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You're listening to gift biz unwrapped episode 188 the power of

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asking a question will take you to destinations and explorations that

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you cannot imagine.

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Attention gifters,

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bakers, crafters and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

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Whether you have an established business or looking to start one

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now you are in the right place.

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This is gift to biz unwrapped,

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helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

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Join us for an episode packed full of invaluable guidance,

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resources and the support you need to grow your gift biz.

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Here is your host gift biz gal,

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Sue moon Heights high gift biz listeners.

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It's Sue And thank you so much for sharing a little

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bit of your time with me today.

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I have one announcement and one short story before we get

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into the show.

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The announcement is if you are not already part of the

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gift biz breeze Facebook group,

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Oh my gosh,

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what are you waiting for?

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We have something super special happening right now in that group

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for the holidays for you,

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and I want you to be a part of it,

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to get all the details and to know what I'm talking

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about. However you need to go over and join the breeze.

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Joining is super easy.

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Just go on to Facebook,

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search for gift,

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biz breeze and asked to join.

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I'll see you in the breeze now for my short story

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about four years ago was when I was really in depth

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strategizing this podcast.

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As with anything you build,

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you want to have some planning and really think things through

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and determine how this was all going to come together just

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like we do for our businesses,

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right? So I'm thinking to myself,

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I already knew this was going to be a guest interview

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based show because I wanted to share all their people who

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are creating businesses to show everybody how doable it is and

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then to also share what's working for other people and people

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in your industry,

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people out of your industry,

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et cetera.

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So I'm thinking to myself,

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well, you know,

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where am I going to get all these people?

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I have a relatively sizable network of acquaintances and people through

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my other business,

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you know,

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the ribbon print company,

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but where am I going to find some of these other

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people? And there was an artist's work that kept popping out

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to me.

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I do a fair amount of traveling and a lot of

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times I was seeing her work at airport shops and I

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was always drawn into it.

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It was bold,

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it's beautiful,

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it's vibrant.

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It just really resonated with me and I thought to myself

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way back then.

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So that's almost four years ago.

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Wow. I wonder what her story is and I wonder if

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I'd ever be in a position to have her on my

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show. Well,

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listen to this crazy things,

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you know,

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law of attraction.

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Once again,

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I don't know if it shows up in your life,

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but it shows up all the time in mine,

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ends up our paths cross.

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I interviewed Sean Perala for the podcast.

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You might have heard her episode a couple of weeks ago.

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She and Sonia are friends.

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I guess they got to chatting and Sonia reached out to

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me. She was wondering if we could each be on each

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other's podcasts because we serve a similar audience.

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You and I looked at the name and I'm like,

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no, that cannot be the same person I was thinking about

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four years ago.

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Of course I go to the website,

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see her art because it's immediately recognizable and I was like,

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this is insane how these things happen.

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And of course I invited her onto the show in a

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second and now you get to listen to her whole story

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and I just want to point out what happened here.

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I had a thought for the future.

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I didn't know if it was obtainable or not.

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Honestly, I really didn't think about it a lot more over

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the course of the years because I already had guests coming

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and I was able to easily find and attract guests into

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the show.

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But she's a special one because she brings me back to

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that time when I was wondering if the podcast was going

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to work.

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I was wondering if anyone was going to listen to the

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show and I was wondering if ever I'd be able to

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have some of the guests of the caliber and quality that

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each and every one of our guests has been to date.

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So no more rambling with me.

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I've just reinforced to me and point out to you once

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again that all of these things that we sometimes think aren't

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possible truly are.

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So now it is my great pleasure to introduce you to

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Sonia paths.

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Sonia is a fine artist who has created her own highly

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recognizable individual brand and pop art style of painting in addition

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to fine art paintings,

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products include Sonya pass,

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signature limited edition wrist wear,

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watches, ceramics,

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apparel, clocks,

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jewelry and framed prints.

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Her products are found in boutiques,

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museum shops and wineries and interior designers and decorators use.

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Sonia has designs for modern home accents and original art.

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Sonia is also a marketing and branding Wiz who has made

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a name for herself in the art world.

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She enjoys helping others who are developing their own brand and

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creative business with her knowledge of expertise,

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marketing savvy,

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and sassy.

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Tenacity. Sonya pays it forward as the host and creator of

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the rock star mentor podcast and related services.

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I am so excited that you are here.

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Sonya, welcome to the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

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Hi, thank you so much Sue for having me on the

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show today.

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I am so excited and I just have to share with

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our listeners that I have been a lover of your work

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for years and was so excited when we were able to

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finally connect.

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I know such a small world,

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I can't believe it.

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And then you recently had one of my great friends,

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Sean Perla with all the buzz gifts on and I thought,

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Oh I know this,

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I know this podcast.

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So that was exciting.

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Oh, so you were listening to me even before Sean was

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on. Yeah,

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cause she had told me about it.

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Oh got it.

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One of our meetings,

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I said,

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Oh I got to check it out cause I just love

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anything. Well,

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you know,

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being that I'm in retail and do all the gifted kind

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of things too,

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I thought,

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Oh, I'd love to hear what other people have to say

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and I love to hear the journeys of other people in

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how they got to where they are.

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Absolutely. And that's what we're going to do with you too.

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Right now it's a little bit challenging because you have so

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much going on,

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so we're going to see how much we can get to

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and not make this podcast like five hours long.

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Sure. Before we get started,

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I like to introduce you in a little bit of a

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different way.

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Have her audience get to know you by way of a

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motivational candle and I'm guessing this is going to be super

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easy for you to do.

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So if you were to describe for us a motivational candle

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by color and quote that really speaks you,

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what would your candle look like?

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Well, my candle would be lime green because that is my

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favorite color.

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I love green.

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It's just nature,

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it's energy,

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it's fun,

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it's flowing and I'm picturing it with a cool label on

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it. I guess,

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I don't know if you want me to put a label

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on it.

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It's your candle,

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so it would be lime green with a copper wrapping that

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says life is business as usual and I know that a

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lot of entrepreneurs and business people will understand that one because

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as an artist,

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as anybody,

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especially your listeners,

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my listeners,

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whoever are listening that are artists and entrepreneurs,

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you know that your mind is constantly spinning.

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So I always say life is business as usual.

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I mean,

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I don't know if a personal quote is good or if

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a more traditional one is,

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but that's the one that sort of stands out when I

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talk to people and we're working on a plan for them

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as far as their business or if I'm selling artwork to

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somebody is my art is my life and it's all business

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and I love business.

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I know.

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How did we get ourselves here?

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All these women who love business and creators at that and

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then turning our crafts into businesses.

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I think it's wonderful.

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Yeah. When I opened up my gallery in downtown Campbell in

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2008 well,

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I made the mistake of telling my husband the story about

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when I was a kid.

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Yeah, I had a cardboard store in my bedroom and when

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we were doing the ribbon cutting at my gallery in December

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of 2008 the mayor was there and they asked to Mark

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to talk for a few minutes and so he told a

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story of the cardboard store and then I thought,

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Oh no,

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now everyone knows.

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But I was destined to have some type of store presence

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or a love for retail or just to have something that

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I was owning and I was able to do and produce

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for others.

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I think that's a great story.

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I wouldn't be embarrassed by that at all.

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Oh, well I was just taken back.

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I thought you're telling this 150 people.

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Oh my God,

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I want this,

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you know,

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welcome to Sonia's cardboard store.

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So, but it was a lot bigger than a cardboard store.

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Oh my gosh.

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Well, I have to just say,

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because it's so relevant right here.

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I've got a lot of people who will say,

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I want to start a business,

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I want to do something creative.

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And many creators do lots of different types of things.

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They might sew and they might needle point and they might

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knit or they might do watercolor and oil painting,

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you know,

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all different types of things.

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So what actually do they start as a business?

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And one of the things I always say is,

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well what did you love as a child?

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Was it that you enjoyed so much?

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Because I'm seeing a commonality.

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There's actually three different things.

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We're not going to go into that now.

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But part of it is what did you really love to

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do as a child?

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Because then you were so carefree,

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Right? There had been no societal rules that have been imposed

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on you yet.

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And so it's good to go back there and your story

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falls right in line with that with your shop,

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your cardboard store.

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Yeah. And it's so funny cause we were in downtown Campbell

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and a couple of friends of mine,

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other business owners came up to me during our event and

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said, Oh my God,

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I love the story.

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She says,

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you know,

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well one of my friends Priscilla,

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and she had owned a gift shop down in downtown.

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She said,

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I understand.

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She says it's a rare person that knows what they want

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to do at an early age.

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And she said,

270
00:10:30,070 --> 00:10:31,390
I totally get it.

271
00:10:31,450 --> 00:10:33,700
I had my own version of a cardboard store.

272
00:10:33,700 --> 00:10:34,780
So I felt like,

273
00:10:34,810 --> 00:10:36,100
okay, I have a tribe.

274
00:10:36,130 --> 00:10:38,020
There's people do get it.

275
00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:40,580
I'm not there For sure.

276
00:10:40,610 --> 00:10:43,820
Well let's back it up from the in between the gallery

277
00:10:43,850 --> 00:10:45,350
and the cardboard store.

278
00:10:45,350 --> 00:10:47,000
So left this go batter a little bit.

279
00:10:47,450 --> 00:10:52,340
How did you land on the idea of art and doing

280
00:10:52,340 --> 00:10:54,020
that as your business?

281
00:10:54,200 --> 00:10:56,180
Or you might even have to back up further than that.

282
00:10:56,180 --> 00:10:57,530
I don't even know your story,

283
00:10:57,530 --> 00:10:59,060
Sonia, so Oh sure.

284
00:10:59,090 --> 00:11:00,830
You're going to need to back up and kind of share

285
00:11:00,830 --> 00:11:02,360
how you've gotten to where you are.

286
00:11:02,870 --> 00:11:03,380
Oh sure.

287
00:11:03,380 --> 00:11:03,890
Thank you.

288
00:11:04,210 --> 00:11:06,760
So I have always been creative.

289
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:07,900
Back when the cardboard store,

290
00:11:07,900 --> 00:11:10,660
I had my own lemonade stand and everything that I did

291
00:11:10,720 --> 00:11:12,070
regarding business.

292
00:11:12,130 --> 00:11:13,210
Oh and let me just add that.

293
00:11:13,270 --> 00:11:16,150
I've been a cake decorator when I was in high school,

294
00:11:16,380 --> 00:11:19,320
I went from that to working as a florist.

295
00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,650
I went to floral design school in Anaheim,

296
00:11:22,650 --> 00:11:25,170
California right after high school.

297
00:11:25,230 --> 00:11:27,960
And I've just also been a natural marketer.

298
00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:31,680
So with all of these different creative businesses that I've had,

299
00:11:31,710 --> 00:11:34,920
I've just always just had the business hat on.

300
00:11:35,180 --> 00:11:35,990
And of course,

301
00:11:35,990 --> 00:11:36,170
you know,

302
00:11:36,170 --> 00:11:37,730
as we became a parent,

303
00:11:37,940 --> 00:11:41,270
I mean a mother and had to provide for the family

304
00:11:41,270 --> 00:11:41,690
and everything.

305
00:11:41,690 --> 00:11:44,150
I worked in corporate and I worked at companies like Apple,

306
00:11:44,150 --> 00:11:45,350
Claris, Microsoft,

307
00:11:45,350 --> 00:11:50,380
Adobe. So these have always been creative companies and I've thrived

308
00:11:50,380 --> 00:11:52,930
in that environment because it's who I,

309
00:11:53,230 --> 00:11:56,440
and it's the composition of who I am and how I'm

310
00:11:56,440 --> 00:11:59,650
formatted. Before that also,

311
00:11:59,650 --> 00:12:03,520
I also worked in automobile sales for Mitsubishi motors.

312
00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:05,530
So I learned how to sell.

313
00:12:05,590 --> 00:12:08,860
I mean hardcore selling cause when you're the only woman on

314
00:12:08,860 --> 00:12:10,690
a lot of salesmen,

315
00:12:10,990 --> 00:12:12,340
you got to get your game on.

316
00:12:12,340 --> 00:12:14,020
You got to be confident in,

317
00:12:14,110 --> 00:12:15,090
they're going to dish it to you,

318
00:12:15,090 --> 00:12:16,030
you gotta dish it back.

319
00:12:16,030 --> 00:12:16,450
But you know,

320
00:12:16,450 --> 00:12:19,630
I want it to be salesperson of the month quite often.

321
00:12:19,970 --> 00:12:22,910
And so I worked really hard to hone in on the

322
00:12:22,910 --> 00:12:25,730
sales skills and I was a fish out of water at

323
00:12:25,730 --> 00:12:29,390
that point cause I never sold anything that large of a

324
00:12:29,390 --> 00:12:32,630
product. So one of the managers took me under his wing

325
00:12:32,630 --> 00:12:33,140
and said,

326
00:12:33,140 --> 00:12:33,470
you know,

327
00:12:33,470 --> 00:12:36,320
you have to overcome a lot of these fears.

328
00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:38,990
So with that knowledge and working in a high tech and

329
00:12:38,990 --> 00:12:39,620
being creative,

330
00:12:39,650 --> 00:12:42,920
I've sort of just started working and doing my art.

331
00:12:43,230 --> 00:12:46,470
So I would say in the mid nineties I had a

332
00:12:46,470 --> 00:12:51,420
love for the Warhol style of artwork and I decided that

333
00:12:51,420 --> 00:12:51,930
I, you know,

334
00:12:51,930 --> 00:12:53,550
of course I love Lucille ball.

335
00:12:53,550 --> 00:12:57,420
I did a eight week show at Gordon Biersch brewery in

336
00:12:57,480 --> 00:13:01,230
downtown San Jose and the show was called Lucille ball,

337
00:13:01,320 --> 00:13:01,920
one woman,

338
00:13:01,920 --> 00:13:02,970
many faces.

339
00:13:03,090 --> 00:13:06,330
And I had about 14 of these screen printed,

340
00:13:06,630 --> 00:13:11,690
embellished large paintings that we covered the entire restaurant in.

341
00:13:11,690 --> 00:13:13,320
And that was my first solo show.

342
00:13:13,580 --> 00:13:16,430
And I would say that although that's not the style that

343
00:13:16,430 --> 00:13:17,600
I really do today,

344
00:13:17,630 --> 00:13:19,820
it was something I had to get out of my system.

345
00:13:20,200 --> 00:13:22,060
There was a lot of things going on when I was

346
00:13:22,060 --> 00:13:26,770
working for Microsoft at the time and it was just,

347
00:13:26,770 --> 00:13:28,900
it was a lot of pressure and a lot of things

348
00:13:28,900 --> 00:13:31,630
happening and I wasn't happy at that job.

349
00:13:31,690 --> 00:13:33,040
I can probably say that now.

350
00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:35,020
It's okay,

351
00:13:35,020 --> 00:13:35,560
it's all good,

352
00:13:35,590 --> 00:13:37,210
but I said,

353
00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:39,250
this is the goal that I'm going to have for this

354
00:13:39,250 --> 00:13:40,630
year and I'm going to do that.

355
00:13:40,630 --> 00:13:42,700
And I did it and it was so funny because people

356
00:13:42,700 --> 00:13:43,270
would ask me,

357
00:13:43,270 --> 00:13:46,120
Hey, how'd you get that eight week show at the brewery?

358
00:13:46,530 --> 00:13:48,330
Oh, I picked up the phone,

359
00:13:48,330 --> 00:13:51,450
I contacted the manager and I asked the question.

360
00:13:51,660 --> 00:13:52,190
No wait,

361
00:13:52,190 --> 00:13:53,100
it was that quick.

362
00:13:53,370 --> 00:13:53,730
It was,

363
00:13:53,730 --> 00:13:54,120
he said,

364
00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:55,140
sounds cool.

365
00:13:55,390 --> 00:13:57,600
Can bring in a couple of samples and I didn't even

366
00:13:57,600 --> 00:13:59,100
have all the paintings yet.

367
00:13:59,100 --> 00:14:03,360
I had the screen print design and that's a whole interesting

368
00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:07,630
story. The power of asking a question will take you to

369
00:14:07,900 --> 00:14:12,480
destinations and explorations that you cannot imagine because I didn't want

370
00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:15,120
to get in trouble for using an image of Lucille ball

371
00:14:15,150 --> 00:14:16,170
and Desi Arnaz.

372
00:14:16,170 --> 00:14:18,300
It was on a book cover that I had seen at

373
00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:20,400
Barnes and noble and I picked up the book cover and

374
00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:20,670
I bought,

375
00:14:20,670 --> 00:14:21,540
well, I picked up the book,

376
00:14:21,540 --> 00:14:24,110
I purchased it and I flipped to the back of the

377
00:14:24,110 --> 00:14:26,990
book because I wanted to find who the publisher was so

378
00:14:26,990 --> 00:14:28,940
I can ask permission to use the image.

379
00:14:29,510 --> 00:14:35,120
So we're talking 1994 way before we had Google and Yahoo

380
00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:37,730
and all these big search engines where you at the touch

381
00:14:37,730 --> 00:14:38,270
of a finger,

382
00:14:38,270 --> 00:14:39,680
you can get your information.

383
00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,140
I had to call,

384
00:14:41,290 --> 00:14:41,890
what was it,

385
00:14:42,190 --> 00:14:46,570
information, the area code of New York city.

386
00:14:46,570 --> 00:14:46,720
(212) 555-1212.

387
00:14:46,720 --> 00:14:47,500
Do you remember that?

388
00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:49,270
Oh my gosh.

389
00:14:49,270 --> 00:14:50,260
You know,

390
00:14:50,260 --> 00:14:52,370
call information when you actually have to dial four one one.

391
00:14:52,370 --> 00:14:53,900
I had totally forgotten that.

392
00:14:53,900 --> 00:14:55,340
That's so funny.

393
00:14:55,340 --> 00:14:57,560
That's how far back we're going.

394
00:14:57,560 --> 00:14:59,000
So I call this publishing company.

395
00:14:59,060 --> 00:15:01,760
I get this grumpy guy and I'm picturing this guy in

396
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:03,680
a smoky office with one window,

397
00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:04,220
the, you know,

398
00:15:04,220 --> 00:15:07,070
the office is probably about four foot by 10 foot.

399
00:15:07,100 --> 00:15:10,500
This is what I'm picturing in my mind and I get

400
00:15:10,500 --> 00:15:12,780
this guy on the phone and he basically tells me in

401
00:15:12,780 --> 00:15:15,570
so many words that you've got a long haul here,

402
00:15:15,570 --> 00:15:16,260
young lady,

403
00:15:16,260 --> 00:15:18,720
you've got to find out this and that and you can

404
00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:19,500
have to write in,

405
00:15:19,500 --> 00:15:21,330
you can have to get an attorney and all this stuff.

406
00:15:21,360 --> 00:15:25,500
And I usually don't take no for an answer pretty easily.

407
00:15:25,770 --> 00:15:27,090
So I did some research.

408
00:15:27,210 --> 00:15:30,030
I ended up finding out the name of the photographer who

409
00:15:30,030 --> 00:15:30,810
took the photo.

410
00:15:31,150 --> 00:15:35,830
I looked him up in the Hollywood Hills directory.

411
00:15:36,170 --> 00:15:39,620
I ended up finding out that his wife was,

412
00:15:39,770 --> 00:15:40,190
he was,

413
00:15:40,190 --> 00:15:42,770
she was widowed cause he had passed away but his name

414
00:15:42,770 --> 00:15:44,240
was Leonard needle.

415
00:15:44,620 --> 00:15:47,290
And he is the gentleman who took the photo of Lucille

416
00:15:47,290 --> 00:15:52,330
ball and Desi Arnaz in 1957 and I talked to her,

417
00:15:52,330 --> 00:15:54,370
I told her what my vision was and what I wanted

418
00:15:54,370 --> 00:15:54,700
to do.

419
00:15:54,700 --> 00:15:55,090
She said,

420
00:15:55,090 --> 00:15:58,630
would you kindly send me a letter requesting the information that

421
00:15:58,630 --> 00:16:00,010
you'd like and the purpose?

422
00:16:00,230 --> 00:16:01,130
I wrote her the letter,

423
00:16:01,130 --> 00:16:03,350
she wrote me back via mail.

424
00:16:03,410 --> 00:16:05,270
You know the thing you put in the envelope and stick

425
00:16:05,270 --> 00:16:05,800
a stamp on it.

426
00:16:06,050 --> 00:16:08,420
And she gave me permission to use the image.

427
00:16:08,540 --> 00:16:12,110
So therefore that image is what I took to the restaurant

428
00:16:12,230 --> 00:16:12,560
and said,

429
00:16:12,560 --> 00:16:14,270
this is what I'm going to be doing and here's the

430
00:16:14,270 --> 00:16:16,580
scope of the project and these are how big they're going

431
00:16:16,580 --> 00:16:16,970
to be.

432
00:16:17,250 --> 00:16:18,960
And the manager,

433
00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:19,980
his name was John,

434
00:16:19,980 --> 00:16:21,060
I don't remember his last name,

435
00:16:21,060 --> 00:16:22,110
but he said,

436
00:16:22,320 --> 00:16:23,340
that sounds really cool.

437
00:16:23,370 --> 00:16:26,040
Let's set a date and about fell over.

438
00:16:26,130 --> 00:16:27,570
Wow. I thought,

439
00:16:27,570 --> 00:16:28,080
here we go.

440
00:16:28,080 --> 00:16:30,330
The game is on the ceilings coming down.

441
00:16:30,330 --> 00:16:32,190
The floor is coming up and I'm going to just make

442
00:16:32,190 --> 00:16:32,850
this happen.

443
00:16:33,140 --> 00:16:34,280
So when you do that,

444
00:16:34,280 --> 00:16:37,580
because I see artists work in coffee shops around here,

445
00:16:37,580 --> 00:16:39,950
you know I'm here in the Northern suburbs of Chicago.

446
00:16:40,220 --> 00:16:43,070
When you do something like that and all of your art

447
00:16:43,070 --> 00:16:44,210
then is for sale,

448
00:16:44,270 --> 00:16:47,620
right. Do you then give some type of a cut of

449
00:16:47,620 --> 00:16:50,110
a purchase back to that location?

450
00:16:50,140 --> 00:16:51,160
Is that how that works?

451
00:16:51,430 --> 00:16:55,840
Typically it's depending on the coffee shop or restaurant.

452
00:16:55,900 --> 00:16:57,910
A lot of times the,

453
00:16:58,060 --> 00:16:59,710
and I would say a lot of times,

454
00:16:59,710 --> 00:17:00,640
don't quote me on this,

455
00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:02,260
but depends on the venue.

456
00:17:02,260 --> 00:17:03,310
Depends on the restaurant.

457
00:17:03,550 --> 00:17:07,720
Sometimes they want to have 12 different looks throughout the year

458
00:17:07,780 --> 00:17:11,110
so they will do a rotating artist or rotating photographer or

459
00:17:11,110 --> 00:17:13,860
what have you show at their restaurant.

460
00:17:13,860 --> 00:17:16,650
So they'll have someone that will curate that cause they want

461
00:17:16,650 --> 00:17:18,900
to make sure they have first of all enough artwork to

462
00:17:18,900 --> 00:17:22,500
cover and that it's appropriate for all ages or it's,

463
00:17:22,500 --> 00:17:22,740
you know,

464
00:17:22,740 --> 00:17:25,590
nothing too political controversial or whatever.

465
00:17:25,590 --> 00:17:27,960
The fits with the style that they want to present.

466
00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:30,930
Exactly. So a lot of the times they say,

467
00:17:31,140 --> 00:17:33,420
we'll have a reception for you and they'll pay for that.

468
00:17:33,630 --> 00:17:35,760
And at least in my case it was,

469
00:17:35,790 --> 00:17:36,930
we'll do a reception for you.

470
00:17:36,930 --> 00:17:37,920
You bring the people,

471
00:17:37,950 --> 00:17:38,850
they buy food and drink,

472
00:17:38,880 --> 00:17:39,600
we're fine.

473
00:17:39,860 --> 00:17:42,950
And we had on many occasions I've done that and that's

474
00:17:42,950 --> 00:17:45,620
how I started getting a lot of my artwork out there

475
00:17:45,620 --> 00:17:48,830
and the Gordon bearish brewery in downtown.

476
00:17:49,380 --> 00:17:50,820
My first Real show.

477
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:54,050
But that was in 94 and then a lot of stuff

478
00:17:54,080 --> 00:17:54,740
kind of happened.

479
00:17:54,740 --> 00:17:57,350
I was not doing art as a full time thing.

480
00:17:57,590 --> 00:17:59,030
I want to stop you though right here,

481
00:17:59,060 --> 00:18:01,790
just for a second because I think that point,

482
00:18:01,790 --> 00:18:06,390
the power of asking a question is so powerful and people

483
00:18:06,390 --> 00:18:07,230
just don't do it.

484
00:18:07,260 --> 00:18:09,930
They don't even think of asking and look,

485
00:18:09,930 --> 00:18:11,520
when you talk about the story,

486
00:18:11,550 --> 00:18:14,460
there's two things here and I am so glad we got

487
00:18:14,460 --> 00:18:15,270
on this story.

488
00:18:15,570 --> 00:18:18,720
The first thing is you got started decided this is what

489
00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:19,260
you were going to do.

490
00:18:19,260 --> 00:18:21,930
It isn't the style of art that you now represent and

491
00:18:21,930 --> 00:18:25,140
that represents Sonia pass as the brand.

492
00:18:25,140 --> 00:18:26,210
Right? Right.

493
00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:27,650
But you got started.

494
00:18:27,650 --> 00:18:30,980
So it had to evolve to that from somewhere.

495
00:18:30,980 --> 00:18:32,270
So that was the first thing.

496
00:18:32,540 --> 00:18:35,240
And the second thing I really like is when you were

497
00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,240
going after getting permission for that photo,

498
00:18:38,390 --> 00:18:39,620
you found a different way.

499
00:18:40,110 --> 00:18:42,930
Right? Because you could have just closed up and said,

500
00:18:42,930 --> 00:18:44,310
okay, not doing it.

501
00:18:44,550 --> 00:18:45,570
You know it's not going to work.

502
00:18:45,780 --> 00:18:47,100
He's telling me it's going to be a long,

503
00:18:47,100 --> 00:18:48,000
hard road.

504
00:18:48,450 --> 00:18:49,380
It's not worth it.

505
00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,580
I'll just find another photo and expensive and expensive.

506
00:18:53,840 --> 00:18:55,700
No, you found another way.

507
00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:57,560
Right, which is really cool.

508
00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:58,710
It was pretty cool.

509
00:18:58,740 --> 00:19:02,370
I ended up meeting her a couple of months later when

510
00:19:02,460 --> 00:19:04,950
my cousin and I took a drive to Southern California.

511
00:19:04,980 --> 00:19:05,910
I called her and said,

512
00:19:05,910 --> 00:19:07,410
Hey, I'm going to be in your neck of the woods.

513
00:19:07,660 --> 00:19:08,770
Can I meet you?

514
00:19:08,920 --> 00:19:10,810
And she invited us to her house for tea.

515
00:19:10,810 --> 00:19:12,910
It was the most surreal event.

516
00:19:13,210 --> 00:19:13,810
I thought.

517
00:19:13,810 --> 00:19:17,560
I walked into a set of some old movie and this

518
00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:19,870
home with photography all over the walls.

519
00:19:20,220 --> 00:19:21,090
Oh my gosh.

520
00:19:21,120 --> 00:19:22,380
Sort of art deco day.

521
00:19:22,590 --> 00:19:23,370
It was in.

522
00:19:23,890 --> 00:19:26,430
I only imagined to myself.

523
00:19:26,610 --> 00:19:28,570
Really? He was so lovely.

524
00:19:28,850 --> 00:19:29,810
You're absolutely correct.

525
00:19:29,810 --> 00:19:32,210
If I had said in all my life,

526
00:19:32,240 --> 00:19:33,800
if I take no for an answer,

527
00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:35,870
just go and take my marbles and go somewhere else.

528
00:19:36,010 --> 00:19:37,570
I would not be who I am today.

529
00:19:37,830 --> 00:19:41,310
The reason I always use the word tenacity or tenacious,

530
00:19:41,310 --> 00:19:43,020
it's not meant in a bad way.

531
00:19:43,020 --> 00:19:44,880
It's meant to be in a very spunky,

532
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:45,810
sassy way.

533
00:19:46,770 --> 00:19:47,310
So that,

534
00:19:47,310 --> 00:19:47,610
I mean,

535
00:19:47,700 --> 00:19:49,050
I'm about four foot tall,

536
00:19:49,200 --> 00:19:49,980
I'm petite.

537
00:19:50,730 --> 00:19:53,730
I have people tell me that I'm 10 feet tall because

538
00:19:53,790 --> 00:19:57,180
what comes out of my mouth and my personality overrides my

539
00:19:57,180 --> 00:20:00,810
size. Because as a child I was always the last one

540
00:20:00,810 --> 00:20:01,620
picked for sports.

541
00:20:01,620 --> 00:20:07,310
I was always underestimated and understated because I was smaller and

542
00:20:07,340 --> 00:20:10,310
I think I wasn't taken seriously for a lot of years

543
00:20:10,650 --> 00:20:12,870
and I got important stuff to talk about.

544
00:20:13,210 --> 00:20:14,020
Yeah, well,

545
00:20:14,020 --> 00:20:14,920
and I have to say,

546
00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:16,900
I mean when I look at your style,

547
00:20:16,930 --> 00:20:17,890
it's bold,

548
00:20:18,290 --> 00:20:19,010
it's solid,

549
00:20:19,010 --> 00:20:20,210
it's bold.

550
00:20:20,270 --> 00:20:22,910
It's like you know exactly what it is,

551
00:20:22,910 --> 00:20:24,800
right? There's no reading between the lines.

552
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:27,290
There's a lot of intricacy in terms of all the elements,

553
00:20:27,550 --> 00:20:28,870
but all your colors are bold.

554
00:20:28,870 --> 00:20:33,040
So that has all gone into your creative outlet as well.

555
00:20:33,300 --> 00:20:36,480
Right. And that style developed from the Lucille ball thing.

556
00:20:36,510 --> 00:20:38,670
That was something I needed to get out of my system,

557
00:20:38,970 --> 00:20:42,690
but I didn't carry through that Warhol esque style of our

558
00:20:42,780 --> 00:20:46,440
ongoing, I actually didn't do art for three years or so.

559
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,530
We had some family changes In our home and then I

560
00:20:50,530 --> 00:20:54,580
decided that I needed to surround myself around something positive and

561
00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:58,360
I took my love of the cubistic style of Picasso and

562
00:20:58,510 --> 00:21:01,840
Brock and all that and I took the style of American

563
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:02,530
pop art,

564
00:21:02,620 --> 00:21:04,030
Lichtenstein, herring,

565
00:21:04,030 --> 00:21:08,590
Warhol and Peter max and the artists that really had a

566
00:21:08,590 --> 00:21:10,570
simple style with a strong statement.

567
00:21:10,780 --> 00:21:14,290
I took my cubistic style and the love for pop art

568
00:21:14,380 --> 00:21:18,430
and I melded the two together and I did everything that

569
00:21:18,430 --> 00:21:20,740
my art teachers told me never to do.

570
00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:21,640
They always said,

571
00:21:21,670 --> 00:21:23,230
Oh, you can mix this style with that.

572
00:21:23,230 --> 00:21:24,610
The masters never did this.

573
00:21:24,610 --> 00:21:25,930
A masters never did that.

574
00:21:26,210 --> 00:21:27,500
My response to that was,

575
00:21:27,500 --> 00:21:30,350
well, I don't know anything about the masters and I'm,

576
00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,590
they're dead and I didn't have anything to do with setting

577
00:21:33,590 --> 00:21:34,190
up those roles,

578
00:21:34,190 --> 00:21:35,420
so I'm going to go do my own thing.

579
00:21:35,680 --> 00:21:39,730
That's how that whole style evolved and it's really taken a

580
00:21:39,730 --> 00:21:41,650
lot of different directions over the last,

581
00:21:42,010 --> 00:21:42,700
Oh gosh,

582
00:21:42,790 --> 00:21:46,330
we're going on 22 years of creating.

583
00:21:46,470 --> 00:21:48,090
Is it really 22 years?

584
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:49,440
Gosh about that.

585
00:21:50,010 --> 00:21:52,260
I have to say that you have achieved what I think

586
00:21:52,260 --> 00:21:55,060
a lot of people strive for because if someone,

587
00:21:55,060 --> 00:21:57,880
I'm, I have a mug here right from you were talking

588
00:21:57,880 --> 00:21:58,780
about that before.

589
00:21:58,780 --> 00:22:00,010
I've seen your products.

590
00:22:00,280 --> 00:22:03,910
If I walk in anywhere and I see something of yours,

591
00:22:03,910 --> 00:22:08,710
I know automatically it's yours because your style is so unique.

592
00:22:09,010 --> 00:22:10,510
Now could someone try and copy it?

593
00:22:10,540 --> 00:22:13,030
Probably, but they're not going to do a very good job

594
00:22:13,060 --> 00:22:16,480
because of just the way everything is put together and your

595
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,700
unique way of creating it and all of that.

596
00:22:18,700 --> 00:22:19,630
And I think that's what,

597
00:22:19,630 --> 00:22:20,560
as makers,

598
00:22:20,620 --> 00:22:23,440
everyone is trying to do have something where even if they

599
00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:24,610
couldn't see the name on it,

600
00:22:24,670 --> 00:22:25,690
they know who it is,

601
00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:26,680
they know where it's from.

602
00:22:26,910 --> 00:22:29,040
Right. And I have lots of people say,

603
00:22:29,190 --> 00:22:32,160
Hey, I saw your stuff at a friend of mine's house

604
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:34,380
in new Orleans or whatever.

605
00:22:34,590 --> 00:22:36,570
And I would think an ad and ads,

606
00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:37,950
it looks like mine,

607
00:22:37,950 --> 00:22:38,190
you know,

608
00:22:38,250 --> 00:22:39,840
and it would end up being my art.

609
00:22:39,870 --> 00:22:41,910
So I have what we call Sonya sightings.

610
00:22:42,210 --> 00:22:42,840
There you go.

611
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:44,460
It's gotta be so rewarding.

612
00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:47,370
It gives me a giant warm fuzzy and I think really,

613
00:22:47,500 --> 00:22:48,300
what was your name?

614
00:22:48,340 --> 00:22:49,110
Which piece was it?

615
00:22:49,110 --> 00:22:49,620
What'd it look like?

616
00:22:49,620 --> 00:22:50,280
Where was it hanging up?

617
00:22:51,210 --> 00:22:51,840
Oh my gosh.

618
00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:52,770
Then comes to the drill.

619
00:22:52,980 --> 00:22:54,540
So I have to ask this question.

620
00:22:54,570 --> 00:22:55,650
I'm not a painter,

621
00:22:55,650 --> 00:22:57,120
I'm not an artist in that way.

622
00:22:57,350 --> 00:23:00,560
Were you first just doing pictures on paper and then you

623
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:03,700
saw that people started liking them or what were those first

624
00:23:03,710 --> 00:23:05,960
steps? I keep bringing you back because I think it's good

625
00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:08,750
information for people to understand the progression.

626
00:23:08,840 --> 00:23:09,530
Sure. Well,

627
00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,860
I was working when I was doing the style,

628
00:23:12,890 --> 00:23:14,630
I started doing it just for me.

629
00:23:14,820 --> 00:23:15,750
Doing what?

630
00:23:15,780 --> 00:23:19,040
Painting on paper or what was that painting on paper?

631
00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:22,340
They were smaller way smaller about five by seven and then

632
00:23:22,340 --> 00:23:25,250
I daringly went up to eight by 10 I was doing

633
00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:30,560
acrylic on 140 pound watercolor paper and doing the art and

634
00:23:30,560 --> 00:23:33,110
painting on the dining room table when the kids went to

635
00:23:33,110 --> 00:23:35,720
bed. I have two sons and they were much younger at

636
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:36,260
the time.

637
00:23:36,510 --> 00:23:38,880
And so after they would go to bed,

638
00:23:38,910 --> 00:23:42,930
it was my time to sort of just decompress that working

639
00:23:42,990 --> 00:23:45,680
eight to 10 hour day had two kids.

640
00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:46,970
I wrangled them at night.

641
00:23:47,180 --> 00:23:47,900
My, uh,

642
00:23:48,050 --> 00:23:51,020
former spouse and I had parted ways and he ended up

643
00:23:51,050 --> 00:23:52,670
getting sick and he passed away.

644
00:23:52,820 --> 00:23:53,780
Well, I'm sorry to hear that.

645
00:23:53,930 --> 00:23:54,800
Oh, thank you.

646
00:23:54,890 --> 00:23:56,210
And here we were,

647
00:23:56,210 --> 00:23:58,040
is doing the single parent thing.

648
00:23:58,190 --> 00:23:58,460
I mean,

649
00:23:58,460 --> 00:23:59,210
full time,

650
00:23:59,210 --> 00:24:00,140
no break,

651
00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:01,010
that kind of thing.

652
00:24:01,010 --> 00:24:04,820
And so the painting really took me back to relaxing and

653
00:24:04,820 --> 00:24:08,570
zoning out and just creating from the heart and creating things

654
00:24:08,570 --> 00:24:12,470
that were meaningful to me and the bright colors really made

655
00:24:12,470 --> 00:24:13,550
me feel a lot better.

656
00:24:13,550 --> 00:24:16,580
Plus I wanted to hang art in my house that I

657
00:24:16,580 --> 00:24:19,580
liked, that I could really relate to.

658
00:24:19,860 --> 00:24:23,250
So I started hanging his up and then a neighbor had

659
00:24:23,250 --> 00:24:23,940
come over ahead.

660
00:24:23,940 --> 00:24:25,710
A new neighbor that moved in next door,

661
00:24:25,710 --> 00:24:26,640
she had come over,

662
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:29,250
she wanted to introduce herself of all things.

663
00:24:29,250 --> 00:24:32,600
I had this crazy martini painting in my entryway and she

664
00:24:32,600 --> 00:24:33,110
goes, wow,

665
00:24:33,110 --> 00:24:34,700
that's really cool artwork.

666
00:24:34,730 --> 00:24:35,570
Where'd you get that?

667
00:24:35,570 --> 00:24:35,900
And I said,

668
00:24:35,930 --> 00:24:36,770
Oh, I did that.

669
00:24:37,070 --> 00:24:38,330
No, really,

670
00:24:38,360 --> 00:24:39,500
can you make one for me?

671
00:24:39,810 --> 00:24:41,220
And I was sort of taken back.

672
00:24:41,220 --> 00:24:41,460
I go,

673
00:24:41,460 --> 00:24:43,140
well, I probably could.

674
00:24:43,140 --> 00:24:43,710
And she said,

675
00:24:43,710 --> 00:24:44,960
well, how much will it cost?

676
00:24:45,210 --> 00:24:46,200
25 bucks.

677
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:47,280
And the cost of the front line.

678
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:48,540
Gosh, I know.

679
00:24:49,470 --> 00:24:50,670
And from that,

680
00:24:50,730 --> 00:24:51,810
when eBay was,

681
00:24:51,840 --> 00:24:56,070
I wouldn't say 1990 1999 ish.

682
00:24:56,130 --> 00:24:59,670
Yeah, it was 1999 I started selling on eBay.

683
00:24:59,670 --> 00:25:00,030
I thought,

684
00:25:00,030 --> 00:25:02,010
well, I'll paint a couple paintings.

685
00:25:02,010 --> 00:25:04,350
I'll put them on paper and I would paint them.

686
00:25:04,350 --> 00:25:05,730
And the next day I'd go to work.

687
00:25:05,730 --> 00:25:08,820
I'd come home at lunch and I would photograph them in

688
00:25:08,820 --> 00:25:12,090
the driveway just because that was where the sun shined the

689
00:25:12,090 --> 00:25:13,740
best. And for me,

690
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:18,840
my artwork was better photographed in sunlight versus in a light

691
00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,480
box before they had light boxes and stuff like that.

692
00:25:21,510 --> 00:25:22,650
So I would do that.

693
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,580
And then that night I would prep the artwork in Photoshop,

694
00:25:26,610 --> 00:25:27,690
put little watermark,

695
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,480
and then I would wait until Sunday to post about three

696
00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:32,460
or four on eBay,

697
00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:34,200
a handler routine I would do every week.

698
00:25:34,230 --> 00:25:37,410
And I started getting bids on these little paintings,

699
00:25:37,440 --> 00:25:38,670
eight by 10 paintings.

700
00:25:38,730 --> 00:25:42,090
And then I would get asked by others about commissioned work

701
00:25:42,090 --> 00:25:42,720
and you know,

702
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:44,520
Hey, could you do a picture of my daughter on a

703
00:25:44,580 --> 00:25:46,140
16 by 20 canvas?

704
00:25:46,140 --> 00:25:46,890
And I'm thinking,

705
00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:47,970
Oh my God,

706
00:25:47,970 --> 00:25:52,290
16 by 20 so,

707
00:25:52,350 --> 00:25:53,340
which is nothing now,

708
00:25:53,370 --> 00:25:54,810
but back at the time I thought,

709
00:25:54,810 --> 00:25:56,670
wow, I'm going to have to go buy an easel.

710
00:25:56,850 --> 00:25:57,960
Gosh, you know,

711
00:25:58,020 --> 00:25:58,950
this is a big step.

712
00:25:59,160 --> 00:26:04,020
And it just snowballed because as people started collecting and buying

713
00:26:04,020 --> 00:26:06,390
them, I would create more.

714
00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:08,070
And that was the beginning.

715
00:26:08,070 --> 00:26:12,390
So I do think eBay for my beginnings on selling my

716
00:26:12,390 --> 00:26:15,420
art, and I didn't have to be present to be selling

717
00:26:15,420 --> 00:26:18,080
it. I love the fact that you talk about you didn't

718
00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:18,950
have fancy cameras,

719
00:26:18,950 --> 00:26:19,790
you didn't have lighting,

720
00:26:19,790 --> 00:26:22,370
you didn't have a light box on your driveway in the

721
00:26:22,370 --> 00:26:26,030
sun, which again goes back to the fact that we can

722
00:26:26,030 --> 00:26:28,490
be our own worst critics and we can stop ourselves with

723
00:26:28,490 --> 00:26:30,730
our thinking because you could have said,

724
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:32,380
no, I can't do it yet.

725
00:26:32,380 --> 00:26:33,460
I don't have a fancy camera.

726
00:26:33,460 --> 00:26:34,500
I need to hire a photographer.

727
00:26:34,510 --> 00:26:37,200
Whatever. You didn't do that and E-bay.

728
00:26:37,200 --> 00:26:40,080
Such a good idea because you're able to test first you

729
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:41,580
had your neighbor come in,

730
00:26:41,670 --> 00:26:43,680
which probably that's light moment.

731
00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:44,220
Like wait,

732
00:26:44,220 --> 00:26:46,890
Someone really wants to spend money and pay me to do

733
00:26:46,890 --> 00:26:48,570
this. That's interesting.

734
00:26:48,900 --> 00:26:52,640
Right? And then eBay so great because you only had to

735
00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,220
make a couple of items and then see if they sell.

736
00:26:55,220 --> 00:26:56,960
So you weren't risking too much.

737
00:26:56,990 --> 00:26:59,510
Putting yourself out there from a financial standpoint,

738
00:26:59,750 --> 00:26:59,930
you know,

739
00:26:59,930 --> 00:27:02,930
emotionally, of course you want everyone to love what you're doing,

740
00:27:03,210 --> 00:27:06,390
but an excellent way in demonstration of how to start growing

741
00:27:06,390 --> 00:27:07,230
little by little.

742
00:27:07,510 --> 00:27:09,970
Sure. And of course eBay is so different now,

743
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,220
but eBay at the time in 99 was great.

744
00:27:12,220 --> 00:27:13,750
I mean you could get rid of the drapes in your

745
00:27:13,750 --> 00:27:14,890
living room if you didn't like them,

746
00:27:14,890 --> 00:27:15,430
take a photo,

747
00:27:15,430 --> 00:27:16,360
stick them up on eBay.

748
00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:19,160
There was so many different ways to sell,

749
00:27:19,160 --> 00:27:22,970
so many different things and I had been part of this

750
00:27:22,970 --> 00:27:24,770
artist group called EBS Q,

751
00:27:24,770 --> 00:27:27,650
which was started by John seed and he actually reached out

752
00:27:27,650 --> 00:27:30,680
to eBay in those early days and worked with a gal

753
00:27:30,800 --> 00:27:35,620
in the category section of E-bay because at the time to

754
00:27:35,620 --> 00:27:38,560
list your painting or artwork or current works,

755
00:27:38,820 --> 00:27:42,810
it was the category was art and antiques slash 1900 to

756
00:27:42,810 --> 00:27:46,200
present, well hello gosh,

757
00:27:46,350 --> 00:27:49,710
1999 I mean are you really going to put everything from

758
00:27:49,710 --> 00:27:53,100
1901 to 1999 in this one category.

759
00:27:53,100 --> 00:27:56,790
So he worked with them to identify and create what is

760
00:27:56,790 --> 00:28:00,300
now called self-represented artists and it stemmed from there.

761
00:28:00,300 --> 00:28:03,240
So I always give him a giant kudos on working and

762
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,420
taking the initiative to work with eBay on that categorization.

763
00:28:06,420 --> 00:28:09,270
And I think that really made strides and opened up so

764
00:28:09,270 --> 00:28:11,670
many doors for so many artists.

765
00:28:11,970 --> 00:28:12,990
Yeah, for sure.

766
00:28:13,250 --> 00:28:15,140
Okay. Sonya get nervous.

767
00:28:15,140 --> 00:28:16,310
I have a question for you.

768
00:28:16,610 --> 00:28:17,540
Okay. Are you ready?

769
00:28:18,740 --> 00:28:19,610
I got my seat belt on.

770
00:28:20,620 --> 00:28:24,190
If you were at that spot today where back then it

771
00:28:24,190 --> 00:28:26,770
was EFA putting a couple of pieces up just to see

772
00:28:26,770 --> 00:28:29,620
what would happen if you were there today and I'm thinking

773
00:28:29,620 --> 00:28:32,200
of some of our artists who might be there right now.

774
00:28:32,450 --> 00:28:35,930
What direction would you take today with the platforms that exist?

775
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,640
Oh, you mean with our current social media?

776
00:28:39,060 --> 00:28:40,110
Like what platform?

777
00:28:40,110 --> 00:28:43,020
Like then it was E-bay to try and sell and like

778
00:28:43,020 --> 00:28:44,100
test your product.

779
00:28:44,100 --> 00:28:45,720
Where would you put it today?

780
00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,820
I know you can't wait to hear what Sonia's answer is

781
00:28:50,820 --> 00:28:51,480
on this.

782
00:28:51,630 --> 00:28:54,270
It's coming up right after a word from our sponsor.

783
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784
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785
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786
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788
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:05,870
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789
00:29:05,870 --> 00:29:07,130
for more information.

790
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,650
I've come a long way from eBay.

791
00:29:09,710 --> 00:29:13,460
I know that from there has been other different types of

792
00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:15,290
selling. For instance,

793
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:17,420
at sea is huge and then,

794
00:29:17,450 --> 00:29:17,870
you know,

795
00:29:17,870 --> 00:29:20,840
it was almost unheard of if somebody had their own website

796
00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:21,410
at that time.

797
00:29:21,410 --> 00:29:24,410
But I developed my own website and started selling,

798
00:29:24,440 --> 00:29:27,320
worked with at one of my developer friends at Adobe to

799
00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:30,620
create a shopping cart for me back when e-commerce was really,

800
00:29:30,620 --> 00:29:31,260
really new.

801
00:29:31,500 --> 00:29:33,720
So at T you think is a good platform to do

802
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,600
the same thing today that you did back then and on

803
00:29:36,600 --> 00:29:37,620
eBay? Yeah.

804
00:29:37,620 --> 00:29:38,850
Well there's a lot of things.

805
00:29:38,850 --> 00:29:41,950
I mean there's WordPress now you can get a WordPress site,

806
00:29:41,950 --> 00:29:44,980
you Can get integration for e-commerce on there.

807
00:29:45,010 --> 00:29:46,390
There's Shopify,

808
00:29:46,420 --> 00:29:49,090
there's a lot of really great plug and play.

809
00:29:49,120 --> 00:29:52,300
Do it yourself sites that will take care of the eCommerce.

810
00:29:52,420 --> 00:29:52,660
I mean,

811
00:29:52,660 --> 00:29:53,800
depending on what you're selling,

812
00:29:53,800 --> 00:29:56,170
could even do a lot of fulfillment for you if you're

813
00:29:56,170 --> 00:29:56,830
at that point.

814
00:29:56,830 --> 00:29:57,430
And if you are,

815
00:29:57,460 --> 00:30:02,190
congratulations. So you can even sell your art on Facebook.

816
00:30:02,220 --> 00:30:02,520
I mean,

817
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:04,170
you can sell anything anywhere,

818
00:30:04,170 --> 00:30:05,840
right? In the last 20 plus years,

819
00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:09,140
there's been so many great places and ways to sell your

820
00:30:09,140 --> 00:30:12,860
art. A lot of people from eBay went to Etsy because

821
00:30:12,980 --> 00:30:15,290
it was the place to sell your artwork,

822
00:30:15,290 --> 00:30:15,980
your craft,

823
00:30:16,250 --> 00:30:20,960
your supplies from jewelry to crochet to anything.

824
00:30:21,230 --> 00:30:24,050
Yeah, and specifically it was from people who were making something

825
00:30:24,050 --> 00:30:25,770
handmade, right?

826
00:30:25,890 --> 00:30:27,180
Yeah, and since then,

827
00:30:27,180 --> 00:30:30,090
of course we have Pinterest now we have social media,

828
00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:31,200
Facebook, Twitter,

829
00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,790
Instagram. All of these things are great,

830
00:30:33,880 --> 00:30:36,700
but I do believe your listeners may beg to differ,

831
00:30:36,700 --> 00:30:40,870
but there's a lot of information overload because I get asked

832
00:30:40,900 --> 00:30:42,310
because of my podcast,

833
00:30:42,430 --> 00:30:43,330
where do I start?

834
00:30:43,330 --> 00:30:44,290
Do I start on Facebook?

835
00:30:44,290 --> 00:30:45,910
Do I get my website done first?

836
00:30:45,910 --> 00:30:46,960
Do I go to Etsy?

837
00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:48,730
Do I create my own Shopify account?

838
00:30:48,730 --> 00:30:51,010
So there's so much data overload.

839
00:30:51,040 --> 00:30:53,770
I would say hone in on one thing that you really

840
00:30:53,770 --> 00:30:55,520
feel really comfortable around.

841
00:30:55,690 --> 00:30:57,580
If you want to do Etsy,

842
00:30:57,730 --> 00:30:58,750
focus on that.

843
00:30:58,780 --> 00:31:00,820
If you want to try Shopify,

844
00:31:01,060 --> 00:31:02,020
focus on that.

845
00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:04,200
Otherwise you're going to drive yourself crazy.

846
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,150
Was this order on Facebook?

847
00:31:06,150 --> 00:31:07,320
Was this order on Etsy?

848
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:08,400
Was it on Shopify?

849
00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:09,390
Was it through the website,

850
00:31:09,600 --> 00:31:13,050
so if you can hone in and just really narrow it

851
00:31:13,050 --> 00:31:16,500
down to where you're selling and feel good and get really

852
00:31:16,500 --> 00:31:17,160
good at it,

853
00:31:17,610 --> 00:31:20,250
it's hard to get really good at every type of other

854
00:31:20,280 --> 00:31:22,260
type of selling portal out there.

855
00:31:22,580 --> 00:31:23,570
I would agree,

856
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:27,470
and I don't think there's one right answer really because there's

857
00:31:27,470 --> 00:31:29,000
so much opportunity out there.

858
00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:31,340
So many different things can try one platform.

859
00:31:31,370 --> 00:31:32,320
If it doesn't work,

860
00:31:32,560 --> 00:31:33,550
then go to another.

861
00:31:33,550 --> 00:31:35,620
I'm talking more social media right now,

862
00:31:35,870 --> 00:31:38,030
but for sure everyone should have a website,

863
00:31:38,130 --> 00:31:40,500
whether it's WordPress or you put it on more of a

864
00:31:40,500 --> 00:31:45,900
template driven like a Shopify site or Etsy somewhere that you

865
00:31:45,900 --> 00:31:49,590
call your home and then you drive your social media to

866
00:31:49,590 --> 00:31:51,810
your website so you have both of those.

867
00:31:51,810 --> 00:31:53,310
Right. I guess the point is,

868
00:31:53,310 --> 00:31:55,950
again, this is another place where people can just get stuck

869
00:31:55,950 --> 00:31:56,280
and say,

870
00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:57,120
I'm so confused.

871
00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,030
I'm just not going to do anything because what if I

872
00:31:59,030 --> 00:32:01,850
don't pick the right thing and there really is no right

873
00:32:01,850 --> 00:32:03,030
thing. Right.

874
00:32:03,030 --> 00:32:05,580
And when I have someone who reaches out to me because

875
00:32:05,610 --> 00:32:07,710
of the rockstar mentor podcast,

876
00:32:07,740 --> 00:32:09,780
which I'm sure we'll talk about for a little few minutes

877
00:32:09,780 --> 00:32:12,470
afterwards. And so I'll have people ask me,

878
00:32:12,500 --> 00:32:13,850
Hey, I'm getting started.

879
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:14,690
Where do I start?

880
00:32:14,690 --> 00:32:16,400
And I'll talk to them and we'll kind of drill it

881
00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:17,810
down. Where are you?

882
00:32:17,930 --> 00:32:19,880
Are you selling just original art?

883
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:20,930
Are you doing prints yet?

884
00:32:20,930 --> 00:32:22,790
Are you creating any retail products?

885
00:32:23,040 --> 00:32:25,470
So when I started doing my website,

886
00:32:25,710 --> 00:32:28,740
I had more than just original art to offer.

887
00:32:28,740 --> 00:32:29,340
I had,

888
00:32:29,400 --> 00:32:30,060
Oh gosh,

889
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:32,700
in the early two thousands I was doing matted prints.

890
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:35,330
It was a very small product line at the time.

891
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:36,630
And so,

892
00:32:36,690 --> 00:32:36,930
you know,

893
00:32:36,930 --> 00:32:37,290
I had,

894
00:32:37,380 --> 00:32:37,770
I don't know,

895
00:32:37,770 --> 00:32:39,980
maybe 25 or 30 products,

896
00:32:39,980 --> 00:32:42,680
whereas now I have about six or 700 products.

897
00:32:42,940 --> 00:32:47,380
But we decided in 2004 to go to art expo international

898
00:32:47,380 --> 00:32:48,310
in New York city.

899
00:32:48,490 --> 00:32:49,060
And I thought,

900
00:32:49,150 --> 00:32:51,010
if I want to do art and I'm going to sell,

901
00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:52,120
I'm going to be a pro.

902
00:32:52,300 --> 00:32:53,410
If you want to play with the big kids,

903
00:32:53,410 --> 00:32:54,970
you got to go to the big kids yard.

904
00:32:55,060 --> 00:32:57,910
And I didn't just go there as a participant.

905
00:32:57,910 --> 00:32:58,300
I thought,

906
00:32:58,300 --> 00:32:58,660
you know what?

907
00:32:58,660 --> 00:33:00,940
If I'm going to spend the money for hotels and airfare,

908
00:33:00,970 --> 00:33:02,470
I'm just going to get a booth and I'm going to

909
00:33:02,470 --> 00:33:04,990
bring my art and I'm gonna make a presence.

910
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:05,860
And so I did.

911
00:33:05,950 --> 00:33:08,530
I took the gamble and ended up paying off because I

912
00:33:08,530 --> 00:33:10,060
ended up learning a lot.

913
00:33:10,090 --> 00:33:14,170
But I also connected with other people who have art galleries

914
00:33:14,170 --> 00:33:17,020
that were looking for my type of style to be able

915
00:33:17,020 --> 00:33:19,180
to represent me in their galleries.

916
00:33:19,690 --> 00:33:24,310
So was your focus specifically getting into galleries versus stores at

917
00:33:24,310 --> 00:33:25,510
that time or whatever?

918
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:26,770
What was your thinking there?

919
00:33:26,890 --> 00:33:28,180
I wanted to,

920
00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:28,480
I mean,

921
00:33:28,480 --> 00:33:31,990
I had my small little product line of matted prints of

922
00:33:31,990 --> 00:33:32,680
different sizes.

923
00:33:32,680 --> 00:33:36,760
I had limited edition prints that I had manufactured for me

924
00:33:36,790 --> 00:33:38,920
and I wanted to get into,

925
00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,930
I wanted to get in the gallery because I thought maybe

926
00:33:40,940 --> 00:33:43,060
that's going to really give me the big credentials that I

927
00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,880
need. But walking away from the show,

928
00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:50,050
I noticed that a lot of bigger artists had art products,

929
00:33:50,080 --> 00:33:53,620
so they had purses or they had sculptures,

930
00:33:53,650 --> 00:33:55,120
they had bigger prints,

931
00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,070
they had prints on boxes,

932
00:33:57,070 --> 00:33:59,590
there was just a lot of retail type of things.

933
00:33:59,590 --> 00:34:03,610
So I also had been approached by many licensed companies at

934
00:34:03,610 --> 00:34:06,340
art expo and people saying,

935
00:34:06,340 --> 00:34:07,300
Hey, we love your art.

936
00:34:07,300 --> 00:34:09,520
We think it would look great on mugs and key chains

937
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:10,570
and textiles.

938
00:34:10,720 --> 00:34:12,820
And so on the plane ride home,

939
00:34:12,940 --> 00:34:14,410
Mark, my husband and I were,

940
00:34:14,470 --> 00:34:16,960
he and I were talking and one of the pieces of

941
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:19,660
advice I had been given by a good artist friend was

942
00:34:19,690 --> 00:34:20,740
go to the show,

943
00:34:20,770 --> 00:34:23,620
get as many business cards and write everything down on the

944
00:34:23,620 --> 00:34:26,860
back of the business card for that contact as possible and

945
00:34:26,860 --> 00:34:27,430
follow up,

946
00:34:27,430 --> 00:34:28,000
follow up,

947
00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:28,630
follow up.

948
00:34:28,780 --> 00:34:30,880
So I had this little box,

949
00:34:31,030 --> 00:34:34,990
it's a little plastic box that I had put all the

950
00:34:34,990 --> 00:34:36,880
cards in and I kept that with me cause I thought

951
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:37,930
this is my gold.

952
00:34:37,930 --> 00:34:38,890
I'm not going to let go of this.

953
00:34:38,890 --> 00:34:39,610
This isn't going on.

954
00:34:39,610 --> 00:34:40,210
Check on,

955
00:34:40,210 --> 00:34:41,560
this isn't going on the seat.

956
00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:42,910
It's going to go in my purse.

957
00:34:42,940 --> 00:34:44,680
So on the way home on the plane,

958
00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:46,480
we were looking at him and I said I got about

959
00:34:46,480 --> 00:34:49,420
seven or eight cards just from license companies.

960
00:34:49,870 --> 00:34:52,300
I must have something that they want.

961
00:34:52,450 --> 00:34:56,530
So we started talking about products and in short Mark and

962
00:34:56,530 --> 00:34:57,100
I decided,

963
00:34:57,100 --> 00:35:00,550
well what kind of product would I use that I would

964
00:35:00,550 --> 00:35:03,100
like? And I loved watches and I thought,

965
00:35:03,100 --> 00:35:03,310
you know,

966
00:35:03,310 --> 00:35:05,590
my art would look great on a watch because I would

967
00:35:05,590 --> 00:35:08,290
wear the watch all the time because that's the thing that

968
00:35:08,290 --> 00:35:08,830
I like.

969
00:35:08,860 --> 00:35:10,720
I want something different and unusual.

970
00:35:10,900 --> 00:35:15,940
So we started looking on creating a whole watch line and

971
00:35:15,940 --> 00:35:19,030
we ended up going into the watch business and I'm not

972
00:35:19,030 --> 00:35:23,200
talking working with somebody who was manufacturing for other people.

973
00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:24,790
This was my watch line.

974
00:35:24,790 --> 00:35:26,530
Mark designed the casing.

975
00:35:26,590 --> 00:35:28,630
Everything for the engraving.

976
00:35:28,660 --> 00:35:31,870
The colors of the bands are based on color swatches that

977
00:35:31,870 --> 00:35:32,770
I actually use.

978
00:35:32,980 --> 00:35:36,430
We found a watch manufacturer overseas who worked with us.

979
00:35:36,640 --> 00:35:39,700
We had the images of the watches printed locally at a

980
00:35:39,700 --> 00:35:43,180
photography company because we wanted to make sure the quality wasn't

981
00:35:43,180 --> 00:35:43,870
going to fade,

982
00:35:43,870 --> 00:35:46,180
it was going to be top quality and it was going

983
00:35:46,180 --> 00:35:49,600
to be the best representation of my artwork to go on

984
00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:50,170
this product.

985
00:35:50,170 --> 00:35:54,010
So it was a multistep process and it took several months,

986
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:55,030
almost a year,

987
00:35:55,030 --> 00:35:58,090
just to create the first five styles.

988
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,160
And those were not limited edition for that first few that

989
00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:02,760
we created.

990
00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:06,210
So when we went back to art expo in 2005 we

991
00:36:06,210 --> 00:36:09,090
had I think 18 styles at that point,

992
00:36:09,150 --> 00:36:10,950
and it was the head of the show and we were

993
00:36:10,950 --> 00:36:14,760
in a platinum section at art expo and that was luck

994
00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:15,480
in itself.

995
00:36:15,570 --> 00:36:16,320
Oh my gosh,

996
00:36:16,320 --> 00:36:17,790
I'm getting shivers over here.

997
00:36:18,150 --> 00:36:18,630
I know.

998
00:36:18,630 --> 00:36:19,770
So it was a whirlwind.

999
00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:21,370
It was a wild ride.

1000
00:36:22,210 --> 00:36:24,550
It was a fulfilling stressful.

1001
00:36:24,970 --> 00:36:26,320
I was very proud.

1002
00:36:26,410 --> 00:36:29,710
I still am very proud of everything that we've done through

1003
00:36:29,710 --> 00:36:30,520
that journey.

1004
00:36:30,550 --> 00:36:31,600
But everything has changed.

1005
00:36:31,600 --> 00:36:33,430
Art expo isn't like it used to be.

1006
00:36:33,430 --> 00:36:35,200
It's not even at the Javits anymore,

1007
00:36:35,410 --> 00:36:38,950
but the memories and the experience from all of that,

1008
00:36:38,980 --> 00:36:42,610
just coming full circle and having my own galleries and all

1009
00:36:42,610 --> 00:36:45,880
that was really cool cause we did ceramics as well and

1010
00:36:45,940 --> 00:36:47,140
everything we did,

1011
00:36:47,170 --> 00:36:50,350
it was a hefty investment so we didn't have a lot

1012
00:36:50,350 --> 00:36:52,700
of print on demand that they have now and I wanted

1013
00:36:52,700 --> 00:36:54,620
to create something that was really us.

1014
00:36:54,620 --> 00:36:57,890
It wasn't just using a licensing company and getting 5% of

1015
00:36:57,890 --> 00:36:59,690
something they're going to get 95% of,

1016
00:36:59,690 --> 00:37:02,240
we got a hundred percent of everything and of all of

1017
00:37:02,240 --> 00:37:05,540
our efforts to be able to create something that was truly

1018
00:37:05,540 --> 00:37:07,490
a Sonya pass branded product.

1019
00:37:08,130 --> 00:37:11,940
The thing that resonates to me throughout the whole story here

1020
00:37:12,030 --> 00:37:14,940
is that you put yourself in a place and found out

1021
00:37:14,940 --> 00:37:18,390
something new and that affected an action that moved you forward.

1022
00:37:18,950 --> 00:37:21,080
If you had never been to that first one where you

1023
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:22,850
said you put yourself out in a big way.

1024
00:37:22,880 --> 00:37:23,760
Right, right.

1025
00:37:23,810 --> 00:37:26,600
You would have never seen and gotten the realization that other

1026
00:37:26,600 --> 00:37:27,980
people had products.

1027
00:37:27,980 --> 00:37:28,190
You know,

1028
00:37:28,190 --> 00:37:30,680
when we're putting things on all of these different pieces that

1029
00:37:30,680 --> 00:37:31,640
led to one thing,

1030
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:36,140
then then led to another and a limited edition watch line.

1031
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:38,370
Seriously. Yeah.

1032
00:37:38,510 --> 00:37:41,720
Cool. From that we ended up hiring a whole bunch of

1033
00:37:41,720 --> 00:37:45,500
reps throughout the country to go to specialty boutiques,

1034
00:37:45,500 --> 00:37:47,480
galleries, museum shops and all that.

1035
00:37:47,510 --> 00:37:48,710
And well,

1036
00:37:48,770 --> 00:37:49,280
you know,

1037
00:37:49,310 --> 00:37:52,580
when you're managing reps it's managing well that's a whole different

1038
00:37:52,580 --> 00:37:53,630
type of business then.

1039
00:37:53,660 --> 00:37:54,890
Yeah, that was,

1040
00:37:55,040 --> 00:37:57,680
if anybody's out there thinking about doing it,

1041
00:37:57,710 --> 00:37:58,700
call me first.

1042
00:37:58,730 --> 00:37:59,450
So boy,

1043
00:38:00,390 --> 00:38:00,570
you know,

1044
00:38:00,570 --> 00:38:03,060
you're dealing with reps who are dealing with dozens of other

1045
00:38:03,060 --> 00:38:05,670
lines and it was really hard to get them to carry

1046
00:38:05,670 --> 00:38:08,580
the vision through each and every shop that they would go

1047
00:38:08,580 --> 00:38:11,190
to. So the mailing out tons of samples,

1048
00:38:11,250 --> 00:38:12,900
answering the questions over and over,

1049
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:14,730
sending out tons of tear sheets.

1050
00:38:14,760 --> 00:38:16,410
It was almost like managing employees,

1051
00:38:16,410 --> 00:38:17,760
but I don't want to say about worse,

1052
00:38:17,760 --> 00:38:19,260
but it was a real hefty task.

1053
00:38:19,710 --> 00:38:20,580
Yeah. And to your point,

1054
00:38:20,580 --> 00:38:22,440
they're repping a number of different lines.

1055
00:38:22,440 --> 00:38:24,630
So how do you know that yours is going to rise

1056
00:38:24,630 --> 00:38:25,200
to the top?

1057
00:38:25,210 --> 00:38:26,280
They're going to show.

1058
00:38:26,370 --> 00:38:28,530
Oh, I remember those days so well yeah.

1059
00:38:28,650 --> 00:38:29,940
So as I said,

1060
00:38:29,970 --> 00:38:33,000
this could be like three hours long cause I've been million

1061
00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:34,830
questions on the product side,

1062
00:38:34,830 --> 00:38:37,330
but I don't want to miss out on talking with you

1063
00:38:37,360 --> 00:38:40,660
about brand development and marketing and all the gold.

1064
00:38:40,660 --> 00:38:42,910
I know you're going to share with us on that end.

1065
00:38:42,940 --> 00:38:46,000
Sure. And just to kind of lay the groundwork here,

1066
00:38:46,060 --> 00:38:49,660
I loved this with Sonya too because she's got all this

1067
00:38:49,660 --> 00:38:51,730
going on as we've heard.

1068
00:38:51,940 --> 00:38:53,500
We would all want to be you.

1069
00:38:53,530 --> 00:38:57,190
Okay, let's just lay it out and then yet you see

1070
00:38:57,190 --> 00:39:01,300
another way of servicing people and helping move things forward.

1071
00:39:01,420 --> 00:39:03,760
You can't even call it a pivot because you still have

1072
00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:05,830
everything else you've layered on.

1073
00:39:05,890 --> 00:39:08,080
But I see this as an opportunity for a lot of

1074
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:12,580
other makers and creators who may be or maybe aren't at

1075
00:39:12,700 --> 00:39:14,590
the bigger level like you are,

1076
00:39:14,710 --> 00:39:18,700
but it's another opportunity to serve an audience in a field

1077
00:39:18,700 --> 00:39:20,770
that you love in the creator feel.

1078
00:39:20,890 --> 00:39:23,200
So with that as the groundwork,

1079
00:39:23,200 --> 00:39:26,680
Sonya, take it away now and let's talk about the rock

1080
00:39:26,680 --> 00:39:27,400
star mentor.

1081
00:39:27,610 --> 00:39:32,200
Okay. So when I had my gallery in downtown Campbell and

1082
00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:37,930
that was from 2008 through 2012 I got asked this question

1083
00:39:38,110 --> 00:39:39,850
often and the question was,

1084
00:39:40,240 --> 00:39:42,160
Oh, can I take you out to lunch?

1085
00:39:42,220 --> 00:39:44,620
I would love to pick your brain to see how you

1086
00:39:44,620 --> 00:39:48,370
market yourself because you've done a fantastic job with your brand.

1087
00:39:48,730 --> 00:39:51,700
And I did because my brand was how you feel when

1088
00:39:51,700 --> 00:39:52,600
you come in the gallery,

1089
00:39:52,690 --> 00:39:53,530
what the smells,

1090
00:39:53,530 --> 00:39:54,010
the tastes,

1091
00:39:54,010 --> 00:39:54,460
all of that,

1092
00:39:54,520 --> 00:39:56,560
all the good stuff that comes along with having an art

1093
00:39:56,560 --> 00:39:59,020
gallery. And I was an art gallery where I sold only

1094
00:39:59,020 --> 00:39:59,650
my work.

1095
00:39:59,870 --> 00:40:01,880
I didn't have time to represent anybody else.

1096
00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:04,760
I was working full time to represent myself and to sell

1097
00:40:04,760 --> 00:40:08,810
my own products because we had 2300 square feet of complete

1098
00:40:08,810 --> 00:40:10,880
Sonya. Oh my gosh.

1099
00:40:10,940 --> 00:40:13,070
It had to be so beautiful in there.

1100
00:40:13,160 --> 00:40:15,760
It was very impressive With all the color.

1101
00:40:15,790 --> 00:40:17,020
I can only imagine.

1102
00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:21,820
Yeah. And so there was a brand we had packaging to

1103
00:40:21,820 --> 00:40:22,480
create, you know,

1104
00:40:22,630 --> 00:40:25,150
had the clocks that were packaged and we had pillows.

1105
00:40:25,150 --> 00:40:26,680
We had packaging for the watches,

1106
00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:28,300
packaging for all of the jewelry,

1107
00:40:28,300 --> 00:40:29,590
and the list goes on.

1108
00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:32,050
And so I would get asked all the time and I

1109
00:40:32,050 --> 00:40:34,210
would spend time with people and I'd want to help them

1110
00:40:34,210 --> 00:40:36,730
out and where are they in their creative journey?

1111
00:40:36,730 --> 00:40:38,470
Or I've even had lawyers who said,

1112
00:40:38,530 --> 00:40:39,430
Hey, I'm a lawyer,

1113
00:40:39,430 --> 00:40:40,750
but I like to paint on the side.

1114
00:40:40,750 --> 00:40:41,680
Can I pick your brain?

1115
00:40:41,860 --> 00:40:43,030
So I got enough of that.

1116
00:40:43,030 --> 00:40:46,810
But I would run into people and later and I would

1117
00:40:46,810 --> 00:40:47,590
say, Hey,

1118
00:40:47,680 --> 00:40:48,580
how's that going?

1119
00:40:48,580 --> 00:40:49,150
How's your art?

1120
00:40:49,210 --> 00:40:50,770
Oh, I never had time to do that.

1121
00:40:50,770 --> 00:40:51,460
They would say,

1122
00:40:51,490 --> 00:40:52,990
because I got really busy,

1123
00:40:53,020 --> 00:40:56,770
or my daughter's son never ended up pursuing it because blah,

1124
00:40:56,770 --> 00:40:57,010
blah, blah,

1125
00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:58,030
whatever reason.

1126
00:40:58,330 --> 00:40:58,990
And I would think,

1127
00:40:58,990 --> 00:41:01,260
okay, and I'll be really blunt here.

1128
00:41:01,600 --> 00:41:02,260
I would think,

1129
00:41:02,380 --> 00:41:06,550
okay, you totally squeezed my brain for two and a half

1130
00:41:06,580 --> 00:41:08,800
hours and you did nothing with it.

1131
00:41:09,040 --> 00:41:12,220
So that really opened up an opportunity for me to start

1132
00:41:12,220 --> 00:41:14,770
doing art marketing workshops at the gallery.

1133
00:41:14,950 --> 00:41:16,360
And that was really great.

1134
00:41:16,360 --> 00:41:18,910
I would do those about three times a year and we'd

1135
00:41:18,910 --> 00:41:19,900
get a nice crowd.

1136
00:41:20,200 --> 00:41:22,210
I'd prepare materials for everyone.

1137
00:41:22,240 --> 00:41:23,200
We'd have Q and a.

1138
00:41:23,260 --> 00:41:26,410
Mark would talk about the product end of things and it

1139
00:41:26,410 --> 00:41:28,780
was about a three hour workshop at the gallery.

1140
00:41:28,930 --> 00:41:31,840
That was fine and dandy for the people that were local,

1141
00:41:31,840 --> 00:41:35,660
but it really didn't have that really wasn't good or useful

1142
00:41:35,660 --> 00:41:37,790
for anybody that was outside of the area.

1143
00:41:38,040 --> 00:41:39,240
Were you charging for that?

1144
00:41:39,300 --> 00:41:42,330
Yes. And so you were also building a curriculum also,

1145
00:41:42,330 --> 00:41:46,110
you were seeing what was working too in the workshops Right

1146
00:41:46,110 --> 00:41:49,620
at the time we called it get in the game and

1147
00:41:49,620 --> 00:41:52,470
it was called the gorilla art marketing experience.

1148
00:41:52,740 --> 00:41:53,640
I know it's kind of,

1149
00:41:53,700 --> 00:41:54,510
I look back and think,

1150
00:41:54,600 --> 00:41:55,200
Oh God,

1151
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,120
but at the time it was a great name.

1152
00:41:57,330 --> 00:41:59,250
Sure. You know gorilla marketing.

1153
00:41:59,430 --> 00:42:00,030
Get out there,

1154
00:42:00,030 --> 00:42:00,390
do it,

1155
00:42:00,390 --> 00:42:00,630
do it,

1156
00:42:00,630 --> 00:42:01,020
do it.

1157
00:42:01,050 --> 00:42:01,530
Get out there,

1158
00:42:01,530 --> 00:42:01,950
get out there,

1159
00:42:01,950 --> 00:42:02,400
get out there,

1160
00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:03,210
do it yourself.

1161
00:42:03,300 --> 00:42:03,930
Be brave.

1162
00:42:03,930 --> 00:42:04,860
Be tenacious.

1163
00:42:04,890 --> 00:42:05,790
Don't be afraid.

1164
00:42:05,950 --> 00:42:08,170
You're not going to learn this by getting an MBA at

1165
00:42:08,170 --> 00:42:10,840
Harvard. This is putting on the hip waders and jump in

1166
00:42:10,840 --> 00:42:13,660
the trenches of really just getting out there and doing it

1167
00:42:13,690 --> 00:42:14,350
on your own.

1168
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,030
So that's how that name came on.

1169
00:42:16,090 --> 00:42:18,040
And then after we closed the gallery,

1170
00:42:18,040 --> 00:42:21,970
I sort of transitioned back to studio by appointment and then

1171
00:42:21,970 --> 00:42:23,440
we ended up moving out of the area.

1172
00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,090
So podcasts,

1173
00:42:25,450 --> 00:42:27,460
I know they've been around for a long time,

1174
00:42:27,700 --> 00:42:32,380
but I started doing rock star mentor podcast in 2016 so

1175
00:42:32,380 --> 00:42:34,600
about a little over two and a half years old and

1176
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:35,860
110 episodes.

1177
00:42:36,040 --> 00:42:38,140
I created it because one,

1178
00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:41,380
I wanted to overcome some fears that I had and that

1179
00:42:41,380 --> 00:42:46,390
was being on video and listening to myself on audio.

1180
00:42:46,700 --> 00:42:49,070
Those were two things I could not stand.

1181
00:42:49,070 --> 00:42:51,710
I couldn't stand watching myself on video and I could not

1182
00:42:51,710 --> 00:42:53,960
stand listening to myself on audio.

1183
00:42:54,230 --> 00:42:54,740
So I thought,

1184
00:42:54,740 --> 00:42:55,700
I gotta get over this.

1185
00:42:55,730 --> 00:42:58,250
I have a voice and I have ideas and I have

1186
00:42:58,250 --> 00:43:01,160
experienced that I want others to know about.

1187
00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:04,040
I want them to know what to expect and how to

1188
00:43:04,040 --> 00:43:06,350
network and how to get it out there,

1189
00:43:06,350 --> 00:43:07,610
how to be fearless.

1190
00:43:07,700 --> 00:43:10,820
And there's just a whole variety of things that I wanted

1191
00:43:10,820 --> 00:43:14,570
to put out there because I didn't have those cool tools

1192
00:43:14,720 --> 00:43:15,710
when I was starting out.

1193
00:43:15,830 --> 00:43:19,850
And it was almost taboo to ask anybody in the highfalutin

1194
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:21,380
art industry questions,

1195
00:43:21,380 --> 00:43:22,760
you couldn't ask questions,

1196
00:43:22,760 --> 00:43:22,970
you know,

1197
00:43:22,970 --> 00:43:23,930
who do I call?

1198
00:43:23,930 --> 00:43:25,340
How do I start a website?

1199
00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:26,900
Where do I buy these frames?

1200
00:43:26,990 --> 00:43:27,230
You know,

1201
00:43:27,230 --> 00:43:29,750
how do I establish a retail or wholesale account,

1202
00:43:29,780 --> 00:43:30,560
that type of thing.

1203
00:43:30,800 --> 00:43:32,330
It was almost a hush hush.

1204
00:43:32,390 --> 00:43:32,930
Oh you know,

1205
00:43:32,930 --> 00:43:34,430
you're asking me that question.

1206
00:43:34,490 --> 00:43:36,080
Well it's not rocket science.

1207
00:43:36,080 --> 00:43:38,390
You're going to figure it out eventually cause everybody does.

1208
00:43:38,630 --> 00:43:43,070
But I've provided resources and ideas and ways and confidence for

1209
00:43:43,070 --> 00:43:46,250
others to be able to do that without feeling bad or

1210
00:43:46,250 --> 00:43:47,690
hindered or embarrassed.

1211
00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:52,360
So I created the podcast essentially to help people get over

1212
00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:53,950
the hump of not doing it,

1213
00:43:54,100 --> 00:43:56,950
saying that they're going to do it and constantly saying they're

1214
00:43:56,950 --> 00:43:57,430
going to do it.

1215
00:43:57,430 --> 00:43:59,110
Cause I know a lot of artists who say,

1216
00:43:59,110 --> 00:43:59,470
yeah, yeah,

1217
00:43:59,470 --> 00:44:00,850
I'm going to do this or I'm going to do that

1218
00:44:00,850 --> 00:44:03,160
and here they are five years later and not moving in

1219
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:03,730
that direction.

1220
00:44:03,880 --> 00:44:04,960
I totally get it.

1221
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:07,810
It's heartbreaking because I run into the same people.

1222
00:44:07,840 --> 00:44:10,120
I didn't have a workshop like you do,

1223
00:44:10,150 --> 00:44:13,000
but I have a trade show booth and people come up

1224
00:44:13,060 --> 00:44:15,040
and a lot of listeners already know my story.

1225
00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:15,820
I'm not going to say it there,

1226
00:44:15,820 --> 00:44:19,390
but I'm seeing the same thing that they're afraid to start

1227
00:44:19,630 --> 00:44:21,010
because they don't know what to do.

1228
00:44:21,010 --> 00:44:23,710
And they're afraid of failing right off the bat.

1229
00:44:23,710 --> 00:44:25,270
And I really want to say to everybody,

1230
00:44:25,270 --> 00:44:26,710
you're going to fail off the bat,

1231
00:44:26,860 --> 00:44:28,360
but don't look at it as failing.

1232
00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,560
Look at it as an experiment so that you can get

1233
00:44:31,590 --> 00:44:35,820
into the groove and find what's really gonna work now when

1234
00:44:35,820 --> 00:44:37,470
you started.

1235
00:44:37,590 --> 00:44:41,460
Cause I think I still see it even sadly today and

1236
00:44:41,580 --> 00:44:45,090
my motivation behind my shows just the same as yours.

1237
00:44:45,180 --> 00:44:45,450
You know,

1238
00:44:45,450 --> 00:44:48,900
we want people to get started so that they aren't 30

1239
00:44:48,900 --> 00:44:52,740
years down the road here with regrets saying what if,

1240
00:44:52,770 --> 00:44:52,980
you know,

1241
00:44:52,980 --> 00:44:56,370
if only I would've put my fear or my ego or

1242
00:44:56,370 --> 00:44:58,200
whatever it is that's holding them back aside,

1243
00:44:58,200 --> 00:44:59,880
what if I would have done that?

1244
00:45:00,030 --> 00:45:02,550
And so I think by showing other people's stories,

1245
00:45:02,700 --> 00:45:05,250
even people who have had such great successes,

1246
00:45:05,250 --> 00:45:07,350
you, if you break it down to the steps that you

1247
00:45:07,350 --> 00:45:11,550
took apart from that watch part Mark from that watch because

1248
00:45:11,550 --> 00:45:12,540
that's a little crazy.

1249
00:45:12,720 --> 00:45:15,120
But a lot of these steps don't seem to be too

1250
00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:17,730
hard. It's just a matter of getting out and starting,

1251
00:45:18,000 --> 00:45:19,620
right. And asking questions.

1252
00:45:19,680 --> 00:45:21,990
Cause there's people in different facets of business,

1253
00:45:21,990 --> 00:45:23,550
whether it's creating products,

1254
00:45:23,820 --> 00:45:24,900
doing websites,

1255
00:45:24,960 --> 00:45:26,010
doing SEO,

1256
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:28,890
creating different types of products or teaching you how to use

1257
00:45:28,890 --> 00:45:31,380
their equipment to make a product.

1258
00:45:31,410 --> 00:45:32,310
They're in business.

1259
00:45:32,310 --> 00:45:33,570
They want to be asked questions.

1260
00:45:33,570 --> 00:45:35,700
So don't be afraid to reach out and say,

1261
00:45:35,700 --> 00:45:37,170
Hey, can you help me with this?

1262
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:37,470
I mean,

1263
00:45:37,470 --> 00:45:40,650
I ask questions all the time and my father always said,

1264
00:45:40,710 --> 00:45:43,170
a person who doesn't ask questions doesn't want to be smart.

1265
00:45:44,060 --> 00:45:45,740
Yeah. You have to ask.

1266
00:45:46,060 --> 00:45:46,840
And you know,

1267
00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,540
Sue, like what you said is if you were running,

1268
00:45:49,570 --> 00:45:50,230
I mean everybody,

1269
00:45:50,230 --> 00:45:53,770
I'm sure every listener here in the history of podcasts or

1270
00:45:53,770 --> 00:45:55,720
the world has fallen down to scrape their knee.

1271
00:45:55,750 --> 00:45:58,900
It's not going to hinder you from walking again,

1272
00:45:58,930 --> 00:45:59,380
is it?

1273
00:45:59,410 --> 00:46:02,380
So everyone's going to fail in some capacity.

1274
00:46:02,590 --> 00:46:05,080
Some are bigger fails and smaller fails,

1275
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:07,000
but don't use that as a way to say,

1276
00:46:07,000 --> 00:46:07,780
well I've done that.

1277
00:46:07,780 --> 00:46:09,430
I failed and I'm just going to stop.

1278
00:46:09,490 --> 00:46:13,150
No, it should teach you that you can move forward and

1279
00:46:13,150 --> 00:46:16,270
get it right and not think of it as bad failure

1280
00:46:16,300 --> 00:46:19,750
because failure is only going to make your success a lot

1281
00:46:19,750 --> 00:46:21,050
stronger. Yeah.

1282
00:46:21,080 --> 00:46:22,880
I mean your ego might get bruised,

1283
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:23,930
but that's okay.

1284
00:46:24,110 --> 00:46:24,460
Oh yeah.

1285
00:46:24,460 --> 00:46:26,420
Yeah. If I was to stop doing what I'm doing because

1286
00:46:26,420 --> 00:46:28,130
of ego or mean people,

1287
00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:29,810
namely mr editor,

1288
00:46:29,810 --> 00:46:31,010
that the book editor,

1289
00:46:31,220 --> 00:46:33,920
right. I would not have been able to experience what I've

1290
00:46:33,920 --> 00:46:35,230
experienced. Well,

1291
00:46:35,230 --> 00:46:37,030
and here's the sad thing about that.

1292
00:46:37,090 --> 00:46:38,950
We wouldn't have your beautiful art.

1293
00:46:39,010 --> 00:46:40,750
I mean to say that truly,

1294
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:42,130
cause you've seen,

1295
00:46:42,430 --> 00:46:43,180
no, I really am.

1296
00:46:43,180 --> 00:46:45,490
Because you see how many people love it,

1297
00:46:45,580 --> 00:46:48,160
right? From all the sightings all around.

1298
00:46:48,220 --> 00:46:49,450
That wouldn't be here.

1299
00:46:49,510 --> 00:46:52,030
And I say that as a compliment to you,

1300
00:46:52,060 --> 00:46:54,850
but I also say that for our listeners because what are

1301
00:46:54,850 --> 00:46:59,170
you creating that you're keeping from all of us by not

1302
00:46:59,200 --> 00:47:00,850
getting your knee bruised a little bit,

1303
00:47:01,060 --> 00:47:01,720
and I really,

1304
00:47:01,720 --> 00:47:03,460
really honestly do mean that.

1305
00:47:03,670 --> 00:47:04,630
The other thing,

1306
00:47:04,660 --> 00:47:07,150
I'm starting to have this as a common theme because I

1307
00:47:07,150 --> 00:47:10,690
think it's really important is that because so many people won't

1308
00:47:10,690 --> 00:47:11,200
do it,

1309
00:47:11,380 --> 00:47:13,720
if you push past those problems,

1310
00:47:13,780 --> 00:47:14,530
you try something,

1311
00:47:14,530 --> 00:47:15,280
it doesn't work,

1312
00:47:15,310 --> 00:47:16,600
but you keep going.

1313
00:47:16,810 --> 00:47:18,130
Every time you do that,

1314
00:47:18,130 --> 00:47:20,860
you overcome another hurdle or whatever it is.

1315
00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:22,480
People fall by the wayside,

1316
00:47:22,600 --> 00:47:24,190
so the road gets easier.

1317
00:47:24,190 --> 00:47:27,160
There's less people there because you've learned something,

1318
00:47:27,220 --> 00:47:28,660
you've moved to a different level,

1319
00:47:28,870 --> 00:47:29,860
there's people,

1320
00:47:29,890 --> 00:47:31,210
you encounter a problem,

1321
00:47:31,270 --> 00:47:32,290
you figure it out,

1322
00:47:32,500 --> 00:47:33,850
you cross the hurdle.

1323
00:47:34,090 --> 00:47:36,940
Other people fall off the playing field,

1324
00:47:36,940 --> 00:47:40,150
I guess I'll say keeps getting smaller and smaller in terms

1325
00:47:40,150 --> 00:47:41,770
of the number of people that are there.

1326
00:47:41,950 --> 00:47:43,030
Right. And that's,

1327
00:47:43,030 --> 00:47:43,450
you know,

1328
00:47:43,600 --> 00:47:44,290
with anything,

1329
00:47:44,290 --> 00:47:46,330
with any kind of job or life experience,

1330
00:47:46,360 --> 00:47:47,680
you're going to have,

1331
00:47:48,220 --> 00:47:50,440
people will fall off and that's,

1332
00:47:50,500 --> 00:47:50,950
they got to,

1333
00:47:51,010 --> 00:47:52,720
I guess they have to account for that.

1334
00:47:52,720 --> 00:47:55,360
But for the folks who I know who I network with,

1335
00:47:55,390 --> 00:47:59,050
who have businesses and all a variety of business,

1336
00:47:59,050 --> 00:48:00,220
realtors, mortgage people,

1337
00:48:00,220 --> 00:48:01,240
chiropractors, you know,

1338
00:48:01,240 --> 00:48:02,110
whatever. I mean,

1339
00:48:02,140 --> 00:48:02,770
Sean Pirlo,

1340
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:04,930
who was in your recent podcast,

1341
00:48:04,930 --> 00:48:08,740
she's in my networking group and we trade ideas and we

1342
00:48:08,740 --> 00:48:09,730
support one another.

1343
00:48:10,020 --> 00:48:12,620
You have to support your fellow business person.

1344
00:48:12,980 --> 00:48:16,160
I used to know someone who was held tight and we're

1345
00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:18,950
talking late eighties she held tight to her sources.

1346
00:48:18,950 --> 00:48:19,130
You know,

1347
00:48:19,130 --> 00:48:20,640
I'm not gonna tell you where I buy my wreaths,

1348
00:48:20,640 --> 00:48:22,010
sir. I'm not going to tell you where I buy my

1349
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:23,180
cake, baking supplies,

1350
00:48:23,180 --> 00:48:24,980
whatever. You know that stuff.

1351
00:48:25,040 --> 00:48:26,210
It's not a hidden fake,

1352
00:48:26,210 --> 00:48:28,850
right. You just have to sometimes take the time.

1353
00:48:28,850 --> 00:48:30,050
And now that we have the internet,

1354
00:48:30,050 --> 00:48:33,950
the beautiful thing of our online presence and internet and everything

1355
00:48:33,950 --> 00:48:36,380
that you can locate just about anything,

1356
00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:38,510
anywhere. Absolutely.

1357
00:48:38,540 --> 00:48:39,800
And you can get support.

1358
00:48:40,010 --> 00:48:42,560
Facebook groups are a great place for support.

1359
00:48:43,110 --> 00:48:46,380
Absolutely. And one of my early episodes on the podcast,

1360
00:48:46,680 --> 00:48:48,780
I had someone write in and say,

1361
00:48:48,810 --> 00:48:51,270
I don't have a networking group in my area.

1362
00:48:51,300 --> 00:48:52,020
What do you suggest?

1363
00:48:52,020 --> 00:48:52,410
And I told her,

1364
00:48:52,420 --> 00:48:53,220
go start your own.

1365
00:48:53,700 --> 00:48:56,190
If you want to have your own artist group start in

1366
00:48:56,190 --> 00:48:57,030
your community,

1367
00:48:57,180 --> 00:48:58,050
go to meet ups,

1368
00:48:58,070 --> 00:49:03,120
start getting around people who are artists or even independent business

1369
00:49:03,120 --> 00:49:04,980
owners and create your own group.

1370
00:49:05,010 --> 00:49:06,420
There's no rule that says you can't,

1371
00:49:06,420 --> 00:49:09,510
so more power to you and make it happen.

1372
00:49:09,630 --> 00:49:13,560
Absolutely. And I love your podcast because you have all the

1373
00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:17,610
different stories and people who tell their story and I want

1374
00:49:17,610 --> 00:49:21,150
to just add to listeners listening to any podcast,

1375
00:49:21,150 --> 00:49:22,050
yours, mine,

1376
00:49:22,260 --> 00:49:26,130
anything out there that they feel inspired or whatever is when

1377
00:49:26,130 --> 00:49:28,680
you're communicating with other people in business,

1378
00:49:28,800 --> 00:49:30,570
listen to what they're telling you.

1379
00:49:30,570 --> 00:49:34,860
Listen to their story because you will find so much inspiration

1380
00:49:34,890 --> 00:49:37,410
in the words from other people who have,

1381
00:49:37,620 --> 00:49:37,860
you know,

1382
00:49:37,860 --> 00:49:40,380
scraped their knees and got up and kept running and it's

1383
00:49:40,380 --> 00:49:40,920
all good.

1384
00:49:41,370 --> 00:49:45,000
Yeah. I think even when it's outside of our industry,

1385
00:49:45,030 --> 00:49:47,460
you almost listen with a different angle.

1386
00:49:47,460 --> 00:49:49,620
And I think you pick up things that if it's in

1387
00:49:49,620 --> 00:49:50,550
your same industry,

1388
00:49:50,550 --> 00:49:51,360
you might miss.

1389
00:49:51,690 --> 00:49:54,510
Right. So I almost feel there's more value when it's not

1390
00:49:54,510 --> 00:49:55,440
your, you almost feel like,

1391
00:49:55,460 --> 00:49:57,450
like if you're a Baker and you're listening to another Baker,

1392
00:49:57,450 --> 00:49:59,520
you already know a lot about that industry,

1393
00:49:59,730 --> 00:50:03,030
but someone who's a Baker who's listening in here that hear

1394
00:50:03,030 --> 00:50:05,490
it in a different way just because it's applied to a

1395
00:50:05,490 --> 00:50:07,530
different type of making,

1396
00:50:07,740 --> 00:50:08,460
if you will.

1397
00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:09,650
Correct. Yeah.

1398
00:50:09,930 --> 00:50:10,640
Could really,

1399
00:50:10,640 --> 00:50:13,640
really resonate with them where it wouldn't have otherwise.

1400
00:50:14,120 --> 00:50:16,600
Absolutely. Sonya,

1401
00:50:16,690 --> 00:50:19,330
I now want to invite you to dare to dream.

1402
00:50:19,990 --> 00:50:22,750
Okay. I'd like to present you with a virtual gift.

1403
00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:27,350
It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.

1404
00:50:27,410 --> 00:50:29,540
Not everybody else that you're helping along,

1405
00:50:29,540 --> 00:50:30,380
but yours.

1406
00:50:30,590 --> 00:50:33,680
This is your dream or your goal of almost unreachable Heights

1407
00:50:33,680 --> 00:50:35,000
that you would wish to obtain.

1408
00:50:35,450 --> 00:50:38,360
Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.

1409
00:50:38,510 --> 00:50:39,860
What's inside your box?

1410
00:50:40,130 --> 00:50:41,540
So my box,

1411
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:42,470
I would have to say,

1412
00:50:42,470 --> 00:50:47,330
Sue, that it is just continuing helping other creative people and

1413
00:50:47,330 --> 00:50:50,870
he's buddy in a small business flourish in their vision.

1414
00:50:51,110 --> 00:50:54,800
I love it when people ask me for advice and questions

1415
00:50:54,860 --> 00:50:58,730
or they connect with me to want to have a path

1416
00:50:58,730 --> 00:51:02,480
to help them move forward because they're hindered by self doubt

1417
00:51:02,480 --> 00:51:03,710
or the imposter syndrome.

1418
00:51:03,980 --> 00:51:07,610
I will be your superhero to help you move forward and

1419
00:51:07,610 --> 00:51:10,910
just get it out there and make your brand better.

1420
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:12,350
Love it.

1421
00:51:12,620 --> 00:51:13,670
Absolutely love it.

1422
00:51:13,670 --> 00:51:15,410
So most people only get one,

1423
00:51:15,410 --> 00:51:17,390
but I'm giving you two.

1424
00:51:17,750 --> 00:51:22,040
Where could people come and connect with you for two different

1425
00:51:22,040 --> 00:51:22,910
things? First,

1426
00:51:22,910 --> 00:51:26,120
let's go with your beautiful art and everything that's there.

1427
00:51:26,180 --> 00:51:28,610
If someone wants to get a look at everything and see

1428
00:51:28,610 --> 00:51:29,420
what's available,

1429
00:51:29,420 --> 00:51:30,890
where would you direct them?

1430
00:51:31,440 --> 00:51:34,380
Okay, so my website is Sonya,

1431
00:51:34,380 --> 00:51:38,910
pass.com it's S O N Y a P a z.com.

1432
00:51:39,150 --> 00:51:42,600
That's my sole website for my art and you can see

1433
00:51:42,600 --> 00:51:45,780
all the retail products on there as well as some original

1434
00:51:45,780 --> 00:51:47,850
works and I have a blog on there,

1435
00:51:47,850 --> 00:51:49,290
which is interesting.

1436
00:51:49,290 --> 00:51:50,760
It's not been updated recently,

1437
00:51:50,760 --> 00:51:51,810
but it's really interesting.

1438
00:51:51,970 --> 00:51:54,430
I heard how you started to get a little quieter with

1439
00:51:54,550 --> 00:51:55,540
that statement.

1440
00:51:56,740 --> 00:51:57,460
You can take that.

1441
00:51:58,030 --> 00:51:58,840
No, it was funny.

1442
00:51:58,870 --> 00:51:59,770
It hasn't been updated.

1443
00:51:59,770 --> 00:52:01,300
I can raise my hand to that too,

1444
00:52:01,390 --> 00:52:02,620
but you're doing a podcast,

1445
00:52:02,650 --> 00:52:03,610
so of course.

1446
00:52:03,850 --> 00:52:04,750
Okay, super.

1447
00:52:05,020 --> 00:52:09,400
And then what about for the mentoring and the podcast and

1448
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:10,870
all? Where would someone go for that?

1449
00:52:11,380 --> 00:52:16,390
Sure. My website for the podcast is rockstar mentor.com

1450
00:52:16,570 --> 00:52:19,870
it's rockstar and mentor together.com

1451
00:52:19,960 --> 00:52:22,120
and you can reach me there.

1452
00:52:22,120 --> 00:52:26,680
You can also find the podcast on my website as well

1453
00:52:26,680 --> 00:52:28,180
as iTunes on Apple,

1454
00:52:28,180 --> 00:52:29,290
Stitcher radio,

1455
00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:32,260
Google play and tune in or wherever you listen to your

1456
00:52:32,260 --> 00:52:35,980
podcasts. But I also have a player on the website.

1457
00:52:35,980 --> 00:52:36,760
If you go to rockstar,

1458
00:52:36,760 --> 00:52:39,040
mentor.com and go up under podcasts,

1459
00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:42,070
you'll see the player there or if you're a reader and

1460
00:52:42,070 --> 00:52:43,000
not much of a listener,

1461
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,280
then you can always get the show notes under the blog

1462
00:52:45,310 --> 00:52:46,990
show notes section on the website.

1463
00:52:47,400 --> 00:52:49,200
Beautiful, perfect,

1464
00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:52,320
perfect. It's so nice now that the podcasts are so many

1465
00:52:52,320 --> 00:52:53,970
different places with them,

1466
00:52:53,970 --> 00:52:56,790
so many places because it gives an opportunity for everybody where

1467
00:52:56,790 --> 00:52:58,890
they feel the most comfortable to be.

1468
00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:01,410
Sure. So that is wonderful.

1469
00:53:01,710 --> 00:53:04,740
I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your being.

1470
00:53:04,740 --> 00:53:05,490
On the show.

1471
00:53:05,550 --> 00:53:09,720
I had no clue about your story and no surprise cause

1472
00:53:09,720 --> 00:53:10,800
you're so successful,

1473
00:53:10,980 --> 00:53:13,980
but no surprise that there were so many best practices that

1474
00:53:13,980 --> 00:53:15,630
you follow all the way along.

1475
00:53:15,870 --> 00:53:16,680
Give biz listeners,

1476
00:53:16,680 --> 00:53:18,390
you've got to see her art.

1477
00:53:18,420 --> 00:53:19,710
You absolutely have to see it.

1478
00:53:19,710 --> 00:53:20,340
It's beautiful.

1479
00:53:20,340 --> 00:53:22,050
It will put a smile on your face.

1480
00:53:22,290 --> 00:53:23,910
You've got to listen to her podcast.

1481
00:53:23,910 --> 00:53:24,990
You can tell more.

1482
00:53:25,110 --> 00:53:28,110
The goodness that she shared here is all over that show.

1483
00:53:28,110 --> 00:53:29,340
I am quite sure.

1484
00:53:29,580 --> 00:53:31,050
Sonia, thank you so much.

1485
00:53:31,080 --> 00:53:31,710
I really,

1486
00:53:31,710 --> 00:53:34,500
really appreciate you taking the time and sharing with my listeners

1487
00:53:34,500 --> 00:53:36,250
today. Thank you Sue.

1488
00:53:36,280 --> 00:53:39,370
This has been such a treat and an honor to be

1489
00:53:39,370 --> 00:53:42,400
on your podcast show today and I really,

1490
00:53:42,460 --> 00:53:45,250
really appreciate your reaching out and connecting with me.

1491
00:53:45,670 --> 00:53:47,830
Wonderful and you know we'll stay in touch.

1492
00:53:47,890 --> 00:53:51,430
Absolutely cause you're going to be on my show sooner than

1493
00:53:51,460 --> 00:53:53,680
later. Oh yay.

1494
00:53:54,870 --> 00:53:55,710
Bye for now.

1495
00:53:55,740 --> 00:53:56,190
Take care.

1496
00:53:56,190 --> 00:53:56,610
Bye. Bye.

1497
00:53:59,880 --> 00:54:02,580
As an additional holiday gift to you,

1498
00:54:02,850 --> 00:54:05,370
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1510
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