1
00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:04,960
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Sugar Mamma's Fireplane and my very special

2
00:00:05,040 --> 00:00:08,080
Speaker 1: mini series Out of thin Air. This is where we

3
00:00:08,119 --> 00:00:11,160
Speaker 1: dive into the stories of everyday people who've created extraordinary

4
00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:14,880
Speaker 1: success from a simple idea, a little bit of courage,

5
00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:18,280
Speaker 1: and a whole lot of determination. Because here's the truth,

6
00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:21,239
Speaker 1: you don't actually always need a huge amount of money

7
00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:25,080
Speaker 1: to make money. Sometimes what you really need is some creativity,

8
00:00:25,480 --> 00:00:30,960
Speaker 1: resourcefulness and the willingness to take that first, powerful, important step. Today,

9
00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:34,040
Speaker 1: I'm speaking with an Australian artist and our price, whose

10
00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:37,960
Speaker 1: journey is nothing short of inspiring. What started today as

11
00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,839
Speaker 1: a simple hobby. In fact, she wanted to decorate a

12
00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:44,920
Speaker 1: blank wall in a financially friendly way in her home,

13
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:49,440
Speaker 1: that is painting. This idea actually has grown into a thriving,

14
00:00:49,680 --> 00:00:53,479
Speaker 1: full time business and has allowed her to juggle her life,

15
00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:58,040
Speaker 1: her life with four children and of course having balance

16
00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,320
Speaker 1: and harmony in her life. Now, don't get me wrong,

17
00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,080
Speaker 1: this did not happen overnight, and there's been lots of

18
00:01:03,120 --> 00:01:07,160
Speaker 1: setbacks and challenges along the way. But Anna today is

19
00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:10,240
Speaker 1: actually going to share with us how she got started,

20
00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,959
Speaker 1: how she navigated the self doubt, and what she learned

21
00:01:15,000 --> 00:01:18,880
Speaker 1: about running a business and looking after herself along the way,

22
00:01:19,280 --> 00:01:21,360
Speaker 1: and she's going to share advice that she wishes she

23
00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,080
Speaker 1: could have given her younger self. So if you're listening

24
00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,280
Speaker 1: to this right now, I think, gosh, I have a dream,

25
00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,600
Speaker 1: I have a desire. I have a hope of one

26
00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:34,760
Speaker 1: day turning my hobby into something more monetizing or not,

27
00:01:35,400 --> 00:01:41,280
Speaker 1: but something meaningful, fulfilling, and hopefully financially rewarding. This conversation

28
00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:46,960
Speaker 1: will definitely light a fire within you. So let's get started.

29
00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,360
Speaker 1: Good morning, Anna, How are you today? We like to

30
00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:02,000
Speaker 1: ask this, but I don't just say how. I use

31
00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:03,280
Speaker 1: in that surface level how are you?

32
00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:03,440
Speaker 2: Like?

33
00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:04,840
Speaker 1: How are you really?

34
00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:07,880
Speaker 2: I'm surviving, I'm good, I'm well. Thank you, I'm here.

35
00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,560
Speaker 2: I'm alive. I showed up and I'm here, and thank

36
00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:14,320
Speaker 2: you for that amazing introduction. You're making me emotional, just

37
00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:16,120
Speaker 2: like emotional person.

38
00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:17,000
Speaker 1: So I feel.

39
00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:20,440
Speaker 2: Let's do it.

40
00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:23,720
Speaker 1: And I love that you're surviving a bit, especially with

41
00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:25,359
Speaker 1: four young children.

42
00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 2: Yeah, like things escalated quickly there.

43
00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:30,800
Speaker 1: They really really did twins tend to do that?

44
00:02:30,919 --> 00:02:33,880
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah they did so well.

45
00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:36,320
Speaker 1: Look, just as a bit of background, like I've been

46
00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:38,280
Speaker 1: following you on Instagram for a while, I think your

47
00:02:38,520 --> 00:02:44,240
Speaker 1: art is just pure, like magical happiness and bliss on

48
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,200
Speaker 1: a canvas. And I know you do prints as well,

49
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:50,480
Speaker 1: but it's just there's something, you know. I look at

50
00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:55,600
Speaker 1: your pictures online and I imagine that they just transform

51
00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,359
Speaker 1: but light up a room. And you know, I came

52
00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,079
Speaker 1: across a post of yours not that long ago, and

53
00:03:02,120 --> 00:03:05,519
Speaker 1: you talked about your story and I was the person

54
00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,520
Speaker 1: that swiped through, like and.

55
00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:10,400
Speaker 2: I read every twenty slides.

56
00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:12,480
Speaker 1: Yes, everything you wrote, and I was like, oh my goodness,

57
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:15,680
Speaker 1: this is incredible. And it was made me realize, wow,

58
00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:18,320
Speaker 1: like I had this, you know, it's not what I

59
00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,679
Speaker 1: thought Like. I was like, you're you were so vulnerable,

60
00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,760
Speaker 1: so authentic, so honest and raw, and I was like,

61
00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:29,840
Speaker 1: everyone needs to hear this story of yours because you know,

62
00:03:30,440 --> 00:03:33,160
Speaker 1: so many times we throw the towel in, we quit,

63
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,920
Speaker 1: we give up, we lose faith and.

64
00:03:35,880 --> 00:03:38,080
Speaker 2: Hope with me every other day wanting to quit.

65
00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:39,640
Speaker 1: Yeah, and this is why people know.

66
00:03:39,760 --> 00:03:42,080
Speaker 2: That's what you don't see. Yes, you see the smoke

67
00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:43,960
Speaker 2: in the mirrors and you only see the best bits.

68
00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,480
Speaker 2: But I always love putting out the reality of what's

69
00:03:47,520 --> 00:03:49,480
Speaker 2: going on, and that's how you get cut through as

70
00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,440
Speaker 2: well on socials, like everyone is complaining that they're not

71
00:03:52,440 --> 00:03:55,720
Speaker 2: getting seen anymore, it's because you're trying to be like

72
00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 2: everyone else. Just people want to see the human side

73
00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:01,480
Speaker 2: of what's going on in your life the waters exactly,

74
00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,640
Speaker 2: and they relate to that and they like that so

75
00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:05,360
Speaker 2: it makes them feel normal. So if you want to

76
00:04:05,360 --> 00:04:08,400
Speaker 2: connect to an audience, just be yourself and tell your

77
00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,440
Speaker 2: story as it is. So that's what I was doing

78
00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:11,160
Speaker 2: with that post.

79
00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:14,560
Speaker 1: Well, I loved it and I've come back to it

80
00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:17,400
Speaker 1: many times. Oh thank you for the listeners who aren't

81
00:04:17,400 --> 00:04:20,200
Speaker 1: familiar with with who you are and your story. Can

82
00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,000
Speaker 1: you take us back to the very beginning? Yes, that,

83
00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:26,280
Speaker 1: and I love the picture you've got on your instrument account,

84
00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:29,760
Speaker 1: but that moment where you decided you had a blank

85
00:04:29,800 --> 00:04:32,320
Speaker 1: wall and you wanted to decorate it but in a

86
00:04:32,720 --> 00:04:33,680
Speaker 1: budget friendly way.

87
00:04:33,800 --> 00:04:37,280
Speaker 2: So yes, I mean I started this business accidentally. It

88
00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,360
Speaker 2: was not a plan. I never thought I would be Never.

89
00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:42,440
Speaker 2: Painting was not even a hobby of mine. I was

90
00:04:42,440 --> 00:04:45,200
Speaker 2: an illustrator as a kid, but never a painter. The

91
00:04:45,279 --> 00:04:47,400
Speaker 2: last painting I probably did was a finger painting in

92
00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:50,160
Speaker 2: pre school. But I was always drawing and I did

93
00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,599
Speaker 2: like art for year twelve and then I went into

94
00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,080
Speaker 2: like interior design. I studied interior design and then I

95
00:04:56,240 --> 00:05:01,719
Speaker 2: started working in modular construction. So I started my own

96
00:05:01,760 --> 00:05:04,880
Speaker 2: business in twenty twelve, and I was working with shipping

97
00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:08,480
Speaker 2: containers and turning them into like living units and pop

98
00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:10,960
Speaker 2: up shops and cafes and office box and stuff like that.

99
00:05:10,960 --> 00:05:13,279
Speaker 2: And I absolutely loved what I did, and I was

100
00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,040
Speaker 2: the weido that was just totally obsessed with shipping containers.

101
00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,479
Speaker 2: So I had my Instagram account for that and it

102
00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:20,760
Speaker 2: was just my design business. I want to start the family.

103
00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:25,600
Speaker 2: So we had trouble with trying for babies, and so

104
00:05:25,920 --> 00:05:30,680
Speaker 2: like many families, we resorted to IBF and we got lucky.

105
00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,479
Speaker 2: We planned to have three kids, went to put the

106
00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:37,120
Speaker 2: third embryo in and it split into identical twins. So

107
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:40,119
Speaker 2: we went from thinking we couldn't have kids to having

108
00:05:40,160 --> 00:05:42,800
Speaker 2: four kids in four years, and it was just crazy.

109
00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:44,839
Speaker 2: The funny thing about that is most people were like,

110
00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:46,400
Speaker 2: oh my god, how are you going to cope? I'm

111
00:05:46,440 --> 00:05:49,400
Speaker 2: so sorry, but we were so excited, like we were

112
00:05:49,480 --> 00:05:52,000
Speaker 2: so happy, but everyone was freaking out as if it

113
00:05:52,040 --> 00:05:54,320
Speaker 2: was happening to them. But I'm the youngest of five.

114
00:05:54,440 --> 00:05:57,400
Speaker 2: He's youngster four. So we're all for the big family thing.

115
00:05:57,600 --> 00:05:58,600
Speaker 2: It was in our blood.

116
00:05:58,720 --> 00:05:59,320
Speaker 1: You're ready for that.

117
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:01,320
Speaker 2: And so that happened, and I had to take a

118
00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,440
Speaker 2: full year off work. My other two matt Leaves had

119
00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:07,640
Speaker 2: been like part time working part time because I was

120
00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:09,479
Speaker 2: trying to run this little business on the side, and

121
00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:12,280
Speaker 2: it was stressful and hard. This year, I had all

122
00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:14,000
Speaker 2: my kids at home because my daughter hadn't started at

123
00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:16,039
Speaker 2: school yet, and it was crazy and chaotic and I

124
00:06:16,080 --> 00:06:18,480
Speaker 2: loved it. But then I went back to work and

125
00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:21,479
Speaker 2: back in front of the screen drawing designs all day,

126
00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:24,719
Speaker 2: and just something in me had shifted and I needed

127
00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:26,960
Speaker 2: a change, but I didn't know what that was. And

128
00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:29,360
Speaker 2: I wanted to work with more people or I wanted

129
00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:31,200
Speaker 2: to work with my hands, and I couldn't figure out

130
00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,159
Speaker 2: what it was. And at the same time that those

131
00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,520
Speaker 2: thoughts were happening, we'd just finished building our house and

132
00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,600
Speaker 2: I had a lot of big white walls to fill,

133
00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:43,040
Speaker 2: and so I started looking out big artworks for big

134
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,160
Speaker 2: white walls, and I was very frustrated because it was

135
00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:48,640
Speaker 2: just so far out of our budget and it was

136
00:06:48,680 --> 00:06:51,440
Speaker 2: nothing that we could afford. So I thought, I've got

137
00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:54,159
Speaker 2: to come up with a way to do something with

138
00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:56,680
Speaker 2: this wall. How can I be creative? So I thought,

139
00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,960
Speaker 2: I'll try painting. I'm creative, I can draw. How hard

140
00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,000
Speaker 2: can a painting be? So I did a painting. I

141
00:07:03,080 --> 00:07:05,840
Speaker 2: went and bought back eighty bucks worth of stuff from

142
00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,039
Speaker 2: Riot Art and craft, bought a cheap canvas and student paints,

143
00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,520
Speaker 2: and I did this painting. And I've hidden all evidence

144
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:13,240
Speaker 2: of it, so don't scroll back and try and find it.

145
00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,000
Speaker 2: Of course you won't find it. But I sat with

146
00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,520
Speaker 2: it for a while, and then my kids preschool were

147
00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,880
Speaker 2: calling for auction items to raise money for the preschool,

148
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:23,679
Speaker 2: and I'm like, look, i'll give it to the pre school.

149
00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:25,480
Speaker 2: See what happens, because I don't think I want it

150
00:07:25,520 --> 00:07:28,520
Speaker 2: on my wall. Maybe it'll make a hundred dollars. So

151
00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,320
Speaker 2: on the night it ended up selling for eight hundred dollars,

152
00:07:31,880 --> 00:07:33,240
Speaker 2: and I was like, eighty.

153
00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,680
Speaker 1: Dollars into eight hundred dollars, it's a pretty good turn.

154
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:38,640
Speaker 2: On, or goes to the pre school. But look, you

155
00:07:38,680 --> 00:07:41,680
Speaker 2: know he was like everyone was drinking and drunk and

156
00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,400
Speaker 2: feeling generous and trying to raise money for the preschool.

157
00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,800
Speaker 2: So it was I did. I was highly aware of that,

158
00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:52,120
Speaker 2: but it also made me think, hey, maybe I've got

159
00:07:52,120 --> 00:07:54,320
Speaker 2: something here. So I did another one and then a

160
00:07:54,360 --> 00:07:56,360
Speaker 2: friend said can I buy that? And I said sure.

161
00:07:56,520 --> 00:07:59,560
Speaker 2: And then I thought, Okay, I'm enjoying doing this. I'm

162
00:07:59,560 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 2: starting to do it in my spare time, of which

163
00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:05,040
Speaker 2: I had very little. But I thought, I want to

164
00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,800
Speaker 2: I don't want to contaminate my I want to document

165
00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:10,400
Speaker 2: it on Instagram, but I don't want to contaminate my

166
00:08:10,520 --> 00:08:14,600
Speaker 2: container kit Instagram page. So this was still a hobby.

167
00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:16,600
Speaker 2: This is still a hobby. This is just something I

168
00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,440
Speaker 2: was doing for fun on the side. It's because I

169
00:08:18,480 --> 00:08:20,840
Speaker 2: was enjoying like the new process of painting and like

170
00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:23,200
Speaker 2: trying to come up with ways of making it look good.

171
00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:26,480
Speaker 2: I've got no art training, I have no business doing painting,

172
00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:28,920
Speaker 2: have no I was just figuring out as I go.

173
00:08:29,000 --> 00:08:32,800
Speaker 2: I'm using my using my creative intuition to like figure

174
00:08:32,840 --> 00:08:35,319
Speaker 2: out composition and what I was doing. But they were

175
00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,160
Speaker 2: pretty bad paintings at the start, as you can imagine

176
00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:40,040
Speaker 2: anyone who first starts, I think it's great, and you

177
00:08:40,080 --> 00:08:41,560
Speaker 2: look back at your old work and you're like, oh

178
00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,600
Speaker 2: my god, what was that. But anyway, I started documenting

179
00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,800
Speaker 2: it on its own Instagram page. I had very few followers,

180
00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,720
Speaker 2: but friends and family would follow me and then they

181
00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,640
Speaker 2: would recommend, and then I was getting these commissions on

182
00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,800
Speaker 2: the side, and I would not be able to charge

183
00:08:57,840 --> 00:09:01,160
Speaker 2: for them any more than the cost of the materials,

184
00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:04,360
Speaker 2: because I thought, who am I to be charging my

185
00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:07,720
Speaker 2: friends and family for something that they could be doing themselves, Like,

186
00:09:07,720 --> 00:09:10,080
Speaker 2: I have no idea what I'm doing, So yeah, imposter

187
00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:10,880
Speaker 2: syndrome was.

188
00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, I was gonna say, hang on, so real, I

189
00:09:13,360 --> 00:09:14,760
Speaker 1: would want to buy it because I have no idea

190
00:09:14,800 --> 00:09:16,520
Speaker 1: how to do that myself. So to me that there's

191
00:09:16,720 --> 00:09:20,440
Speaker 1: huge value and buying and you're obviously charging me a profit,

192
00:09:20,440 --> 00:09:21,360
Speaker 1: I would mix.

193
00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,920
Speaker 2: I like a criminal. I felt like an absolute criminal.

194
00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:27,840
Speaker 2: So I would git through that though. Well, so I

195
00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:31,040
Speaker 2: just kept charging four materials and then sometimes I'd add

196
00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:33,280
Speaker 2: maybe fifty bucks on top because I'm like, okay, well

197
00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:34,640
Speaker 2: maybe they can pay me for a little bit of

198
00:09:34,679 --> 00:09:38,960
Speaker 2: my time. So then I kept up the posting on

199
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:42,120
Speaker 2: Instagram and I started using hashtags, and then a local

200
00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:45,200
Speaker 2: gallery picked up one of my hashtags and she asked

201
00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:48,080
Speaker 2: me if I wanted to be in the gallery, and

202
00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:50,720
Speaker 2: I was absolutely stoked. I went and brought her my

203
00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:52,560
Speaker 2: work and she had a look at it and she said, look,

204
00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:54,559
Speaker 2: do you want to be in the gallery. She kind

205
00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:56,600
Speaker 2: of schooled me a bit, she said, do you want

206
00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:59,920
Speaker 2: to be in the gallery? You have to use better

207
00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:02,960
Speaker 2: Quliday canvas. You cannot be using student paint, Like these

208
00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,080
Speaker 2: are things I had no idea about this, what I

209
00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:06,520
Speaker 2: was using or what I was doing. She said, you

210
00:10:06,559 --> 00:10:08,240
Speaker 2: can't be using student paint. It's going to fade. You

211
00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:10,840
Speaker 2: need you be resistant paint. You have to get them framed.

212
00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:13,320
Speaker 2: I'm going to be taking fifty percent as well, because

213
00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,240
Speaker 2: I'm the galerus. So that's usually galleries take anywhere between

214
00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:18,959
Speaker 2: thirty and fifty percent of an artwork when it sells,

215
00:10:18,960 --> 00:10:21,480
Speaker 2: and the artist gets the rest of it. So I'm thinking,

216
00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,480
Speaker 2: if she wants to do that, take fifty percent, and

217
00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:25,040
Speaker 2: I've got to pay for framing and this and that.

218
00:10:25,200 --> 00:10:28,520
Speaker 2: So she then suggested a new price in my artwork,

219
00:10:28,520 --> 00:10:31,000
Speaker 2: which I might that's absolutely ridiculous. So I think she

220
00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,200
Speaker 2: maybe four or six times the price so she could

221
00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:37,120
Speaker 2: make some money and I could make some money and

222
00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,040
Speaker 2: the materials were covered. So she did that, and I'm like, well,

223
00:10:40,080 --> 00:10:42,480
Speaker 2: that's that's ridiculous. No one's going to buy that, and

224
00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:44,960
Speaker 2: then she sold them all. So wow, I'm like.

225
00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:47,760
Speaker 1: It's like the universe sent her in your life because

226
00:10:47,760 --> 00:10:48,880
Speaker 1: you were never going to be able to do this

227
00:10:49,600 --> 00:10:51,280
Speaker 1: no yourself. Yeah, to get to this point where you

228
00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:54,040
Speaker 1: actually started charging real true value exactly.

229
00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:56,440
Speaker 2: But I was also wise enough to listen to her,

230
00:10:56,600 --> 00:10:58,360
Speaker 2: and she's like, this is if you want to if

231
00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,360
Speaker 2: you want to level up, then this is what you

232
00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:02,000
Speaker 2: have to do. So and then she put me in

233
00:11:02,040 --> 00:11:06,280
Speaker 2: touch with the right people and so I eventually stopped

234
00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:09,200
Speaker 2: working with that gallery, but I kept my prices the same,

235
00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:11,600
Speaker 2: so that was where I was able to step up.

236
00:11:11,640 --> 00:11:14,280
Speaker 2: And then I just kept doing it, kept going with

237
00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:18,320
Speaker 2: the painting, and then COVID, which was a really good

238
00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,400
Speaker 2: time for someone in my position to have established an

239
00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,000
Speaker 2: art business, like nine to twelve months before COVID, so

240
00:11:25,800 --> 00:11:28,640
Speaker 2: anyone who kept their job needed a zoom backdrop. And

241
00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:32,280
Speaker 2: so all of a sudden, my commissions were coming in

242
00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:34,959
Speaker 2: more and more. All of my design jobs had dried

243
00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:38,720
Speaker 2: up because they were all commercial and social setting jobs

244
00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:41,800
Speaker 2: that just got pulled. So that was great because I

245
00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,960
Speaker 2: also had two toddlers and a five and a seven

246
00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:46,800
Speaker 2: year old at home, So that was nuts.

247
00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,160
Speaker 1: Got So.

248
00:11:50,679 --> 00:11:55,120
Speaker 2: What happened after that? COVID and then yeah, all this

249
00:11:55,280 --> 00:11:57,800
Speaker 2: I was actually getting some jobs through Zoom, Like people

250
00:11:57,840 --> 00:11:59,920
Speaker 2: would be on Zoom with their colleagues and said, oh,

251
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:01,600
Speaker 2: where did you get that painting in the background. So

252
00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:06,000
Speaker 2: I was getting referrals through people and the self selling yeah,

253
00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:10,680
Speaker 2: soft cell, and the commissions kept coming in, and I

254
00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:14,320
Speaker 2: was totally relying on Instagram to post my work get sales,

255
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,240
Speaker 2: and I would write in voices. The problem was that

256
00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:21,840
Speaker 2: people kept wanting the same thing, and as a creative,

257
00:12:21,920 --> 00:12:24,599
Speaker 2: you want to I wanted to explore different styles. I

258
00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,520
Speaker 2: didn't want to be the person who just does abstract.

259
00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:29,120
Speaker 2: I want to abstracts but also florals, but also people

260
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:31,520
Speaker 2: also cute. I wanted to do everything because that's me.

261
00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,720
Speaker 2: I'm chaotic and I'm keep it fluid and evolving exactly.

262
00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:37,120
Speaker 2: But everybody wanted the same painting. And I did this

263
00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:40,120
Speaker 2: one painting six or seven times, and they would control

264
00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:41,960
Speaker 2: me to the ant's degree, saying just a little bit

265
00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,360
Speaker 2: of yellow here, and just so it was like they

266
00:12:44,400 --> 00:12:47,000
Speaker 2: were painting it, and it took all the joy out

267
00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:52,440
Speaker 2: of what I was doing. So that's where the prints

268
00:12:52,480 --> 00:12:54,120
Speaker 2: came in. Actually, I need to tell you about the

269
00:12:54,120 --> 00:12:58,480
Speaker 2: studio before I talk about that in COVID. I'll come

270
00:12:58,520 --> 00:13:00,640
Speaker 2: back to that. But during COVID at the end of

271
00:13:00,640 --> 00:13:04,880
Speaker 2: twenty twenty, I was walking We thought, we thought the

272
00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:07,040
Speaker 2: worst of COVID was done by the end of twenty twenty,

273
00:13:07,120 --> 00:13:09,640
Speaker 2: because we'd had the first lockdown if you remember, yeah,

274
00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:11,520
Speaker 2: of course you would have had the LAK. I had

275
00:13:11,520 --> 00:13:12,920
Speaker 2: the time too, so my.

276
00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,240
Speaker 1: Kid's were also all three IVF as well, but I

277
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,600
Speaker 1: had basically two COVID babies pretty much as well.

278
00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:21,480
Speaker 2: So yes, so we thought that we were through the

279
00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:23,200
Speaker 2: worst of it. At the end of twenty twenty, I

280
00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,720
Speaker 2: was walking down the street with the PRAM and I

281
00:13:25,760 --> 00:13:28,680
Speaker 2: came across this building. It had just been released because

282
00:13:28,679 --> 00:13:31,040
Speaker 2: the people had to shut down their business, so the

283
00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:33,840
Speaker 2: new tenants had it really cheap, and the shop front

284
00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:36,120
Speaker 2: down the bottom on the street level was empty. So

285
00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:37,640
Speaker 2: I knocked on the door and I said, Hey, what's

286
00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:40,600
Speaker 2: going on with this space And they said, oh, we

287
00:13:40,640 --> 00:13:41,920
Speaker 2: can give it to you if you want. No one

288
00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:43,959
Speaker 2: wants it. It's going to cost you one hundred and

289
00:13:44,000 --> 00:13:47,280
Speaker 2: fifty bucks a week at all. And I was like,

290
00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,600
Speaker 2: I'll take it. I hadn't done I hadn't planned this,

291
00:13:50,760 --> 00:13:53,000
Speaker 2: I hadn't even dreamt of it. I was not trying

292
00:13:53,040 --> 00:13:55,480
Speaker 2: to do anything, but I saw an opportunity and I'm

293
00:13:55,559 --> 00:13:58,679
Speaker 2: very impulsive, so I took it and ran with it,

294
00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:01,280
Speaker 2: and I went home. I told my husband that I'm

295
00:14:01,360 --> 00:14:03,600
Speaker 2: opening a gallery and he's like, what are you talking about?

296
00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:05,920
Speaker 2: But it's like, what's the worst that could happen? If

297
00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:07,840
Speaker 2: it all goes to shit? Then you know, we can

298
00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:09,560
Speaker 2: use it as a storage unit. Yeah, And it's like

299
00:14:09,559 --> 00:14:12,240
Speaker 2: it's one hundred and fifty bucks a week, so there's

300
00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:16,359
Speaker 2: no pressure there. So then I kept building up the commissions,

301
00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:19,680
Speaker 2: and yes, I came to the problem where everyone wanted

302
00:14:19,680 --> 00:14:21,720
Speaker 2: the same thing and it was really annoying me. So

303
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,160
Speaker 2: I was complaining to my framer one day and she said,

304
00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:26,440
Speaker 2: why don't you start offering prints if everyone wants the

305
00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:29,080
Speaker 2: same thing. So that that's when I realized that there

306
00:14:29,160 --> 00:14:31,920
Speaker 2: was demand for a certain thing and that prints were

307
00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:34,440
Speaker 2: going to be a viable business move for me.

308
00:14:34,600 --> 00:14:38,720
Speaker 1: Because you're also adding a huge amount of efficiency financially

309
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,360
Speaker 1: and also for your time, and that you know a

310
00:14:42,440 --> 00:14:45,360
Speaker 1: print can be you know, you can obviously control the supply,

311
00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,400
Speaker 1: but also the cost is not as you know, time

312
00:14:49,440 --> 00:14:53,440
Speaker 1: wise and financially in making say a large canvas, all

313
00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:54,720
Speaker 1: materials involved.

314
00:14:54,400 --> 00:14:56,640
Speaker 2: And I wasn't even thinking of all those things at

315
00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,680
Speaker 2: the time. I was just trying to solve the problem

316
00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:01,640
Speaker 2: of me getting to paint what I want. So I

317
00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:05,240
Speaker 2: then had to I thought it was good advice, so

318
00:15:05,280 --> 00:15:07,160
Speaker 2: I said, okay, how do I do that? And that

319
00:15:07,280 --> 00:15:10,120
Speaker 2: was a whole new maybe. It took me two months

320
00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,160
Speaker 2: to figure it out. I found this lady in Baomain

321
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,360
Speaker 2: called Terresa and she does, like all of Ken Done's work,

322
00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:19,880
Speaker 2: photographs it. So you have to get your painting into

323
00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:21,920
Speaker 2: this file, which is like a five hundred megabit file.

324
00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:23,520
Speaker 2: Then you have to find someone to print it. So

325
00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,720
Speaker 2: I found a production partner down in Mornington and they

326
00:15:26,800 --> 00:15:29,160
Speaker 2: do all the printing and stretching and framing and delivery.

327
00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,600
Speaker 2: And then I had to build a website. So instead

328
00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:34,160
Speaker 2: of relying just on my socials to sell my stuff,

329
00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:38,240
Speaker 2: I now had built a website and the prints then started.

330
00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:40,600
Speaker 2: It cost me nothing. Once I had it set up,

331
00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:41,560
Speaker 2: it was set and forget.

332
00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:45,200
Speaker 1: So so the initial investment, yeah, was pay offlat was.

333
00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:48,520
Speaker 2: Short exactly, so I had to take time to build

334
00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,000
Speaker 2: it and then and stop painting while I was doing it.

335
00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:54,280
Speaker 2: I built the website and sorted all my ducks, and

336
00:15:54,320 --> 00:15:56,600
Speaker 2: then it was off and it was taking care of itself.

337
00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:58,920
Speaker 2: So I wasn't getting that many print sales, maybe one

338
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:01,480
Speaker 2: or two a week, but it was like passive income

339
00:16:02,040 --> 00:16:05,160
Speaker 2: on the side just was amazing. There was still such

340
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:08,640
Speaker 2: high demand for my original paintings that the print thing

341
00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:12,440
Speaker 2: was just this thing in the background. So I kept

342
00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,320
Speaker 2: painting and I kept selling, and everything I painted sold,

343
00:16:16,320 --> 00:16:18,800
Speaker 2: which was amazing, so I thought I will go that

344
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,880
Speaker 2: was normal. Yeah, it was awesome. It was it was nuts.

345
00:16:21,920 --> 00:16:25,280
Speaker 2: I felt like I was just going off the feedback

346
00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:28,320
Speaker 2: and like people, my Instagram kept growing, especially when I

347
00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:31,280
Speaker 2: got the studio. Like it. The optics when you have

348
00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:33,520
Speaker 2: a studio, I don't like the whole fake it ti

349
00:16:33,560 --> 00:16:35,160
Speaker 2: you make it. I was just doing it until I

350
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,680
Speaker 2: made it. I wasn't faking anything. But the optics when

351
00:16:39,720 --> 00:16:42,760
Speaker 2: you get a studio is that she must be doing

352
00:16:42,800 --> 00:16:45,480
Speaker 2: really well, she must be really well established to get

353
00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,720
Speaker 2: to the point where she can open her own thing.

354
00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:49,280
Speaker 2: No one knew that I was paying one hundred and

355
00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:53,560
Speaker 2: fifty bucks a week, so my Instagram went from ten

356
00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:56,280
Speaker 2: k to twenty K a few months later thirty fifty k.

357
00:16:56,480 --> 00:17:00,360
Speaker 2: It just and I got onto reels as well. So

358
00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:03,680
Speaker 2: at the time, I think it was about twenty twenty one,

359
00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,520
Speaker 2: Instagram came out with reels and we're really moving into

360
00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:11,359
Speaker 2: video content and I got onto that pretty quickly. And

361
00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:13,120
Speaker 2: it was the good old days where you just had

362
00:17:13,160 --> 00:17:16,600
Speaker 2: one still shot and you didn't have to speak or

363
00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:18,159
Speaker 2: cut it up or edit it. And I would do

364
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:22,040
Speaker 2: time lapse paintings and people would lap them up and so, yeah,

365
00:17:22,040 --> 00:17:25,360
Speaker 2: the followers each week, each day, I was like, yeah,

366
00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,200
Speaker 2: two to four hundred followers a day. So the organic

367
00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:31,720
Speaker 2: reach was just it just worked differently back then. It's

368
00:17:31,760 --> 00:17:34,280
Speaker 2: all changing all the time, but I was very lucky

369
00:17:34,280 --> 00:17:38,240
Speaker 2: to have that. And once you see someone like an

370
00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:40,480
Speaker 2: artist and you want to buy their work, you see

371
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:43,760
Speaker 2: how many followers they have, and it builds trust when

372
00:17:43,800 --> 00:17:46,560
Speaker 2: you see that they've got fifty thousand followers or sixty

373
00:17:46,600 --> 00:17:49,199
Speaker 2: or whatever it is at the time. So that was

374
00:17:49,280 --> 00:17:52,639
Speaker 2: like one trust building element, which then helped sell the

375
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,880
Speaker 2: paintings and sell the prints as well, which were ticking

376
00:17:55,920 --> 00:17:56,840
Speaker 2: away in the background.

377
00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,200
Speaker 1: Had you at this stage cottoned on that this was

378
00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,960
Speaker 1: actually not just a hobby, you know, making a little

379
00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:06,679
Speaker 1: extra pocket money on the side, but actually a legitimate

380
00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:08,240
Speaker 1: business that was actually going to.

381
00:18:08,640 --> 00:18:12,840
Speaker 2: I figured that out once people kept my old clients

382
00:18:12,840 --> 00:18:15,560
Speaker 2: would say, Okay, we've got this project for the containers

383
00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:16,960
Speaker 2: and we need to do this, and that I might.

384
00:18:17,280 --> 00:18:19,879
Speaker 2: I don't do that anymore. That's in my past because

385
00:18:20,000 --> 00:18:25,280
Speaker 2: once I started painting, the amount of money I could

386
00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:27,800
Speaker 2: make in one week as a designer versus the amount

387
00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,120
Speaker 2: of money I could make by selling one painting, which

388
00:18:30,119 --> 00:18:32,760
Speaker 2: took me five hours, was the same amount of money.

389
00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:36,159
Speaker 2: So it was much more profitable and much more enjoyable.

390
00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:38,720
Speaker 2: And there I was feeling that need to use my

391
00:18:38,800 --> 00:18:41,800
Speaker 2: hands and connect with people. I did work by myself,

392
00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,840
Speaker 2: but I felt like I was working with other people

393
00:18:44,840 --> 00:18:46,679
Speaker 2: because I was on the phone to my suppliers, and

394
00:18:46,720 --> 00:18:50,359
Speaker 2: I was visiting my galleries and my framers and my

395
00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:53,760
Speaker 2: stretchers and every day. So still was building this art

396
00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,120
Speaker 2: community even though I were by myself so and had

397
00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:02,040
Speaker 2: the imposter syndrome. Now by then it started leaving the room.

398
00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:04,520
Speaker 2: So that was good because I'm like, well, you've got

399
00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,000
Speaker 2: something that people want. Then that's been reinforced by the

400
00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:10,119
Speaker 2: fact that people are following you because they like what

401
00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,479
Speaker 2: you're putting out there, and so there's some goodness to that.

402
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:16,159
Speaker 2: So I just kept going with it. And then I thought, Okay,

403
00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,080
Speaker 2: this business cost me nothing to run print shops, running itself,

404
00:19:20,359 --> 00:19:24,560
Speaker 2: amusing Instagram, which is free to put myself out there.

405
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:27,200
Speaker 2: So I started investing in doing the art shows. So

406
00:19:27,240 --> 00:19:30,639
Speaker 2: I did the Affordable Artfare in Sydney. It's about an

407
00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,960
Speaker 2: eight thousand dollars outlay to get there. I took forty

408
00:19:34,000 --> 00:19:37,080
Speaker 2: five paintings in the first one, and which was way

409
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:39,640
Speaker 2: too many, but I sold thirty five of them, so

410
00:19:40,200 --> 00:19:43,880
Speaker 2: just did in credibly well. So this was twenty twenty three,

411
00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,919
Speaker 2: I think. And then then I followed suit went to

412
00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,440
Speaker 2: Melbourne and shot the lights out. Took a whole bunch

413
00:19:50,480 --> 00:19:53,359
Speaker 2: of really big paintings and when you sell a bigger painting,

414
00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,720
Speaker 2: they sell for more. So did incredibly well at that show.

415
00:19:56,800 --> 00:19:59,720
Speaker 2: So I came back feeling like I'm on fire. Everyone

416
00:19:59,720 --> 00:20:03,160
Speaker 2: wants by my art. It's great. COVID's now over. It's

417
00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:05,640
Speaker 2: the end of twenty twenty three, and I thought that

418
00:20:05,680 --> 00:20:09,199
Speaker 2: the painting sales would die down after COVID, but they haven't,

419
00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:13,160
Speaker 2: and so at this time I also got kicked out

420
00:20:13,240 --> 00:20:16,200
Speaker 2: of my studio. I kicked out sounds a bit harsh,

421
00:20:16,200 --> 00:20:19,280
Speaker 2: but the lease was ending, so I had to move

422
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,400
Speaker 2: and find it another studio. Did I have to find

423
00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,560
Speaker 2: another studio on reflection, No, because I could be doing

424
00:20:25,640 --> 00:20:28,400
Speaker 2: what I'm doing anywhere. I sell what I sell online

425
00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:30,960
Speaker 2: all over the world. I've never allied on people to

426
00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:34,840
Speaker 2: walk in, but I'm thinking, well, the painting's not slowing down.

427
00:20:34,880 --> 00:20:38,000
Speaker 2: There's still such high demand, so I can get whatever

428
00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:41,399
Speaker 2: studio I want. So I went. I looked around for

429
00:20:41,400 --> 00:20:43,359
Speaker 2: a while and I found a new studio which was

430
00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:45,800
Speaker 2: like a shop front with a big window, concrete floor.

431
00:20:45,880 --> 00:20:48,159
Speaker 2: Set it up as a gallery with the idea that

432
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:49,760
Speaker 2: I was going to spend all of twenty twenty four

433
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:53,120
Speaker 2: doing my own original exhibitions and keeping up that cadence

434
00:20:53,119 --> 00:20:57,400
Speaker 2: of painting all the time. And then I also this

435
00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:00,080
Speaker 2: is where I started layering way too many things. I

436
00:21:00,119 --> 00:21:03,000
Speaker 2: was also doing some clothing production as well, that's another story.

437
00:21:04,840 --> 00:21:07,760
Speaker 2: So I started to do the I wanted to do

438
00:21:07,760 --> 00:21:09,600
Speaker 2: the art shows again because they went so well in

439
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:11,480
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, so I did the first one in

440
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,240
Speaker 2: Brisbane and I took my paintings up there, and then

441
00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:17,240
Speaker 2: only half of them sold, and I was like, huh,

442
00:21:17,240 --> 00:21:20,160
Speaker 2: maybe it's just a Brisbane thing. Maybe it's a new

443
00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:22,600
Speaker 2: market that doesn't know me too well. And then I

444
00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,480
Speaker 2: followed suit and I went to Melbourne and I took

445
00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,240
Speaker 2: a lot of big paintings like I had the year before.

446
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:30,760
Speaker 2: And everyone's walking out with the big paintings, not just me,

447
00:21:30,880 --> 00:21:34,359
Speaker 2: but everyone and everywhere. What I hadn't realized was the

448
00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:39,200
Speaker 2: economy had shifted, people stopped spending interest rates, stuff happened,

449
00:21:39,359 --> 00:21:44,440
Speaker 2: and artwork, original artwork was not on anyone's priority list.

450
00:21:44,560 --> 00:21:46,560
Speaker 2: So in Melbourne, I had all these people coming to

451
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:50,800
Speaker 2: the stand looking at my artwork, asking questions, hovering coming back.

452
00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:53,240
Speaker 2: I brought very few little ones. I brought a lot

453
00:21:53,240 --> 00:21:55,960
Speaker 2: of big ones. The little ones sold really quickly, the

454
00:21:56,000 --> 00:21:58,159
Speaker 2: big ones ended up or coming home with me. So

455
00:21:58,240 --> 00:22:00,320
Speaker 2: I came home with my tail between.

456
00:22:00,160 --> 00:22:03,040
Speaker 1: Yeah, say that would have been so defating.

457
00:22:02,680 --> 00:22:05,560
Speaker 2: So bad. And the outlay for two art shows, so

458
00:22:05,560 --> 00:22:08,440
Speaker 2: that's about maybe sixteen thousand dollars plus the thirty five

459
00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:12,880
Speaker 2: thousand dollars a week a year in rent for the studio.

460
00:22:13,600 --> 00:22:16,960
Speaker 2: So there's all these layers of expenses, and now I'm like,

461
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:20,400
Speaker 2: I can't paint anymore because I've or got all these

462
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,040
Speaker 2: paintings I now need to sell and I can't. The

463
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,280
Speaker 2: plan was to be in this expensive studio which I'm

464
00:22:26,320 --> 00:22:30,720
Speaker 2: now locked into for three years, and I can't. The

465
00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,840
Speaker 2: plan was to paint and exhibit and exhibit, and so

466
00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:38,040
Speaker 2: that's not happening. So I eventually sold all the paintings.

467
00:22:38,080 --> 00:22:40,520
Speaker 2: But I turned to the Prince and I said, Prince,

468
00:22:41,040 --> 00:22:43,440
Speaker 2: it's just you and me now. We need to make

469
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,439
Speaker 2: this work. And if I had not set up that

470
00:22:46,520 --> 00:22:50,119
Speaker 2: print situation back in twenty whenever it was, which I

471
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:52,720
Speaker 2: kind of ignored and let hang in aside, then it

472
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,639
Speaker 2: would have screwed me. So but I had that to

473
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,440
Speaker 2: fall back on. And so another thing I was doing

474
00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:04,280
Speaker 2: at the time paying ad managers like Digital Marketing Agency

475
00:23:04,440 --> 00:23:07,760
Speaker 2: to help elevate the prints. So yes, my business had

476
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,080
Speaker 2: gone from one hundred and fifty bucks a week to

477
00:23:10,160 --> 00:23:13,280
Speaker 2: these huge, big laid overheads which I was building as

478
00:23:13,320 --> 00:23:17,040
Speaker 2: my success was growing. So I was paying ad managers

479
00:23:17,080 --> 00:23:20,440
Speaker 2: to sell my prints for me. And what they would

480
00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,240
Speaker 2: do was they'd go into my organic socials and they

481
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:27,240
Speaker 2: would take just you know posts that I've done, and

482
00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:29,080
Speaker 2: they'd turn them into ads, and then in the back

483
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:32,120
Speaker 2: of Mata you can make like you can create any

484
00:23:32,160 --> 00:23:35,159
Speaker 2: audience you want. So they'd find me cold customers and

485
00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 2: they'd find me warm customers. And I'd get maybe five

486
00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,639
Speaker 2: or six print sALS a week. But after I paid

487
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,560
Speaker 2: them there at five hundred dollars a week retainer and

488
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:47,080
Speaker 2: the ads spend and the production costs, it wasn't good.

489
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:49,119
Speaker 2: I thought, I can do this better. I can do

490
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,480
Speaker 2: this better. So I fired them and I said, I'm

491
00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,600
Speaker 2: going to manage all my own ads. So I don't

492
00:23:54,640 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 2: know if you've ever been into the back of mata.

493
00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,439
Speaker 2: Have you been to the back of meta? No? No,

494
00:23:58,560 --> 00:23:59,120
Speaker 2: don't go there.

495
00:23:59,280 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: No, you know I have. And I wanted to cry,

496
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:04,119
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't want to cry. I cried. It

497
00:24:04,160 --> 00:24:07,920
Speaker 1: was so confusing and overwhelming, and my pages didn't match

498
00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,280
Speaker 1: what the page was supposed to look like. It was

499
00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: like a foreign language, and I felt really frustrated and dumb.

500
00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,200
Speaker 2: Yep, exactly, and that's how I felt as well. I'm like, okay, well,

501
00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:19,960
Speaker 2: I'm going to have to learn how to.

502
00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:22,920
Speaker 1: Do this, So how did you? Because I don't know how.

503
00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:27,320
Speaker 2: So instead of instead of paying someone five hundred dollars

504
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 2: a week in a retainer to do something that probably

505
00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:34,280
Speaker 2: took them two minutes. I decided to invest in upskilling

506
00:24:34,440 --> 00:24:39,000
Speaker 2: myself because I didn't. I didn't I couldn't paint anymore

507
00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:44,720
Speaker 2: because it wasn't the market wasn't it. The demands were prints.

508
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,959
Speaker 2: So I learned how to do the ads myself. And

509
00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 2: it has been the most boring year of my life.

510
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:55,040
Speaker 2: So because it's you're creative and you're used to creating things,

511
00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:58,840
Speaker 2: and then all I'm out safe analytics, analytics and being

512
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:01,080
Speaker 2: in front and learning how to make the ads and

513
00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:04,280
Speaker 2: create the audiences, and then on top of that having

514
00:25:04,320 --> 00:25:07,280
Speaker 2: to create the content and keep up this cadence of

515
00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 2: creating new content all the time and getting cold customers

516
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:14,399
Speaker 2: and selling a product. But it's it's a necessary evil

517
00:25:14,560 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 2: if you want to survive, definitely. So yeah, it's been nuts,

518
00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:20,720
Speaker 2: but I've learned. I feel like I now have a

519
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:22,760
Speaker 2: marketing degree and I have all these tools under my

520
00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:26,720
Speaker 2: belt to be able to make those prints really sell.

521
00:25:26,960 --> 00:25:31,960
Speaker 2: And even though the overheads have been like feels very

522
00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 2: crushing at times, because my problem is I look at

523
00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:37,040
Speaker 2: the day to day and I see like a few

524
00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:38,800
Speaker 2: days in a row where I've had no sales and

525
00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:40,960
Speaker 2: I've got these huge ad spends and I've got this

526
00:25:41,080 --> 00:25:43,720
Speaker 2: rent and all these things. But then if I look

527
00:25:43,760 --> 00:25:46,840
Speaker 2: at the bigger picture and the months a month and

528
00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:49,679
Speaker 2: the year to year. Every year, even with the painting

529
00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:53,080
Speaker 2: sales tanking, the prints have risen and you're on your

530
00:25:53,119 --> 00:25:55,119
Speaker 2: growth is just going up and up and up because

531
00:25:55,160 --> 00:25:58,520
Speaker 2: of that. So it feels many days it feels like

532
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:01,399
Speaker 2: I'm just peddling away and a cheat nothing and just

533
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,360
Speaker 2: bleeding cash. But yeah, I've got to stop to look

534
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,520
Speaker 2: at what's actually going on and that's not the case.

535
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,240
Speaker 1: And then the big picture and look, that's very much

536
00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:13,800
Speaker 1: you know, aligned to investing and someone's financial journey. You know,

537
00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,520
Speaker 1: you go through days and think, oh, I'm budgeting, I'm

538
00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,760
Speaker 1: being so strict with myself. I've got these goals. I'm

539
00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:24,800
Speaker 1: you know, I'm working on my debt. It is painfully slow,

540
00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:27,080
Speaker 1: it is boring, it is frustrating at times, it's even

541
00:26:27,080 --> 00:26:29,760
Speaker 1: a little bit depressing. But it's not until you actually

542
00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,560
Speaker 1: take a moment to stop and let's take a step

543
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: back and reflect, but also compareah and go. Actually, this

544
00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 1: time last year I had twenty thousand dollars with a debt.

545
00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:42,119
Speaker 1: Now I've only got eight thousand dollars. I had no

546
00:26:42,200 --> 00:26:44,320
Speaker 1: money in savings, but I've now got fifteen thousand dollars

547
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,440
Speaker 1: in savings. And this time last year my superannuation was

548
00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:50,920
Speaker 1: across three different accounts. It wasn't probably invested, and now

549
00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,800
Speaker 1: it's invested in one account, it's consolidated, insurance is set

550
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,760
Speaker 1: up correctly. And you know, I'm Sally for sacrificing as well,

551
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:00,800
Speaker 1: but in the moment we can just sort of let

552
00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,879
Speaker 1: fear take over and just talk ourselves out of it.

553
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,199
Speaker 1: But really it comes so far.

554
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:07,560
Speaker 2: You set your goals so high and you just focus

555
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:09,720
Speaker 2: on those, and the sad thing about that is sometimes

556
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:13,240
Speaker 2: you're hitting those goals, but you never feel like excited

557
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:14,080
Speaker 2: by them. In the end.

558
00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:17,320
Speaker 1: Dopamine is really in the journey, right than actually the

559
00:27:17,400 --> 00:27:17,879
Speaker 1: end result.

560
00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:20,520
Speaker 2: Really well, there's always someone doing better, and you think

561
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,639
Speaker 2: that you should be at this level when you stop

562
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,800
Speaker 2: and say, no, actually, look at what you've done. That's

563
00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,080
Speaker 2: actually quite amazing.

564
00:27:26,240 --> 00:27:29,439
Speaker 1: Look. Comparison is the thief of joy, I think is

565
00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 1: the saying it is the worst and I say this

566
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:33,600
Speaker 1: is my kids all the time when they're like, she's

567
00:27:33,640 --> 00:27:39,240
Speaker 1: got something. It is a bottomless pit of misery when

568
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,280
Speaker 1: you start comparing just you know, stay in your own lone,

569
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,399
Speaker 1: focus on your on your own goals and dreams, and

570
00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,560
Speaker 1: head down, bomb up. But you know, it's I can

571
00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: relate to so much. I don't think everyone on their

572
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,399
Speaker 1: financial journey can relate to that as well. You know, what,

573
00:27:52,400 --> 00:27:56,160
Speaker 1: would you say that probably the biggest lessons you've learned

574
00:27:56,200 --> 00:27:59,280
Speaker 1: financially and about yourself from this journey.

575
00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,359
Speaker 2: About my self is it's really highlighted how impulsive I

576
00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,040
Speaker 2: actually am. And it could be my best friend and

577
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:08,959
Speaker 2: my worst enemy as well. So I mean, if I

578
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,960
Speaker 2: wasn't impulsive, I would never have got that one hundred

579
00:28:10,960 --> 00:28:13,320
Speaker 2: and fifty dollars a week studio and I would someone

580
00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:15,000
Speaker 2: else would have come in and got it the next day.

581
00:28:15,359 --> 00:28:20,080
Speaker 2: Stuff like that. Other times, you know, the way that

582
00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:22,200
Speaker 2: I said yes to everything or came up with all

583
00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:25,000
Speaker 2: these ideas and just started acting on them, and then

584
00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:28,240
Speaker 2: they all piled up into this big layer of crushing

585
00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 2: overheads because I didn't stop to think. Maybe instead of

586
00:28:32,160 --> 00:28:34,159
Speaker 2: just doing all the things you want to do, just

587
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,080
Speaker 2: choose one or two things and do them well, just

588
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 2: do that instead of trying to crush everything and expecting

589
00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:44,880
Speaker 2: this quick success within a week.

590
00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 1: And just because you'd experienced it, you can't assume that's

591
00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:48,000
Speaker 1: going to happen all the time.

592
00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:50,400
Speaker 2: Because that was the problem. Because I started at a

593
00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:52,880
Speaker 2: really good time. There was luck on my side and

594
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,719
Speaker 2: that was not a normal situation. But how often has

595
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:58,760
Speaker 2: a pandemic come across once every hundred years, so this

596
00:28:58,880 --> 00:29:01,160
Speaker 2: was it was very good timing on my part, but

597
00:29:01,760 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 2: coming up at a time like that, it made me

598
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,440
Speaker 2: think that's just what it's like. So gave me this

599
00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 2: false sense of security and confidence which then plummeted after

600
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:15,360
Speaker 2: Melbourne and after you know, after I started to take

601
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:18,200
Speaker 2: going to the shows again, expecting this wild success like

602
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,720
Speaker 2: the previous year, and it was completely different. So it's yeah,

603
00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 2: it all comes about managing your expectations and not keeping

604
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,240
Speaker 2: them too high. Even when things are going well, Appreciate

605
00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:30,120
Speaker 2: the fact that they're going well and you're going to

606
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 2: go through every you know, the market has ups and

607
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:34,560
Speaker 2: downs and you just have to write it out and

608
00:29:35,120 --> 00:29:37,280
Speaker 2: a lot of people give up at this point. I

609
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:39,360
Speaker 2: know a lot of artists that are really feeling it

610
00:29:39,400 --> 00:29:42,080
Speaker 2: and they can't sell anything, and they don't have prints

611
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:45,120
Speaker 2: to fall back on. They also take it very very personally,

612
00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:47,000
Speaker 2: and they think no one likes me. Now I don't

613
00:29:47,000 --> 00:29:49,920
Speaker 2: get any follows on Instagram. It's like everyone loves your art.

614
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:51,880
Speaker 2: They used to buy it, they just can't afford it.

615
00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,120
Speaker 2: Now you don't have prints to fall back on. And

616
00:29:54,200 --> 00:29:56,640
Speaker 2: the algorithm has change. That's why no one's seeing your stuff.

617
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 2: It used to feed people your stuff, and now it doesn't.

618
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,880
Speaker 2: It has got no better on you or what you're doing.

619
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:03,680
Speaker 2: But people can't see that.

620
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,280
Speaker 1: So and when you're in that headspace, it is very

621
00:30:06,320 --> 00:30:09,320
Speaker 1: hard to kind of see through and get that kind

622
00:30:09,320 --> 00:30:11,040
Speaker 1: of perspective and go all right, okay, maybe I need

623
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:15,320
Speaker 1: to pivot and to try a different approach. From a

624
00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:20,240
Speaker 1: financial point of view, how has your life changed with

625
00:30:20,440 --> 00:30:21,840
Speaker 1: going in this incredible direction.

626
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 2: It's been amazing because instead of just relying on one

627
00:30:24,400 --> 00:30:27,040
Speaker 2: person in our family to be the main breadwinner, we're

628
00:30:27,080 --> 00:30:30,080
Speaker 2: both breadwinners now, and we can save a lot more

629
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 2: and we can do a lot more than we could

630
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:33,960
Speaker 2: have done if I had stayed on that path of

631
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 2: just designing, which would have been fine as well, but

632
00:30:36,920 --> 00:30:39,440
Speaker 2: for me, it's been very empowering to be able to

633
00:30:39,440 --> 00:30:43,240
Speaker 2: contribute to my family in the same amount that my

634
00:30:43,320 --> 00:30:44,320
Speaker 2: husband does as well.

635
00:30:44,760 --> 00:30:47,040
Speaker 1: And how do you enjoy that money that you've been

636
00:30:47,080 --> 00:30:47,680
Speaker 1: making together?

637
00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,880
Speaker 2: We just all blow it on property and make terrible decisions.

638
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 2: And like, you know, I haven't left the country in

639
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:56,400
Speaker 2: fifteen years. So we're trying to plan an overseas trip.

640
00:30:56,440 --> 00:30:59,400
Speaker 2: But we've got you know, we're about to plan a

641
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,320
Speaker 2: big reanite in our construction. I feel like you're making money,

642
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:05,200
Speaker 2: but now construction costs have gone up like by ten

643
00:31:05,280 --> 00:31:08,000
Speaker 2: million percent. So whatever you make, you know you're going

644
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:10,040
Speaker 2: to blow. But we're on the same page and we

645
00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 2: make sound investments. And he works in finance as well,

646
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:16,680
Speaker 2: so I'm terrible with money and he is, like, if

647
00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:19,560
Speaker 2: it wasn't for him, we'd probably be stuffed. So he's

648
00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,520
Speaker 2: been giving me a really good advice as well, and

649
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:24,720
Speaker 2: it's yeah, we make a good team. But it has

650
00:31:24,760 --> 00:31:28,240
Speaker 2: been nice to be have the empowerment of contributing.

651
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,800
Speaker 1: Okay, what advice would you give anyone who's listening to

652
00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:33,640
Speaker 1: this right now? Going you know, I've got this little

653
00:31:33,640 --> 00:31:36,040
Speaker 1: hobby on the side, you know, sell the markets or

654
00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:39,160
Speaker 1: it's a little bit online or Facebook marketplace. I really

655
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:42,800
Speaker 1: want us to level up. And and so that person's

656
00:31:42,840 --> 00:31:45,560
Speaker 1: inspired by hearing your story, Like, what advice would you

657
00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:46,320
Speaker 1: give them right now?

658
00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:48,680
Speaker 2: I would say that you've got to remember that the

659
00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 2: world is your online oyster and people. If you're relying

660
00:31:52,920 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 2: on people to come to you at the markets or

661
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:57,800
Speaker 2: walk into your shop or find you by sitting there,

662
00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:01,640
Speaker 2: it's not going to happen. But this is an unprecedented

663
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:04,040
Speaker 2: time as growing up, you know you're at the behest

664
00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:06,800
Speaker 2: of the advertising agencies to show you what's on the

665
00:32:06,840 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 2: side of the bus or what AD's going to come

666
00:32:08,680 --> 00:32:12,400
Speaker 2: on between Seinfeld episodes like, it's not like that anyway.

667
00:32:12,440 --> 00:32:14,720
Speaker 2: We've got more control than we've ever had, but you

668
00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,680
Speaker 2: have to use it to your advantage. So and now,

669
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:20,520
Speaker 2: what the algorithm is doing at the moment AI is

670
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:25,200
Speaker 2: favoring engaging content. So you could be a small brand

671
00:32:25,400 --> 00:32:29,120
Speaker 2: with zero budget but really engaging content and you will

672
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,520
Speaker 2: get seen more than the bigger brand that's spending all

673
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:35,640
Speaker 2: their money on ads. So I would say start getting

674
00:32:36,120 --> 00:32:39,840
Speaker 2: comfortable with social media. You might want to hate it

675
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 2: because it does suck. It's the devil and it's evil,

676
00:32:42,880 --> 00:32:45,360
Speaker 2: but it's so necessary to grow a business and to

677
00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 2: be seen, and it's actually a big piece of control

678
00:32:48,920 --> 00:32:51,840
Speaker 2: for you and your business to have it seen. So

679
00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:53,840
Speaker 2: the other part of that is that people want to

680
00:32:53,880 --> 00:32:57,400
Speaker 2: see who's behind a brand. So most people are very

681
00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:02,479
Speaker 2: uncomfortable with getting in front of a camera, and I

682
00:33:02,520 --> 00:33:04,840
Speaker 2: think if you can push through that barrier, I've seen

683
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,120
Speaker 2: so many businesses succeed when they finally get themselves in

684
00:33:08,160 --> 00:33:10,080
Speaker 2: front of a camera. And it doesn't have to be perfect,

685
00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:11,880
Speaker 2: it doesn't have to be polished, you don't have to

686
00:33:11,880 --> 00:33:14,320
Speaker 2: look a certain way. People just want to connect with

687
00:33:14,400 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 2: people and connect with a story and what's behind a story. So,

688
00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:20,680
Speaker 2: as I was saying before, like you could have a

689
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:23,360
Speaker 2: very similar business to another person, and you sell a

690
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 2: similar product that looks the same and it costs the same,

691
00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:28,480
Speaker 2: but the difference between her product and your product is

692
00:33:28,560 --> 00:33:31,720
Speaker 2: you and your story. And people want to invest in

693
00:33:32,120 --> 00:33:34,560
Speaker 2: that story and people want to come along on the

694
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:36,400
Speaker 2: journey with you and be part of it. And that's

695
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:39,040
Speaker 2: how you build your audience and you build your people,

696
00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:39,400
Speaker 2: and it.

697
00:33:39,440 --> 00:33:41,440
Speaker 1: Also build a loyal audience too as.

698
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 2: Well, exactly, and you do that also by being your

699
00:33:44,040 --> 00:33:47,000
Speaker 2: authentic self and you can fluff around it and show

700
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:50,000
Speaker 2: all the perfect parts. My most successful posts have been

701
00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:53,040
Speaker 2: talking about the shitty times and the bad things that happen.

702
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:57,200
Speaker 2: People thrive on other people's shit times. It sounds terrible,

703
00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,479
Speaker 2: but it's not because they're being nasty. They's not at

704
00:34:00,480 --> 00:34:03,680
Speaker 2: all makes them feel more human because I think.

705
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: It's the vulnerability is powerful, That's what you know. I

706
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: was like, you know, I'm just going to reach out

707
00:34:09,480 --> 00:34:09,799
Speaker 1: to you.

708
00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:11,080
Speaker 2: Yeah, but from.

709
00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 1: That particular post where yeah, you just said it as

710
00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:14,520
Speaker 1: it is.

711
00:34:14,600 --> 00:34:16,719
Speaker 2: You know, the other thing about me is I don't

712
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,160
Speaker 2: the impulsivity is I don't think about what I'm doing.

713
00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:24,400
Speaker 2: So for me, when I post stuff, I'm just like

714
00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:27,360
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah blah posts and I don't stop

715
00:34:27,400 --> 00:34:29,840
Speaker 2: to think how many people it's actually going out to.

716
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:31,759
Speaker 2: I just do it, and I don't wait for it

717
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:33,560
Speaker 2: to be perfect. I just say it as it is,

718
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:34,879
Speaker 2: and I do it as it is. But I think

719
00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,520
Speaker 2: a lot of people are stopped by the fact that

720
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,920
Speaker 2: they want to make everything perfect and I can't do

721
00:34:40,080 --> 00:34:41,880
Speaker 2: I can't start this part of my business un till

722
00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,279
Speaker 2: I've nailed this, and I can't do this until I

723
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:47,280
Speaker 2: look this way. But you've just got to start somewhere

724
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,040
Speaker 2: and it will eventually grow. And to not expect I

725
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:52,920
Speaker 2: need to take this advice myself, not expect things to

726
00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:56,120
Speaker 2: just happen instantly. We're so used to things happening instantly,

727
00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 2: and it's not how it works when you're trying to

728
00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:01,399
Speaker 2: grow a business, because good things grow slowly, right, So

729
00:35:01,920 --> 00:35:03,960
Speaker 2: you've got to give at that time to get there.

730
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: And if you're passionate about this, you're in it for

731
00:35:06,520 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 1: a long time, you know, not a quick time. So

732
00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: where are you going now? As we wrap up this episode?

733
00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:17,800
Speaker 2: I need to find a balance between painting and prints.

734
00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:21,200
Speaker 2: The good thing about my prints is the beautiful thing

735
00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:23,759
Speaker 2: about it really is that it's a lot of people

736
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:25,600
Speaker 2: can't afford art and they still need art, which is

737
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:28,360
Speaker 2: the position that I was in when I started the business.

738
00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:34,279
Speaker 2: So they look incredibly realistic, like it's it's exactly the

739
00:35:34,320 --> 00:35:36,680
Speaker 2: same thing. Just one is printed with archival links at

740
00:35:36,760 --> 00:35:38,880
Speaker 2: last one hundred years and the other is hand painted.

741
00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:41,960
Speaker 2: They're both made with the same canvas, the same timbers,

742
00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:45,080
Speaker 2: same stretches, but one costs a fraction of the price

743
00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 2: of the other. The other thing is that you know,

744
00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:50,680
Speaker 2: you taste changes. So I've got paintings that I got

745
00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:53,240
Speaker 2: five years ago that I've thought with the most beautiful

746
00:35:53,239 --> 00:35:55,000
Speaker 2: things ever, and now I'm just like, I'm not sure

747
00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,560
Speaker 2: I want that on my wall. The print kind of

748
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 2: you can grow with it, or you can give it

749
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,520
Speaker 2: away without thinking. I've just invested thousands and thousands on

750
00:36:03,520 --> 00:36:07,160
Speaker 2: an original artwork that someone else might like later. So

751
00:36:08,200 --> 00:36:12,160
Speaker 2: it's kind of provided all these options, made art accessible

752
00:36:12,600 --> 00:36:15,120
Speaker 2: to people who couldn't otherwise afford it. But it's not

753
00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,400
Speaker 2: like the print that you would expect to see. It

754
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:21,480
Speaker 2: came art. It's very high quality, beautiful materials. But it's

755
00:36:21,560 --> 00:36:23,719
Speaker 2: just providing another option. So I want to be able

756
00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:27,840
Speaker 2: to do more prints, but more originals. I'm offering less

757
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 2: prints now because I grew the shop too big and

758
00:36:30,239 --> 00:36:32,480
Speaker 2: I had too many artworks in there. There were two

759
00:36:32,600 --> 00:36:34,720
Speaker 2: hundred and fifty last year. There's now about one hundred,

760
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,800
Speaker 2: and instead of offering like fifty to sixty prints per artwork,

761
00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:41,160
Speaker 2: I'm now just doing ten so I can reduce the

762
00:36:41,200 --> 00:36:43,480
Speaker 2: amount that I have to sell, which will hopefully create

763
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,879
Speaker 2: space for me to paint more.

764
00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:49,000
Speaker 1: Right, I actually tell a lie, I've got two cool

765
00:36:49,080 --> 00:36:54,320
Speaker 1: questions for you. Yeah, from one time pore exhausted mother

766
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:58,719
Speaker 1: to another, how do you fit this in with four

767
00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:03,040
Speaker 1: young children? And have you ever experienced burnout?

768
00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:06,120
Speaker 2: Burnout is my life. My whole life is just a burnout.

769
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,080
Speaker 2: It's one big burnout because it's very hard to switch

770
00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,360
Speaker 2: off a business like this when you come home. You

771
00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:15,560
Speaker 2: can't just get home and then be ever present. And

772
00:37:15,600 --> 00:37:18,640
Speaker 2: those goddamn mobile phones they're designed to distract you. And

773
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,239
Speaker 2: I'm now very conscious of the fact that my kids

774
00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,600
Speaker 2: are always looking at me and I'm on a phone

775
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:26,080
Speaker 2: and I'm trying I don't let them use many devices,

776
00:37:26,120 --> 00:37:28,080
Speaker 2: and then I'm yelling at them when they take my phone,

777
00:37:28,120 --> 00:37:29,879
Speaker 2: but they see me on the phone all the time,

778
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,160
Speaker 2: so it's a real struggle. And having to post stuff

779
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:35,239
Speaker 2: most nights of the week as well. I'm always giving

780
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:36,960
Speaker 2: them dinner and then I'm off to the bedroom to

781
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,120
Speaker 2: try and post the next thing. And it's not easy,

782
00:37:40,360 --> 00:37:44,040
Speaker 2: and I'm at least mindful of the fact of what

783
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,120
Speaker 2: I'm displaying to them and the behaviors that I'm modeling.

784
00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,880
Speaker 2: So look, things helped when they all started school, because

785
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 2: then I had five days a week to deal with

786
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:56,480
Speaker 2: it and five days of them out of Oh my god,

787
00:37:56,640 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 2: so exciting. You're nearly there. It's so exciting too, but

788
00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,719
Speaker 2: two more years, oh my god. Yeah, it's it's definitely

789
00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:07,719
Speaker 2: a struggle and a juggle. And I'm just trying really

790
00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:10,400
Speaker 2: hard to put the phone away in the hours that

791
00:38:10,600 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 2: you know, if it's out of sight, it's out of mind.

792
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:15,480
Speaker 2: But there's always something, an email or an order that

793
00:38:15,560 --> 00:38:17,759
Speaker 2: has to be processed, or something has to come through,

794
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 2: and I just need to do this, guys, I'm just

795
00:38:19,680 --> 00:38:21,759
Speaker 2: I just have to do this. But they're seeing me

796
00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:26,560
Speaker 2: on my phone working, and it's it's hard, and it's week's, weekends,

797
00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,239
Speaker 2: it's holidays. That's the thing about. It's joy for owning

798
00:38:29,280 --> 00:38:32,400
Speaker 2: your own business, but it's also you can't ever switch

799
00:38:32,440 --> 00:38:34,400
Speaker 2: it off. You're always on and you're always working.

800
00:38:34,680 --> 00:38:36,920
Speaker 1: It's something I can very much relate to. Yeah, I

801
00:38:36,960 --> 00:38:39,280
Speaker 1: sort of think, look, I'm showing my kids great work ethic,

802
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,440
Speaker 1: but also I'm terrified i us to what damage we're

803
00:38:43,480 --> 00:38:43,960
Speaker 1: doing to them.

804
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I think every parent, whether they're a

805
00:38:46,880 --> 00:38:49,239
Speaker 2: business owner or not, does the same things. And we

806
00:38:49,719 --> 00:38:51,879
Speaker 2: all yell at our kids, and we all love them

807
00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,120
Speaker 2: and they love us a back. But no one's perfect,

808
00:38:54,320 --> 00:38:57,520
Speaker 2: and we have so many distractions these days, and we

809
00:38:57,680 --> 00:39:00,640
Speaker 2: know too much about everything, and all the what I

810
00:39:00,640 --> 00:39:03,600
Speaker 2: can't deal with WhatsApp and email and messages, and you know,

811
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:06,040
Speaker 2: by the time you actually get to sit down, you

812
00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,440
Speaker 2: have to then look at all those things. So I

813
00:39:08,560 --> 00:39:10,359
Speaker 2: tend to ignore all of them, and then I get

814
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,640
Speaker 2: in trouble because I haven't responded to the netball thing

815
00:39:13,760 --> 00:39:16,760
Speaker 2: or to the whatever it is. And it's yeah, it's.

816
00:39:16,719 --> 00:39:19,040
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, it's it's like you're talking about my life.

817
00:39:19,080 --> 00:39:21,880
Speaker 2: This is so exactly. I'm sure a lot of people

818
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:22,719
Speaker 2: will relate to that.

819
00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:25,440
Speaker 1: Yes, gosh, well look and I thank you so much

820
00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 1: for coming on and sharing your story. And you're not

821
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:32,960
Speaker 1: only has this been incredible from a sort of inspirational

822
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:36,400
Speaker 1: point of view in launching a hobby and having a

823
00:39:36,400 --> 00:39:38,399
Speaker 1: go turning into something that you can monetize, but also

824
00:39:38,440 --> 00:39:41,480
Speaker 1: from you know, as a mother listening to what you've

825
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:46,560
Speaker 1: just said makes me feel very safe and normal. But also,

826
00:39:46,920 --> 00:39:52,000
Speaker 1: you know, from a like a commercial business minded point

827
00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,399
Speaker 1: of view, what you've shared has just been and even

828
00:39:54,440 --> 00:39:57,840
Speaker 1: from a social media advice like he's been invaluable. What

829
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,600
Speaker 1: you've shared and your experience and your is Durman, just

830
00:40:00,640 --> 00:40:04,759
Speaker 1: your complete and absolute honesty with your journey, so I

831
00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 1: can't thank you.

832
00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,600
Speaker 2: And it's not always fun. It's not always Lardi Daardy

833
00:40:09,640 --> 00:40:12,160
Speaker 2: painting in the studio, happy days, and hasn't been that

834
00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:15,040
Speaker 2: for a long time. But I'm building something slowly and

835
00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:16,919
Speaker 2: I've just got to keep reminding myself and I hope

836
00:40:16,920 --> 00:40:19,759
Speaker 2: that I can inspire people to be patient and play

837
00:40:19,760 --> 00:40:22,399
Speaker 2: the long game. And yeah, and maybe I can take

838
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:25,520
Speaker 2: some of my own advice as well. So your advice

839
00:40:25,600 --> 00:40:27,640
Speaker 2: is beautiful, So well, thank you, Thank you so much

840
00:40:27,680 --> 00:40:28,160
Speaker 2: for having me.

841
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:30,080
Speaker 1: Now for all the listeners, obviously I will go and

842
00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:33,840
Speaker 1: link and as beautiful pieces in the podcast notes, but

843
00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:36,759
Speaker 1: for everyone who's listening right now, and the story is

844
00:40:36,840 --> 00:40:39,880
Speaker 1: proof that turning a hobby into a successful business isn't

845
00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:43,560
Speaker 1: just a dream. It is possible with but you've just

846
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:47,080
Speaker 1: got to get started. And A's journey reminds us that

847
00:40:47,239 --> 00:40:51,880
Speaker 1: the most valuable currency you have is your creativity, your mindset,

848
00:40:52,440 --> 00:40:57,400
Speaker 1: your persistence and consistency. So if you can take anything

849
00:40:57,440 --> 00:40:59,839
Speaker 1: away from this conversation, let it be this, you don't

850
00:40:59,880 --> 00:41:03,640
Speaker 1: have to wait until you feel ready. That like Anna's

851
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:08,080
Speaker 1: spontaneous nature, she just jumps on things. So that's I

852
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 1: think A blessing rather than a curse, and you don't

853
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:14,279
Speaker 1: have to have everything perfectly planned. You know, Anna got

854
00:41:14,280 --> 00:41:17,759
Speaker 1: started with some student paint and a cavas, and you

855
00:41:17,800 --> 00:41:19,440
Speaker 1: know she was just having a bit of fun, being

856
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:23,560
Speaker 1: very open minded along the way. So start small, start messy,

857
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:27,960
Speaker 1: and start with whatever you have right now in front

858
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,760
Speaker 1: of you. Because sometimes it is actually the greatest opportunities

859
00:41:32,280 --> 00:41:35,640
Speaker 1: that appear when you least expect it. So take your

860
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 1: passion and your courage and get started. Before you know it,

861
00:41:38,760 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 1: you're probably going to be creating something yourself like Anna

862
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:45,560
Speaker 1: has out of thin Air. Now, thank you for joining

863
00:41:45,600 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 1: me this morning, and of course thank you again for

864
00:41:47,520 --> 00:41:50,880
Speaker 1: Anna for sharing her story and being so open and vulnerable.

865
00:41:51,280 --> 00:41:53,960
Speaker 1: If you love this episode, can you please share it

866
00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,160
Speaker 1: with a friend or anyone else that needs a bit

867
00:41:56,200 --> 00:42:00,120
Speaker 1: of a nudge right now in starting their own business

868
00:42:00,239 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 1: or monetizing their own dream and in the meantime, keep

869
00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:09,280
Speaker 1: dreaming big and taking those small steps forward, onwards and upwards.

870
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:14,319
Speaker 1: This is Sugar Mamma's fireplay Out of Thin Air miniseries