#1 Take the Leap: How One Small Step Can Change Your Creative Life

When you feel stuck, unqualified, or like the timing isn’t right, the most powerful thing you can do is begin anyway. Episode 1 of The Jeweler’s View isn’t just a welcome message—it’s a rallying cry for anyone wondering if they’re too late, too early, or just not ready. Through stories from the job site to the jewelry bench, I share how one decision at a time led to an unexpected and deeply creative career.

Start Where You Are

I didn’t begin in jewelry. I began in a Whole Foods bakery, slicing bread and wondering what the heck I was doing with my time. It wasn’t about jewelry at first. It was about the tools, the hands-on work, the feeling of building something real. That inner pull to create led me through welding school, construction sites, a sheet metal union, and eventually, into jewelry manufacturing.

None of those moves were perfectly planned. They were led by instinct, trial and error, and a willingness to ask (and ask again) for opportunities.

That’s how I landed my first casting job—I showed up, over and over, until they saw my determination. That’s how my school began too: in the small windows of time during naptime, with a one-year-old at home, I built courses piece by piece. It wasn’t convenient. It was driven.

Fear Will Visit—But You Don’t Have to Let It Drive

This first episode is about taking the leap even when fear sits beside you. We all ask: What if I’m not good enough? What if I waste materials? What if nobody buys my work? What will people think? I’ve been underestimated in construction zones and classrooms. But I used those doubts as fuel. Not because I was fearless—but because I was curious.

It takes courage to let go of perfectionism. To try anyway. To decide that your passion is worth the risk of failure.

Real Makers. Real Change.

Over the years, I’ve worked with students from every background: doctors, preachers, bartenders, moms, marketers. What they had in common wasn’t talent or experience—it was the decision to walk through the door.

Some had physical challenges. One of my most inspiring students worked with one fully developed hand. She learned to solder, to carve wax, to create. And she was brilliant.

The message? There is always a way. And the most successful artists I know? They stay curious. They keep showing up. They don’t let perfection get in the way of progress.

The Takeaway: What’s the Next Best Step?

If you’re feeling overwhelmed or frozen by indecision, come back to this: What’s the next best step I can take today?

It doesn’t have to be big. But it has to be yours.

Make the call. Pick up the tool. Open the sketchbook. Say yes to the class.

Momentum builds clarity. Courage is practiced. And you are capable of more than you think.

Listen to the full episode: 🎧 Episode 1 – "Taking the Leap Into the Unknown"🎧 Episode 1 – "Taking the Leap Into the Unknown"

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Want more episodes + resources? Visit: www.CourtneyGrayArts.com