An place for creative entrepreneurs/ creative business owners seeking resources on creative business solutions, how to promote a blog, and social media marketing for creatives.
Success is habit-forming, so you have to keep it up
We are creatures of habit! Once you begin experiencing success, there's a good chance that the experince will snowball and lead to more and more success. Making money from one of your products may not be easy at first, but once you sell that one item or recieve that first client - the Game is On! You now know how it feels and how to duplicate that experience again. We have to train ourselves to accept success and repeat it everyday!
There are plenty of successful creative business owners in the world who put a great deal of conscious effort in maintaining their levels of success. Even when it's difficult to make that first dollar at the beginning. Successful creative business owners know that it becomes easier with time. Form good successful business habits, you will reap the benefits of it for a long, long time.
Finding creative business solutions while avoiding being everything to everybody can be hard and stressful when it comes to operating your creative business. When making the decision to start a business- really I shouldn’t call it a decision ‘cause actually it’s a lifestyle change, which is something that happens over time. What you need to do is consider two elements.
What you want from starting a business and the relationship you will have with your customers.
What your customers wants. That’s what they want, and what they want from the relationship they have with you and your business.
The first creative business solution I want to discuss is “what do you want”. Really this is the place that every creative entrepreneur has to begin. For some of you this is already very clear to what you want do and sell in your creative business, but for others this might not be so clear.
Some of you know you want to start a business and you have a general idea of a few products or services you want to offer- but things are still a bit fuzzy. But here’s the cool thing- you can start with a one creative business solution and just run with it for awhile. The most important thing is to actually start something until the fuzziness becomes clearer and clearer.
See, you actually become clearer when you are going through the process of producing something. You know whether you liked what you are offering, or if you are excited about what you have created. You can’t make a final decision until you gain some experience. That’s the whole point of taking action.
Of course you can get feedback from your customers, but you can also do a quick self evaluation.
Are your customers reacting to your products?
Are you getting customers?
Are your customers saying wonderful things about your products?
Are you receiving traffic to your site?
These sorts of questions can help you further refine what you want your creative business to be.
Clear Creative Business Solutions for your Creative Business
You are reading my blog for business objective of some kind. You might be looking for information on how to make extra income from your art, you might want to learn how to get more speaking engagements, you might just want to increase your client base or you want to learn a new skill for a specific purpose, you need to define exactly what you are looking for.
The reason why you have to define your business expectations is because it helps you to define the kind of customers you’re trying to attract. If your goal is to make money from what you produce, then that’s quite clear. But along with clear expectations, I also need for you to reflect on what you need your business to do for you. This is about coming up with specifics that you actually want your business to achieve.
For instance- state something like “I want to make $500.00 a month selling prints of my artwork, $1000 a month selling original artwork and $300 a month selling greeting cards and the theme of these art pieces will revolve around- women of power”. See you can really get specific with this, but I don’t expect for this type of refining to happen over night- this will happen over time. The clearer you become about the direction you want to take your creative business- the more specific your creative business solutions will become.
Case in point- I haven’t always been clear on what I wanted out of my business. I was all over the place. I had a general idea that I wanted to sell mixed media art, but I didn’t have a clue of the style, theme, or how I would get customers. Once I started testing out a few ideas, I started to see what type of art pieces would make money for me. I started to see where I could position myself, so I started to slowly narrow my focus and become clear on my artist style and where my money was going to come from.
Your Customers
Now it’s all well and good to think about yourself and all the benefits you want from starting a creative business and how it relates to what you produce, but there’s another variable which I need to talk about – your customers. You need to consider if there are customers out there to help you reach creative business solutions. If there are not enough customers that can help you out, then you need to return back to the drawing board.
Sometimes this can be difficult to find out, that’s why it is important to just take action on something. Not only does taking action help you refine your creative business solutions, but it also helps you learn a lot about your target customer.
Please note… in my first year or so of producing and selling my artwork I didn’t make a lot of money. Actually I sold nothing. I did more research, started to focus my attention on what was selling for other artist. Because of that, I was able to think about my target customer, what I was going to be to them, how I was going to contribute to them, what I wanted to have them benefit from me and who they were. I had to get into the shoes of my customers. What are they looking for? What items were hard to find? What’s was the purpose of buying art?. So I needed to think about that and how my business goals aligned with their goals.
This might be a little too much for a beginner creative entrepreneur, but I promise if you take action and produce something and keep refining your creative business solutions , you’ll start to feel a strong connection with the type of customer you want to attract. All you have to do is find those raving fans that love your work and you love sharing your work with, that you will see positive results.
Unfocused Creative Business Solutions Equals Failure
Being a generalist at the beginning of your creative entreperneur career is ok, but you can’t stay there forever. If you don’t move on to a more focused business idea, you will become just an average provider. You won’t become an expert, the leader, or the cream of the crop business owner. You’re not going to make any kind of money being a jack of so many trades. Customers want experts, specialist, and crop leaders.
Very similar to being a generalist is being a poor quality replication of someone who’s a leader in the field. This is common in our line work. What others often do is regurgitate the creative ideas of other artist. You have to find a way to become specialist in your own field. Don’t get me wrong, you can still use other people’s ideas, but you have to learn how to turn them into your own ideas in the sense that you actually refine it for your target customer. Go out and study other experts.
study their techniques
study how they market
study what they are saying online
study what they are selling
consume the content
process it
test it yourself
experience it
filter it
then present it as a new ideas
Really it’s a simple process. Once you get your self going – you are going to avoid being a generalist and jack of all trades. I stated as a jack of all trades, but now I selling artwork that focused on what’s important to me and to my customers who buys from me.
4 Elements to Remember
That pretty much covers everything I wanted you to know about producing creative business solutions, but before I end, there’s 4 elements you need to remember:
Creative Famous People- such as Rachel Ray, Martha Stewart, Donna Karen, Lady Gaga and of course Oprah all have one thing in common- they have established a Super Dupa Strong BRAND!
Do you have a Super Dupa Strong BRAND?
Do you want to know how you start building your brand?
The bottom line is branding is important and if you want to be known for all the creative and wonderful things you produce, then you have to understand and learn how to build a brand that stands out in the minds of your potential customers.
What the Creative Famous People Know and You Don’t
The creative famous people know that branding any type of creative business is an essential step whether small or big. In fact, branding for many small businesses are over looked as not important to the success of their business.
A brand is basically the name, image and a logo of your company- it is used in promoting your creative business. The company name and logo is used on business cards, company stationary, postcards, websites, blogs and signage. Hence, the importance of a brand must be taken very serious with much consideration and thought. To be straight with you, a brand makes up, WHO YOU ARE, WHAT YOU DO, AND HOW YOU DO IT!
Are you following me so far? These super successful creative famous people want others to know who they are, we surely know what they do, and you watch and buy to see how they do it. Don’t you want the same? Here’s the next step...
Creative Famous People Know the Importance of a Business Name
Naming your creative business isn’t as easy as naming your dog or even a newborn child. Many factors come into play such as creating a name that customers can pronounce and remember, the type of product or services you offer, features and usage of your product or services, and other benefits that consumers can experience from buying or using what you offer. That is just one aspect of what you need to think about when naming your business.
Creating a business name can be confusing. Below are a few tips you should consider when naming a business:
Choose memorable and catchy names instead of generic ones that are difficult to register in the minds of the consumers.
Never use names that literally describe the product. Such as, “The Greeting Card Store”, “The Dress Shop”. Go for more creative and specialized names.
When possible, do not use geographical names because it limits the scope of your creative business. However, it can be an advantage if your product is associated with a given locale.
Keep them short and simple so as to produce memorable names.
Just remember a business name is not just a name; it represents your business identity. And in the business community, the way you represent and project your image is crucial in determining your business success. When others encounter your business, you have only a small amount of time to catch their attention. If you fail to do so, then you would have lost a potential customer.
Creative Famous People Know Why You Should Create a Logo
In addition to creating a unique name, designing your own distinct logo is another effective branding strategy that every business owner should use. Aside from the name, having a logo to attach to the business name reinforces the potential power that your brand is remembered. Visual recognition is the main purpose of a business logo.
The company’s logo is the most important part in the creation of your business’s image. It is used as a trademark for your company to represent its existence and identity in your niche. If you look at creative famous people in your niche, you will notice, a successful logo is one that is able to stay in the memory of the customers at a long time. This is crucial whenever you have several other similar creative famous people trying to achieve the same. For that reason, you need to produce a logo design that would easily stand out and be recognized.
What I’ve Learn for Creative Famous People
There are several aspects that have to do with branding a creative business. Each has its own significance and impact on attaining your business goals. This is an action that every beginning creative entrepreneur needs to educate him or herself about- it will determine the company's success in the future.
Creating a Business Personality
When you first start your own business venture, chances are there are other creative businesses very similar to yours. Therefore, you have to create a personal brand for your business that will set apart you from your competitors.
So when you first decide on a name or logo for your creative business, you need to think of inventive ways that will help make your business be easily thought of by customers. Distinction is a fundamental part of every creative business. When people find out that you have something unique to offer it makes you stand out from competing businesses in your niche- which makes you one step closer to your business goals.
Once you have created your company brand, then it’s time to look into delivering quality products and services. That takes us now to the next essential aspect of branding, which is marketing.
Marketing Your Brand
Branding very much impacts the sales of your product. When you are able to create a brand name that people can easily remember and recognize as high quality and outstanding, then it only helps create an efficient branding system for your creative business.
To have a successful business, you have to take the time to let people know who you are, what you do, and the means at which you do it. Properly communicating your company's vision and mission through your brand is a crucial stage of any business branding effort. Having a well established and effective company brand will also create awareness of the product and services you are promoting.
Where Creative Famous People Go For Creative Ideas?
When dealing with the technical aspect of your marketing strategy, often the challenge is producing creative ideas that are different than others in your niche. The key is to stimulate creative ideas that will make your brand stand out and still maintain that professional image.
Here are great tips that will help:
1.) Spend time reading magazines, blogs, or books from different niches to get inspiration.
2.) Search the web and observe various sites in your niche. Look at how their website/blog, products or services are designed and what kind of reaction it elicited.
3.) Ask your family or friends for ideas. You can turn a small idea and develop it into branding success.
Common Branding Mistakes Creative Famous People Don’t Make
• Failure to create an efficient branding plan.
• Not giving full commitment to the supervision and assessment of the brand.
• Inability to establish in-house branding.
• Lack of a sound marketing plan.
• Trying way too hard to create distinction to the point of isolation.
Branding your business is never easy but once you recognize the factors that could impede your business' progress, then you're on your way to a super successful creative business brand.
Essential Tips for Branding like Creative Famous People
When creative famous people embark on a new business venture, they process ideas on complex marketing strategies and other ways of promoting their business, but they never complicate on branding. Indeed, what they do is dedicate their time and effort on delivering an outstanding product. You must be able to back up your claims and produce exactly as you say. Majority of business sales and profits come from repeat customers, after all. An effective business branding system involves the following:
Customer Satisfaction
The brand is just a simple representation of your creative business. Therefore, it must reflect exactly what your business can bring to the customers and build its name from there. If you cannot create quality products or services, then regardless of how strong your strategies are, you'd never be able to turn your marketing campaigns into a sales force.
Brand equity is a vital aspect in every business. It reflects the level of trust and attitude that a customer has towards a product associated with a given brand. This is impacted by the actual experience that a consumer has had with the product. Therefore, you need to be aware to your customers' needs. But still maintain control over the image and reputation that you want your brand to exhibit.
Consistency
One of the most effective ways to build trust with your customers is to be consistent with the message you are trying to convey. Consistency is most important when showcasing the values that are key and important in your creative business. Then, focus on every aspect of your business to ensure that it remains consistent with the values professed by your business and that they make a good representation of the business's vision.
Expanding Your Brand
Creating a brand for your business is not only limited to the creation of a logo and business name. A logo and name is just a representation of your professional image but there are several factors in between that would help translate them into sales. It doesn’t cost a lot money to make this happen. In every form of communication that you use in your business transactions, include your logo, social media account url, and business tag line, whether you'd be using business cards, ads, newsletters, letterhead, invoices, envelopes, and many more. Your branding elements are of no use unless you are able to capitalize on it and make it do its work for you.
Managing Your Brand
As market trends continue to change and evolve, so must your method at branding strategies. While you set your own branding standards, you also need to look into exceeding those promises you've set, which is one of the most effective ways to generate more customers.
If you see any opportunity where changes can be done or improved on, then don't be afraid to execute them. This is one way for your business to stay on top of things and keep up with changing trends in the market for an effective business branding effort.
It's no real secret that I read a lot. Especially marketing, design, and art blogs. But just recently I run across this article from Springwise.com - Top 20 Business Ideas and Opportunies for 2011 . The ideas and opportunies for 2011 are outstanding.
But there was one idea/opportunity that really caught my attention: Book by gift subscripition, hand-picked for the reader. Just the Right Book is a concept delivered by R.J. Julia bookstore in Connecticut. It's all about sending a customer a different book every month. The gift subscription is customized to the gift reciever's personal interest. So- you ask, what does this have to do with my creative business? A LOT!
Customization isn't new, but the demand for product and content to be personalized has become a big trend. How can you capitalize on this personalize trend? Lets think about it...
You could offer:
1. Artwork customized with family photos and names
2. A song that includes the name of someone special
3. A love note or story written for a someone special
4. Customized website showcasing photos of the people you want to honor
These are only a few examples of what you could do, but the idea is that we have to get into the mindset that our customers/clients want things personalized to thier needs and wants.
You Got An Idea to Share? Leave your comment below.
Looking for more solid tips on business ideas, internet & social marketing, and personal branding? Check out the School of Creative Business free email newsletter, Creative Business Ideas. It jumps off with a Social Marketing Tips E-course. Sign up here. If you know anyone who might like this post- pass it along to other creative entrepreneurs by clicking below on Tweet This or Facebook Like buttons.
Are you doing exactly what you want to do in your creative career ? Have you attained every goal you ever set as a visual artist, graphic designer, fashion stylist, photographer? Maybe you're like me, I've looked for career solutions for creative people, like myself for a very long time. What I found out is that- the best career solution for me was become a creative entrepreneur.
But becoming a creative entrepreneur isn't easy. See, I had no true direction of how and what I wanted to do. I read and asked questions of other creative people who seem to have it together and they said "Creative People have to be taught, shown, and trained how to become an entrepreneur". Today I am going to share with you what they shared with me about what makes a successful creative entrepreneur.
Teach Creative People How to Focus
Focusing on one thing can be a scary thing for most creative people. What can it do for us? How can it help us? Can we program ourselves to focus? Focus, confidence and self-dis
Learning to focus on our creative business goals can help us in many ways. It can help us realize what we really want in life, it can help us make good and informed decisions about the type of business we should start. It can also help us to accept our current situation, without feeling the need to condemn ourselves or put ourselves down in any way, shape or form.
Focus can help us gain confidence, power and happiness. Focus can also help us remain grounded and stay on track. Focus can change confusion into absolute knowledge and self-criticism into a successful creative business.
MAKE TIME
Set aside time to think or take action on the one thing we want or need. It’s not a matter of “taking the time” to focus, but more a matter of “making the time”. If we are willing to make the time, we will focus a lot better on whatever it is we want/need to do.
Many of my friends ask me how do I make time to focus on my artist career, work full-time, own a business and maintain a life? It isn't easy. I had to make a decision to get things done and to make that happen I had to develop a focused plan of action. I get up an extra hour before work or a client meeting to focus on one particular task with absolutely no distractions at all. If you aren't a morning person. Then stay up one hour longer.
Decide when you are going to make time, and stick to it like glue. Don’t let ANYTHING take you away from that time. Make sure you have everything you need all in one place, a room, or even a corner of a room where you can sit in peace. Unplug the phone, and turn off the television.
When you want something you have to decide EXACTLY what it is you want. If you don’t know what you want, there’s no way on earth you’re going to be able to focus on it.
SET GOALS
These are all small things and perfectly attainable with a little bit of focus, but what if you want bigger and better things for your business? Well then, you have to set goals for yourself. Keep setting goals; as soon as you reach the first one, move on to the next, staying focused all the time on what it is you want.
Reaching that first goal will give you an incredible boost of confidence, which in turn will make it so much easier to get started on the next goal. The more goals you reach, the more confidence you will have in yourself and that will fuel the success of the next goal, and the next one after that, until there are endless possibilities for you.
Start off by writing down each and every goal you WANT to reach in your lifetime. Then write a daily plan for the goal you want to reach first. Write the plan before you go to bed at night, it gives your brain time to take it all in and work with it.It’s amazing what the brain will do when we are sleeping. Also, writing the plan the night before helps free up that time during the next day so that you can purely sit and focus on the task at hand.
Make the plan a numbered list and cross each item off as you finish it. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you get through it this way. Once you’ve reached the outcome you want, move on to your next goal following the same pattern as before.
If you find your thoughts wandering in your “focus time” take a break, write down your thoughts and put them away somewhere for future reference. If you find there are multiple things you can do to attain your goals, figure out which of them is the one most likely to help you get there quickest.Put the others on hold, they may come in useful when you’re aiming for that next goal.
Stick with setting your goals as long as you have to, you WILL succeed. If you stick to one thing, one goal and focus on that, it's virtually impossible to not reap the rewards of your actions.
Show Creative People How to Build Up Their Confidence and Self-Esteem
Confidence in oneself, or the lack thereof is what stops creative people from maintaining a successful creative business. Before I knew the power of confidence, I use to listen to that little voice telling me I couldn’t be an entrepreneur. To overcome this lack of motivation and confidence I had to start a ritual that would boost my confidence and self –esteem. Below is a list of 25 ways I was shown how to to gain confidence in myself. Use all of them or only apply those that are lacking from your life.
22 WAYS TO BOOST CONFIDENCE and SELF-ESTEEM
1. Love Yourself: Creative people we sometimes doubt our creative abilities. Learning to love ourselves and our work might take a bit of practice. When you wake up, say to yourself. I AM A GREAT ... creative entrepreneur, artist, writer, singer dancer or say all that apply. Do the same when it’s time for sleep. You’ve heard this said a million times before: “How can you expect others to, love you if you don't love yourself?” It’s true. Practice the morning and evening statement for 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks if you're the stubborn type. You’ll see how well it works.
2. Look in the mirror: Every time you pass a mirror, look into it and flash your biggest and best smile at yourself. It might feel strange at first, but eventually it’ll make you feel brilliant about yourself. Tell yourself “Looking good!” or “Wow, I looking more like a motivational speaker everyday!” or similar phrases are often enough to actually start believing it.
3. Do things that make you feel good: This can be anything from listening to music, cooking your favorite meal, doing some volunteer work or even just taking a warm bath. I‘ve become a strong believer of doing things that make me feel better. I often switch to my preferred internet radio station (Pandora.com) to listen and dance around the house, if I really need a pick me up- I order take-out, sit on the sofa and watch a few of my all time favorite movies. The most important thing is to something that gives you a positive feeling about yourself.
4. Listen to YOU: This one was sort of hard for me. Coming from a strong southern background, what people thought of you is very important. I often remember my mom saying to me – “What will the neighbors say?”, or “That won’t look nice.” Now I can say – The hell with what they say or think!
FACE IT. Nobody knows you better than you know yourself, no matter how many people try to tell you something different- go with what you know and feel. So if your body, mind or gut is telling you something, then take notice, and don't worry about what other people may have to say about it.
5. Talk to YOU: Talking to myself has been a nature occurrence for me (It's okay- as long as you don't answer yourself back). When I’m stress, I take a time- out. I wander into my mind and have a conversation with myself about anything at all. I’m not crazy, but I know myself. And sometimes I need to have a little conversation with myself to work out a few things. Once I’ve taken a few moments to get myself together- my mind is a lot clearer and I’m able to tackle whatever the day may bring. In the talk with yourself - Tell yourself how lucky you are to be you, and praise yourself for every good and positive thing you can attribute to yourself.
6. Remove Negativity: If anything feels like it’s dragging you down, get rid of it. If it’s clutter, tidy up, if it’s a friend full of negativity explain nicely that you don’t really feel up to talking right now. If it’s your kids acting up, leave the room for a while and so on. Get rid of the negative vibes. Creative people just can’t function around a lot of drama.
7. Surround Yourself with Positive Things: Surround yourself with things that bring out good feelings in you. Examples could be things such as happy, upbeat friends, a nice new picture, a new car, an old comfy blanket, candles, pictures of your family, your girlfriend, boyfriend, spouse etc.
8. Rumours Die: Did you hear something about somebody who said something about somebody else? Drop it! Rumours are nasty, horrible things that will only bring you down. Best way to kill a rumour? Ignore it!
9. Total Honesty: Be totally honest with yourself at all times. If there’s something you don't like, admit it. If there’s something you don’t want to do “right now” and it isn’t necessary for health and safety reasons then just don’t do it until you feel like it.
Same goes for the positive aspects. If there’s something you want to do, and it’s not hurting anybody, then go ahead and do it. If you start feeling great about yourself for no apparent reason admit it and enjoy the feeling.
10. Responsibility: Take full responsibility for your own actions. Don't shove the blame for anything over onto someone or something else. We all make choices in our lives, and once we take responsibility for those choices we tend to choose better for ourselves.
Once we start to choose better, we feel better and things start falling into place. On the other hand, don't take over someone else’s responsibilities just because you feel “you have to”.
11. Pretend: If you feel unsafe, unsure or nervous then go inside yourself and pretend you’re a hot-shot business owner, do whatever you need to be. Make believe you’re presenting yourself as that person would until you feel better. Trust me, you WILL feel better, and eventually have no need to be anything but yourself.
12. Keep Trying: If you’re trying to do something but don't get it right first time round, then try again, and again, and again, constantly learning from your mistakes until you get it right. When you finally DO get it right, you’ll feel wonderful about it.
13. Give Credit where credit is due: If you’ve done something really good, and people compliment you on it, accept the compliments with thanks! Understand that they’re complimenting because they really ARE impressed with what you’ve done.
Believe in you and give yourself a pat on the back. (Although physically it would probably be easier to just give yourself a round of applause).
14. Stand Tall: Standing up straight will ALWAYS make you feel better about yourself than slouching does. Stand with your feet slightly apart, suck in your tummy and behind, broaden your shoulders and straighten your neck. It’s an amazingly quick confidence boost.
15. Say Hello: Make it a rule to say hi to at least one person you don't know EVERY day. Give them the smile you flash at yourself in the mirror, the biggest and best one you can find. They’ll smile back automatically, and they’ll walk away with a little extra confidence boost thanks to you.
People look their best when they smile, and they also feel better by smiling too! This ultimately means you get a confidence boost too, for making someone else feel good about themselves.
16. Never Say Never....Ever: If you think something can’t be done, then you'll end up proving yourself right eventually. So never say never, just keep plugging along until it works for you.If other people are telling you it can’t be done, you're going to feel such immense satisfaction at actually doing it that your confidence will soar.
17. Get Active: Don't sit around the house just doing nothing. Get up, go out, cycling, walking, exercising, anything that might invigorate your brain. A lively brain full of thoughts will help you gain confidence.
18. Face Your Fear: Is there something you are afraid of? Face it full on. Doing something scary and overcoming the fear is a fantastic way to boost your confidence. So go on, jump out of that plane (with a parachute of course), drive that car, speak in front of a large crowd, ask for a promotion, or whatever it is that scares you. You'll feel absolutely brilliant once it’s done.
19. Willpower: Create a goal that you really want to reach. Possibly something like weight loss before a certain time, giving up smoking or having a certain amount of money in the bank within so many months etc. Take baby steps, and use your willpower until you succeed at reaching your goal.
It will be really hard, as will power can be very elusive at times, but keep going and don't give up. Once you have reached that first goal by using your willpower you will have the confidence to create new goals AND reach them.
20. Ask questions: Any time you find yourself worrying about something you haven’t done, or something you think you should have done, ask yourself positive questions. Instead of thinking “I’m terrible for missing my friend’s birthday” think “What can I do to make my friend feel special?”
Or, instead of “Why can’t I ever seem to do things on time?” change it to “What can I change to better manage my time” Creating positive questions will release the negative energies which have a tendency to pull down your self confidence.
21. Learn: Accept that not everything works out the way we plan it. Decide to accept any mistakes and rejections as part of a learning curve that we all need to go through. Without mistakes, you can’t learn from your own experiences. Remember, experience builds confidence, so always learn as much as you can.
22. List: Write a list of every single thing you're good at, anything from clipping the dog’s toenails to putting up a shelf. Take the time to sit and actually think about what you ARE good at and add them all to the list. You'll be surprised at how many things you end up jotting down, no matter how minor or trivial they may seem at the time.
Whenever you have a spare 5 minutes, or if you're feeling a little low, take the list out of your pocket and read it. This is a great little way to give yourself a nice confidence boost.
Throughout our working lives, we've had the desire to be all we can be, although some of us ignore this desire. Most of us may stay in our comfort zone without realizing that we are passing up opportunities to do something that we truly enjoy. Of course, the money from a steady job may be good, your bills are paid and you may find it easy to work with repetition.
Yet, are you happy? I wasn't- that's why I started my own art & design business. When you are ready to improve your creative entrepreneur life, you have to turn your wants into needs. I need to be successful. I need to be my own boss. I need extra income, etc.
How to be your own entrepreneur life coach:
Most of us spend lots of time convincing ourselves that our dreams will never come true. We feel that our dreams do not amount to anything. Poor self-esteem hinders the process of becoming a successful creative entrepreneur. In addition, you miss being your own creative entrepreneur life coach. You can turn the negative thoughts into positive reflections, which will guide you to improve overall entreperneu lifestyle.
The next time you feel like turning yourself into a destructive thinker, breath deep and say, I love the ideal of becoming an creative entrepreneur. Learn to walk tall and think about what you want to achieve. Set plans, write down your business goals, and take action to reach those goals.
How to take steps in becoming a better creative entrepreneur:
Thinking positive is a great start to improving overall creative entrepreneur lifestyle. Surrounding yourself around other entrepreneurs will encourage you to acquire better behaviors. You will learn to practice these new habits daily. Once you have achieved your goals you can mark it off your list and move on to the next one.
Tips for creative and business development and growth:
Learn to say no. Many of us have a natural instinct to help others. Are you negelecting to take care of a few business things, to consistently take care of other peoples stuff? Are you taking time out of each day to work toward your business goals? Are you taking actions to stop persistence that spreads yourself too thin?
If you spread yourself too thin, it will lead to never accomplishing your business goals, If so, do not allow others to drag you down. Try to stay away from situations that consistently take you away from achieving your creative business goals. If you are focusing on the wrong items in creative entrepreneur lifestyle, you will never achieve or improve on your creative business idea.
Stop focusing on what you didn't get done, forget about the undone list , just focus on your future plans. We all allow something to get in our way. That's Life! Learn to become your own cheerleader and give yourself a high five every time you complete a task or business goal.
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Over the holidays I have been very busy meeting with clients and participating in a wonderful joint venture with 4 other creative entrepreneurs – called The Creative Biz Marathon. I and along with the other 4 ladies were responsible for posting in a 24/7 rotation.
To be honest – it was a lot of work, but it was a great challenge with great outcomes. Well the first 24/7 of this journey is coming to a close, we're super-excited about following this journey / our hearts / our biz dreams even further in 2011! In fact, we've been so tremendously blessed by this experience that we aren't stopping now!
Here's how you can continue to follow our journeys...
1. Join the CBM email list. We've created a handy sign-up process that will allow you to submit just one email signup form to join each of our email lists. You'll be free to leave at anytime if you so choose. We're sure you'll stay, though, because we're on a roll and can't be stopped! Please visit our Email Signup form here.
2. Follow each of our personal creative biz blogs, and look for the "Creative Biz Marathon" tags there. We'll be tagging CBM related posts with a "Creative Biz Marathon" tag on each of our blogs (below), and would be honored if you stopped to visit.
3. Continue to visit the Creative Biz Marathon site...When we planned this marathon, things focused around the first 24/7 and a 6-month check-in. Over the course of the first 24/7, we've decided that there's simply too much creative-goodness going on here to delay further postings and check ins. Of course, the most activity will be taking place on each of our own blogs, so be sure to visit our personal blogs as well (see #2 above). There will be lots of updates and goodies with you here in the coming days/weeks/months. Plus, we have a few very special posts planned for our 6-month marathon check-ins that you won't want to miss! We've added an RSS option for those who prefer to read posts in a reader.
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