Have you ever read a headline like this: “An overnight success…”? Or something like this: “A surprising revelation!”? I’m sure you did. Let me tell you something: it’s all a bull. Overnight success doesn’t exist. People can perceive one as such, but under the surface, there are tears, sweat, and endless hours of work. So why you’re already late with building your art business?

Because the best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.

“I’m not ready”, “I’m not good enough”, “I’ll do it when I’m more prepared” – I hear these excuses aaaaall the time. And you know what? It’s another bull. Let me explain to you why, even if they may seem legitimate, none of these excuses makes sense and why none of them should ever stop you.

“I’m not ready”

Yes, you are. And you’ll get even more once you start taking action. Listen, as I said, success doesn’t come overnight – quite the opposite, it takes a long time. If you start when you feel you’re ready (btw, most probably you’ll never feel that way, more about why below), you’ll have to wait for a long time for your success. Instead, start asap. Now. Have you heard me? NOW! At the beginning you’ll be making small steps, one by one, and so will your career. Once you grow, you’ll start moving at hyper speed. Imagine a snowball rolling down the hill. Now you know what I mean. The more you move, the more comfortable you’ll become with changes and challenges that you’ll face.

Think about it this way: if you were about to succeed in, let’s say, 5 years. It seems like a lot of time. And if today you say: “I’m not ready, I’ll start tomorrow”? You’ll succeed in 5 years and 1 day. And if you keep repeating this excuse for 6 months? You’ll succeed in 5,5 years! And you know what? Within those 6 months, you won’t feel any more ready if you don’t take action. So stop making excuses and get to work!

“I’m not good enough”

First of all, people rarely say they are really good at something. Secondly, look at the point above success takes time. So if you start working on your career and business when you’re already a master at something, you’ll wait other x years to get noticed! You are good enough, you have skills and passion and there are people who need exactly what you want to give them. And you know what? There is no better way to learn than when you have to solve a problem to satisfy the client. It’s like learning at hyper speed, trust me. And if you’re scared you’re not good enough and somebody will notice? Well, do you know the saying “Fake it until you make it”? I’m sure you don’t have to fake in front of your clients, you really have got what it takes to earn from your art. But maybe you have to fake in front of yourself. Then do it and don’t let your inner fears stop you from sharing your talent with the world. Or do you prefer to keep stealing from your clients?

“I’m not prepared enough”

We learn all life long, so you’ll never feel really prepared. Another reason for this feeling of uncertainty is because to succeed and build the life and career of your dreams, you have to leave your comfort zone and enter the unknown waters. It will always make you feel insecure and your brain will search for ways to come back to the cozy comfort zone. You can’t let that happen! Remember: you’ll never feel ready to leave your comfort zone, but that’s how we grow – but facing challenges and sailing the unknown waters. There’s no success without it. Study, search for guidelines and solutions but don’t let the excuse of “studying” keep you from playing the game. Do both, at the same time. Figure out the solutions as the problems arise. Before you start your journey, you’re unable to predict all the dangers you’re going to face. So get ready for an adventure, get excited, and let’s go!

“I don’t know how to do it”

You don’t know or you don’t want to? I noticed it in my own behavior: sometimes I know what I should do, or at least the first few steps I should take and I simply sabotage myself. Let it be fear or anything else, we often limit ourselves without even knowing. The first step is always the most difficult. It may seem irrelevant and insignificant, but trust me, in the long run, it makes all the difference. Even a not perfect step, a clumsy one, may open some doors, lead to some opportunities that would never arise if you’d just standstill. So do something, whatever comes to your mind, trust your gut and you’ll see it brings effects.

As “I lack motivation because I don’t know how to start” is one of the things artists tell me most often, to help you I created a free audio training. It’s a roadmap of how to become a full-time artist, which steps to take, one by one, to make it. I created it so that you never lack motivation again, so that you always know what your next step should be and so that you can never, ever use the “I don’t know what to do” excuse again.

So why you’re already late with building your art business?

Because you haven’t started yet.

What are the other excuses that you keep repeating and that stop you from taking action and moving forward? Let me know in the comments. Let’s beat these beasts together!