31: How to Thrive as a Creative: Moving from Fear to Abundance
9 Mar 2023 · 1 min
In this episode of the Professional Creative Podcast, host Bonnie Christine—an entrepreneur who grew a multi‑seven‑figure fabric‑design business—explores how a fear‑based mindset limits creativity and business growth, and how shifting to an abundance‑based mindset can unlock thriving. She outlines the "abundance filter" exercise: recognize fear‑driven thoughts, then consciously replace them with opposite, abundance‑oriented statements. Bonnie lists common creative fears—such as doubting artistic quality, fearing theft, worrying about money, lacking business or tech skills, feeling too old or inexperienced, and perceiving market saturation—and provides concrete abundance reframes for each. She shares her own journey from struggling to make ends meet to licensing artwork worldwide and teaching others to design their creative lives. The episode concludes with actionable advice: identify personal fear‑based beliefs, apply the abundance filter, trust the process, stay curious, experiment, and embrace new opportunities, promising increased creativity, freedom, and profitability.
Chapters
Staying in a fear based mindset can have a significant impact on your creative practice, but also your business because it will find its way to limit your creativity, stifle your ability to experiment, and at the end of the day, simply hinder your growth. But moving to an abundance based mindset is something that we can all do and it's about believing in your unique perspective and your voice and being open to new opportunities and believing that they're there for you.
I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life.
But when I first set out to
become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer.
Fast forward to today.
I'm not only licensing my artwork all
over the world, but also teaching others
how to design their creative life and experience the same success.
I'm here to help you spread.
Spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable.
Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast. One of the most impactful shifts that I made in my business and my life has been adding what I call an abundance filter. After spending years questioning my business and my own ability to grow and innovate, I slowly began to trust in my business. Not only in the business itself, but also my ability to come up with new ideas. So I would say in about 2015, I made a very conscious decision to stop running my business from a place of fear, but rather to shift to running it to a place of positivity and abundance. So let me unpack that a little bit. If I identify that I'm making a decision or experiencing a feeling based in fear, then I immediately take note of it. And course, correct. So what's the exact opposite mindset from that viewpoint of fear? That would be the abundance based mindset instead. And so this very shift is one of the biggest differences that I see between those who survive and thrive and those who just simply don't. In earlier years, I was afraid that my artwork wasn't good enough, that I would fail at my dream, or that my artwork would get stolen, or that I would run out of ideas. I was also afraid that my business wasn't trustworthy, that I wouldn't be able to, you know, pivot if I needed to. I also see this in my students and my peers all the time. So things that I personally struggle with and also see others struggle with are things like not showing our work because we're afraid that it'll get stolen. Or I'm afraid that I won't make any money or be successful, so I just won't even try. Or I'm not a business person. I can't, you know, possibly learn all of the ins and outs. Or I'm not tech savvy, so I can't learn this new program. Oftentimes hear people say that they feel like they're too old or they don't have enough experience, like they didn't go to art school, or they just think that they're an imposter. So now let's look at that same exact list, but through a lens of abundance. Okay, so the first one is, I'm afraid my artwork isn't good enough. Well, the opposite of that is my artwork is beautiful and it's needed in the world. The next one is I'm not going to share my work because I'm afraid it'll get stolen. Well, the opposite of that is I'll do my best to protect my work and trust the rest. I'm open to success and I'm ready to receive abundance. Perhaps my dream company will find it and license me or buy it or want to work together. Right. Okay, what about I'm afraid that I won't make any money or be successful? Well, the opposite to that is I'm open to success and ready to receive abundance. Now this one, I'm not a business person or I'm not tech savvy. Right. Well, we all feel that from time to time. And the opposite perspective of that is that I can learn anything that I put my mind to. I can find help for anything that I might need to get help with. In other words, you begin to trust your ability to do difficult things. Things. Okay, so what about this one? I'm too old. Or sometimes it's I'm too young. Right. The exact opposite of that is that my perspective and voice is needed in the world, and I can make an impact through my unique perspective. Okay, I didn't go to art school, so I don't know what I'm doing or I'm just an imposter. Well, the opposite to that is not going to art school actually makes me stand out from the crowd. And it's all been done before, but it hasn't been done by me. There are new Opportunities everywhere I look. What about this one? The market must be saturated. Look at all the people here. There's definitely no room for me. Well, the opposite to that is it's all been done before, but it's not been done by me. And there are new opportunities everywhere I look. There is room for me. So you can see that being a flourishing artist means being open to abundance and being curious and willing to learn new things and meet new people and simply trust the process. We all struggle with fear based mindsets. I honestly find myself in them all the time, but I've gotten better and better to quickly identify them and then switch them around. So if you're ready to flourish, I want you to just take a moment and identify a few of the most fearful based mindsets that you currently have and then go ahead and put your abundance filter on and make a list of the exact opposite abundance based mindsets that you can change them to. Once you learn how to look through everything with this different lens, your life will begin to change. You've just got to trust me on this one and try it out. As you begin to see things in this more abundant way, abundance is returned to you. Staying in a fear based mindset can have a significant impact on your creative practice, but also your business because it will find its way to limit your creativity, stifle your ability to experiment, and at the end of the day simply hinder your growth. But moving to an abundance based mindset is something that we can all do and it's about believing in your unique perspective and your voice and being open to new opportunities and believing that they're there for you. Abundance will be returned to you as well. I think you'll find an increase in your creativity and a more open willingness to experiment with new things and find that you grow more quickly as well. So my friends always work to create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world and remember, there's room for you. I'll see you next time. Same place, same time. Bye for now. Sa.