Shownotes
Business Building Insights
- Gain product exposure by collaborating with others.
- Make sure your business fits into your life and includes time for family and other passions. This can be accomplished by adding semi passive income into your offerings.
- Create systems to maximize growth in your business. This allows the work to happen faster and, in some cases, automatically. It also opens the door for unlimited customers and creates time for new initiatives too.
- If you have health issues or other limitations, investigate semi passive income options. Don’t let that stop you!
- When you have limitations, it helps to do something, no matter how little, to be productive each day. You’ll see amazing results over time.
Resources Mentioned
Adobe Illustrator The Big LeapContact Links
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Join our FREE Gift Biz Breeze Facebook Community
If 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 on wrapped episode 239 Oh it was such a
Speaker:big deal to start receiving those first sales.
Speaker:I cannot even describe how thrilling it is At Tinton gifters,
Speaker:bakers, crafters,
Speaker:and makers pursuing your dream can be fun whether you have
Speaker:an established business or looking to start one now you are
Speaker: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.
Speaker:Hi there,
Speaker:it's Sue And welcome to this week's show.
Speaker:Whether you're a first time listener or have been following me
Speaker:for a while,
Speaker:I'm thrilled that we're together here today.
Speaker:I also want to thank those of you who have reached
Speaker:out through messages and emails.
Speaker:It means the world to me to get your comments and
Speaker:learn about you.
Speaker:As one of my listeners.
Speaker:If you haven't connected with me yet,
Speaker:I can be reached at SU,
Speaker:at gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped.com. This email address comes directly to me,
Speaker:so you'll get a response also directly from me.
Speaker:I welcome any feedback about the podcast,
Speaker:what you find helpful,
Speaker:other things you'd like to see in the future,
Speaker:anything you like.
Speaker:The show exists to help you advance,
Speaker:so sharing your thoughts helps both of us do more and
Speaker:be more with regard to our talk today.
Speaker:It's a special one.
Speaker:Indeed. You know,
Speaker:I never know for sure where our conversation will go.
Speaker:Yes, there's some direction as we get started,
Speaker:but it's very loose and we just go where the conversation
Speaker:takes us.
Speaker:I try to put myself in your shoes and ask the
Speaker:questions that you'd ask or emphasize points that I really want
Speaker:to make sure that you get,
Speaker:but this conversation took me by surprise,
Speaker:a pleasant surprise because I think it's going to hit home
Speaker:for a lot of you.
Speaker:You're going to hear the steady progressive development
and how she overcame many obstacles that could have served as
Speaker:excuses and held her back.
Speaker:We talk about international moves.
Speaker:Tap talent is having a baby in a foreign land and
Speaker:one overarching challenge.
Speaker:She reveals close to the end.
Speaker:Throughout it all,
Speaker:you'll hear the drive of a determined woman with a passion
Speaker:for her art and a love of serving that proves bigger
Speaker:than any of her limitations.
Speaker:It is my joy and honor to bring you Oxon as
Speaker:story Today.
Speaker:I am so excited to introduce you to Oxana posse SNI.
Speaker:GENCO Oksana is the owner and designer of Exxon SIA textile
Speaker:Design studio and school.
Speaker:Her passion is to help creative people express their vision and
Speaker:connect with their customers by creating unique and beautiful repeat patterns
Speaker:and collections for their products.
Speaker:Asana has a master's of arts degree from Rugg university in
Speaker:the Netherlands specializing in children's books.
Speaker:She's illustrated to published children's books and products,
Speaker:including her design sell at best buy Barnes and noble,
Speaker:Amazon and CVS pharmacy.
Speaker:She has a portfolio of more than 10,000
Speaker:vector illustrations in designs and has collaborated on more than a
Speaker:hundred client custom design projects.
Speaker:Asana now lives in California with her amazing husband and sweet
Speaker:little girl together.
Speaker:They love to make arts and crafts,
Speaker:read funny books and travel while collecting creative inspiration and adventures.
Speaker:Asana, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me,
Speaker:Sue. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker:I am so excited too,
Speaker:and you and I met in person at Pat Flynn's first
Speaker:event. We were at our little high table and we were
Speaker:just drinking some coffee and we immediately bonded.
Speaker:I loved hearing everything that you were doing and right then
Speaker:and there we talked about having you on the show,
Speaker:so I'm so thrilled that we're actually making it happen.
Speaker:Oh, I am so excited.
Speaker:I was just blown away by your podcast.
Speaker:I've been learning so much since I met you.
Speaker:I actually,
Speaker:you introduced me to your podcast during the conference and since
Speaker:then I've been just binge listening to all the podcasts.
Speaker:It was so awesome.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I love hearing that.
Speaker:So help us learn a little bit more about you as
Speaker:you were describing yourself through a motivational candle.
Speaker:So what color were really works for you and what type
Speaker:of a quote or a motto would be put on a
Speaker:candle that would really speak to you?
Speaker:Oksana interesting.
Speaker:That's actually,
Speaker:I worked for a few years for a company,
Speaker:collaborated with a company they do sent,
Speaker:it says chaise and candle.
Speaker:So I do have my repeat button designs on a line
Speaker:of candles.
Speaker:So that's kind of fun.
Speaker:Oh well you have to tell us what line that is.
Speaker:What is it?
Speaker:It's called floral simplicity line.
Speaker:Floral simplicity.
Speaker:Okay. They have basically my designs are all 95% of their
Speaker:sense and including candles.
Speaker:That's fun.
Speaker:I loved working with them and it was a really fun
Speaker:couple of years that we collaborated together and going back to
Speaker:my candle I would say would be a floral repeat,
Speaker:better in design.
Speaker:I love nature.
Speaker:So I love creating floral ones and it will be probably
Speaker:purple, pink and yellow since those are the colors that my
Speaker:brand colors.
Speaker:And also the colors that I love the most and the
Speaker:quote on it would be an eye expand in abundance,
Speaker:success, health,
Speaker:love and joy every day as I inspire others to do
Speaker:the same.
Speaker:And this one of my Favorite things that I repeat to
Speaker:myself, and it's from one of my favorite books,
Speaker:it's called the big leap by gay Hendricks.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That could be something that you like,
Speaker:say to yourself while you're brushing your teeth every morning or
Speaker:something. That's exactly what I do.
Speaker:I have at rest analysis,
Speaker:and I have this kind of trick that I developed the
Speaker:habit. When I can sleep at night,
Speaker:I wake up and I cannot go back to sleep.
Speaker:I just repeat this quote in my head over and over
Speaker:and it always puts me back to sleep and I feel
Speaker:like I trained my subconscious more on living this kind of
Speaker:improving myself while inspiring others to do the same.
Speaker:Beautiful. So do you give permission to all of our listeners
Speaker:to jot that down and use your quote as well?
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:I didn't come up with it.
Speaker:It's from the awesome book,
Speaker:the big leap.
Speaker:That's the title of the book.
Speaker:I not only love the quote,
Speaker:but I also love how you're using it.
Speaker:I think that's perfect because self-talk does so much for our
Speaker:psyche and I've heard more and more recently how when you
Speaker:do that right as you're falling asleep,
Speaker:it just continues on.
Speaker:It deepens the impact further,
Speaker:I guess I'd say.
Speaker:Definitely. I totally agree.
Speaker:It's been a very big help for me,
Speaker:especially since they started doing a morning routine and this kind
Speaker:of things at night when I wake up really helps.
Speaker:Wonderful one.
Speaker:Right. Well,
Speaker:okay, so take us back a little bit and share with
Speaker:us how you got started.
Speaker:I just picture you,
Speaker:first of all,
Speaker:give his listeners.
Speaker:You have to know that Exxon is this cute little petite,
Speaker:just adorable little ball of energy.
Speaker:You know?
Speaker:Have you ever seen people who are like really tiny but
Speaker:their energy and their passion is huge?
Speaker:That's so,
Speaker:I don't mean to embarrass you,
Speaker:but people have to know that that's who you are.
Speaker:So I picture you when you were little as also being
Speaker:all artsy and designy and creative.
Speaker:Were you always that way?
Speaker:Actually, yes.
Speaker:And how I knew it is because I was the go
Speaker:to kid at my school who has to do all the
Speaker:posters for all the events and you know the teachers.
Speaker:I feel like now that I'm older,
Speaker:I feel like the teachers sometimes know you and your strengths
Speaker:before you yourself know them.
Speaker:So that's what this kind of thing always happened.
Speaker:And the other thing is they would put me in front
Speaker:of people to recite poetry or do some inspirational talks.
Speaker:And when I was growing up,
Speaker:I never knew why.
Speaker:I always felt like,
Speaker:why are they always asking me?
Speaker:But now I started doing my own YouTube channel and now
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:Oh, now I get it.
Speaker:Now you can see it in yourself.
Speaker:Yeah, now I can see it.
Speaker:So it's funny how that happened,
Speaker:but I did.
Speaker:I was a creative kid.
Speaker:I always loved arts and I loved crafts.
Speaker:And my mom taught me how to design clothes and actually
Speaker:creates them and make up your own clothing designs and patterns
Speaker:and these kinds of things.
Speaker:So even though my mom is not an artist,
Speaker:but she is a very good team stress and the teacher,
Speaker:so my love of art and fabrics comes from that.
Speaker:Time Started way back then way back to the Ukraine.
Speaker:Yes. And the school was actually really lucky because I bet
Speaker:those would be worth lots of money now given the way
Speaker:your career has progressed,
Speaker:they got it for free,
Speaker:but little did they know what they actually had.
Speaker:Oh, it was fun.
Speaker:I loved it.
Speaker:It was fun to see my designs everywhere when I was
Speaker:growing up and I had no idea that I was doing
Speaker:it because I was very much into poetry back then and
Speaker:I was very lucky because I entered some competitions.
Speaker:I won competitions as a child in the Ukraine.
Speaker:I grew up and was born and grew up in Ukraine
Speaker:and a small town in the Western part.
Speaker:My parents still live in the same house there and so
Speaker:it was awesome.
Speaker:I actually really loved,
Speaker:I consider myself lucky having a childhood that I had there
Speaker:and what happened was I was very much into poetry,
Speaker:so I didn't really develop my art skills seriously and professionally
Speaker:after I finished my college,
Speaker:my universities,
Speaker:so just somehow the creative was always there in different forms.
Speaker:Right, because you were educated,
Speaker:but it was still an art degree even though you were
Speaker:doing children's books.
Speaker:Well, actually it is the master of arts.
Speaker:One of my masters,
Speaker:I have two masters,
Speaker:but one of them is master of arts,
Speaker:but it's actually more of languages and culture.
Speaker:It's a little bit weird,
Speaker:but this is how it goes and I think the arts,
Speaker:in a way,
Speaker:our literature as part of them,
Speaker:and I specially transitioned into visual arts and graphic arts when
Speaker:I became interested in children's book illustration in the Netherlands,
Speaker:when I did my scholarship at the university,
Speaker:my love of children's books started back then and then since
Speaker:then, my goal was to publish still children's books,
Speaker:which it happened.
Speaker:Yeah. I was very,
Speaker:very grateful that I found a publisher and we worked together
Speaker:when I lived back in Europe.
Speaker:So even before I moved to us.
Speaker:Okay, so before we move on,
Speaker:Exxon, you were telling me a little bit in the pre
Speaker:chat that there's a little bit of a story behind your
Speaker:last name.
Speaker:So I'm going to try and say it once again and
Speaker:I want you to tell everybody this story.
Speaker:Okay. Okay.
Speaker:So you say your name Passy snake GENCO.
Speaker:How'd I do?
Speaker:Very good.
Speaker:It's a tricky last name.
Speaker:That's even when I was going to college,
Speaker:it was a tradition to call out everyone by last name.
Speaker:Back then when I was there and the,
Speaker:what happened was the teacher would always reach me and just
Speaker:always use my first name and say,
Speaker:you're Ukrainian.
Speaker:Right. So they,
Speaker:even in my own home country,
Speaker:it's a tricky last name,
Speaker:but the funniest,
Speaker:I actually really love it because my father,
Speaker:he is an engineer,
Speaker:but when he was getting a little bit older,
Speaker:he decided to become a beekeeper because our last name is
Speaker:actually the means in Ukrainian.
Speaker:The son of the beekeeper.
Speaker:So I am now a daughter of a beekeeper.
Speaker:Oh, that's so funny.
Speaker:And my father became one because of our last name.
Speaker:I still keep it.
Speaker:I love it.
Speaker:He became a beekeeper because of the last name.
Speaker:Yes he did.
Speaker:He actually really loves beekeeping.
Speaker:He's very much into it.
Speaker:He's a big fan.
Speaker:But I think in a way he says,
Speaker:everyone was telling why are you still not keeping bees with
Speaker:this last name for years?
Speaker:So eventually he started and so finally he's like,
Speaker:okay, I'll do it.
Speaker:I'll do it.
Speaker:Yes, exactly.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:Okay, so take us to the time then.
Speaker:When you established Oxon SIA textile design studio,
Speaker:how did that come about?
Speaker:Sure. So what happened,
Speaker:it was that I was studying,
Speaker:I was doing two master's degrees into different countries at the
Speaker:same time.
Speaker:One was in the English and the other ones was in
Speaker:Dutch and they felt really,
Speaker:really tired and burned out.
Speaker:To be honest,
Speaker:I had to write two thesises at the same time,
Speaker:the same summer,
Speaker:and to defend two degrees in two different countries.
Speaker:So I was really tired and the only thing that I
Speaker:started thinking about is the how can I just do my
Speaker:art and just get away from the science and the intensity
Speaker:of studying.
Speaker:I successfully graduated,
Speaker:but it's still,
Speaker:it was took a lot out of me,
Speaker:so I decided to just focus on my creativity for awhile.
Speaker:I have so understanding such an understanding husband is super supportive
Speaker:if we've been together 15 years.
Speaker:So I was lucky because he says,
Speaker:okay, of course if you want to draw for a while,
Speaker:just draw for awhile.
Speaker:And that's drawing for awhile was back into South and three
Speaker:I think Southern three or four,
Speaker:something like that.
Speaker:I'm already forgetting.
Speaker:But what happened was that I just wanted to draw for
Speaker:myself as a hobby.
Speaker:I always loved drawing,
Speaker:so I took a few months and then a friend introduced
Speaker:me to a way how to create digital illustrations and how
Speaker:to market them online.
Speaker:So I really love this idea.
Speaker:I was so excited and fascinated by it and I researched
Speaker:the software,
Speaker:which is Adobe illustrator.
Speaker:Then I said,
Speaker:well, it sounds so fun.
Speaker:I can just try and it always went together with my
Speaker:dream of becoming a children's book illustrator back then.
Speaker:So I just started drawing for myself and started posting those
Speaker:pictures, simple illustrations,
Speaker:a lot of children's illustrations back then on the website and
Speaker:then a few different websites and I started making income pretty
Speaker:quickly. It was a small income for a few years.
Speaker:It was,
Speaker:let's say side income for awhile,
Speaker:but I loved it so much and it felt so satisfying
Speaker:for me that I didn't really want to go back to
Speaker:my languages anymore or linguistics.
Speaker:I really wanted to focus on the arts.
Speaker:So this is how it started.
Speaker:Yes. Got the bug,
Speaker:if you will.
Speaker:Yes, very much.
Speaker:The online business,
Speaker:I've had mine for close to I think 14 years now,
Speaker:so definitely I'm a big fan.
Speaker:It's been going on.
Speaker:It's a love affair of many,
Speaker:many years now.
Speaker:Okay, so am I understanding you correctly that you just started
Speaker:this for fun,
Speaker:but did you already have a website or did you just
Speaker:decide to create a website to put your artwork up?
Speaker:They're still all for fun and It started to become noticed.
Speaker:Is that what happened?
Speaker:So I didn't even have a website for a long time
Speaker:to be honest.
Speaker:It was all on the platforms which are called micro stock
Speaker:websites. And the most noticeable out of them are Shutterstock and
Speaker:I stock now it's Adobe stock.
Speaker:So these three,
Speaker:let's say Rhonda,
Speaker:the biggest players in that field,
Speaker:and I didn't really need a website because customers wouldn't come
Speaker:to my website necessarily in the beginning.
Speaker:They would go directly to those sites and they will search
Speaker:input. Let's say you have a line of backpacks and you
Speaker:want a line of patterns to go on all of them.
Speaker:So you would go there and then you search for repeat
Speaker:pattern design.
Speaker:The only thing that I have to tell you,
Speaker:you have to have a special kind of license.
Speaker:They have different licenses,
Speaker:but people buy different types of licenses for the same type
Speaker:of design depending of what they need.
Speaker:So I didn't really have a website for a few years
Speaker:actually. And then I really got one because I started getting
Speaker:inquiries from clients from us,
Speaker:but a lot of manufacturing clients.
Speaker:The same as I mentioned,
Speaker:the client found me,
Speaker:they were making a line of candles and sent it products
Speaker:and the other one was a baby wearing company so they
Speaker:would find me and since the actual one on one clients
Speaker:started coming and they did want already preexisting designs,
Speaker:they wanted something totally different than you,
Speaker:which I could create for them And probably something that then
Speaker:would be just theirs.
Speaker:Just there's,
Speaker:yes, of course it is a different kind of project.
Speaker:It's a different price point.
Speaker:It's a different type of work that we did with those
Speaker:customers and then I started my website,
Speaker:so not to necessarily sell my designs right away but to
Speaker:collaborate with people so they can find me.
Speaker:They can see testimonials from other customers.
Speaker:That was the purpose of my website back then,
Speaker:but the main sales as in the semi passive income quality,
Speaker:I still 14 years later I get from my micro stock
Speaker:portfolio and I have close to around 10,000
Speaker:a little bit over 10,000
Speaker:files for sale there and people licensed them over and over
Speaker:where day and night from all over the world.
Speaker:What a beautiful business model that is.
Speaker:I am so grateful for it.
Speaker:I'm glad my friend introduced me back 14 years ago.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:It's so interesting to me that you were doing it for
Speaker:fun. You,
Speaker:I guess new from Adobe illustrator,
Speaker:you learned that that was where you should put your designs,
Speaker:but then to start seeing people wanting them and licensing them
Speaker:had to have been such an exciting time for you because
Speaker:even though you loved your designs,
Speaker:you didn't know for sure how popular they'd be with everybody
Speaker:else, but clearly they were,
Speaker:Oh, it was such a big deal to start receiving those
Speaker:first sales.
Speaker:I cannot even describe how thrilling it is when you're just
Speaker:drawing for yourself.
Speaker:We can show it to some people and they might say
Speaker:they might like it or something.
Speaker:They're just being polite,
Speaker:but when actually pay money for your designs and they don't
Speaker:know you so they don't have to be nice and say,
Speaker:Oh, that's beautiful.
Speaker:Right. This is just amazing.
Speaker:I personally really love the collaboration with other people.
Speaker:I know some artists have a little bit of harder time
Speaker:with imagining other people using their work on their products,
Speaker:but to me it was such a thrill to see a
Speaker:mom with a baby and they're carrying a baby in the
Speaker:sling and the sling has my design on it,
Speaker:but they're hugging another awesome client that I worked with.
Speaker:They have the line of baby wearing slings and when I
Speaker:saw all of those moms and babies is just,
Speaker:I was literally crying.
Speaker:Oh well I think it does Take a special person because
Speaker:you don't need to be known for the artwork that's on
Speaker:the product.
Speaker:It's whoever has purchased and licensed your imaging for their product,
Speaker:but you get the gratification in the way that you just
Speaker:said. By seeing it out there.
Speaker:I always loved it.
Speaker:I always loved it.
Speaker:I love to see other people's designs.
Speaker:I always collect other people's designs because I just find them
Speaker:inspiring little product cups and scarves and bags.
Speaker:I just sometimes I just love to surround myself with that
Speaker:and it's being inspired by other people and to see my
Speaker:designs out there on the products.
Speaker:For me personally,
Speaker:it was one of the best things ever and still is
Speaker:when I get a package from my client in the mail.
Speaker:We just recently got another client sent us a package with
Speaker:matching outfits for me and my daughter.
Speaker:She's five.
Speaker:Oh, we have the pictures and it's actually,
Speaker:it was a little diagnoser print.
Speaker:I know it sounds kind of weird,
Speaker:but it turned out very cute and my daughter loves it.
Speaker:She wears it to school,
Speaker:little kind of flying dinosaurs pattern and we went to a
Speaker:museum and took a picture next to T-Rex bones.
Speaker:Oh, that's so fun.
Speaker:It's so fun.
Speaker:This thing is actually much more gratifying to me than just
Speaker:being in a gallery to be honest.
Speaker:It takes my particular character and I don't many fellow designers
Speaker:who love that.
Speaker:Yes. It's really nice too because like you're saying,
Speaker:I know you say it's semi passive income cause it was
Speaker:a lot of work to get there,
Speaker:but you are getting royalties now every time somebody buys and
Speaker:you're not having to do more work.
Speaker:So that is beautiful unto itself.
Speaker:So Exxon SIA textile design studio,
Speaker:did it start when you had the website or at what
Speaker:point did you like officially make it your own business?
Speaker:I officially made it my own business in the Netherlands when
Speaker:I started making enough income to pay taxes.
Speaker:They have a cutoff time.
Speaker:And when I realized that I had to pay taxes,
Speaker:of course I had to do,
Speaker:but if you're just making a small amount of money back
Speaker:then at least I didn't have to register right away.
Speaker:But then over time,
Speaker:of course I started making more serious side income and I
Speaker:wanted to feel focused on illustration back then.
Speaker:And that's when I was starting to think about creating a
Speaker:brand and a website and attracting actual one on one clients.
Speaker:So that's what's the idea.
Speaker:Then however,
Speaker:I knew that we will be moving to us,
Speaker:so for us personally,
Speaker:we are a traveling family.
Speaker:I lived in three different countries at this point extensively for
Speaker:a longer time,
Speaker:so arranging the business will always has to be with the
Speaker:consideration of international travel and living abroad,
Speaker:so you have to be location free if you will.
Speaker:You have to be able to work from anywhere.
Speaker:Yeah, very important for us and it works out beautifully.
Speaker:It sure did because I transitioned very well in the Netherlands.
Speaker:They had the actual art studio set up just for myself.
Speaker:I had all the paints,
Speaker:all the easels.
Speaker:I had the canvases,
Speaker:the whole dream setup.
Speaker:Luckily my business didn't need any of that.
Speaker:It was just for me as a hobby.
Speaker:Let's say I play with paint,
Speaker:actual business was all digital and I just took my computer
Speaker:with me,
Speaker:took the hard drives with me and moved to California.
Speaker:Beautiful. And I would suggest that physical creation also still helped
Speaker:fuel your digital inspiration at the same time.
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:I did have an Etsy shop for awhile with children's nursery
Speaker:prints and design little canvases.
Speaker:I had that line of cute little elephants that was fun,
Speaker:but still in comparison,
Speaker:my digital work really gave me so much freedom that I
Speaker:stuck with it through the years.
Speaker:Alright, so to hear you tell the story,
Speaker:you started the website because people started coming to you and
Speaker:wanting their own unique designs that could only be used by
Speaker:them, right?
Speaker:Yes, correct.
Speaker:How did you go about defining what that whole process would
Speaker:look like?
Speaker:And I'm saying this gift business nurse because,
Speaker:and I love the fact that axon is here sharing her
Speaker:story with us because if you make knitted scarves or you
Speaker:are a candle maker or whatever it is,
Speaker:first off,
Speaker:if you're a candle maker,
Speaker:you want to maybe want to look at some of Exxon
Speaker:as designed.
Speaker:But apart from that,
Speaker:if there's something that you know how to do that you
Speaker:could put into a digital format,
Speaker:whether it's a video or downloadable lesson on how to do
Speaker:some of the things that you could do,
Speaker:you can start creating your own sources of semi passive income
Speaker:as well.
Speaker:So I'm wanting you to start thinking that way because that's
Speaker:a way where you're not adding incremental costs and time to
Speaker:your business,
Speaker:but you're adding incremental revenue long term.
Speaker:So start thinking a little bit about that as we continue
Speaker:talking. But so getting back to what I was saying Oksana
Speaker:is you were lucky because customers were coming to you,
Speaker:but then all of a sudden you had to set up
Speaker:a system.
Speaker:Yes, 100% I always wanted to be very professional in my
Speaker:work when I was just starting out.
Speaker:Since I am a linguist by education and the literature major
Speaker:at the same time,
Speaker:I definitely didn't have all of these processes aligned.
Speaker:However, I did know a technical side of design.
Speaker:I knew what manufacturers would want and of course every manufacturer
Speaker:and their product and project differs so I always have to
Speaker:account for that.
Speaker:But definitely I figured out the system by studying online how
Speaker:to set everything up and many times I created step-by-step checklist
Speaker:for myself and I used online tools to create the contracts
Speaker:that I needed.
Speaker:I was very always very careful with the special contracts to
Speaker:protect myself and my clients of course.
Speaker:So I took it very seriously from the first client.
Speaker:I took it very seriously and definitely I wanted to have
Speaker:an actual business.
Speaker:I had the actual business in mind when I was starting
Speaker:to work with one on one clients.
Speaker:But to add to your excellent point that you just made
Speaker:before this,
Speaker:I want to say that I,
Speaker:overtime I started teaching all of these systems.
Speaker:So right now I have an actual online school was close
Speaker:to one South and that fellow textile design beginners that wants
Speaker:to build a similar business that I built over the years.
Speaker:So all of these educational things and tutorials over time that
Speaker:I was creating for free grew into a actual school online
Speaker:school that I have right now.
Speaker:Perfect, so you're demonstrating exactly what I was just suggesting for
Speaker:others. Yes.
Speaker:What's you suggested is excellent because I feel like I grew
Speaker:my business very significantly.
Speaker:The original business has grown over the last two years and
Speaker:growing right now as we speak.
Speaker:So you have three sources of income.
Speaker:From what I'm understanding,
Speaker:you have the licensed designs that anybody can purchase online.
Speaker:You have your one-on-one collaborations and then you have a group
Speaker:of students who are part of your school and the learning.
Speaker:Yes. It's three of those.
Speaker:Is there anything else you're holding back on us Exxon?
Speaker:Huh? Are those the three?
Speaker:Actually, I do have a YouTube income.
Speaker:I have a small channel.
Speaker:It's a news channel.
Speaker:I have close to almost 17,000
Speaker:subscribers right now,
Speaker:so it's still a small channel,
Speaker:but it's a sense,
Speaker:it's a micro-niche,
Speaker:which I teach a vector,
Speaker:textile design,
Speaker:particular kind of textile design.
Speaker:Even then I had an awesome,
Speaker:awesome creative community that we are all very close together and
Speaker:communicating regularly,
Speaker:so I call them my creative family or am I amazing
Speaker:creative friends,
Speaker:so I'm so blessed to be able to have these awesome
Speaker:people in my life and to be able to teach them
Speaker:something. But YouTube income is the ads that people have on
Speaker:YouTube videos.
Speaker:Oh, that's a small percentage,
Speaker:but it's also a recurring monthly income as well as some
Speaker:referral. So I would say affiliate side of business and also
Speaker:very small at this point.
Speaker:So not a big portion yet,
Speaker:but it can grow and a lot of little small things
Speaker:add up to something more significant.
Speaker:Exactly. That's what I noticed over the years and it's been
Speaker:working well.
Speaker:It's been growing too.
Speaker:Well, story Is all beautiful.
Speaker:It all sounds full of success and everything is perfect,
Speaker:but there has to be a time when you had some
Speaker:challenges. Can you share with us at least one so that
Speaker:we know you're human,
Speaker:like all of us?
Speaker:Oh my goodness,
Speaker:I am very human,
Speaker:very much.
Speaker:Our conversation from here goes deeper and take some more serious
Speaker:tone. So I thought before we get into all of that,
Speaker:we'd stop for a quick 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 or craft studio in
Speaker:seconds. Visit the ribbon,
Speaker:print company.com
Speaker:for more information.
Speaker:Well, the biggest challenge in my life that I share always
Speaker:with my audience is that I am a chronic migraine sufferer
Speaker:and the migraines that I have,
Speaker:I've had them since I was at least five years old
Speaker:all my life.
Speaker:And what happened with me is that for all my life
Speaker:there's really bad and unfortunately right now as we speak at
Speaker:the day 17 of a cluster migraine.
Speaker:So not everything is fun and pretty with the health issues.
Speaker:And I am open to talk about it because I know
Speaker:a lot of people suffer from migraines or other chronic health
Speaker:issues and I decided to share my experience and the business
Speaker:that I was just describing is in a way influenced by
Speaker:my condition,
Speaker:by my health.
Speaker:Because I did not want to work for somebody else and
Speaker:be responsible to be there at a specific time because any
Speaker:day, any moment of a day,
Speaker:I can be in bed.
Speaker:I would have to take to bed a lie in the
Speaker:dark for the rest of the day or be even longer.
Speaker:That's just,
Speaker:that's kind of my story,
Speaker:which I happy to share that you guys are listening.
Speaker:If you have a chronic health condition,
Speaker:I really recommend looking into semi passive income and setting up
Speaker:streams of income like that because it can definitely change your
Speaker:life and I do have great times.
Speaker:I have great weeks with no migraines.
Speaker:I have an awesome little girl that we play with and
Speaker:partially I wanted her to see a mother not only sick
Speaker:in bed many days every week,
Speaker:but also one who goes after her dreams.
Speaker:No matter,
Speaker:No matter.
Speaker:You are a perfect,
Speaker:perfect role model and as you've been sharing this,
Speaker:I didn't know this about you,
Speaker:but you could have used this as an excuse,
Speaker:right? To say,
Speaker:Oh well I couldn't possibly build anything because how could I
Speaker:possibly do it?
Speaker:But that's not what you did.
Speaker:You've taken what you have available for yourself and worked around
Speaker:it. Been resourceful and worked around it cause you could have
Speaker:gone a different way.
Speaker:Aksana I am so lucky to have very supportive parents.
Speaker:I grew up being very supported in that and it must've
Speaker:been very hard for them.
Speaker:Now being a parent myself and the same as my husband,
Speaker:he's awesome,
Speaker:is really,
Speaker:really supportive.
Speaker:He always knew that I can,
Speaker:I have the potential to build a business like that.
Speaker:Maybe they barely even know about my online school.
Speaker:I didn't even know that potential until recently.
Speaker:Now I am really in love with it.
Speaker:It was this side,
Speaker:but the being creative and creating an inspiring other people and
Speaker:collaborating with people,
Speaker:that was always my dream and I'm so glad that I
Speaker:started. I'm so,
Speaker:so glad that I started.
Speaker:I cannot even tell you.
Speaker:Every day I wake up and I go to my computer
Speaker:and they say,
Speaker:I cannot believe that I didn't chicken out and just start
Speaker:and did something instead of complaining about my health.
Speaker:So this is my life right now.
Speaker:And some days I can not make a YouTube video and
Speaker:I cannot make a lesson for my course or make another
Speaker:pattern because I cannot look at light.
Speaker:Okay, let's take a look at my screen sometimes.
Speaker:So having an online business involves looking at screens the same
Speaker:as drawing and making digital art.
Speaker:I have my challenges,
Speaker:but at the same time,
Speaker:you know what?
Speaker:I will share the very empowering thing that happened to me
Speaker:just last year.
Speaker:I figured out that my body can have these limitations,
Speaker:but you know what?
Speaker:The systems that I built and the business that I built
Speaker:does not,
Speaker:my business doesn't have a migraine.
Speaker:So if I concentrate on systems and I grow them and
Speaker:I make them run well,
Speaker:and maybe eventually I'm thinking of hiring a team,
Speaker:I'm already studying for that and looking into that so that
Speaker:I can build something bigger beyond my limitations.
Speaker:That's kind of the stage that I'm looking at and the
Speaker:systems that I use for business,
Speaker:they don't have a migraine.
Speaker:That's what I tell myself.
Speaker:That's a great quote right there.
Speaker:Actually, I hope it would be inspiring to some of your
Speaker:listeners too because I believe very strongly about,
Speaker:it's one of my passions to share what's possible was health
Speaker:limitations. Well,
Speaker:and my guess is that based on what you've built,
Speaker:also you don't have the stress as you were saying earlier
Speaker:about having to be at a certain place at a certain
Speaker:time because you don't work for somebody else.
Speaker:I don't know anything really about migraines.
Speaker:I'm feeling a little guilty about saying that right now,
Speaker:but I'm wondering if just the relief that that's not an
Speaker:issue for you.
Speaker:You can work when you're able to work and not when
Speaker:you can't.
Speaker:Also might reduce how severe or how often they show up
Speaker:because you don't have that extra pressure on you.
Speaker:Oh, 100% 100% I am so grateful that I created the
Speaker:income for myself to support me and my family so that
Speaker:I don't have to stress out.
Speaker:I never wanted to take hardcore pills from my headaches because
Speaker:I knew that if I work for somebody else,
Speaker:I would be responsible to show up every day and even
Speaker:though I am so responsible for my students,
Speaker:I always show up for them as much as I can,
Speaker:but I can always reach out and tell them,
Speaker:let me just do it tomorrow,
Speaker:and I share that with them that I will definitely follow
Speaker:through. Yes,
Speaker:maybe not this hour.
Speaker:I needed it for my health.
Speaker:All of your students know this is part of your story.
Speaker:Yes. Yeah.
Speaker:I share it.
Speaker:I don't speak about it in every video.
Speaker:I don't want,
Speaker:it's not the biggest part yet,
Speaker:but to be honest,
Speaker:I am growing that awareness.
Speaker:I want to spread the message of creating a business and
Speaker:systems. Even if you have health limitations,
Speaker:Do you feel that this has affected your ability to grow
Speaker:at all?
Speaker:Not in terms of what you're able to accomplish,
Speaker:but in terms of the receptivity of you and your product?
Speaker:You mean my teaching?
Speaker:No. You know what?
Speaker:The fact that you have,
Speaker:and I'm asking this because I have a couple of people
Speaker:who are probably listening right now who also have different types
Speaker:of limitations.
Speaker:Let's face it.
Speaker:I mean all of us have limitations of some sort to
Speaker:different degrees,
Speaker:right? We have physical limitations,
Speaker:psychological limitations.
Speaker:Maybe some people are battling a disease.
Speaker:Maybe some people have trauma of some sort.
Speaker:Like there's all different types of things that could happen and
Speaker:often I've gotten into conversations actually with some of my students
Speaker:saying, I've got to keep that hidden because if people knew
Speaker:they wouldn't buy from me.
Speaker:Hm. That's interesting.
Speaker:To be honest,
Speaker:I never thought about it like that.
Speaker:I feel like I probably would be a harder as employee.
Speaker:That's, I thought about that.
Speaker:I never really thought about any issues with my designs or
Speaker:my lessons because I have everything pre recorded.
Speaker:I feel like definitely I was always concerned for me being
Speaker:physically showing up for work right.
Speaker:Every day and staying there until the end because I know
Speaker:when I was going to college and to university and even
Speaker:to school,
Speaker:I had to leave very often.
Speaker:I had to skip many classes just because of my migraines,
Speaker:so I always wanted a passive income kind of situation and
Speaker:to be able to create a product which were already created,
Speaker:I didn't have to deliver them live and be physically on
Speaker:location and other than that,
Speaker:if I create them,
Speaker:be it patterns,
Speaker:be it,
Speaker:it designs,
Speaker:illustrations, books,
Speaker:videos, or my lessons or online courses,
Speaker:all of those are prerecorded.
Speaker:That's gives me a lot of support.
Speaker:I know that all of them are done and my students
Speaker:can use them and learn from them anytime or students and
Speaker:clients too can use them any time.
Speaker:They don't depend on my health.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:I appreciate so much how open you're being about all of
Speaker:this. And I have one more question for you on this
Speaker:and this is really your recommendation or your experience for someone
Speaker:who's in a situation like this so they have some type
Speaker:of what they've defined as a limitation for themselves.
Speaker:Right. And you were saying how happy you are that you
Speaker:made the move,
Speaker:that you took the action to do it,
Speaker:you overcame any self doubt or concern.
Speaker:Can you remember or do you have any suggestions for someone
Speaker:in that situation about how you were able to just go
Speaker:ahead and keep going even past that concern or question?
Speaker:That's a great question.
Speaker:So I love it.
Speaker:I think there will be two parts answer to this question
Speaker:in my case.
Speaker:The first part is that I would just take any time
Speaker:you can and it can be 15 minutes a day,
Speaker:but be as consistent as possible.
Speaker:So what I did when I was pregnant with my daughter
Speaker:and then I was with her,
Speaker:she was with me full time.
Speaker:I was the caregiver full time for two and a half
Speaker:years away from any relatives.
Speaker:I was in California already.
Speaker:So what I did,
Speaker:I would spend on my business even 30 minutes when she
Speaker:was napping or I would spend an hour or maybe two
Speaker:hours and sometimes she would just play next to me,
Speaker:but draw next to me and I would draw on my
Speaker:computer. So whenever I could to be consistent,
Speaker:even 15 minutes a day,
Speaker:that was super,
Speaker:super important.
Speaker:It got me through some years where I saw significant growth
Speaker:in my business.
Speaker:Even though I was working one hour per day or even
Speaker:many days I wouldn't work because I wouldn't feel well.
Speaker:So I believe strongly that even 15 minutes of consistent work,
Speaker:not even at the same time every day whenever you can,
Speaker:but just make it a habit.
Speaker:And in a year or two or three you will see
Speaker:amazing results.
Speaker:So that's a part of one of my suggestion.
Speaker:Take any time you can.
Speaker:If you can do six hours per day,
Speaker:perfect. If you can do 15 minutes per day,
Speaker:that will get you far too.
Speaker:And the second part is to create semi passive income streams.
Speaker:If you have any sort of limitations else or otherwise,
Speaker:I would seriously research how you can contribute.
Speaker:Is it tutorials,
Speaker:is it designs,
Speaker:is it basically anything that you create,
Speaker:let's say that will be sold online in a recurring manner
Speaker:without you being present,
Speaker:delivering the product,
Speaker:it will really,
Speaker:really help you and definitely will help your family and it
Speaker:will create so much freedom and peace of mind.
Speaker:I am the living proof of that with my health issues
Speaker:and I take care of my child with my husband of
Speaker:course, but we don't really have much support since we live
Speaker:international family.
Speaker:We live abroad expats and what happened was that I everyday,
Speaker:me and my husband in our kitchen,
Speaker:we drink tea and we say express gratefulness.
Speaker:That's back then we started and I always say that he
Speaker:was the one who got me fired up because I,
Speaker:my friends told me about it and I said,
Speaker:I don't know anything about it.
Speaker:But then when I told my husband he was coming from
Speaker:a software development,
Speaker:he's actually a physicist.
Speaker:He's in physics right now,
Speaker:but he was coming from software development.
Speaker:He's like,
Speaker:I think this is genius.
Speaker:He was telling me this,
Speaker:this is brilliant.
Speaker:He saw an opportunity,
Speaker:and back then I think I was just starting to use
Speaker:email, so I didn't really know anything it,
Speaker:but seeing his eyes light up and he's not an artist.
Speaker:He could do it himself,
Speaker:but he said to me,
Speaker:do it.
Speaker:It's great to be awesome.
Speaker:He saw this vision and I got fired up.
Speaker:I still remember his face.
Speaker:Oh, that's so cute.
Speaker:Well, he was a supporter of yours all along because he's
Speaker:the one who said,
Speaker:go ahead and just draw.
Speaker:Right. Not even before you started any monetizing anything.
Speaker:He just said,
Speaker:go ahead and just draw.
Speaker:Right. Well,
Speaker:yeah, and it took years.
Speaker:It took me years since I wasn't even an artist yet.
Speaker:Right. I wasn't literature and I was good at drawing and
Speaker:sketching, but I was not a professional quality artist yet.
Speaker:I always tell all my audience and my students that give
Speaker:yourself some grace and give yourself some time to learn how
Speaker:to be a designer,
Speaker:to learn how to be an artist and you will get
Speaker:there if you're persistent and you put your passion in there.
Speaker:But what happened was my husband,
Speaker:he actually,
Speaker:one day I came to him being an illustrator back then
Speaker:I already had my first book published,
Speaker:but I told him,
Speaker:Oh, I really love those repeat pattern designs for fabric,
Speaker:but I can not make them happen in this particular technical
Speaker:vector format.
Speaker:It was back then,
Speaker:they didn't have even the built in tools for that and
Speaker:I still don't use those tools.
Speaker:They are not very helpful for my particular case,
Speaker:for technical specifications.
Speaker:But I just told my husband and he's a physicist,
Speaker:he has nothing to do with that software.
Speaker:He had no idea what to do with it and they
Speaker:were told him this one time,
Speaker:told him that second time.
Speaker:And you know how sometimes our men who love us,
Speaker:they want to fix things for us.
Speaker:Always. Yes.
Speaker:He sits me down and says,
Speaker:okay, show me.
Speaker:Show me what you mean.
Speaker:I don't get it.
Speaker:So I showed him,
Speaker:this is the challenge.
Speaker:I show him,
Speaker:this is what I want to create,
Speaker:but it's hard.
Speaker:It takes me a whole week to create one design.
Speaker:So I still,
Speaker:I have goosebumps all over my body,
Speaker:but since I remember that,
Speaker:when every time I remember that,
Speaker:because what he did in five minutes,
Speaker:he figured out a system.
Speaker:He said,
Speaker:so why don't you this and this and this and this.
Speaker:Five minutes to him?
Speaker:No, I just looked at him,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:my jaw dropped and I said,
Speaker:wait a minute.
Speaker:It's brilliant.
Speaker:It's simple and the brilliant at the same time.
Speaker:So the very next day I sat down and I created
Speaker:five designs in three hours with his system.
Speaker:So he designed,
Speaker:basically, he adjusted the software for me without going into the
Speaker:code. You know,
Speaker:it's amazing to me how somebody who's not in the field
Speaker:and kind of understand what you're trying to do can come
Speaker:up with a perfect solution.
Speaker:And it was unbelievable.
Speaker:This synergy that happened,
Speaker:I still feel it.
Speaker:We still talk about it and it's already been at least
Speaker:12 years since that time and I still use that system
Speaker:and I teach it to my students.
Speaker:Well, I love my husband,
Speaker:he's awesome.
Speaker:I'm the biggest fan of his because the suggestions that he
Speaker:gives to me as non-artist,
Speaker:as a technical guy,
Speaker:sometimes it blow my mind.
Speaker:Right. Well that's just a good lesson to all of us
Speaker:that sometimes we think that,
Speaker:Oh well you're not going to understand whoever it is you're
Speaker:talking to because you're not part of the community when they
Speaker:might have the best solution because they're not part of the
Speaker:knowledge base.
Speaker:You know the standard information that's out there.
Speaker:Exactly. That's to collaborate.
Speaker:I feel like it's really great.
Speaker:So one final topic I want to touch on just briefly
Speaker:and that is your style and way of working with customers
Speaker:because clearly you are a pro at it.
Speaker:You have a whole slew of students,
Speaker:but you also have your one on one clients.
Speaker:Can you give us any tips or thoughts or suggestions on
Speaker:how to work with people as you're working them through your
Speaker:system? Oh,
Speaker:of course.
Speaker:I love to talk about it because I love my clients
Speaker:yearly. One of my clients actually moved with her whole family
Speaker:close to us and they already been to my daughter's birthday
Speaker:party. Oh,
Speaker:love that.
Speaker:I love people who I work with and I've met so
Speaker:many people all over the world.
Speaker:Being a very international person myself,
Speaker:I definitely have you as clients.
Speaker:I have clients from Malaysia,
Speaker:I have clients from Europe,
Speaker:from all over the world,
Speaker:and I'm so blessed to learn.
Speaker:Every time I work with them I learned something new.
Speaker:I learned something new about their business,
Speaker:their products.
Speaker:That's awesome.
Speaker:And what I usually do with my one on one design
Speaker:clients, I like to talk to them on Skype whenever I
Speaker:can so that I can get to know their business and
Speaker:I love to create mockups for them.
Speaker:So not only show actual artwork but also how it would
Speaker:look on a similar product that they have.
Speaker:Because for some people I feel like they cannot envision as
Speaker:quickly. You can tell me a purple floral pattern in this
Speaker:style and I can have it right in my head immediately
Speaker:was the experience.
Speaker:But many people they like to see the results.
Speaker:So I like to show them more how their products will
Speaker:look with particular design and then we work on that.
Speaker:And also I like to give them a little presence on
Speaker:Christmas or on their birthday.
Speaker:It's just like a little something to connect with them and
Speaker:reconnect and stay in touch.
Speaker:So that's if you things that haven't,
Speaker:but I definitely love taking pictures of their work and showing
Speaker:people and dressing my daughter up in outfits from the company
Speaker:that I work with.
Speaker:And taking pictures next to dinosaur bones.
Speaker:Yes. Dinosaur in both.
Speaker:Yes. Wonderful.
Speaker:So what's the future gonna hold for you?
Speaker:I'd love to just talk a little bit,
Speaker:get in your brain of where you think you're going with
Speaker:everything within the next few years.
Speaker:What do you think?
Speaker:Well, my business and life changed the moment that I realized
Speaker:that I have passion for sharing as I love encouraging people
Speaker:and sharing my story and actually giving people systems and resources
Speaker:that helped me.
Speaker:I really have a big passion and the shifts that happened
Speaker:two years ago and what I feel like there is a
Speaker:lot of things that I want to share at create and
Speaker:make easier for people and help inspire people with the message
Speaker:about how to empower their life and create systems to grow
Speaker:beyond their limitations.
Speaker:So it's definitely,
Speaker:I feel a strong energy coming from that direction.
Speaker:But creatively I always have plans and ideas for different lines
Speaker:of products or collaborations.
Speaker:Definitely have a lot of visions and inspiration on my computer
Speaker:right now waiting for my moment because I'm very organized with
Speaker:my time,
Speaker:how I spend it.
Speaker:And I have slots for create to being a,
Speaker:wearing a designer hat and I have time for wearing a
Speaker:video editor hat and I have time for wearing a mama
Speaker:hat, just being a mommy.
Speaker:I love to segment my time like that.
Speaker:And I do feel different kinds of interesting opportunities and energies
Speaker:coming from all of those directions.
Speaker:And what I would love to happen is for me to
Speaker:improve my health.
Speaker:If I'm completely honest with you,
Speaker:if I could wave a magic wand,
Speaker:I would love to improve my health and find a way
Speaker:to get better because I feel like I can contribute on
Speaker:a higher level to this world.
Speaker:Well, you never know and my wish is going to be
Speaker:that that happens because then you can then you could spread
Speaker:more of all your goodness to everybody else.
Speaker:Oh, thank you Exxon.
Speaker:This has been so interesting.
Speaker:Your stories are fabulous.
Speaker:I've loved getting to know you more through your stories of
Speaker:the podcast.
Speaker:You are just so cute,
Speaker:so professional,
Speaker:so buttoned up.
Speaker:And I know our listeners can hear this too as you
Speaker:are so genuine in what you're talking about in terms of
Speaker:sharing and being generous with what you know and making yourself
Speaker:vulnerable to,
Speaker:to talk about things so that you know it will help
Speaker:others. So for all of that reason,
Speaker:I really,
Speaker:really appreciate everything that we've talked about today.
Speaker:How can our listeners get in touch with you?
Speaker:See more of what you're about,
Speaker:where would you send them online?
Speaker:Definitely would be my website and thank you so much for
Speaker:your kind words.
Speaker:You're welcome.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:Spoken in truth.
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:If you want to learn about what I do,
Speaker:I would love for you to visit
okay. S a N as in Nancy,
Speaker:C I a.com
Speaker:and that's all of my personalities and creative side and the
Speaker:teaching side.
Speaker:All of that is on my website.
Speaker:I have a lot of tutorials there too.
Speaker:Beautiful. And I'm kind of feeling like even if some of
Speaker:our listeners here aren't into more of the design mode,
Speaker:just going over there,
Speaker:we'll put a smile on all our faces,
Speaker:seeing all the things that you have.
Speaker:We'll just make people happy just unto itself.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Well, thank you once again continued success and I look forward
Speaker:to staying in touch.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Me too.
Speaker:Exxon, a heartfelt thank you for opening up and sharing with
Speaker:us about your chronic migraines.
Speaker:It's such a powerful story of making adjustments in your business
Speaker:in life to accommodate your needs and also fulfill your dreams.
Speaker:If you as a listener,
Speaker:find yourself in a similar spot with different challenges,
Speaker:perhaps. I hope you've been encouraged and energized by axon as
Speaker:story and it bolsters your own actions to go after what
Speaker:you want in life.
Speaker:No matter what hurdles face you on deck.
Speaker:Next week is a story about another woman who went up
Speaker:against the odds in a different way.
Speaker:Let's just say it's a mini miracle.
Speaker:She got her job in the first place and once she
Speaker:did, she walked into a beehive of activity and got stung
Speaker:more than once.
Speaker:More on that next Monday.
Speaker:Bye for now.
Speaker:I want to make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook
Speaker:group called gift biz breeze.
Speaker:It's a place where we all gather and our community to
Speaker:support each other.
Speaker:Got a really fun post in there.
Speaker:That's my favorite of the week.
Speaker:I have to say where I invite all of you to
Speaker:share what you're doing,
Speaker:to show pictures of your product,
Speaker:to show what you're working on for the week,
Speaker:to get reaction from other people and just for fun because
Speaker:we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody in
Speaker:the community is making.
Speaker:My favorite post every single week without doubt,
Speaker:wait, what aren't you part of the group already?
Speaker:If not,
Speaker:make sure to jump over to Facebook and search for the
Speaker:group gift biz breeze.
Speaker:Don't delay.
