Start the business. Launch the non-profit. Make your art.
How you think about the work you're doing affects both whether you do it at all and how you go about it.
The type of people we work with are those who are drawn to the idea of building a heartfelt brand. People who do their work because they care. Because they want to put something of their own into the world. Or even because they feel a moral, ethical responsibility to do so.
These are the same people who are often sensitive and take fulfilling expectations very seriously.
They are more likely to wait until they are totally ready rather than jump into something where they might let someone down.
But this hesitancy does not mean that you are not ready, capable, or worthy. You are not an imposter. In fact, it's most likely that if you're the type of person grappling with these questions, then you're also very much the type of person we desperately need to join the fray.
Start the business. Start the non-profit. Make your art.
Share yourself with the world. Build something your proud of and welcome people in to enjoy it too.
And just know that there is lots (and lots and lots) of business advice out there, but it's not all created equal. Some of it is useful and a good fit for you. Lots of it is just meh. And there a fair chunk of it that is something worse than mediocre. It's harmful. You're going to have to learn the difference.
Because if you take advice that doesn't sit well with you because you think it's what you are supposed to be doing, it's going to affect your work.
There is no way to bring your authentic self to the table and use tactics that make you feel sleazy.
There is a difference between stepping out of your comfort zone and stepping out of your value zone.
A useful way I've found to manage this is by focusing on cultivating a beginner's mindset. There is a lot of pressure to be an expert. To have all the answers, to be rigid, and to resist change. But the beginner's mindset allows you be open to possibility. It allows you to question the way things are. It allows you explore what your way forward is.
And that's really the key. And that's what we're doing here. Creative Voices is here to help you find the answers yourself, not to tell you what the answer is. Because it's not the same for everyone. Just because one strategy works like gangbusters for someone else, if it makes you feel shady, it not going to work for you.
And this isn't something you're going to figure out all at once either.