Turns out saying no to projects, unnecessary obligations, figuring out how to clear the plate, etc, is really hard because it means hitting pause for a second to zoom out to assess the bigger picture. Which can be nerve-wracking and if you’re like me, you’ll find all the excuses you can to avoid looking under the hood. If you know how to take the right approach this process doesn’t have to be overwhelming, but instead will define and shape your pursuits better. I realized this was the talk that I would’ve wanted to hear at WMC Fest, which also meant I had do it myself.

Slowly and with some effort, I offer you this: How to Get your Hustle Straight and your Commitments Sorted.

It has five parts. Just like the hand. Or hand turkey, rather. Why the turkey? Well, turns out people have been using their hands to draw bird shapes since prehistoric times, and you have your hands with you all the time making it harder to forget what your own hand turkey is. And, finally if you think about it, the hand turkey is probably one of the first commissioned project we receive as children from our Kindergarten teachers.

Pinky finger: your brand
What’s your personal brand? Even though brand is such a bizarre, slippery word, we all have one. It’s the code that comes from a deeper place that drives your life and your work. So regularly taking stock of your personal practices, how you want your life to be, and then, key part, make them official in some way that’s meaningful to you. Whatever it is, you have to do something with this knowledge. Then revisit this statement, project, THING that you’ve created for yourself when you’re faced with a prospect that challenges your brand or tried to modify how you work. Sometimes these challenges will be good and useful, but other times it’s not going to be a good fit. Without a strong sense of your brand you will have a harder time telling them apart.

The example I gave on how I first discovered my own brand and my process what my And, the Typeface project which I did in 2009-2010. How it told me something about myself that I recognized as powerful, something I’ve clung to and cultivated as I’ve continued on with my work. You can see more about this project here and here if you like.

And here is the brand statement I’m using to remind myself of myself these days. This changes, all the time, but it’s important to have a working model at hand (pun intended), always:

“I refuse to settle for design as merely decoration. My best work comes when I run my own process with clients & collaborators who foster progressive values and cultural growth that resonates with me. I also require time to maintain a blog because of the empowerment it gives me & my readers.”

Ring finger: the hustle.
You could have the most amazing brand, the most touching origin story, the best sense of where you want to go, but none of it matters unless you’re getting your work and your message in front of the right people. Are you offering it to the right places? How effective are you in getting clients to trust you and your process? Are you working with people who value your time and budgets? Are you leveraging your network enough? Not only in terms of finding new opportunities, but being aware of other people’s skills and strengths, which is something I wasn’t taking into account until recently. It’s much easier to pass on a project if you know exactly the right person who can take it and really make it sing. Knowing the right people to share my workload when it becomes too much is priceless.

Middle finger: Cash money, hoes.
There’s a reason this is the middle finger, because we all hate to talk about the M word. Which is so ridiculous because it owns way more of our lives than we like to admit. And if you’re lacking in the department it’s going to hurt, big time. This is becomes even more key when you’re self-employed, so working on this gradually year by year will only pad your purse further. Obvious things like know what’s coming in the books and what’s going out, but did you know you might actually have to define what a profit is for yourself? I didn’t. This year I called up my Dad, he often advises me on business-y things, and gleefully announced I’d made a profit after filing my taxes with my accountant. He congratulated me and then asked what my profit margin was, what percentage I kept. Pulled up short, I realized I didn’t know how to answer, and what I’d really meant to say was – hey! – I didn’t record a loss this year. Not the same as making a profit, genius. I realized I didn’t even know what kind of profit I wanted to make. You can make 1¢ as profit and it’s still a profit, but I’m sure you’d agree that’s a pretty pitiful goal. In the end, knowing how your financials stack up makes it much easier to not let money dictate which projects to accept and which are no-goes.

This goes hand-in-hand with having well-honed negotiation skills. If you can talk about budgets comfortably it’s a a HUGE trust selling point because it reveals key information on both sides. But you have to practice doing this, practice different scenarios, practice addressing red flags. Till you are blue in the face, I’m not kidding. It sounds cheesy, but find someone to role play it out. A few minutes of private awkwardness will save you, and earn you, so much more dough. Frankly, wheeling and dealing can be fun if you let it.

Pointer finger: time management
This is forever going to be gray area because it’s impossible to account for all the possibilities for loss. Forgotten laptop power cords, traffic, all the admin parts of our days, most email, one more quick revision, surprise last minute meetings. Human-freaking-error. And the more on your plate the more complex your Jenga game is, meaning the harder you have to work to keep everything moving, the trickier it is to rebuild if something shifts or gets held up.

At some point taking on more things means you’ll drop off in other areas. What are you prepared to give up if you bring something new into the mix? Something will drop out guaranteed, and you won’t always know what until it happens, so it’s better to redirect if before even getting to that spot.

Keeping a constant eye on my calendar and my to do lists the only common theme I’ve been able to assess from all of the time management apps and programs out there. However you chose to break up the hours in the day with the tasks you must accomplish, it’s a universal challenge so you better pay attention to what process works for you.

And finally. TAKE TIME OFF. I’m saying this to myself constantly because I find it so hard to allow. Time off is non-negotiable, end of story. Innovation is impossible when you’re exhausted. Your work will never grow if you don’t allow time to just be. I thought I could get by for years on one day off a week, tried for years to make that work, but it’s just not enough. I still don’t always GET a proper weekend, at least not yet, but at least I now I give myself a little bit of a break at some point later on when I can. In short, it’s impossible to work too much without consequences. There will be signs if you’re pushing too hard. Don’t ignore them.

Thumb: the work.
You’d think this would be the first finger, the most important one. Because without the work, the actual products or services you offer, there’s nothing right? And we’d all just love to be doing more of it, because really, it’s why we got into this in the first place right? Well, turns out, it’s influenced so intensely by the other four fingers. If you’re off your brand, you’re going to end up doing work that means nothing to you, if you aren’t working with people who pay you properly, if you have trouble managing your time, etc, these will all cut into your actual time to make things you love. So the more you continue to tinker with your four fingers means the better you’ll get at creating a set-up that makes you the happiest and the most productive.

This my friends, your five fingers, is the Guide to No. It’s meant for you to tailor and adjust to your own specific needs, revising it as you go. If you’re driving on a long road in the dead of night, the Hand Turkey is your headlights, showing the path ahead. If constructed carefully you can use to illuminate the dead ends, the wrong turns, potholes. It may not be quite as exact at having a GPS to use…But honestly? Doing things, doing life perfectly is a bummer. Perfectionism is kind of a jerk, no one wants to invite him to their pool party.

Annnnnd there you have it, or at dispelled version of it anyway. There were a LOT of questions after I finished which is always a great sign, and I know you’re going to have some too. Post in the comments and I will dispense my thoughts.

Otherwise, this year’s greatest hits video of the event just dropped today, feels like it all over again!

{Image credits: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 }

Gush, gush, gush, awesome unicorns and sprinkles, gushing inspiration overload, tasty beer, hot dogs, gush. My brain is a mush of gush. I expected to have a blast of course, but I didn’t expect to be absolved of all my design angst and stress about what I do. I lost all of that and the desire to make took its place, which is priceless. Too bad we can’t go to these things all the time so this feeling never has to wear off! If you go to no other design festivals next year, make it WMC Fest. Come as you are learning & inspiration is the best kind if you ask me. Plus I can’t emphasize the cheap factor enough, best bang for your buck in living memory.

+ Gear, cards, and many Tattlys from the likes Jennifer Daniel, James White, Vaughn Fender, Joseph Hughes, To The Moon Studios, and Tuesday Bassen. Somehow I missed out on the festivale goody bag though, whoops. I did pick up the ticket for it, but I promptly lost it and got distracted by awesomeness at every turn so I never remembered to go back. Ditto for the photo booth too.

+ If you live in the Kent area you have to go to Hollo’s Papercraft. Man, what I wouldn’t give to have a place like this closer to Chicago. Aisles upon aisles of delicious papers, materials, party gear, art supplies at super duper prices. Same goes for Cleveland’s thrifting, I hear it’s some of the finest. We did stop at the used office supply shop on Detroit Avenue near the festival & found a few goodies. That’s where I found the wooden pushpins for $1!

+ Great talks over all, but there were a couple of designers who gave real estate tours of their work. I guess it bears repeating once again, you shouldn’t only show your portfolio when giving a talk. I know how to use google dudes, I can look your work up if I want to. Doing this is a lot like a looking at slides from someone else’s vacation; it’s boring after 10 minutes. Interspersing fart jokes between slides is cute at first, but it’s a crutch and doesn’t add any depth. Up your game. Plus, winging it up there is insulting to the speakers like me who lost more than a little sleep and a few tears while putting our talks together. Bravado is crap on stage. Bring the real, please.

+ Happy Dog has better hot dogs than all of Chicago (ok, almost, Hot Doug’s excluded).

+ I was sad that so many people left early! I know, I know extenuating circumstances blah-de-blah, they do happen. But unless you’re Austin Kleon with a pre-scheduled cross-country book tour or a similar airtight alibi I find it hard to buy other reasons for leaving early. Trekking all the way there only to miss out on learning is like cutting school at recess. Kate Bingaman-Burt’s final keynote brought the house down with a full standing ovation, I wouldn’t have missed that if you paid me. And in fact, I lost billable hours because this meant I had to take Monday off as well, but don’t care, worth it. This holds especially true for speakers & the designers who were displaying work. If you got a free pass to the conference or an honorarium for attending, you better bend over backward to attend everything you can.

+ Cleveland streetwear brand iLTHY blogged some of the street style from the fest, look how we love polka dots!

+ Jen Myers‘ talk on women developers was enlightening. Especially because it stirred quite the rumor mill, which is sign she gave a great talk. Engaging rumors online is a messy business, and generally not worth addressing, but in short, a few bros said her talk was nonsense and women don’t face discrimination when it comes to design or development. OH HA HA HA. HA. HA. Are we still here discussing this? Really? It’s actually probably better that I didn’t hear these things in person because I would not have been able to resist sticking my neck out. I wonder if this was stated in male-only company too. Pfffft. If you can’t or don’t say your opinion in front of the people you’re knocking it means you’re not giving us the chance to refute, and that right there is active discrimination. Congrats on proving that this inequity exists one more time.

+ Other people I got to hang out with who didn’t speak: Veronica & Beth Corzo-Duchardt, Jacqui Oakley & Poly Studio, Caroline Sewell, Jessi Arrington, Jason James, Troy DeShano, Mikey Burton, Fringe Focus, Max Temkin, Nick D, Jana Kinsman, Elaine Chernov, Mig Reyes & Kik McNally and all the rest of amazing Chicago designers who came and offered their support. It gave me much courage seeing so many friends in the audience while I was talking.

+ Finally a HUGE, huge thank you to Joseph Hughes & Jeff Finley for organizing this and giving me the chance to take the stage. You obviously know how to throw it down. It’s no small thing to create so much community motivation. You are the very heart of Cleveland.

+ Now for the trickier next step: recapping my actual talk. I said some important things and I want to make sure that even the people who went get a chance to take it in. Stay tuned!! It’s in the works, hopefully with video.

Oh, my dears. I’ve missed you. Thank you for being patient with me during my extended quietness here. I’ve been experimenting with my schedule & my billable hours, trying to find a better structure & schedule so I can bring home both the bacon and the blog. It’s been a tough process. And I’m slowly working out a re-design. This site’s been the same for almost four years now and I think that is a major part of my reluctance to write. The internet is different now than when I first created this site and doing some restructuring around here will do a lot in terms of re-investing my time. Never fear, I’m never going to pull the plug entirely, having a growing internet presence is too important to me personally & too important in terms of growing my business for that.

It’s funny, this process is so specific and personal. It’s like a ritual of sorts. I’ve been thinking a lot about the rituals of making things ever since my friend Vaughn Fender asked me to participate in the ninth issue of his online magazine, Peculiar Bliss. The theme of which is creative rituals. I didn’t even really think about what mine were until this topic came up, but now I can’t stop, and in some ways that’s kept me from producing here. Navel-gazing has diminishing returns after while…So here I am, consider this me getting over it. Jumping back in again, with a bang.

Vaughn’s done a lengthy interview with me on my process, background, and yes my rituals. The article also includes a whole bunch of my work that’s never been published anywhere, and my friend Julia Stotz was kind enough to take all the pictures of me. Ellen Hunter of Word Couture Consulting made sure I did my commas and grammar right. I owe major thanks to them for their hard work, you’re only as good as your fellow collaborators and these kids really threw down. Thank you friends, from the bottom of my heart.

Flip through the digital pages on ISSUU, Cargo Collective, or PDF. My piece starts on page 17, and there is plenty of other gorgeous illustration and photography on either side of the article as well. If you can take a few minutes to kick back and take this in, inspiration is sure to follow.

Have an excellent Friday! Next week is going to be a doozy over here. We’re talking WMC Fest, stories from our trip to Detroit, and a giveaway – which I never do, but this one is a unique one so I don’t think you’ll mind. :-)

It’s good to be back.

Big internet day for me today! Our house is on Design*Sponge! What a fun collaboration this was, Angela Finney-Hoffman (my Post 27 partner in crime) came over to help up hang some of the art and do some organizing and styling. And then our incredibly talented camera-head friends, Brian Guido & Julia Stotz took the pictures. I’m seriously pinching myself, I never thought our things could look so good. Also major high fives to Anne Stark Ditmeyer from Pret a Voyager & Design*Sponge for having us. Thanks, thanks, thanks. friends!!

Here’s some outtakes and some photos D*S didn’t publish, including one stereo & vinyl collection which is a particular favorite of mine.
 

Vintage magazine organizers, endearingly named after countries. Always make me ponder their previous & worldly life before they held our magazines. The little figurine buddy hanging out on the edge of the photo is by Friends with You. Instead of installing curtains or using the standard mini-blinds, we covered these bay windows with semi-transparent fabric. It’s adhered right to the glass with straight liquid starch (Sta-Flo). We rent so this will come off with a sponge & water once it’s time to move. 

Vinyl collection is almost exclusively inherited from our parents & grandparents. Runs a wide gamut from musicals, barbershop & oldies, jazz, disco, to more modern folk and electronica. Plays on a mint-condition 80′s Technics turntable with round speakers, also vintage. The speakers are unfortunately more style than substance and this shows in the quality of sound. I love how unique they are though so maybe we’ll one day get to commission a modern remix on them (sorry, couldn’t resist the pun!).

Make sure you hit up the whole tour on Design*Sponge for the full rundown on the rest of the space!

Doing some organizing today and unearthed these portfolio shots Julia Stotz took of my work a few weeks ago. This is the Purple Book, it’s a sketchbook I made in which I am only allowed to use the color purple. And hot pink.

Also, some Instagram outtakes from said shoot. You’ll get to see the rest of Julia’s magic photos soon, there are things planned! Dun, dun, dunnnnnnn. Cliffhanger! I have you teetering on the edge of your swivel chair (or yoga ball, if you’re into that) with suspense don’t I?
 

So how was Alt you ask? Not only did I get a fresh perspective on the web, new ideas on how to build my business, I also made a whole slew of exceptionally inspiring and talented new friends. In a word: rad. But I’m not capable of just leaving it at that, so here’s many more words on the experience.

Hotel:
Meh. During our stay at the Royal Garden we jokingly started referring to it as the Bates Motel. I’m not sure how many rooms the conference is able to block out at the uber-posh Grand America, but it’s far fewer than demand. Which sucks because if you don’t book a room IMMEDIATELY upon Alt’s registration announcement you’ll end up paying the same amount of money for the most basic and impersonal of accommodations. If this happens to you, save yourself the cash instead and book a private room at the $20/night hostel that’s half a mile away.

Swag:
Loved the rainbow Alt-branded pencils and the neon orange toothbrush. Should’ve brought more business cards. SF Girl by Bay wins best handout by far with her temporary tattoos.

My fave new-to-me blogs:
+ The Jealous Curator
+ Cubicle Refugee
+ The Artful Desperado
+ Pattern Pulp
+ MAIYA

Thursday’s keynote with Pilar Guzman of Martha Stewart Living, Deborah Needleman the former editor-in-chief of beloved Domino magazine, and Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan of Apartment Therapy

Panels:
+ Most informative: Growing a Readership by Oh Happy Day, Design Crush, Making it Lovely, and Mighty Girl
+ Most authentic/relatable: Kickstarting Your Next Project by the City Sage, Lisa Congdon, Rena Tom, and Say Yes to Hoboken
+ Best slides: From Blog to Book by Grace Bonney, Julia Rothman, Chronicle Books, and Artisan Books

However, I talked to several ladies who didn’t connect well to all of the panels I tend to agree. Some of that is bound to happen of course, no conference can be all things to all people, but shooting for the middle often means that the content gets watered down as well. Specifically, everyone I talked to who went to the Dooce/HGTV/BurdaStyle/Blogstar panel felt these mega-bloggers only talked about themselves without spending anytime scaling down their experiences and offering concrete advice and suggestions small blogs could adopt more readily. A missed opportunity for sure.

Image ganked from Ghostly Ferns’ instagram

Roundtables
Bitbloggers: the Whys & Hows of Small Blogs
Oh, this was so much fun. Me and Kate Singleton of Art Hound have been thinking of how to tackle hosting this roundtable ever since we pitched the idea to Gabrielle Blair last summer. Basically we wanted to create a more accessible setting where folks could feel more comfortable talking through their blogging hang-ups. It turned into a fantastically productive venting and brainstorming session. My only regret is that we ran short on time and weren’t able to give everyone new ideas on where to take their blogs. Luckily Kate & I have created a special Bitbloggers site where all of this content will be funneled. We’ll continue posting on this topic sporadically over there. I’m really excited to start growing this content because I don’t think this is a need that will be going away anytime soon.

Otherwise, I wished for another session of roundtable discussions so attendees could’ve had two of them. There were soooo many choices and most of them seemed highly tailored and very specific, which is good, but having to pick only one was tough. Small groups are always the best way to immediately get into the meat of an issue, ask questions, and get instant feedback so I wish for more of them next year.

Will I attend next year?
I’m not sure yet. As much fun as it was, it’s an expensive trip and I struggled with the intense girlyness of the event. All I kept thinking is that we’ve been rightfully criticizing other technology & new media conferences (like CES and to a degree, SxSW) for being exclusive to women, but Alt skews so far in reverse that precious few guys want to attend as well. It’s equally as harmful in the opposite direction. I’m all for girl-power and giving women a place to act out their blogs in real life, but I’m not into segregating it away from other forms of culture. There were a small handful of guys at the conference, sure, but they stuck to the fringes and weren’t as actively engaged with the content. Most of them looked a bit shell-shocked and I heard more than one quip about them having to “tough it out”. Which is sexist and definitely doesn’t help the issue.

This is further concerning in the bigger picture because eventually this will evolve into a pink ghetto stereotype that blogging is the only way for women to contribute meaningfully to the web. I’m not into that perception, despite the fact that females dominate the design/lifestyle blogging scene and I count myself as one of these bloggers too. But why should design and lifestyle blogging be a girl thing at all? Making one’s life better through design seems like a pursuit that all of humanity can benefit from. I’d love for us to continue to foster that, but let’s also simultaneously focus on spreading awareness of this dichotomy and promote more discussion around it.

For next year the biggest thing the Alt organizers could do to help remedy this would be to host a broader range of speakers. I know the most popular bloggers sell the most seats, but more up-and-comers and more presenters who aren’t necessarily design or lifestyle bloggers would lend a greater variety in perspectives. And more dudes please, just like there should be more ladies presenting at all the rest of the conferences in the world too.

Regardless of my opinions I still consider myself immensely lucky to have experienced Alt. I hold all of the presenters and conference organizers in the highest esteem, I can’t even begin to imagine how much work it is putting such an affair together. I’m really proud I made it happen for myself too because I would’ve always wondered what it was like if I hadn’t gone. Plus, I’ve got a bunch of ideas in motion that will help keep my head in the blogging game and that’s pretty much priceless.

Now, to catch up on sleep and the veritable mountain of client work I’m facing this week. Woof!