career coaching

You may have noticed that adding new prints to the shop has been a bit on the back burner for me lately.

Not because I want it that way.  Just because my kids have been needing so much of my time and energy that I'm falling asleep at night and with homeschooling, my daytime creative hours are no longer an option.

But I'm making an effort to carve out time for creating.
(Side note here....but I had a request to make a boy on an eagle so I started this.. I felt like a boy would much rather be standing with an eagle that looked way more fierce.  At least I know my ten year old son would much prefer it this way.)

Back to the title of this post.  And the fact that If I'm not intentional about literally putting creative time in my calendar, it so sadly is one of the things that can get cut from my schedule.

Back in August I noticed that one of the illustrators I have loved following, whose work I think is adorable was offering career coaching.

stephanie fizer coleman

Ironically, I so often have wished for something just like this where I could talk with someone further along than me and ask them how they do things.  She also is completely self taught and her story is pretty amazing.  Her first illustrated children's book was just released.

I love success stories like this.  So often I think people wouldn't want to share their short cuts or tips.  But she is and honestly, I can tell that we would be real life friends if we lived close.

We started our weekly skype sessions yesterday afternoon for me, night for her.  Over the course of the month, she's basically doing one on one tutorials with me as well as answering loads of business related questions.  It's perfectly catered to all those questions that apply directly to what my needs are at this time.  It's like having a private class.  And I'm so excited about it.

Generally I google things when I want to learn how to do them and then follow a tutorial.  Or I'll spend lots of time going to paper warehouses and researching online, finding what I like best.   But my free time being so much more limited with homeschooling, I thought this would be more efficient and well worth the investment.

Most of all, it's making me carve out time for something near and dear to me.  I've set it up to have a babysitter every Friday afternoon from 2-6.  It's giving me time to draw and work on the things we talk about in our skype session.

It's inspiring and fun.  And just what I needed.  I pray you'll see the fruits of these sessions very soon!