Erik Young is one of my friends from high school. In this episode we broke from the normal format of the show and talked about our thoughts on creativity, inspiration, the education system, and learning from your mistakes. We also talked about some of the projects he's worked on including his children's book and work as owner of 7Mangos.
A recap of episode 88 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Shawn Coss where he talks about why there’s no formula for becoming a popular artist, defining success on your own terms, and why running an art business is such hard work, among many other things.
Shawn Coss grew up loving cartoons, but never dreamed it could become his full-time job. He grew up in a time and place where art wasn't considered a viable career.
His dad told him he should get a "real job" instead of pursuing his dreams. The thought was, you could only be a professional artist if you went to an art institute, or learned at Disney. Like most people who grow up in difficult financial situations, Shawn's dad didn't want Shawn to grow up with the same hardships he had to go through.
Shawn hit his first break when he met Kris Wilson of Cyanhide and Happiness through MySpace. Kris liked Shawn's work so much, that he invited him to work on the C&H team.
Cyanide and Happiness provided Shawn enough financial stability to start his own clothing company, Any Means Necessary. One of the clothing company's campaigns, Inktober, brought an influx of fans and attention.
This brings Shawn to a an exciting but difficult crossroads. Should he go all-in on his company or keep it as a side hustle.
In this episode, Shawn talks about why there's no formula for becoming a popular artist, defining success on your own terms, and why running an art business is such hard work, among many other things.
Here are three things you can learn from Shawn:
When we see other artists living out their dreams, we often wonder how they achieved success. We want to know exactly what they did so we can copy their path.
The problem is, there is no secret formula for becoming a popular artist. There's no shortcut for gaining raving fans. Sometimes all it takes is a little luck. Here's how Shawn explains his break in the art world.
"When people ask me 'How did I do it?' I always tell them 'Look, I was just super lucky.' I've been gifted this ability to draw well enough to where other people, large masses, appreciate it, but the chances of someone like Kris Wilson, someone of his caliber, having a company that popular, finding me, was just a needle in a haystack. He could have messaged anyone else he wanted... but at that moment he messaged me. And that kind of changed my life."
One thing you can do to keep your sanity is, stop chasing the idea of being a popular artist. Popularity comes when people appreciate your art. It's not something you can manufacture.
"I'll have other artists message me, and be like 'How do I become a popular artist?' Well that's your first mistake, because you're trying to be a popular artist. I never pursued the popular art, I just did artwork and unfortunately, not everyone gets to do it."
Success is such a subjective thing. My version of success is different from yours, which is why it's so hard for artists to define what success means.
We all think that once we "make it", everything will get easier. But as Shawn explains, there's no such thing as making it. There's only re-defining your goals.
"There is no making it as an artist. You make it to a point, but there's always another point. There's always a next level to get to or achieve to."
One of the problems many of us encounter as artists is the ups and downs of being a creative. One day everything is going great and everyone loves your work. The next day there's radio silence.
That's the problem with riding the wave of social media success. We have no control over who sees our posts. We are at the whims of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter.
"It's definitely a weird emotional ride because some days you're riding cloud nine and everything's awesome, and then maybe in a week or two, there's nothing happening. You're not getting the accolades that you're used to and I feel like social media has a lot to blame on this because I feel we are programmed in a way... to chase these likes and these shares and all these accolades on social media that really have no weight to anything."
Social media provides that jolt of endorphins we all crave. But what do these likes and hearts really mean? When it comes to our success as artists, they feel great, but they don't really mean anything. They don't help our businesses. They don't build our fan base. They are just vanity metrics.
We need to stop chasing the shallow feeling of success social media provides us. We need to redefine our goals based on tangible success instead of our social media stats.
"How do I get that, how do I chase that back? I feel like that's been a huge issue. That happiness we get, a lot of it is being fueled by social media, and a lot of these new artists are wanting that notoriety on social media, but it's such a shallow feeling."
Many of us fantasize about growing our art hobby into a business, but there's a lot that goes into making a business work. You are going to face hardships and low moments. So the best way to deal with it is to grow a thick skin.
"Grow a thick f*cking skin. I think that's a good one because there's going to be a lot of down times, a lot of hardships you're going to go through. I thought there were a lot more downs than there were ups initially and that weeds out a lot of people. And then giving yourself time to figure out 'How long will I pursue this before I say, okay, this isn't going to happen," and I think being honest with yourself is one of the hardest things to do."
At some point in our journeys we will question whether or not we should continue pursuing art as a career. The reality is, not everyone can make it as an artist. Not everyone is going to find success. Sometimes we have to be brutally honest with ourselves.
"You just have to say 'Do I really want to keep pursuing this to make it successful, or in reality, is this going to be successful? Maybe it's not going to be successful, maybe it's not going to.' And maybe I'm wrong to say that as an artist who is successful, but again, not everyone is going to be successful. That's the reality of it. Otherwise we'd all be rich. We'd all be doing it. and some people can do it, and some people can't."
Running a sustainable art business takes a lot of work. It's not for everyone. Don't think just because you are doing what you love that everything will go smoothly. Be prepared to put in the work.
"It's not a popular thing because I don't think a lot of artists like to discourage other artists, but it's a hard thing. It's a lot of work. I tell artists I work more doing this than I've ever worked any nine to five job. I'm working day in and day out... and it doesn't bother me but it's definitely not for the weak who want to draw a picture once every couple of weeks and sit on their laurels."
If you fantasize about resting on your laurels as an artist, you might want to reconsider your path. Just because you make art for a living doesn't mean you get to just create for a few hours and call it a day. There's a business involved too, and running a business takes hard work.
"People think as an artist I draw a piece of art and I just get to hang out all day. I'm working so much all the time... There's a lot of work involved... No, there's a business in there too. I think that's where you get that separation of people who get it and people who don't. They see the fantasy of it and then you get people who actually understand that's there's actually hard work involved."
A recap of episode 83 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Cebo Campbell where he talks about why you should put your all into your work, why you should take your time, and why you should always strive to be the best.
Cebo Campbell grew up with a father and a community only interested in one of his talents: football. When he was a kid, his father was the coach of his football team where he stressed one thing, be the best you can be. Cebo took that advice to heart and became a dynamic football player, but due to his height, only got a football scholarship from one school. So he took it.
This is when Cebo started to shift his focus from athletics to academics. He was always creative, but it wasn't until his teacher encouraged him to major in writing that he truly started to focus on it. When you're a football player, your teammates shun you for being smart, so Cebo always tried to hide that part of his life. But after winning a writing competition as a freshman, he realized there was something there, so he ran with it.
After graduating and spending a short stint on the west coast, Cebo moved back to Florida and worked at a hotel. While working at the hotel, he convinced the owner to let him work on the hotel's website. This would be the second big shift in his life.
Cebo became interested in everything he could accomplish with website design and writing. So much so that he went to a conference centered around it. That's where he met AJ Leon. Cebo and AJ hit it off immediately. This fateful meeting ended up being the beginning of a great friendship, and eventually a job as the creative director of Misfit Inc.
In this episode, Cebo talks about why you should put your all into your work, why you should take your time, and why you should always strive to be the best.
Here are three things you can learn from Cebo:
Something Cebo believes in is the power of pouring yourself into your work. Most people believe talent is the ultimate predictor of great work, but Cebo believes great work is the result of being completely present when you're creating.
"When it comes to what is good... that whole measure, I don't think measure exists in your talent. I think the measure is in how much of you are you allowing into be present in the work that you do. Can I see it? Can I feel it?"
One of the things that prevents most of us from putting ourselves into our work is that when you make something personal, you open yourself up to criticism. But Cebo doesn't let that criticism stop him.
"The minute that you allow yourself to be into the work that you created, you open yourself up to criticism and I have no fear of criticism."
That's the problem many creatives have. They are afraid to expose themselves to criticism from the world, so they play it safe.
"That's true of a lot of creatives. They're afraid of being exposed, and so they do just enough as opposed to letting it all hang out."
And that's what separates Cebo's remarkable work and distinct style from most creators. He is willing to put everything into his work, even if it means opening himself up to vulnerability. If you want to make an impact with your work, you have to be willing to accept and embrace views from the outside world.
One of the burdens of being an artist is knowing when one of our pieces is ready for the world. Sometimes we toil over it for days, and other times we try to get it out as quickly as possible.
Cebo believes we shouldn't be in such a hurry to release our work. We need to own it and chisel it until it's ready.
"Not everything has to be shipped so fast. Not everything has to get out the door. Not everything has to be expedited. Start. Control it. Own it. Make it the way you want it to be. Chisel it if it needs to be chiseled. That's just how I look at it... I don't want to be here today, gone tomorrow."
Our necessity to get things out quickly is especially true of people who work in the digital space.
"We have a tendency, in particular with the web, any digital interface, to time stamp it to the trends of today."
Cebo doesn't believe in following today's trends. He wants his work to stand the test of time.
"I am very particular about my art. The same way I was very particular about playing sports... When it comes to art, I have no problem saying it's not ready."
Even though much of his work lives on the web, Cebo doesn't treat projects like one and dones. He doesn't let other people dictate his work. He treats everything he does like a piece of art.
"If it's not ready, it's just not ready. I hold to that because I think in the end it's art. If you abide by the rules that other people are imposing on both time and completion, then it's not your art anymore."
That's the way we should all consider approaching our work. Whether you're a writer, musician, or painter. You should treat each piece like a work of art you can be proud of.
Often times we will settle for good enough. We work so long on a project that it starts to feel like a burden. We want to get it out of our hands so we can stop worrying about it.
This mindset often holds us back from achieving greatness in our work. But if we want to create our best work, we need to trust ourselves and stop holding back.
"I believe wholeheartedly that you have to trust your talent... and there's so many people that I work with, where you can feel them holding back. You can feel it. You can see it in the work, where they're just holding back, holding back, holding back because they're afraid their skill set doesn't allow them to go further. But I will tell anyone, when I do design workshops, don't let up. What you don't know now, you'll learn. You have everything you need to do everything you want so just keep at it and you'll get where you want to go."
Always doing your best can be a challenge, but no one ever said being an artist would be easy. Anyone can create art, but very few people can create great art.
"I think it's a challenge, and it's not just a challenge to art. it's a challenge to us as humans to be the best that you can be. Take it there... If it's not where you think it should be, hold onto it."
Cebo doesn't settle for good enough. He puts everything into his work. Even though he knows he might not be the best at everything, that doesn't stop him from doing his best. That's the attitude he wants everyone to pursue, not just with their art but in everything they do.
"It's only the best that I know. It doesn't mean I'm going to be better than every person in the world. I just want to realize the potential that I feel that I have, and I think individually as a pursuit for everyone, not just in art, but in their lives just go out with intention and purpose. Take yourself seriously."
A recap of episode 81 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Ja-Nae Duane where she talks about how vulnerability leads to great work, why you need to stay in touch with your creativity, and why your mindset is so important.
A recap of episode 80 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Angela Ferrari where she talks about believing in yourself, having fun, and how struggles can lead to success.
Angela Ferrari has always lived a creative life. When she was young she lived in a rural area where she figured out creative ways to play. She would build tree forts, spray paint plants, and turn her mundane environment into stories.
Angela continued that creative streak in college where she studied studio art and painting. After college, she moved to Portland, Maine and started working at a restaurant. While working as a waitress, Angela forged relationships with the restaurant owners and patrons. After a while, Angela was able to quit her job as a waitress to work on her art full-time.
For some, having a successful business as an artist would be enough, but that wasn’t the case for Angela. One day while doing yoga, she had a vision about a dog doing yoga. This would eventually turn into her first children’s book Digger’s Daily Routine. Even with three completed books and a newly released podcast, it still feels like Angela has more creativity to share with the world.
In this episode Angela talks about believing in yourself, having fun, and how struggles can lead to success.
Here are three things you can learn from Angela:
When we are first starting out in our creative careers, a lot of self-doubt creeps in. “I’m not a professional artist, why would anyone buy from me?” we ask ourselves. We believe in our work, but don’t believe in ourselves.
That’s why it’s so important to believe in who you are and what you are doing. That’s what Angela did when she went from being a painter to also being a writer.
“A big part of it too was I was afraid of the impostor syndrome, especially transitioning from painter to writer. I was afraid to call myself a writer, and therefore I was afraid to promote myself as a writer. Once I got established painting, I liked being called a painter. I liked that being part of my identity, but it was a little harder when I was unpublished or before I launched a podcast, calling myself a podcaster. It’s hard to almost validate yourself when you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. But then I realized the action of doing it is what makes me a writer. The action of recording and creating episodes is what made me a podcaster.”
The only way you can overcome the impostor syndrome is by believing in what you do. You have to own it.
“Once I started being kinda comfortable with myself and saying yes, I do belong in this space, and I can put myself out there, not just my work, but myself into my work, and that’s now part of my identity.”
Many of us believe we just have to reach our goals and we’ll have “made it.” The truth is, there’s no such thing as making it. The bar is constantly moving. You have to evolve with that sliding scale.
“You never really arrive. You’re always going to be growing in this creative space. You’re always going to be evolving in staying current in your field. So once you start that initial page in the book, you now are a writer. The more you say to yourself, “I am this. I am doing this.” Then it kind of positively reinforces and motivates you to say “I need to follow through because this is now part of who I am.”
Most creative people discover their love for art early in life because they had a blast while creating. We enjoyed every moment of the creative process from dipping the brush into the paints to wrapping up a finished painting.
But along the way, we lose sight of that fun and joy. We let the business side of creativity distract us. We become discouraged when we don’t see immediate results. Angela found a way around this by making sure everything she does is fun.
“For me, I don’t like doing something if it’s not fun. I like to have fun and it’s everything from cooking to working out, once I find a method of ‘Oh, this is a creative way I can do this. This works for me.”
This was especially true for the way she approached marketing. She found a way to make marketing fun.
“My approach to marketing, I knew it’s necessary and it feeds into that big picture goal I have of ‘Okay, I want to tell stories. That’s my big goal.’ So I start telling stories when I market. I find really fun images to use when I create campaigns for social media. And starting a podcast was a way I could promote myself in an authentic way or I could use my voice and speak directly to people. I knew that was something I could have fun with for marketing.”
Sure there are some tedious elements to starting and maintaining a business, but the best way to get around the tedium is to have fun with it.
“The business side, yeah there are definitely some tedious things that are hard to do, but once you learn something, you can find a way to have fun with it because the learning part of it is definitely I think the hard part of any part of a business.”
We’ve all faced struggles in our creative careers. It’s why the term “starving artist” exists. No one said living a fulfilling creative life would be easy. You will face ups and downs. You will soar to the highest highs and hit rock bottom. That’s just how the uncertain life of a creative goes.
Those same struggles are also what makes success so sweet. We might dread them in the moment, but when we look back, we are usually glad we found our way through them. That’s exactly what happened to Angela when she went from being a painter to being a writer too.
“A lot of times I look back and things that felt like struggles or hardships, I look back and think, ‘Oh thank goodness that happened.’ I mean, I’ve had a lot of rejection and failure… starting out as a painter and going and working my way up as a writer. Any time I’m submitting a piece I’d get feedback that, a lot of times I just didn’t feel like I could do it. I didn’t realize I had it in me.”
Those struggles push us to achieve more. They help us determine determine if we want to forge on. They help us ask ourselves the right questions. They help keep us honest.
“So those struggles, they definitely push me. They definitely make me check in and say ‘Do I want this enough? Is this what I want?’ And the answer has always been yes. So I’ve always had to push through by again asking the questions. Keep that goal in mind. I do have a lot of visual images in my work space… Those kinds of things are those kind of reminders that really help push me forward when I’m going through an area where I just don’t think I can do it.”
A recap of episode 78 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Kristen Fagan where she talks about letting go of your perfectionism, the power of play, and following your intuition.
Kristen Fagan has always been a creator. Even when she was young, she would create coloring book drawings for her younger family members to color in. That creative mindset helped her get a degree and a job doing graphic design.
After a few years working in design, her interest in art was reignited. Her job allowed her to work on her art while also working in design, which fueled her interest in paintings and drawing. Her passion for art grew so much that it even led to creating her own painting workshops.
In this episode, Kristen talks about letting go of your perfectionism, the power of play, and following your intuition.
Here are three things you can learn from Kristen:
One thing that plagues many creatives is the idea of perfectionism. We spend all of our time worrying about making things just right, that we are petrified to make mistakes.
Kristen believes we need to stop worrying about making things perfect and just let go. "Just keep letting go. Just keep letting what happens, happen on the canvas. Paint dries. You can paint over it. You can always change the outcome... and that's the same in life. You can always change the outcome. You can always do something different. Try something different. And that is so much more empowering and so much more exciting to me than being perfect."
The way we let go of our perfectionism is by taking on the mindset of a beginner. Beginners aren't afraid to screw up. They go into things head on without the fear of doing something wrong.
When you are a beginner, things are exciting and new. You get to experience things for the first time. Instead of worrying about how everything that can go wrong, look at how exciting it can be.
"You have to be a beginner. You have to allow yourself to be a beginner. And by being a beginner, then all of these wonderful things happen. If you just came in and knew how to do something right away, there you go, it's done, what fun is in that? What did you really learn in that journey? What things did you take away in the end? Nothing. You just came in, created it, then you're done."
So stop creating unrealistic expectations for yourself. The harder the struggle, the more fulfilling and unexpected it will be.
"So I feel like it's within those struggles that the reward is even greater and you feel like you were really able to express yourself in a way you didn't even imagine because you didn't come in with any expectation of what you were gonna do. You just let it happen."
One of the things that prevents many people from being truly creative, is their unwillingness to let go of their inhibitions and just play. As children, we let our imaginations run wild. We embrace the impossible. That all changes when we begin to grow up.
Kristen believes we need to let go of these imaginary restrictions and learn to just play again.
"As we get older... the world becomes labeled more with this and that, and good and bad, and right and wrong. And it becomes really difficult to remember that childlike wonder, and I think play is where that really brings you back."
Kristen believes the symbolism of the paintbrush prevents many people from getting started. Instead of embracing the canvas, they are let the paintbrush and canvas intimidate them.
"You can almost finish an entire painting without picking up a paintbrush, and that kind of gets people out of that mind. It's like when they pick up that paintbrush they get really nervous."
When she removes the formality of the paintbrush people begin to let go.
"If you're just playing with bubble wrap or you're playing with tissue paper or all of these random items, you don't really know what that outcome is, so you can kind of let go of it a little bit more."
Once people figure this out, it becomes much easier to play. Instead of worrying about making the wrong choices, her students are able to embrace their choices. When they learn to trust their own intuition, it leads to some amazing results.
"You just figure things out... As you go, as you play, you just start to figure things out on the canvas. And I think in the long run, you start to build a... trust of yourself because you're not worried about 'Oh, I'm gonna make the wrong choice.' You go 'I'm just gonna make this choice and I'm gonna do it. If I don't like it, I can paint over it... And other times you go 'Wow, what did I just make? That's amazing.' And now you have this whole new feeling of trusting your intuition and that I can do this on my own. And you don't have to show me every step. I can just play and see where this leads."
Early in our creative careers it's easy to take every job that comes our way. We want to gain exposure and we want to open ourselves up to as many opportunities as possible.
But as we grow, and demand for our services grow, it becomes much harder to decide what we should work on. Kristen has solved this dilemma by relying on her intuition.
"You have to know what your mission is and not get too distracted. And I think the work on my intuition over the past two years with my painting practice has made it easier for me to feel like when something is right, or maybe something is a little bit off. And feeling a little nervous when you say yes to something is one thing, but if you feel sick... you should say no."
Listening to your intuition is easier said than done. Some opportunities sound good on the surface, but they might also drive us crazy. In the end, it all comes down to being in touch with yourself.
"It really comes back to working on your intuition and being in touch with yourself, however that means for you... and when other things arise, you can say 'Is this a feel good nervous yes or is this a uhh this sounds terrible,' And really be able to tap into that and listen to yourself."
It's all about listening to what your mind and body are telling you. And just like other skills you want to perfect, honing your intuition takes practice.
"When you're not practicing your intuition or you're not in touch with it, sometimes it's hard to tell. I think when you give yourself that space of self-care and all those things that allow you to make those choices when stuff comes up, because you can really listen to what it is your body is telling you."
A recap of episode 76 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Melissa Dinwiddie where she talks about being happy with your self and your work, making time for your goals and creativity, and sharing your work without expectations, among many other things.
Melissa Dinwiddie spent much of her life thinking she wasn't an artist. Even though she loved doing creative things, and her parents encouraged her to become an artist, she still chose to take a different path. She was intimidated by all the people who drew better than her, so she stopped making art for 15 years.
Even a stint as a dance student at Julliard, a prestigious performing arts school, didn't convince her to stick with her creative inclinations. Instead, she went to school for cultural studies and even attempted to get her PhD.
While trying to fill out her PhD application, she was filled with fear. Her body was telling her something wasn't right. It was telling her to be more creative.
This integral moment in her life brought her back to creativity. It led her to create a business around designing ketubahs, and eventually led her to creating her blog Living a Creative Life.
In this episode Melissa talks about being happy with your self and your work, making time for your goals and creativity, and sharing your work without expectations, among many other things.
Here are three things you can learn from Melissa:
One of the misconceptions we develop early in life is believing that people can create great things with little to no effort. We wonder why we struggle so much while those around us create amazing things.
The truth is, most people don't have an innate talent. Most people go through the same struggles we do. We just don't see it. So we just assume everyone else is great and we aren't.
Making this discovery changed the way Melissa viewed her art.
"Part of me still believed... that if it were truly possible, if I were truly talented, if I were a genius, than I would instantaneously be able to do all this stuff. I used to looked at people's finished pieces and, without realizing it, I would assume that they just picked up a pen, picked up a brush, and went to town, and booms there's this incredible finished piece that in fact, in reality... was planned out and designed, and took them fifty-two hours or something... so I think that I knew that I must be getting better and there must be hope for improvement."
That doesn't mean she wasn't envious of people who created great work. She decided that her self-worth shouldn't be tied to whether or not she was a genius. She realized that it was okay to be a normal person.
"I used to flip through the pages of the premier lettering arts journal, Letter Arts Review, and I would cry because I knew my work was never going to be that good. And God, my ego was so tied up in , I think I believed on some level... that in order to be okay, in order to be worthy and a loveable person, I needed to be a genius. You know, out of this world amazing, out of this world outstanding, remarkable, and one of the really wonderful things about getting older is that... I have let myself off the hook and essentially forgiving myself for being a regular person, and life is a lot better on this side."
After years of worrying about being the best, Melissa realized that happiness is more important than the constant need to feel validated.
"The younger me might look at the older me and think, 'My God, you just let yourself go, you've given up,' and on this side of it, I see it really differently. I see it as, 'Yeah, but my life is so much happier.' Back then I didn't care about happiness. I wanted to be great. Why did I want to be great? I guess I thought it would give me happiness."
One of the most overused phrases we all use as creatives is I don't have enough time. We blame our lack of time for our lack of progress or success. But the truth is, time is just a convenient excuse. "If you can't put fifteen minutes a day into your art, you're making an excuse."
Melissa used time as an excuse for ten years. She said she didn't have the time, but in actuality, she was paralyzed by fear.
"I've been making an excuse for ten years, saying 'I don't have time, I don't have time, I don't have time...' It wasn't about the time. It was about fear. It was about perfectionism. It was about comparison trap. It was self-doubt. It was all those things getting in my way, but time was this really convenient excuse."
If you are having trouble making room for your creative work, just dedicate a little bit of time to it every day. By spending fifteen minutes a day on her creativity, Melissa was able to keep her creative juices flowing.
"When I spend just a little bit of time every day, it keeps my toe in the creative stream. So I constantly feel like I am immersed in my creativity. Whereas, imagine if I were to spend two hours once a week, which is actually more than fifteen minutes a day for seven days. But two hours once a week would not have that sense of keeping my toe in the creative stream, but just a little bit every day, does. Plus the hardest part is starting, and when the commitment is tiny... it gets you past the starting friction."
If there's anything we can learn from Melissa it's that we need to stop using time as an excuse. If you really want to get something done, you have to find the time for it. You have to prioritize your time and make room for it on your schedule.
"It's really not a matter of finding the time. It's a matter of making the time. You have to schedule it in. And like I said, I'm a big believer in scheduling it earlier in the day, because then you have less time for monkey wrenches to get thrown into the works... that tiny little bit of time. It's amazing baby steps will get you anywhere if you do enough of them."
More often than not, there is one critic in particular that prevents us from achieving our goals. This critic knows exactly what to say to keep us down. That critic is ourselves.
We are so afraid that others will see the flaws in our work that we become paralyzed by it. But others don't see the flaws we see. And realizing that was one of the most empowering lessons Melissa has learned.
"We're all so afraid to share our work because we're afraid people are going to see what we see. They're going to see what's not living up, where it's lacking, and they don't see that. But we're afraid they're going to and we're afraid to be humiliated, and we're afraid to be so horrified and embarrassed... My experience has been, when I just put my work out there... no comment, no apologies... just put it out there and then watch and see what happens... that has been so empowering."
Even when we don't think our work is good or worthy, we can never predict how others will react to it. The work Melissa feels the least comfortable with is often the work that people appreciate the most.
"I can't tell you how many times I put something out there and think 'Ugh, that wasn't my best effort... I'm embarrassed to share this but I'm going to because I'm doing this practice. I'm practicing putting things out there and that's the thing that I'm embarrassed by.' I'm cringing because I'm pushing the publish button or whatever. But that's the thing that gets a bazillion likes, that gets somebody emailing me and saying, 'Oh my god, I needed to hear that today."
That's not to say you should seek validation from others. What we really need to do is publish our work and see what comes from it.
"We definitely don't want to get caught up in seeking validation from other people. That's never useful... but when I can put my work out there and let go of the outcome, and just observe... it's very liberating and it's very empowering."
Read more shownotes from episode 76 with Melissa Dinwiddie
This is a replay of episode 28 with Mike Roy. Mike Roy is an expert on the myths that hold artists back. He has explored, examined, and dissected these ideas, and explains how they hold us back from our true potential. There's a lot we can learn from Mike, so check out our great conversation.
---
Mike Roy is the creator of Artist Myth, a site dedicated to helping artists overcome the things that hold them back. In this episode, Mike talks about the common myths artists believe, what people can do to overcome those myths, and how to find work you love.
Here are three things you can learn from Mike:
Artists who want to make a career out of their art must first overcome the ideas that hold them back. According to Mike, the best way to do this is to ask questions.
Far too often we let others influence our beliefs. If you truly want to become an empowered and inspired artist, you must discover it for yourself. Don’t believe everything you hear.
How do you do this? First you must ask why, then you must follow up and find out why. This allows you to make your own informed and educated opinions.
Many people want to live a creative and fulfilling life, but don’t know where to start. If you are in this boat, you can follow Mike’s three spotlight method for finding the work you love.
First comes your passion. If you want to live an inspired life, you must find out what gets you excited.
Second is your talents. What are you good at? How can you use these things to fulfill your creative purpose?
Last, you must find your market. Discover those who want what you have to offer. They are your tribe.
When you are able to combine these three things, you can begin to build a business around them.
It’s very hard to combine your passion, talent, and market. If you already know them, you are ahead of most people, and now it’s time for you to take action.
This is where many people fall off the wagon. They can pin point everything they need, but they find it hard to do the work. But that is the most important, and most difficult part.
You do this by putting your work out their and getting validation from it. If you want to know if people will buy your work, you must put it out there.
Doing this will give you valuable feedback on what people like and don’t like about your work. You can use this to grow your business and become a better artist.
Read more shownotes with Mike Roy
A recap of episode 74 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Dave Conrey where he talks about the importance of connecting with others, some of his keys to building a creative business, and getting started.
Dave Conrey‘s path to becoming a full-time artist is not a simple one. Growing up, he wasn’t that passionate about art, but over time, and after a series of jobs and ventures, he has finally dedicated himself to the idea.
After going to school for art and graphic design, Dave had two separate stints as an art director, but was laid off both times. He also spent time as a author, podcaster, and creator of Fresh Rag, which helped artists sell their work.
After years of feeling unfulfilled, Dave finally decided to put everything else on hiatus to pursue his art full-time.
In this episode, Dave talks about the importance of connecting with others, some of his keys to building a creative business, and getting started.
Here are three things you can learn from Dave:
One of the most important things we can do as artists and creatives is building a strong connection with other people. When Dave hosted the Fresh Rag show, people listened to it because his conversations felt deep and meaningful.
His conversations felt fresh and different because he didn’t try to force conversations with people just because they were famous. He just tried to build a report with his guests so they would have great conversations. “The most important factor for me is having a really good conversation, rather than just two people that might not know each other very well, talking about it, and the conversation is happening, but it’s kinda weird because there’s no real relationship built up. It’s just two people talking about it. And I want to have people that I know on so that we can have good conversations about it. And their experience level is less important to me than how charismatic they are in that conversation.”
The best way to build up to those great conversations is by building and fostering relationships with people. You are much more likely to have a great conversation with someone if there is a mutual trust and respect for each other. “It really comes down to having and building relationships with people over time. I mean, the people I’m going to have on the show are people that I’ve known, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes for years.”
Dave is a believer that there are a couple of keys to building your creative business. The first is building a brand that people love. The problem with branding is many creatives don’t know what their brand is. They believe good branding is just selling great products. But having a good product is not enough. “If you’re building up a brand that people love and adore, they follow you, not because of your product. I mean you make good products, that’s just important to make great products, but they’re not… on the edge of their seat waiting for your next Instagram post because your products are good. It’s because you are telling good stories and you… have good customer interaction and you have these relationships built.”
Another important factor for creative businesses is getting over your fears. Dave helped his audience get over their fears by having them participate in thirty day challenges. These challenges helped to change people’s mindsets from one of fear to one of action. “In my opinion, mindset is very important to how we do the things we do and so the idea was to create this thirty day challenge where you do a certain thing every day, or every single time you pick up a new challenge, whether it’s daily, weekly, or whatever. You pick up this challenge and do this thing, and it helps you kinda grow as an artist and grow as a maker. And whether its super actionable things you can do to… change your marketing program or it’s something you do in your head, getting outside of fear, the very first action is very fear based… fighting fear.”
One of the most easily overlooked, but incredibly important, aspects of creative work is just getting started. This may sound like an obvious suggestion, but often times we wait too long before taking action. We are so worried about failure that we instead of releasing something imperfect, we release nothing at all.
Dave believes we need to stop worrying so much and just get started. “Let’s say somebody wants to sell their photographic art prints… Figure out where you want to sell it and then just go put that stuff up there. Don’t worry about failing. Don’t worry about getting it wrong. Don’t worry about who’s going to see it because chances are nobody’s going to see it at first. Don’t worry about making sure you get your logo just so… don’t worry about any of that. Just get out there and post that thing up and then repeat the process, and then tweak as you go.”
Something that holds many creatives back, including myself, is the desire for perfection. But perfection is not only elusive, it’s impossible. You can’t wait for the stars to align because they never will. There is no better time than now. Remember, you can always start now and tweak later. “It’s less important for you to get it right and more important for you to get it out there and fix and tweak later because that makes all the difference. The ones that who take the action today, right now, are the ones who are going to win. The ones who are sitting back thinking ‘I don’t know. I’ll launch my show next month when I have everything just perfect,’ or ‘I’m going to buy that new microphone,’ or ‘I’m going to start my blog when I have enough money to get the really great theme that I need.’ Forget it man, just go.”
This is a replay of episode 27 with Lee Moyer. If you want an idea of what it's like to build a successful career as an artist and illustrator, look no further than Lee. He has some great advice that's worth re-sharing for those of you who didn't catch it the first time or for those who want to re-listen to Lee's great wisdom.
--
Lee Moyer is a polymath and illustrator who has been working for over 35 years. He has worked with book publishers, theaters, and game developers among many other things. In this episode, we talk about a lot of topics including learning from others, how to handle criticism and information overload, and his Kickstarter project The Doom that Came to Atlantic City.
Here are three things you can learn from Lee:
Lee is a big believer in learning from those who came before you. He never had a traditional art education and doesn’t think it is necessary to become a great artist.
In order to become a better artist, he studied under other artists and absorbed their knowledge. This allowed him to learn under the best and the brightest instead of going into debt by going to art school.
He is also a big believer in joining forums and learning from artists on the internet. These avenues make it easier than ever to become a better, more refined artist.
Lee believes criticism is an important part of becoming a better artist. Instead of letting criticism get to you, learn from what others are trying to tell you.
People who critique your work are using their own time and energy to give you constructive feedback. Listen to what they they have to say and instead of taking it personally. If people didn’t like you, they wouldn’t bother to critique you.
Everyone must deal with impostor syndrome. Even the late, great B.B. King was not immune from it. In order to overcome your feeling of not being good enough, you have to know and believe your work will turn out well.
Even when you feel like nothing is coming together, you have to work through it. You need to be stubborn enough to work through the lulls in order to create something great. Just keep working and you will be fine.
A recap of episode 71 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Cassia Cogger wheres he talks about why we need to be open to new ideas, the importance of avoiding complacency and being consistent, and the art of simplification, among many other things.
Cassia Cogger has created art ever since she was young. In middle school she won a national contest for a laundry detergent brand. And unlike most artists, she began selling her art early in life.
After college, Cassia abandoned her artistic pursuits and got a job as an editor at a trade magazine. It was during this time that Cassia realized she wanted to become a full-time artist. So she picked up a few odd jobs to support her painting business.
Before her daughter was born, Cassia was featured in a magazine as a rising star in water color. But after her daughter's birth, she stopped painting as frequently.
It wasn't until after her second child was born that Cassia got serious about art again. The same art magazine wanted to follow up with her to see what she had done in the past five years. This was the call to action she needed to get serious about art again.
In this episode, Cassia talks about why we need to be open to new ideas, the importance of avoiding complacency and being consistent, and the art of simplification, among many other things.
Here are three things you can learn from Cassia:
One of the things that holds artists back from reaching their full potential is being too closed minded. Many artists only want to learn about one specific thing. They are not open to exploring new ideas.
Cassia used to have these closed minded ideas about art, but after a while, she started believing art can be enhanced by everything around us. "Art is everywhere and can be anything, and to limit it to something like a painting or a sculpture, I was really missing out at that time seeing work. And when I do think when you do say 'I do this' or 'I do that', you're missing out as well."
Many artists are afraid of exploring something new. We like the safety and comfort of the known. Cassia believes this mindset is holding us back. "That entire new world can be kinda scary, right? The unknown is scary. What we know is safe and it's easy and it's comfortable, but you're not growing or shifting or changing or learning."
During our conversation, Cassia realized that she wasn't just an artist. She realized she was a learner and explorer. "Having this conversation right now, maybe even more than being an artist, I am a learner... I am the consummate student. I just love information and I love figuring things out, and I love coming to the next eureka phenomena until two minutes later when something else kind of hits me. There's nothing that excites me more and maybe the creative process or making artwork is what keeps me in that state of openness that allows me to keep receiving new information again and again and again."
A lot of times, we try to do things the same way, even though they don't work. We repeat the same mistakes because it's easier than trying to forge a new path for ourselves.
Cassia believes we should stop being satisfied with the status quo. Instead, we need to try something new. "I think a lot of people hit a wall and they aren't satisfied but... they think they need to go through it, right, instead figuring out that they can build something to go over it or carve a path go around it, or heck let's burrow a tunnel to go under it. There are a number of people who reach that point and I think it's very comfortable and it's fine and wow, that would be awesome."
Another thing holding artists back is their failure to develop a routine behind their work. Instead of learning how to create work consistently, we try to work when we feel inspired. But routine is essential to becoming a better artist. It's the reason Cassia become a more creative and productive artist. "You reach this point where I have wanted to buck routine my entire life, and now I'm like so much more productive and creative and just a better person when I kinda have my systems and processes and routines and frameworks in place because I'm not wasting all this energy on trying to figure out the world around me."
One of the things that plagues most people, especially artists, is our tendency complicate things unnecessarily. Often times we do so much planning and thinking that we over complicate things.
But the best solution is often the simplest one. Cassia's art is the result of simplifying the things around her. "Art making for me is distilling my experience. It's removing the non-essential from the world around me through the process of making, and maybe that's expressed on the page, maybe I just experience it in the process, but it's about simplification."
That is why she relies on routine and consistency. When we create routines, we are able to be more productive. We are able to maximize our time because we are no longer wasting our time on the unnecessary. "In a perfect world, I do find in my perfect world, that routine and consistency just leads to far greater... productivity because I'm not wasting my time on all the other stuff."
A recap of episode 70 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Kent Sanders where he talks about why breaks are important, some of the biggest things holding us back, and changing our mindsets about money.
Kent Sanders has lived a life full of creativity ever since he was young, but it never occurred to him that he could make a living from his creativity. When Kent was young, he separated his love of creativity from his love of religion. It never occurred to him that he could combine those two interests.
After working in the ministry for a few years, he decided he wanted to go back to school to teach. He wanted to challenge himself by doing something new.
While finishing up his master’s degree, a realization dawned on him. He realized he could combine his two passions for art and religion. So he became a professor at a religious college where has taught everything from technology, to art, and film.
In this episode, Kent talks about why breaks are important, some of the biggest things holding us back, and changing our mindsets about money.
Here are three things you can learn from Kent:
One of the things that plagues many workers today is our pull to always be working. Society has led us to believe that we must work all the time in order to be successful. Kent believes it’s not about the number of hours you work, but how effective you are in the hours you do work. “The more that you work, the more people tend to look on that as a good thing. Where ‘Oh, this person has worked so much. They haven’t taken a vacation in so many years, and they’re working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, and that’s such a great thing, and they’re so devoted.’ We kind of have a messed up culture, I think, in the Western world in that regard. Where we believe that the more you work, the more effective you are, and that’s not true at all. It’s not necessarily about the number of hours, it’s about how effective you are, how you are using your time, and are you focusing in on the right things?”
Instead, Kent believes we need to set healthy boundaries for for how much we work. “We kind of have to set these limits four ourselves so that we can have some healthy boundaries.”
Because when we work so many hours, we can become distracted. We tend to lose focus. Half the time we are working and half the time we aren’t. Kent believes we can prevent this by setting up times to complete different tasks. “Sometimes we operate in that space where we’re kind of working, we’re kind of not working… to me it’s much better to set a clear, delineated line. And have specific times for things. That can be a real struggle because we can work any time and anywhere. To me it requires more self-discipline and more clear boundaries that we have to set because other people are not setting them for us.”
One of the false perceptions people have about creativity is that restraints are a bad thing. Many artists believe restraints hold us back from doing our best work. Kent believes restraints can be helpful in our creative work.
An example of this is how Kent uses timers when working. Instead of giving yourself unlimited amounts of time, you should set time limits for your work. “Actually if you set a timer and you only focus intently on that one thing, it’s amazing how fast you can get something done. The problem is that it requires a lot of focus and mental energy, and sometimes we don’t want to spend that mental energy because it’s hard. It’s really hard to focus on one thing for even ten minutes or a half hour. So that’s something that has been helpful to me, just placing that limit on yourself. But also, I think, other kinds of limits can be helpful too… because you’re forced to find other solutions to get something done.”
Kent also believes our resources are not holding us back. What we are missing is a tenacious spirit. “To me the issue is not do I have enough time to get something done or do I have enough money to get something done. To me the issue is, am I going to figure out a way to get it done no matter what, and that to me seems to be the single biggest key to success for almost anything. It’s not about the talents or gifts that you have. It’s not about how much money you have or how much time you have. It’s about having that really tenacious spirit where you say ‘I’m going to get this done no matter what. I’m going to find a way to make it happen.’ It may take longer than I want. It may not exactly be the way I wanted or it may not get done the exact way that I envision it, but I’m going to make it happen. And that to me is the most critical thing of all. You’re willing to kinda plow through the obstacles and figure out creative ways to get things done and just make it happen.”
After talking to many artists, I’ve come to realize that many artists struggle with the idea of making money from their art. They believe marketing is a necessary evil instead of a tool to help progress their careers.
Kent also had these same struggles until he realized that giving doesn’t pay the bills. “I just like to give. That’s just part of who I am, but giving doesn’t pay the bills. You gotta charge for things at some point. And once I kinda got past that initial discomfort, I think my mindset began to shift a lot on just what it means to sell things and to think more in terms of business.”
This is often times the biggest obstacle artists face. So changing your mindset can make a huge difference. “Once you understand selling things isn’t bad, that selling things is actually good, then your whole mindset kinda changes because you have to support your family. You should be compensated for the work that you do. But it’s really not about you getting paid. It’s really about doing the best for the person who you’re selling to.”
The best way to look at it is by realizing how much value your work has. When you don’t charge for your work, you devalue it. What Kent realized was that if you want customers to get real value from your work, you have to charge for it. “People just don’t tend to emotionally value things that they have not personally invested in. So really the best thing we can do for people sometimes is to charge them for what we do because then that person is going to value it more. They’ll probably be a lot more likely to follow through with what they have bought, whether it’s a book or a course or something. So I think once you get past this idea that making money from something is bad, you know, you’ve got to kinda ditch that idea and understand that making money from something can be a really good thing because when you have money, it lets you do more good in the world.”
A recap of episode 68 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Bob Baker where he talks about doing things that interest you, why you need to be persistent, and what separates successful artists from unsuccessful artists.
Bob Baker has always been determined to make a living from his creative career. He started off his career by creating a music publication from scratch, with no prior experience. He didn’t let his lack of experience prevent him from achieving his goals. He just experimented with different ideas until he made it work.
Since that first publication he has expanded his interests well beyond a local music magazine. He has dabbled with writing, painting, and creating courses for aspiring artists. He even got into stand-up and improv comedy.
Bob has not let the starving artist mentality prevent him from making a career out of his creativity. In fact, he has thrived as an artist and creative.
In this episode, Bob talks about doing things that interest you, why you need to be persistent, and what separates successful artists from unsuccessful artists.
Here are three things you can learn from Bob:
Many of us have this fear of pursuing our creative careers. We are afraid that we will crash and burn, and never recover from our failures.
Bob takes a different approach to his creative interests. He doesn’t play it safe. He explores the things he thinks are fun. “I had this philosophy early on where, if something seemed liked it was fun to do, I was like, I want to take some action… I want to experience that and see what it’s like sooner rather than later. So, you know, a lot of people play it safe, or they wait til they know everything about a topic or they think everything’s perfect… before they dive into doing something. And I was just like, ‘I want to see what that’s like. That looks like fun.’ So I did that with comedy, with improv, with publishing a newspaper.”
It all started with creating his local music publication and has blossomed from there. Bob has never let his lack of experience stop him, and neither should you. “I published a local music newspaper and I had no business doing that whatsoever because I had no previous experience. Never wrote for the school paper, never really took journalism classes. You know, had just written on my own, had a passion for music. So I said I want to combine these two long standing passions, and just started publishing a local newspaper. And it was ugly. There were typos. People pointed things out. And I eventually learned just from doing and getting things out there to make it better.”
There are no guarantees that you will ever make a living from your creative career. Not everyone is cut out for it. But there is something to be said for doing something you are passionate about.
That’s why Bob believes persistence is crucial if you want to make a career out of your art. You need to pursue it regardless of the outcome. “There are no guarantees. The world does not owe you a living. So even if you are persistent and keep your nose to the grindstone for years on end, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to make it, whatever make it means to you. However, I guess what I encourage is if you’re meant to do that thing, to express yourself in that way… You should do it regardless of the outcome. You should do it for the joy of it, however, at the same time, you could be strategic in doing it and learning the things that will move you to toward that greater potential of maybe supporting yourself some day. But hopefully it’s something that even if you don’t make a living at it or you don’t reach that point, that you’ll still do it for the joy.”
Bob recommends creating goals you can work your way towards so you can see the progress you’ve made. The key is to be strategic when you move towards your goal. “Making sure that your financial needs are met first just takes the pressure off to do your art more free flowingly I guess. And I kinda like that approach. But you can still be strategic in moving toward that goal if you have one of sustaining yourself like I did. It’s just… it may not happen on your time table… and that’s where the persistence comes in I guess. Yeah, if the payoff is not there in a month or two, are you willing to stick with it? And that’s another thing… that not everyone will, which is why not everyone succeeds because all of these rare… traits have to come together to make for a successful life.”
There are always people who will find success and those who won’t. There’s a fine line between success and failure.
Bob believes one of the things that separates success from failure is seeing thing through to completion. “There are tons of people that want to write a book. There’s tons of people that have started writing books. There’s tons of people who have even finished the first draft of a manuscript of a book. But there’s a very small percentage who actually follow it through to get the darn thing published. So there’s this seeing it concept, and I don’t know what quality that is, but it’s like, when you start on a project, make a commitment to chip away at it and to see it through to completion.”
Bob also sees another trait from many creative people: the need to jump from one project to the next. But you can’t always chase the shiny new object. You need discipline. “Another thing creative people are excited about new fresh things, and that’s cool, but you also have to follow through on the things that you’ve already started that may not be as exciting as they were those early weeks that you’re working on them. And that’s just a discipline I suppose and a personal commitment to stuff.”
Another thing Bob recommends is re-framing the way you look at marketing. Artists need to stop looking at marketing as a necessary evil and approach it as something that is creative. “To me the marketing thing, the necessary evil, is all about an attitude toward it. If you re-frame and realize that all you’re doing is just sharing your work with people who are going to resonate with it, that’s not painful, you know. You just gotta do it in a more strategic way. So get on friendly terms with marketing and don’t lump a lot of things into this “business” category.”
A recap of episode 60 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Adam James Butcher where he dives more into why you should share your work, the value of habits and routines, and why selling is crucial for your business.
Bodlar Deathbringer is a visual artist living in New York City. Since early in his life, it seemed like he was destined to become an artist. His father was a visual artist and his mother was a writer. He also started creating his own paintings when he was eight years old. So it would seem odd that Bodlar went into IT work.
After years of working in the corporate world, he finally decided he had enough. He decided he would move to New York City to pursue his art career full-time. It hasn't always been easy, but Bodlar has been working as an artist ever since.
In this episode, learn about the challenges you face as an artist, the importance in marketing and networking, and why you need to confront your fears.
Here are three things you can learn from Bodlar:
No one has any illusions that life as a full-time artist is easy. Bodlar believes you must want it. ""It's hard. It's really hard, and it's perpetually terrifying. You know, you just always have to be on point. You have to hustle. You have to be self-motivated. You have to really want it."
When you are working a 9-5 job, there's a certain comfort there. But when you are working for yourself, things are different. "The reason it took me so long to get out of IT work is that you get addicted to that level of comfort of having that regular paycheck. It's very hard to look in the face of the world and say 'No, I'm going to do this other thing and go off the beaten path..."
The key is to constantly create. Bodlar creates 600-700 pieces a year, and that's without the comfort of his own studio. While most artists believe talent is enough, he believes in the power of being prolific. "In order to be a successful artist, you really have to be prolific."
As an example he brings up the fact that most famous artists are prolific creators. "Any artist you can name off the top of your head got there because they were prolific and worked and worked and worked their ass off to get there."
Another thing Bodlar believes in deeply is the importance of networking and marketing your art. People won't find you unless you put yourself out there. "As a visual artist, half of your job is marketing and networking and that people aren't going to come to you just because you painted a pretty picture. You have to go out and show it to them and find the right person to buy it. And I've always painted under the auspices of painting what I want to paint and then going to find someone who likes it, that wants to buy it."
You can't just wait for people to come to you. You have to go to them. "You have to get into the scene. You have to figure out who the important players are. Who are the important galleries? Who are the important artists? And just go to as many events as you can and network with as many people as you can."
It's all about being visible. You can't be afraid to share your work with others. "You have to be visible as an artist. You have to go out and figuratively grab people by the collar and say 'Hey look, I did this. This has merit. It's interesting, and really get in people's face about what you're doing.'"
When I asked Bodlar what separates someone who makes the leap from their 9-5 IT job from someone who doesn't he talked about overcoming our fears. If we want to live a life without regret, we have to make that scary leap. "Our life, our society, our world are typically controlled by fear and jumping off of that cliff into the abyss of art is probably one of the most terrifying experiences I've been through in my life and it still terrifies me to this day, but I finally realized that if I don't do this, If I don't take that leap, that it's going to kill me... and I don't want to be one of those people that wakes up when I'm sixty-five and realize I wasted my life doing nothing."
He believes many people never make the leap because they're afraid of discomfort. "I think people are just very afraid of discomfort. We have this evolutionary precept to where we want comfort. We want to be comfortable. We want to have abundance... We want to have all of those things, and so, it's hard to balance those things, because when you're starting out, they're very much at odds with one another."
He also has no illusions that our fears and struggles will ever go away. We just have to be willing to deal with them. "Even if I'm selling tons of work, and making tons of money, I'm still going to be worried about what's next. There's still going to be newer, bigger, struggles to tackle and I think that's one of the other things that a lot of people don't realize that no matter where you're at in life it's going to be a struggle. It's always going to be hard and that if you're afraid of it being hard, then you're never going to get anywhere. You have to be willing to say, 'Okay, this is going to be hard and then go out and do it anyway."
Catherine Orer was an award winning communications and PR expert for multinational corporations for years, but that job never felt fulfilling to her. So, when the opportunity to study at Christies in Paris opened up, she jumped on it.
While in Paris she gained hands on experience working in contemporary art galleries. After her studies, she brought this knowledge and experience back to Canada. While working at an art gallery in Montreal, many artists approached her for help. This began Catherine’s journey as The Artist Entrepreneur.
In this episode, find out why gratitude is so important, why there isn’t just one path to success, and why artists should find support.
Here are three things you can learn from Catherine:
Most people falsely believe there is only one path to success. They believe there’s a secret formula they can learn to become successful. They believe the people who’ve made it are all part of a secret club.
Catherine’s path is neither traditional or conventional. She went to school for public relations and communications and got management positions in corporations before even considering the art world. It was only when she noticed she wasn’t having fun at work that she decided to dip her toes back into the art world.
She went to Christies in Paris for training and worked at an art gallery when she got back. It was only then that she found how much help she could provide to artists. Artists came up to her hoping they could work together, and finally she relented.
Now she is working with thousands of artists in her Facebook group. She is doing one on one coaching, group coaching, and providing immense value to artists with her experience in PR and in the arts.
Catherine’s path to helping artists was not the traditional one and she believes artists should look for their own path too. “There’s not just one path to being a successful artist. Not every artist will get their retrospective at the MoMA at fifty and it’s fine. It’s not everybody’s path and it shouldn’t be. You just need to find yours, what makes you happy, and also where you can grow as an artist.”
One thing that I’ve found by speaking to many successful people is, gratitude is an essential part of their daily lives. Catherine is no exception. Leaving her corporate job was the turning point in her gratitude practice.
What she has found is, we aren’t always at our best. So the best thing to do at those times is be grateful for what you have. “We can’t always be on high, so life is what it is. You have your ups and your downs and that’s when I really started being more thankful with everything that was going on my life.”
She goes on to talk about why she has to practice gratitude every day. “If I don’t take some time to be grateful and thankful,for everything in my life, I would go crazy… At some point you just need to be like, okay, what I’m doing is enough and I’m just really thankful that I’m doing what I love, and that I have these people around me who support me.”
We all need to be thankful for what we have and embrace where we are in our journeys. “Being thankful is just being in the present. It’s just looking at what’s happening right now, and just embracing it all and opening up yourself to more abundance too.”
One of the things that artists get wrong is trying to do everything by themselves. They believe they don’t need to find support when they are struggling. They believe they have to do all the work themselves. They believe if they don’t do all the work, people look down on them.
Catherine believes you won’t find success unless you find people to support you. “My experience is that at some point, you’re going to hit a roadblock, and you’re going to want to get support.”
She even advocates finding help if it isn’t with her. “I don’t really mind if you don’t work with me. For me it’s not about working with me. It’s about finding support. So, if you find support… that’s fine, but doing it all by yourself is usually not the right way to go about it. You need to surround yourself with people who are going to support you.'”
She goes and talks about our need to connect with society. “If you want to grow, you need to be in contact with other people. We live in society, and if you want to sell your work to people, then you have to surround yourself with people. You need to network. You need to build a network around you, a support network, but also a network and following of people who are going to want to know more about you, and what you do, and how you can be of service to them, and how you can support them, and how you can communicate who you are and what you stand for.”