“I just need to get better at my craft first.”
Nobody argues with that sentence. Not your husband, your friends, and especially not the voice in your own head.
It sounds like discipline. You make it sound humble, like you’re taking your work seriously.
So you sign up for another workshop. You buy another course. And you practice one more technique before you feel confident enough to charge money for this.
And every one of those things is REAL learning. That’s what makes this so hard to catch. But here is the part nobody says out loud.
Skill has no deadline. Your season does.
The class will still be there next year. But the bills are here now. The woman who would have booked you this month is going to book somebody else.
You are not lazy. You are hiding behind what you think is being disciplined, and it looks so much like work that nobody is going to call you on it.
So I will.
The Paper Mache Head I Hid Behind
In college I had to take a public speaking class. The assignment was simple. Write an informative speech. Stand up. Say it in front of your classmates.
I was terrified. So I did what any art student would do.
I built a giant paper mache Jack in the Box head to cover my face while I talked. Then I put on a suit and tie. I carried a briefcase. Full costume. I felt like the Grinch when he tries to shave and ends up with the paper bag over his head. My paper still shook in my hands the whole time.
Here is what I want you to notice about that story. I used my ART SKILLS to avoid the actual assignment.
I got better at one thing so I would not have to do the scary thing. And it looked like effort. It probably took me hours. Nobody could have accused me of being lazy.
But it was hiding. Expensive, time consuming, very crafty hiding.
The Day I Got Out Of The Pool
Let me tell you about the fastest money I ever made. My mother in law and I were doing swim aerobics at the YMCA. Her knees were bothering her, so low impact was perfect, and I am a self proclaimed mermaid so I was in. I would do the exercises in the deep end just to make it harder on myself.
We were about 20 minutes into class when an idea hit me. Like a light bulb going off in the water. I did not finish the class. Instead, I got out of that pool and drove home to my computer.
By the end of the afternoon, I had made over $1,100.
I did not know one single thing that afternoon that I did not know that morning. My skills had not improved between the shallow end and my desk.
The only difference was that I MOVED before my brain caught up.
If I had stayed and finished the class like a reasonable person, I do not think that $1,100 ever happens. The idea cools off. The day fills up. You know exactly how that goes.
The Email That Was Way Too Long
One night I was reading Mark Cuban’s book and found his actual email address printed in it.
He said to email him with questions or business ideas. So I did. Immediately.
I pitched him on doing a paint party for the Mavericks. I gave him a few options. And I will be honest, I sent WAY too much information in that first email. It was not polished. It was not tight. Nobody edited it. He wrote back in 20 minutes.
He said he would be shocked at how many artists make generous offers, and to try him back in the off season and they could take a look.
Two sentences. That was 2013.
He never wrote back after that. I have emailed him a few more times over the years. I am pretty sure he does not use that address anymore.
But look at what that messy email bought me.
It lit a fire under me. I had my friend Brendin come take brand new photos at one of my paint parties. Re-did my entire website. All because I wanted to be READY for the off season.
The website and the photos happened because I sent the ugly email first. If I had spent a week making that email perfect, I would have talked myself out of sending it.
That is what a week of polishing is FOR. It is a very respectable way to not send the email.
The Summer I Only Had Enough Money To Get There
My mother in law once told me I always worked “teetering off the edge.”
I was not always like that. A steady paycheck used to be everything to me. I thought people without one were crazy. How do you sleep at night not knowing what is coming in?
Then one summer I loaded up Pixie and all my paint party supplies and drove from Texas to Florida to teach parties and make some money. We stopped along the way to see family and friends. We slept on their couches and ate out of their refrigerators.
That first summer, I only had enough money to make it to Florida. That is it. Enough gas to get there and a paint party on the other end.
Looking back, it was totally irresponsible. But there was a fire in me that wanted adventure more than it wanted stability.
My mother in law said something later that I think about all the time. She said, “I know now you are a planner, but in the early days, you just acted.”
She was right. I just acted. I liked moving forward. Sitting still was not getting me anywhere.
Crying In The Church Bathroom
Now let me show you the other side, because I do not want you thinking I was always fearless. I once organized a paint party for 127 people at a church outside Houston. It was one of the biggest parties I had ever done. And they didn’t just want me to teach it. They asked me to share my testimony too.
My nerves were shot. My parents were there. About five helpers were there. Before it started, I went into the bathroom and cried. I am standing there looking at my own tears in the mirror, and I remember wishing I had that paper mache Jack in the Box head again. Something to hide behind.
Then it landed on me that this night was not about me. I prayed right there. I thanked God for the chance and asked for the strength to focus on the people in that room instead of on myself. I walked out with one question in my head.
How can I help THEM?
The night ended up being so much more fun once I stopped thinking about me. My nerves settled the moment I started taking action.
Not before. Not after enough preparation. The moment I MOVED.
Most of what we are scared of never happens. Our brains cannot tell the difference between a scenario we imagined and one that is real, so we get overwhelmed before we even start. That is wasted energy and I have burned a lot of it.
Skill Still Matters
I am not telling you skill does not matter. It does. Your painters can tell and so can you. And I am not telling you this is fast.
There is no such thing as overnight success. When you see somebody winning, there is a past behind that moment, usually ten or more years of showing up.
I was teaching full time AND teaching paint parties several times a month AND building an online business, all at once. I remember asking a friend, does it have to be this hard?
She told me sometimes you just have to suck it up, and that it would not be like this forever.
That stuck with me, and she was right.
So the answer is not “stop learning.” The answer is learn WHILE you sell, not instead of selling.
What This Looks Like For You This Week
Book the party at the skill level you have today. My parties are $35 a painter. That is not paying for a masterpiece. It is paying for a fun night where a woman leaves holding something she made herself. You can already give her that.
Teach the painting you could do half asleep. Not the one you wish you could teach. Boring for you is brand new for her.
Send the messy message. The coffee shop about kits, a church about a fundraiser night. Your friend who keeps saying she would come. Send it today, badly.
Go live before you feel ready. Two minutes about your next party. It does not matter how many people are watching.
Count the asks. Somebody has already asked whether you host parties or sell kits. How many times has that happened while you said some version of “oh, this is just for fun”?
If it is more than once, you are already behind your own demand.
Let’s Take Action
Get a pen.
Write down the one skill you have decided you need before you can charge money.
Look at it sitting there on the paper.
Now write down what waiting has cost you. Months. Parties not hosted. Kits not made.
I am not asking you to feel bad. I am asking you to see the price tag, because that skill is not free. You are paying for it in time.
Then do the smallest ugly version this week. One party. One message. One Live.
You can get better while you are getting paid.
I built a whole paper mache head to avoid one speech, and the speech still had to happen.
