More and Less for Maintaining this One Woman Show

Last year was pretty darn awesome, and if it ain't broken, why bother fixing it?
Because some improvements can always be made... And since I'm running a one-woman-show on all levels, a few strategies are essential for survival, which I would like to think of as the more or less strategy:

More of:
Stopping to smell the roses - and looking for them roses to smell. This includes all lab time and research of raw materials, wandering around fragrant plants and stinky objects on the beach that I encounter on a daily basis. It's food for my soul and where I draw on for inspiration and exploration.

Quality and craftsmanship: even more than ever, I'm interested in the craftsmanship of other perfumers, soapmakers and artisans. And if anything, I'm more excited to explore the work of other independent lines rather than mass-produced perfumes that were created by a giant corporate team.

Breath - burn incense, sip tea, practice Pilates - these are my prerequisites for my own personal sanity and peace of mind. I greatly missed those things in the past few weeks of the pre-holiday madness.

Quality time in my bikini, preferably on a warm sandy beach, but when that's not possible the swimming pool will certainly do.

Now that I'm done with my fanbook with ad copy for perfumes up to 2010 - I'm on to my next mamoth project (translating my entire website into French)

Writing: my recipe book project I conceived in 2010 will begin this year

Collaborations: these prove to be more successful than ever this year, and I'm going to continue to collaborate with other passionate artisans and business-people whose craft can complement mine and benefit from my own insights and experience.

Custom perfumes: will be focusing more on that this year, encouraged by last year's increase of interest in signature perfumes.

More real: I need to spend more time in the real world with real essences, real notebooks and real people. Less in the virtual world. And I seem to not be the only one in need for nourishment of their sensory world - which brings me to the next "more" -

More tea parties and other private events at my studio (or other spaces).

Sleep: Be in bed by 10:00pm every night (because no matter what, I always wake up at 6:30 and I do need to get my sleep to be able to keep running this one-woman-show).

I have lots planned for this coming year, which I have been working on in 2010 and prior but have been brewing and aging the concepts as well as the actual perfumes. I'm looking forward to sharing them with you and

Less of:

Sitting at the computer, no matter how supposedly important social networking is - or how fun and creative that could be or how many books I'm planning to write this year. Easier said than done.

Markets and trade shows. Private events are certainly the way to go for me so I'd rather invest my energy in that.

Travel. I do not like to travel, and it's about time I stop being embarrassed by it. I intend to do as little traveling as possible in this year or ever in my life. When I do travel, I'd like to see it as a necessary evil or the means to an end (visiting family or acquire education or training). To each their own, and those of you who philosophically manage to trek through the jungle and explore new life forms - kudos to you. As for me - I'm perfectly happy sitting in my little lab staring at the skylight and traveling to the beach and back on a daily basis and I won't feel my life is any less fascinating just because it's lived in a 10km radius or so. To each their own...

Synthetics. It was not intentional, it just turned out to be this way - that in 2010 I hardly used any synthetic perfumes or body products. While I'm no purist and I don't intend to isolate myself from the perfumery world at large, I have to admit I really enjoyed the benefits of wearing and using only natural scents and body products. I'm just overall happier about this and enjoy saving myself the misery of encounters with "scrubbers".

Saturday is my day off.
I'm determined to shut this machine off once a week from Friday night till Sunday morning, and spend time with my family and friends instead. Just because I have an online business does not mean that my brain (and the laptop attached to it) have to work 24/7.
I'm on to this now... so farewell and see you all on Sunday!