Creative Crush // Squirrelly Minds
I'm so excited to have Tan here from Squirrelly Minds. I jumped up and down when I saw that Tan was on the panel talking about How to Grow a Small Blog at Alt Summit. Little did I know, Tan was balancing this while working as an elementary school teacher! Talk about an inspiration!
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT RUNNING YOUR BUSINESS : The flexibility is a huge draw. I like being able to set up my own schedule and do things I feel are important at that moment. At the same time I'm also a teacher, so my life is usually ruled by bells and routine. Whenever I have a blog/print shop day I always have to write up my schedule down to the minute before I get started.FAVORITE CANDY/TREAT :Gimme chocolate and I'm a happy girl. I used to work in a chocolate shop for years that made high quality chocolate. For a long while I would turn my nose up at any chocolate sold anywhere other than at a chocolatier shop, and certain ones at that. I still have a bit of that chocolate snobbery, but now I'll take just about any chocolate I can get, especially if peanut butter is involved.WHAT'S A RECENT FAVORITE FIND : Over Canadian Thanksgiving weekend I picked up A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout. Over the long weekend I completely devoured the book. While very difficult to read at parts, it was a beautiful story of inner strength and one that will stay with me for a long time.TELL US HOW YOU GOT STARTED WITH STATIONERY :I've had a love affair with stationery since the good 'ol Sanrio days. I still have the very first stationery set I was given as a kid along with packages of stationery I brought back from Japan. I always knew I wanted to do something creative in work, and while I adore blogging, I wanted to hold something. Once I started painting gems I knew stationery was what I wanted to do with them.WHY DO YOU BLOG :I started blogging over 10 years ago just for fun and it got very addicting very fast. The first thing that drew me into it so quickly were the connections I made with people from all over the world, and that is still what I love so much about blogging today. I find it energizing to express myself, create things and share them with others who might find it useful, and chat with people who share similar interests.
ANY ADVICE FOR FELLOW ENTREPRENEURS : Oh gosh I have a hard time associating myself with entrepreneurs, so instead, for anyone hoping to work on/complete a big project, here's some insight on something I struggled with - do what's right for you, not what's right for anyone else. I received a fair bit of shocked reactions when I told people I was cutting back my teaching hours to pursue other passions. Those people couldn't understand why I would leave a steady job and steady paycheque with benefits, but I knew it was the right thing for me to do. Same goes for you. There may be times when people will try to dissuade you from doing something only because they don't understand it. Sure, listen to what they have to say for they may have valuable points, but at the end of the day you need to listen to yourself and do what's right for you in this moment. Think to yourself "If I follow their advice rather than my feelings, how will I feel about this decision in 5, 10, 15 years?".WHO'S A FELLOW ENTREPRENEUR YOU'RE CRUSHING ON RIGHT NOW : It's hard to pick just one, but I'm really loving Monsters Circus lately. Her DIY's are so fresh and modern with a scandinavian twist.
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