Tania Ahmed's Journey From Viral Videos to Crafting Success
[00:00:00] Made Remarkable Intro: Welcome back. And thanks for tuning into the made remarkable podcast, hosted by Kellee Winn. In today's episode, Kellee is talking with the remarkable Tania Ahmed. One of Kellee's students from build it remarkable. A vibrant artist and creative who shares how she built her creative business to stand out in a crowded market.
Are you an artist looking to turn your creative passion into a profitable business. Have you been seeking guidance on how to stand out in a saturated market? If so you're in the right place. In this episode, Kellee and Tania discuss Tania's journey as a creative entrepreneur. Who turned her passion for paper craft and mixed media arts into a thriving business. From taking risks to serendipitous moments, Tania embraces her individuality and personal culture. Setting her apart in the art industry, by connecting with her audience. On a deeper emotional level.
Check out the show notes and transcripts for more information about Tania exclusive promotional offers and any special links mentioned during the episode. Kellee loves connecting with listeners. So don't be shy. Reach out on social media and together let's build a community that celebrates the remarkable. If you want to be notified every time a new episode hits the airwaves. Just hit that subscribe button on your favorite podcast platform. Thank you for joining us today and always remember. You are made remarkable. Destined to achieve the unimaginable. Now let's get to the good part.
Introducing Kellee Winn and Tania Ahmed.
[00:01:24] Kellee Wynne: Well, hello. Hello. I'm Kellee Wynn, artist, author, mentor, fiercely independent mother and wife, and the founder of a multiple six figure creative business. And I love my life, but I've been where you're at. I was slogging away at this art business thing for more than a decade. Once I finally connected with my true calling, unlock the magic of marketing and built a system that could scale, while I realize I can make an impact and make a substantial income, I'm finally running a business that I love and it makes all the.
Difference in the world. My biggest dream is to help you do the same. Let this podcast be the catalyst to your biggest success. You already have it in you because you are made remarkable.
Hello, Tania. I'm so happy to have you on the podcast today.
[00:02:17] Tania Ahmed: Thank you so much for having me Kellee. It's an honor.
[00:02:20] Kellee Wynne: Thank you. Well, our paths have crossed before but Specifically when you decided to join Build It Remarkable, so I've gotten a chance to get to know you See just how you operate understand you and and how Amazing you are and how generous you are to your people and just how you show up You in the community.
And I am pretty sure those who are listening resonate with that, how you show up with such a full heart and so open. And so it's just, I love that you're here now, but I love having gotten to know you.
[00:02:58] Tania Ahmed: Okay. I'm speechless. Thank you so much. That's very kind of you to say that.
[00:03:05] Kellee Wynne: My pleasure. So I would love for you to just Tell your story a little bit, the journey you've been on as a creative and as a mother and now finally getting a course out into the world. And then all the opportunities that have come your way recently, because you've just been like every corner of Instagram.
I see there's Tania.
[00:03:28] Tania Ahmed: Well, my, my name is Tania Ahmed and, in case you can't judge by my funny accent, I was born and raised in Pakistan. So from a really big city called Karachi, a coastal city. So I'm a city girl. And, I moved to the UK 16 years ago. So April, this is when this is being recorded. So that marks my 16 years in the UK.
I've been creative all my life. And, 17 years ago, I fell in love with a boy. While I was in my final semester of university and, I submitted my thesis and submitted my visa application at the same time. And the papers came through within a few weeks, which was, kind of crazy because usually this process can take months.
I didn't even get to attend my graduation and I was married and here in the UK, so fresh out of university. I, just moved to the UK, a brand new life. I spoke the language, so I spoke English fluently, but, British English can be a bit hard to, grasp. If you're a non native, so I, I remember I used to be actually get anxious about even taking public transport thinking that will the bus driver even understand what I'm saying?
Will I understand what he's saying? Am I going to end up on the other side of the country?
[00:04:57] Kellee Wynne: Yes. Well, listen to you now. You have a beautiful British accent with just a little hint of Pakistani, but it's so clear and beautiful.
[00:05:09] Tania Ahmed: Well, I like to think that the spiciness in my tongue will never really go away.
So I've been creative all my life and I moved to a small town here in the UK and I didn't really know anyone. So I turned to, Crafting, which was something that I always knew I grew up with. I grew up with, like yourself, Kellee, in a very creative environment, my, aunts, my mother, my grandmothers, they sewed, they painted, they embroidered.
I grew up wearing dresses. My mother sewed. My father is a ridiculously skilled. Wood, crafts person. Wow. I had a huge dollhouse that he had made furniture that he'd made shelves, bookcases around the house. So it's not just my mom, it's my dad who's also very, very creative. And I, I like to think that I get my eye for detail from him.
So, I dove into the world of creativity. My husband introduced me to a small website called YouTube .
[00:06:19] Kellee Wynne: That little thing.
[00:06:21] Tania Ahmed: That little thing. And, through YouTube I discovered a whole new world of, card making. Actually, that's where I first started in paper crafting. So I have a multicraft experience, multi passionate as many of us, creatives are so I did embroidery and jewelry making and sewing and, things like that and paper craft, card making was my first foray into the paper crafting world and, I discovered, I don't know if you're familiar with two peas in a bucket.
They had a lot of YouTube, videos with, people like Jennifer McGuire and Christina Werner, and, they were my heroes. They still are. And I learned so much. Same world, did you start with scrapbooking or were you called me a scrapbooking?
[00:07:10] Kellee Wynne: Well, I mean, I was an artist in my youth.
And I mean, scrapbooking and card making is artistry, but I was a painter.
[00:07:17] Tania Ahmed: Oh, yes, of course.
[00:07:19] Kellee Wynne: Right. So I was a painter. Then when I had kids, I turned to the more homemaking type of art. That I knew I could express my experience as a parent and still stay creative for whatever reason.
I thought having paints out at that time would be too complicated, but I made it work by the time that I had my 3rd one. I decided not to wait anymore, but I get it. Like, there's something very satisfying with paper crafts. It's still my love. I have hordes and hordes of paper still. So, yeah, two peas in a bucket, studio calico, scrapbook.
I was in all of the magazines and. I had my favorite people that I followed as well. I had my moment where I needed to finally come back to my original roots. And for you, you might not have been a painter before you, you were always creative and an artisan. When did you start adding in things like, the jelly plate and all the other mixed media that you do now?
[00:08:21] Tania Ahmed: So this is how my journey began. Tim Holtz is and was a huge thing at that time. He still is. And he was actually coming to the UK he was invited by a company called Paperazzi, they're based in France now, but they used to be here in the UK and they used to do retreats.
So they'd invited Tim Holtz over and, I scrounged up the courage to go. And I was surrounded by all these amazing women who were talking about things, foreign things like gesso and Tyvek and acrylic medium. And I was like, what is this world? I want to be a part of it because this is magical. So that opened up the whole world of mixed media for me.
And, then over here in the UK, a brand called wow, embossing powder. This is, this is, oh, do you, do you, so don't I have, so this, this is going to sound. Some might call it fate. Some might call it luck, serendipitous. I don't know what it was, but it just gives me chills every time I think about it.
But I was in a local, big box store. They have, you have Michael's and Joanne's over there. We have hobby craft over here.
[00:09:45] Kellee Wynne: Okay.
[00:09:45] Tania Ahmed: So I was in our local hobby craft. I didn't even live in that town. So I'm a qualified interpreter, so I was doing a job in that town, and my treat to myself would be to go to Hobbycraft.
And I was looking at embossing powder, and There was this man, he came up to me and he tapped me on the shoulder and he's like, don't buy this stuff. Then he said, I'm just wait here for a second. And then he ran to his car and I'm just standing there like, who is this strange man talking to me?
And he ran to his car. He came back with his, Business card. And he said, look us up. And he was the sales person for, wow, embossing powder. And I looked them up and they were doing a design team call and I applied and they liked my work so much. They said that their in office person was leaving and they said, why don't you join us as
[00:10:46] Kellee Wynne: Oh, because some guy in the hobby craft store tapped you on the shoulder because you happen to be there at the right time.
[00:10:53] Tania Ahmed: Yeah, I know. I know. I worked as their, in house craft specialist. That was my title, but I was doing things like, product development, sourcing, talking to customers, managing design team, making sure everything was running smoothly, looking after six or seven international shows.
So doing all the admin for that, and then, you know, all the organization. And that was, it, my job in itself wasn't creative. But it was, An amazing, amazing experience because it gave me, more of an idea of how a brand works and how difficult it is Just to run a business and it's, it's not easy because, people would often think, Oh, it's, it's so amazing, I'm going to be an artist.
I'm going to run a business by myself and, it's going to be beautiful. I'm just going to make art every day and fling glitter.
[00:11:52] Kellee Wynne: Oh, yes. The dream where you just make art. Post a little photo on Instagram, sit back and wait for everything to happen. Yeah.
[00:12:01] Tania Ahmed: And then money, money, money, money, money, money. No, that's not how it works.
So I, I was there for six years. And, another thing that I really credit my father for is he is the master of networking. A lot of work that I've picked up is because of word of mouth, because I have been suggested by someone or a friend or someone knows that I do things.
So while I was going to all these international trade shows, I made sure to Talk to people. And I am one of those weirdos who genuinely likes people. And If I find my people, I will stay in touch. So I was, introduced to my very dear friends, Birgit Koopsen and Marsha Walk, who are my fellow, brand ambassadors as well.
I was also introduced through Birgit and Marsha, to another dear friend. Her name is Rika Kovassin, who's an amazing Finnish mixed media paper crafter and artist, and Natalie Kalback as well. And, I was introduced to the gel plate. Through, Birgit and Marsha and they came to the UK to teach an event.
It was all gel printing and I was still doing some gel printing there and here and there, but that was like. My first experience of seeing these two women, Berg Coen and Nat Kba, who are my absolute heroes. I talk to them every day. We have our own little WhatsApp group, like the, I love that.
Four, five of
[00:13:48] Kellee Wynne: us. I, I know who they are. Very talented women, but you're amongst them for a reason.
[00:13:55] Tania Ahmed: I mean, they're just, I sometimes had to pinch myself. Like, these are the people that I looked up to and they're now my really close friends and, Marsha and Birgit were already doing a lot of things for jelly arts at that time.
And they decided to, get a design team. And I asked them like, should I apply? And they're like, yes, why not? And that was actually the first year, that they, ran a challenge. A gel printing challenge. And at that time I was also learning how to make videos. So this is 2018. At that time, videos on Instagram was very, very new and it was really, really taking off and Jeliat saw that, because, I was tagging them in videos, and they could see that I had, I wasn't as skilled.
As I am now, I still say my filmmaking is still a work in progress, but they saw that I had some ability and they saw my content was getting a lot of engagement, even though I had a small following. So, then they asked me if they could share my things onto their social media, which then led on to me getting contracted by them to specifically make a video content for them.
And then, eventually they asked me to become one of their brand ambassadors, which is like, oh my goodness, like Jellios, brand ambassador, me. Yeah. And they are, hands down, I've worked with some really, really amazing companies. They are such an amazing company to work for. And they always have, their team's best interests at heart.
And it's almost like family. we have such a great relationship with them. And because of my affiliation with Jelly Arts and, my friendship with Nat Kalbach, Nat doesn't run her own business. January creative jumpstart course anymore because she's focusing on other things. But creative jumpstart was like a huge, 31 day event that took place in January every year, she ran it for 10 years.
And, that was my first big, summit, style event. I would say. And that was my, my first step in through the door. And Nat also had me on her design team as well. Again, I don't know if there's merit in in person networking anymore, but, I do credit a lot of the work that I have right now, thanks to networking.
So thanks to networking, my video making capabilities, and just like networking again. Risks?
[00:16:57] Kellee Wynne: How about taking risks? Because you did. Oh, yeah. Put yourself out there. I mean, that's really what it comes down to. If you think about it. Yes. You did your networking. Yes. You have talent and you have your videos, but what I see is someone who's willing to take risks.
You're willing to put yourself out there. You're willing to say, I see a call. You know, to be on the team, I'm going to put myself out there. I'm going to reach out to people and some of it. Yeah, maybe it's just absolute fortune being in the right place at the right time, but it's the taking the risk that kept propelling you forward the showing up consistently that propelled you forward.
[00:17:34] Tania Ahmed: What I usually find with people who ask me about how to get established or find work in this business, people forget about the good old fashioned way of, just putting yourself out there and I treat my social media as a portfolio so it's basically my portfolio to show off to people.
This is, this is what I look like. So I make it super obvious what I look like. This is what I do. This is my style and this is what I'm capable of. And, if you treat it like a portfolio, then people notice.
People notice. And then I got one foot through the door with Creative Jumpstart. Then it was, uh, everything Art and now would get messy.
And the job, job Printers Summit.
[00:18:26] Tania Ahmed: Yes. Oh my goodness. I was like, oh, . I am with, with people who I idolize and I'm teaching alongside them. It's been a huge, huge honor to be recognized and I think it's, it's really, really important to put yourself out there and just ask the difficult questions like, like I wanted to do magazine work and I didn't really know how to get into magazines.
So do you know what I did? I went on the magazine's websites, looked at who the editors were. Found out their email addresses. Sometimes I even had to, you know, gasp, buy an actual magazine to get the editor's email address. And, physically, like literally in one month, I think I, I emailed like 12, 15 magazines and said, this is what I do.
This is my style. Do you have any work? A couple of them didn't reply back. A couple of them were nice enough to say, we love your work. Your style isn't quite our style, but maybe you might want to talk to these guys. And it's,
[00:19:43] Kellee Wynne: It's again, taking a risk.,
[00:19:45] Tania Ahmed: You have to, I mean, I am a sensitive person, but That I find sometimes stops me from putting myself out there and I've become a lot better about it, like detaching myself from, rejection because I think the payoff overall has been, better in the long run compared to all the rejections.
People don't. Talk about, you know, it's like social media is such a highlight reel. You know that, Katie.
[00:20:19] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, for sure.
[00:20:20] Tania Ahmed: You don't talk about, you know, things, things that go wrong websites that go down all the rejections, the hard work, the, the late nights. Like you're doing like an hour or so of art making and then you're spending like 10 times the time marketing it, making sure your emails out and then doing the editing and then all the paperwork and the admin that goes with it.
So it's not glamorous, but I still love it.
[00:20:48] Kellee Wynne: And when you have ambition, that means you're willing to take the risk, take the risk of a failure, take the risk of being told no, or being rejected because after so many rejections, eventually you get yeses and that's just. Mathematics, if you just keep going and you keep showing up and you keep improving what you're doing and that's what you've done along the way.
And so each door opens up to another door and new ideas, new possibilities, and you've worked your way into a lot of amazing opportunities and I wouldn't say that they were just. magically appearing for you because you've done the work. You have done the work to make the art, to show up, to, you know, improve and create, you know, beautiful products.
So if you're not doing the work, I mean, I can't tell you how many people come on my, feed and they're like, you know, if I'll say like, what's your biggest challenge? And they're like, how to get more followers. And I look at their account and I'm like, it's on private. Let's just take the first step or how to get more followers.
And I'm like, you've, you've posted twice in the last six months. So the first thing to do is do what you're doing is, is find the drive deep in you and just keep showing up.
[00:22:03] Tania Ahmed: I mean, I say to anyone is, is. There used to be this cooking show when I was growing up and I forget what the name, the full name of the cook was, but he was an Asian.
And his catchphrase, catchphrase was, if Yen can cook, then so can you. And so I always say that if, if I can figure this out and I was a very average, scraping the barrel kind of student at school. I only figured out that I had more than half a brain when I was in university, after I started actually studying what I really liked.
I am a very average person. English is not my first language. And I am not trained. I am not a trained artist. I'm not a trained videographer. Everything I've figured out is through the good old University of Google. And if I can figure out, then anyone can.
[00:23:00] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, I love that. I mean, the information's at the tip of our fingers.
However, not all information is the best information. And as a business owner, I take the chance on I read a lot of books, I'll watch a lot of videos on YouTube, but there are certain things that being inside of a program, getting help, getting support and learning new skills, it's worth the investment.
I know you believed in your path and I love that each thing has led you to the next thing. One thing that says you really believe in your path and wanting to. Run and own a businesses that you've invested and taken some pretty big courses. And this last fall, you also joined me for build it remarkable.
And so we were having a little discussion, like what was the reason you joined and then what was the benefit of joining seeing as how you've taken classes like for maybe Porterfield or any of the other, like big biz professionals.
Where is the difference between what they teach and what I teach and then like how it benefited you?
[00:24:11] Tania Ahmed: Okay. So, I, am a huge lifelong, believer of being a lifelong learner. I do not know it all. And I always think that I'm always in the process of, you know, improving myself. I am also a confessed course junkie. So I have I've, done, Amy Porterfield's Digital Course Academy.
I've done Marie Forleo's, B School. And I've also done our, copywriting one, which is called Copy Cure. And then there's a couple of others that I've done as well, like, Jenna Kutcher's, Pinterest lab and Jenna Kutcher's podcast lab as well. Which I found useful. I, I have my own podcast as well, which is on pause at the moment.
It's called the crafter math. It's on pause at the moment because I have a toddler. And when you have a toddler, you have to make decisions about what you can focus on. So I have done all of these courses, but my, Biggest problem was, actual execution. There's these amazing pre recorded courses.
They're like really fancy websites and all the resources that you can think of. And sometimes having too much of a good thing. Is very overwhelming and I found myself in, continual research mode. So I know that a lot of your listeners would relate to that. Just constantly researching, but never taking that step.
I feel incredibly blessed that I have been invited to all these art summits and events and all these collaborative workshops, but I've always wanted to combine all this learning this intensive business knowledge that I have and also the art to express it in a course, in my own course.
And it always felt like there was never the right time, or I was always saying yes to other things and I just didn't have the time or the belief in myself to think that I could do it. When Kellee was promoting, Build It Remarkable, I was in Pakistan at that time. I had been following Kellee for a really long time you know, when you were doing the Colour Crush Creative and the collaborative art summits and it was just, it was just like, you know, I have this bucket list.
My art achievement bucket list and yours was on my bucket list as well to be on there and
[00:26:57] Kellee Wynne: on the summit.
[00:26:58] Tania Ahmed: And on the summit,
[00:27:00] Kellee Wynne: and I'm so sorry that I canceled it, but you were on my roster. I was planning on asking you for this year. So consider yourself having been asked.
[00:27:08] Tania Ahmed: I know, I know. So I'm going to, I'm going to share this on the podcast as well.
Kellee ran, build it remarkable live in this first round, which I found the most useful because as a busy mom of a toddler, I knew that I wouldn't have the time to watch the recordings. So I made the commitment to, turn up live and take part in the Q and A's as much as I could.
So I know nobody else is gonna have access to those q and As, but in some of the qa q and as, I forgot to turn the camera off and you could see me, in the background, like rushing around cooking breakfast with, with my ear pods, in my ear, but I'm still listening.
So that held me accountable. And the very first Q& A session that we did, and I think I did it after I'd put my daughter down to sleep, and it was quite late, and I joined in, and we had the session. And you said to me that, , I was on your list. As a candidate to be considered for your, your summit.
And I just on live zoom, I broke down.
[00:28:19] Kellee Wynne: I remember, but I didn't mean to put you on the spot that much, but
[00:28:24] Tania Ahmed: no, but it was just. It's just incredibly validating, to be, recognized by someone like you, who's been in it for so long. And I really look up to you and your business and, that's exactly why I just did not hesitate twice about, you know, just, just take my money.
Just, I just, I was like, um,
[00:28:48] Kellee Wynne: come join, build it remarkable, but how How could this, this creative, whimsical, somewhat cheeky, somewhat bold artist be able to help you run your business? And I will say what I love seeing is you have gone from all these Collaborations to actually launching your course in the time that we were working together and so Build It Remarkable isn't quite the same as the league, which is a more hands on one year program, Build It Remarkable is I teach and then we have some implementation time and we have a larger group, but it was so cool because.
You did, you launched, you took action. So I was asking earlier, like, what is the difference? I think we could come across. coaching program after coaching program that's like, here are the basic steps to building your list, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But what is it about Builder Remarkable that was different for you other than the fact that I was running it live, which is something I'm really still excited about.
I'm running it live again this year instead of running it as a pre recorded thing.
[00:30:04] Tania Ahmed: So, everything that I have. Learned in all of the other courses that I've done, I found everything and more because Kellee is an artist and Kellee also has that, tiger mom kind of persona because she's going to give you the most loving kick up your backside that you could ever ask for.
Because, Kellee will challenge you and I am the kind of person who doesn't like to be told what to do, but I knew that in order to take that leap, I needed to be told off and just told to get on with it. And also, not just get on with it, but also you were cheerleading, me along in the background as well, because, I had told myself, even though it was going to be
[00:31:05] Tania Ahmed: intensely difficult for me to launch in such a short period of time. I had told myself that I wanted to do it so that I could get as maximum feedback as possible,
From you and from the rest of my classmates as well. I remember making that post where I had maybe four or five days to the early bird price, after that, it was going to go after four or five days.
And I remember posting in the group that, I have about I can't remember, it was 50 something students signed up and I'm happy. And I was really overwhelmed, because, trying to juggle everything along with my commitments. Thanks. With my other work permitments and a toddler and, just life in general.
And there was just so much going on in my personal life as well that I was just having to deal with. It was really overwhelming. And I was just saying to myself, I'm happy with where I am, but a part of me kind of wishes that I could. could have done more And then you just put in a small comment that said, just keep going, just keep going
So what I did was I thought to myself, what can I do? So I looked really critically at my sales page, Kellee shares this, sales page format, which is just absolute gold. Like that alone is just worth.
[00:32:28] Kellee Wynne: Oh, thank you.
[00:32:30] Tania Ahmed: That alone is just, it's gold. It's the blueprint is just chef's kiss. And, I looked at my sale page and I also studied Kellee's sales page as well at the same time.
And I had these blueprints from these other, like Amy Porterfield as well, but then I realized that my sale page was correct. It was clinically correct, but it wouldn't necessarily appeal to a creative person. So I made a trailer, which was prettier. I put in more pictures from my course, which were related to the course.
And. I kept promoting it. I actually made a reel that went viral.
[00:33:17] Kellee Wynne: Yes. Uh,
[00:33:18] Tania Ahmed: which it hit 2 million views on Facebook.
[00:33:22] Kellee Wynne: On Facebook or Instagram you mean?
[00:33:24] Tania Ahmed: On, on Facebook.
[00:33:25] Kellee Wynne: On Facebook. On Facebook.
[00:33:26] Tania Ahmed: It's, it's just, it's, it went insane. So that's cool because
[00:33:31] Kellee Wynne: you have an audience attention there too.
[00:33:34] Tania Ahmed: Yeah, I mean, I think it's at over half a million views on Instagram.
[00:33:40] Kellee Wynne: It's still amazing. I've never had a real go viral.
[00:33:43] Tania Ahmed: So. Well, do you know what? People always ask me, how do you go viral? Because it's, I've had a couple of things go viral in the past. And I wouldn't recommend it
[00:33:58] Kellee Wynne: unless it's just for the exact right audience for the right reasons, because it's hard when you go viral, a lot of influx, but anyhow.
So you made a viral reel accidentally because you didn't know you were going to make a viral reel, but it did help.
[00:34:14] Tania Ahmed: I ended up getting about, another 20 something students, because I ran, I did it like you told us just to just did the live webinars, just kept promoting last minute, mail shots, kept focusing on my newsletter as well.
And it worked. I have never made that much money off a single product.
[00:34:41] Kellee Wynne: Well, it's about repeating the process now, but you have all the tools to do it. One thing you told me that was important and yes, I am a bit of a. Tiger mom or a tough love coach or however you want to say it. But what I'm looking for is the uniqueness of the person who's creating a business.
So we are not making cookie cutter businesses. We're leaning in on who we are and how we want to build it so that it works for our lifestyles. I did challenge you, like, how do you stand out when there are other jelly plate printers? How do you stand out, and to lean more into who you are instead of. I don't want anyone to dim their light.
I want every one of the people who come through my program to realize they're made remarkable and that they already have the gifts. And if they just share it with the world, they're going to be able to differentiate themselves. That was something that I did also. I like, I kind of challenged.
[00:35:38] Tania Ahmed: Yes. Yes, you did.
And it stumped me. It really did. There is a, a section, in, uh, Build It Remarkable that focuses on finding your niche and, it's really important. And then finding the right audience and also seeing what sets you apart. It's something that Kellee asked repeatedly over and over again.
What sets you apart? What makes you different? You need to tap into what makes you uniquely you. When you asked me that during a live Q and A session, that really threw me. It really did. It threw me for a curveball. And then when I sat down and I really thought about it, I realized that it's beautiful.
There's some sense of, my work is, is nice. There's some sense of who I am in there, but where's my soul? Where's my heritage? Where's my love for color and pattern in it? Some of it is there. Yes, it's it's it's kind of diluted and that reel that went viral It helped me tap into realizing how I wanted to focus my, art practice as well.
So for me, it's all about finding what makes something meaningful to you.
[00:37:03] Kellee Wynne: And that real specifically was you doing a jelly plate print of your daughter's baby clothes that she's grown up in.
[00:37:11] Tania Ahmed: Yes, so it was a onesie which had some holes in it, and it's a very, very plain cream onesie. It's one that she's worn a lot.
It's got food stains on it. There's a hole in the knee and the zip's broken, and it's just beyond donating. It's beyond donating, and I put that disclaimer in. The description as well. But the number of people, Kellee, who were up in arms about what a waste of paint. You could have just photocopied it. And this is why I always say, be careful what you ask for.
Do not ask to go viral because you want to be attracting the right audience, not every Tom, Dick and Harry who is going to take offense at you
[00:37:58] Kellee Wynne: Oh no! She put paint on a baby doll! How dare you waste it! Oh, I've seen those before too on so many different things. Whether it's books that people are altering or whatever.
It's like, when that happens though, you ignore the haters. You just literally don't respond to them. You're looking for people it resonates with. But a lot of people it does resonate. The idea of Choosing to infuse their memories into the work they do.
[00:38:27] Tania Ahmed: Yes. And another thing that you challenged me on also was that I wanted to record my lessons.
And then launch the course, but then you kept saying, why can't you do a live, why can't you launch it live? Why can't you launch it live? And then you said it a couple of times. And I thought to myself, why can't I launch it live? Why not?
[00:38:50] Kellee Wynne: Well, and to be clear, one of the reasons why I say that is because if we wait till we get it perfect, we usually don't get it done.
And so when you give yourself the permission to just test your idea by doing it live, you, it's an immediate thing. You have a sales page, you know what you're going to teach. You have everything in order. You get on a zoom call, you have your camera mounted so that you can do all the demos. You get this personal interaction.
I personally, since having run stuff live, I'm finding, I absolutely love the experience. It's not everyone loves it. Experience. However, it teaches you a lot and it gets you going a lot faster.
[00:39:30] Tania Ahmed: I personally find, , I really get the buzz by doing live streams that, that really gets me buzzing that interaction, the way you're interacting with your audience and the questions and, you riff ideas of each other and they're talking to each other as well.
It's just beautiful. So I talked to my husband and we agreed that one night a week, would be all mine. He would take care of everything. And then I've just literally just finished, running the course and it's been amazing. I'm gathering feedback at the moment and it's been really positive.
And it arcs back to that whole thing about what made it unique compared to other gel printed courses out there. My take on it was that. you bring your own culture into it. So we did stencils. So this kind of stencils that I shared were inspired by, Islamic geometric art, which features really heavily in the kind of art that I am influenced by.
and using objects that are sentimental to you to make gel prints or creating texture plates that, are inspired by your surroundings. the history of the town that you're in.
[00:40:44] Kellee Wynne: So it was, it was, it's something that sets it apart because a lot of it is just so technique based and not quite so personal.
And I think that's lovely. And this is something that I ask All of my students or clients, however we want to call you to really look inside at what you, what matters to you, what matters to the people who are there in front of you, how you can make a deeper connection so that you can actually set yourself apart from everyone else who's doing a course or teaching a workshop or coaching or whatever.
People are creating all kinds of amazing. Things after a while, it starts looking the same though, doesn't it? So we don't find a way to really tap into something unique, which is also secret little hint here. That's a niche. That's like having a niche and everyone's like, Oh, I don't want to have to niche, but guess what?
It sets you apart and then it makes it much more fun. What, what did your students say about it? Did they love that?,
[00:41:41] Tania Ahmed: Actually the module that was the most deeply personal was the one that resonated with them the most. So just really tapping into, what makes you, you and putting yourself into your gel prints.
I mean, gel printing is fantastic. You could Pretty much make a print with everything. Things like, you know, using my daughter's onesie. My daughter has these Crocs. She's lost one of them. Well, I lost one of them, but I still have the other one. And it makes a beautiful gel print. And not only do I have, a lovely gel print, but I also have a sentimental attachment to that gel print as well.
[00:42:20] Kellee Wynne: I love that. See, so there's just, I mean, well, let's be honest, the gel print has just barely been tapped as, as what we can do with it. I think it feels like at first you're like, we've done it all. And now I'm like, it's limitless. But I love that you'd have your own view and your own take. And I really love that you're infusing a lot of your heritage into what you do and encouraging other people to do the same.
I'm so glad that it ended up being a huge success and that you didn't wait any longer. Collaborations are amazing. However, collaborations will never give you the same satisfaction as launching your own thing that you're just something of your own and you did it.
[00:43:02] Tania Ahmed: And, and hugely can be lucrative.
[00:43:08] Kellee Wynne: It can be when you understand it and you do it in a way that makes sense.
And I am just so glad that you came into Build It Remarkable when you did so that you could find that success for yourself and continue to build it and grow it. I mean, that's what I'm all about. I want everyone to be able to build the remarkable business of their dreams.
[00:43:27] Tania Ahmed: If you're thinking about it, just do it. And don't be afraid of hard work. Another thing that's really, really important to remember is to pace yourself. And remember that these things take time. I have been building this up to this level since, If you think about it, I started working professionally in this industry, like 12 years ago and then I branched out as a solopreneur, is that the term?
[00:43:58] Kellee Wynne: Yeah, solopreneur.
[00:44:00] Tania Ahmed: Uh, in 2018, and I had to take a break in between as well, because, , I was pregnant, and I had Alina and newborn and no, no village. So I had to do everything myself I had to take a break and it's okay to take a break. Learn to rest, not to quit. That's my motto.
[00:44:23] Kellee Wynne: Absolutely.
[00:44:24] Tania Ahmed: And just even small progress is progress. It took me 12 years to be an overnight success.
[00:44:34] Kellee Wynne: Same, same. And not everyone's timeline's going to look similar, but when you do feel stuck getting the support that you need to make the difference. And I'm just so grateful that our paths crossed and that I had a chance to get to know you and hopefully everyone will.
So, how do they find you on Instagram?
[00:44:59] Tania Ahmed: My Instagram handle is my name. So, T A N I A H M E D, Tania Ahmed. And my website is Tania Ahmed Creative. And if you Search for Tania Ahmed gel printing, then I will turn up on the socials.
[00:45:16] Kellee Wynne: Yes, you will. And I bet you, Tania would love it if you'd pop in and say hi and tell her what you think of this podcast episode.
Well, I would absolutely love that. More friends. Thank you for being on the Made Remarkable podcast and in my program and for just being part of my life. So very grateful to you, Tania.
[00:45:37] Tania Ahmed: No, thank you. Thank you so much, Kellee, for being you, for sharing your experience and gifts with us and being so generous as well with the wealth of knowledge and experience that you have.
No, thank you so much. It's life changing, life changing, honestly. Thank you.
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