VIDEO: My journey creating self employment plans to be a professional artist.

[azurebreeze]

Greetings,

VIDEO: Buffy's Introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMVL4Bs4YCI

This is an introductory video I created to introduce myself on the
internet and be the first video of a series of videos explaining my
journey as I create self employment plans to be a professional artist.
I am a disabled mental health consumer living in Waukesha, WI.

Right now, I am in the process of developing self employment plans to
be a professional artist as you may already know. But being disabled
is posing challenges so I am in uncharted waters even with a B.A.
Business & Management degree from Alverno College. In addition to
everything you got to know and implement for a business plan I have
the added responsibility of working around my disability plus
following all the rules that impact that. For example Social security
has a bunch of rules, my health insurance, rent assistance, food
stamps all have alot of complicated rules. When you take this all into
factor it's so easy for anybody to be overwhelmed by the entire
process as a disabled person taking these steps.

So first off I need support. I am a member of Spring City Corner
Clubhouse
http://www.st-al.org/clubhouse.htm Basically, I have been a member
there for four years and it's a place for a Waukesha resident with a
mental illness can come to empower themselves by making work goals and
for support. I talked with the Program Director recently and
discovered no one has documented the process of creating self
employment plans for people with a disabilities there yet. So, I get
this idea. I can use my journey to creating and implementing my self
employment plans to be a professional artist and I can document my
journey to share with others who are interested in following my path.
I want to create a file of research on resources and articles
revolving entrepreneurship for people with disabilities. I even talked
to the Program Director and I got her permission to use the Clubhouse
video camera where I plan on making videos about putting together self
employment plans for disabled people. I want to be able to upload the
videos on YouTube and Facebook so I can reach out to others who are in
the same predicament as I am. I want to share my healing journey as I
move closer to my dreams.

It's hard to find support to do something like this where I am. But I
have been reaching out and explaining my vision to those around me and
at Clubhouse. Though people haven't documented doing this journey,
they are starting to get excited to hear about what I am doing and
have already set in motion. Time is such a factor trying to do this. I
am already working a job and it's a struggling to do just that, but
it's also challenging to take on more work to bring about this whole
birthing process to be self employed. I laid down goals to do this 2
years ago and I set down a 5 year goal to be self employed as a
professional artist by 2012. I tried to give myself plenty of time to
pull everything together. See I have post traumatic stress disorder
and I try to minizmize stress at all costs. However, I find while
people imposing deadlines on me most stressful, if I personally chose
my own goals and deadlines I feel more empowered and less stressed. If
for some reason I am no where close to my goals I can always change
the deadline according to my needs. I am the one in power and in
control.

So I was dreaming the other day and I came up with the name
Azurebreeze Creations I want to use for to describe my creative
expressions. This kind of umbrella of my various creative pursuits
including publishing writings, beadwork, greeting cards, or whatever
else my mind conjures up. I even started sketching out a logo I want
to use and have already begun using it on my homemade greeting cards.
So, when you look on the back instead of seeing Hallmark you see
Azurebreeze Creations.

I am also tapping in to my spirituality as the source of empowerment
and strength. My church serves alot of people with disabilities and
really lifts them up. I plan to be more connected with my church to
for additional support. There is also my Native American spirituality
which is a source wisdom and direction. I know there are resources for
Native American entrepreneurs which is good. A medicine woman already
said I had a vision at 16 which basically the message was that I am to
be a bridge builder to connect my Native American heritage to the
other nations. I see my creative expressions tapping into my Native
American culture which really resonates with me. I also went on a
vision quest which was revealed to me that I am meant to help the
underdog. I see documenting and sharing my journey to helping others
like me to rise up and those with the same dream to dare to take them
the steps to make them a reality my way of supporting those who have
to struggle like me. I believe the journey will be a very interesting
healing journey as I weave all these threads together. I am jazzed!

Thanks for listening to me,
Buffy
aka Wenona Gardner<Photo 1>