Laura Ronngren

The only way to make a business succeed is to put in the work. When I was starting out as a stay-at-home mom, I spent a lot of time working on media presence and reaching out to local coffee shops that I could have an event at. I did a couple events at a local golf course at their restaurant, finding places where if they're not super busy on a certain day of the week, maybe if I come in with my creative stuff, that would get them more business because I'll be bringing in clients. You gotta put the work in, but you don't have to solve every problem all at one shot. You just take it one day at a time, and do what you can that day. And if you can't handle anything today, that's okay, you take a break. What can I handle today? To me, making it 10 years and this being my only source of income as a single parent and a college student - I think that is my biggest achievement, is to be able to support myself doing what I love.

I don't know that I've received much career advice. I've kind of just been pushing through on my own, one day at a time, one step at a time. Sometimes I think the best advice we get is from ourselves. The only way to make a business succeed is to put in the work. You gotta put the work in, but you don't have to solve every problem all at one shot. You just take it one day at a time, and do what you can that day. And if you can't handle anything today, that's okay, you take a break. What can I handle today? And if you can't handle anything today, that's okay, you take a break.

Not to give up. It's gonna be a slow start, and it's only gonna be as successful as you want it to be. The more time you put into making it, the more successful it will be. Don't give up. Like I said, one day at a time, do one thing at a time, and don't have too many days where you're not putting a little effort into your business. Even if that means I can't actually put any physical effort into what I'm doing today, but I know there's this networking group that meets at this coffee shop, so I'll have a cup of coffee and talk about what I do, and that'll be good enough today, because at least someone will know what I do, and maybe they'll want to do what I do, or try what I do, or experience what I do.

I would say knowing exactly where to put yourself out and how. That has been a consistent thing. If I'm holding a public event, I have to pick a painting that I think at least 10 people might want to paint. So I've picked a picture that I think 10 people might want to paint - now, how do I find those 10 people? How do I advertise that when I don't have any money to put into advertising right now? What free calendars are available? How much traction do my posts on Facebook and Instagram get me? That's the hardest part - where to advertise and how to advertise, especially as a small business when you don't have a whole lot of money to invest in it. There's a local company that I started with that's kind of like Groupon called Savecoin, where you offer a discounted coupon for something, but they do all the advertising for you, and that's kind of how I got my start. It helped some in the first couple of years, and then COVID hit. Nothing helped.

In my personal life, I can definitely say loyalty, because of what I went through with my divorce. For my business, I don't know, just joy! Even if I'm not having the greatest day, I can put on a smile, and when I start creating and I start teaching, and I see how other people may be stressed out or whatever, by the end of the class they're like 'you know, this went better than I thought. This was kind of fun, I might do it again.' That's transferring the joy from me to them and back to me again. Even if it's fake joy when I start, by the end, everyone's happy and calm. It's all about the joy, bringing and receiving.