Play To Your Strengths

In a city like Nashville that is completely riddled with creatives, it’s really hard to stand out. It can be really discouraging, and although it’s not nearly as populated or cutthroat as New York or L.A. for example, it sometimes feels overwhelming. Over the past couple of weeks I’ve gone to the Wedgewood Houston and Downtown Art Crawl, The Porter Flea Market, 615 Day, Jessi Zazu’s Undefeated Art Show, and the Farmer’s Market Night Market and needless to say, there is a TON of real talent in this city. (Images feature some of my favorite vendors at the Porter Flea Market and beautiful art by Jessi Zazu.) One thing that has stuck with me over the past few months though, was something a fellow art major from Sewanee said to me. We were discussing some of the challenges that come with being an artist, trying to support yourself, and how to stay motivated and he talked about how hard it is to evoke real emotion with art and how powerful it is when you see something that does. That is every kind of artists’ mission. 

Whenever I get side tracked and want to create something more commercial or scroll through Pinterest or see what’s top selling at various local markets or art galleries and tell myself “I should be doing something like that” or “I wish I’d thought of that” I remind myself of that main artist’s mission. If the purpose of what I am doing is to make real connections with people through my art, then it has to be totally original and truly important to me.  A creative’s goal should never be to try what other people are doing since that seems to be working for them. And if we are talking about it in business terms, there isn’t a demand or market for creative work that already exists. You’ve got to play to your own strengths, not try to copy someone else’s. It’s easier said than done when our newsfeed and communities are completely saturated with successful examples of creative things people are doing- you definitely don’t have to search for it anymore, it’s almost too easy to find. BUT that’s not a bad thing at all. This just goes to show us that there is a never ending amount of opportunity. I’ve already talked about creating your own opportunities, though, and want to talk about how to stand out. 

So again, everything I do goes back to that sole mission as an artist of forming connections with people and evoking real emotion through art and the one thing that I want most, which is to be a full time artist. The biggest strength any creative person has though is his or her originality and unique message. It’s the number one way to stand out. It's how all other successful creatives got their success. From there I ask myself “ok what else am I really good at that can help me achieve my goal?” I’m somewhat strong in terms of marketing, web design, and productivity; I love a good social media campaign, a clean website and making those to-do lists. Other strengths that are incredibly important are organization, business sense, salesmanship, and financial responsibility. Some of these are strengths of mine and typing some of those words makes me feel physically sick with anxiety and fear. Anything that I don’t feel incredibly confident that I can manage on my own, I outsource. I think it’s really important to be thoroughly realistic about your weaknesses when starting a business. There are some things I just can’t learn how to do no matter how much I research. For example, I’ve mentioned this, but my dad created my budget for me based on my art income and how much is allotted for supplies, needs to be set aside for taxes, and how much I can actually pay myself. He also got me set up on quickbooks and gain a better understanding of what my monthly income must be. It goes without saying and is very obvious that you gotta have your ducks in a row financially with any business endeavors, so if you are like me and don’t consider yourself a financial wizard, go find one! They really exist! There are a lot of puzzle pieces that need to come together when starting your own creative business and trying to make it a success. I’ve only listed a few, but really the most important thing you can do is create something that is totally original to you and then be honest with yourself about your strengths and ask for help when you need it. When I first started out, and if I am being honest, this is still very much the case, I couldn’t afford to actually pay to outsource things so I asked friends, family members, fellow artists for advice and help in exchange for coffee or artwork or sandwiches from Clawson’s, which I would gladly take over money any day. So to close out (and I am really sorry if this sounds preachy or condescending or just plain obvious, my intention is only to share some things I am learning) keep it original and meaningful to you, spend more time working on your strengths than your weaknesses, and always be honest when you need help. 

Making Your Own Deadlines

If you are diving headfirst into your work, then some part of your life gets put on the back burner. In my case, it's my social life (and, ya know, making tons of money). No surprise there for anyone who knows me. Case in point, it's an absolutely gorgeous Saturday in Nashville and I am sitting outside my condo with my dog typing this, but here's the thing: I am doing exactly what I want to be doing at this moment. A really quick life question I have for you before I start talking about why deadlines are EXTREMELY important for any person trying to be their own boss is this: What makes you happiest? What do you do everyday? Realistically, how can these two lists become one? That right there is what I think success is. Just having those 2 lists be the exact same thing. What does this have to do with making deadlines? Well, top of my list is creating and sharing what I create. It's what I believe my "purpose" to be, it's my dream, it's what I wake up and go to sleep thinking about. Therefore, to make this dream become my everyday reality, I need to prioritize, I need to be able to support myself with it, and I need to fully commit to it. If you are in the same boat here's something really valuable I have learned and I hope it's helpful to anyone who's on the same path right now and feeling overwhelmed.

To stay productive, it's important to have something extremely specific to work towards. Not "make more money this month" or "paint more" or "work on my website this week", but goals like "compile a new collection of at least 4 pieces by May 15th and be prepared to give an artist talk" or "apply to 7 group art shows by 5 pm tomorrow" or "upload my latest collection to my website by Friday". The more specific and set you can be with the date AND time, the better, or else you just won't adhere to these deadlines at all. Daily To-Do lists are really helpful with this (I love making hand-written lists every morning) as are calendar reminders and Google calendar, if you want to structure and plan out your whole day. It will keep you on track especially if you are like me and get ADD working from home when there are a million household chores staring at you in the face, your dog is pawing at you, and Netflix exists. In the words of Christene Barberich, Editor in Chief of Refinery29 “I don’t think you can truly know what you’re made of until you are in charge of your days. How you use that time, and the work you pursue, teaches you so much about who you are and what you can become”. I make at least 5 big deadlines per month and countless, small daily tasks to meet those deadlines. I put in a lot of hours, at least double my previous full-time job hours, but if you are doing what you love it's not work and there is no better way to spend your time. 

This is a pretty simple concept and I take no credit in it. Our teachers and bosses have been scaring us with deadlines since the beginning of time. When your paycheck or grade or reputation was on the line, it was pretty easy to have the work done, and it shouldn't be any different when you are beginning your life as an entrepreneur, because guess what, those things are still on the line, just in a different way. Respect yourself and the tasks you’ve set for yourself just as you would for your employer. If the day is ending and I still haven’t met my deadline, I work overtime and say no to a lot of things that come up because getting this work done was my priority. Being your own dream employee is just as important as being your own boss. 

The final point that I have about making your own deadlines is this: don’t be too attached to the results of your efforts, only worry about the process. Once you’ve met your deadline, say goodbye to that project and start on the next one. If your deadline involved applying to a showcase, sharing your work, gaining experience, or practicing your craft and you gave it your all and finished what you needed to get done on time, then you succeeded. Serious productivity always results in something positive. You create what failure is in your head by telling yourself what results you expect to come from your hard work. For example, I hope reading this wasn't a huge waste of your time, but my goal for this blog is just to share my experience and what I am learning as I become my own boss, and have it posted by Monday, May 15th at 11:00 a.m., so even if you hated reading it, and I am so sorry if you did, I achieved what I set out to achieve. It sounds really cheesy, but once I stopped asking myself “what if this doesn’t work?” I became more productive than I have ever been. 

These few points have all really helped me especially during weeks when I didn’t have many commissions or freelance work and felt a little directionless. I would panic about not making enough money that week or wonder if all of my efforts were wasted and felt really overwhelmed. All I needed to do was fill my days with small, realistic, achievable goals and that stress just went away. It’s definitely hard going out on  your own, but I have to always remind myself “this was my choice (which I realize is a luxury) this is what I love and what makes me happiest, feeling scared and worrying is silly and I don't have time for it today anyways I've got too much to do”.

Good Timing: The Myth

Last August I left my full-time job in marketing. I didn't know if I was totally ready or if I'd be able to support myself with just art and freelance graphic design, but I convinced myself it would all work out because what I wanted more than anything is to be my own boss and be a full-time artist, and needed to start making a serious effort to reach that goal. I sat down with my financial advisor (my dad) and we came up with a new budget and a plan.  

Here is a corny lesson I've learned and one we've all heard: there is never a perfect time to pursue your dream. It's now or never is what I had to tell myself, because life is short, we are all going to die, and no one should wake up on Monday mornings miserable about the coming week. To convince myself I was doing the right thing I attended some creative seminars led by local business founders, read #GIRLBOSS, read tons of female entrepreneurial blogs, sat down with other Nashville artists, and researched successful, young artists around the country. Here's something they all have in common, none of them claimed that it was the "right time" to venture out on their own. Prior to doing this I was always so envious of these people. I came up with a million excuses why I couldn't create my own career path just like they did: "but I have a mortgage, but I have a lot of bills, but I need health insurance, but I have a hypochondriacal dog who racks up an absurd amount of vet bills, but a girl's gotta eat", and the worst one, "but success is measured by your income". Nope. The Book of Joy helped me destroy that terrible theory (READ IT, it's so awesome). I had to completely stop comparing what I was making to what others' were making. I had to stop comparing myself to other people altogether. This is really hard to do today, and I blame social media. Instagram, is literally a platform to make you jealous of other peoples' talents and lives. (I ain't gonna get rid of my insta though, I need that for business.)

Anyways, once I stopped doing that, and stopped worrying if I was wasting my time or doing the wrong thing and channeling that into "I need to do what I love every day and fully believe in what I am doing if I ever want anyone else to believe in what I'm doing too", things started coming together and my financial stress went away. I stopped trying to justify myself to people who looked concerned or started giving me job ideas when I told them what I did for a living, as if what I do isn't actually a job. I left a full-time job for which I was not right, that asked me to work on my weaknesses everyday, instead of playing to my strengths, which is why I was unhappy, and I decided to do what made me happy. 

I am in no way bragging or pretending to have anything figured out. I don't want to preach to anyone either, but from a millennial who has some financial responsibilities (granted, not a lot- it's not like I have a family to support), not a ton of career experience, wasn't happy with their own job or feeling "fulfilled", with a dream to be my own boss, I just wanted to share with anyone who might be in my same boat what I've learned thus far.  (The following blogs are coming soon)

2. Making Your Own Deadlines
3. Keeping An Open Mind
4. Play To Your Strengths
5. Stay On Track
6. What to Do When You Are Out of Ideas
7. The Power of Pretending
8. Handling Insecurities & Self Doubt