HOW Mad Mimi: Stephanie & Living Vibrantly
Thanks everyone, for joining HOW Mad Mimi and Stephanie Martel. She is an artist focused on finding her true passion, and helping others along their journey. You can catch up with Stephanie at her site http://vibrantlivingproject.com/ and check out her work on her Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/StephMartel
Stephanie always had her roots in art, but didn't come to it as an adult until a few years ago. She knew she needed to focus energy on her creative pursuits, and googled art classes in her area, landing no an abstract acrylics class. She started the class with folks who were much more experienced and actively selling their work.
But she knew she was doing this for herself, and not anyone else. So she kept pursuing it, even though she admitted at the beginning she was awful. Not knowing if painting was really her calling, she remembers discovering a published art journal by Sabrina Ward Harrison: / sabrinawharrison
She felt this deep inspiration of jealousy and joy that she knew this was a part of what she needed to be doing with her life.
Fast forward many years later to about a year ago: inspired by her nieces who are 10 & 14, her "Girls" series of work came about. Not seeing any inspirational art for kids around, she thought it would be fabulous to create simple and comforting art, geared towards children. Of course, more than just kids have found happiness in her art, and her work resonates with a larger audience than just children. Her slogan is "Inspirational Art for Kids, and the kid in you!"
Stephanie created her blog around this time, realizing that she wasn't the first one to go through this and that she won't be the last. It's so important to understand that at the beginning, or at any time, it's ok to be awful -- it's the process that's important. So she started writing about all these things that she was struggling with, and about her process, in general.
Even creating her blog was a trial and error process. She read a lot of blogs on blogs, and there are tons of people out there to help you with anything you want to do. And she still feels like she's at the beginning of everything. She plans on doing this for a long time, so she doesn't feel any rush to get to the finish line, right now.
You have to be wary of comparing yourself to others. "It's all been done before, but it hasn't been done by you." Stephanie keeps a notecard on her desk that reminds her to "Stay open" -- she has to keep in mind that this is her journey, and not anyone else's.
As far as advice, Stephanie recommends being as detailed as you can. Figure out your theme song and sing it to yourself every day. Find out what your motivation is, and just go do it. What do you love to do? Make sure you do it every day -- even if it's 30 seconds, or 2 hours, it doesn't matter as long as you're connecting to that inspiration. Find your "joy vehicle".
Stephanie loves Danielle LaPorte's Firestarter Sessions: http://www.daniellelaporte.com/fire-s... -- all about manifesting more of what makes you feel good, and following your feelings.
We also talked about the 'Imposter Syndrome' which is very common among any kind of creative-type or artist. It's the feeling of being found out for not being a ''real" or authentic artist, performer, whatever. Read the Forbes article on some thoughts on overcoming the common fears: http://www.forbes.com/sites/margiewar...
You also need a little structure in your life, as well. Stephanie recently tried an experiment with her time, using the Passion Planner printout: http://www.passionplanner.com/
When her time is structured, and she has set time for her art, she finds herself much more productive and efficient.
As much as she would like to spend all of her time actually making her art, she does have to devote about 20% of her time to promoting her artwork. She uses Facebook, Instagram, and Google+ since these are the most visual mediums available. She's working on expanding to Pinterest, as well. Her strategies for each platform vary -- she shares more personal things on Facebook, and more process images on Instagram. She's seen excellent increases in visibility by posting 2 -3 times per day on Facebook -- but does know that there's not enough time in a day to do that regularly.
We had great questions from Rebecca, Linda and Lisa -- thanks so much for joining the conversation!
And finally, don't dance around who you are. Just find out who you are underneath it all, and do it.
Stay tuned to more HOW Mad Mimi updates: https://madmimi.com/signups/112223/join
And see you all next Wednesday at 4p!