Featured Solopreneur Melissa Dinwiddie: “Start. Just Start.”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of solopreneur:
Melissa Dinwiddie

Name of business and city:
I live in Mountain View, California (in the heart of Silicon Valley), and work out of my home.

Web site address:
melissadinwiddie.com
thrivingartistsproject.com
365daysofgenius.com
ketubahworks.com

Type of business:
The answer to this seemingly simple question is, in my case, rather complicated.

As a Multi-Passionate Creative ARTrepreneur & Creativity Enabler, my business is multi-faceted. I make most of my income from my visual art (more on that below), but in 2010 I expanded to include several new offerings.

Here are some of the various enterprises I’m working on right now:

One of my latest “babies” is the Thriving Artists Project (tTAP), an online course for anyone interested in making a living from their creative thing. I’ve made my living from my art for close to a decade, but one of the things that kept me from being as successful as I might have been was the belief that you can’t make a good living as an artist, doing what you love.

It’s a prevalent idea, but not actually true—plenty of people are out there, proving otherwise! This course is my contribution toward deprogramming the “starving artist” mindset, and helping all artists and creatives to thrive. It includes interviews with successful artists and creatives of all stripes, already making a living from their creative thing; lessons (in marketing, business, “deprogramming,” and more); worksheets; an active member forum; monthly live Q&As; and more.

When the course first launched, I opened the doors for just 72 hours to bring in an initial group of ground-floor members. I’ve been developing content according to their specific requests, and will be relaunching (for another 72 hours only) on February 8. After that I’ll close the doors for a few more months to further develop content, and will open again later this year.

I love helping people thrive, and around the time of the Thriving Artists Project intial launch I started offering one-on-one creativity coaching and technology consulting. I specialize in working with creatives, helping them blow past their blocks and master the tools they need to charge ahead. With the relaunch of the Thriving Artists Project I’m now about to offer group coaching “mastermind” classes as well.

My other recent “baby” is 365 Days of Genius, a Web site about creativity and the way the mind works that I just launched on January 1 with my partner, Heather Claus. It’s part of a network of 365 Days of… sites, and although it’s not a money maker yet, the goal is to grow it into one.

Although I’m most focused on growing my online offerings, at the moment I still make most of my income from my artwork. Since 1996 I’ve created calligraphic fine art and design for private and corporate clients. One of my specialties has always been ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts).

I used to create these fine art wedding documents and other artworks strictly by hand on a commission basis, but in 2001 I came out with my first fine art print. Now I have a line of about two dozen prints (and growing). Couples choose a design, and select the wording they want, or compose their own wording, and I print each piece to order in my home studio.

In 2005 I was the first ketubah artist to offer a line of matching invitations and stationery, and last year I added matching silk huppah canopies. I sell a fair amount of other lifecycle-related art and design as well, mostly for babies and bar/bat mitzvah, and I still create custom art and design on a commission basis (time permitting!)

In addition to the online stuff and art/design, I also do a variety of other things, including teaching calligraphy, teaching voice, trope tutoring for bar/bat mitzvah, and performing as a singer/songwriter/”Uke Diva.” You can see the full range of my offerings on my Web site and blog, Living A Creative Life.

When did you officially go into business?
I started my calligraphy and design business in 1996. The blog and online offerings are new as of 2010.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
The biggest mistake I made is borrowing money to pay for marketing. Every time I’ve spent money on marketing I’ve done so believing it would pay off, and many times I’ve been wrong. I have a lot of debt to pay off now because of these bad decisions!

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are doing to try to solve it?
My biggest challenge is cash flow. Although I expect the online businesses to grow into my primary income source over time, the wedding art business is still my bread and butter. It’s a great little business, but the problem is it’s very seasonal! November, December, January are typically very slow, and when things are tight it’s hard to set aside enough money to plan for that.

Right now I’m working hard to create ongoing sources of income—from consulting, from teaching, from group coaching classes, and also from a monthly membership model for the Thriving Artists Project. It’s a new model, so it will be interesting to see how it works!

My other ongoing problem is simply having too much to do, and not enough time to do it in! As I shift my focus from a “time-for-money” model into a “creating and selling digital assets” model, I’m hopeful that I won’t have to run so fast all the time.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
This year I’d like to get the Thriving Artists Project and 365 Days of Genius to a place where they’re chugging along without enormous ongoing effort on my part. I’d like to have systems in place where I’m generating new content on a regular schedule, and working with VAs to handle the data entry and other low-level tasks, so I can focus my energies in the areas where I’m uniquely qualified.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
In five years I’d love to have a loyal community of 500+ paid subscribers, and a readership/fan base of many times that. I’d like to be creating new content that excites me (including getting back to making visual art) and makes a positive difference for my customers. I’d like to have a true business that I can leave for a month or two at a time, knowing it will run just fine without me, as opposed to a job that requires my presence to make anything happen!

I’d also love to have a published book, and to be speaking and teaching workshops around the world.

Most of all, I’d like to be spending the vast majority of my time doing the things I’m most passionate about—creating content, creating art, creating music, creating connections, making a difference. AND I’d like to have plenty of “chill time” to boot!

What are your main software programs?
I’m in WordPress and Joomla every day, plus InDesign and Photoshop almost as often. I do my accounting in AccountEdge, use GarageBand to edit my audio interviews for tTAP, iMovie to create video lessons and blogs, and have just started using Camtasia for screen capture videos. Since I shift back and forth between a Mac and a PC, I’m getting to love Google Docs for spreadsheets and word processing. (Plus I’m on TweetDeck and Mac Mail throughout the day. :))

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Start. Just start. Take one step toward your goal, now.

Don’t let your fear that it’s not perfect get in your way. Better to get something out there and tweak it, than labor over it forever and never ship!

Most of all, follow your passions, but be prepared to work hard! It won’t feel so much like work if you’re doing what you love, but you do have to put the effort in.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
Honestly, I am not suited to being an employee! I haven’t had a “real job” for over 20 years and I don’t think I could go back. I love working at home, setting my own hours, creating what I want to create. So yes, I love being a solopreneur, and I’m excited to see how my business evolves!