Two years ago, Kerry worked with me to define longer-term creative goals for her life and career.
She was able to:
-Ease herself out a catchall-for-everything volunteer role that she had been feeling done with for some time.
-Find a long-term accountability partner (shoutout Annette!) that she’s still in touch with.
But most importantly, Kerry got clear on her goal to grow her herbalism hobby eventually into a storefront and community. This wasn’t a “quit your job and jump” kind of thing; she just wanted to grow this serious interest into a bigger vision.
Now, this hasn’t been a great time for storefronts, but it has been a time of intense reflection and change. With more time on her hands, and adjusting to working from home, Kerry decided it was time to take a step on her journey towards her North Star.
But rather than tell you what happened, I’d rather just let her share her own words with you.
This has been a harder reply than I expected. That fear is always there about stepping out of that comfort zone. I’ve been taking so many photos of my work lately but still hesitant to post. I read that to kick off a new account/project/company, you should post on Instagram for 30 days straight. I think this could be critical in getting exposure, but content is what I’ve been working on. On the plus side, I feel like, with this push, I can get it going. I finally selected a name which apparently a lot of people like as well (Harvest Moon), so I had to modify it a bit, and I’m in LOVE with the result.
My friend, as I mentioned, took some great photos of me working one afternoon at my house. I’m not all about me in photos. So, I set up a quick overview of what I could post for 30 days and, currently, I’m at about 22 items.
Today’s plan is to finalize my bio, research and follow like-minded business people and muses on that account, and currently leave it as an IG only project with a goal of 30 active days of posts which I foresee as a challenge due to the ups and downs of the current state—I’m not always so up in spirit these days, but I am always up for a challenge/task. It will encourage me to continue my studies, build some inventory, and reconnect with some people I haven’t chatted with recently.
Our ideas feel safer in our heads. They’re perfect there, even though they’re unfulfilled. But getting them out often takes less time than we think. They take a little intention, some decision making, and then, just action. Little actions even if we don’t feel ready.
Action is less safe, but only action can build that precious, precious thing: energy and momentum.
Not everything is figured out. That’s ok.
What am I trying to accomplish? I have a few answers. Some of my answers to that question are a platform to show my creativity, a tool to help me grow, a way to make me feel proud of getting back to a more natural way which I’ve wanted for a long time, and a way to build community around what I’m doing.
So basically, I did all of your exercises again trying to reply to your email. I love you for that!
Remember that point about energy and momentum?
Kerry is currently planning her first product for sale—most likely a salve. I’ve had her bitters and they are amazing. If you’re interested in being the first to hear about it, click here to follow her on Instagram.
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