On the journey of being a freelance or independent artist, the first big hump is getting out of the rat race of always chasing the next sale. I recently wrote an article on The Abundant Artist helping artists like you clear that first big hurdle.

Creative Voices was made to be wholeheartedly for a certain type of person. But that also means that it’s unabashedly not for a lot of people. How happy you are with the process and the framework and the results depends a lot on being the right fit.

But if you are the right fit, I’ve made it my mission to give you marketing that feels like a breath of fresh air. I want you to feel seen and heard. And I want to equip you with the tools to put something wonderfully unique into the world.

In a world where success is monetary and our days are not gifts to be enjoyed but minutes dedicated to production, this shift of focus from enough to the journey is nothing short of radical.

You can find a solution to almost anything. There’s only one catch: you need to know what your problem is first. Otherwise all those options, they’re just overwhelming. And they do very little to really move the needle for you.

The theme for this fall, across Creative Voices, is the idea of journeys. The idea that there are seasons and not every season can be one of harvest. In our work, this means that we’re not chasing unending growth. There are seasons of stepping-back and planning and changing directions too.

Nearly 90% of people spend half of their waking adult lives doing work they’d rather not do.  And what a shame too because meaningful work — to do something with our time and our effort that we feel is important — is one of the most important tools we have for feeling engaged in our lives.

There are two types of seriousness. One is allowing something to be important and the other is being self-important. The goal is to figure out how to be wildly committed without becoming self-important. To take life seriously without taking yourself too seriously.

You want your work to be great and it feels like getting a logo just right is the first step in that direction. The problem is that so many people get caught up perfecting a logo. And the more time you commit, the more it feels like you have to see it through. Otherwise all that time would be a waste, right?

I want you to start thinking of yourself as an art entrepreneur. A non-profit entrepreneur. Even a small business entrepreneur. This entrepreneurial approach, this type of learner’s mindset, it’s more than just doing a job or making ends meet. It’s about having a fire for doing it different.

No matter how much we do, there is always more to be done. Another hill to climb. You could always make just a little bit more. If we don’t know what we want or how much we need to achieve it, how will we know when enough is enough?

The journey is about doing the work and serving people well. And when you do, the best reward is the opportunity to do more work and serve more people. In a culture of more and faster, where we’re all racing to a finish line, this is a radical idea.