Creative Biz Archives - Melissa Dinwiddie | Create the Impossible™

July 17, 2014

Question Time! How Does a Passion Pluralite Decide On a Career Path?

So you’ve decided to create your own business from your creative passions. Great — one decision down!

What do you do, though, when you’re a passion pluralite, with more than one creative skill that could be a source of income? How do you choose?

And what if, after you’ve set your course, you find yourself veering off in pursuit another one of your many creative interests? Does that make you a flake?

These questions are at the heart of this note from Jessica, which landed in my box the other day:

Hi Melissa,

I have to tell you how much I enjoy all the light you bring to the blogs you guest post on, and the wonderful advice here on Living A Creative Life.

Here’s my question to you: How did you decide which creative career path to commit to as a multi-creative person?

I love your term, “passion pluralite” because it’s the only way I can describe myself. You see, I started my own freelance writing business with the idea that I’d do some informational copywriting for businesses. Well, between holding down a crazy day job, a rambunctious toddler and husband, my life has become one big ball of stress. If you stir in the fact that I can’t narrow down a writing niche, it’s now a delicious recipe for burn-out.

In times like this, I make art. Now, I’m sneaking off and having an affair with painting—work that feels right to my soul right now. What am I getting for all of this infidelity? I’m working on a series of pieces and was asked to do a commission for an office near my home. How is that even possible? I’m supposed to be working on my writing career! I value good old fashioned “stick-to-it-ness” and this constant flux leaves me feeling more like a flake, not an empowered creative spirit.

In episode 14 of the Creative Insurgents podcast, Claudine Hellmuth says, “Don’t be afraid to pivot in your career.” Do you think this advice could be applied to a creative who’s finding her way?

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I’d be eternally grateful to hear your thoughts.

Kindest Regards,
Jessica

Dear Jessica,

The short answer to your first question, how did I decide which career path to commit to, is that I did exactly what you did: I snuck off and had an affair with making art.

The other short answer to your first question is that I’m still figuring it out!

Which leads to the short answer to your second question, do I think “Don’t be afraid to pivot in your career” is good advice for a creative who’s finding her way: yes, absolutely!

Now for the longer answers.

How I decided which career path to commit to as a multi-creative person

To be perfectly honest, back in the mid-90s when I set out to create my own business, I didn’t yet realize I was a multi-creative person. All I knew was that I wanted a purpose. Like you, my stated goal at the time was to be a writer, but writing felt hard. Too hard.

My gremlins convinced me that everything I wrote was crap, that I sucked as a writer, and I started doing arts and crafts purely as a procrastination strategy! Like you, I had an affair with the work that felt right to my soul right then.

(And in fact, for fifteen years I quit writing entirely, which, with the benefit of hindsight, I now see was simply a bad case of perfectionist paralysis led to its logical extreme. But that’s another story.)

Like you, that affair led to some commissions, and before long I was off and running with a little hobby business as a calligraphic artist, which grew (slowly, over several years) into a full-time business as a ketubah artist. All of this while I was “supposed” to be building a career as a writer.

And that is Part One of how I decided which creative career path to commit to: I followed my heart. But there is a Part Two — read on.

If I had kept following my heart, my sad and sordid history would be different (perhaps no less sad and sordid, but sad and sordid in a different way). Alas, what happened instead was that, out of fear, ignorance, self-doubt, and desperation, I stopped following my heart.

I followed the money instead.

Now, let me be quick to clarify that if you want to grow a business, of course you must follow the money! My error wasn’t that I followed the money, but that I completely ignored my heart in the process.

I succeeded in building up my business to a sustainable level, but completely cut the cord on my love affair in the process and stopped making art for me, to feed my own soul. (Who had the time? That was my excuse, anyway, which I now know was just that: an excuse.)

It was, in your words, “a delicious recipe for burn-out,” and indeed I burned myself to a right little crisp.

And then the economy tanked, and my business tanked along with it. My income took a big dive, and I panicked. I spent two full years “throwing money at the problem,” trying desperately to find the silver bullet that would bring my business back up to where it had been.

Like you, I value sticktoitiveness. And besides, I’d put so much time, energy and money into my business. It was all I’d done for over a dozen years — what else could I possibly do?

So I kept trying — even though I was burned out — and threw more money at marketing and promotion, until I found myself bowed under the weight of an Enormous Mountain of Debt (which I am still paying off, btw).

Burnout + money stress = Not Good.

The importance of being willing to pivot

To cut to the chase, a series of personal crises finally led to a breakdown, in February of 2010, and it was then that I realized I’d been wearing blinders for the past decade.

The beautiful thing about breakdowns is that they have the potential to lead to breakthroughs. (Click to tweet!)

When we’re really stuck in a rut, a breakdown might, in fact, be the only thing that will shake us out of our complacency. That’s what happened with me: my breakdown helped me to see that of course there were infinite possibilities open to me! I didn’t have to be just a ketubah artist for the rest of my life! There were all sorts of things I could do!

My breakdown helped me start following my heart again. I still have the ketubah business, and meanwhile I’ve developed other income streams that feed my soul while also feeding my belly. And I make time for creative passions that don’t bring in a penny, but pay me in spades in energy and joy.

Had I been able to take off my blinders a few years earlier, I might have saved myself a lot of stress, misery, and debt. Making time to feed my creative hungers could have helped cool my burnout, and I might have identified an alternate income source sooner, too.

The upshot? Not only do I agree with Claudine Hellmuth’s statement, “Don’t be afraid to pivot in your career,” but I’d go one further: for a creative who’s finding her way (and aren’t we all, ultimately?), pivoting is our imperative!

So is following your heart, at the same time as you follow the money.

There are countless ways to make this work, mostly some variation on one of the following:

You could grow a business from your passions, ideally finding the intersection between what you love and adore doing, what you’re really good at, and what people will happily pay for.
You could find employment doing something you’re good at (and ideally also enjoy — perhaps even something that feeds your passions in some way, or gives you knowledge or expertise that will help you on your path), and keep your non-working hours for your creative pursuits.

Whatever option you choose, an ability to pivot will keep you more empowered over the long haul than a dogged sticktoitiveness that chains you to a sinking ship. The most successful creative business owners I know have achieved their success because they were willing and able to change course, in order to better align the joint goals of following their heart and following the money.

Ultimately, if I could go back in time to mentor my younger self, I’d advise her to find that blessed intersection between what makes her light up with joy, and what people are excited to pay her money for (which is, in fact, what I did at the start).

That’s only part of the formula, though. The other, equally important part, is to keep checking that you haven’t veered from that intersection! (That’s the part I skipped, to my detriment.)

Is what you’re offering still profitable? And just as important, are you still passionate about it?

Remember that the path will probably be a curvy one, so be prepared to pivot! And always, always, always pay attention to what feels right to your soul.

In other words, though I’m a big believer in fidelity in human relationships, when it comes to your creative passions, keep having those affairs, Jessica!

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

March 20, 2014

The Creative Process, and Marketing That Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or even on Twitter, you may have seen some of the process pics of that I’ve been sharing of my artwork.

I’ve been snapping pics of my work all throughout the creation process — from wobbly, messy beginnings, all the way through to the final product. I take the pics in Instagram, which then gives the option to also share to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and even Tumblr if you have a Tumblr account — all with the click of a single “share” button (brilliant!).

When I first started sharing this way, honestly, it was a little scary. After all, this isn’t just me sharing the carefully edited highlight reel; this is me sharing the whole process, including the mess and the muck, and the parts where I’m pretty convinced that what I’m doing totally sucks.

And yes, there are plenty of those parts! In fact, this image from Behappy.me is a pretty good shorthand for my own creative process for anything and everything I create — paintings, songs, online courses, live retreats, etc:

The good thing, though, is that once you understand that parts 2, 3 and 4 are simply an integral part of the process, it becomes a lot easier to keep going and not get permanently stalled when you get to those parts. Now I’m so much better at noticing that, oh, yeah, here I am in the “I am shit” part of the process, and reminding myself that it will pass.

When you do something enough — including noticing that every time you create you go through a phase of thinking you suck — it gets easier.

This applies to sharing my process, too. What was scary at first has become second nature.

It has also brought some surprising gifts:

1) Motivation

I hadn’t realized how motivating it would be to get positive responses to my pics!

The challenge, of course, is not to allow myself to be swayed by other people’s opinions. I’m the artist, after all — my job is to create the unique expression inside me, regardless of what anyone else says or thinks about my work.

That said, getting “likes” and positive comments adds fuel to my creative fire, and this is a good thing!

2) Perspective

The most valuable gift of the feedback I’ve been getting, though, is not praise, per se. Instead, it’s something more subtle and nuanced. Especially when I post something I’m not particularly pleased with, positive feedback helps me take off my critical glasses and look at my work through other people’s lenses.

This is HUGE!

Being able to see my work through the eyes of others helps me to look at it less harshly, and to appreciate what I might have dismissed before as unworthy of appreciation.

This is different from needing praise to validate me. Instead, it’s enabling me to step outside of my limited viewpoint, and see my work not for what it isn’t, but for what it is.

3) Sales!

Another very sweet surprise is that, not long into my experiment with sharing my process pics, someone on Facebook asked if it would be possible to purchase one of my pieces-in-process.

Um, that would be yes! (And it quickly made me realize the importance of making this super-clear in my Instagram bio and in my posts as well — all work is for sale!)

This initial inquiry turned into not just a sale but also a commission, when it turned out the client wanted two sister paintings. And when she came to pick them up yesterday (see the blue/green pics at the top below), she also bought two other pieces I had in the studio, one of which wasn’t even finished yet.

Sweet!

There’s nothing like a sale to make an artist’s day. 🙂

Marketing that Doesn’t Feel Like Marketing

The upshot is that the process pic-sharing that I’ve been doing is good for me and my art in so many ways, including being good for my business!

It’s “marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing.”

Most creatives I talk to have a weird idea about what marketing is. We’re so afraid of coming across as slimy and sleezy that we’re often scared to share at all!

But of course effective marketing doesn’t mean strong-arming someone to buy something they don’t want or need! It simply means sharing what you offer with people who might actually like to buy it.

Which is exactly what I’m doing with my process pics: simply sharing my process. It’s fun! And it’s helping my audience of Right People to find me.

If you’re an artist, you might give it a try yourself!

To give you an idea of what my shares look like, below are start-to-finish pics of a recent piece. (The colors vary depending on the light I’m shooting in, but I consider this part of the inherent beauty of these process pics — they may be incredibly inaccurate in terms of color, but they really capture where I am, in terms of the artwork’s evolution, and what time of day it is and what work space I’m using when I snap the pics.)

This is just one piece I finished recently. You can see lots more process pics over at my Instagram page. Or hop over to my Facebook page, where I’ve been asking followers for title ideas for my pieces. Who knows? You might name my next piece! 🙂

And if you’ve been scared to share your work yourself, you might give it a try. It’s amazing how enriching it is when you see your work making a positive impact on other people.

Now go get creating!

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

February 4, 2014

New Website, New Art, and a Trip In the Wayback Machine

Notice anything different? If you’ve been around for awhile, you may have a vague notion that things aren’t quite as… orange… as you remembered.

lacl-wayback-140104B — Here’s a screenshot of my ORANGE site from just a few weeks ago. Click to see it in full size. Unfortunately, it doesn’t show the awesomely cool animation effects, which were my favorite part of the site…

Yep, I spent this past weekend giving my site a remodel.

That wasn’t actually my original plan… I had lots of other things I planned to do with my weekend, and besides, I really loved my juicy orange site. But websites have a way of demanding remodels when you’re least expecting it.

Here’s what happened:

Thanks in no small part to the built-in accountability provided by my Get Sparked! 2 e-course, I’ve been painting pretty consistently — almost daily, even if sometimes only a few minutes a day.

(I used to set 15 minutes as my minimum goal. Now, though, I’ve embraced Laureen‘s method, and declare that “any amount counts.” Because, after all, it’s getting started that’s the hard part.)

I’ve been working on canvas, which is a relatively new substrate for me, and larger canvases at that (well, larger for me, which means, so far, 16 x 16 or 12 x 24 at the biggest, though I do have an 18 x 18 and a 15 x 30 leaning up against the wall, waiting to be pulled out of their wrappers…)

This is a challenge for me, and really pushing the edge of my comfort zone, because I’m used to working on paper with my ArtSparks, which gives me the freedom to crop a painting into multiple tiny pieces, in order to find pleasing compositions.

With stretched canvas, I have no such luxury. So it’s kind of scary.

Thankfully, though, I have my Creative Sandbox Rules — aka, my Keys to Creative Flow, which help me stay firmly in the Creative Sandbox, in the realm of play and experimentation and (most importantly) imperfectionism.

Not unlike a 4-year old presented with finger paints, I approach my canvas paintings as opportunities to “make messes” and see where they lead me.

And in fact, finger painting does frequently play a part, as in this video:

As I work, I shoot occasional videos like this with my iPhone, and lots of process pics, which I share on Instagram, which also feeds them out to Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr. Like these process pics documenting the evolution of the piece above:

And the current (final?) piece:

(And yes, if you’re thinking it looks like the canvas has been rotated, you’re right. It’s part of a diptych, and I turned it to better go with its sister painting, shown below. And oh, how the colors in the photo do not do the original justice…)

So that’s an example of what I’ve been doing, and hey, guess what — people have been responding! Sharing my process pics on social media has gotten me lots of likes, and new Instagram followers, and encouraging, positive comments.

Although I paint for me, in order to feed my own soul, let me tell you, there’s something very validating when other people express appreciation for what you do. Same thing when someone thanks me for my singing at a gig:

I do it because I love it, but if you get enjoyment out of it, too, it makes it extra wonderful for me.

It’s like the sprinkles on top of a sundae. Extra yummy, but not the main attraction.

I often preach the value of sharing our creative work, and those sprinkles? It’s really amazing how motivating they are!

But the positive feedback hasn’t stopped there: more than one person has asked to buy my work! In fact, that blue-green diptych above? It’s already spoken for.

Well, blow me over with a feather…

This is where I come back around to the reason behind the website remodel.

(I always do get to the point. I just enjoy making the journey there as colorful as possible. ;))

For a long time I’ve been wanting a better way to display and sell my artwork on my site. I have a beautifully functioning shopping cart over at my ketubah site, but for various reasons I didn’t want to use the same plugin here.*

I also wanted a cleaner, “gallery” feel for the art shop here at Living A Creative Life (read: not so much screaming ORANGE). Still, I wasn’t planning on doing a complete overhaul of the site last weekend.

Before I undertake all that work, I thought, why not do a stopgap measure, so I can get started building a shop right away, and then maybe overhaul the rest of the site down the road? So I decided to install WooCommerce, the (FREE) e-commerce plugin I’d been wanting to try, on my existing (orange) site.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that WooCommerce and the Nimble theme I was using from ElegantThemes (aff) do not play nice together.

In fact, WooCommerce broke my site, and “ate” my shop page where I showcased all my e-courses.

Oops…

Ah, well, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade, right? I’d had my eye on ElegantThemes‘ ultra-flexible, new, Divi theme, which is designed to integrate with WooCommerce. It seemed to me that the Universe was giving me a pretty clear message that now was the time to make the switch.

So, two days of hair-pulling and teeth-gnashing later, I had a brand-new site design, which I’m utterly tickled and delighted by! And I did it myself! (With a little code-detective help from Miracle Man.)

Finally, my artwork is featured on just about every page, my ArtSpark gallery showcases my ArtSparks beautifully, and the back end will allow me to offer my paintings for sale in a clean, white-walled, fully e-commerce-capable shop! (Don’t hold your breath… The shop won’t be ready for awhile… One step at a time…)

Cue the flashback music…

All of this got me reflecting on the evolution of Living A Creative Life. If you could only see what it looked like when I started…

Well, in fact, you can! Not the first few iterations, but thanks to the Wayback Machine, you can see snapshots of what my site looked like…

…on October 15, 2010:

…and June 12, 2011:

…and October 3, 2012:

…and July 29, 2013:

…and January 4, 2014:

Pretty cool, huh?

And as you can see, I did not start out with the site I have now. I did not start out with the business I have now, or the Keys to Creative Flow that I have now, or the self-compassion and self-awareness that I have now, for that matter.

All of which is to say, take on the challenges that life presents you. Little by little, step by step, you’ll find yourself looking back down a much higher mountain than you ever expected you could climb.

Now go get creating!

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

*For any techies who might be interested, over at Ketubahworks I use Cart66 + Gravity Forms, which integrate tightly with the theme I’m using there: Clip Cart child theme on the Genesis framework. This combination not only offers a design that I’m happy with, but also allows me to offer an infinite variety of options, which is important for selling ketubah prints. (And virtually all the links to external businesses above are affiliate links, which means I’ll make a commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

December 6, 2013

Question Time! How Do I Choose What to Focus On? (or How to Prioritize Business Projects)

Do you ever wonder how to choose among your many ideas? If you’ve got a creative biz, are you at a loss for how to prioritize business projects?

When you’re living a creative life, it’s a fair bet that you’ve got way more ideas than you can handle at any one time. Especially if you’re a passion pluralite, like me!

What’s a creative to do?

That’s what today’s post is all about, in response to this question from Cathy:

Hey Melissa, being a creative I have A LOT of ideas for my business (classes to teach, workshop ideas, different kits I should offer, etc). How do I prioritize and choose what to focus on?

Dear Cathy,

Ah, yes, the $64,000 question.

As with so many questions about living a creative life, there is no one-size-fits-all formula, I’m afraid (though many “gurus” will try to convince you otherwise).

There are, however, some questions you might want to ask yourself, which can help you hone in on a direction. For example:

What resonates most strongly with you right now?
What would be easiest/fastest for you to take to market?
What are you getting the most requests for?

As you ponder these questions, there are a few overarching principles to keep in mind, particularly if you’re just starting out in a new business (or a new business direction).

Business Offers Principle #1: Anything you offer for sale will be a step up from having nothing for sale.

So from that perspective, if you’re just starting out, it doesn’t really matter which of your ideas you choose to focus on first. Just pick one, and start.

Business Offers Principle #2: Your business is constantly evolving.

Just because you offer something now does not mean you will continue to offer the exact same product or service, in the exact same format, a few years — or even a few months or weeks — down the road. So again, on one level, it doesn’t really matter what you choose, because whatever you offer for sale will help you get clearer on:

A) What your audience wants/doesn’t want to buy.

B) What you want/don’t want to offer for sale.

Until you try selling some stuff, you’ll probably feel pretty hazy about both A and B above!

And remember, getting clear on what you want/don’t want to offer is just as important as getting clear on what your audience wants/doesn’t want to buy, if you want to create a business that will truly sustain you.

For example, if you try out offering some one-on-one coaching sessions and discover that they suck you dry, you’ll know that it probably doesn’t make sense to pour a ton of time and energy into creating a set of awesome one-on-one coaching packages, or sink money into expensive appointment scheduling software.

Business Offers Principles #3: Your audience knows better than you do.

Before you start madly creating offers, I also strongly encourage you to find out from your audience what kinds of things they’re looking for help with, in relation to the specific expertise you have that can help make their lives better.

What are the biggest challenges or frustrations that they struggle with?

What are the biggest questions or concerns they have?

What are their deepest desires?

If you have a mailing list, consider creating a simple survey. In addition to the questions above, I like to ask “If we were going to meet for coffee, what would you want to ask me about or talk about?” It’s always very instructive!

I’ve learned a ton from surveying my audience, but surveys are not the only way, or even the best way to find out how you can best help your tribe.

Talk to them!

Read their conversations on social media, yes, but even better, get them on the phone or talk to them in person!

An open-ended conversation with real people in your tribe will reveal more than you ever thought possible, and may spark new ideas for what to offer that will best help them, while also keeping your creative self well nourished.

Business Offers Principles #4: You know better than your audience.

Okay, before you start scratching your head or accusing me of being a nutcase, here’s what I mean by that:

Don’t expect people to tell you what they want you to offer — they probably have no idea.

Your potential clients and customers know very well what difficulties and challenges they face, and how they wish their lives were different. But it’s your job as “the expert” to take what you know about their frustrations and dreams and craft that into an offer that will help them.

Business Offers Principles #5: Start with a minimum viable offer.

As you craft that first offer, I strongly encourage you to do what the most successful businesses do here in Silicon Valley: iterate!

If you’re at all like me, you’re always in pursuit of excellence. I know you don’t want to share anything that’s less than the full amazingness that you’re capable of, but if you wait until it’s perfect, you’ll never sell a thing.

Seriously.

Plus, your “perfect” offer may not be what your audience wants at all! (Been there… Ouch. What a waste of time and energy!)

So instead of getting stuck in Polish ’til it’s Perfect Syndrome, ask yourself, what is the absolute minimum you can do to create something to offer? Then make that, and just that.

Resist the urge to try and perfect it! Just get something out there.

You’re going to need feedback in order to develop the ideal offers for your audience, so put something together, allow it to be imperfect, and put the offer out there. You may wish to offer it to a small group to start, before sharing it with the world at large.

Call it a “beta” offer, or a “pilot program” if you like. Then get feedback from those “beta testers,” revise, and then offer the next iteration (to a larger group this time, if the first group was small).

Example: I want to teach a 6-week in-person class.

Minimum viable product: Offer a one-hour intro workshop to introduce people to your work and gauge interest in the class.

Yes, the first group of buyers may be smaller that you’d like. It happens to me all. The. Time. Get used to it.

Craft your offers so you’re not losing money by selling to a tiny group, and just start.

I hope this helps you figure out how to choose what to focus on, Cathy! Keep me posted.

What would you add to this list to help someone decide among their many business ideas and prioritize business projects?

Do you have a question you’d like to ask? Email me and I may use it in a future Question Time! blog post.

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

June 16, 2013

“Pay What You Can” Scholarship for Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy

So I “launched” this program on Monday, Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy, a six-month course that I’ve been pouring my heart and soul into creating for over a year now.

The women who registered were exactly the kind of people I was hoping to attract: enthusiastic, ready, open-hearted. Carrying fear and self-doubt on their shoulders, sure, but really ready to see those gremlins for what they are and to learn to tame them.

This was good.

Yet I had a nagging feeling that there were women out there in the shadows who were just as enthusiastic, ready, and open-hearted, who would sign up in a heartbeat if money weren’t tight, but who weren’t signing up, because money IS tight.

And here’s the thing: I created Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy with a vision of a thriving community of women walking side-by-side and supporting each other as they (we!) all get bigger, bolder, and more creative, and change our lives for the better. So I want all women who are ready to be in this program!

I also put over a year of work into creating this program with a vision that it would financially support my doing my work in the world. This is a business I’m running, after all, not a charity. It’s how I pay my bills.

And yet I wanted to make a way to open the door for the women who were not signing up purely because of cash limitations. And I wanted to do that without just giving it away, because not only would that not be a self-compassionate way to treat myself, but in my experience, people who get a free ride rarely really invest themselves in that ride. And I want women in this program who are invested.

So I came up with the idea of a “Pay What You Can” scholarship.

I sent a letter to my subscribers asking for applications, with the following:

Here’s how it works:

If you know you want to join me in the Academy, and the only thing really holding you back is money, write me a letter right now, telling me what you would contribute to the program, and what you truly can afford to pay.

I don’t want the heartbreak story. If you’re asking for a scholarship I already know money is tight for you.

I want to know what you are going to bring to the Academy.

How are you going to contribute to the community, and/or to the larger mission of getting women (including yourself!) creating and sharing their creations?

Maybe it’s an enthusiasm for social media, and a commitment to tweet out every “golden nugget” you hear in our live calls together.
Maybe you’ve got some tech/clerical skills, and you’ll transcribe the live calls, or edit audio/video.
Maybe you love moderating forums, and will enthusiastically take on the role of making sure nobody’s forum post gets left unanswered.
Maybe it’s simply a commitment to bring your full self to the table and keep your Big Goals always front-of-mind.

These are just a few examples. It doesn’t have to be ANY of those things (though I do hope everyone brings that last one!) — I want to know what rings beautifully, authentically true for YOU. What does your heart of hearts say a big “YES!” to?

Then be sure to include your requested payment amount and schedule — what you truly can afford, on deep reflection and realistic acknowledgment of your circumstances.

I truly don’t care how much it is (and if you need to spread the payments out, that’s totally fine — I’m flexible). I just care that you’ve put some thought into it.

If it’s $274, fine. If it’s $25/month for 6 months, fine. If it’s $100 total, fine. If it’s $333, fine. If it’s $5 now, and $35 a month from now, and another $75 the month after that, fine.

Seriously! Just tell me what you can afford. YOU know what you can afford.

So, to summarize, to apply for a “Pay What You Can” Scholarship, to Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy, send me an email with two things:

What you are going to bring to the Academy (not your sob story!)
What you can (truly) afford to pay

Then…

A magical thing happened. Letters started trickling in. Wonderful letters, from bright, vibrant, enthusiastic, ready women.

Women who followed the instructions (NO sob stories!), who offered their skills, offered their enthusiasm, and offered payments ranging from $5/month to darn near close to the full price of the program. Many filled with humble apologies for being able to contribute so little financially, when they knew Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy was more than worth the “real” price.

With a full heart I welcomed each and every one of them into the Academy.

And from their letters I knew I had to send another note to my list…

Once more I had a nagging feeling. My intuition was telling me that women were still holding back, ashamed to offer so much less than full price, silenced by gremlins that say things like:

“Oh, you don’t deserve this!”

“Oh, you don’t have anything to offer!”

“What on earth do YOU have to bring to the Academy, you loser???”

“How can you even THINK of offering such a measly amount for Melissa’s amazing program? For shame!”

It put me in mind of a “Name Your Price” offer I was tempted by a couple of years ago… but was embarrassed by how little I felt able to “bid.” So I passed. Only to find out the following week that many people had “bid” much less than I would have!

My “for shame!” gremlins made me lose out, big time, and I didn’t want that to happen to the women who were being called to Your Big, Bold, Creative Life Academy!

So I wrote another letter with a sample script to use with such gremlins:

“Hmm… Maybe you’re right, gremlin, but you know, that’s really not a nice way to talk to someone you care about. I know you really care about me, I know you’re just concerned and trying to protect me from getting hurt, but that kind of mean language really doesn’t help.
What are you really afraid of? If you can talk to me in a way that’s useful, I’ll be happy to listen. Otherwise, you’ll need to leave the room, thank you very much. I only listen to people who treat me with respect and care.”

(It can help at this point to give your gremlin a cookie. Mine are especially fond of lady fingers.)

Then…

More letters poured in. The community grew. The aura around this virtual space practically sparked with energy!

And here’s the thing: despite what all those “for shame!” gremlins want us to believe, this “Pay What You Can” scholarship is enriching all of the women involved:

The community of the Academy is growing, becoming more vibrant with the unique spirit each women is bringing to the mix
The financial contributions — no matter how small — are bringing me income I wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

Plus there’s this:

I believe that somehow, the very fact that this “Pay What You Can” scholarship exists is shifting something, however tiny, inside the hearts and minds of those involved.

It’s a pebble tossed into a pond, rippling outward and outward. And you just never know where those ripples may lead.

The first live call in the Academy is tomorrow. There’s still time to register, or if money’s holding you back, use my contact form to apply for a “Pay What You Can” scholarship for yourself.

This is gonna be amazing.

PS — Pssst! Know someone who might benefit from seeing this today? Pass it on!

Question Time! How Does a Passion Pluralite Decide On a Career Path?

How I decided which career path to commit to as a multi-creative person

The importance of being willing to pivot