You Are Not Just An Entrepreneur. You Are Also An Artist.

Since I started building my new website, I am back in that trial and error stage, testing new themes, fiddling with designs, writing out website copy. I love this stage. There’s this odd balance between right brain and left brain. (Wait, did I just describe myself?)

A few months ago, I spent hours building a test website on Squarespace because I wanted to know how the platform worked, the entire time knowing that I would never actually use it. While I was enjoying myself, there was a little voice in the back of my head asking, ‘What are you doing? Isn’t this all a big waste of time?’

The Question I Should Really Be Asking

Why do I always try to short-change myself?

I have a mistaken belief that if my work isn’t tangible, I’m not really creating anything. Maybe you feel this way sometimes, too.

The truth is, we are creating constantly.

In our societies, in our schools and work places, we are taught to value results over progress, over enjoyment, over everything else. But now it’s time to change how we think.

Entrepreneurs are not all we are.

We are also artists. 'But I'm not creative,' you might be thinking. 'I don't make art!'

I just finished watching a talk by Seth Godin and this is what he said:

‘Art is what we call it when a human being makes something. Something that might not work, something generous, something important.’

An artist is someone who makes or builds something that didn't exist before. And isn’t that exactly what we are doing?

What Has Changed?

We are on the front lines of a digital revolution. We are now entering a world where your potential doesn’t have to be limited by the education you can afford or the business your family decided to go into one hundred years ago. Since you are here, you know that education can be found everywhere, and you have already taken your first steps.

There is no need to limit yourself to one option. This isn’t like in high school when you sat across the desk from a stern-faced guidance counselor and he told you to pick out the one thing you wanted to do with the rest of your life. That never sat well with me, anyway.

The beauty of building a business for yourself is that you can set the pace. You can construct it in a way that feels most natural to you.

If you try to restrict yourself to following a pattern that was dictated by someone else, you will start to run into walls. Working on your business will feel like a struggle.

Instead, try this: Reward yourself when you work hard, even if there is no product that you can see. If you want to learn a new skill, go ahead and learn it. Something amazing will start to happen. You’ll start to see new opportunities, and ways you can leverage those skills and make them work for you.

You can build any business you can imagine for yourself.

The only one determining your potential now, is you.

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If you want to watch the talk that inspired me today, you can find it here.