Listen to an Impromptu Coaching Session with a Gen-X-Loving Artist, Lea Ann Slotkin
[00:00:00] Made Remarkable Intro: Welcome back. And thanks for tuning into the made remarkable podcast, hosted by Kellee Winn. Are you a gen X woman struggling to balance caring for aging parents. While still raising adult children. All while trying to pursue your artistic passions. If so, you're not alone. In today's episode, Kellee is talking with Lea Ann Slotkin to discuss the challenges and triumphs of finding one's true passion no matter what phase of life you're in.
Lea Ann shares her journey of letting go of multiple interests to pursue a more fulfilling and less tiring experience.
Finding her niche and building a business more effectively as she pivots into more of a coaching focus. Later in the conversation, you get to experience an on the spot coaching session between Kellee and Lea Ann, as they brainstorm. Kellee shares a vision for possible pursuit for Lea Ann's joy of working with gen X, women and artists. And highlights her own coaching style.
Check out the show notes and transcripts for more information about Lea Ann exclusive promotional offers and any special links mentioned during the episode,
Kellee loves connecting with listeners. So don't be shy. Reach out on social media and together let's build a community that celebrates the remarkable. If you want to be notified every time a new episode hits the airwaves. I just hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you for joining us today.
And always remember you are made remarkable. Destined to achieve the unimaginable. Now let's get to the good part. Introducing Kellee Winn and Lea Ann Slotkin.
[00:01:26] 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.
Lea Ann, how are you?
[00:02:17] Lea Ann Slotkin: I'm good. It's always good to see you. I
[00:02:23] Kellee Wynne: haven't talked to you in a couple of months, but you have made some big shifts.
[00:02:31] Lea Ann Slotkin: I finally listened to you, Kellee.
[00:02:34] Kellee Wynne: Okay. So let's just get this out of the way right now. Everyone just do me a favor. Just. Pick, go all in on one thing, or you're going to exhaust yourself. And speaking of the people I've worked with, the people that I've worked with, like Leigh Anne, and Susan, and, oh my gosh, who else was it that came by the end of it?
Francesca and Marguerite, I mean, like, all of them by the end of a year of working with me in the league, they're all like, oh, I finally get it! We gotta do less. I'm like, just do the one thing and you won't burn yourself out. It's so hard. It's so hard. So let's talk about why is it so hard as an artist, a creative, a multi passionate person?
Why does it take us so long to finally cave into the thing that we knew was right all along?
[00:03:25] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, that's such a good question. I don't know that I have a succinct answer, but I can, I can ramble what I think it is for me. Well, I'm going to go all the way back. Let's go
[00:03:36] Kellee Wynne: back to the beginning.
We want to know who you are, Lea Ann.
[00:03:40] Lea Ann Slotkin: Well, I'll say who I am. I'm Lea Ann Slotkin. I'm an artist and I'm a coach. I live, right outside of Atlanta, Georgia for kids to grandkids.
My work is represented by galleries and I coach other artists. Maybe. We're working on that. We're deciding this out. Yes. Anyway, so that's me in a nutshell. So here was my thought process. So have you ever read this book? It's called Why We Can't Sleep.
[00:04:10] Kellee Wynne: I can pretty much guess what's in that.
[00:04:14] Lea Ann Slotkin: It basically talks about Gen X, which I'm a Gen X. Yeah, me too. Yeah. Yeah. That we were kind of the first generation of women to really believe that we could do it all. And we could work, we could be wives, mothers, do all the things. But the rest of society, I'm paraphrasing, it's been a long time since I've read this book, but my takeaway was that the rest of society, like our partners and our bosses didn't realize that in order for us to be able to do this, we have to have more support, like, Partners have to step up more.
There has to be more resources at work. So we were trying to have it all, do it all, and we completely burn ourselves out. So like Gen X women is this whole generation of people, women who have trouble sleeping, lots of anxiety, blah, blah, blah. Anyway.
[00:05:03] Kellee Wynne: Which is very accurate.
[00:05:05] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And I recommend the book.
It's very much. I was like, Oh my gosh, this is me. So anyway, I think that has something to do with it for me. I still think that I can do all the things.
[00:05:16] Kellee Wynne: And not relinquish any of the support that needs to, happen around you in order for you to flourish. I mean, this is very true with Gen X, and I feel incredibly fortunate because my husband has, especially once I started working, has treated it as an equal partnership in the home and outside of the home, and hasn't just said, okay, now you're working and you have all of your previous responsibilities, but that is how society's been.
[00:05:45] Lea Ann Slotkin: Mm hmm. Yeah.
[00:05:47] Kellee Wynne: And a lot of us quit before we ever succeed.
[00:05:51] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And I think mine was maybe a little amplified because I was a single mom for a long time working in a corporate job. I'm like, Oh, I can totally do this. Like, you know, it's like, if I could do that, I can totally do this. Turns out I can't do it well.
I'm trying to do all the
things.
[00:06:09] Kellee Wynne: And then that brings us to why do we have such a hard time? Simplifying what we choose to do for our creative business.
[00:06:17] Lea Ann Slotkin: Well, I think it's almost like a, if you love it all, of course you want to do it all. I'm like I love it. Right. Right. But then it kind of starts tipping.
It's like, oh, now I'm not loving it so much. And I'm not saying that I think that I have to love what I do every day. I don't believe it. maybe people don't realize this, but being an artist, it's a lot of admin work, boring work, just like any job.
[00:06:41] Kellee Wynne: It's not nearly as much painting time as we think. Not the good old days of the fifties where these men would paint in lofts in New York and just while away the days, sleep in late until noon, have their bourbon and coffee to start and paint and let their gallerists represent them and do all the work for them.
That's like the crazy dream that never happens.
[00:07:08] Lea Ann Slotkin: That's like a Netflix show or something.
[00:07:11] Kellee Wynne: That is the reality of an artist now is I might get to paint on the weekend, just like when I had a full time job.
[00:07:18] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, it's true. It's so true. And I think you just have to make peace with that. And I feel like that's kind of where I am.
It's like, okay, I know the lay of the land. I've been doing this long enough. There's parts of it that I love that I want to keep and grow. And there are parts that I have to give up. And it was a really, it's a hard decision. And. Yeah, it's a hard decision period,
[00:07:39] Kellee Wynne: but here's the secret and this is why I've been harping on it.
And that's why I've been talking about it on my social media because it took me forever to decide the same thing. And I keep saying it, the one thing that took me the longest to figure out was do less to go farther. It's counterintuitive. It is counterintuitive. We are told to do seven different streams of income or more or less, or I don't know what this, I see that all the time, people teaching this and have your print on demand and then teach this class and have a Patreon and go ahead and do these workshops and write a book while you're at it.
And here's some downloads. And it's like, you can't do all the things you're totally. Burn out. But if you put all your energy into one and do it really well and do it on repeat and do it on repeat and become known for it. Then guess what? You're actually going to make more money with less energy.
[00:08:37] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And then maybe those other things can come back in once you've mastered like the thing.
[00:08:43] Kellee Wynne: Absolutely. And other things can then be your little passion project on the side. It's like, okay, now I finally have time to make more art. Like I always wanted to do in the first place. It's like, because I have these systems in place to build the business.
And to make the income for the business, then the pressure isn't on so much that I have this, I finally have these hours of explore time, of play time, of creative time, developing new ideas and seeing where it takes me. But I couldn't get to that point. Until I let go of a lot and that's the realization that you've come to and many other people who are who I've worked with that resist this idea of to just go all in on 1 thing because they're multi passionate.
They don't want to let go of anything and yet. I always ask, how's, where, where is that getting you, are you getting the results you want?
[00:09:35] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And you know, I think it can be a little hard to answer that question because it's not like you're not getting any results, right? It's not like things aren't quote unquote working.
Like Lea Ann five years ago, can't imagine where Lea Ann is today. But you see, and, and I think that's the beauty of being in a group program like yours is that You witness people killing it and doing the thing and you're surrounded by all this energy and, it's really seen behind the curtain of one, how much work it takes into how great it can be,
[00:10:09] Kellee Wynne: how great it can be.
And that's the part that we just sometimes don't open up our minds to realizing what the actual potential is.
[00:10:18] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. Well, can I ask you a question?
[00:10:21] Kellee Wynne: Of course.
[00:10:22] Lea Ann Slotkin: Did you have to mourn like letting go of part of it? Was that hard? Was it bad? How did you feel?
[00:10:29] Kellee Wynne: That's a great question. I love it because you're also a podcaster and you've done interviews, so you understand how to turn the table.
I still have it. Some, it's going to take a while to get over the fact that I decided to, for the most part, shut down Color Crush Creative. It still runs a little bit in the background, but I do nothing for it now. I don't do posts. We don't do No marketing around it. It just sits there. And every once in a while, I'll be like, Hey, if anyone wants something, it's there, but I'm not focused.
It's like, just it's over there. And I've shut down most of the classes that were around it. And I've even thought about, like, permanently shutting it down, which is so hard to imagine doing because I poured my heart into that. But I guess there came a point where I said I had to let go of the good for the great.
[00:11:21] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah.
[00:11:21] Kellee Wynne: And that's the hardest thing to make a decision for and when I stop and I say, is this the great I look at the results of what I'm able to do for people. And yes, I was able to help introduce so many people to making art. But now I'm helping other people introduce their art making to the world. And so it's like, it's the trickle down, but in a good way, like I'm encouraging and helping other creatives and artists find their dreams and live their passion. Like I have to think at the end of the day, which part do I feel? Full of energy from and which part drains me. And you and I were just talking before I hit record your coach, you've gone through coach training, which I have not actually gone through any coach training.
So I would consider myself more of a mentor because basically I did the thing and now I'm teaching exactly what I did and exactly what I did for other people that has gotten results. So I'm more of a mentor than a coach, although we do work on mindset and stuff, but I. Finish coaching calls and feel so fulfilled and so excited.
And then that means I'm like, okay, I know I'm still on the right path, but I didn't always feel that way when I had to record. An art video. Sometimes it was fun. My favorite was when I got to teach live. And I think that's the key. You have to know your mode modality in operation. And for you just coming around full circle opposite of that, which is you've done coaching for such a long time for, for the life coach school.
But you're like, yeah, I think I'm ready for a new direction. So we had worked for a whole year on getting you to this place where you could do a group coaching program to help artists like sell their art. And you finally are just like, you're like, nah, no wrong direction.
[00:13:21] Lea Ann Slotkin: I feel like Like, Oh my God, but it feels right.
It feels right. I took a lot of time to think about it.
[00:13:29] Kellee Wynne: It doesn't mean that your coaching skills or your ability to help people has stopped. It's just trying to redirect that.
[00:13:36] Lea Ann Slotkin: I'm just having, instead of what is that putting all your eggs in one basket? Like I had two baskets that were real full and now I'm going to have one basket.
And it'll still be really full. Yeah. Yes. But I think it'll make my brain hurt less and it will make me less tired.
[00:13:55] Kellee Wynne: This was exactly what Robin Marie Smith said as well. When she finally is like for years, she had been like towing the line of I'm an artist who sells art, who also teaches art, who also teaches tech and the exhaust.
Exhaustion doesn't just happen on my side of it or your side of it. It happens to the audience. You're like, what do, who am I talking to? What am I communicating to them? A hundred percent. Hey, look there. There's this thing too. And then after a while, everyone's like, I don't know what she's all about. And yeah, Robin Marie, when she let go of Makers Tech U and went all in on one thing, and then even in the year that I was working with her last year, she let go of more and she's like, I've never felt so much freedom.
So it's intuitive to say, I have to let go of all these things that I'm doing in order to actually be more creative and more free. Well, it's, it's scary. It's so scary, but I love the idea now that if you were to put that solo focus into your art making and sharing how you make the art, you actually get to enjoy the process a whole lot more now.
[00:15:04] Lea Ann Slotkin: I know it's true. It's true. And I think a big realization for me was like what I went way back. Like, why am I doing this? Since I was a tiny, tiny person, I wanted to be an artist. Like that's, that's what I always knew I want to do. I don't think I could have articulated it. I didn't know you could do that as a job for a long time, but I'm like, Oh, okay.
If I just keep, if I keep my my compass on that as my North star and just keep moving towards that, it's not just, I don't have any regrets about any of it. I'm glad I've done it. I've, you know, I mean, it, it all, I think. Will be good. Food for thought and impact how I do things. But yeah, I think streamlining is the way to go.
And I I mean, it's taken me a long time to come to that with, yes, you know,
[00:15:58] Kellee Wynne: well, you know, like even it took me a long time too, but all those experiences, do I have any regret over trying so many things and failing at so many things and then not sticking to the things that there were things that really lit me up and I loved and I didn't stick with it because we do what you did, which is like, well, can I really be an artist and make money at it?
So I might as well just go do this coaching thing. Right. Because we second guess ourselves and then we feel obligated to it. What is that called? When we're like, Oh, it's the sunk cost fallacy. Oh yeah. So you would put all this time into building something that you finally realize. I don't love it. Right.
[00:16:36] Lea Ann Slotkin: That's a real thing.
[00:16:38] Kellee Wynne: And then you feel like you're stuck with it because you had already put time into it. There's so many things that hold us back from going all in on the thing that we know we're meant to do. Some of it's just not knowing what we're meant to do, but when that a ha hits and you deny yourself, boy, it gets harder and harder, doesn't it?
[00:16:56] Lea Ann Slotkin: It really does. And it makes me think about like, you know, my boys are around the same age as yours and it's like, they're supposed to, they're like early twenties and it's like, we're telling them, society's telling them, like it told us, you're supposed to know what you want to do. What? Like, I don't even know.
[00:17:13] Kellee Wynne: Right. I was in my forties before I started figuring it out. Right. I actually was, you know I guess I, I listened to enough of millennials and Gen Z online to say to my kids as they were going through high school, like, just screw around for a while. Go try everything. Like you don't have to have it figured out now.
And I guess we can apply the same thing to being an artist and creating an art business, but there does come a time where, and I even saw this in some discussions with. Some of the artists in the league where it's like, I feel so defeated having tried so many things and not gotten anywhere. It's like it's all for nothing and nothing is all for nothing, but there does come a point where you're so exhausted from spinning your wheels and doing all the things and seeing no progress.
There have been times even I felt that way before I discovered teaching online, it felt demoralizing.
[00:18:15] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, it's almost like shame or something. Yeah. Yeah, it's not a great feeling at all. And it's, it's too bad that we feel like we have to package it that way for ourselves.
And it's funny, like, I would never look at you and think, Oh gosh, she's tried so many things. And so, I mean, I, I would never ever think, I'm like, that's so cool. Look at all this stuff she's tried and she finally landed. It's hard to give that to yourself, I think.
[00:18:40] Kellee Wynne: Well, we are harder on ourselves than we are on anyone else, usually.
[00:18:44] Lea Ann Slotkin: So true. So true.
[00:18:46] Kellee Wynne: So now you get to take all the things that you've done, let go of the things. Now you're finally coming to this realization that you can let go of the things that you, that don't light you up, even though it took you a while and move forward in the thing you're most passionate at and of and in.
And that's the making art, the art process in and of itself.
[00:19:10] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, and I think that too, that and I love the community aspect, like, you've created, like, it's the best, the art community is the best community, honestly, it's awesome.
[00:19:23] Kellee Wynne: It is nice. And I think we're incredibly fortunate. I've heard a few wild rumors about some things that might've been not so nice once a long time ago, but I mean, like my entire experience has been generally speaking, just so outrageously wonderful that like, I can't complain.
[00:19:44] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's just like, also trusting your intuition or me trusting my intuition. It's like, if I'm going with this in this direction, like stopping to say, how do I feel? Really asking myself, how do I feel? Not what I think I want my results to be, but. When I think about this, like a year from now, five years from now, how do I feel?
And I think that's really helped me, tune into what's right for me.
[00:20:13] Kellee Wynne: I love that. And I am still learning that lesson about intuition because I ignored it several times this year. I will talk about it later in this year when I've gone through my own personal process and healing. Yeah. Yeah. The mistakes that I made, and then the losses I've had and the stress and many people who know me know that it's been a really hard year, but I would say 1 of the reasons that made it harder is that I wasn't listening to my intuition along the way about what's the right.
Right thing to be doing it at that time. And we ignore that because there's, we either have desires or we're not trusting of ourselves enough. And so that's a huge growth leap for me as well.
[00:20:53] Lea Ann Slotkin: I think that's something that I'll always be paying attention to and trying to figure out. I don't know that it's something that I'll ever arrive like, oh, I just trust my gut or, you know, but I, I think I have to get really, purposeful about listening to it.
And that's 1 of the good things about my coaching training is. The tools that I have now that are wonderful. Help me tune into all that. But I have to use the tools and sometimes I'm just like, I'm just going to stay busy. Like that's my favorite thing. Yeah. And that's when I can tell, am I avoiding like maybe thinking about things and.
I
[00:21:31] Kellee Wynne: know we were just talking about the fact that you said, so how are you caring for yourself in this hard time? I'm like, well, I spent 6 hours power washing. Like, is that caring for yourself? But in some ways, yes, but
[00:21:43] Lea Ann Slotkin: yeah, well, I think too, it's like very, we were saying, you get immediate results.
Like, you start something, you finish. It's not super taxing, like your brain doesn't have to really be thinking hard.
[00:21:57] Kellee Wynne: My body was thinking hard. My body said, oh, you are in your 50s now. So true. I'm going to punish you a little bit, but you're right. I had a chance to just decompress for a whole afternoon.
Water and fresh air. It was nice, but leaning into knowing who you are just takes time and it's just fine Lea Ann, like I know you've been through like these circles and I loved working with you and seeing you figure these pieces out, but I also noticed there was so, I saw it, I saw there was so much resistance.
That it was like, okay, where is the missing piece? But I, I, like I said, I'm more of a mentor than I am a coach. So it's not really like, I try and encourage each person that I work with to lean into who they are and what they want and what their desires are. But you have to come to that realization for yourself.
[00:22:50] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And I think that's like going back to the beginning of the conversation. It was like, I don't know. It didn't like personally feel like resistance in my body. It felt like confusion, like where do I put my time? And it was just like, I was just touching, barely touching or scratching the surface of two things and not really moving forward in either.
[00:23:13] Kellee Wynne: And there we come. That's what it felt to me. Doing the one thing makes it so much easier. I mean, that is a lot. We're building a business is no joke, but trying to build more than one business at a time, which is really what it is. If you have different customer, ideal customers for each thing that you're building a different process for each thing that you're building, then you have to build, like, the relationships for each thing you're building.
And this is the part where I'm like, we don't have infinite energy to do this. In fact, I'm working on a demonstration. One of these days, I'm really going to get that YouTube channel go. I keep talking about it, but working on trying to explain the idea of this, like the deep versus wide and how much energy it takes for each of those things.
That if you compound that energy going deeper and deeper into the one thing, you expend less energy and make more money.
[00:24:07] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah. And I mean, don't get me wrong. I love making money. I think that's awesome. Especially as artists. I want every artist to make a lot of money as do you, but also it's just like the personal toll, the personal toll.
Yeah, and then I will make excuses and be like, I'll say to my husband, like, if I'm feeling frustrated or down on myself about it, I'll say, well, it's not like I'm digging ditches. And he's like, it does. Why do you do that? Like, It's hard work.
[00:24:39] Kellee Wynne: It's hard work. And some days it feels like digging ditches.
I actually think maybe digging ditches might be easier because like I'm watching, you dig a ditch and you have the results. You have a ditch. You have a ditch, but it's really cool when you build a business and you build the list and you build and like you're, you're building a list and you're like, Oh, and now I have a list and now I have customers and now I have an offer.
And it's like, Oh, I did build this myself. Yes, absolutely.
[00:25:10] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, it's really good.
[00:25:13] Kellee Wynne: So, other than Figuring your stuff out, Lea Ann. What else would you say was some of the biggest ah hahs that you had over the last year working with me in the league?
[00:25:24] Lea Ann Slotkin: I mean, , I continue to be and was so impressed by the people in your group.
People that I've now become friends with and really and truly feel like if I had any kind of question, I could, you know, message them and get an answer. Like, it's just being in that kind of supportive community. Was a really big deal. And just really being so impressed and in awe of what they can create, what people create and not just the artwork, but the business and not being afraid to tackle the tech or not tackle the tech and then hire it out and really being able to, know yourself well enough and be able to try things.
Have them work or not work and just keep moving forward. There's a lot of resiliency in that group.
[00:26:18] Kellee Wynne: Very much. And I'm, I'm incredibly impressed too, with how much they showed up for themselves
[00:26:25] Lea Ann Slotkin: and for each other.
[00:26:26] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, we did have, we, we definitely grew a very deep bond, which is why I didn't want the year to come to an end.
And many people stayed on and some were ready to go and have wings, which I love, I created the thing that I always wished that I had.
[00:26:41] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, absolutely. And that's usually like the best thing then.
[00:26:44] Kellee Wynne: Absolutely.
[00:26:45] Lea Ann Slotkin: So where do you feel like I'm trying to think. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Oh, I was going to answer your question another way too.
Like, aha moments. I think that you're drawn to something for a reason. Maybe you can articulate either the, the leader, the group, the messaging, and that really resonated for me to just kind of the whole package. So that's all I wanted to say about that.
[00:27:09] Kellee Wynne: Thank you so much. Well, you did accomplish a lot, but I think the biggest, well, you learned a lot too.
I mean, we really dive. In my programs on all of like, simplifying systems and knowing exactly like how you're going to attract the right customer, build the list, make an offer, et cetera. But like you said, sometimes the best thing that comes out of it is just knowing and understanding yourself better.
[00:27:35] Lea Ann Slotkin: 100 percent and that's invaluable.
[00:27:38] Kellee Wynne: Invaluable. All right. So where are we working towards now? We'll do a little mini coaching session. Lea Ann, you said, I don't think that coaching to help. Like the regular traditional coaching aspect for you very much, even though that's what you had worked on building.
Like, can I do group coaching program and help people get into galleries and such and work on their business? And you're like, I actually like the art process better than that, like more traditional path of coaching. So where are you now with like,
[00:28:12] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about.
[00:28:15] Kellee Wynne: Well,
[00:28:16] Lea Ann Slotkin: okay.
So My two mediums of choice are collage, and I do mostly hand painted paper, a lot of vintage things like that, and painting. I use acrylic paint. My subject matter generally is florals, botanicals, brightly colored, fun, bright, happy, people tell me, my work. Uh, thank you. So really figuring out which path to start with to share
[00:28:50] Kellee Wynne: my process.
Okay, so the 1st thing is, you don't have to necessarily, in order to pick a niche, you don't have to narrow down painting or collage. I think that the work itself speaks for itself. You have enough cohesion. There's like, it's you I see Lea Ann all the work that you're doing. So in order to pick a niche, sometimes we got to think about, like, what problem am I going to solve?
Who am I going to solve for? So then we can go back to, there was something that you said that struck me earlier in this conversation that sparked an idea of wondering, is there a place to bring together. Women just like you and me, the Gen X, that's just always forgotten. We've got all these senior boomers that are retired and now they're able to spend time on their fun art hobby, which good for them.
They deserve it. You have all of these young mothers who are still in the throes of motherhood and then there's us. What about that? Where is the helping them find their voice? Helping them identify who they are, use your coaching skills to help them create the artwork they've always wanted to create.
[00:30:05] Lea Ann Slotkin: I love that because I love Gen X.
[00:30:08] Kellee Wynne: Me too! Like there's just like, we're not talked about enough. And it's like, we're the smallest generation. We are and we are going through that change of life as women. We have. Some of us have teenagers are a little bit younger and because some started a little later and a lot of us have grown adults.
Some of us are becoming grandparents, which is empty nesters. We've got empty nesters. We have, we're looking at retirement. Like there's just this whole ball of overwhelmed that we don't address.
[00:30:40] Lea Ann Slotkin: Well, yeah, and we're saying what they call it a sandwich like
[00:30:44] Kellee Wynne: parents
[00:30:45] Lea Ann Slotkin: and still raising kids, even if your kids are like grown, which I'm using air quotes for, you're still raising them.
[00:30:53] Kellee Wynne: You're still raising them. Absolutely. And so no one really talks about these sandwich years, although I met somebody this year, a little bit earlier. When I was at alt summit, that's like a creative summit that I went to in Palm Springs. And her whole podcast is the sandwich years. And I'm like, so somebody gets this.
I wish I could remember her name. I'm so sorry. We'll put it in the show notes. I'll go search it because I feel like that's an important thing to talk about. So when you create a niche or you create a business model, it doesn't have to be just what I do. I create paintings or I create collages.
That's not that's your style. That's your voice that can evolve. But it's more like, who do you serve? And what problem do you solve? So if you start saying, okay, I love this generation. I see the women's problems. I'm trained coach. So I can help work them through this in a very creative manner. I can help them finally dive into the thing they've always wanted to do, which is make art.
I can teach them the skills that I know, but maybe I'm going to help them find their own point of view.
[00:31:59] Lea Ann Slotkin: Yeah, I think that's great. And I think it's an underserved community.
[00:32:03] Kellee Wynne: It is, especially, look, we can say I'm for everyone. I can teach anyone how to find their voice. But when we get that little bit more narrow of a point of view, what you're actually doing is saying, Hey, this is like, this is the cool club for you finally designed for you.
And you feel like you belong. Like, I would just so you know, I would sign up for that because I don't see a whole lot of things marketed specifically to gen X. And for us to talk about where we are in this stage of life and how it affects our creativity, how it affects our habits, or as you said, why we don't sleep.
It's not like it's a, if you created something that it's like, we've got to deal with the menopause and I'm going to teach you all about menopause. Although I know somebody who's doing that and she's so fabulous for that. She's got a whole program, but it's more like, We're going to dive into our creativity and we know all this other shit is going to come up while we're doing it.
[00:32:59] Lea Ann Slotkin: A hundred percent. And at the same time, we can talk about our favorite, like eighties bands, the
concerts we went to.
[00:33:07] Kellee Wynne: I mean, like, okay, so sign me up. I don't know. I always say when we come up with a great idea, you need some time to think on it.
[00:33:14] Lea Ann Slotkin: Well, I'm glad this is recorded. So I won't forget you. That's another.
[00:33:19] Kellee Wynne: The whole world is listening to us brainstorm this idea together. And so then what do you do here? And I'll do this. So everyone knows this is what the next step say, this is the path you want to go. And the next thing you do is you start talking to that person, make that list of all the pain points. Why is this Gen X woman so stuck?
Why has she not heard? Because nobody talks about Gen X. It's always Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, fine, whatever, we will just disappear into the matrix. But like, you talk about that and you show up and you show your process, the things you've been through, you show your artwork and you say, how has it helped you?
The same way that you're going to help them and you talk to them like it's just a real conversation from the heart like this. And the next thing building up relationships. And then of course, we go into all the other steps that I've already taught you. Like, how are you going to find them? How are you going to encourage them to be on a, on a newsletter with you or listen to your podcast or whatever it is that you're going to choose to do moving forward.
And, and then even if you haven't developed what the product's going to be, what, what you're going to offer, what you're going to do, even if you just know that much. The, the, what are you going to be known for? Who are you going to serve? What problem do you solve? And how do you stand out and do it differently?
If you just can figure out that much, all the rest can happen. We just start talking to that person. So we can start building that relationship. I love it. We start figuring out what does the program look like? What does the business model look like? What would an offer look like? How am I going to present it?
How am I going to create a juicy lead magnet so that people can come into my world, find me and say, Oh, this is exactly what I was looking for. Or, you know, this isn't quite right. I'm hopping back off the email list, but it's like that tester that helps everyone. Then know who you are and how you're going to help make a difference in their life.
And that, my friends, is what we do. And now everyone, especially all you Gen Xers, go find Lea Ann Slotkin. Isn't Lea Ann Slotkin on Instagram? Lea Ann just
[00:35:37] Lea Ann Slotkin: mine. Mm-Hmm. .
[00:35:38] Kellee Wynne: Um, and of course we'll link all of that and then you connect with her and say, oh my goodness, I so relate. Let me tell you all the reasons I don't sleep at night, and then let together I can just, I'm all in and then we can just talk crap.
In the most loving, positive way of like how much this time in our life kind of sucks. We're learning how to grieve. We're learning how to support grown children in a whole different way. We're learning how to find our own identity, like me. Yes, I know, that looks so good. Arm.
Did it
[00:36:15] Lea Ann Slotkin: hurt?
[00:36:16] Kellee Wynne: Did it hurt? Terribly so, but like having a baby you forget immediately and want another one like, I don't know, like, so I love, but you know, I am doing things now in my 50s that I wanted to do in my 20s, but I was too chicken. Oh, thanks. It's so weird. Like, okay. It's so weird. I get it. I'm totally in your club now.
You're doing it whether you like it or not. I need it. You're a founding member. I'm a founding member. All right. I'm going to wrap this up. Everyone knows where to find you now, Lea Ann. That was a really fun, like, unexpected. This wasn't planned, but that direction. And
[00:37:02] Lea Ann Slotkin: well, it also gives people an idea of how good you are at what you do.
I hope. I hope. I know. I think, I think this is evidence of it because I, you know, like when it's your own thing, you get caught in the weeds of the how, like how, okay, I have this idea. I know what I want to be, but how, and it's like, no, I need, I need someone to help me see the vision of not only the how, but the why and like the foundation, like the foundation has to be set.
And that's what you're really good at.
[00:37:32] Kellee Wynne: Thank you. I also want to point out something that's really important. I have almost everyone who starts with me say, Okay, my niche is I want to help people find their voice. And I'm like, or I want to help beginners be comfortable with making art. And it's like, that's not a niche, that's a result.
And if you don't specialize enough, it's really hard to get your business off the ground. But when you get a really unique point of view and you specialize, you find a niche, whatever you want to call it, your little nook in the world where you can say, Hey, this is, this is a niche. This is for you. So different.
Yes. I know this means I'm not talking to the boomers. I'm not talking to the millennials. I am talking to some, a very, a more narrow, but because you're so specific with that, there's going to be so many more people that say, Oh, wait a minute. I actually do relate to that. And you can actually build your business faster.
And so that's my little pitch there to everyone. The more you specialize, the easier it is to build your business.
[00:38:35] Lea Ann Slotkin: I think that is exactly right.
[00:38:38] Kellee Wynne: All right. Off to the races running.
[00:38:41] Lea Ann Slotkin: I'm excited. This was fun.
[00:38:44] Kellee Wynne: That was super fun. Thanks for having me. I'll do that again. Let's do it again. Okay. Talk to you soon.
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