What if the thing you're best at feels too easy to charge money for?

Tracy Matthews has built multiple seven-figure businesses, taught over 9,500 jewelry designers through Flourish & Thrive Academy, and lost everything in the 2008 crash before rebuilding from scratch. She's learned that most creatives are stuck because they think work needs to be hard to be valuable. Spoiler: it doesn't.

I sat down with Tracy to talk about creativity, business growth, and what it actually takes to build something that doesn't burn you out. We get into why everyone is creative (even finance guys), how your business can only grow as much as you grow internally, and why the work that comes easiest to you is exactly what you should be charging the most money for. We also talk about storytelling that sells without feeling gross, and this concept of on season versus off season that I've been obsessing over since my conversation with Brandon Washington.

What You'll Learn

1. Why everyone is creative, even if you swear you're not, and how reframing what creativity actually means changes everything about how you see your work
2. How the thing that comes easiest to you is your natural gift, not something you should discount or give away for free
3. Why your business can only grow as much as you grow internally, and what that means for the mindset work most people avoid
4. The difference between being an artist, a visionary, and an architect, and why understanding your creative type matters for how you build your business
5. How to tell stories that actually sell without feeling like you're selling, by making it about your customer instead of your ego
6. What it looks like to reinvent yourself every seven years, and why that pattern isn't random but a natural part of growth
7. How to recognize when you're burned out versus when you're just in the wrong season of your business
8. Why the nervous system plays a bigger role in your business success than you think, and how to work with it instead of against it
9. The concept of on season versus off season in your work, and why constant creation mode isn't sustainable or necessary
10. What it means to feed a machine versus build something that actually aligns with who you are now, not who you were ten years ago

Guest Resources

Tracy Matthews

Founder of Flourish & Thrive Academy and host of Creatives Rule the World podcast

Website: tracymatthews.com/generator (free storytelling framework)

Instagram: @iamtracymatthews

Podcast: Creatives Rule the World

Flourish & Thrive Academy: flourishthriveacademy.com

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Host: Matt Stagliano - Stonetree Creative, Maine

Generator is a podcast about the creative process, personal growth, and what it means to build something meaningful. Hosted by portrait photographer Matt Stagliano.

• Keywords: creative business, jewelry design, creative entrepreneur, business growth mindset, storytelling for business, creative burnout, personal branding photographer, solopreneur, reinvention, business seasons, nervous system regulation, Flourish & Thrive Academy, Tracy Matthews, creative mindset, Maine photographer