Great advice. It’s important to keep learning new stuff. I recently bought an iPad pro and started learning Procreate. As much as I love crafting cartoons with ink and watercolor, I knew that a digital solution would help me efficiently produce cartoon art for my blog posts. Like you wrote: “Part of growing up is doing things that you have never done before.” Have a nice Thanksgiving!
Thanks John, and I think you’re right that it’s often too easy to stick with what we already know. However, like you said, sometimes learning something new can make us more efficient so it’s worth the struggle. My problem (one of many) is that I can’t always figure out what is worth learning and what is simply an unnecessary distraction or waste of time.
I so agree with you, getting started, and then actually sharing your work with people is almost paralyzing to me. And then having to put a price on it, yikes! What if they just laugh? And even the ones that say they like your work, what if they are just being nice, wanting to encourage you? Talk about insecure, I am the queen of insecurity. I had a friend that just did the coolest artwork, she sculpted faces in leather and such. It was incredible work. Her husband did the woodwork to mount her pieces on and that was an art in itself. They went on weekends to craft shows and flea markets to sell the stuff and many many times they came home as broke as when they left and to me, it was just nuts that her stuff wasn’t selling. I checked out her prices and asked her if she would be willing to try an experiment. I told her I would price the stuff for her and just the one time she had to stick to the prices I set. No haggling, no apologizing, just stand on the price I set. She agreed, and when they got back home that from the weekend of selling, they had nothing left in the van! On almost every piece she had I at least tripled what she was asking, and some it was even higher. People didn’t even blink an eye and she also came home with special orders. I could have kicked myself though because I wanted one of her dolls! lol. My point being, I could see the value in her work and felt completely confident that she would sell her stuff at that higher price and her customers would be happy to pay it. But when it comes to pricing my stuff, downhill it goes, no confidence at all. It is a matter of believing in yourself and being able to show your confidence to others. And taking that leap like you said, vert scary!
By the way, how are your journals selling? I’m still enjoying mine although I have been skipping around in it, it’s really quite fun and interesting and I hope it does well for you. I think it should!
You’re right, trying to put a monetary value on our creative work can often be terrifying. After spending weeks or even months on a project, it’s difficult to accurately assess what something may be worth to someone else. To you, of course, it’s your baby and seemingly priceless, but to someone else, the value may be significantly less. I also agree with you that it is in some respects a matter of self-confidence, especially when you will be negotiating with your customer face-to-face.
Thanks again Pam for taking the time to share your thoughts with us and also for your kind words about the new journal. I really appreciate it :)
Wow. You were speaking directly to me! Just want to thank you for putting yourself out there to help people like me.
I need to move forward with my next project instead of thinking about why I shouldn’t.
Amazing post and seriously felt like you’ve been listening to all my negative self-talk lately. Thank you.
Thanks Susan! I think sometimes the fear when doing a post like this is that people are going to start telling me that it’s just me and they have never had to deal with issues like this. So it’s good to hear that I’m not alone on this :)