Put It Into the Universe
You can make a living scrapbooking, apparently, if you’re brave enough to put it out into the universe.
I recently listened to an interview with Amy Tan, founder of Amy Tangerine, an entrepreneur who spoke about doing just that. When she was first transitioning from being a fashion stylist to scrapbooking, she said to a friend, “If only I could find a regular scrapbooking client.” That friend happened to know a woman with seven children and boxes upon boxes of photos. “She’d be perfect,” the friend told her. And sure enough, after Amy created a scrapbook for one of her kid’s parties, this woman became a regular client for years.
Fast forward a decade or so and Amy has built a multi-faceted business around her love of scrapbooking.
The day after I heard this story, I posted on Instagram about my product business called Stewart & Claire for the first time in years. As a cookbook writer, lip balm maker, and plant podcaster, I often feel embarrassed about my lack of focus even though I’m proud of all I do. Her lesson reminded me that people do indeed want to hear what you’re up to, what you hope for, and how they can help you and you can help them.
By posting about the lip balm company on my personal page, I nearly doubled my sales for a promotion I was running (which also doubled the related donation I was able to give) and better yet, created a conversation about what it’s like to live a multi-passionate life.
It made me realize it’s something I want to talk more about so I’m putting that out into the universe. I hope you’ll join in for the ride.
More things I’m putting out there:
For friends who are hoping to leave their full-time jobs and work for themselves or those who are already self-employed and want to know how I do so many things, I created this list of six tips for freelancing while staying sane.
And for recipe developer friends, I have a recipe-writing checklist along with tips about writing recipes so your readers will love you.