Lessons of 2023 and Turning 50

[00:00:00] Kellee Wynne: Well, hello, hello, everyone. It's me, Kellee Wynne. I am your host and your guest today. And I just wanted to pop in really quick and introduce this episode and let you know it's about time for me to give you a little catch up where things have been. My thoughts on 2023 and what I see happening in 2024. I just wanted to take a minute too to say thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for listening to the podcast and making it a hit. We're over a hundred thousand downloads now, which means that we're growing every day and it's you tuning in to hear the amazing guests that we've had on this year all of the fun pep talks and challenging moments and everything that is Made Remarkable.

So my friends, thank you so much and enjoy this episode.

 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.

Hey, so I was thinking it's a good idea to catch you up on my hopes and my dreams and all of the things that I've been doing and I realized it was about two years ago that I started this podcast and I Was staring down that pathway of turning 50 and all the things that I hoped I would accomplish and believed I could accomplish and figured it would be a good idea to review that as a kind of, I don't know, this is my birthday podcast.

I'm proud to be 50. I think. It's a huge accomplishment, because not everybody makes it that far in life, and so, I don't think there's anything wrong with aging. In fact, it's kind of beautiful. It's amazingly delicious and heartbreaking at the same time. To think how long ago it was, playing in the yard with my siblings and, walking the long walk to school.

Uphill both ways, you know, I'm at that age now. And yet, here I am with just looking at hopefully another half a century to go. Well, at least that's the goal. I did it! I made it to 50, you guys! Isn't that crazy? It's like, you still feel so young at heart, and yet your body starts saying, hey, wait a minute, you know, a little indigestion here, aches and pains, not sleeping as great.

But Overall, I feel magnificent because I feel like I'm coming into my own finally understanding who I am and what life is about and I have no doubt that in another year, another layer will peel right off and I'll understand things completely differently again, but I'm definitely more comfortable with who I am now.

than who I was when I was younger. If only I could have that physical fitness back. That's the only thing I wish for. Long nights sleeps without waking up. That would be a joy. But I'll tell you, I'm making some strides in that direction. Some of the goals that I had, if you want to go back and listen to the 1st podcast episodes, you can hear what my hopes and dreams were for the coming years.

And I can tell you, I've accomplished some of them. 1 thing I had really hoped was that I could. traveled to India for my 50th, and I almost did. Instead, if you recall last year, I was able to travel to Nepal, which is similar in a lot of ways and different in a lot of ways, but I at least was able to explore the things that I was really interested in about India, which is culture and religion.

And that was a magnificent experience and very hard. I talked about it a bit on the podcast. I still have all of the recordings from when I was there because I did a daily video check in, and it's still sitting on my computer waiting to be edited and me wondering, does anyone really want to hear this?

So, just pop into my. Inbox, on Instagram, Kellee Wynn Studios and say, yeah, please put that together. I want to hear about the trip I want to see the video. How was it? I'm happy to get around to doing it But I accomplished that and I was thinking the other day about how hard The trek was because it wasn't prepared It was stairs straight up the whole time like eight hours Of climbing stairs is really hard when you're not prepared for it those who were fit who were in shape on that track, and our group did much better.

It wasn't as harrowing for them, and I was thinking the other day, I was like, I would be really nice to get myself in proper shape and try it again. So I was kind of thinking, wouldn't it be cool to bring a bunch of other amazing dynamic women? In their mid life who wanted an extraordinary adventure, so if that's you, I'm going to ask you right now start walking, start hiking, and start climbing up stairs because it's the only way you can do this trek.

It's beautiful, some of the most beautiful land I've ever been in, but I think I have a goal now within the next year or so to go back. I just love the country. I felt at home there. And I think it would be a really, special thing to go back and do it again. 

Something else that I really wanted to accomplish by the time I turned 50 was to get a tattoo, specifically this tiger on my arm. And I did it. And I was so nervous to make that decision for decades of like, Oh, I'm not going to get a tattoo or maybe I'll get one, but I can't decide. And what if I regret it?

And. Much like going to Nepal and feeling like it was home, this tattoo feels like it's been there forever. The moment I got it, I was like, that was the right thing. And for many of you, I know tattoos, it's just not your thing. You're not going to do that. I'm not recommending it for everyone, but the thing is, is I knew it was something that I wanted to do, that it was very meaningful to me.

So I love that I could check that off my list. So I've managed to do some of the things that were important to me, travel, tattoo, serving you. I was really big on my list and I'm continuing to expand that. Like, the more I can reach, the better. I said I wanted to serve a million artists and help them create.

Businesses of their dream and one person at a time, whether it's someone listening to the podcast and it sparked something, someone on my Instagram feed, someone who's joined me to take one of my programs. It's like every step of the way my heart just grows a million times bigger. And I'm like, this, this is it.

This is it, which will lead me to some things that I wanted to discuss with you today, but not quite yet, because I wanted to talk about the fact that I said I'd be fit by 50. And so, for those of you who make that same goal. Start now, don't wait, because I waited until two weeks before my birthday, literally kept putting it off and putting it off and I go hiking on the weekends or maybe take a walk around the neighborhood, but that's not enough.

And if there's anything that I know for sure, it's you use it or you lose it. And I'm watching as my parents and my in laws age. The difference of those who stay active versus those who don't stay active. And this is it. This is the only body I have. And if I want to make it to a hundred, I have to treat it like it's precious gold, platinum diamonds.

I don't know, but more important than anything on this planet. And so. Instead of taking a trip, which I thought maybe I'll go to Mexico or I'll go to New York City for my birthday, instead I invested in a rather pricey Nordic Trek treadmill with a can go 40 percent incline. Believe me, I can't do more than 20 percent at this point because that's pushing it, but if I want to be able to trek Nepal, and not be winded and in pain every moment of the day, then I need to do this.

And I got it. It arrived on December 4th and today is the 15th and I have done it every single day so far. And my goal is to keep doing it every single day, no matter what. Get on that treadmill, walk, hike, move my body, sweat, raise my heart rate, and not miss a day unless I'm critically ill. That's really my goal.

I'm not missing a day honestly, this machine just makes me so happy. Who would have ever thought? I don't want to walk in the suburbs in all honesty you guys. I love nature and every weekend I still get out and I go hiking with my husband and the dogs even when it's cold.

Unless it's pouring down rain, we're out there and we have some gorgeous nature preserves in this area. So that's not a problem to find nature and find fresh air and find find the trees and. And get closer to the dirt, but on a day to day basis, when I'm busy and I'm working, I was finding that I was making too many excuses and going to the gym was not going to happen because I just really honestly can't, I can't be bothered.

So what I love about this is there's this big screen and I signed up for iFit there. Exercise program. I'm watching and working out in different places around the world. I have hiked St. Lucia. I've hiked to base camp Mount Everest. I've hiked in Costa Rica. I've hiked, I think Ecuador was one of them.

So these hikes are gorgeous. And then the machine kind of does its own thing, lifting and speeding and slowing down and. decline. And I just was like, this is great. I can just go. And I don't feel stressed about like, Oh, I have to do it. Like I look forward to it. And I hope that a year from now, at the end of 2024, I can tell you I did it 365 days.

Well, all right. I will be traveling, but those days that I'm traveling, I'm still going to move my body. And I would love to come back and be able to say that. So far I look forward to, and it's not at all a problem, I mean, besides the fact that sometimes I've just got my Instagram open and I'm posting my daily post, so the fact that I can multitask and not just sit on my couch for an hour while I work on social media is kind of a boost to the whole thing.

So that was a big goal. One of the other things that I said that I wanted was to. Make 1, 000, 000 before I turn 50 now, I think in my head, I was expecting that it would be 1, 000, 000 in 1 year. And I absolutely 1000 percent believe that it's possible, but I haven't gotten there yet. But what I can tell you is I've made.

1. 25 approximately in the last five years since I've been running this business diligently and that's mind blowing if you really think about it as an artist and as a creative and as an entrepreneur in this day and age that seems nearly impossible but I'm here to tell you it's not. But the first step is to get over your money blocks.

The first step is to realize money is a tool. It serves you. It serves your family. You can only give more when you have enough to sustain yourself. And I am able to hire help. I support the local economy. I feel like more artists who are millionaires, the more good there's going to be in this world.

Believe me, Bezos and Musk do not need any more of our money. What we really need to be doing is putting it back into the circle of hands that have big hearts and are going to do good things with it. So for me, that's a huge accomplishment and I'm ready to just go all in and go bigger. And in the process of doing that, I'm helping other people do the same thing.

And that part is incredibly exciting, incredibly humbling to to say, there are artists and creatives who trust me and show up. And come and join me every Tuesday and we chat and we talk and we brainstorm and we figure out what it takes for them to also find their success, follow their big audacious dreams.

And I'm humbled by it. I'm excited by it. I'm looking forward to it every single week when I get to show up and. Be present for other people. Nothing makes me happier, it's really, truly an honor. So I have to say, thank you. Those of you who joined build it remarkable and the remarkable league in 2023, you were my big audacious stream in all honesty, not really quite anything bigger than that, other than the fact that I am a mother and a wife.

And I'm secure in those 2 places. So to be able to fulfill this 3rd really big thing has been nothing short of remarkable. So I figured I would also tell you, some of my biggest takeaways from this year and really since I've started business. But this year has been some big, huge mind.

Set shifts for me, and in fact, these mindset shifts are so phenomenal that I'm planning on, hosting a free live event in February. So just know that it's coming. That week of Valentine's week, just mark your calendars right now. Just put a big X through that whole week because Kellee's going to be sharing her love.

She's showing up. But here are some of the things that I learned for myself and some of the changes that I'm making because of it. The first and the most significant for me, something that I've been coaching and teaching other people. And I've even said here on the podcast many times, and I'm finally, finally accepting this truth for myself.

And that's that diluted focus gets diluted results. When you have. Too many different things to focus on, too many different projects, too many, hands in the pie, I don't know, whatever analogy you want to use for it. Really, when you have too many businesses and different types of things that you're working on, you're not going to get very far.

Each one of them might find some success, but when you're looking for Big success, the kind of success that affects and impacts other people and makes a huge difference to thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions. And I really do feel like if I can help put that kind of love into this world, then that's what I want to do.

And when I'm trying to do a summit, and some art courses, and some products, and designing this, and working on the coaching business, well guess what? Each one of those business models is an island in and of itself. And I have to build the bridges to it. Each island, which means the systems, the marketing, the messaging, finding the customers for each and every one of those products.

And the customer is not the same person for each product and the marketing is not the same. There's more landing pages and messaging and. Sales systems and tracking and all these things that you don't realize when you're building a business How much it convolutes what you're doing and it actually is taking away from your growth and your success and I knew it I knew it.

I really did. I swear to you. I knew this was a problem for the last three years I've been trying to figure out how do I decide between color crush creative and Building the mentorship coaching business, which is going to work best. Can I do both? Can I, I was sitting on the fence and that's because it's hard to let go of things that you build.

It's hard to make a decision because you don't know what the future is going to bring. And in all honesty, any one thing that I did, if I put my. full focus and attention on my whole heart and went 100 percent in. I know I could turn it into that big thing, and yet I can tell you right now, I still wasn't willing to make that choice.

I mean, this is what I tell you to do. Believe me, you'll hear me say it over and over again. Go all in. The power of one really works. You know, be known for the one thing, and your life will be easier. You're a lot less likely to burn out. I mean, even if your goal isn't to make a million dollars in a year, even if your goal isn't to make a lot of money, but when you choose to do all the things, when you're multi passionate, and then you follow down each and every road of each passion.

That's surely a sign that you're going to burn out. Frustration, exhaustion, overwhelmed. If you find yourself saying, I'm overwhelmed. I don't know what to focus on next. I don't know what I should do, or I have too many things to do. So I'm just going to sit and play games on my phone. 

I do that. And that's when I have to stop and say, okay, what's really the problem you're putting off making a decision. And so I did. I made a decision on several things this year. One, I'm not doing the Virtual Arts Summit anymore. And two, I'm actually going to be shutting down Color Crush Creative. Now, not completely, so don't panic, but almost completely.

And this is what I mean by shutting it down. I'm ceasing operations as far as marketing, even ads, YouTube. Instagram, everything to do with promoting the art courses, I'm not doing anymore. Nor is my team, you know, and I have three people working for me, but I'm not having them do it either. And that's because I want all Of our attention to go to the Made Remarkable programs.

So, some of the classes I've been retiring, if you've been on my list and you've been paying attention, you know that some of them are closing forever, and some of them have already closed forever. Virtual Art Summits have been retired, my Melange series have been retired, a few of my other courses, and I am closing all the courses at the end of this year.

And right now they're all on sale. All of them. Deep discount. I'm closing them all, but some of them I will be opening up once or twice a year. So it's not like everything's going to be closed and retired forever. I'm going to probably keep about maybe seven. I can't remember how many, but I'm keeping a few of them.

So that I will open them up once or twice a year. And that's it for those who still have a hankering for a art course by Kellee Wynne. They'll be around. Everyone who's ever purchased anything, but the course is going to stay online for years and years to come, so don't panic about that part. Don't worry, your stuff's not going anywhere. If you've purchased something or if you're about to purchase something, I'm not going anywhere. My business is not closing down. That operation online where the courses are hosted, they'll still be there. You're just not going to see me promoting them. I am going all in.

Diluted focus gets diluted results. So I don't want to be diluted anymore. I want to go absolutely all in on the thing that I know. I'm meant to do. And that's the mentorship, the business mentorship. I really want to be able to help you find the joy and success in your creative business that I know that you can have.

 I've done it now for dozens of other artists. I've helped them understand business better, gotten incredible results for them. So this isn't just a fluke. It's not just something I could do for me, but you know, serving in the Remarkable League and showing up full hearted every week to help artists build a business that they are excited about, that's then reverberating to others.

It's like just the ripple effect. Just nothing lights me up as much. I've loved teaching you. I've loved creating art courses, but this is the difference, like Gay Hendricks says in his book, The Big Leap. If you haven't read it yet, I highly recommend it. But we have our zone of competence, the thing that we're okay, we're good at doing.

We don't love doing. We have a zone of excellence, something that we're excellent at doing. We like pretty much, but then there's the zone of genius. And that zone of genius is the place that we're meant to be. So if you feel any doubt about what you're doing in your life, and that you're called for more, that means it's time to break through to the next level.

Don't upper limit yourself. Break through that. All of those limiting beliefs and take a step into your zone of genius. And I know I was holding myself back. and this is the thing that I know that I'm meant to do. I've just taken a long time to get here. So yeah, that's, that's a huge decision for me to put color crush creative on the back burner.

Kind of like sitting it on a shelf, like a pretty little sculpture dusted off once in a while, but it's there as a monument to the work that I've done and not something that I'm going to spend a lot of time on. in 2024. And I've committed myself to that. And who knows, at the end of 2024, 2025 might roll around and I'll be like, okay, now I'm ready to look at it again.

But it may come to the end of 2024 and I might be like, time to box this thing and ship it off and be done. I just don't know. But I know that I'm going to move forward with the thing that I'm called for.

The next thing I wanted to talk about That has been a huge shift for me is self care. And for those of you who are entrepreneurs listening to this, who actually are running the business full time and by full time, I mean like 60 or 80 hours a week, you know, I'm talking to you. We don't give enough self care.

And I'm not talking about the bubble baths. I'm talking about the massages. I'm talking about how we treat ourselves and talk to ourselves and give ourselves space to be a human being and not just a machine. And I love this work so much that I can just go, go, go all day and every weekend. But that also means that especially since 2020 and our big lockdowns, I've kind of been in that mode of stay at home ever since.

I mean, come on, we're almost at four years. This March will be four years. Wow, boy, does time fly. And yet I still, almost always, I'm home. Like, a week can go by and I will have never left the house. And of course, did I help myself any by getting a machine that I do the workouts at home? Well, yes, because I'm actually doing the workouts.

But I'm not helping myself by changing my environment and spending time doing things other than work. So As I've evolved this year and realized that if I have focused on one thing, that also frees me up to have a lot more time to be present for myself. And I don't mean like self indulgent, although it's okay, sometimes we need self indulgent, but I mean like to be conscious of the things that I'm choosing, the words that I speak to myself and how I care for myself on a daily basis.

And the first step for Knowing and understanding that was how I talked to myself, and it wasn't so much that I was beating myself up every day. It was that I didn't believe in myself, other than. Work. I knew I could do work. I knew I could show up as mom. I was fine with those things, but could I show up as a strong woman?

As somebody who, felt good all the time? Who cared for herself? So, instead of saying, Come on, you can do it. I mean, come on. We all tried these pep talks, but what really started working was me saying things like, I'm a person who sleeps well. Instead of saying, Oh, I sleep terribly every night, because believe me, I say that all the time.

And instead I shift how I'm talking about it. I'm a person who sleeps well. I'm a person who has full of energy. I'm a person who loves healthy food and doesn't crave sugar. Look, I might be brainwashing myself. Don't get me wrong. You know, whatever it takes. Even my kids are like, are you trying to gaslight yourself?

I'm like, yes, I am. But in changing how I see myself, I changed my behavior. And it's really interesting. I don't know where I learned this. I can't give this credit to anything. Except for that maybe I'm around my father enough. To hear his voice saying, watch how you talk to yourself. Oh, I can't do that, or I'm no good at that.

And he'll be like, what is it that you want? Speak as if it already is. And so these are the kinds of lessons that I just know deep down in my core are true. I'm already a success. I'm already a terrific artist. I'm already a great mom. And whether it's true or not, by saying it, I can show up as it. And I can do it in a loving way that makes me feel like I'm worthy.

And since the whole point of Made Remarkable is to remind people that they are worthy of the life that they live unconditionally, not because they need to become anything, but because you were born. To be worthy of this life, then that stops me and reminds me like, what is it that I need to be doing to be in that space of worthiness for myself?

So sometimes it's kinder like, Oh, I realized that sometimes I hit my upper upper limit of feeling good. And this again, goes back to the big leap with Gay Hendricks. And so I feel like, Oh no, I'm not going to because when I meditate, I might open up. Uh, portal of spirituality and do I really deserve to be in that space?

And I know that that's probably you're like, ooh, either you're like, that's kind of crazy Kellee or you're thinking, oh, I feel that too. I stopped myself from feeling good or allowing myself to improve and do better, and to be proud of the things that I do. So that honestly, that's not energy of ego.

Or self that's really of connectedness to all living things here on this planet. When I'm in a better space and caring for myself, I'm in a more loving space and caring for other people. It's a really amazing thing that happens that you shift how you treat yourself. You also shift how you treat other people because we are all connected.

So the more that I lean into that, the more that I can care for others. So I'm just being kinder to myself, giving myself time to be healthy, eat good food, exercise, sleep better, put the lotion on my skin when it needs it, remember to take time to read or whatever, just little pleasures.

of every day of upgrading my life to somebody who will care for herself so she can care for others. I have a long way to go for that, but it's just something that unlocked this little flip of a switch that happened in my mind. A month or so ago that I'm denying myself the pleasure of caring for myself and loving myself.

And the only way I'm going to be good at helping you or running a great business or be a better wife is it definitely has to start with me and how I talk to myself. Isn't that a big huge shift? What do you think? So another thing that I've been working on is accepting how long things take.

You can't rush the process. For me, I've wanted the big successful business since the beginning. That's something that I've been very motivated to have happen. And now looking back and how long it's taken me to make decisions and understand the process and know the frameworks and make, a plan for the future, whatever it is, the things that I teach other people, it takes a long time, takes a long time for me, it takes a long time for them.

When I was running through Build It Remarkable, which is an 8 week accelerated program, you get everything really at a fast pace because I don't want you to waste any time finding your success. There's plenty of time for implementation, but getting the information you need. So 8 weeks, and it was at the end of 8 weeks that some of my clients who were taking the program told me that it took the whole week, eight weeks just to have that aha moment to grasp what we did in week one.

And I was fully expecting this. It can take weeks and months. And sometimes years like it has for me to know what you're supposed to do. And yet still work through it and make decisions and come back to the team for the third time and say, no, I don't think we have this designed right yet. Let's try again.

This is how I imagine the business to be. This is what I think the program should be. This is what we're about. This is who we serve. And, and when you're building a business, it's okay. If. It doesn't happen all at once that you don't get it right the first time that it takes you three years to make a decision of which direction you actually want to go.

Some people will jump right out of the racetracks and they'll just be like, okay, I started this business last year and I'm already a huge roaring success. Awesome. I love it. There are a few people who can do that. And usually if you look at it, it'll be like, there was 10 years of building up to that super fast track.

And for some people you can build the 10 years and then it's going to take another five or ten. It just takes a while. It takes a while to make a decision. It takes a while to build the trust of your audience. It takes a while to put things together and launch them into this world, especially if you want to do it and do it well.

It doesn't have to be perfect, but it definitely has to be good, if not great. And so it's just taken me a long time and I'm accepting now. That's okay. However long it takes, it takes. As long as I don't quit the game, as long as you don't quit the game, you're going to get there. So yeah, I'm okay with the fact that it's only been many years in the process of saying, Hey, I have this coaching program and this is what I'm doing.

I'm not backtracking now. So number four that I was thinking about that I wanted to talk to you about today that I learned about myself and about how I operate in this world, and that's owning who I am. Maybe you've seen some pictures on Instagram or videos 

me wearing my new branded t shirt that says, Boss, not bossy, but the truth of the matter is I'm a little bit bossy and I'm okay with that because I'm realizing now that what was holding me back for so many years is actually one of my better strengths. In the right situations and with the right development, being bossy or being able to see a pathway and a solution for other people means that I can give good advice and it's paying off now.

But this was something that was pretty painful growing up, thinking it was a flaw. But coming to this full circle now and saying the thing that I thought was wrong about me is actually one of my greatest strengths, actually leading me into that zone of genius. It's kind of amazing. And it's gotten me to think a lot, especially as I work with other entrepreneurs about the thing that they thought was holding them back, ending up being their greatest strength.

I have a client who went through Build It Remarkable, who was talking about being a highly sensitive person. Maybe you can relate to that. And. She's from Germany. And she was saying, you don't talk about this. It's kind of a taboo subject. I'm like, I think it's becoming a lot more accepted here, hopefully that we talk about those things and be proud of who we are.

And it was funny because right after that, she found a t shirt because, you know, I liked where the boss not bossy. So she found a T shirt that was talking about being proud of being a highly sensitive person. And I was just like, this is the moment that I live for when we realize the thing that we thought was.

A big challenge is actually the thing that makes us who we are, and we should be proud of it. It's about cultivating it and turning it into a superpower, rather than having it be something that's our downfall. What is it that you thought was the thing that was holding you back that was causing you to feel like you were a big failure or a flaw, those are the things that make you remarkable.

It's just a huge aha for me. I was starting to grasp that last year and that's why I switched the name of the podcast to Made Remarkable and I'm Really quite pleased with the path that that's taken me on this. Definitely a big, huge mindset shift around it, but even more so opening up more layers about who I am and what I'm meant to do and who you are and what you're meant to do 

this is it. If you lean in with love, with all the things that you think are your bad qualities, then you might turn them around and flip them on their head and realize that these are actually your strengths. It's just, it's just leaning in with love and service with all the things that you were given and who you are Turning them into something great so boss not bossy and sometimes that makes me feel kind of strong and kind of proud and really excited and I especially feel a little bit more like a superhero when I'm wearing the t shirt, but That doesn't mean that I don't feel vulnerable saying it all the time.

And that is my number five point that I wanted to make today is vulnerability. That I still, despite all of the courage it takes to show up online, I still feel incredibly vulnerable when I put myself in a position where I can be judged. Because our, history and whatever trauma you might have gone through and remember trauma comes in all different kinds of levels whether it's like actual lived trauma through experiences that you've had or it's emotional trauma through being rejected which is really my story over and over again that my strong bold personality and my tell it like it is candor has oftentimes caused friction because I didn't know how to regulate it.

And so that left me over the years and decades of not really wanting to put myself in a position of being in public. Being in big groups and being seen, and this was coming up for me a lot over the last couple of years where, here I am teaching workshops and showing up, for events and questioning myself the whole time, especially when I was at, in Nepal, ironically enough, the tour group we were with, I felt really uncomfortable, like, Getting close and sharing who I was because I didn't know if that would mean that I would feel rejected afterwards.

And these are all the thoughts that go on in my head and it bring me to a realization of what Brene Brown's been talking about. Vulnerability isn't like showing up on your Instagram page and talking about your flaws and, Oh, I'm being so vulnerable. That's not vulnerability. Exposing yourself is not vulnerability.

Vulnerability is allowing yourself to be in situations where you feel like you're going to be seen and doing it anyway. And that's hard for me because here I am in the limelight, but I feel so safe behind a microphone. I feel safe behind a screen, but if we are to meet in person, I feel very raw and exposed.

And all of the old, you know, bullying and. traumatic events of being who I was and being rejected for it come back up again and again. So wearing the shirt boss, not bossy is actually kind of like my own little shield in some ways of protecting myself and saying, Hey, it's going to be okay because you know what you believe deep down inside.

And if I can show up and teach you and help you and guide you, then. I need to turn on myself and say, hey, it's okay to be vulnerable. It's okay to be shown up, showing up. And what I love is that I'm finding there are people who know me and understand me and are accepting me for who I am. So I don't know what was the purpose of saying this to you.

Vulnerability is a big thing and it's a scary thing and when you are in a business and when you are putting yourself in front of other people there is always a chance of being rejected and you have to show up and do it anyway. That's, if you want your big audacious dreams. That's the price that you pay is allowing yourself to be vulnerable and be seen and the payoff is huge.

It's so worth it because I was able to bring together the members of the Remarkable League in person in Annapolis and believe me leading up the days leading up to it. I just felt sick. I was like, what have I done? I'm putting myself in the most vulnerable situation I could possibly be in. In a house, with other people, every day, for several days in a row, and I'm the one who's leading them?

Are you crazy, Kellee? And what it showed me was that the kind of bonds that we've created through working together And the kind of trust that we had in each other just showed that there was so much love among my colleagues. And that's how I see them. I know they're my clients because I'm their mentor. But when we gathered together in October in Annapolis, it was just. I can get emotional over it, but we really, really, really needed each other and needed to show up live for each other and support each other and just celebrate our wins for the year and our dreams and it was just beautiful.

I'm just telling you, I couldn't be happier than when I actually take that risk and show up. It was hard. But being vulnerable was worth it. I want to know how, what's this rolling in your mind right now? How does that make you feel? Are you thinking, I don't want to do it. I don't want to be seen. I don't want to be vulnerable.

I don't want to be hurt. I don't want to be criticized. I don't want to be told I'm wrong. I don't want to be made fun of. These are all the things that we hit our upper limit when we think. I'm going to do this, this big, scary, audacious thing and then you stop yourself because claiming that space isn't easy putting yourself out there and saying, I'm making a course.

I'm going to be a coach. I want to do collaborations. I want to be published. I want to sell my art. I want to show up. Well, that's not easy. But here's a little secret, and maybe we can call this number six. It's not about you. And this has been the biggest help to accept how long it takes, my need for self care, Being in a place of vulnerability, boss not bossy, and it all comes down to this.

Every single one of those things that you resist is about you and your ego. I know it's crazy, but it's true. Because when we are so concerned about how we will feel if we are hurt, it's about us. And that's a normal human thing. This is absolute, total, Nervous system control and regulation. That's what the human body is meant to do.

But if we can strip away for a minute and talk to ourself with loving kindness and say, hey, this isn't about me anymore. If I. Don't show up. How can I help other people if I've been given the gift of being able to paint, to be able to sing, dance, write, whatever it is that you are doing, you're meant to do.

You're meant to fill the world with more beauty. If we don't have art, then what's the point? We don't have this beautiful contribution to give to this world. Then what are all the wars for, folks? I mean, in all honesty, it's what we live for, is the beauty in this world, and you are part of that beauty. So when you stop yourself from doing the thing that you dream of, that little seed that was planted by the universe and all of us connected, when you stop yourself, you're stopping yourself from connecting for all of us.

You're stopping from giving your talent to the world. And once you start saying, hey, This is for the greater good. This is for service. This isn't about me. It's about how can I show up for them. And it seriously can strip away nervousness when you stop making it about yourself. Ooh, what if I'm hurt?

But guess what? If you take that risk and you show up and you say, but what if I can help someone today? What if I can say something so bold that I'm inspired to say on Instagram and just one person walks away feeling like they have the courage to do it too. What if that chance that you took to share your art made a difference that someone else felt like, Oh my goodness.

I can do it too. I honestly remember the day that I was watching my cousin share his artwork, and I thought, why am I not doing that? Why? He's willing to go and show up at a local, convention, and show his work, and does he have a lot of experience or training? No, but he's doing it with passion, and he was making really interesting stuff, and he was taking that risk.

And I thought, why am I not doing this? It seriously flipped a switch in my head, and can you imagine if you hold yourself back from showing up, from doing the thing that you were inspired to do? Who else would not do what they are inspired to do? It's amazing what happens when we stand up in courage, and in love, and in sharing, and in creativity.

How much more love and sharing and creativity happens in this world? And I think if I hadn't been brave enough to show up, who would not have been able to benefit? And I do have enough stories to say it's made a difference. So, when you're like, Oh, but what if I'm hurt? That is an ego thing. When you realize it, you can stop and say, But what if I can serve?

It's just a huge mindset shift for me. So, I always try now to strip A little bit of me out of the what if equation and put a whole lot more of you into the equation and it makes a difference. It makes a difference of being able to get over the vulnerability. It makes a difference about accepting who I am and what I bring to the table and being okay with that.

It helps me take better care of myself because if I don't take care of myself, I can't show up for you. And to be transparent and honest with you about how long it takes, about having diluted the focus of where I'm meant to go, and so I think that's my biggest personal takeaway of this year, how it's affected me and my business.

and how I see the future going. So before I end here, let's wrap up with a little bit of forward dreaming because I'm a big dreamer. If you haven't figured that out already, I like to be grounded in reality and when I make a decision, I follow through. And I keep my commitments, but up until that point, I'm going to dream a million dreams and that dream might change tomorrow.

Believe me, some things stick around for a long time. But what am I looking forward to 2024 and beyond, the next half century for Kellee Wynne? Well, I am still on this path. Of believing that I am meant to serve a million people. I want to make a difference. I really do hope that some of the words that I've said today make a difference to you.

But on a more fun note, I have more travel. That's maybe a little more me centered, although if you want to come along, just let's talk about it. Traveling more. This summer of 2024, late spring, I'm planning on taking a trip to Europe. So we'll talk a little bit more about whether or not I can pull off an event in Europe.

I'm hoping for it. I would love to meet some of the people that I've already been working with. I want to hike. Possibly Switzerland, my mom and I are going to do it together. Yes, my mom, who's turning 74, can still hike. Why do you think I want to keep hiking? It's amazing when you can still be using your body and that's my goal. I really do think on my list of things in the future of next year and the years beyond that are more in person events. And I've taught art workshops, but bringing everyone together for our creative profit planning in Annapolis in October, all of my, Remarkable League members was just so much fun.

I absolutely think it's gonna happen again. So if you'd like to meet me in the fall, I don't have it nailed down yet, but my team and I are working on it. I think we're going to do it again and open it up to more people that I'm really excited about more in person events. We need to be able to come together and feel the energy in a room.

There's nothing like it. I love zoom. I love social media because I get to meet you. There is nothing like actually being able to give somebody a hug. And I'm a hugger, so just be fair warned. I'm really excited this year to be exploring my own creative practice off camera. This is big for me, because Though I absolutely love being able to record the process and share it with you and create courses.

It's been a real, amazing experience. It's been a really, really long time since I've done it and done it just for me. So that is on my must do list for 2024, exploring my creativity. I've really, started already To start creating again, something, I guess, magical happens when you say, I'm no longer going to create art courses.

All the creativity starts flooding back in, and you're like, ah, that's where it's at. So a little pro tip to all of you course creators, you don't have to make a course out of everything that you do. All you need is one good one, then spend some time re connecting with your creativity. And that's what I'm going to be doing this year.

I might turn the camera on from time to time to make a few little behind the scenes clips, but not how to's, so let's just see where that goes. I'm really excited about that. Some of my forward thinking big dreams, big audacious dreams. I'd love to speak on stages. I've started to apply for some. I would love to be, I don't know, a TED Talk one day.

How's that? TEDx is fine. Work in some of these big conferences or workshops and, and I want to share with you how I run my business. I would love to do it in person more. I would also love to write a book again. I know I got to write an art book, a how to art book, but I would absolutely love to write something that's more inspirational, motivational, and how to build a business with heart.

Your big audacious dreams help you accomplish those. So that's on my big audacious dream list. And I also would love to help you. That's my big goal for next year. I'm opening up Build It Remarkable again in, late winter. You'll be hearing about it, I'm sure. I just really, I'm excited about it.

The plans that we have, my team and I have been working on it. We've run through this process now more than one time with our first beta run, Build It Remarkable group, with Remarkable League, with, with the coaching program I did last year for Cat Raines and Drew Steinbrecher. Just having these people in my world and seeing the processes that are needed for you to be able to be successful, to understand marketing, to understand business models and business design, to understand sales, and to do it all with heart, with a, with a entire ethos of serving, because that is the underlying principle that I teach is that we do it, with the mind of serving.

And just like, I cannot wait to do it again. I'm really looking forward to Build It Remarkable Spring Season 2024. So hopefully you'll be one of those people who want to join me. If you're curious about it, this is a time to go and sign up for 100 Ways to Make Money as an Artist Without Selling Your Art.

And you can just go to maderemarkable. com slash 100. And you'll be on my list. I also probably have my waitlist open for Build It Remarkable. That would be maderemarkable. com slash wait. And that will take you right to the waitlist to make sure you're on the waitlist and you don't miss it. Those who are on the waitlist will probably get an early bird bonus.

But Only those who are on the wait list. So if that's you, if this has been intriguing to you, if this has been an inspiring episode that you say, Hey, I need those kinds of shifts too. I need the big shift. I need to be thinking differently about how I show up in this life. I, I want to be able to fulfill my big audacious dreams and I want to take the next step towards it.

If you've been running a business and you feel like you're just throwing spaghetti at the walls and spinning your wheels and wondering, what do I do? Why? I thought if all I had to do was build it and they would come, let me tell you, it takes a little more than that. And understanding marketing isn't easy for artists and creatives who are, are naturally not usually business minded, but it's something that I love.

Like I've said, I eat this stuff for breakfast. This is what I, other than spending time with my family, this is all I do. I just love it that much. And I love helping other people. Like a big. a puzzle piece, like, one of those really complicated mouse traps.

It's like you watch the ball fall and the wheels spin and the thing flip and you're like, whoa, it worked. And that's how I feel every time that we do it. And we're just like, We've got this framework and the framework keeps working. So we would love to bring you into that world. I would love for you to keep listening to the podcast.

Next week, you're going to hear some of my favorite episodes with a little bit of a recap. And then the first part of the year of 2024, I'm going to do a deep dive. Of big audacious dreams, and honestly, it's how to start thinking differently about running your business in 2024. I'm going to give you a lot of insider information, tips, tricks, whatever you want to call it.

But I'm going to get real and honest with you about business in January of 2024. So until then, may you have a beautiful holiday. Happy New Year. Give your family love. Big hugs and kisses to everyone who's close to you, because that's the most important thing right there. But to all of my listeners, thank you so much.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you, thank you. I love you.

 

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.