Whatever you do, do NOT give up.
Being an independent artist (crafter/musician/writer, etc) is certainly rewarding, but by no means easy. We choose to eke out a living being our own boss, and doing what we truly love, and quickly find that the love part is but a fraction of the necessary whole.
Yes, that choice may save us from the daily grind of soul-depleting commutes, cubicles, fluorescent lighting and ornery bosses, but our choice comes with its own struggle. A very real struggle.
Some may envision us waltzing blithely through our studio hour after hour, slinging paint, stringing pretty beads, or lovingly packaging a hand-dyed silk scarf while our online shop just rakes in the dough. They might think we're idly strolling the beach, picking up shimmering seashells to use in our craft while they sit in that cubicle under that rack of fluorescent tubes.
Well it ain't so. There's indeed a whip that needs to be cracked, and that whip is in our own hands, at our own back.
Many of us, especially in the beginning, have to play many roles~ if not every role~ in our own budding business in order to keep costs as low and our brand as pure as possible. Every night is a sleepless night when you're the artist, the marketing agent, the web developer, the photographer, the graphic designer, the accountant, the customer service rep, the packing & shipping department, the ordering & receiving department, and the personal assistant.
'Tween all those roles, we still must somehow keep those creative juices moving and shaking. Coffee becomes our best friend in the whole wide world, and we soldier on.
So my message to those of you who made the same choice I did is this:
Whatever those fleeting specks of defeat try and tell you, squash them immediately, and with fervor. Know you're not alone. Know you are special. And for chrissakes, DO NOT GIVE UP. Do NOT give in to the cubicle, however she may beckon when times are tough. Art and creativity are keys to longevity, and the world wouldn't survive without them... without YOU.
