Creative Income

The blog dedicated to all things crafty business!

  • Home
  • About
  • Giveaways
    • Win a Ticket to Snap!
  • Newsletter
  • Free eBook
  • Join our Facebook Group

Start Your Creative Business in 2013 – It Takes Time and Effort

December 4, 2012 by Maggie

Do you lay in bed at night and think, “I really like to create. I think I’m good at it and I’ll bet I could start a business and make a little extra money”?

Do you then think, “I wonder if I could make enough to quit my day job”?

Do you follow that with, “I’m going to sell my work, quit my day job and teach classes all over the world”?

You can, you know. First though, you’ll want to figure out  few basic things.

 Image source

My next few articles will be about the things you need to know about before you launch your creative business. Some of them will be concrete steps to take and others will be concepts and ideas you need to consider.

Why? Because these are things I wish I’d known. Because knowing some of the things that are common among people who start creative businesses makes us feel less alone. And because knowing some of the things to expect takes away some of the fear that may be keeping you from taking that first step.

The first lesson to learn is that It Takes Time and Effort. It’s not sexy and it may not be what you wanted to hear but starting, growing and maintaining your creative business will take LOTS of time and effort.

First of all, there is a learning curve. You may feel stymied by the software, frustrated by technicalities or overwhelmed by the many different hats that need wearing while running a creative business.

There have been times when a technical glitch on my website has brought me to tears. I remember one weekend I had my web hosts’ technical support, a friend of one of my kids and my husband helping me try to solve a problem. I felt defeated, depressed and discouraged. Not to mention stupid.

I had a meltdown that would embarrass a 3 year old.

I sat down with a cup of tea and told myself that it would get sorted out one way or another. I also told myself not to be too hard on me for not knowing the answer. People go to college to earn degrees in web design and I wasn’t going to flip a switch and know the answer instantly. Being able to step away from the problem and calm down gave me the clear head I needed to keep researching the problem.

Guess what? I figured it out BEFORE the tech support or the other helpers did. On my own. And boy, did that feel GREAT! I had to explain the solution to the helpers because they wanted to know how to fix similar situations in the future. YES!

The takeaway? Know that you will have to give yourself time to find solutions to some of the problems you will face. Rarely are the answers right in front of your eyes.

Put in the effort. Educate yourself as much as possible. There will be some things (like designing a website?) that you are not up to learning or have no desire to learn but knowing your strengths and limits ahead of time may save you some frustration. Put in the effort to know as much about your business as you possibly can. I could turn over the website portion of my business but I want to be able to tweak things as the ideas occur to me, not be on some guy’s list of people to get to… eventually.

If you already have a creative business up and running please leave a comment sharing how putting in time and effort has helped you grow your business and overcome setbacks. Sharing experiences with one another is a great way to feel supported and less alone.

By: Vicki O’Dell , The Creative Goddess

  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Maggie
Latest posts by Maggie (see all)
  • Real Life Sales: Getting Your Crafts Into a Shop - November 13, 2021
  • How to Make Money Blogging - November 6, 2021
  • Real Life Sales: Getting Your Crafts Into a Shop - November 18, 2020

Filed Under: Getting Started Tagged With: Creative Income Contributors, planning

Email Email Facebook Twitter Pinterest YouTube RSS

Subscribe to the Creative Income Newsletter.

Getting Started

5 Easy Steps to a Successful Handmade Business

Start a Handmade Business: Free CreativeLive Class You Don’t Want to Miss!

Categories

Craft Fair Tips

Pricing Your Handmade Goods for Craft Shows

How to price your items is a common source of confusion when handmade artists are starting to sell at craft shows. Not just business-wise (how much to … [Read More...]

Archives

Blogging

Six Easy Tips for Writing an Artist Bio

Craft Fairs

Pricing Your Handmade Goods for Craft Shows

General Advice

Should You Offer Samples of Your Products at Craft Shows?

Getting Started

Starting a Business? Don’t Make These Rookie Mistakes

Organizing

Craft Fairs: Find Success, Make the Sale

Sales Tips

Should You Sell Your Handmade Products on Consignment?

Prime Publishing Craft Group
Copyright © 2022 · Creative Income - A Prime Publishing LLC property. All rights reserved.

About Us Advertise Contact Us FAQs Privacy Policy Do Not Sell My Personal Information Subscribe Terms of Service Unsubscribe

Copyright © 2022 · Tidy Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in