My earliest memories are of making things. I have always been somebody who loves making things and combining colors in interesting ways, and I just love the magic of making something out of nothing. That is really at the root of it all. It is a love of spending time being creative.

I did not know anything about anything when I started. I got a degree in oil painting, so my schooling was very traditional and not focused at all on how to be a working artist. Everything I have learned about how to make money, how to run a business, how to market myself, how to use the tools that have opened up new revenue streams for me, I have taught myself. My whole career has been one long learning curve.

And then from a different angle entirely, imposter syndrome has been a huge challenge. Doubting myself, comparing myself to other people, wishing I could do things the same way or as well. I think that is something a lot of women are particularly good at. The learning curve has been figuring out how to feel those things and move forward anyway, and not let them stop me.

Hiring an assistant. I hired one for the first time about a year and a half ago, and it has been really amazing to have somebody in the thick of it with me. It took some time to figure out how and where to best use her, but now that we have gotten to know each other better, she has been a huge help. And the way it happened is very on brand for how things seem to unfold for me. She actually emailed me out of the blue. Her job was ending and she reached out on a total shot in the dark to ask if I was looking for help. I had been thinking about it for a long time but was not quite ready to put out the call, and then there she was. It felt like a sign.

I feel most confident when money is rolling into my bank account on the regular, and least confident when it is not. My income is not regular. It comes in waves and chunks and weird timing, and even though I know that intellectually, the lulls are not always very fun. I navigate that partly by living well below my means, and partly because I have had a really wonderful financial planner for many years. Every time I talk to him, he reminds me that I am on track, that things are going well, and that my mind is doing that thing where it worries for no actual reason on paper. That reassurance matters more than I can say.

I max out every investment opportunity I can. I contribute to my Roth IRA and a Solo 401k every year, and that feels like a top priority. Beyond that, I try to be frugal. I invest in my business when it feels important to do so. I was in a business mastermind for a couple of years because I wanted to learn, and then I decided that was not where I needed to put money this year, so I stepped away. It is more intuitive than strategic, honestly. I look at things and think, there is always enough, and it seems to be growing. I trust that.