I’ve lived with the fear of not being good enough for as long as I can remember. Don’t worry, I’ve been to therapy for this. It’s probably why rejection has always felt like the end of the world. To be honest, in the moment of being rejected isn’t really not that terrible, a little disappointing, some gut wrenching sensations and then I’m over it and on to the next thing. It’s the moments of fear[...]
No. Two letters with more power than N and O put together. As women, we’ve been told all our lives to be “yes, men.” We want to please, we want to care for, we want to prove our worth and value, and so we say yes to everything in hopes that we won’t be found out that we have absolutely no idea what we’re doing. Here’s a fun fact for you: No one knows what they’re doing. We’re all making it up a[...]
Genuine business growth comes from getting your brand in front of established audiences and showing off your best self. While social media feels like marketing, it's often a hollow gesture that doesn't push the needle in your business. Partnering with other brands and creators, however, has the power to get your art seen and your sales growing. As an art based business there are three main areas that I pitch my b[...]
Have you ever found an old journal from when you were a kid and cringed as you read through it? The grammar, the handwriting, the whining (or was that just me?), that couldn’t have been you. And yet, it was. You were young. You were learning. You didn’t know what you know now or have these years of experience to know any better. It’s funny when we get the chance to look back at something like that we can[...]
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article focuses on creative based businesses however the content works for all styles of business. In the last year or two there has been a subtle shift within business that I’m starting to see more and more. This shift is wanting to feel more authentic in the way we communicate, sell, and show up in and around our businesses. We’ve seen a swing of the authentic come back to social media[...]
Let me tell you a secret. there is no secret sauce to running a successful art business. It’s about hiring strong people who have experience and can give you guidance and then A/B testing until you’re blue in the face. Artists often don’t think that they need a business Coach, or are still confused about what one is. So let’s take the mystery out of the position so you can make the educated decision if a[...]
Just over a year ago I quit all of social media to see what it would be like without it in my life. (You can read more about that here). For 5-months I didn’t log into Facebook, Instagram, tumblr or anything else and instead explored other ways to market my business and found old creative outlets. I will always consider this time as the moment that changed everything. Stepping away from social allowed me t[...]
Anxiety, self-doubt, comparison, ego, and depression are just a few the mindsets I might travel through when sitting down at my work. It’s the devil and angel on your shoulder, battling it out to be heard and more often than not, it’s the devil that wins. That negative voice convinces you that you’re not doing it right, or perhaps, even worse, that you’re just not good enough. In the past year, I’ve bee[...]
Rev. Cindy Pincus put it perfectly in her post about removing the stress of self-care and embracing grace. It's the words I've been looking for when I talk about work-life balance. Mostly because balance will never feel right, or like you're doing enough. Balance still feels like a lot of to-dos and the pressure to do yet another thing right. While balance in the language that most of us use, it's just another form[...]
You sit down in your well-designed office with wallpaper and artwork that speaks to you. Your shelves are lined with books, new and old, and you might even have a few framed photos of your loved ones. On your desk is a pad of paper, a cup of tea (okay, coffee if you’re into that sort of thing), and a typewriter. “Work-life balance” looked a whole lot different in the days of Mad Men. You had an office phone, a[...]