4 Things you must do to conquer your fear of changing career

I know you are familiar with the thoughts that arise when you lie awake at night, feeling unhappy with your current situation. You want to make a change, but you feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.

So, what is stopping you from making your art into a business?  FEAR of the unknown. I get it because I felt all that anxiety before I stepped outside of my comfort zone and did something about my desire, which was to be a full-time artist.

In this blog, I will share with you 4 things you must do to conquer your fear of changing careers. But before I do that let me give you a little story about how I did it because it will help you see the possibility.
 
Here’s a quick flashback about my life in my mid-twenties: My husband got into a car accident and was incapacitated for a few years, so the financial burden was on my shoulders for a very long time. At that time, I managed a high-end restaurant for a tyrant. I hated my job, so after four years of consistent stress, and my husband, Paul, recuperated, I took the opportunity to quit. I then got offered a management position at the Sutton Place Hotel, but I did the opposite.

Instead, my husband, Paul, and I packed our bags and moved to the Cayman Islands for a more manageable lifestyle. And I got a job waiting tables. Well, that was stressless, alright, but it bored me to death. I became dissatisfied and miserable about my existence in paradise.
 
My Aha Moment
​So, I spent every possible hour making art because it brought me joy. Every moment in my studio, I was in the zone. I felt destined to make art into my business. I reconnected with the healing power of art, and it brought me solace when I felt destined to make a change. And that is how I started side hustling with my art.

My Fear
Before I began selling my artwork, I felt scared to share it. Being a self-taught artist, I believed I needed to be more skilled and talented. So, I kept painting in my apartment and never showed my work to anyone. However, I eventually realized that I needed to find a way out of the restaurant industry, and simply settling for any job was not the solution. That's when I decided to pursue my art and turn it into a business.

And, of course, I didn’t know where to start; I knew nothing about marketing and selling. I was so green, I didn’t even know what to paint, my portfolio was incohesive, and I had no strategy. I felt excited about the journey, but I was also scared if I could pull it off. 

NOW
Now, 20 years later, as an artist and gallerist, I am so glad I took the courage to venture into artist entrepreneurship. Because since then, I never had to count on someone to give me a paycheck or worry about if I was going to get laid off. Or worse yet, I woke up miserable every morning because I didn’t want to go to work.

I got to be my boss and make my schedule. If I were sick, I didn’t have to call in sick; I just had to take my sick days. And most of all, I got to wake up every day happy to head into my studio, switch on some music, and make art. I also got to travel whenever, and for however long I desired. 

But all that would not have been possible if I had let fear paralyze me from going forward. 

Courage comes first, confidence comes later 
It wasn’t confidence that made me take that first step because I was clueless then; it was courage. I had no plan, no strategy, just a desire and sheer faith in myself.

I understand what it is like to feel overwhelmed because you don’t know where to start or how to fit it all in. The stress and anxiousness can be demoralizing and paralyzing. 

Most fears dissipates when you have the know-how
The thing is, most of the things you worried about, such as creating a sellable collection, pricing, defining your target audience, marketing, and selling, are learnable. You can learn all of these by enrolling in my course or by just going through trials and errors. 

When I started my business, there were no art business coaches, so I went the longer route; the trials and errors. And by operating my business daily, I learned how to sell art and created a formula that works.

But believe me, it was scary when I did my first art show or opened the doors to my first, second, third, or fourth gallery. I was nervous, but that didn’t stop me because, at the end of the day, I was living the life that I wanted.

The power of Courage
The question is do you want to transform your love of making art into a career? Do you want it so badly that you are ready to pursue it with courage? 

It is about conquering all your fears because what you desire in life is much bigger than those discomforts. You want it bad enough that you know if you put in the effort, you will get there. 

I am telling you this because I want you to know you are not alone. I see you; I know your fear, but I also know you are unhappy with your situation right now, and you need to make a decision.

The good thing is you don’t have to give up the security of your work yet; you just need to put a foot forward. 

Do what I did, start a side hustle, and work towards your dream. And when you feel ready, you can say goodbye to your soulless job and say hello to your dream business!  

But if you are waiting “to be ready” to take action, you will never get there because that moment will never arrive because it is too easy to live life on auto-pilot. It’s a fact that most people would rather stay unhappy than trust themselves to begin a journey of fulfillment.

That is why you need a little courage on your side, going forward despite fears. It’s like the Nike slogan, “Just do it!”; simple but powerful.

I am so glad that I didn’t take that cooperate hotel job and become a food and beverage manager, I share my story with you because these are decisions that shaped my life and made a difference in my self-awareness all because I braved the change. 

If you want to pursue your dream in life, then let me help you to get there.
​Here are four things I want you to do. 

• Be clear about your dream and why you want it.   
• The next step I want you to do is stop watching what other artists are doing on Instagram or YouTube because rabbit hole research can make you confused and small. Instead read about old masters, not to copy them but to understand how they saw things and understand the fundamentals of great art. 
• Find one coach you want to learn from, and enroll in a training to speed up your growth.
• Start making plans now; start small, by scheduling a consistent daily effort. 

Today, I want you to know that your dream is achievable. I want you to feel the possibility of having your own creative business and what it means to be in control of your freedom. It is powerful to have a talent that gives you the ability to make money as long as you want. Remember, you are the one in the driver’s seat, and you are in charge of your happiness. 

I also want to be your go-to person when you need help building your art business. Please start thinking about what life is like when you could say goodbye to your soulless job, the one that denied you vacation time, made you feel guilty when you called in sick, or the one that micro-managed you and drained your confidence away. Or, in my case, it’s all of the above. And that was part of my Why for entrepreneurship. And you know what? I may work harder but I also have more freedom! 

I just want to show you that you have a choice so don't stay on auto-pilot.

With Joy,
Ting