Some time ago I talked a bit about the book, A Savvy Crafter's Guide to Success by Sandra McCall, and how it started me thinking about the different tracks/roads an artist can choose. I was trying to decide if I should accept some proposals to put my art into some local stores or if I should try to concentrate on etsy, the blog, submitting to magazines, etc. What I wanted was a sign of sorts. Something that would help me clarify my direction. As a stay at home mom my time is still fairly limited and I've learned I can't spread myself too thin. I needed to make some choices.
It's funny but not long after writing that post my husband did my taxes. He
hates doing my taxes. It's only because he likes me - a lot - that he will do this for me. I could try to do them myself but honestly, that's not something that's even
remotely close to any skill set that I possess. So after an apparently grueling day of tax work he came to me and said "Please, can you not sell anywhere but online this year?" I guess it really gums up the process to have multiple shops and art fairs to account for. Plus, I have some income generated from writing, and now the book royalties so my once not so hard taxes are getting pretty laborious to sort out.
I feel for him. He was doing it on a volunteer basis, after all. And I thought this might be the sign I'd been looking for. The one that led in an actual direction. So I thought that this year I'll try it.This year
I'll concentrate on my art, my writing and submitting to magazines, and on developing my online presence. And then suddenly, it seemed so much simpler to be me. With this one decision I took all the directions I'd felt pulled in and cut out half of them. By saying, "not now" to some roads I wasn't saying "not ever", and I was
freeing myself up to put some concentrated energy into other projects.
What other projects you may ask? I can't tell yet. But I'm super excited to have somethings to show you soon. And I figure, if I'm super excited than I might have made the right choice.
What do you think?
4 comments:
This post and your previous post on the topic have been so helpful to me. I've been thinking about the same questions recently and I love what you said about saying "not now" doesn't mean saying "not ever". It reminds me to go back to my goal list for this year and to see what direction I put in that for myself. Thanks for the reminder.
I think it's really great when you get those kinds of signs. A lot of times they come straight from my husbands mouth as well. I'm excited to see what ou have planned for the future. I think you already have amazing blog and online shop. You are really inpiring and I seriously admire your work. Good luck!!!
hi jen! love this post. you know, my 2 cents is, you can try it. see how living 'online' is for a while, 6 months, a year and see. for me, i do a huge amount of what i do online (i have the crazy idea that if i don't do local sales, i don't have to fiddle with state taxes as much and figuring out what sold where, etc. etc. etc.!) but i digress. keep on...you are doing just great!
for sure if you're excited about what you're doing it means you made the right choice!
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