Why does your business exist? Of course, it exists to make money, but how is it adding value to the market and to your life as an artist? Having a philosophy of business helps you find the right direction for your business and ensures you stay on course, creating value for your clients in a way that matters to you.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• How to dig deep and find your own philosophy-one that aligns with your values
• How your philosophy should grow and change as you grow and change
• How you can use your philosophy as a compass to keep you on course

Learn more about how to think like an artist on The Artist's Forge, and join our growing community of artists on Facebook.

Want to know more about the hosts?

Nicole York

Matt Stagliano

Cat Ford-Coates

Bassam Sabbagh

Bekka Bjorke

Hi, this is Matt Stagliano and thanks for being

part of the artists Forge. We're a community of creatives who

help each other think like an artist. By discussing creativity

as a process instead of a skill or a talent. We believe everyone

has what it takes to create something amazing. We just need

some encouragement and inspiration along the way. What

you're about to hear is a live recording of one of our daily

discussions on the clubhouse app. If you like what you hear,

I encourage you to join our private Facebook group, or visit

us on the web at the artist forged calm. Now on to the show.

Alright, Joe, well, it is Monday, we already have so

many friends with us here this morning. And I am super honored

to welcome you back to morning walk and talk with the artists

Forge. This week, it's morning walking business talk, and will

be for the next month. So we are going to be looking at the very

foundations of our business, how we decide what our philosophy of

business is going to be. And then getting into some of the

more technical things like how we structure our business and

what type of business it is. And this month, we're looking at it

essentially as the artists forge MBA. So thank you to Ari for

that suggested name. So this week, is going to be the kind of

early on nuts and bolts that we need to get in place to build

the rest of the business structure on top of. And I

wanted to start by talking about the philosophy of business.

Because I think there are a few things we really need to

understand about why we're in business, what our business

means to our lives, what we want it to represent and how we want

it to be in the marketplace. And all of that comes down to what

philosophy we have about our business. And that is going to

come into play again later on when we talk about writing up a

business plan and things like a vision statement and a mission

statement. So this particular philosophy is going to become

really influential, later. Also, as we talk about things like non

negotiables in our business, and how those can act like bumpers

in a bowling lane that kind of keep us going on the right path.

So I'm glad you're here for that I'm looking forward to this

week. And the rest of this month, I think this is going to

really set us up for the year ahead so that we can move

forward and make any changes to our businesses that need to be

made. And if we're just getting off the ground, this will

hopefully give us a really solid foundation to plan a business

that is going to thrive. So what is a philosophy of business? Why

is it important? If you have been here with artists forge for

any amount of time, one of the thing that we have talked about

is figuring out our y. And this was an exercise that we did a

few months ago, where we asked ourselves why? Over and over

again, until we got to the very bottom until there were no more

answers that we could give to figure out why we chose the act

of creation as the model for our business. Why are we artists,

photographers, musicians, etc. Just tracing that idea all the

way back down? And we want to do that again for our business and

see if we can come up with what is essentially a mission

statement for the business itself. Why does the business

exist? What is our philosophy of business? And it would be very

easy and a little bit of a scapegoat to say, well, it

exists to make money. Of course, all businesses exist to make

money, but you chose this business. And you're going to

get to choose how that business is structured, what it sells,

who the target market is, where it sells it, what type of

products it sells, what the customer journey is like how you

run your sales processes, all of those kinds of things, come back

to the philosophy that you choose for why your business

exists. And you can essentially, look at this in a way like a

tagline, right? I've mentioned before, the reason that I the

reason that I do photography is to build bridges back to

fairyland. I'm inviting folks back to that place where they

believe anything is possible, and that there are things beyond

their understanding wonderful and magical things in them and

in the world that they live in. And overall, the goal of

everything else I do is to facilitate storytelling. So I

want people to tell their own stories. I want to help People

learn how to tell the stories that they need to tell. And so

at the very heart of everything,

everything comes back to that one philosophy. I want to tell

stories that matter stories that impact people, and I want to

help them tell their stories. So that's two examples in my own

life. And what we can do is ask ourselves, why does this

business exist? Why is it going to be here, not just the reason

that any business is here to make money, but the reason I

have built this thing this way, or I will build this thing this

way. And that could be a myriad of things. We've talked about

connection, we've talked about creativity, there's no wrong

answer here, it just needs to be one that matters enough that you

will put in the amount of time effort, Blood Sweat Tears,

you're going to be building the sweat equity. So what is

important enough about the existence of this business, for

you to do everything you need to do in order to make it

successful? Because remember, you could be working for

somebody to pay your bills, you don't have to start a business.

So there must be some deep reason that made you choose this

above anything else? And even if the answer is just, I don't want

to work for somebody else, and this is all I'm good at. That's

not a bad place to start. But my guess is that there will be even

a deeper reason than that something tied to who you are,

and how you want to exist in the world, and the kind of value you

want to provide. So I want to begin by asking our wonderful

moderators this morning, if you were to look at the business

that you have built, and try to distill some kind of philosophy,

why does your business exist? Beyond just this is how I pay my

bills? Would you be able to do that? And if not, do you think

that's something we can explore today and, and pick apart a

little bit so that folks in the audience who have already built

their business, but never really bothered to look at what the

philosophy of their businesses will be able to follow in our

steps?

I think it's actually important to know that

as you build your business over time, you should actually

revisit this question. Because the the evolution of that why

and that purpose is a thing. And that why will deepen and expand

as you grow in your business.

Okay, that's such a good point. Yeah. And you're

absolutely right.

Hey, good morning, everyone, I just want

to jump in first, if you don't mind, simply because I, I do

have to leave soon. I'm waiting for a client for a photoshoot.

Great way to kick off the subject. I just want to say that

kind of answer your question, Nicole. And in my case, I try to

boil it down to the simplest common denominator. And for me,

it's my need to, or at least my want to try to make a positive

impact on positive impact on anybody I deal with whether it's

small or big. And I do this, because I want people to leave

every experience that they have with me either a little more

confident, either a little bit smarter, either a little bit,

feeling better about themselves. And, and, and I come from a

place as you guys know, from place of service, and

generosity, and that's the reason I'm in business is to

actually it's one way to manifest how I live my life. And

I'm happy when somebody says you had a very small positive impact

on me. And that's all I need in life. So everything is built

around, not fundamentally. And obviously, I can put many more

words around why I do this, and how I make women feel and how I

do mine, how I you know why I want to know what exactly do I

do for them, but fundamentally, this is what it is.

I love that beside them. And you reminded me then

just a little bit of the time that I interviewed Brooke Shaden

when I asked her, you know, what is her why? And she simply said,

because this is the greatest good I have to give to the

world. And I love that so much. And I love that this is a

manifestation for you, of just who you want to be. This is just

another aspect of you being able to be the person that you can be

proud of in this life. And I just think that that's really

beautiful and powerful. And I would ask, do you is there any

specific thing tied to photography that makes it the

right way for you to do this because I know you also do this

in your business consulting as well. But there must have been

something about photography that made it be one Have the right

choices as a way to manifest that desire.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And when I, when I,

I get it both from photography, and I get it from a one on one

coaching with people, maybe not necessarily business consulting

as such for a company. But when I do one on one coaching, it's

almost the same. Same thing and what photography brings,

obviously, my passion for photography started without

really knowing why I want to be in the business of photography.

So there's a passion behind it about photography, there's a

passion about connecting with people, getting to know them,

getting them to have fun, getting them to open up getting

them, asking them probing questions that we can get into

and, and I do that with my photography clients, as much as

my coaching, I make people think about certain things, I help

them, you know, analyze things that they never thought about,

and it just creates an atmosphere of, of connection

that I just thrive in. And I like experiencing. So combining

that passion for photography, with that, with that connection

with people and conversation with people, is really why I

think I do it through photography. I mean, I can't see

myself doing photography, and you know, landscape photography,

because there's no interaction with people. There's personal

satisfaction, but there's no that that I guess, feedback and

validation that I am serving my purpose by doing something

different than then people photography. Yeah, I think

that's that's pretty much it.

That makes a lot of sense. Okay, I love that as our

first example, because I feel like that's broad enough that a

lot of people will be able to connect with that as a really

good starting point. And what I want us to keep in mind when

we're talking about the philosophy of our business is,

number one exactly like cat says, this is something that

should grow and change as we grow and change. But it will

often keep its roots kind of in the same place. It'll just

expand to encompass more things. And sometimes it will go through

a complete change. And that's okay, do we just need to know

what those things are, so that we maintain the right

trajectory. And I think, besides having the very baseline be that

I want to make a positive impact in people's life, through this

connection and the intimacy that a camera provides. Me that is a

pretty beautiful place to be. And the reason that it's so

important to know this is that you will be able to sense when

things start going on the wrong track. And there's going to be

times in our journey as business people when we start to shift

into other areas, almost without realizing it, because we've

happened to come across something that maybe just really

worked or a season will hit. I ended up weirdly falling into

marketing for other businesses, even though it is not my

favorite thing. Everybody knows this. I understand it, and I can

do it, but I don't love it. And so once I did the thing for

somebody, other people went, Hey, I heard you did the thing

for somebody, can you come do the thing for me? And because

it's our money? And because I have a hard time saying no, I'm

doing the thing for other people. And not necessarily

happy about it. Like it doesn't necessarily fulfill my three.

And we don't have to get into this today. But I've mentioned

this before that I have a kind of a manifesto for my, for my

professional life. And it's kind of three rules that I look at.

And if something falls within those three rules, I consider it

a good option. And that is does it help me tell stories? Does it

help me help other people tell stories? And does it contribute

to the health, welfare and happiness of my family. And so

doing marketing for other people does help contribute to the

health, happiness and welfare of my family because it brings in

net income, but it really, you know, in those other two places,

it can fall into a little bit more of a questionable area. So

those things combined with what my baseline is, are letting me

know that if I push too far into this area, I'm really straying

from the whole reason that my professional existence is here.

So it becomes those guardrails that keeps me on the path. And I

can only imagine for some for you, that when you have

interactions that don't fit in with those goals that you have

for yourself, you must be able to feel that right like this did

not live up to why I'm here every day.

Absolutely, absolutely. I mean, people get

their motivation in many different ways. And, you know,

for for example, I don't get motivation. Some money, although

I love money, don't get me wrong. But I can have a client

spend a lot of money. But if that feeling wasn't there while

I was serving them, it just doesn't I'd rather have a free

client or somebody who I collaborate with or somebody

that pays very discounted pricing, but appreciates and

makes me feel and may feel what I want them to feel and make me

feel that way. I'd rather have that anytime. And yes, you're

right, you feel it right away, you're not going to feel the

money right away, you're not going to feel this, you're not

going to feel. But that feeling as you are doing your thing you

get or you don't get that feeling you're absolutely right.

Yeah, I feel like it just comes comes that that

that flag that points you back towards your purpose, and

reminds you of why you're there. And that's why this exercise is

important. Because if we haven't done that yet, we won't know why

something feels off, we're it's going to be harder for us to

recognize whether or not we're staying true to this path that

we've set ourselves on. So thank you for sharing that. Beside. I

think that was a really fantastic place to start. And

definitely want to now begin picking on the other moderators,

do y'all have a philosophy for business? If you do? What is it?

How?

For those of you that were in college, did you

ever make a jungle juice, where you just kind of poured whatever

was left in the bottles into one big bowl and drink that? Because

I feel like my entire career is made up of Nicole and Kat in

besom. And everything that you guys put out, I'm like, oh,

yeah, I recognize myself in that. I recognize myself. So I

think you know, the biggest thing, Nicole is that what Cat

said at the beginning about growing over time and changing

is pretty much the the bottom line of my story. I came out of

corporate and didn't know what I wanted to do. I really had no

idea fell into photography, people started asking me to do

the thing for them. Because I kind of got photography, and

they started asking me for that stuff. I figured I could get

paid for it. That's what launched me into business. I had

no desire or expectation that I'd be a photographer. But

people started paying me I started getting commercial jobs,

I said, I should probably make a business out of this coming out

of corporate, I wanted it to be like a corporation, I want it to

be very rigid, I want it to be Don Draper and have a team of

creatives underneath me. And I would be managing over time,

every single bit of that has changed. And I find myself now

more interested in the connection and making sure that

I'm serving somebody at the end of the day, rather than about

the capitalism or like besom was saying about the number on the

profit and loss sheet. And it's been really interesting, because

if you asked me 10 years ago, when I started, would I be in

this position? I'd be like, No, I'm gonna have this large agency

and whatnot. But as everything has changed, and I've now been

able to craft the business that I want, it does become about the

philosophy for me about staying true to my non negotiables of

staying true to mine, you know, moral and creative, true north.

And that is what matters to me, I'm now rebuilding my business

around that, rather than trying to have a business and force a

philosophy into it. Does that make sense?

Woof. Okay, two things there first, I was not in

college. But I definitely did have jungle juice, although we

call this Fody poured it into a bunch of fruit, which is way

better, because then you get to eat the fruit. So I definitely I

connected with you there and looking at kind of all those

different influences that come together to give you what you

have. But then I think what you just said about instead of

trying to force a philosophy on to the business, you're making

adjustments to the business to suit the philosophy. And I

really love that. And so do you feel like this understanding of

why you're doing what you're doing? That kind of just grew

for you over time and experience? Did you have like a

eureka moment? Or how did you recognize that? This this

business really exists as a as a kind of key for connection.

I think I think I mentioned it that I feel in my

core that I was put here to be like a guide or a teacher, a

leader of some sort, right? That doesn't mean I'm I'm front and

center and everything but I'm the guide for someone else and

And I've done that through teaching and managing and

leading teams, and so on and so forth. What I found was that the

definition of that just shifted a little bit. And I'm now able

to guide people to seeing themselves, I'm able to guide

them to connect with different parts of themselves that they

hadn't seen before. And it's only through photography that

I'm able to do that. I can make quick connections with people

when I'm face to face, it's having them listen to me and

say, you know, hey, you're gonna, you're gonna connect with

these parts of yourself. And they don't believe me until they

see the photographs. And I realize that I'm able to do that

leading and guiding and teaching through photography, it was just

a matter of shifting my perspective and shifting the

definition on it, that really locked it in for me.

Oh, I love that. I love it. I love it. Okay, so now

that you recognize that that is the philosophy that that's kind

of the core of why you're doing what you're doing, how have you

begun to make those changes in your business to support that

philosophy.

So a perfect example is what I'm going

through at the moment. I'm a big believer in prints. And I

believe everybody should have prints in the physical

photographs. And for a long time, I fought against digital

only because I felt like I was cheapening myself or devaluing

what I do, by not providing prints, I'm starting to

understand my client more. And that, despite what I feel, they

might not want prints, they might want digital only. So I'm

developing a new type of way of talking about that with the

clients so that I can provide them Digital's only that I still

feel valued, that they still get value. And you know, everybody's

happy. So I'm not sitting here hammering them with Prince and

Prince and Prince. I'm listening to what they need and solving

their problem. It's kind of that easy. So that's how I'm you

know, refiguring, something in the concrete?

Yes. Oh, that's such a good example. Okay. I

love that. Because it's definitely going to strike the

line for some folks who are like, Well, I'm in business,

because I believe a certain thing. And we have to, we have

to hold that and recognize that it's important. But if you find

the people who want to come to you don't necessarily desire

that that certain thing. How do you go about going? Okay, do I

shift this? Because I believe it's important for people to

have prints. Why do I believe that? Like, what is it about the

print that I feel like, it's so important that I think people

need to have this thing? And if my clients don't necessarily

want that, how do I? Like how do you make that mental shift mat

set to where you say, Okay, I'm here for connection, I'm here to

serve their needs, to help them get to this place where they

learn something about themselves. But you still feel

like apprentice important? So how have you begun to shift that

mindset, so that it allows you to actually make those changes

that align more with your philosophy.

So this is gonna get woowoo. But I put my ego

aside, because I realized, it's not about me, it's not about

what I believe. It's not about what I care about, I can explain

all of that to the client, and hope that they understand it,

and perhaps they'll come to an agreement of it with me, but I'm

not them. So why let my ego take over and, you know, start

resenting them that they don't want prints or, you know,

feeling like they're, they're not valuing what I do as an

artist, none of that matters. It's about the service to the

client. And if what they want after hearing all of my spiel,

still just want Digital's okay, then let me give you what you

want. Let me you know, change what I do to help you because

it's not hurting me at all. It's not, you know, changing my

philosophy of the business. I'm just making my products better

and more accessible to you. So, yeah, as long as it's not

compromising the philosophy and the, you know, the things that I

adhere to as a business owner for my business, then why not

try to find creative ways to serve? And that's what I feel

like I'm doing. I'm not changing anything. I'm just altering the

way it's delivered.

Oh, yes. Okay. We've had a couple of super

fantastic examples. So far, I love that we've been able to

see, number one, how somebody kind of comes to understanding

what their philosophy is, in besonders case, and in your

case, and then number two, seeing how we can actually begin

to if we have already established our business begin

to make some of those changes that help us better align with

that philosophy. So it doesn't all have to start at once. I

know for those of us who already have established businesses, and

maybe we're starting to realize that we have not given the

business a heart yet. And by that I mean, you know, the core,

the philosophy kind of becomes the beating heart of the

business, like, why does it exist? And if we haven't done

that yet, and we're now starting to recognize that, it can seem a

little bit like, well, oh, shit, what do I do now. And even just

beginning a small place, like you just mentioned, Matt, I

think is going to be super helpful for people because this

doesn't all have to happen at once. You can absolutely

recognize what that heart is, and then just start instituting

things one at a time, so that you can test them and see how

they work and how they feel. And if they really do end up

matching with that philosophy, and then focusing on those

things, doubling down on those things as you progress, without

having the pressure of having to do everything all at once. But

you have a compass point, now, you've got that trajectory. So

you can move in that direction. It doesn't have to be at a

million miles an hour. But as long as you're going, I think

that's the important part. So Becca, cat, do either of you

guys have a philosophy of business? And if you do, how did

you get it? And how do you manage it, especially cat, as

you mentioned, the fact that it will change over time.

I am, I'm still drinking my articulation potion

for the morning. But I'm also definitely in that school of

thought that what I create is the greatest good that I can

give to other people. And I've worked in other spheres, and

there's other things I'm good at. And I am definitely capable

and comfortable at some point of working for someone else than

doing that job. But with my art, it I've reached this point where

it takes everything that I am impassioned and interested

about, like from history to, you know, an anthropology to

sociology and just getting into people's heads and you know,

exploring their ideas, which is so freaking cool. The world is

so cool, like, so full of interesting places, and people

and new ideas, like I'm at the point where I can take those

things that get me so excited, and communicate them to other

people and help other people communicate them to the world.

And channeling that little level of excitement. And that passion

for me makes it makes the work itself. So much better. And it

keeps me you know, permanently enthused and permanently excited

to hear from other people. And so that, you know, is always

number one. For me, I mean, inspiration has always like

since I was little kid ruled so much in my life, it's you know,

from school, to my first jobs to you know, just my personal

interests, it's there's always this level of inspiration. And

now I almost get to flip that switch on demand by working with

other people and helping them to communicate their ideas, because

I love our as communication. You know, there's a lot of things

that can be talked about or read about. And that's exciting and

its own. But visual communication and communicating

something through strictly color, and light. And framing is

something that not everyone can do. But I have the opportunity

to offer that to other people. And that is always going to be

the ruling philosophy and drive for me.

I love it and how did you? So having done other

things in the past? How did you start to come to this

philosophy? Like how did you codify it or realize it?

Lots of sitting and brooding. No, I mean, like so

most of my other work, you know, it's always involved people I

don't do well, completely isolated, extrovert problems.

But I know I worked in hospitality for a long time and

I probably could have stayed in hospitality for forever. I love

working with other people I love customer service and finding the

right path for me as an artist to continue that, you know, act

of service has been a process you know, I like many other

people, you know, started with my love of drawing my love of

photography, and then people are like, wow, you have a good

camera, you can take really good pictures, maybe you should be a

professional. Okay. You know, I'm perceived no standard

portraiture, you know, I explored various elements there

and it just wasn't ever the right fit for me, because it

didn't hit the marks that I wanted it to hit. You know, I

was like, Yes, I was creating a service for people. I was

helping them feel good about themselves, you know, all those

reasons to go into portraiture, but it didn't explore the the

deeper, more philosophical and fantastical. Goal, storytelling

elements for me. So it was a process to get to the point of,

you know, what kind of art that can I sell, that meets those

requirements. And a lot of it was almost on accident, you

know, stumbling into jobs that I didn't know if I was qualified

for and then realizing, Oh, crap, this is exactly what I

want to be doing. I just didn't know that this was out there.

For me, I didn't know that other people saw this potential in me.

So it's been, it's been a long process. And it has shifted a

lot, as Kat and Matt both talked about already. So it took time,

and it took trial and error and accidents and luck. But here we

are, and I'm sure it'll keep changing.

I'm so glad you mentioned that Becca, because

for a lot of us, we're going to be going through that same

journey. And it's going to take stumbling across things we

didn't know, were available to us, for us to really start to

settle in to that, oh, this is what it was supposed to be to

that moment, which I think is so great that Kat mentioned that in

the very beginning that it comes back to this idea that even

though we have a really deep understanding, sometimes of why

that thing is going to shift and adjust as we grow and change and

get exposed to new things. There is absolutely nothing wrong with

that. It's part of the journey. And if you're not in a place

yet, where you feel like you can confidently say, I have the

beating heart, I have the why I have the philosophy of my

business, don't stress, you might just need a few more

experiences, you might need to explore just a bit more, or come

across a few more things before you stumble into, oh, this is

how I can put these things together. You never know. So

don't hold anybody up to the standard that you feel like you

should be reaching if you're not there yet. You're just you're on

the journey, man. Like I'm having a Lebowski moment, but

you're on the journey man like you're you're, you're going

there. So don't push yourself yet if that's not a thing. But

it's definitely worthwhile to sit down and like you said,

ruminate a little bit and ask yourself these questions like,

what is it? And why? And then when you have the answer, ask

yourself again, okay, why? I want to tell people stories.

Why? Because I believe that that's how human beings connect

to one another. Why? Because it's only by having that empathy

for each other, that we can get rid of a lot of the bullshit

that separates us, we're supposed to be connected. If we

don't see each other. As humans, as complicated beings that are

more alike than we are different. We're always going to

be at odds. And so storytelling is incredibly healing. It is a

vehicle for empathy. And so being able to take that time and

ruminate and ask yourself, and then making sure you're

experiencing things could really be the absolute key for some

folks to getting to that philosophy, and understanding

why those things will work for them. So lovely, Miss cat. Do

you have a philosophy of business? If you do, how did you

come by it?

Haha, a million? No. Actually, I really

like that, that you emphasized that ask yourself why every time

you have an answer, why is that? Why is that? And I would

actually expound on that with trying to take yourself out of

the answers and start leaning into why of the importance what

is the impact? What is the benefit? Right? Because we all

have at some core level, like a leaning toward these reasons.

But the coming, you know, full circle with that is how does it

make the world a better place? How does it impact the lives of

the people that you're serving? And when you can start to tie

those answers in to your reasons. That's when that that

guarantee that promise that purpose really starts to take

shape. And you can see how everything you build and your

processes and your systems need to be tied into that impact. How

does this serve? How does this make this process stronger and

more valuable to my audience? Because when you can create that

value for them, everything that lights you up, will then light

them up and it like this circular thing that occurs. And

it's like the energetic shift that occurs within, at least for

me as a person, when I'm able to, to bring all of that purpose

in that impact, it becomes an ebb and flow thing. And that's

where that that delivery become so powerful. And that can be for

an accountant that can be for a creative that can be for a

teacher, any of it is based around just the philosophy that

the impact that that we as a business will have on the people

that choose to do business with us. And you can start to

delineate and itemize what those impacts are. And then, you know,

develop your copy from that, and your systems from that, and all

of the things and it's so fucking powerful, when you're

able to bring all of that together to be the vessel in

which that impact is made.

Well, that's a mic drop through even anything else

after that, that was so great. So I love like that you're able

to kind of like, delineate that process and how it begins to

affect the business systems systematically. But how? So you

mentioned, you know, you kind of double down on the asking, why

is that how you got to the bottom of what you believe your

philosophy?

I think it definitely helped me sort of

define more holy, what those philosophies are, I think, you

know, when we first started the Facebook group, I think I posted

a thing from Dean Graziosi. And it says, seven levels of why.

And that's really where that double down came from, was being

able to say, Okay, well, you know, like, Matt gave the, the

example of what I don't want to just provide digital product,

and then it ended up well, why are those prints important to

you? You know, and then you say, Okay, well, those prints are

important to me. Because it's a piece of legacy. It's a

documentation and physical, tangible evidence that this

person existed. And this is the story they want to tell, okay,

why is that important? Right? And you keep asking the why. And

the idea behind the the exercise is when you get to like the

seventh and eighth answer, right? You really have more

emotional connection to that, why than just that superficial?

Oh, well, because I want them to have prints, right. And you can

do that with any anything, whether it's the purpose of your

business, or you know, why you are choosing to buy this car, or

why you are choosing this particular career or, you know,

insert thing here. And when you can start getting into that that

heart response, the soul response, the response that is

meaningful, you typically can tie it to something in

childhood, or an impact that was made on you, that was powerful

in your life. But that's really where that that good stuff is.

Because when you can tie it to that soul level, then it becomes

part of everything that you do. And the the coal in the furnace,

you know, like, it's the the firepower. And that is really

where you start to be able to define what those philosophies

are in meaningful ways. And when you can define things in

meaningful ways for your business and for your clients.

It allows them to resonate with that on their own heart and soul

levels.

Cue the full body shivers. And so here's, here's

what I think is so powerful about that. And then I would

love to have friends from the audience, go ahead and raise

your hand if you have a philosophy of business. Or if

you have been on that path. And you can share with us what that

is how you got there. We'd love to hear from you. So please go

ahead and raise your hand today. And we'll pull you up. But as

folks are doing that I just want to share I've mentioned before,

you know, growing up in a household that was pretty

contentious. And one of the reasons Fantasy was always so

important to me, I realized is that it kind of it helped me

maintain my sanity. It helped me believe that just because we

were in a certain situation, didn't mean that we had to stay

there that that we had power. And I could go and kind of live

these adventures with other people that that reinforce that

idea. But I also just realized as you were talking thing that

the reason story became so central to me is because the

reason for that contention was I live with a lot of people who

did not understand one another. And they didn't have the ability

to tell each other, how they were being misunderstood that

those conversations, being able to tell the story of your

experience wasn't something that existed for my family members.

And as a result of that, they were constantly tearing each

other to pieces, just pulling little pieces off of one

another. And if they had had the ability to tell the story of

their experience without attacking one another, which is

what, which is what their interactions became, then I

really believe they would have been able to actually see each

other instead of just look in the general direction of each

other. And so as you were explaining that cat, I just kind

of in the background was also asking myself, well, why and I

knew the fantasy part. And I knew what engaging with stories

from a reader or a viewers perspective, I knew why that was

important to me. But why is it important to me to tell stories

and to help other people tell stories, and even just that one

more step now on my journey, and helping me crystallize why the

things I'm choosing are important. And now that I know

that I can take more concrete steps to continue to manifest

that, like now that I know that that is a big reason, when I

help other people to tell stories, it's gonna be easier

for me to recognize why I'm doing, why I am doing what I'm

doing, and make choices that really support that. So I have

to just say, Thank you for pushing that. Pushing the wise

again. Alright, so I see we have a couple of friends with their

hands up in the audience today, Gina and Carol will pull you up.

But definitely want to make sure if you can, and you're in a

place where you can share this morning. I know some of our

friends are at work. And so you can't but if you can, this is

really important exercise, guys. So if you can come up and share

please, please do. I'm pulling up Carol. And then Jean. So

let's hear from Carol, and then hear from Jean as well. Good

morning, friends. How did you come by your philosophy of

business if you have one? And if you don't? What does that

journey look like for you right now?

Hi, um, this is Carol. Um, so my purpose in

having a business was solely for money, because of the work I've

done over the last 20 years and getting my work out there that

so that people can see it. Because most people have not

seen the work that I do. I've done it in solitude, happily.

And I wouldn't have minded making money along the way, I

just didn't happen to know how to do that. So then why is to

create my, my exploration, experimentation, discovery. And

then I enjoy teaching others how to do stuff, because I'm

fascinated with the endless possibilities of both pattern

design and discovery. So then I put teaching, this gets down

more to, I don't know, the relatable, the part that might

make it so that my business could be a success, maybe in

connecting with people because I like to teach people to begin to

see because I feel like half of art is the scene having

division. Like, for example, recycling, because I feel it

takes true motivation or innovation or to put disparate

things together and have it result in something

aesthetically pleasing. So I'm fascinated with the whole

process. I enjoy selling, you know, showing other people and

teaching other people to have that kind of vision. But it has

always been completely divorced from money. And, and so I'm

like, Okay, I hear telling stories. Well, I have a lot of

stories, you know, I hear telling stories is, you know, a

good to do for a business because people can relate to

you. So I'm like, you know, random stories or whatever, or

the stories about how I create I can get into that and that feel,

you know, I used to feel really still do self conscious about

it. But if I can I always put my art in front of me. I I'm behind

the art doesn't want to be seen, you know, kind of thing. But if

I get into explaining the excitement of, then you did

this, and then you can do this and or you can do this and all

that. And then it seems to, you know, it transfers to other

people, I feel like I've actually taught other people to

see in a way that they couldn't see before. And that's exciting

reward. All of that is separate from money, and business. And

it's, yeah, it's gonna take a while for me to, to feel like, I

just don't like to apart. You know, there's nothing about it

that I like. But anyway, so those are my reasons. But how to

how to connect them and how to how to do business, first of

all, as another whole life's journey, I would think. And then

which I don't have. And then connecting it to what my heart

is, in my heart is discovery, exploration, all the

possibilities with pattern and art, that there are with all the

different mediums and and it's endless. I never have run out of

ideas. But yeah, how to make that work for me. And deliver in

financial terms. Is, is my question being here. Thanks,

Karen done?

Does anybody want to respond to that? Okay, good.

Go ahead. Yeah, me too. But I felt like you were gonna have.

Yeah, that's definitely a cat centered topic.

For sure. Carol, I think it's actually a question that many

creatives when they're determining whether or not to go

into business is something that, you know, is a challenge that

they face. And the solution to that is, like, again, 27 layers

deep. But initially, you know, understanding that the money is

not this devil thing, but simply an energetic response. And if

you choose to make it a business, then you have to

understand that it is the money is the lifeblood of the

business, that doesn't transform you into something terrible or

negative, or what have you, but allows you to have a larger

reach in your purpose as an artist. And if those purposes

are tied to story and experimentation and teaching and

making something beautiful, then your job as the business owner

is to say, Okay, what is the best way that I can do this?

Simply to provide that business with the profit that it would

need to survive. And understanding that that mindset

shift is going to be critical in your success as a business

owner, because as you shift that mindset, all of the

opportunities that are out in the world that are available to

you will start showing up. But if you stay on the fence, then

maybe the answer is not to create a business out of it.

Maybe the answer is simply to do it because you love it. And

that's the end. Right? Like, that's where you get. I don't I

shouldn't say the end. But that's the end of the business

aspect to where you just simply create for the sake of creation,

and because it's feeds your soul. And that's okay, too. But

it's got to be a choice that you make. Does that make sense?

It does make sense. I guess it made me think

further. I want the money to exchange for opportunity, you

know, opportunities I don't currently have comfort. Um, you

know, possibilities. I mean, I have all this work. And it

could, it could end up in a thrift shop and no one sees it

10,000 pieces of 20 years of work, right. And to not exchange

that for money while I'm alive. Doesn't make any sense to me,

you know. And I promised my husband, I was luxurious

retirement on my designs. This is the way I put it back then,

but because he's worked so hard for so many years and put up

with I mean, my house is like a studio. It's not a living space.

I want him to have a nice living space, and I want people to see

him by my work. So, I do want to go through whatever, I have to

go through the business part, until I get to a point just

enough, until I get to the point where somebody else that, that

is their forte can manage it and make money off of it, and I'm

happy to share, you know, to share the wealth, I just, you

know, want some kind of income from all those years of work,

you know, because I couldn't figure it out along the way. And

it was, it was hard. And it was distasteful for all the things

that you guys say, but you guys, you know, have had some of that

experience, maybe growing up of, you know, money being bad or

whatever, all those things. But now, it's, it's become more

necessary, because I only have so much more time left in my

life. And I needed it five years ago, this to happen, you know,

I'm already late on a train here. So it is distasteful but

but through you guys, I believe that I can learn enough to be

able to know enough to be able to earn enough to have somebody

help me out with that part of it. If that makes sense. Carol

thinks it does

make sense. But I would also encourage you to

wrap your head around. Like right now you're saying you want

somebody to help you with the the sales aspect, which is a

perfectly valid thing to want a partner in that space. But in

order for that to be successful, you need to address your

personal limiting beliefs around money. So that that energy

doesn't work against you, when you do find that person. Because

what's going to happen is you're going to hand over this the

reins, right for somebody else to to manage the sales aspect of

your work, all the while while you are combating with these

limiting beliefs, all that's going to do is train wreck their

effort. So you whether you have this other person or not still

need to do the work around those limiting beliefs and

understanding that these beliefs that you have around money, or

not to be blamed for, right. But dig into the fact that, okay,

these are things these are beliefs that I've developed

throughout my life from childhood forward. And they're

not my fault. They were beliefs I developed while I was a

developing human being. And I choose to reframe these beliefs

now, for these reasons, right and determine what those reasons

are for you, that money is a positive influence in your life,

and has the capability to transform your life so that you

can provide this wonderful retirement for your husband. And

this, you know, living space that you're dreaming of that

money can provide for you and understand that. Okay, I'm going

to put $1 amount on it. And I have to understand that that's a

good thing, because it means that I will have the capacity to

execute these other things and dreams I have for my life. And

that takes some work. But whether or not you find somebody

else to manage the sales, you still have to do that work.

Thanks, I get that I appreciate that.

You know what I have something, as I'm, as I'm

listening to you, too, I've had quite a few things pop into my

head. And the first thing was, of course, I wanted to make sure

that cat was able to respond to that, because this really is her

wheelhouse. And then also, it really struck me listening to

you talk Carol, you sound like a teacher to me. And you sound

like somebody who maybe shouldn't necessarily be making

their money in a textile business, but should be making

their money by helping people see and going on that journey

with him and being the facilitator for that journey.

And I wonder whether or not something like that would make

it make more sense for you to see it as an exchange of value.

And I'm going to use an analogy here. This is the other thing

that really popped in my head. So last week, I had a few people

inadvertently hold mirrors up for me to see myself in and it

shocked me a little bit it was actually pretty emotional. I had

a hard time responding. I cried some It wasn't an easy. It

wasn't an easy sight to see because It made me realize

something about myself that I didn't know before. And that is,

I have a hard time accepting generosity from people, if I

feel like, I haven't given them something specifically as a

facilitator for that. So if I made a course, I would have no

problem accepting money from people who bought that course.

But showing up here in the morning with you guys, I was not

seeing that with the same value, right, I was not seeing the fact

that we're here every day, we're offering something to one

another. And to have somebody say, this is a thing of value

for me. And I want to show you how I value that. It didn't. It

just didn't. It made me recognize that about myself,

which was a difficult thing for me to face. And when we

recognize how we exchange value with one another, it can really

change the way that we approach what we're doing. And I say all

that as a prelude to when we are in a relationship, the

relationship exists on reciprocation, right. And when

we give something to someone, imagine what it must feel like

for the other person to try to return that to say, I value you,

here. Let me show you how I value you. And then we say no,

please don't do that. But let me keep giving you stuff, but you

don't give me things, you're not allowed to show me how you

appreciate me, you're not allowed to give me what you have

to give in return for what I've given you, man that stifles the

whole thing. Right, the other person is all of a sudden going

to feel boxed in, they don't have a way to reciprocate, they

don't have you, they don't have a way to show how they value you

and what you've added to their lives. And that is money. That

is this exchange. That is this. I spent 20 years making art that

I want to share with the world. And now you get to say, I value

this. And that's how you say it. And maybe the best way for you

isn't necessarily to run a textile business or to become

you know, a fashion mogul, maybe the selling of that art becomes

the side of teaching people and that aspect of teaching is what

funds your ability to pay for somebody to run that side of the

business. I realized that this was kind of along along blab

about stuff and oh, no, I see we've lost steam. I hope you

will be able to come back. But I hope that that made sense. I

realized I blabbered a little bit.

No, it's so good. And the thing is my heart

is in that. I mean, I can totally, I get very, very

excited about you know, sharing look, and you can do this or you

can do this and and helping people to have to have that kind

of vision. You know? Yes, I rather than oh my gosh, yes.

Yes. That's nice to me. And it. I mean, yeah, my stuff can go a

lot of different directions. Because pattern designs on

anything. It's not real. And I get some joy in seeing that. But

the real I really light up about being able to let other people

begin to see and be able to see their vision change. I've done

that for some people where they don't see things the same and

it's just, it's just such a cool thing and being able to do that.

In exchange. I can get into that. Thank you. I'm sorry I

took up all the time. I appreciate it.

I had a quick thing real quick on in that same vein,

Nicole. I was just kind of musing on a different

opportunities for Carol there. So my mom is an artist and she's

a multidisciplinary artist. She's a musician, she's a

painter. She's a sculptor, very talented, creative person. And

she's never made huge amounts of money off the art itself like

she has, you know, regular music gigs and she sells some pottery

and stuff. But her livelihood for the most part has been

through teaching and through that Joy of you know, teaching

children how to see and how to think creatively. And she's not

an accredited teacher, she didn't go get a degree, she's

taught almost exclusively in private schools, and in through

private tutoring. And that has been very lucrative for her. And

it also then has served as you know, a networking opportunity

for her other kinds of art, specifically, when she has, you

know, students who are interested in a particular

subject that she's been teaching or a medium that she's been

teaching. And then, you know, they want to pursue additional

private tutoring, or their parents want to hire her for a

gig or commission a piece or something like that. So I mean,

that obviously, I hate the, the phrase that people will say,

like, Oh, if you can't do teach, because it's such total

bullshit, because you're still in the art of doing, you're

still going and you're creating art for yourself, and you know,

for others, and then passing that along to the next

generation, or whoever it is that you're teaching to, is such

an incredibly powerful skill to have. So if that's something

that you have in your community already, if there are people who

need to learn art, whether through a community center, or a

private school, or something like that, that might be a

wonderful opportunity for you to start building up a revenue flow

from something artistic, and also then building up your

networking as well.

I'm Becca, just want to say, I'm not gonna do

like the traditional classroom teaching anymore. I did that for

a while. Again, I'm not accredited. I did teach

privately. But I could see an online something where these are

things that can be used later, as well, you know what I mean,

it could be ongoing, after, you know, it, documenting basically,

the processes is and being able to share that, if that makes

sense. Online. Thanks.

Totally. Yeah, that's, that's, I mean, that's

brilliant. And like in the current age of the world, right

now, there's so much remote learning and so much respect for

remote learning that that could absolutely be a fantastic idea.

Oh, yes, 100%. Agreed. So I'm glad that we were

able to walk through that all together. Because what I'm

hoping is that people in the audience today who are getting

to see you go through this experience of okay, I know what

I need, right? We all need to make that income we need to make

a living. And oftentimes, our art is the way that we feel the

most capable of doing that. And then comes this question. Why,

right? What what is it about this, about making things about

learning to communicate visually, and to be able to see

and share? Why does this need to be the thing. And oftentimes, it

really takes some hard knocks, and some bumps and bruises for

us to come to that conclusion and understand what the deep

motivation is, for why it should be this and not something else.

And as I'm listening to you talk, Carol, as the times that

I've heard you be the most passionate are talking about

teaching and exploring and learning and seeing and going on

that journey with somebody and seeing them get to light up from

that experience, which just kind of keyed me in to think we

might, as creators, get caught up in the fact that we can make

beautiful things and and somehow we think that that must be where

our income comes from. And without realizing that those

those things can just become supplementary like that can

become our that can be we have to do it right. Like we can't

walk away from that I can't not continue to make things, I must

do it. But that doesn't necessarily have to be more my

income comes from I can get that from teaching other people to be

able to do it or from planning or facilitating or whatever it

is. And it just made me really wonder if that would be the

right road for you. Because like Becca said, it can facilitate

the sale of those other pieces of art. Because people do want

to learn, they do want to look at somebody who has done

something beautiful and find out how they did it so they can do

that for themselves. So I hope that people who are in the

audience today got to see that process, begin a little bit in

real time and that you can look at yourself and your business

and ask yourself, Okay, so how does that apply to me? Does it

apply? Am I in a place where my business is moving forward, but

I don't have that deep heart motivation, that philosophy that

is going to sustain me through all of the hurdles I'm going to

have to jump through because my my guess is that When it comes

to earning a living off of something that doesn't light you

up, the ability to motivate yourself to do the other parts

you don't like, is going to be so much more diminished compared

to our ability to do those things when it aligns with what

lights us up, and what makes us feel passionate and excited. And

we can still do the other things, but maybe those things

become supplementary. So if you're here in the audience

today, and you haven't gotten to that place yet, where you really

have a philosophy of business, number one, you're not allowed

to guilt trip yourself about that. So I've decided that for

you. And I want to make sure that you take that to heart,

you're not allowed to guilt trip yourself for it, you are on a

journey toward that place. But do take some time and reflect

think about it and ask yourself, why. Why do I want to run this

business? Why does it feel to me, like running a photography

business? Or a painting business? Or a teaching

business? Or whatever it is? Why does it feel like that has to be

the thing? Why have I landed here, as opposed to other

places? And then when you answer that question, ask yourself,

Okay, so why continue to push that until you don't have an

answer anymore, until you've got to that deep heart place, that

emotional place, it's going to feel some kind of way, guys,

when you get that answer, it's going to feel like a hammer

struck a bell inside your chest, at least for me, that was the

experience. And it, it turned on the light that through

everything else I knew about myself.

It got rid of the shadows, it lit up everything in a new way

so that I could see it and understand it from a perspective

I never seen before. And it throws that light backwards.

That's the really interesting thing is it's not just lighting

up where you are now, it throws that light backwards and

illuminates all of the other things that you didn't even

think to look at before. So do that for yourself. Give yourself

that gift, ask yourself those questions. And then take a look

at how the answer is going to help you frame everything that

you do with your business. Because you'll see, as we dive

into each one of our respective businesses over the next four

weeks, we are going to see this philosophy come back over and

over, it's going to manifest itself in how we deal with our

customers. It's going to manifest itself in the kind of

products we sell and how we sell them, it's going to become kind

of the beating heart and the blood that pumps through our

business. So tomorrow, we are going to talk about the non

negotiables. So now that we understand what it looks like to

have a philosophy at the heart of our business, we're going to

talk about those non negotiables that become the guardrails. When

we crossed those lines, we recognize, nope, this this isn't

something that's going to happen. If I cannot do the thing

this way, then it's not worth doing right. If if I see that my

clients are not walking away feeling like they have changed,

then this isn't worth doing that is a non negotiable for me at

the heart of this must be the ability to serve them in that

way. So we'll talk about those tomorrow. I hope we will have

this on with us because obviously he is kind of the king

of this. And if you haven't heard of the non negotiables

yet, please head over to the artist forge comm. But Sam has

written a fantastic article on non negotiables that you can

look at so that you have a good primer for what we're going to

talk about tomorrow, how our philosophy informs those non

negotiables. And those non negotiables help us do our

businesses in the direction that we want to go. And for the rest

of this week. That's going to be what we focus on, we're going to

look at the type of business so once we have the heart of the

business, what type of business is it, we'll talk a little bit

about things like being a sole proprietor versus running an LLC

or an S corp build and then we'll talk about business

structure as well, and how we can plan what that structure

looks like so that it supports the philosophy also. Alright,

y'all, we don't have a whole lot of time because we've already

gone over our hour but I do you want to allow for a couple final

thoughts. So if you have a final thought now is the time to share

it. And then we are going to close things down for today.

No final thoughts here. What a great

discussion it was today. I'm already starting to make some

notes for non negotiables tomorrow.

All right, if we don't have any other final

thoughts, then let me just say thank you so much to everybody

for being here today for participating in this

conversation. I hope you will join us tomorrow as we talk

about non negotiables and how we structure those to help us

support the philosophy of our business. I hope you will be

here for that and if you're getting value from this y'all

please please let other people know that we are here because if

it matters To you, there's a really good chance that it's

going to matter to them as well. So let them know that we're

here, pull them in, you can share the club, you can let

folks know where it's at. Just point them in this direction. We

want people to be able to profit from this. And hopefully, we

will see you sharing your thoughts and ideas in the

Facebook group that has been going beautifully so far. And

visit the artist forge.com and check out the articles that are

there so you can get a good feel for who we are why we're here,

shared that with folks and we will see you bright and early

tomorrow morning at 7am Mountain Standard Time. That's six for

the West Coast nine for the East Coast afternoon for our friends

overseas. In the meantime, go make something amazing and we

will see you tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for listening to this live clubhouse

discussion moderated by all of us at the artist Forge. We hope

you found the information useful and that it helps you gain a

little bit of insight as to how you work on your craft. For more

episodes, please join us each week day on clubhouse or visit

the artists forge.com and go make something incredible