I've thought so much about giving up, Going back to a regular job. I dealt with the same thing as a teen. Wanting to give up on art.
It seemed like everyone around me was trying to make me feel bad about my art as a teen. I'd stay up all night drawing, Then go to school the next day, Then my part-time job afterward. It was hard.
I often felt discouraged because I wasn't improving as fast as I wanted to.
We all have feelings like this at times.
We all want to be that "lucky" person that strikes gold immediately; They become famous, Everyone knows their name. And their life seems immensely exciting.
I've figured out the secret to "luck."
Life is like gambling, Sometimes you spin the wheel once, And win it all! But most the time you won't win the first or even the second time. You keep putting money (Money+Time+Effort) Into the machine of life to see if you won.
We see people every day with incredible talent, Not making ends meet. While we see others, who appear to be less talented making millions.
As a teen I desperately wanted anything and everything to show off my art, To make a name for myself.
I'd attend every art show, I'd make tons of artwork every single show, "Maxing Out" my slots.
But nothing seemed to happen.
I kept expecting opportunities to fall into my lap because I was putting myself out there. I was showing people that I could draw, That I could create and In My eyes those creations were valuable.
No one else saw it.
Except for my high school art teacher, Who kept reminding me that I would fail a lot as an artist. She told me no matter how good my art was; I would still lose shows, I would still be hated by people. Every time I wanted to give up because yet again I wasn't noticed. She would remind me, That I'm not very skilled at what I do.
But I have something that others don't.
And that's passion.
Again I continued to play the gamble of life.
And continued to lose...
Increases your chances for that win
In a drawing, Who is more likely to win? The person with more tickets in the bowl? Or the person with one in each bowl? The one with more tickets in the one bowl, Why?
Because if there are three bowls with 200 tickets, And you place one ticket per bowl. Your chances of winning for each bowl Are 1 in 200.
But if you put your three tickets in one of the 200 bowls. You have a 3 in 200 chance. Which gives you a better chance.
You Should diversify to an extent
I'm realizing now that I have the whole "diversify " thing all wrong.
You shouldn't diversify that much.
Unless of course, you have a lot of resources to do so.
When I was doing my Kindle book business, My E-commerce store, My shirt store and my coloring books.
I was very well diversified.
But I was also stretching myself so thin that I wasn't making much Because my competitors were able to easily stomp all over me.
Now that I'm doing a blog And My Shirt store, I"m making much better money. And things are more manageable.
I hope to eventually hire enough people that I can do coloring books too.
But when I "diversify" my business I can do that by putting my designs on other sites, Like red bubble and Cafepress.
It doesn't take much extra work Because the products already exist. I just have to upload them.
Because I'm so dedicated to what I do, Some extra opportunities have fallen into my lap. Like I'm in a special program that will give me a ton of extra products on Amazon. But I can't go into much detail.
Most people GIve up
That's another reason why you should go all in! A lot of people will scratch the surface of many things, But rarely do people dedicate time and effort to it, Although you also have to realistically decide if it's worth the extra effort.
If you want those special opportunities, you often have to do what most people won't. For the Merch program, I had to apply three times to get in. Most people would have given up at one; Some people may not have applied at all.
A lot of people won't pay for tools for their business, I do within reason of course, And I see a huge benefit from doing so.
LOOK For them!
Instead of pouting, Use handy-dandy Google and search for what you want. Go about your day, Looking for opportunities, Try something new.
When you have a problem. It's always there, In the back of your head without you realizing it. Sometimes it takes a new environment or experience to bring a solution to light. And sometimes it may not relate to whatever you are doing. This is why workaholics often have the same ideas, Over and over. Because they aren't expanding their horizons.
()
You said you are sustained 1 year by self employment that's a big thing. Huge inspiration to many people. Please stay strong, you are a shining start to share lighting with many planets. Never switch off your brightness. I love your art and after all you are the best person i have ever found on steemit. We love you. <3
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Aww you are so sweet! Thank you :) I'm just dealing with a lot of life changes but I'll be okay :)
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You said you are sustained 1 year by self employment that's a big thing.
Awwww!!! You are so sweet
Uovoted
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Aww thank you :) Heheh I did! It was hard but now I gotta hit my 2 year mark :)
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No one will be happy for someone who is successful and that's why you have to grow from hatred and learn that people will try to bring you down and people will hate in success and that's all part of it . Never give up because people out there have nothing and would die to be in our place . Beyond the skies is our limit
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I disagree with "NO One" . People who loves her more also can advice her to give up because they care about her and they feel worry about her career. I feel afraid to meet my university professor because he always suggest me to stop social activities and go for traditional jobs. But it is true that he and my family love me. Yes, Some people think it is not possible because they never tried to think something out of the basket or alternative of regular jobs. I salute my friend @kaylinart . And she is example of moral courage.
But it can be true many people were feeling jealous. It also confuse me people do not feel jealous until see someone successful. Of course we will say loudly "Never Give up ".
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Exactly :( It's sad that the world is like that at times.
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Thanks for sharing your story @kaylinart! My employment at my current position is coming to an end at the close of this year and I have been seriously contemplating blazing my own trail from here on out . This post was very validating to some of the opinions from others and internal thought processes I have been struggling with lately.
Best of luck to you!
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Aww you should! It's scary but it pays off! Thank you ;)
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Your post reminds me of this famous design.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJ_W2FtWoAEJNb-.jpg)
(Photo is artwork of Sylvia Duckworth. The Iceberg Illusion by Sylvia Duckworth on Flickr Creative Commons license. Published May 1, 2016 at 640 × 480 in The Iceberg Illusion by Sylvia Duckworth.)
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Love that image.
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Really great pic that summarizes the work behind success! Cheers XD
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So true, and this is how I think about luck as well. Luck is probability x number of attempts.
Keep putting yourself in positions to seize opportunities, and the law of large numbers / probability would suggest you will become 'luckier' - AKA, you will actually land some of those opportunities in the long term.
That goes to your point about not giving up as well. Not giving up is simply exposing yourself to more opportunities, thus increasing probability of getting "luckier" than everyone else :)
Thanks for writing and love the art, @kaylinart!
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Exactly heheh :)
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Thanks for the friendly advice and the kick on the butt!
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Never Give In is the first rule always. :)
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Thank you :) It's true.
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Loving your posts! For your clothing store do you mainly use Shopify or other platforms? And do you market it?
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Yes I use shopify for part of it :) I'm working on increasing my marketing on Pinterest. But right now I'm mostly getting organic sales :)
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you are a gifted writer and have a beautiful face! ^ _ ^
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Thank you very much heheh :)
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Ok master 😘 ^_°
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You're right about what you say, I loved your post.
Greetings and continue with your art that you are very good ;)
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Thank you so much :)
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Great inspirational post. I left job back in 2012 and never get back to it. Thanks for sharing @kaylinart!
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Thank you ! Wow 2012 thats truly amazing!
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Continue drawing, continue creating. Soon enough you will start gaining more because content is valuable. Just being on Steemit shows that you understood this aspect. It takes sacrifice, but in life you just have to chose what type of problems you want to have. I'm a cat so I can't get a homan job. Even if I could....I'm a hard worker... I'd prefer working for myself rather than for others.
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aww Lin! I love what you had to say in this blog. :) Diversify to an extent, without losing quality or spreading yourself too thin. I couldn't agree more. As an artist, people always discouraged me from trying to make a living out of it, but here we are, with coloring books, art and more! You make your own opportunities, just keep on trying! And just GOOGLE everything! LOL
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Yes, perseverance and the will to win are also worth a lot.
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Yes!!!
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Yes I think the same. I believe what matter in life is how many times you show up for yourself :) As you I did tried everything on the same time: I had a sport business, an engineering consultancy and hugging app, plus a blog and an online shop. In the end I just cut all them and left with what matter then, what was close to my heart, where I felt I can offer the most of me :)
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Very good post. Yes diversify...I make some extra passive income from YouTube, Amazon Affiliates, Adsense on my blogs, Zazzle T shirts and just starting here on Steemit. It starts to add up.
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I've always wondered what happened to your coloring books, and now I know. And from one self-employed person to another, this makes sense.
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So much of what you've said rings true with me as well, along with many other people. In my corporate job, I pull my own weight and do so well in my performance, but it looks like I have to work extra hard to get recognized or noticed for my efforts. Some talented people really do have to work hard, and others just get things dropped onto their lap.
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Really great post!
I am also stopping some things to dedicate more time to activities that will be worth that extra effort. This post came at the right time XD
Thanks for sharing :)
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Yes, what you write here is true. Better focus on one thing or two and be very good at it instead of "diversifying" too much. But sometimes distraction for me is my inspiration. The difficult thing to do is, however, finding the balance between focusing to much and being distracted too much.
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Luck is not very much worthy to people it often gets in the hand of the people who it wants but like you said hard work ,dedication and passion might lead us to victory :)
The post is nice enough to be a motivational writing ,Thanks to you :)
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You are a strong lady. Its a nature of every people that they cannot see others in the top. Pulling legs are everywhere in the corner. Just we have to put our handwork and be passionate about what we are doing, then nobody can deny us. I know you will fly high, just believe yourself!!
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Never give up!!!
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Has always you're a big inspiration for me :D, I'm working on not spreading myself too thin and on a side note, I liked what you did with the girls hair, I will try to do that effect on one of my pictures, I will see how it works out, thank you again! :D
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://media.giphy.com/media/3o6ZtbTklgeLj5Bvgs/giphy.gif)
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It takes strong will and effort to continue while everyone around is oushing you the other way round.
But the essence lies on loving what we are doing else we can leave many things undone.
Keep up, love you job.
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Beautiful post!
Upvoted and resteemed!
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Don't give up... said Peter Gabriel :)
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