How To Thrive Through The Uncertainty Of Your Creative Business

In January of 2015, my Better Lettering Course (a $20 basic course on hand-lettering) made me $5,100/month of (virtually) passive income.

Basically one blog post on my site was getting an unbelievable amount of traffic from Pinterest and it was converting to sales of the course. My gifts/talents/products were aligned with a need in the market, plus I had an effective marketing machine that was pumping life into my business. Times were good, and I actually thought to myself, I think I’m getting the hang of this independent business thing.

Fast forward to yesterday when I pulled the financials from September (I do this every month separately from my bookkeeper to keep myself actively evaluating my business revenue and deciding which projects to focus on and which to let go of.)

Do you know how much income that same lettering course pulled in for September 2016? $460.

$5,100/month to $460/month.

Quite a difference from the basically full-time salary it was creating for me throughout last year.

Now, thankfully I’ve been smart enough to diversify my revenue over the past two years so my business health doesn’t hinge on the sustained success of one product. 

But I wanted to share these numbers with you guys to illustrate a very important lesson in running a creative business, one that I don’t see enough people talking about online: The market is ALWAYS changing.

As artists and creatives, we often want to operate in an ideal world where we can simply create what we want to create, build an audience of devoted patrons, and watch the money follow.

(Let me be clear, I still VERY much advocate for making this kind of idealism the primary approach. We’ll never even come close to creating an ideal life/career for ourselves if we don’t start by aiming high and believing in what’s possible.)

BUT, I also believe we have to temper that idealism with the pragmatism of what actually works in business and what will actually bring us money.

I believe that delicate balance is the cost of entry for the immense privilege of earning a living solely from your passion. The truth is that we can’t go on creating our heart’s work if we don’t have money to sustain us. So while money will never be a primary driver for me, the financials have to be stable in order to give me the space and oxygen I need to create.

Which is exactly why it can be so terrifying when a once stable source of business revenue stops being stable.

Turns out, there’s actually a biological basis for this fear. See, humans CRAVE certainty. When faced with uncertainty, our brain’s go into a state of defense. Here’s a particularly interesting passage on the subject from Psychology Today:

“A sense of uncertainty about the future generates a strong threat or 'alert' response in your limbic system. Your brain detects something is wrong, and your ability to focus on other issues diminishes. Your brain doesn't like uncertainty - it's like a type of pain, something to be avoided. Certainty on the other hand feels rewarding, and we tend to steer toward it, even when it might be better for us to remain uncertain.” 

- David Rock, Psychology Today

Did you catch that? To our brains, uncertainty basically equals pain.

To make that uncertainty even more complicated, not only is the market a moving target, but WE are a moving target ourselves. What we want today may not be what we want tomorrow.

What I value right now in my life above all else -- flexibility, freedom, experimentation -- may not be what I value in five years when, let’s say, I’m starting a family.

So that’s the core challenge of running a creative biz: the market is always changing, and YOU are always changing. Either way, what worked yesterday won't work today, and that leaves us in a perpetual state of uncertainty.

“The challenge of running a creative biz: the market is always changing & YOU are always changing. ”

 

To my creative business owners out there (or aspiring creative business owners), does this hit home with you? Can you relate to that sense of anxiety that comes when something that was once solid ground for you becomes dust beneath your feet?

Maybe it’s a revenue stream that takes a downturn. Maybe it’s social media growth that suddenly stalls. Maybe it’s a launch plan that worked a year ago but is no longer connecting.

Or… maybe the uncertainty is stemming more from the moving target within. Maybe you no longer feel connected to a creative project you started a year ago. Maybe your values have changed and now you don’t feel aligned with what you’re producing in your business.

In either case, the question remains:

How do you thrive when the game changes on you?

Well, I certainly don’t have all the answers, but after contemplating this quite a bit, here’s the advice I’ve been giving myself.

---

Tips for Thriving Through the Uncertainty of Business:

1. Learn to love the puzzle.

The unfortunate truth is that the uncertainty of “the puzzle” will never end. This mixed up rubik’s cube where all the variables are constantly changing -- you, the market, social media, technology -- will never stop changing. Though we’re hard-wired to seek out certainty, we have to come to terms with the fact that we live in an uncertain world.

Part of being an effective business owner is learning to love and appreciate that constant flux. To find joy in the variety of it all and to let the puzzle feed your curiosity. Can it be exhausting and frustrating sometimes? Sure. But, flip the script for a moment and it can also be fun and interesting and incredibly rewarding when you see yourself solving level after level of the complicated puzzle.
 

2. Don’t let your uncertainty turn into self-doubt.

When we’re facing the unknown, it’s natural to feel fear. But unfortunately, what so many of us creatives do in response to that fear is we make it say something about US. When things go changing on us, it’s our immediate reaction to suddenly question all that we are or all that we’ve ever done, as if any wins we’ve had to that point weren’t a reflection of our capability but instead a fluke.

I could have let the change in my lettering course revenue affect my confidence in my own work. “The course must not be that good. People don’t want to learn from me anymore.” Ummm…. Over 3,000 students seem to disagree. Instead of letting the uncertainty of the future turn into self-doubt, I was able to look at all the revenue that product has brought me over the years and let it FEED my confidence, not diminish it.

3. Make your internal metrics as clearly defined as your external metrics.

This is HUGE one. It’s so much easier to define and measure our success with external metrics. Followers, dollars, subscribers… these are all NUMBERS and numbers are well within the comfy, non-painful certainty camp. That’s why we cling to them. They feel like a concrete, REAL reflection of the health of our business.

But what happens when you’re ONLY measuring your business health or success with metrics that reflect external factors? If you’re defining your success only based on how the market responds to you, you’re placing all the power into the hands of something you can’t control.

You can’t control how people respond to your art or your business offerings or your products. You can only create, experiment, observe, learn, and grow. If you’re only measuring your success by the level of market validation, then you put yourself at risk to be disappointed every time you try something that doesn’t work. (Which, as I’ve pointed out, is almost 100% certain to happen in the life of your business given how ever-changing the market is.)

Instead, we have to soften those expectations and external metrics with inner ones. So, ask yourself: how can you measure whether your business is meeting your internal desires and values? Can you count the amount of mornings you’re able to take 15 minutes for a gratitude practice? Can you do it in the number of hours you’re working, or the number of times you create something that feels scary?

The external metrics may feel real and satisfying to our need for certainty, but the internal metrics -- the ones that tell you you’re fulfilling the deep, true desires of your most vibrant life -- are the ones that bring important context to those numbers. I’m perfectly happy to see a drop in my revenue if it means I’m working less hours, taking more breaks, and stretching myself creatively.

This week, your challenge is to write down your own internal metric system.

Next time you find yourself in that spiral of uncertainty when something in your business stops working the way you thought it would, I want you to first come back to that metric system and remind yourself to also measure your internal alignment. Find peace in the fact that at a core level, you’re still making decisions aligned with your true self.

THEN, remind yourself that business is merely one complex puzzle after the next. Keep changing one variable at a time until you land on something that IS working again. (And prepare yourself for the moment when that too changes yet again.)

We live in a time when it’s easier than ever to create a business around who you really are and the things you love. BUT, that’s doesn’t mean it’s EASY. It will never be easy. And I’m starting to think that could be part of the fun of it. 😄

I hope this week’s letter was helpful. I haven’t dedicated an entire letter to a business topic in a while! I love sharing this ever-evolving journey with you guys, so THANK YOU for reading week after week.

Are You Afraid of Taking A Break With Your Business?

Happy last-Monday-before-summer-sabbatical, my friends!

If you read last week’s newsletter, then you know I’m taking a five week break from these Monday morning missives.

As much as it pains me, I really feel that it’s important to practice what I preach when it comes to building a sustainable, well-balanced business and creative practice, and part of that means taking time to reconnect to my own voice and to refill my creativity tank.

I’ll admit though, that doesn’t mean this type of break doesn’t come without its own set of fears.

No matter what stage you’re in with your business (or heck, your life), every few months or years it's like you get issued this shiny NEW set of fears.

You start your business and you have this little arsenal of terrified voices saying: 

What if no one buys, what if no one cares, what if I fail, what if I have to pack it up and go back to a 9-to-5 job, what if I’m not good enough, etc.

THEN, once you’ve been at it a while (you’ve experimented and explored, you’ve gotten more comfortable with putting your work out there), it's like you finally graduate from your white belt to getting your yellow belt. You celebrate the quieting of those first fear gremlins to an almost undetectable level and then... SURPRISE! New fears, ahoy!

For me, my Yellow Belt Fears came once Made Vibrant was making enough money every month for me to live on. I was so thrilled that this was actually working, and I celebrated for about half a second before the NEW fear gremlins starting to rear their ugly heads: 

What if you make a wrong turn and this all goes away, what if the creative well runs dry, what if they get tired of what you have to say, what if you take a break and they forget about you, etc.

That last one's a doozy for me: What if they forget about you.

For whatever reason, I have this irrational fear that if I take time for myself, if I cut the cord even just a little, that it’ll all come crashing down. I have so much I still want to say, and I guess I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up and have no one to say it TO.

BUT, I’m finally ready to challenge those fears.

I’m ready to unpack them and understand them and DARE them to materialize so that I can prove to myself they’re really just constructions of my insecure psyche.

Despite knowing this is something I’m ready to confront, I still spent last week wondering if I was doing the right thing.

Is it too late to call it off? I have plenty of things to write about! Maybe I’ll just send out an email saying JUST KIDDING and I won’t have to see how it feels to walk away for a few weeks.

Then, last week’s #theimperfectboss campaign happened.

Did you all see this on Instagram? Ashley from Fire & Wind Co. decided to create a 3-day awareness campaign encouraging entrepreneurs to share their vulnerabilities, their confessions and their missteps in an effort to promote REALNESS among a community that is often all glossy, glamorous girlboss stock photos. She wanted to offer up an opportunity for people to share how it ACTUALLY feels to run a business, especially imperfectly (as we all do.)

If you have ever felt alone on your creative journey, I highly recommend scrolling through the hashtag feed because I know it will provide you with an amazing and overwhelming sense of comfort seeing so many fellow solopreneurs post their truths. I found the whole thing very moving. (I shared my own confession here about my tendency to hide behind my confidence in my work rather than my appearance.)

The timing of this movement could not have been better, because as I read through these different fears, post after post after post, it shined a spotlight on this simple truth: We’re ALL scared of something.

We create these stories in our heads and when we hear them enough times in our minds, they feel true.

But that's exactly why we have to bring those fears, those stories out of our HEADS and into reality so that we can upend their power. 

“We have to bring our fears out of our heads and into reality so we can upend their power.”

Now I know many of you on this list are still at Square One, working up the courage to even create in the first place. And I hope you’ve found discovered some of these weekly letters that have brought you one step closer to making that happen and unseating your own White Belt Fears. 

But I also know that there is a large group of you that have worked so hard to get to Square Two and you’re desperately afraid, like me, that if you take a week off for vacation, or go silent on social media, or pause for a moment just to BREATHE... that it all might come crashing down.

So I’m taking this break for me AND I’m taking this break for you.

To show you that these stories are just that -- stories.

We as creatives HAVE to find a way to deal with this false belief or we’ll run ourselves ragged.

So...here’s my plan.

I’ve decided to think of myself as a musician (mainly to further indulge my own fantasy of becoming Taylor Swift, OBVIOUSLY...)

Think for a moment about how musicians and recording artists view their work.

They disappear, often for months if not years, to craft and create an entire album. They immerse themselves in their process. They remove themselves from the burden of promotion and performance so they can simply MAKE. They evaporate from radio play and interviews and in many ways they disconnect from the general public.

BUT, when they emerge, they present the public with something they’ve painstakingly created, something they’re proud of as if to say “I went away to make this for you and now here I am again. I hope you like it.”

When Justin Timberlake goes virtually silent musically for 7 years between albums , do we forget how awesome he is? When Adele peaces out for four years to hang with her new baby and write gut-wrenchingly beautiful songs, and then comes back with a new album are we all like... YAWN, Adele, you’re old news.

HECK NO.

Because here’s the truth:

Good work is always good work.

A message that resonates is always a message that resonates, whether it’s delivered for 120 weeks straight or not.

Yes, consistency is key in building an audience from scratch, I still believe that. But if you’ve been delivering good work consistently, if you have a mission and a message that connects, taking a break won’t erase that.

The truth is, I’m not taking these five weeks off because I’m tapped out. Quite the opposite actually, I feel more inspired to write than ever.

But, the fact that I don’t feel I NEED this break is all the more reason to take it because I know that the next challenge I need to master in running an authentic business is the challenge of walking away.

I need to learn to be present in my own life even when it feels uncomfortable. 

“I need to learn to be present in my own life even when it feels uncomfortable.”

Because when we challenge ourselves to do the thing that feels uncomfortable, that usually means we’re growing.

So, that's my small challenge to you this week.

Ask yourself: what do you need to take a break from that you've been too scared to until now?

It might sound cliché, but I seriously am going to miss you guys over the next five weeks!

---

The Benefit of Going Deeper Not Wider In Your Business

One of the words I’ve been trying to live by lately is CURATE. 

After reading the book Essentialism by Greg McKeown (I highly recommend it), I wanted to frame the next chapter of my life and business with this notion of “thoughtful reduction” -- or the pursuit of less but better things. 

The first few years of Made Vibrant were an important period of exploration and discovery for me, expanding my projects to include offerings under all three pillars of the MV mission: 

1. creative growth (ie. Better Lettering Course and my #AbstractAffirmationsDaily art prints];
2. business growth (ie. Better Branding Course and Make Money Making];
3. personal growth (ie. Connecting With Your Core and Color Your Soul).

These are all areas that I’m passionate about, and it felt amazing to see my business broaden throughout 2015 to serve all three pieces of my mission.

However, I’d be lying if I said that managing this many projects at once wasn’t a little bit taxing. By the end of the year I was starting to feel like I had planted all kinds of promising seeds without really taking the time or energy needed to help them grow to their potential.

While I still strongly stand behind the symbiotic, collaborative relationship between these three ingredients of creativity, business and personal growth (living my most vibrant life has certainly relied equally on all three), it became clear to me that serving all three properly would require a different approach.

In more metaphorical terms… I started to feel like it was time to take a break from planting seeds in order to properly cultivate my crops. To give each one the nourishment it deserved to really thrive.

Just as I was contemplating all of this, a few weeks ago I heard something that led me to think about this strategy in an even more meaningful way, which is really the lesson I want to share with you guys this week.

I was watching a live workshop with Marie Forleo where she discussed trimming back her business offerings to focus on her one signature program, B-school. In explaining this decision, Marie said something that really hit home with me. She said her gut was telling her to make an intentional choice to go deeper, not necessarily wider.

When I sat back and thought of my own business in these terms, I realized that my gut was telling me the same thing.

It’s no secret to most of you that ‘deeper’ is kind of my jam. As an INFJ, I love less but more meaningful friendships. I love digging into complex problems and peeling back a more profound understanding layer after layer. I love diving deeper and deeper into my own emotional and psychological worlds to get to know myself better.

But, despite knowing this about myself, something had been holding me back from incorporating this concept into my business. So I thought:

Why in the world do I struggle with wanting to dive deeper into my own business? Why do I feel resistance to doubling-down on my own programs like Marie mentioned?

That’s when it occurred to me that perhaps my business/emotional needs weren’t totally lining up with my creative needs.

From a creative perspective, I find that going WIDER not deeper is always my instinct. When that spark of inspiration hits, my creativity can’t help but want to follow it, and this often leads me in many different directions.

I’m aware this is not a particularly unique problem for creative people. So many of us find ourselves at some point or another with a wild case of Shiny Object Syndrome, bouncing from one project to the next because the novelty excites us.

For the past two years, this is the instinct I’ve been leaning into -- the allure of developing new projects, new services, new offerings in an effort to expand my business. And I think I know why.

For one thing, it feels natural. As humans we’re wired to want bigger and better and more, and so it’s instinctive for us to always ask ourselves What’s next?

Sometimes this also comes from a place of wanting to meet the expectations of those around us. I’m not just talking about our friends and family (feeling a need to have something to say when they ask “What’s new with the business?”) but also from the audience we’re building. I know I’ve thought on more than one occasion that I want to keep giving you guys new and exciting things to look forward to, and I’m sure this pressure to keep going wider is tied to that.

Lastly, and let’s just be honest here, new things are FUN! Everybody loves the beginning of a project when ideas are flying, possibilities are abounding, and you get to start molding that shapeless hunk of clay before you into something that resembles your vision. You know what’s NOT as fun? Following through. Pushing past challenges. Dusting off that project that has lost its shine and breathing new life into it again.

BUT, this is when I have to put my business hat back on.

Working on something that’s not necessarily as FUN might actually be what your business needs.

“Working on something that’s not necessarily as FUN might actually be what your business needs.”

For instance, I’ll let you in on a little secret here: my Better Branding Course was the project that brought in the most revenue for me in 2015 (48% of my revenue to be exact). It was also the program I spent the most time and effort developing, AND it still remains the project I’ve gotten the most positive feedback on in terms of the benefits my students have experienced.

AND YET... it’s the one program that has sat dormant, just begging for my attention for the past four months.

Why? Honestly just because my creativity got bored with it.

Now, I’m all for letting creativity steer the ship most of the time, but I’ve also been at this business thing long enough to know that our creativity only has the freedom and flexibility to do its thing if our businesses are profitable enough to allow us plenty of room to play. 

And our businesses will only remain profitable if we make smart decisions about where to invest our efforts.

“Smart business decisions give our creativity the room it needs to play.”

Once I realized that, I started fighting my urge to keep making NEW things, and instead I thought about how I could reinvest my time and energy into improving things that were already working. 

This means making decisions like: creating blog content and resources for new customers to find Better Branding Course and Better Lettering Course. Or teaming up with my husband Jason on BuyOurFuture, which gives you lifetime access to all our combined 35+ projects for one price.

So, as I cozy up to this new approach of going deeper, not necessarily wider…

Your challenge this week is to ask yourself: is it time to cast a deeper net with your business instead of a wider one?

If you’re still in the beginning phases of your business, you may very well want to stay in that exploration mode and cast a wide net. I’m all for that.

BUT, if you’re a year or two in and you’re starting to resist being pulled in too many directions, consider that it might be time to deepen your net for a while. To reinvest in what’s working in your business. To quit planting seeds for a time in order to see what you can really make grow.

Going deeper, not wider, allows you to uncover the true potential of your ideas.

Even if it means fighting your instinct to follow the shiny objects, consider the good you might be able to do (for your audience and your business) if you double-down on the projects that you’ve only yet to scratch the surface with.

Have an awesome week!

---

How To Choose Which Platform To Use To Sell Your Art Prints (#SellYourArt Series)

As many of you know, in December of 2015 I decided I wanted to do a yearlong project where I would create and sell a piece of art every day of 2016.

When I started the process of researching how to turn this #AbstractAffirmationsDaily art project into prints, I was incredibly surprised to find that there is a staggering lack of information out there on how artists have been able to turn their creations into tangible, sellable items.

Trade secrets, perhaps? I don’t know.

What I do know is that many of you out there are creative people with an interest in making money doing what you love. (And I'm of the opinion that the world is a better place when more people are able to make money doing what they love.)

That's why I want to offer this ongoing blog series, #SellYourArt. (Simple and to the point, yes?)

Throughout this series, my hope is to pull back the curtain a bit using my own experiences and report back on what I’m learning as I work toward selling prints of my artwork in the Made Vibrant Art Shop. Maybe it’ll help some of you take the plunge and start selling your art too!

Here are a few articles you can expect in the #SellYourArt series:

+ How to choose which platform to use to sell your art
+ How to estimate your business costs to see if your project is financially viable
+ How to choosing a printing method for your art prints
+ How to launch your shop using pre-orders

Let me just reiterate: I'm learning all of this for the very first time! I'm sure there are some of you out there that have experience selling your art online, and I hope we can start a helpful dialogue in the comments so that more makers out there will feel confident in getting their art out into the world and making it a financially sustainable part of their lives.

Now, on to the info! 

Last week I shared with you the launch of the Abstract Affirmations blog feed  to house each daily art piece and post.

The purpose of that was both personal -- I wanted a place to see the entire collection together -- and strategic -- it’s important to build visibility and buzz for your work if you want to create enough demand to make money from a shop.

In this post though, I want to share with you the first few steps I took in the journey to launching the Art Shop, beginning with figuring out what platform to use to host my shop and handle the printing/order fulfillment of my art prints.

---

Step 1:

Determine how you want to sell, print & ship your art prints.

Based on my limited consumer knowledge, I saw my options for selling my art falling into three slightly different buckets:

1. Use a third-party creative marketplace to handle printing & fulfillment shipping. (Included in this bucket are sites like Society6, RedBubble, Zazzle and FineArtAmerica. With these sites you simply upload your artwork and the service prints it on a number of different product options.)
2. Use a third-party “store” to sell but handle printing & fulfillment/shipping myself. (Includes sites like Etsy and StoreEnvy.)
3. Handle everything through my site and do the printing & fulfillment/shipping myself.

As I considered each option, I saw definite benefits and drawbacks to each, which I’ll list out for you here:

Option 1 

Third-party marketplace (ex. Society6, RedBubble, FineArtAmerica, Zazzle, Printful.)

Pros:

• Low time investment. This option requires the least amount of time/effort investment by far. All I would have to do is upload my artwork, set my price, and the rest of the process is done for me.
• Low financial investment. It is also the lowest risk option since the printing is done on-demand and there’s essentially no initial investment (in packaging or printing.)
• Visibility of an untapped audience. Also, by selling through a marketplace, you get the benefit of additional visibility and discover-ability on that marketplace (yep, made that word up.) Most of these sites make it easy to “discover new artists.”

Cons:

• No quality assurance/personal touch. Because you remove yourself from the process, using one of these services mean you don’t see or touch the merchandise before it gets shipped. This means you can’t assure there aren’t printing defects or flaws, plus you don’t have the ability to inject your own branding or packaging.
• Restricted margins. The way that you’re able to make money with these sites is usually that they provide you with a base price for whatever product you want to sell and then you get to set the retail price at whatever you want above that. The third-party keeps the base price amount and you only get to take home your “margin” or whatever you charge on top of the base price. If you want to keep your prices reasonable, this means you might only be making $10-$15 per piece you sell. And because you don’t control how the products are manufactured, there’s no way for you to improve those margins by lowering your costs.

Option 2

Third-party store. (ex. Etsy, StoreEnvy)

Pros:

• Artist/handmade search engine. That’s pretty much what Etsy is. It’s arguably the most well-known place to shop individual makers, and they have a lot of power in the visibility that can bring. I’ve heard a lot of success stories of artists doing well on Etsy, especially when they can get things off the ground with an existing audience. Basically I see it as a great way to find new customers.

Cons:

• Pulls focus away from your site. If you’re listing your products on Etsy, your customers are having to go to a whole different sandbox to buy. The brand experience from browsing to checkout is essentially controlled by Etsy. And if you’re a business that relies on other sources of revenue (like myself), you’re essentially sending people AWAY from you, not pulling them toward you.
   

Option 3

Do the whole kit and kaboodle yourself!

Pros:

• Maximum control. The truth is, I’ve worked really hard to build the Made Vibrant community brick by brick and I want to make sure that I’m able to create the best buying experience possible for customers. I want to see each print as it gets packed and to know that the quality is up to my standards. I want to send a happy note along with every package and to feel connected to the process. I also want to be able to control my costs and have total say in what my margins are so that I can make sure this endeavor is contributing as efficiently as possible to the financial success of my business.

Cons:

• Largest time, effort and financial investment. This option is by far the most complicated, and I know that. Getting the printing done is a beast all its own, but so is managing orders, handling shipments, and posting products to my website. There are a lot of moving parts, and as of now it’s just myself and my assistant, Laura, taking it on ourselves. The downside of taking on everything yourself is that you risk having it overwhelm your time and other projects you might want to tackle.

______

So, what were the defining factors that led me to Option 3?

Well, as I do with all business decisions, I had to take a step back and ask myself: 

What do I VALUE most?

When it came down to it, I value having maximum control over the buying and shipping experience. I want the entire process to feel like Made Vibrant through and through, from the buying experience to getting your package in the mail. And I’m willing to take on the risks associated with that because I also highly value learning. I know that things are almost guaranteed not to go according to plan but I look forward to facing those challenges and adaption (and sharing every bit of it with you guys!)

I also feel comfortable enough with the audience I’ve built up on my own through this email list and on Instagram that the allure of using a third-party site wasn’t enough to persuade me to take the experience off my website and onto another. If I was an artist just starting out with no audience, I think I’d probably choose Option 1 or Option 2.

Anyway, I hope that helps some of you with the same big looming question I had in the beginning: Which platform do I use?

Of course this was just one decision in a whole string of decisions I had to make when it comes to selling my art, but I look forward to sharing that with you guys in the coming weeks! 

Next up I'll be sharing with you how I estimated my costs and revenue before embarking on this endeavor so I could make sure selling my art was a sound investment of my time and money. 

Side note: thanks to Self-Made Society email subscriber and artist Kristin Cronic for replying back to one of my emails with the RedBubble/FineArtAmerica options which made me realize I should go over these platforms more in-depth! 

Thank you SO SO much for your continued support of my art and of my weekly letters. I love learning new things, but what I love even more is sharing what I learn so other people can benefit!

Until next time!

---

Why Is It So Hard For Us To Ask For Help When We Need It?

I have all kinds of excitement to share with you today!

We’ve got a new product in the shop; my boyfriend, Jason, launches his biggest project to date tomorrow(!!) which will include a special offer for Self-Made Society members; and in completely unrelated but still awesome news, the great Liz Gilbert releases her latest book Big Magic tomorrow (which you should definitely go grab right now!)

Phew! Holy cow, fall is coming in HOT! (But, like, literally hot… we’ve had some scorchers here in California. I’m ready for it to cool down!)

Perhaps the biggest news from the past week though is that Made Vibrant is no longer just a one-woman shop! 

Last week I welcomed the ah-mazing Laura to the Made Vibrant team (what? There’s a team now? This is crazy!). She’ll be acting as my creative assistant to help manage the day-to-day operations of the business and continue to keep the fun products/programming we have planned running smoothly. (Thank you to everyone in the community that reached out about the position! I was blown away by the caliber of responses.) 

I’m planning to post a more formal introduction of Laura on the blog soon so you all can get to know her better but If you see any email responses or social media commenting from her, just know that she’s a soulful creative through and through and please welcome her with open arms! 

This past week has been an amazing process for me as I’m learning how to let go of some of the tasks/projects that have been solely mine for…well… ever. Since the beginning of Made Vibrant! It’s this crazy combination of freedom and apprehension. But DEFINITELY more freedom than anything else. 

In fact, after just two days of having Laura on board, I found myself wondering in my head over and over “Why didn’t I do this SOONER?!” 

Which brings me to today’s topic at hand: asking for help. 

And I’m not just referring to hiring someone for your business. I mean asking for help in all the various facets in our life. 

Help with raising your kids. Help with learning a new skill. Help with navigating the inevitable emotional twists and turns of our journeys. 

Asking for help is something I’ve struggled with in the past A LOT. 

I’ve been fiercely independent since I was a kid, and I’ve always hated that feeling of being incapable or ill-equipped. Whether it was a simple school project or even a task I didn’t know how to do when I got into the working world, I would do everything in my power to avoid reaching out for help at all costs.

When it came time to start my business, I wanted to prove (to myself or to others, who knows which mattered more) that I was smart enough or savvy enough or strong enough to figure out this whole entrepreneurship thing myself. I was so careful not to ask fellow peers how they did something for fear that I would look a) like a complete NEWB and b) like I just wanted to stand on their shoulders instead of logging the hours myself.

If I’m being honest, I think a part of me felt like if I reached my goals by way of asking others for help, that somehow my success would be diminished. That it would feel less mine.

Now I've realized that couldn't be further from the truth.

I’ve found that by and large other people want to be included in your journey. They wantto help you accomplish your goals. And if you reach a personal goal by way of some talented co-conspirators, well then hey a victory party is way more fun when you’re not dancing alone! 

Yes, we all want to feel strong. We all want to feel capable.

But there is nothing weak about using the collective knowledge and skills of the people around you.

Not a single one of us has every positive attribute on the planet. We all have this careful mix of strengths and weaknesses, of virtues and flaws, and when we team up, we have the ability to become a stronger, more well-rounded force to be reckoned with.  

I mean, what’s the point of being on a planet with 7 billion other people if you can’t phone a friend every once in a while? 

I guess my point today is this:

"Don't let your pride get in the way of your progress." 

“Don’t let your pride get in the way of your progress.”

Reach out and utilize the people around you. 

Your challenge this week is to identify one area of your life that you're struggling to navigate alone and to ask one person for help. 

I can't believe I tried to juggle all the various aspects of my business by myself for as long as I did. Not only do I feel a huge sense of relief that I now have an extra pair of hands in Laura, but surprisingly I've also found that I have someone to reflect my values back to me and keep me (and the business) anchored to my mission.

Thanks to all of you that have helped me in the past, with your encouragement, your ideas and your support. I hope I can continue to be a helpful force in your life as well!

Wishing you all a happy and helpful week! 

---

What To Do When Comparison Kills Your Confidence

Is it just me or does it feel like we're hitting maximum capacity with digital downloads and online courses and membership sites and 5 reasons you should __________ blog posts? 

I know it could just be that I'm primed to see digital products everywhere because that's my primary business model these days, but there's a part of me that is starting to feel like the walls are closing in a little bit. 

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a beautiful thing that people are teaching others what they know, and that, in the process, they're able to create joyful lives full of flexibility and freedom -- heck, I'm one of those people, and I'm a prime example of the value and impact that online learning can add to a person's life! 

BUT, if I'm being honest, it can be difficult to run a business in an arena that seems to be getting larger and more crowded by the day. 

Every time I come up for air I feel like I'm seeing a new blog, a new podcast, a new brand, a new webinar. He's doing it bigger, she's doing it better, they're all doing it faster and smarter and OH MY GOSH HOW WILL I EVER STAY RELEVANT?

Any of that ring a bell? Hopefully it's not just me. 

Tell me if this sounds familiar...

• You start with an idea. One you're pretty excited about, actually. 
• You (innocently enough) do a quick Google search or Pinterest hunt to see if anyone else out there has the same idea or has done something similar. You know, just to learn, right? 
• You find the website of someone in your niche and before you know it you're devouring every corner of their site, like a moth to a confidence-killing flame.
• You're not sure how, but what started as a little light reconnaissance has quickly turned into second-guessing everything, and no longer are you as excited about your brilliant idea because for pete's sake EVERYTHING HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE so why's it worth doing at all?

Let me tell you what, boy have I've been there. More times than I can count, in fact. 

Those dreaded comparison gremlins not only have the power to drive you crazy, but they find small and sneaky ways to absolutely CRUSH your confidence.

So, how do we fight back? How do we find the motivation to press forward even when we feel like everyone's ten steps ahead and there's not an original bone in our body?  

Well, I'll tell you what I do at least. 

I return to what I KNOW is authentic about myself. 

(Authenticity, you beautiful thing, there you are rescuing me again!)

I know it's probably bad form to talk about all this on the day I'm re-launching a shop full of, yes, digital products, but that's why in some ways I think it's even more important to talk about. 

We all know I'm certainly not the only one writing e-books and building online courses and designing worksheets on the internet. FAR from it, as I've pointed out. 

But what keeps me making them is the fact that I love it. That I truly believe in the power that these resources can provide in the form of knowledge and support and motivation. More importantly, though, I believe in the unique spin I'm able to bring to everything I create. 

THAT is what I want you to remember when the comparison gremlins come knocking. I want you to remember that:

Your individuality is your secret sauce. 

It's the secret family recipe that keeps your customers begging for more. The thing that keeps your tribe coming back AND (conveniently enough) the one thing that no one can steal from you. 

But here's the realllllly important caveat to using your secret sauce to stand out in a sea of seemingly similar businesses: 

YOU have to believe you're special before anyone else will.

“YOU have to believe you’re special before anyone else will.”

When I say that, I don't mean it like a vague inspirational poster. I mean it like a direct order handed down from a drill sergeant. An imperative statement. I'm writing it again just to make sure it really sinks in: 

You HAVE to believe you're special. 

When you're floating aimlessly in a sea of self-doubt, you have to anchor yourself to reality with the unwavering belief that no one else on this earth can do what you do quite LIKE you do it. 

Otherwise, it's just too easy to get swept away by comparison. It's too easy to feel like it's all been said, it's all been written, it's all been done.

(And if that comparison keeps you from creating the beautiful work that I know is in you, well all of us are going to be the poorer for it.)

To put it simply: The best way to be original is to ignore what everyone else is doing. 

To remember that your uniqueness is inherent, innate, and indelible.

To press forward towards your dreams with vision and confidence, regardless of if those around you are pointed in the same direction.

I know we're just talking e-books and online courses here, but on days when I get discouraged that maybe I have nothing new to say, I remember that I have A LOT to say about not having anything new to say, and that just might be MY secret sauce. :)

This week, whatever you're working toward, I want you to dig deep and remind yourself why you are the ONE PERSON in this world that is best-equipped to make that happen. 

Then, do whatever you need to do to really believe that. 

Now, if you have't already, go check out the new shop!!

Wishing you a wonderful week. 

---