Episode 34: Taking Action Before You Are Ready with Liz Brindley
Liz is a creative who started her business in 2017 focused on printmaking and teaching kids about food through art. However, after realizing that teaching kids wasn't her thing, she pivoted her focus to teaching adults. Liz now coaches women in the beginning stages of their creative business and teaches creatives online across the world. Her artwork is inspired by the natural world and food, which she incorporates into her murals and illustrations. Liz's creative journey has been a winding one, but she believes that the threads of education and nature and food inspiration are still woven into her business, albeit in a different format than she initially expected.
Three Things That Hold Us Back
Liz is passionate about helping creatives bring their ideas to life and overcome the common obstacles that hold them back. In her conversations with creative women, she has noticed three main barriers: overwhelm, imposter syndrome, and perfectionism. As creatives, it's easy to get overwhelmed with so many ideas and want to wait for full clarity before taking action. However, Liz believes that clarity comes through taking action, and imperfection is what allows for connection. Liz encourages her clients to embrace imperfection and take imperfect actions to learn and grow. Additionally, imposter syndrome and perfectionism can put a lot of pressure on creatives to be perfect and prevent them from putting their work out into the world. Liz believes that imperfections make our work and path beautiful and allow for connection with others.
Uncovering the Layers
Liz believes that the stronger the root of a creative’s purpose, the stronger their guiding compass will be. Liz sees value in uncovering the layers behind common struggles such as perfectionism, impostor syndrome, and overwhelm, which she believes are often tied to vulnerability and doubt. Liz explains that doubts and questions can start to arise when sharing ideas with others. These doubts can lead to conversations with ourselves about imposter syndrome, perfectionism, and whether we are good enough. Liz believes that vulnerability is a huge factor behind why we hold ourselves back. As a creative, vulnerability is an essential part of the journey, and it can be scary to put our art and ideas on display. However, Liz encourages leaning into vulnerability one step at a time, as it is the thing that connects us and makes us human. As creatives, it is our role to encourage vulnerability and connection, and Liz believes that embracing vulnerability can lead to more forward progress.
The Vulnerability of Financial Risk
Financial risk is a crucial part of doing any business, including creative ones. Liz acknowledges the pressure on social media to achieve financial success quickly, but she encourages a slow and sustainable approach to building a creative business. She advises clients not to put too much pressure on themselves and their creativity by thinking that they must make a profit immediately. Instead, she suggests finding a stable source of income while building their business, such as working part-time jobs that inspire their work. Liz also acknowledges that creatives often feel immense pressure to turn their passions into full-time businesses. However, she encourages creatives to take a step back and assess what their version of success looks like. Instead of feeling overwhelmed and obligated to dedicate everything to a new creative endeavor, Liz recommends assessing how various parts of one's life ecosystem can work together. Like different plants in a garden, a part-time job, a creative business, time with family and friends can all coexist and contribute to a fulfilling life. By gaining clarity on what success means for them, creatives can make natural, exciting, and aligned steps towards their goals without the pressure of conformity.
Tools to Move Into Action
Liz believes that changing your mindset doesn't mean getting rid of negative thoughts completely. Instead, she suggests befriending these thoughts and conversing with them to understand their intentions and how to work with them. For instance, if you're struggling with imposter syndrome, Liz suggests imagining it as a person and having a conversation with it to understand why it's there and what actions you can take to feel safe. This process allows you to soften the negative voices and put yourself back in the driver's seat, with these thoughts taking a backseat. Additionally, Liz suggests imagining yourself as a confident CEO of your creative business, waking up in the morning and taking actions that align with that vision. This exercise helps you uncover the empowered creative that you already are and take steps towards that future self. Liz emphasizes that these changes don't happen overnight and require consistent effort over time.
”Press Publish” Course
Liz is the creator of the "Press Publish" course, a five-week program that teaches individuals how to publish their first online course. Liz loves the topic of starting an online course and often sees two obstacles: the belief that you need fancy gear and the idea that you have nothing to teach. Liz's first course was made with an iPhone, Apple headphones, and a stack of books. She encourages people to start with what they have and upgrade later. People want real, human content, not fancy equipment. Liz challenges people who think they have nothing to teach to do a brain dump of everything they love and are interested in. You don't have to be an expert, you just have to be one step ahead of someone else. Liz believes every creative has something to teach and encourages people to look into what feels familiar and share it with others. Lastly, by focusing on serving their audience, creators can gain confidence and create something valuable from their skill set.
Get $100 Off Press Publish: www.lizbrindley.com/tillage
Key Takeaways:
Clarity comes through taking action.
When we get stuck in perfectionism it’s not only stopping ourselves, but stopping other people from reaping the benefits of what we have to offer.
Anything that you can dream up you can do, even if it takes a different format than you initially think
Vulnerability is the thing that connects us, and it is the thing that makes us human.
Financial risk is a part of doing any business.
Good things take time. Allow yourself to really enjoy the creative process and the path of the creativity journey.
We are not necessarily going to get rid of a limiting mindset completely. Instead, we can learn to be curious and as Liz suggests “have a conversation” with these things like imposter syndrome. This puts you back in the driver seat and more in control.
Take action today like the person you envision yourself to be in the future.
You don’t need fancy gear to create a course, and you do have something to teach. You only have to be a couple steps ahead of someone else.
Lastly, turning our attention outward and remembering what we are creating is serving someone, can help us get out of our heads and make action.
Liz Brindley is an award-winning contemporary working artist, coach for budding creatives, and a top-ranking educator. Her work is rooted in creativity as a force of nature - capable of bringing life into spaces, onto pages, and within your business. Using metaphor, color, and intuition to teach and create, her aim is to evoke joy, inspire authenticity, and foster positivity. She believes that everyone deserves to experience not just life, but being alive - in their work and in their world. Brindley collaborates with brands by immersing herself in their vision, then magnifying it through her singular illustration style or her signature ‘Thrive’ coaching method. She doesn’t believe in boxes or rigid business ‘strategies’ because she never underestimates the power of each individual's intuition and creativity.
Visit Liz’s website at www.lizbrindley.com and follow along on instagram at www.instagram.com/itslizbrindley and www.instagram.com/lizbrindley_artwork.
Sign up for the waitlist for Lissie's Teehee course “Art & Digital Processes.” Doors open May 9th through 16th!
