Last month I made a big, grown-up decision.  I split my business in two, so that I could concentrate properly on both bits.

For the past four years or so I've been running "how to sell on Etsy" workshops, which then branched out into online shop reviews, followed by a series of downloadable PDFs.  I'd been selling these alongside my illustrations on Etsy, and while it's all been ticking over I was aware that it was becoming a bit confusing for my two distinct customer groups.

So, after giving it a lot of thought, I decided to go for it.  First things first, I had to decide on a name for my new business.  This isn't something I'd ever done before - it was pretty exciting, but I knew I had to get it right!

And then branding... again it's not something that I had consciously done for my own business.  My BGI branding kind of just evolved over time.  I decided to stick to the key colours I use in my BGI branding, as the two businesses will run alongside each other, and I created my own hand-lettered font.  I can't explain how much fun I had doing this; I really enjoyed creating a whole new brand identity for myself!

So, new logo in hand, I set up my new Etsy Shop, along with social media accounts, and launched my new project on 6th April... I was absolutely terrified that no-one would be interested!  But, you know what, it's been great so far!  Lots of interest - and so much support from my small business buddies.  I am so grateful to everyone who's supported me so far; and I hope that I'll now be able to develop the types of support I can offer to other small businesses under this new brand.

I've already been asked about running workshops as far afield as Glasgow and Cornwall; which is super-exciting - a little tour of the UK is definitely on the cards!  I'm also looking at expanding on the workshops I can offer - perhaps looking at some social media topics too.  Working under a brand name also opens up the scope of working collaboratively with other people, which is pretty exciting.  Watch this space!

It's a totally different kettle of fish, launching a business when you know a bit more about what you're doing.  I think it's actually a bit scarier, cos you know what can go wrong!

But, so far, so good... and my next big job is to get my own Make & Flourish website up and running.

To find out more about Make & Flourish, and for lots of handy Etsy tips, find me on Instagram and Facebook; and to see what PDFs and review services are on offer, see my Etsy shop!

I've never been entirely comfortable in front of the camera - my left eye is always too squinty and I invariably look like I have a double chin - so the prospect of needing to update all my social media and website photos was a job I'd been putting off for, well, years.

It struck me recently that the photos on my website don't really look like me any more (it's - fortunately - been years since I had long jet black hair)... and also I have no decent photos of my "new" studio space - despite having been in here for six months now.

When I mentioned this to my good friend (and part-time studio assistant), Katy, she offered to take some photos of me and the studio.  I jumped at the offer - Katy's a really talented wedding and portrait photographer when she's not helping me - and I really love her natural and relaxed style of photography.

The whole experience was actually quite good fun - I didn't quite shake the inevitable awkwardness of having a camera pointed in my face, but we had a laugh... and the results are fabulous, really capturing the feel of my workspace - even the ones of me don't make me cringe too much!  Also, how good am I at gazing into middle distance...?

Katy has also taken some lovely flat lay photos for me to use, featuring various products - I'm so excited to finally have a more cohesive brand image!  Now all I need to do is to actually put them to use, and get all my different selling platforms and social media accounts updated.  The biggest trouble I'm going to have is actually choosing which ones to use!

Last week I travelled down to Etsy's London HQ to take part in a training session to become one of the first Etsy Educators in the world!

Alongside eight other experienced sellers from around the UK, the concept of Etsy Educators was explained to us, and we were tasked to set up a workshop for brand new Etsy sellers in October.

Our brief was pretty flexible - we all get to choose the location, duration and format of our session - which was really helpful.  It's a trial, to see if this is something that can be rolled out further in the UK - and also in other countries.

So, throughout next month will be a series of workshops throughout the UK, if you are interested in opening a brand new Etsy shopfront then hopefully there will be one to suit you.

My own event will be in Liverpool on 21st October.  It's a full day session - and will be at one of my favourite venues, HUS, who will be making us lunch too!  For more details click here.

If Liverpool's no good for you then here are some more sessions throughout the UK:

• Rose of Luna Harkin Co has organised a series of afternoon workshop sessions running through October, in Leeds.
• If you're in South Wales, Sarah-Jane of Fragment Designs is holding a day-long workshop on Saturday 7th October.
• Also on 7th October, in Oxfordshire, is a daytime session by Christina from Christina Made It.
• Claire of Claireabellemakes is also putting on a full day workshop on Saturday 14th October in Cambridge.
• Jilly from Jilly Jilly Design is hosting a full day workshop in Dundee on Sunday 22nd October.

And if none of these locations suit you then worry not - there's another couple of options for you:

• Rachel from The Dorothy Days is hosting a webinar to take you through the process of setting up your Etsy shop in a month.
• Similarly, queen of biscuits Nikki McWilliams has gone for the online approach - you can enrol here.
  

We are all really excited about getting started as Etsy Educators - and getting lots more fab Etsy sellers on board!

On Saturday 12th August the Merseyside Etsy Team (which I'm honoured to be the Captain of), undertook our first ever Photo Walk.

We met just after lunch at the Albert Dock, and happily strolled our way round the Pier Head (braving a few showers and a lot of wind), up through the Business District (where the sun thankfully put in an appearance), through town to the Georgian Quarter and then on to Chinatown, finishing in Baltic Triangle.  We deviated from our original plan, as we'd slightly underestimated how long it'd take 25 people to walk through town on a busy Saturday afternoon!

Along the way we stopped to look at all sorts of landmarks - and our amazing Team Leaders had all prepared a bit of information about some of the highlights.  We learned about the workhorse statue and the Engineers' Monument on the Pier Head, the missing Banksy on Chapel Street and we had an especially informative presentation (with laminated sheets, no less!) at the Chinese Arch.  The highlight had to be, in the grounds of Our Lady and St Nicholas church, another tour group attaching themselves to our little presentation - all credit to Kerri, who carried on regardless!

Spending a Saturday afternoon surrounded by fellow Etsians was really lovely; wandering, chatting, discovering new things and getting to know everyone that little bit better.  All while getting some extra steps in too!

Here are a few of my photos, but to see many more check #merseyetsyphotowalk on Instagram.  To see photos from the other Etsy Teams who took part in walks on the same day, see #etsyphotowalk.

We are already in full planning mode, hoping to extend our adventures to locations further afield - but still within Merseyside.  Watch this space!

I'll be writing another blog really soon all about my Etsy Team - and how brilliant it is - but in the meantime, if you are looking for your local Etsy Team, here's a handy list of active teams throughout the UK, courtesy of my friend and fellow Team Captain, Joanne Hawker.

Pretty much every small business owner I’ve ever met has the propensity to work way too hard, and finds it near-impossible to switch off.  It's one of the reasons we're successful at what we do; it's one of the reasons we can suffer from burnout too.
 
Running a small creative business it can be super-difficult to draw the line between work and leisure, specially when you love drawing/sewing/knitting, or whatever it is you do.  But it is so important to switch off completely every now and then.
 
I’m no exception; and despite choosing to do what I do so that I have the ultimate control over the way I spend my time, it can be all-consuming, especially at busy times of the year.  I make no secret of the fact that I’ve struggled with bouts of stress and anxiety at various points throughout my adult life, but I have worked hard to work out coping strategies for myself.
 
Drawing is genuinely really relaxing for me – which is pretty lucky.  However it is still work – and, to be totally honest, I don’t get that much time to spend drawing in a normal week.  I’m working hard on carving out time each week to draw, but admin and general “stuff” does take so much time it can be difficult.
 
So, here are my six top activities for relaxation.  Handily most of them are super-simple; I can do a lot of them without much preparation, and it’s easy enough to fit one or two in most days:

Swimming
I’ve loved swimming since I was a child.  I used to swim – fairly badly – for a local swimming club.I don’t swim as much as I should these days, but during the summer I try to get down to Liverpool Watersports Centre for a dip in the docks at least once a week.  I first tried open water swimming last summer, and was instantly hooked.  I hate swimming in a wetsuit, and I don’t much like putting my head into the salt water, but I do get a huge amount of enjoyment from tootling round the docks, taking in the gorgeous view of the iconic Liverpool skyline.  45 minutes of no internet access does me a lot of good.

Yoga
I did Pilates for years – first introduced to it by a friend when I lived up in East Lancashire – I though that yoga just wasn’t for me, it was all a bit airy fairy.  Well, Louise at White Wolf put paid to that theory, and I started doing yoga regularly with her about two and a half years ago.  I still go a few times a week, my current regular yoga haunt is Yogacita, for convenience; but I get over to White Wolf when I can – and I’m off to India in November with the White Wolf lot too.  Again it’s a full hour of not checking my phone – it’s so good for the soul.

Cooking
I’ve always loved cooking, but over the past three years it’s become more and more important to me.  After years of health issues I realised that what I eat actually made a real difference to my wellbeing; I mostly eat a plant based diet these days – and I absolutely love experimenting with food and adapting recipes.  I feel so much healthier for it, and I find that I can lose myself in cooking for hours when I have time.  I love preparing food for the whole week on a Sunday afternoon, making sure I am super-organised for the week ahead.  I reckon if I’d not been an illustrator I’d have become a vegetarian chef.  There’s still time…

Walking
I got a Fitbit a few months ago and discovered the pleasure of walking.  It’s great. Spurred on by a little group of small business friends we are all making huge strides in getting fit and meeting our daily step targets.  Walking in the park is a complete pleasure when it’s sunny, and it’s not so bad even when it’s a bit grey too!  I’ve found myself wandering around lots of different places, some really close to my house – that I’d never been before.  It’s ace what you can discover when you go exploring!

TV
Watching TV doesn’t always work as a relaxation strategy for me – my mind can often be really busy and it can wander – before I know what I’m doing something else and the TV is just background noise.  But my guiltiest of pleasures is Coronation Street – I find it so easy to switch off that noisy brain, put my phone in another room, and watch an episode or two of Corrie.  Yep, I know it’s a bit naff, but I blooming love it!

Reading
Again, there are times that I really struggle to keep my concentration on reading, but if I run a bath – ideally with something nice from Lush in it – and get in there with my Kindle I can generally while away half an hour or so.  I really enjoy reading books which aren’t too complicated – my main requirements from a book are that it has to be set in the current day (or at least partially) and there can’t be anything supernatural or magical in it.  Specific, huh?I love a bit of crime or mystery, even a bit of tragedy – my favourite authors include Jonathan Harvey, Emily Barr and Dorothy Koomson.
 
Nearly all of these activities involve me not being able to keep checking my phone – which is pretty telling!  Cutting down on screen time is something I definitely need to work on.
 
How do you find time to relax, and what do you do?

So, you've made the decision... you want to move your business out of your home (read more about when I made that decision here).  Now the fun starts... you can look around some workspaces.  But how on earth do you decide which one is - or isn't - right for you?

Here is a whole heap of things you might want to consider when you've had a look at a potential workspace.  I'd always recommend taking someone you trust along with you too - they might be more critical and spot things you don't!  Gut feeling is important - and don't ignore that - but you also need to take into account some practical considerations:
 
Access
This is your number one concern - can you get there?  I'm super-lucky, I live a ten minute walk from the thriving Baltic Triangle in Liverpool, where there are so many options for studio and office space.  It may be you're in an area where there are less options, but do your research - chat to other creatives (join an Etsy team perhaps), check out listing sites (try Gumtree as well as local arts-based websites) and look out for local creative Facebook groups too.

• Is it easy to get to from your home?
• Is there suitable parking and/or public transport?  Are there any parking restrictions?
• Do you know anyone else in the area?
• Are there any access restrictions or can you come and go 24/7?
• Will deliveries or postal collections be an issue?
• Is there a lift (if it’s upstairs)?  Who else uses this lift?
• Is the entrance safe, well lit etc?  Will you feel safe letting yourself in in the dark?

 
Money
Rent varies throughout the country - I'd make sure you've looked at a few different options if possible, to make sure you are being charged a fair amount for your rent.  It's probably the number one reason why people put off moving into a studio space - your rent has to be affordable for you, even at quieter times of the year, otherwise you will just be stressing about paying it each month.

• Is the rent affordable?  Think about if your profit goes down at all, is it still affordable?
• Does it include any bills (internet, gas, electricity etc)?
• Is it a fixed term contract?  Are you able to terminate the contract if you need to?  How much notice do you need to give?
• You may need to get legal advice before signing a binding contract.  How much is this going to cost?
• Do you need your own insurance or is this included?  Get an insurance quote if necessary.
• Are consumables like toilet paper, hand soap, bin bags included?
• Is there a kitty for milk, teabags etc?
• What extra furniture will you need to buy to make it workable?
• How much will it cost to move there?  Will you need to hire a van or pay anyone to help?

 
The Space
There's no point moving into a space that you won't fit into - it's just going to cause you stress and will probably not last long.  Make sure that the basic space is adequate and that it is suitable for the forseeable future - moving is a stressful business!

• Is there enough space for all your equipment and stock?
• Is it secure?  If not can you add any extra security?
• Is there heating?  Try and visit on a colder day and spend a bit of time there to check how the temperature is.
• Is there a window (if you are a hot person like me)?  Likewise, try and visit on a sunny day – what’s the temperature like?
• Is it suitable for what you do (eg is there ventilation?)
• What are the arrangements for postal deliveries and collections?
• Would you be able to expand in the future?

 
Light and Power
Daylight is super-important to me.  I didn't realise until I'd spend three years in a space with no natural light, getting gradually grumpier and grumpier.  If you are out and about going to meetings and visiting clients it may not be so important to you, but it's worth considering.

• Is there daylight?
• If not, are there enough lights, or will you able to light the space adequately?
• Will you need to supply blinds or window coverings yourself?
• Have you been to have a look when it’s dark too?
• Are there enough power points?
• Are the sockets in the right place for you?

 
Noise
I'm pretty sensitive to noise - but other people like a bit of chatter going on around them.  Have a think about your own tolerance and what you can and can't put up with.  There's nothing worse than being in a space you struggle to work in because of your neighbour's noisy power tools.

• Can you make a noise if you need to (meetings, chatting, machinery etc)?
• Is there anyone else likely to be making a noise in the vicinity?
• Do you have privacy for making phone calls if necessary?
• Can you play your own music if you want to?

 
Facilities
Sometimes it's easy to overlook really obvious things; make sure you are happy with the toilet arrangements in particular, specially if you are going to be spending all day at work!

• What’s the bin situation?
• Are there recycling facilities?
• What are the toilet arrangements?
• Do you have access to a kitchen (is there a microwave, kettle, toaster etc)?
• Is there a private meeting area?  Who else uses this, and how is it booked?
• What is the wi-fi like?  Ask other residents, is it reliable?  Is it fast enough?  Take your laptop and give it a go?

 
People
I've always worked in spaces which are - at least in part - shared.  It works well for me as I like to have a bit of company from time to time.  However you might decide you need privacy and you don't want to share your space... it's worth looking at both options before you make a decision.

• Is there a communal area?
• Who are you sharing with?
• Have you met them?  Do you like them?
• Do they work similar hours to you?  What do they do?
• Would you still be okay if the people you share with changes over time?
• Do you have friends nearby that you can meet for lunch if you wanted to?

 
Landlord
Having a good relationship with your landlord is really important.  I prefer a landlord to be pretty hands-on and present, so you can ask them about niggly things as and when they arise.

• Is the landlord on site?
• How has communication with the landlord been so far? Are they easy to get hold of?
• Does the landlord seem proactive?  Are they listening to your questions?
• Do you like the landlord?

So that's the kind of think I'd look at - and so far I've been really lucky and have had largely good experiences with my workspaces.  There's definitely that added element of "does it feel right?" - very much like when you buy a house.

Is there anything else you'd recommend looking out for when you've been looking for a studio space?

Moving out of my house into a shared studio was one of the best things I did – for my sanity and my business.  It shifted my work-life balance and made everything work much better for me.
 
Until I gave up my day job it made perfect sense to work from home.  It was cost-efficient and saved me time in commuting.
 
However once I’d taken the plunge and was doing this thing full-time it became apparent that there were a few massive down-sides to this arrangement.
 
Firstly, I was lonely as hell.  I live on my own, and I was going for days without seeing anyone.  The lady in the post office really doesn’t count (although by the end of my first month working from home, she knew all about me).  When I did see people I’d do this crazy jabbering thing, talking about a million miles an hour.  It’d take people a good half an hour to get a word in edgeways.  One of my main reasons for keeping the day job for so long was because I know I’d miss having human company!
 
Secondly, I wasn’t getting any exercise.  At all.  It’s easy to forget about the kind of incidental exercise you get simply by walking around an office, or from your car to your desk, in a day job.  I was literally opening my bedroom door and walking ten steps to my desk.  I’d have a trip to the Post Office most days, but I found a Post Office with parking right outside – those sacks are heavy, and I didn’t fancy lugging them down the street.  I put on so much weight in those first few months.
 
Thirdly, I was working ALL THE TIME.  Like from 7 or 8am until 10pm every night.  There was no cut off.  And if I did decide to finish at 6pm, it was only too easy to nip back into the studio to look at something, and realise three hours later that I’d accidentally started working again.
 
Finally, I didn’t have an actual spare room as it was full of my work stuff (the bed had been moved out of there a few years previously to make more space for shelves).  All my immediate family live at least a 2.5 hour drive away, so if they were going to come and see me they’d normally stay over, and I could only offer them the sofa.  Which is less than ideal, really.
 
It became apparent after about six weeks that my situation wasn’t working, and something had to change.
 
I’m often asked “when do you know it’s the right time to get a studio?” - I think that anyone asking that question is close to knowing it’s the right time!  If you’ve thought about it, you’ve maybe done a bit of research, and you’re weighing up the pros and cons, then you’re ready to move.

Once I’d made the decision it was pretty straightforward, and I was lucky enough to find a nearby shared studio that was reasonably-priced - I’ve written more about finding the studio space that's right for you here.
 
Whether it’s to give you extra space, to create separation from work, give yourself a routine, or simply to have some human company, it is a big decision.  But – in my opinion – it’s absolutely worth the hassle of moving everything, coupled with the extra expense of renting another space.  It made me so much more productive.  No more doing the washing up in the middle of the morning, no more friends popping round for an unannounced cup of tea, and absolutely HAVING to get dressed every day!

Are you struggling with knowing when to make the move?  Or have you recently taken the plunge?  I'd love to hear your experiences!

Before I write any more blog posts I really should contextualise everything.
 
After I graduated from Liverpool John Moores in 2002 I was a bit disillusioned by the whole creative world.  The internet wasn’t really a thing, and career options seemed to be either working in a flashy graphics agency (not my scene) or freelance illustration, which seemed scarier and more precarious than I wanted to contemplate.
 
I decided that money was the most important thing.  I embarked on a graduate training scheme for a national pub company, and was a pub manager for a number of years.  There were some fun times, some less fun times, and some really crappy times.  My mental and physical health really suffered.  Smoking and drinking at that time was very much part of the job description.  I worked a hell of a lot of hours - and it was extremely hard work. I can never understand anyone who says they want to retire to go and run a pub!

Anyway, in 2009 everything changed quite suddenly.  I ended up working in Housing Association Call Centre – initially as a temporary three month contract.  Turns out I quite liked it.  I made friends, the hours suited me – I was doing 35 hours a week instead of 70+ hours a week – and I was actually quite interested in housing.  I ended up doing a bit of voluntary work with a few homeless shelters, and even did a secondment as a Homeless Prevention Support Worker.  These were good times.
 
However, soon after my big life change I realised I had a whole heap of extra time on my hands.  Effectively, when I’d been running the pub, I’d been working the same as if I had two full time jobs.
 
I’d not drawn anything for years, and hadn’t really given it a second though.  But with my new found free time I went up to visit my mum and young sister in Cumbria for the weekend.  My sister was doing some art homework and I sat down next to her and picked up a pencil…
 
A few months later I’d dusted off my watercolour paints and had drawn a few things at home; the most noteable being a black and white ink drawing of the front of my house.  I loved working on the brickwork detail – it was so calming, almost meditative, to draw.  I did a few more houses, a friend who lived on the same street, his parents… and then it became a bit of an obsession.  I’d take photos of all my friends’ houses when visiting, and a few weeks later they’d get a little painting through the post.  Before long it became apparent that people liked my little paintings, and what’s more, they were willing to pay me to draw them!

Still working in the call centre, I’d happily offer to do overtime shifts at weekends, and I’d smuggle my paints in.  I’d be happily painting little dinosaurs while discussing rent arrears or arranging boiler repairs.  My colleagues saw what I was up to and were so supportive – they started asking me to draw things for them too, and before long it was becoming a good little sideline.  I should mention at this point that I did get into a bit of trouble by the time I got caught painting away in work.  Ah well.  By that point the seed had already been sown.
 
I started doing a few little craft fairs here and there, selling greetings cards and prints, and was having some success.  In May 2011 I went a step further and set up an Etsy shop.  It was great, I got a few orders a week, and I was really happy balancing my job with my part time business.
 
In January 2012 I opened my notonthehighstreet.com shopfront.  It was a big step up from only selling on Etsy, and by this time I was getting a few orders a day.  My Cheese Alphabet was proving really popular, and I started to expand on my range of “off the shelf” artwork, as I realised this was more time-effective than working on bespoke artwork.

28th April 2012 was the first really big milestone in my business journey.  I’d drawn a family friend’s parents’ house as a wedding anniversary gift.  The recipients were so delighted by it that they wrote to the Guardian and I was featured in the Guardian Weekend supplement.  Things went a bit crazy and I was deluged by emails about House Portrait commissions.  It was so unexpected.  I’d just started a secondment as a support worker in my day job, and was really struggling to juggle both – my evenings and weekends were taken up replying to emails, packing orders and frantically painting!  It was a stressful but really exciting period.

Christmas 2013 was mayhem.  At the time I was working Sunday evenings in the call centre until 10.30pm, and then back in at 10am the next day.  I didn’t get a lot of sleep on Sunday nights, rushing home to pack orders and then making sure I was first in the Post Office queue the next morning.  Sunday evenings are always a busy time for online orders; this shift pattern was a bit of a disaster for me.
 
In between Christmas and New Year I started thinking about the forthcoming Valentine’s Day.  I came up with what I thought was a fairly funny greetings card idea.  I posted a photo of in on Facebook and it got a great reaction.  Good stuff, I thought, I might sell a few of them…

Fast forward to late January and I was getting 50-60 orders a day for Cheesy Valentine’s Cards.  It was incredible.  I was managing, but only just.  On 31st January I woke up to a full inbox – bulging with new notonthehighstreet.com orders.  I was working from the spare room in my house at this time, and I padded through to my computer in my pyjamas and started work.  The orders kept coming.  And coming.  I’d never seen anything like it.  By teatime I’d had 400-odd orders, and I’d run out of envelopes, card and delivery note sheets.  I did an SOS call to my friend Michael who managed to pick up some new delivery note sheets for me, and I just kept packing.  My spare room was so full I had to store the full mail sacks in my bedroom.  I distinctly remember at one point becoming so overwhelmed by it all I was sobbing actual tears – while still packing of course!
 
By the end of that day I’d had a record 565 orders through notonthehighstreet.com.  It turned out they’d shared a link to the Cheesy Card on their Facebook page and it had gone viral.  The following weeks the sales continued – looking back now it’s a blur of sheer exhaustion, with not enough food or sleep, being held together by the unwavering support of my amazing friends.  They were coming to help me in shifts – two in the morning and two in the afternoon.  We sat and folded and packed in my little spare room, and there are small parts of that time that I remember being really lovely.  But mostly – if I’m honest – I just remember the sheer exhaustion.
 
On 9th February 2014 I became an auntie for the first time.  I was such an exhausted mess, I got the phone call, cried A LOT, but then got on with packing Valentine’s cards.
 
I handed in my notice to the call centre the next day, and on 10th March 2014 I became a full-time illustrator.