That Completely Cringeworthy, Totally Terrifying, First Video

Thomas Edison died thirty-one years before I was born and somehow he still managed to preach from the fridge daily. Back then, I didn’t know they were his words but I definitely remember them scripted  in gold metallic on a green magnet with the image of a carpenter carrying a hammer over his shoulder. They flashed every time we walked by.  

Fairy dust, a silver bullet, the wave of a magic wand, they all sound good even as we know that success follows work. If you’re not willing to work, you’re not likely to be successful be it making a button hole or developing a business. Improving takes time. The exceptionally bright shine of an overnight success obscures the highly touted ten-thousand hours of prep time that came first. We have to do the work to learn how to do the work because we learn to do by doing.

I started sewing forty-eight years ago when I first sat down at the machine and fell in love. Sewing has become a near daily practice since and in that time I’ve learned a lot and have gotten very good at sewing everything from lingerie to outerwear, traditional quilts to textile art. I’ve refashioned, upcycled, and even made textile jewelry. My preferred plan of attack is to dive deep into a subject, OD-ing on it until my hands flow with ease and my mind bubbles with creativity. Only then does the magic happen.

Although it’s appearing here now, this will be the first article on the new website but it’s nowhere near the first one I’ve written. I enjoy writing nearly as much as sewing. If you’ve been following me for a while, you already know that life took a bit of an unexpected shift earlier this year after which I began looking for an engaging project and increased cash flow. I started Bags By Myrna – a business designing bag patterns, writing articles, developing workshops, and creating a YouTube channel. I’ve been sewing bags since my teens so that part feels comfortable. Everything else is a steep learning curve especially as I’m a self described technical dinosaur.

In the past few months, I’ve set up a website, found an accountability partner, learned about search engine optimization, learned about product photography, learned how to use a vector drawing program to draft PDF patterns printable on a home printer, written and sewn a first pattern, organized the first test sew and used the feedback to edit the text ready for the second test sew. I’ve drawn the rough illustrations and hired an illustrator, outlined an online workshop, started setting up a YouTube channel, gathered most of the starter equipment for making videos, made a list of topics, and watched a LOT of how-to videos. That’s about as much preparation as one can do – or procrastination depending on how you look at it – before it’s time to actually record that completely cringeworthy, total terrifying, first video.

I have decided to embrace inevitable failure and not just to embrace it but to share the process to hopefully encourage anyone else who might be waiting to hop off this fence. When I’ve been the teacher, I’ve told my students that starting is the most important step. You are going nowhere if you don’t start and somewhere if you do. This time I'm the student.

In every how to get started video I’ve watched, the facilitator has said stop overthinking, stop procrastinating, just make a video and then another and another because no matter how much you know now, at some point down the line you’ll look back and recognize, as you cringe, that you’ve made progress. To make progress, you have to start - so start. They sound like my own words coming back at me!

The next steps on my to do list of getting this business going is to write a dozen articles for the website (of which this is one) before making them live and to record really bad videos until I can’t make really bad videos anymore because I’ve learned enough to do better! I'll link the first one to this article on the website. 

Although a few of these learning curves have had me in tears at times, overall I am thrilled with the progress I am making even as I realize that there are no guarantees. The goal of an engaging project has been met. I am having fun and learning a lot. The goal of increased cash flow is yet to be seen. I can’t control the financial success of the anything. The only thing I can control is my choice day-to-day to do the things I am passionate about like creating, sharing, teaching, supporting, encouraging, and life long learning. That is good and enough for now. Time will tell with the rest.

What have you been putting off?  When will you begin?

These flowers were on my doorstep yesterday morning, sitting in an old metal watering can with no note. It wasn't necessary. I knew exactly who they were from. Three years ago, my friend Mimi decided to grow vegetables only she was so successfully inundated with them that last year she learned how to grow flowers. Regular bouquets appeared on my doorstep all summer, so many that I gave flowers to most of my neighbours. This is the first bouquet this year. I imagine more will show up. It would take me pages to detail her research, efficiency, organization, and learning curve. She's a deep diver too. I love her results. I hope mine impact others positively as well. 

Talk soon – Myrna

Grateful – gorgeous flowers, lots of boxes checked off on my to do list