We were lucky to catch up with Alieska Robles recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alieska, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I ask myself this question almost every day. I can only speak for my experience from my very small creative studio. Being a business owner provides great satisfaction and the opportunity to work on projects that are meaningful to me and those around me. However, I often wonder if having a regular job would clear some of the worries and frustrations of working for yourself while offering a better division of work time versus personal time.
Most people fall for the romantic idea of choosing your hours and doing what you love. Still, in reality, you end up working overtime almost all the time, and it becomes difficult to establish clear boundaries between work schedules and personal time. You also do what you love only 30% of the time, while the rest gets quickly filled with admin tasks, troubleshooting, branding, marketing, sales, distribution, networking, accounting, emails and phone calls.
I am currently at a point where I’m at maximum capacity, but I still have a long way to go before I can afford to hire someone full-time. I value collaborations and project partnerships, but after the projects are delivered, the people involved usually go with them. Sometimes I feel that the reason why I think about regular jobs so often is because I’m longing for a team to provide stability and support so we can bounce ideas off each other, be creative, learn, grow and do good together.
Alieska, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My career has been ever-evolving, I started working in the production department for a film studio, and after gaining experience managing film crews, solving problems on set, and building creative collaborations, I decided to craft my own path and start my business, which coincided with the decision to emigrate from my home country of Venezuela. My solo journey began with food photography, as it combined two of my passions and many childhood memories. After a few years of developing a digital portfolio, I crafted my first cookbook, the Forest City Cookbook, which reinforced my love for print projects and helped me build a community through food.
In 2019, I shifted my focus from digital to print projects and rebranded my business into Hamaka Creativity Lab, a creative studio dedicated to indie print publications that help preserve our cultural heritage and celebrate food, craftsmanship, and nature. Aside from publishing my own projects, I find joy in helping authors, artists, makers, and brands preserve their legacies in print. I value listening to diverse voices and feel inspired when people overcome social and creative obstacles. We all have something to share, and all stories have value.
People’s stories have immense power; they can inspire, teach, comfort, and heal. My motivation is, and always will be, people and their journeys, and my clients include people looking to publish their stories and audiences looking for inspiration through carefully-curated books and magazines.
In 2022, I released an in-house magazine, Hamaka Magazine, to celebrate Canadian makers and learn more about people and places. I am a storyteller by heart and an all-time supporter of artists, makers, and farmers so that each volume will dive into different trades—honouring those who work with their hands, source materials in the wild, and find fulfillment in their craft.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Company of One by Paul Jarvis made me rethink my idea of success. We are constantly bombarded by Silicon Valley stories of people starting their businesses in their basements and turning them into billion-dollar companies with offices the size of entire buildings. I used to focus on growth because it is what most people aim for, but growth doesn’t equal success and also doesn’t equal happiness. The book made me question the status quo and strive for balance instead, so I can build my life around my business and not be chained to my desk 24/7.
Keeping my business small allows me to provide better service and engage deeper with my clients and audience. It makes it easier to recover quickly from challenging situations, change pace if needed, and adapt to each situation without the complexities and high costs associated with owning bigger businesses.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
A big misconception is that we can be creative all the time and produce infinite work. Creativity is not a switch we can turn on and off as we choose. Over the past years, the idea of being constantly busy and always hustling became celebrated, while doing “nothing” became the evil twin we must avoid at all costs.
In reality, the best ideas often develop during off-time, while running, cooking, cycling, camping or spending time with friends, so it is important to reserve time for leisure and give our creative minds a break. Ideas need time to brew. The demand for more has been detrimental to the quality of work that many creatives put out because quantity has become more valuable than quality. Overworked minds may produce more, but rested ones will create better outcomes.
We need to reverse those consumerist philosophies and support the artists that care about craftsmanship and give their work the proper time to evolve (including downtime) and compensate them accordingly. We don’t need to optimize every minute of our day. In fact, we need to do the opposite more often.
Contact Info:
- Website: hamakamakes.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/hamakamakes/
- Youtube: youtube.com/@hamakamakes