We were lucky to catch up with Julie Orr recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Julie, thank you for joining us today and sharing your experiences and acquired wisdom with us. Burnout is a huge topic these days and so we’d love to kick things off by discussing your thoughts on overcoming or avoiding burnout
I allow myself breaks, however long I feel necessary. I’ve realized from experience that if I work myself past a certain point, I become less productive. So when this happens, I switch to an easier task that requires less concentration or go to bed, for example, and tackle it the next day. In the bigger picture, I take vacations or day trips to refuel and gain creative perspective when I feel really burned out.
There’s a great TED Talk called “The Power of Time Off” with designer, Stefan Sagmeister, who talks about taking a year off, every seven years, to travel. He says this time off fills him with all kinds of new, exciting creative ideas that fuel his production for several years.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I own an art class and entertainment business called Art Lessons LA. We are a mobile service that mainly offers personalized art lessons, workshops and art tables for events. Events can include anything from a children’s birthday party to a corporate picnic.
I am also contracted with some elementary school to do art classes for their after-school programs.
This past year I started selling craft kits and making craft tutorial videos on social media as well. This way I can expand my services beyond the LA area. I have other business ideas cooking too like monthly memberships with access to lesson plans, videos and craft kits, and much more!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Self-confidence, courage and optimism were most impactful in my journey. However, I’ve found it can be difficult feeling confident in something you haven’t yet succeeded at. It’s like a catch 22 in that you have to be confident in order to be successful but successful in order to be confident ha. My advice for this challenge is: Do something everyday, even if very small, that moves you closer to your dream. This will help build confidence and momentum which really adds up over time.
I also recommend listening to your intuition. People say cliche things like “follow your gut” but I really believe that intuition doesn’t lie and is our best guide. There are going to be people who will doubt you but you have to not let those opinions overpower your belief in yourself, which goes back to confidence again.
What book has played an important role in your development and what were a few of the most valuable or impactful nuggets of wisdom?
Julia Cameron’s, “The Artist’s Way” has probably been the most impactful book for me professionally and personally. I also really recommend “The Four Hour Work Week,” and “Outliers,” for creatives and entrepreneurs.
In The Artist’s Way, I learned that we are wired and/or conditioned to believe that creative risks subject us to rejection, at one time a life or death variable, in tribal culture. So taking creative risks can trigger some really uncomfortable feelings for us as human beings that we need to address.
There can also be a lot of guilt that comes along with putting our time towards creative pursuits. There are societal notions that being creative is a “waste of time” or “takes us away” from “more important” things like making money. Julia Cameron argues that allowing ourselves to be creative will open up our time and energy in ways that will only add to our life experience. The book enlightens the thinking and behavior that keeps us blocked creatively in ways that are really revealing and also offer a course for correction.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artlessonsla.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/artlessonsla
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artlessonsla
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@julieorr
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@artlessonsla https://www.pinterest.com/artlessonsla/
Image Credits
Photos of Julie Orr by Andrea Pazmino
