How to Start or Get Unstuck in Your Creative Business: A Guide for Artists, Makers & Creative Entrepreneurs

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Hey, Beautiful Creative! Welcome to our very first post! I am so excited to start this journey with you and I really appreciate you being here! I have big hopes and dreams for Hey, Beautiful Creative and I hope you’ll follow along as we explore the ins and outs of creative entrepreneurship together!

Today I really want to talk about feeling stuck and how to move past that. Maybe you’re wanting to start a business, but are so overwhelmed you don’t know what to focus on first. Maybe you have ideas for launching a new product, but you’re holding yourself back for some reason. My creative business began over two decades ago, but I am just starting this new business and podcast Hey, Beautiful Creative, so all of those feelings that you might be feeling are very fresh for me and we have a lot to explore. Before we dive into all of that I thought it would be fun if I tell you my story about how I got started as a creative entrepreneur. 

My Origin Story
I was at a St. Patrick’s Day party a couple years after I had graduated from college. I had a job at the time, but was still trying to find a path that I really wanted to follow. So I’m at the party where I only knew the two people hosting. I’m a fairly shy introvert and I remember sitting at a table where there was a person to my left and someone standing in front of me. I don’t remember if there was any conversation at that point. I noticed the woman standing in front of me was wearing a faux fur cuff bracelet (this was around 2002, to give you a sense of the fashion). I thought the bracelet was cool so I decided to try and break the ice by complimenting her on it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “I like your bracelet!”

Her: “Thanks! My brother made it. He’s a designer in LA.”

And that was the moment when my life changed! This two sentence exchange with a stranger! It was like the world opened up for me and I had the sudden realization that I could make something like that. I just didn’t know how to sew. It truly felt like divine inspiration - imagine the “ahhhhhhh” sound of angels and light coming down from the heavens. (That didn’t actually happen, but I want to impart that I felt struck very suddenly by the idea that I could do something like that.) So as I sat there at that St. Patrick’s Day party my new business started to take shape. I decided I would learn to sew, start making purses, and sell them. Which is exactly what I did! 

The following month for my birthday, I asked my family for a sewing machine. My grandparents got me a nice beginner’s model (that I still have) and my grandma and my mom both came up and gave me crash courses on sewing. The internet was still very young at this point and there weren’t all the how-to resources that you can find today, so I was checking out books about handbags from the library for inspiration. I started making my own patterns out of paper bags. (Still to this day, I cannot follow an actual sewing pattern.) 

I wanted to build a website so I took a course on HTML and built my first website from scratch, writing all the code by hand (it was very purple).  And in doing that, I joined a growing community of DIYers, building their businesses online and at the indie craft markets that were popping up across the country. It was an exciting time that felt really full of possibility.

I approached boutiques and asked them if they would be interested in carrying my purses. I held trunk shows, kept a LiveJournal, started an email list, and did all the things a new creative business person might do to get the word out about what they’re making.

I also started applying to craft markets and street fairs. I was rejected from the very first fair I applied to (and we’ll do a whole episode on handling rejection soon because it’s definitely a part of putting yourself out there). My biggest excitement, though, was that I was a vendor at the very first ever Renegade Craft Fair in Chicago, which was such an honor! That was the first craft fair I ever sold at and it involved traveling across the country with all of my goods and my display and taking a big chance on whether or not that would pay off financially.  In going there, I got to meet some of my online crafty friends in person for the first time, which was super fun and very memorable. 

Full Time vs Side Hustle
My dream was to make my purse business a full time thing, and I did try that for a while, but I soon realized that I am someone who does better with a more structured schedule instead of having all day every day free, so I switched to being a creative side hustler instead of a full time maker. If I know I only have two hours in the morning to get something done I’m much more likely to get it done than if I have the whole day to do it!  I wanted to point that out because I think it’s so important that you create and structure your business in whatever way feels best and works best for you. It’s just as legitimate if you’re doing it on the side as it is if you’re working 80+ hours a week on it. I think you’re here because you want to enjoy your life and enjoy your creative work to the fullest extent, so give yourself permission to structure that in whatever way is best for you. Don’t worry about what everyone else is doing.

It’s also okay to change your mind and change course. Somewhere along the way I grew tired of sewing alone in my basement. It felt like the amount of time it took me to make a purse didn’t directly translate into the amount of money I could charge for one. I floundered for a bit trying to figure out what I wanted to make, but eventually landed on jewelry. I’ve always loved jewelry - and had taken some jewelry making classes in the past  -  so it felt like a natural next step and I still have my jewelry business now.

Selling my jewelry has helped me supplement my income and support myself. I’m divorced, I’m a mom, and I’m the only adult in my household. When my daughter was younger I loved the flexibility of being able to make jewelry while she was asleep or at school. I also had a big dream to buy a house and once I sat down to look at how I could increase my jewelry sales, I was able to double them year over year over year until I had saved enough for a down payment. (I would love to teach you how I did that sometime!) In doing that, I learned so much about cultivating relationships with customers, strategic pricing strategies, and most importantly, that I was capable of attaining big dreams and goals. 

There’s a second half of my story that involves my best friend who became my long time business partner (and still remains my best friend)! I can’t wait to tell you more about that next week, so be sure to check back!

Now let’s talk more about how all of this relates to you!
If you are just starting your creative business, or you’re thinking of starting one, know that I am feeling all the feels right along with you. My handmade business began over two decades ago and has been through lots of changes along the way, but I’ve just started this new business and this podcast, Hey, Beautiful Creative! so the process of starting something new and the feelings that go along with that are very fresh. I’ve definitely been wrestling with imposter syndrome. I wanted to start a business similar to this over ten years ago! Life got in the way, and I definitely got in my own way! But here I am!! I’m doing it! So if you’re struggling to begin or to make a change in your business, know the feelings that might be holding you back are totally normal. We all have doubts and fears. I’m planning to do an episode about imposter syndrome soon, so check back for that!

You may be wondering, “Is anyone going to buy my work?” or feeling a lack of confidence about really putting yourself out there. It’s scary, I know. But think about what will happen if you don’t put your work out into the world, if you don’t give your creative business the real chance to be everything it could be. You might look back someday with regret that you didn’t really go for it.  We never know who will see or be inspired by what we’re putting out into the world and how that inspiration will ripple outward. When you share your creative work it gives others permission they may be needing to share more of themselves with the world as well. It’s like lighting someone else’s torch in the darkness, and that’s definitely something we need more and more of in this world.

Here’s something else that I want you to keep in mind, which is also something that I am still learning and constantly reminding myself of. (I’m basically just giving myself a pep talk here.) When you do put something out in the world one time and it doesn’t get the response you had hoped for, that doesn’t mean it’s never going to work or that you’re not good at what you’re doing. Sure, it may need to be tweaked or refined, or maybe it just didn’t get in front of the right audience, but the important thing is to keep trying. Keep putting your work out there. The people who we see and believe to be “successful” (and I say that in air quotes, which I know you can’t see, but I airquote because success means different things to each of us) those people are showing up consistently day after day and putting themselves out there. 

If something doesn’t go the way you wanted - maybe you launched a new product and it flopped, or maybe you applied to be in an art show and your work wasn’t accepted - whatever it is, feel your disappointment, but don’t beat yourself up about it. In these instances, my brain tells me things like, “Well, it’s because you’re not smart enough. Your work sucks.” Things along those lines. Our brains can be so mean to us! In those moments when I catch my brain talking to me like that, I try to shift my perspective to what I would say to a friend if they were experiencing the feelings I am feeling. And I can tell you the output is a lot more kind! Instead of going down a negative thought spiral, try to get curious about what you might do differently next time, if anything, or how that product, or your messaging, or your art submission could be improved. And then try again. If you keep showing up, and you keep learning along the way, I truly believe that you have the capacity to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve. 

As a creative person, I imagine you have a lot of ideas and sometimes that can lead to overwhelm about where to start.

One thing that helps me move forward when I’m stuck or overwhelmed is that I write down all the things I’m thinking of that I want or need to do. I’m a huge fan of making lists! Write it down, do a brain dump, and get it out of my head. That helps alleviate some of the overwhelm and chaos inside my mind. Then I look at that list, take a deep breath if reading the list makes me feel overwhelmed, and I pick something small to start with or something that can be broken down into multiple steps. Then I just dive in and do that one thing. You can do this even if you only have 15 minutes of free time each day. It can be something as quick as buying the domain name that you want, or researching and choosing a web hosting platform, or outlining what you want to say in your next (or first) newsletter. All of those small actions will add up to progress over time. If you’re feeling good after doing that one thing and want to do more, go for it. Pick another thing from your list. You’ll start to gain momentum, but the important part is starting with that one first thing.

Online marketing expert, Amy Porterfield, says, “Action creates clarity.” And I totally agree. In the doing, you will learn. You may learn that you want something done differently and choose to redo it, but you won’t know that until you actually do the thing. It’s okay to change your mind. It’s okay to change course. But just pick one thing and start! Get that forward moving momentum going.  Because as you’re staying stuck, as you’re holding yourself back, you’re missing out on the opportunities to learn and grow by taking action.

I can tell you from experience that it feels really good to take steps forward toward your goals. And believe me, some days my steps are so teeny tiny they wouldn’t even count as baby steps. They’re more of a shuffle. But I’m still there scooting one foot ever so slightly forward and that helps build confidence and momentum. And as Amy says, clarity. So keep shuffling forward toward your dreams, beautiful creative! You can do it. We can do it together! 

What I want you to take away from this is that if you’re feeling stuck in your business or overwhelmed trying to get it started, I want you to write down all of the things you can think of that you need to do, choose one small task, and start there!

🔥 Want More Support? Join the Free 5-Day Challenge

If perfectionism, fear, or self-doubt is holding you back, grab the Creative Confidence Kickstart: 5-Day Challenge. You’ll get daily prompts and mindset shifts delivered straight to your inbox to help you:

• Overcome imposter syndrome
• Stop letting perfectionism hold you back
• Take real action (even if it’s small)

Click here to sign up for free at heybeautifulcreative.com

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What’s ONE small thing you’re going to do today to get your business moving forward? Comment and let me know!

A big thank you to Eric Gibbons for the music and editing that bring this podcast to life. 🎶✨

If you like podcasts, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode full of inspiring stories, mindset tips, and creative business strategy. You’ve got this—and I’m here to help you every step of the way.

Until next time, keep creating and keep moving forward, beautiful creative! ✨