Business | The Spotted Flamingo Creative Co

Bringing Your Ideas to Life NOW: Stop Making Excuses and Get Sh** Done

Rachel — Wed, 06 May 2020 17:57:00 +0000

I recently watched a video my best friend Jessica created about embracing imperfection and bringing your ideas and dreams to life sooner, and it really resonated with me. If you’re anything like me, then you might be the kind of person that constantly daydreams about ideas you have for things you want to create, whether they’re works of art, business ideas, home decor ideas, you name it. Shortly after I finished college, I got engaged, and it sparked a business idea where I’d be creating really unique wedding stationery for women like me who love designs that are offbeat and vibrant. For about two years, I kept researching and brainstorming ideas for my business, and kept telling myself that I wasn’t ready to start my business yet because I hadn’t perfected all of my ideas or sorted out all the details. I was finding that all this waiting I did to launch my business was hindering some of my motivation and creativity, so I finally took the leap. From all that waiting and planning, I came to a big realization: waiting to bring your ideas to life is complete BS.

When it comes to starting a business, I know there’s a lot of research and planning involved, and that can take a lot of time, especially if you’re already working at another job. However, the idea that we have to perfect everything before we bring our ideas into the world is a huge lie. For creatives, this can be a really difficult concept to grasp because we often have such a clear vision in our minds about what we want to create. The thing is, a lot of times if we ever want to actually get our idea out there, we just need to take the leap and say it’s GOOD ENOUGH. Who says you can’t revisit something and make it even better later? I’ve put together a list of some of the most common excuses for delaying ideas, and my top ideas for getting past the rut and getting sh** done:

I don’t have enough time

This is one that I really struggle with. On top of running a business, I’m working as a web designer, trying to make plenty of time for my hubbie and dog, getting things done around the house, exercising, getting outside, and taking time for fun and self care. You may have a busy schedule too, and find it’s really hard to squeeze in extra time for projects. The thing is, you don’t have to beat yourself up for not having lots of extra time. All you need to do is find a little extra time each day or each week to work on something if even just a little bit. Can you wake up a half hour earlier to work on your project? Maybe you can squeeze in a little time on the weekends when you’re not working. Regardless of when it is, the goal is to set aside a little time and just DO IT. Working on it a little is much better than not at all. I find that having a weekly planner with my to-do’s helps keep me on track for making time for my projects and ideas.

I don’t know enough about X

A big misconception a lot of people have about themselves is that they can’t do something if they aren’t a professional at it. The thing is, the internet nowadays is packed with ENDLESS information about everything you could possibly think of, a lot of which is free information, so if you don’t know exactly how to do something, go online and learn about it! YouTube is a great source of information for learning just about anything, and same with Skillshare (you can sign up for a free 2 month trial), but websites like Udemy and Linkedin Learning are great for learning more professional skills like business management and graphic design. There’s nothing wrong with starting your project now and learning as you go, and what better way to put your new knowledge to work?

My idea isn’t perfect yet

It’s easy to get hung up on all the little details of a project, but when it comes down to what’s important, it’s really about the bigger picture. If you’re working on a business idea or project and feel like it still needs work but it’s already pretty well developed, why not share your work anyways and just get it out there? At the very least, you can share your work with close friends and family and get feedback from them so you can continue to improve your idea. There’s nothing wrong with going back and improving something more, but trust me, sharing your work with the world is going to feel good, and it’s going to motivate you to continue working on it even more.

I’m overwhelmed

If you’ve ever had an idea that required a lot of time, planning, and work, then I’m sure you’ve felt that feeling of overwhelm about all the things you need to get done in order to bring your idea to life. I’ve had plenty of instances where I’ve felt so overwhelmed by a project that I didn’t even want to start it. When you’re feeling overwhelmed by the entirety of a project, the best thing you can do for yourself is to start by breaking your project down into manageable steps. By breaking your project down into small steps, you can reduce your stress about it by taking just one small step at a time. Plus, each time you accomplish one of those steps, you can cross it off your to-do list and feel a bigger sense of accomplishment as you move closer to your end goal.

I’m not motivated enough

Trust me, this has been a life-long struggle of mine. I’m a girl with big dreams, but an even bigger desire to go have fun instead of working on my stuff. Getting over a lack of motivation is definitely not an overnight transformation. It’s something you have to work at every day until it becomes a part of your routine. Becoming more motivated is all about starting in small steps. If you typically spend your downtime just having fun or relaxing, start by working a short amount of work time into each day, even just 20 minutes. Once you feel pretty comfortable making that time for work time, you can start increasing it in small increments. You may not want to do too much too soon because you might just end up feeling overwhelmed and giving up, so instead try my approach of working in small steps and forming long-term habits that become part of your daily routine.

I hope these tips will help you bring more of your great ideas to life sooner, and if you’re looking for more inspiration, you should check out my bestie Jessica’s video below about bringing your dreams to life and getting past perfectionism. She’s a very wise, down to earth, and relatable lady, and has a YouTube channel with tons of great advice and inspiration. If you’re working on any projects right now, drop a comment below and tell us about them!

Start Your Business with Confidence: Get Past the Doubts and Fears and Create a Business You Love

Rachel — Thu, 25 Oct 2018 01:55:17 +0000

If you’re thinking about starting a business, especially if this is your first go at starting one, then I’m going to go ahead and guess that you have had a doubt or two (or 20) about it since you’ve started brewing the idea in your head. Trust me, you’re not alone. When I first formulated the idea of starting my own business, I was filled with doubts ALL THE TIME, and there are countless people in the world who feel the exact same way. Let me tell you though, with the right amount of confidence, creativity, and strategy, you can start a business that you will love, and stop getting in your own damn way. Here’s my top advice for going into the business game with your head held high.

STOP Comparing Yourself to Your Competitors

This is one of the biggest roadblocks that could keep you from moving forward with your business idea. When I say don’t compare yourself to your competitors, I don’t mean don’t acknowledge them at all. An important part of creating your business ideas and coming up with strategies should be studying your competitors so you can understand their strengths, as well as the trends that already exist in the industry you’re joining. But comparing your work to theirs is a nasty habit that can strip your confidence. If you constantly compare your work and your ideas to those of your competitors, you may end up keeping yourself in a state of self-doubt, always feeling like you’re never going to measure up to the competition. This is absolutely not true! You are a unique, one-of-a-kind person with original ideas that your competition hasn’t thought of, and you are completely capable of bringing a fresh perspective and innovative ideas to your industry.

Rather than indulging in this self-deprecating habit of self-judgement, you should instead focus your energy on finding ways to stand out from the competition and bringing something new and fresh to the table. For example, if you’re pursuing starting your own tattoo shop, you could consider specializing in a niche that attracts a specific target market, like floral tattoos or animal tattoos. Or if you want to create an event planning business, your focus could be something very specific like planning and designing themed weddings (think Wild West, fairytale, or carnival). The point is, there may be lots of competitors out there that offer the same generic products or services, but if you can find ways to be really unique in your market, then you no longer need to compare your work to that of your competition.

Write Everything Down!

Have you ever been lying in bed working on falling asleep when a great idea suddenly popped into your head? Or maybe this has happened to you elsewhere, like while you’re in the middle of grocery shopping or driving to a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes, the best business ideas can come at the most unexpected times, and you should always be prepared for when this happens. In order to keep track of all your ideas, you’ll need to find a way to take notes on this idea at any given time. I would recommend buying a notebook or journal specifically for the purpose of writing down business ideas. However, if you prefer to not bring it with you everywhere you go, you could put your ideas into a note-taking app on your phone until you have the chance to write them into your journal. You could think of your idea journal as a savings account at a bank: if you continue to put ideas into it, those ideas will build interest (or in other words, you can look back at those ideas and build upon them to create something great for your business). But if you don’t contribute even a small amount here and there, that account will sit empty and you may find yourself struggling for funds (a.k.a. business ideas) when you need them most.

Spontaneous business ideas are always a welcome surprise, but brainstorming ideas is another essential part of the process. The brainstorming process can take a lot of forms, from sketching product ideas to writing lists to researching or even exploring stores to find inspiration. When it comes to brainstorming, no idea is a bad idea, and one of the main reasons to regularly spend time brainstorming is to train yourself to get into the mindset of coming up with lots of ideas. I can’t stress enough the importance of writing every idea down, because even if one idea doesn’t pan out, you might look back on that idea and it might spark an idea for something even better.

Don’t Let the Setbacks Keep You from Moving Forward

When it comes to starting and running a business, there WILL be some setbacks and this is just something that we all have to accept as business owners. Of course we all want everything to go perfectly, but that’s just not the way the world works. I’m not writing this to discourage you, but rather to express that being flexible and being able to find alternate routes is just part of the job description. Maybe the perfect business name that you came up with was taken just days after you chose it, or maybe you’re experiencing financial hardships because you’ve quit your job to work full-time on your business. If something isn’t working in your current situation, there IS an alternative, and you just have to keep pushing forward and remember why you are going into business in the first place. Most great things in life don’t come easily, so always remember to keep focusing on your dreams and why you are chasing them, because giving up on those dreams is much more difficult than working through the setbacks.

Starting a business is a challenging journey, but worth all the hard work when you are doing something you believe in. If you go into business with confidence in yourself and your unique business ideas, that confidence will exude to your potential customers and will show them why they should believe in your business too. Remember, you are a one-of-a-kind person that has a unique perspective unlike anyone else’s, so with enough confidence and hard work, you CAN create a business that you’ll love.