Everyone Is Creative: Finding the Right Skill For Your Hustle

You love the idea of working for yourself full time, or creating an income stream online. But how? Maybe you look around and see that everyone starting a small business either has capital or investors to leave their job and go it alone in their field, or they have a crafty skill and know how to make and sell something! “I would love to do that, but I’m not creative!” is something that I hear often.

I want you to know that you ARE creative, because everyone is! As humans, I believe we have the ability to create. That everyone is artistic, appreciates beauty and creativity, and can make something that has their own unique stamp on it. Of course, that does not mean that everyone has the raw talent to be a painter, and not everyone would find it satisfying to make craft items to sell. But I do think you can unlock your OWN creative path, no matter what that looks like.

I grew up believing that I wasn’t artistic. The art curriculum that we use in my school was product and not process based. My projects never turned out as nice as some of the other kids in the class, and I wanted them to look beautiful and perfect. I remember vividly being in 3rd grade and deciding to believe I wasn’t good at art. Sure, I did lots of crafts with my mom, and I had lots of ideas, and I enjoyed making things for my dolls and cooking and baking and writing. But I couldn’t draw, and my art class grades were so so, and my art class work wasn’t perfect, and so I had decided that I wasn’t artistic. That whatever crafty, artsy, creative skills I had were inferior to being ARTISTIC. I wish someone had told me then that art is many things- that creativity has thousands of mediums. To be fair, I think my mother would have said this if I had shared my insecurities about art class!

You don’t have to be an artist, or like crafts, or have any interest in becoming a handmade seller. And that is more than ok. You may feel like you are completely left brained- but I PROMISE that will actually help you. I have personally always felt that I am pretty equally right and left brained. While I spent my childhood daydreaming, and making things, and reading, and using my imagination, I also love numbers and logic and spreadsheets with a passion. I wanted my art to be better and my art grade to be praised and admired. But one year- I think perhaps 1st grade- I got a “character trait” award (as each classmate did every year), and I was awarded the word EFFICIENT. To this day, I have never felt higher praise than in that moment. I WAS efficient! I may not be the coolest, or the most talented, or an amazing artist, or have the best grades, but I got things DONE, dammit! And I got them done well. I was EFFICIENT. And I have carried that pride with me since. Efficiency will serve you when you run out of inspiration and creativity. It will help you market, and streamline, and recycle ideas, and make tough decisions about trimming the fat in your creative endeavor.

So if you are feeling discouraged that you may not have the creativity to use the power of Etsy or YouTube because you don’t want to be an artist or crafter or be on camera, etc.- take heart! There are also AMAZING creative entrepreneurs making spreadsheets and planners, talking politics, teaching a skill. There are successful shops who may not be artistic themselves, but have tapped into the market of selling supplies to those who are. You may even have a handmade or artistic idea that is simple and uncomplicated, but can be very successful. Don’t sell yourself short. Think about what you enjoy that IS creative and artistic, even if it isn’t a classic definition of art. Let’s run with that and see where it leads!