"We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down."
I recently came across this quote and I thought it was incredibly relevant to not only myself, as I look to the future of my own creative business, but also to one of my recent clients, Emma Fretz Designs.
Today I wanted to discuss the "C" word, the horrible, scary and risky word, but so very necessary; CHANGE. (super scary right?) This word has been the topic on my mind these last couple months, as I've been meeting with clients, mentors and friends. It's a word that seems to be very much disliked, and that's putting it nicely, but seemingly in that same moment it's also something that excites people.
One of the best examples of an experience like this, I had with Emma, so let me tell you a little bit more about her. This is Emma, and her cute little pup! This girl took a huge jump, she decided it was time to re-launch her business, but before she did that, she had to do some renovations with in her business, including changing the name of her business!! Crazy eh!? She took a huge risk, and so far, she's kicking butt!
Emma is a girl boss, a creative, and a lover of dogs, she's pretty cool right! She specializes in custom calligraphy and watercolor pieces, such as invitations, bible covers and so much more. (seriously SO MUCH more). While I was working with her we were talking about how crazy it can be owning a creative business, and how scary it can be, especially when it comes to change. Change can be a scary thing for everyone, and when it comes to changing part of your business it's doubly scary! I mean what if it doesn't work? What if you start to lose business? What if..? WHAT IF? You get the point, when it comes to changing a part of your business, it's like changing a part of you, because let's be honest, when you own a creative business, more of your heart has been put into it than any amount of time or money, and if you change it, and it fails, it will most certainly leave you heart broken.
BUT, because, well, there's always a but. When you own a creative business, you HAVE to continually be changing, learning, exploring. Just like in anything else in life, as the world grows and learns more so we must too, because there are always new and better ways to do things.
Owning a creative business means it's your responsibility to educate yourself, push yourself and take that risk of changing what you must in order to create a better business for yourself and especially for our clients. Even if it means you might fail, because we all do at some point. (and that is perfectly OK, we'll go deeper into that another time) You just have to take it in stride and learn from it and continue on, because although change is tough, a little bit scary, and risky, it's also completely AWESOME!
Let me know what your thoughts are about change! What is something you've recently had to change? Has it been AWESOME, or not so awesome, and what did you learn from it? I'd love to chat with you, so leave me a note in the comments below!
Cheers
Allison
PS You can check out more of Emma's work on her website at www.emmafretzdesigns.com, and if you want to see more of the photos I took for her you can find them under Lifestyle!