Meet Liz Brindley

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Liz Brindley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Liz, thank you for being such a positive, uplifting person. We’ve noticed that so many of the successful folks we’ve had the good fortune of connecting with have high levels of optimism and so we’d love to hear about your optimism and where you think it comes from.
I often remind myself that optimism, hope, and joy are not two-dimensional experiences. They are layered experiences that contain the multitudes of being human – the ecstasy, the grief, the happiness, the sadness, the elation are all part of optimism. Optimism is not about denying reality or sadness or the facts. It is, choosing it *with* those realities present.

Because of that, I feel that my optimism comes from intentionally choosing, time and again, to orient toward the best that could happen, the potential of the future, and the endless capacity of this present moment. This choice has come in moments of joy where it makes sense and also moments of deep grief where it felt easier to choose despair. In choosing optimism over and over again, it has become a compass with which to navigate life.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I’m a Creative Business Coach and Illustrator based in North Carolina. I work with creative women who are ready to overcome the overwhelm to finally launch and grow their creative businesses.

After years working in the farm industry as I built my business, I now coach about creative business through the lens of nature to share how we can build sustainable businesses that allow us to live lives full of freedom and authenticity.

I started my creative business in 2017 as a printmaker and illustrator selling my work in local shops, online, and in galleries. I still sell and license my art which is inspired by nature with the hopes to help people reconnect with – and protect – the joys our beautiful earth has to offer us.

Some fun facts are I spent one full year living nomadically from the road (part of which was from my Subaru camper!), I love to run, and you can pretty much always find me with a stack of more books than I can actually read from the local library.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
There are three mindsets that helped me start – and continue – my creative businuss journey:

1. Start Before You’re “Ready”

There is always going to be a reason to delay your dream, but if you can embrace starting even though it’s a little scary, a little stretchy, and a little (or a lot) unknown you will get where you want to go so much faster. When I started my biz in 2017, I had very very little idea what I was doing and never felt “ready.” Instead, I knew the bigger vision I was after for my life, and I knew making that real was more important than following the fear.

2. See “Failure” as a Stepping Stone

NASA describes failure as “Early attempts at success.” Rather than seeing failure as a reason to stop, I learned to see it as a way to learn and grow – quickly. What a gift! “Failure” provides necessary information that serves as stepping stones to your dream.

3. And to quote Chumbawumba, “I get knocked down, but I get up again.”

Try, try, and try again. A huge part of creative business – or any creative path – can feel like “mistakes,” “dead ends,” and “failures.” When I got knocked down by these obstacles, I learned how to take a breath, re-evaluate, re-visit my dream, and get back up again to keep going.

Keep going – you’ve got this. If you are early on in your journey, I encourage you to believe in the dream that keeps knocking on your heart. Even if you don’t have all the details just yet, take time to listen to the dream and make small, consistent moves to bring it to life. You can trust yourself and your vision. Let your dream be your compass to live your unique as fully as you can.

What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
After a decade of building my business and always going after the next dream, the past 12 months have opened up a whole new landscape of learning how to go deep on what truly matters. Rather than reaching for the next achievement, I have been learning how to sink into the nourishment and joy that is offered in each present moment. Even though it feels like completely new territory, I’m very excited to continue exploring it.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photos: Mabyn Ludke Photography

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