FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS

Posted by Tisha Tolar on December 5, 2007

I neglected to post this earlier when discussing the exploration of talents. So here we go now….In order to continue moving forward once you have explored those talents of yours, you need to pick one or two to focus on. You need to begin honing in on what it is you’d like to do with your own business because from now on you will be doing RESEARCH RESEARCH and more RESEARCH.

While being a child care provider/dogwalker/cake maker/flower arranger/professional plumber sounds like it might be profitable business to have, in reality you can’t do it all. I mean, what the heck would you name your business?

DONNA’S DAY & DOG CAKE PETAL TOLIET DOCTOR

I think not.

I imagine the URL would be available but do you think anyone would want to buy a cake from a plumber? Yeah, me neither. Here is where the confidence part comes in too. Can you look at the pottery you plan to sell and truly know you can market and sell it to people? Or do you look at your stuff, compare it someone else’s and immediately decide their stuff rocks and your stuff sucks? I knew a guy who was sooooo talented at woodcarving and building shelfs and furniture but would never sell any of it. He gave it away because he lacked confidence in his own obvious-to-everyone-but-him talents.

Start visualizing the day you take your handmade quilts to the farmer’s market for the first time. How will you feel talking to people about your work? How will you react when people balk at prices or criticize your work? Can you deal with the ups and downs and still make a living?

You will continually question yourself in the beginning but if you continually doubt yourself, in the end you probably aren’t going to make it.