Artists have been selling their creations for thousands of years. We sell through shops, galleries, museums, shows, markets, festivals and online, yet in 2017 if you don't have celebrity endorsements, huge social media followings and sales that will entice the Dragons....you're doing it all wrong.
Or at least, that's how I feel. With the launch of my new ecommerce site, www.romanceandruin.com, the unsolicited advice has skyrocketed. My daily email is filled with dozens of recommended things that I should be doing, but if I'm honest, I find all of this advice stressful and read very little of it.
So instead of spending another night tossing and turning and trying to figure out where I will find the time to even attempt half of their suggestions, I've decided to put my mind at ease and follow a path that works for me and my business. Trust me, this is a lot harder than it sounds, and takes a lot of courage not to succumb to the pressure. Every message we receive as artist entrepreneurs tells us there is something we should or could be doing differently to achieve success and then feeling badly if we don't accomplish all of those things.
Like the hundreds of diets out there with their promises to turn you into a beautiful, thinner new you; there are multitudes of "experts" who profess to know what you need to do in order to achieve success. And while there is a lot of excellent information shared online, it's getting harder to wade through all of the self-serving, so called "must-have" info.
Just as we all create our own unique art, we all have our own unique circumstances: personal demands...family, home, job; financial means...can I afford to hire out some of my work such as bookkeeping, photography, social media, maintaining a website, etc. These all factor into the amount of time I have to run my business and running a business is HARD WORK.
It's also very rewarding, and I LOVE what I do. It's absolute bliss designing and creating my jewellery and accessories and there's no joy like hearing from customers who tell me how cherished their romance&ruin pieces are. So, I'm trying to be good to myself and celebrate what I've accomplished instead of beating myself up about everything I haven't done....it's exhausting and crushes my creativity.
While my personal GPS is recalculating and I start down this new path, I will stay true to my own definition of SUCCESS. I may not follow what the majority of others do, but I'll continue to grow and bring passion to my work. No more comparing myself to others, setting unrealistic expectations and putting unnecessary pressure on myself. I will continue dreaming, exploring and challenging myself to create the business that I've always imagined.
xoxo Marian
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