123. Kassy King on building community, closing up shop, and life after creative business

Episode 123 • 9th October 2024 • Brand Your Passion • Maker & Moxie

Hollie Arnett: Awesome. All right. Hello everybody. And welcome to the podcast, Kassy. Thank you so much for joining us. Yeah, I'm so stoked that you are here.

As everybody will have just heard, they know a little bit about you already, but I'm so excited to go back a little bit and hear about your journey to rip the bandaid off a little bit up at the top.

You have closed your business and are no longer running it. I want to talk to you about that, but first, let's go back and talk about how you started your business. So, how did Kassy King Designs come about? Where did it all begin?

Kassy King: I was studying radiography at university, and I wanted to make X-ray markers. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the rule that when you X-ray the side of someone's body, a left or a right, you have to have a little marker that says left or right with your initials legally in case someone's heart was on the wrong side of their body or something.

And then I'd seen some made out of resin, and my friend was playing with resin, and I was like, can you show me a little bit about how that works? I fell in love. I bought all of the things off Aliexpress, a bunch of moulds, and started making them. I had actually been doing digital art already and had an Instagram for that.

I had been drawing people or doing commissions and things like that. So I just posted a picture of something I made, and someone I knew went, "Can I buy that?" And I went, and then I would post more pictures, and then people I didn't know were like, "Can I buy that?" And then people were like, "Can you come to our market?"

And I was like, "I guess so." And then it just grew organically from there. Then, someone sent me the product, an acrylic resin called Jesmonite, to try. And that's when I really fell in love. I could finally get the colours I wanted and found my style. And yeah, it went from there.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. You have such a distinct style, then, which I will talk a little bit about, but I love the fact that it was such a classic, supply-and-demand type of thing. When you created something, people were like, "I love that. I want that. Can I have that?"

And you were like, yeah, I guess so.

Kassy King: Yeah. And I, yeah, I don't do anything casually either. It turns out that it was just all in then.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, I love that.

[: 00:02:17

Hollie Arnett: And how did you turn that into a brand from there? What did the branding look like from the beginning?

In the beginning stages, when I was working with resin, I bought a lot of creepy, goth moulds. I was working with coffins or a skull ashtray, and I have a lot of skull tattoos. So that's my style. So I just hand-drew because I'd been drawing.

Kassy King: I drew myself a logo. It was a coffin that said casting art and had a star and a moon. And then I thought that might be a little bit polarising. I actually quite like that. Lots of different things. So, the branding changed again. I think I used Canva to make my next one. And that was like checkers and maybe a smiley face.

It never felt quite right. I think I changed again to a pink logo with some semi-circles, which I thought represented home decor a bit more. And then it got to the point where I was showing up to these massive markets, and I didn't feel professional enough with these things I'd made on Canva.

I then hired a local designer to create my branding. We had an intensive day, spending all day in touch. It was, I think, 11 o'clock that night that we had our final product.

Hollie Arnett: That's amazing. So I love what you said about being around these other people in these markets or these environments and feeling like you didn't feel at that level, right? I'm sure there are a lot of artists who can resonate with that. Maybe your work is at that level, but your brand doesn't match that.

And yeah, how did you know that it was like, apart from maybe that feeling, but how did you know that it was the right time to hire somebody else to help you to do that?

Kassy King: I think my disconnect from my online presence didn't feel cohesive. Then, my marketing felt different again for in-person events.

Every time I had an event, I was making something new. I was making a new business card, a new magnet, or I was buying a new stamp, and I just felt like there was a real disconnect in my branding. I don't think you could see me at one event and then another and recognise that I'm the same person.

So, I wanted something cohesive. I wanted it to run from my online presence to my in-person presence to my shipping. So, I had packaging made as well, so I had stickers, tissue paper, and paper tape made. I really wanted that cohesiveness. So when people got something from me, whether it was at the market or they saw me in a market and then bought online, it felt like the same person.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. And so, is that what you got once you did that with the intensive? What did that result in once you've had that experience?

Kassy King: Yeah, I did. At that stage, I then had a logo and a sub-logo. I had some stickers I could use online. I had colours, which I, I think, used more than anything.

I kept those colours cohesive. And yeah, then I had tissue paper, stickers, and tape designs. I had a PDF that had all my colours with the hex codes. So I could take that information and make things in Canva, but they weren't just "Oh, this is cute." They all resonated and looked the same.

So, I was uncertain about how to get my brand across. I finally had an idea that I could spread the message. I think my tone was the same, but now it had that cohesiveness to back it up in terms of colours, text, and font. Yeah, I felt like a real business when I had all of that once it was all done.

Yeah. I was like, oh, this is it. Like, I just, Yeah. So legit. The colours are definitely something that I know. When I saw your business, I was like, oh yeah, I could recognize that. I hope it is one of yours, but the lilac, I feel like. Yes. Even through your pieces, I can see you have one highlight that's still there.

Hollie Arnett: I can see it on that. And I know that it was something of yours.

Kassy King: Yeah. We started the day. I thought I wanted pink. The more time we spent talking, the more I had a bunch of favourite things on Pinterest, and the more we got through the day, I realised, "Oh, it's purple; it's lilac that I want."

And I think that was: I kept trying to make everything pink; it turns out it was purple. I wanted to, so I connected with that so much more.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. That's what the design process is all about. Awesome. And so once you had that going back to the original brand and once you had that setup and were starting to sell your stuff and put that out there, how did you first grow your audience and get those initial sales and start?

Selling your physical stuff instead of the prints and things you did before.

[: 00:07:03

Kassy King: Yeah, I think I'm very lucky locally. Newcastle is where I'm based. And I've never felt community like I do in Newcastle. I think, luckily, my partner is a tattooist and has a lot of people who are already interested in art, who I've also made friends with or interacted with.

For people who are just in the arts community in Newcastle, it's huge. I think it took people supporting me as, Hey, you're trying to think that's awesome. Let me support you too, like, Oh wow. Now, you're a part of the Newcastle community. And yeah, I felt very lucky.

Like I spent, I grew up in Brisbane and spent a lot of time on the Gold Coast, and I've had many creative pursuits. In my life, I used to make hair bows, jewellery, and clothes, and I've never had the community I've had in Newcastle. I don't think I could have done this anywhere else.

I think it's a big part of the reason I got the opportunity to be a part of so many things that even encouraged me to keep going when maybe I wouldn't have. So I think my locality played a big part in it, and having such prestigious markets close by, like we've got Olive Tree Markets in Newcastle, played a big part in it.

It's been around for 15 years, and people drive from Sydney, which is about two and a half hours away, to go to that market once a month. So yeah, I think my locality played a big part in shaping the community here. Definitely.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. And so, what did you do to make the most of that community? Because you can be in the right place. You can have that community, but you have to do something with that community, right? Yeah. What did you do to engage in that community and get your work into that community.

Kassy King: I said, yes, a lot. I was just happy to be a part of anything. My background is in retail and customer service. That made a big difference in going to markets and talking to people. When it comes to small businesses, you can have all the most beautiful branding in the world, but I think many people buy from the person.

Once I started sharing a bit more of myself online along with my product, I think people connected with that. They're like, "Oh, she's like me, or I like how she does this, or it's cool that she's got this." So just connecting with people in person, I think, really helped me explode, and then taking that.

I was doing it in person and trying to translate it online. There were a lot of influences, like, hi, I tried this product today, and there was a lot of inauthenticity. And I think people resonated with me just being myself online and being honest, too. I've had a lot of people reach out when they shared struggles with business or anything.

And everyone's so refreshing. You're honest. I'm like, what is everyone else doing? Like I was so confused because all I was being was myself. Like I didn't have a plan, and I think that resonates with people, there was no. Bullshit, if I'm allowed to swear.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, for sure. Um, you said getting out there into the community and saying yes to things and that sort of thing.

[: 00:10:01

Hollie Arnett: I noticed that Hosted workshops looked like or did things like that. What do you think was your approach to hosting workshops or that sort of thing?

Was that a good strategy or a good tool for getting out there?

Kassy King: Yeah, the workshop stemmed from my inbox being full of people going, "Show me how to do this”, and look, it can be somewhat controversial, but I don't think I owed what I knew and the things that I learned to anyone for free. I'm sorry.

I'm not an educational Instagram. I'm not an educational YouTuber, and the number of messages from people who just wanted me to tell them everything I knew for free when I'd spent years, months, whatever it was, blood, sweat, actual tears, finding these things out. And local people were like, Oh, I would love to learn how to make this.

So I'm like, if the demand's online, the demand should be in person, too. So I held one workshop at a location that went really well and had really good feedback. Luckily, I worked at Apple at one point in my life, and they taught me how to train people. I held workshops at Apple, so I think some experience helped.

I then got myself in a situation with a local company where. They were probably making more money than me off my workshops. So I got a bit, and that was my fault. It was a silly business mistake I made. It's not their fault. And that kind of put a bit of taste in my mouth, unfortunately.

But I also learned that, in itself, it is a business you have to create, buy, design, and promote when you're already Trying to run a social media when you're a maker here and making your things. That's a big portion of your time. And then you still have to manage all of these other things.

Unfortunately, I couldn't do everything. I had to choose what I loved the most, which was Attending markets. I felt a lot of pressure at workshops for people to get something, and I didn't feel like I could manage people's expectations correctly in my head. I've got great feedback, and I had multiple people come back multiple times to multiple workshops.

So, I guess I was doing something right. Unfortunately, it got to a point where I couldn't juggle all the things as much as I tried.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah.

Kassy King: I was also working three days a week.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, yeah. Every new thing that you add to your business is a new set of, like you said, marketing, you have to do, managing, behind-the-scenes Promoting. There's so much that you have to think about before and after you add something to your business. So you have to consider, not only do I want to do that thing, but also, do I want to do something else? Does the work associated with it come along with that thing?

Kassy King: Yeah, it's so easy to go. I know a thing I can teach people. But all these extra things you have to do get people to show up. So, it started social. A social group at a local hospital reached out, where they put money aside from their wage every week and do something social together. They wanted a workshop for 30 before I did a workshop for 30 people; I better, Run a workshop and that kind of kicked my butt into gear.

I'd been talking about it. But yeah, it just became a whole other beast.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. And it's hard when you're doing it yourself, too. If somebody else is facilitating and managing it, and you are just coming in and running the workshop, that's one thing. But if you have to find the venue, materials, and the like, there's a lot.

There's a whole business of workshops. Finding news is so hard.

Kassy King: Yeah. There are companies whose job is to just hold workshops. And that's their whole business.

Hollie Arnett: Definitely. So it's good to get your experience and your take on it. So, thank you for sharing that.

[: 00:13:50

Hollie Arnett: Some other things that I read that you have done or researched that you have been involved in. I saw that you collaborated a lot with other people as well or liked other brands.

How do you find getting involved with collaborations or coming across those, and how have they helped your brand? Was it like you reaching out to other people or them reaching out to you or brands? Yeah, tell me about collaborating and how that worked for you.

Kassy King: Often, I'd already struck up a friendship with the person or the brand. That was probably the coolest thing about my business: the friendships I made and maintain today. So, a lot of them came from a place of "I love your work, you love my work, let's work together."

But we also see the benefit of that mutual benefit, like working together, benefiting both of us. So when you're a small business, like I think community over competition in terms of working with other brands, it doesn't mean you share all your secrets; it just means that you want to see them succeed at what they're doing.

And I think that's the most wholesome way to do it.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah.

Kassy King: Cause if you go in for money or Oh, it'll give us more followers. I wasn't interested in those. Everyone's Oh, if we do this five-way giveaway, make everyone follow us. And I was like, that's not organic to me.

If I work with brands and people that I like, obviously, we're going to align. So yeah, it was really fun collaborating with one of the tattooists. It works with my partner, yeah, some other brands, some earring brands. They would give me the earrings, and I would take photos using the earrings, and we promoted each other.

So it was often a celebration of "I love your art, but I want to share you with my audience" or "How can we grow together?" I think.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. I think that's such a good idea. And like you said, it's yeah. If you go in with an approach of yeah, how can we celebrate each other and support each other?

Yeah, that's the best way to approach those types of things. Then, you have the best expectations rather than wondering how we can get the most return out of the situation.

Kassy King: There are no guarantees with stuff like that, either. It's just that I often found people whose work I loved, and it was more like a, how can we work together?

I like you. Let's do things. Like how can I help you? I was always trying to share my audience with other people. I feel lucky to have grown to the numbers I had on Instagram, and I don't have an answer to why that happened, but I wanted to. Share that with my friends because I know it matters to a lot of people, and it doesn't matter so much to me, but I wasn't naive to the fact that I had an audience, and I wanted to share that with the people that I cared about as well to try and help them out.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like a few of the things that have worked have been like being yourself, sharing your work, celebrating other artists, collaborating, like all the things that, you know, just core things that people love and that social media should be about. But people often overcomplicate it or get too tied into the algorithm or these specific things we have to do, but it's just about it.

Being yourself, sharing your work, collaborating, and celebrating our artists are basic.

Kassy King: When you do those things, you find your people, whether friends or the audience. That's probably why I have grown to the point that I did. It's because I didn't take it seriously.

I wasn't locked in, to be sure. I looked at analytics and kept up to date with what was happening, but I never subscribed to it because that's the only way to do things. I was just like, "I'll just post it. It doesn't matter." I started with nothing. What have I got to lose? I had friends who were losing sleep over not growing or not making more followers.

And I'm like, that's crazy. There's so much more to life, and connecting with people, I think, is the answer. It's like people seeing themselves in you or resonating with you or seeing something in you that they either see in themselves or they appreciate, and that's what people come to, not these forced following the algorithm.

I made a million dollars last month selling online marketing. Go away.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, exactly. You were doing a bunch of things, and you were featured in a few magazines telling your story. I saw it as well. You and magazines like Peppermint and Swell and Hunter. I wanted to ask you about how those came about as well because people often ask about how to get them.

They have been featured in magazines, podcasts, and similar media. So yeah, tell me about the magazine features and how they came about.

Kassy King: Peppermint reached out to me and said, look, we love what you're doing. We'd like to put you in our limelight. Do you want to? And, like I said, I just started saying yes to everything.

And I said, yep, why not? Swell came about, and they reached out and said, Hey, we want to feature you. We love what you're doing. And I was like, Yep, sure. So they had heard about me through a friend of a friend who talked about how great my work was or what they liked when they met me at the markets, and I guess they'd received a lot of positive feedback about myself and my work and I guess they felt like that was the right thing to share.

Hunter is a paid feature. No one really knows that. Yeah, they come across as a local news story, but you actually have to pay to be a part of it. That was when I was trying to grow my workshop. Again, it's a different business, so I had to take a different approach.

And obviously, then I'm aiming for local people that way, which you can't target, specifically online. My biggest number of followers at one stage was from Tehran. I didn't; they're not going to come to my workshops, are they? So I chose a targeted approach, and I paid for advertising in Hunter, which is around 750, with me supplying the photos.

Hollie Arnett: Okay. Yeah. Good to know. So, the other two were free marketing approaches. Yeah. But it sounds like it came partly from just being out there and sharing your work and people knowing about you, but also from being, like you said, your connections and networking, and being at markets, people. I heard about you or met you at the market or that sort of thing, so from that, which is great. And then the hunter one is a really smart way of thinking, which is what I try to teach people all the time, which is to think about who you are trying to reach, where are they and where are they like consuming things, right?

Like where, what are they reading? What are they? Taking in what are they watching? That type of thing.

[: 00:20:51

Hollie Arnett: So you were saying, okay, my audience is in the wrong place right now. So, I need to think about where I want them to be and what they are reading, watching or looking at. And so I put an ad in that place.

And that's a really smart way of thinking about it. It's the same thing if you were like, okay, my audience is listening to this podcast, right? Could you put an And on this podcast? We'll try to get on this podcast. It's a smart way of thinking.

Kassy King: I think the consumers of Hunt Hunter don't realise it's a paid service, so it doesn't even come across as an advertisement.

So I think that also makes it different because, as a consumer, I didn't realize it was paid until I reached out, and they were like, "Give us money." And I was like, "Oh, okay." But I personally followed it, and when they sent you their credentials, they were trying to sell themselves, and I saw their audience.

Hollie Arnett: The exact people I was trying to reach, they gave you a diagram of their age, gender, what they like doing, and their interests. And I was like, this is exactly where I need to put my ad. And I did fortunately get some attendees from that article. Awesome, even better.

Yes, okay, amazing. You obviously had a lot going on. You had products, workshops that you eventually could offer, collaborations, all these features, and things like that.

[: 00:22:18

Hollie Arnett: But you decided to shut it all down at some point. So when did you start thinking that it was time to?

Start to close up shop. What was the thought process going through your head about, okay, I think this might be the end of Kassy King Designs.

Kassy King: I hadn't stopped and thought about it. I just, like I said, accidentally started selling things I didn't set out to create a business.

I started saying yes to things. And then all of a sudden, I was like, Is this actually what I want? I was burnt out. I was working seven days a week, and you probably know that as a creative and small business owner, your brain doesn't switch off. And I was looking at where to go from here.

I was like, "I've done all the things. I've tried all the things." And like a lot of other small businesses, I felt the crunch of the cost-of-living crisis.

I had to double, if not triple, the number of markets to make the same money I was making in one market. So I sat down and looked at the numbers, and I went, "Look, this is how much, and I'm very lucky for the three years I was operational."

I was 25 per cent profit every year, which is huge. Most businesses run at either a loss or break even for the first three years. And even 25 per cent profit, as I would never do this for free. Don't get it twisted. I didn't want to do this. It's just so much work.

If I wanted it to be my full-time gig, I needed to make money. So I sat down and looked at the profit margins, and I went, "That's great to sustain a living wage but to grow bigger, I've got to hire a coach to help me." Because I'm at my limit, as much as I know, like I've tried all the things, I would have to hire someone to help me, and my studio is in my home.

Did I want someone in my home? Is this really what I want? It was an accident and creating volumes of. This product kind of took away my love. I wanted to try these other things. I had an idea, but I didn't have time to try it. Creativity is the exciting part of trying something and seeing if it will work.

That fun part was gone because the pressure that I needed—everything I needed to make had to make money, right? Because it was sustaining my living, topping up my wage from my job. And I went to university, so I didn't have to hustle anymore. I'd been working in retail for 20 years or doing all these jobs and creative side hustles, and I just decided to go to university, so I didn't have to work seven days a week anymore.

I didn't have to work three jobs at a time, and here I was doing the same thing, and I was like, Is this really what I want?

Kassy King: And the catalyst was my cat going viral. I don't know if you've seen my cat, Potato. He got 35 million views, 35 million views on TikTok and over 40 million views on Instagram from one video.

And with that virality came the comments. And it wasn't like, most of them were like, this is great. This is wonderful. A lot of them were like, you're abusing your cat. There was one thread on TikTok where commenters told each other to unalive themselves. I'm like, this is ridiculous.

And then I thought about it. I was like, do I want that? You spend your whole small business trying to go viral, right? And I went, do I want that? Do I want that many people commenting on my life, having access to my life? It's easy enough to say don't read the comments, but have you ever gone viral?

It's crazy. You can't look away, it's like a train wreck. Is that what I want? Could I handle that level of virality with that many people making comments perceiving my life? I was just like, I don't know if that's what I want. I think I'm happy. How'd I become addicted to being told I love your work?

How'd I become addicted to being told you're so talented? Was I actually enjoying what I do, or was it a dopamine hit, and then, ironically, my closing down reel went viral? Of course, it got to 1. 5 million views, and the comments started getting silly.

I was like, I don't, and all my small business friends were losing their minds. They're like, you can't delete a reel with 1. 5 million views. Are you insane? Like you can't, that's what we all want. What are you doing? And I'm like, I don't think that's what I want.

And you can't control it once the beast is out there. And so I deleted it at 1. and my friends lost their minds. But besides being exhausted, when I sat down and thought about whether this was what I wanted to do,

Kassy King: I want my life to continue this way. Can I make enough money for this to be my full-time job in this economy?

Can I write it out? Do I want to write it out? I hadn't stopped and thought about it. I just said, "Yeah, I love trying new things." So I just kept saying yes. And then all of a sudden, three years later, I was with a profitable business that I didn't even mean to make. So yeah, it's complex.

It's loaded. The cost-of-living crisis played a big part. I was lucky to still be making money. I know some people weren't. Or aren't, but every conversation became about what else we can do? Like, how can I get this? And the stress was more than I wanted. So yeah, when I sat down and thought about it, I wondered, is this what I want?

It was a lot of personal thinking, considering, and talking with my family about it. Was this what I wanted my life to look like? And when I thought about it, I was like, no, I love my job. I went to uni to become a medical radiation scientist and love that. And I'm proud of myself for doing that.

And I hadn't even focused on that. I've been running this business this whole time through it, and I'd be at work not focusing. And I was like, that's not fair to that time. I invested in that. Yeah, it's complex. I don't regret it for a second. I haven't made a single Jesmonite piece since I'd be making a lot of other art and playing around redecorating my home.

Yeah. Sorry, that's a load. There's so much going on, but

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. And thank you for sharing this story. I know, it's been months now, but I'm sure there are still a lot of feelings involved. I appreciate you sharing that with me and with us. And I'm sure people were questioning, why are you closing down and making that decision and things like that?

And maybe you were questioning that yourself, even in the process. How did you know it was the right decision to close it down? It wasn't profitable. It was, even though people loved your work and things like that. But how did you ultimately decide?

When I Talked it through with my family and friends, I said, "Look, I'm thinking about packing it all in, thinking about quitting." They were like, "Whatever you want to do, whatever feels right." We talked through it. And when I went, "Yeah, I'm going to do it."

Kassy King: Oh, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. And that's when I knew it was the right thing to do. I had people reach out to me and go, A, I can't believe you're doing it, but B, thank you so much for being brave enough to do it. I've been thinking about closing, but I feel I'm giving up or quitting.

And I said, "I think quitting is flogging a dead horse." I think giving up is continuing to do something that doesn't bring you joy, excite you, or cause you too much stress. I think that's quitting. I would have been giving up or not being true to myself.

If I kept going, I wasn't passionate about it anymore. And yeah, like I said, when I sat down and went if I go viral, do I want that? No, I don't want to go viral. I want to keep working seven days a week. No, not really. Do I like my day job that I worked hard for?

Yeah. Can I still keep making things and sharing them with people? I can if I want to, but even the thought of making content is daunting. I think I'm overwhelmed by that. Yeah, I think I'm really burnt out. The thought of making content makes me really anxious, so I only share when I really feel like it.

I don't know why. Yeah, I just burnt out; I don't want to accidentally go viral again.

Hollie Arnett: No, I get it. I have a really close friend who used to be business, like besties if you want to call it that. She did a similar thing a couple of years ago, and now she is just off the internet, and she loves it.

I like the same thing. I don't want to make a piece of content again. And she says, "Yeah, either you're in it or not."

Kassy King: Yeah. I weirdly now do social media for my medical imaging company cause I learnt a lot. And I do enjoy it. But it's a love-hate relationship.

But it's such a skill that I've learned that it feels a shame to push aside. When that opportunity came up at work, I was like, yeah, I'll do it. It's not my main focus at work, so it doesn't take priority, which I think takes the pressure off which makes it enjoyable again.

Hollie Arnett: Yes, and it's not for your creative baby.

Kassy King: Sharing yourself is daunting, yeah. Like sharing yourself so authentically and sharing art that you've painstakingly created or that takes a lot of guts, you have to be prepared to hear things you don't want to hear. And I don't actually care if people like my stuff or not.

I made something recently, and a lady said, "Where is it? "It's over here, this shiny silver thing. She said it looked like leftover lasagna. I was like, cool. I think I have a good relationship. Yeah. I was like, "Where's the lasagna? "Do you mean the lasagna tin? "Then I was like, "It's a hypothermic blanket. "

That's what I was going for. So I don't care. Yeah, that's what people think, but I think when you're trying to make money off it, there's so much pressure.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah.

[: 00:32:11

Hollie Arnett: I was going to ask you, so now that you have closed things down, I've seen that you have shared a couple of things.

You shared something today that you illustrated. What do you feel now is the difference in being creative without the pressure of doing it as your business? And how are things now that you have closed things down?

Kassy King: Like, mentally, I'm a thousand times better. I can relax. What's that?

My mental health has benefited significantly. I sacrificed so much for my relationships with my friends and family. So having that back, being able to actually have friends, I'm like, Hey, I'm back from small business land. Let's hang out. Yeah. I have the free time to pursue creative pursuits and follow a tangent in my brain.

Great. Do I want to make a hypothermic lasagna art piece? Yeah, I do. Yeah. So that's been really joyful for me, and it's brought me joy for being creative. I think the one really big thing it taught me is that I need to be creative. I think in the past, I haven't made time for that, and that's when I end up quitting a job or trying to find something else.

Maybe I should have gone into a creative career, but I'm also half-science. So it's always a constant battle. So I think it's taught me that I need to make time to create. In terms of sharing content, I share when I feel like it; there's no pressure.

I'm not trying to sell anything. I don't feel like I have to get on there and sell myself any more.

Hi, please buy my things. I can just say here's the thing I did. I don't care if you like it. Whereas before, please like my things. I need the money. But I don't; sometimes, the back of my mind is like, Oh, you got to post like you've got to post something. I'm like, No, I don't. I'm much happier.

I've been lucky enough to be invited to speak on a panel about social media, to do this podcast, and to a TikTok event next week. So all these different opportunities are coming up now that are exciting that I wouldn't have made time for before or even had the blinkers open to be receptive to those things.

Yeah, I'm much happier. I think I'll always be creative. I'll probably always share. I guess I'm from that age where you share on social media, millennials. Yeah, but I don't regret my decision at all. It was a hundred per cent the right thing to do.

Hollie Arnett: That's awesome. I love that. And I'm happy that you are happy. That is so good to hear. And so great to always great to hear a creative feeling more creative. I know, right? Burnt out creative. No, a happy creative. Yay. That's what I want. That's awesome. Yeah. I love that. Okay.

[: 00:34:53

Hollie Arnett: My last question for you is what I ask everybody. And that is just, what do you think is one lesson you have learned or one piece of advice you would give to other artists or creatives who are branding their passion? Or yeah, one piece of advice or one lesson you've learned.

Kassy King: Don't let the noise of social media stop you from sharing what you want to share. It comes back to authenticity.

Don't chase the algorithm. You'll never beat it. You'll never understand it. Even Instagram doesn't understand it. Post what you like, and you will find your people, I think. And yeah, just be yourself. No one else can be you. You might sell the same thing as someone else. You might do something similar to someone else, but what the other person doesn't have is your personality.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, 100%. Exactly. I love it. Thank you so much, Kassy. I have loved hearing this from you, and I know that everybody listening is going to love this. I will leave all your stuff in the show notes, but do you want to tell everybody where they can? Follow your current creative journey and whatever you might get up to in the future.

Kassy King: If you want to, I'm currently redecorating my house, and I'm on a budget, so I'm upcycling. I do a lot of secondhand and antique shopping. And I share that, so you can find me at Kassy King Designs on Instagram or TikTok. Or you can follow my cat, Potato the Persian, on TikTok and Instagram, where I share videos of him, too.

So I can't get away from the internet. I want to, but I'm still there. I'm still creating, and I'm just happy to share. Yep.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah, we love it. We will all follow you, but we will not hold you beholden to any schedule or any type; we will just love and see whatever you post, whether it might be some sparkly lasagna creations.

Kassy King: Someone messaged me and wants to make me three times the size. They want to buy it from me.

And I'm like, no, that's not what this is anymore.

Hollie Arnett: Yeah. You're not getting the purpose.

Hollie Arnett: This has been awesome. Yeah, thank you for joining us. We will see everybody next time. Bye!

Kassy King: Thank you for having me!

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