A few weeks ago, when I taught at Midwest Craft Con, I spent the day in handmade clothes and accessories. From the beautiful dress Karen + Kelly, of Gentle Clothing made me, to the viola-wood necklace given to me by the Hang Ups in KC. As you might guess, I felt absolutely amazing all day. Beautiful. Loved.
And that's WHY we make, isn't it?
Of course we make stuff because it feels good, but that expands when we give it away, when we sell it, when we allow someone else express themselves through our art.
We make more dresses, necklaces, yarn, patterns, paintings, sculptures that we will ever need. We, as artists and makers in business, make more because we want our work to go OUT to be in the world, to adorn someone's body or walls and to become someone else's expression, someone else's joy. We want to know our work is bringing color into more lives.
The necklace, the dress, the art in my house – it has become a part of my life, a part of what I'm doing in the world.
So when you feel shy about marketing (ie, telling other people about the awesomeness of your work), remember this. Remember that it's not about selling YOUR thing, it's about giving your buyers the opportunity to be part of what you're doing, to take what you're doing and make it part of THEIR lives.
Not every maker and artist chooses to sell their work (or make more than they want for their own home). But you do. You want to not just make your art, but share it with others. You want someone to take your work and build their own meaning, their own message with it.
In order to do this, you need to continue to work on your business, to grow your own skills, to refine your message, and to do the work of building the business you want.
If you'd like support, encouragement and accountability during this journey, The Starship may be the community you need. It only opens once a quarter and it's opening again TODAY. If you're not sure if it's for you, or you'd like to ask questions about it (or just chat with me more), you are cordially invited to a Q+A today, March 15th.
Sign up here to learn more, get access to the Q+A (and the recording!) and meet a few of the Captains who already aboard.
(No idea what I’m talking about? Read more about the Starship here.)
If The Starship isn't for you right now – that's totally fine! Stick around and I'll keep posting weekly lessons to help you build your creative business.