You Don't Need the Perfect Plan to Begin Your Journey

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What happens when you finally decide to chase your decades-old dream with just 17 days left at your steady job? The exhilaration, fear, and unexpected joy of embracing imperfection.

Perfection is the enemy of progress. If we wait for flawless conditions before pursuing our passions, we'll remain forever stuck in place. My transition to full-time art hasn't followed a perfect roadmap—I'm admittedly "winging it" with the resources available. This messy middle, where plans meet reality, is where the real magic happens.

Watching my father pass away at 65 without experiencing his passions fundamentally changed my approach to life. I refuse to spend another day doing something that doesn't bring me joy. This mindset has pushed me to work two full-time jobs simultaneously to build a creative space where both I and others can flourish. Your unique artistic style emerges not from perfectly following someone else's formula, but through your personal approach, "mistakes," and specific way of seeing the world.

The community forming in my studio proves how desperately people need spaces where they feel seen and heard. From the gentleman proudly sharing his crochet creations to first-timers hesitantly admitting their creative curiosities, there's profound connection in authentically sharing what we love to do.

The future remains beautifully unclear—I can't predict what opportunities or challenges await. But that uncertainty is precisely what makes this journey worth embracing wholeheartedly. If your heart is pulling you toward something, don't wait for the perfect plan. Start now. The rest will follow. You'll figure it out along the way. After all, we're not promised anything beyond today.

Ready to stop waiting and start creating? What dream has been waiting in your heart that deserves attention today?

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hello everyone, welcome back to Brutally Made.
We are in the middle of June.
Yay, I'm so excited.
I have about 17 days left in mycurrent nine to five and I just
wanted to take a second to comein and talk about having a lot

(00:28):
of joy in the little things thatare leading up to that end of
era, if I want to be trendy inmy life and starting a new one
in art full time.
So there's just a lot of thingsthat people feel like you have
to do in a proper process orthings have to be perfect before

(00:52):
you can, you know, move on, andchecklists and things like that
are great, plans made alsogreat.
But really, if you are waitingto do anything when everything
is perfect, you will never do it.
You will be waiting forever andI think that it's really

(01:14):
important to give yourself a lotof grace, to kind of go with
the flow as things happen, andthat's really how it becomes
real becomes, I guess for me,and my experience with this is
that, yes, I had a plan, that Iwanted to do this within a year.

(01:35):
Yes, I had met with some peopleto give me some guidance on
what I needed to put in place,but it's not perfect.
I didn't follow things to a T.
I did not have a book that was,you know, an outline that I

(01:55):
followed, checked that off,followed the next thing I am
winging it.
I literally am doing things asbest as I can.
Literally I'm doing things asbest as I can with the resources
that I have and making it workalong the way.
And I think that you have toremember that that messy middle

(02:15):
is okay to be in and it appliesto creating something art-wise,
business, business wise, yourlife.
Someone had said, if you plannedto have children and you have
this goal to have kids, and thatyou had to be at a certain

(02:37):
level or a certain place orwhatever would be, you would
never have them because youwould never hit.
Something always happens to.
You know those well laid plansand you know, when I had my
children, it was just like, yes,I was young and you know crazy
time in that period of my life,but you know, I had the kids
when I had the kids and I kindof like remind my daughters and

(03:00):
our children of the same thing.
It's like it happens when ithappens If you, you know, plan
it, that's great if you can, butyou know, don't beat yourself
up about things that don'thappen within that timeframe
that you've always set.
You know, you have this visionof your life.
Like I, will be at this levelat this age and I will achieve

(03:23):
this at this age, and it's greatto have those goals.
It's wonderful to have thosegoals, but for heaven's sakes,
do not just you know beatyourself up about not hitting
those markers Exactly.
You've got to let yourself havesome flexibility and you have
to let yourself create on the go, as things happen.

(03:46):
And it makes some of the bestresults because you have changed
direction or you have learnedfrom a, you know, a lesson in
life that you didn't expect.
I mean, we are going to havethings thrown at us that we
don't expect all of the time.
I cannot tell you that enough.

(04:10):
I have had that experience.
Someone said the other day to meI should write a book.
That book would be crazy.
My life has been a rollercoaster.
I cannot even express how muchof a roller coaster it has been,
and where I am at now is whereI'm supposed to be.

(04:31):
Someone said if you could dosomething.
It was a test I was taking thisweek and it was like what would
you do differently if you could?
I really don't think anything.
The things that I've experiencedin my life has brought me where
I'm at today, where I'msupposed to be.
If I would change one thing,that would change the trajectory

(04:51):
for my children, for my husbandand I, and I can't imagine
things being any differently.
I wouldn't want it to be anydifferently.
Every struggle that I have andwill have and I'm having now I'm
supposed to have and I'msupposed to learn from those and
I am doing the best that I can.

(05:11):
I get one life, we all have oneopportunity and you've got to
just do what you love in thatopportunity.
That's why I'm doing what I'mdoing now while I can, because
I've told people a million timeswhen they ask me you're
retiring at 55.
Hey look, I'm not financiallyprepared to retire at 55.

(05:34):
I'm just telling you that rightnow I am going to lean into my
art and myself 100%, because Iabsolutely love it and I don't
want to do anything else for therest of my life.
And I watched my father passaway at 65 and never get to

(05:54):
experience doing anything thathe would have loved because he
was gone so young.
And I am not going to, you know, do something that doesn't
bring me joy or another day, andthat's why I have doubled down
and worked really hard to do twojobs full time at this moment,

(06:19):
because I think that that iswhat has my heart is this
calling to create a space forother people and have a space
for myself.
Experience that community,getting the joy of making things
and I am not perfect ineverything that I try.
You should see me trying totuft a rug right now, struggling

(06:42):
with that.
I'm just learning things on thego and experiencing it along
with you, and that's totallyfine.
That's what makes it fun.
And I'm just trying to get youto understand that it's okay to
not be a professional ineverything that you try.
You will become so much more indepth of what you're working on

(07:06):
when you learn from yourmistakes and you learn from
others and you're willing tohave an open mind about learning
.
So just hear my voice and hearmy reasoning of not having the
fear because you're not perfectat it from the very first start.
It's okay to learn along theway.

(07:26):
That's what's beautiful aboutit.
You can't imagine what kind ofskill you'll develop because of
the mistakes you make, the handthat you have in it the things
that you try.
That develops your style.
Where do you think this stylecomes from?
Someone's brushstroke,someone's sculpting method?

(07:47):
Their hands work a certain way,their eyes see a certain color.
It's not the exact same thingas the other person.
I don't care who's teaching you.
You're not going to see it anddo it that exact same way, and
that is okay.
So stop trying to chase thatperfection.
Stop trying to find thatperfect formula.

(08:08):
Follow that exact outline.
It is wonderful to learn, butthen develop it and create it
for you.
And don't expect everything tobe perfectly aligned before you
start.
Just start, just start.
Wake up one day and, like youknow what I'm just going to

(08:29):
start today Plant something,start something, go look at
something, sign up to learnsomething, make a step forward.
You know, always, always, becurious.
That is such a fuel to thatfire, and I don't care if you're
starting a new business.

(08:49):
You know, go look at somebodyelse's business, go sit in that,
go look at that building,investigate, study, read a book,
do something that ignites thatpassion in you for whatever it
is that you want to do, andpursue it.
And don't wait, please don'twait.
I am starting when I'm supposedto.

(09:14):
But I can tell you I have hadthis in my heart for decades.
For so, so long, I have wantedto do art my entire life and I
think that that has just alwaysbeen my passion.
I've always tried to find a wayin my career to be creative, no
matter what I was doing.
If it was in marketing, if itwas in design, to me I was like

(09:38):
you know what?
I'm still a little bit creative, that I could use my creativity
a little bit.
And this week has been just, Ihaven't had any classes
scheduled.
I did have some that wereavailable and, of course, you
know very busy week for theplaza and stuff and you know
didn't have any signups.
Totally fine, people coming inand shopping and you know

(10:00):
crafting and just you know,talking and meeting with me and
they just are overwhelmed bywhat they see.
And you know hearing what Ilove to do and again, I can't
tell you how many times I gettold you're a lot, this is a lot
, this is, you know, wow, andI'm like I know and I don't care

(10:21):
, this is me.
And so I embrace that a lotnessas much as I can because it
gives somebody permission.
Okay, maybe you're not at thatlevel, but you can still pursue
what makes you happy and whatyou want to try and what

(10:43):
interests you and everybody thatcomes in.
They always want to have alittle bit of an excuse go.
Oh well, my grand or my kids,you know.
You know, they'll love thiswhen, secretly, they're just
like looking around going.
I've never tried this, I wouldlove to try this.
And then the admissions thatthey have done something
creative.

(11:03):
I've had a gentleman come intothe studio this week.
He was with his wife.
She was a fiber artist.
He crochets like amigurumis andhe was so excited to tell me
about them, trying to findpictures of them on his phone
and seeing some of like thepieces we had in the hand, knit
pieces that we had.
It was like I want to bring mypieces in.
He goes, I'm so proud of them.

(11:23):
I just, I just want to showthem off.
And you know, do you, do youbuy consignment, do you?
And I'm like no, I buywholesale.
So just, you know, hearing hisexcitement that someone was
accepting what he loved to dowas wonderful, and I was telling
him how many young boys wouldcome and buy the kits that we
would have to learn how to dothat, and it was just.

(11:44):
It's just so heartwarming andjust finding that space that
someone relates to what you dois I can see the joy in that and
so create that environment forothers.
Share what you love to do withothers.
I'm telling you, people need tohear that so they can connect.
People desperately want to havea space where they're heard and

(12:06):
seen and feel like they canjust, you know, pour out their
thoughts and their feelingsauthentically, and that is what
I am excited about creating andthat's what I love so, so much.
About what I do and what I amdoing and the possibilities that
lie ahead are some that I can'tsee.

(12:26):
I can't plan for them.
I don't know what's going tohappen.
I have no idea these memesgoing around with this butterfly
effect, whatever it is, waslike.
You know, she has no idea thatthis, this, this, this is going
to happen.
I feel like I should filmsomething right now because I
don't know what's going tohappen.
Good or bad, difficult or easy,big or small, I don't know.

(12:51):
And that's okay, because I'mhere for that journey.
This is what I've signed up for, this is what I want.
I want to be in it 100% andtake you all along with me and
not fear for it, but lookforward to it.
And so I just want to encourageyou to not worry about that plan

(13:15):
that you have written out, andif you're not following it to a
T, wherever, you have writtendown that you're ready to start
at that time.
If your heart is in it, nowstart.
The rest of it will catch up.
You'll figure it out.
You will figure it out.
I can't tell you that enough.
You're going to figure it out.
Just start.

(13:36):
Just.
You don't need my permission,but hear my words.
Just start, because there's nobetter time than today.
We are not promised anythingelse.
So if you're here today andyou're hearing that and you have
something on your heart to do,do it.
Don't be afraid.
If you're afraid, send me amessage, tell me what your fears

(13:59):
are.
I want to help you.
I am not a counselor, I do nothave a degree in that, but I am
an authentic human being withthe same hopes and dreams for
myself, and I will support youand be your biggest cheerleader.
So don't wait.

(14:19):
Start now and don't let thefact that this perfect plan
isn't in place doesn't have tobe.
Do it.
Oh, 17 more days.
I'm almost there.
Thanks for being part of thisjourney with me and listening to
my ups and downs and struggles.

(14:40):
I'm really excited about somethings happening coming up.
I can't wait to share aninterview coming up on YouTube
with a company and another onewith a beautiful pattern maker
coming up next week.
There's a lot happening nextweek, so, all right, I will talk
to you later.
Have a beautiful weekend, staybrutally made and hopefully it

(15:06):
stays summery around here inOhio because it has been cold.
Take care Bye-bye.