THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman:
Well, hey there. This is Miriam Schulman, chief inspiration officer and host of The Inspiration Place podcast, where I help passionistas, passion makers and passion professionals reconnect with their creativity and profit from their passion. You’re listening to episode number 121. I’m so glad that you’re here.
As we wrap up this year, I have so much to be grateful for, especially to you, my listeners. I want to give shout-outs to some of my newest. I now have listeners in Sweden, France, Macedonia and Portugal. Thank you so much for listening.
This is part two of our best of roundup from 2020. I’ve gathered up the highlights from all of our favorite moments of the interviews of this year. It was definitely hard to narrow it down. You’ll find most of the episodes from the year included here. Now, if you missed a show or perhaps you’re inspired to go listen to one again, go hop on over to the show notes, which you can find over at schulmanart.com/121. We’ve listed out all the links to the complete episodes in the order that they’re featured in the show.
Now, if you’re new around here and you don’t want to miss future ones, make sure you hit the subscribe or follow button in your podcast app. If you’ve been around for a while and you’re feeling the holiday spirit, do you know what I would love? I would love a review, and I’ve made it so much easier for you to gift me with one. Just pop on over to schulmanart.com/review-podcast. By the way, if you pop your Instagram handle at the end of the review, I’ll even give you a shout-out over on my IG Stories.
Speaker 1:
Choose a Word for the Year with Kimra Luna.
Miriam Schulman:
When I first started coaching other artists, I thought, Oh, I’m just going to be all about strategy. I’m not a life coach. I’m a strategist. And it doesn’t really work that way because the emotions get in the way. Don’t you think? You really have to talk about mindset with them.
Kimra Luna:
Yes, you have to work on mindset, and even just stuff that’s going on in their personal life. Personal life affects a business, especially if you are an artist or a creative, musician. I mean even myself, I’m just a content creator for [inaudible 00:03:23] and training materials and stuff. If you’re someone who is creating, you have to have a good flow. Your business flow is one thing, but the personal life affects the business flow.
Having these words and spending time journaling and using a word to remind yourself of where you want to be at the end of the year… I know that word conviction is I want it to feel like when someone sees one of my posts that they’re like, “Kimra has conviction behind this.”
Miriam Schulman:
That’s great.
Kimra Luna:
Right?
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah.
Kimra Luna:
And the same thing goes with art. What do you want people to feel when they see this?
Miriam Schulman:
My word, actually, for this year is evolve. It’s interesting because of what you’re talking about, that you’re evolving actually a lot as a person. I decided that was my word this year, that I really am feeling right now that my whole purpose in life that really… Everyone’s purpose in life is to evolve to that next best version of ourselves, whatever form that’s going to take.
Kimra Luna:
I do a lot of asking myself questions. I have a huge document on my computer that is just journal prompts.
Miriam Schulman:
Love that.
Kimra Luna:
To dive into myself because this is just a journey. I was working on a forgiveness thing inside of a different program that I’m in and I was just like, “You know what? I have forgiven this person, but I don’t think I have so much this person.” And then I would ask myself, “Why am I holding on to that thing?”
I literally just coach myself. I’m one of those people where it’s like I like having a coach, but I find I actually get more out of coaching myself in a journal than working with a coach, for the most part. It’s really one of those things where it’s like getting good at asking yourself questions, it’s a skillset that takes time to get good at.
But when I first started my personal development journey, I really couldn’t afford therapy. I couldn’t afford coaches and things. I was broke and on welfare back then, so utilizing the journal was the way that kept me on track. It facilitated healing for me. It helped me be able to figure out what I even wanted in life because sometimes, I’m not even clear on that. I’m like, “Wait, what do I really want?”
Speaker 1:
Tapping for Creative Confidence with Gene Monterastelli.
Gene Monterastelli:
There’s four reasons why we don’t take action: We don’t know what we want, we don’t know how to do it, it is painful to take action and it’s painful of be successful. Now, with all four of those, there’s a practical component and there is an emotional component. Practical component, some people don’t know how to write a goal. Some people don’t know how to state a preference. They’re not doing something because practically, they don’t know how to do it.
Emotionally, I could’ve had a goal in the past that I really invested in and it blew up in my face. So in a subconscious, emotional way, I am preventing myself from creating a goal because I don’t want to deal with the heartache of failure again.
Miriam Schulman:
I deal with this so much, but on a different… I just have more specifics. With the artist who I coach to sell art, like you said, either they’re lacking the practical information on how to sell the thing, but more times than that, I tell them exactly what to do and they’re still not doing it because those emotions are getting in the way.
Gene Monterastelli:
Yeah, 100%. It’s-
Miriam Schulman:
Which is why I invited you here. That’s why we spend so much time on this podcast talking about managing your mind because it doesn’t really help them just to give them that practical information if they can’t act on it.
Gene Monterastelli:
Right. In those four things that I gave, the third one, it’s painful to take action, the fourth one, it’s painful to be successful, I have a group of people who appreciate the work I’m creating, but the instant it gets really, really big, there are more eyes prying which means there’s more judgment, which means there’s going to be more struggle that comes along with that.
Miriam Schulman:
Because you make yourself more vulnerable when you’re seen.
Gene Monterastelli:
Yep. So there’s this fear of success equals visibility. And, lots of people who have had, that has nothing to do with their creative process and the work that they’re doing now, but there were times in their past where they were visible and it was dangerous. Therefore, we equate all visibility with danger.
One of the reasons why the things that happen to us in our childhood are so traumatic is because we have so little agency. We are in a circumstance where the adults around us are dictating what we want so even if we have preferences, we don’t have agency and we don’t have control. Therefore, we learn the ways that the world can harm us because of the things that we can’t control and do anything about. We run into trouble when our seven-year-old self is running our business.
Speaker 1:
Recipe For Press with Amy Flurry.
Miriam Schulman:
What I find very frustrating was when somebody wants to be on the podcast and I don’t know how they would fit on the podcast. They want me to do that work.
Amy Flurry:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
Right? Make it easy for me to have you on by telling me what we can talk about.
Amy Flurry:
Exactly.
Miriam Schulman:
Because I’m looking for content. I’m looking for ideas. I have 52 slots a year to fill because I really am committed every week.
Amy Flurry:
So if I approached you and I said, “You’re fabulous. I love your art and I want to feature it on this page that every month, I feature art and an artist,” okay, well that’s easy and that feels really good. But when I would move on, people would come back and say, “Made me feel so good and easy and it was great for my business. But now, I don’t know how to find another Amy or pitch another Amy.” Oftentimes what they need is a third party. That editor did not want to hear directly from them, that it wasn’t cool for them to pitch, for starters, and that they would be bugging them. One of the main points is that editors and writers are looking for new content all the time.
Like you said, you’ve got 52 episodes. You’ve got to find good guests, solid guests, but you want to make it good. Same with these magazines, same with online publications even more so. There are probably more places to be published at this point. It’s so much in the homework, not in the actual pitching. But sometimes, people just get all, “I pitched and now I’m just going to wait,” but it’s really the work is more in the homework to get it so close to where it’s easy for that person to say yes.
Speaker 1:
Make Your Art Business Legal with Autumn Boyd.
Miriam Schulman:
The question I get asked a lot is, do I need an LLC? Is that the one you hear the most, too? What’s the one you hear?
Autumn Boyd:
I hear that one. I hear do I need to trademark my brand or my name? I hear what do I do about copycats, [inaudible 00:09:44].
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yes, yes and yes.
Autumn Boyd:
All of those.
Miriam Schulman:
Yes.
Autumn Boyd:
Typically, if I’m working with a new client… Let’s say you call me up and you’re like, “I don’t know what I need.” I don’t usually start with an LLC or sole proprietorship or all those questions. I don’t think it’s the number one thing.
Miriam Schulman:
And by the way, my answer to that, just so people know, it was years before I set up my LLC. I was sole proprietor from the beginning. I didn’t think it was a huge deal. I didn’t get why I needed an LLC.
And then the story I shared with you that you know about, the reason I finally did set up an LLC is because my Instagram account got hacked. I’m trying to remember when this was. It was a good five years ago. But I realized I didn’t have a piece of paper that identified Schulman Art legally as my business. My tax document said Miriam Schulman on it. They didn’t say Schulman Art, so I really didn’t have anything to go to Facebook or Instagram and say, “Yes, I own Schulman Art.”
Speaker 1:
Where Attention Goes, Success Flows with Justin Anthony.
Justin Anthony:
You are a small business. If you are an artist, you are a small business owner. You are an entrepreneur. The number of hats you have to wear is something so few people can understand.
In addition to having to birth these creative things on the world and put yourself out there creatively, you also have to be a marketer, an accountant. It’s so easy to get daunted by all these business basics and it’s so easy to get overwhelmed with that. But the reality that we see is those artists that embrace the fact that there is a business aspect it are the ones that are making a living doing what they love.
Miriam Schulman:
Even if you do find a gallery, unless you’re being represented by Gagosian Gallery in New York, you’re probably going to have to be in five galleries to make a living as an artist, and then you’re going to have to make sure you know where all this artwork is.
Justin Anthony:
But even then, they’re not doing your taxes for you. Before artists decide to go full-time, you’ve practiced your craft in your spare time to experiment, express yourself and grow, and you should always approach art. But when you decide to turn your art into a career, you’re going to begin to see your artwork as an asset and a business.
There’s this big difference between art practice and art business. It’s the way to bring in money and support yourself and your future dreams. Artists often don’t want to talk about money, but it’s essential to be able to keep doing what you love and it’s a critical component of your art practice.
Speaker 1:
Front Row Philosophy with Jen Lehner.
Jen Lehner:
I literally have lived my life in the front row. I always go straight to the front, and usually front and center. The reason is because you just see everything better, you hear better, your questions get answered faster, so then that translates really nicely into the metaphorical part of it which is just when you go to the front, you’re all in. You can’t make an exit for the door real quick. Metaphorically, when you step up to the front row in life and in business, you’re just saying, “Here I am. I’m not afraid for the people behind me to see me. I’m not afraid for the people in front of me to see me raise my hand. I’m just going to get everything I can out of this.”
When you sit in the front row at a conference, the people on either side of you are going to be the most interesting in that room because they are also go-getters. They’re also have that attitude of, “I want to just soak it all up. I want to soak it all in. I’m here. I’m present.” They’re the best people. I’m telling you, I’ve had the most incredible collaborations in business and in friendships that have formed right up there in the front row. Now, it’s really like I will kill myself to get to the front row.
Speaker 1:
Confidence Philosophy with Karen Donaldson.
Karen Donaldson:
Here’s the thing. When people think about confidence, Miriam, the first thing they say is, “I want to know how to feel more confident. What do I need to do to feel more confident?” What I tell people is, “You’re going about it the wrong way. If you continue to try to feel confident, you will never ever succeed.”
Miriam Schulman:
That is not what I hear. What I hear from people, they will feel confident when they have successful events. For my artists, that’s like they will feel confident after they sold art. I’m always trying to tell them it’s the other way around. Is that still in line with your philosophy?
Karen Donaldson:
Nope, not at all. Perfect conversation. [crosstalk 00:14:14].
Miriam Schulman:
Awesome. Yes, let’s talk about this.
Karen Donaldson:
That’s what it’s about. Let’s talk about it here.
Miriam Schulman:
Awesome.
Karen Donaldson:
Here’s the reality, whether people believe it or not. Confidence is not an emotion. Happiness, sadness, excitement is an emotion. Confidence is not an emotion, and that’s the misconception people have.
Here’s what confidence actually is. It’s a behavior and an attitude which we’re always in control of. Confidence is actually a choice. When I work with my clients and collectors around shifting their belief, that’s when their life starts to shift.
Speaker 1:
Overdeliver with Brian Kurtz.
Brian Kurtz:
No matter how big your list is, no matter how small your list is, you can gain so much by learning a lot of this stuff, whether from me or someone else. But you have so much to offer in the world. If you’re not marketing yourselves and not using some of these techniques, you’re missing out on not only people buying your stuff, but sharing your vision with the world. That’s [inaudible 00:15:13].
Miriam Schulman:
100%. Because when I interview people from an incubator, there’s two things that I hear. One, they want to make a living. If you want to make a living, you got to market. The other thing I hear is their goal is they want to be famous or recognized. They want recognition. Well, you can’t do that without marketing, either.
Brian Kurtz:
Right.
Miriam Schulman:
Whatever your goal is, you need to know how to market.
Speaker 1:
How To Build An Abundance Mindset with Tara Newman.
Tara Newman:
You need to be able to identify what it is you want to receive like, “Well, I want more,” or “I want abundance,” or “I want wealth,” or “I want more money.” What does your more look like? You have to be able to define it clearly.
In terms of receiving it, I like to also just write that out. I am open to receiving more income. I am open to receiving unexpected income. I’m open to receiving more time on my calendar because abundance isn’t just about money. Sometimes, the way we feel the most abundant and the way we feel the most rich has nothing to do with money.
Miriam Schulman:
Yeah, and I just want to make this very specific for my creative and artist because sometimes, they don’t always make that leap themselves but I am open to receiving money for my art. I’m open to making more art sales. I have abundant time to create.
Because a lot of times, I see this more with my art students than the clients I coach to sell their art, they feel they don’t have time to create because they’re always putting everybody else’s needs in front. They’re so used to that behavior so that even when they have free time, they’re still looking for what they can do for somebody else, instead of looking at what they can do for themselves.
Speaker 1:
Money Mindset Blocks with Kelly Hollingsworth.
Hollingsworth:
If I found one, I can find another one because opportunities are like cockroaches. Where there’s one, there’s two. Where there’s two, there’s four.
I think this is such a powerful concept for your audience because as artists, we tend to think, Well, one person liked my novel. One person liked my painting. But if there’s one, there’s two. If there’s two, there’s four. You just have to know and trust and believe that there is more there. If one person loved it and if it resonated with one person, it will be true with lots and lots of people.
In my work with women who want to make more money, one of the things we do is we look at the copy they write, whether it’s an email to an investor, something to post on Facebook, an ad, a podcast episode, whatever it is, always looking for the underearning thoughts that generated those words. I can feel them in the words when I read the words. I think that the words have a residue on them when they’re written from an underearning place.
I think it applies not to just the communication part of it, but actually in the creation part. There’s an energy about yourself when you’re creating that informs what you create. There’s bravery. There’s courage. You’re doing things that other people won’t do. If you’re not feeling that way about yourself when you’re creating, you’re holding back.
I think with art, especially whatever it is you’re hiding from because you’re feeling unconfident, that will impair your art. It will impair the way you describe your art to others.
Speaker 1:
People Pleasing, Perfectionism & Procrastination with Shaun Roney.
Shaun Roney:
It’s worth mentioning, especially since you have an artist community and artists that listen, inspiration is probably a feeling that is really productive and serves you really well. Because anytime you’re feeling inspired, your actions are going to be create more work, share my work. That might be just worth tucking away. Inspired might be a feeling that’s really helpful for this community. When you feel inspired, you do all these things, and then the result you’re creating is you’ve sold more art during the pandemic.
Miriam Schulman:
I like to think of feelings as being in my closet, that I can deliberately choose a feeling. If I want to feel confident, I can deliberately choose that for myself.
Shaun Roney:
You can do that. You can practice feeling on purpose. If there’s a feeling that feels less familiar but you think it might be helpful, you can actually remember back to a time when you experienced that feeling and just really remember what it felt like in your body, where you felt it, how it felt, and practice feeling that feeling on purpose. It’s like strengthening a muscle. You can practice it on purpose.
It goes with what you just said. You can choose any feeling that feels like it would be helpful and then practice the skill of calling it in, thinking a thought when you need it.
Miriam Schulman:
First of all, can you just define what people pleasing is?
Shaun Roney:
Yeah. It’s basically showing up in a way that you think you can heavily influence what someone else thinks about you. It’s doing things oftentimes that you don’t want to do for the sheer purpose of either being afraid of what someone might think of you or if you don’t do something, fearing what someone might think of you. You’re really basically taking action and living life from a place of worrying about others’ thoughts.
What I like to teach is honestly, other people’s opinions of you really are none of your business. It’s a nice space, but everyone’s allowed to have their own thoughts. Spending the energy really trying to anticipate what someone else might think is impossible, first of all, because people bring their thoughts, their own perspective, their life experience so a lot of the time, you’re just going to be wrong.
The other thing with that is, are you actually being authentically you? Let’s say you show up a certain way, the way you think someone wants you to, and they like it. It doesn’t feel great anyways if it’s not what you would do normally, who you would normally be. The person that they’re liking isn’t really you when you’re people pleasing.
Miriam Schulman:
It can lead to feeling resentful.
Speaker 1:
Your Heroic Character with Ron Reich.
Ron Reich:
The other important things to map out, there are your quirks. We mentioned that a little bit. Those are the things again that make you more of a multidimensional person. What are one or two things about you that have nothing to do with your expertise or you being an artist, but just are interesting that people are going to relate to?
So quick shortcuts, hacks for this are anything you’re obsessed with, for example. There’s a food you’re obsessed with, for example, or there’s a TV show you’re obsessed. You mentioned The Real Housewives. That’s something, for example. Pets are really, really good. I have my dog, Trevor. Hobbies are really good if you have a certain hobby that you’re known for. Basically, think about those kind of things. What I would encourage you to do is have one or two, then, as your main quirks that you want people to know about you, for example.
Miriam Schulman:
So recurring themes.
Ron Reich:
Exactly. In my case, I’m known for my dog. I have a lot of pictures of me and my dog. I’m also really into a hobby. I do [inaudible 00:22:19] fitness. I do a lot of half marathons, into that kind of stuff.
On the opposite, which is also interesting, I’m also really into Nutella. I’m obsessed with Nutella. I’m addicted to Nutella. Those are my three main things that I’ll-
Miriam Schulman:
But it’s a good thing you’re addicted to fitness, too.
Ron Reich:
Exactly. We got a little bit of a juxtaposition there, which is… All those things are good. That’s more interesting. It’s more interesting that I’m a fitness dude who’s into Nutella.
Speaker 1:
Balancing Creative Practice with Running A Business with Jennifer Rosenfeld.
Jennifer Rosenfeld:
A lot of the most satisfying creative work that many of us would love to do does not make money, or it doesn’t make money right now, or it doesn’t make enough money. For so many musicians who are requiring all of their money to come from a very limited list of activities, they get themselves in a situation where they don’t have the time or energy or brain space to work on those really important creative projects that are not money-making right now. They’re realizing that their financial situation, even if it’s stable and okay, it’s actually not enough to support the life they want and the family that they have, and/or they’re realizing that they’re working way too much. They’re just drained. It could actually become a health hazard if they don’t start working less.
And yet they feel like “I can’t work less because how much I work now is tied to my income. I can’t lower my income.” So it’s this challenging cycle where there isn’t enough time and there isn’t enough money to reset everything. The first step that I’m working on with a client is, how do we restructure your life so that you can be making more money using your expertise, using skills that you feel like you have to offer as a gift to the world, but doing it in a way that’s way more profitable than anything you’ve done before so that you can start to win back your time and start turning down the gigs that you wouldn’t take anymore?
Speaker 1:
The World Needs Your Art with Elise Darma.
Elise Darma:
I truly believe you can make money from Instagram with less than a thousand followers. I always tell my students, “Don’t get caught up in trying to be Instafamous. There are many people with hundreds of thousands of followers making zero dollars.” Majority of my case studies and my best students monetize five figures-ish, around that area, with under a thousand followers. You can have that success, even as an artist. You mentioned the comparison trap. Especially on Instagram, that is dangerous. I would really recommend for you to not allow yourself to go down that black hole.
Truth be told, I barely look at my news feed. I just go in, I post, I post to my Stories, I check my DMs. That’s pretty much it. I recommend for you to get focused with the time that you’re spending on Instagram, especially if you’re getting sucked into the comparison trap.
Speaker 1:
Your Story Sells Your Art with Laura Belgray.
Miriam Schulman:
Here’s what I hear from people, and I have my ideas. I’m talking about my client who I coach who want to sell their art. They say they hate writing emails because they feel like they’re talking to their computers. What advice do you have specifically for those artists?
Laura Belgray:
I think that you want to picture a person who is your ideal collector. It’s probably a friend, especially if you’ve claimed that only your friends collect your art, and a friend who maybe is such a fan of yours, such a fan of the art that they always want first dibs anything that you put out there and are furious if you’ve sold it to somebody else without telling them about it. Think of that person that you love so much, that you feel comfortable around, who just loves everything that you do.
If you need to, you can open an email from your regular email client on your desktop wherever you compose an email. I use Mac Mail. I open up a Mac email if I’m having trouble picturing that one person and I start an email to them, but truly to them. What would I write to this person? In what language? I don’t start to make it newslettery. I don’t have a big intro. If it were you, Miriam, I would just say, “What’s shaking?” If I’m writing about art, “Just finished this piece I know you’re going to want to see because you were so mad at me last time when I didn’t tell you about it. It is, if I do say so, pretty spectacular. Do you want to come see it?” I just put it in the words that I would use with a person that I like and know.
And then maybe you dress it up. Then maybe you put more into it. But when you start it off in the right tone with the right person in your mind’s eye, it’s going to be a lot easier.
Speaker 1:
Don’t Stay Quiet with Amy Porterfield.
Amy Porterfield:
I love Facebook and Instagram and all of the social media channels. But when you put your business on social media channels, you are literally putting your business out there on rented land. We do not own Instagram. We do not own Facebook. The algorithms could change overnight, which means tomorrow morning when you wake up, your message might not get to nearly as many people or half the people or so much less than you would’ve thought. If the algorithm changed, you’re getting to so many fewer people. You can’t control that. Believe me, it has happened many times. We literally went to bed one night, woke up the next morning and Facebook tells us that all organic traffic is going to slow down considerably and you’ve got to pay to be seen. We’ve only seen it happen more and more.
Use social, but also have an email list. You own that email list. That is yours. It will become your most important asset in your business. When you treat them as friends, family and people you genuinely care about, that know, like and trust factor will increase. They’ll feel the same about you. When you make an offer, I can promise you, your email list will become so much more profitable than any offer you make on social media.I want you to use both, but just know you can rely on that email list so much more than you will ever be able to do so on social.
Speaker 1:
Color Code with Tarzan Kay.
Tarzan Kay:
That doesn’t work. When people join your email list, they are actively saying, “Yes, I would like to hear from you.” So when you collect these email addresses and then they don’t hear from you, it sends the message that you are not consistent and you are not a serious business person.
You got to reframe that. Rather than, “What going to happen if I email my list? Oh my God,” what’s going to happen if you don’t? That’s actually a lot worse.
They do want to hear from you. There are plenty of studies to show that people do want to get emails from their favorite brands at least once a week. There’s plenty of stats behind it.
Let’s examine your own feelings about email marketing. Do you hate the emails in your inbox? Probably you don’t hate all of them. Some of them you probably don’t like, so take note of why you don’t like those and you’re not going to send emails with the big flashing button on the top that says, “10% off.” The other ones that you really do like that you enjoy from week to week and get excited about when they land in your inbox, what’s going on there? Maybe you could be that person. Maybe you could be that bright spot in someone else’s inbox that they’re like, “Oh. Oh my gosh, a new email from Miriam. I wonder what this is.”
Speaker 1:
No Flowery Words Required with Danielle Weil.
Miriam Schulman:
Let’s start off with that limiting self-belief, Danielle, about writing flowery language. Do you know what they’re talking about when they say that?
Danielle Weil:
I have to make something that is super compelling and super hypey and sounds like the best thing in the world and go on and on. It has to be perfect. It has to sound amazing. I think that’s what you’re talking about, right?
Miriam Schulman:
You know what? I never ask them what they mean by that, but I’ve heard it several times, that exact phrase. I think they meant sugary when they talk about the art that has all these extra adjectives and words, maybe.
Danielle Weil:
Well, because extra adjectives and, say, all the superlatives, this is the best, that’s actually the opposite of what you want to do and copy. My approach to writing is clean, elegant, straightforward. My background is in creative writing, so every word that you’re writing should be there for a reason. You don’t have to put in lots of extra words that don’t need to be there. The other cool thing about writing to sell, whether it’s more of your art or courses, is that simple language works.
Miriam Schulman:
But there’s got to be some happy medium between the belief that I have to write flowery language and then the belief that I just have to put the name of the course and a price.
Danielle Weil:
Absolutely.
Miriam Schulman:
There’s somewhere in between.
Danielle Weil:
There is somewhere in between.
Speaker 1:
Why Selling Art Is All About Your Energy with Suzy Ashworth.
Suzy Ashworth:
Seeing yourself as the successful artist and the person that you want to be and writing that down, really just imagining yourself in your most expansive self, standing and presenting at your art show or being invited to exhibits somewhere. Think about your most expansive self and think about how that feels. Get into the feeling of what it would be like. The biggest thing when it comes to charging what you want to charge [inaudible 00:32:10] whatever it is you’re selling is, first of all, giving yourself permission to want what you want when you want it and then receive what you want to receive when you want to receive it. That permission piece is so important.
I think that one of the biggest things that holds women back in business in general is we revert back into the child archetype a lot. It’s funny because we spend a lot of time mothering and being maternal in whatever way, shape or form. But when it comes to our business, it’s like, “Am I allowed to do this? Is it okay if I can do that?” which is very much being in the child archetype.
I want you to really, really step into it’s safe for me to charge what I want. I don’t have to ask anybody else’s permission. I get to give myself permission because I’m the grown-up. This is my business and I’m the boss.
Speaker 1:
The Four Tendencies with Gretchen Rubin.
Miriam Schulman:
Which tendency is the happiest?
Gretchen Rubin:
That’s a really important question. What I found is that it isn’t that one tendency is the happiest or the most productive or the most creative or the most successful. What you see is that the people who are the happiest and the most productive, et cetera, are the people who have really figured out themselves. They understand their strengths, and the also understand their weaknesses and their limitations. They’ve constructed an environment and circumstances that allow them to do their best work.
Obligers who have figured out how to give themselves the outer accountability to follow through on their aims for themselves do great. Rebels who have figured out, “Well, you know what? I don’t do well with somebody looking over my shoulder. I don’t do well with deadlines. I don’t like to be supervised. I like to have a lot of freedom of choices and spontaneity. Let me get myself to a place where that works for me,” well, then they do very well.
Questioners who are in an environment where their questioning is really valued and rewarded do extremely well. If a questioner gets to a place where it’s like, “Hey, we’re all here as a team. We have a visionary leader and we are here to execute on that vision,” it’s like, “Well, but I don’t understand why this is being done. Just because we did it this way last year, it doesn’t mean we should do it this way this year. I don’t understand why corporate is telling us to use this software because it just seems dumb.” That might not be a good place for the questioner. It’s really about figuring out a fit.
Speaker 1:
Healing Trauma Through Visual Journaling with Amber Walker.
Amber Walker:
People will say, “I don’t know if that’s really a trauma or not.” Really, the only definition that I use in my practice is, does it divide a time before and after? Can you go back and say, “I was this person before and I was this person after”? Was it a real defining event for you that changed you? And so a car accident for some people come into the practice to work on for trauma. Abuse, combat. It is a very loose definition. It’s something that’s impacted you and now is impacting your life in a negative way.
Speaker 1:
How To Be An Anti-racist Artist with Erica Courdae.
Miriam Schulman:
I saw this post the other day, an artist who I admire very much, Alisa Burke. She was talking about something that I’ve experienced myself as well as an artist who posts pretty pictures. We get a lot of pushback from our followers when we post anything that they deem as political, which we may not even see as political. I wanted to make sure we brought this up early on because the question is, why are we even talking about this on an art podcast? It matters a lot why we’re talking about this. Oh, I wish they could see your face.
Erica Courdae:
That’s my whole thing. You see me in person, I’m like, “I can’t fix my face and I have no intentions on doing so.” The minute something is perfectly curated, I call bullshit because I don’t think that that’s accurate. First of all, I think that curation, it’s you trying to placate this image that everybody told you you had to have. I already don’t care for that particular part, but I don’t like the fact that you are now saying, “If you don’t show up in this specific way in this specific tone with this specific set of images, that you are invalidated,” which to me, also speaks about your invalidation as a human. I’m like, “No, that’s BS. Let’s not do that.” But this is also someone else passing judgment on something. I feel like art is a very layered and personal thing.
Speaker 1:
You Can Be Progressive And Spiritual with Whitney Mcneill.
Miriam Schulman:
I’m going to be open about who I am. If I feel I need to quiet that voice to make them feel comfortable, that’s the problem for me. I had given some shade after the vice presidential debate. I had posted a watercolor painting of a housefly. Did I tell you this story, Whitney?
Whitney Mcneill:
No.
Miriam Schulman:
Oh my God, that caused a shitstorm over on my Facebook page. I’ve never had a post organically go viral. This one kind of did. It was like hundreds of shares, hundreds of comments, people announcing how they’re unfollowing me, unsubscribing, they’re never doing business with me again, how dare I express myself. That’s where I have the problem. Artists should express themselves, all parts of themselves, not just the parts that make you feel comfortable. That’s where I say, “If I make you feel uncomfortable, you can leave.”
Whitney Mcneill:
Hundred percent, yeah. Vice versa, right? And then if you’re feeling uncomfortable, then you can leave.
Miriam Schulman:
Then we have to leave.
Speaker 1:
You’re Going To Be Okay with Susie Moore.
Miriam Schulman:
That’s why when I interview people for my artist incubator program… In addition to teaching art techniques, you heard about my little commercial at the beginning about teaching people how to paint, I also coach artists how to sell their art. One of the questions I have on there that’s very telling, on a scale of one to 10, how committed you are. Really, you need to be a 10.
I will talk to somebody if they’re not a 10 because it’s arbitrary, sometimes, what they think a nine or a 10 is. But you’re filling out an application. If you’re a seven, it’s probably not going to work out for you because you really have to be committed.
Susie Moore:
Oh, Miriam, I teach the same thing. In fact, if someone comes to me and they are full of enthusiasm and I just know that even if they’re rejected, they’ll just get up, I’m like, “You are a success story already. It’s just a matter of time before that’s revealed.”
But if someone’s really brilliantly talented but unsure, doubting, doesn’t know, doesn’t feel safe, then I’m like, “I probably can’t help you. I can only help you if you’re willing to help you.”
Miriam Schulman:
Right.
Susie Moore:
And then we can really go places. We can go far. But if you’re like, “I don’t know,” then that questioning, it’s exhausting. You’re in this constant place of fatigue and second guessing. It doesn’t work out so well.
If you observe it in anybody else… It’s hard to see in ourself sometimes, but it’s very easy to observe in other people just that resilience and commitment. I swear, it’s truly the only thing.
I work with so many people. They’re on the cusp of something, but something goes wrong. They get derailed by a mean comment or some negative family feedback. They see somebody else and they think, I can never catch up and so they just park their car. It’s like, “Tried that.”
Miriam Schulman:
Right.
Susie Moore:
What do you mean you’re parking your car? We’re about to take off. I didn’t really appreciate patience until the last couple of years, what really does compound over time, that nothing can really replace it. There is so much that goes into what makes a person successful. It does take time. It does require patience. And that’s okay.
We think, Well this is it. So long as you’re alive and you have desires and you’re capable of doing things, if there’s breath, there’s more.
Speaker 1:
Visibility and Vulnerability with India Jackson.
India Jackson:
When we think of branding, we think of it as your public image, your reputation. It’s what someone is going to say about you when you’re not around to influence what’s being said or sometimes alter what they’re going to say because they know you’re right there. It’s what they would say to someone else if they had to describe who you are as an artist or who you are as a person. Sometimes it can be both.
Being clear about that then determines that oh, well if we look at brand in this way, then everything else that we’re doing shapes that. The colors, the logo, the type of art that you create, how you dress, what your photographs look like, what your captions are about, what subjects do you cover when you are connecting with your people, these are all shaping what would be said about you, but they’re not necessarily the brand on [inaudible 00:40:45] own.
Speaker 1:
The Power Of Daily Practice with Eric Maisel.
Miriam Schulman:
It was very heavy for me to think about, I have to go work on my art. When I started changing my language both in my thoughts and what I was saying to my family, I would just say to them, “Hey, I’m going upstairs to splash around some paint.” They would laugh. That’s not exactly what I’m doing up there, but bringing that mental attitude to my studio has really helped me. You wrote so beautifully about the idea of playfulness, so I’d like if you could share a little more on that.
Eric Maisel:
Playfulness quite pointedly follows solemnity in that list of practices because it’s… There’s a dance here. Many of these ideas are duets, devotion and discipline, one thing and another. Here, I think you don’t want to be, as an artist, only playful because then you’re not being serious enough, in some sense. But you also can’t just be serious because then you’re really not allowing enough of your imagination in, enough freedom in.
Most artists thinks they need more discipline, or that they’re not disciplined enough. In fact, it’s more devotion that they need. They need to find the source of passion and love and enthusiasm and interest and curiosity. They’re all synonyms for a place we come from when we do the work, and I think it’s a loving place. Pavarotti had a quote I’ve always liked which is, “People say I’m disciplined, and it’s not discipline. It’s devotion, and there’s a big difference.”
I think artists are extra disappointed right now. That’s my experience of what’s doing on. They’re disappointed in the world, of course, but they’re disappointed in themselves because they have, so to speak, more free time. They’re getting less work done and that’s disappointing. I think they’re not crediting the difficulty of the situation enough. It’s hard to get three billion neurons in a row, all gathered together for the sake of writing your novel when so many hundreds of millions of those neurons are thinking about other things.
This is really a special time to do personal cognitive work to try to think thoughts that serve you, to try to shut out as much of what you don’t need to be knowing as possible. It’s really not valuable to have news that you can’t act on. That’s just noise.
Speaker 1:
Poverty Mindset with Erica Courdae.
Miriam Schulman:
What you believe becomes true for you because you’re always going to look for evidence of why that’s true.
Erica Courdae:
Correct. Right, and so to be able to get to a point to understand that the way that you are conditioned to view or to think about yourself is not based on your own sense of worth. It’s based on somebody else’s lack of self-worth or their need for you to be lesser than in order to validate their self-worth. You don’t know that this isn’t yours. It really takes some effort to get out of that to realize that “This isn’t how I feel about myself. This is what I was told I was supposed to feel about myself, but it’s not true.”
To be able to live in a world and attempt to reconcile with yourself that you do feel differently, even though the world doesn’t reflect that, which is where I think that the poverty mindset can be very almost painful, because you’re trying to change your own thought process. But the world is like, “No, no, no. We don’t do that. This is what this is. You’re supposed to stay here. You’re not supposed to do this.” There’s so many things that fight against you when you try to.
Speaker 1:
Your Role As An Artist with Heather Alice Shea.
Heather Alice Shea:
Back in the day, when they wanted to really punish a person, they did not kill you. They banished you. They kicked you out. That was worse. Now when we’re rejected, the reason why it’s so painful is because it’s almost like we’re experiencing that again. On a psychological level, it’s as if that’s happening.
The first thing is to just show yourself compassion. There’s a reason why it hurts so bad. It’s a real valid reason, but we also have to look at it for what it is and say, “Look, if other people do not approve of my artwork, if they do not think that it’s worth a price I’ve put on it, that is not an indictment on my personal value.”
I charge way more than your average life coach. I told her my rate and she goes, “Well, that’s way more than I thought that I would ever pay, but you’re worth it.” My response to her shocked me. I said, “I’m going to stop you right there. I am not worth $500 an hour. I am priceless. I will let you pay me 500.”
Miriam Schulman:
Whoa.
Heather Alice Shea:
It was like this energy rose in me. I’m like, “I’m me. I’m priceless.” Now, my services, what I create in the world, okay, we put a price tag on it. We try to come up with what we think is fair and what feels good, but I think that self-doubt, it comes from not feeling really secure and like, “Wait, I’m priceless. I’m valuable.”
Miriam Schulman:
Oh my gosh, that was so much fun. Now don’t forget, we’ve included links to all the full episodes featured in today’s best of in the show notes. Go find that over at schulmanart.com/121.
Now, don’t forget also to check out this week’s curation of freebies. Head on over to schulmanart.com/freebies. You’ll find my favorite art supply list for passionistas, the artist profit plan e-book for my passion professionals and then something a little extra for all my art lovers out there.
All right, passion makers, thank you so much for being with me here today. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Have a happy new year.
Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram at @schulmanart and, of course, on schulmanart.com.
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