Well hello peeps…..So much has transpired since I last made an appearance here several years ago and wrote anything. I’ve missed sharing my thoughts and actions, between the jigs and the reels of life, I actually do enjoy writing, because it helps get some clutter out of my head and quietens my mind for a while.
Since I was last here, my family and I relocated back to Ireland from Cape Town just over two years ago and it has been a seesaw of events since; my dogs were shipped with us only for both of them to die within eighteen months of moving back and my broken heart is still raw.
Whilst dealing with the tragic death of Tayto (my older Shepherd the first to die), my dear father was also departing this world, in one way I was relieved I could help my dog and ensure his death was swift and as painless as possible, on the other hand I watched daily as my dad suffered and there was such a deep sense of helplessness. That is a whole other story and maybe one day I will feel like I should share, but not for now. I miss him dearly every single day and do firmly believe he is with me, spurring me on to love life and live it to its fullest. You only get one chance and my dad never let anything stop him, even when he was seriously ill.
Then tragically my beloved and faithful companion Ripley developed heart and lung problems, and after months of traveling the length and breadth of Ireland I couldn’t find anyone to cure or prolong her life comfortably, she was only seven years old and died in my arms, her death so soon after my after dad hit me the hardest, I am still trying to cope with it.
So why have I come back to write, albeit with my bad grammar and missing full stops and apostrophes in the wrong places….because it helps me. People all over the world have been through the same and probably worse ups and downs, it’s part of life and death, some people talk about it others don’t. But this time for me I wasn’t going to allow all the downs to take away my living right here and now, so the grief is carried in my heart and sometimes leaks down my cheeks, but I haven’t allowed it to consume my everyday life. A few years ago the ‘downs’ would have dominated me and sent me into a serious spiral to dark places I don’t want to revisit.
So, I went away for three weeks to clear my head and came back full of renewed hope and ideas, I was going to keep ploughing ahead with my plan of taking my career and passion forward into a proper legitimate business and so it all began like this….
I decided two years ago to take my profession seriously and run it as a ‘business’ a terrifying word for artists, we are not taught or trained how to run ‘a business’. We are taught how to create art and make beautiful things, our family and friends (without a doubt our greatest supporters) encourage us and tell us ‘you should be selling your work’ and that is so much easier said than done. Fortunately I do sell my work and have been for a long time, I make a living, but I won’t lie, it’s a hard graft and not for the faint hearted. Professional sales and Marketing peeps went to college to learn how to sell and market…I am learning!
I have exhausted my poor husband mentally and sometimes financially, I have to change and so does my business….I needed to grow up and acknowledge the fact yes, I am a housewife and mother, but I am also a professional artist. It was time for me to step out of my comfort zone and into the world of business, to step forward and take control of my professional future.
I believe it was also a mental shift, I come from a family of talented creative people, we always loved painting, crafts, photography, even cooking, we’d enter shows, win prizes, but I never looked at the business side of our skills. My biggest nightmare was learning how to keep accounts (being accountable) and filing receipts so I could then effectively look at what I spent and if I was making money. I knew this was going to be a real eye opener for me, I lived in denial that my work cost me more than I actually made!
Then the opportunity to attend a course in Dublin with Irish artist Roisin O’Farrell on Business Skills for Artists and Creative entrepreneurs, this was just the new open door I needed, Roisin really showed me the ins and out of my accounts and where my money was being wasted, a whole other story on how to view things in a new way, it was fantastic. I sped off back home full of beans, new plans and ideas!
Anyway after the course, it became clearer my biggest issues marketing, branding, an outdated website and the lack of clarity in where my efforts were being wasted, showed me there is a beautiful bright light at the end of the tunnel. The website is being overhauled as I type and the marketing and branding will come together with the website, I am sure it will all have teething problems and evolve along the way too, after all I am still learning.
The accounts with the help of my husband are all in a lovely Excel spread sheet and I am chuffed to say I’ve managed to cope with these over the last two years, along with better receipt keeping, for someone like me who prefers a pen and paper, this was a huge hurdle to overcome.
I am still in the process of managing how to schedule social media posts, refining the ones that work for me, deleting the ones that don’t. The problem with attending networks and workshops is you can find too much information and get bogged down in all that’s out there, so honing into what works is a skill in itself. Less is more is my motto.
Having deleted and edited groups and networks that sucked my lifeblood and no longer gave me any pleasure I have freed up more quality production time.
I am evolving from the full-time housewife, mother, artist, into the professional artist and business woman, come hell or high water will achieve all I set out for this year, one day at a time of course.
Opening myself up to the future and all the abundance she has to offer, mentally, physical and spiritually, losing myself in the things I love and finding myself there too.
Cheers for now
Rachel
Rachel Dubber 