March Meet the Maker

A woman named Joanne Hawker hosts an instagram event every March called, "March Meet the Maker." 

From the March Meet the Maker website: "Introduce yourself and your brand to the world, let people in behind the scenes of how and where you work and show everyone the various different aspects of running a small creative business!"

Every March I've seen the posts, but I've never participated before. This month, I decided to take the leap.  There is a list of prompts to help you with what to post each day:

It's not too late to join in if any of you would like to play along.  :)

Today I thought I'd share my responses to the first 3 prompts.

The first prompt is "brand introduction."  So, hello! My name is Julie Fei-Fan Balzer and I'm an artist, creative coach, and product designer. My business, Balzer Designs, is dedicated to inspiring, enabling, and boosting your creativity.⁣ 

The art I make is loud, colorful, busy, and often incorporates faces, eyes, and plenty of pattern.⁣

The FREE creativity resources I offer include:

• my instagram account
• my weekly newsletter
• tutorial videos on my YouTube channel
• my podcast: "Adventures in Arting"
• my e-mail course "Stencil 101"
• and, of course, this daily blog.

The paid creativity resources I offer include:

• monthly membership
• online classes
• live online classes
• SVG cut files
• stencils through @tcwstencils
• stamps through @artfoamies
• personal coaching

I am the breadwinner for my family, so your patronage makes a big difference in our daily lives.

You can read the much longer story of who I am and where I've been HERE!

The second prompt is "style." If you look through my artwork you'll see lots of color, pattern, mark making, and bold choices. Instead of discussing that, I thought I'd focus on sharing a bit about my teaching style. (#whatjulietaught)

The photo above is one of the projects from a recent online class I taught.

I believe that, as a student, it's more important to be learning-style-compatible with your teacher than finished-product-compatible.⁣

Why?⁣

Copying someone's finished product is exhausting and often impossible. It leads to unrealistic expectations and a great deal of disappointment. Instead, it's always a goal of mine to help students find their own personal style using my techniques and ideas. This leads to independence, confidence, and more overall happiness.⁣

To be successful in growing your artistic skills, I believe that finding a teacher or coach who teaches in a way that you find useful is the single most important thing. I am not the right teacher/coach for everyone. No one is. The videos I create are short, focused, and to the point. I try to anticipate questions and offer alternatives. There are often some bad puns thrown in and I confess to singing occasionally. 😆 When I meet with my coaching clients, I give a lot homework. As a coach, I am always encouraging, but I'm also really honest about what's not working or could be better.⁣  I definitely take an intellectual approach to art making and want my students and clients to talk and think about what they're creating.  Not everyone is comfortable with that or finds it useful.  You have to find the right fit for YOU.

And finally, the third prompt is "beliefs & values." 

Balzer Designs was founded around the central belief that everyone is both creative and unique.⁣  To spark your creativity - AND your confidence in your creativity - I use encouragement, ideas, inspiration, tutorials, and modeling. As far as your unique qualities, I am always pushing students and coaching clients to embrace who they are. Dr Seuss really said it best, "Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”⁣

I really hope that every time you come across a post or a podcast or a video from me, you walk away feeling a pulse of creative energy flowing through you!

And now that you've read this post you know a lot more about my small business and how I can help you!

Let me know if you have any questions about my business.  I'd love to answer them (and learn what I'm not explaining well)!

Thanks for stopping by.