A brand new startup is one that is taking a significant risk. You’re heading out into the big bad business world, and you need it to be a success; after all, you’ve poured your everything into this venture! Experience is going to teach you a lot, and owning your own business is going to be the biggest lesson you will ever learn in your life. You are about to embark on something amazing, challenging, and life-changing, so it stands to reason that there will be wise words to hear before you get started!

I read recently that Megan Markle, as in Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex Megan Markle, had a little calligraphy side hustle going. Before HRH got her big break working on the show Suits, she worked for a paper company and offered calligraphy for celebrity weddings and even taught a workshop! How cool is that?! She prides her self on being very disciplined as she learned and practiced the art of calligraphy!

Everyone’s journey is always so different and inspiring. I thought I’d share this lengthy post about how I got started with lettering and calligraphy as a hobby and a love for writing, and how I turned it into a home based business. Sit back, pour yourself your favorite bevvie and allow me to share with you my journey along with some practical advice!

Teaching others how to start a home-based creative business has been something that I’ve wanted to do for years. I feel very fortunate to have been able to work from home while my kids were growing up. Working from home allowed me to have independence, to keep a part of who I was, and it gave me a break from being a Mom along with all the other jobs that go along with staying home.

If you are a fellow creative entrepreneur and are struggling to grow your business, then read on!

What I’ve learned most over these last few years of being a creative and building my online business is; how to focus on important tasks, managing my time so I’m not working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and lastly how to rely on those around me for support and advice!

In reality, the business path can be both rewarding and challenging. When you’re keen to engage with your creative ideas and let the inspiration flow through your mind and body, the last thing you want to be doing is to manage a business.

Who says business management is all about responsibilities, administrative tasks, and plenty of documentation. It’s fair to say that as a creative entrepreneur, you want to lose yourself in the artistic process of giving life to your ideas.

At any point in starting, growing and running a business, I feel like we need inspiration, information, a fresh perspective, and motivation to push through when we need a little boost. Podcasts for me serve all of those purposes and more. So I thought I’d share with you Podcasts that have helped me in my creative business.

Have you ever dreamed about starting something new, learning something new, or jumping out of your comfort zone to shake things up a bit?! How do we get over the fear?

I’ve learned to be bigger than my fear! I let the fear pop up when it needed to warn me. Then I paused. Asked myself “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” if I hit share, publish or launched a new art piece. With each experience , I was more in control. With each bout of fear, I learned that I wasn’t in danger, and that my life wouldn’t end if I did this one new thing.

I learned a few tricks to help get over fear and am excited to share them with you now!

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know that I balance being a creative and being an entrepreneur, wearing many hats in-between. Becoming a creative entrepreneur can be an interesting clash of two worlds. On the one hand, you have a creative skill that you want to market, whether it's decorating people's homes, producing music or making jewelry. On the other hand, you need to put your business hat on, and get to work promoting your creative skills or products. Growing a business while also carrying on with your creative work can be tough, and require a lot of work. So how can you balance your creativity with your need to grow your business? Take a look at some of these tips.

First off, go ahead and download the goal setting worksheets here. Save them to your computer and print off a copy or two of each. You will notice that I have listed 5 categories; health, spiritual, relationship, finance and personal development. In an effort to simplify life, I will focus on only these 5 categories. Feel free to add others if you need, but keep in mind, simplifying is best so as not to get overwhelmed with your goal setting!

In a very random but powerful aha moment, I knew that I wanted to create art, share art, and inspire others to surround themselves by art. I knew that I wanted to continue to work from home, on my terms and with freedom to choose, when I worked and how I worked {My kids were still young, but didn’t need me as much}. I knew I wanted to maintain my independence while earning my own money and still be able to contribute to the family budget. I knew I was happiest when I painted, blogged and created.

If you've joined me on my last blog post, you'll know that I had a BIG goal to create my very first online class on the Skillshare platform.  Well, I managed to hit "publish" almost a week before my scheduled deadline!!!

I am not a perfectionist by any means, but I do dwell on details a little too much some times.  I have learned over the last few years, that done is better than perfect.  Agonizing over the details of a plan is necessary sometimes, for instance, when building a structure, or planning a Will, however,  agonizing over the details of an online class... not so much!

When I started life i design just over 5 years ago, I had an idea about what I wanted to do for a new career/business, I just had no idea what I was doing? 

I knew I wanted to make art, sell art, and live a life that suited my personality and passions.  I just didn't know who I was as an artist, how to start a website, how to open an online shop or how to create graphics and take photos to help sell my art.