If anyone can attest to the joys (and challenges) of being a creative entrepreneur, it’d be our owner Eva Niewiadomski! In a recent interview with Womenetics, she said: “I worked at Quaker Oats for 15 years. My last year there was post the Pepsi merger with Quaker Oats. As is typical with mergers, the environment is stressful as the organizations try to meld together two disparate cultures. It was just not a good fit anymore for either of us. I took the severance package and decided to take this once in a lifetime opportunity and start my own business.”

Being a creative entrepreneur is not easy, but there is something great about being able to get paid to do what you love. Just ask some of the creative entrepreneurs who have taken our friend Sheryl Kosovski’s Artful Work seminar:

 

 

“Getting paid doing what you love” has become the new American Dream. Our friend and former Ranch Hand Todd Jones is amongst those living that dream, having started his own urban farming company Every Last Morsel. He’s got great ideas, great passion, and great drive. But that isn’t enough to make his dream a reality. After consulting with several small business owners and entrepreneurs, he came up with his own plan and went to popular fundraising platform Kickstarter to help fund his idea:

 

Eva adds fuel to the fire with some inspirational words to aspiring creative entrepreneurs: “My feeling was “If not now, then when?” I didn’t want to have any regrets later in my life, thinking “What if?” It was a big leap of faith as not only did I use my severance money, but I took out and used a full line of credit on my home.”

So what have we learned? Dreams and passion is the best fuel for a creative entrepreneurship but it cannot be the foundation. As you start to get your dreams on paper, before you get ready to take that leap of faith, you have to begin with a solid business plan. Thankfully, our friend Sheryl Kosovski will be offering a five-week course “The Visual Business Plan,” beginning September 12. In 5 weeks you will:
• Clarify your business vision
• Understand your competition and what sets you apart
• Identify your perfect customers and how you’ll reach them
• Set financial goals and a plan to accomplish them
• Develop plans for managing yourself, your money and staff

For more information (and to register) click here!