Dive into a new chapter of creativity and faith with us as we unveil a roadmap for Christian artists to flourish both spiritually and professionally. Our latest episode serves up a feast of wisdom, beginning with the cornerstone of our beliefs—the ever-present guidance of God. We're laying out a comprehensive 'dashboard' for your life's work, complete with nine crucial facets to keep your vision sharp, your preparation thorough, and your art business thriving. This isn't just another how-to; it's an invitation to align your creative gifts with God's grand plan, paving the way for a more joy-filled and prosperous artistic journey.
Then, we switch gears to the nuts and bolts of the artist's daily grind and the strategic finesse of entrepreneurship. Imagine a toolkit that not only inspires your artistry but also sharpens your business acumen—this episode does just that. We delve into the power of a 90-day planning cycle to crystalize your goals, and spotlight the game-changing potential of mentorship programs that offer structure and community. Whether you're a painter, sculptor, or any creative in between, let this episode be the catalyst for a thriving career under God's expansive sky, where your passion meets purpose and your craft meets calling.
Ready to let us help you turn your art hobby into a consistent income this year? You can by joining the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program for just $14 at http://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/tryctt
Dive into a new chapter of creativity and faith with us as we unveil a roadmap for Christian artists to flourish both spiritually and professionally. Our latest episode serves up a feast of wisdom, beginning with the cornerstone of our beliefs—the ever-present guidance of God. We're laying out a comprehensive 'dashboard' for your life's work, complete with nine crucial facets to keep your vision sharp, your preparation thorough, and your art business thriving. This isn't just another how-to; it's an invitation to align your creative gifts with God's grand plan, paving the way for a more joy-filled and prosperous artistic journey.
Then, we switch gears to the nuts and bolts of the artist's daily grind and the strategic finesse of entrepreneurship. Imagine a toolkit that not only inspires your artistry but also sharpens your business acumen—this episode does just that. We delve into the power of a 90-day planning cycle to crystalize your goals, and spotlight the game-changing potential of mentorship programs that offer structure and community. Whether you're a painter, sculptor, or any creative in between, let this episode be the catalyst for a thriving career under God's expansive sky, where your passion meets purpose and your craft meets calling.
Ready to let us help you turn your art hobby into a consistent income this year? You can by joining the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program for just $14 at http://thrive.matttommeymentoring.com/tryctt
Welcome to the Thriving Christian Artist, the podcast, where we hope you connect with God to bus through the roadblocks that have held you back for years, create the work you love and really live the life you know. God created you to live as an artist in His kingdom. I'm Matt Tommy, your host. Let's get started. Well, hey there, my friend is Matt Tommy. So glad that you're here with me on the Thriving Christian Artist. It's a brand new year, so much great stuff on tap for everybody.
Speaker 1:You know, I was just reminded again in the mentoring program, as I'm always helping artists do what they do better and more effectively, more efficiently, more joyfully, more profitably. I was just thinking about with Tanya the other day. I was like you know, there is a lot. Sometimes we forget how much there is to manage and to juggle, it seems, when you're trying to be not only an artist, not only somebody that loves Jesus, but also a husband or wife, be a part of a family, be a part of a community and be running a business and create great art that you love and be on social media. It's a lot. I mean no, no joke, it can absolutely be a lot, and I wanted to give you the nine things today that we are always helping artists to focus on in the mentoring program, because these nine things really are sort of the dashboard, if you will, for your life and your business as an artist. If you don't have control of, and if you're not actively managing and cultivating these nine areas in your life and business, it's really, really difficult to get momentum. Now some of you may be saying right now oh my gosh, I can't do nine anything. Well, you're going to see all these things begin to work together, but I want to encourage you that these nine things again, they can be your dashboard if you'll let them and if you'll allow the Holy Spirit to lead you through this process, and so I want to give these to. You may want to grab a pencil or something to write these down. But nine P's you know I love alliteration, easy to remember.
Speaker 1:And so the first one is obviously presence, the presence of God. For us, as believers, everything begins with the presence of God. Now, that, for you, may be a switch if you're somebody that loves to just grab an idea and go for it, but I want to encourage you this year be somebody that takes every idea that you have, just like proverb 16, 9 says and you know, take that thing that's growing in your heart and allow the Lord to lead you in it. The Bible says that in his heart a man plans his way with the Lord, orders or establishes his steps. Is in his presence that we learn his heart. Is in his presence that we learn his plans and purposes for our life. Is in his presence that we learn who we are and how he's uniquely and wonderfully and fearfully made us. And so his presence is the place you're not only get leadership, you get comfort, you get direction, you get vision. It's the place of life for us as artists, and everything, not only from a business perspective, but from a creative perspective, from a personal life perspective. It all has to begin and end and be nurtured in that place of his presence.
Speaker 1:Secondly, then, is what I call picture, and picture is really this idea of a vision. That is, what is it that you are wanting to, to go after in your life as an artist, and so many artists, and especially believers, because they've been, just, you know, over saturated with all this religious gobbledygook. You know they tell me things like oh well, I just want to do what God asked for me, and I just want to ask one. I'm just wanting God's best and all this. Well, listen, god's best for you is, I believe, a seed that he's already put inside of you and you can begin to ask the Lord what is your best for me? What is the picture that you have for me, what are the clues and what are the things that you've wired me with, that you've put on my heart, the things that I'm passionate about? How can those things begin to move together and create a picture inside of me that gives me vision? Why? Because the Bible says, without vision, what the people perish. In other words, without prophetic revelation, people cast off restraint, they just run willy-nilly. And if you are somebody that, again, is not starting in the presence of God and you're then not operating with a clear, concise vision of where you are going, what success looks like for you, how you're walking with the Lord in this season of life, guaranteed you're going to be really frustrated or you're going to be wasting a lot of time and energy on things that probably are not moving you toward the things that God has for you. All right, that is so, so, so key Now, number three is preparation.
Speaker 1:This is so important because you can have all the vision you can have all of the time in God's presence. But if you're not doing the practical preparation things of getting your business set up, starting your website, getting out there on social media, applying to shows, you know, getting your business bank account set up, paying your taxes, knowing all the things that you've got to do as an artist guess what you can't expect God to bless you. You can't catch fish without a net, right you got. If you're in the old Bible days, you know you would throw a net over the side of the boat and they would catch fish that way. Same thing nowadays we can throw a net in or we can throw a rod and reel in a hook in via that and there's going to be a fish that'll grab onto that. Well, listen, you can't catch a fish without a net. And your net, my friend, is all of the practical things that you have to do to start and maintain your business. And if you're not allowing yourself to to really focus on those things and get them established and running in healthy order, you're going to have a really difficult time being a working artist, even a part time, much less full time artists.
Speaker 1:The fourth P is people, all right, people. In that, who are the people, your ideal clients, the people that you want to connect with, the people that you want to sell your art to, the people you want to sell your art with? You got to get clear on who that client avatar is, who you're trying to interact with. Listen, one of the biggest things that you can realize in your life is that not everybody is your client. Not everybody's interested in your art. Not everybody will buy your art. There'll be tons of people out there that'll say you are so talented, you are so this or that, but they're never going to buy your art. They're not your people. They're not your people. They may be really great encourages for you, but they're not your ideal client. You got to get clear this year on who's your ideal client and how can you begin to go after them and locate them.
Speaker 1:Number next, number five then, would be product. Once you know who those people are, what product or service are you going to take to them? All right, how is your art going to manifest in their life? Is it going to be through original art? Is it going to be through Jucles, or is it going to be through commissions? Is it going to be through art classes? Are you going to start a membership? What are you going to be doing to attract these clients to you in order to get them to buy your work?
Speaker 1:It's important to develop that product suite we call it in the mentoring program, so that you know how to begin to position yourself in a way that will allow people to be attracted to you and actually not only refer and recommend you but also purchase from you on a regular basis. And that gets into number six, which is promotions. I teach something in the mentoring program called the Propel Artist Marketing Framework. It is the most effective marketing framework for artists bar none. It's what I've used all these years, is what I've been teaching all these years. It allows you to create a multi-prong approach to promoting your work in line with your ideal client. That is, identifying where they are and then how you can begin to intersect their paths to make it more likely that they're going to find out about you. You can get there, you're working in front of them so that they can you know again like you, refer you and buy from you. All right, that is huge.
Speaker 1:So developing a promotional plan is not something that just happens on autopilot. It's something that you've got to develop. It's something that you've got to manage and regulate and be watching over on a regular basis. So many people treat their marketing in their art business just willy-nilly They'll do a show and then they won't do anything. They'll put a couple of things out on Facebook. Then they'll forget for a couple of months and listen. If you do it, harem-scare them. You're going to get harem-scare results, but that's not how you create a thriving art business and how you begin to create consistent income.
Speaker 1:The next thing, number seven, is what I would call profit, and this is not just developing profit and having profit in your business, but it's all the money stuff that has to do with your business. Are you keeping an eye on what your expenses are? Are you keeping an eye on what's selling and what's not, what price points are working and what's not, what products are working and what's not? Are you balancing your checkbook every month? Are you paying off your credit cards? Are you using additional money that you're making every month to reinvest into your business purposefully? Again, you and I have the opportunity, the great opportunity, to be able to tell money where we want it to go and what we want it to do in our life and in our business. Otherwise, it will just seep away through the cracks of life. You'll make money and you'll spend money and you'll have no idea what's going on. And one of the big, big, big differences in artists that are making a living and making consistent income in their art business is their willingness to focus on the profit end of their business, the finances, to know what's going on, to be balancing the checkbook, to be, you know, putting all their receipts in QuickBooks or whatever that you know you might be using as your software, paying your taxes, all the things that it takes. That's an important part and it's something that you can't leave out of your artist dashboard, all right.
Speaker 1:Lastly, the last two things I would say are practice, which you're like when were you ever going to get to this Practice? Is you got to make art right? And I know you may be thinking, matt, you look this at the very end, I don't have time to make art doing all this other stuff? Yes, you do, you do, and that's one of the things that we are so good at teaching it in the mentoring program is how to begin to balance all of the things that you're doing, both as an artist and as an entrepreneur. But listen, if you're not making art great art that you love, that you're excited about, that people are drawn to it doesn't matter how great a marketer or how great you are at balancing your checkbook If you're not making, you know art and getting it out there, you're not going to have anything to build a business around, and so you have to always realize making art is central to who you are as an artist. There's so many creative people out there that like to be a round artist. They like to talk about artists, they like to look at artists' Facebook pages, they like to scroll on Pinterest, they like to look at artists' websites, but they don't make art.
Speaker 1:I had a friend years ago that used to say listen, artists' art, usher's ush, artists' art, you have to art. You have to make art on a regular basis, I would say a daily basis, in order to keep that part of you moving in the direction of growth and of interest and of maturity. And then, last in all of these things, all of these eight other things, number nine wraps it all up in what I would call a plan. We teach in the mentoring program 90 day planning I'm a big, big, big believer taking that picture that God's given you and then breaking it down into a manageable 90 day plan that you can begin to bite off step by step, by step by step. Listen, the people that do this we see them over and over again. They overwhelm themselves with excitement because of the things that they're able to accomplish in little short spurts, as opposed to trying to eat the whole elephant at once. And 90 day planning having a plan that you're moving toward and taking those little steps, those little steps every day to move toward the goals that you have in your life, it makes all the difference. Now, listen, I'm just going to say these again the nine P's right Presents, picture preparation, people, promotions, product profit, practice and plan.
Speaker 1:Now, if you're sitting there right now and you're like man, I need to do all of that. That's why I'm listening to your podcast, but I get overwhelmed. I don't know how to do it all by myself. I got questions. I start one thing and I get stuck and I don't know what to do and I get stalled out and I get freaked out and I just don't know what to do. Can you help me? Yes, yes, I can help you and I would love to help you and listen.
Speaker 1:The best way for us to help you is inside the creative to thrive artist mentoring program. Now, listen, one of the things that we are really excited about right now is allowing folks to come into the mentoring program, the full program. Not just a part of it, but the full program. All the community, all the live coaching, all the resources, all the small groups with other members, all of it. All the live Q and A with me every week. 100% of it for just $14. You can start the mentoring program right now by clicking the link that's in the show notes right here and your first month is just 14 bucks and then it goes to $97 a month, just like the normal plan. Or you can save even more by becoming a yearly or lifetime member is an absolute no brainer. But here's the deal Artists that try to do all this stuff on their own.
Speaker 1:They fall into the vast heap of small businesses, the vast majority of small businesses that fail within the first few years of business. But artists who have a mentor, artists who are connecting in community, we know that they have more success, more fulfillment, more speed in their growth because they are connected because they're asking for help. And, my friend, listen, if you're serious this year about taking your art business to the next level, about actually creating consistent income, maybe 500 bucks a month is what you need to do to accentuate and help your maybe your retirement income or your part time or full time job, or maybe you want to, like a lot of our members, replace a part time or full time job that you're actually in right now but you're not crazy about. Listen, it's absolutely possible.
Speaker 1:We've been doing this since 2017, created to thrive is still the gold standard for any artist who wants to turn their art hobby or ministry into a consistent income that you can count on in your life, and we would love, love, love to help you. So, my friend, if you want to dive into these nine P's this year and you you're willing to trust me to help you and to walk with you and to connect you with hundreds and hundreds of other believers who love Jesus and are walking this same road, go to the link and click that in the show notes. Quit trying to to do this whole thing yourself in freestyle, and allow me to walk you through a proven system that can move you from struggling by yourself to thriving in everything that God has created you to be as an artist. I love you, my friend. You know I'm for you. I want nothing but God's best for you and I hope that we see you inside the mentoring program within the next few days. All right, click the link, try us out. There's a 30 day money back guarantee. You can't lose, and I look forward to seeing you there.
Speaker 1:Bye, hey. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes with me today on the podcast Listen. I hope it's been a huge encouragement to you on your journey as an artist. Hey, also, before you leave, make sure to hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any of the other episodes of the Thriving Christian Artist podcast, and also be sure to connect with me on Facebook, instagram or at my website, which is matttommymentoringcom. Until next time, remember you were created to thrive. Bye, bye.