Valerie: 0:01

Do we ever have a good episode for you today? I'm so excited. I hope you've enjoyed these five days. We have been on the podcast with a new episode about artpreneurship and selling your art every day for these last five days and now we are wrapping up this series. My name is Valerie McKen. You are listening to the Peaceful Creative Podcast.

Mak: 0:26

Hi, I'm Ma. I'm Valerie's husband and I'm glad to be back here for one more day.

Valerie: 0:31

You jumped the gun before I could introduce you, I know.

Mak: 0:33

I know, but you look like you weren't sure what you were going to do next, so I just thought I'd jump in.

Valerie: 0:41

So this episode is arguably the most important one.

Mak: 0:47

I think so Because I think it is probably the biggest hurdle that everybody faces when they make a decision to do anything but specifically in this crowd become an entrepreneur.

Valerie: 1:00

To do something differently, to do something that is vulnerable and scary. So what is that number one indicator of success? And we can talk about all the things and it's all important things to talk about. We can talk about pricing, we can talk about branding, how you show up, how you show up on social media, your mindset, building an audience, talking about what you do. All of these things we can talk about All of these strategies. We can lay out and say, hey, try this and try this, but without this one thing, nothing's going to happen.

Mak: 1:43

It's true, nothing.

Valerie: 1:45

It's true. There is one thing that is the indicator of your success as not just an entrepreneur, but a peaceful entrepreneur, and how you show up in that way.

Mak: 1:57

So that's what we're going to talk about today, and obviously we've been doing this all week because we are launching this course that we are super excited about, where Valerie and myself will help you and get you prepared and get you to the place where you're ready to sell your artwork.

Valerie: 2:17

So this course, we have an early bird special right now. You are not going to want to wait on this because it ends in just a few days.

Mak: 2:25

Actually 24 hours it's tomorrow I, because it ends in just a few days, but actually, like 24 hours, it's tomorrow I believe it ends right, oh yeah, On the November 16th.

Valerie: 2:30

So make sure that you get in at this early bird special, because you are not going to want to miss this. This is a live course course. That means you are not going to hit a button and then be delivered hours and hours and hours and hours of endless video content that you have to sort through. That's just going to sit on your desktop and collect dust and just be yet another thing, chalk it up to the wasted pile. No, this is a live, connected course where we are going to be with you on Zoom throughout the duration of this course and it is going to be a living, breathing course based on what you need, based on the feedback from you. You are going to be supported the entire way. You're going to be part of a community of other artpreneurs who are trying to walk this path, and that is so, so key when you're doing something like this having that connected, live support. So the first three months are going to be the content portion of the course.

Valerie: 3:40

We are going to lay out literally all of our philosophies, everything we have learned in the past 13 years as artpreneurs. We have been entrepreneurs and our background is both in marketing as our previous business. We are going to lay out all that we have learned in that time, all of the mistakes that we've made, all of the failures that we've had we've had a ton of successes too to be able to help you and equip you on your path, and also knowing that your path is going to look different. And how exciting is that. I think a lot of people, when they do things like this, when they do courses like this, they have this mentality of do this, this, this, this and this, and then this is your result, and they lay out this plan like it's a one size fits all, and they think they because they had success. If you just do exactly what I do, then you're going to be great and it's all going to be fine. But we don't believe that we have taken many a course and followed things down to the letter.

Mak: 4:53

That did not work for us the way that we expected them to. There is no one size fits all, and I think that that is a mistake that's made by a lot of people who write books and offer courses and things. As they did it and they figured it out and it worked for them, for who they are as a person. But you're different, valerie's different, I'm different, so it's not necessarily going to work out exactly the same for everybody, and so when we sat down to develop the course, we wanted to develop it in a way that it could be modified to suit who you are and actually showcase who you are and your talents and your skills and allow you to find success through who you are.

Mak: 5:27

And we hope you've gotten a lot out of this series of podcasts that we've done, and some of you probably feel ready to go, and so if you do, then please visit ValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with peace Again. It's ValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with peace Again. It's Valerie McKeon dot com. Slash sell with peace. We've got the presale going on another 24 hours or so. Check out all the information there. It's ready to go.

Valerie: 5:51

Yeah, and we're going to be starting officially in January. We have bonus calls and workshops coming before that. One of them is a pricing masterclass. In these last couple of days, that has been the biggest question all about pricing and the angst around that. We have such different philosophies that are actually very freeing, but you are going to be able to workshop that and really start to feel confident about your pricing in these bonus calls. So what we really want is for you to feel set up, ready to go, ready to hit the ground running come January when we officially kick off. We know it's a busy time of year, but it's the perfect time to really set yourself up for 2025 and to make this finally the year that you do it, that you chase those dreams and become the peaceful artpreneur that you dream of becoming, and we would love, love, love to go alongside of you in that journey. So be sure to check that out. Valeriemckeoncom slash sell with peace.

Mak: 6:55

And of course the link will also be in the show notes.

Valerie: 6:58

All right. So the number one thing what does it take if somebody comes to you and says what do I need to be an artpreneur? Is it that I need 10 more years of experience? Do I need these awards?

Mak: 7:18

Do I need these? Made up letters behind my name.

Valerie: 7:20

Do I need a website name? Do I need a website? All of these things that we can can put on this concept of owning it and saying I'm doing this, I am.

Mak: 7:46

Courage.

Valerie: 7:48

Full out, hands down. It's courage. Because here's the thing. Nobody is going to be standing there with a giant permission slip or saying to you, I pick you, I pick you to be an artpreneur, I see you, you're good. Like, you're good, like, let's go, you're an artpreneur. Nobody is going to do that. Nobody told me to chase being an artpreneur. I took it, I did it. I broke a lot of rules because, what's interesting, I didn't even know that I was breaking rules. It's true, I didn't even know the rules that I was breaking and I just did it.

Mak: 8:36

I remember the very first piece of art you ever put on Facebook, back in the day and you had never drawn anything before in chalk. This was back when it was chalk and everything and you drew this thing and you had the courage to put it on Facebook and show people.

Valerie: 8:57

Well, you put it on Facebook.

Mak: 8:58

Yes, but you let me. I mean, obviously I wasn't going to, and I asked you and you were like, oh, I'm kind of embarrassed, or whatever, and I said, no, it's great, so you put it on Facebook. We put it on Facebook and that was it that led to us sitting here right now. It was that one moment, because a bunch of people commented on it and said how do I get one?

Valerie: 9:22

of these Can I get one? And it honestly, really is that simple. It really is. It's honestly, and you know what we say. The word courage and maybe you're thinking, oh man, I'm anything but Right. Okay, if that's what it takes, like I'm screwed. I don't, I don't feel that way, but it's actually. You need so much less than you even think.

Valerie: 9:46

It's sometimes down to having like a burst of 30 seconds of courage. Seconds of courage that you're like I'm going to post it. You know what. I've been worried about it. But 30 seconds of a burst, let's do it, let's post it. And you don't know, 30 seconds of courage, you're going to set that price. You're like that's what I really want. That would just make me do backflips across the room. I'm so excited. 30 seconds of courage, let's set that price.

Mak: 10:15

And and the and. The funny thing is is like it right now, okay, well, first of all, okay, I'm, I'm getting off, I'm getting off my train of thought here, but you now look at that piece that we put up, however many years ago it was, and you're like I'm more embarrassed of it now than I was. That's true. She's like I hate it when you post, Put this on Facebook and Instagram. Oh, this was the very first piece, Because I do that every year when it pops up in my reminders, I'm like this was the piece that started all out and she's like stop posting it.

Mak: 10:47

It's so embarrassing, but my goodness, is it not true? I just read a thing this morning About Joe Rogan's first Podcast episode. He couldn't get his mic to work and it sounds terrible, and he had all these. Joe Rogan's first podcast episode. He couldn't get his mic to work and it sounds terrible and it's like and he had all these issues. And look at him now. $250 million a year later, whatever, I don't know if it's per year, but his deal.

Mak: 11:14

It's literally that little burst of courage. A little while ago and a couple episodes ago, I mentioned how I was terrified to make a video to talk about how I want to be a coach. But I did it and really you have no idea how much courage that took. It took me a year to post that video and now I have a coaching business. And you're thinking to yourself this is too simple, guys. This seems too simple. There's no way it has to do with who you two are and no, it is not the simp. It's so simple, it's complicated. Right, it's so simple, it's complicated because our brains want to tell us there the other. So it's that initial, that 30 seconds of courage.

Valerie: 12:02

And then that becomes familiar to your brain. It starts to register. It's like, okay, you went from something that you have no experience with. It seems so big and so scary. And then you're like, oh, I survived that. And you start making new neural pathways in your brain and you start to be able to feel better and better. You built up to it like working a muscle at the gym. You're like, ok, well, we're going to start with this weight. And then you build it up. And you build it up and it's just showing up after showing up.

Mak: 12:34

Courageous act after courageous, act After showing up, courageous act after courageous act and it's almost a combination of courage with detachment to the outcome. Because if you can be courageous and step forward in that but then not be attached to whatever comes as a result of that step, then you've really, really got it made, because you're not going to sit there and go oh no, nobody responded, nobody liked, nobody did this, nobody did that, nobody did that. And that's where the mind begins to spiral, because then we get back into all the habits that we have and we lose all of our courage. But if you can post or put it out there or put your price and say, you know what, I'm not going to be detached to whatever happens to this, it happens. That's when you've really got something.

Valerie: 13:23

Yeah, and I want to speak to the beginners, because I've been hearing from so many of you who say well, I've only been painting for a year, or I'm more of a beginner, how do I price for that and what do I do? That is another one of these points of vulnerability, like we're saying. But my answer to that is if somebody wants to buy your work, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter how long you've been doing it, just like Max said about my chalkboard that I am embarrassed of now. And if you think about it, even if you are more experienced let's say you've been painting for five years you probably look at paintings that you looked, that you did a year ago, and you're thinking, oh, I really don't even like that anymore because you're on to the next thing.

Valerie: 14:11

You're changing, you're ever evolving. So wherever you are at at the point in your journey, that is an old school art world blah, yucky kind of thing that is like, oh, this isn't valuable because you are a beginner. And this is another point where it's about the courage, like I'm telling you, if you're, just like you know what, I am a beginner, but I'm going to step up and I'm going to do it and knowing everybody is a beginner right. There is not a single person who comes onto the scene in this way, this like masterful way. Everybody is a beginner and you're always going to be a beginner at something.

Mak: 14:54

It would be, it would almost be like devaluing a, a brand new song that just came out on the radio and everybody loves it, because that artist doesn't have the experience of of like the Rolling Stones or the Beatles Right, it's the same. You'd be like. Well, this, this, this brand new song by Taylor Swift, is not nearly as good as the Beatles because she's not as old and experienced as they are. No, there's no one who would buy into that you think about your own buying habits too.

Valerie: 15:26

If there's something that you love, if somebody made something that you're just like, I love, that I want that, are you going to say, but they've only been doing this for a year. So no, we don't think that way. We have all of these cultural constructs that we've put on to these subjects that I think are keeping people small and stuck, and it's time, and we want to release everybody just to be like no, it's not about that, and we'll tell you what it is about, and that is creating value. We can create value for what you are selling in so many different ways, but again, we have these constructs of almost ways that keep us safe, because we're worried about this courage element, because to be a beginner, to step up to say no, I'm selling this, I'm doing this, that takes courage, and so we almost put these ceilings on ourselves as a way of saying, nope, you don't need to have courage, keep yourself down, you're not experienced enough, you're not this enough, you're not technical ability enough or whatever it is that we put on us to tamp us down.

Valerie: 16:46

But really, really, those things don't matter. What matters is the value that you are conveying to your buyers, and you convey value through many different things through your brand that we talked about in the last episode, through your pricing, through how you show up, through what your vibe is, through the stories that you tell about the art, through how you are putting your art and yourself out there in a way that is going to connect with other people. That is the indicator, but yet we put these things on us that really it doesn't matter. It's all in just having that act of courage to be able to go for it and not wait for somebody and who are we waiting for the heads of organizations or something I don't even know, to say you are now ready Like there's.

Valerie: 17:43

No, I'm picturing like a knight, you know, like being knighted, like you are now worthy of being an entrepreneur because you have put in these dues and blah, blah, blah. No, it's like walk in and own it and take it and you have that courage and that's what's required.

Mak: 18:01

And you deserve it right now. There is no reason why, right now, you do not deserve everything that we just said, everything that we've been talking about who you are, where you are in life, your story I don't care what it is in this moment, right now, believe me when I tell you you are ready and you deserve it. You deserve it. And when you begin to accept the fact that you do deserve this, that's when you can start taking these courageous steps. That's when you can start moving forward.

Mak: 18:36

But so many of us get caught up in some kind of mental trap. I'm guilty of this too. I feel like I don't deserve to do the things that I'm doing. I don't, you know, and it's so easy to get caught in that, and so I just want you to know right now you deserve it and you can do it, and you are talented and you are gifted, and there are people out there who want this magic that you have inside of you to put into the world, and you're actually kind of doing us all a disservice by not doing it. You know, it's like if you have all these gifts and all this creativity within you and you don't put it out and you don't share it. That's frustrating because you have something absolutely incredible that we all want to see. We all want to experience your magic. Everybody does.

Valerie: 19:23

And imposter syndrome is a real thing and it's really helpful, I think, to know that everybody experiences it, because it's hard to what's the phrase? Read the label from inside the bottle.

Valerie: 19:38

So everybody feels that sense of imposter syndrome and we're all going to rise and fall and have these bursts of courage and then go down and feel like, oh, am I worthy, am I this? And so it really is. It's about having those bursts of courage and the consistent step forwards and the consistent, courageous next action steps forward that's going to propel you and it's going to allow you to go for what you want and what is aligned to you. Again, this isn't one size fits all. My entrepreneur journey is not going to look like anybody else's. Your entrepreneur journey is going to look unique to you. It's going to look completely different. So it's going to allow you to step into your own alignment. It's going to allow you to step into your own alignment and when you own that and you take that, no permission slip needed. You're just going to follow that next right step.

Valerie: 20:38

And when you can come at it from this idea of creativity, even, and courage. It takes courage to create something. Let's just talk about that. It takes courage to create the art that you are making. Business is just the same thing. It's another form of creativity, another form of courage that it takes, but when you can step into that and say yes to that. It's going to open up so much and you'll be led down the path of what's the next thing. And then it starts to feel exciting, where you're not worried about everything. Well, am I doing this right, or am I doing this wrong and just knowing? This is all in flux, this is all in process, just like the work itself, but at the core of all of that, it is taking those courageous acts and because of that, because at the very root of all of this, courage is required, that is something that community and support will do wonders and change everything, because we're all in that same boat.

Mak: 21:52

So you're probably now starting to see why we developed the course to be the way that it is because taking a big, courageous step alone is scary and we don't want you to do that. We want to come right alongside you and help you through that process and also help you to kind of make clear what those steps are, and so that that's why we're here.

Valerie: 22:15

Because we can give all of the strategy, we can say, do this and do this and do this, but without that element of courage, first of all, it's not going to be a cookie cutter approach either but without that element of the support and the courage to actually take this action, then the rest of it is just going to fall flat and it's not going to give you that life that you want, because I think that everybody who wants to be an artpreneur do you want to be an artpreneur, just to call yourself an artpreneur?

Valerie: 22:51

I don't think so. I think you want it because you want the life that you're thinking that is going to give you. You want some freedom, or you want to feel lit up and inspired and doing something and taking these actions and selling your work and sharing it and all of these things. That's how you want to feel. It's to make your life better and to make your life feel good, and that is what we're here to do. It's that merging of what is required, mindset wise, and recognizing that we all feel vulnerable when we do these things. It takes courage for everybody. So how can we be together and help you in that way and also pair that with strategy, some practical tools, some things that you can try and do to make this work for you.

Mak: 23:45

In all honesty, it's like 20 or sorry. 95% of this is basically like mindset work and 5% of it is the practicalities. And we've got the practicalities nailed down. I mean, we figured that out, but really it's having the courage and understanding everything that we've talked about this week that will allow you to cross the finish line, because the practicalities will only get you so far.

Valerie: 24:17

Yeah, so we're going to cover both in this course. We would love for you to be part of it. So, again, you'll want to get in while we are running that early bird sale right now. So be sure to check out ValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with peace. And for some of you, this week, I hope that you have had a ton of breakthroughs. I hope that this has helped you and unlock something for you and for some of you, you are just ready and off, and that is amazing. But for some of you who are listening to this going, oh, I really need more support, I want someone to come alongside me, I need more. I I have more questions. Then I really think you should check out and be part of this live course to finally make 2025 the year that you do it, and we are just we're going to have a lot of fun too. This isn't made to be something big and scary. Taking these courageous steps can actually feel really good and fun at the same time. So be sure to check that out at ValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with peace.

Mak: 25:27

Come along with us. We're really excited for you. We know you can do it. Check out the website, get that early bird and we'd love to see you inside the course. This has been really fun.

Valerie: 25:37

It's been great. I've had a lot of fun doing this. Well, it's fun because we get to do the course, so we get to keep going Right, but I like the podcast but yeah, I think it'll be fun to do more episodes together as well in the future.

Valerie: 25:51

So I'm sure you are going to see that as well. And, as always, I love hearing from you. I love hearing from you. I love hearing your takeaways, what was maybe a breakthrough for you that you had. So please DM me and let me know at Valerie McKeon. And if this podcast would be helpful to a creative friend, please be sure to forward that as well, so we can get more people having courage to put their beauty into the world. And what an amazing thing is that when you have beauty to offer and you're putting it into the world and selling is just an invitation. It's an invitation to say here's what I have. Do you want to come play and interact with this in a meaningful, energetic, beautiful exchange? That's what selling is and that's what we want to help you do. So I look forward to talking to you all again really soon. Bye, bye.