Give Your Business An Identity With The Public

Giving your business an identity with the public is extremely important for many reasons. I will break them down here for you Today and give you easy ways to cordinate your branding in my next post! So stay tuned in!

 Branding is really at the core of giving your business an identity, a face with the public. It is your logo, symbol, and or brand name that people can and will recognize and follow when they appreciate, invest, and share what your company offers.

Think of any and every product you personally invest in, from gas to garbage bags, cupcakes to cars, fast food to financial instatuitions. You recognize them by there branding whereever you are.

So, does your small business have a consistent identity that your followers could quickly recognize? Well, it should! In todays economy people are wanting to get the most for their money and are definitely shopping around. What does branding have to do with this? Let me tell you...

1. Branding helps the public quickly recognizeable your product and will relate your logo with either great or poor quality products. It helps them make a split secant decision to stop and browse your products or keep moving on.

2. Because they will relate your logo and brand name with good or poor quality products, before they even know what you offer, you want a quality brand name and logo, duh!

3. Consistant and professional branding, including but not limited to - your business cards, online store, blog, and fan pages makes you look reliable and gives the public a reassurance that you care about the quality of what you offer. It creates a confidence in your products.

4. A consistent identity will allow the public to recognize your products/stores and any official web pages, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook fan pages and more and tell them apart from knock-offs and unofficial associations.

ETSY Shop Banner

Twitter Background

Pro Personal Pic

Facebook Banner

Button and Advert

Special Promo Flyer (Front)

Special Promo (Back)

Business Cards

Business Slow? Don't Give Up!

Do not dispare my fellow small business folk! I am writing this post to strike hope into the hearts of all of you who are just inches away from giving up. I know that following your dreams can be hard, especially in this economy. No, I don't have any magic formula or guaranteed way to start making you millions today..but if anyone out there has one please leave it in a comment!

I am only here today to say "I know how you feel". I started my business at the 1st of the year. I mean literally January 1st. It was my goal for the year to start a successful business that would generate me a full time income, doing what I love, ART! I have a business degree, the know how, some experience..it will be a snap! Or so I thought. Months go by, like 7 of them and the only sales I've made are to my family members. God bless um'. But that simply was not what all I had in mind for my business.

So after a while of being completely disappointed and nearly abandoning my ETSY Shop altogether. *ah ahh ahhh, Angels singing* I happened to be cleaning out my abandoned email and I see it. Congratulations On Your First Sale! What?!? I can't tell you the excitement and re-established motivation I had.

I contact the lady, seeing as it had been a few days, and 2 stock orders turned into 4 custom orders. Wow! Not to mention the much needed compliments and belief that this woman has that I will one day be a well known artist.

God doesn't stop there. Just to show me he's been listening and that his hand of blessing is on me, the very next morning I receive a text from a customer who wants me to paint a custom mural in his back yard. If you feel that you are on the path God has lead you to, be patient, the blessing will come in due time. Keep praying and see what The Lord is teaching you in your time of drought. For me I knew even when it was happening he was teaching me patience and perseverance. Most of all , don't give up!

The Price Is Right and TheBump.com

I went to my first TV show tapering on Monday, now I can mark that one off the bucket list. A friend and I went to The Price Is Right together for their baby bump special in conjunction with TheBump.com. All the prizes given away that day were baby oriented. From diapers n' wipes to maternity clothes to an entire nursery, and of course cars cars and more cars!

The Experiance:
Let me start by letting you know tht if you want to attend the tapering of a game show, plan on it being an all day event with a lot of hurry up and wait. We arrived two hours prior to the entrance time of 8:30 to get in line outside the studio gates. At 8:30 they began allowing entrance to the studio where we waited in line again, with seating thankfully, where CBS employes checked everyone's ID's and social security cards. You have to bring this information for contestant eligibility and tax purposes. You finish processing through this line by takeing a green screen picture that can be purchased as a souvenir. Around the corner, another line! You wait here for your 30 second interview done in groups of about 10-12 people at a time. This is your chance to make a big impression quick, because this is when they are picking the contestants that will be called up to compete. After the interview you turn another corner and...you guessed it, another line. Here again there is seating like in all the other holding areas but also tv's where they play clips of the show for your entertainment and to get you excited. Finally, it's time to enter the show! The studio was much smaller in person with lots of moving sets on stage. They like to keep the energy high and make sure you are yelling and clapping the entire two hour tapering. I was half horse by the end but had fun none the less. Drew Carey is very funny as well as the announcer! George Gray. We got mini comedy shows during commercial breaks, that was a fun freebie. Although neither myself or my friend got to be a contestant no one walked away empty handed thanks to TheBump.com and affiliates who gave everyone in the audience a $300 gift bag. All together it was 6 hours of waiting and 2 hours of tapeing. My body was aching by the end of the day and all the next. I will definitely do it again, I plan on hitting up the talk shows around Christmas and getting in on those awesome giveaways.

GIFT BAG 

BABY SWADDLER

I'm Pregnant!

I thought I would give you ladies and gentlemen the 411. It's official, I am 12 weeks pregnant! It has been a particularly hard pregnancy, especially in comparison to the first two. I have had the full gamet of fun symptoms, to the MAX. Thankfully it should start calming down in about 2 weeks. Not to make excuses but this is partly why my post and communications have been somewhat in consistent. However, summer is here and school is out, my son is on vacay and I plan on takeing full advantage of being able to catch up with y'all and my work.

I am glad to be sharing in my joy with everyone. We were not exactly sure how far along I was for a couple reasons. I had an IUD for over for four years and no menstral cycle for over two years. On April 8th I discovered my IUD was no longer in place..very strange for an IUD to discharge after so long. So we decided to use alternate birth control until closer to the end of the year when we would be ready to start trying for a baby. This would give my body time to adjust and get our home buying situation in place, ect. God seemed to have other plans. Oh, and by the way I don't think you can trust the contraception or pregnancy test from the dollar store,lol. By May 7th I had a positive pregnancy test. My husband happened to be flying out on a family emergency that day so not much time to celebrate..in fact I was scared to death.

I thought I would be happy. I should be right? I wanted us to have a baby...but the reality of now raising 3 children set in hard. Not sure if I was capable, worried about the damage to my body and more. I was overwhelmed. On top of all that the week he got back all the pukeing and cramping and everything started. I was sure this child was going to kill me and it was so hard to be happy.

My husband and I had our first appointment on Monday. I am happy to say everything is just fine. We got to see our lil' squirt and I was filled with a renewed joy for our growing family. I was suprised to see a whole baby, not just a little tad pole. We are calling the baby Forrest right now because he/she was in there running at full sprint! Those lil' arms and legs were goin 90 to nuthin'.

Challenge Update

On Monday, I set a challenge to myself and all of you to keep a log or mental note of the negative self-thoughts that pop into your head throughout this week. I called it our Stop Being So Negative Challenge .  If you missed the post it’s never to late to get on bored.  For now it’s time to review what we kept track of this week.

copyright Sheanna Marie

Here’s My List:

I’m not accomplishing enough

I’m overwhelmed

I just don’t have the energy

I’m not motivated

Who cares anyway

I can’t do this

These were my negative thoughts for the week. Pretty much the same ole’ things I’ve been hearing in my head the past few months. I sat down and prayed about this list today and said “God, what do I need to learn from this?” His response to me was simple, Philippians 4:13 I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me.

Please join the conversation through the comments button at the bottom of the post and let’s stand strong together. 

The "Quit Being So Negative" Challenge

Identity by Sheanna Marie

During a recent Bible study class I came across a quote in our study book Basic Training for the Prophetic Ministry by Kris Vallotton. This quote has inspired the discussion for today and challenge for this week.

For a little background info:

The past six months I have spent launching my business. I have been going full force with no other income and no other hobbies or jobs. At six months in, as you could guess, I’m not a millionaire mogul, yet. As a person with a history of instant gratification, being a spoiled only child, and impatient to say the least; I started to really get down on myself and question my abilities and worth as an artist and entrepreneur.  I was becoming unmotivated and deeply negative about every aspect of my life, concentrating only on what wasn’t happening and what wasn’t going right.

Here is what I learned:

“You did not paint yourself, God painted you. Not only that, but Jesus is the one who sat in the chair and modeled for the [your] portrait. We are created in His image and in his likeness. Every time we demean ourselves we are talking badly about the Artist and the Model. “ – Kris Vallotton

WOW!! What a revelation this was to me. How quickly this truth resonated inside of me and began breaking chains immediately. As an artist myself I can totally relate to this. If someone were to be rude and demeaning about one of my paintings it would be offensive to me and the subject in which I had painted. We are all made in God’s image.

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” –Genesis 1:27

So to speak and or believe negative things about ourselves is to speak and believe negative things about our God.

So the next time you catch yourself saying something negative about yourself or anyone for that matter, take the thought captive and ask yourself again in this format..

EX: “I’m stupid and can’t do anything right”

STOP

“Do I believe God is stupid and can’t do anything right?”

I suspect that you will find that you are speaking a lie about yourself. Much of our thinking and behavior problems come from a problem in what we believe about our God.

I encourage you all to take a challenge with me this week. Spend this week keeping track and taking purposeful notice of the negative thoughts that enter your mind, especially about yourself. Consider keeping a journal or note log. At the end of the week look back over these notes and see if there is a common link in the negativity so that we can together begin to figure out what our incorrect beliefs are and begin to guide each other in truth and knowledge.

Guest Post with Katie Price

Hello Everyone! I'm excited to be here to talk with you about one of my favorite things: graphic design. In college, I minored in fine art and quickly learned that having quality supplies makes a big difference. So today, I'd like to share with you what is in my graphic designer's toolbox.

1- MacBook Pro
My Macbook is where it all happens. It is powerful, beautiful, and portable. Do I think you have to have an Apple computer to do graphic design? No. But you do need a powerful computer. Running any of the Adobe Creative Suite programs will use a lot of memory. {And we aren't talking about the "500 gigs of harddrive" some of the cheapy computers come with. That is an entirely different kind of memory.}

2- Photoshop
Photoshop houses both my canvas and my tools. It is where the magic happens. If you are interested in trying your hand at graphic design, I would recommend first starting with the much less expensive Photoshop Elements to see if you like it.

3- Color Picker
You have probably seen the beautiful Design Seeds palettes floating around Pinterest. But how do you take those colors and use them in your designs? By having a color picker tool that reads the color & outputs it as a HEX value that you can use in Photoshop or on the web.

4- Google Web Fonts
Free is good. Google has a collection of fonts that are completely free for personal and commercial use. As a designer I can't just use any font out there, it has to be commercial use ok. GWF is helping to bridge that gap between beautiful fonts & free fonts.

5- Bamboo Tablet
The Bamboo Tablet allows me to sketch or draw straight into Photoshop or Illustrator. There is definitely a learning curve to getting familiar with using a digital canvas, but the tablet is extremely helpful when I am trying to make organic shapes or trace edges.

I hope that gave you a little peek into the tools I use everyday! Please come visit my blog where today Sheanna is giving away a special print!

blog | studio | pinterest | twitter | facebook

Tuesday Tango, Connect and Spread Your Influence

The Tuesday Tango is a multiple link-up post for everyone to meet new people and grow your audience. There will be four link-ups you can add your link to - Twitter, Facebook, Hello Cotton and Bloglovin. All you have to do is follow the host(s) for that week and then add whoever else you'd like to! It's that simple.

Host Links:

After Nine To Five | Sheanna Marie | Framed Frosting

Directions:

Follow the host(s)

Add your links to any/all of the link-ups

Add at least 5 people from the link-ups

- - -

Interview With The Artist, Why I Do What I Do

I was recently contacted by a lovely student that had come across my artwork and wanted to write a school report on it and myself. Needless to say I was completely flattered and couldn't wait to oblige. It dawned on me that perhaps all of you would like a bit more insight into why I do what I do. So please enjoy this brief interview I shared with the student, Jasmine.

1.    What influences you to paint the things you do? Why?

I would say 90% of what I paint is what I call ‘prophetic art’. Prophetic art is art that is created from a direct connection with God. I often find while praying and or worshiping in song and dance that God gives me visions/pictures that I can see in my “mind’s eye” that have a specific meaning and truth to them.

The other 10% of my paintings, basic landscapes and such, I paint just to see if I can as well these are the kinds of paintings I teach to my private students who are often beginners.

2. What techniques do you use?

I am what you consider a self-taught artist. I have no formal or college training in art. I actually went to college for business tech/management and entrepreneurship. On that note, when painting, I mostly use acrylic mediums. I try to keep the strokes loose so that they can still be seen in the end product. As well, I often use mediums that enhance the texture of my paintings. I know that when I connect with a piece of artwork I immediately want to reach out and touch it and grasp a deeper connection with it, I want my viewers to do the same.

  3. Is there any important meanings behind your paintings? Do you have   

      any examples?

Yes, of course. Because most of my art is prophetic most   have meanings or stories that accompany them. I love telling a pieces story.

Examples:

Inspiration/Story Behind This Painting- Thine Princess

An expressionism portrait of my daughter, only an older version. Trinity is currently 3 years old but I see how she will blossom into a beautiful Princess of The King. All our daughters are divine beings and should always be reminded of that. This chunky #3 canvas contains the colorful expression portrait of my daughter; only an older version. Trinity is currently 3 years old but I see how she will blossom into a beautiful Princess of The King. All our daughters are divine beings and should always be reminded of that.

Inspiration- Breaking Chains

This started as a very complex vision in comparison to the final product.

My Minds Eye:

With eyes closed during a church service I am listening to people sing, Break Every Chain. I begin to see a vision...

I see thousands of men and women naked & dirty in an open field, bent over & chained to the ground. I also see an army of angels in white radiant suits of armor on the hill over looking the people. The army charges down the hill with swords raised. They rush into the crowed of helpless people and bring their swords down on their chains, shattering them and freeing the people.

Process Of Elimination:

The size of your canvas will have much to do with how much your idea will need to be simplified

What is the main point of this idea?

Being freed from the metaphorical chains by the power of the Lord.

So from that I can decide that one human form will suffice to make the point.

I will need chains.

I will need a sword, which will easily represent a cross as well to represent the spiritual metaphor.

Even the angel itself became something I could eliminate.

I used the swirls of color to also represent the metaphorical emotional & spiritual battle taking place. Doing this also created a focus on the figure, chains, & sword.

4. When did you first start painting?

        

My earliest memory of painting jeeze..I hate when artist say “oh, I   have always been an artist.” But I have fond memories of my finger paints from early childhood, mostly because they felt cool. My earliest memory of a prophetic painting though I have to say I was maybe 5-7 years old. I have only taken myself seriously as an artist over the past 2 years.

                 

5. What colors do you repeatedly use?  Why?

I find that I primarily use brighter more saturated colors and primary tinted tones. Usually, I have an emotion that I feel is represented by a particular color.

6. Do you have any wise words or tips for others who want to paint too?

 

I would say:

#1 experiment and find what mediums and techniques work best for you. Sign up for a couple classes with a local artist or art gallery. There is less commitment than a college course and I have always felt that college courses can reduce art to a technical medium rather than an emotional one.

#2 Paint what you feel, not what may be popular, be truest to yourself before all others. It will pay off in the end.

#3 Don’t under value yourself or your art. If you are not sure if you are any good… walk into your local art galleries and gift shops that feature local artist and ask to have the curator take a look. I have gotten much constructive criticism this way, as well as my art into the gallery. Always get more than one opinion. Art is interpretive and beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

#4 Never Give Up!

Bucket List- Summer 2012

I love the idea of a bucket list, but lets face it; none of us know when this life will come to an end and a list full of long term goals is to easy to put off again and again.  So I’ve decided to do a mini bucket list for the summer. I will share mine with you guys n gals but I highly encourage you to do the same!

The summer can fly by before we know it and how many things do we take for granted all around us? Get online and Google what is going on in your local area and make a list of easily achievable “bucket” items and I promise your whole summer won’t seem to be wasted behind a desk or chillin’ inside watching way to much TV.

SUMMER 2012

Enjoy at least 3 free twilight concert nights at Santa Monica Pier

Take a weekend romantic trip to some where within 4hrs- hello timeshare!

Find the best Lobster available

See a Cirque’ de –Sumthin'

Attend Spirit West Coast in Del Mar- fingers crossed

Go swimming at least once a week

Find a funnel cake! And eat it ALL

Take a train or bus to Santa Barbara Zoo

Sexy & I Know It

Who couldn’t use a boost of confidence and energy? Today I want to share with all the hot momma’s out there my secret on sneaking in a lil’ exercise while having loads of fun.

Step 1:

Turn up the tunes. Crank up the radio, plug in your ipod, or my fav www.pandora.com - free online custom radio stations

Step 2:

Get naked! Or if you prefer a clothed option, let me suggest something a bit scandal’y clad that makes you feel super sexy and confident.

Step 3:

Shake that! Dance!! Move what your momma gave ya, girl.

I tend to take time to do this almost every day. For me the best time to squeeze in nake’ time is after my shower while getting dressed. Maybe you will need to allow for a lil’ extra time in your routine but trust me it is totally worth it!  Confidence is a big fat factor in everything we do. So whether you are about to go out for a night on the town, prepping for a job interview, or just finding the motivation to carry on with the house chores; feeling secretly sexy will boost your outward confidence noticeably.  Plus, the boost your giving your body by (pardon my language) exercising (uggh , I hate that word) will make you feel more awake and energized.

Nightmares & Blessings

We have all had a nightmare or two that sticks with us emotionally when we wake. We awaken to a fast beating heart, fear, anger, and perhaps tears. What can we take from those that stem from our truest, deepest and darkest fears?

I experienced one of these nightmares myself just last night. I awoke with a fright in my heart. I had dreamed my husband confessed unemotionally that he had been unfaithful since even before our marriage.  He was cold and uncaring of my inevitable heartbreak.  He wanted nothing to do with reconciliation and my emotional distress and his indiscretions were all my own to deal with.  My heart broke and I felt my mind crack and I became distraught and murderous.

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP, my phone has a random alarm go off at 3:30-something in the AM and awakens me from this terrible hell. In shock I am fully aware of the epic drama that has just occurred in my head. I know it isn’t true and my husband comforts me. I realize quickly this dream was not about my husband, John, but a horrifying re-living of my previous marriage. I sit up in bed realizing this and it brings me to tears that come from a wound of deep seeded pain and betrayal just as sore as it was the day it was created.

Today I realize that some heart ache’s never heal, to the point that it just doesn’t matter or that it’s like it never happened. True heartbreak and betrayal can never be written off. Why, do I say this? What about forgiveness you ask? Forgiveness can be found and as time passes we move on and the pain is no longer apart of our daily lives, but, if we value our selves we can never say to the depth of our soul that it is ok for someone to treat us so cruelly.

The Face of God by Sheanna Marie

However, today I also realize how truly blessed I am now. How God has lifted me up from the trenches of darkness into a light and love like I have never known before.  We must find the strength to awaken ourselves from the nightmares of life and trust in the goodness of God to lift us up into euphoria.

Psalms 147:3

     He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

2 Corinthians 4:9 
     Persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;

Love (multi-media) by Sheanna Marie

            

Better Blogger Network Now Open

The Better Blogger Network is now open to the public! What is the BBN you ask? Only the most awesome resource for bloggers of all backgrounds. Weather you are new to the blog-o-sphere or a veteran, everyone has some thing to give and too gain. 

What’s The Objective of The BBN? 

As a member let me give you the 411.We are creating a central location on the World Wide Web for bloggers to meet, connect and chat. Through this we can all grow  as better bloggers, faster! 

Meet other bloggers, therefore growing your online connections. 

Take advantage of the unique connections that can be made at BBN and team up with like-minded souls, maybe plan some trade posts and support  each other by trading buttons! 

The possibilities are endless and the set up of the site is conducive to that. 

In closing I would like to say “see ya’ll there”Connect with me at BBN HERE