“Finding your true purpose is really about deciding which flavour of shit sandwich you’re really in for”. 

Words cannot describe how much I love this quote!!   I think it’s the most accurate representation of creativity and entrepreneurship I have ever found.

I think we all (me included), look at other people who are living their true purpose, or who are living a creative life, and assume that they are living on easy street.  Styling Celebs, playing with designer clothes, sipping champagne.  I’m sure this is what the majority of folks presume my day entails.

What they don’t see is the 100’s (probably more like 1000’s) of hours of unpaid work that it took to get my skills to this level.  The countless rejection emails, sending my folio around to photographers and agents hoping for work.  The weeks/months/years of earning little to no money from my craft.

Yes there are the glamorous moments, but these are promptly book ended by disagreeable side-affects that would make most peoples eyes water.

Learning how to endure the disappointment and frustration is part of the creative process. 

Holding yourself together through all the phases of creation is where the real work lies, because if you love and want something enough, then you don’t really mind eating the shit sandwich that comes with it.

And at the end of the day, nothing ventured, nothing gained;  and if you truly love what you are doing, you’re willing to endure everything that comes with it.

Which brings me to an exciting new venture, that I recently stumbled upon: ShopVenture, that I think you’re gonna love!

I’m sure we all saw that meme on Facebook ‘This is what happens when you order ridiculously cheap clothing from Singapore”, or these cringe-worthy examples of online shopping fails!   Equal parts hysterical and  shameful.  We’ve all been there.

The beautiful folks at ShopVenture.com have stepped in to change all of that!

ShopVenture is a user-generated rating and review community for the online shopping world!  

Readers, just like you and  me, contribute their good and bad online shopping reviews, with a bigger mission of helping other shoppers make smart purchase decisions.

ShopVenture allows you to read real-customer reviews on online shops, share your own reviews, and use their search tools to discover new shops around the globe.

So how do you know if you can trust an online shop?  Head first to ShopVenture before whipping out that credit card, and save yourself the package disappointment.

Big thanks to miss Valentine for these shots, and for Elizabeth Gilbert for writing Big Magic and Mark Manson and Elizabeth for providing the inspiration and basis of todays post.  And find ShopVenture on Instagram here, or Facebook.

IMO Big Magic, is a MUST-READ for all of my creatives out there.