Work / Life Balance Update
An overshare
Written by Natalie Bloom
11 July, 2024
I should probably be journaling these thoughts, but I am a single mom trying to support herself with her creativity, and blogging is an investment in marketing. SEO building and a cathartic creative release all at once, let’s go.
Writing has always helped me center myself
That’s what I really need right now after all the change life has thrown at me since it’s warmed up outside, and I gave up on finding a “safe” 9-5 in digital marketing. Safety is an illusion for a millennial!!!!!!! Haven’t you heard?!
I want to give a long-form update about what I’ve been up to because I haven’t been finding the time to do my own social media marketing. It’s summertime in Western North Carolina, and I have cold mountain creeks to explore with my 6 and 2-year-old kids. I want to both own my own business and be a present mother. Sometimes, I nail it. I am lucky to have supportive parents helping me raise my kids and attempt to strike that balance. Sometimes I remind myself no one can be everything all at once.
My dreamy anchor job
I also work part-time at a local leather shop, painting custom leather fire service gear. The six-hour painting shifts have done wonders for my nervous system, and watching Axe and Awl Leatherworks undergo their own growth so rapidly has been hugely inspiring. Courtney and Spencer are Waynesville small business royalty- their brand is at once artistic, utilitarian, and friendly. I love to be a part of it, even in a way as small and tedious as painting the leather; I will always value working with my hands and contributing to a creative small business vision.
Necessary Evil: Networking
Around the same time I started working at the leather shop, a friend encouraged me to go to a women’s networking event. I am the hugest slow-burn personality you’ll ever meet; my social battery is small, and my home life is already exhausting with two small kids… networking is the worst.
But, my friend asked me to consider if it was scarier to do the thing or stay where I was.
I was job hunting at the time, and that was not a place I wanted to stay, so this advice stuck with me. I realized my dream of gaining financial stability via a “stable job” I had clung to push through school was merely an illusion. Or poorly planned with the timing of the universe… ChatGPT came out halfway through completing my degree, and the tech layoffs ramped up. My slow-burn personality and propensity to get nervous in situations like interviews did not help. Sometimes I read articles claiming it was my refusal to do an internship that killed me, but I digress. Corporate America was never for me.
Things happened the way they needed to for me to end up here
I am a woman determined to work creatively, for myself, and in collaboration with others and afford two small children, a dog, and a cat in Haywood County with the income. Maybe one day own a home, who knows.
So I went to the damn networking event. I invited my sound therapist and Kundalini teacher friend, Amber Rae, and we ran into one of her students, Shereen Malek immediately.
Shereen shook my hand and said, “I’m Shereen, I have ideas” and looked me dead in the eye with a playful raised eyebrow. Her business card said, “entrepreneur” and had paint splattered on it. It felt like she immediately trusted my creative vision after she learned I was an Aquarius, which, if you know, you know, as an Aquarius, I loved. The three of us left the networking event and hit the Kava Bar, bonding over sobriety, spirituality, and like, life, man. It felt amazing to be exchanging energy with these dynamic women.
Exciting new clients
From there Shereen and I quickly established a business/marketing/ art brain meld and I linked up with Harmony Haus, Shereen’s real estate baby, to help develop their branding. They buy old buildings and fix them up to house small businesses. They’re all about adaptive reuse, supporting the local economy, and hella fun to bounce ideas around with. I created their logo and am collaborating with Shereen on their branding, both digital and in the form of paint swatches on old bricks. I feel myself professionally developing rapidly through this project and I am delighted I get to do it with someone I consider a friend. The company you keep is everything, I love collaborating with Harmony Haus and being part of a team that is fostering wellness and creative collaboration in my community’s small businesses.
My service-based digital marketing consulting business
Harmony Haus is technically a client, as I am also building my personal brand, Bloom Creative Small Business Marketing. I help small businesses, creatives, and solo-preneurs with their digital marketing. After learning about their goals and researching their industry, I audit their web presence. (Websites are my specialty, but social media is always a player too.) We meet and discuss my suggestions. At the end of the hour, my clients can choose to hire me to implement the suggestions or do it themselves. I want this to be an accessible service for all levels of entrepreneurs. Having been a painter myself, I understand the need for a small business to DIY on a deeply personal level, so I offer an hourly budget-friendly rate.
So far I’ve shared this service with an artist, a herbalist, and a female-owned contracting and renovation team. I am currently booking new clients for fall 2024 so get in touch if you want another set of eyes on your digital marketing!
I am also an aspiring mural artist. I had the honor of painting Axis Yoga’s Jogi Bear Mural in the Folkmoot in the spring, and look forward to other mural projects on the horizon in these beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains we call home!
Overshare and Wrap up
My life has changed a lot in the past few years, it’s been overwhelming most of the time. I became a single mom, sought an ADHD diagnosis, stopped drinking, finished a web design and development degree, started working for someone else again, started a creative service-based small business, met a ton of cool people, and created a community around myself and my kids in a town full of possibilities and magic NESTLED IN THE MOUNTIANS. It feels sustainable, it feels good. I’m grateful for everyone who has touched my life in the past few years with grace and I want to pay it forward to this community now that I am getting back on my feet, I’m excited to see that manifest in life.
It feels a little weird and vulnerable to share my personal life like this, but at the end of the day I am an artist, my life is my art, and sharing art is a part of the creative cycle. Also, who cares. Judgment from strangers is merely a projection. And my diary is still packed up in a box somewhere. Doing what you can with what you have is all you can do, and this is me doing my best. Thanks for caring.
Natalie
