Artist Academy

This week’s episode features Michelle Poli, or, as you may know her, Paint by Mish. We get into some very real talk about what it’s like getting started with painting windows, including how to pitch yourself, what supplies to use, and how to price.

Michelle was inspired by window painting master Scot Campbell (aren’t we all?!), who came on the podcast in previous years. Listen to Scot’s episode here 👉 Window Painting with Scot Campbell - Replay

I’ve never tried using an airbrush but plan to in the near future, so I had all the logistical questions ready for Michelle. She happily answered them and SO MUCH MORE.

Listen to hear all of her tips and tricks for window painting—not just this holiday season, but year-round!

Mentioned in this episode:

Airbrush Gun: Iwata Eclipse
Airbrush Paint: Createx

This week’s episode is a small peek into a training we did recently inside the Artist Academy, all about finding and expanding your energetic minimum/maximum capabilities.

This is not a visionary exercise, but rather a tactical strategy that will leave you saying, “I need to do this in order to make $$$ next month.”

This is just 20 minutes of an hour-long training we did inside the Artist Academy, so if you want more info on this topic and many other business trainings like it, apply today: www.ArtistAcademy.co.

Your energetic minimum is the minimum amount of effort you're conditioned to put in, knowing you will expect a certain outcome. There's no wondering if things will happen—you just know. You know because it's happened so many times before that you're now accustomed to giving out the effort needed to meet that minimum.

An energetic maximum is the maximum amount of money, jobs, or opportunities that you think you are capable of achieving at this moment in time—not in the future, but right now. Listen to hear what my energetic minimums and maximums are and how you can figure out and expand yours too!

www.MuralMoney.co

This week’s episode features muralist team Sascha and Tashi Styliano. I really enjoyed hearing all of the behind-the-scenes information on subjects like pricing, ads, what it’s like working with a partner, and how they relocated from South Africa to Cyprus all while keeping up the pace of full-time muraling.

If you’re looking for some motivation to start muraling, this is the episode for you. Both artists were such a joy to chat with, and so personable. With over 50 years of experience in the industry between them, they are an overflow of information on the subjects of painting and marketing.

Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Sascha and Tashi Stylianou.

Making $100,000 in your art business is the goal of many, but few (in comparison) seem to achieve it. Why is that? I asked members of our Artist Academy $100k Club: “What is the one thing that contributed to your success the most this past year?” Their answers will motivate you!

Shoutout to the $100k Club members featured in this episode:

Lacey Crime
Rich Marks
Samantha Cox
Samm Wehman Epstein
Chelsea Blosil
Ryan Benefield
Crystal Jane Frye
Dani Romay
Jodi Trujillo
Hibaaq Ibrahim ($200k)

Listen to hear the special sauce that took each of them over that $100k hurdle!

Get more art business coaching: www.ArtistAcademy.co

Be one of the first to get the Mural Co. Palette: www.muralcoproducts.com

This week’s episode is a coaching call with Artist Academy member Brian Fritz. Brian is an artist at the beginning of his art journey, and we all know how mentally taxing that time can be. The beginning months or years of starting any business are extra exciting, hopeful, and frustrating. That time specifically is THE time to lean on a mentor, not when you’ve already somewhat established yourself and have something to brag to a mentor about. We don’t care how good or not good at painting you are; we care about helping you through the toughest times.

Brian is interested in gaining more customers and supporting his lifestyle with art income through canvases, prints, and murals. We chat about how to talk to customers, pitch ideas, and promote his art.

If you’d like to sign up for a one-on-one with me, you can do so within ArtistAcademy.co. I offer these to members for a small fee at any time. Sometimes it helps to have someone experienced look at your business from the outside and tell you the exact next steps to take.

A mentor can see the future of your business more clearly than you can because they’ve already been where you are and have navigated the hurdles to get to the other side. If you’re someone who could use some direction, I highly encourage you to seek out a mentor, whether it’s me or someone who does the thing you want to do. It can make all the difference and get you to where you want to be faster.

Let me know what you think of this week’s sneak peek into a coaching call with Brian Fritz.

This week’s episode of the Artist Academy Podcast is all about the things that influence my art business but are not exactly business-type tasks. It’s no coincidence that when my non-work life is in check, my productivity seems to be at its highest. Things like personal, mental, and health-related obstacles can dent my goals, and they definitely have done so this year.

I’m not much into opening up about personal issues. I’d rather stay very positive and business-oriented, but I think shining a light on things outside of work, and showing how they can be beneficial to the numbers $$$ I’m able to produce every month, makes a good point when it comes to taking care of the rest of life.

It’s kind of like the phrase, “Happy wife, happy life,” but rather, “Happy life, happy business.” Listen to hear the obstacles I’ve been thrown this year and how I’m overcoming, moving on, and using them to better my business.

This week’s episode features illustrator and educator Scott Rempe. Scott gives actionable tips for you to take away and use within your art business to land more jobs! We go over how to have conversations with customers, what questions to ask, and even how to ask leading questions that position you as the expert.

I remember my first few conversations with customers on the phone, where I would be so excited to have someone interested in me painting for them that I wanted to show up and immediately get started. I didn’t know what to ask ahead of time, and I didn’t care. It would’ve saved me so many headaches, and I would’ve gotten paid so much better if I had valued my art enough in that first initial conversation to set boundaries and expectations.

We dive a bit into pricing and the red flags to pay attention to when having that initial budget conversation with potential customers. Let me know what you think of this week’s episode all about having better conversations and valuing your art with Scott Rempe.

www.scooterinkillustration.com
www.MuralMoney.com
www.ArtistAcademy.co

This episode was done a bit differently with Ekaterina Sky taking over the interviewer position to ask me questions about podcasting. She is starting a podcast of her own, so this is mostly an episode where you get to be a fly on the wall to hear how I started/grew/promoted this podcast in the early days and now. You’ll get a lot of surprise behind-the-scenes facts!

If you’re not interested in starting a podcast, but are interested in starting something on the side, I know you’ll find this conversation enlightening. I talk about what it takes to add a side job on top of full time muraling. It was A LOT to get used to, but I’ve fell into a groove nowadays that makes podcasting feel *easy.* However, the organization, processes, mindset, and consistent work habits that it took to get there were a journey.

It’s easy to look at something like a podcast, course, painting style, or something you know very little about and say: “That looks easy enough. I think I’ll try it!” Gotta love optimism. But the reality of exactly how many hoops there are to jump through to get something off the ground is what I bright to light in this episode. Take a listen!

www.MuralMoney.com
www.ArtistAcademy.co

This week’s episode of the Artist Academy Podcast shines a light on the negative side of owning your own art business. We often chat about how AMAZING working for yourself is, but nobody can argue that entrepreneurship comes with a heavy mental load at times.

The 3 things that led me to reeeally dislike my art business (and at times still do) are:

1. Overbooking
I would schedule every weekday (and most weekends) back to back with projects to fit in as much work as possible! This led to an overly crammed schedule as soon as one project went over, or the weather didn’t cooperate, or a personal matter came up.

FIX: I only schedule 1 project per week nowadays even though I have half the week open. Why? Because life happens. Customers ask for more details, rain days cause the schedule to be flip-flopped, kids get sick, etc… But with a semi-open schedule, when life happens, it’s okay.

2. The “Should-To-Do” List
There are endless amounts of things on my list of business improvement ideas.
I should be posting more reels.
I should be learning something new.
I should be focusing more on YouTube.
I should be adding things to my website.
I should be making more/updated tutorials.

FIX: I finish the things I started before starting yet another new thing. I created a baseline of “things to get done this week” to feel productive, instead of focusing on the things I haven’t done or need to do.

Listen to today’s episode to hear the 3 things I make sure to get done every single week!

3. Uncertainty
There are so many ways to go about creating an art career. Which decision will make me the happiest, and most fulfilled, all while being the most profitable??
Will I have work next week/month/quarter/year?
How do I grow my business? What is the right next step?

FIX: Go on a walk to help my brain think more clearly. Get real with myself about what would make me happy and not contribute to a survival mode mentality. Listen to this week’s episode to hear exactly how I talk myself out of overwhelm and uncertainty!

www.MuralMoney.com
www.ArtistAcademy.co

This week’s episode is yet another addition to the Quit Your Day Job series, where I interview current members of the Artist Academy to discuss how they recently quit their day jobs to pursue art full-time.

Making that leap into full-time creativity after spending years working for someone else can be a rollercoaster of emotions, but Summer Paradiso is handling it with supreme optimism. Summer joined the Academy around a year and a half ago and started absorbing all of the art+business content to get a full understanding of what it would take to sell her art and promote her business to the point of supporting her family with a paintbrush.

With two toddlers at her side and a full-time teaching position to fill her day, Summer made some free time in the early morning hours to devote to commissions and growing her business. Listen as she shares what the journey has been like so far in terms of what she’s temporarily giving up in order to gain a new life with flexibility, more family time, and the ability to create meaningful art for her newfound customers.

Let me know what you think of this week’s episode with Summer Paradiso.

www.MuralMoney.com
www.ArtistAcademy.co