How to stay motivated as a creative | 6 Ways to Stay Motivated

How to stay motivated as a creative

6 Ways to Stay Motivated

I am in a slump

I am just not feeling it

I don’t have the time

My creative juices are gone

I am in a creative lul

I’m just not motivated…….

Yes, we have all had those feelings. Those feelings of doubt, those feelings of not wanting to, those feelings of not good enough, those feelings that our motivation is just completely out the window. Even the best of the best of the best have those feelings. Those feelings of just not wanting to, not being able to, or even really just not liking to. So how do we fix that? How do we get out of our creative slump? How do we stay motivated as a creative?

Just recently I was watching a Youtube video from Sorelle Amore. In her video she referenced a conference and a presentation being put on by Cody Wanner. Someone asked how Cody is able to create so much dang content (Cody posts daily Youtube videos. Yes…. DAILY).

Cody’s response really hit home, and I just had to share it with you guys. He said:

“You are not creating enough… you are getting out of the heads pace… and procrastinating”

Now obviously those are not his exact words because I wasn’t at the conference; however, they are somewhat close, but really think about that for a minute. YOU ARE NOT CREATING ENOUGH.

This is so dang true!!! The more we create the more we crave to create. When we begin to slow down, when we begin to lag, when we begin to procrastinate we then begin this downward spiral. Our motivation goes out the window. We start this negative self talk, we procrastinate because we are feeling bad about ourselves, which then continues to demotivate us. It is a vicious cycle that we have to break!

How do we break this cycle? According to Cody, create more!

Now if that doesn’t work here are a few additional ways to stay motivated:

How to stay motivated as a creative:

Increase the challenge

What I mean by this is make it harder. Step outside of the box. Do something that you aren’t used to doing. Stop doing the same ole same ole. When we get in a rut, that is when our creativeness starts do go away. That is when our motivation declines. That is when we get in this terrible cycle.

Change your creative method

Try shooting with a different gear set up. Talk about a motivation killer when you are bored with what you are doing right? Well, switch it up!

Create from a different point of view (MIX IT UP)

Change your angle! Shoot from above, from below, sideways, at an angle. Stop doing the same thing over and over again.

Make time for it

Lets face it. Adulting Sucks. Like for realz. Life is so dang busy. Sometimes, we just need to schedule our craftie time. So whether you are a photographer, crafter, baker, or candlestick maker it doesn’t matter. Life gets a hold of us, we get caught up in the day to day life, and next second we realize we haven’t been able to be creative for weeks. No wonder our mood sucks! We aren’t taking the time to do the things that we love! So, if you are finding that you are having a hard time being able to do your craft, schedule it. Actually put it on your calendar. Write it down. Block out the time.

Forget about the goal and just have fun

We get pretty caught up trying to reach our goals that we forget to have fun. After all, we are doing this for fun right? We are doing it because we love it right? We create a goal, we start grinding, and we take away all the fun. We get frustrated, and then we want to give up. Stop it!

I’m not saying stop setting goals here. Do not get me wrong. I am just saying sometimes we need to do the things we love to do just to have fun. To enjoy ourself and to actually do what we love.

Create more and create it more often

This goes back to Mr. Cody Wanner’s quote. Create more and more often. This will have you wanting to create more.

So, I do 100% believe this. I know if you are in a rut, if you are unmotivated it sounds rediculious, but just hear me out. If you start creating, your creativeness begins to start flowing. When you create, you begin to be more creative. Ideas come to you so much easier than they do when you aren’t in your creative mind.

Once you stop creating you begin to get in this “rut” or you begin to have this “block” where you just can’t seem to find any motivation to create. Nothing sounds fun, everything sounds hard, and you are just uninspired.

When you create, you start getting ideas all the time…. in your sleep, before you go to bed, in the shower, while you are cooking. This is because you are actually doing it! You have turned on that part of your brain. It is something that you just can’t stop from happening. Awesome ideas come into your head when you are in your creative mindset.

So create more. Start creating which will then put you in that creative mindset. Yes, it is hard to get started because DUH your not inspired or your not motivated or your not in the creative mindset, but once you get started the ideas will slowly start to come. Then eventually you will be so overwhelmed with ideas that you won’t even know what to do :)

Stop comparing yourself to others!

This is huge you guys! Seriously, this is probably the #1 motivation killer in today’s world. we have the world at our fingertips and social media is blasting us everyday. It is human nature to compare, yet with so much information coming to us on a daily basis, we have every opportunity to compare ourselves to other people. This is so important that I even created an entire video on it. Please please please go watch it, read the post, listen to the words and try to stop the comparison game.

P.s. Make sure you check out my list of Must Read Girl Boss Books to keep you extra motivated!

I hope this helps you a little bit to get out of that slump the next time you find yourself lacking motivation or in that vicious cycle of: not creating - negative self talk - procrastination - not creating…..

Wishing you nothing but the very best!

Bessie

How to Create an Epic Blog Post in 5 Steps

Blogging, blogging, blogging….

I have been talking about blogging all year. Why? Because I set out on a mission to blog once a week for the entire year. Yep, I wanted to see if all the stories are true. Does it really help? Is this whole, you have to blog once a week thing real?

Well, in all my blog posts, I have found that the most epic, repinnable, most viewed, most liked, most commented, most shared blog posts had 5 things in common. That is what we are going to talk about today.

Now, if you haven’t done so already, please make sure to check these out to help you in your blogging journey.

How to start a blog and make money in 2019

Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Blog

How to Create an Epic Blog Post in 5 Steps

There are 5 things that every blog post needs, and these 5 thinks are really going to help you stand out of the crowd. They are the things that will help you create those epic blog posts.

So…. here we go:

1.  Content is King

So this one is my dust statement. Obviously you need to have good content. Your content has to be quality. It should be relatable and it should offer something of value to your readers. You need to be serving your audience, providing them good information, if you do this it will actually be received as a good blog. You will keep people on your website and they will actually read your blog.

I know it's super easy, and super tempting to just create a blog for the sake of blogging. Please do not do this and completely fight this temptation. If you do this it will become known that your blogs do not provide good content and people won't want to read them. Plus you won't get people to actually subscribe to your email list or your freebies if your blog post does not have good content.

2. Create a Compelling Title

Think Click bate.

Basically a great title is going to capture your readers attention and it will make them want to visit your blog . The title is the key. If you do not have a good title no one will be interested . If you have an interesting title people will click it . You need to think long and hard about every title that you create . There's multiple ways to go about doing this but I suggest using Google or using Pinterest .  Start typing in what you're thinking about blogging and you'll come up with ideas for the title .  

3. Create Pinnable Images

Pinnable images are so incredibly important. First of all they're going to make your blog look pretty. You want your blog to look nice. Second they're going to create an image that people can pain and promote your blog for you. Pinterest is such an incredibly important piece of blocking and for websites. It's really going to help bring people to your site.

  what I'm trying to say here is Pinterest is your best friend. You need to use Pinterest to ensure your content is shared over and over and over again. The way you do that is with a pretty Pinnable picture.

4. Be SEO Friendly

I have a love-hate relationship with SEO. SEO is going to be able to allow people to find you when they actually search for you. If you don't know what it stands for it stands for search engine optimization. You need your posts and your entire website to be seo-friendly in order for people to find you.

There are 10 different ways to make sure that you have seo-friendly blog posts. One would be Google Analytics . Another, if you're on WordPress, would be plugins like yoast.

5. Find Your Tribe

 Once you post a blog your work is not done my friend. You actually have a lot more work to do, and that's all about promoting your blog post. You're going to want to promote it on your social media account, all of them.

A great way to promote your blog posts is Facebook or Pinterest groups. This way you can collaborate with other people in your niche. On Pinterest you can also use group boards or things called tribe

Alright, now that was alot of information…

Blogging is pretty darn awesome and can be incredibly easy once you get the hang of it.

If you haven’t done so, make sure to check out my blog on 7 Tips on How to Make Blogging Easy. Seriously, this one is a game changer.

I hope you all enjoyed this blog! If you did, leave me a comment below, or even better, share it with your friends!

Wishing you the absolute best!

Bessie

P.s. Did you love this post? Check out these similar ones:

How to Start a Blog and Make Money in 2019

Today I want to show you how to start a blog and make money online. This is going to be a guide to start your own blogging journey.

If you haven’t already, make sure you check out this blog first:

Things You Need To Know Before Starting A Blog

As a creative and entrepreneur, a blog is essential to our work, it is easy to create, will not cost you hardly anything to start up, and it can make you money! How cool is that?!

So what is a blog anyways?

The best way to describe it is it is like a digital journal. A place where you can talk about your passions, your interests, your life, and so much more. It is a place where you can share ideas, and help others with your expertise.

For your blog you are going to need to choose your niche or your area of interest (what you are actually going to blog about). My blog “Bessie Young Photography” is all about helping others along their creative entrepreneur journey with a emphasis on photography.

Can anyone blog?

Heck yes! Anyone can blog! Blogging is a side hustle where you really don’t need any expertise. You just need to get started! How cool is that?

Blogging doesn’t require any special skills, but it does really require alot of hard work, passion, dedication, and determination.

What Can You Write About in a Blog?

Seriously, that is the beauty of blogging! You can write about anything you want, but you have to decide what that is going to be. Like I said above, you really gotta pick your niche first.

Think about what you love, and what you are truly passionate about. Brainstorm what you are good at.

• Are you good at cooking?

• Are you a stay at home mom?

• Do you love fashion?

• Do you love to craft and show other people how?

• How about a fashionista?

There are millions of blogs out there on every topic imaginable. Here is an awesome website with 50 successful blogs in each topic.

Is it expensive?

Not at all! Hosting your blog is going to be the most expensive thing that you do, unless you start advertising. Now a Squarespace blog (which is what I use) costs only $12 a month. That is about .40 cents a day. I am going to say that is pretty dang affordable :)

“Ok friends, so lets get started.”

How to Start a Blog and Make Money:

• Brainstorm a good domain name:

  So this is pretty huge right? What are you going to actually call your blog?! This is your website domain. For example, mine is bessieyoungphotography.com

  You need to think about this long and hard. The domain name should relate to your niche. This also might take quite a bit of time as not all domain names are available. As you know, the internet is endless so…. with that being the case alot of domains are taken.

  You can register your domain name with any registrar. If you are using wordpress you will want to find a host, or you can register your domain name directly with squarespace. The domain name will come with the squarespace yearly subscription for the first year. It is then $20 after that.

• Get Started:

  After you choose where you want your blog hosted you will need to go over that way and set up a plan. Let’s take Squarespace for example (and no squarespace is not sponsoring this blog)

  You will head over to their page home page and click get started. It will look something like:

Now you need to pick a plan that is best for you. I would recommend going with the 12 month plan so you save money. You can also find a bunch of Youtubers that Sponsor squarespace and you can then get an additional 10% off. If you want a code I can recommend a few people, just leave a comment below.

• Connect your Domain name:

  You will need to register a domain name. If the one you want is not available it will let you know. It will also give you related suggestions which can be helpful.

• Pick your template

  Now comes the fun part. You get to pick your template!!! How cool is that? Squarespace makes it super easy to adjust the design with beautiful templates already installed for you, you just have to pick one.

“Your Blog is Now Ready!!!”

• Start Writing, it’s GO TIME!

  One thing that I have found to be important is to have a list of posts drafted before you launch your website. You do not want to launch your website with no information on it. Squarespace will mark your website as private until you decide it is the right time to share your goodness with the world!

  So what do I mean? You need to have content ready. Content that you can work on and promote when the launch actually happens. This is where word of mouth really comes into play. Start talking about your blog! Tell everyone, all the people. This way when it launches there is excitement to it. Also, this way when it launches people will have things to read, to look at, and to promote themselves via sharing on social media.

  Writing is easy, but getting people interested is hard. You should definitely try to solve peoples problems. Help people. Serve people. Give them value. That is what a blog is really all about!

Getting Traffic - Tips:

1. Word of mouth! Tell everyone! Let friends and family know. This way from day 1 you can have some good traffic.

2. Set up your social media first! Think Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.

   Once you blog, you will share the news on all your channels. Don’t try to be on every social media site. Pick a few and focus your efforts on that.

3. You can join relevant Facebook groups or instagram pods.

4. Use Pinterest ALOT. You need Pinterest in your life! For realz though. It is crazy helpful and brings alot of traffic. Right now I get 156K+ monthly views over on Pinterest.

   • Now Pinning all day every day sucks. I’m not going to lie. I have found that Tailwind has been a game changer for me. Tailwind will help you automate your Pinterest rather than doing everything manual.

5. Work on your SEO and get it on point! This is going to be huge for you. Google traffic is free.

Ways to make money with your blog:

There are so many ways to monetize your blog. Ideas:

• sponsorships

• product sales

• advertising

• affiliate marketing, etc.

How much you make from these sources will 100% depend on your blogs traffic. This is where all your hard work, and all the foot work comes into play. Make sure to check out my post on 5 Easy Ways to Make Money Blogging

I personally love affiliate marketing and most of my blog income either comes from it or my own product sales. With all affiliate marketing you are going to have to apply to be an affiliate. Just keep that in mind as it does take time for approvals.

“So Stop Waiting! Start Your Blog Today. Tag me in your social or comment below so I can see your new blog!”

Blogging is pretty darn awesome. It gives you huge flexibility with your lifestyle. It can be a full time job, a side hustle, and really whatever you want to make it!

I hope you all enjoyed this blog! If you did, leave me a comment below, or even better, share it with your friends!

Wishing you the absolute best!

Bessie

Must Read Girl Boss Books For This Spring

t seriously is so important to read. When I was little I would ready like a book a week. Now it is hard to read a book a year. I honestly have a really hard time finding the time in a day to read. For some reason life just gets way too busy, but this year, I have decided that I am going to make it happen. With a little help from Audio books I have been accomplishing this goal. Yay!

So, today I wanted to share with you some of my recent faves.

Must Read Girl Boss Books For This Spring

Ok, lets just get right into it:

1. Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini

I have struggled with said ‘mean girl’ ever since I can remember. This book hit home so hard it wasn’t even funny. Melissa talks about how to master your inner mean girl and it is so dang helpful! If you struggle with that nasty mean little voice inside your head, you need to read this book like now.

2. 100 days to brave by Anne Downs

So I just started this one. It was actually recommended to me by a friend in my workout group!! Yep, isn’t that just awesome :) So the verdict is still out, but I am loving it. It also has super high recommendations from everyone around me so I know it wont disappoint :)

3. Girl Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis

Ok this one is #1 of pretty much all books, so I think enough said there…

Now you also first have to read:

4. Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis

Now this one is on the top 10 charts of all books, so I think enough said there…

5. You are a Badass

Gosh I love this lady. I can’t express enough how much I love this lady. Her book is awesome! I seriously love her honesty in everything that she writes. Now, if you aren’t a fan of cursing, then this book is not for you.

6. Live Fearless by Sadie Robertson

I was hesitant with this book. I have my reasons, but I will just leave it at that. I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not. It turns out I liked it. I probably would choose this one last out of all the books on this list, but it is a definite must read.

7. #GirlBoss

I just love the story behind this book. It really does show the struggle of a creative entrepreneur. I love that I can relate so much to it.

8. Dreaming with God by Sarah Beth Marr

I may have saved the best for last. This book spoke to me so much I even wrote a letter to the author. Umm… Ya, I never ever ever ever in my wildest dreams thought I would do something like that. Also, I ended up buying it for my mom. Seriously, you have to read this like right freaking now.

Have you had a chance to read any of these? If so, leave me a comment and let me know your thoughts. Which ones were your faves? What did you like, or didn’t you like about them?

Also, do you have any suggestions on awesome girl boss books? Please leave your recommendation below. I would love to have a list going so I can read more awesome books!

Happy Reading Friends!

Bessie

Things You Need to Know Before Starting a Blog

Ok, so you are ready to start a blog! How awesome is that! I am so dang happy for you, but I do want to give you a few things that you need to know before actually starting the blog. Things that I wish I knew before I started mine :)

There are many things that absolutely no one talks about. Everyone likes to keep things all peachy and like ‘oh its a dream’, ‘i make all this money’, ‘im living my best life’ , ‘its so easy’, ‘i only work when i want to’…. blah blah blah

I am just going to say all those are true to an extent. People like to take things to an extreme. They want everything to look so good. You know, the grass is always greener on the other side, but sometimes things can suck. Sometimes as a Creative or as an Entrepreneur you can get frustrated, you can be jealous , you can be discouraged, you can get let down, but don’t worry. That happens to EVERYONE! Even the ones that want to claim overnight success….

Don’t get me wrong, running your own business is freaking awesome. Having a blog and helping others is awesome too! There are a ton of awesome things as a blogger, I just wish people would be more upfront about the bad things. You see, I am a bad things kinda girl. I want to know all the negatives to something. This way, I can decide if I want to attempt it or not :) I can make an informed decision rather than get let down because my expectations were so dang high.

So with all that said, everyone can start a blog. Everyone has the potential to make it an amazing business. Everyone has the potential to make money, but here is what people do not warn you about:

Things You Need to Know Before Starting a Blog

1.You are not going to get rich quick:

I have subscribed to alot of newsletters about being a photographer, a creative, and entrepreneur. I get so many emails saying things like ‘I made $200k in one month off of one blog’

Ugh! Those emails frustrate me. I am not going to lie. There is a message behind those emails saying that you can get rich quick. That you should be able to create 1 blog post and BOOM success.

Well, my friend, that is just not the case. I am sorry. I wish it was, but honestly, if it was, I would probably have a big house and not be sitting in a crap apartment.

You are not going to earn $10k your first month of blogging. Hell, you probably won’t even earn that in your first year of blogging.

2. The learning struggle is REAL!

There is a huge freaking learning curve when it comes to being a small business. There is that same learning curve with just blogging. You cannot accomplish anything if you are not willing to learn. You need to dig dig dig and learn all you can. As soon as you feel like you know it, you probably need to learn more.

It will be overwhelming and you will want to quit. You won’t see any success and it is incredibly discouraging, but do not give up.

Explore and try new things. Don’t be afraid to invest in yourself and your business.

3. Nothing Ever Happens Overnight

This relates to my get rich quick scheme.

You most likely won’t get 100,000 subscribers by offering a cheat sheet. You probably won’t get 100,000 subscribers in your first year. Building a brand, building a business, and building a blog is going to take alot of your time.

4. It takes alot of your time and effort:

I have heard many people say that they schedule their blogs out for the entire year in 1 or 2 weeks. This makes it sound like they only work 2 weeks out of the year… hmm…. wouldn’t that be sweet? Well, I am just going to say that this entire process is going to take alot of work. Most of my blogs take me hours to create. I’m serious. They take me hours. This blog in itself has taken me 2 hours already and I'm not even finished! CARAZY.

Now some people can write quicker that others. I am not the fastest writer there ever was, but I am not slow either. I like to create good content. Plus adding images to your blog takes quite a bit of time as well.

Bonus Tip! You will need to know how to use Photoshop Elements, or some sort of tool to add words to your images.

5. There are a lot of ups and downs…. a lot of downs…

Once you start making money your income is going to fluctuate. You are going to make money one month and none the next. You need to prepare for that. It is ok. Don’t worry, but just know that it will happen.

6. You will compare yourself to other people and you will feel really bad about where you are in your journey

We are the worst when it comes to comparing ourselves to others. Especially now with social media. We are constantly scrolling looking at everyone else’s awesomeness, everyone else’s success… guess what…

What you see are peoples highlight reels. You never see their behind the scenes. You never see them on the floor crying, you never see them with their mascara smeared and them sitting with a big ole tub of ice cream on the couch, you never see them getting ready to throw in the towel. You only see their highlights, their successes, and what they are proud of.

This is going to be hard and this is probably one of the hardest things, but try your damdest to put your blinders on and focus on where you are going. Try to not compare yourselves to others because it will just make you feel bad and it will make you want to quit.

Now with all that being said, blogging is pretty darn awesome. It gives you huge flexibility with your lifestyle. It can be a full time job, a side hustle, and really whatever you want to make it!

I just wanted to give you some truth so you know what you are getting yourself into.

If you are interested in blogging make sure to check out my ‘ How to Start a Blog and Make Money ‘ post. It will help you get everything in line to make sure you are successful.

I hope you all enjoyed this blog! If you did, leave me a comment below, or even better, share it with your friends!

Wishing you the absolute best!

Bessie

Things You Need to Do During Your Off Season

Alright fellow photographers, creatives, and entrepreneurs… there is one thing that you are going to have to accept…. Entrepreneurship is seasonal. Once you accept that the better you will be. Business will get slow, and then it will speed up. It will really really speed up to where you feel like you are spinning, and then it will slow down to a snails pace leaving you questioning if everything is ok.

Everything is ok. This business of ours is just seasonal. Try to be ok with that and you will feel a lot better. Plus, once you are ok with that you will be able to really take advantage of your down time.

Let me give you a little story of where I am coming from. At the beginning of last year, I was so slow that I began to worry. Ok, worry is an understatement but you get where I am going. I sat there sad, kinda depressed, and ultimately worthless.  During the summer, especially the late summer, things got crazy. I was staying up late, getting up early, and I even started to drink an energy drink here and there which I don’t ever do.

I honestly wondered if I could keep up with it. I was also super worried because I didn’t have the time to blog. My blog fell completely off the radar. I mean it was so far gone it wasn’t even funny. Months went by without me blogging and that little voice inside my head wouldn’t leave me alone. It was telling me I wasn’t good enough, I needed to do more, blah blah blah.

If I would have just been ok with the idea that this business is seasonal then I could have accomplished sooooo much during my off season to where I felt amazing during my busy season. So here are some things that you just need to do during your down times in order to not get overwhelmed, frustrated, depressed, and just plain overworked during your busy times:

Things You Need to Do During Your Off Season

Update your portfolio

I mean this one in 2 different ways. The first way being, now is the perfect time to schedule some styled shoots! You have a bunch of free time so why not make the most of it. Do something for you. Create a shoot that you have been dreaming of. Let your creativity flow. This isn’t only good for your mind, and your soul, it is good for your portfolio. Show people what you are capable of.

Secondly, update your portfolio on your website. Show your favorite images. Your best images. Not all the images. You want to attract your people, your tribe. Update your portfolio to resemble who you want to attract.

Network!

There really is no better time to get together with other creatives, other entrepreneurs, and other like minded people. I don’t mean this to mean reach out to people to make money. I mean actually network with people. I mean talk to them. Be friends with them. Help them. Give them your gifts. This is huuugggeee in growing your business in the long run.

Learn

As small businesses we tend to not invest in ourselves. This is terrible because honestly that is really the best place to put your money. I think learning from others is such an important thing. This is how we grow as individuals. You have to spend money to make money friends. This is the perfect time to sign up for a workshop, schedule a mentorship,

Start a personal project and learn by being creative and playing.

It takes a lot of effort to get your business moving forward and to keep it moving forward. We have to stay current, up to date on all the things, and just “in the know” (no I’m not cool enough to say that, but I said it anyways).

Devise a Plan and Schedule

This is where I went wrong last year during my down time. I freaked out and just didn’t do anything, but I could have been planning all the things. So my thoughts here are start planning your posts. I mean all the posts… Pinterest, social media, blog posts.  

This is really where you are going to help yourself during your busy season. You can schedule posts. This way when you are busy, you don’t have to worry about blogging, or pinning, because guess what? It is already completed for you. You did it during your down time! How awesome is that really though?

So, devise a plan for your blogs. Create the blogs, and then schedule them out throughout the year. Now you have content for half the year, or maybe even the entire year, or at least until your next down time.

Enhance Your Brand

During the slow season you can really take a fine look at your business. You can see it from every perspective.

Have a real honest conversation with yourself and how your brand looks. Is it cohesive throughout all the things ie social media, websites, emails, newsletters, etc?

Can you simplify anything for your customers to make things smoother?

Does your brand attract your tribe? Does it attract your target market?

Work on your website

This goes along with the above ‘enhance your brand’.

We always put off working on our website. It is one of the last things we creatives want to even think about, but it is freaking important friends! Does your website resemble your brand? Does it attract your target market? Is it easy to navigate? And be honest, how old are the photos on your website?

I hope this blog was helpful and just got you thinking about how you can really take advantage of the down time. Also, hopefully it will help you not fret when those slow times do come around, because believe me they will come whether you try to avoid them or not.

Honestly though, the slow times are one of the best times for your business. They are the times where you can really nurture your business back to health. These are the times that you can make everything shiney again. Embrace the slow times, appreciate them, love them, and be ok with working on all the other things that we didn’t realize came with running a business J

Wishing you the very best!

Bessie

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