I am really excited to do something different with my posts this month.
In addition to some "normal" posts, I am going to be telling my small business story in 500-1000 word parts. Consider it my "blemoir" which is when a blog and a memoir have a baby and nobody wants to raise, edit or publish it except the blogger.
I'm doing this for three reasons and since my favorite thing to do is over-explain, I will now detail them.
First because I LOVE THIS STUFF. When people that I find interesting tell their story I read it with hearts in my eyes like a real life emoji. (Some of my faves from the top of my head...Bri's Creative Morning talk, basically anything Emma & Elsie share in Blog Life, Joy Cho's keynote at Alt, Mindy Kahling's book, Ree's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - when it was still in blog post form).
It makes me giddy to hear people talk about their path, what they did, why they did it and what they learned. I love to watch people weave threads through many years. I love when my own lightbulb goes off along with someone else's. And so it's probably no surprise that I also love to write these stories. My four part WDS series (part four coming as soon as the talk is released online) was some of my favorite writing from the past year.
Second because I get a lot of emails asking me "why did you...?" and "how did you...?" and "what would you do if...?" I can't always give individual advice when I know just one piece of the puzzle, but I can share in detail my story, my regrets, my wins and my mistakes. I have shared (many) bits here and there as I have tried and accomplished various things, but never have I discussed how all these steps relate to each other and never had I had enough time (read: real perspective) to note why something worked or why it didn't. This series will answer all the questions. Think of it as a Women Tell All episode of The Bachelor but with less hair extensions and more paypal fees.
Third because the concept of "overnight success" is complete crap and I am one example of that. Don't worry, guys, I get it : I don't have a wikipedia or IMDB page. I don't net a million a year. I am not remotely close to a household name (though I imagine in a few houses I'm "you know that blogger who's husband was deployed/with the cute baby with the thing by her eye/who's always making something/who lives in that house with the cool ceilings?"*).
But though the definition is flexible, I have found "success" for me because I currently make decent money working my dream job. Sometimes accidentally and sometimes deliberately, I have built this career over the course of many (many) overnights.
I am excited to share my story this month and I hope you'll follow along!
*I mean come on! We all do this. Paul knows every blogger I follow by the most random descriptions.
Today on ELISE GETS CRAFTY I am chatting with best-selling author, Scott Berkun, about creativity and business myths. Click here to subscribe or stream the episode from your computer here.
