We are so happy to have EW Couture as a vendor on The Bloom Forum! Their products are so gorgeous and chic, you cant help but love them. I asked Elena to tell us a bit about herself and her company, so keep read ahead to learn about her!
Hi! I am Elena Wilken. A graphic designer by trade and education, and a photographer at heart. I live in Portland, Oregon with my husband and 2 little ones, but I was born and raised in Eastern Europe, in a communist Romania. I went to school here with the intention of taking my graphic design skills back to Romania, but met my future husband while doing design coursework. I have been in the United States since 2000 and I’ve come to deeply value the freedom to follow and live out the dreams that I’ve been given.
I have a passion for what I do and while it is more than a job for me, it is being a mom and a wife that my life seems to revolve around, during this season. I enjoy cooking – it makes me feel alive :) and I love the bounty of flavors in Italian food!
I can’t wait for my 16 month old mellow little guy to actually start using his words so I can hear his little voice. I am still fascinated with the ways my feisty little girl experiences and discovers life every day – she came to us an early evening on a late October day, in 2007.
… A full time, stay at home mom – that’s what I would love to be if our family would not have to be a 2 incomes family. The kind that maybe home schools, and cooks every meal from scratch. Being a homemaker fits me. I find cooking, folding clothes, washing dishes relaxing and rejuvenating. Crazy much?
…meantime, I change the world of professional photographers one design at a time :)
As the creative mind behind EW Couture Collection, I design an exclusive line of products through Miller’s Lab Design Market. The templates are layered, customizable Photoshop files and are designed to market your business in style, while they save you boatloads of design time, increase your sales and wow your clients.
This is an excerpt from a client email, making reference to the Christmas templates in the Miller’s EW Couture Line: ”I just wanted to let you know that I am selling a TON of cards using your templates!! EVERYONE is ordering 50, I normally only sell 25 when I do sell them! All my clients love them :) Jason“
Increasing your sales and making you look good with your clients, is what success means to me as a designer. You’ll look like you spent a lot of time working on a custom project just for your client, while in reality you’ll be done, start to finish, with time to spare for other things that make you come alive and you’d rather spend more time doing. Like, shooting new clients, networking, or maybe editing. …Or maybe cooking, folding clothes and washing the dishes in your kitchen sink? :)
“Everything is stunning with a touch of modern high class and a bit of retro charm.”, as another EW Couture client put it.
I invite you to take a look and judge for yourself :)
I started creating photo templates as little thank you gifts at first, to share with the photographers who have offered me inspiration and help in my journey in photography. That’s how EW Couture was born. While the exclusive line through Miller’s Lab keeps expanding every month, I continue monthly to make available free templates and resources for photographers through my newsletter.
As a thank you to all of the Bloom readers use the code bloom20 to receive 20% off any of the iPhone/iPod case Collections and/or Blog Collages Collections.
Giveaway – 2 prizes
• Chalkboard 12×18 Dry Erase Board Mini Bundle
• LittleBoyBlue Chevron Marketing Essentials Bundle — it is supposed to go live in Miller’s Design Market before the end of today
To enter the giveaway for the chance to win one of the two prizes, write in the comments on this post your best tip or advice on balancing life and work from a home office. Share your “best” tip on increasing productivity or getting into “work mode”.
I would like to take some of best suggestions and combine them into a post, since many do not read through comments. So by participating, you are agreeing that I may use your ideas in a future article in the Tips and Tutorials category on the EW Couture News and Musings blog.
Good luck, you have until Friday the 23rd at midnight to enter.
In the meantime, check out EW Couture at
Website
Blog
Facebook
My workflow has greatly improved and become more organized when I started using Go4Pro’s free workflow desktop wallpaper. I downloaded it and customized it to my liking. Now I just move each clients folder to the area they are in and it’s right there in front of me all the time since I’m on my computer all the time. :D
My best tip for working from home is to have a schedule. If you mix home life and work life up too much, one will obviously prevail (and I think we all know which one!)
I have everything on my schedule – design time, time to respond to emails, time set aside to make phone calls – even time set aside to do “market research” AKA nose around on blogs and pinterest!
My best advice is to always put aside time for each aspect of your life. No excuses. If I set aside a day or times of the week for work, I make sure I get myself motivated and ready to go. On the same note, if I have set aside a day to spend time with my husband, that day is ours. No excuses. I’ve found what works best is know when my husband will be at work, and using that time to edit, update the website, blog, etc… That way I don’t feel like I’m neglecting him or my business. I feel it’s important to live as guilt-free as possible! Ha!
For me it isn’t just balancing life and work, it is also balancing school in with the mix.
The best way I personally have been able to do this is by using strict scheduling, weather it is written on a dry erase board in my home, or set on my iPhone calendar, I always plan how much time I need to devote to processing, how much time I need to devote to studying, and what days and times I can socialize or spend time with my family. I write it all down, and I stick to it. When I start making excuses and exceptions is when I start to fall behind and become stressed.
Learning structure and self-motivation has been a life-saver for me (mentally, financially, and academically).
Get up and start each day as if you were going to work outside of the home. That includes eating a breakfast so you are charged up mentally and physically. Get dressed. Of course, you don’t have to don the office appearance, but just get dressed. Jeans and your favorite shirt work. That puts you in the mindset that the day has started. Tackle emails, get those out of the way, return phone calls. Have a checklist. Anything you didn’t finish the day before – is it still a priority? Then make your list if you didn’t the night before and prioritize. Working from home requires organization and dedication. These are not new tips, but I find that’s what works for me when I’m working at home. Also, make time to get out of the home office and away from home each day. Run errands, meet with clients, something to break up the day.
I learned the hard way to limit sessions in order to have more family time – increase prices so you work less, but make the same as you did when you were swamped. I edit when everyone is in bed for the night or at work/school.
I only work part-time as a photographer. My main job right now is mom to two little ones. The thing that helps me the most with juggling both jobs is having help! I try to only work when I have someone who can watch my little ones (either my husband on the weekends or my mom one day a week.) If I have to get something done for work when I am on my own with the girls, I make sure I do just that one thing and don’t let answering one email or placing one order spiral into checking other emails, looking at FB, etc… Being disciplined with my time is key.
Here is the one that I need the most: Don’t waste time on little things! Pinterest, blogs, etc. are a huge source of inspiration, but can be time stealers if you are not careful.
I always set myself time limits! I try to make sure that I only work when my children are asleep or at school. It keeps me from feeling like I would be neglecting them if I was always working on the computer when they were home! SO I literally turn the timer on for my working hours and when it beeps I MAKE myself get off!! It has worked really well for me!!
I have set office hours at home, so my little one and hubby know that is my work time and they use it to spend quality time together.
My best tip for getting into work mode if I am going to be editing is to actually start the day on time, dress as if I were going to the office…not overdone or uncomfortable thought…DO MY HAIR! If I feel like good about myself, I feel like getting more done!
I need help with this as well. What has worked the best for me in the past has been to set “hours” — and I go in the office and shut the door.
I’m going to have to read through these comments for ideas as I’ve gotten out of the habit and need to get some sort of routine/system going again, and soon.
I think it’s important to actually set office hours if you work from home. These don’t have to be typically office hours, just set hours each day that you spend working and doing nothing else. I’ll even set a timer so that I know exactly when my “hours” are up. We also live out in the country so I designate specific days for running errands in town and group all of my errands together on those days. It makes for a longer outing but less time spent driving.
For me the best balance is a schedule that is flexible.
Army Full time job, mom, airforce wife (hubby who is never home), and starting a photography business…makes my days very full, and fun. Some days feel more like a circus act, than others, but if I don’t make time for it, well it doesn’t get done.
For getting into work mode I love to start my day doing a workout then, set my normal routine into place. Everything is broken down into excel time chart, with flexibility to move from one column to the next. I prefer a well lit area, with fresh flowers and tons of pictures of the family. (inspiration)
Having a schedule is so important to balance family & work! It’s so easy to neglect one or the other when you allow other things to get in the way.
schedule, discipline and follow through. I make lists and when I make them realistic I stick closer to them. I limit my time for blogs, twitter and FB. I ask other photographers that I admire how they do it and find that they offer the best advice of how to get where the juggling act becomes easier. I also realize that my little ones are only little for a short time and my skills only increase as I use them as my models to learn different techniques.
Set rules for your business eg how many clients per week, which days you will work, how many hours you will work and stick to it. Get dress in your work clothes even when working from home it will help get you ready to go. And don’t have facebook open on the computer!
Set rules and make sure everyone including kids and hubby knows them, when your working you are working. Shut the office door. You are off limits. It is too easy to be distracted when you are home and everyone can expect you to be pulled back in to Mommy mode.
I’m already inspired by some of the comments I’ve read!
But what works best for me is to actually WRITE down a schedule – and to write it all in the same place! I put down everything from editing to dishes to shopping to cleaning my car to laundry or a date night – if it is to be done on a day, it gets written down!! I attempted using my phone calendar but apparently I am just one for physical written lists! Each afternoon I prioritize my “to-do’s” for the next day. As I complete a task, I check it off…and my heart gets very happy seeing a lot of check marks down my list! (Sometimes, if I complete something NOT on my list, I write it down afterwards just so I can check it!) I also force myself to ONLY check my emails at certain times of the day – 30 min in the morning, and 30 min in the afternoon. That keeps me from replying all day long! Another thing that has helped is to ignore my phone when editing. I dock it and set Pandora to the station that suits me best for that editing day, and the whole time I’m editing (usually 2 hours at a time) I do not respond to texts or phone calls – talk about making the editing fly by!
Thank you for this fabulous giveaway opportunity; I adore your work!
I’m not a photographer but love it as a hobby. My “real” job can be overwhelming at times. My tip for balancing is to create a list for what i want to accomplish outside of work (ie read a book, have dinner with friends, etc). It has to be attainable short term things so it can be accomplished within a couple of weeks. As i finish them i can then check them off and feel good about accomplishing things and that i really do have a life outside of work. I try not to “schedule” them so that i don’t feel pressure. There are some nights that i’m completely exhausted and don’t feel like doing anything, and so i want to feel like that it is okay to have my lazy moment.
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