Karen Gets Ready (part 1 of 3)
Welcome (back) to my stagnant blog! I’m sharing today the first of a three-part series about some action I’ve taken recently to fortify my business. As a miniature business, I teach and lecture about quilting, and sell quilting patterns. Sounds innocuous, huh? But this work is the sole income for my and my family so I have to take it seriously. I’ve recently leveled up and started taking some action to protect my business, and I want to share about it with you with two goals: to share some of the behind-the scenes of my business (it’s not all quilts all the time!), and to perhaps help you if you are considering some of these tasks to fortify your own business. Today I’m sharing about what led me to this plan, and my first step (digital security). My next two posts will be my second step (quilt appraisals), and my third step (copyright). These topics may seem a little dry for a quilting business, but I hope I can make them as interesting as can be!
What if something happens?
All of of last year I was feeling acutely aware of the fact that I am in charge of my business; and that means if anything (bad) happens to me, something (bad) can happen to my business. I was dealing with an injury to my hip that progressed through the year and resulted in a surgery for repair in November. Also toward the end of the year, I took an online business development class to help me reinvigorate my priorities and plan my next steps. Also at the same time I saw a grant opportunity from CERF+ for a Get Ready Grant, funding to help with emergency preparedness.
The Whole Enchilada
The business development class I took was called The Whole Enchilada, taught by Agni Hogaboom. The essence of the class is summed up in the phrase they use: “ethical artpreneur.” I wanted to reevaluate my business direction and make sure that I stay true to the goals and values of my art business. With Agni’s guidance, a small cohort of art entrepreneurs (artpreneurs) worked on our respective business plans. I t was a good time for me to refocus on my vision and chart a path forward. I will share more about what those next steps will look like, but in the meantime I want to share the mission and vision I’m working with right now. It has helped me over the past almost-year since the class to clarify these guiding principles and to review them as I make decisions:
My Mission
As a teacher, my mission is to guide students beyond their comfort zones to new levels of confidence, enjoyment, creativity, and skill.
What I do: teach quilting classes, lecture about quilts, and sell quilting patterns
Who I serve: intrepid quilters who want to increase skills, depth, and fun in their quilting process
Why I do it: because it’s about time we feel this way
My Vision
Experimentation leads to self-acceptance and personal growth, which leads to compassion to self and others, and inevitably world peace.
The Get Ready Grant
So what does this all have to do with getting ready? When I started my quilt teaching and pattern business, I wasn’t thinking too much about a long-term plan, just that I wanted to do this because it was more fulfilling than my engineering career had been. As a sole proprietor of a miniature business, I am solely responsible for the success (and failure) of my venture, and that has ended up feeling pretty serious! What if something happens to me or my quilts? I hadn’t done a lot of investment (self-funded startup, here!) into backup plans or business security and longevity. One aspect of the business plan I developed in the Whole Enchilada was a risk assessment. It so happened to also be a prerequisite for the Get Ready Grant I saw offered from CERF+. CERF+ is a nonprofit organization, the Craft Emergency Relief Fund, dedicated to helping artists prepare from and recover from emergencies. The Get Ready Grants (with the next round of applications open now through October 24, 2024) “provide up to $1,000 to individual artists working in craft disciplines to carry out activities that will help secure their studios, protect their businesses, plan their legacies, and prepare for emergencies.”
As a business, it’s important to identify and understand your risks so you can take action to address them. That is what the grant is about too! I applied for the grant and got it.
The Risk Assessment
I completed a risk assessment, using guidance from CERF+ and my experience doing risk assessments as a civil engineer. I identified nine business assets and evaluated their vulnerability to 11 threats, the protective measures I already have in place, and the protective measures I need (and their cost) to improve my business resilience. The threats I evaluated are: power outage, fire loss, fire damage, storm, leaky roof, tree falling, theft, car failure, my health, family health, earthquake. After looking at all of that, I was feeling both terrified (so many things could go wrong!) and empowered (I could actually do some things to protect myself!).
The Grant Proposal
While there are many things I could do better, I identified the activities I could do with the $500 grant being offered. I prioritized three areas of action: my quilts, my digital resources, and my intellectual property.
To start, I inventoried my quilts and estimated the value of my quilts. The biggest threats to my quilts at home are fire and theft, and they are threatened by loss, damage, or theft while traveling with me or being shipped to exhibitions. I proposed spending some of the grant money to get some of my quilts appraised to better protect my financial recovery if anything happens to my quilts.
My digital resources are at risk from damage to my phone and/or computer following a fire, natural disaster, malware, or theft. I proposed spending some of the grant funds to subscribe to a secure automatic cloud backup service for my computer records, and cloud storage for my phone.
My intellectual property (my patterns and publications) are at risk from theft. I proposed using the remaining grant funds to copyright my (then) four existing quilt patterns plus a group of blog posts that include tutorials written by me.
To continue the benefits of the grant, I said I would continue to include these tasks in my budget in the future.
Part 1: Protect my digital resources
First, I want to share what I did to improve the protection of my digital resources. This was the simplest of all my grant tasks, and I completed it right away.
I subscribed to iCloud to back up photos of my quilts from my phone. I take a lot of pictures of my quilts (and others, at shows and such). Like a lot of quilters, my phone is full of pictures of quilts and not much else. It’s just a big colorful mess, interspersed with oceans (whenever I visit the beach) and every cat I meet. I resisted purchasing extra storage for so long, to the point that some of my closer friends will recall my frustration as I kept having to delete photos to make room for new ones.
Documenting my work in progress has been important for me to keep a record, but also to review my techniques to share with others in tutorials and classes. One of my future business goals is to offer more video content, and I was completely unable to use my phone for video because it was always full. Now, I’m paying monthly for 200GB of storage and I can take and store all the photos I need for my progress, tutorials, and finished quilts. The choice to go with iCloud was one of convenience; my iPhone made it easy to get set up and I don’t have to do anything to keep it going (they like it that way, I’m sure, now I’m beholden!). For $2.99 per month, this is a “low hanging fruit” solution that protects my current assets and enables me to make more value in the future.
I also subscribed to a backup solution for my computer. I normally keep my computer at home to use at my desk, but I also take it with me to travel to guild presentations, enabling me to work remotely when I am not engaged otherwise. I use Google Drive for some of my work, but store other data on my computer hard drive, including all of my raw quilt pattern graphics and a lot of photos. The loss of my computer would be catastrophic, so I needed to protect it.
I chose to use IDrive backup for my computer. It backs everything up automatically every day, and I can remotely access my files, or request a physical copy if something happens to make my computer unusable. I compared a few different options for different cloud backup services, and I liked what I saw with IDrive: a balance between price, storage, and ease of use. It is easy to change plans in the future if I need to (for more data or less). Plus, I found an introductory offer for a discount on my first year (search online to see if you can find one too; the one I used is not active any more). Fortunately, I haven’t had to use it yet to recover any files; this service is functioning as peace-of-mind for me, especially as I do more travel this year than last.
The two digital resource protections are in place. Although they were quite a small portion of my grant expenses, I have a greater sense of business security knowing they are in place. Check back soon for my next post. Part 2: Protect my quilts is all about my quilt appraisal experience.
Do you use any cloud backup services? Share any tips or observations in the comments.
