Kellee Wynne Conrad: [00:00:00] Well, hello. Hello everybody. Welcome again to the Made Remarkable podcast. This is Kellee Wynne and we're here for another amazing guest interview. You're gonna love who we have on today. It is none other than Laura Horn. I know many of you know who she is. If you don't already, you're probably living under a rock because Laura Horn is the OG of art courses around here.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: She was one of my first inspirations as to how and why and where and when I was gonna launch my own art course. I saw her doing it beautifully, successfully with. Pure heart and soul in everything that she did. She's so kind and so generous that I just knew that was a path that felt really good for me to want to participate in.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: That idea of being able to celebrate creativity with others is just so beautiful. So if you don't know her already, she's from [00:01:00] Adelaide, Australia. She has gorgeous abstract mixed media artwork. She's been teaching art courses online for a long while now. She's been a guest in my previous membership.
I've also been a guest on her podcast, the Laura Horn podcast, and we've been closely connected on and off through this entire journey because it's just a beautiful community out there of artists who want to support each other. Laura Horn is one of those artists. You can find her on YouTube now.
She's got a great new YouTube series, and she just wrapped up a whole year of art courses that were bundled together in this beautiful program called Creative Blend. So I hope that you're gonna check her out online, get to know her. If you are an artist looking for courses that might expand your creativity, she has them they're fabulously. producers, you're gonna hear her husband works with her. [00:02:00] And if you're also looking for inspiration, Especially as an artist who's growing their business, her podcast has focused on that over the last couple years, and you'll be able to hear us talk a little bit about how and why she's taking a temporary break, maybe a permanent break from her podcast to focus on her YouTube channel so you can find her everywhere at Laura Horn.
And before we jump into that, I just wanna. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for how absolutely amazing and supportive you've been as I've launched my own. Coaching program. It's been really amazing to see how many people have come to join already. The enthusiasm for it, the curiosity for it, and we're filling up.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I am just super thrilled about that. It's really amazing for me to have just these, beautiful, wonderful, creative, remarkable women joining me in the Remarkable League. My whole dream, my whole goal was to be able to [00:03:00] help you. get to where you're going with your big audacious dreams, and that's what the purpose of the Remarkable League is.
It's different than a course or any other kind of coaching program out there where you only meet once in a while. You're given a little bit of information. No, this is hands on. We meet weekly. I give feedback to. as you show up for coaching programs, masterclass, quarterly intensive workshops. We even have an in-person gathering in October.
It's not like anything else that's been created for artists who have their own creative business. If you're an entrepreneur and you're spinning your wheels, you feel like maybe you're alone out there and you need your own community, your own. Colleagues to commiserate and celebrate with and all the other in-betweens as we build this remarkable creative business online.
Kellee Wynne Conrad [00:04:00]: Come and join me at the Remarkable League. You can apply now. Applications will be open until the 24th of March, and then we're gonna close the doors, and I don't know when we'll open up again, but right now is the time if you're ready for a big transformation. So just go to maderemarkable.com/league. And if you're not quite sure, if you're ready for it, why don't you join me for a round table chat. , the next one that's coming up is Monday, March 20th at 5:00 PM Eastern. That's at maderemarkable.com/chat. And you can join me and we're gonna talk about some of the stumbling blocks that might be holding you back from making money.
And I'll be taking some hot seat coaching calls and be able to solve some of your. Biggest pressing questions right there on that live round table chat. So that's maderemarkable.com/chat or maderemarkable.com/league. Come and check it out and see if now is the time for you [00:05:00] to do something completely different to get you where you dream of being. Okay. And now let's just go right on with our interview with Laura Horn. I think you're gonna love this conversation. Please share. Please come reach out to us, let Laura know how much you enjoyed hearing her on the podcast. Thank you so much you guys. And now without further ado, the remarkable Laura Horn.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Hello Laura. It has been such a long time, but the last, I think we talked, I was on your podcast a couple years ago. How are you doing?
Laura Horn: I'm really good and I'm thinking back, gosh, that's quite a long time ago.
Laura Horn: A lot has changed for both of us in that time. Yes, so I'm looking forward to catching up.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I am too, and there's so much to just see how things have evolved and unfolded over the last couple years, but just that camaraderie and friendship, it's nice to reconnect again. And so I really appreciate you coming on the podcast.
Laura Horn: Oh, thank you for having me. I could [00:06:00] do this all day. I love chatting to artists , sometimes I have to go, Nope, nope. Do some other stuff, but yeah. Yeah, it's always so good. I get so inspired talking to other artists. It always feeds me in some kind of way, and it feels good. Like you're not so alone.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: We don't have our water cooler like other businesses, you know, hang around and talk. So having. Like-mindedness to bounce ideas off of or just commiserate over. It's the beautiful hard job that we do .
Laura Horn: Yeah. It's funny, I was only just talking to my son yesterday about the fact that we don't have a water cooler because when I'm working from home, I come down all the time.
Laura Horn: I'm always having breaks like coffee. Snacks and maybe stopping watching a bit on YouTube. And he's like, what are you doing, mom? You're meant to be working. And I'm like, well, it's actually really intense when you work for yourself working for seven or eight hours straight. Mm-hmm. , and you don't have the water cooler, you don't have people to just have a little chat with. So, so yeah, I [00:07:00] was explaining that to him, .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And then suddenly our kids and our husband become our. Coworkers and they're like, I don't wanna hear about it anymore, mom, , I dunno how old yours are now, but mine, I have two adult sons and one that's, in high school. So it's like they're so over it. They're like, just do your thing mom.
Laura Horn: Yeah, my kids haven't reached that age yet. They're quite interested. In fact, they both think that they can manage me and give me a lot of tips and advice, and in fairness, they have really good ideas. It's actually great chatting to kids because they're in the thick of it and in the thick of social media and trends and what's happening, and that can be relevant for any business. So how do you use technology and stuff like that?
Kellee Wynne Conrad: How to think outside the box. Really. Yeah. They're really good at coming up with fabulous ideas and sometimes, well, I did work with my middle son for a long time. He was doing all my video editing and, and then I ended up [00:08:00] spending time just talking to him about the business, and he always had.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: The most solid business advice, like, mom, just do one thing and do it really well. Stop dividing yourself in half with all these other ideas. I'm like, okay, you're right. It's hard when you're a creative cuz you wanna try all the things,
Laura Horn: That, that's like the one biggest advice I always say, but it's so hard to actually do it, isn't it?
Kellee Wynne Conrad: It's my biggest advice too. , the power of one, one audience, one offer. One social media channel, just go all in. I can get depleted really fast when I'm trying to put too many different, things on the burner at once. It's just too much. And I know that's the secret sauce.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: What's essential and then focusing in on it. Speaking of. You did something really intense over the last year and you're almost to the end of it. I am. How has it felt doing a whole year long project? ,
Laura Horn: You know, it's been really interesting. There's been a lot of [00:09:00] great things that have come out of it because it has forced us, me and Richie, in a way to continually put ourselves out there, make classes, refine skills.
Laura Horn: And we were only talking about it recently, just how much better we have got at the whole process of creating videos. Talking. Sharing all that sort of stuff. Mm-hmm. . So it's been really good from that perspective. Another aspect of it that has been great is just continually painting and, oh, not having any big breaks because each time a month would roll around.
Laura Horn: I would need to get straight back into my own creative practice first. And with this class it was a little bit different. It was really like following me along the journey of a year. So it enabled me to still do a lot of personal art and then turn that into the class.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Good idea. .
Laura Horn: And so that was really great.
Laura Horn: It, it really helped my own [00:10:00] creative practice and my own skills. So that was the good side of it. But the downside of it was, it was more intense than what we thought. . It would be . And we didn't find that we had a lot of break time, because a month isn't that long when you've. Kids things cropping up, holidays, whatever.
Laura Horn: It comes around really quick. And to come up with a whole course concept each month, practice the ideas, come up with the videos, record the videos, edit the videos, and then make a sales page and do all the marketing. Yeah, each month is really intense. And one of the things I did at the beginning was I decided to release each module individual. As well as doing just the whole year long program. And that was great from the point of view that it enabled us to share it to people that didn't sign up at the beginning of the year. It gave us that monthly income [00:11:00] as well. Right, but the pressure of putting,
Kellee Wynne Conrad: because you've made the commitment it has to be done.
Laura Horn: So, yeah, they were good things, but it was a pretty intense year and I'm not sure if I would do it the same way if I did it again. I didn't really feel like we could have a break, so it felt very much like we were on all year long. I don't know if it's my favorite model, when it comes to delivering courses.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: The nice thing is, is you have an end date. When is your last month.
Laura Horn: So this is our last month now
Kellee Wynne Conrad: March is your last month. Okay.
Laura Horn: So we're in the middle of the last month, so Yeah and I'm loving that. I'm loving that feeling of closure that comes from having something that has an end date.
Laura Horn: Mm-hmm. . And at the beginning when I was getting this whole idea together, I thought about doing like a membership. , and I know you've had experiences with membership and challenges with memberships. Yeah.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: It's a hard model actually. It's a really hard model.
Laura Horn[00:12:00]: And I decided that wasn't the model for me.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And the year of creating on demand. Probably leaves you to realize how much more of that was the right decision to just do it in a year, and then now you have an end date, so you know that you can take a break. Membership models for art, it's really challenging because you always have to make content and at least with your course, people could purchase it as a whole, or they could do the individual classes and buy the ones that interest them.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And now you have. I mean, look, you've got 12 classes that are, evergreen. Yeah. And I love that idea that it's not all put together in one ongoing membership. So I know that there's a place for memberships and some people. Love that model, but as you know, I had to say goodbye to my membership model and courses have been a lot easier for me.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Still a lot of work, like you said, cuz every time you have an idea, there's a new sales page and [00:13:00] photos to be taken and marketing to be done and it's gotta get on each channel. And did I make a reel and like it just goes on and on.
Laura Horn: Yeah. There really isn't a perfect, model out there. They all have their pros and cons, and you really have to think about what's your personality like, what would feel good?
Laura Horn: Would it be too much for you to have that ongoing thing of a membership? Or for some people they really thrive with it. You get beautiful communities that form in memberships. So yeah, it's really about figuring out what works. So this particular model that I ran with, I think it was quite intense doing it, but now we have 12 really amazing classes, which we can also repurpose in many ways, pull clips out, create reels from, like Richie and I used to say, continue to style.
Laura Horn: as we were doing it, we kept reminding ourselves, okay, this is gonna be a really busy year for making content, but next year will be more about the marketing repackaging. So [00:14:00] we knew that. Mm-hmm. , there was a bit of hard work to be done, so that bit of, grind in a way, in order to get where we wanted to.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Yeah, like you said, there's pluses and minuses to each model. So putting out a course can be intense and bigger courses can take up to a year to really master a great course and put it out there like a top level course and then small courses. , they still take up a lot of time, and you were compressing that time into month by month, and that's like, wow, that's a lot.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: But each course that you were offering just looked like everything that someone would want, all in one package. So I've loved watching every single offer that you've made and how you present it. It's really gorgeous, and I'm happy for you to have a little bit of a break now, , because your year long commitment has come to an end.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: [00:15:00] And yes, now you get to see how your hard work is paying off. I wanna go back to the very beginning, Laura, and just. Find out how you got into the whole business of art and then making courses. Because I think for most of us who've been around the art scene for a while, since we've been on Instagram, in the early teens, you were the forefront that paved the way for us.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: You were making the courses before the rest of us were really making courses. You and a handful of other people. I can say. We look up to you a lot for that and wanna know how that journey kind of happened for you.
Laura Horn: Ah, that's a really lovely question. I appreciate you asking me this. Let me try and think back cuz it is a while back. First of all, I started making art as a hobby. So I have not ever gone to art school or anything like that. I have a story that's similar to many people. I was at home young children. Just in that stage, are you really looking for something for yourself? Mm-hmm. , you're very [00:16:00] busy but you are craving something.
Laura Horn: And I came across, some artists that were out there sharing on Instagram. In fact, it was my sister who introduced me to this whole idea and this world of mixed media art and online courses and workshops. And it really was so exciting to me. I'd really been searching for something. And so I threw myself into that, making art. And I just made art in all sorts of different styles and things and experimented. And I shared my journey on Instagram and I also had a blog as well. So I was blogging. It was back in the day, blogs were popular. And this was very much just sharing what I was working on in any given day.
Laura Horn: And one of the things I think that sort of helped was that I got onto a video quite. And I think a lot of artists that got into online courses did start sharing time lapses and things like that on Instagram and they were really popular and that's what I started doing. I can't even remember setting up the [00:17:00] phone for the first time and recording just me and my studio just working on a big canvas and sharing. and I shared very consistently on Instagram. It was a bit of an obsession, , and sometimes an unhealthy obsession. ,
Kellee Wynne Conrad: oh, we've all been there and some of us have never left there.
Laura Horn: Yeah. And um, I got really involved in the local art community as well, so we had groups that were getting together and painting and sharing. So this was really my whole world at the time, and I was sharing a lot and my Instagram grew quite quickly. I'm not really sure why that was. Like, a lot of people will ask me that, but I don't really know. I don't really have the answers. I think there wasn't consistency and good art. There you go. Yeah.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Also these early years were so much easier.
Laura Horn: Yeah, it's very different now. It's a lot more competitive now and you need to have different types of content now, whereas you could just [00:18:00] share that very much sort of, this is what I'm doing today. I'm really excited about it. Mm-hmm. , I got a new supply, like you could almost treat it like a diary, which is how I treated my Instagram when I started.
Laura Horn: So yeah, through sharing on Instagram, that's really where all the opportunities started to come in and I. was like Gobsmacked, like mind blown when people would contact me and start asking, first of all to buy my art, but also ask me, whether I would teach or run a workshop or things like that. Mm-hmm.
Laura Horn: and I had someone message me really early on, on Instagram and just say to me like, don't wait until all your ducks are in a row. This was like a really established, experienced artist. Totally different style of art, and he took the time to message me and say, I think you've got something really special.
Laura Horn: I think you should go for it, basically. And that message really changed the direction of where I was going because I started to believe that something was possible and that I could possibly actually make a business. So I want to say to people, don't [00:19:00] underestimate what a little message or a little bit of encouragement to someone can do, because from that point on, I started going, oh, you know what?
I could actually teach a workshop. I could create an online class and. From there, I started to say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes to all these things.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: So what we say matters, and someone took their time to just be generous with you and give you that encouragement and what a difference it makes. I totally agree. If you wait till you're ready, you're never ready. I know that I spun my wheels for years before I finally took the plunge to do it.
Laura Horn: Yeah, and you know what? I probably wouldn't have taken the plunge except I have a husband. Many people will know Richie through our podcast and things like that, but he is a massive encourager, but also someone who just doesn't let you kind of , let's say no to things like he's very much like, come on, what's the worst that can happen?
Laura Horn [00:20:00]: Like a cheerleader in the best way. And so he really just encouraged me to figure things out as I went. And so I think one of the very first course teaching things I did was through Lifebook with Tamara Laport. And at that point I hadn't actually made an online class, but I had been making videos and things.
Laura Horn: And when she contacted me I said, well, I haven't actually made an all class online class, but she was really happy to let me come on board and that be my first online class. So I did that and that was really well received, but we did not know what we were doing. .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And now look at you with your own production company, ,
Laura Horn: Cause Rich is a self taught videographer and photographer, so, He's learned all those skills at the same time as I was learning how to paint. He was learning how to take photos. In fact, we both discovered our hobbies around the same time. [00:21:00] So I'm not sure what was going on in our lives that we were both seeking . This-
Kellee Wynne Conrad: There was something magical in the universe that was like, zoo, you are needed. You are needed in the creative world. All these people are waiting for you,
Laura Horn: Yeah. Neither of us have been all that creative for years. And then at the same time, we both really fell in love with our respective hobbies.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: How beautifully aligned and the fact that you get to work. Well, okay. That's a whole nother issue working with your husband on your business cause you've made it happen now for years.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I don't know that I could have ever done the same , but you've had that help and support as far as figuring out a lot of the tech, like you said, the videography and the editing and all of that. And that's really, surprisingly, it's what stops a lot of people from starting their business cuz they are scared of the tech.
Kellee Wynne Conrad [00:22:00]: But what's really funny is, is that part gets figured out so quickly and then you realize you've opened up a whole. Can of worms, it's Pandora's box once you start the business, right? Like there's just still so many different layers. So it's really just having that confidence. And you've had Richie to be able to help you with all that tech, but how is it, let's be honest, how is it working with your spouse on your business?
Laura Horn: Oh, look, it has its moments. We are really different in our personalities, but we've figured out how to make it work and we do actually spend quite a lot of time apart. So we are not in, the same office or the same studio side by side all the time. There's a lot of coming together, creating something, and then I'm a real homebody, so I do a lot of work from home and he does a lot of work.
Laura Horn: We have an offsite studio where we record a lot of our classes, podcasts and things like that. It's half art studio, half office, and it's really his domain. Like I go down there from time to time [00:23:00] when I want to paint bigger canvases, but I love being at home. So we manage it that way. And yeah. Other than that, we just work through stuff. I think we are just one of those couples that actually really enjoy working together, for the most part
Kellee Wynne Conrad: . That's wonderful though. I don't think you're the only. Artist that has a business that works with their partner or their spouse. I know several others like Ivy Newport and and such that really have that camaraderie with their partner. And my husband is a super cheerleader. He's very much supportive, but. . I'm also really glad that he just goes and works his normal job and lets me figure this out for myself because that's how it works better.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: But I've loved watching, like, especially like you said with the podcast. I get to hear Richie come on and, and just see how that's worked for you over the years and I think that's really exciting. It's special.
Laura Horn: Yeah, it is special. And I don't think I could really [00:24:00] work that way with anybody else. So for us, we have these shared interests that are really in a alignment. So it gives us that opportunity to spend time talking about things that we both love. So it works really. and we've just created those boundaries and things that help so that we both have plenty of alone time as well.
Laura Horn: And we also both have. other interests too. So that really helps. So Richie is really into boxing. He's a professional boxing coach. He does all sorts of other stuff. He's really into training. He does lots of sort of charity work and things like that, so he's got a whole other life. And then I really like gardening and stuff, so we have those other things too, which I think is really important.
Laura Horn: I agree. I think no matter whether you work together or not, that makes a big difference to have your own identity. And I think also that's maybe one of the reasons why a lot of women rekindle the [00:25:00] creativity after having kids, or even if they've started a corporate career and they suddenly realize they need.
Laura Horn: Something for themselves. Queue, Laura Horn, art Queue, any one of the amazing artists that are teaching out there that really give that outlet, it's important. And I think that's why we all come around at this point where we're like, oh, I need that. I need something for myself. You've been that pathway for a lot of people. Thousands of students now.
Laura Horn: I know it's crazy actually to think about that. And my son, he's 10 and he likes to remind me of what a number is. Like if you were to gather all those people into a room and Oh yeah. He, he often, yeah, he often says that to me. And sometimes when something doesn't. Goes so well and you've only got like a smaller number than what you normally would. He'll be the first one to say, but mom, if you had all those people in your room listening to that or that message, that's a lot of people like, so he's always reminding me [00:26:00] of that , right?
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I posted that on Instagram and I only got 36 lights. I said, have 36 people at your dinner table and tell me how that would feel.
Laura Horn: Yeah, and a lot of people say that, but it's a really good reminder when you are building an audience, and I think sometimes we think about the numbers too much rather than having the right audience or the, the audience that really connects with what you are doing.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Absolutely. That each one of those numbers is a person and how you're connecting with them is gonna make all the difference in the world to them and to your business. Yeah,
Laura Horn: I mean, you can have a huge impact on people and, forget that you were having that impact. Mm-hmm. .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Exactly. How did you decide, I would say in air quotes, your audience? Or did they just decide you and you realized who they.
Laura Horn: That's such a good question. [00:27:00] When I started making art and then I developed my website, my main message was that I wanted to share the magic of mixed media. And the magic of creativity. And so that was my main sort of message. And then over the years I drifted a bit away from that and I started sharing more about building a business and things like that, especially on the podcast.
Laura Horn: And I realized that I had stopped maybe connecting as much with the people that initially. Followed me and took my first class. My first class that I made myself was called the Melting Pot, and it was about mixed media. And a lot of the people that take my classes, they are working, they have children, they are making art on weekends.
Laura Horn: They are doing exactly what I did when I started. They are carving out a little bit of space for themselves. And over the past few years I've realized, and I guess I've gone. Full circle to the beginning, and I've realized that [00:28:00] really is my core audience. It is that person who wants to just feel that special feeling of making something, using your hands and doing something for yourself.
So I'm not sure if I've answered your question actually. No,
Kellee Wynne Conrad: you did. You know who your audience is, and you realize along the way that you drifted a little bit and you needed to come back. Why do you think you were compelled to talk about business for a little while there on your podcast, and what was your aha moment to come back to your original core audience?
Laura Horn: Well, I think my audience brought me back because I had people contacting me saying, I love your podcast, but I'm a complete beginner and sometimes you use terms and things that I just don't even understand. I'd love it if you just explained, what brushes you use or what supplies do I need to get started, or [00:29:00] what's a good sketchbook that doesn't cost a lot of money, and so people were contacting me and I was starting to realize that what.
Laura Horn: Putting out there was certainly an audience for it. The business stuff. Mm-hmm. . But what I had veered away from was my initial audience, the people that really supported me at the beginning. And so I, realized that I needed. To go back to providing more content that was around building an a healthy and happy art practice and catering for, beginners as well as intermediate artists.
Laura Horn: And one thing that can happen as you teach, and you've probably experienced this, is that some of your audience come along with you. So they know what supplies you use, they know about your processes, and you forget that. , there are people that are new coming in all the time that don't know all of that stuff.
Laura Horn: And so what I was finding was that in some of my classes that I made later on down the track, I was assuming a lot, I was assuming a lot of knowledge [00:30:00] and I wasn't explaining things as well as I did right at the beginning. And this is one of the advantages of when you start, making online classes being. Not a complete beginner, but you've learned quite a bit, but you are still connected to what it's like to be a beginner
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I just remember a discussion too of that, aha moment for me in teaching. especially if you get any chance to do it in person, because then you can actually watch and experience what your students are experiencing. And it was this idea, I'm like, it's just obvious how you use a pallet knife. But no, I watched 'em in person and they were stir like a spoon with the P Life and I'm like, I take so much for granted.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And I'm like, you like. Went on this journey with how I teach art and took it to this place where I was maybe focusing too much on the experienced artist, but what I realized is that. [00:31:00] Like you, my audience that's brought me through and the people who are most interested in what I have to offer are either beginners or they're lifetime hobbyists, and they have no interest in turning it into anything more than just a very pleasurable outlet.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: But I did forget, like you, I forgot that there's certain things that you just have to. Repeat often and not assume that your students, your audience, your customer is gonna know or understand. So yeah, it's part of our job too. Yeah. To be better teachers is just know what the needs are and be able to be available for that.
Laura Horn: Hmm. . Yeah. And I have been thinking a lot lately about how to provide inspiration and ideas for complete beginners, but also how to provide other types of things that are great for people that are further along in their past. So I don't think you necessarily need to have just the one audience, but I think it's helpful to think about maybe what your two or even three main [00:32:00] audiences are and how you can meet them where they are. You could focus on one, the same customer, but maybe in a different part of the journey. Yeah.
Laura Horn: Yeah. That's a really good way of putting it actually, like understanding your customer journey and then being able to not just focus on one aspect but be able to hit them at different, parts of that journey.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: So are you coming up with some fun solutions . I mean, I'm sure you're gonna take a nice, lovely holiday after your year long course is finally wrapped up , but have you come up with some solutions for how to meet customers no matter where they're at. And solve both the beginner's problem and the advanced artist's problem.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: But I think we all come up with stumbling blocks on how to find inspiration. So I'm really interested to see what you're gonna come up with, even if you haven't defined that yet. I think that's a really brilliant place to key in and see how you can support the community. . [00:33:00]
Laura Horn: Yeah, I think I've been doing it a little bit. So I have a variety of classes and I feel like my earlier classes are very suited to beginners. I feel like the last year-long program that I just did really hits on different levels and it focuses more on developing your own style, understanding how you work. So that would be more of an intermediate program.
Laura Horn: So that's the creative blend art program. , you could still certainly take the classes as a beginner, but there is more of that focus on working from within, understanding what your preferences are, building the skills. It's not so much step by step, whereas some of my earlier classes are a little bit more of the step by step classes, but I do, mm-hmm.
Laura Horn: want to eventually have something that is really targeted towards beginners. So I feel like there are people out there that aren't making art, that want to make art, that would really enjoy making art, and they do need something that is [00:34:00] going to invite them in, make it accessible, encouraging, and really affordable as well, because that can be a barrier for people.
Laura Horn: So that's on the cards. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that, but I do want to. provide something that is very much a, beginner's course,
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And you can give yourself some time to figure that out. , as artists and makers and mothers and wives, and now business owners, we have a lot on our plate.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: How do you like, balance is a magical, mystical. Word that we don't really know, know how to implement, but how do you juggle it all? Let's just say that, I always have so many ideas. So I need some parameters and focus and Well, you definitely gave yourself some good parameters and focus over the last year, but how do you, like, how do you squeeze it in without doing 12 hour work days? or do you do 12 hour work days?
Laura Horn [00:35:00] : Well, , I would say in the last few months of this program, there have been some very long days right before the release date. So when we started the year long course, we were getting everything ready, like a good two weeks before it was due to be released. And then over time, That slipped away , and we were working on classes like the day before they would come out.
Laura Horn: So there have been some long hours and that's something that I want to. Get away from, the previous year, not so much. We had a much better, quality of life in that way. So I guess it's recognizing when you've taken on too much and then figuring out what you can let go of in order to have a healthier life balance.
Laura Horn: And I'm at that stage right now because I have been doing quite a bit. And quite a lot of different platforms. So I even started a TikTok account just because I thought, am I missing out on something? I'm not sure that I am. .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: [00:36:00] Yeah I have, I, I've been actually wondering that too, but I'm finding there's. Other than me getting sucked down a rabbit hole of watching videos, there's not a whole lot of community that I'm finding yet on TikTok anyway, so I don't know. How do you keep dividing yourself without hiring more people? Right. .
Laura Horn: Yeah, so I feel like I am a little bit, across too many things at the moment. So I put my art on Pinterest, Instagram, I started doing YouTube videos, TikTok. So I do feel like I need to. , pick some things and focus on them and maybe let a couple of things go in order to have, a better work-life balance. It's taken me ages to get into reels, but I am sharing reels now on a regular basis on Instagram and sharing them across other platforms. And I think I listened to something by, I think it was Gary V, that encouraged me to do [00:37:00] all the things .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Yeah, but Gary V has an entire team that records everything he does all day long. And I've been listening to him too, and I'm like, I'm missing out on LinkedIn. What am I doing? And then you realize, oh my goodness.
Laura Horn: Yeah, I can't do it anymore. ? No. So I think I'm gonna call back on a couple of things, so that I can have a better work-life balance. I'm a pretty organized person. I will say that like I do monthly planning. I think about what I'm going to share. I try and have a theme for the month around what sort of stuff I'm going to share and relate that to the classes that I'm promoting.
Laura Horn: So I do try and. , make sure that what I'm doing is going to be effective rather than just throwing things at the wall willy-nilly. I did a lot of that in the past, , but right now that I'm trying to do so many things, I can't really [00:38:00] afford to just do it in a, oh, I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that way. I do need to come to the beginning of a month and go, okay, what am I doing this month?
Laura Horn: What is the main message I wanna get out? What's the main class I want to promote? What kind of content aligns with that? So I do take that kind of approach with what I'm doing for the business.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Clear messaging. It makes all the difference in being able to communicate what's actually happening and what you want your customers to take action on.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I hear what you're saying about being. I finally found somebody to help me though in my business a couple years ago, and it's absolutely life changing because now I can put my energy on the things that only I can do, but it takes a lot of trust to hire somebody and say, okay, I'm handing over my inbox to you and.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Know that it's gonna go. Okay. Have you considered adding onto your team, or do you feel like you'd rather keep it small with just you and Richie?[00:39:00]
Laura Horn: I think about this a lot. So I've certainly considered adding onto the team, but then I feel like I would need to manage a person and have that responsibility and then I can't just switch off for a few weeks here and there.
Laura Horn: So I don't know. I love the flexibility of. It just being me and Richie, I love the fact that we, mm-hmm. don't have to worry about people because when you've got people working for you, they're dependent on you. Their income is what pays their bills, and I wanna make sure that when I do take someone on, I'm in a really good place where I can provide. Consistent work and support and be really good about it. and not flaky about it. Yeah, . Right. And I dunno if I reached that point yet where I trust myself, .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: I have a feeling you'd be really good at it though, because you've been doing this for years and you already have systems in place. I just, I love [00:40:00] not having to do a lot of. , energy suckers I should say. And I'm not saying that my customers are energy suck, but the inbox can be and answering every message can be. So it is nice when you have that support, but you have that support in the form of your spouse, working with you in the business.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And I think that that's a good compromise then, so that it's not all just on you all day, every day trying to figure it. I would like to ask you what you have coming up in the future. What do you imagine the rest of this big expansive year's gonna be like for you, ?
Laura Horn: I'm sure it'll get filled up pretty quickly.
Laura Horn: I have another course which is a six week course called Modern Mixed Media, which I had to park for the last year because I just couldn't find the bandwidth to run. both programs, so I would really love to. Bring that back and give it a bit of an overhaul. Oh, no, I love that course. That's on the cards and actually that's something I'm [00:41:00] working on fairly, will come out fairly soon.
Laura Horn: But other than that, it's definitely a time for me to review everything. So last year was just so busy, busy all the time. I haven't had a chance to look at my website, look at my messaging. Clear stuff out, maybe retire a few courses. It's time for a big refresh, so I'm looking forward to that.
Laura Horn: That's something I've wanted to do for a long time and I haven't really had the space, but I do think this year I'll be able to. Review and, and just check that things are making sense and that when people come to my website, they can find what they're looking for. Cause I feel like now one of the challenges for me now is that I have so many courses and figuring out how to direct people where they want to go, whether there's too much there that people get there and freak out and dunno what to do. So I want to make sure it's a really good user experience and that I don't have too much stuff [00:42:00] there, or I don't have a clear way to navigate it. So I do think I need a better approach so that people can find the classes that they're looking for.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Maybe a guide. If you're here and you're interested in this, this would be the right thing for you. That's what you need. Like a choose your own adventure on the Laura Horn website .
Laura Horn: Exactly. Yeah, exactly. Cause I've just been adding more and more and more to the classes page, but there isn't really a nice pathway that people can take to figure out what they want to do, so, so I'll be working on that and whatever else comes up, I'll still be making classes. continuing on.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: And showing up on Instagram so we can see your lovely stories
Laura Horn: The other thing that I am doing is I am showing up a bit more on YouTube, so I have decided to take a break, continue taking a break from the podcast for a bit because I feel like we've reached a point where we've covered a lot of topics in a podcast, so Richie and I had a [00:43:00] chat about it and thought that we'd do a bit more on YouTube instead. So that's something that we want to work on, and I feel like there are a lot of artists that seem to be coming over to YouTube. Community is grown over there.
Laura Horn: There's a lot of engagement. It looks good for artists. So that's gonna be a focus,
Kellee Wynne Conrad: that's a great place to focus and there's always a part of me that wishes that I would've started there a decade ago, but now is the best time if it wasn't yesterday. Right. ?
Laura Horn: Absolutely. It's never too late. Yeah. For any platform. It's never too late. .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: It's never too late to even just get started building your business right now. And that's the kind of cool thing is, is there really isn't a timeframe or even a, well, TikTok was popular the last two years. Now it's too late.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Anyone can really use any platform if they're dedicated and consistent, and YouTube is there for the taking. I do see it growing and I've been personally using it this year for [00:44:00] the first time regularly, and I hadn't been for years. So who would've ever thought one of the oldest platforms for social media, if you will, is one of the biggest growing ones again this year? So who would've known?
Laura Horn: Yeah. and I always avoided YouTube because I felt like it was a place where there was quite a lot of negative comments and nastiness and stuff, but I'm not sure what YouTube has done, but I feel like there's not a lot of that on there anymore. So they've really cleaned it up and made it a more healthy, platform to be on.
Laura Horn: That's a good thing. And you can delete comments and things like that if you need to. So I had, put up a barrier around YouTube. For years and probably said, even on my podcast, I was never going to go onto YouTube . But things change. .
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Yes, they do. Well, I love the heyday of your podcast, but it's great to know you're on YouTube. Is it Laura Horn Art on YouTube by chance? Yes, it is[00:45:00] for all of you listening and watching right now, of course, links will always be in show notes, but Laura Horn, art, anywhere you go, on your website, on your Instagram, on YouTube. So then everyone has a chance to connect with you and follow you on Instagram.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Of course, I'm pretty sure almost everyone in my audience knows who you are already. , I love to end my podcast with one last question. What is your big, audacious dream? I wanna hear like, sky's the limit. You wouldn't fail. Money's no option. What is it that you really wanna do?
Laura Horn: Okay, so my big dream is definitely travel. It involves travel. It involves going and visiting artists all over the world and helping them to create online classes and then putting that together and sharing it. So I would love to be able to share classes [00:46:00] from Sweden and different places, all sorts of artists that live in interesting locations, but also artists.
Laura Horn: Have maybe struggled to put an online course together. And I wanna bring Richie cuz he's got all those skills. Yeah. And film artists interviews and little tutorials and put it together. So it would be like a art safari, paint safari, Laura Horn.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Oh, I love it. Did you, are you looking to create it and then put it on your own platform as like a, a beautiful conglomerate or have them launch it and sell it themselves.
Laura Horn: Now, I'm not a hundred percent sure of how we would do it. Richie and I have chatted about it, whether or not it would be one big course that we would put together and sell on our website or whether we would. Help them to launch their own course off their own website.
Laura Horn: I'm not really sure, but we would love to do something like that and somehow bring what we've done to a lot of different [00:47:00] people all over the world. That's, that's our sort of semi retirement dream
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Right, right. Retirement artists never retire. No,
Laura Horn: but I guess it's like when the kids have grown up type dream where we can just travel for a year and then somehow use our skills and get the opportunity to visit a lot of artists in cool places. So we feel like that would be fun.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: That would be amazing. I love that dream. I love it so much. Thank you, Laura. I am so glad that we had a chance to finally catch up and talk and. See how things are going. It sounds like it's been remarkable for you. I could use my own little buzz phrase there.
Laura Horn: Had to get that in, didn't you? Thank you so much, Kellee. It's super lovely to chat with you and to see you, and I've really enjoyed watching your journey as well. I love listening to your podcast and seeing what you're up to, it's definitely a two way love affair. [00:48:00]
Kellee Wynne Conrad: Oh, thank you so much. I love this. I love this for you. I love it for us, and I can't wait to see where everything goes in the future.
Laura Horn: Me too. Well, we'll just have to keep an eye on each other to see where we end up.
Kellee Wynne Conrad: All right, talk to you soon. Bye.
Laura Horn: Thanks, Kelly.
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.