Every day this month, well since January 6th, has been unprecedented. It’s hard to know what to do in light of our country’s events and uncertaintly of what’s ahead. I’m disturbed, anxious and tentative. That said, I also feel that my best contribution is to take ultra-good care of myself, to put out positive content, and to encourage each of you to stay centered, in the day, and moving forward to whatever extent you’re able.
My words aren’t intended to fix or solve anything beyond your entrepreneurial angst. If they can soothe you through the few moments it takes you to read them, I’m gratified. Life has never been so day-at-a-time.
Here goes:
I’m going to admit right here and right now that I am intimidated by Instagram. I tried to learn it from a young and brilliant millennial 5 years ago. She gave our Creative Mastermind a session, and I thought I ‘got’ it, but didn’t do much with it. It faded into the background, but as my business now includes my artwork, IG is coming up again.
Everywhere I turn, when it comes to getting known as a visual artist, the word Instagram is hard to avoid. As a Baby Boomer, I don’t find it intuitive. I can’t figure out how to edit (it’s different on your phone than on your computer). I make a lot of wrong turns, and my overall look is not on brand…yet.
However – I am determined to master this baby. Here’s my struggle. I make mistakes. I feel dumb. I have to ask a lot of questions and show my lack of expertise. Learning becomes painful. I haven’t had immediate success to reinforce my efforts, nor gotten any awards, or doubled my number of followers. I don’t feel successful. The acronym for the word SHAME is: Should Have Already Mastered Everything. Learning feels painful.
When I had my first child many decades ago, I began to offer Adult Education classes to earn extra income while I was a stay-at-home mom. There was an information session for us teachers. What was stressed was that Adult Learners need more reinforcement than kids who are young, less status-oriented and less afraid of failure. I’m smack in the middle of that demographic now. Fortunately, I know that the best one to give me that reinforcement is me, but I have a built-in forgetter and suffer unnecessarily.
I need encouragement, small rewards at milestones and some “atta girl!”s to keep me engaged.
After a particularly grueling, self-inflicted rant about not being enough, I posted a new image I’d just created to my account. Five minutes later my phone rang. It was my younger daughter saying, “I LOVE THAT!” She was enthusiastic about the work, the pricepoint and my persistence. That was all I needed to stay in the game. Plus, I mentioned in the post that these new pieces were available in my Etsy shop, and I sold one the next day.
Here’s what I want you to do. Compliment someone after you read this. Whether it’s a Facebook image, your check-out woman at the store, or your neighbor’s funky hat, pass on some positivity today. You have no idea what the next person is struggling with. Your kind words can make such a difference. Notice how you feel when I tell you how happy I am that you read this to the end. I’m so grateful for your attention!
A good reminder
@Rán Happy to provide. I forget ALL the time…
Thank you Jane for continuing to be an inspiration!!
@Dawn Your comment went straight to my heart. xo