Happenings
I’ve made some recent moves with making my Living Daringly business more a … well … business. And less of a hobby. I signed up for and am participating in the St. Pete Arts Alliance Art Business Academy. This six-week program has me thinking more about branding, business entities, marketing, and even the programming I want to offer (past offering my artwork to the world). I’m also planning whipping my website into better shape.
Both of these opportunities are causing me to generate a lot of questions. Which can leave me feeling overwhelmed and more than a little anxious.
But after a conversation with someone about how much it might cost to fix-up my website, I reflected upon some of the questions that are out there and the direction I want to go. During this reflection I figured out that, ultimately, my whole business plan/model is about … (wait for it) … duh, duh, DUH … Living Daringly.
Duh…
Moving Forward
Not really duh. Because I’m not sure how I forgot or missed this piece. It should be a central, anchoring idea. And I’m working on mentally and physically making it so…
In the meantime, I think part of the mental challenge of holding onto Living Daringly as the core of my business is that I am a multipotentialite. I like creating with a lot of different media. I like moving my body in different ways. I like learning about how to fix things. Etc…
I know that if I focus on just one of those things I’ll quickly get bored or sick of it and not want to do it anymore. I need my business to be multifaceted so that I stay challenged by the work. I want to continue to learn and grow in it. I want to offer the many things I’ve learned in the world to help teach and empower others, and to help them develop, sustain, or reconnect with “beginner’s mind”; a byproduct of learning all the things!
As a sneak peek, yes I want to offer my crafts and art to the world. And I’d love to share my knowledge and experiences via classes and workshops in a “choose your own adventure” sort of way. More to come soon, and I’d love to learn if this sounds tantalizing to you!
And, I’ll tell you what. Learning about this business stuff?? It’s definitely letting me practice settling into my “beginner’s mind.” Even with all of the other knowledge and experiences I’ve gained over the years, the business stuff feels very much like a black box. And I feel really nervous and vulnerable in my no knowing. The lessons from the Art Business Academy and other sources are helping pull back the veil and helping me build confidence on that though.
What is Living Daringly?
If you head over to my About page, I describe it as:
Living daringly involves being honest and vulnerable. It involves being your true self as much as possible. It involves taking risks and venturing outside your comfort zone. Of course, it also involves fun and friends. It involves building yourself and others up instead of tearing them down. It involves empathy and compassion. It involves appreciating the big and the little things in life.
I feel like this is a good description of the blog as a whole. I shared my stories of how I did these things. Now that I’m modifying the website to better showcase my offerings as a business, I have some tweaking to do. You see, within my business model I want to help *you* tap into the feeling and experiences of living daringly, whether it’s deepening your connection to that feeling or to reconnect after a long time away.
Full Circle
It feels good to have these realizations. I’ve still got a lot of internal and external work to do on building my Living Daringly business. But it seems that I am holding true to what I started by starting this blog back in 2013. I’ve got to thank Brené Brown and Jill, my counselor at the time who turned me on to Brené’s work, for setting me on this path.
Damn… It’s been a decade since I started this website and blog. Ten years later, I’m finally taking it to the next step. Yes, even then I had the idea to start my own business. I’ve been taking teensy-weensy baby steps the whole way. It feels good to start walking with a little more confidence in the direction I’m choosing.
Wrapping Up
Sometimes I feel daunted and a bit cynical. For example, I met with friends on Sunday, both of whom have collected my art. I was on a self-deprecating kick and talking about “people have bought my crap before.” They reminded me that they’d bought my crap! All in all a nice reminder to stop referring to my art and efforts as human refuse…
So I have mental hurdles to jump. But as I wrap up writing this blog entry, I feel the possibility and excitement. I’ve had a number of recent conversations that are helping me build my confidence, and lay the energetic foundation (e.g. good vibes) for manifesting this business that’s been solely an idea for a long time.
To those who are regular readers, thanks for following all along the way and for reading “my crap.” << (I will cease to use that phrase ever again in regards to my art and efforts. If you catch me doing it, call me out on it!!)
Wishing you kind thoughts, kind words, kind actions, intentions, and love wherever you are in the world.
Whatever I can do!
Comments are closed.