Becoming My Vision of Success
An artist’s journey through the ins and outs of starting a business.
Disclaimer: This piece is posted as part of the Modern Women Self-Promotion section. It contains external links to my business endeavors, and yes I will make money off of it. If you’re drawn to what I’m up to, I’d love your support.
While I am a writer by hobby, I am an artist by trade. I have always had the creative bug.
From creating ripped jeans in Kindergarten, before it was a best seller at Abercrombie. To the fact that I told my first grade teacher I was going to be a fashion designer.
In middle school, I received a lot of support from my art teacher who I am still friends with today. She sparked my passion by pushing me to go further with my drawings than anyone else had before.
In high school, I had visions of being an artist on the island of Tahiti, living a lavish life off my commissioned portraits of famous surfers.
While none of this has happened yet, I have been actively pursuing my dream of becoming an artist for over a decade now.
I have received praise from my friends and family, while also receiving criticism from my art professors.
I specifically remember being told I was one-dimensional in my senior critique in college, and not having an answer to some of my professors' questions about stylistic choices. I could see the look of doubt written on their faces at the end of the critique.
One teacher even told me I didn’t have the perseverance to pursue a career in art.
Paving My Road to Success
While I have had a road paved with critical feedback and doubt, I have since had my own personal successes.
My biggest success to date came from working with a small shop owner in my city. I pitched having a small basket of my stuff at her register and while no one bought anything, she loved the art so much she purchased one of my pieces. She also offered to use my art products as a promotional piece in her annual sale goody bag!
It was so fun creating my FIRST custom product for a business. I was so proud to be a part of my community and doing something that filled the gap between artist and business person.
While I have not been able to create the past couple of years, I am on a creative rampage. I am determined to be the person I want to be; the vision of success that I have been cultivating in my head.
With that back story in mind, I have now created a YouTube channel, a Tiktok account, an Instagram account, and a Society6 account. All with the goal of creating passive income for me and my family.
All of the tools are at my fingertips but I have been waiting for timing to be perfect, or for my ideas to be perfect. I’ve been waiting to start all of this until I had the skills and time to do it. But the truth is, I will never have the skills or the time until I make the time and practice the skill.
In this all, there is one main lesson I’ve learned:
Starting a business is HARD WORK, but will be so worth it in a few years if I stay consistent every day.
This is a link to my art if you would like to view or purchase it:
This is my YouTube channel and it’s free to subscribe to:
