Be Your Truth

Art By Alisa Steady

I'm learning that growing pains in a business are necessary, and with progress toward an end goal, growing pains are kind of unavoidable. 

I have been so fortunate to take part of a Video Summit hosted by the lovely Jennifer Lee, author of The Right Brained Business Plan, where artist and creative entrepreneurs are interviewed and discuss their insights into success. It's been a great experience so far, listening to these fantastic men and women talk about their fears, tactics, strategies, and the '...but it's okay!' reassurances. 

I'm realizing I have a lot of fears. Primarily that I don't know what I'm doing. Sometimes I get overwhelmed in my head with all the things I haven't done, should be doing, need to research...and then, where to fit in the time to actually create the product, which is the blood and guts of my business. I stand back astounded by these amazing creative success stories and wonder, wonder wonder if they ever felt like I do right now. 

I know there are lots of tools one can use to help, and I'm still looking for the ones that work for me. I think sometimes being afraid can paralyze you moving forward. I think that's what's going on with me at this moment. But when I'm feeling freaked out, I try to remember why I'm so eager to create. Why I think about art, and design, and business 24/7. It's not torture at all - in fact, I love it! 

I think in analogies, and right now I'm thinking about building a business as a freight train. You know when a big long freight train is at a standstill, but then suddenly when the engines start to pull, all the cars - hundreds of them! - respond in a chain reaction? Then all the building of momentum which takes a while, and finally the train is up to speed. Where am I in my freight train? I think I'm just in the stages where the cars are responding to the 'start' of being pulled forward.

The desire to get to a point where I am doing my business full time can be distracting because when a set back arrives, or if I'm not feeling creative, or lacking clarity, I am very hard on myself. It's worrying to be told it's okay to have grandiose ideas and to dream dream dream - but, the momentum is slow going. And all the daily routines of getting up, going to a day job, coming home, working, getting tired, going to bed, and starting over again gets mundane. The feelings start to puddle and get stagnant. 

But I'm glad there are people and places to turn to, like with Jennifer's Video Summit. I am detecting a thread of familiarity with all the speakers - they're all saying the same things, but in different ways. 

And, one of my creative heroes, Kelly Rae Roberts, encourages to keep a journal of progress so that you always have a timeline to look back over - to view how you're moving  ahead, what scares you, and how good things do happen. Which is why I like to keep a blog, too. I like to document.

I guess really the bottom line is to NOT GIVE UP. Recognize there are going to be days, weeks, maybe a few months, where you don't feel like you're moving forward. 

One quote that keeps me going is:

Magical Things Happen When You Follow Your Dreams.

And that is so true! Magical things have happened in the three years of my going pro - and we, as budding entrepreneurs with dreams, have to remember what those magical things are - because all of it tells us what we want to hear, and what we already know!

Never lose faith.

**Do you have something to contribute or expand on this topic? If so, would you like to be a guest writer for my blog on this topic? Email me alisasteadyart@gmail.com if you're interested. I'm always looking for writers to contribute!