Camryn's Blog

Behind the Scenes of a Small Business

November 22, 2020

Pictures of some of the handcrafted, resin products Colleen Murphy makes. More products that she creates can be found on her website at www.colleenxmurphy.com

“Small businesses mean you’re supporting a family, feeding someone, putting gas in their car…small businesses mean you are directly helping and supporting someone,” small business owner, Colleen Murphy said.

Social media has become the way people promote themselves and their work. Feeds are flooded with small businesses promoting their work to help with their personal branding and exposure. The work varies from clothing lines, hand-crafted jewelry and art pieces.

Murphy, officially started her business September 2019, called “Art by COLLEENXMURPHY.” She first started off creating resin jewelry. Since then, she expanded to creating resin keychains, jewelry, stickers and paintings.

Murphy only works on orders for her business two days out of the week, since she is also a hairdresser part-time. Some orders can be made in one night while others take multiple nights. This depends on how much resin she uses and the curing time of the resin. The resin is cured through UV light.

Colleen’s Products:

Resin Earrings
Resin Keychains
Resin Spoons
Stickers
Prints/paintings

An issue a lot of small businesses face is advertising their business. She learned this with her experience at working at a small “mom and pop” hair salon. Murphy mainly uses Twitter to promote her work. However, she also advertises her business through a salon where she was employed at.

“Although I think word-of-mouth is the best advertiser of all, my business started on Twitter and gains the most attention on there as well,” Murphy said. “I also have my artwork along with business cards in a hair salon I used to work in.”

Depending on the time of the year, Murphy averages between five and 10 orders per month. Her most popular products she sells are her resin spoons and resin heart keychains.

The other issue small businesses have been faced with is COVID-19. The pandemic has affected most businesses globally, but specifically small businesses. Overall, the pandemic has overall affected Murphy’s business and creativity.

“In the beginning, I debated shutting down to be safe and had to close due to a Covid scare,” Murphy said. “Covid has mainly affected my creativity and drive to create.”

Despite the pandemic, Murphy has goals to grow her business and plans to work on her art near full-time. Her other goal is to paint more t-shirts and create more block paintings.

“Right now, I am limited in space to create and holding two or more jobs, I don’t have much time to work on my business,” Murphy said. “I plan to keep creating and experimenting with new mediums and see where that takes me.”

Murphy is still at the beginning stages of her small business. A lot of the time and effort that goes into running a small business is advertising and creating the hand-crafted products.

Murphy is still at the beginning stages of her small business but hopes her business has more recognition by this time next year. She is in charge of all the labor and shipping of her products.

“I have greatly seen and experienced the importance of community and small businesses,” Murphy said. “I have ordered from many small businesses and I truly believe you can’t find the love and passion that these people put in their products in any large corporation.”

Here are links to Colleen Murphy’s website and social media:

Website: https://www.colleenxmurphy.com

Twitter: @colleenxmurphy

Instagram: @colleenxmurphy

Easy At-Home Workouts

May 6, 2020

For this video assignment, I decided to have my sister, Rachael Smith, show simple workouts anyone can do during the pandemic. Her workouts give you the option to use weights or not. She goes over the form you should have while doing these exercises.

I decided to have her show you her favorite workouts because she is passionate about health and fitness. During this quarantine she has dedicated even more time to work out more. A lot of these exercises she learned in one of her classes. This is her way to stay busy during quarantine.

Music from: https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/track/dreams-chill-out

Practicing Different Camera Angles

April 26, 2020

For my JRN 340 class, I practiced shooting different camera angles using the Canon Powershot SX400 IS. Since I had limited locations I could shoot at due to quarantine, the only subjects that would be easy for me to use is my family. My sister, Rachael, was the subject in most of the shots. She was walking our dog Chico through the trails that are located in my neighborhood.

Who’s Your Tiger?

April 10, 2020

The Detroit Tiger’s organization has had many highs and lows throughout their franchise history. They are apart of the American League Central Divison along with: the Minnesota Twins, the Cleveland Indians, the Kansas City Royals and the Chicago White Sox.

Above is a map of all the teams’ stadiums who are apart of the American League Central Divsion.

Earlier in the decade, they have won their division and went to the World Series twice. However, in recent years, the team has hit a slump and has been losing their division.

A team that is ranked over the .500 mark is typically when they are playoff eligible. Source: https://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/DET/index.shtml

Source: http://www.espn.com/mlb/history/teams/_/team/Det

Since the Tiger’s slump, they have made a lot of trade deals to try to rebuild the team. Every year there seems to be more new players than ‘veteran’ players. The Tiger’s main goal right now is to find power hitters that will help drive in runs.

Day in the Life: Quarantine Editon

March 29, 2020

For this photo story, I decided to highlight the new routine my sister, Rachael, has since the Corona Virus pandemic. My sister Rachael is a senior at Grand Valley University who is studying biomedical sciences. These photos show what she does on a daily basis now to help pass time while we are in a state-wide lockdown.

Her main activity that she does is her homework and studying. When she needs a break from doing online classes, she usually hangs out with her family or works on her paint by number.

Rachael Smith works on her assignments for her online classes in the dining room of her house.

Rachael Smith makes herself lunch while she takes a break from studying,

Rachael Smith practices different make up looks during her down time while being in quarantine.

Rachael Smith works on her paint by number painting of the Eiffel Tower.

Meet GVSU Senior Rachael Smith

March 27, 2020

Rachael Smith poses for a headshot in our home. For this assignment in my JRN 340 class, we were asked to take a headshot of a person. I used my older sister because we are stuck in quarantine together and she was the only one willing to take photos. Rachael is a senior at Grand Valley State University who is getting her Bachelors in Biomedical Sciences and plans to get her master’s in athletic training.

‘Sneak Peek CMU’

March 4, 2020

A podcast done by college students for college students. Providing a sneak peek into student life and activities at central Michigan University.

In this episode, we explore all things drinking, what trends are happing around campus, the crazy drunken stories, and close calls with the cops as we give you the sneak peek from CMU students.