If you've been waiting for the perfect time to start something, consider this your reminder: You don't have to have it all figured out. You just need to take the first step.
This November marks five years since I took a leap and decided to turn my love of painting into a business. Sometimes I look back and think, What was I thinking? And other times I think, look how far I've come!
When I started, I knew very little about the art world or running a business. I wasn't involved in the local art scene and didn't know anyone who was. I didn't have an Instagram account, knew nothing about social media or marketing, couldn't tell you what a red dot meant at an art show, and had never heard of Canva or LinkTree. Color theory? Still learning. QR codes, photo resizing, uploading and downloading? A whole new language!
But one morning, I woke up with the thought that I should start an art business, and that's exactly what I did. No lengthy business plan, no overthinking, no waiting for the perfect time. I chose a name, Googled how to register a business, ordered business cards, and got busy painting.
For the next six weeks, I painted while pounding the pavement around Baton Rouge, looking for places that might be willing to sell my work. On November 11, 2021, I nervously walked into a meeting with a local art collaborative carrying a collection of paintings. I was terrified. They took four or five pieces, and in January, I made my very first sale.
Five years later, I've painted and sold hundreds of paintings, opened a studio and gallery, hosted exhibitions and events, participated in juried shows and art markets, built a website and an Instagram following, been published several times, and developed an artistic style that people recognize.
And somewhere along the way, I became completely immersed in a local creative community that I didn't even know existed when I started.
Have I figured everything out? Absolutely not! But I've learned more than I could have imagined, and I've discovered that I'm pretty good at figuring things out as I go.
If there's one thing I've learned, it's that you don't have to know everything to get started. My curiosity, love of learning, and refusal to give up have carried me a long way. I've been anxious, intimidated, and downright scared to do plenty of things over these five years. But I've learned to do them anyway.
I'm incredibly proud of what I've built, grateful for the people I've met and the opportunities that have come my way, and excited about what's still ahead.
So, here's to five years of taking chances, making mistakes, learning new things, and occasionally figuring out what the heck I'm doing!