30 January, 2020

30 JAN update - #My2020PatreonChallenge

Thursday already!  Time just goes too fast!

I have been busy making tracking aids for my CHALLENGE... and trying to get my record-keeping "flow" to go smoothly.  It hasn't been achieved yet.  :-)

This year I am using a "Back to School" composition book to keep my daily notes.  I seem to forget or I am too tired by the end of the day.  I have mostly recorded "notes" the next day or longer.  This is something that seems to be slow to change.  I use to keep track on my recycled scratch paper and then just staple each day and then store them with my monthly receipts and other records... in a zip-loc bag!  At the end of the year everything went into a cardboard box.  --  I am finding plastic storage boxes to keep my records in for long-term.  I like the "gasket" boxes.  (I am using those for my project supplies, too.)

New this year is finally organizing some of my recycled 3-ring notebooks as ongoing record options.  I have one for my monthly letters I write to friends and family.  It has taken awhile to get to the notebook format.  It was just easier to stack them as I wrote them.  Now I can actually look at the last letter I wrote to an individual person, if I want to.  --  I sorted my stack for last year and that was part of the extra motivation.  I also needed a notebook big enough.  I had to change all my notebook contents around to get to there.

I wanted to have one small notebook for current tracking, but that keeps getting too full.  I have one for all of 2020, but that is going to be too small.  -- This means I have to keep my eyes looking for just the right size of 3-ring binders to change to.

It is beginning to take shape.

Changing habits is always a blurry process.  You keep going back to what you use to do, remember you aren't going to do that anymore, and then work at doing the new thing you want to do.  This is true for all the changes in our lives, good and bad.  Repetition creates a habit.  What we repeat becomes what we do without thinking.

I have read different ideas on how long it takes to change a habit, and the 12-week one seems the most realistic... even then we can slip back into the old ways.  I guess after three months of really working on it, you have your mind focusing on the new pathway.

My design issues are in limbo right now.  I am going to create separate designs to use for different ongoing actions I need to post about.

I am getting my keywords organized.

I have been going through my email accounts, my computer files, my online sites, to see what needs to be changed.  I don't think January will be long enough, but I am thinking all of the "habit changing" might need until March.  The race is on to beat that deadline.  What would "beating the deadline" look like?  I don't know.  I will have to think about that.

Finding people to sign up is what I am trying to figure out.  I know my computer has problems, and my internet access... I often think my work is useless under all these "persecutions" -- but -- I also keep going for myself.  It is amazing the things you learn in these circumstances.  It will help me to build a better future for myself and the Body of Christ.

Did I share that I received my logo mug!  :-)  Sooooooo wonderful!

I'm going to be adding t-shirt designs to my selling sites and want to order one for myself... at least one, for now.  I am not sure which one I will end up with.  Keep checking my stores.  I mostly focus on Etsy right now, then I will add my listings to Ebay.

It will be a lot more fun to post small updates (like photos of what I am doing "right now") when I figure out the process.  I entered a post for my Facebook "Story" recently.  I was staring at the photo of my "Every abortion is one too many." t-shirt and decided to share what the details meant.  I don't really know what the purpose of the separate space is, but I am learning.

I think I need to activate my smartphone and get that learning process going.  :-)   -- It's all about the funds... how to fit the new bills into the budget.  Sales would help that process, but there seems to be a problem reaching Christians as my buyers.  Pray that GOD will bless me so I can move forward.

I guess I better get back to my work.

Until next post,
In Christ,
Deborah Martin






23 January, 2020

#My2020PatreonChalleng update for 23 JAN 2020

It has been a long day.  I have been thinking about what to blog today.  Making a planned schedule changes a lot of things.  I want to decide on topics that relate to #My2020PatreonChallenge.   I haven't decided what those topics would be... yet.

I have tentatively made Tuesday and Wednesday sales related... things like making listings, creating products to sell, etc.

This week I spent hours at PRINTFUL making new designs for my ETSY integration with them. I had lots of problems with my computer later in the evening and couldn't get several efforts done.

I may have lost one design/listing and have to do it all over again.  It's a hard learning curve to work so long on a design and have it get messed up on upload.  The design was fine on my computer, but not OK when it went to Etsy.

Today I went back to ETSY for hours and checked my listings, revised and updated almost all of them, and made posts to PATREON and Facebook (the only site available at the time).  I am getting an idea of a workable schedule.

Sunday - planning
Monday - Patreon updates
Tuesday - sales activities
Wednesday - sales activities
Thursday - blog updates
Friday - Sabbath prep and whatever I can fit in
Saturday - Sabbath rest and whatever I can do in the evening

This is just the beginning effort to get everything checked and done.  As I actually face the needs of my days, the "schedule" has to change to deal with them.  :-)

What did I list?

A new mug design.
A new long-sleeve t-shirt design.
A new sweatshirt design.

I ordered my logo cup as a sample from PRINTFUL and it is on its way - according to my email notification.  :-)   I tried out the process already with a mug.  This time I ordered the 15oz mug instead of the 11oz .  I haven't decided on which shirt design to order yet.  I can't afford to buy all my designs, but that is a goal for the future.

I had a great design on a black large eco tote, but it got lost in the computer issues.  I also tried to transfer my t-shirt design to a different style t-shirt and couldn't get that to work.  I tried making a design on the blanket they have.  I just wanted to see what it looked like with words.  Interesting, but not a job for their software.  I have to wait until I get a better computer and the ADOBE software to really explore my design options.  I am praying for a quick and positive answer from GOD!  :-)

One of my pages at Facebook is called Prayers.  I originally set it up to go with ACTION PRAYER at Working Together  (work2gather.us) but have passed through a valley on how to get it going.  A recent experience has focused me on public prayer for people who would never know someone is praying for them and others.  Today I entered another post about my process and thoughts.  It shared something (in bold below) that has had me thinking since I wrote it.


23 January 2020
about noon my time
I am almost ready to start posting... I just need to decide my format - a pattern to keep up, if there can be one. I know there are millions of news stories I could pray about, tons of post topics to pray about, and my own goals and experiences to pray for... but this new direction I am going in needs to be focused on sharing my prayers for people GOD has placed on my heart. That is very different. I have been praying for some of these people for many, many years but they don't know that. Public prayer is hard. Public prayer for people who may hate, oppose, dislike, disagree with, and become angry about is much harder. I think prayer is the first step in reaching people, it is like bringing them into GOD's attention. I hope everyone finds heaven, but I know so many will not... and that means their eternity will be in hell and in the Lake of Fire. It's hard to know that.
In Christ, Deborah Martin

The world believes that GOD is a myth, that faith has no meaning.  I have always wondered how GOD reaches people when their lives are so "successful" in their eyes.  The Bible talks about the "rich man" and what happens.  As I have noted their lives, prayed for them, and wished I could do more, the words of the Bible always become attached to our world's existence.  It leads me to keep wondering what "success" really looks like.

It's a difficult issue to even think about.  Each one is a living person just like me and you... but their reality is so different.  Some have been trying to find their place in our world their whole life.  We can't change the place where we come from, the lives we had no control over... we can only make a decision to be saved today, and go on from there.

These "rich" people fight the same battles we do, but at a different level.  Being homeless showed me the same battles exist at every financial level, and in every kind of people - including Christians we think are so much higher on the spiritual ladder than we could ever be.

With my focus on the End Times and how we will survive, the things of the world are going to be hard to leave... and may cause that Great Falling Away we read about in the Bible.  I had hoped to be so much further along with Working Together than I am, but this is the reality, today.  I wanted to create a place to go to when Christians had to make that big decision, when life became something they never expected it to be.

We, in America, like to think we can pray and GOD will always provide what we want.

The fulfillment of prophecy and our idea of GOD's provisions are not quite the same.

Being poor and homeless taught me many things I never would have considered before.

Whatever happens with my PRAYERS page, I hope GOD is able to reach some of the souls I say are looking for love in "all the wrong places."

Pray with me when I begin posting there.
Maybe GOD will hear and help them to find Him.

In Christ,
Deborah Martin



NOTE ::  I am looking into Affiliate Marketing as an income option, but I currently DO NOT post any kind of affiliate links.  When I decide on this, I will be sure to let you know.  Deb




16 January, 2020

Announcing #My2020PatreonChallenge

This year I am trying to do something BIG!  And I am praying for GOD's blessings on my effort... which I call a quest!  The minions of the Evil One are always busy, but I hope to learn a lot of new things about the internet and how to conquer it.  It is a never-ending problem for me, but I SHALL TRY MY BEST TO OVERCOME THE ISSUES IT CAUSES.

I made a graphic to try to post here... let's see what happens.  I hope it will be readable.  This is my second effort... the minions have already been busy.  



Lets hope it stays this time.  I am assuming you can click on it and make it larger.  I need to find the right sizing for future graphics I think.  This is a long learning process.

I have been trying to work out the details since deciding to try this.  I have decided to post weekly updates on Mondays, and to post at a blog on Thursdays.  This is my first week with this new scheduling attempt.  Naturally, I will post more often when the QUEST requires it... this is just my plan to make sure I keep in touch.

I chose this blog because it is my personal blog... what matters most to me.  It is the right blog for my Challenge updates... for prayer about problems... for sharing my dreams about what financial support will allow me to do... and more.

Patreon is about creating things and finding "patrons" to support you while you work to create... providing time, equipment, workspaces, supplies, and supporters to encourage your path.  I have a long list of things I have wanted to create but lacked the finances to make them happen.  My RECYCLING tier is one of those goals. 

For posting about my creative activities, I will blog at my CRAFTS EXPLORED site.  As things progress, that will increase.  I am striving to create some of my projects and post them to the tiers they apply to... ornaments, art, jewelry, recycling.  My FOR EVERYONE tier is my $5 tier... the one I want to increase support on. 

Why?  Because the funds at that tier can be used for any supplies and equipment I may need for the other tiers and my unspoken goals that are attached to each tier.  That would be like making jewelry out of real silver, being able to rent or buy space to work in, get a kiln and other equipment for working in clay, glass, etc. Transportation is always a problem, so general funds would help solve that problem for all my tiers.  My RECYCLING tier needs some big safe spaces and expensive equipment.  I need a great camera and recording equipment to post at all tiers and other places.

There are lots of needs that require financing. 
I hope this will be GOD's time for blessing many years of effort.

I have been going through a lot of thinking spaces about how to reach out to the world through the internet.  I created the # for sharing, but that is very broad and includes every PATREON creator during 2020.  I don't mind sharing my efforts, but there are a lot of creators at Patreon!  No one will find me!  :-)  So I am still looking for a better option.  Until I find one, this one will have to do ::
#My2020PatreonChallenge

Another issue I am grappling with is the name of my page.  I originally just wanted to find a small group of supporters to help me fund my creative goals in retirement.  I'm not sure if I can change the name and not lose any connections already made, but I will be checking into that.  What name might be better, especially because of this CHALLENGE, is known only to GOD right now!

I have to keep going forward and learning what I can.  The answer will show up, or we will end the year with the same name.  I am using JANUARY to make all these kinds of decisions.

I do hope you and your family and friends will share $5 with me... it really isn't much money but it is really important to me. 

I promise... it will be used wisely and will try to help as many others as GOD will allow me to help.

Don't forget to follow my Patreon page, my Twitter account, and here.  I'm working to get my Facebook connections looking better and will share them when that gets done.  I started a Pinterest board for my Challenge, so you can help me figure out Pinterest sharing.  And I have a Flickr account but need to figure that out as well.

You can link to my selling efforts as I create new listings and post them in various places.  My goal is to focus on Patreon first, then Etsy and eBay, then other spaces.  Someday I want my own website for selling my creations, but that has to wait for now.  :-)  I am trying to build a brand called CHANGEWORDS.

Lots of things to work on... join me in the effort!

In Christ,
Deborah Martin