Meet Ana Marin

We were lucky to catch up with Ana Marin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Ana with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

Coming from immigrant parents, my work ethic began at our kitchen table. My parents had to work multiple jobs at times, yet they still came home to help with homework and prepare dinner without a word of complaint. It was ingrained in my brain that hard work wasn’t much of a choice, but rather an admirable quality and vital component in people’s success. One day, my elementary school principal introduced a music program and nominated me to be a part of it. I was beyond intrigued. I have always been fascinated by the arts, and music was in my blood. My grandfather was a guitarist and composer, and when I was introduced to the flute, I fell in love. Playing the guitar wasn’t an option in our small orchestra, and the violin didn’t capture my attention the way the flute did. I began playing nonstop throughout middle school, high school, and college. Music taught me discipline; it taught me how to be self-critical without self-sabotaging. As I began teaching, my students reminded me how important it is to never stop learning. In college, the band room sharpened that into something concrete: early call times, music marked in pencil, a metronome that didn’t care how you felt—show up, be precise, be accountable to the people next to you. That really stuck with me, and it’s something I try to carry into everything I do.

When COVID hit, the city got quiet, and I started building my business from home. It was messy, unglamorous, yet a necessary step for me. I felt a bit lost and burned out. I had been rejected from a PhD program that required more classroom experience, and despite being exhausted, I went back to the classroom. It was no longer in a band room; now it was in a very different environment, and I realized that my heart was no longer in it. So I decided to bet on myself. I allowed myself to be creative again and began to grow my business as much as I could. I became my own student again, taught myself calligraphy, graphic design, and business management, and followed my parents’ advice to not settle.

At 37, as a Latina entrepreneur in this city, my work ethic is a mix of what I saw at home, what the band drilled into me, and the frustration of watching my career fall apart before it even started. I was devastated for not getting into the PhD program after working so hard, but now in retrospect, I see it as a blessing. A friend of mine once told me that blessings are sometimes disguised, and getting rejected from that PhD program was the best thing that could’ve happened.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I have always loved the arts, but never truly allowed myself to explore much outside of music. I fell in love with stationery and wanted to find ways to encourage people to connect more, especially after COVID. I began sharing my calligraphy journey online, and found a community of artists who were supportive and encouraging. Creating something so personal, as a hand-written letter and sealing it with a wax seal, brings a sense of romanticism that I fell in love with. In a world that gets crazier by the minute, I want to encourage people to find the magic in the little things and to celebrate every milestone, no matter how small. My business focuses on that: sealing memories and evoking new ones through art.

There may be more live events in the coming months, where I will be personalizing gifts. More to come on that soon!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back, learning my learning style was important to understanding how I process information and how I can make the best use of it. Everyone is different, and understanding that my journey was not going to look like anyone else’s was important to try to overcome imposter syndrome. While I am not always successful in doing so, it has become a bit easier to manage the self-doubt and instead focus my attention on something else, or even something new.

Being organized is highly important. Running a business is hard, and knowing that the world is not going to be there for you is critical because I learned how to figure it out for myself. However, it is just as important to acknowledge when you need help and not be afraid of reaching out to others.

Finally, I would say that having some experience in sales has taught me a lot more than I initially thought. I am constantly working with different personalities, vendors, and other artists, and treating them as I would like to be treated myself is important. They are not transactions to me; they have become friends and acquaintances and we’re all simply trying to do our best.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

As a multi-passionate person, “niching down” was the hardest thing to do. I love a lot of things, and want to do all of them. However, focusing on strengths exclusively can be damaging when running a business. By nature, starting your own business will force you to wear many hats. While I want to focus my attention on the things I like and am good at, if I decide not to work on my weaknesses, I would be setting myself up for failure. I think of it as a sheet of music; it may be long, complicated, with many rests, repeats, and difficult passages, but learning to navigate and play it successfully can only happen if I work on the hard parts. The notes may be too high, the complicated rhythms, and the weird fingerings will only become easier if you work on them. ” A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one. ” The trick is to use it to your advantage because as a small business owner, you will always have to adapt to new things.

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