Originally written April 30, 2016
I started Square Street in 2011. The original name was Square Street Production. At the time it the only two products where graphic designer and photographer services. It never took off in the way my vision hoped for, but I keep the name and keep dreaming that one day it be an operating creative business. Year after year I kept strategizing and kept trying. It’s been a decade…10 years (almost) since I wrote this blog post. So much has happened between then and now.
In 2016 I started grad school. Between 2016 and 2020 I explore ways art creates community and attended and participated in a number of art making events and exhibitions. I studied and experiences the power of art on the human experience.
In 2023 I took a pottery class to have something to do after work and to finally make planters with the porcelain I had. What started as a way to stay creative while I was in transition unexpectedly grew into a desire to share joy and peace with others.
Making pottery for Square Street has kept me busy making and I eventually started teaching at my a local art center. I am so grateful for the Armory Learning Arts center for the space to grow in this area of my art making. But pottery isn’t the only art form that will come from the studio. Before I move further in art making I thought it was important to go back (Sankofa style) and honor beginnings. Enjoy the original blog post below about how to stay motivated in your vision. I wrote it to encourage other to pursue.
If you grew up in the 90’s and watched the Disney channel you may be familiar with the movie, Wild Hearts Can’t be Broken. It’s a story about a woman [Thinking about it now I think she was a teenager] who runs away from home then joins a circus. Her circus act was to jump of platform high in the sky on the back of a horse into a shallow pool. The climax of the movie was a bad jump by the main character. She goes blind. As you can predict, some people advised her to stop performing because of her condition. To their surprise she didn’t. She didn’t let her limitations keep her from doing what she loved.
As an entrepreneur [or if you have a 9 to 5 and you’re entrepreneur minded and like to create new process and practices] you’re most likely a big thinker. You come up with life changing ideas.
For me the main lesson from the movie is to not listen to the voice of others, or the voice from within yourself, try to convince you that you shouldn’t pursue. The vision may be difficult, but not impossible. The questions I wish people would ask big thinkers instead of telling them they can’t do something are,
- “What is your plan to get the vision?”
- “What is the implantation plan?”
- “What are your steps?”
Those questions make sense. Big ideas mean big work and a lot of sweat equity.
My advice for people jumping into the boat of entrepreneurship [ or starting something new] is to have a healthy stockpile of resilience.
Resilience, as defined by the American Psychological Association, is the process of adapting while in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or significant sources of stress — such as family and relationship problems, serious health problems or workplace and financial stressors. It means, “bouncing back” from difficult experiences.
Entrepreneurship [or if you are starting something from scratch] is hard work and a constant cycle of change. Be flexibility, don’t get comfortable. You’re responsible for improving and updating your skills? You’re the HR department now. Here are skills to to think about.
DEVELOP HARD SKILLS
Be a student of your craft: Never stop learning.
How do you do this in the beginning for your business [effort]?
- Create personal projects
- Create with deadlines.
There are so many habits and skills you will learn from assigning yourself projects. I follow a TV producer on Instagram who posted that he hired himself until someone else did. What a concept! Hire yourself until someone else does. If you hire yourself you’ll get to practice your process, experiment on style, and develop the discipline to deliver on time.
DEVELOP SOFT SKILLS
[Networking was a big thing when I wrote this. I’m grateful that I learn from incredibly business savvy professionals.]
- Networking can be a hard thing if you’re shy or don’t know networking etiquette. Network anyway.
- Networking is not spraying the room with your business card. Please don’t be that person that hands out your business card before you’ve created a connection.
- Network with a purpose and more importantly have something to offer.
- Remember, be gentle with yourself while you’re in transition.
You got this!
Put it into practice.
Choose one hard skill or soft skill you want to strengthen this month. Commit to practicing it all month.
Hire yourself. Start a personal project.
If you would like to share, I’d love to hear it in the comment section below.
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.
Like I mentioned in the introduction. Square Street Studio, currently, sells pottery with the vision of other art works to come.
To honor the past, I am want to share the original logo from 2011. I loved it. Still do, but in 2022 I updated it to represent the updated vision.
