Kellee Wynne:
Hello, everybody. I am so excited to bring this episode to you and it's way overdue. We recorded this back in May and brought together the original members of the league that have been with me two or three years now. And it was just so great to catch up and see what's happened over the time that they've been building their, of course, creator businesses. They're pretty amazing. You know, I've had them all on the podcast before and of course, I'll be linking, like, everything that they've discussed before, so you can go back and listen to that. But what we talked about in May, I think is still very relevant now. I want you to listen and just hear.

Kellee Wynne:
What does success mean? What is inspiring them now? What are they up to? What are they known for? And you'll hear. Some things have passed, I have to tell you. Let me update you a little bit about some of the things we discussed. All good stuff. For example, Drew Steinbrecher's on this call and he's talking about an upcoming summit. Well, that summit's already passed. That happened in June, and it was a huge success. He decided to bring digital art to our mixed media community.

Kellee Wynne:
And what's amazing about that is it's something you can take on the go. This wasn't about illustration or graphic design. This was about using technology like your iPad or tablet to create mixed media collage. And it's really wonderful because it was a huge success. And I'm just really happy that he's found his thing. He's found his niche. He also spent some time in Europe this summer, and he's got his next summit coming up, so keep your eye out for Gel Printers Summit. This will be his third.

Kellee Wynne:
He's been doing this for a while and you'll hear this is his specialty. This is his niche. He's picked it, he's sticking with it, and it's wonderful because it's working for him. We talked to Brooke BB Henry, as she's known often online, and I love seeing her progress. Where she came from and where she's at. Her mindset has changed. What she believes is possible has changed. Where, you know, there was something about staying small or not knowing her capabilities.

Kellee Wynne:
And here she is two years later, and she's rocking it. She's run her master program, the BB Art Journals, three times now.

Kellee Wynne:
It's growing bigger every time.

Kellee Wynne:
She never even really believed she could make it to six figures. And in half of a year, she was able to surpass that. This year, you know, sure, you're going to hear them all talk about the hard work it takes to get to where they're at.

Kellee Wynne:
But it's.

Kellee Wynne:
It's really unbelievable what happens when you put your mind to it. Of course, we have Kat Rains, always a perennial favorite to have a conversation with. She's probably the first person who rose her hand and said, yes, I want to learn from you. I want to know exactly how you did what you did. And I took her from the beginning, step by step, and helped her build where she's at now with collage, joy, and God. I just think that it's amazing what she's been able to do and that she just doesn't want to quit. This is it for the rest of her life. She said she'll be in her 80s, and she'll still be doing this because.

Kellee Wynne:
It'S an art form.

Kellee Wynne:
To her, bringing art to other people is an art form. And you're going to hear this repeated many times that what these creators do, what these artists are doing for other people, is their biggest motivation to see other people's lives change. That's why I do what I do, because I'm helping them build businesses, which then in turn help other people make art and find themselves and find their joy and find their creativity. And it's amazing what happens when this stuff kind of gets put into motion. Another artist we're discussing things with is Delight Rogers. She's been on the podcast twice, and honestly, she's been one of everybody's favorite persons to listen to. And I know why, because she's just got this gentle vibe. But she's done so many interesting things, so her perspective is very clear on how she helps people.

Kellee Wynne:
And you'll hear about that. She's reformatting some of her courses. She's taking things to the next level. But what I love is when you work with her, when she guides you through the process, you really get to know yourself. It's a deep exploration. She's mixing the layers of mixed media with the layers of who we are, and that's really special. And I know that the people who have taken her courses have really found, you know, some magic in that. I highly recommend you follow Delight and take her next personal portraits, because that's where the biggest magic comes in.

Kellee Wynne:
And, of course, finally, Robin Marie Smith, who I've been friends with long before she came and joined me in the league. But, you know, there was something special about how our synergy worked together and how I was able to help her make decisions and build up her Marketing for her, her latest venture. She put everything else behind her and she went all in on her membership, the Robin's Nest. And we have a funny, long running joke about how what she's going to do in retirement and oftentimes that is just as much work as what she's doing now.

Kellee Wynne:
I don't know that she's ever going.

Kellee Wynne:
To really be able to step away from teaching because she's just such a great giver. But I do know that unlike some people like Kat and I, we just want to keep doing this until our last days. She's really craving alone time with her husband and travel and visiting her family. So I love that she's found more and more of that balance as she stuck to her one thing, and that's the common thing, is all of these artists, all of these course creators who are running very successful businesses have followed the rule of one. They followed what I teach, put each part in place step by step and built up their businesses. Now, I want to remind you, this is not an overnight success. I, I don't believe that you can just come and learn from me and six weeks later you're a million. Right? I mean, it doesn't work like that.

Kellee Wynne:
The truth is they're going to talk about how much work it is. So if hard work scares you, this might not be the industry for you, because we have our busy times and we have our calm times, but it does require work and they have put the steps into play. They've followed the rule of one, which, which is to solve one problem for one person with one solution on one platform. Before you ever build more, right? You simplify, you focus, you hone in. And when that's a success and all the systems are placed and only then do you add the next thing. That's why now Kat and Brooke, even Robin Marie are all looking to add in person workshops. And now after three years of working on summits, Drew's finally like, okay, I can add one more summit to this. But he's still just focusing on that one thing.

Kellee Wynne:
He's a summit master. Let's just be honest, if there's a couple of takeaways that you're going to get from experiencing this podcast, it's that it takes time and patience and dedication and sometimes long hours. And when your whole heart is in it and you're loving what you do, the rewards come. And I just want to say that's the biggest thing for me is watching that happen for others. See, the thing is, is I think I've Learned more from them even than they've learned from me. It's been my greatest gift, the kind of joy it brings me to see them succeed. And this isn't just this one small little OG League group, our original gangsters, it's the whole group of all of the people who've come through the league. But I watch their lives change.

Kellee Wynne:
People who've come through build it remarkable. Their lives change. They are suddenly able to take control of their future, their dreams, their ambitions, and bring in income that they never thought was imaginable before. And for me, that is a gift. Nothing really makes me happier than seeing other people succeed. And then in turn, they get to help people. They're helping other people find their voice, make art, be inspired, be nurtured, come into community. It's a beautiful ripple effect.

Kellee Wynne:
And I just know that this is where I was meant to end up, because this is what lights me up. This is what teaches me the most I need out of life. I'm just so grateful for them. I'm so grateful for the people who have walked through my doors, said yes and raised their hand and made a huge leap of faith, not just with me, but with themselves, with their abilities, with how they see the world and what they're able to accomplish. So even when the whole world seems like chaos, this is something that they have for themselves. This is something that makes a difference. And if it's the only thing that they are able to do that they have control over right now, boy, is it the most beautiful, magical thing to be putting more art and artists out into the world. So I do want to invite you because it's coming up soon.

Kellee Wynne:
Build It Remarkable will open. It has the regular Build It Remarkable and you can apply to join the league if that's a space where you're ready for. I want to help you. And because I know how long it takes to build, I have decided to turn my program into a year long program. Yes, we'll get the foundation up front and ready. You'll have the whole whole plan mapped out, the entire framework. And then we will have a whole year to work on it together in community with calls, with new information coming out all the time, and things are changing, I will add on new layers. It's honestly remarkable.

Kellee Wynne:
And not to toot my own horn, but there's nothing else quite like it out there. I am an artist. I have created courses. I have made a very successful art course business and I have helped other people do it too. So all those other marketers out there, they may have great information, but there's nothing like the program that I've designed because I am specifically here following my rule of one solving one problem, which is helping artists build better businesses with their courses, their workshops, their memberships, their retreats, whatever it is that they're building. As an, as an art educator.

Kellee Wynne:
I've.

Kellee Wynne:
Solved the problem and I've got one person, I have one solution, which is the Build It Remarkable framework. And I do it on one platform, Instagram. And once I mastered that, I added on the podcast and that's it. I put that on repeat and that's what I'm focused on right now. My other art courses are running in the background. I don't focus on them as much right now because I am fully investing my energy into helping other people fulfill their biggest, audacious dreams.

Kellee Wynne:
Right, okay, enough talking.

Kellee Wynne:
If you are interested in Build It Remarkable. I've got so many exciting things coming up. Please go get on the priority list. Go to kellywyn.compriority. i got bonuses for people who are on that list. So don't miss your opportunity. Now let's go and listen to this episode.

Kellee Wynne:
Okay, thank you, everybody.

Kellee Wynne:
Hello, my friends.

Kellee Wynne:
This is the league, the original, the OG League. We've been together now, some of us.

Kellee Wynne:
For three years, two years for the.

Kellee Wynne:
Rest, and we're no longer officially the league. We've now formed our own little once a month mastermind, which is really exciting when you get to a certain point. I can only do so much to help you. I can continue to encourage, but some of you are like, way out of my league now. What happened? So I just want to go ahead and go around the circle and just have you introduce yourselves. What are you best known for? So anyone who wants to start can start or I'm going to have to call names.

Brooke Henry:
All right.

Kellee Wynne:
Brooke.

Brooke Henry:
Hi, I'm Brooke Henry, also known as BB And I'm probably best known for the BB Bash, which is my annual free event, and then my BBR journals masterclass, which is my immersive 12 week program where we go through the ins and outs of an art journal in a way that most people haven't before. Combine textiles with mixed media and learning to really use everything that's already in your stash. So that's probably what I'm best known for. Bringing the textiles in.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yep. And your beautiful colors mixed with black. And that's one of my favorite things about your signature style.

Brooke Henry:
Thank you.

Brooke Henry:
Yeah.

Brooke Henry:
Love the bold colors mixed with black and white. It's an automatic graphic touch and you get a lot of cohesive color schemes that way.

roben marie:
Don't you have products now with joggles?

Roben-Marie Smith:
I believe?

Delight Rogers:
Yes.

Brooke Henry:
So I have foam stamps out with joggles. The first line was just released a couple months ago and it's done very well so far, which is so exciting to see you put your heart and soul into something, your designs, you know that you love them and you don't know how they'll be received. So it's been very cool then to see people using stuff designed by me. So yes, I. I very thrilled about that.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yay. I love it. That was one of your bucket list wishes and I can see that growing for sure. Most people who've been listening to my podcast should know all of you by now, but it's still fun to do an introduction, especially for the people who have not joined before. So just go for it.

Catherine Rains:
Okay, I will.

Catherine Rains:
I'll go in. I'll jump in. So I'm Katherine Raines, also known as Kat, and I'm best known for my masterclass, which is a Collage Joy. It's a 14 week course where I take people from not knowing how to collage to learning how to make a cohesive series. I also have a free class that is a precursor to the larger class called Collage Kickstart.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yep. Collage maven, if you will. Before you were doing this program as a course creator, I know that you had a lot of different, like ins and outs in your journey back into art. And it was something that we had a conversation about just recently about how.

Kellee Wynne:
In maybe your 30s, you discovered collage.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And it was an outlet for you. As I'm busy working 9 to 5.

Catherine Rains:
Yeah. Up until my early 30s, I didn't think I had any art skills. I had been a crafter my entire early life, but I didn't think that was art. And I was in a demanding job that really sucked all the energy out of me. And I just said, something's got to give. So I just remembered something I did as a 30, as a 10 year old actually, and I made one collage as a kid and I said, maybe I can do that. That would be something to do instead of knitting, I'll make a collage. And I made this collage and just lit me up to the point where I started making it, making them for.

Catherine Rains:
For years.

Catherine Rains:
And I just didn't do the hobby for a very long time. But in the back of my mind, I always dreamed that I would turn it into a business. Even the very first collage. My brain is just Wired for how can I make a. How can I make money doing this? Like, how can I make a nothing at this? But it took. It literally took almost 30 years. From the time I made my first collage to the time I met you, I figured out it took me a while to actually realize that I didn't want to sell my art. Now I might sell it again.

Catherine Rains:
But I was selling art. But at the time I met you, Kelly. But I realized I really want to teach people how to find the joy from art as opposed to selling my art. So that was about a 30 year span to figure it out to find my style. By the way, I don't think it takes 30 years to find your style. But that is just such a director I have because I was also in the corporate world before that.

Roben-Marie Smith:
So years to figure out the path that you were meant to be on all along because you're great at this.

Catherine Rains:
Sometimes it just takes us. I think I'm. It took. I think I was meant to take this long because all of those things I did leading up to this, I was a corporate trainer professionally, my other profession. And that actually trained me how to teach art. I didn't. But I never realized that's where I was going. So it was supposed to take this long.

Catherine Rains:
I just didn't realize it when I was started. My started this journey a long time ago.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I love it. All right, who's next? Robin Marie?

Drew Steinbrecher:
All right, I'll go. I'm Robin Marie Smith and gosh, I. My journey started over 20 years ago. So I guess depending on who you ask. I've been known for a rubber stamp company, product lines, online classes. What I'm doing now is a membership called the Robin's Nest. I'm also known for being pretty tech savvy, so I've helped other artists and creatives with the tech side of things and running an online business. So I've done a lot.

Drew Steinbrecher:
But right now my focus is on my membership and just nurturing my community and just being creative in there and just helping them. So that's where I'm at right now.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I know, I love. There's been such an evolution which shows us we don't have to be stuck in one thing. It will continually evolve until you hit a stride that you like or you decide to retire. Which is our long running joke with Rob and Marie because we'll have this joke of when I retire, I think I'll do this and it's like that's not retirement.

Drew Steinbrecher:
I know it is a joke, but.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I Love how you love to serve other people, though. That's the thing, is that it's hard to let go of that part. But that's still unwritten.

Kellee Wynne:
Right now.

Kellee Wynne:
It's all about the Robin's Nest Delight.

Delight Rogers:
Okay. My name's Delight Rogers, and I would say I'm best known for art workshops that marry creative wellness and healing with mixed media. And my two most popular courses are Soulful Stories and Personal Portraits, which both are. Are fairly similar in the way that they incorporate just natural elements, fabrics, papers, paints, anything I can find. And the message behind them all is just create. Don't worry about mistakes, and just enjoy the process and heal along the way.

Kellee Wynne:
Yes.

Delight Rogers:
Yeah.

Kellee Wynne:
And they're beautiful courses because you really get people to explore them themselves through the process. It's not just about making art. It's a lot more than that.

Delight Rogers:
Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty beautiful. I'm new to this. I've been with Kelly now two years, and I've been creating courses now only for two years. I have six courses, and I have this really beautiful Creative Delight studio community. And we're just all growing together, and I'm doing a lot of growth along with the people that are joining me in the workshops as we discover what works and what's exciting and what lights us up.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it. It's really fun to watch you evolve. You've had so many cool opportunities, too, in the last couple of years. We talked about it a bit. I think you've been on the podcast two times before, so if people don't know you by now, go back and listen to those episodes. And, Drew, how about you make an introduction for us? Last but not least.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. Hi, everyone. I'm Drew Steinbrucker. I've been in Kelly's Mastermind three years, I guess, and. And so you've kind of gone through it all with me. And one of the things we discovered was that I really enjoy creating summits. So you ask what we're known for, and I think I'm quickly becoming known as the art summit guy. So I have.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Right now, I have two summits. And just so you know, I'm calling a summit. I take a group of people, a group of artists. I. I ask them to teach at these summits. They give me prerecorded art videos, and I package them and call it a summit. And we have. We run the summit for two weeks.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Videos released once a day over two weeks, and everyone comes in and enjoys watching the videos, interacting with each other, and it becomes an event pretty much. Like I said, I have two summits. One is the collage maker summit, and then the other is the Gel Printer summit, which is based on gel plate printing. And I have a third one coming up, which is. I'm calling the Digital Artist. Yeah, calling it the Digital Artist Summit. And it's all about making digital collages and digital mixed media on iPads.

Kellee Wynne:
And I think it's going to be amazing. And also, just so you know, last night I stayed up past midnight binging all. All of Gel printer summit from 2024. Yeah, I'm still invested in this. I think it's really cool, too, because you started with a course that did really well, and every time you went to go and, like, maybe revitalize it or to start some other big signature project, you always turned and said, no. I just. I'm more excited to do another summit. And it works really well for you because you have a lot of experience with course coordinating people through, working part.

Kellee Wynne:
Time with the high school.

Kellee Wynne:
And you've been a designer, and so it's like a natural instinct for you to be behind the scenes and be the director almost, instead of in the spotlight.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. Like you mentioned, for years, I coached a high school group, and I had to organize not only the staff of coaches and also the kids, the students, but also the parents as well, because we had a lot of parent volunteers. And I think that's one of my strengths is staying out of the spotlight and making. Pulling all the strings behind the scenes and making sure everyone gets to where they need to go. And it's achieving at the highest level that they can achieve, and I enjoy doing that.

Kellee Wynne:
And your summits are hugely successful. Over 2000 usually per summit. So that's an amazing feat, and I love it because it is pretty solo focused. Like, the summits are the thing, and there's a routine and a rhythm to it now. And I don't know, sometimes my husband is like, kelly, you know, you gave up one of your most profitable things, which was your virtual art summit.

Kellee Wynne:
Why'd you do that?

Kellee Wynne:
And I'm like, it wasn't for me. In fact, I was worried when you were like, I want to do a second summit. And I'm like, drew, are you sure? And you're like, this is what I like doing. So we are all meant to do it in a different way. Like, Robin Reed just loves memberships. Where I needed to take a break from doing the membership, it didn't work.

Kellee Wynne:
As well for me.

Kellee Wynne:
And Kat's really great with this. Kat and Brooke with this one big thing a year where delight has a lot of beautiful touch points throughout the year. So it's like we all designed our business based off of our own needs and desires, and that's the best way. You make it in this energetic alignment and you're much better off. At least that's my opinion. I have questions for you and they might be a little, like, personal revealing and thought provoking. So I hope that we can go there with you. I know you can.

Kellee Wynne:
I want to start with this question that I really love is what's one thing you used to believe about business that now you've completely flipped on its head? Like, I know before we started working together, there were all kinds of beliefs and myths and things that you thought you needed to do, and now here you are all with successful businesses. What is it that's flipped for you? The narrative that's changed? Anyone who has a thought and wants to go. Robin Marie.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yeah, I'll start. And I don't know, I think maybe just having been doing this for so long and things change so rapidly now, in the early days, I'm talking like 20 years, things were very different. Social media, we didn't have Instagram that long ago. Things were different. You had to run your business differently. Now things have just. They've changed so much. But I think what can get to us is that we think we have to be everywhere all the time and do all the things, and you just can't do that.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And the fact that narrowing things down and narrowing your focus down makes it much easier to market it makes it much easier to get your message out and have it be clear and for you not to be stressed, because I've been there where it's been two different things, trying to marry them, trying to have two different methods. It was like running two different businesses at the same time. And it's very difficult to do that. So I think it's being flexible with finding out what you can do and what's working and not being so stressed that I have to do it all or do everything. And I. All the social media and all the things, because we. It's easy to think that. But to not be afraid, as you've taught us, it's okay to narrow things down.

Roben-Marie Smith:
It makes it much easier to get your message out and get your focus out if you're doing it that way, rather than trying to do all the.

Kellee Wynne:
Things and not burn out.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And not burn out. Exactly.

Kellee Wynne:
For sure. I know you straddled that line for so long with your Tech the Tech Makers or what was it called again?

Roben-Marie Smith:
Makers Tech you.

Kellee Wynne:
Makers Tech U, which was a great program, but it was like that person is probably different than the person who wants to make art. And you just, I just saw you just chop everything off and you were like, that's it, here's my thing.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And when you're.

Kellee Wynne:
But even last year you were doing things that like, I don't even need to be doing this. And it's still working for you, which is the beautiful part. When you have a lot of time for travel and friendship, friends and family. And that's the ultimate goal, I think.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah.

Kellee Wynne:
Anyone else? A Before and after Delight has a. What she used to think and what she thinks now.

Delight Rogers:
Yeah. So mine's a little different than Robin Marie's envisioning leaving a teaching career, starting an art business, lots of free time to create art, have some courses that I've pre recorded that are running in the background creating income. And that's not the case. So the reality. Yeah, the reality of that is that the work life balance, struggle is real. And when you're running your own business, it's really easy to lose track of that balance and to not carve out the time for yourself, carve out the time for your own art and that to run your own online art business. It requires a crazy amount of work and dedication and focus and can very easily take over everything else. And so I'm definitely at a point where I'm learning how to figure out what I can automate.

Delight Rogers:
Figure out what, like Robin Marie said, things that I maybe don't need to be doing and to be really reevaluating everything that I have put in place to figure out how I can improve that work life balance. And I've always been pretty good about taking the time to create art because that's my healing too. So I need to have that time. So I've always been really careful to be giving myself that time, but I haven't left enough time for the rest of my life and the other things I might like to do and the other people and family in my life. So that's where I'm at. And definitely the idea of it and the reality of it really different.

Kellee Wynne:
I think the first couple years do take an extraordinary amount of work to get everything set up and moving, but once you know which parts work and the rest that you can let go of, that's the key. And I think you're right on the cusp of all of that happening.

Delight Rogers:
Thanks for saying that. I hope so.

Kellee Wynne:
I know you've built something incredibly beautiful. So, Brooke.

Brooke Henry:
Yeah.

Brooke Henry:
So for me, like business before versus business now, I am a perfectionist and I like to have things figured out. I want to put out the best of me all the time and even unrealistic standards. Best of me. But I think one of the things that has really changed is you can't plan everything from the beginning. So much of it is a procrastination technique, even if we don't know it, or a tactic of needing to have the entire 10, 15 year plan, knowing what's gonna happen when you just can't know. So for me it's been, you need to jump in, be willing to learn, be willing to be bad at something to begin with. And that's how you're gonna learn through it. It's like through the discomfort of that learning phase of the growing that you learn the most about yourself.

Catherine Rains:
You learn the most about what you're good at or what you could outsource to other people as well. And so I think my feeling of businesses before it was people that had everything figured out. They had their life together, they had an entire team behind them and they were just the ideas person or whatever. Running your own art business is not that like, I do try to outsource a few things, but in the end when it's your creativity, only you can do that. You are the juices behind the entire operation. And so I think the most important is just start, start getting those feelers out there and you'll learn a lot by that. The other thing, I always looked at business owners and they, I felt like they had consistent throughout the entire year as far as like energy flows. They were doing all of the events all the time, all the things we talked about, all of us designing our own businesses around us.

Brooke Henry:
I've been very open with the fact that my energy fluctuates. Like I have times of the year where I need to hibernate and not talk to people. And I have other times of the year where I'm like, let's go 80 hour weeks, let's hit this. And that's not for everybody either. But for me, I've really discovered that I put things all together and, you know, work that way. So I never saw somebody's behind the scenes business work like that before. And so I always felt I can't do that because I can't be on all the time.

Kellee Wynne:
I think that was one of the first things that you were worried about when you joined me was, I don't know what my energy level is going to be like. I say, take it one day at a time and work within what works for you. And you've definitely done that because you. You do a good job hibernating through the winter and whatnot. And then you go all out spring, you're like blossoming everywhere.

Brooke Henry:
And the really exciting part, too is just like you were saying with delight. Like, these first couple years have been so much work, and I'm so happy about it. But even in this year, I can tell some things are like, okay, once you can put some stuff on repeat and you have that system in place. So that's why a lot of businesses don't make it past the first year or whatever benchmark they say, because it's a lot of setting things up and getting things running and in place. And you really need that passion in order to be able to stick it out until things do get a little bit easier and running a little bit smoother, for sure.

Kellee Wynne:
Drew or Cat.

Catherine Rains:
So I think the thing that I learned that I didn't realize was that running an art business was going to be harder than working for someone else. I always say that I am the absolute hardest boss I could possibly ever have. I'm. If I hang out with friends and I really need to get back to work, I'll say my boss is Bear. And it's true, because I just have. I just expect so much for myself. And that's one thing. That's the biggest thing I didn't realize.

Catherine Rains:
And sometimes other artists will say, why do you do it? Like, why are you working so hard? And it's really. It's a complete obsession in a. In the best way. To me, this is the juiciest thing I can possibly think of doing. Even though I'm not making. I thought I'd be making art all the time. And what I'm doing is creating art for other people to make, which is just as juicy and just as fun. And I didn't realize that's how it was going to happen.

Catherine Rains:
And a lot of artists who are not course creators, they think, oh, you're not making your art. I am making my art. I'm making my art in courses. And one day I will also make more physical art. But at the moment, this is art.

Kellee Wynne:
Business is art, isn't it?

Brooke Henry:
I think, right.

Kellee Wynne:
It feels like in and of itself, it's a form of art.

Catherine Rains:
Now. When I first started, I was thinking, I'm just making a business. But this is more than a business. This is a complete. I Don't know. It's just this thing that envelops you, and it's so much fun. Like, you keep. I dream about it all the time.

Catherine Rains:
Like, how am I going to make different parts of it better and more efficient? And so the people resonate with it, so people like doing it. You know what I have to offer?

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah. Drew, you have an idea. And now you're last again.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. So along the same lines as everyone else, I had this idea I could just do it all myself. And some of that, maybe, is when you first start a business, you don't have the money to hire other people. But I've gotten my business to the point where I can, and I've slowly started to let go of some of those things. I just hired someone to do Instagram for me. I've hired someone to do Pinterest for me. Like, letting go of things. I don't want to say I'm a control freak, but, you know, we all.

Drew Steinbrecher:
It's our baby. Right. Our businesses are us. So it's hard to let go of these little things. But ultimately, you're buying your time back, I guess, is what you're really is happening.

Kellee Wynne:
And you've been the hardest nut to crack of all of them. Like, you're saying, get yourself a va. But now I'm glad you are getting some support.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. And then another thing for me is realizing how important networking has been, especially with my business, because I'm relying on other artists to essentially produce the content for my products. So I need to get out there and meet people. And that's happened through the mastermind and some other things that I've done as well. So I was. You hear networking when you hear business, and for an introvert like me, that's. I want to run the other way. I think it's.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Now I realize how important that is.

Kellee Wynne:
And it can be fun.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. Especially when it can be at home and you can do it on Zoom.

Kellee Wynne:
That makes it so much better for sure. Okay, so I want to ask you now, where are you being creatively pulled to with your business, with your interests, with how you're developing your art and your voice? Just what's pulling at you right now? And what do you see coming in the near future? I think we'll put. I'm going to go ahead and just put Drew on the spot as first this, because I know one thing that's pulling you, and that's this new summit you're building.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. I'm creating the summit. I. You had mentioned earlier that I, I was trying to create this sort of masterclass or we were talking about creating this huge class and I just was dragging my feet on it and I just couldn't do it and couldn't do it. And you were like, why don't you just do another summit? And within a week I had the summit planned and people already in place to do it. I think that I guess in a positive way that's pulling my creativity and I just, I really enjoy doing that. Like, I guess I like organizing it. I'm an organizer.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah.

Kellee Wynne:
And a big vision person as well.

Kellee Wynne:
Because it's more than just organizing. You see something that there was a gap in the market that I think a lot of people are going to be incredibly excited to participate in. Because when you think of digital art, most people think of anime or cartoons or illustrations for products or something. But there's this beautiful world that you've shown us on your feedback of a collage mixed media experience that you can do digitally, which is perfect for travel, which you love to do a lot of traveling. So it's a perfect mashup because all you need is the tablet.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. I'm excited to see how it's going to be received. We're starting a little small this year, but hopefully I can grow it in the future.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah. And then maybe a fourth one. So you have one every quarter.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. Maybe other things that are pulling my creativity is that in a positive way or negative way?

Kellee Wynne:
It can be whatever, however you want to interpret it.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Always say that when people ask what I do, I always say I'm a full time artist that doesn't make art. I think we all feel that. Right. We're all so busy with the, with our businesses that we forget to make art. So that's one thing that I really have been trying to do is intentionally sit down and just make art. Even just for myself.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah.

Drew Steinbrecher:
And I think that's a little bit where this digital artist summit came from. Because I've been sitting on the sofa with my iPad making art and it just all fell into place. Because it's easy. You don't, it's not messy. You don't have to get out all the stuff. You can sit on the sofa and watch TV and make art.

Kellee Wynne:
A low energy kind of activity that's still a complete expression of yourself.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. I have a need to be productive all the time. So I think that instead of just sitting and watching what's on TV and being present with that, that pro television program, I have to be doing things I Have to. So I feel like if I'm sitting there making art that I'm being productive.

Kellee Wynne:
Is that how you got into crochet and then quilting? Knitting?

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah.

Drew Steinbrecher:
I started knitting because someone. I was having anxiety problems at the time and someone suggested I knit to. Because the repetitive nature helps can help with your anxiety. And then that was 25 years ago. So that was around the time blogs were starting and I just started looking at knitting blogs, which then led to modern quilting.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah, it just. It snowballed and now look at you, the king of summits. Anyone else? Where are you being pulled creatively with your work, with your business, with your art, your vision of the future?

Brooke Henry:
Yeah, I'll go next. First to tie in with Drew. That's what stitching is for me. So I completely get it. It's that repetitive action that is so soothing in so many ways. And I also really resonate with the need to always be productive. Man, I do not know how to just relax and do nothing. There's always more than one thing happening.

Brooke Henry:
And now with my business, it's usually something related to that. So yes, I agree with the needing to make more time for my own personal art creation. There's something about a deadline attached to it that I can complete a project versus on my own. It's okay. I'll just keep starting new ones. So it's very interesting in that regard. But being pulled. I'm really excited to be going into year three of my or time number three of releasing my masterclass.

Brooke Henry:
I get so much joy in honing in on the details of making it better and better as I go. So I this year I completely re reworked the workbook. It's 200 pages long now of a complete exhaustive manual for the entire class. It's things like that where it's. It's not necessary. But like the more that I do it, the more that I know I enjoy it and like it's a skill skill of mine. So like how can I bring that into more and more of what I'm doing? So in that way pulled creativity create creatively of. Into different things.

Brooke Henry:
And I'm excited for things are starting to calm down a little bit of like how can I then put that into my other courses, the small ones or just on an ongoing basis. So that really excites me. And then I'll be teaching in person for one of the first times for mixed media. I've taught for quilting and just stitching before. So first time with mixed media and I'm So looking forward to it. So I am an introverted extrovert at times like I am usually I've adapted where I am, whatever the situation needs me to be, but by nature I'm an introvert. But I've been building my community of people and I'm really excited to meet people in person and be. There's something about that energy.

Brooke Henry:
So I think that's the next thing I'm being pulled to is like, how can I do more in person while still having the business run in those times? So I think those are the things I'm really being pulled towards.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it.

Kellee Wynne:
All right, who else has a future vision? Kat?

Catherine Rains:
No, I'm going to sound like a parent of Brooke because I've just finished my third year with Fly Story and it's all full on collage joy from now until January 1, 2026. I'm just like so excited because there are so many things I'm changing and I'm revamping. It's got me 12 weeks. It's 14 weeks. And how can I make it a better, more enriching experience for people? So it's even more logical and inspiring in terms of how people go through. Go through the process. So, like, I've just set up my notion system thanks to inspiration from Drew and Brooke. And like, just little things like that are just like, oh, I get to fill out my little notion chart, like.

Catherine Rains:
And figure out because.

Catherine Rains:
And I haven't done it. By the way, I actually hired someone to actually set it up for me because this is mind boggling to me.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah, that's more than I can handle too.

Catherine Rains:
No way. But just the. I love coming up with new ways to make my business more inspiring for me. But then that also goes into someone else that I haven't affected people on people's lives that they've never done anything like this before. And to sound more like Brooke, I'm starting to do live workshops too, which I really never thought I was going to do. That wasn't on my radar. But someone asked, you know, it's. I did one in Asheville as a run through and I didn't realize how hard it was going to be.

Catherine Rains:
Like, oh, like this is challenging. Not this whole new level. It's a whole new level. And I used to do corporate training for corporate people in suits. So you think it'd be the same thing, but it is entirely different and a whole nother set of anxiety and. But I'm really glad because now I've worked out a lot of Kinks. So that I can teach the same thing in Europe, which I'm doing in August. So I'm hoping that's my.

Catherine Rains:
Another thing is I'm hoping that once a year I can go to Europe, go to a different city or two, and basically teach the same thing on repeat. We'll see if that actually works, because God forbid I actually do the same thing twice but have to be redone and revamped.

Kellee Wynne:
I think that's a great goal. Who doesn't want to have to travel to Europe once a year? At least now.

Catherine Rains:
Someone else's dime too, you know, Especially.

Kellee Wynne:
When another company sets it all up for you.

Catherine Rains:
Well, you know, it's not totally them, you know, because when you're an artist.

Kellee Wynne:
Have to plan the curriculum and everything.

Catherine Rains:
Yeah. The reason they ask us is because we've got people, so we're bringing our own audience.

Kellee Wynne:
Yes, exactly.

Catherine Rains:
I did a lot of work for both of those workshops, but it was incredibly fun. So.

Kellee Wynne:
Robin Marie.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Well, there's definitely a common thread here. The word introvert is. It's amazing how many creative people. And I'm with you, Brooke. I'm an extroverted introvert. In the right circumstances for the right amount of time, no problem. But when you hit the wall, you're done and I'm outta here. Yeah.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And sometimes that can be super challenging because you. You're present and you're there, and it takes a lot because you're helping and you're serving other people. You're giving of yourself to other people, and that can really be. That can pull you. So I think for me, I'm a little different in mine, as we mentioned, I'm at the end of my career, my end of my. And I say that because it's. I am. Whether that's a year or two or three, it.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I don't see. I don't see five or 10 years. Like, I'm not planning that far ahead because I don't see that. I don't. Honestly, I don't want to be working this hard in my 60s. I'd rather have a lot less on my plate. I'm thinking, what can I do? And something. There's something that keeps coming up that I've been thinking about and talking about for years, but I just haven't pulled the trigger to actually do it.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And the teaching in person, I've done, I've been doing and still doing, it's doing it myself. It's having little small gatherings and small retreats, whatever that looks like, whether it's here or I find a space. Maybe it's a small amount of people. I had somebody message me the other day. I. They were literally, I'm coming to Florida. How close is the airport to this city? Because I want to take a. Do a retreat with you.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And I'm like, I don't even have anything. Okay, you need to fly where you're going, because I don't have anything going on. But it got me thinking because I've been. It's been something. And I think that there's like a. As Brooke was saying earlier, this procrastination sometimes is related to fear or you're just. And it's just. I think if I just pulled the trigger and did it, I would find, oh, my gosh, I absolutely love this, and I want to do more of this.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And whether it's a quarterly thing or maybe I find locations around Florida and we rent spaces and we actually do it and figure out maybe start small, what that will look like, because then I can control that and do it as often or as little as I want to. So it just keeps coming up over and over. I keep thinking, oh, that would be so cool. I found a coffee shop in town, and I was. It had expanded, and I was walking around going, oh, there's a room back here. It had these two big doors on it and two long tables inside. And I'm like, this is in a coffee shop. How cool is this? And they rent the space out.

Roben-Marie Smith:
So, yeah, I'm thinking that's on my radar. There's all kinds of things that I. Oh, that would be fun. Oh, that. No, no, that. No.

Kellee Wynne:
So it's too much work.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yeah, it is a lot of work. So I think for me, it's maybe that because I love teaching. I love teaching in person.

Kellee Wynne:
That is a different feeling, isn't it?

Roben-Marie Smith:
It really is. It really is.

Kellee Wynne:
It's a lot of work. Yes.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And it's demanding, but, boy, is it special. It really is. And I feel like that's. I'm good at teaching in person. That's something that I feel like is the skill I have, but I don't know. We'll see what happens. It's. It's on my.

Kellee Wynne:
I'm still looking for Robin Marie's retirement.

Roben-Marie Smith:
John, what's my retirement plan?

Kellee Wynne:
What's that going to be?

Roben-Marie Smith:
I know it's not going to be a true retirement, but as long as.

Kellee Wynne:
It'S simple, low lift, effort.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yep.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And works for me. Works for the things that y' all know. My husband's been retired overtime 10 years. So it's like figuring out a way to let's. Where we can do more. And obviously having an online business is fantastic because you can take it with you. And so we've been able to travel and do things, but it still has. It still has its requirements, if you will, no matter what.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I'm just. That's something that's on my radar. It's been there for a while. I don't know. I think it's one of those things where just like when I have shifted in my business over the years to I'm not doing that anymore, now I want to do this. And big changes, big strategy changes, like the whole business model's changed. You have to get to that point where you're like, I'm ready and there's no procrastination, like I'm ready to do this. And then it's time.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Because I think if you're just keep. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know what's. What is keeping me from doing that. It may just be. I'm not ready to yet. But it keeps coming up here lately.

Kellee Wynne:
So I see that working for you for sure. All right, Delight. What do you see coming up for you creatively and otherwise?

Delight Rogers:
So interestingly, on your direction. When I first started my business, the 8020 rule of if you're multi passionate or you've got other types of art, things you want to be pursuing, have your main focus, give it 80% of your time and focus, and keep the rest down to 20%. So my 20% has been I have my art in a gallery. I do participate in local art shows and I teach in person monthly art workshops.

Kellee Wynne:
Oh, I love that.

Delight Rogers:
So the. And they now sell out each month and they have become the inspiration behind changing the direction of the art I'm creating. And so in turn, that's also changing the type of courses that I'm making going forward. One of I'm a part of make, create, express for 2025, 2026. And one of the art workshops I created is mixed media birch trees, which is really different than what I normally do. I'm normally doing female and figurative art. And that came out of art. I was making art workshops that I was teaching in person.

Delight Rogers:
And then just a huge interest from other people in what I was doing. And my interest obviously in creating that type of art. And another one I'm doing is foxes that I'm working on. I have my art on a line of clothing. I partnered with a Montreal clothing Designer. And I have my art on clothing that's selling quite well in the gallery where I am. And a lot of it is foxes. And I have these sweet little pieces of fox art, and I have them on little fox pouches.

Delight Rogers:
And I just. I can't get enough of foxes. So that's where I am creatively and.

Kellee Wynne:
All right, we can give you a leeway of more than 20%.

Delight Rogers:
I'm gonna try to keep it at 20% because it's. It flows into the 80%. Anyway, so my main workshop, Personal Portraits, was originally set up as a live zoom workshop that I would over six weeks, teach live on Zoom. And the last two times it was supposed to run, it's been canceled. And a lot of it has been to do with. With me. Some of it's mental health struggles, and some of it is just realizing that I. It's something that needs to be pre recorded.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah.

Kellee Wynne:
And you have a whole new challenge ahead of you, another class to record.

Delight Rogers:
That's what I think. And part of that is because, yes, I'm still creating female portraits, yes, I'm still doing female figurative art, but it's not all I'm doing. And with the type how I create and how intuitive it is, it's not necessarily available live on demand that I can just do it on zoom at any point. I feel like it needs to be. When I'm feeling it, I'm going to create it, I'm going to record it, and it's going to have all of the good stuff that I want to put into it, and then I'll be able to share it. And like my Soulful stories workshop, I'll have live open studio sessions where I'll support people as they go through the journey of creating their portraits. But I won't be required to perform on demand online to do that type of creating. Long answer.

Delight Rogers:
But the work I'm doing, the 80, 20, the 20, is now influencing me to the point where I'm realizing, okay, I need to make changes that are going to suit my ever changing art interests and art styles.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it. It seems like there's a big theme going on here which is improving what you already have is a big passion of what you're doing.

Kellee Wynne:
I want to ask one more question.

Kellee Wynne:
We're going to start with Robin Marie, because she might have to slide out of the conversation, you guys with your busy businesses. But I want to ask you, what does success look like to you? Because we all have a different definition of it. You don't have to hold back. Money is a part of the success story and equation. We don't have to be altruistic.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Yeah, yeah. That's a hard one to not have been prepared for. I will say this. I think one thing that. And we all. You're right, we do look at our. The business and the money thing is quite different. I have often tied in my value to my household into the amount of money that I make.

Roben-Marie Smith:
And it's taken me years to get to a mindset of no, that. That doesn't put value on you because of how much money that you make. So that has been something I've had to learn because I used to work a job outside the house and then I started the business. And I think success for me is one is freedom like that. It provides a freedom for me, freedom to be able to work for myself, make my own choices and my own decisions. That I see a difference in people's lives when they respond back and say, you, you've done this for me or.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Thank you or whatever that.

Roben-Marie Smith:
Whatever that messaging is. It's that two way and what you hear from other people. And I think it's also that I'm enjoying it. I'm actually getting to do this and I love it and I'm having fun with it. It's not work, really. The old saying, whatever that saying is about not working a day in your life if you're loving what your job is or doing. Cause I know what it's like and I didn't like working for somebody else. And once I started working for myself and my own business, I was so suited for it and I loved it.

Roben-Marie Smith:
I think above the money for me is the freedom. It's the. The joy of it. It's what I'm able to do for other people. And bringing in an income is awesome.

Roben-Marie Smith:
That.

Roben-Marie Smith:
That I believe is more than I would have made working for somebody else. And so I think it's those four things for me.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it. Thank you for joining us. Just in case she pops out now. I'm so glad that you were able to be here. What does success look like for you, Brooke?

Brooke Henry:
Yeah, I'll go next because it echoes what Robin Marie said quite a bit. I look at it kind of twofold, money side and then the personal side of it as well. And when I say money, it's not a number for number's sake.

Brooke Henry:
It's.

Brooke Henry:
It is the freedom that it can provide. The lifestyle that I'm looking for, the ease behind some things. A bill comes up and it's not having the stress. It's like, you know, that the money is there. There is something so wonderful that can come with that of not being worried in that department. For me, I worked other jobs before this, and I wouldn't say, like a career or anything, but my mental health was so bad that to be where I am now versus where I was five, six years ago is absolutely like.

Brooke Henry:
I'm gonna cry.

Brooke Henry:
Absolutely. There's so much. And so for me, shifted and changed.

Kellee Wynne:
A lot in the two years you're confident.

Brooke Henry:
Two years, yeah. Oh, my goodness. Going from the point of being hospitalized and in treatment for my mental health to where I am today. It's not that I don't struggle with my mental health still. There's no cure. It's always going to be something that I deal with. But coming into myself in such a way, that is success for me too. And so one of my hugest things behind my business is making sure that if I can having nobody else feel alone, like I felt alone for so long.

Brooke Henry:
So for me, that is my big why behind so much of what I do. So when I can see that I have even a tiny impact on somebody else, that is truly, like, success in my book. Like, just a minor bit of help of somebody knowing that they're not alone. And yeah, I think it's been very cool to bring in an income when I never really did before. Like, my husband supported us. He is a nurse practitioner, so he went and got his master's and stuff. And me being able to finish paying off the student loans has been an absolute success.

Brooke Henry:
It's huge.

Kellee Wynne:
It's so cool.

Brooke Henry:
And I'm like. I had somebody ask me, does it bother you that you paid. Finished paying them off technically? And I'm like, absolutely not. He supported me for so many years when anyway.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah, I know exactly. You're an ship.

Brooke Henry:
It's absolutely huge. And so thankful then to the people that come into my orbit and want to support me in even the smallest way, because it just means that I can give more. Like, it just means that we're even talking about him starting to work for my business a little bit. Like, it's things like that where it's like, what that. That is success. So it's not just a number to find.

Kellee Wynne:
I.

Brooke Henry:
When I first started with you, I said, I would like to make a hundred grand in a year, and that would be huge having passed that this year already.

Delight Rogers:
Art.

Brooke Henry:
Which is. It's surreal. It is absolutely surreal. And I don't think I'll ever Get over it. I think the thing that I'll need to caution myself going forward is that the money the number is not then what defines it. I think it can be very easily easy when money does come in of any sort that you're like, okay, my success equals this level. And so I'll have to watch myself on that because I've never been in this position before of just keeping myself grounded too of it's okay. Like even if you had a smaller number than last year, whatever that's still how many people that you're serving.

Brooke Henry:
That is huge. Like I always like the imagine them together in a room and you would be blown away with how many people that was in an on in an online space. It's very easy to lose track of that sometimes that it's for my free event I had 9,000 people. And then you start thinking okay, what's my goal for next year? But then you have to stop and be like if 9,000 people were in a room in front of me, I would be blown away. So I think it's just all keeping in perspective. But anyway, back to your original question. Success of just. Just the helping people, helping myself in a way that I've never been able to and helping my family in a way that I never could before.

Kellee Wynne:
And may wanted to touch on that. We hit a certain level and then we think it's always going to stay at that level.

Kellee Wynne:
And for a lot of people it can because you have systems in place.

Kellee Wynne:
But then like for me last year my mental health hit hard and everything just was like where it was just. And that also can add to your mental health stress. So when you realize everything is in flux, everything can change and then it can go back again. And it's the doesn't define you that is a really hard thing to keep at the forefront of when you're running a successful business. That it's still as much as it's exciting, as much as it boosts our confidence, it doesn't define us. So I do caution listeners to make sure you remember that it's not the end all be all. Anyone else, what does success look like for you? Kat?

Catherine Rains:
There's the real superficial level. Let me explain. The superficial level is I go to a cocktail party with my husband and he is telling everyone about what I do. It wasn't like he wasn't proud that I was a full time artist. But announcing that your wife is a full time artist basically meant she wasn't making any money and I'm supporting her and he's paying my insurance. And now just like Brooke, we are making lists of what my husband can do in my business and how can he. A lot of women who have their husbands as partners except through the boss. And so that's the superficial level because it's really fun to have your partner brag on you.

Catherine Rains:
And then I hear across the room he's telling stories about me going to Italy and he's going with me as my assistant. I think that's adorable as anything. So that's a superficial level because that's.

Kellee Wynne:
A good partnership you have with him. When you're like, it becomes a mutual thing. I don't, I wouldn't say that superficial.

Catherine Rains:
But it is, it's not the, it's not the deepest level. So there's a deeper level that's just like fun, isn't that sweet? Kind of level. But they. What's more meaningful to me is that all the emails I get from people that say I changed their life, that is powerful that the work that I'm doing and all the hard work I've done to create this, which I something I really believe in on a lot of different levels. I think it's a spiritual journey for people. I think it's an artistic journey and that I could make something that excites other people to want to jump in and touch their own spirituality, their own art and grow it in their own way. So that is. And it happens multiple times.

Catherine Rains:
It's not like you get you. It happens one time and oh, that looks nice when you're running an ongoing class. It's an ongoing thing. So to me that's like the biggest joy. Enjoying this.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it.

Catherine Rains:
And also working for myself. I make more now than I did in my corporate job. And I never ever thought that was going to happen. When I first started working with you, I was thinking if I could just make 50 grand, I'd be happy. I could pay the bills and now.

Kellee Wynne:
Help you think a little bigger than that.

Catherine Rains:
You did and you were constantly. And I didn't. I pushed back all the time because I just didn't think that is where I wanted to go. But the bigger you make something, the more I realize, yeah, it is what I want to do. I want to make this. Unlike Rob Marie, this is my retirement job. I've already had a full corporate Life. I spent 30 years in corporate world and I have no intention of stopping.

Catherine Rains:
I'm. I see myself as an 80 year old continuing to do. And I'm serious.

Kellee Wynne:
I'm serious. I mean that's how I feel, too. I myself stopping. Yeah.

Catherine Rains:
I may not produce classes when I'm 80, but who knows? I have people that I have people, they can help me. So why do I have to do it all myself? I see myself making more art the older I get. But for now, producing classes is the.

Kellee Wynne:
Art, so I believe it. All right. Just so Drew isn't last, again, I'm going to ask him, what does success mean to you?

Drew Steinbrecher:
I'm going to agree with most everyone else and say, the freedom to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I tried the nine to five thing, and it just did not go well for me. Like, I. I do not do well with the boss telling me what to do or just anybody telling me what to do. Let's be honest. Like, to be able to just take a free day when I want to take it, or to have a remote job that I can go anywhere to do. I'm going to Europe this summer, and I'm going to be working while I'm there. So I'm.

Drew Steinbrecher:
That, to me, is success, or maybe even living somewhere else, even if it's just three months in Colorado in the summer, that would be success to me. And of course, the other thing is seeing the success of the students and seeing especially the instructors that I have teach at the summits, because I try to have a range of people who are beginning online, teachers to people who have. Are seasoned veterans with online teaching. And a lot of the. Some of those people have ended up in your programs because they realize, which is what happened to me. You asked me to be part of your summit, and then I was like, maybe I could do this too. So here I am. So it's.

Drew Steinbrecher:
It's nice to see other people take the route that I did.

Kellee Wynne:
You're opening up pathways to success for other people.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yes.

Kellee Wynne:
That is really cool. Some of them have started with me and then built their audience and then came a knocking on your door, too. Yeah, but, yeah, there's no direct route to success, but I do love that we are enablers, if you will, to other people's joy, other people's success. This is what I try to encourage people who are, like, having that imposter syndrome, mom, which we've all had. Whether you're starting off or you've been doing this for a long time, who am I to be doing this? This seems ridiculous.

Kellee Wynne:
What?

Kellee Wynne:
Why me? And then you stop, and once you've had enough experience, you can look back and say, oh, there was a reason why it's me. Because it's not just about me. It's about the people I'm serving. It's about the doors I'm opening for them, the experiences I'm creating for them. And that just is transformative.

Drew Steinbrecher:
I still have that. Whenever the night before launching, I'm like, who am I to do this? Is anybody going to buy this thing?

Kellee Wynne:
Nah. A couple thousand, maybe.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Another thing that I talking about success is like a financial success and asking myself, how far do I want to take my business and to what extent and double. I. Yeah, I don't wanna. I don't wanna reach or. Or make some arbitrary goal because I think I have to. At the expense of my work. Life balance, for sure.

Kellee Wynne:
And I still think that you can get there.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. And another thing that we actually spoke about recently was I came across a quote that said having a successful business means it's probably a boring business, which means you've pretty much established everything you need and you've just put it on repeat.

Kellee Wynne:
Exactly right.

Kellee Wynne:
The time that you go and change.

Kellee Wynne:
It is when you get put back to the beginning again.

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah. So that could be a goal. To be, quote, successful is to get everything to the point where I can just make it happen and I can step away and I have the time to make the art, or I have the time to travel, or I have the time to take the whole afternoon.

Kellee Wynne:
Off and buy that house in Colorado, or maybe it's going to be in Europe. Who knows now?

Drew Steinbrecher:
Yeah, we'll see.

Kellee Wynne:
I love it. Delight. What does success look like for you?

Delight Rogers:
I think for me, it is about being in a position where there's room to always be growing, to be growing as a human being, to be growing as an artist, to be growing my art business and to be creating a community and a space that's encouraging the people that come into that community or into the art workshops to be growing as well. And we're all lights, right? We're all. We're all these beautiful lights. And we're able to, with our courses and with our offerings, we're able to be that light for other people. And that's what it's all about for me is to be able to just keep doing that. And I'm certainly at a point where I have a lot of room to go to meet the financial goals that I would like to get to. But as long as I'm able to follow my heart and keep growing in all those ways I just mentioned and being able to be that light for other people, then that's success for me.

Kellee Wynne:
Yeah, I know it seems like that's the most common theme is that we get to be able to help other people. If that goes away, then why are we doing yeah at the root of all of it. But it is also another theme that I keep hearing is that none of us want to work for someone else. Here we are making our own paths. I never did either.

Kellee Wynne:
Can you believe I was in the military once?

Kellee Wynne:
What a what was this wild girl thinking? But that was it. After that I was on my own and I've always been paving my own path. And it sounds like it was just exactly what everyone here on this call wanted for themselves as well. It might be the artist way. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. Artists aren't really meant to do things the way everyone else is meant to do things. I really appreciate you all. Thank you so much for being part of my life.

Kellee Wynne:
Two, three years of being in the.

Kellee Wynne:
League and now we're all friends and meeting together once in a while so that we can continue to sustain our businesses. I think it's amazing and I appreciate you because you've given me so much. My growth and my learning has really been through the pathway of helping all of you and I'm just so thankful that you're part of my life. So that's it for today, but I think we might have to do a round two again later on for one of these podcasts. So I think that's it for today. And thank you everyone for joining us by.