THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Chris Holt: I was thinking about doing this and that, you know, a book and look, do some videos and all sorts of other stuff. And it was like, no, no, no. It’s all about just focusing. You’re here. Yeah. You know, you’re you’re you’re doing these 2 to 4 things. You’re not doing 10 to 20 things. Right. And you’re and you’re not adding on top.
Miriam Schulman: And you’re not alone because there’s actually a lot of artists who think, oh, I need to add income streams. No, we have to consider the one that’s working like.
Chris Holt: Right.
Speaker 3: It’s the Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place podcast, an art World Insider 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: Today’s guest is a fine artist from the Pacific Northwest. His art captures life’s fleeting moments where time slows and beauty reveals itself. He loves this quiet pauses, the golden light, the shifting breeze, the in-between spaces where meaning unfolds. Please welcome to the inspiration place, Chris Holt. Hey, Chris. Welcome to the show.
Chris Holt: Hey, Maryann. Thanks for having me.
Miriam Schulman: So I invited you because I’ve been working with you in my Inner Circle program for now, a full year.
Chris Holt: Yeah.
Miriam Schulman: Wow.
Chris Holt: Hard to.
Miriam Schulman: Believe. What amazing transformation.
Chris Holt: Oh. Thank you. It’s been a complete joy. And my hat’s off to you and the team for guiding me.
Miriam Schulman: Let’s take everyone back to where you were when you first met me, if you can remember that. And if you can’t, I’m going to look it up. What you said to me. Hold on. Some people, like. They don’t remember. Like I was talking to once someone in the inner circle, I says, well, you know, you made $20,000 in the last two months. He goes, yeah, and you told me that’s all you made last year. I was like, oh yeah. Like, you know, like they seem to forget how far you’ve come. Right. Take us back to that moment.
Chris Holt: That sounds great. So gosh, when I first started in our circle and everything, I was really just coming out of just a couple of paintings that I had done in a show that I had that was kind of put together very cryptically, the best I could. I really didn’t feel I had ownership of the word. You know, I’m an artist, and I just felt I was kind of piecing it together, just eating things together. And I wanted to have a trajectory. I wanted to go somewhere with this. I knew I wanted to grow. I knew I wanted to sell more paintings and meet more people, things in a really just a great, robust, professional manner. And that’s what has happened. And I’m still obviously in development, but I feel like back then I didn’t have as good a grasp of like who I am. Where am I going? Faith in myself. Kind of the trust that I was able to not only build in myself, but in, you know, my, my collectors and just really believing in my art. And now I just feel like full force, like, yeah, I love my art. I love where I’m going, I love my collectors, I love my audience, and I want to grow it even more. So it’s it’s been a huge transformation and it’s happened incrementally. It just didn’t happen overnight. But it just took a lot of a lot of hard work. Yeah.
Miriam Schulman: And if you could say what the three biggest levers were in this success and like, we know you’re still unfolding, I get that. But we’re going to let the audience know, like where you were. So we let them work. You were just kind of. When I like my recollection of that first meeting is like you had sold some art, you had some success. Like there was the promise of more. And now fast forward. And I think it’s been more than a year because I was just checking, like your first call with me was like, March of 24. Like you joined the incubator and then the inner circle. Now you have galleries reaching out to you.
Chris Holt: Yeah. It’s crazy. That just happened recently, where a gallery in Seattle tracked me down through some work that they had seen and then went to my website, and then they went from the websites to emailing me. And fortunately all my email stuff works, and I was able to contact them back and have a great conversation. And I’m I’m now having a show in September and it’s, you know, this year, a couple of things. Yeah, September this year just happened like probably two weeks ago. They’re talking about so amazing.
Miriam Schulman: So. Right. Hot off the presses. And then you were also sharing how you were doing. You were participating in an auction where people were coming up to you like, are you Chris Holt?
Chris Holt: Yeah. It was the first time that I experienced that. Where normally I go to this auction that the Gage Academy auction in Seattle and, you know, just make your way through, talk to the people that you know. And it transitioned this year where by, you know, there are folks coming up to me and tapping me on the shoulder and asking you, hey, are you Crystal? Is that your piece over there? You know, I’ve been following you on Instagram. I’ve been following your email, and it was just amazing to put a face to a name and and somewhere our artists, fellow artists, which is great, but a lot of them were collectors, just kind of curious and wanting to start a dialog. That’s amazing. It was really cool. So but yeah, I’m kind of getting back to kind of where what are the things I’ve learned? The top three things.
Miriam Schulman: Yeah. Let’s talk about it more like in. Let’s put it in terms of success levers. So that way. Anyone listening to the podcast can be like, oh, if I do these three things, this is what’s going to make a difference.
Chris Holt: Yeah, I think it’s it’s having faith in myself and building trust by being consistent. Okay.
Miriam Schulman: So number one you’re going to say is mindset that is that right? Yeah I think trust.
Chris Holt: Self-trust and mindset. And I think there was something that you had wrote and also we talked about that was about you build that through consistency. You build that by, you know, where you’re not only building trust in yourself, but you’re also building trust in your audience and your collectors by being consistent by, you know, in business, they talk about do what you’re saying, what do what you say you’re going to do. Yeah. And that’s something that I was very inconsistent at. And now I feel like I’m a much better at. Got a, got a little ways to go but it’s I think that’s a huge thing. It’s just, you know, showing up, putting in the work, being consistent and not being worried about whether or not it’s going to be perfect that day. It’s really about showing up and trying to maintain a consistent, you know, your plan and putting that into to act. So acting upon your plan in a consistent way.
Miriam Schulman: Yeah. And I’m just going to underline that and really like repeat the lessons for people who maybe have not listened to every single one of my podcasts or haven’t read the book. I talk about this in the book and I talk about it also, like during my boot camps, is that the definition of confidence has the word trust in it, like self-confidence is about trust in a person or a thing. So when people procrastinate and they don’t do what they say they’re going to do, what happens is they erode their own self trust and confidence. So the more you procrastinate, the less confidence you have. And then of course, if you want the opposite, if you want more confidence, the antidote to that is to follow through on what you say you’re going to do. So the more you follow through on what you say you’re going to do, the more confidence you build in yourself. And like you said, Chris, the more other people will come to trust you as well.
Chris Holt: And it’s self-perpetuating. Once you start to do it, you start to build upon it. And you, you know, all of those kind of mindsets that say, oh, but nobody will buy my art. All of that kind of goes away and you start thinking, everyone’s going to buy my art. Why wouldn’t they buy? Of course they’re going to buy my course. And then I think people can read that. I think on a level they read that and they even coming up to you, you hold yourself differently. You realize that you do have agency and that you you are an entity in your own world. Um, when you’re not giving away your personal power, you know? Yeah.
Miriam Schulman: So we just had a conversation about that in the inner circle. So the summer inner circle, and we’re talking about commissions and how you can’t when you present a commission to a client, you can’t be. So do you want me to change anything? You have to be like, oh my God, I love it so much. I wanted to keep it for myself. Mhm. Like that’s a huge difference. And people will pick up on your uncertainty. Like confidence is contagious and uncertainty is also.
Chris Holt: Yeah definitely. I think that people really pick that up very very quickly. They understand it quickly.
Miriam Schulman: On a subliminal level.
Chris Holt: Exactly, exactly. Yeah.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. So mindset was number one. And you say you got there by doing what you say you’re going to do. Anything else you want to add to that that built your confidence?
Chris Holt: Yeah, I think it would be probably related to the second thing, which is planning ahead. You know, we had some conversations. You know, planning ahead means for me, you know, I remember we talked about like, well, Chris, let’s look at the time. Let’s look at this week. Let’s talk about this. So you’re going to build your plan on Sunday. And you’re gonna look ahead and let’s look at those time slots. And you know at first I didn’t do it. You know at first I was like, well, yeah, but that doesn’t really work with how I typically do things. Well, duh. That’s exactly why it’s not working. So it’s like, sit down. Yeah.
Chris Holt: Go ahead.
Miriam Schulman: I was going to say when I was in college, I worked for a Weight Watchers camp. I was the arts and crafts teacher there, and I remember them lecturing the kids, like about how, yeah, you don’t like broccoli. That’s what got you where you are. Now it’s time to like new things, you know?
Chris Holt: Right. Exactly. And what I. What I realized is that it actually helps set me free. So when I sat down to plan that thing that I did. Oh, I don’t want to sit down and plan. Well, no, that actually really made things a lot more clear. And part of that was, you know, we’ve talked about working backwards from a goal. Yeah. And that you have a goal and then you work backwards and you say to yourself, well, are the actions that I’m taking now enough to get me there? Is that really going to get like. Are the amount of pieces that I’m creating going to get me there?
Miriam Schulman: You know what? Chris just shared that showing up consistently and aligning your actions with your goals creates magic. And that’s not just mindset. That’s a strategy. But what if you don’t know what to focus on? Or worse, what if you’re pouring energy into work that isn’t actually Going to sell. That’s exactly why I created a free guide called Seven Reasons Why Your Art Isn’t Selling. To help you uncover what’s holding you back and what to do about it instead. Whether you’re feeling stuck, second guessing your portfolio, or just craving clarity. You’ll walk away knowing how to curate a collection that sells. Build trust with collectors and position your art to stand out. To get instant access to this guide, go to SchulmanArt.com/SHINE. Again, that’s SchulmanArt.com/SHINE. Okay. And now let’s get back to Chris.
Chris Holt: Is my daily ritual going to get me there? All of that stuff. And you have to ask yourself that. And when when I was doing that and I, and I was doing it as far as planning and planning ahead, not only it said, yeah, you’re going to get there or not, and I course corrected. And I’m even course correcting today. I’m constantly looking at it and thinking, okay, yeah, can you really do that? Many pieces are, is that if I sell them at this price, will that get me what I want revenue wise? Yeah. Do the math. The number of followers. Yeah. The math exactly.
Miriam Schulman: Sometimes it is math. It’s not just manifestation and law of attraction. Like, yeah, you can you can have the best mindset. But if you want to sell ten artworks and you only have three, not going to happen.
Chris Holt: Yeah, yeah, I forget where I heard this, but it was something about, you know, if you’re a plane and you’re going to take off in Los Angeles and you want to end up in New York City, the trajectory matters big time. How are you pointing yourself? And the way that you’re pointing yourself is by planning and by looking at the map and thinking incrementally, well, I’m going to fly over these cities to get to New York City. So I better incrementally know, you know, that route along the way. So I think that’s been a big, big factor is just planning ahead. And that’s going to then dovetail into what we just talked about, which is being consistent. So I’ve planned ahead. Now I’m going to need to actually do those things that I planned. And if I do that’s when magic starts to happen I call it. That’s when things that are things you can’t count on, things you don’t see. You’re either on on things that kind of go wrong, but also things that show up that you thought, whoa. And that might be the manifestation kind of part of things where somebody just happened to be in the right place at the right time when you were there, because you had planned to be there. And, you know, part a part of that for me was going out to do plein air painting recently where I went out and by being out there and I was on time with my own schedule and my own thing, and I showed up and I had, I think, a good, just a good milieu about myself. It showed. And so all of a sudden all of these people came out and I probably added 5 or 6 people to my email list that day, you know? But that wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t plan it and if I didn’t execute it. So it’s pretty amazing. And and I think things snowball. Things kind of can snowball and really get momentum going. It’s exciting.
Miriam Schulman: Okay. So we talked about mindset. And then it’s not just mindset but putting in the work and planning your time to make sure that work happens. What was the third lever for you.
Chris Holt: Great question. So I think that one of the biggest things that contributed was just the messaging that we’ve been working on. You know, I think that getting those words right and understanding them, and actually, when we went through some of the exercises on, on online and different things that we did, all of a sudden it was like, oh yeah, that is me. And that aligns with me and who I am, and that is how I talk about myself or how I want to talk about myself. And that breeds like clarity. And so now when I speak to people, I, you know, I talk about the fleeting moments, I talk about the golden hour, I talk about what it is that kind of I work on, on a daily basis and it’s no longer gobbledygook, you know. And so I think the messaging has helped, has helped people understand my perspective. Where am I coming from? But it’s also a factor in the confidence building because you you are gravitating towards these words that that you know are true and that resonate. And so you can, you know, I’ve just felt like I’ve really been able to talk about myself more clearly, been able to articulate what my art is about. And I’ve felt really good about it, you know, and it’s kind of owning. It’s part of owning it And owning who you are and owning why you do what you do.
Miriam Schulman: And it feels authentic to you. Like a mirror. Not like a mask. Yeah.
Chris Holt: Yeah. And I think that’s one of the things that I really appreciate about you, Miriam, is that it’s a very authentic lens. You’re a really good feedback, you know, loop. Or for us, I think you, you you give really direct but really good positive support too. But I also think it’s like, well, no, that doesn’t sound like the Chris that I know, you know. And it’s like, yeah, I guess you’re right. You kind of called me out on that. And I think you’re right. You know, so we had those kind of discussions and I think that’s been really, really helpful.
Miriam Schulman: So one thing I know, Chris, that we really worked on a lot during this year was narrowing down your focus because.
Chris Holt: Oh yeah. Good, good. Let’s talk about all over the map.
Miriam Schulman: Let’s talk about that.
Chris Holt: Yeah, I think that and a lot of friends would would attest to this and family members. I get excited about a lot of different things, and I tend to think, oh, I can do that too. And I tend to kind of pile on like an ice cream sundae. And I think that, you know, there’s in a lot of cases I can do them, but in a lot of cases, no, don’t don’t go there. You’re watering down what you’re offering. You’re watering down your approach and you’re not giving yourself enough time to, to do things properly. And so one of the things that we talked about was, you know, in these different endeavors, I was thinking about doing this and that, you know, a book and look, do some videos and all sorts of other stuff. And it was like, no, no, no, it’s all about just focusing. You’re here. Yeah. You know, you’re you’re you’re doing these 2 to 4 things. You’re not doing 10 to 20 things. Right. And you’re and you’re not adding on top.
Miriam Schulman: And you’re not alone because there’s actually a lot of artists who think, oh, I need to add income streams. And I remember there was a business coach that I followed. This is going back many, many years where he or she, I don’t even want to reveal the gender was like, oh, artists consider these income streams. I was like, no, we have to consider the one that’s working like, right? Because we always think, oh, if I add on. So the classic mistakes, I’m talking more to the listeners now rather than you. Chris, like a lot of artists who come to me are fine artists. And then they think, oh, I’ll add on licensing. Well, licensing is not something you add on. It’s a different career. It’s a different art career. It’s so if you’re going to add something on, it’s going to take away from the first thing. I’m not perfect. I learned that myself. Like, oh, I’ll add on online classes. Well, do you want to make that your entire focus? You know, like so you’ll get more here but less there. One thing also, I had told my team they had come back to me and says, well, Chris wants to wait till he finishes his book until he comes on the podcast.
Chris Holt: Right. And in my mind, the book is all interrelated. But what I started to ask myself a question about was like, Chris, what does that mean? You know, and if you sign yourself up for this, what does that mean on a daily basis? What does that mean to your audience? What does it mean to, you know, and are you shortchanging yourself? And maybe you want to book, but maybe it’s later. And, you know, just like doing brush strokes and getting to a certain level of competency in my artwork, it’s something that came through repetition and practice. And as I did, though, you know, brushstroke after brushstroke and brush mileage, I was getting better and better at my craft. Same thing. You know, if I if I go divert over here or over there, then I’m not giving doing diligence and giving honor to what what are the things that I need to do that are actually going to get me where I want to go? Like, it kind of goes full circle to what we talked about at the beginning.
Miriam Schulman: It does like planning your time and doing it. So what I told Addie was, well, just tell Chris that when he finishes his book, he can come back a second time. You know what really stood out there? Chris, realizing that chasing too many things diluted his impact, and that real growth came from focusing on what actually sells and speaks to his collectors. Now, if you’ve been feeling pulled in too many different directions, or wondering which of your pieces belong in your portfolio, your Instagram, or maybe even your pitches, I created something just for you. It’s a free guide called seven Reasons Why Your Art Isn’t Selling. And it’s designed to help you stop second guessing, refine your voice, and align your art with what actually Motivates people to buy. Now, whether you’re already selling or just starting out. This guide will help you get clear on what to create more of and what to let go of. Go to SchulmanArt.com/SHINE. That’s SchulmanArt.com/SHINE. And now let’s get back to the show. Chris, what would you like to go back if you could, and tell your younger self?
Chris Holt: Boy, the biggest thing is you can do it. You’re an artist and just own yourself and just be yourself. Just be true to who you are. Be true to you. Know what you’re passionate about. You know if it’s passion to profit, it’s just own what you’re really passionate about and put time and energy into that. Because if you really put the time and energy into what you love, you’ll you’ll be good at it. And if you’re good at it, it will again snowball to be something that people will take notice of. And you’ll start making sales and it’ll keep going and going and going. So I think the key is just be yourself. Own yourself. Own what it is that you love to do. And I think there’s something to what do you truly love to do? And dive deeply into that. Because I think that’s what some of the best from O’Keeffe to Picasso is. They really dove into things that they loved. And because of that, they explored new avenues, whole new worlds, you know, that we didn’t even know about. And that’s where everybody goes, oh, wait, look at what she’s doing it. Look at what he’s doing. And it’s just amazing. So yeah. On yourself Chris. You know, just be true to yourself and just and and stay focused and it’ll build over time incrementally. Just trust the process and trust that it will build over time.
Miriam Schulman: One thing that Chris is a great example of is you. Not only did you join the accountability group, but you were the leader of that. And I think you benefited from that as much as everybody in your pod did that your generosity came back to you. Would you agree with that?
Chris Holt: Yeah, I would say so. And it helped me gain confidence as well. Yeah. And I think that the consistency of them kept coming back and they kept giving me feedback. And it felt it gave me confidence. It’s, you know, amazing, unexpected.
Miriam Schulman: Really wonderful. All right. If artists want to check out your work, where can they find you on Instagram?
Chris Holt: You would go to @chrisholtstudio is my my I guess my handle or whatever. So @chrisholtstudio and that’s also my website. So chrisholtstudio.com.
Miriam Schulman: And it’s chrisholtstudio.com. Or find him on Instagram and let him know how much you like the show. If and if you really are feeling super generous and you want to share this with an artist friend, take a screenshot and you can tag us in it at Chris Holt Studio and at Schulman Art. All right, my friend, thank you so much for joining me here today. I’ll see you the same place, same time next week. Until then, stay inspired. Bye for now.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to The Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook at facebook.com/schulmanart, on Instagram @schulmanart and of course, on SchulmanArt.com.
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