Push Your Dreams Forward!

Do you feel that you have a destiny, that you were created for a purpose? Can you see it, feel it, taste it, but still struggle to bring it to reality?

Do you sense opposition? Does it seem that for every two steps forward, you end up taking three steps back?  Are you tired and weary?

      Do you find yourself tempted to give up and give in?

For every creative force, I believe that opposition follows. Creatives give birth and giving birth is painful. It requires all of your energy reserves, all the strength you possess, all the determination you can muster, and it really helps if you have someone alongside to coach your breathing and to encourage you to push.

So I'm filling that role today and I'm encouraging you to breathe and then PUSH!!

If you are constantly pushing, you'll eventually wear out. So it's important to take time off to breathe. Breathe in life, stillness, beauty, nature. Surround yourself with inspiring music, books and films, or spend some time in nature. Watch a sunrise or sunset, get your feet wet and your hands dirty. Breathe deeply, live fully and stay in the moment.

After a bit of refreshing  . . .  it's time again to PUSH!

Create something and push it out of your hands into the marketplace! Every creative I know struggles with thoughts like:

    Is it good enough?
    Does it measure up?
    Will anyone like it?
    Will it sell?
    Am I nuts for trying to 'make it' with my art?

You won't know the answer to those questions until you put it out there. 

Are you tempted to wait until it's perfect? And even 'perfect' seems not good enough? Are you stuck in paralysis analysis?  Stop it!! You don't bless anyone when your product stays in your studio, you don't make money, you don't learn, and you certainly don't move forward. Forward motion is powerful.

Are you holding projects that should have been released long ago?

Perhaps you don't yet have a platform. What then? Share with your friends, get feedback, start building your list, and plan for an upcoming BIG push!!

If you have questions or if I can help in anyway, please let me know.

And if you want to make a commitment to push something forward and out of your hands, comment below!!

Don't forget to click the +1 button next to the twitter icon.

Now PUSH!

Building A Tribe

"Building a tribe is not a matter of a miracle. Instead, it’s about converting tiny groups of people at a time, leading them, connecting them, building an audience. When a self-published author does this, she has a new job. Not the author part, the publisher part. She’s not putting a book into the universe and hoping it will be found. She’s not even putting a book in a journalist’s hands and hoping it will be hyped. No, she is engaging in a years-long journey to build a platform. It might take a decade to become an overnight success, but if you keep it up, if you keep building, the odds keep getting better and better."  from the blog by Seth Godin

This paragraph from Seth Godin's blog today really hits home with me and I hope it does with you. If you have a product to sell, or information to sell, you should be spending time daily building your tribe and your platform. If you understand this, your odds of becoming successful or being able to make a living with your creativity increase exponentially. However, I must add the taking action part. Once you understand it, you have to take the steps of getting out of your comfort zone and reaching out on a regular basis, to build that tribe.

This is a tribe of people that you communicate with and encourage regularly. You may never meet them face to face, but you care about them and they feel like they know you. This can happen through a weekly or monthly newsletter, a blog, speaking engagements, concerts,  gallery showings, a forum or even twitter. Somehow, someway, you need to build a tribe of followers who relate to and draw strength from your message.

When you have a tribe and you release a new CD, painting, book or e-book, you have an audience who is ready to push the 'buy now' button!

I'm wondering . . . what are you doing, or planning to do, to build your tribe?