‍1// I adore @bebhinn_eilish's Matisse inspired cut outs. Check out the reel of her creating these!

‍2//Some food for thought that resonated with me recently 👀 by @wordsarevibrations

‍‍3// OMFG this BLEW MY MIND!! Flower printing on leather by @somethingcurated 😨

‍4// Completely obsessed with this @paolaandjoy wavy lamp and I need one immediately.

‍5// I adore these cute colourful, cloud bags by @olend_backpacks‍

‍6// This reel of @ianbstudio painting gummy lollies is sooooo fascinating 🥺

Although my upcoming Bali trip has been a dream that I’ve been manifesting since late last year, there was a period of time earlier this year where I wasn’t sure if it would happen. 

As freelancers and creative biz owners, we’re usually warned that work REALLY quietens down from December - Feb/March. Although I know this, it still shocks me. every. time. LOL.

But this year, that quiet period went on a little longer than I felt comfy with. I didn’t receive ONE new enquiry until April. Not one DM, one lead form enquiry or one email for new clients.

Although no new project leads were coming in, I was still lucky to have a couple of projects from last year that carried over to keep me going. But I was in constant mode of “ok this is going to end soon.. and then what”.

I got to that point I think we all come to at one time or another as freelancers, where I was like “shit, once this project is over I’m gonna have to go back to a 9-5 and get a real job 😂”. I’ll be honest, I did genuinely entertain this for a moment, but I realised I hadn’t come this far to throw the towel in now. So instead I made a few changes.

The first thing I did was pull myself out of the scarcity mindset. I’m a big believer in the energy you put out is the energy you will attract. So I had to switch my mindset from *freak out mode* to *acceptance mode*. It’s such a cliche, but the ebbs and flows (and moments of insecurity) are part of what comes with other freedoms of being a freelancer/small biz owner.

The second thing I did was ensure I was giving myself time, space and energy to fill up my cup outside of work. Genuine refill time. Often when we go into stress mode, these are the first things that slip, but I really made sure my wellbeing was literally my top priority. Even if I didn’t feel like it, and especially on the days where I felt like I was fading, that’s when I knew I needed movement most. I also started working with a naturopath and made sure I ate 3 really amazing nourishing meals a day. I saw these changes transform my energy and motivation levels. 

The last thing I did was actually carve out the time to focus on working ON my biz not just in it. I allocate Wednesdays as my “biz day” in my calendar. But I don’t think I actually took a biz day until March. I started putting energy back into socials, updating my website with new projects and some IRL creative networking events helped me a lot too. The down time was a great opportunity to get to some of these things that had fallen down my priority list.

There’s a number of factors that contributed to my quiet period of leads, but in my experience things always have a funny way of working out. Obviously there’s a lot of hard work that goes into running your own show. But I am a big believer that if you genuinely believe in what you are offering, and bring value to your clients (often the way you make them feel is more important than what you actually deliver), things always have a funny way of working out.

That’s probably a bit woo-woo for some people, and proper “business” people would say that’s terrible advice. But I always believe that we need to let go and just trust.

In case you missed some of my most recent projects, I’ve linked them below:

Piper & Posie - whimsical floral designs 🌸

The Joy Make Club - NZ’s fun & funky knit kits for newbies 🧶

This is Your Body - simple & joyful nutrition for teens 🥑

inro - a rent-before-you-buy secondhand fashion subscription 👚 (I haven’t officially shared this project yet, but take a sneak peek)

There’s some really exciting other projects that are in the works for Q3. I’m now booking for late August/early September & beyond which is absolutely wild! If you're looking to launch a new biz (or know someone else who is) later in the year, get in touch!