. . .enough to jump!
I started listening to podcasts this past fall.
If you don't know yet, I spend a lot of time driving. Not as much as some people, I know (my dad drives a truck), but possibly more than some stay-at-home mommas. And while we have entertainment in the car for the kids, I get pretty bored listening to the same Veggie Tales shows or Paw Patrol. I had a few friends tell me what they listened to, but I knew I wanted something encouraging and faith-based. So after a little bit of searching around - a bit of a mom brain memory here - I think I started out with Joyce Meyer's "Talk It Out" podcast. Or possibly Proverbs 31 Ministries. I really don't know, but when I found my current devotional 100 Days to Brave I started listening to That Sounds Fun with Annie F Downs and when she mentioned the Business Boutique {about the time I really got motivated about starting some sort of business} with Christy Wright I decided to check it out!
“Once we realize that fear is normal, then we don’t have to wait until we aren’t scared to do the thing we want to do. We just do it scared.”
Christy Wright, Business Boutique: A Woman's Guide for Making Money Doing What She Loves
So I subscribed and started searching through the past episodes. I wanted {and hoped} to find an episode that would maybe apply more to my current situation...and I did.
Episode 1 is called "You've Got an Idea, Now What?" I mean could there be any more of a "sign" than that?! And, after reading the episode details I find out it's an interview with Christine Caine, someone I have been following for five+ years {I saw her at a Women of Faith conference more than five years ago and was hooked!} If that wasn't a sign than I'm not sure what would be!
And then a few days later I listened to the second episode that had caught my eye - #12 "How to Find Your Business Idea" with Jess Connolly whom I had just listened to on the She Reads Truth podcast and had just figured out is the founder of Go & Tell Gals, which I had just started following on Instagram. And one thing that was consistent in both interviews was the encouragement to "just jump in" or "just do it" - if you have an idea and the start of a plan then just get started!
I was able to take a few notes while listening to Jess Connolly {Sorry Mrs. Caine, hard to write and drive at the same time} and here are just a few of many takeaways that resonated with me:
Don't overthink
Go step-by-step
Use your words
What kind of community do you want to create
How can you genuinely connect and benefit others?
It seems so simple.
Another subject they have in common, along with Christy Wright, is to really know WHAT you want to say. And this is where I have been struggling.
I love writing, I always have, but I have never thought much beyond sharing my thoughts on life and faith and kids and family. This blog started out as a way to get some sort of creative juices flowing; I've always been a creative person and this seemed like a good way to do that.
And as I shared before, it is something I had thought about trying to make a little money with, but I know I have other skills that could do that for me, too.
Enter graphic design.
I mean I studied it; I have the degree. I have the "tools" - computer and software {which is one thing she talks about when starting a business if you don't have to buy anything all the better!} And I have a recent portfolio - not sure how impressive my portfolio from 10 years ago would be {wink}.
And I enjoy it. That is one of five things Christy Wright shared that is important when thinking of starting a business.
So after all of that, I am jumping in! I've created a page on this blog called Brite Idea Designs that will serve as my portfolio, for now, and my next step is to be brave enough to ask for reviews from those that I have worked for/with this past year and as I receive those, they will be added as well.
And being brave in sharing all of this even though I don't feel like it is "perfect" yet, I'm not sure it's presentable; it won't look like, what in my mind, would be a "real" website, but it's mine and it's me and it's what I can offer right now.