The One Skill I wish I were Better At
Look at this! Our first guest post ever! Did you know you could do that? You do now!
This edition of The Hungry is brought to you by Beehiiv. (Wait, what?)
How important is time management, really?
It's essential!
Just because I'm complete trash at keeping to some schedule regimen doesn't mean you have to be. The biggest issue is finding a system that works for you, and as creatives, those systems can often be too complex and rigid, but artist Adele Gilani has what she believes is a sound time management system for artists of all types.
Adele uses what she refers to as the Calendar Framework, a simple system for organizing the most important tasks for even the busiest schedule.
Adelle's article is exclusive to The Hungry and the first in what I hope will be many guest collaborations going forward. The goal is to have a fully collaborative environment at The Hungry filled with the voices of people from all creative walks of life. I appreciate Adele sharing her take on this topic, and I look forward to having others contribute in the future.
Shopify is a bit much
Every season, Shopify likes to share what they call Foundations, a collection of the latest updates to the platform, and the Winter 2024 edition of Foundations is so chock full of shiny new things it's a bit overwhelming.
Here are just a few things they've added since Autumn:
Semantic Search that thinks like a customer
Shopify Subscriptions App
New types of discount capabilities
Bundling of products of up to 30 items
Massive improvements to the mobile experience
Upgrade AI functionality to help with a variety of processes
That's a small sample of things improved this season, and Shopify has gotten into a habit of doing this every quarter, which is fantastic.
It also gives me massive anxiety because they are growing the service so rapidly that I fear I will never be able to catch up with the technology.
It's important to note that Shopify is a juggernaut when it comes to e-commerce solutions. So many popular brands have become massively successful using that platform. Because Shopify users have become more savvy and successful, it was essential for the company to keep up the innovation to meet the needs of these growing brands.
But I'm not a massive product retailer. If I'm running a Shopify site as an artist, designer, or maker, do I really need all those bells and whistles? Sure, they could help me to some degree, but I'm running this show alone, and I don't have the time to learn all the processes.
“The human spirit must prevail over technology.”
Shopify is amazing, although it's possibly moving into bloatware territory, which can be problematic for the customer experience.
Also, even with all the innovation within the app, one area that has been put on the furthest back-burner is blogging and email marketing/newsletters. I don't have any current data to share on this topic, but I stopped using email as a promotional tool in the past because email delivery rates with Shopify were abysmal.
It wasn't until I decided to move my list over to my Substack account in 2022 that I realized how many subscribers were even getting my emails when sent through Shopify.
I have roughly six months left on my annual Shopify renewal; even though I'm not using the site for much except a placeholder for my URL, I'm using that time to decide whether Shopify is the right choice from now on.
I'd love to hear other people's experiences on this topic. It's always a good conversation that brings out new thoughts and ideas. You can find the conversation in this Threads post.
Art Snacks: Adele Gilani
Yes, Adele is a thoughtful and thorough storyteller who has shared many articles on her blog and newsletter. But I do not want to diminish that she's also an exceptional artist with a unique style that I appreciate, and I think you will, too.
Art | Newsletter | Instagram | Threads
NOTE: I won't guarantee an Art Snacks feature for everyone who contributes, but it's a possibility. #justsayin'
Open Wide
Someone on Threads (I can't recall who) shared an article from Vox Media, and it's been burned into my brain for a week. We all shared a promise of being wild and free independent creatives, but nobody told us that we would eventually spend less and less time making our art and more time doing self-promotion.
If you've felt this way, Rebecca Jennings' story, Everyone's a Sell Out Now, will resonate with you in ways you may not be comfortable with.
Dazed.com dropped a similar long-form article titled
We document our whole lives online..." which I've only had time to scan, but the vibe is the same. Perhaps it's a phase, or perhaps the collective consciousness around how much time we put out on social media is shifting, and we're moving into new territory of personal expression.
Biz Bites
Design layoffs are rising, and when half the design team gets laid off, the workload falls on those remaining. So why do the rest quit?
I've been using Beehiiv for my personal blog and newsletter, and I am so damn impressed I want to invent a time machine and go back to 2022 to start building The Hungry over there instead. [partner]
Manu Muraro posed a question on Threads recently asking, "Social media pros, the one thing you wish people understood about social media advice is..." The responses are worth perusing.
The creator economy had so much promise; for some, it's been a hero's journey, but the reality for most (96%) isn't quite as fulfilling.
Instagram is testing a new feature that allows you to preview how your uploaded image will look in your feed before you post it. This means all the influencers don't have to worry about posting and deleting images because they forgot to photoshop the bump on their nose.
Even though I've talked about the benefits of personal branding in the past, I can't lie that the phrase fills me with a reasonable level of ick. Maybe these personal brand success stories will help make things easier to tolerate... but not likely.
Art Bites
Is your art a hobby or a career? Author Rainseford Stauffer (wow, now that's a name) writes about how his art (writing) is judged because he does it on the side of his main job despite penning two books and hundreds of articles.
Does location matter for an art career? Illustrator Laura Moyer doesn't think so.
I don't necessarily need a Cricut 3, and I may not even have a legitimate use for it, but after going down the rabbit hole of machines, if it came in black, I'd probably buy two.
Barbara Kruger is a hero of mine because she found the perfect balance of art and design.
The answer is to simplify. Do in 3 what you usually do in 5.
Who owns the copyright on your tattoos?
I like weird art, outsider art, and art about topics most people find unsavory or taboo. If that's you, then why are you not reading Beautiful Bizarre?
