Painting goals for 2016

I have a confession to make. I am a terrible sales person. One of my first jobs was as a photographer at JC Penney. I was okay (not great) at taking the photos. I was decidedly awful at selling them. Also, just a word to you parents out there. Please be nice to your photographer.  **Side note: two of my sisters also worked at the portrait studio and one of them is extremely talented and runs her own photography business. Find her work here!**  Many a parent made me cry with their harsh words when I was a teenage photographer. I decided that I would not go into a profession where I had to sell anything.

Ha. Hahahaha! My job after that was working as a waitress at Olive Garden. Of course, managers want you to sell more (more appetizers, more alcohol, more higher priced items). I did better with job here since it involved talking to people (no trouble there), but I was the least pushy person when it came to selling anything.

Throughout those Olive Garden years I was in school for teaching. Where I didn't have to sell anything.

So you can see how shocking it was to find myself owning a teeny tiny business. Where I sell things. I strive to let my products sell themselves. I hope you never find me a pushy salesperson. I doubt you will, since I tend to despise those people. (No offense to those of you who are "good" salespeople, it's just not my thing.)

However, one thing that I realized is that my signs can't sell themselves if you don't know they exist. Which brings us to the point of this post. 

Facebook has been key to the building of my business. However, this past year they made some changes, that, from a business aspect I get. They need to make money to run their business, so instead of allowing free advertising which is what they had done in the past, they now would like you to "boost" posts to get people who already like your page to see your posts. So if you have noticed that you see less and less of pages that you "like" this should not be surprising. But there's some good news! You can make some adjustments to change this.
1. You can "like" and comment on the pictures I post. This tells the Facebook algorithm that you want to continue seeing my page.
2. You can go to my Facebook page
Make sure you "Like" my page. Then under like, click "Get Notifications". Also from this screen you can select "See First" instead of "Default". This SHOULD allow you to see all my posts. (see photo for help)

I know not everyone is on Instagram, but this has quickly become a favorite for me. The feed is a lot cleaner than Facebook and you follow who you want to follow and you see the things they post. I just joined Instagram a few months into 2015 and it's been a slow-growth for me, but I really like it and see a lot of potential for MamaHessPainting here. Following me on Instagram is really simple.  <<------- a="" click="" there="">


And of course, there's my Etsy Shop.

Lots of ways to stay connected with Mama Hess Painting this year.  

Some goals for 2016:
1. Do 3 to 4 shows. (Last year I did two)
2. Build the wedding/vow renewal/love section of my Esty shop. I have SO many ideas for this section.
3. Take better photos of my signs
4. Stay joyful

Number four may seem silly, but when I'm really really really busy, painting can feel like a job. It's good for me to keep in mind that so often my signs bring joy on people's happiest days of their lives (weddings, babies, new homes, etc.) and bring comfort on their hardest days and provide inspiration on the days between.

Looking forward to a beautiful 2016 with you all! Thanks for coming along and enjoying the beautiful ride with me.


xoxo,
Mama Hess

The Year of Hope

Do you all participate in "One Little Word"?? I honestly didn't even know this was a thing until recently, although my husband, girls and I have been doing this for several years now.

We have declared 2016 to be "The Year of Hope".

I'm excited to share more with you all in the coming weeks and months as to just what this word means to our family.

In the meantime I painted this cute little sign and thought how fun this would be to offer at a really low price for all of you fine friends of mine. It's available now here in my Etsy shop.

 

I can't wait to hear what word your family chooses to think about this year. As noted previously, I'm not really "fully open" for custom orders until the end of January, but I consider this a "soft opening" for a very simple yet important word for each of you.

 

If you need the link again: here it is! Mama Hess Painting's Etsy Shop!!

2015 Goals Revisited

Before we can talk about 2016 I love to look back at the year we just finished and see if those goals we set were completed. We declared 2015 to be "The Year Of Love" . I had listed out several goals for each of our family members. Those goals looked like this:

For myself:
Personal Goals -
1. complete another Bible Study at Change of Pace South
2. read through the Bible in a year
3. continue nightly prayer/devotions with Trent
4. drink less coffee (just kidding! I was just checking to see if you were paying attention)
5. run a 5k (not kidding.... now it's on here, I have to do it)
6. find LOVE all around me
**Update: I did all of these things! (Except number 4). Trent and I were so excited to have read through the Bible together in one year. What a wonderful, growing experience that was!**
Business Goals-
1. create beautiful paintings
2. inspire and encourage others through my work
3. create something NEW and not just what "everyone else is doing"
**Update: I like to think I did all of these things.**
For Anne:
1. encourage healthy eating and exercise
2. continue piano lessons
3. figure out a good inhaler/ or something to help with her asthma so that #1 can be accomplished
4. teach her to be a strong young lady, not someone who will follow the crowd
**Update: Anne continued with piano throughout the Spring of 2015, but we gave it a break the remainder of the year. We are really happy with her new inhaler to help with her asthma. She is excited to start softball this coming Spring!. And I believe we're making good progress with number 4.**
For Abbey:
1. she wants to run a race this year
2. continue piano lessons
3. encourage kind and loving words
4. teach her to be strong, yet gentle and compassionate at the same time
**Update: Abbey didn't run a "real" race, though she still loves running and I can definitely see some form of running her her future. Piano did not bring much love into Abbey's life- in fact it caused quite a bit of frustration. We gave piano a break after the Spring. We are still working on 3 and 4, and I believe we will be for quite a while.**
For Maggie:
1. encourage her newly found love of mathematics
2. she would like to start reading this year
3. try to help her work through her anger when she is tired
4. help her to continue to be strong and loving
**Update: Maggie is doing great with math. She also is learning to read and does a good job. It definitely is hard work for her, but she is getting it and is really excited when she can read a small book independently. We are still working on three and four.**
For Caroline:
1. help her learn to walk this year
2. and say a few words
3. love on her like crazy
4. try not to spoil her terribly
 **Update: Caroline learned to walk at 18 months, so halfway through 2015. She is saying lots of words. We loved on her like crazy in 2015... Not sure how good of a job we did on not spoiling her terribly.**

So there you have it! A wonderful year of Love. I'm eager to share with you what the Hess family has in mind for 2016!