Hey Lovelies,
Today I am super excited to share with you a snippet into my world as an artist, illustrator and mother running a small creative business.
I don’t know about you but I absolutely LOVE hearing peoples stories and journeys. When I was at university travelling & working at festivals I met so many people and was fascinated about their creativity, what they did, what they made and all that jazz. I loved getting to know them better, it was inspiring and I met people with such a diverse range of skills, interests and dreams for life. So I would like to share with you a bit of my journey of starting my business so that you can get to know me too!
University & Documenting my journey through J.EM.M.
Kamala Creations was actually started whilst I was in university under the guise of J.E.M.M (Jules’ Emporium of Magical Makings). It was a way to document all the many arts and crafts, projects and DIY’s I did at university, events and festivals (I was studying creative arts and events management at the time).
After moving back up to Yorkshire and changing universities I met my gorgeous man and when I had graduated I moved up to Northumberland with him. I took some time to decompress after my partying and mad lifestyle as a student to really ground, find my roots and figure out what I wanted to do next.
As I was journeying this self discovery phase I decided to rename J.E.M.M. to a name that felt more aligned with my vision and values for my creative business. Kamala means lotus flower in sanscrit and lotuses bloom from muddy waters to become beautiful flowers. I believe this is representative of the journey we go through as humans into the wasteland of shadow work, limiting beliefs and past experiences. When we do the work be it self help, courses, training or therapy of whatever kind, we are able to move through the wasteland into a more lighter space to be able to live life to its fullest. I believe we have a responsibility to work on ourselves when the time is right for us so that we can get the most out of life. I say this because my sister was taken from us at the age of 13 and the impact of that on my family has made me strive to make the most of life.
Anyhow, because I was in a space of exploring what spirituality meant to me as well as working on personal development, I found that it fused into my creative process. I found a form of creative expression that fused with my journey to get to know myself. Mandala’s & Zentangle Art became my meditative art practice that grounded me, that soothed my soul.
Something I was seeing pop up online was all these people travelling the world whilst running businesses. Giving them freedom and flexibility to live life on their own terms and giving them the opportunity to explore. I wanted a bit of that and so I made the decision to learn all that I could so that I could one day work from home running my own business to allow me to live life on my own terms too.
Using my skills as a Virtual Assistant
In 2018, after experiencing some incredibly intense panic attacks I decided to start a cleaning business whilst I built up my Virtual Assistant services. I had studied events management at university and had been learning about web design on WordPress, Social Media Management & Strategy and blogging I started offering my services as a VA supporting online businesses online with the behind the scenes admin that keeps businesses ticking over.
Now three years later I work as a Virtual Assistant supporting women running online businesses with course creation, social media management, website and blog maintenance. This is the bread and butter of my business and allows me to take the pressure off needing my art to create an income. I get the best of both worlds where I get to support businesses and geek out on strategy, planning and admin whilst also learning the skills to develop the products side of my business. Wahooo!
Running a business & Motherhood
My business has allowed me to work from home, flexibly around being a mother to an energetic little toddler, Jasper. He keeps me on my toes that’s for sure. Now I work 2 days a week whilst he is at the childminders and I spread my working days between client work and building the creative side of my business. I do my business research/learning as well as client work in an evening if I have deadlines and try not to work weekends but if you’re a mum you’ll know that you have to take time when you can if your running a business. Sometimes I need to work on a weekend to catch up on work, it also gives my man and son some good father/son time too.
In the vlog I share with you a sneaky peak into my working day. I have shared with you a few of the planners I used to manage my client work and tasks and how I start my day to ensure that I make the most of it. If your keen on photography or are a business yourself I have shared my flatlay photography process with a cool background hack I recently learned. I use this style of photography for any traditionally created art I make in my art journals, hand drawn mandalas and abstract work. For those who are looking into digital illustration I share with you the tablets I use, I found an INCREDIBLE app that is not appreciated by the world enough. Its a great (and affordable) alternative to procreate on the iPad.
If your looking for some tips to help you get into the creative zone check out the blog I wrote HERE
If you have got this far, have read the whole blog AND the vlog you’re amazing and I really appreciate that you have taken time to view the content I create for you lovely lot. I create it all with the intention to inspire others to create a life that’s nourishing and to connect with that playful child within and make some messy artwork!
If you would like to support my work further you can like/share/comment and subscribe to my YouTube Channel! Its a great FREE way to support my lil biz!
Feel free to pop me a message if you have any questions or would like to know more about anything I have spoken about in the vlog!
Big love,
