There have been many instances this year that have caused me to stop and consider how my life has changed drastically. Running a business has been both a challenge and a blessing. Previous experience has cropped up before, but it now plays a more prominent role in my life. For instance, as you might have gathered if you follow me on my Facebook author’s page, I have been substitute teaching over the last couple months, just within my district. This last week I subbed in a bilingual first grade classroom. They did an amazing job! It later occurred to me that my very first student teaching position was in a bilingual first grade classroom! Though I am not teaching full-time, I still get to chat with students and visit different schools in the area. My point of view has changed so much since that first introduction year as a newbie teacher! During my recent assignment, I had the chance to talk with an art teacher before leaving and realized that I am exactly where I LOVE to be right now.
Creating Space
And now…I am working as an artist and an author, creating space for creativity as much as possible and learning the ins and outs of running a business — something that I never expected to do! I set aside time each day to work on something creative, research, read, and reflect over what is working and what isn’t. On top of that, I’m practicing solid financial decisions and following a planner.
In college I learned the hard way that I was not organized. It was my mom who was organized, but I never noticed until hi had clothes constantly strewn around my dorm room. But with the realities of college and then teaching, I picked up some tricks that helped me add calm to the chaos. All of these new paths I’m forging in the present are with the intention of meeting my goals for the year:
- to live off of my creativity
- to save more money, and
- to publish two books
We’ll see where this leads in the next six months, but I’m excited for the growth I’ve been seeing already, both in my business and in my personal life.
Carving Out Time
On the whole, I feel like I’m more patient because I’ve had to be okay with waiting. Success doesn’t happen overnight. I’ve always been a dedicated and challenge-oriented person. When working for myself I have to be this, and then some. It’s the birth of an idea, the intentional practice, and then reaching other people with that idea. This is not as straightforward as it seems, in my experience.
I’ve created time to relax, but I’ve also intentionally carved out time to brainstorm, make lists, and document progress each month. This used to be something that I considered a “waste of time” and I preferred to just make it up as I went along. If I am aiming to see this Hannah Marie. business succeed, whether it be through successful book publications or new ideas in my art, I must plan for it. And planning takes time as well as effort. Some days I have to do the boring stuff, as much as it pains me to say.
Because I’ve stuck to this method over the past eleven months, I’ve finished a draft on my historical fiction, written a couple outlines or drafts for future books, published a couple books. I am halfway through illustrating my graphic novel and have learned how to use Adobe Illustrator to better enhance my art practice. I look for ways to open my art to the community and have learned many valuable lessons. As my business has grown in the past few months, it’s taught me to be flexible and prepared, two things that the teaching profession hammered into me year after year. This is a different type of lesson, and I’m learning it instead of teaching it!
Always dream,
Hannah Marie.
