How Do I Juggle Business and Creativity?

I don’t know, honestly. You know how it goes—one minute everything is going well: I’m designing villages and creatures, creating notepads and planners… and then… the dreaded work email.

 

I thought work emails would be over once I owned my own business. Oh lordy, no! There are more emails than when I worked for someone else because now they all have to be sent to me. Fortunately—or unfortunately—that someone is me.

 

The creativity side? That’s on point. My brain never shuts up, lol. It’s more the switching back and forth that gets draining.

 

Imagine sitting and relaxing, then having to get up every five minutes because something happens and needs your attention. That’s what it feels like in my head every time I carve out time to create. It makes me giggle and frustrates me at the same time.

 

I giggle because taking five minutes to respond to an email or make a decision really isn’t a big deal—it’s just when it’s constant that it gets frustrating. I can’t tell you how many deep sighs I’ve let out where my boyfriend goes, “Are you okay?” Oops. Guess my sighs are too loud.

 

But I’ve learned that breathing helps me regroup and refocus. I don’t sigh just because I’m agitated (although I do sometimes), I sigh when I need a little reset.

 

Because I promise to always be 100 with you, I’ll just say it… I’ve been sighing a lot lately to give me more courage. I’ve been in business since the end of July (not long), and as of September 28th, I hadn’t made a sale yet. Now it’s the start of November, so let’s just say I have had a sale by now, lol.

 

I say “yet” because I know it will happen. I just have to stay courageous and determined for that moment. But occasionally, I do have to sigh and read from one of my many mantras up on my wall to refill my tank.

 

 

That’s the visual in my head—I even placed it in Harvest Hollow, where my brain seems to live lately. It helps me reset mentally before switching back to business mode.

 

Back to the subject at hand… the unexpected switches are rough, but I’m trying something someone suggested. If an email isn’t from a customer or doesn’t need immediate attention, I put it aside during my carved-out creativity time and wait for my scheduled business time. Then, I address all the emails and tasks. This way, I don’t feel pulled in multiple directions at once.

 

It’s helped me feel more organized and structured. I still get to create, and I still handle the business side.

 

I carve out three or four hours a day for creativity—just me, coming up with cute, fun stuff. Then, after lunch and before calling it a night, I dedicate 45 minutes to business emails and calls. There are still a lot of people who want to talk on the phone. I thought we as a society decided we weren’t doing phone calls anymore. No? Just me? Oh well. A girl can dream, lol.

As you can see, there’s no real “managing” here—only planning and lots of deep breaths. I say that with determination, trusting that this plan works for more than a week or two.

 

Remind me to apologize ahead of time to my boyfriend for all the sighing that’s going to happen, lol. And if this plan doesn’t work long term, I’ll find one that does. There are a lot of options—I just need to try them and figure out what works best for me and Warrior Dragon Design.