Yesterday I snuck a few minutes to grab a cup of coffee and read one of my favorite magazines, MORE. I'm glad I did.
I found an article in the current Dec/Jan issue by called "10 Things to Know Before You Change Your Life" by Susan Crandell. It's a great article, based on her book "THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW" about men and women over 40 who totally changed their careers.
Her tip #7 was "GOD ISN'T IN THE DETAILS". (I apologize for all the caps. Radio Userland software doesn't let me use boldface or italic.)
Ms. Crandell says during in her research for her book, she realized "that the least successful reinventers were the ones who had figured everything down to the last decimal point and therefore were closed to new methods, new ideas."
Planning is important, she says. But trying to figure out what everything is going to look like ahead of time is only going to hold you back.
If you are seriously considering getting serious with your craft business, you've probably already read every book, magazine, article and blog that advises you how to do that. I did. I even went to my local SCORE office. (THEY put the fear of God in me!! I slunk home in despair, sure I would never, ever be able to start my own business.) If you are reading this series, you may be looking for that one tip, that one big "secret" that will explain everything.
What all these excellent resources do not tell you is, the most important thing you need to do is just DO IT.
It's like swimming. You can read books about it, study it, watch videos, and memorize all the moves. But at some point, you have to get in the water. And feel what it's like to float. You have to put all those movements together IN WATER.
Then you realize that when you DO put it all together, all those funny movements actually move you forward.
You also realize you still might also get some water up your nose.
So. This GETTING STARTED tip could have been....SHOULD have been....tip #1.
Start where you are. And just do it.
DON'T wait until you have everything figured out.
Number one, because you never will.
Number two, because in a way, trying to "figure everything out" first is really just another way to procrastinate about actually "doing it".
Number three, because yes, you can avoid SOME mistakes by learning from others. But you WILL make mistakes.
Not only will you make mistakes—lots of them!—unless one of them involves walking in front of a bus, you will not die from them.
You may find out your plans are not as perfect as you thought. You may discover your carefully constructed display won't stand up. You may even find out your work isn't as wonderful or unique as you thought. (Guess why I don't sell Victorian-style jewelry?) You may be embarrassed, discouraged, confused or frustrated.
But you will also learn. You will learn how to display your work better. You will learn how to talk to people about your work. You will learn how to pack a car for a show, or how to word a home party invitation to get good attendance, and how to approach a store owner about selling your work.
And every step forward you make, every risk you take, every experience you let yourself in for, will teach you, encourage you, harden you, expand you. (er...in a good way.) You will learn how brave you can really be, and how passionate you really are about what you do. You will learn how your work makes other people feel good.
I had to do little local fairs and shows to find out my market was maybe not local. I had to see what people thought about my work, and what appealed to them. I had to fail to realize I could learn very important lessons from failing. And when I succeeded, I had a little bit more money, knowledge, experience and confidence to get me to the next step.
Each success and failure taught me something about me, my abilities, my work, and what was important to me about my work.
I'm going to continue writing this series—and feel free to ask questions along the way! I can give you ideas, suggestions, inspiration and maybe a little kick in the pants now and then. (I myself have received many such kicks, and still do.)
But I hope you're also starting to realize that all I can really teach you is that it is possible to believe in yourself, to believe that this is something you can do. To believe, as Ben Zander would say, in possibility.
So jump on in, the water's fine. Don't forget your nose plug. But a little water up your nose isn't going to stop you NOW, is it?
