5 Reasons to Start your Art Business

Kellee 0:00
I started a business because I was able to choose myself. And that was one of the most powerful things that I could do.

Kellee 0:15
You're listening to Unfold with Kellee Wynne this is an unpolished, imperfect and totally honest podcast, and I'm talking to all artists, creatives, visionaries, and changemakers, who want to live a life by design, and not by default, if you're ready to have thought provoking eye opening and heart centred conversations, that explore the stories that made us who we are, and break through the boundaries of expectations than you are in the right place.

Kellee 0:50
You're not going to believe this. But I'm probably like 200 takes by now, I don't know what is going on. But it's hard to spit this out. Because I'm so excited about talking about business. And yet I'm a little bit nervous and anxious. Because I don't know, how are you going to take this on the other end of this podcast episode? Are you going to be put off by the idea of monetizing your creativity? Is being a brand something that's challenging to you? Or is it something that you're passionate about and want to fulfil in your life? Are you ready to live your life by design and not by default? So I've kind of been going around in circles and circles figuring out how do I split this out? How do I talk about the thing that I love so much that I'm here to deliver for you, the thing that I've been kind of talking about in an undercurrent of this podcast this whole time? How do I show up for you right now and be the most honest, true version of myself. And the reason why I want to talk to you in the first place. And that's because I love entrepreneurship, I absolutely love the art of business, or the business of art, whatever it is, however you want to look at it. It's something that's really exciting to me.

Kellee 2:09
So today on Unfold with Kellee I call the artist in business. I mean, it's really just that simple. If you've felt the spark in you, or if you've already been down this path for a while of building a business, and you want to make it remarkable. You want it to be something that's soul fulfilling, with a purpose that makes a difference. Then come along with me on this journey, we're going to spend the summer talking about building a business, one that is authentic, honest, real, heart centred, however you want to call it, there's no gains in this, there's nothing for me to hide, I want to tell you everything that I know all the secrets that everybody's been keeping from you, I want to make that transparent to you. The real, the good, the bad, the ugly, everything about it and in between when building an art business, because that's really my calling right now I know without a doubt, because when I start talking about it, I light up. And if I'm lighting up, then that means that I have more to share with you.

Kellee 3:18
So here I am, I like I said, I have literally started and stopped this podcast episode 200 times. I don't know what it is. But it's like almost hard to jump over this hurdle and come to you in complete honesty about what my intentions are, and what it is that I want to be able to share with you. And that is that I believe that if you're called to it, you can do it and you can be successful, you can do something that is transformative, not only for yourself, but for the people around you. And so today's episode, I'm going to talk to you about five reasons to start an art business. And they're a little bit more etheral esoteric in the clouds kind of reasons and not some concrete step by step today, but it's hopefully enough to spark it in you and give you a clue as to where I come from what motivates me what turns me on and hopefully, in the end, it lights you up too.

Kellee 3:18
These are the reasons I've started a business and I think that there are reasons for you to start a business to because they are kind of my value system in general the underlying reason for being them, it just means that it's got to be part of my every day.

Kellee 4:26
So let's just start with number one. I started a business because I was able to choose myself. And that was one of the most powerful things that I could do. Yes, I am a mom and that was one of my greatest gifts to bring three beautiful babies into this world. These boys are everything to Ain't my husband is my heart and soul, but billions of women have given birth to babies. How many have taken a chance on themselves to build a business? I know that that's really putting it out there. But it's amazing to me. Some days my mind is blown at the ability to connect all the dots, and put something together and trust in myself enough to show up and build something remarkable. It's kind of wild, if you think about it. So this idea of being able to fulfil my dreams, something that I was just kind of naturally born to do, and then go full force at it year after year, no matter how many failures I had, and still show up for myself, there was something about that, that really helped me create a deeper self worth.

Kellee 5:53
It's not for the light hearted in all honesty, it's challenging, you're going to run into 1,000,001 problems that you are not expecting when running a business, challenges with friends and relationships, troubles at home, troubles with, you know, just figuring out tech or communicating with others. It's not an easy thing to do. But the more you do it, and the more you succeed at it, the more you can trust in yourself and believe in yourself. So for me starting a business, and succeeding with my business and going at it year after year, even when there are setbacks has been something that has been the biggest growth of my own personal development and self worth. And so for me, I would say the number one reason I want to encourage you to start building your business is because I want you to believe in yourself, I want you to know that you're worthy, that you're capable. And when you've done this hard thing, and when you've climbed that mountain and you can put your flag at the top and say I've done this, I've created this thing. I've lived the life of my dreams, and I've done the thing that I've wanted to do, you're going to see, it's really quite amazing how much more you grow in value of your own personal being. And what are we here on this earth to do, but to learn how to love, love ourselves, love others, and show up completely as ourselves. So maybe that sounds just a little bit too much good to be true. But in all honesty, I think that that's what building a business has done. For me. It's given me confidence that I didn't have before. It's helped me find my purpose. It's really literally me living out my dreams day by day.

Kellee 4:41
I need to tell you about elementary school Kellee for a minute here, elementary school Kellee was a consummate entrepreneur right from the get go. She organised the parade, and the pageant show, she made chocolates to sell to her friends, and she put the holly bows in her little red waggon and took them around the neighbourhood at the holidays, to sell them she'd invent new inventions, draw new dolls, whatever it was that little Kellee could do to create something to put it out into the world, to share it with others. That's what little Kellee would do. And even teen Kellee and even 20s Kellee, because even in my young adulthood, I cleaned houses and ran my own business, I dreamed of being an artist even then and realise that that was a huge challenge. I didn't know how to connect the dots yet. So fast forward into the future. With all the hopes and dreams of childhood and on, I held on to that flame. And I'm so grateful that I did that I didn't lose the dream of building my own business, something for myself, something that I knew that I could own and take wholehearted accountability for. And it's really kind of exciting to see that path and have that come true. So if you've been living in this place of dream, of hope of finding your purpose, maybe this is the path for you. Maybe you should take a chance on yourself. Maybe building a business and making an offer to the world and creating something remarkable for others to experience is exactly what you need to do for yourself. So that's my number one, doing it for yourself because you can't do it for anyone else. Yes, we we want to contribute to our family and society and everything else. But it's got to come from this our hearts first.

Kellee 9:34
Number two brilliant reason to start your own business is that you get to live your life by your own values and lifestyle when you have your own business. Now that's not to say you have all the time freedom in the world. That's not it is hard work. But it is your hard work and it is your lifestyle that you get to design around your business, your values, you're not adhering to anyone else's rules. Thank you, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, and all of the other billionaires who tried to design how we're supposed to live our lives, you get to design it for yourself, you get to set your own rhythms and pace, you get to create a world where your morals and your values speak loudly. And the work that you do and how you show up and represent online, how you donate your money, who you were talking to, this is one of the most beautiful things about creating your own business online, is you get to live by the values that are most important to you. If your value is to travel the world, that's one of my values, then you create and design a business around that and being able to see the world. Take your work on the road, design a career, where going on the road is the job that you get to share back with your community. If your value is to spend as much waking time with your family, then you design your business around that if your value is to be more inclusive, and include minorities, those who are marginalised, LGBTQ, those are things that are valuable to me. So I've been able to create a community and a lifestyle in which I can bring them in, learn from them and help and support in any way that is possible. Many times whatever is going on in the world, I've been able to use my business as a platform to help push forward my personal values, it might not align with you. But I know that those who follow me who hear me speak, and it matters to them are grateful that I'm here. And I'm able to talk about the things that are important to me that I believe in my values. So I'm not living by any corporate rules. I'm not building somebody else's dream, and fulfilling their destiny in their lifestyle, I get to create a business around the lifestyle that I want to live the values that I have, the integrity that I want to live by, and I can be accountable for all my own actions me and only me, and that actually, to me is very freeing, I feel a certain sort of sovereignty with complete ownership of the space around me, it is my voice and my voice is my brand. And that's the beautiful thing about building my own business.

Kellee 12:28
Number three personal growth, it kind of goes back to number one with, you know, choosing it to do it for myself, and what I've been able to do for myself, but I'm going to talk about more personal growth in like the literal sense, the amount of tech that I figured out how to take the DNS server and link it to my website, like who would have ever thought that I can figure out URLs and websites and funnels and lead magnets. And I mean, the list of things that I've been able to master in the time that I've been in business for myself, it's just mind blowing, all without going to some formal education. It's also helped me grow my communication skills. Because here I am showing up on video all the time, talking to you, showing up doing lives, learning how to use social media and communicate my thoughts and write better, some of its persuasive some of its storytelling. Some of it is just simply Heart to Heart connections. Coaching when I'm working with one on one clients, and I'm mentoring them in their art business, that's another thing that I've had to exponentially grow my skills at. So the the amount of growth that you get from running your own business and figuring out how to do things, or paying for support and help and taking courses, coaching and other programmes in order to expand your knowledge. I feel like that's one of the most valuable things that you can do for yourself more valuable than homeownership or investing in stock markets, investing in your own skill set. I know I have this for life. Now. If I lost everything at this moment, I'd be okay because I'd know how to build it back again, with the knowledge that I've gained and the skills that I've acquired along the road. It's really exciting to me, in all honesty, the amount of growth opportunity there is and having your own business. So if you love growth, if you love to learn, if you love to challenge yourself, you love to figure out how to connect the dots and do something a little bit better every year, year after year. I think that you'd love business.

Kellee 14:40
All right, number four, income potential. I couldn't leave this off the list. In all honesty. It's kind of mind boggling once you break through a barrier, the mindset barrier with it to see what's possible. I have to tell you a little bit about the journey. The Flip Flop journey between painting and selling my art and starting the business versus going and working as a Starbucks manager, we've been really fortunate in my family being able to raise the kids from home off of a single salary. But as cost of living has grown, and things got tighter and kids were going to college, it was very apparent, we needed more than just one income for our family. And my kids were old enough that I could start working. And of course, we've had this debate over and over again, in the house of working outside of the house versus working at home, building my own business. And I'm going to be completely honest with you, the first eight years I made no money, I made hardly any money at all, for the first eight years of running my business. And of course, that leaves frustration for my husband and my family and the time that it took, making very little income. Yes, I was at home, I was always available, I got all all the domestic responsibilities taking care of and that was great, I was glad to not have to leave the home in order to earn the income. And I know that's not an option that everybody has. But when faced with this moment of truth, do I go and be a Starbucks manager? Do I go and work from six o'clock in the morning until you know, six o'clock at night, maybe be able to make 40 or 50 grand doing something like that was better than the zeros making. But I also knew that that was going to cap me out no matter what I was going to hit a plateau really fast. And it was gonna cause stress in the family because there's no flexibility in that. And there was something in me that knew when faced with that decision that I needed to make to leave and finally returned to the workplace after years of not having worked at all, outside of the home. That is because let me tell you, it is a lot of work to work in the home when working outside of the home. Or to go full for speed ahead and figure out how to make my art business work. And I was held bent, determined to make it work for myself, because I knew the alternative would have caused so much stress in the family of me not being around when the kids needed me really the most in their high school years. So I'm

Kellee 17:25
utterly grateful that I took the chance on me, especially from the point of view that I knew my income wouldn't be kept by working for myself, if I could just flip that switch and figure out how to make it work. And that time came. And in 2018, I launched my first online courses. And from there, it's been nothing but wildfire. And my first money mindset block that I needed to get over was just the fact that I could make money as an artist. And then I set my goal as Can I just make six figures that minus all the costs of running the business would leave me with enough cash to help support the family. And it didn't take long before that ceiling needed to be broken, that upper limit needed to be pushed past. So it was really about for me breaking through the money mindset and realising that my potential became limitless. Money wasn't pie, there wasn't a limited amount for everybody, that it it's really infinite. And the more I make doesn't mean I'm taking away from anybody else. And the more I use my imagination, my skills, put my ingenuity together and build year after year, I can see my income growth happen. And I knew that working a retail job outside of the home would be beneficial at the time that I was making no money, but I also knew that it was going to be a cap for me. And that by starting my own business and making my own business succeed, that the income potential that I had was far beyond anything that I could do. Prior to that time, there was just something that I knew deep in my gut that if I followed through with my plans to start my own business, that my income level would far exceed anything I could do outside of the home. It's really one of the few things left that we can do to create real wealth and that is owning our own business. So I'm going to be flat out honest with you break through that money mindset, start realising your potential, build those skills, and build something beautiful. It is incredibly possible to make six figures, seven figures and more. And the more that I do, the more that I make, the more that I can offer. And so this is something about having a business of your own. The income potential is unlimited, and I really hope that that over the next several weeks as we discuss business, I can bring in some money mindset coaches for you to really help you wrap your mind around this potential, get over the starving artists myth, and see that if you just connect the dots, think outside of the box, and build something for yourself, it's the real potential for you to do something remarkable and to make remarkable money that really can make a difference for you and your family. That to me is one of the amazing gifts about having started my own business.

Kellee 20:36
And finally, I want to say the fifth reason is contribution. What's really amazing about starting your own business is that you are contributing to the bigger picture of this world, you're putting creativity out there, you're connecting like minded souls and artists, you're giving opportunity to others that you probably wouldn't have expected. And this is one of the things that's the hidden joy of building a business I wasn't expecting really honestly, when I started my business, I wasn't expecting the amount, the abundance of love and connection and joy that I'd be experiencing through community, I wasn't expecting that I would be getting emails from people who would tell me that it made a difference in their life, you know, the art courses or the artwork that's hanging on their wall or the opportunity that I gave them in order to participate in one of the programmes that I've created. And that's the part that's the hidden joy of starting your own business when you realise it. Honestly, when we backtrack to all of it, that's probably the number one reason that we continue to do what we do. I don't have any desire to quit now, when I see how much this reverberates around the world, when I create the Virtual Art Summit, and I know that people can come in and participate for free and get real high quality art courses that they might not have been able to get before. The fact that I know that because I've built something amazing and beautiful. I can give away scholarships and art supplies to others, I can contribute money to bigger causes. I think the most important thing, though, is being able to connect with you. The fact that I have this circle of friends and colleagues and artists across the globe that we wouldn't have had otherwise, I find to be one of the most unbelievable things about modern times, building a business in the 21st century is unlike how it was an anytime before now, with social media and the Internet, we become friends from far reaching corners of the globe. And it's really been an honour to serve. And to teach and to guide artists from from everywhere.

Kellee 22:56
I want to tell you about a letter that I got from one of my students, she had suffered from a traumatic brain injury. And when she was coming out of that experience and going through therapy, she could barely draw or write. And yet that had been her love. And at that time, she discovered my magic of oil pastels course and began to take it and build her skills again slowly over time. And she ended up reaching out to me and sharing with me the before and after when she started with therapy. And after a few months of working through my course, the most important part of that and that wasn't just the transformation of her artwork, but of her mental state. She had said she'd gone from being depressed and, and not really wanting to thrive or live or move on to coming to a point of finding joy. Again, it's these little messages that Honestly though, they'll bring me to tears. And they'll fill my heart with so much joy that I realised that this is the reason for starting a business. This is the power of being able to use your voice to be your brand to be your blow horn, to be able to get that message out into the world. The things that you value, the way that you want to live your life and be able to exude that on a daily basis, the way you show up online and your social media, the programmes and the gifts that you can put into this world, even if what you're creating is beautiful products. You imagine having coffee in the morning and holding that mug with the art that someone else designed, you know that some care went into it some beauty and joy was put into this world. And there's nothing that we need more right now than more creativity and joy and beauty. So I hold I hold on to this wholeheartedly. That is an essential part of the human experience.

Kellee 24:53
And when you choose to step forward and create an art business, it is a huge risk that you're taking on your Self, it is a huge thing that you're asking the world to support you and believe in chicken to be able to put yourself out there in a way that you would never even comprehended before.

Kellee 25:13
All right, so all of these beautiful reasons to show up and create a business, we've got to step our way back just a little bit. And I want to show you the slightly, not so pretty side of business. And if you're in it for these reasons, that might be the wrong reasons. Or if you aren't aware of these pitfalls that might happen. I want to give you a little forewarning, because it's not all roses and sunshine when running your own business. I have had my ups and downs and my times where I have wanted to desperately quit, even times where I've burned out so badly, I couldn't even pick myself up to answer an email. And that can happen if you're not pacing yourself, and you're not careful. So I wanted to tell you a few other reasons, you might not want to start a business for the wrong reasons. If you think that starting a business is going to give you more time, I'm going to have to break it to you. At first, maybe even the first few years, you're not gaining yourself more time, you're gaining flexible time time that you get to control yourself, whether it's early mornings, late nights or weekends, it's got to be all of those, by the way, it's time you get to control yourself, it takes a mountains worth of time in order to build a business effectively. And the more energy you can put into it from the get go, the easier it's going to be to build it quickly. So I just want to make it very clear right off the bat, you are not gaining time freedom in the first few years of building your business. Any coach worth their salt is going to tell you just the same thing, it takes a lot of time to build it. You can't just show up one day and say here it is and expect that it's all going to work out. But with that time, eventually you come to a place where time freedom does happen. And you work fewer and fewer hours and have far more flexibility and even can take weeks and months off at a time if you build it right. But that's not something that you're going to gain in the very first two to four, maybe five years of building your business.

Kellee 27:18
So I just figured I better be completely transparent with you about that is probably not the right time for you to start a business, if there is a huge risk to your family or your relationships, if you feel like taking the financial risk, or quitting a job. Or putting all your time and energy into building a business would be at the sacrifice or detriment to your family if they need the income now, and not later. If they need the time and attention now and not later, then now might not be the right time to start a business. It takes a while before you put all the pieces together and it connects and it clicks. And you can build the kind of business that you want making the kind of income that you want mine do it took me like eight years to connect those dots and make more than $20,000 in a year. But once I figured it out, and once I got over that hurdle, the income started rolling in. But until that point, until I built the audience built the foundation and launched a programme, there was no income coming in for me. So if you need the income now, now might not be the time to launch into your career full time. Maybe take the small steps in the spare moments of your days and weeks, until it comes to a point where you are able to launch into an art career. Until that time, though, if your priority is still on your family to make an income or give your time and attention to them really think long and hard before jumping into building your own business. Because building a business is not for the faint of heart.

Kellee 28:58
Another reason that I think that maybe you should pass on building a business is if you think that this is a quick way to become famous or well known. You see all the trendy accounts on Instagram or one viral Tiktok. And you think oh, I'm just gonna show up and do a little something. And next thing you know, I've got my whole world made for me. And I have to break it to you. It doesn't happen that easily. It's the long game. It's the long road that will get you there. And yet we all know that what's being shown on social media isn't the truth of the story, the late nights, the heartbreaks, the hard times with friends, the relationships that ended up breaking up because of you building a business and being so damn determined. We don't talk about those things as much as we should. And yet here I am, and I want to be transparent as transparent can be so that you know these things before you jump feet first, into your own big dream of building an art business.

Kellee 29:59
I hope that this series will inspire you this artist and business series that I'm going to bring to you throughout the summer, more details are going to unfold as we go. Of course, as always, with some guests here on the podcast, and some really good eye opening lessons that I can bring to you, maybe even a few opportunities to connect on a deeper level, I really hope that these five reasons to start your art business has sparked a bit of fire under your butt and got you motivated to try something new. Maybe it's your time, maybe you've already started a business. And this is rekindling your purpose and keeping you here and the game a little bit longer. I want to work together. I want to be able to build something with you. And I have a lot of programmes that I'm in development of right now so that I can help you along your journey. But in the meantime, what I'm going to ask from you is to just go to Kelleewynnstudios.com/100 and download that PDF 100 ways to make money as an artist without selling your art so that you can start thinking outside of the box so that you can start seeing the potential in what you can create and do for yourself. You are worth it. You are capable, we can do this together. And I'm going to show you a whole lot of ways in which you can make it happen here, right here on the podcast Unfold with Kellee Wynn. Hey, if you've enjoyed this, please share it please share it on social media if you share it on Instagram. I'm gonna reshare it in my stories so that we can get other people in on this party and we can do this together. Okay. Thank you so much for your time and I cannot wait to join you again next week with more from Unfold with Kellee Wynne. Bye

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