Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Work hard to hone your sales skills.
- The power of asking a question can take you to destinations you can never imagine.
- If I had taken NO for an answer, I would not be who I am today.
- When you go to a trade show, make as many connections as possible. Then follow up, follow up, follow up.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help.
- Everyone is going to fail in some capacity. Don’t use it as a reason to stop. It should teach you something so you can move forward.
- When you’re communicating with other people in business, listen to what they’re telling you. Listen to their story.
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Thanks! Sue
Transcripts
You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 188 the power of
Speaker:asking a question will take you to destinations and explorations that
Speaker:you cannot imagine.
Speaker:Attention gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.
Speaker:Whether you have an established business or looking to start one
Speaker:now you are in the right place.
Speaker:This is gift to biz unwrapped,
Speaker:helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.
Speaker:Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,
Speaker:resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.
Speaker:Here is your host gift biz gal,
Speaker:Sue moon Heights high gift biz listeners.
Speaker:It's Sue And thank you so much for sharing a little
Speaker:bit of your time with me today.
Speaker:I have one announcement and one short story before we get
Speaker:into the show.
Speaker:The announcement is if you are not already part of the
Speaker:gift biz breeze Facebook group,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:what are you waiting for?
Speaker:We have something super special happening right now in that group
Speaker:for the holidays for you,
Speaker:and I want you to be a part of it,
Speaker:to get all the details and to know what I'm talking
Speaker:about. However you need to go over and join the breeze.
Speaker:Joining is super easy.
Speaker:Just go on to Facebook,
Speaker:search for gift,
Speaker:biz breeze and asked to join.
Speaker:I'll see you in the breeze now for my short story
Speaker:about four years ago was when I was really in depth
Speaker:strategizing this podcast.
Speaker:As with anything you build,
Speaker:you want to have some planning and really think things through
Speaker:and determine how this was all going to come together just
Speaker:like we do for our businesses,
Speaker:right? So I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker:I already knew this was going to be a guest interview
Speaker:based show because I wanted to share all their people who
Speaker:are creating businesses to show everybody how doable it is and
Speaker:then to also share what's working for other people and people
Speaker:in your industry,
Speaker:people out of your industry,
Speaker:et cetera.
Speaker:So I'm thinking to myself,
Speaker:well, you know,
Speaker:where am I going to get all these people?
Speaker:I have a relatively sizable network of acquaintances and people through
Speaker:my other business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the ribbon print company,
Speaker:but where am I going to find some of these other
Speaker:people? And there was an artist's work that kept popping out
Speaker:to me.
Speaker:I do a fair amount of traveling and a lot of
Speaker:times I was seeing her work at airport shops and I
Speaker:was always drawn into it.
Speaker:It was bold,
Speaker:it's beautiful,
Speaker:it's vibrant.
Speaker:It just really resonated with me and I thought to myself
Speaker:way back then.
Speaker:So that's almost four years ago.
Speaker:Wow. I wonder what her story is and I wonder if
Speaker:I'd ever be in a position to have her on my
Speaker:show. Well,
Speaker:listen to this crazy things,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:law of attraction.
Speaker:Once again,
Speaker:I don't know if it shows up in your life,
Speaker:but it shows up all the time in mine,
Speaker:ends up our paths cross.
Speaker:I interviewed Sean Perala for the podcast.
Speaker:You might have heard her episode a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker:She and Sonia are friends.
Speaker:I guess they got to chatting and Sonia reached out to
Speaker:me. She was wondering if we could each be on each
Speaker:other's podcasts because we serve a similar audience.
Speaker:You and I looked at the name and I'm like,
Speaker:no, that cannot be the same person I was thinking about
Speaker:four years ago.
Speaker:Of course I go to the website,
Speaker:see her art because it's immediately recognizable and I was like,
Speaker:this is insane how these things happen.
Speaker:And of course I invited her onto the show in a
Speaker:second and now you get to listen to her whole story
Speaker:and I just want to point out what happened here.
Speaker:I had a thought for the future.
Speaker:I didn't know if it was obtainable or not.
Speaker:Honestly, I really didn't think about it a lot more over
Speaker:the course of the years because I already had guests coming
Speaker:and I was able to easily find and attract guests into
Speaker:the show.
Speaker:But she's a special one because she brings me back to
Speaker:that time when I was wondering if the podcast was going
Speaker:to work.
Speaker:I was wondering if anyone was going to listen to the
Speaker:show and I was wondering if ever I'd be able to
Speaker:have some of the guests of the caliber and quality that
Speaker:each and every one of our guests has been to date.
Speaker:So no more rambling with me.
Speaker:I've just reinforced to me and point out to you once
Speaker:again that all of these things that we sometimes think aren't
Speaker:possible truly are.
Speaker:So now it is my great pleasure to introduce you to
Speaker:Sonia paths.
Speaker:Sonia is a fine artist who has created her own highly
Speaker:recognizable individual brand and pop art style of painting in addition
Speaker:to fine art paintings,
Speaker:products include Sonya pass,
Speaker:signature limited edition wrist wear,
Speaker:watches, ceramics,
Speaker:apparel, clocks,
Speaker:jewelry and framed prints.
Speaker:Her products are found in boutiques,
Speaker:museum shops and wineries and interior designers and decorators use.
Speaker:Sonia has designs for modern home accents and original art.
Speaker:Sonia is also a marketing and branding Wiz who has made
Speaker:a name for herself in the art world.
Speaker:She enjoys helping others who are developing their own brand and
Speaker:creative business with her knowledge of expertise,
Speaker:marketing savvy,
Speaker:and sassy.
Speaker:Tenacity. Sonya pays it forward as the host and creator of
Speaker:the rock star mentor podcast and related services.
Speaker:I am so excited that you are here.
Speaker:Sonya, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Hi, thank you so much Sue for having me on the
Speaker:show today.
Speaker:I am so excited and I just have to share with
Speaker:our listeners that I have been a lover of your work
Speaker:for years and was so excited when we were able to
Speaker:finally connect.
Speaker:I know such a small world,
Speaker:I can't believe it.
Speaker:And then you recently had one of my great friends,
Speaker:Sean Perla with all the buzz gifts on and I thought,
Speaker:Oh I know this,
Speaker:I know this podcast.
Speaker:So that was exciting.
Speaker:Oh, so you were listening to me even before Sean was
Speaker:on. Yeah,
Speaker:cause she had told me about it.
Speaker:Oh got it.
Speaker:One of our meetings,
Speaker:I said,
Speaker:Oh I got to check it out cause I just love
Speaker:anything. Well,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:being that I'm in retail and do all the gifted kind
Speaker:of things too,
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:Oh, I'd love to hear what other people have to say
Speaker:and I love to hear the journeys of other people in
Speaker:how they got to where they are.
Speaker:Absolutely. And that's what we're going to do with you too.
Speaker:Right now it's a little bit challenging because you have so
Speaker:much going on,
Speaker:so we're going to see how much we can get to
Speaker:and not make this podcast like five hours long.
Speaker:Sure. Before we get started,
Speaker:I like to introduce you in a little bit of a
Speaker:different way.
Speaker:Have her audience get to know you by way of a
Speaker:motivational candle and I'm guessing this is going to be super
Speaker:easy for you to do.
Speaker:So if you were to describe for us a motivational candle
Speaker:by color and quote that really speaks you,
Speaker:what would your candle look like?
Speaker:Well, my candle would be lime green because that is my
Speaker:favorite color.
Speaker:I love green.
Speaker:It's just nature,
Speaker:it's energy,
Speaker:it's fun,
Speaker:it's flowing and I'm picturing it with a cool label on
Speaker:it. I guess,
Speaker:I don't know if you want me to put a label
Speaker:on it.
Speaker:It's your candle,
Speaker:so it would be lime green with a copper wrapping that
Speaker:says life is business as usual and I know that a
Speaker:lot of entrepreneurs and business people will understand that one because
Speaker:as an artist,
Speaker:as anybody,
Speaker:especially your listeners,
Speaker:my listeners,
Speaker:whoever are listening that are artists and entrepreneurs,
Speaker:you know that your mind is constantly spinning.
Speaker:So I always say life is business as usual.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I don't know if a personal quote is good or if
Speaker:a more traditional one is,
Speaker:but that's the one that sort of stands out when I
Speaker:talk to people and we're working on a plan for them
Speaker:as far as their business or if I'm selling artwork to
Speaker:somebody is my art is my life and it's all business
Speaker:and I love business.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:How did we get ourselves here?
Speaker:All these women who love business and creators at that and
Speaker:then turning our crafts into businesses.
Speaker:I think it's wonderful.
Speaker:Yeah. When I opened up my gallery in downtown Campbell in
Speaker:2008 well,
Speaker:I made the mistake of telling my husband the story about
Speaker:when I was a kid.
Speaker:Yeah, I had a cardboard store in my bedroom and when
Speaker:we were doing the ribbon cutting at my gallery in December
Speaker:of 2008 the mayor was there and they asked to Mark
Speaker:to talk for a few minutes and so he told a
Speaker:story of the cardboard store and then I thought,
Speaker:Oh no,
Speaker:now everyone knows.
Speaker:But I was destined to have some type of store presence
Speaker:or a love for retail or just to have something that
Speaker:I was owning and I was able to do and produce
Speaker:for others.
Speaker:I think that's a great story.
Speaker:I wouldn't be embarrassed by that at all.
Speaker:Oh, well I was just taken back.
Speaker:I thought you're telling this 150 people.
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:I want this,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:welcome to Sonia's cardboard store.
Speaker:So, but it was a lot bigger than a cardboard store.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Well, I have to just say,
Speaker:because it's so relevant right here.
Speaker:I've got a lot of people who will say,
Speaker:I want to start a business,
Speaker:I want to do something creative.
Speaker:And many creators do lots of different types of things.
Speaker:They might sew and they might needle point and they might
Speaker:knit or they might do watercolor and oil painting,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:all different types of things.
Speaker:So what actually do they start as a business?
Speaker:And one of the things I always say is,
Speaker:well what did you love as a child?
Speaker:Was it that you enjoyed so much?
Speaker:Because I'm seeing a commonality.
Speaker:There's actually three different things.
Speaker:We're not going to go into that now.
Speaker:But part of it is what did you really love to
Speaker:do as a child?
Speaker:Because then you were so carefree,
Speaker:Right? There had been no societal rules that have been imposed
Speaker:on you yet.
Speaker:And so it's good to go back there and your story
Speaker:falls right in line with that with your shop,
Speaker:your cardboard store.
Speaker:Yeah. And it's so funny cause we were in downtown Campbell
Speaker:and a couple of friends of mine,
Speaker:other business owners came up to me during our event and
Speaker:said, Oh my God,
Speaker:I love the story.
Speaker:She says,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:well one of my friends Priscilla,
Speaker:and she had owned a gift shop down in downtown.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:I understand.
Speaker:She says it's a rare person that knows what they want
Speaker:to do at an early age.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:I totally get it.
Speaker:I had my own version of a cardboard store.
Speaker:So I felt like,
Speaker:okay, I have a tribe.
Speaker:There's people do get it.
Speaker:I'm not there For sure.
Speaker:Well let's back it up from the in between the gallery
Speaker:and the cardboard store.
Speaker:So left this go batter a little bit.
Speaker:How did you land on the idea of art and doing
Speaker:that as your business?
Speaker:Or you might even have to back up further than that.
Speaker:I don't even know your story,
Speaker:Sonia, so Oh sure.
Speaker:You're going to need to back up and kind of share
Speaker:how you've gotten to where you are.
Speaker:Oh sure.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:So I have always been creative.
Speaker:Back when the cardboard store,
Speaker:I had my own lemonade stand and everything that I did
Speaker:regarding business.
Speaker:Oh and let me just add that.
Speaker:I've been a cake decorator when I was in high school,
Speaker:I went from that to working as a florist.
Speaker:I went to floral design school in Anaheim,
Speaker:California right after high school.
Speaker:And I've just also been a natural marketer.
Speaker:So with all of these different creative businesses that I've had,
Speaker:I've just always just had the business hat on.
Speaker:And of course,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:as we became a parent,
Speaker:I mean a mother and had to provide for the family
Speaker:and everything.
Speaker:I worked in corporate and I worked at companies like Apple,
Speaker:Claris, Microsoft,
Speaker:Adobe. So these have always been creative companies and I've thrived
Speaker:in that environment because it's who I,
Speaker:and it's the composition of who I am and how I'm
Speaker:formatted. Before that also,
Speaker:I also worked in automobile sales for Mitsubishi motors.
Speaker:So I learned how to sell.
Speaker:I mean hardcore selling cause when you're the only woman on
Speaker:a lot of salesmen,
Speaker:you got to get your game on.
Speaker:You got to be confident in,
Speaker:they're going to dish it to you,
Speaker:you gotta dish it back.
Speaker:But you know,
Speaker:I want it to be salesperson of the month quite often.
Speaker:And so I worked really hard to hone in on the
Speaker:sales skills and I was a fish out of water at
Speaker:that point cause I never sold anything that large of a
Speaker:product. So one of the managers took me under his wing
Speaker:and said,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you have to overcome a lot of these fears.
Speaker:So with that knowledge and working in a high tech and
Speaker:being creative,
Speaker:I've sort of just started working and doing my art.
Speaker:So I would say in the mid nineties I had a
Speaker:love for the Warhol style of artwork and I decided that
Speaker:I, you know,
Speaker:of course I love Lucille ball.
Speaker:I did a eight week show at Gordon Biersch brewery in
Speaker:downtown San Jose and the show was called Lucille ball,
Speaker:one woman,
Speaker:many faces.
Speaker:And I had about 14 of these screen printed,
Speaker:embellished large paintings that we covered the entire restaurant in.
Speaker:And that was my first solo show.
Speaker:And I would say that although that's not the style that
Speaker:I really do today,
Speaker:it was something I had to get out of my system.
Speaker:There was a lot of things going on when I was
Speaker:working for Microsoft at the time and it was just,
Speaker:it was a lot of pressure and a lot of things
Speaker:happening and I wasn't happy at that job.
Speaker:I can probably say that now.
Speaker:It's okay,
Speaker:it's all good,
Speaker:but I said,
Speaker:this is the goal that I'm going to have for this
Speaker:year and I'm going to do that.
Speaker:And I did it and it was so funny because people
Speaker:would ask me,
Speaker:Hey, how'd you get that eight week show at the brewery?
Speaker:Oh, I picked up the phone,
Speaker:I contacted the manager and I asked the question.
Speaker:No wait,
Speaker:it was that quick.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:he said,
Speaker:sounds cool.
Speaker:Can bring in a couple of samples and I didn't even
Speaker:have all the paintings yet.
Speaker:I had the screen print design and that's a whole interesting
Speaker:story. The power of asking a question will take you to
Speaker:destinations and explorations that you cannot imagine because I didn't want
Speaker:to get in trouble for using an image of Lucille ball
Speaker:and Desi Arnaz.
Speaker:It was on a book cover that I had seen at
Speaker:Barnes and noble and I picked up the book cover and
Speaker:I bought,
Speaker:well, I picked up the book,
Speaker:I purchased it and I flipped to the back of the
Speaker:book because I wanted to find who the publisher was so
Speaker:I can ask permission to use the image.
Speaker:So we're talking 1994 way before we had Google and Yahoo
Speaker:and all these big search engines where you at the touch
Speaker:of a finger,
Speaker:you can get your information.
Speaker:I had to call,
Speaker:what was it,
Speaker:information, the area code of New York city.
Speaker:(212) 555-1212.
Speaker:Do you remember that?
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:call information when you actually have to dial four one one.
Speaker:I had totally forgotten that.
Speaker:That's so funny.
Speaker:That's how far back we're going.
Speaker:So I call this publishing company.
Speaker:I get this grumpy guy and I'm picturing this guy in
Speaker:a smoky office with one window,
Speaker:the, you know,
Speaker:the office is probably about four foot by 10 foot.
Speaker:This is what I'm picturing in my mind and I get
Speaker:this guy on the phone and he basically tells me in
Speaker:so many words that you've got a long haul here,
Speaker:young lady,
Speaker:you've got to find out this and that and you can
Speaker:have to write in,
Speaker:you can have to get an attorney and all this stuff.
Speaker:And I usually don't take no for an answer pretty easily.
Speaker:So I did some research.
Speaker:I ended up finding out the name of the photographer who
Speaker:took the photo.
Speaker:I looked him up in the Hollywood Hills directory.
Speaker:I ended up finding out that his wife was,
Speaker:he was,
Speaker:she was widowed cause he had passed away but his name
Speaker:was Leonard needle.
Speaker:And he is the gentleman who took the photo of Lucille
Speaker:ball and Desi Arnaz in 1957 and I talked to her,
Speaker:I told her what my vision was and what I wanted
Speaker:to do.
Speaker:She said,
Speaker:would you kindly send me a letter requesting the information that
Speaker:you'd like and the purpose?
Speaker:I wrote her the letter,
Speaker:she wrote me back via mail.
Speaker:You know the thing you put in the envelope and stick
Speaker:a stamp on it.
Speaker:And she gave me permission to use the image.
Speaker:So therefore that image is what I took to the restaurant
Speaker:and said,
Speaker:this is what I'm going to be doing and here's the
Speaker:scope of the project and these are how big they're going
Speaker:to be.
Speaker:And the manager,
Speaker:his name was John,
Speaker:I don't remember his last name,
Speaker:but he said,
Speaker:that sounds really cool.
Speaker:Let's set a date and about fell over.
Speaker:Wow. I thought,
Speaker:here we go.
Speaker:The game is on the ceilings coming down.
Speaker:The floor is coming up and I'm going to just make
Speaker:this happen.
Speaker:So when you do that,
Speaker:because I see artists work in coffee shops around here,
Speaker:you know I'm here in the Northern suburbs of Chicago.
Speaker:When you do something like that and all of your art
Speaker:then is for sale,
Speaker:right. Do you then give some type of a cut of
Speaker:a purchase back to that location?
Speaker:Is that how that works?
Speaker:Typically it's depending on the coffee shop or restaurant.
Speaker:A lot of times the,
Speaker:and I would say a lot of times,
Speaker:don't quote me on this,
Speaker:but depends on the venue.
Speaker:Depends on the restaurant.
Speaker:Sometimes they want to have 12 different looks throughout the year
Speaker:so they will do a rotating artist or rotating photographer or
Speaker:what have you show at their restaurant.
Speaker:So they'll have someone that will curate that cause they want
Speaker:to make sure they have first of all enough artwork to
Speaker:cover and that it's appropriate for all ages or it's,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:nothing too political controversial or whatever.
Speaker:The fits with the style that they want to present.
Speaker:Exactly. So a lot of the times they say,
Speaker:we'll have a reception for you and they'll pay for that.
Speaker:And at least in my case it was,
Speaker:we'll do a reception for you.
Speaker:You bring the people,
Speaker:they buy food and drink,
Speaker:we're fine.
Speaker:And we had on many occasions I've done that and that's
Speaker:how I started getting a lot of my artwork out there
Speaker:and the Gordon bearish brewery in downtown.
Speaker:My first Real show.
Speaker:But that was in 94 and then a lot of stuff
Speaker:kind of happened.
Speaker:I was not doing art as a full time thing.
Speaker:I want to stop you though right here,
Speaker:just for a second because I think that point,
Speaker:the power of asking a question is so powerful and people
Speaker:just don't do it.
Speaker:They don't even think of asking and look,
Speaker:when you talk about the story,
Speaker:there's two things here and I am so glad we got
Speaker:on this story.
Speaker:The first thing is you got started decided this is what
Speaker:you were going to do.
Speaker:It isn't the style of art that you now represent and
Speaker:that represents Sonia pass as the brand.
Speaker:Right? Right.
Speaker:But you got started.
Speaker:So it had to evolve to that from somewhere.
Speaker:So that was the first thing.
Speaker:And the second thing I really like is when you were
Speaker:going after getting permission for that photo,
Speaker:you found a different way.
Speaker:Right? Because you could have just closed up and said,
Speaker:okay, not doing it.
Speaker:You know it's not going to work.
Speaker:He's telling me it's going to be a long,
Speaker:hard road.
Speaker:It's not worth it.
Speaker:I'll just find another photo and expensive and expensive.
Speaker:No, you found another way.
Speaker:Right, which is really cool.
Speaker:It was pretty cool.
Speaker:I ended up meeting her a couple of months later when
Speaker:my cousin and I took a drive to Southern California.
Speaker:I called her and said,
Speaker:Hey, I'm going to be in your neck of the woods.
Speaker:Can I meet you?
Speaker:And she invited us to her house for tea.
Speaker:It was the most surreal event.
Speaker:I thought.
Speaker:I walked into a set of some old movie and this
Speaker:home with photography all over the walls.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Sort of art deco day.
Speaker:It was in.
Speaker:I only imagined to myself.
Speaker:Really? He was so lovely.
Speaker:You're absolutely correct.
Speaker:If I had said in all my life,
Speaker:if I take no for an answer,
Speaker:just go and take my marbles and go somewhere else.
Speaker:I would not be who I am today.
Speaker:The reason I always use the word tenacity or tenacious,
Speaker:it's not meant in a bad way.
Speaker:It's meant to be in a very spunky,
Speaker:sassy way.
Speaker:So that,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I'm about four foot tall,
Speaker:I'm petite.
Speaker:I have people tell me that I'm 10 feet tall because
Speaker:what comes out of my mouth and my personality overrides my
Speaker:size. Because as a child I was always the last one
Speaker:picked for sports.
Speaker:I was always underestimated and understated because I was smaller and
Speaker:I think I wasn't taken seriously for a lot of years
Speaker:and I got important stuff to talk about.
Speaker:Yeah, well,
Speaker:and I have to say,
Speaker:I mean when I look at your style,
Speaker:it's bold,
Speaker:it's solid,
Speaker:it's bold.
Speaker:It's like you know exactly what it is,
Speaker:right? There's no reading between the lines.
Speaker:There's a lot of intricacy in terms of all the elements,
Speaker:but all your colors are bold.
Speaker:So that has all gone into your creative outlet as well.
Speaker:Right. And that style developed from the Lucille ball thing.
Speaker:That was something I needed to get out of my system,
Speaker:but I didn't carry through that Warhol esque style of our
Speaker:ongoing, I actually didn't do art for three years or so.
Speaker:We had some family changes In our home and then I
Speaker:decided that I needed to surround myself around something positive and
Speaker:I took my love of the cubistic style of Picasso and
Speaker:Brock and all that and I took the style of American
Speaker:pop art,
Speaker:Lichtenstein, herring,
Speaker:Warhol and Peter max and the artists that really had a
Speaker:simple style with a strong statement.
Speaker:I took my cubistic style and the love for pop art
Speaker:and I melded the two together and I did everything that
Speaker:my art teachers told me never to do.
Speaker:They always said,
Speaker:Oh, you can mix this style with that.
Speaker:The masters never did this.
Speaker:A masters never did that.
Speaker:My response to that was,
Speaker:well, I don't know anything about the masters and I'm,
Speaker:they're dead and I didn't have anything to do with setting
Speaker:up those roles,
Speaker:so I'm going to go do my own thing.
Speaker:That's how that whole style evolved and it's really taken a
Speaker:lot of different directions over the last,
Speaker:Oh gosh,
Speaker:we're going on 22 years of creating.
Speaker:Is it really 22 years?
Speaker:Gosh about that.
Speaker:I have to say that you have achieved what I think
Speaker:a lot of people strive for because if someone,
Speaker:I'm, I have a mug here right from you were talking
Speaker:about that before.
Speaker:I've seen your products.
Speaker:If I walk in anywhere and I see something of yours,
Speaker:I know automatically it's yours because your style is so unique.
Speaker:Now could someone try and copy it?
Speaker:Probably, but they're not going to do a very good job
Speaker:because of just the way everything is put together and your
Speaker:unique way of creating it and all of that.
Speaker:And I think that's what,
Speaker:as makers,
Speaker:everyone is trying to do have something where even if they
Speaker:couldn't see the name on it,
Speaker:they know who it is,
Speaker:they know where it's from.
Speaker:Right. And I have lots of people say,
Speaker:Hey, I saw your stuff at a friend of mine's house
Speaker:in new Orleans or whatever.
Speaker:And I would think an ad and ads,
Speaker:it looks like mine,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:and it would end up being my art.
Speaker:So I have what we call Sonya sightings.
Speaker:There you go.
Speaker:It's gotta be so rewarding.
Speaker:It gives me a giant warm fuzzy and I think really,
Speaker:what was your name?
Speaker:Which piece was it?
Speaker:What'd it look like?
Speaker:Where was it hanging up?
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:Then comes to the drill.
Speaker:So I have to ask this question.
Speaker:I'm not a painter,
Speaker:I'm not an artist in that way.
Speaker:Were you first just doing pictures on paper and then you
Speaker:saw that people started liking them or what were those first
Speaker:steps? I keep bringing you back because I think it's good
Speaker:information for people to understand the progression.
Speaker:Sure. Well,
Speaker:I was working when I was doing the style,
Speaker:I started doing it just for me.
Speaker:Doing what?
Speaker:Painting on paper or what was that painting on paper?
Speaker:They were smaller way smaller about five by seven and then
Speaker:I daringly went up to eight by 10 I was doing
Speaker:acrylic on 140 pound watercolor paper and doing the art and
Speaker:painting on the dining room table when the kids went to
Speaker:bed. I have two sons and they were much younger at
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:And so after they would go to bed,
Speaker:it was my time to sort of just decompress that working
Speaker:eight to 10 hour day had two kids.
Speaker:I wrangled them at night.
Speaker:My, uh,
Speaker:former spouse and I had parted ways and he ended up
Speaker:getting sick and he passed away.
Speaker:Well, I'm sorry to hear that.
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:And here we were,
Speaker:is doing the single parent thing.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:full time,
Speaker:no break,
Speaker:that kind of thing.
Speaker:And so the painting really took me back to relaxing and
Speaker:zoning out and just creating from the heart and creating things
Speaker:that were meaningful to me and the bright colors really made
Speaker:me feel a lot better.
Speaker:Plus I wanted to hang art in my house that I
Speaker:liked, that I could really relate to.
Speaker:So I started hanging his up and then a neighbor had
Speaker:come over ahead.
Speaker:A new neighbor that moved in next door,
Speaker:she had come over,
Speaker:she wanted to introduce herself of all things.
Speaker:I had this crazy martini painting in my entryway and she
Speaker:goes, wow,
Speaker:that's really cool artwork.
Speaker:Where'd you get that?
Speaker:And I said,
Speaker:Oh, I did that.
Speaker:No, really,
Speaker:can you make one for me?
Speaker:And I was sort of taken back.
Speaker:I go,
Speaker:well, I probably could.
Speaker:And she said,
Speaker:well, how much will it cost?
Speaker:25 bucks.
Speaker:And the cost of the front line.
Speaker:Gosh, I know.
Speaker:And from that,
Speaker:when eBay was,
Speaker:I wouldn't say 1990 1999 ish.
Speaker:Yeah, it was 1999 I started selling on eBay.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:well, I'll paint a couple paintings.
Speaker:I'll put them on paper and I would paint them.
Speaker:And the next day I'd go to work.
Speaker:I'd come home at lunch and I would photograph them in
Speaker:the driveway just because that was where the sun shined the
Speaker:best. And for me,
Speaker:my artwork was better photographed in sunlight versus in a light
Speaker:box before they had light boxes and stuff like that.
Speaker:So I would do that.
Speaker:And then that night I would prep the artwork in Photoshop,
Speaker:put little watermark,
Speaker:and then I would wait until Sunday to post about three
Speaker:or four on eBay,
Speaker:a handler routine I would do every week.
Speaker:And I started getting bids on these little paintings,
Speaker:eight by 10 paintings.
Speaker:And then I would get asked by others about commissioned work
Speaker:and you know,
Speaker:Hey, could you do a picture of my daughter on a
Speaker:16 by 20 canvas?
Speaker:And I'm thinking,
Speaker:Oh my God,
Speaker:16 by 20 so,
Speaker:which is nothing now,
Speaker:but back at the time I thought,
Speaker:wow, I'm going to have to go buy an easel.
Speaker:Gosh, you know,
Speaker:this is a big step.
Speaker:And it just snowballed because as people started collecting and buying
Speaker:them, I would create more.
Speaker:And that was the beginning.
Speaker:So I do think eBay for my beginnings on selling my
Speaker:art, and I didn't have to be present to be selling
Speaker:it. I love the fact that you talk about you didn't
Speaker:have fancy cameras,
Speaker:you didn't have lighting,
Speaker:you didn't have a light box on your driveway in the
Speaker:sun, which again goes back to the fact that we can
Speaker:be our own worst critics and we can stop ourselves with
Speaker:our thinking because you could have said,
Speaker:no, I can't do it yet.
Speaker:I don't have a fancy camera.
Speaker:I need to hire a photographer.
Speaker:Whatever. You didn't do that and E-bay.
Speaker:Such a good idea because you're able to test first you
Speaker:had your neighbor come in,
Speaker:which probably that's light moment.
Speaker:Like wait,
Speaker:Someone really wants to spend money and pay me to do
Speaker:this. That's interesting.
Speaker:Right? And then eBay so great because you only had to
Speaker:make a couple of items and then see if they sell.
Speaker:So you weren't risking too much.
Speaker:Putting yourself out there from a financial standpoint,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:emotionally, of course you want everyone to love what you're doing,
Speaker:but an excellent way in demonstration of how to start growing
Speaker:little by little.
Speaker:Sure. And of course eBay is so different now,
Speaker:but eBay at the time in 99 was great.
Speaker:I mean you could get rid of the drapes in your
Speaker:living room if you didn't like them,
Speaker:take a photo,
Speaker:stick them up on eBay.
Speaker:There was so many different ways to sell,
Speaker:so many different things and I had been part of this
Speaker:artist group called EBS Q,
Speaker:which was started by John seed and he actually reached out
Speaker:to eBay in those early days and worked with a gal
Speaker:in the category section of E-bay because at the time to
Speaker:list your painting or artwork or current works,
Speaker:it was the category was art and antiques slash 1900 to
Speaker:present, well hello gosh,
Speaker:1999 I mean are you really going to put everything from
Speaker:1901 to 1999 in this one category.
Speaker:So he worked with them to identify and create what is
Speaker:now called self-represented artists and it stemmed from there.
Speaker:So I always give him a giant kudos on working and
Speaker:taking the initiative to work with eBay on that categorization.
Speaker:And I think that really made strides and opened up so
Speaker:many doors for so many artists.
Speaker:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker:Okay. Sonya get nervous.
Speaker:I have a question for you.
Speaker:Okay. Are you ready?
Speaker:I got my seat belt on.
Speaker:If you were at that spot today where back then it
Speaker:was EFA putting a couple of pieces up just to see
Speaker:what would happen if you were there today and I'm thinking
Speaker:of some of our artists who might be there right now.
Speaker:What direction would you take today with the platforms that exist?
Speaker:Oh, you mean with our current social media?
Speaker:Like what platform?
Speaker:Like then it was E-bay to try and sell and like
Speaker:test your product.
Speaker:Where would you put it today?
Speaker:I know you can't wait to hear what Sonia's answer is
Speaker:on this.
Speaker:It's coming up right after a word from our sponsor.
Speaker:This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of the
Speaker:ribbon print company.
Speaker:Create custom ribbons right in your store.
Speaker:Craft studio in seconds.
Speaker:Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:I've come a long way from eBay.
Speaker:I know that from there has been other different types of
Speaker:selling. For instance,
Speaker:at sea is huge and then,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it was almost unheard of if somebody had their own website
Speaker:at that time.
Speaker:But I developed my own website and started selling,
Speaker:worked with at one of my developer friends at Adobe to
Speaker:create a shopping cart for me back when e-commerce was really,
Speaker:really new.
Speaker:So at T you think is a good platform to do
Speaker:the same thing today that you did back then and on
Speaker:eBay? Yeah.
Speaker:Well there's a lot of things.
Speaker:I mean there's WordPress now you can get a WordPress site,
Speaker:you Can get integration for e-commerce on there.
Speaker:There's Shopify,
Speaker:there's a lot of really great plug and play.
Speaker:Do it yourself sites that will take care of the eCommerce.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:depending on what you're selling,
Speaker:could even do a lot of fulfillment for you if you're
Speaker:at that point.
Speaker:And if you are,
Speaker:congratulations. So you can even sell your art on Facebook.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:you can sell anything anywhere,
Speaker:right? In the last 20 plus years,
Speaker:there's been so many great places and ways to sell your
Speaker:art. A lot of people from eBay went to Etsy because
Speaker:it was the place to sell your artwork,
Speaker:your craft,
Speaker:your supplies from jewelry to crochet to anything.
Speaker:Yeah, and specifically it was from people who were making something
Speaker:handmade, right?
Speaker:Yeah, and since then,
Speaker:of course we have Pinterest now we have social media,
Speaker:Facebook, Twitter,
Speaker:Instagram. All of these things are great,
Speaker:but I do believe your listeners may beg to differ,
Speaker:but there's a lot of information overload because I get asked
Speaker:because of my podcast,
Speaker:where do I start?
Speaker:Do I start on Facebook?
Speaker:Do I get my website done first?
Speaker:Do I go to Etsy?
Speaker:Do I create my own Shopify account?
Speaker:So there's so much data overload.
Speaker:I would say hone in on one thing that you really
Speaker:feel really comfortable around.
Speaker:If you want to do Etsy,
Speaker:focus on that.
Speaker:If you want to try Shopify,
Speaker:focus on that.
Speaker:Otherwise you're going to drive yourself crazy.
Speaker:Was this order on Facebook?
Speaker:Was this order on Etsy?
Speaker:Was it on Shopify?
Speaker:Was it through the website,
Speaker:so if you can hone in and just really narrow it
Speaker:down to where you're selling and feel good and get really
Speaker:good at it,
Speaker:it's hard to get really good at every type of other
Speaker:type of selling portal out there.
Speaker:I would agree,
Speaker:and I don't think there's one right answer really because there's
Speaker:so much opportunity out there.
Speaker:So many different things can try one platform.
Speaker:If it doesn't work,
Speaker:then go to another.
Speaker:I'm talking more social media right now,
Speaker:but for sure everyone should have a website,
Speaker:whether it's WordPress or you put it on more of a
Speaker:template driven like a Shopify site or Etsy somewhere that you
Speaker:call your home and then you drive your social media to
Speaker:your website so you have both of those.
Speaker:Right. I guess the point is,
Speaker:again, this is another place where people can just get stuck
Speaker:and say,
Speaker:I'm so confused.
Speaker:I'm just not going to do anything because what if I
Speaker:don't pick the right thing and there really is no right
Speaker:thing. Right.
Speaker:And when I have someone who reaches out to me because
Speaker:of the rockstar mentor podcast,
Speaker:which I'm sure we'll talk about for a little few minutes
Speaker:afterwards. And so I'll have people ask me,
Speaker:Hey, I'm getting started.
Speaker:Where do I start?
Speaker:And I'll talk to them and we'll kind of drill it
Speaker:down. Where are you?
Speaker:Are you selling just original art?
Speaker:Are you doing prints yet?
Speaker:Are you creating any retail products?
Speaker:So when I started doing my website,
Speaker:I had more than just original art to offer.
Speaker:I had,
Speaker:Oh gosh,
Speaker:in the early two thousands I was doing matted prints.
Speaker:It was a very small product line at the time.
Speaker:And so,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I had,
Speaker:I don't know,
Speaker:maybe 25 or 30 products,
Speaker:whereas now I have about six or 700 products.
Speaker:But we decided in 2004 to go to art expo international
Speaker:in New York city.
Speaker:And I thought,
Speaker:if I want to do art and I'm going to sell,
Speaker:I'm going to be a pro.
Speaker:If you want to play with the big kids,
Speaker:you got to go to the big kids yard.
Speaker:And I didn't just go there as a participant.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:If I'm going to spend the money for hotels and airfare,
Speaker:I'm just going to get a booth and I'm going to
Speaker:bring my art and I'm gonna make a presence.
Speaker:And so I did.
Speaker:I took the gamble and ended up paying off because I
Speaker:ended up learning a lot.
Speaker:But I also connected with other people who have art galleries
Speaker:that were looking for my type of style to be able
Speaker:to represent me in their galleries.
Speaker:So was your focus specifically getting into galleries versus stores at
Speaker:that time or whatever?
Speaker:What was your thinking there?
Speaker:I wanted to,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I had my small little product line of matted prints of
Speaker:different sizes.
Speaker:I had limited edition prints that I had manufactured for me
Speaker:and I wanted to get into,
Speaker:I wanted to get in the gallery because I thought maybe
Speaker:that's going to really give me the big credentials that I
Speaker:need. But walking away from the show,
Speaker:I noticed that a lot of bigger artists had art products,
Speaker:so they had purses or they had sculptures,
Speaker:they had bigger prints,
Speaker:they had prints on boxes,
Speaker:there was just a lot of retail type of things.
Speaker:So I also had been approached by many licensed companies at
Speaker:art expo and people saying,
Speaker:Hey, we love your art.
Speaker:We think it would look great on mugs and key chains
Speaker:and textiles.
Speaker:And so on the plane ride home,
Speaker:Mark, my husband and I were,
Speaker:he and I were talking and one of the pieces of
Speaker:advice I had been given by a good artist friend was
Speaker:go to the show,
Speaker:get as many business cards and write everything down on the
Speaker:back of the business card for that contact as possible and
Speaker:follow up,
Speaker:follow up,
Speaker:follow up.
Speaker:So I had this little box,
Speaker:it's a little plastic box that I had put all the
Speaker:cards in and I kept that with me cause I thought
Speaker:this is my gold.
Speaker:I'm not going to let go of this.
Speaker:This isn't going on.
Speaker:Check on,
Speaker:this isn't going on the seat.
Speaker:It's going to go in my purse.
Speaker:So on the way home on the plane,
Speaker:we were looking at him and I said I got about
Speaker:seven or eight cards just from license companies.
Speaker:I must have something that they want.
Speaker:So we started talking about products and in short Mark and
Speaker:I decided,
Speaker:well what kind of product would I use that I would
Speaker:like? And I loved watches and I thought,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my art would look great on a watch because I would
Speaker:wear the watch all the time because that's the thing that
Speaker:I like.
Speaker:I want something different and unusual.
Speaker:So we started looking on creating a whole watch line and
Speaker:we ended up going into the watch business and I'm not
Speaker:talking working with somebody who was manufacturing for other people.
Speaker:This was my watch line.
Speaker:Mark designed the casing.
Speaker:Everything for the engraving.
Speaker:The colors of the bands are based on color swatches that
Speaker:I actually use.
Speaker:We found a watch manufacturer overseas who worked with us.
Speaker:We had the images of the watches printed locally at a
Speaker:photography company because we wanted to make sure the quality wasn't
Speaker:going to fade,
Speaker:it was going to be top quality and it was going
Speaker:to be the best representation of my artwork to go on
Speaker:this product.
Speaker:So it was a multistep process and it took several months,
Speaker:almost a year,
Speaker:just to create the first five styles.
Speaker:And those were not limited edition for that first few that
Speaker:we created.
Speaker:So when we went back to art expo in 2005 we
Speaker:had I think 18 styles at that point,
Speaker:and it was the head of the show and we were
Speaker:in a platinum section at art expo and that was luck
Speaker:in itself.
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I'm getting shivers over here.
Speaker:I know.
Speaker:So it was a whirlwind.
Speaker:It was a wild ride.
Speaker:It was a fulfilling stressful.
Speaker:I was very proud.
Speaker:I still am very proud of everything that we've done through
Speaker:that journey.
Speaker:But everything has changed.
Speaker:Art expo isn't like it used to be.
Speaker:It's not even at the Javits anymore,
Speaker:but the memories and the experience from all of that,
Speaker:just coming full circle and having my own galleries and all
Speaker:that was really cool cause we did ceramics as well and
Speaker:everything we did,
Speaker:it was a hefty investment so we didn't have a lot
Speaker:of print on demand that they have now and I wanted
Speaker:to create something that was really us.
Speaker:It wasn't just using a licensing company and getting 5% of
Speaker:something they're going to get 95% of,
Speaker:we got a hundred percent of everything and of all of
Speaker:our efforts to be able to create something that was truly
Speaker:a Sonya pass branded product.
Speaker:The thing that resonates to me throughout the whole story here
Speaker:is that you put yourself in a place and found out
Speaker:something new and that affected an action that moved you forward.
Speaker:If you had never been to that first one where you
Speaker:said you put yourself out in a big way.
Speaker:Right, right.
Speaker:You would have never seen and gotten the realization that other
Speaker:people had products.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:when we're putting things on all of these different pieces that
Speaker:led to one thing,
Speaker:then then led to another and a limited edition watch line.
Speaker:Seriously. Yeah.
Speaker:Cool. From that we ended up hiring a whole bunch of
Speaker:reps throughout the country to go to specialty boutiques,
Speaker:galleries, museum shops and all that.
Speaker:And well,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:when you're managing reps it's managing well that's a whole different
Speaker:type of business then.
Speaker:Yeah, that was,
Speaker:if anybody's out there thinking about doing it,
Speaker:call me first.
Speaker:So boy,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:you're dealing with reps who are dealing with dozens of other
Speaker:lines and it was really hard to get them to carry
Speaker:the vision through each and every shop that they would go
Speaker:to. So the mailing out tons of samples,
Speaker:answering the questions over and over,
Speaker:sending out tons of tear sheets.
Speaker:It was almost like managing employees,
Speaker:but I don't want to say about worse,
Speaker:but it was a real hefty task.
Speaker:Yeah. And to your point,
Speaker:they're repping a number of different lines.
Speaker:So how do you know that yours is going to rise
Speaker:to the top?
Speaker:They're going to show.
Speaker:Oh, I remember those days so well yeah.
Speaker:So as I said,
Speaker:this could be like three hours long cause I've been million
Speaker:questions on the product side,
Speaker:but I don't want to miss out on talking with you
Speaker:about brand development and marketing and all the gold.
Speaker:I know you're going to share with us on that end.
Speaker:Sure. And just to kind of lay the groundwork here,
Speaker:I loved this with Sonya too because she's got all this
Speaker:going on as we've heard.
Speaker:We would all want to be you.
Speaker:Okay, let's just lay it out and then yet you see
Speaker:another way of servicing people and helping move things forward.
Speaker:You can't even call it a pivot because you still have
Speaker:everything else you've layered on.
Speaker:But I see this as an opportunity for a lot of
Speaker:other makers and creators who may be or maybe aren't at
Speaker:the bigger level like you are,
Speaker:but it's another opportunity to serve an audience in a field
Speaker:that you love in the creator feel.
Speaker:So with that as the groundwork,
Speaker:Sonya, take it away now and let's talk about the rock
Speaker:star mentor.
Speaker:Okay. So when I had my gallery in downtown Campbell and
Speaker:that was from 2008 through 2012 I got asked this question
Speaker:often and the question was,
Speaker:Oh, can I take you out to lunch?
Speaker:I would love to pick your brain to see how you
Speaker:market yourself because you've done a fantastic job with your brand.
Speaker:And I did because my brand was how you feel when
Speaker:you come in the gallery,
Speaker:what the smells,
Speaker:the tastes,
Speaker:all of that,
Speaker:all the good stuff that comes along with having an art
Speaker:gallery. And I was an art gallery where I sold only
Speaker:my work.
Speaker:I didn't have time to represent anybody else.
Speaker:I was working full time to represent myself and to sell
Speaker:my own products because we had 2300 square feet of complete
Speaker:Sonya. Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It had to be so beautiful in there.
Speaker:It was very impressive With all the color.
Speaker:I can only imagine.
Speaker:Yeah. And so there was a brand we had packaging to
Speaker:create, you know,
Speaker:had the clocks that were packaged and we had pillows.
Speaker:We had packaging for the watches,
Speaker:packaging for all of the jewelry,
Speaker:and the list goes on.
Speaker:And so I would get asked all the time and I
Speaker:would spend time with people and I'd want to help them
Speaker:out and where are they in their creative journey?
Speaker:Or I've even had lawyers who said,
Speaker:Hey, I'm a lawyer,
Speaker:but I like to paint on the side.
Speaker:Can I pick your brain?
Speaker:So I got enough of that.
Speaker:But I would run into people and later and I would
Speaker:say, Hey,
Speaker:how's that going?
Speaker:How's your art?
Speaker:Oh, I never had time to do that.
Speaker:They would say,
Speaker:because I got really busy,
Speaker:or my daughter's son never ended up pursuing it because blah,
Speaker:blah, blah,
Speaker:whatever reason.
Speaker:And I would think,
Speaker:okay, and I'll be really blunt here.
Speaker:I would think,
Speaker:okay, you totally squeezed my brain for two and a half
Speaker:hours and you did nothing with it.
Speaker:So that really opened up an opportunity for me to start
Speaker:doing art marketing workshops at the gallery.
Speaker:And that was really great.
Speaker:I would do those about three times a year and we'd
Speaker:get a nice crowd.
Speaker:I'd prepare materials for everyone.
Speaker:We'd have Q and a.
Speaker:Mark would talk about the product end of things and it
Speaker:was about a three hour workshop at the gallery.
Speaker:That was fine and dandy for the people that were local,
Speaker:but it really didn't have that really wasn't good or useful
Speaker:for anybody that was outside of the area.
Speaker:Were you charging for that?
Speaker:Yes. And so you were also building a curriculum also,
Speaker:you were seeing what was working too in the workshops Right
Speaker:at the time we called it get in the game and
Speaker:it was called the gorilla art marketing experience.
Speaker:I know it's kind of,
Speaker:I look back and think,
Speaker:Oh God,
Speaker:but at the time it was a great name.
Speaker:Sure. You know gorilla marketing.
Speaker:Get out there,
Speaker:do it,
Speaker:do it,
Speaker:do it.
Speaker:Get out there,
Speaker:get out there,
Speaker:get out there,
Speaker:do it yourself.
Speaker:Be brave.
Speaker:Be tenacious.
Speaker:Don't be afraid.
Speaker:You're not going to learn this by getting an MBA at
Speaker:Harvard. This is putting on the hip waders and jump in
Speaker:the trenches of really just getting out there and doing it
Speaker:on your own.
Speaker:So that's how that name came on.
Speaker:And then after we closed the gallery,
Speaker:I sort of transitioned back to studio by appointment and then
Speaker:we ended up moving out of the area.
Speaker:So podcasts,
Speaker:I know they've been around for a long time,
Speaker:but I started doing rock star mentor podcast in 2016 so
Speaker:about a little over two and a half years old and
Speaker:110 episodes.
Speaker:I created it because one,
Speaker:I wanted to overcome some fears that I had and that
Speaker:was being on video and listening to myself on audio.
Speaker:Those were two things I could not stand.
Speaker:I couldn't stand watching myself on video and I could not
Speaker:stand listening to myself on audio.
Speaker:So I thought,
Speaker:I gotta get over this.
Speaker:I have a voice and I have ideas and I have
Speaker:experienced that I want others to know about.
Speaker:I want them to know what to expect and how to
Speaker:network and how to get it out there,
Speaker:how to be fearless.
Speaker:And there's just a whole variety of things that I wanted
Speaker:to put out there because I didn't have those cool tools
Speaker:when I was starting out.
Speaker:And it was almost taboo to ask anybody in the highfalutin
Speaker:art industry questions,
Speaker:you couldn't ask questions,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:who do I call?
Speaker:How do I start a website?
Speaker:Where do I buy these frames?
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:how do I establish a retail or wholesale account,
Speaker:that type of thing.
Speaker:It was almost a hush hush.
Speaker:Oh you know,
Speaker:you're asking me that question.
Speaker:Well it's not rocket science.
Speaker:You're going to figure it out eventually cause everybody does.
Speaker:But I've provided resources and ideas and ways and confidence for
Speaker:others to be able to do that without feeling bad or
Speaker:hindered or embarrassed.
Speaker:So I created the podcast essentially to help people get over
Speaker:the hump of not doing it,
Speaker:saying that they're going to do it and constantly saying they're
Speaker:going to do it.
Speaker:Cause I know a lot of artists who say,
Speaker:yeah, yeah,
Speaker:I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that
Speaker:and here they are five years later and not moving in
Speaker:that direction.
Speaker:I totally get it.
Speaker:It's heartbreaking because I run into the same people.
Speaker:I didn't have a workshop like you do,
Speaker:but I have a trade show booth and people come up
Speaker:and a lot of listeners already know my story.
Speaker:I'm not going to say it there,
Speaker:but I'm seeing the same thing that they're afraid to start
Speaker:because they don't know what to do.
Speaker:And they're afraid of failing right off the bat.
Speaker:And I really want to say to everybody,
Speaker:you're going to fail off the bat,
Speaker:but don't look at it as failing.
Speaker:Look at it as an experiment so that you can get
Speaker:into the groove and find what's really gonna work now when
Speaker:you started.
Speaker:Cause I think I still see it even sadly today and
Speaker:my motivation behind my shows just the same as yours.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:we want people to get started so that they aren't 30
Speaker:years down the road here with regrets saying what if,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:if only I would've put my fear or my ego or
Speaker:whatever it is that's holding them back aside,
Speaker:what if I would have done that?
Speaker:And so I think by showing other people's stories,
Speaker:even people who have had such great successes,
Speaker:you, if you break it down to the steps that you
Speaker:took apart from that watch part Mark from that watch because
Speaker:that's a little crazy.
Speaker:But a lot of these steps don't seem to be too
Speaker:hard. It's just a matter of getting out and starting,
Speaker:right. And asking questions.
Speaker:Cause there's people in different facets of business,
Speaker:whether it's creating products,
Speaker:doing websites,
Speaker:doing SEO,
Speaker:creating different types of products or teaching you how to use
Speaker:their equipment to make a product.
Speaker:They're in business.
Speaker:They want to be asked questions.
Speaker:So don't be afraid to reach out and say,
Speaker:Hey, can you help me with this?
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I ask questions all the time and my father always said,
Speaker:a person who doesn't ask questions doesn't want to be smart.
Speaker:Yeah. You have to ask.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:Sue, like what you said is if you were running,
Speaker:I mean everybody,
Speaker:I'm sure every listener here in the history of podcasts or
Speaker:the world has fallen down to scrape their knee.
Speaker:It's not going to hinder you from walking again,
Speaker:is it?
Speaker:So everyone's going to fail in some capacity.
Speaker:Some are bigger fails and smaller fails,
Speaker:but don't use that as a way to say,
Speaker:well I've done that.
Speaker:I failed and I'm just going to stop.
Speaker:No, it should teach you that you can move forward and
Speaker:get it right and not think of it as bad failure
Speaker:because failure is only going to make your success a lot
Speaker:stronger. Yeah.
Speaker:I mean your ego might get bruised,
Speaker:but that's okay.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. If I was to stop doing what I'm doing because
Speaker:of ego or mean people,
Speaker:namely mr editor,
Speaker:that the book editor,
Speaker:right. I would not have been able to experience what I've
Speaker:experienced. Well,
Speaker:and here's the sad thing about that.
Speaker:We wouldn't have your beautiful art.
Speaker:I mean to say that truly,
Speaker:cause you've seen,
Speaker:no, I really am.
Speaker:Because you see how many people love it,
Speaker:right? From all the sightings all around.
Speaker:That wouldn't be here.
Speaker:And I say that as a compliment to you,
Speaker:but I also say that for our listeners because what are
Speaker:you creating that you're keeping from all of us by not
Speaker:getting your knee bruised a little bit,
Speaker:and I really,
Speaker:really honestly do mean that.
Speaker:The other thing,
Speaker:I'm starting to have this as a common theme because I
Speaker:think it's really important is that because so many people won't
Speaker:do it,
Speaker:if you push past those problems,
Speaker:you try something,
Speaker:it doesn't work,
Speaker:but you keep going.
Speaker:Every time you do that,
Speaker:you overcome another hurdle or whatever it is.
Speaker:People fall by the wayside,
Speaker:so the road gets easier.
Speaker:There's less people there because you've learned something,
Speaker:you've moved to a different level,
Speaker:there's people,
Speaker:you encounter a problem,
Speaker:you figure it out,
Speaker:you cross the hurdle.
Speaker:Other people fall off the playing field,
Speaker:I guess I'll say keeps getting smaller and smaller in terms
Speaker:of the number of people that are there.
Speaker:Right. And that's,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:with anything,
Speaker:with any kind of job or life experience,
Speaker:you're going to have,
Speaker:people will fall off and that's,
Speaker:they got to,
Speaker:I guess they have to account for that.
Speaker:But for the folks who I know who I network with,
Speaker:who have businesses and all a variety of business,
Speaker:realtors, mortgage people,
Speaker:chiropractors, you know,
Speaker:whatever. I mean,
Speaker:Sean Pirlo,
Speaker:who was in your recent podcast,
Speaker:she's in my networking group and we trade ideas and we
Speaker:support one another.
Speaker:You have to support your fellow business person.
Speaker:I used to know someone who was held tight and we're
Speaker:talking late eighties she held tight to her sources.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I'm not gonna tell you where I buy my wreaths,
Speaker:sir. I'm not going to tell you where I buy my
Speaker:cake, baking supplies,
Speaker:whatever. You know that stuff.
Speaker:It's not a hidden fake,
Speaker:right. You just have to sometimes take the time.
Speaker:And now that we have the internet,
Speaker:the beautiful thing of our online presence and internet and everything
Speaker:that you can locate just about anything,
Speaker:anywhere. Absolutely.
Speaker:And you can get support.
Speaker:Facebook groups are a great place for support.
Speaker:Absolutely. And one of my early episodes on the podcast,
Speaker:I had someone write in and say,
Speaker:I don't have a networking group in my area.
Speaker:What do you suggest?
Speaker:And I told her,
Speaker:go start your own.
Speaker:If you want to have your own artist group start in
Speaker:your community,
Speaker:go to meet ups,
Speaker:start getting around people who are artists or even independent business
Speaker:owners and create your own group.
Speaker:There's no rule that says you can't,
Speaker:so more power to you and make it happen.
Speaker:Absolutely. And I love your podcast because you have all the
Speaker:different stories and people who tell their story and I want
Speaker:to just add to listeners listening to any podcast,
Speaker:yours, mine,
Speaker:anything out there that they feel inspired or whatever is when
Speaker:you're communicating with other people in business,
Speaker:listen to what they're telling you.
Speaker:Listen to their story because you will find so much inspiration
Speaker:in the words from other people who have,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:scraped their knees and got up and kept running and it's
Speaker:all good.
Speaker:Yeah. I think even when it's outside of our industry,
Speaker:you almost listen with a different angle.
Speaker:And I think you pick up things that if it's in
Speaker:your same industry,
Speaker:you might miss.
Speaker:Right. So I almost feel there's more value when it's not
Speaker:your, you almost feel like,
Speaker:like if you're a Baker and you're listening to another Baker,
Speaker:you already know a lot about that industry,
Speaker:but someone who's a Baker who's listening in here that hear
Speaker:it in a different way just because it's applied to a
Speaker:different type of making,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Correct. Yeah.
Speaker:Could really,
Speaker:really resonate with them where it wouldn't have otherwise.
Speaker:Absolutely. Sonya,
Speaker:I now want to invite you to dare to dream.
Speaker:Okay. I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.
Speaker:It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:Not everybody else that you're helping along,
Speaker:but yours.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights
Speaker:that you would wish to obtain.
Speaker:Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What's inside your box?
Speaker:So my box,
Speaker:I would have to say,
Speaker:Sue, that it is just continuing helping other creative people and
Speaker:he's buddy in a small business flourish in their vision.
Speaker:I love it when people ask me for advice and questions
Speaker:or they connect with me to want to have a path
Speaker:to help them move forward because they're hindered by self doubt
Speaker:or the imposter syndrome.
Speaker:I will be your superhero to help you move forward and
Speaker:just get it out there and make your brand better.
Speaker:Love it.
Speaker:Absolutely love it.
Speaker:So most people only get one,
Speaker:but I'm giving you two.
Speaker:Where could people come and connect with you for two different
Speaker:things? First,
Speaker:let's go with your beautiful art and everything that's there.
Speaker:If someone wants to get a look at everything and see
Speaker:what's available,
Speaker:where would you direct them?
Speaker:Okay, so my website is Sonya,
Speaker:pass.com it's S O N Y a P a z.com.
Speaker:That's my sole website for my art and you can see
Speaker:all the retail products on there as well as some original
Speaker:works and I have a blog on there,
Speaker:which is interesting.
Speaker:It's not been updated recently,
Speaker:but it's really interesting.
Speaker:I heard how you started to get a little quieter with
Speaker:that statement.
Speaker:You can take that.
Speaker:No, it was funny.
Speaker:It hasn't been updated.
Speaker:I can raise my hand to that too,
Speaker:but you're doing a podcast,
Speaker:so of course.
Speaker:Okay, super.
Speaker:And then what about for the mentoring and the podcast and
Speaker:all? Where would someone go for that?
Speaker:Sure. My website for the podcast is rockstar mentor.com
Speaker:it's rockstar and mentor together.com
Speaker:and you can reach me there.
Speaker:You can also find the podcast on my website as well
Speaker:as iTunes on Apple,
Speaker:Stitcher radio,
Speaker:Google play and tune in or wherever you listen to your
Speaker:podcasts. But I also have a player on the website.
Speaker:If you go to rockstar,
Speaker:mentor.com and go up under podcasts,
Speaker:you'll see the player there or if you're a reader and
Speaker:not much of a listener,
Speaker:then you can always get the show notes under the blog
Speaker:show notes section on the website.
Speaker:Beautiful, perfect,
Speaker:perfect. It's so nice now that the podcasts are so many
Speaker:different places with them,
Speaker:so many places because it gives an opportunity for everybody where
Speaker:they feel the most comfortable to be.
Speaker:Sure. So that is wonderful.
Speaker:I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your being.
Speaker:On the show.
Speaker:I had no clue about your story and no surprise cause
Speaker:you're so successful,
Speaker:but no surprise that there were so many best practices that
Speaker:you follow all the way along.
Speaker:Give biz listeners,
Speaker:you've got to see her art.
Speaker:You absolutely have to see it.
Speaker:It's beautiful.
Speaker:It will put a smile on your face.
Speaker:You've got to listen to her podcast.
Speaker:You can tell more.
Speaker:The goodness that she shared here is all over that show.
Speaker:I am quite sure.
Speaker:Sonia, thank you so much.
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate you taking the time and sharing with my listeners
Speaker:today. Thank you Sue.
Speaker:This has been such a treat and an honor to be
Speaker:on your podcast show today and I really,
Speaker:really appreciate your reaching out and connecting with me.
Speaker:Wonderful and you know we'll stay in touch.
Speaker:Absolutely cause you're going to be on my show sooner than
Speaker:later. Oh yay.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:Take care.
Speaker:Bye. Bye.
Speaker:As an additional holiday gift to you,
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