120: Mistakes Are Okay with Tania Ahmed

Podcast – Adventures in Arting Podcast

On this episode of The Adventures in Arting Podcast, Mom and I chat with Tania Ahmed about her life in the craft industry. Tania is smart and insightful and totally down-to-earth. I really enjoyed my conversation with her and related to so much that she said and I think you will too. I didn’t want the conversation to end because there was so much to talk about.

Tania Ahmed is an art video maker and tutor based in the UK.

As a lifelong crafter, she has blended her multi crafts experience to hone her mixed media and papercraft work.

She draws her inspiration from diverse cultures, bright colors, bold graphic design, and eclectic patterns.

She has taught at several independent craft stores and workshops…

…demonstrated at international trade and consumer art and craft shows…

…been published in creative magazines, and currently designs for companies within the arts and crafts industry.

Some things we discuss on the podcast:

• making videos without fancy equipment
• creating daily Reels videos for instagram
• setting goals
• This fabulous thought from Ira Glass:

“Nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish somebody had told this to me — is that all of us who do creative work … we get into it because we have good taste. But it’s like there’s a gap, that for the first couple years that you’re making stuff, what you’re making isn’t so good, OK? It’s not that great. It’s really not that great. It’s trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but it’s not quite that good. But your taste — the thing that got you into the game — your taste is still killer, and your taste is good enough that you can tell that what you’re making is kind of a disappointment to you, you know what I mean?

A lot of people never get past that phase. A lot of people at that point, they quit. And the thing I would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste and they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be — they knew it fell short, it didn’t have the special thing that we wanted it to have.

And the thing I would say to you is everybody goes through that. And for you to go through it, if you’re going through it right now, if you’re just getting out of that phase — you gotta know it’s totally normal.

And the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work — do a huge volume of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week, or every month, you know you’re going to finish one story. Because it’s only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap. And the work you’re making will be as good as your ambitions. It takes a while, it’s gonna take you a while — it’s normal to take a while. And you just have to fight your way through that, okay?”

• teaching online classes
• design teams
• networking
• social media as a portfolio
• self-worth, ambition, and confidence
• hard work
• Altenew’s marketing
• Bullet Journaling
• Morning Pages

And here are our recommendations for this episode:

• Tania: The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
• Julie: WRMK Envelope Punch Board
• Eileen: The Woman Who Made Van Gogh

Connect with Tania online:

• https://taniaahmedcreative.com/
• https://www.instagram.com/taniaahmed/
• https://www.youtube.com/taniaahmedcreative

We have more great guests lined up for upcoming episodes. You can expect a new episode every other Thursday!

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