Honesty is the best policy, so they say, and honesty and transparency in small, indie business is something that you don’t see a lot of. So many one-man bands portray the image of “we” and “us” when it’s just one person in their pyjama bottoms all day at a laptop.
I guess they feel that they have to project this image to appear professional, but NEWSFLASH – people LIKE supporting small businesses. They like your personality and they want your stuff BECAUSE it’s made by you. If they wanted another faceless corporation, I assure you, they’d still be on Amazon. They want the “I” and the “me”.
Personally, as a business owner and an indie shopper, I actively seek out the behind the scenes snaps, the true reflection of life in the creative lane, and it all adds value to my purchase or sales. I like to get to know the person behind the brand, how they work, and all the love and sweat and tears that go into producing their ace work.
Yesterday, I spotted Kim from Finest Imaginary‘s snap of her workspace – she was, ironically, supposed to be taking a photo for a magazine of her workspace – and this is what it looked like:
Firstly, let’s take a moment to pause and respect the majesty of that mug.
Secondly – and I am sure Kim won’t mind me saying this – what a mess! A happily creative clutter of things. You can almost sense the activity just looking at it. This is what the desk of a busy, creative person looks like. Just like their brain, it’s got 18 things going on at once, and although to the outsider it doesn’t look ordered, I bet she knows exactly where everything is.
I mean, I do love a neat and tidy desk as much as the next guy, but the reality is that very few people live and work in a Pinterest fantasy. Here’s my spare room office from 2 weeks ago, before we floored the loft:
Truly a mess.Not even much of a creative one, at that. I couldn’t do anything in there, but have since rearranged it so whilst it’s still busy, it’s a bit less bomb-sitey. It did make things a bit more ordered in my mind to tidy up, but really, I think I’ve accepted now that I’ll never be featured as anyone’s Desk Idol. I’m happy with my creative clutter. It’s better than idle neatness, as another wise Kim once said!
Hit me up with your own messy desks!
Anti Bullshit League 
I was definitely guilty of the “we” vs “I” thing. When I started my Etsy shop, I wanted to look professional, so everything was “we”. I realised that the businesses that I liked to follow were clearly one person, often working from home, so now everything is “I” 🙂
And I’m just getting my craft room stuff out of moving boxes, then I’ll be instagramming my own messy desk space!
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