Getting Help

Image from Mary Engelbreit.

Is it just me, or do other small business owners have a hard time delegating, too? For many of the same reasons that I started piddix (I'm a perfectionist; I like to wear many hats), it's difficult to imagine bringing in someone else who would live up to the too-high standards I've set. Besides, it seems I would spend more time explaining to someone how to do a task (sending out orders, for example), than if I just did it myself. And what if they get it wrong? What if one of my customers isn't satisfied?

So if was with a bit of a knowing smirk that I listened to Mary Engelbreight--an artist who has been making a living with her art for 20+ years--talk about her first non-family-member employee:

"Finally I said I think I'm going to have to get some help to get all this done and we hired Stephanie (who is still my art director), and poor Stephanie sat there for three or four months. I wouldn't give her a single thing to do...I had this bizarre idea that I had to do every single bit of it myself. Of course, I got into it and figured out how to delegate and it was amazing."

I've had several people ask if they could intern with me, and it's always seemed a strange notion: why would anyone want to work with me just to learn? And for little (or no) money? What if they took all my secrets and ran? How much would they really help?

So with inspiration from the Engelbreit podcast, I decided to address my fears and hire an intern. I went out to lunch with my top pick, asked her a ton of questions, and came up with a plan and a clear understanding of what we both hope to receive from the internship (which I will put in writing). I'm creating weekly tasks and goals that we'll review during check-ins. I've even asked her to sign a non-compete and non-disclosure agreement, since sharing the secrets of how I track down my images was one of my many concerns about bringing someone in.

I'll be introducing the new intern here soon (stay tuned). And in the mean time, it's quite exciting to be working on a big ol' "hand off" list for the numerous items I need but haven't had a chance to do myself yet. I'll definitely let you know how the internship goes.

Our Winter Headquarters

When people start emailing me wondering whether they've accidentally fallen off the newsletter list (since it's been so long since they've received one), I know I'm overdue for an update. Several weeks ago Brian, Declan and I all packed up for a month-long house swap in Minnesota. Being at "our winter headquarters" (as Brian called it) was a ton of fun. Lots of ice skating, hockey, and time with the family. The house swap was great and I'm seriously lusting over several apartments in Paris for our next trip. I know we'll make it there some day.

For me, it was most definitely a working vacation. I visited 20 different archives, scanning some of the most amazing engravings and lithographs--the oldest from the 1700s. Some of these images I will turn into collage sheets (like the Marie Antoinette painting in the upper left corner). Others will be made into calendars and greeting cards by some of my larger commercial clients. All together, I think I scanned more than 1000 new images. Here's a small sample (click on the image to zoom a bit). Now it's time to recover from the "vacation," catching up on everything I let slide while away (like the 1500+ feedbacks I still owe). Yikes.