November 15, 2024 • 26 mins
What truly sets successful creative entrepreneurs apart? It's not just about mastering pricing or nailing your branding—it's about how you show up every day. It comes down to having courage. This is the number one thing that sets apart someone who is finding success selling their art.
We all have fears and imposter syndrome to overcome, but when you can feel the fear and do it anyway, you open yourself up to creating a life you want. Embarking on any creative journey takes courage, but what if you could pair that courage with a powerful detachment from outcomes?
Real change starts to happen. In this episode, Mak and Valerie explore how this combination can open you up to a fulfilling artpreneurial life. You’re not waiting for a permission slip or someone to choose you, you are choosing yourself. And by doing so through one, small, courageous act at a time, you’ll be amazed at what happens!
- Begin your selling journey here: https://valeriemckeehan.com/sellwithpeace
Thanks for listening to The UnBound Creative!
If today’s episode resonated with you, share it with a friend or leave us a review, it helps more creatives discover the show.
💌 Connect with us on Instagram:
@valeriemckeehan & @thatmakguy (that’s Mak with a K!)
Keep creating bravely. We’re so glad you’re here.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Valerie (00:01):
Do we ever have a good episode for you today?
I'm so excited.
I hope you've enjoyed thesefive days.
We have been on the podcastwith a new episode about
artpreneurship and selling yourart every day for these last
five days and now we arewrapping up this series.
My name is Valerie McKen.
(00:22):
You are listening to thePeaceful Creative Podcast.
Mak (00:26):
Hi, I'm Ma.
I'm Valerie's husband and I'mglad to be back here for one
more day.
Valerie (00:31):
You jumped the gun before I could introduce you, I
know.
Mak (00:33):
I know, but you look like you weren't sure what you were
going to do next, so I justthought I'd jump in.
Valerie (00:41):
So this episode is arguably the most important one.
Mak (00:47):
I think so Because I think it is probably the biggest
hurdle that everybody faces whenthey make a decision to do
anything but specifically inthis crowd become an
entrepreneur.
Valerie (01:00):
To do something differently, to do something
that is vulnerable and scary.
So what is that number oneindicator of success?
And we can talk about all thethings and it's all important
things to talk about.
We can talk about pricing, wecan talk about branding, how you
(01:22):
show up, how you show up onsocial media, your mindset,
building an audience, talkingabout what you do.
All of these things we can talkabout All of these strategies.
We can lay out and say, hey,try this and try this, but
without this one thing,nothing's going to happen.
Mak (01:43):
It's true, nothing.
Valerie (01:45):
It's true.
There is one thing that is theindicator of your success as not
just an entrepreneur, but apeaceful entrepreneur, and how
you show up in that way.
Mak (01:57):
So that's what we're going to talk about today, and
obviously we've been doing thisall week because we are
launching this course that weare super excited about, where
Valerie and myself will help youand get you prepared and get
you to the place where you'reready to sell your artwork.
Valerie (02:17):
So this course, we have an early bird special right now
.
You are not going to want towait on this because it ends in
just a few days.
Mak (02:25):
Actually 24 hours it's tomorrow I, because it ends in
just a few days, but actually,like 24 hours, it's tomorrow I
believe it ends right, oh yeah,On the November 16th.
Valerie (02:30):
So make sure that you get in at this early bird
special, because you are notgoing to want to miss this.
This is a live course course.
That means you are not going tohit a button and then be
delivered hours and hours andhours and hours of endless video
content that you have to sortthrough.
(02:50):
That's just going to sit onyour desktop and collect dust
and just be yet another thing,chalk it up to the wasted pile.
No, this is a live, connectedcourse where we are going to be
with you on Zoom throughout theduration of this course and it
is going to be a living,breathing course based on what
(03:13):
you need, based on the feedbackfrom you.
You are going to be supportedthe entire way.
You're going to be part of acommunity of other artpreneurs
who are trying to walk this path, and that is so, so key when
you're doing something like thishaving that connected, live
(03:35):
support.
So the first three months aregoing to be the content portion
of the course.
We are going to lay outliterally all of our
philosophies, everything we havelearned in the past 13 years as
artpreneurs.
We have been entrepreneurs andour background is both in
(03:55):
marketing as our previousbusiness.
We are going to lay out allthat we have learned in that
time, all of the mistakes thatwe've made, all of the failures
that we've had we've had a tonof successes too to be able to
help you and equip you on yourpath, and also knowing that your
(04:16):
path is going to look different.
And how exciting is that.
I think a lot of people, whenthey do things like this, when
they do courses like this, theyhave this mentality of do this,
this, this, this and this, andthen this is your result, and
they lay out this plan like it'sa one size fits all, and they
think they because they hadsuccess.
(04:37):
If you just do exactly what Ido, then you're going to be
great and it's all going to befine.
But we don't believe that wehave taken many a course and
followed things down to theletter.
Mak (04:53):
That did not work for us the way that we expected them to
.
There is no one size fits all,and I think that that is a
mistake that's made by a lot ofpeople who write books and offer
courses and things.
As they did it and they figuredit out and it worked for them,
for who they are as a person.
But you're different, valerie'sdifferent, I'm different, so
it's not necessarily going towork out exactly the same for
everybody, and so when we satdown to develop the course, we
(05:15):
wanted to develop it in a waythat it could be modified to
suit who you are and actuallyshowcase who you are and your
talents and your skills andallow you to find success
through who you are.
And we hope you've gotten a lotout of this series of podcasts
that we've done, and some of youprobably feel ready to go, and
(05:36):
so if you do, then please visitValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with
peace Again.
It's ValerieMcKeoncom slashsell with peace Again.
It's Valerie McKeon dot com.
Slash sell with peace.
We've got the presale going onanother 24 hours or so.
Check out all the informationthere.
It's ready to go.
Valerie (05:51):
Yeah, and we're going to be starting officially in
January.
We have bonus calls andworkshops coming before that.
One of them is a pricingmasterclass.
In these last couple of days,that has been the biggest
question all about pricing andthe angst around that.
We have such differentphilosophies that are actually
(06:12):
very freeing, but you are goingto be able to workshop that and
really start to feel confidentabout your pricing in these
bonus calls.
So what we really want is foryou to feel set up, ready to go,
ready to hit the ground runningcome January when we officially
kick off.
We know it's a busy time ofyear, but it's the perfect time
(06:33):
to really set yourself up for2025 and to make this finally
the year that you do it, thatyou chase those dreams and
become the peaceful artpreneurthat you dream of becoming, and
we would love, love, love to goalongside of you in that journey
.
So be sure to check that out.
Valeriemckeoncom slash sellwith peace.
Mak (06:55):
And of course the link will also be in the show notes.
Valerie (06:58):
All right.
So the number one thing whatdoes it take if somebody comes
to you and says what do I needto be an artpreneur?
Is it that I need 10 more yearsof experience?
Do I need these awards?
Mak (07:18):
Do I need these?
Made up letters behind my name.
Valerie (07:20):
Do I need a website name?
Do I need a website?
All of these things that we cancan put on this concept of
(07:41):
owning it and saying I'm doingthis, I am.
Mak (07:46):
Courage.
Valerie (07:48):
Full out, hands down.
It's courage.
Because here's the thing.
Nobody is going to be standingthere with a giant permission
slip or saying to you, I pickyou, I pick you to be an
(08:08):
artpreneur, I see you, you'regood.
Like, you're good, like, let'sgo, you're an artpreneur.
Nobody is going to do that.
Nobody told me to chase beingan artpreneur.
I took it, I did it.
I broke a lot of rules because,what's interesting, I didn't
(08:30):
even know that I was breakingrules.
It's true, I didn't even knowthe rules that I was breaking
and I just did it.
Mak (08:36):
I remember the very first piece of art you ever put on
Facebook, back in the day andyou had never drawn anything
before in chalk.
This was back when it was chalkand everything and you drew
this thing and you had thecourage to put it on Facebook
and show people.
Valerie (08:57):
Well, you put it on Facebook.
Mak (08:58):
Yes, but you let me.
I mean, obviously I wasn'tgoing to, and I asked you and
you were like, oh, I'm kind ofembarrassed, or whatever, and I
said, no, it's great, so you putit on Facebook.
We put it on Facebook and thatwas it that led to us sitting
here right now.
It was that one moment, becausea bunch of people commented on
(09:21):
it and said how do I get one?
Valerie (09:22):
of these Can I get one?
And it honestly, really is thatsimple.
It really is.
It's honestly, and you knowwhat we say.
The word courage and maybeyou're thinking, oh man, I'm
anything but Right.
Okay, if that's what it takes,like I'm screwed.
I don't, I don't feel that way,but it's actually.
You need so much less than youeven think.
(09:46):
It's sometimes down to havinglike a burst of 30 seconds of
courage.
Seconds of courage that you'relike I'm going to post it.
You know what.
I've been worried about it.
But 30 seconds of a burst,let's do it, let's post it.
And you don't know, 30 secondsof courage, you're going to set
that price.
You're like that's what Ireally want.
(10:07):
That would just make me dobackflips across the room.
I'm so excited.
30 seconds of courage, let'sset that price.
Mak (10:15):
And and the and.
The funny thing is is like itright now, okay, well, first of
all, okay, I'm, I'm getting off,I'm getting off my train of
thought here, but you now lookat that piece that we put up,
however many years ago it was,and you're like I'm more
embarrassed of it now than I was.
That's true.
She's like I hate it when youpost, Put this on Facebook and
(10:37):
Instagram.
Oh, this was the very firstpiece, Because I do that every
year when it pops up in myreminders, I'm like this was the
piece that started all out andshe's like stop posting it.
It's so embarrassing, but mygoodness, is it not true?
I just read a thing thismorning About Joe Rogan's first
Podcast episode.
He couldn't get his mic to workand it sounds terrible, and he
(10:59):
had all these.
Joe Rogan's first podcastepisode.
He couldn't get his mic to workand it sounds terrible and it's
like and he had all theseissues.
And look at him now.
$250 million a year later,whatever, I don't know if it's
per year, but his deal.
It's literally that little burstof courage.
A little while ago and a coupleepisodes ago, I mentioned how I
was terrified to make a videoto talk about how I want to be a
coach.
(11:20):
But I did it and really youhave no idea how much courage
that took.
It took me a year to post thatvideo and now I have a coaching
business.
And you're thinking to yourselfthis is too simple, guys.
This seems too simple.
There's no way it has to dowith who you two are and no, it
is not the simp.
(11:41):
It's so simple, it'scomplicated.
Right, it's so simple, it'scomplicated because our brains
want to tell us there the other.
So it's that initial, that 30seconds of courage.
Valerie (12:02):
And then that becomes familiar to your brain.
It starts to register.
It's like, okay, you went fromsomething that you have no
experience with.
It seems so big and so scary.
And then you're like, oh, Isurvived that.
And you start making new neuralpathways in your brain and you
start to be able to feel betterand better.
You built up to it like workinga muscle at the gym.
(12:26):
You're like, ok, well, we'regoing to start with this weight.
And then you build it up.
And you build it up and it'sjust showing up after showing up
.
Mak (12:34):
Courageous act after courageous, act After showing up
, courageous act aftercourageous act and it's almost a
combination of courage withdetachment to the outcome.
Because if you can becourageous and step forward in
that but then not be attached towhatever comes as a result of
that step, then you've really,really got it made, because
(12:57):
you're not going to sit thereand go oh no, nobody responded,
nobody liked, nobody did this,nobody did that, nobody did that
.
And that's where the mindbegins to spiral, because then
we get back into all the habitsthat we have and we lose all of
our courage.
But if you can post or put itout there or put your price and
say, you know what, I'm notgoing to be detached to whatever
(13:19):
happens to this, it happens.
That's when you've really gotsomething.
Valerie (13:23):
Yeah, and I want to speak to the beginners, because
I've been hearing from so manyof you who say well, I've only
been painting for a year, or I'mmore of a beginner, how do I
price for that and what do I do?
That is another one of thesepoints of vulnerability, like
we're saying.
But my answer to that is ifsomebody wants to buy your work,
(13:48):
it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how longyou've been doing it, just like
Max said about my chalkboardthat I am embarrassed of now.
And if you think about it, evenif you are more experienced
let's say you've been paintingfor five years you probably look
at paintings that you looked,that you did a year ago, and
you're thinking, oh, I reallydon't even like that anymore
(14:09):
because you're on to the nextthing.
You're changing, you're everevolving.
So wherever you are at at thepoint in your journey, that is
an old school art world blah,yucky kind of thing that is like
, oh, this isn't valuablebecause you are a beginner.
And this is another point whereit's about the courage, like
(14:33):
I'm telling you, if you're, justlike you know what, I am a
beginner, but I'm going to stepup and I'm going to do it and
knowing everybody is a beginnerright.
There is not a single personwho comes onto the scene in this
way, this like masterful way.
Everybody is a beginner andyou're always going to be a
beginner at something.
Mak (14:54):
It would be, it would almost be like devaluing a, a
brand new song that just cameout on the radio and everybody
loves it, because that artistdoesn't have the experience of
of like the Rolling Stones orthe Beatles Right, it's the same
.
You'd be like.
Well, this, this, this brandnew song by Taylor Swift, is not
(15:16):
nearly as good as the Beatlesbecause she's not as old and
experienced as they are.
No, there's no one who wouldbuy into that you think about
your own buying habits too.
Valerie (15:26):
If there's something that you love, if somebody made
something that you're just like,I love, that I want that, are
you going to say, but they'veonly been doing this for a year.
So no, we don't think that way.
We have all of these culturalconstructs that we've put on to
(15:48):
these subjects that I think arekeeping people small and stuck,
and it's time, and we want torelease everybody just to be
like no, it's not about that,and we'll tell you what it is
about, and that is creatingvalue.
We can create value for whatyou are selling in so many
(16:09):
different ways, but again, wehave these constructs of almost
ways that keep us safe, becausewe're worried about this courage
element, because to be abeginner, to step up to say no,
I'm selling this, I'm doing this, that takes courage, and so we
almost put these ceilings onourselves as a way of saying,
(16:33):
nope, you don't need to havecourage, keep yourself down,
you're not experienced enough,you're not this enough, you're
not technical ability enough orwhatever it is that we put on us
to tamp us down.
But really, really, those thingsdon't matter.
What matters is the value thatyou are conveying to your buyers
(16:56):
, and you convey value throughmany different things through
your brand that we talked aboutin the last episode, through
your pricing, through how youshow up, through what your vibe
is, through the stories that youtell about the art, through how
you are putting your art andyourself out there in a way that
is going to connect with otherpeople.
(17:18):
That is the indicator, but yetwe put these things on us that
really it doesn't matter.
It's all in just having thatact of courage to be able to go
for it and not wait for somebodyand who are we waiting for the
heads of organizations orsomething I don't even know, to
(17:39):
say you are now ready Likethere's.
No, I'm picturing like a knight,you know, like being knighted,
like you are now worthy of beingan entrepreneur because you
have put in these dues and blah,blah, blah.
No, it's like walk in and ownit and take it and you have that
courage and that's what'srequired.
Mak (18:01):
And you deserve it right now.
There is no reason why, rightnow, you do not deserve
everything that we just said,everything that we've been
talking about who you are, whereyou are in life, your story I
don't care what it is in thismoment, right now, believe me
(18:21):
when I tell you you are readyand you deserve it.
You deserve it.
And when you begin to acceptthe fact that you do deserve
this, that's when you can starttaking these courageous steps.
That's when you can startmoving forward.
But so many of us get caught upin some kind of mental trap.
I'm guilty of this too.
I feel like I don't deserve todo the things that I'm doing.
(18:45):
I don't, you know, and it's soeasy to get caught in that, and
so I just want you to know rightnow you deserve it and you can
do it, and you are talented andyou are gifted, and there are
people out there who want thismagic that you have inside of
you to put into the world, andyou're actually kind of doing us
all a disservice by not doingit.
You know, it's like if you haveall these gifts and all this
(19:09):
creativity within you and youdon't put it out and you don't
share it.
That's frustrating because youhave something absolutely
incredible that we all want tosee.
We all want to experience yourmagic.
Everybody does.
Valerie (19:23):
And imposter syndrome is a real thing and it's really
helpful, I think, to know thateverybody experiences it,
because it's hard to what's thephrase?
Read the label from inside thebottle.
So everybody feels that sense ofimposter syndrome and we're all
(19:44):
going to rise and fall and havethese bursts of courage and
then go down and feel like, oh,am I worthy, am I this?
And so it really is.
It's about having those burstsof courage and the consistent
step forwards and the consistent, courageous next action steps
forward that's going to propelyou and it's going to allow you
(20:06):
to go for what you want and whatis aligned to you.
Again, this isn't one size fitsall.
My entrepreneur journey is notgoing to look like anybody
else's.
Your entrepreneur journey isgoing to look unique to you.
It's going to look completelydifferent.
So it's going to allow you tostep into your own alignment.
(20:29):
It's going to allow you to stepinto your own alignment and
when you own that and you takethat, no permission slip needed.
You're just going to followthat next right step.
And when you can come at it fromthis idea of creativity, even,
and courage.
It takes courage to createsomething.
Let's just talk about that.
It takes courage to create theart that you are making.
(20:51):
Business is just the same thing.
It's another form of creativity, another form of courage that
it takes, but when you can stepinto that and say yes to that.
It's going to open up so muchand you'll be led down the path
of what's the next thing.
And then it starts to feelexciting, where you're not
(21:15):
worried about everything.
Well, am I doing this right, oram I doing this wrong and just
knowing?
This is all in flux, this isall in process, just like the
work itself, but at the core ofall of that, it is taking those
courageous acts and because ofthat, because at the very root
(21:36):
of all of this, courage isrequired, that is something that
community and support will dowonders and change everything,
because we're all in that sameboat.
Mak (21:52):
So you're probably now starting to see why we developed
the course to be the way thatit is because taking a big,
courageous step alone is scaryand we don't want you to do that
.
We want to come right alongsideyou and help you through that
process and also help you tokind of make clear what those
steps are, and so that that'swhy we're here.
Valerie (22:15):
Because we can give all of the strategy, we can say, do
this and do this and do this,but without that element of
courage, first of all, it's notgoing to be a cookie cutter
approach either but without thatelement of the support and the
courage to actually take thisaction, then the rest of it is
(22:36):
just going to fall flat and it'snot going to give you that life
that you want, because I thinkthat everybody who wants to be
an artpreneur do you want to bean artpreneur, just to call
yourself an artpreneur?
I don't think so.
I think you want it because youwant the life that you're
thinking that is going to giveyou.
(22:57):
You want some freedom, or youwant to feel lit up and inspired
and doing something and takingthese actions and selling your
work and sharing it and all ofthese things.
That's how you want to feel.
It's to make your life betterand to make your life feel good,
and that is what we're here todo.
(23:17):
It's that merging of what isrequired, mindset wise, and
recognizing that we all feelvulnerable when we do these
things.
It takes courage for everybody.
So how can we be together andhelp you in that way and also
pair that with strategy, somepractical tools, some things
(23:40):
that you can try and do to makethis work for you.
Mak (23:45):
In all honesty, it's like 20 or sorry.
95% of this is basically likemindset work and 5% of it is the
practicalities.
And we've got thepracticalities nailed down.
I mean, we figured that out,but really it's having the
courage and understandingeverything that we've talked
(24:06):
about this week that will allowyou to cross the finish line,
because the practicalities willonly get you so far.
Valerie (24:17):
Yeah, so we're going to cover both in this course.
We would love for you to bepart of it.
So, again, you'll want to getin while we are running that
early bird sale right now.
So be sure to check outValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with
peace.
And for some of you, this week,I hope that you have had a ton
(24:38):
of breakthroughs.
I hope that this has helped youand unlock something for you
and for some of you, you arejust ready and off, and that is
amazing.
But for some of you who arelistening to this going, oh, I
really need more support, I wantsomeone to come alongside me, I
need more.
I I have more questions.
(24:58):
Then I really think you shouldcheck out and be part of this
live course to finally make 2025the year that you do it, and we
are just we're going to have alot of fun too.
This isn't made to be somethingbig and scary.
Taking these courageous stepscan actually feel really good
(25:20):
and fun at the same time.
So be sure to check that out atValerieMcKeoncom slash sell
with peace.
Mak (25:27):
Come along with us.
We're really excited for you.
We know you can do it.
Check out the website, get thatearly bird and we'd love to see
you inside the course.
This has been really fun.
Valerie (25:37):
It's been great.
I've had a lot of fun doingthis.
Well, it's fun because we getto do the course, so we get to
keep going Right, but I like thepodcast but yeah, I think it'll
be fun to do more episodestogether as well in the future.
So I'm sure you are going to seethat as well.
And, as always, I love hearingfrom you.
I love hearing from you.
I love hearing your takeaways,what was maybe a breakthrough
(26:00):
for you that you had.
So please DM me and let me knowat Valerie McKeon.
And if this podcast would behelpful to a creative friend,
please be sure to forward thatas well, so we can get more
people having courage to puttheir beauty into the world.
And what an amazing thing isthat when you have beauty to
(26:26):
offer and you're putting it intothe world and selling is just
an invitation.
It's an invitation to sayhere's what I have.
Do you want to come play andinteract with this in a
meaningful, energetic, beautifulexchange?
That's what selling is andthat's what we want to help you
do.
So I look forward to talking toyou all again really soon.
(26:49):
Bye, bye.
Do we ever have a good episode for you today?
I'm so excited.
I hope you've enjoyed thesefive days.
We have been on the podcastwith a new episode about
artpreneurship and selling yourart every day for these last
five days and now we arewrapping up this series.
My name is Valerie McKen.
(00:22):
You are listening to thePeaceful Creative Podcast.
Mak (00:26):
Hi, I'm Ma.
I'm Valerie's husband and I'mglad to be back here for one
more day.
Valerie (00:31):
You jumped the gun before I could introduce you, I
know.
Mak (00:33):
I know, but you look like you weren't sure what you were
going to do next, so I justthought I'd jump in.
Valerie (00:41):
So this episode is arguably the most important one.
Mak (00:47):
I think so Because I think it is probably the biggest
hurdle that everybody faces whenthey make a decision to do
anything but specifically inthis crowd become an
entrepreneur.
Valerie (01:00):
To do something differently, to do something
that is vulnerable and scary.
So what is that number oneindicator of success?
And we can talk about all thethings and it's all important
things to talk about.
We can talk about pricing, wecan talk about branding, how you
(01:22):
show up, how you show up onsocial media, your mindset,
building an audience, talkingabout what you do.
All of these things we can talkabout All of these strategies.
We can lay out and say, hey,try this and try this, but
without this one thing,nothing's going to happen.
Mak (01:43):
It's true, nothing.
Valerie (01:45):
It's true.
There is one thing that is theindicator of your success as not
just an entrepreneur, but apeaceful entrepreneur, and how
you show up in that way.
Mak (01:57):
So that's what we're going to talk about today, and
obviously we've been doing thisall week because we are
launching this course that weare super excited about, where
Valerie and myself will help youand get you prepared and get
you to the place where you'reready to sell your artwork.
Valerie (02:17):
So this course, we have an early bird special right now
.
You are not going to want towait on this because it ends in
just a few days.
Mak (02:25):
Actually 24 hours it's tomorrow I, because it ends in
just a few days, but actually,like 24 hours, it's tomorrow I
believe it ends right, oh yeah,On the November 16th.
Valerie (02:30):
So make sure that you get in at this early bird
special, because you are notgoing to want to miss this.
This is a live course course.
That means you are not going tohit a button and then be
delivered hours and hours andhours and hours of endless video
content that you have to sortthrough.
(02:50):
That's just going to sit onyour desktop and collect dust
and just be yet another thing,chalk it up to the wasted pile.
No, this is a live, connectedcourse where we are going to be
with you on Zoom throughout theduration of this course and it
is going to be a living,breathing course based on what
(03:13):
you need, based on the feedbackfrom you.
You are going to be supportedthe entire way.
You're going to be part of acommunity of other artpreneurs
who are trying to walk this path, and that is so, so key when
you're doing something like thishaving that connected, live
(03:35):
support.
So the first three months aregoing to be the content portion
of the course.
We are going to lay outliterally all of our
philosophies, everything we havelearned in the past 13 years as
artpreneurs.
We have been entrepreneurs andour background is both in
(03:55):
marketing as our previousbusiness.
We are going to lay out allthat we have learned in that
time, all of the mistakes thatwe've made, all of the failures
that we've had we've had a tonof successes too to be able to
help you and equip you on yourpath, and also knowing that your
(04:16):
path is going to look different.
And how exciting is that.
I think a lot of people, whenthey do things like this, when
they do courses like this, theyhave this mentality of do this,
this, this, this and this, andthen this is your result, and
they lay out this plan like it'sa one size fits all, and they
think they because they hadsuccess.
(04:37):
If you just do exactly what Ido, then you're going to be
great and it's all going to befine.
But we don't believe that wehave taken many a course and
followed things down to theletter.
Mak (04:53):
That did not work for us the way that we expected them to
.
There is no one size fits all,and I think that that is a
mistake that's made by a lot ofpeople who write books and offer
courses and things.
As they did it and they figuredit out and it worked for them,
for who they are as a person.
But you're different, valerie'sdifferent, I'm different, so
it's not necessarily going towork out exactly the same for
everybody, and so when we satdown to develop the course, we
(05:15):
wanted to develop it in a waythat it could be modified to
suit who you are and actuallyshowcase who you are and your
talents and your skills andallow you to find success
through who you are.
And we hope you've gotten a lotout of this series of podcasts
that we've done, and some of youprobably feel ready to go, and
(05:36):
so if you do, then please visitValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with
peace Again.
It's ValerieMcKeoncom slashsell with peace Again.
It's Valerie McKeon dot com.
Slash sell with peace.
We've got the presale going onanother 24 hours or so.
Check out all the informationthere.
It's ready to go.
Valerie (05:51):
Yeah, and we're going to be starting officially in
January.
We have bonus calls andworkshops coming before that.
One of them is a pricingmasterclass.
In these last couple of days,that has been the biggest
question all about pricing andthe angst around that.
We have such differentphilosophies that are actually
(06:12):
very freeing, but you are goingto be able to workshop that and
really start to feel confidentabout your pricing in these
bonus calls.
So what we really want is foryou to feel set up, ready to go,
ready to hit the ground runningcome January when we officially
kick off.
We know it's a busy time ofyear, but it's the perfect time
(06:33):
to really set yourself up for2025 and to make this finally
the year that you do it, thatyou chase those dreams and
become the peaceful artpreneurthat you dream of becoming, and
we would love, love, love to goalongside of you in that journey
.
So be sure to check that out.
Valeriemckeoncom slash sellwith peace.
Mak (06:55):
And of course the link will also be in the show notes.
Valerie (06:58):
All right.
So the number one thing whatdoes it take if somebody comes
to you and says what do I needto be an artpreneur?
Is it that I need 10 more yearsof experience?
Do I need these awards?
Mak (07:18):
Do I need these?
Made up letters behind my name.
Valerie (07:20):
Do I need a website name?
Do I need a website?
All of these things that we cancan put on this concept of
(07:41):
owning it and saying I'm doingthis, I am.
Mak (07:46):
Courage.
Valerie (07:48):
Full out, hands down.
It's courage.
Because here's the thing.
Nobody is going to be standingthere with a giant permission
slip or saying to you, I pickyou, I pick you to be an
(08:08):
artpreneur, I see you, you'regood.
Like, you're good, like, let'sgo, you're an artpreneur.
Nobody is going to do that.
Nobody told me to chase beingan artpreneur.
I took it, I did it.
I broke a lot of rules because,what's interesting, I didn't
(08:30):
even know that I was breakingrules.
It's true, I didn't even knowthe rules that I was breaking
and I just did it.
Mak (08:36):
I remember the very first piece of art you ever put on
Facebook, back in the day andyou had never drawn anything
before in chalk.
This was back when it was chalkand everything and you drew
this thing and you had thecourage to put it on Facebook
and show people.
Valerie (08:57):
Well, you put it on Facebook.
Mak (08:58):
Yes, but you let me.
I mean, obviously I wasn'tgoing to, and I asked you and
you were like, oh, I'm kind ofembarrassed, or whatever, and I
said, no, it's great, so you putit on Facebook.
We put it on Facebook and thatwas it that led to us sitting
here right now.
It was that one moment, becausea bunch of people commented on
(09:21):
it and said how do I get one?
Valerie (09:22):
of these Can I get one?
And it honestly, really is thatsimple.
It really is.
It's honestly, and you knowwhat we say.
The word courage and maybeyou're thinking, oh man, I'm
anything but Right.
Okay, if that's what it takes,like I'm screwed.
I don't, I don't feel that way,but it's actually.
You need so much less than youeven think.
(09:46):
It's sometimes down to havinglike a burst of 30 seconds of
courage.
Seconds of courage that you'relike I'm going to post it.
You know what.
I've been worried about it.
But 30 seconds of a burst,let's do it, let's post it.
And you don't know, 30 secondsof courage, you're going to set
that price.
You're like that's what Ireally want.
(10:07):
That would just make me dobackflips across the room.
I'm so excited.
30 seconds of courage, let'sset that price.
Mak (10:15):
And and the and.
The funny thing is is like itright now, okay, well, first of
all, okay, I'm, I'm getting off,I'm getting off my train of
thought here, but you now lookat that piece that we put up,
however many years ago it was,and you're like I'm more
embarrassed of it now than I was.
That's true.
She's like I hate it when youpost, Put this on Facebook and
(10:37):
Instagram.
Oh, this was the very firstpiece, Because I do that every
year when it pops up in myreminders, I'm like this was the
piece that started all out andshe's like stop posting it.
It's so embarrassing, but mygoodness, is it not true?
I just read a thing thismorning About Joe Rogan's first
Podcast episode.
He couldn't get his mic to workand it sounds terrible, and he
(10:59):
had all these.
Joe Rogan's first podcastepisode.
He couldn't get his mic to workand it sounds terrible and it's
like and he had all theseissues.
And look at him now.
$250 million a year later,whatever, I don't know if it's
per year, but his deal.
It's literally that little burstof courage.
A little while ago and a coupleepisodes ago, I mentioned how I
was terrified to make a videoto talk about how I want to be a
coach.
(11:20):
But I did it and really youhave no idea how much courage
that took.
It took me a year to post thatvideo and now I have a coaching
business.
And you're thinking to yourselfthis is too simple, guys.
This seems too simple.
There's no way it has to dowith who you two are and no, it
is not the simp.
(11:41):
It's so simple, it'scomplicated.
Right, it's so simple, it'scomplicated because our brains
want to tell us there the other.
So it's that initial, that 30seconds of courage.
Valerie (12:02):
And then that becomes familiar to your brain.
It starts to register.
It's like, okay, you went fromsomething that you have no
experience with.
It seems so big and so scary.
And then you're like, oh, Isurvived that.
And you start making new neuralpathways in your brain and you
start to be able to feel betterand better.
You built up to it like workinga muscle at the gym.
(12:26):
You're like, ok, well, we'regoing to start with this weight.
And then you build it up.
And you build it up and it'sjust showing up after showing up
.
Mak (12:34):
Courageous act after courageous, act After showing up
, courageous act aftercourageous act and it's almost a
combination of courage withdetachment to the outcome.
Because if you can becourageous and step forward in
that but then not be attached towhatever comes as a result of
that step, then you've really,really got it made, because
(12:57):
you're not going to sit thereand go oh no, nobody responded,
nobody liked, nobody did this,nobody did that, nobody did that
.
And that's where the mindbegins to spiral, because then
we get back into all the habitsthat we have and we lose all of
our courage.
But if you can post or put itout there or put your price and
say, you know what, I'm notgoing to be detached to whatever
(13:19):
happens to this, it happens.
That's when you've really gotsomething.
Valerie (13:23):
Yeah, and I want to speak to the beginners, because
I've been hearing from so manyof you who say well, I've only
been painting for a year, or I'mmore of a beginner, how do I
price for that and what do I do?
That is another one of thesepoints of vulnerability, like
we're saying.
But my answer to that is ifsomebody wants to buy your work,
(13:48):
it doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how longyou've been doing it, just like
Max said about my chalkboardthat I am embarrassed of now.
And if you think about it, evenif you are more experienced
let's say you've been paintingfor five years you probably look
at paintings that you looked,that you did a year ago, and
you're thinking, oh, I reallydon't even like that anymore
(14:09):
because you're on to the nextthing.
You're changing, you're everevolving.
So wherever you are at at thepoint in your journey, that is
an old school art world blah,yucky kind of thing that is like
, oh, this isn't valuablebecause you are a beginner.
And this is another point whereit's about the courage, like
(14:33):
I'm telling you, if you're, justlike you know what, I am a
beginner, but I'm going to stepup and I'm going to do it and
knowing everybody is a beginnerright.
There is not a single personwho comes onto the scene in this
way, this like masterful way.
Everybody is a beginner andyou're always going to be a
beginner at something.
Mak (14:54):
It would be, it would almost be like devaluing a, a
brand new song that just cameout on the radio and everybody
loves it, because that artistdoesn't have the experience of
of like the Rolling Stones orthe Beatles Right, it's the same
.
You'd be like.
Well, this, this, this brandnew song by Taylor Swift, is not
(15:16):
nearly as good as the Beatlesbecause she's not as old and
experienced as they are.
No, there's no one who wouldbuy into that you think about
your own buying habits too.
Valerie (15:26):
If there's something that you love, if somebody made
something that you're just like,I love, that I want that, are
you going to say, but they'veonly been doing this for a year.
So no, we don't think that way.
We have all of these culturalconstructs that we've put on to
(15:48):
these subjects that I think arekeeping people small and stuck,
and it's time, and we want torelease everybody just to be
like no, it's not about that,and we'll tell you what it is
about, and that is creatingvalue.
We can create value for whatyou are selling in so many
(16:09):
different ways, but again, wehave these constructs of almost
ways that keep us safe, becausewe're worried about this courage
element, because to be abeginner, to step up to say no,
I'm selling this, I'm doing this, that takes courage, and so we
almost put these ceilings onourselves as a way of saying,
(16:33):
nope, you don't need to havecourage, keep yourself down,
you're not experienced enough,you're not this enough, you're
not technical ability enough orwhatever it is that we put on us
to tamp us down.
But really, really, those thingsdon't matter.
What matters is the value thatyou are conveying to your buyers
(16:56):
, and you convey value throughmany different things through
your brand that we talked aboutin the last episode, through
your pricing, through how youshow up, through what your vibe
is, through the stories that youtell about the art, through how
you are putting your art andyourself out there in a way that
is going to connect with otherpeople.
(17:18):
That is the indicator, but yetwe put these things on us that
really it doesn't matter.
It's all in just having thatact of courage to be able to go
for it and not wait for somebodyand who are we waiting for the
heads of organizations orsomething I don't even know, to
(17:39):
say you are now ready Likethere's.
No, I'm picturing like a knight,you know, like being knighted,
like you are now worthy of beingan entrepreneur because you
have put in these dues and blah,blah, blah.
No, it's like walk in and ownit and take it and you have that
courage and that's what'srequired.
Mak (18:01):
And you deserve it right now.
There is no reason why, rightnow, you do not deserve
everything that we just said,everything that we've been
talking about who you are, whereyou are in life, your story I
don't care what it is in thismoment, right now, believe me
(18:21):
when I tell you you are readyand you deserve it.
You deserve it.
And when you begin to acceptthe fact that you do deserve
this, that's when you can starttaking these courageous steps.
That's when you can startmoving forward.
But so many of us get caught upin some kind of mental trap.
I'm guilty of this too.
I feel like I don't deserve todo the things that I'm doing.
(18:45):
I don't, you know, and it's soeasy to get caught in that, and
so I just want you to know rightnow you deserve it and you can
do it, and you are talented andyou are gifted, and there are
people out there who want thismagic that you have inside of
you to put into the world, andyou're actually kind of doing us
all a disservice by not doingit.
You know, it's like if you haveall these gifts and all this
(19:09):
creativity within you and youdon't put it out and you don't
share it.
That's frustrating because youhave something absolutely
incredible that we all want tosee.
We all want to experience yourmagic.
Everybody does.
Valerie (19:23):
And imposter syndrome is a real thing and it's really
helpful, I think, to know thateverybody experiences it,
because it's hard to what's thephrase?
Read the label from inside thebottle.
So everybody feels that sense ofimposter syndrome and we're all
(19:44):
going to rise and fall and havethese bursts of courage and
then go down and feel like, oh,am I worthy, am I this?
And so it really is.
It's about having those burstsof courage and the consistent
step forwards and the consistent, courageous next action steps
forward that's going to propelyou and it's going to allow you
(20:06):
to go for what you want and whatis aligned to you.
Again, this isn't one size fitsall.
My entrepreneur journey is notgoing to look like anybody
else's.
Your entrepreneur journey isgoing to look unique to you.
It's going to look completelydifferent.
So it's going to allow you tostep into your own alignment.
(20:29):
It's going to allow you to stepinto your own alignment and
when you own that and you takethat, no permission slip needed.
You're just going to followthat next right step.
And when you can come at it fromthis idea of creativity, even,
and courage.
It takes courage to createsomething.
Let's just talk about that.
It takes courage to create theart that you are making.
(20:51):
Business is just the same thing.
It's another form of creativity, another form of courage that
it takes, but when you can stepinto that and say yes to that.
It's going to open up so muchand you'll be led down the path
of what's the next thing.
And then it starts to feelexciting, where you're not
(21:15):
worried about everything.
Well, am I doing this right, oram I doing this wrong and just
knowing?
This is all in flux, this isall in process, just like the
work itself, but at the core ofall of that, it is taking those
courageous acts and because ofthat, because at the very root
(21:36):
of all of this, courage isrequired, that is something that
community and support will dowonders and change everything,
because we're all in that sameboat.
Mak (21:52):
So you're probably now starting to see why we developed
the course to be the way thatit is because taking a big,
courageous step alone is scaryand we don't want you to do that
.
We want to come right alongsideyou and help you through that
process and also help you tokind of make clear what those
steps are, and so that that'swhy we're here.
Valerie (22:15):
Because we can give all of the strategy, we can say, do
this and do this and do this,but without that element of
courage, first of all, it's notgoing to be a cookie cutter
approach either but without thatelement of the support and the
courage to actually take thisaction, then the rest of it is
(22:36):
just going to fall flat and it'snot going to give you that life
that you want, because I thinkthat everybody who wants to be
an artpreneur do you want to bean artpreneur, just to call
yourself an artpreneur?
I don't think so.
I think you want it because youwant the life that you're
thinking that is going to giveyou.
(22:57):
You want some freedom, or youwant to feel lit up and inspired
and doing something and takingthese actions and selling your
work and sharing it and all ofthese things.
That's how you want to feel.
It's to make your life betterand to make your life feel good,
and that is what we're here todo.
(23:17):
It's that merging of what isrequired, mindset wise, and
recognizing that we all feelvulnerable when we do these
things.
It takes courage for everybody.
So how can we be together andhelp you in that way and also
pair that with strategy, somepractical tools, some things
(23:40):
that you can try and do to makethis work for you.
Mak (23:45):
In all honesty, it's like 20 or sorry.
95% of this is basically likemindset work and 5% of it is the
practicalities.
And we've got thepracticalities nailed down.
I mean, we figured that out,but really it's having the
courage and understandingeverything that we've talked
(24:06):
about this week that will allowyou to cross the finish line,
because the practicalities willonly get you so far.
Valerie (24:17):
Yeah, so we're going to cover both in this course.
We would love for you to bepart of it.
So, again, you'll want to getin while we are running that
early bird sale right now.
So be sure to check outValerieMcKeoncom slash sell with
peace.
And for some of you, this week,I hope that you have had a ton
(24:38):
of breakthroughs.
I hope that this has helped youand unlock something for you
and for some of you, you arejust ready and off, and that is
amazing.
But for some of you who arelistening to this going, oh, I
really need more support, I wantsomeone to come alongside me, I
need more.
I I have more questions.
(24:58):
Then I really think you shouldcheck out and be part of this
live course to finally make 2025the year that you do it, and we
are just we're going to have alot of fun too.
This isn't made to be somethingbig and scary.
Taking these courageous stepscan actually feel really good
(25:20):
and fun at the same time.
So be sure to check that out atValerieMcKeoncom slash sell
with peace.
Mak (25:27):
Come along with us.
We're really excited for you.
We know you can do it.
Check out the website, get thatearly bird and we'd love to see
you inside the course.
This has been really fun.
Valerie (25:37):
It's been great.
I've had a lot of fun doingthis.
Well, it's fun because we getto do the course, so we get to
keep going Right, but I like thepodcast but yeah, I think it'll
be fun to do more episodestogether as well in the future.
So I'm sure you are going to seethat as well.
And, as always, I love hearingfrom you.
I love hearing from you.
I love hearing your takeaways,what was maybe a breakthrough
(26:00):
for you that you had.
So please DM me and let me knowat Valerie McKeon.
And if this podcast would behelpful to a creative friend,
please be sure to forward thatas well, so we can get more
people having courage to puttheir beauty into the world.
And what an amazing thing isthat when you have beauty to
(26:26):
offer and you're putting it intothe world and selling is just
an invitation.
It's an invitation to sayhere's what I have.
Do you want to come play andinteract with this in a
meaningful, energetic, beautifulexchange?
That's what selling is andthat's what we want to help you
do.
So I look forward to talking toyou all again really soon.
(26:49):
Bye, bye.
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