You've seen Christie on the blog before, but today she's talking about the business she launched this year! I've loved watching her business grow!
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS : The ability to set my own hours and work from my home. The past year I've struggled with my health and for a while I wasn't sure when I would have good days or bad days. Now that I own my own business I can be more strategic about allowing myself time to rest & refuel, as well as work my butt off when I'm feeling amazing. My doctors warned me about stress before I launched but honestly having that ability has relieved about 99% of the stresses I felt while working a day job.FAVORITE CANDY/TREAT : Anything with chocolate and peanut butter...if I feel like being really bad I'll go straight for the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. If I'm "trying to be good" I have low fat / sugar free chocolate pudding with a spoonful of peanut butter....mmmm.
WHAT'S A RECENT FAVORITE FIND : I'm a HUGE music fan (I actually was a voice / piano major in college for a few semesters). I'm constantly searching for new music. While I've known about these two artists for a while they just released new albums and I alternate playing them on repeat while I work: Ingrid Michaelson's Lights Out album, and Manchester Orchestra's COPE. I can't even explain how much my little heart loves them.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH CALLIGRAPHY : My mom is an amazing artist - a jill of all trades. She dabbled in various art forms (basket weaving, textile design, painting, and taught art classes). While in college she studied calligraphy. She made creativity part of our daily life. By the time I was in high school I was enthralled in art - graphic design, fashion design, drawing and painting. I loved all those aspects but never really felt like I hit my sweet spot. I bounced back and forth trying to decide "what I should be when I grew up" - taking journalism courses, declaring myself as a music major - all because I felt like "art" wouldn't cut it.About a year after getting married I had filled a notebook of ideas that I had while I was trying to fall asleep (thus bedsidesign was born). For a year and a half I tested out all the various ideas that I had through the platform of a blog. In March of 2013 I finally had enough confidence to try the thing that I always wanted to learn - calligraphy.I signed up for Melissa Esplin's I Still Love Calligraphy online course. After four weeks I was hooked. Six weeks after starting I was approached to calligraph place cards for a local wedding - and as I handed them off to the bride she cried (GOOD tears), and something happened. I wanted to repeat this experience and feeling over and over. WHY DO YOU BLOG : I blog now to continue to share my journey and to inspire others. The path I took wasn't linear. I love being able to connect with others - wherever they are in their own journey to encourage them to keep on searching, and creating the life that they want to live.
ANY ADVICE FOR FELLOW ENTREPRENEURS : Make sure that you carve out time to live your life. Just because you LOVE what you do doesn't mean it has to engulf everything about who you are. Disconnect. Travel. Spend time with your loved ones. You run your business, don't let it run you.
WHO'S A FELLOW ENTREPRENEUR YOU'RE CRUSHING ON RIGHT NOW : My girl Marissa Harrington from
Bourbon and Goose. She has killer style, works with her man Sam - they just opened up a photo studio in Downtown LA - and they are creating community through their LA meet-ups like #happyhourclub and Beer Me Exchange.
BTW - If you didn't see yesterday's post, Christie is offering a calligraphy workshop in Syraucse, NY next month! Be sure to check it out, only a couple spots left!
