Inspiration can be an amazing thing. When you're in the flow of it the feeling is one of the best things on earth. When you're outside of design inspiration and struggling with it you feel deeply frustrated and useless. So what do you do when you have a creative business and you need to be creating? As a jewelry designer and writer I know exactly how this feels and have to find ways to get away from the frustration and into inspiration.

Sometimes I find having to create a new design just too challenging and I don't have the inspiration and motivation for it. I sit there struggling and I have learned to just go with the flow and leave the creative exercise aside.

Instead I work on the regular designs that need updating and some attention of their own. I use to try to push the inspiration out of me but now I just go with the flow and do what I can do and that is good for the business too.

Yes, there are times when I need to come up with new designs for particular occasions but instead of trying initially for something out of the box I go for a design that is inspired by an existing design. I find that once I get started things improve and ideas start coming to me. Then I start making new designs that are inspired and original.

If I am fighting with myself then there is no room for other ideas to come and explore. If I am beating myself up then the designs inspirations won't come - there's no room for them. So I have learned to allow emotional space for creative inspiration by being kind to myself and letting things happen.

I know when I am writing it can sometimes be 99% effort and 1% inspiration and that is fine - it is the idea that matters and it is the skill of the writer/designer to bring it into reality. I learned that lesson as a contract professional writer so figuring out to apply the same logic to designing jewelry made a lot of sense and is successful.

So when you're struggling with inspiration let go lightly and work on something that will allow ideas to come and be explored without tension. Give inspiration the chance to come in its own time and way. Figure out what are your triggers for inspiration and creativity and what makes it stay away. Once you start understanding how your creative muse works you can make your life much easier. For me it is about being happy, enjoying life, seeing beauty and being relaxed. So putting myself into this space by taking pressure of myself is a great solution.

Write down a list of things that work for you and things that don't work for you, so you can bring about a creative and inspirational environment to do what you need to do. Empower yourself by knowing yourself.

Belinda Stinson is the designer and owner of - a popular and successful jewelry and jewelry display stand gift idea store. Belinda also offers a range of business and marketing articles online published in the monthly email newsletter to help other businesses success.

Find out more about building a prosperous business with Belinda's free resources. The free email newsletter keeps you informed about new resources as well as jewelry designs and sales.

You can also see Belinda's designs at the Creatively Belle online store.