Learning How to Be a Creative Entrepreneur

The practices that help me build self-trust

I’ve held various jobs, from Starbucks barista to English teacher to Cloud Advisory Senior Analyst. None of them prepared me for what it’s like to be fully in charge of my time. For the last year, as a creative entrepreneur with no meetings or bosses telling me what to do, I’ve had to navigate a blank schedule and figure out how to manage my time so that I can achieve my goals. 

Becoming more organized has set me up for success. Having less time to waste, the more I take action on the things I want to take action on, like finishing the draft of Book 2—I’m on Chapter 8! The more I follow through on my commitments to myself, the more I trust myself, and the more my confidence grows. The cycle builds on itself.

Recent Discoveries

I was afraid to trust myself. I was afraid to trust my writing plan. I was afraid to believe that I had everything that I needed right now. It’s scary because I’m relying on myself to step up and show that I can do the work, putting one word in front of the other. 

The kicker is I don’t know how things will turn out. Only .01% of writers get the big fancy traditional book deal. I like achieving the impossible, but my desire to be special stems from a place of lack and scarcity. I needed to prove that my life was worthy because I survived cancer. Yuck! I know. I am enough. My life is enough. 

Because I was approaching life, in this instance writing, from the lens of lack, no matter what I achieve—selling Book 1 at auction, going on a book tour in Germany, getting a TV show or film adaptation—none of that would ever be enough. As I’m reevaluating why I want to publish my books traditionally, I’ve been implementing some practical methods to build self-trust.

Falling in Love with My Voice

One of the reasons I write is because I have important things to say. To get more comfortable expressing myself, I’ve been practicing falling in love with not only my writing voice but also my speaking voice. 

My sisters and I started a podcast! I wanted to create a podcast so I could practice using my voice more. That’s also why I narrated this post. For those of you who prefer listening to my fairy dustings, you can (via the voiceover button at the top). How cool?!

With writing, I can edit and revise the text until it says what I want it to say. But speaking is a lot harder to modify. I have to trust whatever comes out and love myself despite all the weird, awkward, cringeworthy things I say. 

I have time to add a podcast into the mix because I finally started making a schedule, which has freed up a lot of time. 

Setting a Schedule

I don’t set a morning alarm. I love the freedom to wake up whenever I want. However, by the time I get up and start my day, the morning is already gone, and mornings are when I write the best.

So, I started being more intentional with my time and scheduling myself time to work on each item on my list. I don’t always get it right, and I’m often behind schedule. But structure gives me parameters to complete the work within and stay organized.

It’s been working. I’ve been getting up to write. I’ve been making progress on Book 2. I’ve been wasting less time getting sidetracked and distracted. I’ve been spending less time judging myself and being pissed at myself because I am doing what I say I’m going to do and making progress on my goals. 

At the end of the day, life isn’t about checking off every item on my list. However, creating a schedule has helped me honor my commitments to myself, which in turn has made me feel better about myself. 

Comparison Kills Creativity

What was stopping me from keeping my commitments to myself was the pressure to build my author brand. I liked looking at author’s social media to motivate myself. If they could do it, so could I. Instead of feeling inspired, I’d feel bad about myself and my progress. 

Plus, nothing kills my ideas faster than looking online. The once sheer genius idea transforms into something dumb and stupid. I squash the idea instead of executing it. Yuck! No fun.

Marketing and building my author brand is part of being an author, but I don’t want it to feel forced and unfun. Being an author is something I want to do in the long term, so I’m figuring out my own way to do it. 

Currently, I’m not looking at other writer’s stuff. I’m being very selective about what I allow into my creative bubble. Eliminating distractions that suck my energy helps me be more productive, which increases my self-trust and gives me more time to spend on my creativity.

Creative Time

I’ve been allocating more time for creativity in my schedule. Creative Time is a space where I can work on my blog, create social media posts, paint, or do whatever I want to do. I’m really enjoying painting. It’s fun not to overthink things and not have to be good at something. 

I took the writing class Just Do It! at the Highlights Foundation. The teachers recommended using art to improve writing. If I paint the protagonist’s house, a scene, or whatever, the story comes to life, making it easier for me to describe it to my readers. 

Book Talk

For July, the Let’s Get Cozy Book Club podcast is reading The Cinnamon Bun Book Store by Laurie Gilmore. Feel free to read along with us and tune in to hear our discussion about it. Here’s a link to it.

I am an English Literature major who loves 19th-century British literature. So, I enjoy a good Regency romance from time to time. Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater has magic and faeries mixed with balls and marriage proposals. All of my favorite things combined into one!

“It may be true that you only have half a soul, Dora,” he whispered, with a surprising abundance of empathy in his voice. “But that does not make you half a person.” Who knew a moody magician could be such a heartthrob?! It’s such a good book.

Conclusion

Developing self-trust and confidence is a muscle. The more I work it out, the better I feel. I hope this gave you some ideas on things to try. If you have any other practical tools that help you, send them my way! It’s been a lot of trial and error learning how to be a creative entrepreneur, but the more I take action, the easier things have gotten. 

Sending you seagulls and basking in summer afternoon lulls, 

Liza