Patience bangle

Readers of my regular "bird signs" Friday blog post will recall that I've been discussing the symbolism of birds for the past few weeks. Today I focus on an insect - the caterpillar. 

The butterfly and caterpillar are considered symbols of metamorphosis and transformation.  However the caterpillar is the infant stage - prior to transformation and thus teaches patience.  The caterpillar inches along slowly, resting..... pausing now and then - symbolising not to rush into anything.  This time is for preparation - a very important stage. 

Yes, a transformation will be exciting, but right now patience is needed. 

This bangle is therefore a cheerful reminder for someone that their time is coming...and they just need to get ready and be patient.

Hope you like my "patience" bangle. The bangle is color anodised aluminum and the caterpillar is made from fine silver.

Are you singing "inch worm, inch worm...measuring the marigolds" yet???

Business Matters - Part 7 - 100 Times Rule

I recently heard about the 100 times rule. I've previously written on my Business Matters post about the Rule of 5 - so it's a bit of a jump to the 100 times rule - but this is rule came from Angela from Savor the Success.

Rather than tell you what it is - I thought I'd share a little story that demonstrates it.

A customer on Dawanda clicked to purchase an item of mine in the middle of January. She then had problems with the payment system and so cancelled the sale. Two days later, she purchased the item again....but again had problems paying.

We exchanged quite a few messages - mine in English and hers in German! Both of us using online translators. After a while of back and forth, I sent the correspondence to my German friend Marion who does my translations to see if I was missing anything and if she had any ideas for my next approach and some way to help the customer. Marion then kindly contacted the customer by email and then arranged to phone her and discuss the payment difficulties.

The customer was having a tricky time with a Dawanda voucher, then when that didn't work, she was trying to set up a paypal account - but still no success. Marion couldn't help her. So then I asked Dawanda administration to help her. They couldn't help either.

This is all taking place over a couple of months.....and the "rule" at Dawanda is that if you don't receive payment in 7 days, you cancel the sale. Well, I knew this customer was trying hard but just not managing it and I didn't know how else to help.....She just kept sending me these messages about what she was trying and just seemed to keep on going. This has continued for 9 weeks and I just said to Marion that I should send the customer the necklace anyhow without payment - for all the effort she has put into it!

Fast forward to today and my friend Marion emails me and says she has the money from the customer and she has now just forwarded it into my paypal account! The customer apparently continued to get nowhere and so finally came up with the idea of phoning Marion back and asking if she could send her the money instead of through the Dawanda system!!! And that's what happened!!

She obviously really wanted the necklace and she kept trying different approaches which didn't work but eventually she found a way. Now I can send it to her with the hope that when she gets it, she'll feel it was worth her effort!!

So the 100 times Rule is all about The Power of Persistence. If you are struggling with something, have you tried 100 different ways to make it work? This customer kept on going....and maybe this will be the one and only online purchase she ever makes at Dawanda - but she did it!

And good old Marion! She just jumps on board and gets things moving and then says "I love doing this sort of thing (occasionally!)".

So keep on persisting....try new ways......and you'll do it!

Oh yes - the necklace she purchased was "home is where the heart is".