Polished Pope | Styles

ac·tion

1. the fact or process of doing something, typically to achieve an aim.

In my most recent posts, I discussed Gratitude + Passion. I let you in on how God and Gratitude carried me through after a devastating encounter, and then I expressed to you what makes me passionate. In this post I will express to you how I took both Gratitude and Passion, mixed it in with Faith and turn it into Action!

"To fight fear, act. To increase fear — wait, put off, postpone".

– David Joseph Schwart

I will admit before I physically began the journey of entrepreneurship, I was extremely afraid to step out because I did not feel "prepared". I did not have a business name, a logo, a website, I had absolutely nothing! Let me take you back some years, in my adolescent years I remember attending 4H meetings. At the end of the meeting they would go around and ask everyone, "What they wanted to be when they grew up?". With a definite response, I stated that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. Back then, I had no idea for sure what kind of business I wanted to own or how I would even run it. I just knew that I wanted to own something. All of my life I remember having this urge to do something different. I wanted to attend college and get a degree but the ultimate goal was to be my own boss.

Fast forward to a few years ago. Being a mother a wife, a student and working a full-time job it seemed impossible to seek entrepreneurship. I would literally talk myself out of ideas that I had because of a lack of time, education and financial resources. I realize now that the only thing I needed to do was take baby steps and build onto that dream. The time could be created, the education would gradually be learned through research, knowledge of others and experience and the money would come in due time.

If you are a creative like me, sometimes things can get scary because there are so many things that you want to do. You are a Firestarter, people like us have a natural tendency to stifle the rules, we thrive in environments that encourage innovations, and unbounded creativity. We also thrive for rapid evolution because we are visionaries. As visionaries we can almost all of the time overwhelm ourselves with ideas and without a detailed plan, talk ourselves out of getting things done. Where others see challenges and lack, we see opportunity, which makes us natural leaders. We are constantly looking to make things better, faster, easier or even more exciting.

As a Firestarter, I have a few recommendations that may help you get on the path of taking Action. It is awesome to be a visionary, but we must stay grounded by mixing our vision with reality so that we can actually stay focused. Create A Solid And Realistic Plan. Your plan needs to be solid, well organized ad through before making drastic decisions. We all know that as a creative you will need reserved funds to execute your vision, so set aside a little extra or pick up a part-time gig. Take advantage of other people who have already accomplished some of the things that you desire to complete, learn from their mistakes, however do not be afraid to leave some opinions or advice behind.

Fully Disconnect During Your Downtime. As a creative, you will be no good to yourself or anyone else if you get burned out. Ask For Help. Your dream is not a puzzle you should feel obligated to solve on your own. Sometimes leveraging time and effort of other people can help you get things done. Pick An Idea And Stick With It. Even though there are a variety of things that you want to accomplish as a creative and entrepreneur, you must execute one idea at a time. You are allowed to evolve as you go. If you over analyze you can almost always talk yourself out of a great idea. Remember that clarity doesn’t come from sitting around and thinking. It comes from doing and experimenting. Get out there and take Action, you never know where it may lead you!

With finally stepping out and taking Action, last month I was honored to be a part of the first one of its kind, Goodwill event. Six popular mid-state bloggers came together to their strategies for finding and assembling top-flight fashions at bargain basement prices during Goodwill Sip, Style, Shop — a special evening at the cozy East Nashville Goodwill store. It was a beyond amazing experience. I was able to meet local thrift fashionistas, mingle with guest from all over Nashville and have so much fun thrift shopping! In the images you will see how I paired this amazing skirt, a piece from Goodwill with a basic white top because this skirt definitely deserves its own show. I paired it with black shades and shoes to add dram, gold accessories for sophistication, and a course a pop of color on my nails and lips for some added fun.