THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Shaun Roney:
We are not being paid for our time. No customer wants to say, “That piece of artwork is beautiful.” The experience you’re creating for your clients, your customers, through art is way more valuable than what someone could pay you or would pay you for your time. It’s very common for digital art to go viral these days, which means basically someone is not known, time didn’t create that. It was just the right thing, connected to the right person, who then shared it. Do you have a belief that it takes time to become a professional artist? It takes time to make your name in the world of art? It takes time in order to be able to charge rates that are higher> I think it might be worth questioning that belief.
Speaker 2:
It’s the Inspiration Place Podcast with artist Miriam Schulman.
Welcome to the Inspiration Place Podcast, an art world inside a podcast, for artists, by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the art. And now your host, Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman:
Well, hey, there. It’s Miriam Schulman, your curator of inspiration and host of the Inspiration Place Podcast. You’re listening to episode number 208, and I’m so grateful that you’re here. Today I thought I’d give you a behind-the-curtain peak at what happens inside the Artist’s Incubator.
So one of the benefits of being in the program is that all the members, whether they’re in mastermind or self-study, get coaching three times a month with our Mindset Maven Shaun Roney. She has so much wisdom to share that I thought I’d give you a few of the highlights pulled directly from our motivational Monday sessions. So if you’re looking to change your life or change your art business, the biggest way you can create change is from the inside.
Now, I hate to admit it, but I love a good makeover story as much as anyone. So whether it’s Eliza Dolittle in My Fair Lady learning how to talk proper, like a lady, or in Grease when Sandy sheds her preppy circle skirt for a skin-tight leather pant, I’m not sure if they even wore those, by the way, in the ’50s, but Grease came out during a disco era, so this is the disco era version of what a greaser girl looks like. I mean, her whole get up has nothing to do with people wore in the ’50s, those big hoop earrings and the teased up hair. Anyway, I loved it, anyway. And I even liked the eye-rolling She’s All That, when all they did was take off Rachael Leigh Cook’s glasses and tweeze her eyebrows. I don’t know if any of y’all saw that. Maybe you can catch it on Netflix. It’s still good fun.
So if I know you, you also have big dreams for yourself. Perhaps you’re looking for a little life makeover of your own, and don’t worry, no eyebrow waxing is required for this. In today’s episode, you’re going to get a lot of value, a lot of things to help make over your mindset. But I also wanted to give you a little goodie for today, another free gift. And it’s my 12 Artpreneur Affirmations. Yes, it’s free. You can grab yours and use these affirmations, whether it’s in your art journals or whenever you need a reminder. So go to schulmanart.com/affirmations to download it today. And I don’t want you to put that off, so really just pause this recording right now and go get it now before you forget. All right. Now on with the show.
Shaun Roney:
So I want you to think if I were to ask you all to double your rates, whatever they are, whether it’s large paintings, small paintings, ceramics, whatever it is that you’re currently creating and selling, whatever you’re currently offering to people, I want you to think of the price point. I want you to think of what you’re charging, what you’re asking, and then I want you to think what twice that amount would be. So you should have a number in your head.
And then once you have that number, I want you to think about what thoughts do you have, what are the reasons your brain is giving you for doing that or not doing that? So if the simple thing is just asked to double my rates, what are the thoughts that come up for you around doing that or not doing that? When we talk about a number and then we talk about doubling that number potentially, your brain is giving you all of these reasons why you should or should not do that, or all of the above. So the reason I want to identify those thoughts is because when we are talking about money, really what it comes down to, is what you believe the value is in the work that you’re doing.
For a minute I want you to think about two different car types. What is the difference? What is the $100,000 difference in price point between a Kia and a Bentley? They’re both cars. They both have four wheels. They have a steering wheel. They both have engines. They both get you places. But when we look at the $100,000 value difference, luxury, luxury feeling, brand, brand reputation, nicer better car, status, quality, elegance in design and material, people aspire to have it. So how much of that was created by the car itself, or by the people who create Bentleys and believe that there are people in the world who want to buy Bentleys? And because they believe there are people in the world that want to buy Bentleys, they’ve created these cars and they’ve shared all these collective thoughts with people. They’ve implied that their car is better, more luxurious, more this, more that, but to the tune of $100,000 different?
So there are things that cost X amount of dollars in the world, whether it’s $200,000 Bentley or whether it’s a $30,000 Kia. Different prices, but there are people in the world that will pay both. And the brand gets to decide what they align with, what their branding is, what they want to charge and why. And then it’s their job to believe that there are people out there in the world that will pay it, that will resonate with their message. So the people that resonate with the Bentley message probably don’t resonate with the Kia message and vice versa.
We are not being paid for our time. No customer wants to say, “That piece of artwork is beautiful.” The experience you’re creating for your clients, your customers, through art, is way more valuable than what someone could pay you or would pay you for your time. It’s very common for digital art to go viral these days, which means basically someone is not known, time didn’t create that. It was just the right thing, connected to the right person, who then shared it. Do you have a belief that it takes time to become a professional artist? It takes time to make your name in the world of art? It takes time in order to be able to charge rates that are higher? I think it might be worth questioning that belief.
Emotional childhood is the belief that other people are responsible for our feelings. And the other version of this is, another version of emotional childhood, is that you believe you are responsible for other people’s feelings, emotions. So when you’re putting art out into the world, as I know many of you are, all of you are, emotional childhood may look like, “I need to get it just right, just perfect, before I’m going to risk sharing this piece of work and asking for the price that I want to ask for it.” And if it’s not just right, just perfect, in your mind, you’re not going to risk putting it out there because you don’t want someone else to think the thought, “What are they even doing thinking they’re an artist? I don’t even understand that piece of work.”
That is emotional childhood, really trying to show up in a perfect way so that other people don’t have thoughts about you. It’s very common for teachers, adults, and children’s environments to teach, “Oh, did you hurt so-and-so’s feelings? That’s not nice. You need to actually say you’re sorry and don’t hurt their feelings again.” Or empathizing with a child and having an adult around a child say something like, “Oh, did so-and-so make you feel sad? I’m sorry they made you feel sad.” So the language that we use as a society around feelings and responsibility and whose responsibility they are, it starts at age two and continues all the way through adulthood.
So emotional adulthood means we are going to take full responsibility for how we feel, no matter what is going on around us, no matter what someone else is doing behavior-wise, no matter what someone is saying. We realize that we have the ability and the capacity to take full control of how we feel. And it’s also allowing other people to take responsibility for how they feel, realizing that you may show up in a certain way and they have the capability to navigate that, manage their mind in a way that creates whatever feelings they’re experiencing. It doesn’t give you full license to just go on a rampage and be a jerk to everybody. It’s not about that.
It’s just about empowering yourself with the knowledge that you can control how you feel no matter the situation. We create the feelings of shame, defensive, doubt, upset, insecure. So what happens in emotional childhood is we forget the part about our thoughts create our feelings. And in emotional childhood what we’re really believing is the person’s words, what they said. “You charge too much for your art,” is what’s creating the feeling. We’re like, “Oh, they said those words and now I feel this way.” And we just completely have amnesia around the part what we think creates how we feel.
And it’s great news because just forgetting that thoughts create feelings, we can fix that. We can go back and manage our thoughts. That would be stepping into emotional adulthood. If that weren’t true, then we would have no control over how we felt. We would be at the effect of everybody and everyone, and what they said and what they did, and we would just be like, “Great. Here I am feeling insecure again, because now someone said these words.” And then two hours later, someone else might say something and we’re like, “Ah, now I have to feel shame for a whole 24 hours,” until the next person comes along and says something supportive.
Let’s take the circumstances. You say the price. Someone says the words, “You charge too much for your art.” What would emotional adulthood look like? What would it look like to think something on purpose that is supportive of you and your work? So do you see how nothing changed in the circumstance line. There was a price and someone said words, “You charged too much for your art.” And yet, in this instance, when we’re thinking from an emotional adulthood place, you can access the feeling of worthy. worthiness. Sometimes the shortest version of stepping into emotional adulthood is literally to agree with the person, but not with judgment. So, I might actually think, “Not everyone can afford my art.” Agreeing, in some ways, depending on where your mindset is, can be really helpful. You’re like, “Yeah. I mean I charge what I charge and not everyone can afford it. It’s not for everybody. I understand.” It doesn’t have to be a problem.
It is counterintuitive to actually step into emotional adulthood and start to manage your mind, to start to see things as neutral, to have thoughts that support you so that you have your own back and you don’t require or expect that every person you talk to is going to manage your feelings for you. It’s not their responsibility to make you feel good about your art. It’s your responsibility to feel really good about it. And then when you do, it really doesn’t matter what anybody says, what anyone does.
We’re going to talk about how to stop spinning. Not making decisions, lots of busy, busy, busy work, but not creating much in the way of results. It always comes back to, surprise, surprise, what we’re thinking and feeling. It’s usually not a supportive thought. It might sound something like, “You should be further along than you are. I should be further along than I am.” And when we think a thought like that, it might create the feeling of ashamed. Every thought that we have has a feeling that is attached to it that comes with it. Most of the time the thoughts are not going to be supportive. It takes work and some energy and some intentionality to think in a different way. That’s why we spend so much time talking about our thoughts.
So we’re going to actually talk about being solutions-focused versus spinning. So the way to stop spinning often is to problem-solve, be solutions-focused, and make some decisions. The good news is when we’re neurodiverse, and that means right-brain creative, more circular, we’re often good problem-solvers, out-of-the-box thinkers. So that is good news because I choose to believe that a creative brain has access to more creative problem-solving. So when we’re spinning, we’re actually not addressing the problems. We’re kind of spinning in circles, lots of busy work, not taking any actions or making any decisions.
So the first question I want you to ask yourself, “Is this even a problem?” Sometimes our brains have mind drama about things. Our brain may think it’s a problem. We might be making it a problem. But when we actually think about it, it’s not a problem. Question number two. Why do you want to solve this problem? Question three is to evaluate four types of solutions. So this is being solution-focused. Rather than spinning you’re going to become solution-focused. Here’s the four types of solutions. There’s the easiest solution. How can you solve the problem in the easiest way? What is the best solution? What will solve it temporarily? And then there’s a long-term solution.
Sometimes it’s just to start. One strategy for starting is to set a timer for 10 minutes and just start somewhere. Get started, and then after 10 minutes, if your brain has not locked in and it’s not engaged, give yourself permission to stop. Often what happens is once you start, and you’re five to 10 minutes in, you hit your stride and then it’s easier to keep going. Your brain is offering answers, offering solutions. Next question is, “What is the cause of the problem?” Sometimes the cause of the problem is literally our minds. Because we’re thinking it’s a problem, it becomes one. But if we stopped thinking it was a problem and stopped focusing on the problem of it and get more solutions-focused, it’s no longer a problem.
So when you catch yourself in analysis paralysis, this process is really helpful to go through. You’re just going to move into being solutions-focused and start asking yourself the questions. And then question number five, the fifth step. “How do we prevent this problem in the future?” Because that is going to save you in the future, save you from the spinnings.
Miriam Schulman:
All right, now, before we go, I wanted to share some final thoughts from two of my mastermind members, Laura Yelin and T.R. Smith. They both just completed six months inside the mastermind. And I asked them what changed for them?
Laura Yelin:
What I like about it is that you make everything sound so simple, like things that sound to me like, “Oh, how should I say that?” You start to work Monday. You get all set up in the mindset with Shaun. And then on Tuesday, you’re more technical skills for the business. So you are all set up for the rest of the week with all the things that you have to do. And everything is like confidence, which I think is the basic pillar for a business. Being able to believe in yourself, in your art, in your thoughts, in your ideas, in your clients. And think all the tools that come up on top of this, they just build up the business, but the basis is feeling capable. And this is something, I wasn’t in this place before the program,
T.R. Smith:
My email list is 11,000. I definitely think I’ve built my email list with this. My sales have increased, my class sales, all of those things have increased here with you.
Miriam Schulman:
So if you’re looking to sell more art, raise your confidence, both for yourself and for your art business, you have to check out the Artist’s Incubator. We have both the mastermind track, as well as the do it yourself self-study track, both tracks though, get coaching with Shaun and me. The mastermind members do get additional one-on-one time with me and that track is by application only. To see if you qualify, go to schulmanart.com/biz, as in B-I-Z. And over there, you can also check out the Artist Incubator self-study program. We’ve linked that in the show notes. And I also linked the other episodes with Shaun Roney in the show notes. We have some amazing interviews with her on overcoming perfectionism, people pleasing and procrastination. You don’t want to miss them. Also, if you want to check out Laura or T.R.’s art, I’ve linked their websites in the show notes as well. They’re both amazing artists.
All right, my passion maker. Thank you so much for being with me here today. I’ll see you same time, same place, next week. Stay inspired.
Speaker 2:
Thank you for listening to The Inspiration lace podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart on Instagram, @schulmanart. And of course on schulmanart.com.
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