Doubt.
It creeps into your thoughts. These tiny whispers of I’m not good enough…
The kinds of questions that you know in your head are not true. Yet, your heart can’t seem to get on board. You’re passionate about your hobby, whether it’s crafting, art or writing. You think you’re good. And maybe your mom thinks you’re good. But maybe no one else will get it.
Every business owner in the history of the world had some level of doubt. They’re lying if they say they didn’t. Doubt comes with the territory. But somehow they bridged the distance between good idea and a real business.
Now it’s your turn.
You’re Already an Artist
It doesn’t matter if you make Lobster Telephones like Salvador Dalí. If this can be considered art and Salvador Dali is considered one of the most prolific artists of the 20th century, then you can be an artist too.
It’s just a matter of finding the kind of people who love the same kind of art as you. And are willing to pay for it. In Shopify’s How to Sell Art Online: The Ultimate Guide, author Dayna Winter explains that:
“In 2017, the starving artist is a dying breed. E-commerce and social selling have become increasingly effective means for independent artists to self-sufficiently fund their craft, and most importantly, to gain the independence to sell the work they want to create directly to their niche audiences.”
e-commerce has so many different ways for you to sell your art anywhere in the world. And you have a lot of different ways to sell it. You can sell prints, digital downloads, or even put your artwork on different merchandise, like Maria Qamar’s pop art:
If you’re already making art, regardless of what kind it may be, you’re already an artist. Not a hobby artist, not a weekend artist, and not an artist wannabe.
You are an artist. Full stop.
You’re Already a Writer
Same goes with finally making your dream of being a real writer a reality. If you are writing, you are already a writer.
In Real Artists Don’t Starve, bestselling author Jeff Goins explains:
“First, we master our mindset, tackling the internal challenges and conflicts we will face to break out of the Starving Artist paradigm. We can’t change our lives until we change our minds.”
I can attribute Jeff Goins for pushing me to say out loud that “I, Liesha Petrovich, am a writer”. It was a pivotal moment in my life. It wasn’t that I was making a living writing. Rather, it was the declaration that I thought my writing was good enough to share. Even if that meant sharing it with only a few people, including my mom.
Perhaps you’re not the next Hemingway or Rowling, but you have a lot of choices on how to share your writing with the world. Start a blog, write an e-book, guest post or article for a local paper. You get to choose the kind of writer you want to be and how to monetize your work.
And if you think there’s isn’t a market for your writing, let’s look at the poem Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti:
“We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?”
The rest of the poem talks about the perils of buying fruit from a goblin. If someone can create something as weird as this, you can be a writer too.
You’re Literally One Click Away from Being a Business Owner
Anyone that has a creative spirit experiences doubt. Anyone that toils over their work, who puts their heart and soul into a project, will wonder if it’s good enough.
The point is that you are halfway there. You only need to take that next step. And it can be as easy as signing up for a free e-Store (most e-Commerce providers offer free options for new businesses) and start learning how to run a business. Sure, you may fail. Just don’t let doubt be the reason you don’t try.
Every new business is at risk for failing. But isn’t it worth taking the chance?
Every one has doubt. The question is — what is your baseline for failure. If you failed big and I mean catastrophe level, one of two things will happen. You’ll equate that level of failure to each one of your failures you’ll have; or you’ll won’t be scare of any potential failures. When they happen, you’ll deal with them. You’ll be fearless.
That’s a great point. And I guess I’m kind of fearless at this point. When you lose almost everything (catastrophic) and somehow survive, you’re not that scared of potential failures. When the worst has already happened, you know that you’ll be okay. You just move forward.