I think my drawings and designs have become much better over the last two years. At the same time, engagement on instagram has become much lower. The sales on Spoonflower are small. I've earned a total of around $400 on image stocks and PODs over this whole time. Maybe it's not the worst result given that I've had zero business strategy so far. Yes, I've spent so many hours creating and uploading designs but at the same time I believe I've sharpened my skills, strengthened my hand. No design seems impossible given enough patience, time and thoughtfulness.
I'm so puzzled at to how to go on with some kind of business around it. Everyone's doing marketing. For me, being marketed to is exhausting, boring, irritating. Everyone's shouting about themselves, and it all becomes noise where not much feels distinguishable or exciting. For myself, I'm trying to reduce this noise, unfollowing a lot of business-coach accounts, unsubscribing from most craft or business-related subscriptions.
I'm coming to a conclusion that people I should market to must be similar to myself. But what on earth does that mean? Sometimes I think I'm too peculiar to align with any particular audience; other times I think that what I like is pretty mainstream and trivial -- sustainability, minimalism, low consumption, natural materials, rustic aesthetic, evening light, nature, peace, Paul Klee, Last Year in Marienbad, Julio Cortazar, Cheers, blue-gray colour, melancholy, warm cloudy days, wild flowers, postapocalyptic vibes, feeling of home, people, improv theatre classes, Buenos Aires, Perfect Days and Alice in the Cities, Magus, smell of bonfires, low key human to human connection...
I've been exhausted over the last months -- moving, getting used to the new place, getting frustrated by it. I've been tense and worried so much, being restless, grieving the horrors of the world in the background is my default state. And now I realise, it's been a while since I allowed my mind travel completely aimlessly freely, outside of any productive activity.