Insider Tips on Marketing Your Business

[00:00:00] Kellee: Well, hello. Hello everybody. Good morning. It's Monday. I warned you I'd be a little too cheery for you on this Monday, but I do love Mondays. I do. This is Kellee of the Made Remarkable Podcast, and I'm jumping in here for the in-between series where I kind of give you a little rundown of the week before some of my aha moments and behind the scenes of running a business.

[00:00:24] Kellee: I figured you'd probably really appreciate that instead of letting it all be a mystery. And don't forget every Wednesday, we have an interview with somebody that I just find remarkable with a remarkable story or some remarkable advice to give to you. So make sure you're tuning in. 

[00:00:42] Kellee: Last week we got to hear from Katie Hunt from Proof to Product, all about wholesaling. I mean, so it might be the right field for you if you're really looking to have your, have your artwork put on designs and sold in places like Target or Starbucks or Anthropology. She's [00:01:00] really worked with some amazing people. 

[00:01:02] Kellee: And this week coming up on Wednesday, we have Jess Keating, a friend of mine who is an author, a scientist, spiritual teacher and she's really fascinating. I think you're gonna ha love hearing what she has to say. So tune in on Wednesday as well. 

[00:01:19] Kellee: But for now, let's talk about where we are on Monday, middle of winter, January, 2023. That's where we're at right now, right? Somehow it feels like the longest month and the shortest ever. And if we blink our eyes too fast, the whole year's gonna be gone. So I really hope that you're. Harnessing the new year energy and the excitement of big possibilities. You know, I'm always talking about the big audacious dream. I know that it's not without a lot of effort and that sometimes it feels like it's really far reached, but I wanna tell you that perseverance, just not quitting, [00:02:00] is probably the biggest secret to success.

[00:02:04] Kellee: I mean, there was so many times where what I chose to do failed or disappointed me, or it just completely collapsed on me, or I did my very best and had zero results. I don't even know how to explain to you how many times. I tried and pivoted and tried again and in, I'm still in the process of doing that, but if there's one thing that I know for sure, it's that I've been so determined to just keep going until I figure it out.

[00:02:35] Kellee: Learn the tools, learn from the best leaders and teachers, and. And turn to the people that I trust the most to help me build this business around the lifestyle that I really wanna live. So how did that look this week? Well, I probably sat in a few too many meetings and scrolled my phone way too many times.

[00:02:58] Kellee: I'll be honest with you, there are a [00:03:00] lot of. Down moments where I feel like I'm not as productive as I should be, but at the other moments when I get to connect with people, you know, those, those glimpses of light, that light just catches when you're, you know, when I get to work with a client or I'm talking with a friend, or I'm working with my team.

[00:03:22] Kellee: Yeah. Those are the moments that I really feel lit up. I think that's what I'm meant to do, . And that's really one of the things that I want to impart on you is like, look at where your energy is the highest. Where, where do you feel the most at home? Doing the, doing the work? You know, for a lot of you who are listening, your artists, so making the art is the most important part and.

[00:03:45] Kellee: So I want you to kinda look at that and balance that with the desire of building a business. Is it sustainable for you to be able to do both? Because I asked the question on Instagram this week, what are you struggling [00:04:00] with? If you're in business, what are you struggling with the most? And almost everyone said, time.

[00:04:04] Kellee: And they're afraid that the time it takes to build a business is gonna be the time it takes away. Making art. And so if you're on the fence and you're wondering if you're really able to do it, you have to be aware of the fact that you have to give up a lot of the creativity time in order to build the business.

[00:04:26] Kellee: But if you're passionate about building the business, if you're passionate about connecting with other people, your work to be in their homes or your teaching style to help light somebody else up, if you know. That, that's the path for you. If you know you're ready to quit the nine to five and you don't wanna do the grind and you wanna work for yourself and do the grind for yourself, then man, you're my kind of people because that's me.

[00:04:51] Kellee: That's me. I'm, I'm willing to keep going until I find a way to make it succeed. And that's what I've done. Year after year after year, watch my [00:05:00] business grow because I keep putting the pieces together and watching it grow and watching magic happen, and that magic isn't mysterious. There's a formula for it.

[00:05:10] Kellee: For me, my own methods, there's work that's put in, there's marketing that's done. There's again, failure and figuring out why something didn't work and then trying it a different way the next time. And, and that's really been the journey of being an entrepreneur is putting those pieces together and, and learning along the.

[00:05:33] Kellee: This week, my team and I spend a little time on the Virtual Art Summit. This is our fourth year putting together the Virtual Art Summit. It's, uh, an event I do every spring where I bring 15 artists plus myself together to create art with a theme. This year's theme will be revealed soon. In fact, I'm sure if you did a little quick Google search for Virtual Art Summit, you might find out what that [00:06:00] theme is.

[00:06:02] Kellee: Well, I'm really excited about it and with going into the fourth year, I'm really curious if the knowledge that we've gained doing this year after year. We won't be able to supersize it. So I'd love to just bring you along on that journey. On this podcast. I'll tap in at least, um, every month or a couple times a month and tell you how it's going.

[00:06:25] Kellee: Right now. We've secured our artists. We have all the contracts in place. We have a plan and the deadlines in place. We have ideas for how we're gonna present it and how it's gonna show up to the world. Um, And how we're gonna get support and give support while we're doing it as well. Because usually we use this virtual art summit to create scholarships, donate money, give free offers, and paid offers.

[00:06:51] Kellee: So when we have the support of the community, we really get to do amazing things with this summit. And I'm hoping this just like double [00:07:00] what it was last year. That's my goal. And I'll fill you in along the way. Uh, the other thing that we've been working on is my new project. The Deck of Dreams 365 is a, a little art course that's turned into a big giant behemoth of an art course because it's not an expensive art course, and it's not a complicated art course.

[00:07:24] Kellee: Well, what it is, is, is a year long workshop where every month there's new themes. Uh, new, new mixed media techniques and we work on our deck of cards, and I've decided to throw in a bonus of creating a grid journal every single month. In fact, we kind of hatched this crazy plan to see how big we can grow deck of dreams.

[00:07:47] Kellee: So this is your insider. I'm always looking at marketing from a very unique perspective. Marketing to me isn't about just throwing something in people's face day in and day after. Showing [00:08:00] up and saying, buy my thing, buy my thing. I wanna give real value and I wanna make it fun in the process. I wanna be able to communicate with the people who are out there, my community, and have them really understand that I'm doing this for them.

[00:08:13] Kellee: I'm hel I'm, I'm here to help people find their creativity. I want people who've never even experienced it before have a chance to tap in. I want those who have been doing it forever to finally find their circle, their community of people, because we have a really fabulous community on Facebook of people who are participating in this.

[00:08:33] Kellee: So I believe when marketing, there's a few elements that really make a huge difference in getting, having something catch on fire for, for lack of a better. Description, but part of that is the virality of something. Well, does it show up on social posts with interest that other people catch it and wanna do it as [00:09:00] well, and then they're sharing it and they're talking about it?

[00:09:03] Kellee: And so I've formulated several of my projects over the last, let's see, since 2017 when I've been working, uh, when I started Color Crush Creative is the idea is that your audience, your community, and the people who've purchased your product, End up being your raving fans and talking about your product.

[00:09:22] Kellee: So in this case, because I've designed a, a really fun deck of cards, project and grid journals, people are sharing it all the time. So I also decided to give it this other LA layer. So this virality and community, um, is a big part of it, and the communication around it is really important. But creativity and marketing is really important as well see.

[00:09:49] Kellee: as long as the idea that you have directly relates to the product you're selling, you can get as creative as possible and it's [00:10:00] probably gonna be a whole lot more fun for you and your audience. And they're just feeling like they're all having a fun time and it works out for everyone in the end. So my wild idea for Deck of Dreams 365 is that we're gonna.

[00:10:13] Kellee: An old-fashioned telethon. I call it a dream athon. And when we hit a certain number of people who have joined the workshop, mind you, it's a $67 workshop for a whole year long. Anyone can join and you get to keep it for lifetime. So it's not even a membership, it's, it's a ridiculously affordable action packed course.

[00:10:35] Kellee: So, but my idea behind it is low ticket mass numbers. So the more people share who are in Dream athon or in Deck of Dreams, the more we hit a certain number of people who've joined. The more I'm gonna add to the course, that's for everybody to benefit from extra bonus courses, coworking sessions, or co-creating sessions, [00:11:00] uh, like a virtual online retreat for everybody.

[00:11:04] Kellee: Card swaps, even a gift in the mail. It's one of those things that I'm really interested in seeing what happens. Your community spreads the word about a fun project. So let's see what happens with that. I'll keep you up to date. I do have some wild goals, but when we first launched it from idea, from conception to launch was like a week and a half, and that was from early December.

[00:11:33] Kellee: And by the end of December, we had already had nearly 600 purchases of the course. So now I figure, can we, well, I think it was like 500. And 50 purchases. But I'm thinking, can we 10 exit, can we 10 exit? Can we get to 5,000 by the end of 2023? I think it may be a little bit of a stretch, uh, cuz I'm only one person with a very small team, but I don't know if we [00:12:00] hit up YouTube enough and, and reels and have our community out there creating YouTubes and reels for us as well.

[00:12:06] Kellee: And just getting really excited about this, I think we could do some, some wild things with deck of dreams. So, Yeah, just let's just see where it goes. You wanna see with me, are you gonna stay on this ride and check in on Mondays to see what the news is behind the scenes of what I'm doing? Because I'm not holding any secrets back from you anymore.

[00:12:28] Kellee: In fact, as I build, made remarkable, I really want to be able to help you have the same kind of success with your business. No more throwing spaghetti against the wall and saying, what the hell am I doing wrong? I built it. They should come. But we all know that's not true. You can't just build the course or build the workshop or build the retreat or build the coaching program or build the collaborative group program, whatever it is that you.

[00:12:55] Kellee: Created. You can't just build it and hope that they will come. [00:13:00] There's a whole lot that goes into building a successful, sustainable business. And though I know I've kind of dragged my heels over the last three years of getting this program up and running, because I've had a lot of my own. Sealing barriers to breakthrough, and I wanted to make sure that whatever I do is of high value and with utmost integrity and not just a lot of fluff of saying, oh, you can do it, and giving you a pat on the shoulder and shoving you on your way.

[00:13:31] Kellee: I really wanna give real tools. And I tested them out and I had a group that I worked with in my mastermind this last year, and we saw. Unbelievable results. I am so proud of 'em. I'm so excited for their future and everything that holds. You'll probably hear from a couple of them, and so now I'm starting to get to that point where I'm ready to roll out some workshops and new really.

[00:13:57] Kellee: Unique and amazing ways to work with [00:14:00] me over the coming year. I know some of you have actually written to me and said, okay, Kelly, I've been waiting since last summer for you to make an offer. I'm ready to work with you. And I think that that's really amazing. I, I really am truly humbled by it and I appreciate it more than you will ever know, because I really do wanna just light you up and help you. So that was my behind the scenes. 

[00:14:22] Kellee: Now I'm gonna go into, one thing that I wanna do every Monday is, I wanna be able to answer your questions. So if you've been following me on Instagram at all, you'll see that I post once in a while. You know, what is your biggest concern? What is your biggest challenge running your business right now?

[00:14:40] Kellee: Most of you say time, and I can second and third. That time is a struggle, whether you're already working a full-time job or uh, just trying to balance making art versus. Selling art, um, you know, and building your business. It's a cha It is a challenge because you [00:15:00] have to make a real decision which way you're gonna go, and you have to make a lot of sacrifices if you run a full-time business.

[00:15:07] Kellee: Like I said. Um, there's less time for making art suit. So if you are really all in it, then keep sending those questions my way. And then we're gonna try and solve some of these at least a little bit, give you a little bit of insight right here on the podcast. I have a question from DelightRogers_ Art, and she says, My question is, how do you know whether to put your focus and energy into building your online business or in your own art community, or should both online and local business be given equal attention?

[00:15:40] Kellee: Okay, so delight. This is what I think. Not anything can ever have equal attention. And we all know that cuz time is a mystery and it just escapes right between our fingers faster than you can ever imagine. So we have to pick our priorities. We have to know what is our business about, who is it for, and [00:16:00] also what lights us up because that's a big factor if you're creating a business.

[00:16:06] Kellee: Doing something for somebody in a way that you don't enjoy, you're not gonna get very far. So I love to go through what I call creative core mapping, and I'll be rolling out that in the near future where it really helps you analyze all those things and make some good conclusions as to where your strengths are, where your golden thread of your life can lead you right to, I don't wanna say your purpose, but your purpose for right now.

[00:16:33] Kellee: How's that for what you're gonna create for. Amazing, remarkable business, right? So, You take a look at where you are with the local community versus online and what it is that you're creating. If you're selling art and you know that there's a strong, uh, art market in your local community, and you're making art that really appeals to where you are in your local community, then put more [00:17:00] energy into that while still representing yourself online.

[00:17:03] Kellee: If you feel. You're best suited for online, and I personally took the route of local and then decided online was best for me. Then put all your energy into that and show up occasionally for some of the local events. Now, I, I'm not gonna make any assumptions about what you're doing for work at this point, whether it's selling art or its workshops, but they have a different purpose and a different way of.

[00:17:29] Kellee: Um, different modalities of leveraging your talents when it comes to selling art. That's just a, a whole different beast in itself of f figuring out where your artwork lays best in the art market. And I'm gonna be f. Quite frank with everybody who's listening right now, I can teach you how to sell art, but I'm not focusing on that.

[00:17:52] Kellee: I'm really looking at those of you who are working on courses, coaching, creative projects, [00:18:00] community collaborations, content creation, anything that's like really outside of the box. So let's just say delight that you're working on workshops. And you're hosting them in person locally, then obviously your market is right there locally.

[00:18:15] Kellee: You can use social media to attract them, but showing up in networking in your area is gonna make a huge difference to attracting people to come to your workshops. And I did this for many years in my area. I would network, I would. In fact, I would even use Facebook ads just targeting within like a 15 mile radius of where I was hosting the workshops.

[00:18:37] Kellee: And it really worked wonderfully. And of course I built my online audience so that um, even people locally would find me. and I would fill up those art workshops and that was loads of fun. But then when I turned my attention to wanting to work bigger and work with more online courses, then of course than the community that was important to me was building a bigger, [00:19:00] more robust community online.

[00:19:01] Kellee: So for those of you who are listening and you're thinking about creating something that's outside of the box, that 100 ways to make money as an artist, or maybe you're already creating art courses or workshops or. Or a YouTube channel, or travel workshops, whatever, like there's so many different possibilities.

[00:19:20] Kellee: That's why I say go to made remarkable.com/ 100 and download the free PDF. Let's start with figuring out where is your ideal customer and. How are you gonna show up for them? Where are you gonna show up and how are you gonna talk to them so that they know that what you have to offer is gonna be something that's gonna make a difference to them?

[00:19:43] Kellee: Because that's really what this is. In the end, our marketing is just communication. And selling is just an opportunity for somebody to get what they really want that you're providing. And so I say let's just go back to basics who, why, what, where, [00:20:00] how, and when. You know that you're gonna have more clarity on where you should be focusing your attention.

[00:20:06] Kellee: I hope that helps. I hope that this little morning pep talk didn't take up too much of your day, but that you're excited and ready to make the next step in your. Journey as a creative entrepreneur. I just love being able to show up for you like this, and I guess I'm gonna just keep on doing it as long as you're listening and I can't thank you enough listeners, so much for being here.

[00:20:30] Kellee: And I, you know, just hope you share this with everyone. And you're back here on Wednesday listening to my next podcast episode. Thank you so much. Bye.

If you'd like to listen to or learn more about the podcast visit https://www.maderemarkable.com/blog  for our show notes and links to the main players.