You Have to Take Off First

Posted In Mindset  |  Posted By Teresa Haag  |  Posted On April 30, 2021

Some days you are all in.

 

You are in the studio.

 

Everything is flowing.

 

You remember take in-progress photos.

 

Your weekly newsletter is coming together in your head as you work.

 

You think about sharing your process and get excited to post on stories.

 

You feel good about what you are working on and believe that it's all working.

 

 

Other days you hide.

 

Marketing feels hard.

 

You question your work.

 

You think that you aren't making a difference, and that no one sees you, and that your posts and art are just getting released into the void.

 

You feel like nothing is working and you wonder what you are doing wrong.

 

This back and forth is why your business isn't taking off the way you want.

 

Imagine you are sitting on runway about to take off for a trip of a lifetime.

 

Your bags are all packed, you've got your passport, you itinerary is in your front pocket.

 

You are filled with excitement about what lies ahead.

 

The plane starts to roll away from the gate.

 

It makes a few turns and pauses as it waits for the go ahead.

 

One moment later, the sound of the engine begins to grow louder and the plane moves forward down the runway...first slowly, and then quickly gaining momentum.

 

Energy fills the cabin, and you look out the window in anticipation of leaving the ground.

 

Then, the pilot eases off on the throttle and the plane slows.

 

The nose, which was just beginning to rise settles back down and the momentum disappears.

 

A moment later, the pilot pushes the throttle forward again, and then again eases us just before taking off.

 

Never getting off the ground.

 

This is what happen in our art businesses.

 

We go all in and then we have a thought like...

 

I wish someone else could do my marketing.

I don't have enough time to run my business and create.

I don't know where to find collectors.

Bookkeeping sucks.

I don't want to bother anyone with my newsletter this week.

 

If we want to get off the ground, we can't let off that throttle...even when there is fear, or confusion or uncertainty...or we will never get off the ground.

 

Those thoughts are going to come...and they are going to keep coming.

But it doesn't mean slow down.

 

We can both have those thoughts...and keep going.

 

You'll eventually arrive at your destination.

 

And when you do, you'll have learned that you can do the marketing, that you do have time to run your business and create, that collectors were there all along, that bookkeeping is awesome because it shows you how much money you've created with the value you've added to the world with your art, and that your newsletter is the thing that connects you to your collectors consistently...and they miss you when you don't show up.

 

But, you have to take off first.

 

xo,

Teresa


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Teresa Haag

Urban landscape painter, business maven, life and business coach for artists.

I'm Teresa Haag.  I am a Professional Artist, a Certified Life Coach, a wife and mom to two boys, and a woman doing her best to create a life and business that I am in love with. I know what it's like to spend my day thinking about the art I've always wanted to make instead of making it.  I help artists just like you create a life and business that gives them the space to make their art and become the person they have been dreaming about for so long.


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