The last several months (or several years) I have been saying I wanted to start a blog.
I already considered myself an online marketing specialist, and I spent an absurd amount of time learning about blogging and website building, I even started blogging without promoting it, but I still couldn't bring myself to commit to this project.
BUT I AM FINALLY DOING IT.
Now the purpose of this blog is to help artists who might be going through the same struggles, so this is the first problem I have solved for myself, and now I am sharing with you!
Step 1: What is the idea that won't go away?
The idea of personal and professional development has been something I've been passionate about for almost 5 years now, but for the past year it has been haunting my like Hamlet's Dead Dad. Honestly, it came around because as much as I loved being a theatre major and a young artist, I've also always been an obsessive planner.
It drove me insane the brilliant artists I saw struggling because they weren't organized and did not know how to get their shit together. Organization isn't censorship or boring, it's a platform on which you can be creative and thrive. You do not have to be a broke and struggling artist. You can be happy and organized and creative.
Art isn't dying, it's just too disorganized to grow properly.
I'm not saying I have all the answers, I am saying I want to use my artist heart and admin brain and maybe make artists a little better people.
My passion for this project came when I started working for more established theatre companies and arts service organizations and realized that most of them were always in a state of disorganized catch up, and I felt like this was the best way I could serve the community, and I wanted to start as soon as possible.
Every day I wasn't working on it, I was regretting not starting it sooner.
To start a project you need a sense of purpose with a dash of urgency.
Step 2: You run out of bullshit excuses (aka battling self-doubt).
This is where it get's tricky.
You have an idea, now do you have the confidence to pull it off?
I had to take every excuse I was telling myself and find cold hard facts to prove it otherwise.
I am not a good writer - I've taken Honors English since the 6th grade and have never gotten lower than a C. (Also what the fuck makes a "good" writer??)
What would I write about? See step 1. What do I want people to know? Write what comes to mind. Someone will probably read it. My mom likes to read.
There are already so many bloggers. But there are none with my exact experience. I have not found a single blogger dedicated to what I want to write or read about.
What if no one likes it? False - my mom will like it. I also have a team of hype women who will also probably like it Also there are 7 billion people on the planet, and if I can help at least one of them, then that is good enough.
When you have an excuse you're telling yourself, tell yourself 3 reasons why it's just a bullshit excuse because you're scared.
Step 3: Face the Fear
I've been told a lot of times that I am fearless, and that simply is not true. Even typing this is scary, but I also know all the best things in life came from what I was scared of. I also knew I was really unhappy every day I didn't do it, and it was only getting worse.
I was scared to go to college. I was scared to travel to Europe. I was scared to move to Los Angeles, but where would I be if I didn't just do the damn thing anyway? Now I know, every time I'm scared, it probably means I should do it.
Honestly, I also listened to this entire TED Talk Playlist multiple times, because I love TED Talks.
Step 4: Lots of Love
The biggest thing that was holding me back was thinking I wasn't good enough, smart enough, or valuable enough to help anyone or create something worth while.
Then I remembered how much I loved artists. I have deep adoration for people I have never met, Tina Fey, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Oprah, and they aren't perfect, but they are still loved. These are all strangers whom I've never met, but who I am grateful for an a daily basis for the art they created, and what if there is someone on this planet that loves my art as much as I love theirs? So I better create some.
So what project are you starting? How can I help?