About posting every day, sharing my work and the first steps of building an online community.
IN THIS BLOG:
- Making a ‘dream collection’ with miss M (my daughter)
- Sharing that process online
- Getting over the fear that it needs to be perfect first!
I have to admit, my goal or challenge (whatever you wanna call it), really did help to make the step towards showing people what I was working on. I did all my research on Instagram, I had my heroes, I knew what I liked and what I didn’t, and I felt it was time to show the world what I was working on. (You can read about this in the previous blog post about my goal to fill my daughters wardrobe with fair fashion, made by yours truly). I made miss M, my first born (at the time six years old), a tool to make her dream collection. ‘Tool’ might sound fancy, but it was just a classic paper dress doll. I drew all kinds of clothing and a doll that she could draw her dream collection on herself. It’s still a free download on our website here!
She came up with all kinds of ideas, she wanted fries dresses and ice cream pants, and I started making them for her. (I will tell you how that led to our Bobbinhood kit in a later blog post!). I started showing the process on Instagram: her ideas, us drawing together and me slowly making the items. At that time I made a full plan of posting every day. Looking up accounts to interact with, finding the right hashtags. Here I also set my own clear objectives. I showed the process of making and filling that wardrobe with fair items. I would show the process with my girls but decided not to show their faces or write their full names. I would call them miss M and miss J. (This is my personal decision that works well for our family. It is no judgment whatsoever on how others do this!). And it was (and is!), so fun meeting other creatives, and finding and making a community. Instagram sure was a very important part of finding my dream job!
So I am sure you can guess the tip of this week 😉
Tip of the week: Show your work!
Some of you (most of you?), might be like nooo! Too early. I have to master this skill first, I have to be the best in the world, otherwise I am not worthy to show the world. Well to be frank, that sure is a load of bollocks right there! Aaaand on top of that, you are just keeping yourself from enjoying your journey. It is ok to show your struggles, it is ok to show things you are not sure about. You can say you are not sure about it or act as if it is the best you ever made, it doesn’t matter, as long as you share and show. When you share what you make it means you are actually in a process of making and learning and making more and learning more. And that process definitely can be vulnerable and scary, and it might even be painful every now and then, but that’s ok. You are creating, and that is awesome!
As you read in the previous blog, it might be helpful to give yourself a theme or a challenge. I had both I guess. The theme was to make my girls a fair wardrobe, and my challenge was to do that for a year. I am not even sure if I completed that full year, but it did start the fire that ignited Bobbinhood. I could write multiple blog posts about Instagram, and maybe one day I will, but for now let me give you four Instagram tips to get you started:
- Show your work. It doesn’t have to be anywhere near perfect, imperfections are ok!
- Post regularly. (Try to) post every workday. Weekends are for family.
- Involve others in what you do (by showing a process, giving tips, reviews, whatever).
- Admire others and learn from them (don’t copy ;)).
Extra tip: Austin Kleon wrote some super fun and easy to work with books about showing your work. Go check them out, they sure helped me in getting started!
Now get out there and show it off! You can doooo it!
So this was blog post number eight! I hope you have your mind all set on finding that dream job. In the next series I’ll tell you all about the business plan I made that started Bobbinhood (or wait, maybe I should say business planssss, cause it took me a while to find the right one!). We’re gonna talk finances (I know you want to haha), and earning money with what you loooooove. So get yourself in ‘find my dream job’ mode with the tips from the previous blogs: create, analyze yourself (you can do it), challenge yourself, and be very kind to yourself.
And oh, don’t forget to show your work 😉
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