Why An Art?

I wasn't sure what to expect of this class.  I never imagined myself in "business", it's never been a concept that appeals to me.  I love creative things, and also when I think "business" I automatically go to "corporate", which I equate with "soulless".  I decided to add a business cluster to my major in Web Design and Development almost as an afterthought, really I think it was a subtle nudge of inspiration from on high.  My plan is to work from home, independently, so it occurred to me that even on a small scale, that's "business".  So here I am.  I'm eager to learn, because I really do want to make a success of my business.  After carefully reading and watching the assigned material this week, and even taking notes, I've been both reassured that there is a place for me in business, and a little put off.  The talks by Elder Bednar and President Hinckley were, of course, excellent and inspiring.  The rest of it was inspiring, but after a point feels a little empty, like a lot of hot air blowing and not much substance.  I'm not really into the cheerleading tone and the pithy motivational slogans.  One thing I did figure out, though, is that entrepreneurship is more art than anything else.  Yes, there are rules, but all forms of art have rules, or the form would cease to exist.  So there are rules to follow, or be guided by, but rule following alone doesn't guarantee success.  Nothing guarantees success, there's always an element of luck, and creativity is definitely required.  I look forward to figuring out my entrepreneurship style.  Maybe some day I can write articles on how to succeed as an entrepreneur that are entirely pithy slogan free.

In other news, I got to work on a project this week that I really enjoyed.  I'm on the board of a non-profit that puts on conferences for homeschool families (Latter-Day Saint Home Educators) and I volunteered to develop some icons that we needed for our website.  It was such a great opportunity in many ways.  I got to sharpen my skills in Adobe Illustrator, and I gained confidence in my ability to figure out what was needed and produce it.  I love having REAL things to work on, that will be out there in the real world.  It's been my plan for this volunteer position as IT director to be a springboard for me.  I hope eventually to design and even code everything on the website myself- right now we have an IT professional and a graphic artist that we hire occasionally for the heavy lifting.  It makes me feel good that I was able to do this project and save the organization some money, but also that I've gained some experience and confidence, and produced something I can point to and say, "That's my work."