I’d been following the team at Creative at Heart on Instagram for quite awhile. At first it was because they posted pretty pictures (mmm, shiny stuff). But then, it became obvious they provided really great information for Creative Entrepreneurs – who happen to be my favorite group of people on the planet.

I’m the Creative Director at StationeryHQ.com. Part of my job is finding new ways to support the wildly talented artists who are our customers. Our mission is to help creative business owners realize their goals… So, when Creative at Heart announced that they were having their conference it felt like I was being sent a sign. A huge, neon, blinking sign with an arrow that said THIS WAY TO SUPPORT CREATIVE PEOPLE. Who am I to ignore the universe when she’s practically yelling at me?  

Sponsoring Creative at Heart Conference, Round 10

I reached out to Kat Schmoyer, the Founder of Creative at Heart and Angel Sent Straight from Heaven who creates magic and never loses her cool. Seriously, she might be the most patient person I’ve ever met. I aspire to have 1/100th of her composure. I knew I wanted to find a way to get involved and a sponsorship was a perfect collaboratio. And of course I had to attend to ‘make sure everything arrived okay’. Let’s be real, it was code for ‘hang out with a bunch of cool people in an amazing venue while line dancing with popsicles’.

Traveling from Northern California to North Carolina makes for a long day. Throw in that 3 hour time difference and it’s just enough to completely jack up my sleep. So after waking up at 4:00am, driving an hour to the airport, sitting on a plane for almost 5 hours and then driving another hour out to Bermuda Run I was pretty wiped out. Until I pulled up to that beautiful venue and walked into the Welcome Party and was thoroughly energized. There is nothing quite like the power of being in a room full of people who face similar challenges. Not to mention are creative thinkers and eager to learn.

What I Learned at C@H

Which leads to Lesson One: Form relationships with amazing people who want you to succeed. Educators, coaches, suppliers, employees or new friends you meet at a conference are all people who can help you achieve your goals. You don’t have to do it all and you don’t have to do it alone. 

The speaker line up was AMAZING. They were smart, funny and authentic – a trifecta of awesome. 

The range of topics was broad but I found a thread running through every talk. Lesson Two:  Sometimes it’s hard and disappointing to run a business and that’s okay. You keep going anyway and your way of coping with adversity is different than someone else’s way and that’s okay too. 

I got to know some wonderful, hardworking people over a couple of days. We had a lot of really meaningful conversations. Many of those chats were focused on how hard it is to DO ALL THE THINGS. There were concerns about not having enough time and being overwhelmed by daily obligations that stopped these business owners from working ON the business as opposed to IN the business.  Every speaker had a support system that helped them succeed. From that we learned Lesson Three. Trust others to do the work that doesn’t rely on you, so that you can focus on what you do best – building your business.

Big thanks to everyone who shared stories, advice and laughs at Creative at Heart Round 10. 

StationeryHQ.com helps creative entrepreneurs by printing and shipping their stationery and gift products at wholesale price.  This means they can make more money and have time to work on the big important stuff! Let us know how we can help you. Hope to see you at Round 11! 

All photos from Alex & Sara Lucas of AL Weddings!

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