Personal evolution and a website re-think.
Personal evolution and making change.
Always learning. That was the motto of the company I once worked for, pouring most of my waking hours into creating value for shareholders I was completely disconnected from. Admittedly, they did give me a salary at the end of every month for my efforts and that was the payoff for devoting so much stress, energy and time into a pursuit that, ultimately, didn’t serve me as an individual. But, the motto is one I align with. I am always learning, evolving and refining, and recently I’ve fed back what I’ve learnt about online selling into my online shop:
I’ve changed the photographic paper I use. Although I was very happy with the C-type printing I originally offered, the quality and longevity of Giclée printing as an alternative was so appealing I decided, even though it’s more expensive, the switch was necessary.
I’ve expanded the sizes I offer. I now offer a range from XS (A5) through to XXL (A0) because everyone has different needs. At the same time I reviewed the pricing and made the XS and S sizes cheaper and free of editioning. The prints are now therefore more accessible to purchase. (Read more on this here).
I’ve decided to offer free worldwide shipping. Because who doesn’t love that?
I’ve added loads of detail around the provenance of each photo. Because I realised that although I instinctively know the background to each of the photos I take, nobody else understands the reasoning behind my choice of photos, and I wanted to share that better.
So, I hope these changes are for the better, and what I’ve learned from the relatively short time with a shop online makes sense and is relatable. I’d love to hear any feedback you have on the changes I’ve made to the site. Is there anything I should have done that I haven’t?
It isn’t straight-forward forging both a life and a living true to one’s own values, one that is free from compromise to actions and behaviour that isn’t fulfilling to personal growth and nourishment. As I mentioned, although it felt like the corporate world was stealing my soul, and preventing me from living a fully actualised life true to myself, it at least gave me a regular pay-cheque - something missing from my current, freer existence. Is this the compromise we all have to make in order to live a life that’s closer in alignment with our creative selves? It’s a question I keep asking myself as I continue this experiment. While it’s all very well to now have the time and freedom to be my more creative self there are still bills to pay - is it therefore inevitable that pragmatism will rear its sensible head?
