Everyone knows the expression "the starving artist". The awful truth is that that is, more often not, accurate. Having gone to college alongside the a whole range of artists I can tell you that even the geniuses out there and the most talented of creators still struggle to make ends meet without a lucky break. It's so tragic. It's not like any other industry. Hard work and talent will not guarantee success and that hurts my heart. If you're a doctor and you work hard and you're talented, you'll succeed. There will always be a need and a way to rise up. If you're a McDonald's worker, and you work hard and you're talented at what you do, you can climb your way up the ladder. That's not always the case with artists. I saw an article last week on Facebook, which was telling adults to inform their youngsters that they don't all have to go to college, pursue academics and become wildly wealthy and successful professionals. It wanted us to encourage them to work with their hands, and to master their blue-collared craft. At first, I admit, I thought the same thing. Being an artist myself, who daily works with her hands, I would love to tell my own kids that they should go for it and they can become very successful and prosperous craftsmen. I've been thinking a lot about it lately actually. My business partner, Julia, and I constantly talk about what more we can do. How can we improve? What new things should we try? How can we get more followers? Which social media avenues should we focus on now? What's popular now? How many hours a day can we devote to this and still have sane families and homes?
And the more I follow others who, at least on the surface, appear to be successful, boasting tens of thousands (or MORE) of followers on Instagram and sales and lots of different ways they're making money with their talent/products, the more I think: they've had their LUCKY BREAK. That's it. They haven't necessarily cracked the social media code. (Although geniuses like Emily Dennis really have!) They don't necessarily have a better looking feed, or more stories, or more Pinterest posts. Their photography skills haven't boosted their following an extra 50%. While I agree that all of those things are important and can in fact 'up' your following a lot, I truly believe that there are thousands of us creatives that work and work and work to do our best and follow all of the 'rules' and we're still just plugging away gaining about 4 followers a day. That is UNTIL some big shot comes along and says, "yup, it's their turn", and gives you a LUCKY BREAK. Until then, we'll keep plugging away, trying new things, and showing our best. For example, today I tried something slightly new; a little more energetic, and little more freestyle and I absolutely love it! Check it out:
Nathan, my dear husband (and Julia's younger brother), says it reminds him of 1980s make up. HAHAHAHAHAHA!!
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