Christmas is Coming, if the Mayan Apocalypse doesn’t get us first.

What did you do on December 21, the day the Mayan calendar supposedly stopped? I officiated a gothic Victorian wedding – I can’t imagine a better way to celebrate the end of the world!

Although, I don’t really understand why everyone was so worried. I read recently on the Atlantic Wire that archaeologists found new astronomical tables in the city of Xultun. These new tables pre-date the previous codex, which mysteriously stopped on Dec 21, 2012, and span over 7,000 years into the future. So it seems we’re not doomed yet. It’s just that the Mayan writing down the codex got a sore hand and went down to the pub for a drink instead.

What Does The Mayan Apcoalypse Have to Do With MY Business?

Not much, actually, come to think of it. Except for the fact that since it didn’t happen, chances are high you’ll get to enjoy your Christmas turkey, go to the beach (or the ice skating rink) and sip vodka through a straw or whatever it is you get up to on New Years.

You’re out-of-commission. On Holiday. And that means your business is going to have to tick along without you.

Is YOUR business prepared for that responsibility?

Read On…

It’s a lazy, sunny Sunday here in New Zealand. My husband and I have just purchased a 4 acre lifestyle block – eeee! – and it is sucking away every moment of free time we have right now. It’s wonderful to be spending so much time outside, doing physical labour, feeling the satisfaction of dirt under your nails and a sun on your arms. I haven’t had such restful sleep in years! We have a lot of work ahead of us before we can even begin to build our dream home, but we’re excited about building our future in this place.

Since it’s a lazy Sunday, and you might be spending the day thinking about your business and catching up on your Internet reading, I thought I’d link you up to some of my most recent articles for writers and small businesses around the web:

Read On…

The handmade movement is booming all over the world, and is becoming a real force in the market. Aimed at countering mass-produced consumerism, “buy handmade” has become a mantra of many disenchanted consumers, and owners of small handmade businesses are benefitting. People want less stuff, and they want to feel connected to the stuff they DO buy – they want to know things are ethically produced, they want to feel as though they KNOW the person who created an object. They’re tired of mass-produced crap.

But handmade businesses just can’t compete with the prices of goods from China, and the economies of scale for larger companies mean most small business owners are struggling with increasingly small profit margins.

As an example: two brightly colored wool hats sell in a clothing store for $30. One hat was made in China, shipped to the country and sold to the retailer by a large hat-buying chain for $15. The retailer makes $15 and that hat-buying chain makes $8. The costs of shipping, storage, freight and packaging add up to $7.5 and the Chinese hat maker earns about .50c.

Read On…

Here on Grymm & Epic, I talk mostly about business – but I’m a true believer that you are happiest when your business – what you accomplish in life – is a reflection of the person you are inside, and when you’re able to reach out and help a group of people who you identify with. In life, everything we do comes back to the basic truth that human beings are inherently gentle and kind.

I wrote about this, and in particular, about the kindness of MY people – the metalheads – over on Amanda Oak’s amazing blog – Kind over Matter. This post – The Kindness of Metalheads – was published while I was away, but I’d love it if you wanted to go and have a look at it and maybe leave a comment over there, or here, or on your own blog, and let me know what you think.

And, you should also check out the rest of the Kind Over Matter blog – a world of inspiration for artists just like you who believe that the best work is that which brings kindness to others. I especially love this recent post by Dyamond Robinson-Patlyek called Fight Fire with Love.

Also, yay, I’m back!

Don’t miss all the fun! Sign up to receive blog updates by RSS or Email, and while you’re in a signing-up mood, don’t forget the Grymm & Epic Gazette – you’ll get my FREE ebook “Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster”, as well as a weekly dose of creative inspiration. Grymm!

There’s no Epic Interrogation this week. Instead, I’ve got an announcement. A lot of people write to me saying they’d love to hire someone like me to work on their site, but they don’t think they’ve got the budget. I don’t like advertising my rates, but I’ve been thinking of creating some special writing packages especially for creative wonders like you, just to show you how affordable it is.

The four packages, with graphics designed by the amazing Vail of FutureNoir, are the Tentacle, the Epic Etsy, the Blog-Shoggoth and The Great Cthulhu. You’ll find them all under the Copywriting Packages tab of the Grymm & Epic shop.

Custom packages are available and, if you want to get started but can’t afford right now, I do offer payment plans. Just email me at steff AT steffmetal DOT com and we’ll suss something out.

Be prepared for an onslaught of lovecraftian, multi-tentacled writing packages of DOOM!

Love, lust and puddling crust
Steff

Don’t miss all the fun! Sign up to receive blog updates by RSS or Email, and while you’re in a signing-up mood, don’t forget the Grymm & Epic Gazette – you’ll get my FREE ebook “Unleash the Beast: Release Your Inner Creative Monster”, as well as a weekly dose of creative inspiration. Grymm!