Confidence and Openness

“Now to Him who is able to do immeasureably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”.

Thinking of my business this year I have learned many lessons. As the verse above says, God is able to do immeasureably more than even we are able to ask for or imagine in our heads. This describes me and the at once, very small, miniscule idea I had of writing pretty words. One of the first jobs I had was in the year 2016 when I was just learning brush calligraphy. I had someone randomly call me and ask to do calligraphy on her wedding envelopes. She asked if I did pointed pen and I said no I just write with the pen on my table. She still ended up hiring me. I still had that small idea in my head that that was all I’d be able to write with. The idea of pointed pen kept popping in my head over the next year and I eventually taught myself (after 9 long months) how to perfect the pointed pen. I was then asked by Skilpop and other local organizations to be the new pointed pen teacher for Greenville. You see I limited myself and my abilities to myself and not to what God could do. God can do immeasureably more than you can even fathom. I used to think in my head- now how do these calligraphy people move that crazy looking pen with that pointy thing across paper and now I do that for a living. Staying open in business has led to more success for me. At first, for the first two years of my writing venture I was a little closed and anyone who had my work in front of them would see that I played it safe with my calligraphy- no flourishing, very safe writing, only black ink. In the past two years I decided to become more daring- I now mix my own inks- any color combination, I started mastering copperplate, taking on larger jobs, figuring out how to letter on unique surfaces- mirrors, agates, acrylic, etc. My advice for people just starting out is— Don’t limit yourself, don’t close yourself off. Staying open to new clients, new experiences, new challenges in crucial if you want to grow.