be incredibly valuable to making adjustments to how your business functions. If you are spending too much time on your pieces, and are having to adjust your price down every time at the content stage, then it is time to look at streamlining your process to find ways to cut time. If you are finding that you are constantly undervaluing yourself (maybe people have even said you need to raise your prices), then you probably need to give yourself a raise and up your hourly rate. Now, if you have figured out how to get faster, and still produce the same level of content or maybe even higher quality, I am not saying you should adjust your prices lower. Content really does help determine value.

Knowledge is power. That’s why knowing how much time you are spending, how much money you are spending, and where will help you and your business to run smoothly, pricing will be less of a headache, and you will be able to make positive informed adjustments to your business.

---

6 Things to consider when coming up with your pricing formula:

1. Where are you selling? What is the cost of living where you are selling? Selling in person in San Francisco is not the same as selling in a small town

2. Who is your target audience? If you are selling high end, you better have those high end prices

3. What is the subject matter?

4. How big/detailed is the piece?

5. What is it worth to you? Some pieces mean more to ourselves than they do to other people, and it just will never feel right to sell it at the price people would buy it, and that is ok. Just hold onto that piece

6. How much would you pay for it? always a good idea to step into the shoes of your buyer.

---

Other Pricing Tips:

Still don’t want to price your pieces, consider having a trusted friend suggest prices for your work. Make sure they fully understand what goes into it, the market, your target audience, and material costs.

Watch the market. Go and look at what other artists of your skill level are charging. This will give you many points of reference. Keep in mind that most wood burning artists out there are not charging enough for their work. As a community we need to work together to get paid what we deserve for our work.

Keep documentation of what pieces sold and for what amounts. Take note of what is working, and what isn’t. What sells quickly, and what doesn’t. Then make adjustments.

Lowering the price, does not necessarily mean that something will sell better. Sometimes, raising the price, to match the value of it will actually help it sell better. People don’t want to buy something that isn’t quality. If you lower your prices too much, then people will assume that they are getting a lower quality item, will pass and spend their money elsewhere.

Don’t compromise on pieces with sentimental value. Make sure you aren’t selling it for less than what you are actually willing to part with it for.

Be sure to leave a little wiggle room for sales, and unexpected costs.

Add shipping into your price for ease of shopping whenever possible.

Going one dollar less than a rounded up number works. People look at $49 as significantly less than $50. Use that.

---

Pricing your art is just one piece of the puzzle

Choosing the right platform, location to sell, the right description, taking the right photo, and making it easy to find are also really important. If you don’t get your piece in front of the right audience, it won’t matter what value you place on it.

Learn how to boost your business and take the right steps to getting paid for creating artwork with the The Complete Wood Burning and Business Toolkit.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT WOOD BURNING AND BOOST YOUR CREATIVE BUSINESS??

Grow with the community: Join Burn Club+, a place where you can ask questions, and get the full answers, a place of fun and learning.

Get some personal support: One-on-one coaching provides tailored support guaranteed to boost your business.

---

To-Do List and Ta-Da List

These two lists are part of the secret to become more impactful, to stay on task, and accomplish more as well as feeling more accomplished.

I am a big believer in lists. I think getting your thoughts and ideas out of your head and on paper is incredibly powerful. It makes space to think about other things.

To Do Lists:

I am constantly making “To-Do” lists. I make them for household chores, tasks for my business, daily activities, events, and so much more. Any time there are a lot of moving parts, writing them down makes such a big difference. And anyone running a business knows there are plenty of moving parts.

8 Reasons Why To-Do Lists are Necessary!

1. They are time savers because you can more easily stay on task.

2. They keep you organized.

3. They keep you motivated and moving forward.

4. You can easily see what is left.

5. It gives you a place to put your ideas. Get’s them out of your head and on paper.

6. They make it easier to prioritize tasks.

7. You don’t forget something when it is written down and is waiting to be crossed out.

8. Crossing things off lists is so gratifying.

But, let’s talk about Ta-Da Lists, because I think they might be even more necessary and beneficial for our success and for our mental health.

Ta Da Lists:

There is an interesting phenomenom called the Zeigarnik effect. It is described as “a psychological phenomenom where a tendency to remember interrupted or incomplete tasks more easily than tasks that have been completed.” This means that our To-Do list, our incomplete, unfinished tasks are what we remember. How sad is that?! This is where Ta-Da lists come in.

A Ta-Da list is your antidote. A Ta-Da list is your way to overcome the Zeigarnik phenomenom. When you write down your accomplishments, and have them up for your viewing, you are more likely to feel satisfied, happy, and accomplished. And don’t we all want that.

equally important.

Write down your to do list, but don’t just cross them off. Cross them off then add them to your Ta-Da list, and you will surely feel better about your accomplishments.

Need some help clarifying what you should be putting on that to do list and how to efficiently and effectively grow your business?? Complete the Focus 5 Exersize to help you find clarity and guidance on your next steps.

Want to track your goals?? Check out these trackers! They are jsut as satisfying as a ta-da list!

Daily Habit Tracker for The Year (leap year included)

$3.00

Add To Cart