Shifting Your Marketing Mindset with Margarete Miller
[00:00:00] Made Remarkable Intro: Welcome back. And thanks for tuning into the made remarkable podcast, hosted by Kellee Wynne. In today's episode, Kellee is talking with Margarete Miller. To discuss her world of vintage and collage art. The transformation her business has taken in the past year being a part of Kellee's remarkable league. And the power of authentic connections. Margarete shares her journey of growing her vintage and collage membership. Her mindset shift regarding marketing and her community that now feels like a close group of art friends collaborating together. Check out the show notes and transcripts for more information about Margarete. Exclusive promotional offers. And any special links mentioned during the episode.
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Introducing Kellee Wynne and Margarete Miller.
[00:01:08] Kellee Wynne: Well, hello. Hello. I'm Kellee Wynn, artist, author, mentor, fiercely independent mother and wife, and the founder of a multiple six figure creative business. And I love my life, but I've been where you're at. I was slogging away at this art business thing for more than a decade. Once I finally connected with my true calling, unlock the magic of marketing and built a system that could scale, while I realize I can make an impact and make a substantial income, I'm finally running a business that I love and it makes all the.
Difference in the world. My biggest dream is to help you do the same. Let this podcast be the catalyst to your biggest success. You already have it in you because you are made remarkable.
Well, I have my good friend Margarete here on the podcast, and I'm happy to have you back on again. We had an interview back in the fall of last year, and anyhow, hi! How are you doing?
[00:02:09] Margarete Miller: I'm good! I'm happy to be here and be talking about the things about my membership, and how things are going, and my business, and yep!
[00:02:18] Kellee Wynne: Yeah! So good! Big transfer of where you were last year to where you are now, and I wanted to talk about that just to bring you back on, refresh everybody, make sure that they find you on Instagram and especially on YouTube because that's where you're putting your transfer. Focus and learn more about Margarete, but let's talk like all things, business models and marketing and what you went through to change from the kind of position where you were and where you're at now.
[00:02:49] Margarete Miller: Yes, yeah, I do have some, some big changes that I want to share regarding the whole mindset because I think that's probably the biggest change for me in a year. Marketing used to be the thing that terrified me that it made me anxious and I just had this like icky feeling like, Oh, you know, I have to sell myself and I have to be promoting all the time and I just did not have a good feeling about it to now.
It's switched and I feel comfortable, so much more comfortable, which is honestly, it's not a place I thought I would be because that feeling, first of all, was so overwhelming of this being uncomfortable that I was just like, I'm never going to get over this. There's no way to now I feel more relaxed and I feel like.
I have a message and I feel like what I provide helps people get to where they want to be in their art and so I feel like, you know what, I do want to share this and I do want people to find this and to, to be happy when, in what they're doing. And so I'm excited about it. And that's amazing.
That is the biggest, the biggest thing. That has changed for me since I started a year ago.
[00:04:14] Kellee Wynne: And it's crazy to think how many creative businesses, artists, makers, who are shy to talk about what they do, and yet they want a business. So the most important thing you can do. Let's talk about what you do. So to see you go from, and this is icky, I feel uncomfortable to I'm showing up and I'm helping people.
And that's all marketing really is. We're having a conversation and I'm letting them know what's available and how their life's going to be better.
[00:04:42] Margarete Miller: Yeah. Yeah. And part of it too, is the overwhelm. Of like, Oh, my gosh, there's so much that needs to be done. There's the social media and then there's the email and, Oh, I forgot to email my list and it's been two weeks.
And is it too late now? And, you know, that there's just like this compounding of, of things that you feel like you need to get done. And now I feel again, a little bit more confident about what I'm doing and relaxed and it's okay. And a plan, which is hugely important. At least, you know, there's, there's long term plans and there's short term plans, so having the confidence to be able to take those steps to do the things that I need to do to promote myself, I just feel more comfortable with that.
[00:05:27] Kellee Wynne: And you say a plan, which is something that we worked out, like, I have a whole method that helps. The prism marketing method, which really kind of puts the pieces into place. So you can simplify it and and execute it. And if 1 part, you don't get to, you still know the other parts are kind of filling in the gaps.
Right? And once it's amazing how, once you figure it out, how simple, like I've been through a lot of other coaches and teachers and ideas on marketing. When I finally broke it down, I'm like, what is the thing that helps me generate customers? The most, this simple triangle of, a marketing machine.
A lead magnet and a newsletter and you just kind of put it into play and everything kind of falls into place. And once that happens, it's like, definitely not so overwhelming.
[00:06:17] Margarete Miller: Right. And you really helped me prioritize what needs to be done. You really asked me the questions again, what's going to be making you money right now, because we want to do all the things, right?
We want to do the promoting in all these areas and take on these little tiny projects that, that might get us more people or, you know, create another lead magnet. And, you know, we want to try and experiment and do all these things, but you've been really good about reminding us about saying, okay, but what's going to make you money right now?
What can you do to really. Focus on that. And that's been very helpful as well.
[00:06:57] Kellee Wynne: Well, when I read the book essentialism that changed how I looked at everything and even how I taught everything and how I looked at my business because I was stuck to. With overwhelm, exhaustion, spinning my wheels, the same thing that most entrepreneurs feel when they get things up and going and they're like, okay, I'm doing all these things.
I'm not making as much money as I'd like. I'm exhausted. I'm working 12 hour days. None of this makes sense. This isn't what I signed up to do. And when I read essentialism, it was like, okay, this is what I signed up to do. Everything changed in the way I looked at my business. And now, of course, it's taken me like two years since reading it to implement this idea that I need to let go of more and just focus on, like you said, what's making money now?
What's going to keep pushing the business forward now. So that priority is really important. Yeah. Well, one of the things that you did was make a priority over what part of your business you wanted to focus on. Because before We started working together. You had a big, huge free community that you served and served and served and you sold physical products, which were, books.
Yeah. Or they've got collage and prompts and everything in them. They're really cool. But even though your gross margin looks big, the profit margins much lower. And there's all of these like, Books that have to be shipped out on a regular basis, and you're like, I just want to get out from the weight of these books and I'm like, what in the world are you serving this community without having them reciprocate financially so you can sustain yourself?
Right. It's like, oh, but can I do this? I remember you're like, no, they're not going to want to pay. But here you are, you've got members and it's growing all the time and it's working out. It's beautiful.
[00:08:44] Margarete Miller: Yeah, and I was, of course, anxious also, when I launched my membership in October of last year.
I knew that I would get some signups, but I just didn't know if I was going to be able to maintain it and at a level that I thought was providing enough value. That was my biggest, biggest worry. And, people come and go, of course, there's always, you know, retention, issues to pay attention and deal with, but, providing that value is super important to me.
And 1 of the things is that when people have indicated that they're going to leave, I sent an automatic email saying, hey, thanks so much for being a part of this. I understand. It's not right fit for you right now. But if you would let me know. What it was, or, Give me some feedback about the membership.
I would really appreciate it and the responses that I have gotten from the people who do leave and have sent me those emails. It's not about the value. It's about where they are at their space at their time. They don't have the time. They have other things they need to deal with. You know, so it's, it's not a reflection of, of what I'm providing.
Right. And that's been such a huge relief to me. Like, okay, I'm doing the right thing. I'm on the right track. I can do this. That's the thing I've been telling myself. I can do this. I can keep on going with this. So far, so good.
[00:10:06] Kellee Wynne: Well, part of it was designing a membership that wasn't going to strangle you because membership models are not the easiest.
As far as. Keeping up with the workload and the customer satisfaction and making sure that you're always on call all the things that people worry about about memberships. I know you were a bit concerned of, like, can I create value without overextending myself? And you didn't want a membership model that was based off of creating new video lessons.
It's a different kind of a membership model, which I think is really exciting. It's a community membership model that holds your members accountable to making the kind of art that they say they want to make.
[00:10:47] Margarete Miller: Yeah.
[00:10:48] Kellee Wynne: And there's other really beautiful elements in it. Prompts and a beautiful magazine and art swaps.
So there's a lot of ways in which You can build a membership without it just being how to video based is what I'm trying.
[00:11:02] Margarete Miller: Right, right. I did not want to have that to do list of I have to make a new video, every however long 2 weeks or once a month or whatever. And we would be working off of that for our content.
The core of the membership is still following the same concept that I want to encourage people to create, not just to watch on the sidelines, but to actually create because the process of creating really does. It's it does something to you. There's a transformation that happens. You feel good. It just. Allows you as a human being to experience, something when you're creating. So that's what I want. And, how I do it is, is through my projects. You know, once a month, we're going to be doing this. instead of, as you said, I'm not not doing it with a video content. It's like, a visual magazine.
It's an 8 page magazine that introduces the project. We're going to do this this month. Here's the things that you need. Here are some examples, and then it has other things in it like little project exercises to do. And an interview with one of our members who shows how they do collage art.
So it's a visual, lots of really good stuff to look at and to consider. And then, of course, we have an online meet and we talk about the project and brainstorm and share ideas and, share what we're working on. So it, it is really encouraging and this community part is really the backbone of the whole thing, and we've gotten to know each other. And everybody's so supportive. We do a lot of exchanges. Sometimes stuff gets lost in the mail and somebody says, oh, I didn't get my whatever. And somebody volunteers right away. Oh, let me send you, I have extras or I did more, you know, so it's, it's really, really nice.
It's so cool when you've got friends who get it, who know what you love and, you know, are really into the same art that you are. It's so, so cool to be able to communicate with them and
[00:13:04] Kellee Wynne: globally too. This is a global community. And to make note, this isn't a typical, like, Painting or mixed media course, you're really focused on vintage and collage. So it's not a whole lot of, I'd say from the outsider's perspective, a whole lot of techniques of different materials. You really do kind of like focus in on your love for vintage and found and Even printables that you create these beautiful layers of collage and stamp. And I love it because it tells a story.
It reminds me a lot of my scrapbooking days in a lot of ways where, I'm tracking through experiences and memories by putting them all together in beautiful collages. It's really, it's a concept that I guess I forgot. Like, I'm so inundated with the mixed media world. I'm like, oh, there is a different way to do it.
And you bring together the people who that resonates with. So it's not the same point of view as everybody else. Amazingly, there's a big community that that's what they're looking for.
[00:14:11] Margarete Miller: Yeah, it's kind of simplified. We're dealing mostly with paper. And so your supplies, you really don't need that much.
You need paper, glue stick, and something to glue it on. And then vintage is kind of the thing that, unites us. We love, the vintage vibe and it, they don't need to be a hundred percent vintage, but it could be vintage inspired. Like you said, like a printable can print something that's in that vintage kind of feel, right?
Because you want to create. Your collage to have those elements that you like, right? So we, we all stick together with the vintage theme and , it helps to simplify things with having that goal in mind, rather than just collage in general.
[00:14:52] Kellee Wynne: Well, that specificity makes a difference in being able to build your brand and your niche.
And I love that. Plus I have an affinity for vintage and I did a whole series myself that kind of abandoned along the way, but that whole timeless art postcards from Paris, like, I love that. Collect it. Maybe I need to get in there and learn what to do with stacking up, but there's something so fun about it because then you probably get to have fun conversations about the hunt for the product.
Yes. And that's the part I want to hear more about. What amazing flea markets, where are the fines? Where's the cool stuff? Then who would have even thought like, so there's a lot of elements and fun to it. What's been the biggest hurdle for you though? Cause I know when you launched it, it wasn't like it was just smooth sailing.
It was a lot to undertake building up mighty networks for how you were going to do it. And the whole messaging and the plan and then onboarding everybody. It's not exactly the easiest thing. .
[00:15:56] Margarete Miller: Right. I tend to do things, you know, because there's a, like, four weeks out, you're going to do this.
Three weeks out, you're going to do this. Two weeks out, you're going to do this. I tend to do things, To do everything last minute and so planning that way out in a distance is very difficult. Because I just, I'm not in the moment. I don't have the feeling. So being able to craft an email, like, welcome to the membership and I'm 2 months out.
It's so hard and so that's been my biggest struggle is. Yeah, I know that there's a structure and I know that there's like a to do list and I need to do things, but I, it's so hard, you know, because you're your own boss and you make your own decisions. It's so hard to make myself. Do the things that I need to do to prepare.
[00:16:46] Kellee Wynne: Right? I get it. I'm in the middle of that right now with the June launch coming. And I'm like, Oh, I have to have everything done before I travel. I have to have it done early. Cause I'm other people are relying on me. But the nice thing is once you've done it once, it's all ready to go for the next time. I know.
I know. And I do see that things are getting easier for you now. But about six or so months into it,
[00:17:14] Margarete Miller: yes, yes, things are things are easier because I've done it already once. And so things are more familiar. And that is the biggest, biggest thing is the experience. And one of the awesome things about your community about about the league.
Is that I get to see other people go through this process and I get to see how they do it. And that is so, so helpful because then it becomes again, more familiar to me. Like, oh, yeah, this is how that person did it. Oh, yeah, look, and here's an example of their email of what it of what the words they use.
And here's an example of their, their sales page. Right and all the things that go in the sales page. We share everything with each other. Oh my gosh. It's like front row seat to seeing how to successfully launch a product or, you know, that's, that's just amazing.
[00:18:11] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, it's been really exciting because I love watching the growth of the league really took off and everything that we learn in the league is what I packaged up for Build It Remarkable, which is the program that I'm watching next.
And it's primarily focused on figuring out that strategy structure and your marketing and your messaging, the things that are really important that most creatives and artists. Yeah. Don't really, like you said, it's scary. You don't know how to do it. You don't know why is nothing connecting or click clicking?
And then you like, you step back and you're like, oh, there's a process for this, right? And that changes everything.
[00:18:51] Margarete Miller: Scary and overwhelming. And those are the two things that you really help us get over. You show how it's possible to do these things in a very relaxed way, and then you just show us that it's not too much if you just take it in these steps and you have these goals in mind, it's totally doable.
[00:19:12] Kellee Wynne: Right. I'm glad that you said that because that's really my goal is to break it down and then empower everyone. And 1 thing that's like, I am a no nonsense. Tell it like it is bossy. Not bossy. Kind of a coach meeting. I'm not going to beat around the bush. I'm going to do it. Exactly. Tell you what you need and hold you accountable to it.
But I also look at the way that we show up as creatives is different than other business models. We are very heart centered. We are very and oftentimes very empathetic of our customer and their emotions and how we interact with them. So the way that we talk to them is going to be different than like, You know, the copywriter who's trying to get copywriting clients, or, you know, I could go down a list, you know, the, the mechanic, they've got a whole different need.
And even though real estate agent, I could help technically all of them, but my specialty is with the creative and the creative heart, because. We're very similar in that we're good at being procrastinators. We're really good at being sensitive to our customers and not wanting to, you know, market, market, market.
We're afraid that we're going to be too much for them. And then we learn through this process. And I've learned through experience and through helping others that the more we just lean into service. The more we lean into caring about their results more than ourselves, it actually makes it a lot easier.
Like you said, it becomes fun because that people are going to light up from it. They're going to have the experience they want to have.
[00:20:51] Margarete Miller: Yes. The thing for me has been the email list. For so long, I was just like, Oh, I have to email, uh, you know, try and keep the list alive. And what am I going to say? I have no idea.
And nobody's going to like this, or they're going to just be unsubscribing. And so, and now it's turned into what can I share with them? Oh, I just, like, for example, we just finished with spring break. And, I had this, Interesting experience at an antique mall. And I'm like, Oh my gosh, this is the perfect thing to share on, on my email list.
So I'm having so much fun, even just putting that, you know, email together and using photos that I took. And so that's also been a big transition for me from last year to this year, just enjoying being, connecting with people, just enjoying that.
[00:21:45] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, so now when you show up in the, whether it's social media or in the inbox, it's like, I can't wait to share with them.
This is what we've been. It's not. Oh, no, I got to show up in the inbox and just sell another thing. And that's the biggest mistake. A lot of people do is that's all they do is sell and then they get low overnight. But when you show up being yourself. That's what that's all. Anyone really wants.
They don't need a professional marketer in their inbox box. And once that permission was given, everyone in the group seemed to be like, oh, okay, I can do my emails. It's much, much easier. Now. Yeah, we built in those kinds of systems to make it work the way an artist would naturally want to be and work in this world.
[00:22:32] Margarete Miller: Yeah, it's just, and it's a mindset, right? It's how you reframe things. And that is hugely important. And it's something that you started to talk to us kind of early on once, once we joined. And we talked about it more than once, which is, I think, is also important because it helps you, you know, you learn something new, but then it needs to kind of percolate and think about things.
And then you put it into action. And so that's been very helpful. Having it be a focus more than just once that you just tell you once and then that's, that's it. So,
[00:23:10] Kellee Wynne: nope, that's probably why you're here for another year round 2 with the lead. Exactly. Never learn too much. We are going to go back through from the beginning and redesign and make sure all the pieces of the puzzle are making sense because, you know, I learned.
It's, I'm gonna make an analysis that's completely off the wall, but I learned Arabic when I was in the military. And when you start, you're like, I'm just picking out the letters and it moved faster than I could really keep up with, but somehow you'd get far down the road and you'd look back. The thing that didn't make sense suddenly make sense.
And then you go back to the beginning and it's like, oh, this path is so much clearer. And that's why you continue to make progress. So yeah, work fast. But then you go back a little bit and you're like, now let's reiterate. Oh, I do understand this. Exactly. It's kind of like learning a language in that sense that we might go fast and we might think we have it and then we're just like, what's going on?
And then we review and we're like, Oh, wait, it's because we've, and fast is relative. I'm putting that in air quotes because I was still a whole year of working, but that's a lot to transform your business. Yep. And then you can go back and say, Hey, these pieces are actually, they're good. Falling into place.
[00:24:29] Margarete Miller: Yeah. And seeing it in action. That's the other thing is you learn it and then you implement it and you see it in action. Exactly. And then you see this worked or this didn't work. What can I do differently? What has somebody else done? Right? All those things are very, very helpful.
[00:24:46] Kellee Wynne: Yes. So where are you moving in the future?
What's going on? , direct people first and foremost to your vintage and collage membership.
[00:24:57] Margarete Miller: Right? So my goal right now is to grow the membership. That's the main thing. That's where I'm putting my energy, my focus. And as I'm Sitting in the membership, I'm getting lots of really good ideas and now I'm sifting through those ideas because it's an evergreen.
So it's open and all the time. So now I'm thinking about. Even though it's an evergreen membership, I still need tolaunch again at some point, this year, so I'm thinking about what kind of projects or what kinds of things I can highlight and get excited about and get people excited about to try with me and all of that.
So that's the number one, which is something I enjoy doing since I'm already in the membership and things are going well. I'm like, okay, cool. What, what, what else can we do? Right. So there's that. And then the other thing I'm still focusing on is, is YouTube. I'm enjoying that very much.
And so between those 2 things, my plate is full.
[00:26:02] Kellee Wynne: I think that's all it takes. So, I mean, if you really talk about that, Prism Marketing, you've got YouTube, you get them on the list, you nurture them, you invite them to your membership, put it on repeat. That's it. You've got to show up on YouTube.
And I love that your YouTube channel's grown. And I love that that was one of the goals that you told me that you were really set on this year is to continue to improve it and grow it. You make amazing videos. So I love you've got a great aesthetic. They're edited beautifully. YouTube, but your YouTube channel is growing too.
[00:26:39] Margarete Miller: Yes, it is. And I'm, I'm excited because I'm seeing some, some big changes in my analytics that, that show me that I'm on the right track and things are heading in the right direction. So I'm, I'm really, really excited about that.
[00:26:55] Kellee Wynne: I'm glad I am not a YouTube expert. I do tell people on the podcast often, if you're going to pick 1 big thing to do, pick YouTube.
I wish I had done that 10 years ago, instead of Instagram. I'm not regretting being on Instagram because it has grown my business, but there is something YouTube and the fact that those lessons have been learned. First and foremost, the videos are evergreen, which means people can search and find them very easily of past videos that you've done that might be the subject exactly that they're looking for.
Now it can grow and be monetized more easily than any of the other platforms. And people have a good amount of time to spend with you to see who you are, what you do, what you're about, and if it fits them. Yeah. That's the big thing about content.
[00:27:46] Margarete Miller: With our businesses, our art businesses so much relies on.
Ourselves as, as the creator, our personalities and what we, what we're providing the type of art we're teaching, but us as a person, right? It's not just the art. It's ourselves. You're the person who's doing the art and YouTube has really allowed me to show more of myself in that way.
So it's not just the vintage ephemera. It's how I approach the vintage ephemera and, being able to share that with people has been extremely fulfilling. It's fun to do and, I'm so glad that, that people like the videos and that it's helping them jump in there and to start creating.
That's exactly what I want, but it's also fun for me. It's fulfilling for me because it's a little bit of a challenge and, you know, you have to be thinking of things that you want to talk about and what you want to share. And then, you know, creating, doing all the designing or the editing and all of that, you know, it's, it's all such a huge creative process.
And so it's been very fulfilling.
[00:28:54] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, I love it and I love the fact that it's a big component of the business. I actually love that because we forget that when we've decided to go in business, we have to continually be attracting new customers. So we need to pick the platform that's going to fulfill us the most and help us shine the most.
Honestly, every single one of these platforms are a marketing platform, but it doesn't have to feel marketing. Like when you said, you could just show up and be yourself. The things that you love, it connects with other people who love the same thing. And you have a pretty narrow focus, which is really good.
We know what to expect when we come to your YouTube channel, which by the way, what is your YouTube channel so that they can find you?
[00:29:36] Margarete Miller: just go in the search bar and look for Margarete Miller.
[00:29:40] Kellee Wynne: Yes, you can find her on Instagram, but you're not going to find her there as often as you'll find her on YouTube.
So you got to connect with her there. Is there anything else that you'd love to share with us today, Margarete, before we wrap this up?
[00:29:58] Margarete Miller: I would like to share that it takes determination to get where you want to be.
It's so easy to just fall into the routine of where you may be in, in your life right now. And I know things are hard. It's such a struggle sometimes even to just do simple things to get up in the morning and take your kids to school or whatever. So I really, really do feel for people who feel stuck.
Yeah. And overwhelmed and that you're just not in the place that you want to be in your life. So it can be really hard to take that step and to be like, you know what, I want something different. I don't want this. I want something more and so taking that 1st step can be really hard. So I just encourage you to. Be brave and do something that could really make a big change in your life. And yeah, that's, my words for now.
[00:30:57] Kellee Wynne: Instead of being scared and overwhelmed, we can get you to the point of feeling brave and empowered. Yeah, that's the goal with Build It Remarkable. Thank you, Margarete.
I love chatting with you. And of course, I'll get to see you on Tuesdays when we meet our mastermind group.
[00:31:13] Margarete Miller: I'm so looking forward to this coming year. I can't wait. In one year's time, I cannot imagine where Where things will be. So I'm so excited about that. It's going to be amazing. Sky rock.
[00:31:25] Kellee Wynne: Thank you so much.
[00:31:27] Margarete Miller: All right. Thank you.
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