This past week was another where I had to play catch-up a bit with my daily empire building assignments. I don’t recommend doing this since the program has enough thought-provoking material each day to keep you well occupied. This happened to be one of those jam-packed weeks of great information as well. At least my reasons for falling behind were virtuous – a large scale jewelry design project for an outside manufacturer kept me very well occupied.
One interesting thing about this week’s empire building projects was that I started to feel my own resistance and fears cropping up. The dreaded M word (marketing) was addressed – if not directly, then indirectly through great tips on how to build readership on your blog and grow email contact lists. I did like the philosophy and approach to marketing of another successful small business owner, Brooke Thomas, and am looking forward to reading her (free) ebook Practice Building 101 even though I have no intention of starting up a holistic massage business.
Interestingly, for me, the same resistance to self-promotion that hits me now is not a new feeling. It was behind my feelings of aversion back in high school when my musician colleagues would whip through their concertos and show pieces as their “warm up.” Taking the “high road”, though, and not warming up was akin to shooting myself in the foot (or bow arm;-). I’m not surprised that one of my greatest complaints about my career as a musician has been that I’ve felt invisible.
We bring our personalities with us wherever we go; new situations often become like the latest designer clothes we put on hoping to hide our figure flaws.
Is there hope?
Yes, and confronting your fears is one of the most powerful things you can do to break the cycle; but doing so takes courage, belief, and ultimately, unwavering passion for what you are doing.
What are you passionate about? What are you doing to follow your passion?
When do you hear from the ‘outside manufacturerer?’ Yesterday’s design is exquisite.
N
Hi Nina,
Don’t know when or if I’ll hear…
(Are your fingers still crossed?;-)
I’m glad you liked the design yesterday! I was pleased to be able to get closer with my CAD rendering to what I can do by hand. Still have a long way to go with the actual rendering portion of the program so that the metal looks more realistic and the backgrounds look more “spiffy.”
It’s only time and effort…sigh;-)
Joana