Another Grand Adventure!
Published On: 11-25-2011 02:06pm
Comments: 0 - Hits: 31
Category: Adventures...
With the new ArtFire group deal in action, we sure have had a big turn out. That was a bit sticky though. You gotta be careful on Social Media these days, you have a lot of "interesting" people you may run into(or chase after you). 
I am the creator of It's Better Handmade! Group on Facebook. It has had it's ups and downs, been through the refiners fire and been tipped upside down in the deep end. But...we are still there. And the members, for the most part are very supportive toward each other, and me(thankfully). Grace is always good when you are in a leadership position and finding yourself oh so very human.
One of the reasons I began the group was to give support to many of the struggling artists who felt very left behind in the jewelry and artisan communities. They lacked guidance and good Ole fashioned know how. I am always one to step in and try to bridge the gap, despite my own short comings. I was working with one of the best Etsy networkers I have ever met. Her sister got very ill and it took her from the group. She stepped down and I raised up several officers. At that very moment, my husband lowered the bomb on me that we had to move in two weeks! EEK! This was mid June 2010.
My business was at an all time high! It was mid summer, even at an industry low time, I was buzzing. That really hurt me, I have to say, and with all the viruses out there that crashed my computer, not once but three times, my business was doomed. But I am very determined..and I had my officers taking care of the some 2,800 members on It's Better Handmade, right? Uh, No!
One of the leading officers couldn't get a hold of me via IM, Email or Phone. Moving took over a week, and she blew a gasket. That caused a chain reaction that almost made the ship sink. I happened to log on finally after a two week lapse(Comcast was absolutely no help) and saw the burning helm! To make a long story short, I had to remove my officer quickly before further damage was done and half of the my crew mutinied with her! You must, must be careful when entrusting your guild or group to officers in your absence. Without your direction and vision for your group, you may return to find it burning to the ground.
My group is still recovering from that event. My move took much longer due to our new house basement flooded and my husband's cancer returned. His business took a bad hit from our move too. Michael is also a home run business. A month later, we finally began assembling our offices again and tried to dig out what we could remember was our businesses.
I am now moving forward, mentoring and motivating the group with events. I send out weekly newsletters from my group to inform everyone(reminders too) about new events, announcements and other fun links to see to help them with business. There are a few that don't know how to use Facebook and continually misuse the fail-safe mechanisms. A couple don't like messages and didn't realize joining our group also allowed for messages from admin(that's me). After my second(revised oops notice) message from my group, they reported me as spam. That was another fire I had to put out this week. Still trying to get Facebook to allow me to send links to helpful places and events for my members.
I have gotten some really interesting letters, let's leave it at that, shall we? Gracefully, I have tried to make the rules more clear and define spam to anyone who will listen.
I am so thankful for one prayer I have always stood by: " God, please grant me the grace to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference, one day at a time!"
