More Than a Side Hustle

I recently asked myself the hard question. Is my business for real or is it just a side hustle? To help me answer myself I enrolled in the class Starting and growing my Business for Self Reliance. It is a sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and LDS business College.

We learned business skills, principles, and habits that would promote success in our endeavors. Some of these skills include:
1. assess goals weekly by charting commitments and checking in with an action partner
2. Keep a business journal of successes and challenges to evaluate progress.
3. Exercise faith and step outside your comfort zone.
4. Identify customers needs and meet them with unique awareness.
5. Get specific about income and expenses
6. Finding and keeping customers.
7. Improving myself and my business skills.

Not only were we learning but we were helping each other. Someone else's story sometimes sparked enthusiasm for our own ideas. The brainstorming was beneficial to all of us. I learned that personal and business progress is of continuing importance but we don't have to do it alone.
At the end of the course I was able to re-commit to being a stained glass teacher and builder. I can do this. I can and will be successful because there are systems in place, positive habits to form and dreams to bring to reality. It's a committed effort with responsibility that is worth the hard work if each day we are fired up about our dream. It was a fun perk to have a stained glass artist on the cover of the class manual. I'm sure the question will arise again some day but I will be ready. There is a love/hate relationship with art because it comes from within. As Earnest Hemingway said about writing, "You just lean over your typewriter and bleed. "

6 Impossible Things

Friday morning started with teaching a yoga class. Nothing new or difficult.
Then came the 6 impossible things.

I admit to being directionally challenged and my impossible feat #1 was driving to Salt Lake City..alone. Thank goodness for GPS. The stress continued however when I passed a serious accident on the freeway.
Once in town I had to find a parking place. I ended up in the wrong parking garage, but hey, I was parked!
The conference was great.

I found a friend from years ago and was able to learn her story and listen to some awesome speakers. Then to find the car. I wrote down the number and color but didn't realize I was in the wrong garage. Finally after figuring out my mistake, I got lost in the correct one. Fortunately an attendant in one of their official golf carts helped me find my car.
How many impossible things is that?
1. I can do hard things through stress.
2. I can maneuver in traffic to the "big city."
3. I can park and find my car afterward.

Next Day.. I had to hang 2 windows in an exhibit. I had trouble getting the chains even, opening the link with pliers, getting the windows straight. The loops kept falling,  requiring me to climb that ladder way too many times. I was sweating and caring less and less if they hung crooked. Finally it was "good enough" and I was on to my next challenge.
I had the opportunity to teach 23 art teachers from Utah about stained glass. 5 is easy, 10 is chaotic, 23 is impossible, or so I thought. It turned out to be great fun and I met some wonderful teachers.
So lets tally..

4. I can hang an art show
5. I can teach a class of 23 students to make stars.

So now, it's still the second day of the conference. The drive was uneventful and I found cheaper and closer parking. Amazing.

The second day of the conference was my favorite. I have been following Brendon Burchard for years on-line and I was going to hear him speak in person. He and the other speakers were motivating and encouraging. When I heard about the conference I thought it was impossible to attend for financial reasons. I applied for a scholarship on a whim and was accepted. My ticket was less expensive so I made the decision to go .

I was worried about being alone, but my friend Mandy was there and we had so much fun.

Let's see where are we?

6. I can find a way to pay for things I deem important


At every turn, I was astounded at how I was led and protected. Impossible things came to fruition and I became a little more confident.

Not everything was over at that moment. The next day I got so sick, I was miserable for two days. Why? Did I tax myself with the impossible? Did I just catch some bug that was floating around in a sea of people? It doesn't matter. It was worth it. I felt like Alice in the 2010 movie, "Alice In Wonderland" as she recounted her six impossible things:
1. A potion can make you shrink
2. A cake can make you grow
3. Animals can talk
4. Cats can disappear
5. There is a place called Wonderland
6. I can slay the Jabberwocky

I have found, like Alice, that as I do different things that seem impossible, I am willing to try again. I love Eleanor Roosevelt's quote, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do." Cheers to us who keep trying, sometimes fail and continue to preserve. May we slay our own Jabberwockys!