Terri St. Cloud went on a search to find her passion years ago. The search led to her life exploding and her need to find a completely new way to live. Wanting to be able to stay home and support her sons, Terri started a home based art business. Soon her sons were an integral part of the company! What started out as a means to pay the bills has turned into an intention to touch the world. While they sell books and prints and greeting cards, they do much more than that.
Hearing daily from people around the country that have been affected by her works, Terri has become convinced that offering who we really are to the world is what matters. Having just released her book, ‘Fabric of Her Dancing Shoes,’ Terri is walking her talk. “It was really scary to put that out there,” Terri laughs, “but I believe who we are is what we have to offer. And so I offered.” The book is a walk through Terri’s inner search to ‘find the real in her life.’
Finishing up raising her sons, and watching them spin off into businesses of their own, Terri St. Cloud is turning more and more towards writing. She works daily on listening to her heart and following it.
You can find her work at www.BoneSighArts.com
What are you working on right now?
Not too long ago, I figured out I was in a ‘mid-life awakening’ period. I did a lot of inner searching. Things quieted down, I got busy with the business and finishing the new book. Recently some deep stuff has been coming up with the theme of darkness and light – of how I cope when I see ‘darkness’ win over ‘light.’ I want to offer my heart to the world. How strange that sounds. And yet, that’s what I do with my business. To do that, I have to know it. I have to know my heart. And right now, I’m not real sure about some of the stuff whirling around in it. I want to understand how deeply I trust the process of life, how much I really can offer, knowing that light doesn’t always win. I feel like I have to do some searching within. And that’s where I am right now.
3 Trends that excite you?
Trends that excite me are the do it yourself things that are so available now! If you want to make a video, you can! Publish your own book, start your own record label, sell your art, spread your news, share your creativity! I love, love, love things like youtube where anyone can post anything and the really creative stuff goes wild and spreads so fast! I love the internet for that and all it has to offer. The do It yourself stuff lights my fire. I see a great video, and I want to make one! I see a great anything, and I want to do that! I’m laughing here as well, it takes talent, but more than that…it takes creativity. And I think the doors are open more than ever now for creativity.
How do you bring ideas to life?
I don’t know any other way to explain this, except that I have a lot of the ‘fool’ in me. I just dive right on in. With my whole business, I had no art background, no businesses background, I just dived in. I do things hands on. If I have an idea, I just sit down and try it. I remember when I very first began, I would have an idea and wonder can I do this or can I do that? And every single time, EVERY single time, a little voice in my head said ‘Just try it.’ Every single time. That was new for me. I never had that before. It became my mantra. Then I forgot about it, but it had become habit. When I was working on my book and nervous about how to put it all together, the voice was back! I’d question and I’d hear it! JUST TRY IT! And that’s what I do.
What is one mistake that you’ve made that our readers can learn from?
Not listening to my heart. Sometimes someone would come through that I knew wasn’t going to be good to work with. But the money would call me. And I’d go for it. Do that a few times, and deal with people you knew you shouldn’t have dealt with, and you start to listen more closely. You really deep down do have the answers and know what you should do. Don’t block that out!
What is one book and one tool that helps you bring ideas to life?:
‘Women Who Run With the Wolves’ is like a bible to me. It reminds me that I matter, and that I have so much inside me. It reminds me to believe in myself. It reminds me of the importance of being authentically myself. And then in the practical sense, Adobe Photoshop has been the software I wouldn’t live without. And believe me, I dragged my feet on learning it. And now I can’t believe I lived without it.
What is one idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?
Okay, I’m not sure if it’s supposed to relate to what I do or not, but I do have the idea that will make someone a fortune. And since I know I’ll never do it, and would so love to have one of these, I offer it to you. A knob on a toilet seat! Yes! On the side of the seat so that you can just lift the seat up and down without having to deal with the seat itself.
Can you tell I have three sons? I really think the world needs this.
What kind of training have you had?
And the answer would be “None.” I think that’s so important for people to know. What I had was complete desperation. I had to make this work. And I did. I learned along the way. On the job training. You do not need to be an expert to succeed.
You have a business based on pain and struggle (it was born from a divorce) and you hear daily from people with very real, deep pain. Has this dampened your belief in the joy and goodness of life?
And the answer so far is “I am finally learning that life is struggle. And it is joy. And it is happiness. And it is everything. I am finally learning that it isn’t a storybook line that we follow and that that’s more than okay, that is a good thing. The opposites are there constantly. We need to learn to balance the holding of both of them. And it is completely our choice if we are going to be bitter or not. I choose not.”
Connect:
Terri St. Cloud ‘s blog:
bone sigh arts on facebook: !/pages/bone-sigh-arts/76611786370?ref=ts
bone sigh arts:
Mario Schulzke is the Founder of ideamensch, which he started a decade ago to learn from entrepreneurs and give them a platform for their ideas.