Time, Inspiration, and Motivation: The Three Main Keys of Running a Craft Business

A few weeks ago I volunteered to write a Monday segment for this blog. At the time it seemed like it would be easy. Mondays are one of my days off and I would have plenty of time to finish it. Boy was I wrong! I work in an industry where there is no such thing as a routine. I lost my Monday for the past two weeks and just couldn't get myself in the mood to create, let alone write a blog article. However, another problem that I ran into was... What do I write about? Then it hit me. Write about the things that I was having the most problem with. They are all keys of running a crafting business.


Time. The elusive concept that everyone is looking for. Either you have too much of it on your hands or you don't have enough. As mommies we never have enough. There are ball games, meetings for work and with teachers, doctors appointments, and the million and one chores that we have to do every day to keep our lives in order. But,... When do we have time to create? 




The key to creating time to craft and run a business is to prioritize. Find little glimpses, seconds if you will, where we can create. If you also work full-time alongside running your business this is even harder to do. You work 40 hours a week at one job, possibly at least 40 hours weekly creating and crafting, And one hundred and 51 hours performing your mommy. The key is to find balance to find every moment that you can where you can create. For myself I work full-time and I craft when I can. I have gone whole seasons of tv show and not been able to tell you what the characters look like because I was busy crocheting. I crochet when the kids are sleep, when I take them to the park, and when we go on trips in the car. The photography aspect of my business is even easier. I take my camera everywhere I go. It is almost hard to miss a shot when you do that. Make every moment count.


Inspiration is often harder to find than the time to create. You can have time to do it but not know what make. Without inspiration the business almost wouldn't be worth it. I find myself lucky. I get my inspiration from my kids who always tell me what they would like for me to make, whether it is a monster that they read about a book or some color combination on a scarf they would like. I also get inspired by my surroundings. I live in the middle of an area covered by vast wetlands, or cypress swamps. These are wonderful places full of beautiful flowers and interesting wildlife. It is often in the swamps that I find my best inspiration for pictures. The trick is just to catch the spark of creativity that is around you.


Now, the hardest part of all, getting motivated. It is often hard to get motivated when you find yourself exhausted after long days of working. Whether it is a job that you get paid to work or just a job where you get the intrinsic rewards like spending all day driving your kids around from game to game to dance lessons to karate lessons and hearing giggles from the backseat, if you are tired it is often hard to find the drive you need to start or finish a project. We've all been there. We've all experienced it. The key is knowing that the best reward is to see the finished project. It doesn't matter how large the project is or how easy it is, just that it is finished. That's what drives me to create. I have all these plans up in the air but the ones that I finish are always the ones that I want to start again. Those are also the ones that drive me to create something new. I know what I can do. I know what I have done and I want to push myself. That's my motivation. 



So finding the right balance of being motivated, being inspired, and the time to create are all keys to successful business craft business. Sounds easy right? Wrong. These three things are often allusive and it takes a very dedicated person to find the right balance.

 To all of my fellow mommy and business, congratulations! You've done it. You found it, that right balance where you can manage your business, managed to create, and still enjoy the time you have with your family. If you lose any of these three, stop take a breath and remember it's not the destination but the journey that is important. Happy creating.