174: Fall Q&A: Your Burning Questions Part 2

Hi there. Welcome back to the Professional Creative. Today we're diving into your questions again. So if you missed last week's episode, we're doing a two part listener Q and A now. Last week we talked about some incredible things like what's my take on AI and art and also some more vulnerable things like what am I still working on, what feels like a very low point for me in my professional journey

and what are some things that I'm

still working towards, towards achieving that was last week. This week we're diving into a whole new set of incredible questions that you submitted. So I don't know if you know that you can submit questions for the podcast and you can. I would love to hear more about really what you want to hear about. So you can do so by going over to bonniecristine.comlinks and you'll find a link there for submitting a question for the podcast. If you're on Instagram, you can also that link right inside my bio if that's easier. And I'm just Bonnie Christine on Instagram as well. So are you ready to dive in?

I'm Bonnie Christine and this is where all things creativity, design, business and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky Mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most common creative and impactful work of my life.

But when I first set out to

become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today. I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up. I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want, and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the Professional Creative Podcast.

Becca says, where do you see yourself

and your business in ten years? Okay, Becca, truth be told, I really struggle with 10 year visions because at this point in my life and my business, I almost have 20 years of experience. Almost. And so there is quite literally no way that I could have seen where I am at that 10 year increment. Like I can't even imagine. I can't even conjure it up in my mind. And so I struggle with a 10 year goal quite immensely. I can do a one year goal really well. I can do a one year Goal really, really well. And so this past year we Stretched ourselves on the team to do a five year really map of goal setting. And this was fun because we have some really, really big, big things that we would love to accomplish as a team. And there's really never a place to put them in a calendar year because

like our plate's pretty full.

And so it was fun to have a five year because then you could place them on the calendar like maybe in year three. We're really focused on this, which would set us up perfectly for this happening in year four, which means that maybe, maybe, maybe this could possibly happen in year five. And so I love a five year goal now. I like to work with numbers and make data driven decisions. And so for many, many years I doubled my income every year really from the time that I started my business to the point that I hit, oh, I'm not sure, maybe three and a half million of gross annual revenue for the business, something like that. And then the percentage just started to come down a little bit at a time. And I think that that's probably pretty normal. I don't think you can double forever and ever and ever. So every year for a five year goal, we typically expect a 30% growth and that's really across the board. So not only in revenue, but also in email list growth, in social media, followers, in organic traffic growth. I think 25 to 35% is a really good growth indicator, meaning that's pretty good growth. Like oftentimes we're just happy to do the same year over year, let alone grow. So it's a bit of a stretch goal. But I do think it's something that is possible. So I would say start there, look at where you are this year, where you were for the last couple years, what was your growth percentages. And then you can decide if you want to be aggressive and try to double, if you want to be gentle and just try to do the same, or if you want to do something in the middle to grow sustainably and then you can map out the next five years and then when you see those numbers, if you hit let's say 30% growth in all those different areas, what else does that make possible? So let's say in year three you hit 50,000 subscribers on your email list. Well, what does that make possible? Kind of a lot. And so you can kind of like iterate off of that. So I don't think I really answered your question. I don't see myself in 10 years, I see myself in five years. And at that point I would love to be in a new Home we're probably going to be building in the next couple of years. Super excited about that. My children are going to be teenagers, which is insane. So I see myself just really soaking up every moment that I can with them. And then I see myself in publication in some way published or in broadcasting in some capacity. That's all I'll say. Okay, Shannon says, what strategies do you use to ensure student success when planning the immersion course? So it sounds like, Shannon, you might know that we really measure our success by the success of our students. Meaning I'm not just interested in students money. Right. I'm very much interested in their success. And so we really decided that because if our students are finding success really means that we're doing everything else well. We're attracting students, we're teaching them well, we're graduating them well, they're finishing the course and they're moving on to find success. So we spend a lot of time and intention in this area. A couple of things that we do is gamify the course, meaning in several different ways we try to strategize how could we make this fun to work through, how could we reward people for finishing a lesson or finishing a module, how could we reward them for finishing the course and then how can we help them moving forward? So Flourish. Our membership is open only to alumni and it's super affordable after the course if you want to come into the membership for long term growth, growth and support and strategy. And so that membership is a great way for us to really just continue on to encourage success in all of our students. And then of course we want to tell and celebrate their stories. And so Flourish in my mind is really helping people implement what they learned in the course in a long term way. So 18 months down the road, when it's time to negotiate a licensing contract, we're there for you. And when you have maybe a brand new collection and you took immersion three years ago and you really need someone's eyes on it, you need feedback on your work, we're there for you. And so that is really the strategy for making sure that our students find success and they have support when they need it. Great question. Okay. Moffi says, have you ever been indecisive about what you should focus on in your career? Educator or artist or something else? Yes, Mafi, like all the time. You've probably heard me say that. I truly believe that having ideas, it's really our superpower as a creative. We have no lack of ideas. We have so many different things we could do but focus is our Kryptonite. It is so incredibly difficult to figure out what is the best thing to do and in what order should I do them in. So this is a whole topic in and of itself, and it's tricky. So I make mistakes all the time. I try to think through this, but somewhere in about Q2 of this year, we really decided that our focus needs to be to focus, meaning get really, really clear about what we're doing, who we're serving, how we're helping, and what we're doing next. Because as your business grows, you just have so many different things that you could do. Your list really needs to look like this. Like could, could, could, should, could, could, should, could, could, could, should, and pull all the should dos out and do those first at least. And then really, really think through the could dos, because you. It will serve you well to be really focused. And so this year, it's meant that we've had to make some really, really big decisions, some really hard decisions. Some things that we were going to do that we decided not to, some things that we were doing that we decided to stop doing. I'll do an episode about all of that soon. But it's all been in works towards getting really focused. And so I think that it's probably pretty normal to at some point, maybe every year, just be like, oh, my goodness, how did I start doing all these things? What do I to trim? What do I need to cut out? What do I need to simplify? What do I need to really get focused on? If you're an artist or designer dreaming

of seeing your work on products in the real world, like fabric and wallpaper and greeting cards. But maybe you're struggling to break into the world of licensing. Listen up. The art licensing industry can feel like almost an exclusive club with gatekeepers and confusing entry points. But I've found a way to simplify. Imagine pouring your heart into your art only to see it gather dust. That is not what we want.

Maybe you've tried posting on social media,

setting up an online store, sending out emails, but it feels like shouting into the void. The art world is confusing. And breaking into licensing isn't just about talent. It's also about finding the right partners that are the right fit. Now, I've been in the same boat. I've spent tireless hours researching, compiling lists, learning how to approach companies.

Companies.

Then one day, I had tremendous success. So after so much trial and error, I signed my first licensing deal.

Then another, and another.

Today, my artwork is licensed all over the world, and I want to help you achieve the same success.

So I've taken what I consider the most difficult part and well, I've done it for you.

I've poured over a decade of experience in developing the Ultimate Licensing Handbook. This is a curated list of over 400 companies across 17 plus industries. So you don't have to this handbook is so much more than a list. It's a comprehensive resource that is going to help you eliminate the guesswork. It includes pitch templates that get results and step by step guidance on how to approach companies. If you've tried compiling this information on your own, you know how time consuming it is. It would take months. In fact, we've estimated that this handbook will save you over 463 hours of work and it gives you direct access to the company that can take your career to the next level.

So are you ready to take the Next step?

Visit BonnieCristine.com Handbook to get your copy of the Ultimate Licensing Handbook and get instant access to all of these resources that we've poured so much into so

that you don't have to remember there's room for you and I'd love to help you get started,

Jennifer says what

were the pivotal standout moments that defined your professional growth? Were there people came in and out of your life who helped shape your professional career in those standout moments? Yeah, Jennifer, absolutely. I'm going to actually take you way back to my very first podcast episode. Episode number one is called Starting at Zero and it actually breaks down all the things over the last decade plus that have been pivotal moments for me. So you're going to love that episode. But I can also talk about a few people. I mean, I won't spend too much time on this. There's so many people. First of all, my mom and dad. My dad is an incredible entrepreneur and so is my mom. And they both just made me believe that I could, that I should do something that I love and that I could do anything I wanted to. And they really led by example and it was beautiful to see. The next was someone that I met really early on in 2012. Long story short, my husband was a cycling coach for many, many years and one of his athletes that he was coaching training for a big event. I used to go drive SAG for them, which means that I drove a car behind them as they rode their bikes with like food and clean clothes and spare tires. So it meant that I had a lot of time in the car to think. And specifically I had a lot of time with this man who David was coaching. His name was Matt. And he, Matt was just amazing. He was the wealthiest guy we had ever met in our entire lives. David and I were making like $30,000 a year at the time all of this happened. And Matt just kept asking questions. He was impressed with kind of what I was doing. And he coached me from a business perspective. And he sort of like just in the car, while we were driving to and from places, I would pick his brain. And David was there as well. He would pick his brain. And so he really introduced me for the first time to the concept of residual income, which is do the work once and get paid for it over and over and over again. And so, or another way to say that is like, what could you do that you could earn income on while you sleep? So really simple example of this would be something like an ebook or, or some kind of digital download that you create and list for sale. And it can get purchased at any time, day or night by anyone in the world. Right? So that is residual income. You did the work once, you can get paid for it over and over again. And then also recurring revenue. So recurring revenue is a little bit different. It is money that is going to come month after month. It's somewhat predictable. So that's like a subscription based service like you might pay for Netflix or something like that. That would be recurring revenue. Now passive income is something completely different. And I think passive income gets used when people really need really mean residual income. True passive income is something like what you earn off of an investment that is sitting in the bank somewhere. It's like truly, truly passive. Residual income does require some work and upkeep and customer service, but still the concept is there and it's really strong. So anyways, Matt taught me all about this and it is what encouraged the idea of my membership, which I started in 2012. And it was the first time that I had had any type of predictable income in my business ever. And I just really started to obsess over what revenue streams could I establish that were either recurring or resid. Really stopped trading time for money and that changed everything. And then the third person I would say is Stu McLaren. Stu is an educator. He's an incredible guy. He teaches the membership experience, if you've ever heard or taken that course. But he's also my business mentor. I'm in his mastermind called Impact. And he has just shown me over the years what's possible, what it looks like to lead with integrity, what it looks like to lead with a whole heart, how to make difficult decisions. So it's so important that you have these type of people in your life.

Okay.

The next person didn't put their name in. So I'm not sure who you are, but I loved your question. Do you have a morning practice or ritual that helps you set your day up for success? So I do. I have one that I prefer and don't always get to, but truly when I do it, it's like the best day ever. And then one that I default to when things are busy. So I'll start with the one that I default to. The one that I default to is that I wake up around 6:30. I typically get to sit with David and have coffee, wake the kids up by seven, get them ready for school, out the door, and then I go work out at 8:30. And so that puts me to my computer by around 10 in the morning. And I do that one every single day, no matter what. I love my morning routine. I love working out in the morning. I do CrossFit, which is super community driven. So it also feels like time with the people that I love and cherish the most. And so that is typically my morning routine. It sets me up for success and mental clarity for the day. Now if I'm on my game, which is probably half the time, I'll wake up much earlier. I'll wake up let's say between 5 and 5:30, and that gives me an entire hour to sit and read in the morning. I love to do a devotion, read the Bible, then read at least like 10 pages of a book that I'm trying to read, typically a business book, and then do some writing. I think writing is best in the morning. And I have a lot of writing projects on my doc. Everything from our weekly newsletter to team updates to a book to magazine articles and all kinds of stuff. And so that's what I really, really, really love to do. But I'm also adamant that I get like, I mean at minimum eight hours of sleep, up to 10 hours, you know, especially on the weekend. But in the week if I can get eight to nine hours. So I've got to go to bed pretty early if I'm gonna get up at 30. Okay. The next one says, what does work family life balance look like for you on a day to day basis and how and when do you generally find time to connect with your family? So this is fairly easy for me now because my children are in school. Before they were in school, my whole goal was to work with them kind of alongside me. But when they're in the home, it is hard because it really just looks like you're looking at a computer. Unless I'm working on artwork, which is fun, but it came with a lot of, like, you know, I don't know, interruptions, which were always welcome but made things difficult. So now that they're in school, I just simply work while they're in school. And so I really do as hard of a transition as I can at the end of the day to truly kind of close down my work and transition to family life. And so I try.

I don't.

I'm not 100% perfect at this, but I try really hard not to multitask. Once I have transitioned to family time, nobody wants distracted multitasking mom or wife, right? So I try to close down for the day. Now, if my children have something going on, if they're at, you know, sports practice or something, you'll find me with my laptop open. But if it's family time, it's family time. And I try to be really intentional about being present in the moment. Brendon Burchard teaches how to transition well, literally, there's like a practice that you kind of step away and like, close your eyes and think about letting go what you were just working on and, like inviting the next thing that you're going to be doing. And so you could do that. You could give that a quick Google and dive into it. I think it's a really important lesson. My last question comes from Natasha. Do you still love to roost? I've been following you since 2013 and was originally drawn to your blog, Going Home to Roost because it was so lovely to find another person who valued home and creating a home. I wonder if you're still a homebody and do you love to do all the things that you shared in the early years, like sewing and cooking and homemade crafts and more? Oh, Natasha, I do. I'm a homebody to the core. I want to be home at all times, if I could. We are going to be building a home in the next year or two and the goal is to have my studio back at home. I currently have a studio in the downtown area of our small town, but I very much want to be back at home for all my work and so that's a huge goal. I do roost.

I.

You might remember that I used to have chickens and I have them again. This is the first year in many, many years. But we have about 16 chickens and nine ducks and we have absolutely adored having them in our yard again. My Kids have adored having them. And then I garden. I do a really big garden every year. You can see a lot of it over on Instagram. I try to share the garden quite a lot. I do. I don't know, I used to do, like, mostly vegetables, and then I started doing more and more flowers. So it's about half and half now. Vegetables and flowers for like a pick, a picking garden, or a cut garden, if you will. I don't sew too much anymore, but my daughter does, so we still have a sewing room. I don't actually really enjoy sewing anymore. I think I might have done too much of it early on. And then when my kids were really little, I. I kind of packed it up for. You know, it's just complicated to sew with little children. But my daughter has fallen in love with sewing, and so she makes all kinds of things and of course I help her. And so we do still sew. I cook every single night. I love to cook. It's like the time that I just get to be with food and family and in the kitchen and I love, love, love to cook. So yes to that. And then homemade crafts. Yeah. So we. We have this huge craft room. My daughter, again, she's nine, and she's more creative than me and my mom put together times 10. I cannot believe what comes out of this girl. She is a creative, like, just. She's incredible. Cannot wait to see what she does when as. As she grows up. But she's constantly crafting and then I get to come help lots and lots of times. Like, we just made a hundred soy candles for a school project or a little school shop that she got to sell. We do all kinds of stuff. So.

Yes.

And also thank you for this question because it's making me remember that it's important to share those things as well. And I'll try to do better at sharing more of the roosting that we're doing, because it's in my core who I am. My friends, I hope you enjoyed this. I sure did. If you have a question you would love to hear about, go over and submit it. You can find the link to do so@bonniecristine.com Links my friends, create the beauty that you want to see come alive in the world. And remember, there's room for.