As an extrovert, staying inside at home for four weeks without leaving and seeing people is not something that sounds like fun to me. But like many others, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has made this a reality. Because I work in local government for my day job, the situation can easily become overwhelming to comprehend. To help myself cope, I’ve been doing a lot more of what makes me happy to try and focus on the positive.
The largest positive is that my jewelry studio is in my house, and I have been presented with a lot more time to make jewelry and tend to the ever-growing to-do list. Here are three was Coronavirus has helped my business now that I’ve had time to spare.
Cleaning my jewelry studio
I inherited three different ways to store my jewelry supplies. At the end of last year, I realized how inefficient this really was. One of the reasons that my Icy Lake winter jewelry collection took so long to complete is because I was trying to create, while also trying to organize my studio. Once the stay at home orders hit, I was given the gift of time to truly make organizing my space a priority.
I’ss be going into more detail about this in a future blog, but it’s been so nice to step foot into a space that’s cleaner than ever. I can see all the supplies I have in one place without searching too much, I have more space on my workbench to collect beds for a collection, and I even dis-infected everything and cleaned surfaces.
Finishing rogue projects
Sometimes at the end of a collection, I have a few pieces that I just don’t finish. It’s either because something doesn’t look right, or I can find the right thing to make the design work. Ultimately, I place the part that is done to the side to look at a different day with fresh eyes.
While this is helpful so I don’t spin my wheels on something too much, I’ve found that in my quest to create new collections, I’ve abandoned a lot of different items. And when I feel stuck, I tend to gravitate towards these pieces and try to finish them, which in turn pulls time away from my collection creation.
Once I finished my studio cleaning project I decided to give myself the time to finish these before starting something new. Without the clutter of other ideas and collections, and the necessary time I needed to focus on these ideas, I was able to finish them all. It’s also nice to create outside of a collection space to allow me some creativity that goes to whatever pleases me.
Bracelet Project
At the end of 2019, I realized that I needed to focus some time on creating new bracelets. I sold through enough to make my stand look empty. I also have many of the same items for sale that I did three years ago, indicating something needed to change with what I offer
So, much like those rogue projects, I sat down and gave bracelets some thought. I did some research, found some inspiration, and began to create. The end result is over 30 different items.
I have a few more ideas to work on, but I’m going to be releasing a bracelet jewelry collection in the coming weeks. I’m truly excited to debut these and show off my new concepts.
How the Coronavirus has helped my business
The Coronavirus situation can easily become very scary. I’ve found it helpful to focus on what I can control. My jewelry business is a big piece of that, so the added time I’ve had to create and get my thoughts in line has been so very helpful. Are you taking advantage of the coronavirus situation and making it a positive situation? Share your feedback below!