Behind the scenes and how showing your vulnerability can be a good thing.

Behind the scenes, this is where I work when I'm not outside in my octagonal summer house. I haven't been here much this week though. I've been out painting and decorating to earn some extra money and having meetings with creative friends to thrash out my approach for the future.

All businesses have ups and downs and last week I realised that financially I was in a downward spiral. I found myself posting on Facebook to friends about how I was feeling and had some wonderful support, a few offers of work locally, a sprinkling of orders from inkpaintpaper and even a donation! I am so grateful. Of course, there are people who don't comment and possibly find that sort of blatant honesty uncomfortable but I didn't look to see if I had any unfollows.

Doing something about my situation has made me feel so much better. I think many businesses live in a state of being permanently overdrawn to operate and most of the time I can cope with this.. but when sales from your main outlet are down 33% since the beginning of the year and you're trying to get a new project off the ground knowing there is no money coming in to even take care of the bills it gets scary!

As creatives, I think it's important to embrace life's challenges which inevitably means looking for ways to do things differently. There is no harm in taking a step back, prioritising and asking for help. It's great to have other perspectives and practical help. If you ever go through this know that you are not alone and you never were!