#69 When Momentum Stalls

Courtney Gray  explains that stalled momentum doesn’t mean a maker isn’t talented or worthy, it usually reflects the sustained effort required to build something from scratch and the work needed to restart after interruption. She recounts starting her jewelry business at 24, then dismantling it to complete a welding technology internship in Germany, and returning home to a year-long struggle to regain traction, which triggered self-doubt. 

The turning point was a clear decision to fully commit rather than keep an “easy exit,” followed by consistent action, studio space, creating, visibility, follow-up, marketing, and relationship-building. She encourages listeners to define what they’re building, what sustainability means, their financial threshold, capacity, and a 12-month commitment, and notes real sustainability took about five years for steady income. 

Transcript

#69: When Momentum Stalls

[00:00:00] Welcome to The Jeweler's View. I'm Courtney Gray, metalsmith educator and creative business strategist. After 25 years in the jewelry industry, running one of the country's top metalsmithing schools, coaching artists, advising companies and organizations, and hosting interviews with some of the best in the craft.

I finally created the kind of support I wish I'd had from the start. This podcast is a part of that. Each week I share the lessons I had to learn the hard way so you can build a rhythm that supports your creative work, your values, and the life and business you actually want. Find tools, coaching and my transform course@courtneygrayarts.com and let's get to work. 

This episode is sponsored by Bonny Doon Tools. If you're a jeweler who's tired of hammering the same shape and hoping it comes out right, that's exactly what a press is for. Bonny Doon builds hydraulic [00:01:00] presses and precision dies that turn one-off. Experiments into repeatable pieces you can trust.

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Courtney Gray: Hey there. Welcome back to The Jeweler's View. I wanna talk about something that really doesn't get said quite enough. Well, maybe it does on this podcast, 'cause we're here to talk about the reality of being a maker. Momentum, momentum stalls, and when it does, the first thing that most people do is make it mean something about themselves.

That maybe they're not cut out for this, that they don't have what it takes. Other people can do it, but maybe they can't. I wanna stop that story before it starts taking root. Because momentum stalls for one reason. Building [00:02:00] something from scratch takes more sustained effort than most people realize. And if you interrupt that effort,

Getting it back takes real work. That's it. That's the whole story. Not about talent, not about worthiness. Not whether the dream was real I know this because I lived it.

When I was 24, I started my jewelry business in my garage. I was also newly in love with my now husband. Two big things were just beginning and building something from nothing requires figuring out fast, how to survive while you do it. I rented a house that was beyond my means and rented out the rooms for slightly more than I paid so I could cover the cost of living while I built things.

I took wedding ring jobs from friends and bridesmaid pendants. Small commission jobs. Really said yes to anything, and honestly, it was [00:03:00] working enough jobs were coming in that I didn't need a nine to five. I wasn't building someone else's dream anymore. I was building mine and I could see it.

I thought, I can actually do this. I could do this forever. Then I made a decision that complicated all of it as we do in our twenties, . And I had already committed to this internship in welding technology in Germany. Before the business, before falling in love, technical, challenging. I wanted that experience. I wanted to challenge myself, so I honored that commitment. I didn't back out. I got on a plane and I went, but honoring this meant packing up the business that I'd already started selling.

Pretty much everything I owned and keeping only my core equipment. I didn't pause it, I dismantled it. I thought seven to eight months minimum I'll do Ireland, [00:04:00] Spain, of course, Germany, Italy, Amsterdam, and then I'll get a job in Europe and stay for a while longer so I can really immerse in a new culture.

That didn't quite work out how I expected, but I digress. So this was life changing in a lot of right ways and also threw me quite a curve ball. But here's what I didn't fully understand or reckon with before I left. When you're building something new, it requires consistent oxygen planning, networking, selling, creating, following up, planting seeds over and over again, then watering those seeds.

I thought, well, when I came back, I would just rebuild. I'll just start again. Start fresh with where I was when I left. What I didn't account for was that I wasn't picking up where I left off.

I had sold where I left off. I was starting [00:05:00] over. When I got home, I moved in with my husband, but I couldn't get traction for, it felt like forever, but it was about a year I was working, I was trying, my momentum was stalled. I felt no energy, no passion. And here's what that does to you, and this is maybe obvious, but it's worth saying.

The questions start to creep in. Was I serious? Was I even good at this? Was this ever going to work or was that just a passing time should I just go get a job and be done with it? That's the crossroads many of us find ourselves at

and if you're sitting in that place right now, I want you to know this is not a stop sign. That is actually the cost of entry. What changed wasn't some brilliant strategy or awakening. It was a decision. I decided I was not going back to work for someone else unless I [00:06:00] absolutely had to. That was it. That was the shift.

When you remove the easy exit, something clicks, something clarifies. You stop entertaining the alternative, and you start solving the actual problem. I found a studio space. I got back to work creative side. My jewelry school eventually grew out of that period, but it was born from commitment, not inspiration alone.

Here is why I'm telling you this. When momentum stalls, most people assume it means stop that we're never gonna get going again. It doesn't. It means you're at a decision point, and most people don't make the decision fully. They half to commit. They test the water. They say things like, I'm gonna try and they hope it picks up.

But building something sustainable requires a little more than hope. [00:07:00] And the thing I wish I'd had in that stall year was miserable. More than encouragement, more than inspiration was someone asking me some of the hard questions. What is it you're trying to build? What are you actually building? What does sustainable mean for your life right now?

What is your financial threshold? What is your real capacity? What are you willing to commit to for the next 12 months? Without those answers, you're planting seeds randomly and hoping something grows out of it. With those answers, you start planting intentionally. That's exactly why I built Transform, not to hype you up, not to sell you a dream, but to do that harder, slower, more honest work of figuring out what you're actually building and what it's going to require. Now, if that's what you need, I'd love to have you join [00:08:00] this

cohort. We're starting soon, but let me ground this even further because I wanna be honest with you about timelines. Sustainability does not happen in six months for me, honestly. I'm gonna tell you, the five year mark was when I could see a steady paycheck. Not a million bucks here, not huge, but steady, consistent, something I could rely on each month, and that's what most people actually want. And honestly, it's what we need. When you dismantle something and you come back to it, it can take about a year of focused effort to regain real traction. One solid year. Consistent output.

Consistent visibility, consistent follow up, consistent marketing, relationship building, word of mouth, showing up where your ideal customers [00:09:00] are. It's not just making the work. I wish it was. I know we all wish it was. Can we just make beautiful things and people show up for them? No, unfortunately, it's putting it in the world repeatedly, even when it's uncomfortable, and even when nothing seems to be responding, still do it show up,

so if your momentum has stalled, I want you to ask yourself three things. Have I truly defined and decided, have I committed for the next year? Have I defined what sustainable actually means for me success, not for someone else, not for the highlight real of my life, right? Like that hopeful perspective other people.

See, what does it really mean to you? That's the crossroads. And in the next episode I'm gonna take you to mine. The second crossroads I had to face came [00:10:00] years later and it cost me a lot more than momentum. It cost me something I had spent years building and nearly cost me a lot more than that.

Sometimes direction requires letting go of something you love so you can get something else, and that's even harder than starting sometimes. Alright. Hang in there. Momentum comes and it ebbs and flows. Trust the process. I'll see you next week. Thanks for listening to The Jeweler's View. If today's episode gave you something to think about, you'll find tools, coaching resources, and the transform course@courtneygrayarts.com. Remember you're not behind.

You're becoming exactly the kind of maker your business needs and that kind of depth. It takes time. I'll be back next week, same time, onward and upward. I.