Shownotes
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
Her epiphany happened at 10 years old [8:50] This can actually be a money making thing [10:22]Candle Flickering Moments
Working through a TV deal [19:19] Copyright Infringement from a big chain [23:03]Business Building Insight
Cathy’s perspective on failure [5:29] Developing her business [11:50] [13:45]Success Trait
Thinking outside the box for ideas to promote herself [29:11]Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Hootsuite – Manage social networks, schedule messages, engage your audiences, and measure ROI right from the dashboard. Periscope – A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.Valuable Book
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Contact Links
Website Facebook Twitter LinkedIn PeriscopeIf you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
Gift biz unwrapped episode 42.
Speaker:At the end of that week,
Speaker:I grossed over a thousand dollars and I thought to myself,
Speaker:Oh, like I could be making money doing this.
Speaker:This is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire.
Speaker:And you're listening to gift gifted biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift fairs,
Speaker:unwrapped podcast,
Speaker:whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online Or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us.
Speaker:Cathy Nolan,
Speaker:Kathy is a characteristic and has been illustrating and bringing joy
Speaker:with her art for over 20 years.
Speaker:Her passion for art and people are combined in her method
Speaker:with drawing faces and capturing the essence of her subjects,
Speaker:whether they're adults,
Speaker:children, or pets,
Speaker:she is drawn famous celebrities,
Speaker:such as actress,
Speaker:Lily Tomlin eat,
Speaker:pray, love bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert and Marianne Williamson.
Speaker:She's drawn for corporations such as Zilo where I wear C
Speaker:SBC, Citibank and Taylor,
Speaker:and for Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
Speaker:Pre-party Cathy lives in Brooklyn,
Speaker:New York with her husband,
Speaker:Fred richer and pop Ali.
Speaker:Welcome to the show,
Speaker:Kathy. Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. I'm so excited to be here Is such fun for
Speaker:you to be here.
Speaker:And I just want to share with our audience that Kathy
Speaker:and I met and have started to become friends through Periscoping.
Speaker:So we may bring that up in the conversation as well,
Speaker:but we've had a little bit of a history because we've
Speaker:gotten to know each other some,
Speaker:and I look forward Kathy,
Speaker:to even hearing your journey.
Speaker:That's going to unfold through this podcast as well,
Speaker:because I don't know some of it yet.
Speaker:I'm excited to share.
Speaker:Absolutely. Is There anything you'd like to fill in with the
Speaker:intro before we get started?
Speaker:No, just that I've been drawing all my life and I
Speaker:do corporate parties and events.
Speaker:I also draw people at family gatherings as well as commissioned
Speaker:illustrations, also for publications like classic media,
Speaker:as well as highlights for children magazine.
Speaker:So I've done a lot of illustration as well with,
Speaker:along with the caricaturing Super well.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to getting into hearing how that all started,
Speaker:but before we do our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to align the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share and highlight all
Speaker:these stories and experiences.
Speaker:Are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:Kathy? I've got my lighter.
Speaker:Alrighty. So let's talk about that.
Speaker:You are,
Speaker:I'm going to create a scene here for you.
Speaker:Okay. Let's say you're scoping and you wanted the environment to
Speaker:look really nice and kind of festive and you know,
Speaker:the ambience really nice.
Speaker:And so you have a motivational candle on your table while
Speaker:you're drawing one of your characters on scope.
Speaker:What color is that candle?
Speaker:And what's the quote that's on the candle.
Speaker:I love the color purple.
Speaker:So I feel like purple is a calming color.
Speaker:So my candle would be purple.
Speaker:And on the candle,
Speaker:it would say this amazing quote from Nelson Mandela and the
Speaker:quote goes like this.
Speaker:And as we let our own light shine,
Speaker:we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Speaker:Ooh, what does that mean to you?
Speaker:I feel like it means we're all called to do something
Speaker:and to put ourselves out there,
Speaker:whether it's a talent or a business scale,
Speaker:helping others.
Speaker:And the more that we are successful in what we do
Speaker:and shine our own inner light,
Speaker:we inspire people through our actions by motivating them to tap
Speaker:into their own inner light.
Speaker:So that's where I strongly believe that we can't be afraid
Speaker:to the calling that we're called to do and to just
Speaker:not be afraid to try,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:not be afraid to try to run that business,
Speaker:not be afraid to try to put yourself out there and
Speaker:to really just try to show up to the calling from
Speaker:within that might be nudging you to move forward in any
Speaker:aspect of a business,
Speaker:whether it's having that meeting with that difficult client or opening
Speaker:up your first boutique store,
Speaker:or finally publishing that greeting card.
Speaker:I feel like we're all called to do something through our
Speaker:own actions.
Speaker:I know we can definitely inspire others to do the same.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I've not heard that quote before and your explanation is really
Speaker:deep. And I think it's totally on target.
Speaker:It's almost our responsibility.
Speaker:If we have something that we know that we can share
Speaker:with everybody to put it out there,
Speaker:because if we don't,
Speaker:the world's never going to know exactly what came to mind.
Speaker:Also for me with that quote is that if you're communicating
Speaker:and putting something else out there,
Speaker:it's kind of giving permission to someone else to also take
Speaker:the risk.
Speaker:Like you're saying,
Speaker:don't be afraid to fail,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:have that meeting overcome and do something that's hard.
Speaker:If you show by wave example that you're doing it.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:sometimes we might fail.
Speaker:We're just empowering other people to try it for themselves as
Speaker:well. Well,
Speaker:and failure's part of the journey,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we're all on this journey together and when you fail,
Speaker:it's not really a bad thing because when you fail,
Speaker:it's kind of a wake up call like,
Speaker:oops, okay,
Speaker:I'm not on the right path.
Speaker:Let me see where I can do things differently.
Speaker:Next time around my husband went said,
Speaker:we always learned the most from the most difficult situations.
Speaker:And it's so true because if everything was going smoothly all
Speaker:the time,
Speaker:well, I don't think we would be learning as much.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:You're not going to Necessarily land the thing that's gonna propel
Speaker:you forward the very first time you have to try something.
Speaker:And if that doesn't work,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:check it off the list,
Speaker:try the next thing.
Speaker:And that's where so many people will stop is they'll try
Speaker:something and it didn't work.
Speaker:And they'll say,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:I'm not able to do it instead of saying,
Speaker:okay, this wasn't the right way.
Speaker:Let me try something else.
Speaker:And it might've been the right way if it was 10
Speaker:years ago,
Speaker:it just isn't the right way now.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker:because you do have to kind of adapt to the changes
Speaker:of what's going on now,
Speaker:especially with technology.
Speaker:So things are very different than they were 15 years ago.
Speaker:And it's,
Speaker:I'm always constantly learning about how can I better myself?
Speaker:How can I better my business?
Speaker:How can I better my art skills,
Speaker:we all can learn and adapt and not being afraid to
Speaker:ask for help is also key because if you kind of
Speaker:felt like you failed in a certain way,
Speaker:it's just having that dialogue with yourself.
Speaker:Well, is this really right for me?
Speaker:Maybe it's not really right for me and that's okay.
Speaker:I can let that go,
Speaker:right. Or this didn't work out for me,
Speaker:but who do I know that has a better skillset.
Speaker:Who's a bit more polished than I am in this regard
Speaker:that I can maybe talk to and ask for some advice
Speaker:or mentor me,
Speaker:or maybe I can pay them to do what I didn't
Speaker:do so well,
Speaker:Very good point,
Speaker:reaching out for help.
Speaker:And that's not a sign of weakness.
Speaker:Actually. It's a sign of strength because you're being resourceful and
Speaker:give busy listeners.
Speaker:I've talked a lot about an entrepreneur.
Speaker:I think one of the biggest skills that you can have
Speaker:is to be resourceful.
Speaker:And that either means finding the information yourself,
Speaker:or finding a person who has that information that you need
Speaker:to lay the groundwork or to overcome,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever obstacle you're currently encountering.
Speaker:Yeah. And not being afraid to be proactive.
Speaker:I'm a very proactive person.
Speaker:I am the person that will just make it happen.
Speaker:You just got to take initiative because nobody's going to do
Speaker:it for you.
Speaker:But you not saying that you can't ask for help.
Speaker:Of course you should ask for help if you feel it's
Speaker:needed. But a lot of people just wait for people to
Speaker:respond back.
Speaker:And when I do my follow-up,
Speaker:the fortune is always in the followup.
Speaker:You have to be persistent and consistent.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I struggle with that in some ways,
Speaker:but in other ways,
Speaker:I'm very good at that in terms of like following up
Speaker:with a particular client,
Speaker:like I want to do business with you,
Speaker:what can we do to make this happen if it's not
Speaker:the right time then okay.
Speaker:When can I approach you again?
Speaker:Just trying to nudge the person to say with my services,
Speaker:I'm here to help you.
Speaker:That's what I just want to say is not to be
Speaker:afraid to be proactive,
Speaker:Good point about being proactive.
Speaker:So Kathy,
Speaker:now let's go back.
Speaker:You were mentioning that when you were younger and virtually all
Speaker:your life,
Speaker:you've loved drawing and the whole art area,
Speaker:if you will talk to us a little bit about how
Speaker:you got the idea that this could actually merge into a
Speaker:money making business.
Speaker:When I was 10 years old growing up in the Chicago
Speaker:area, we went to great America,
Speaker:which is a huge amusement park.
Speaker:And it was the first time I was exposed to a
Speaker:caricature is drawing people.
Speaker:I don't know why I was fascinated by it to the
Speaker:point where I didn't want to leave the booth.
Speaker:And my siblings were like,
Speaker:come on,
Speaker:come on.
Speaker:We got to get hit.
Speaker:I hit up these rides and I didn't want to leave.
Speaker:I was mesmerized by the fact that these artists were drawing
Speaker:people and getting paid.
Speaker:So I think from such a young age,
Speaker:at 10 years old,
Speaker:I just was like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I had this epiphany.
Speaker:Like, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:And then over the years,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:taking art classes,
Speaker:I didn't really start my business until I was 18.
Speaker:When I had graduated college was visiting friends in Michigan and
Speaker:a friend of mine dared me.
Speaker:He had dared me to do this County fair.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I had been always drawing for like exchange of beer money
Speaker:and things like that in college.
Speaker:But this was the first business opportunity where everything just fell
Speaker:into place.
Speaker:I only had a hundred dollars to my name.
Speaker:It was just the right amount of money to pay for
Speaker:participating in this County fair,
Speaker:which was a week long.
Speaker:Things just fell into place.
Speaker:I had my grandfather's car,
Speaker:a friend of mine gave me a place to stay.
Speaker:A teacher had a portable table and chairs.
Speaker:Somebody donated art supplies,
Speaker:everything just fell into place.
Speaker:And I befriended some people at the fair to keep my
Speaker:equipment overnight.
Speaker:Cause you know,
Speaker:this was like a Sunday through Saturday working at 12 hour
Speaker:days during this week.
Speaker:And I was just talking to people to my booth,
Speaker:drawing them.
Speaker:And at the end of that week,
Speaker:I grossed over a thousand dollars and I thought to myself,
Speaker:Oh, like I could be making money doing this.
Speaker:Think about that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:back at that time,
Speaker:that was a lot of money.
Speaker:Exactly. And I loved doing it.
Speaker:And one of the things I had loved at the time
Speaker:was just talking to people,
Speaker:coaxing them to come over so I could draw them.
Speaker:I was hustling people.
Speaker:You have no idea.
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:come up and get drawn,
Speaker:come over and get drawn.
Speaker:And from that experience,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I've been doing this for over 20 years now,
Speaker:but I actually ended up drawing a Vietnam vet who was
Speaker:telling me all about his different personalities,
Speaker:who was kind of schizophrenia.
Speaker:And he was working at the County fair as well.
Speaker:And he loved the drawing and I drew him in the
Speaker:middle and then aspects of his personality around the paper.
Speaker:So you just have to visualize his face in the middle
Speaker:and then smaller faces like as a circle around the big
Speaker:face in the middle.
Speaker:And his wife actually said to me that evening when I
Speaker:was storing my equipment at their place,
Speaker:she said he has never told anybody about his aspects of
Speaker:his personality or his time in Vietnam as a soldier.
Speaker:Wow. I thought to myself and I was very young at
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:wow, this is like a mission,
Speaker:like missionary work in a way where I just talk to
Speaker:people, get to know who they are.
Speaker:I listened to them and I draw it.
Speaker:And I think that's the thing that I just love so
Speaker:much is connecting with people,
Speaker:finding out who they are and then drawing them and bringing
Speaker:that aspect of themselves to life through my drawings,
Speaker:it's been pretty successful.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:a lot of people are very happy with the style I
Speaker:draw. We all artists have different styles and techniques,
Speaker:but being 18 and doing that County fair was really the
Speaker:kickstart of my business because then I ended up doing the
Speaker:Illinois state fair,
Speaker:a lot of trade shows in Chicago land area before I
Speaker:had moved to New York city,
Speaker:17 years ago.
Speaker:That is so interesting.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the thing that jumps out at me with that is you're
Speaker:so comfortable in terms of your style withdrawing.
Speaker:And I know that from watching you on your scopes,
Speaker:but to be able to pull something out for that Vietnam
Speaker:vet who was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a very comfortable situation and kind of a little bit
Speaker:off guard in terms of keeping a wall up in terms
Speaker:of who he is and all that.
Speaker:But he had the opportunity to really share information with you
Speaker:that you could then capture,
Speaker:which is just probably an experience he never would have gotten
Speaker:anywhere else.
Speaker:Exactly. And I like to think of it as it was
Speaker:healing in a way for him.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:It's funny how this happened also in the beginning of my
Speaker:career as a character trust in the artists,
Speaker:because since then I haven't really had that kind of experience,
Speaker:but that's okay.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I think it was sort of like,
Speaker:okay, this is what I'm called to do.
Speaker:And it's okay.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's about people enjoying who they are and capturing that essence
Speaker:about themselves.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So walk us down the path a little further with your
Speaker:business journey.
Speaker:So you've mentioned that you did the first fair and then
Speaker:from there you started doing other fairs and conferences and all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:How did it continue to progress?
Speaker:Basically, I partnered up with a few agencies that would do
Speaker:my bookings.
Speaker:A lot of entertainment companies would do that.
Speaker:And keep in mind,
Speaker:this is back in the nineties and the early two thousands
Speaker:before the economic crash.
Speaker:So people were spending a lot of money on parties.
Speaker:And so when I had moved to New York city,
Speaker:I did work in publishing,
Speaker:but that was my nine to five job.
Speaker:And I still did my caricature business by drawing people at
Speaker:like yacht parties.
Speaker:And I did loft parties and corporations.
Speaker:So it was more of like connecting with people,
Speaker:telling people,
Speaker:Hey, this is what I do.
Speaker:Who can I talk to about getting some bookings or reaching
Speaker:out to corporations?
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:sometimes I would look in the phone book and call people
Speaker:at that time,
Speaker:cold calling or sending out flyers and mailers or participating in
Speaker:trade shows it just kind of built over time.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:Really were specifically promoting yourself,
Speaker:talking it up,
Speaker:talking it to people.
Speaker:Did you have a written plan in terms of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm going to be cold calling these types of businesses,
Speaker:I'm going to be setting up brochures.
Speaker:You just,
Speaker:there was no plan.
Speaker:It's just,
Speaker:you were getting the word out as many ways as you
Speaker:possibly could with whatever ideas you had.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I had the business cards printed up,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but I didn't really know.
Speaker:I'll be honest.
Speaker:I didn't really have a strategy.
Speaker:I just kind of intuitively knew I have a gift of
Speaker:connecting with people and I would just let people know I'm
Speaker:a caricature artist.
Speaker:And one example is I worked in publishing full-time nine to
Speaker:five. I will talk to you more about that with my
Speaker:favorite book that I recently read.
Speaker:I'll explain that more in detail later.
Speaker:But on the side I had my caricature business and so
Speaker:the joke would be in my department.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Kathy's just doing this nine to five job to pay
Speaker:our bills.
Speaker:But we all know what her real job is because I
Speaker:ended up drawing and got paid to do a lot of
Speaker:the employees at Scholastic.
Speaker:So that was sort of one way of promoting my business
Speaker:was just letting people know what I do and showing them
Speaker:not being afraid to show people,
Speaker:Hey, look at my work.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:are you interested?
Speaker:Do you know anybody who's interested?
Speaker:If somebody says no to you,
Speaker:don't be afraid to ask,
Speaker:well, okay,
Speaker:I know this may not serve your needs now,
Speaker:but do you know of anybody else that would be of
Speaker:interest? So my services,
Speaker:because you don't know who those people know.
Speaker:And I always say to people always try to get two
Speaker:more names from somebody else that you can follow up with
Speaker:and then always ask for permission.
Speaker:Can I drop so-and-so's name?
Speaker:And nine times out of 10,
Speaker:people will say no problem.
Speaker:So that when you have approached that person that you don't
Speaker:know, you can always say,
Speaker:Oh, I got your name through John DOE.
Speaker:And he recommended that.
Speaker:I speak with you.
Speaker:He thought maybe you'd be needing my services.
Speaker:And then let's say,
Speaker:that person says,
Speaker:well, I don't really need that anymore.
Speaker:I don't need that.
Speaker:Doesn't work for me.
Speaker:Then don't be afraid to say,
Speaker:Oh, okay,
Speaker:well, do you know of anybody?
Speaker:But you just keep going down the path of asking or
Speaker:keep me in mind and you think of anybody,
Speaker:please let me know.
Speaker:I'll follow up with you in a few weeks,
Speaker:build on that.
Speaker:Wanna go back to this because you say you really didn't
Speaker:have a plan,
Speaker:but in a way you had a very clear plan and
Speaker:the plan was strategically.
Speaker:Anytime you were able to talk about your business,
Speaker:you did no matter where it came up or you're just
Speaker:like, you're talking about,
Speaker:if it wasn't exactly for that person,
Speaker:who else do they know?
Speaker:And I think GIF his listeners think about this because no,
Speaker:one's going to know about what you do unless you're telling
Speaker:them people,
Speaker:aren't just going to magically appear at your doorstep and you
Speaker:need to have the pride and the confidence in what you're
Speaker:putting out in Kathy's case,
Speaker:it's her art and being able to draw live in front
Speaker:of people.
Speaker:And if she hadn't been telling people all the way along,
Speaker:even in areas,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just like in her office space,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:talking just as part of her other job,
Speaker:no one would have known.
Speaker:And she wouldn't have been able to build up to the
Speaker:level that she's at today.
Speaker:Exactly. Anything to add to that.
Speaker:Cathy, I'm just going to say people love stories.
Speaker:So even if you're reluctant to tell people what you do,
Speaker:just tell a story.
Speaker:People will always love listening to stories.
Speaker:So maybe you can share an experience you had in relation
Speaker:to your business,
Speaker:or maybe you had a wonderful experience with a particular client,
Speaker:and you want to share that story of how your business
Speaker:helped that client out in a jam.
Speaker:People will remember a story like you guys will remember the
Speaker:Vietnam, that story,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:stories will stick.
Speaker:And if somebody is shy about promoting their business,
Speaker:think of it as just telling somebody a story about an
Speaker:experience you had in relation to your business.
Speaker:And I think it'll take the edge off and the fear
Speaker:out of that.
Speaker:And if you are not hesitant to tell a story about
Speaker:your business or about yourself and how you got into your
Speaker:business, you might be surprised.
Speaker:People will be more inclined to listen to you and hear
Speaker:what you have to say by starting that dialogue.
Speaker:That's super input,
Speaker:Cathy. I really appreciate that.
Speaker:And now having said that,
Speaker:I am going to ask you to tell us somewhat of
Speaker:a horror story.
Speaker:Talk to us about a time when things might not have
Speaker:been going so well,
Speaker:maybe you encountered,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a roadblock or hurdle or something happened that you really had
Speaker:to put some effort forth to be able to carry on.
Speaker:Actually, I have two stories to share with that.
Speaker:I created some characters when I lived in London called sheeps
Speaker:and I Sheep's like S H E P S.
Speaker:Yeah, well it's actually S H H H H E P
Speaker:Z. Okay.
Speaker:So basically,
Speaker:cause I was living in London,
Speaker:my husband had a job over there and I was looking
Speaker:for work and I thought,
Speaker:well, let me just kind of work for myself.
Speaker:And I was still doing caricaturing in London,
Speaker:but I wanted to just put my other artwork out there.
Speaker:Long story short,
Speaker:the Al Jazeera's children's channel has my dad was saying,
Speaker:you made the bin Ladin network.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:no, dad,
Speaker:this is a reputable children's channel.
Speaker:This was back in 2006 and they loved my art and
Speaker:they wanted to do a TV show with me.
Speaker:So I was actually flown out to Doha,
Speaker:Qatar, totally nervous,
Speaker:totally no guidance whatsoever.
Speaker:Talk about putting myself out there.
Speaker:And they wanted to buy all the worldwide rights to my
Speaker:artwork. And I was like,
Speaker:well, wait a minute,
Speaker:your distribution's only in North Africa,
Speaker:why would you want to buy worldwide rights?
Speaker:That's what most people do is they'll buy worldwide rights just
Speaker:to get started like Matt growing,
Speaker:when he did the Simpsons,
Speaker:he sold all the rights to Fox.
Speaker:And then when the show became very successful,
Speaker:he was able to renegotiate the rights back.
Speaker:So what I've learned now is that sometimes creators will give
Speaker:all their rights away just to get something started.
Speaker:And then based on the success of a TV show,
Speaker:they can then put themselves in a position to renegotiate.
Speaker:So I really stretched myself.
Speaker:I didn't know anything about TV animation,
Speaker:and I really did.
Speaker:Here I am in this foreign country,
Speaker:in the middle East,
Speaker:all by myself,
Speaker:doing the very best I can with what I knew and
Speaker:the deal didn't really go through.
Speaker:And like I said earlier,
Speaker:I was very persistent,
Speaker:consistent in following up,
Speaker:trying to find out,
Speaker:well, why haven't they gotten back to me?
Speaker:I just needed closure for that part of that experience I
Speaker:went through.
Speaker:And so finally,
Speaker:after being very persistent with them,
Speaker:the woman who I was dealing with said,
Speaker:well, Kathy,
Speaker:we just realized you didn't have enough experience.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:okay, that's fine.
Speaker:And then I did ask myself,
Speaker:do you really,
Speaker:Kathy want to be flying back and forth from London to
Speaker:Doha all the time,
Speaker:because that's what you would be doing.
Speaker:Had you partnered up with this channel and I didn't really
Speaker:want to be doing that.
Speaker:So I felt a bit down after the experience,
Speaker:I felt like I had failed,
Speaker:but here's the funny thing.
Speaker:Years later,
Speaker:I'm back in New York city and animation conference.
Speaker:And I sit down next to this gentleman who was doing
Speaker:some work with the algae zeros children's channel.
Speaker:And I brought up this woman's name to him is saying,
Speaker:just sharing my story with him about who I was dealing
Speaker:with. And you know what he said to me,
Speaker:he said to me,
Speaker:Oh, that person,
Speaker:she got fired for embezzling money from the Algiers children's channel.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And I Sat there dumbfounded because here all along,
Speaker:I felt like I failed.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I always have been very confident about my artwork and my
Speaker:ability, but I was dumbfounded because rejection sometimes is God's protection.
Speaker:And I just said to myself,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:here all these years,
Speaker:I felt like I failed.
Speaker:I didn't succeed.
Speaker:And either it was probably not the right calling for me
Speaker:or it just,
Speaker:I was just being protected.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:you may have dodged a real bullet because had you been
Speaker:working side by side with her,
Speaker:however, intricate that relationship would have needed to be,
Speaker:you could have been looped into some of that.
Speaker:Exactly. And the other struggle I went through,
Speaker:which is a different story as I'm back in New York
Speaker:city now,
Speaker:and my lawyer from London calls me and she's like,
Speaker:are you aware that toys R us has a similar,
Speaker:I had created an intellectual property.
Speaker:I can't really say what it is,
Speaker:but they created a similar intellectual property and the categories are
Speaker:very similar,
Speaker:long story short.
Speaker:This lawyer was reaching out to me to say,
Speaker:Hey, you could have a case.
Speaker:Let me take it on.
Speaker:And so I was really frightened by that because a lot
Speaker:of corporations will rip off a lot of artists work.
Speaker:I had a friend who had a lawsuit with Dreamworks and
Speaker:these corporations will just drag creators through the legal nightmare because
Speaker:they have the money and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:an independent creator like myself,
Speaker:where a small business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we don't have like those big legal guns behind us.
Speaker:So it felt really frightened,
Speaker:not frightened,
Speaker:but just,
Speaker:I was upset.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:okay, I don't want my intellectual property that I worked so
Speaker:hard on to get ripped off.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it was fascinating because in that journey,
Speaker:I was very persistent and consistent.
Speaker:I didn't know what the outcome was going to be,
Speaker:but I just wanted to make sure that I was protected
Speaker:with my artwork.
Speaker:So you did advance with some legal action.
Speaker:Yeah. So what happened was I was the one coaching though,
Speaker:the UK lawyer,
Speaker:he would be like,
Speaker:okay, I'm thinking of calling toys R us.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:no, you just need to say like I was coaching him.
Speaker:Like, no,
Speaker:you have to say,
Speaker:I'm going to call you at this date.
Speaker:We're like,
Speaker:you have to be proactive.
Speaker:You can't be polite with these people because this is a
Speaker:corporation we're dealing with.
Speaker:So in a way,
Speaker:it was like I was coaching the lawyer about how to
Speaker:handle this corporation because of my tenacity and being persistent.
Speaker:This lawyer left the firm and I ended up dealing with
Speaker:the partner who owns the firm.
Speaker:So she and I were working together.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:one of the things I'm very good at is always showing
Speaker:appreciation. When people work really hard for you,
Speaker:you have to show appreciation for them to keep going.
Speaker:And it got to a point.
Speaker:This is like a nine month process.
Speaker:I went through it finally got to a point where she
Speaker:was able to get them to provide a settlement for a
Speaker:certain amount,
Speaker:but it was the same amount of the legal fees.
Speaker:And so I said to her,
Speaker:well, why would I pay you these legal fees?
Speaker:If this is the same amount that they're going to settle
Speaker:with me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:th that doesn't,
Speaker:I'm not going to pay these legal fees.
Speaker:So long story short,
Speaker:I got her to waive her legal fees.
Speaker:I got my settlement from toys R us and I sent
Speaker:her a really nice,
Speaker:expensive gift to thank her for her time and energy.
Speaker:I could have kept going,
Speaker:fighting this corporation,
Speaker:but she wanted to be done with the case.
Speaker:So that's the fascinating part too,
Speaker:is that because I'm so passionate about my art and protective
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:I have no qualms fighting for what I believe is right.
Speaker:And I guess what I learned from that experience was,
Speaker:well, my work is good to the point where corporations want
Speaker:to rip it off.
Speaker:And you do have to be careful because there are people
Speaker:who will try to get something out of.
Speaker:I don't know how to word this.
Speaker:I think that lawyer called me cause he just wanted money
Speaker:for himself.
Speaker:And didn't realize he was dealing with the wrong person.
Speaker:Right. Cause did get my settlement.
Speaker:He didn't think I was going to get anything.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I just took control of that situation as,
Speaker:as I could.
Speaker:And I prayed a lot,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I did pray a lot.
Speaker:Like why is this happening?
Speaker:Let me just get through this.
Speaker:What I learned about that is it's very important to be
Speaker:tenacious and to be persistent,
Speaker:consistent, even if you're going through a difficult time,
Speaker:always have faith and hope that there's going to be a
Speaker:reason for it and an outcome.
Speaker:This is a great story to share Kathy,
Speaker:because gift biz listeners,
Speaker:I want you to really listen and think about the story
Speaker:that Kathy just said and how she stood up for her
Speaker:rights. And a lot of us who are in the creative
Speaker:industry, whether it's intellectual property,
Speaker:because it's a physical piece,
Speaker:like a photo that you've done or jewelry that you've made
Speaker:or intellectual property that you've created,
Speaker:just because you've made it,
Speaker:it has such great value.
Speaker:And I think a lot of us don't think of it
Speaker:that way,
Speaker:because we've put it together ourselves,
Speaker:but it is valuable.
Speaker:And it's so important because it differentiates you from anybody else.
Speaker:No one else can draw like Kathy draws,
Speaker:no one else can put together jewelry.
Speaker:Like others of you who are out there or bake cakes
Speaker:and design cakes with the fun Dante and all that.
Speaker:Like you can't do it like the person next to you.
Speaker:You do it in your own creative way.
Speaker:And that's really,
Speaker:really important.
Speaker:Number one to continually recognize,
Speaker:but also to protect just like Kathy's talking about with her
Speaker:story. And let me just say,
Speaker:I did not want to go through that experience.
Speaker:That, that whole lawsuit thing,
Speaker:it was not pleasant.
Speaker:It was not easy,
Speaker:but I'm very happy that chapter closed in my life.
Speaker:And what I learned from it was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we all have this inner strength within and sometimes life will
Speaker:throw you a challenge to test you.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I don't know what else to say about that experience,
Speaker:but just that I'm glad it's over.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:At the same time it showed my inner strength and how
Speaker:important my art is to me,
Speaker:to the point where I am willing to fight tooth and
Speaker:nail. If I have to,
Speaker:That has been such great input.
Speaker:Cathy, I'm going to roll now into our reflection section.
Speaker:And this is a look at you and what has helped
Speaker:you to be successful along the way.
Speaker:And some of it,
Speaker:we already have a feel for,
Speaker:from your Vietnam vet story in terms of making people feel
Speaker:comfortable and willing to share when you're drawing them.
Speaker:But what else,
Speaker:or how would you expand on that trait?
Speaker:Or is there another trait that you have that you think
Speaker:has helped you to be successful?
Speaker:Well, being a creative person,
Speaker:I feel that we always think outside the box in terms
Speaker:of how do we get noticed?
Speaker:How can I do things differently than other people are promoting
Speaker:themselves? How can I differentiate myself?
Speaker:Like sometimes I'll look at people I admire and see what
Speaker:they're doing and just maybe take bits and pieces of what
Speaker:they're doing and then make it into my own in terms
Speaker:of like marketing myself or,
Speaker:Oh, I didn't think about this.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:Wonderful. What tool do you use regularly to keep productive or
Speaker:to help create balance in your life?
Speaker:I use a calendar I'm very old fashioned.
Speaker:I have a big calendar in my office and I put
Speaker:in dates and times of meetings.
Speaker:And I also love my iPhone,
Speaker:where I schedule for calls.
Speaker:I love using hoot suite for social media and Facebook to
Speaker:schedule things out.
Speaker:And I love Periscope.
Speaker:Periscope is great too,
Speaker:but in terms of keeping myself on track,
Speaker:I've always been a very organized person.
Speaker:So that just comes naturally for me,
Speaker:Just a little bit about how you're using Hootsuite.
Speaker:I think that would be really interesting With Hootsuite.
Speaker:What's really great about this program and software is you can
Speaker:schedule ahead of time on Twitter,
Speaker:on Instagram,
Speaker:on Facebook,
Speaker:on your personal Facebook page,
Speaker:on your Facebook business page.
Speaker:So what are the things like?
Speaker:Let's say I'm taking a trip cause I do travel a
Speaker:lot. If I'm going to be gone for a week,
Speaker:I love this program because I can preschedule things so that
Speaker:when I'm on my vacation,
Speaker:I don't have to worry about marketing myself on social media.
Speaker:So I will either do quotes or I will create something
Speaker:in Canva,
Speaker:upload it through hoot suite.
Speaker:So basically like a Sunday night,
Speaker:I will just,
Speaker:okay, what do I want to communicate this week?
Speaker:Or who do I want to draw this week?
Speaker:And I will just try to think ahead of time.
Speaker:I like to preschedule that Doing it then on your computer
Speaker:or on your phone,
Speaker:or I love my desktop.
Speaker:Okay. On my desktop usually,
Speaker:but let's say I'm away and I forgot I'll use my
Speaker:iPhone as well.
Speaker:What I usually do when I'm overseas is I will,
Speaker:before I leave,
Speaker:I will schedule things ahead of time on HootSweet to send
Speaker:things out.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That's a great explanation.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:What book have you read lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value in?
Speaker:I think everybody listening should get Elizabeth's new book,
Speaker:creative magic.
Speaker:It was recently published and I loved reading this book.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:I just love her way of writing.
Speaker:She's just so real and raw.
Speaker:I've met her in person.
Speaker:She's a lovely person.
Speaker:What I love about this book is I've always known I've
Speaker:been creative,
Speaker:but I know there's a lot of people out there that
Speaker:don't think they are and that's not true.
Speaker:And this is a great book to read because she explained
Speaker:how creativity is like a muse.
Speaker:It comes and it goes,
Speaker:you cannot tame it.
Speaker:It's like this wild horse that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she explains in her book about ideas and how it comes.
Speaker:And you can take an idea and take it so far
Speaker:and about how we always put pressure on ourselves to be
Speaker:a full-time fledge artist all the time.
Speaker:And she talks about giving yourself permission to play and tapping
Speaker:into your inner kid.
Speaker:There's a chapter in her book where she's like,
Speaker:Oh, these artists that say I'm going to be a full
Speaker:fledge, 100% artists.
Speaker:And you're putting pressure on yourself to pay those bills.
Speaker:And I kind of experienced that myself when I was doing
Speaker:caricaturing all time,
Speaker:110% of the time,
Speaker:it took the fun out of it.
Speaker:So what I'm just trying to say is this book is
Speaker:a great book to read because it encourages each and every
Speaker:one of us to tap into our creativity.
Speaker:We all have that creative aspect of ourselves.
Speaker:Some of us had found it sooner than others,
Speaker:but it's there.
Speaker:It's a great rate.
Speaker:It's a really great read.
Speaker:Wonderful and give biz listeners just as you're listening to the
Speaker:podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible as you know,
Speaker:and you can get an audio book just like the one
Speaker:Kathy's recommending for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:That's gift biz,
Speaker:book.com. All right,
Speaker:Cathy for we get onto my favorite thing,
Speaker:which is your dare to dream question.
Speaker:I first want to ask you what would be the best
Speaker:way for our listeners to get in touch with you?
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:The best way to get in touch with me is just
Speaker:send me an email@cathyatcathynolan.com
Speaker:was the SI or you can tweet me at Cathy Nolan
Speaker:art, or reach me on Facebook.
Speaker:Send me a Facebook message.
Speaker:I do have a Facebook page,
Speaker:Cathy Nolan.
Speaker:Caricaturists if you are interested in me drawing you or promoting
Speaker:your business on my Periscope channel,
Speaker:which is also Cathy Nolan art,
Speaker:just get in touch with me or contact me through my
Speaker:website, Cathy nolan.com.
Speaker:There is a contact page at the very end of the
Speaker:website. Wonderful.
Speaker:And now I would like to present you with a virtual
Speaker:gift. It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal,
Speaker:Cathy of almost UN reachable Heights that you would wish to
Speaker:obtain. Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your virtual box?
Speaker:Hm. Inside my ritual box is the unwavering belief in God's
Speaker:plan for me sometimes in life.
Speaker:We don't know why we're on a certain path,
Speaker:but having that trust and belief that it is all coming
Speaker:together. There is a Supreme destiny for each and every one
Speaker:of us.
Speaker:Even if you're feeling you're not on the right path,
Speaker:you have to center yourself and ask yourself,
Speaker:well, what's the one thing I can do today to move
Speaker:forward in the right direction.
Speaker:And just having that trust,
Speaker:that trust that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's all good.
Speaker:It's all falling into place and just taking one Day at
Speaker:a time.
Speaker:Love that message.
Speaker:And we've all pretty much done that.
Speaker:Taken that one step,
Speaker:moving forward by all being together here today,
Speaker:listening to all of this information,
Speaker:you have said so many really important things for our audience.
Speaker:I really appreciated Kathy the comments about what an artist,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the value of the art that you provide to the world,
Speaker:how important it is.
Speaker:I know that all of us being together and listening to
Speaker:you speaking and you sharing your information will move all of
Speaker:us forward in a much better way.
Speaker:And let's just say that that's also belief in God's plan,
Speaker:that we were all supposed to be together on this podcast
Speaker:today. How about that?
Speaker:And I do hope that the gift of his listeners,
Speaker:that I've inspired you to even like have an art date
Speaker:with yourself or get some Kranz and just draw a picture
Speaker:and it's okay.
Speaker:Just, don't be afraid to play and tap into your inner
Speaker:kid and give yourself permission to be childlike towards your business.
Speaker:Because if you always stay curious and you'll be led to
Speaker:a path that you may never have thought about being on
Speaker:before, that should be a quote from you,
Speaker:Cathy somewhere.
Speaker:Definitely. Well,
Speaker:thank you once again.
Speaker:I appreciate your time.
Speaker:All the information that you've shared and Kathy may your candle
Speaker:always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you Sue,
Speaker:for having me.
Speaker:It's been a joy to be with.
Speaker:You Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your
Speaker:business. Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your
Speaker:business in life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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