I’ve been thinking a lot about how so many artists give up on their dreams because they don’t believe they can make it.
I was very close to it myself when I started out.
I’ve always been pretty introverted and anxious, so finding clients seemed impossible.
But I think that sometimes logic is counter intuitive to progress and success.
We base it around past experiences, but when you start out your only experience is that of failing to find work.
So you ask yourself:
“What are the chances that I can make this into a full-time job?”
And in the particular moment you’re asking yourself that, the answer is probably zero.
But that’s just the current version of yourself.
If I told the me from six years ago that I was capable of consistently bringing in clients, she would’ve been shocked.
And if I could bring her into the future with me to replace me for a day –
She’d be a stressed out ball of anxiety, and she wouldn’t do a good job.
But without her I wouldn’t be where I am today.
She had faith, and that faith kept her going until she could.
Marketing is one of those skills where progress is invisible at first – and that opens the door to so much self doubt.
It hit me a few days ago when I was at the gym.
I was thinking how with weight-lifting for example, if you aren’t ready to lift a certain weight you just won’t manage to lift it.
So there is no space in your mind for thoughts like “If I had only tried a bit harder – I could’ve lifted it.”
You know instinctively that you need to give it more time and effort to get the result that you want.
But with marketing you just don’t have clients until you do.
There is no starting with small weights and gradually working your way up.
You can’t measure your progress.
Sure, once you get your first client, the ones after become gradually easier – but there is still a very long period of time before you manage to bring in any work at all.
So this is my advice to you if you’re just starting your illustration journey:
Taking social media courses, creating marketing strategies, making sure that you have a good portfolio – all those things are amazing, but they won’t protect you against feeling helpless and giving up.
Having faith in yourself will.
Even when it feels like a childish dream.
Even when it feels like you’re not making any progress.
And even if it takes you years to get here – as someone who got to wake up this morning, put on an audiobook and draw for a living – It is SO beyond worth it.
If you don’t know where to start, I wrote a blog that might help get you on your way.
