Conquering the Creative Work-Life Balance: Real-Life Examples (cont.) and an Announcement

Alright. So, according to our discussion in last week’s post, entitled Conquering the Creative Work-Life Balance: Real-Life Examples, we left off with the third piece of the “Big 3” pie. That piece would be our ability to benefit others with the things we do. And to avoid wearing your patience too thin (’cause I’ve got a lot for you to read), I’m going ahead and getting right to the heart of the matter.

Benefit Others

Here’s how this whole simplification process will work best in my particular situation. I shared with you (in the first component of the Big 3) the area I tend to thrive in — WRITING. Now, I didn’t say excel in. (I’m not going that far in my self-evaluation of my writing skills. I have much to learn and I’m no writing scholar by any means.) I simply do well enough in it to call it my “it” thing. I’ve found my cozy little nook of content creation in the written variety, and I don’t intend to leave its snug hold on me. Furthermore, the platforms I tend to spend most of my time in are ABSOLUTELY reflective of that written communication vibe I so enjoy.

Then, I also went on to explain that, in the area of enjoyability, writing tops everything on that list as well. But, reading is right up there with it. Reading has gone hand and hand with my writing experience since I was a youngster. I tend to recognize that reading has, hands-down, made me a better writer. And one of the reasons I enjoy writing is because I’d like to put out helpful and inspirational content for people to read.

So, wouldn’t it go without saying that maybe — just maybe — the very thing I do to benefit others should HAVE a writing and reading component to it? It may go without saying, but I’m going to come write out (pun intended) and say it anyway. YES! My “Benefit Others” component of the Big 3 includes reading and writing in spades.

BLOGGING . . . BOOK WRITING . . . creating and distributing a bimonthly NEWSLETTER for my email subscribers . . . creating READING and WRITING RESOURCES for the young learner as well as the adults in their lives . . .

Are you catching a theme here — a continuous thread that connects them all? Well, I just named a few of my favorite things to do and they all have reading and writing legs on them. Everything I do, content creation-wise at Degrees of Maternity, has somehow taken on a reading and writing emphasis. I can’t help myself. The whole phenomenon happened organically and somewhat seamlessly, namely because those areas are what I’m good at and enjoy doing (2 of the Big 3).

I’m not spinning my wheels trying to come up with the optimal way to best utilize my creative time. I’m going with what’s naturally in my wheelhouse to do and spinning that to serve in areas that can help benefit others — using those skills sets I’m good at and activities I enjoy to create some golden nuggets of usefulness.

I guess what I’m trying to say here is that simplifying what you focus on in your creative entrepreneurial journey can be done. Some people might call it “niching down” in some ways. You can look at it from that viewpoint; but focusing in on the stuff that’s going to propel you forward and maintain its longevity in your life takes on more of the Big 3 viewpoint in my opinion.

In fact, “niching down” in your creative endeavors could simply mean picking some area of focus out of thin air, or because it’s a hot topic/trend, or because someone else told you to hop on it or you see others prospering from that niche, and so on. But, the Big 3 encompasses more of a deliberate and strategic approach to the simplification process in creative entrepreneurship by honing in on what you’re good at, putting that with what you enjoy doing, and then figuring out how to package that to others who can utilize it.

Get where I’m coming from? Hope so, because I just realized I’ve been saying it over and over again in this post and I should probably stop being redundant and move on to something different.

Oh, and different it is.

I never would have thought I’d be in the business of creating educational resources for young readers and writers, but it just seemed to happen over time by me letting my creative flow naturally take place. And what prompted this new inclination of mine was my own family, specifically my children. Not only are they the inspiration for what I do on my Degrees of Maternity platforms, but they literally have their hand in everything I do.

As a mother, I’ve considered it a high privilege to be able to showcase the talents of my children in the creative entrepreneurial endeavors that I’ve pursued — from my son creating my Degrees of Maternity logo — to my daughter creating book covers and images for my resources and platforms — to my son creating images for my newsletters and resources — to all three of them giving me a wealth of living material that I can put in written form.

Let’s just say that with all of that going on, I couldn’t help but to do what I’m doing now. I simply took my ideas, laid out my written content with them, partnered that with my children’s artistic prowess, and started putting the final outcome from all of that onto the World Wide Web. (Oh, hubby’s in there too. He helps in the verbal inspiration, financial investment, and silent partner, “do your thing, honey” aspects.) So, Degrees of Maternity is a family business. That’s the only way I could do what I’m doing now. I have family who support and contribute to these creative ideas of mine and allow me the freedom to bring them into fruition.

So, remember to find your “tried-and-true” support network while you’re putting your Big 3 together. Their input could, quite possibly, be very essential to your creative process. It’s much easier to have some assistance instead of going the creative road alone. Plus, I can never downplay the importance of having dependable accountability partners who will keep you honest in your efforts and goals.

HINT. HINT. HINT.

Hey, guys. Keep me honest, okay? I have so much I want to accomplish; and honestly, you’re one of the main reasons I’ve been able to do half the things I’ve done. Seriously. I mean I look at my online relationship with you as being incredibly important and I don’t want to disappoint. It humbles me every time I see you visit, comment, like, share, follow, email, and interact in all the other ways you show you care. I mean I put stuff out there and you came. Makes a content creator feel all fuzzy inside.

And I’m really not a pushy person when it comes to the whole marketing my wares thing. Still makes me feel a little cringey to be honest. You can check out what I mean by that statement by going here and here. I say . . . you’ll latch on to whatever of my content appeals to you and that’s good enough for me.

And if it just so happens that you’re interested in reading and writing resources for children (and a few for adults too), I just wanted to make you aware of a little sale that’s currently going on at my Teachers Pay Teachers store today and tomorrow, February 8th and February 9th, ending at 11:59pm ET on February 9th. If you’re interested in looking into any of those reading and writing resources, there’s a sitewide sale happening. So, the Degrees of Maternity Teachers Pay Teachers Store, will have items available for up to 25% off with promo code FEBSALE22. Now would be the opportune time to check out what’s there; and if you see something you like, stock up while the getting’s good.

Was that too cringey for you? I really hope not. I try not to be promotionally obnoxious, because that’s just not my way. But realistically-speaking, marketing on some obvious level plays a vital role in the creative entrepreneurial experience. Any viable business has to promote, or it won’t be able to grow its wings and fly. And I want to fly, folks. Is that too much to ask? Hee. Hee.

Anyway, I just wanted to make sure and finish up with my real-life examples of what the Big 3 looks like. Now, your experience is going to be YOUR experience — unique to your own set of ideas, perspectives, goals, work ethic philosophies, and results. But, you can only get something out if you put something in. So, what do you intend to do to move yourself forward in your creative life? Are you going to try to do EVERYTHING not very well or try to hone in on a few of your favorite things and CRUSH it (in a good way) when it comes to your goals? You decide.

As for me and mine, we’ve decided to SIMPLIFY by honing in on a few of my favorite things. And the creative work-life balance journey continues . . .