A 60-Day Gratitude Journal!

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MEET MARIA SILVO from ARTSY CHALLENGE!!!

Maria Silvo is a creative entrepreneur who stayed home since 2007 when her three kids then aged 2, 5, and 7 were better off with her taking care of them. In Canada, day care services is expensive, and so is hiring a nanny. Working to earn income that would just go towards paying for child care services didn’t make sense. So she decided staying home was the best decision.  She was raising a family 24/7, and according to Maria, it was the most fun, prolific, and memorable moments in her life. It was also the most creative. They played, drew, colored, read books, wrote stories, baked, danced, and sung. At age 8, her youngest son wrote, illustrated, and published his first Kindle children’s book, Sam the Giver. Her 10-year old daughter also published her first fan fiction Kindle book. Maria published The Unwanted Stone that her daughter illustrated and refined with Photoshop. Her eldest son gave his inputs from a child’s point of view while also helping with coloring. They didn’t take publishing children’s books that seriously but it sure made Maria proud of her kids. Her children are now in their teens and her family needs are growing. She had to help support the family. Working from home instead of getting a job as someone else’s employee is on the top of her list. She struggled to make it happen and after much work, she have achieved some milestones.

CHECK OUT SOME OF HER DESIGNS HERE

HOW HER BUSINESS CAME ABOUT: Maria have been online for a long time, mostly browsing on just about anything and buying product after product on how to make money from home.  According to her, It drained her financial resources at a time when she wasn’t earning that much. In mid-2018, she happened to sign up to Angela Wills’ Laptop Lifestyle Club. How she came across her, she cannot recall exactly. She was dabbling in line art then and posted her designs in Kelly McCausey’s Solopreneur Facebook Group. She got colorful rave reviews as well as dozens of inquiry on how to buy her product. At that time, she had no product to sell, just pages of coloring designs. She had no website and had zero techie skills on running an online business.  It must have been coincidence or right timing that Angela Wills was launching her first bundle sale. Not a few members were starting from scratch and that added to Maria's self-confidence. “If others can do it, why can’t I?” That was what Maria told herself. Her start up quashed her but Angela supported Maria all the way through. From that event, Maria managed to put up her website, offer her first product, set up systems, build a list, and make money as an affiliate. It felt good. That was in August 2018 when Fresh PLR Possibilities, her first real business venture, was born. In March 2020, she closed it down after a 9-month hiatus from a health-related concern. Also, issues related to running it in a third-party platform made that decision easy. She didn’t give up though. It was a well-planned move. In its place now stands Artsy Challenge that Maria is currently self-hosting in WordPress.  Why Artsy Challenge? To Maria, creating a product has always been a challenge. She have to battle her own fears and anxieties of not being artistic or creative enough and not good enough. Many products past, she have learned to shut off my inner critic. "I create art work when I like, no matter what others think. Creating is what makes me happy." - Maria Silvo Her vision for Artsy Challenge is that it becomes a venue for people to find inspiration and free up their creative selves. She haven’t done much yet to realize this but she have her blueprint and she is working on it. "I know I’ll get there," said Maria.

FEELING MOST INSPIRED TO CREATE: According to Maria, she is an impulsive creator, which is both a boon and a bane. Her urge to create can come anytime, a major reason for many pending projects and products that haven’t yet seen the light of day.  She is taming herself to stick to a structure, which is a struggle but she is finding her own way.

TIPS FOR STARTING A NEW BUSINESS:

1. Be clear on know what you want.

2. What business do you want to pursue?

3. Why do you want to be in this kind of business?

4. Who do you want to serve?

5. How will you serve them?

6. What will you offer them?

7. How will you run your business?

8. What resources do you have and need?

9. Where will you take your business years from now?

All of these tips are easier said than done.  It takes a lot of self-awareness. Running an online business is unlike your brick-and-mortar store. A Ph.D. holder could fail a hundred times while a 9-year old or a high school dropout can succeed in a few tries. Yet, success is not impossible. If you’re just starting out, take these tips to heart.

STICK TO WHAT YOU DECIDE ON. 

After deciding on what you want, stick to it. Skillful marketers abound online who can sway you in subtle ways. For years, Maria said she didn’t know what to do. She read amazing stories of people getting rich online.  She followed them, bought their products, and tried to copy what they were teaching. Then Maria stumbled on another pretty thing and another. She got hooked in a vicious cycle without knowing what she was doing and where she’d end.  When she decided to stick to one thing, that’s when her business grew. Now, what she does is creating graphics products for the low content and private label rights market.

FOCUS ON THINGS THAT MATTER - ONE THING AT A TIME.

Maria said she, "I used to be good at multi-tasking but not anymore. I realized that focusing on a thing or two speeds me up. It’s also my way to counteract distractions. If I’m not careful, I can sucked by social media, free information, television, cellphone, and more. The demands of time with family household chores are no exception.  Guard your time from external elements. Guard it from yourself. Know what matters. Focus on them." 

INVEST WISELY

This is easy when you follow the first three tips. DON'T SPEND MONEY YOU HAVE YET TO EARN: on courses, books, memberships, graphics, video, apps, services, you name it! Maria's tip is to think hard before clicking the buy button. That’s because she now know what she want, what matters, and what she need to achieve it.

MAKE MONEY EVEN MASTERING A CRAFT.

Be not afraid to sell what you’ve got. If you want to make money selling printables, go create printables, and sell them. If you want to sell PLR, study how it works, find out if you have a market for PLR product, create it, and sell. You don’t have to be a master of a craft or know the ins and out yet of the business. Learn and earn as you go. Just do it. Soon, you’ll get to your destination.

BE CONSISTENT.

It doesn’t matter how brilliant your idea is. If it’s a one-timer, it won’t get that far… unless it goes viral, right? But that dies down, too, without a follow-up. Even a simple idea, product, or solution, if done consistently, can turn to gold. Going slow at the onset is fine as there’s a learning curve to everything.

Abandoning before the ship takes off is defeatist. Being  consistent not only makes you better at it, you also get great results. As Ovid, a Roman poet, said, “Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.” (Caveat: Make sure that you’re in a business with a sure market. Otherwise, your consistent efforts would yield zero results.)

RISE UP WHEN YOU FAIL. 

If you fail (and you most likely would), don’t beat yourself and give up. Instead, rise up. Before doing so, ask yourself:

Why did your business fail?

What went wrong?

And Maria has lots of great deals just for ITSCUSTOMMADE & I LOVE PLANNERS!

Visit her main site using the following link and receive a free 60 Day Gratitude Journal

Visit the shop and get a 40% discount for anything in the store using the coupon code HELEN40. It’s good until August 31, 2020 and may be used 3 times by the same user.

In full disclosure, I’m an affiliate of Artsy Challenge and will get compensated when you use my link. I do own many of Artsy Challenge's products and they are ALL so beautiful and solid products.  I was excited to be her affiliate.  I would never recommend anything that I do not use myself.  It is against who I am as a person personally and professionally.