Business Matters - Part 3b - No man is an island

Continuing on from last week with the subject of "No man is an island" and who are the people that support us.......I then spoke of face to face support and the support of my family and friends.

This week I'd like to talk about the large group of people who sustain me in what I do, yet I have never met them and may never meet them. We have only "met" on the internet. This group has been the biggest the surprise for me as I never imagined such friendships would develop.

Two such people from this group, who have become wonderful friends I met online through the Dawanda marketplace website. They both contacted me initially and offered to translate my product listings for me into German and French for my Dawanda website in Europe. Marion and Fabienne have become such important supporters for me. They are often the first to comment on a new piece as I send them the text to translate and offer great feedback. But our correspondences are now much more than jewelry specific - we share ideas and experiences about many things, we share our lives... and also laugh a lot through our emails! They are precious friendships that I would never have imagined would have come about from online selling.

Then I am a member of a couple of yahoo groups for metal clay - one international and one local. Through these groups I keep in touch with what other artists are doing throughout the world with metal clay and hear about new books and classes and competitions etc.

I am also a member of the Etsy Metal Clay group which is a new group of other silver clay artists who sell on the Etsy marketplace. That group I find continues to push me in things like improving my photography, and helps with practical advice on casting and wholesale work and "the jewelry business" at large.

Then through this blog I have gained a lot of support: - from you - reading this now; from those of you who comment; and also from my merry-go-round group of blog posters ( our next merry go round is this Friday - so look out for a shared topic). It's nice that we all "jump on the merry go round" once a month and write on the same subject. It feels like a community.

And finally, through the websites where I sell I also feel part of a community through comments on my products and of course, from feedback from my buyers.

I feel a tremendous amount of support - and am so grateful for this. Thank you. It makes me think of the little saying I include with my "missing piece" bracelet:
"You are an important piece in my life’s puzzle.

You may never know precisely where you fit in my life or others,

but just know that without you, there would be a significant hole."

So what about you? Who are your supporters? And remember, don't be an island - you can find supporters in many different places - including people you'll never meet. Take a look......reach out.....You never know where that support will lead. And remember, powerful alliances are no longer bound by geography.