Top 7 Mistakes

The other day I was reflecting and thinking about my journey in fashion, and about my journey here in Fashion Step-by-Step. I was thinking about all the mistakes I made and the obstacles I overcame. And I couldn’t stop thinking ‘this could’ve taken me less time to achieve‘, and ‘oh gosh! If I knew this, everything would’ve been easier‘.

I know I can’t get back on time (yet 😛 ), but how would it be for you, if you could avoid all the mistakes I made?

How would it be if your journey could be as easy and smooth as possible?

How would you feel if someone could tell you the things you must try, the things you must avoid, and the things I wish someone would tell me?

I know for me, it would’ve been AMAZING! So, today I want to share with you the top 7 mistakes we tend to make on our way to becoming fashion artists (fashion designers, fashion illustrators, and textile pattern designers) and business owners.

And without further ado, here are the 7 mistakes 🙂

1 | You don’t TRUST yourself

This mistake is BIG, and I believe it’s the most important and the first you should tackle. Because, if you don’t feel confident (if you don’t trust yourself, your skills, and that you can become what you want to be), you’ll sabotage yourself.

When you lack confidence, you’ll let the time pass you by, you won’t practice, and you won’t improve, you’ll turn down opportunities, or you won’t even see them.

It’s easy to identify if you’re making this mistake, your mind keeps thinking things like these:

• Maybe I’m not good enough
• I don’t like this thing I did
• Other people do it way better than me
• What if I’m not talented?
• What if I can’t?
• I’m not super creative

Needless to say, those thoughts are harmful, and they won’t take you anywhere but to a hopeless place.

How do you get rid of it? How do you gain confidence in your work and trust in yourself?

It’s actually pretty easy!

1. Learn and practice. There are tons of things you can learn in fashion. The more you learn, the better. And, the more you practice, it’s way better.
2. Create new things, new designs, new collections, new garments, new illustrations. Whatever you want to create, make it!
3. When you sit down to work, do it with an open mind and an open heart, knowing that you’re doing your best with the knowledge and practice you have. Let the criticism and comparison behind the door – this makes magic, I promise.
4. Embrace your work, love it because you made it, and acknowledge that your talents + skills have no limits.
5. If something doesn’t feel right (or doesn’t look good), know that you can change it and improve it. Know that every time you learn something new, and every time you practice + create you’re growing – and your talents and skills are growing with you.

The only way to gain confidence is allowing it into your life, and you can allow yourself to feel it by following the simple steps above 😉

2 | You have so MANY EXCUSES

How many times have you said (at least one of this)…

• … I’m too young
• … I’m too old
• … I don’t have money
• … I don’t have time
• … I can’t
• … I’m not in a very creative place right now
• … my job is consuming my creativity
• … I’ll be able to do it once I get rid of this dreading job
• … I don’t know how to do it
• … I didn’t go to college
• … my career is totally different than fashion, I won’t make it
• … it’s not that easy

I can go on and on; I’ve heard all the excuses in the world on why it’s not possible to become a fashion artist and business owner. Heck, I’ve even said some of those. But, they’ll keep true as long as you give them the power.

I know that’s true, and I know you’ll say ‘but Karen, it’s not that easy!‘.

Well, I understand some things aren’t completely under your control, but other are easier to change. For example, after I started freelancing I wanted (so bad) to start creating fashion illustrations as part of a personal project, many years passed while I was repeating myself ‘I don’t have time’, ‘well, maybe after this project’, ‘uhmmm I wish it could be easier, but not this month’. Seven years went by! Seven! I can’t even believe it myself. But it was until I realize I was watching too much Netflix after having a “hard day”, that I could prioritize my time, and suddenly I have more time than ever before – and I do quite more things than ever before!

Many of the excuses will only require a soft shift in your mindset, while other will need a big change in your routine. But know that you can beat them, know that you can make your dreams + goals happen. Don’t let those crappy excuses keep you from living the life you crave for – the life you’re meant to have.

3 | You EXPECT things to change all of a sudden

This mistake goes hand in hand with the previous one. It’s easy to fall into the routine of making excuses, and it’s way easier to fall into the trap of expecting that things will change all of a sudden – without doing anything to change it.

We tend to repeat ourselves the same boring + useless excuses, and say ‘but one of these days, this will change.’

Well, that’s not true, and you know it. You know that nothing will happen until you make it happen.

So, stop expecting that like Cinderella all your life will change and become better just because of the charming prince. Stop expecting magical results without input from your part.

Do I believe in magic + miracles + great things? Yes, I do! But, I don’t believe dreaming is enough. I believe you have to go for what you want. I believe you have to do what it takes. And I believe that what you give, you receive – the effort you put in is equal to the results you get.

Now do things differently, ditch those excuses, and start moving towards your goal. All the small steps count and all of them add up 😉

4 | Rely on other people’s BAD OPINIONS

Have this happened to you…?

You’re utterly excited about your new choice; you want to become a fashion artist, and you want to build your own business. Then you go and tell everyone about this new adventure; you’re excited, and you want to let the world know about it. But, someone you told your big news is having a bad day (or has a different mindset than yours, or simply don’t believe is a good idea), she/he shares why you shouldn’t do it, why you’re not prepared, or whatever. That opinion hurts you; you were so happy about your choice, and now you’re so doubtful. And then, you do the worst you could do: you stop thinking about it, you stop doing anything about it, and you pause your dream.

This is the saddest thing I’ve ever heard about a dream, and I’ve heard it a lot.

I understand our need of receiving people’s approval to our dreams + goals; this need is even bigger if the approval we seek is from our family. But, no one knows you better than yourself, no one will ever know what’s the best for you (only yourself), and no one can ever tell you what you should do.

You’re here to experience life the way you want. You’re here to be happy, and choosing a career path is part of life, and it’s part of being happy.

So, choose what makes you happy. Rely on your own opinions. Listen to what you want.

5 | You do RANDOM THINGS randomly

I said before that every single thing adds up, and every single thing will take you closer. That’s right. But, doing random things (reading a post + watching a video) will not do anything for you, if you don’t apply what you learn from them. And doing those things without a plan will take you longer to get where you want to be than doing things intentionally + purposefully.

On my FREE email course Become a Profitable Fashion Illustrator, I share with you the step-by-step of all the things you got to do before launching your business; it is a time saver, and also a stress reliever.

You don’t need to do random things randomly because when you sign up to the free email course, I will guide you and help you along the way, making your journey towards your dream more fun + easier + faster 😉

6 | You don’t INVEST in yourself and your goal

Yes, this is a huge mistake. You can invest in yourself and your goal with time + effort + money. When you don’t have a lot of one of them, you can put more of the other. But you always must invest, or you won’t get any return.

We’re now living in a culture of free + I don’t have the time.

But, to really explore + experiment + realize how great you’re at designing and illustrating you must invest your precious time to practice + evaluate + improve your skills. You must invest your effort to do your best every time you create something new. And you must invest money to acquire the tools + materials + knowledge you need to create and become what you want.

When you don’t invest any of these three factors, you miss out. You delay your progress and growth. And, you deny yourself the opportunities to come.

When I started learning fashion, the time and monetary resources were somewhat limited, but every single penny I earned was to learn something new + buy new materials to try with. And every single free minute I had was to practice what I was learning.

Once I got my first gig as a freelance fashion designer, all my earnings were to improve my skills, learn new stuff, and build my business. As I mentioned earlier, at this point my time was “limited”, but I never stopped investing in myself and my goal, whether it was with time, effort, or money.

When you add those factors, when you invest in your dream with them, something changes inside your head. You don’t want your time, effort or money go to waste, so you do absolutely everything you can to get the results you want. It’s different than downloading a free ebook, and forgetting about it. It’s different than having someone else doing the work for you. Has this happened to you?

Now pick how you want to invest in yourself and your dream today and this week. Remember, it can be with time, effort, or money. Once you know how you want to invest and what will you do, just do it 😉

7 | You don’t SHOW UP

Finally, this is another big mistake I see most people doing. And it’s as harmful as the others.

Don’t showing up and don’t sharing your work prevents people from knowing you and what you do. Prevents people to like your work, and hire or buy from you.

Sometimes is confidence what keeps you from showing up. Sometimes are excuses. And sometimes is someone else’s opinion.

But, if you want to do what you love and get paid for that, you have to let the world know about you and your work. Take baby steps, show your work to a loving family member or a kind friend. When you feel more secure, you can post on your FB profile or open an Instagram account.

There’s beauty in sharing your progress, and there’s beauty in feeling good about it. Besides, while you create + grow + improve, you might be discovered! – Or connected to someone, you never know 😉

Now you know what you MUST AVOID. If you don’t know where to start, pick one mistake and do your best to eliminate it off your day-to-day.

Once that mistake is completely out of your life, take another mistake and ditch it.

You can do this!

With LOVE!

P.S: Are you an aspiring fashion illustrator? Have you ever struggled with ‘how the heck will I do what I love for a living?!’

Become a Profitable Fashion Illustrator is your step-by-step quick start guide to making money doing what you love.

You’ll get to know what you need to do, and what you need to get rid of, if you really want to become profitable + be successful + feel fulfilled as a fashion illustrator.

Join me clicking the button below.