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Christopher Remmers on BoldBrush Live!

Video Replay of Live Webinar which "aired" on January 30th, 2025

Christopher Remmers was our latest guests on our BoldBrush Live! program. As a paid subscriber, we are happy to provide not only the video replay but the full transcript of the insightful session with Christopher below. Please keep in mind the transcripts are generated by AI so there may be some typos.

Creatively,

Clint Watson
BoldBrush Founder & Creativity Fanatic

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Olya Konell 00:00

Well, welcome to BoldBrush Live. My name is Olya. I'm your host, and I have Angela Agosto with me, who's our Artist Relations Director, and we have our special guest, Christopher Remmers. I don't know if you remember the last time we had him on, but he's been working on some really exciting things, and I'm really looking forward to chatting with him today, and I'll bring him on here in just a moment, but in kind of true fashion, what we in our little routine, what we like to do is just kind of run through just some basic announcements and who we are and what we do. So these are the BoldBrush live webinars where we feature a new guest artist every month. They occur every four weeks. If you're attending this one and you registered, you don't have to re register to the next one. You'll get a reminder you know when the next one comes up, letting you know who's the guest. And then you can choose to attend or watch the recording. Information on recordings is in your emails. Scroll down to that section, whether you're a customer or non customer, there are ways to get access to the recording and then BoldBrush. A lot of people ask, What's BoldBrush, and what's Faso and what's the connection? So BoldBrush is a company where our goal is to inspire artists, to inspire the world, as you can see@boldbrush.com and we do that by providing educational resources, inspirational resources, in our newsletters, in webinars, in our podcast. And then we offer paid resources as well, which is tools for artists to build their websites. And our two main one are Faso websites that most of you are familiar with, and the newest one is artful Squarespace by Faso, we've actually been able to partner with Squarespace in a way, to offer our their most advanced plan at a much lower price, and then at the same time, it allows our customers, you know whether they're on Squarespace or whether they're on Faso, to be able to go into our marketing community, and access educational resources, like a marketing calendar, get critiques of their work, watch videos, read articles, and kind of learn about the sales aspect. How do you sell your art? How do you tell the story about your art in all this stuff, you know? How do you get people to your website, all that good stuff. So that is a little bit about us and what we do. And now I'm going to actually go ahead and segue right into remove my little spotlight here, but I'm going to segue and introduce Christopher. Christopher just first of all, welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time today. And I would love to just give you a moment to say hello and introduce yourself to our audience. Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 02:50

It's great to be back on here. I think this is our third time, second live, and we did the podcast once. And yeah, so thanks for having me back on. I really love being a part of this community. And shout out to all of you. And hello, conscious creatives. I saw a few of my students are in here today, so welcome in. Oh, and yeah, I, you know, I'm Christopher Remmers. I, I live in the tip top corner of the Pacific Northwest, in Bellingham, Washington, where I have a gallery and a studio here, and I split my time between working on my paintings and and then working with my students at the conscious creativity Academy, which I've been having up and running for about a year and a half now. And, yeah, that's about it, more or less. I'm sure we'll get into all the details. Yeah,

Olya Konell 03:43

yeah, absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing, and I have your site up, and Angela is sharing links to everything in the chat. So just if you guys want to jump into the chat and grab them, you can always look at things later, but that's how you can find, find and learn more about Christopher and everything that he is offering. One of the kind of first questions, just to kind of launch us up lunch. Blah, can't talk. Launch us out. Not lunch. I'm not we're not ready for lunch yet. But I wanted to know, can you share, share the story, I guess the short version behind your journey as an artist, what initially inspired you to pursue this path?

Christopher Remmers 04:25

Yeah, I mean, it's been, it's been a long one, you know, I, you know, I started a very young age. My My mother was an artist. She did wildlife oil painting, mostly, and she exposed, like me and my siblings, to art when we were kids, and, you know, it just kind of stuck with us. And, you know, it's funny when I, like recall, I think what made it stick initially was, was probably out of a sense of competition with my older brother, you know, like he was, he really took off. And my brother became a professional artist. He was an illustrator. And got into tattoos and and that whole realm. But I just, you know, it started there, but then I noticed that I really loved it, and I had a knack for it, and I it just kind of blossomed from there. And it wasn't like a, you know, a direct path by any means, you know, I think I, like many artists, I kind of really struggled with this idea of whether or not it was a viable path for a career, and if I should be spending my time doing that versus other things. And kind of existed one foot in, one foot out for most of my 20s, still always having a studio, still kind of curious. But it wasn't until, like, the end of my 20s that I decided to take it seriously go get formal training. Once I took the time to really know what it was that I wanted and like, the kind of art that I wanted to create and what I wanted to say. And then from there, it's yeah. Just never looked back. I've been I've been on it ever since, yeah,

Olya Konell 05:57

and I love that last part where you said you had to figure out what it was you wanted to say and what it was that you wanted and I think just from observing your journey, and you know, the different things that you do, that's a huge part of how you're contributing back to the art community, is by helping other artists and in that particular way. And I love that, because that is a dilemma, like, what do we want to say in general? You know, and everybody can see, I have his Instagram app. Your work has, like, a very deep, other worldly quality. And I'm just going to dive right in. How do you tap into your creative consciousness? You know, when developing ideas for new pieces, I mean, you know, what's Do you have, like, a ritual or anything like that?

Christopher Remmers 06:48

Yeah, I do now, and it, you know, it's evolved over the years. But I would say, you know, it started from a place that wasn't directly related to creating art. I think it was directly related to, I mean, the things that I'm deeply curious about in my life. You know, I think initially, when I was younger, I got really interested in meditation practice, and I'm a long time practitioner of the pasta meditation, and that sort of led me into these other rabbit holes, of getting really inspired by the work of Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung and mythology and like, just that whole world of how we relate to things. And I think in particular with, like Joseph Campbell's work, this idea around the mono myth that you know, if you look across time and culture and the stories that we've been telling, that there were more similar than not, and that we're all kind of pointing towards investigating these particular truths about ourselves and our place in the world. And I think that was like the seed that got me to this place of, how could I use my art as a vehicle to explore those things, you know, because it goes into this idea that I talk about a lot, which is art as a vehicle for meaning making, and that rooted in this idea of mythology. And like what Joseph Campbell would talk about, is mythology is it is the the future potential of what we aimed at in our lives, right? And so you think about when we are aiming at something that we create that's larger than life, and we enshrine it in something beautiful and inspiring. It like encourage us, it inspires us to, like, move towards that thing. And that's, I think, the original impetus behind why we told stories, and why we we created mythology as like the psycho technology, and then we use art to essentially enshrine those stories and that which was most meaningful to us. And this is the idea that I've been chewing on for a really long time, that like art beyond just the craft, beyond the pretty picture, beyond those basic things, it's actually something that deeply influences and inspires culture and individuals. And is is, like, really something that I think is greatly beneficial and also critical to culture. And so, like, go into my artwork from that space,

Olya Konell 09:15

yeah, so, and I love that, because what you having that, and that's having that, that idea, you know, of what you're passionate about, because at the core, that's what you are passionate about. And then, like you said, your art is a vehicle for that. And I think a lot of artists, and I've been there myself, we want to, we have this ability to paint or create something, but we don't know what we want to say or what, you know, we don't have that deeper thing behind it, which isn't, oh, I mean, we could still create beautiful images, but there's not this, like powerful underlying thread that weaves them all together, which you have done so beautifully. You know, it's almost like they're individual paintings, but there's a story being. Told. And when I look at like a, you know, a screen of your work, you know, I'm even though they're individual paintings, I can just feel that there is a connection between every single one in some particular way, even if I don't know what that connection is, which you know as for a collector or for a person that you know, is interested. Then they're going to want to go deeper, you know, they're, they're going to, they want to know what's behind that piece, or what inspired it, what it means, you

Angela Agosto 10:31

know, inspired you. Like, yeah. You think, yeah. And

Olya Konell 10:34

go ahead. Sorry. Just one thing I

Christopher Remmers 10:37

wanted to say about that is, like, I mean, this is, this is in every one of us. And I actually, you know, I firmly believe this isn't exclusive to artists either, you know, I think it's kind of, I think of it from kind of big picture creativity is like that is one of, I think our primary like functions as human beings is to, like, learn how to tap into our authentic creativity in any field that it is. And within each one of us, we're deeply curious. There's something that, like, there's a driver in us, and in some of us that might be more alive than others, but that's just a matter of, like, directing attention. And so it's like, the thing that I talk to my students a lot about is like, that thing is in you, you just need to give it space to, kind of like, explore what that is for you, and then once you kind of land in that place, then then that's the Wellspring, in my opinion, like you can go as deep and as long and as far as you want to with that and using your artwork to explore it. Yeah,

Olya Konell 11:34

I'm going to ask kind of a blunt question, or like a direct question, because everybody's always thinking about this. I mean, we are here to learn about creativity and art and marketing, but the end of the day, every artist needs to make money, whether it be part time with art or full time. Would you say that, you know, in your late 20s, when you kind of tapped into this and you found your personal Wellspring, you know, be, you know, you, you kind of figured this out for yourself. Did that also help you with art sales? Did people did that benefit you did is there, would you say there's a connection between creating your most authentic art and being able to sell that better than just creating whatever? Yeah, 100% 100%

Christopher Remmers 12:18

Yeah, and I, but it didn't like, that didn't come you know, I mean, the way that I look at marketing is storytelling, and I That's how, that's how I kind of grok it in my own mind, is shout out to, I can't remember that author's name, but anyway, it allows me to then, like, interface with that world of marketing and that, like, I think a lot of artists kind of cringe around because it's like, it feels like you're selling out, or that you have to be salesy, or this and that. And like, there is an element of that, but you can, you can make it relatable to you, because you're trying to tell a story, whether and this, this exists, whether you're an abstract artist or like a literal, like narrative figure painter, that like you're exploring something and that's a story that you're engaged with. And what we're trying to do in marketing is find the people that relate to that story. And so I think it helps a lot in that space. But that's, I think that's only one side of it, and the other part of it for artists, that I think is important is this kind of goes back to this fundamental thing that I believe that that like art is comprised of two primary things, one which is like the the like the creative voice and the vision, and like the conceptual model, and Then there's the craft, right? And I think both are, are equally important. And I think that this idea of, of, like, really focusing in on, like, the the beauty and the craft of what you make, you know, I always say, I often say, Be so good. They can't ignore you. Like that too, I think more so than in other fields, but not really. I mean, like, products that do well are products that are high quality. And so it's like, you know, putting a lot of attention into making sure the products that you create is of high quality. And like has that other aspect of deep meaning and introspection, I think in the arts, is like the perfect combination that helps you thrive in that space, in terms of the business side of it, it's not all of it. Those are, like the primary things that I think if you focus on those two, becoming a good storyteller, and thinking about relatability, and then also focusing on making, making something that's like, exceptional, like, it's going to make it a lot easier for

Olya Konell 14:41

you. And and I love I love that, because too many, too often, we also do, like a members only AMA, where artists get to submit questions to us that we answer. And this is like a separate thing. And one of the biggest questions is like, how do I get more people to my website? How do I, you know, and it's focused on these. Superficial things, but then, like when I when I engage with these artists, I'll oftentimes quickly pull up their site or their socials just to see what kind of work they create. Where are they in their artistic journey? And it's what you just said, if they stop focusing on what they just asked and go tackle mastery and tackle storytelling, that thing that they're trying to achieve will become so much easier to get more likes or views or whatever, because they're so focused on, you know, the this, you know what they think they have to do to market their work. They've kind of jumped ahead of the the horse ahead of the care. You know what I mean, they need to, oh yeah, and, and something, I will say it is not bad, or you're not a failure, if you just say, You know what, I'm going to take this year to grow, and I'm going to, you know, work do this, but then all of my free time is going to be dedicated to, you know, working on my craft, and then focusing on, you know, growing internally and figuring out the story aspect of it and how to tell that story, because you'll come out of it so much stronger, I would say, You know what I mean, than trying to do everything at once, because it's yeah, it's overwhelming.

Christopher Remmers 16:15

Yeah, it is, it is. It's a lot to juggle. And oftentimes, like, I'll get on interviews or calls or talk with artists that they, you know, they reach out to me. They're like, I just can't sell my work. Can you please help me? And I look at their work and I'm like, frankly, honestly, you have no business trying to sell your work right now. Like, you need to focus on making art, you know. Like, that's, and that's and, you know, that brings up, like, a, I don't know how deep we want to go into this a controversial topic. I think, I think one of the issues that I see, and I haven't really landed in a place that I feel like I've come to, like, any solid conclusion with this, but like, when I look out into the world and relate it to other fields, that I think it's a problem that we don't have any sort of there's no line in the sand in terms of what defines an artist, kind of like, on a bigger picture, that at any point, at any time, anyone with zero or whatever qualifications can put their hand up and say, I'm an artist. And I think it depending on how you like you think of what it means to be an artist, like, if it means like being a professional artist that's out selling your work, or you're using art as like a mode of exploring, sort of your inner well being, and it's like a therapeutic tool. But this issue that we have that like people often find that like society does not value the artist, I think in part, is connected to the fact that there isn't any like, sort of defined qualifications of what it means to be an artist, and so people don't take people seriously that are engaged in that if they don't take themselves seriously, if they don't take the craft seriously, if they don't take the development of like, what do you act like? What does it mean to like step into this pathway of mastery as an artist? And I see a lot of people claiming to be artists that don't take that seriously. And I think it hurts the rest of us that do value that, that see this as, like, a very critical and important part of, like, art of our world. You know what? I mean, yeah, and so, but it's that's hard to that's hard to talk about, because the art is, you know, it's, it's got multiple definitions from people and and, like, you know, it kind of is on every individual, everyone's individual terms, in like, to test that or to push against that, can get really controversial.

Olya Konell 18:31

And, you know, with technology and social media, it has made it easier to get your art out into the visual space, right. But at the same time it has, it's made it busier. And so for an outsider looking in, you know, they see more, and they see a higher now, there's a higher percentage of people that are sharing and doing things that may, you know, it's which is fine, but maybe they're still not. They're not where they're going to be in five years or 10 years if they consistently continue working at mastering their craft. And so I see what you're saying. So for the outside, they're like, oh, it devalues art as a whole little bit. It's almost like the scarcity makes it more valuable concept, you know, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it and the thing is, I for anybody listening, if you're like, Well, gosh darn it. Like, what if my art is not there yet? Like, first of all, I think it's okay to have that be like, hey, you know, maybe I'm not where I want to be. That is a beautiful moment of awareness to have. Because if you want to be here's the thing, then the next question is, do I want to be here? And if the answer is yes, you're still in the right place. You're still on the right path. There's just things that you can do now. You know which direction you're sailing to, at least. You know what

Christopher Remmers 19:48

I mean? That is critical, like having that idea, yeah,

Olya Konell 19:52

so, and there's nothing wrong with that. Like, don't feel bad about yourself. I mean, I, I'll be honest. I look back at my first art. Yeah, and even now, like, I know, I'll look back in five years and I'll be like, Oh, cringe, you know, like I was doing this, not in I didn't do this the way I I, you know, thought, you know, I do it now, or whatever. And and also, once you get to that place, I feel like, even for you, you're as an artist, as a professional artist, you're always growing and learning and refining. And that's a whole different, like, phase of, you know, that's just, you know, that's always going to be a part of the artist journey. You're always going to grow, change and refine. But that doesn't mean that you're not ready, if, yeah, once you get there, yeah, yeah,

Christopher Remmers 20:37

yeah, you touched on a really good point, though, I think, like, there's this process of one just having kind of that clear, come to terms with yourself, of like, this is where I am. Like, the reality of like, this is where I am. I have work to do. And then to define like, Okay, what is the gap that exists between where I am now and where I'd like to be? And then like, develop that to where you know exactly what you need to do to get to where you want to go, you know, and the more definition, and the more clarity you have around that, like, the easier it is going to be for you to kind of stay the course and, like, get to there absolutely and, you

Angela Agosto 21:12

know, to like students, I think that once they know, like what Olya said, once they're aware where they're at that, you know what, I'm Not I haven't mastered. I am open to learning, where I feel some artists get a little bit, no, I'm done. This is it. And then maybe that's where they get that creative block, because they kind of stunted their own growth.

Christopher Remmers 21:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, which actually, and really, it's it, sorry, go ahead, go ahead, go, go, go. I was just gonna say too. And you, you quickly discover it's like, you, you know, you, like, you set your aims on something right and then, and then, once you get into this process where you're just, you've, you've kind of built the routine and the strategies and, like, the habits of kind of moving in that direction, you find that there is no end point, really, that, like, you know, for me, like, mastery isn't like, Oh, I've achieved this. It's like, it's a it's a practice. It's a practice of, like, leaning in and deepening and maturing into this thing indefinitely, right? And and to like, you can equate it to like, the learners mindset or whichever. But like, I think it's important that it's more about the practice of the thing, rather than, like, trying to get to some end result at the end of the day, because that goal post is always going to move.

Olya Konell 22:25

It's always going to move. That's a really good, good point. And one of the things Angela just mentioned, I wanted to kind of segue into that so artist blocks. So many artists struggle with creative blocks. Just off the top of your head, you know, what advice would you give to those who are stuck and how to, you know, ensure how they can kind of move forward creatively?

Christopher Remmers 22:46

Yeah, yeah. I spoke to this a little bit earlier. You know, I think it's taking the time to, like, cultivate that other pillar of these two pillars that exist within us. There's, like, the craft, and then there's this other part, which is cultivating, sort of our vision and our creative capacity. And, like, for me, that's like tapping into that place of I often refer to it as, like, your child, like, wonder, like, why? Like, when you think back, like, what was the thing? What was the reason why you wanted to become an artist in the first place? You know, like, what lit you up, what got you excited? What was it about some thing or some subject, or whichever. And I think this is, this has become more and more challenging today because we're, we're so inundated with all the distractions, and we're seeing other people's work and all this stuff that's just kind of filling the space and all this noise. And I would say, like, Go, take some time to, like, really think about, like, what is it that you're curious about? What is it that's like the most meaningful to you? What is the thing that you want to spend your life energy exploring and trying to answer the questions around that, that, and then use your art as a way to explore that and various means, and that could be directly related to like a subject matter, that it's like a specific story, but it could also be about cultivating a particular quality of who you are through the the practice of making your art, right? It doesn't have to be like a directly related to, like, oh, I want to tell this story about that it could be like, I'm, you know, I'm struggling with this thing in my life, about, like, how to come to terms with this. Like, how could I use my art as a way to, like, move through that that is cultivating, like, inner knowing and discipline and self reflection, and these things that like, this is one thing I tapped into when I was studying at at at an atelier, which is it's like that kind of rigorous academic training, which you find out really quickly, like the technique isn't the thing you're training. What you're training is like patience and like your inner ability to kind of pay attention, slow down and observe, like, what. You see and how well you can see it, and then to like and then to imprint your own like identity into that moment, right? And that's to me, like, what we want to tap into is like cultivating that inner quality of who we are, and then that's reflected through our artwork. If that makes sense, it's like, it's to me, like the crafts like this, that's secondary to like what it means to be an artist. You know, it's this is just the vehicle that's like, putting out the thing that, like, I'm really interested in,

Olya Konell 25:33

yeah, no, I and thank you for sharing that. I know that you dive into some of what you're kind of talking about, you offer in your academy and through your courses. And you know, for anyone that is this resonated with, or they're feeling like they want to work on that, check out Christopher's links, and we'll share them again, and you can grab them. And I had somebody in the chat please to ask us to talk more about marketing. And great we Yes, we will. One of the reasons I chose to start out this way is the number one mistake artists make is like I said, they get the they they go ahead, they skip a step. And if you're marketing art that isn't, I wouldn't say, marketable, but isn't there yet, you're going to be wasting your time. And so we really want to hit this piece home. You know, focusing marketing art as is not the same as marketing anything else. Everything that you do online and offline is a part of your marketing. You're basically meeting people online and offline. You do that through social media. You do it in person, you go to an event, you shake some hands, you get to know people you didn't know before that you know. So if you're selling specifically art, and you're not a teaching artist, you're trying to focus on prints and originals, maybe you're trying to get into a gallery. Maybe you're trying to do more stuff through your website, everything. And I want to define this before we dive into those questions. But everything that you do, it's not about what you just post, but everything that you do online and offline to meet people. So, like, that's an important point, because sometimes the most effective strategies are not, not what some marketing guru is going to tell you. You know, like, we had an artist on that was like, Hey, I've been getting involved with my community. We have a vibrant artist, you know, collector artist community where I live, and I started participating in events and started finding more collectors that way, you know, building those relationships with with people. So, you know, it's, it's a, it's a very, you know, it's very different, you know, from selling mugs or shirts or anything else, right? So kind of into the first question I want to ask. And I know you're a busy man, so any advice from you would be useful, but building an art business requires wearing a ton of hats. Marketing, sales, you know, customer service, social media, creative you know, all the art create the the hat of the artist, which is the most important. How do you balance creating art with the marketing and the business side of things? I mean, is there a tool? Because one of the biggest things artists say is, I don't have time to market my art. Is there any tips?

Christopher Remmers 28:17

Uh, tools? Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Say, Can I Can I just add one more thing to that last part that you're saying in terms of, like, marketing, because I get this sometimes, and I get it like, not everyone's in this because they want to have, like, they want to do some deep, spiritual, kind of religious exploration with their art. Like, you know, some people, it's purely, and I think this is no judgment. I think it's amazing to, like, just purely dive into it through the craft. Even in that, like, you're still telling a story, and you still are creating relatability as way that you're marketing your work to people, whether you're doing landscapes or still lifes or like simple, beautiful objects painted really well. Like, even in that like you're connecting, it's all about it's about relationships and connecting through that like underlying thread of what it is that you're trying to convey with your work on a consistent basis. So I just, I just wanted to put that out there in terms of, okay, so strategies for juggling, juggling

Olya Konell 29:13

the many hats, right? Yeah. And I see somebody asked about time management too. So, perfect, yeah. Okay,

Christopher Remmers 29:19

wonderful. I love that topic. You know, the word adaptability is like one that I think is important to think about, because it's not like, always gonna it's like, you figure out this one thing and then it's good forever, because, like, you go through seasons as an artist, like you go through seasons where you might be inundated with commission work, or you have to prep for a show, and then you go through seasons where work is like, you don't have a lot of demand for work, and you need to focus more on the business, or you need to focus on diversifying income streams, or whichever it is. And so I think being able to be like, adaptable and dynamic is really important. I generally. Day. Sometimes it's like, on a month to month basis that I, I like, I adjust my schedule to accommodate, like, the demand of whatever the season is that I'm in. And sometimes it's, I mean, honestly, every sunday i i schedule out my week based on, you know what I'm doing at the time. And one thing that I've discovered is that there's, there's two different modes of how we think, either is like as like managers, like we're managing the business, and then, or like creators, right where we're we need to produce work. And those are very, very different mindsets. And so for me, like creating blocks of time that like are as undistracted as possible for me to be sitting in front of the easel and making artwork. So on those days, I don't take meetings, I don't work on admin. I like, I try and make it to where I can, like, shut off everything and just focus on that, because it allows me. It's like you have one meeting in the middle of a four hour, six hour block, that's going to totally take you out of the flow. There's like, setup and breakdown, and there's all these things that kind of it's not just like a 15 minute meeting, like that'll distract you for an hour or more most times, because it's like getting back into the mode and getting back into the routine. And so I think to start is just designing your schedule to kind of separate your, like, your your creative create, or your creating days, and then you're managing days. And oftentimes, you know, it takes a minute to, like, just get used to how to manage your business. And, like, what are all the admin tasks that you need to do, but you can generally get that done in a very short amount of time, like once you once you kind of have your system dialed and so that might be, like one and a half days a week in total for me, and the rest of the time I'm able to work on, on creating. I think that's a that's a big one for me. I mean, I now, I mean, this is after having done this for a long time, like, now I have a partner that, like, manages a lot of that stuff for me. And so, like, it has become a lot easier to, yeah, you know, create those divides, but, but I think taking, taking design very seriously in terms of, like, what's the lifestyle that you want? What are all the things you do and spend time, you know, like, I spend an hour every week designing my week to make sure it's going to be as efficient as possible, and testing that and iterating it to make sure that it works best for you. Because you might hear about a time management or a productivity hack that you hear from someone on YouTube, and it might not work for you. And so like, for me, I have to test, like, is it better for me to do, like, time blocking and just like, have space, and then when I get to that, that block of time, I decide, like, what's the most important then? Or do I have to be a little bit more intentional and deliberate about it? And but I think the underlying thing is, like, discover and kind of pay attention to, like, how you like to work, where you feel like you're the most optimal in your in your productivity, and design around that space, right? Like, when are you the most productive in your day? Like, and so like, make that time on the specific days. Like, getting your, you know, the work done that requires it the most like of your mental bandwidth, you know, don't try and do a bunch of like, really hard, demanding work at the end of the day when you're exhausted, you know. And but that comes through kind of trial and error and testing. Are you a night owl? You a morning person? Like you gotta, you gotta figure out that design for yourself. And

Olya Konell 33:40

there's a great book called corona biology, the science of perfect time. And by Daniel. I don't know who's the author, but I haven't heard of it. It's freaking awesome. If you're like nerding out about So, you're so anyway, first of all, I wanted to say I remember you talking about this, either on the podcast or on the last webinar. And I actually, I was going down those rabbit holes because I'm ADHD, I'm also creative. I am, you know, an artist, not like a full time artist, but I am on my art journey on the side. And so one of the things I started doing is, every January, and I don't, this will help you guys, I sit down on a notepad and I write down all the things I need to get done during the week, how much time I need to dedicate to those tasks. So for example, I do stuff for BoldBrush, and then how much time for, you know? And I just I find out how much time I have, and then I try to shuffle that around. And I've already experimented with my figuring out what my chronotype is. So your chronotype is, like you said, either a night owl or a morning person. And depending on which one you are, your most creative window is going to fluctuate at certain times of the day. So you know more like you know, admin tasks I'll do at this time my creative. Stuff. I'll do it this time, my best time to focus. I'll do it this time, and then I will write out my schedule every January. You can do it monthly, like you kind of do of what my ideal schedule is, and then I'll test it for a week. So I'm actually in my testing phase, but Angela, I do. I test it and and then I realized, for example, that I allotted too little time for specific things in the morning. So I'm adjusting that, and then I try to stick to that. Because if you don't aim for something, guys, you're never going to hit it. If you don't try aim for something like, aim for two hours of this, aim for an hour that you're never going to hit it. And then there's Parkinson's Law, which is like, the more time you allow for something, the longer it will take the you know, so I'm so grateful that you brought this time blocking up again and kind of reminding us to explore what our patterns are. And because, yeah, it's huge, especially it

Christopher Remmers 35:55

is huge, yeah, and I love that too, you know, like defining how long a task will take, and then setting based on that, not based on what it's due, right? Yeah, you know, that'll, that'll mess you up, but based on what you were just saying. The other thing too, that I think is important is, there's like, there's ongoing, and then there's like, there's like, urgent, yeah, things, or what I like to look at is, you know, I have, like, my ongoing it's like, every day I need to check in and, like, dedicate time to, like, responding to my students and working with my students, and like doing kind of the tasks that need to happen most days or most weeks, right? And so I have like, a dedicated slot of time for that. But then there's kind of big picture things that they're not ongoing, and they're big tasks, and they take up a lot of your mental bandwidth, both, like, in having to do them, but also because you're thinking about them. Like, say, for instance, you know, for us, we're getting ready to launch our YouTube and, like, there's a big learning curve of, like, software and recording and like, all this stuff, right? And I you know, as much as you can is, like, simplify it to where you're only focusing on these things, these big tasks at a time, and try to get those off your plate, because then it frees up your mental bandwidth, because those things are working on you, even when you're not working on them, right? Like, it's this thing, you're like, Oh, I gotta get this done. And so I create this, like, these lists so where there's like, what's the one thing that I got done this week or today is gonna, like, free up a ton of, like, my own mental bandwidth in my own space, to where I can, like, go about my other tasks a lot more efficiently. And that's helped me a lot, kind of just trying to get those big blocks off and get through them as quickly as possible, because that's also the driver that grows your business. And you know, like, learning big skills that then once you learn them, it's just an ongoing thing that gets integrated.

Olya Konell 37:44

Yeah, it's a lot easier. And this is an important point, guys, because in marketing, one of the big things that artists learn, have to learn how to do is use platforms, whether it be YouTube or Instagram or Facebook or any platform, to you know which button to push, how to make a reel, how to do that. And too many times I feel artists say, Well, I can't do that because I don't know how to do that. Therefore this is not useful to me. And that mindset, I mean, it might take you just a few hours to get to taking some crash courses on some free YouTube videos to learn how to do the thing, and then all of a sudden that's no longer a problem. And then, and then, things get faster. The longer, the more you the more you do them. You get good, just like driving a car or anything else, you stop thinking about how to do it. You're just doing and so for anyone that's like, hey, well, I don't know how to I see people doing this, but I don't know how to do that. Put that on your list, like make a list of learn how to edit a reel. Learn how to this. And then go to YouTube and type in how to make, how to edit using whatever app you're going to be using. And there's a free video with step by step instructions, just make sure it's within the last 12 months, and you can learn the thing. And, oh, yeah. And, like you said, if that's the thing that you're focusing on, that's your big project. Dedicate, I don't know, a day to learning. Dedicate, whatever it is, whatever it takes you

Angela Agosto 39:12

about your time management, like you do it every like, one big thing, maybe, maybe the learning part. Like, oh, you said, Okay, how do I do this? Go to YouTube, or go to a course or something that can be the time that you that's going to take up a lot of your week, yeah? Brain next week, then you can start applying it slowly, and then it'll just become, like you said, Christopher, like a routine that you don't need. You already know what your schedule is, so it's not going to take you that much time because you already did the hard work. Yeah? Some people do, like, workshops. And I had an artist who said, Well, I have a three month workshop that's really going to mess up. Well, let me tell you, she did that a couple years ago, and her art has improved so that, that one year that she took those three months to do a workshop, and it involved like homework, and, you know, she had to do something and turn it into the to the art instructor. And now. Her art is just taken off, and she's in a gallery, and she's just growing, and she just seems so much happier, like even with her, yeah, with her work and her responses, and I don't even hear her complain about marketing, everything just kind of flowed. Because I want you touched earlier, about once you learn what it is you want to do, you know your story, then it kind of makes marketing easier, because when you're going to sell something, the collector is going to want to know the story, because that's how they're going to connect to your people.

Christopher Remmers 40:30

Yeah, I think I mean that that, like, hits on so many levels. It's not even, it's like, it's on marketing, but it's also on your own, you know, like, mental well, being like, if you're sitting down and you're like, I want to be an artist, but you have no idea what that means for you. I means for you. Like, stylistically, compositionally, conceptually, like, you are going to be bouncing around all over the place, and the minute that you hit any amount of like, friction or resistance, you are going to go a different direction, you know? And it's, I think that's the one of the most common things that that that's kind of the pitfall for many artists is, like, not clearly defining what any of this is for you, like, what you want it to be, right? And so,

Olya Konell 41:06

you know, and, and so if, if you're an artist getting started, which, or you're, you know, maybe you've been an artist for a while, but you're just getting started with marketing, in your opinion, what is the one marketing tactic that every artist should be using to grow their audience. One, just like, they're going to start with the first Yeah, because there's things, but just to Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 41:30

like, yeah, being that, like, you know, kind of, based on what we were talking about, that they're like, ready to start, like, putting time into marketing, and they have something like, they have a consistent output in terms of their their their art, their product. I mean, for me, it's like, I think of it as the funnel, like, there's the funnel of, like, social media at the top of the funnel, and your job is to get people onto, onto your email list. Like, to start, start some sort of subscriber email list where you can start to nourish and build relationships like one on one with people, and so we use social media. This changed the way that I thought about social media when I flipped to this mentality, right? That it's not about like getting a bunch of likes and being really popular. It's about like telling your story and finding your tribe of people and then getting them off that platform, because then you have control over how you nurture those relationships you have control over if they're going to see your emails and like, all of this stuff, you know, and you decide how that goes from there. How

Olya Konell 42:29

do you really, since we're at this point, how do you get them out, like, off of the platform, like, what do you say? What do you do? What do you post? Like, do you DM them? Like,

Christopher Remmers 42:39

any, yeah, it's a combination of all. But I'd say, like, on the high level is that, like, one thing is, like, where it's so inundated with email subscriptions, you know? Like, I think everyone can relate here. And so I think what separates it is that you want to make sure that you're giving value, right? It's not like, you don't want to just be like, Hey, here's my artwork. Will you buy it, please? Yeah,

Olya Konell 43:01

there's my artwork. Yeah, yeah. Like,

Christopher Remmers 43:05

it's, it's about like, using these platforms to, like, to give value, and then, and then, you know, and then to deliver on that promise that, if you're going to allow this person to give you emails that like you're giving them value in that space, right? And, yeah. And so there's a lot of different ways. Whether it's like, you know, you're an educator, you're an artist, the ways in which you can give values like you either like, invite collectors into kind of the behind the scenes of what your works about, like how you came about doing it, what's your process, like invite them into your studio space and show them that. And just, there's all these ways that you know, because in my experience, like collectors get excited when they feel like they can have a relationship with the artist. It's not like, it's not simply just like, Oh, I like your work. I want to buy it. It's I want to know the story. I want to feel like I know who you are, I want to feel like that's more often than not, what I experienced rather than like. Yes, you get people that just like, they love the image, and they'd rather not talk to you, and they'll just like by your work. That's also true, but it comes through like that, that nourishing those or nurturing those relationships. The other thing I'll say is consistency. You know, I think I don't know what the numbers are. I mean, I know that they've gone way up in terms of, like, the amount of, what do they call like touches, of like, how many times someone sees your product before like, it like, you know, it's, it's something that they actually take action on. It's an unfortunate thing, but it's like, you know, in the world of marketing, like, we need to make sure that we're being consistent output, and that, like, just sharing your work one time and then, like, going silent is like, not going to do it right. People have busy lives. You have no idea, like, what's going on in their life when that hits their inbox. And so this thing of, like, just be can. Consistent. Don't think about that one person that you think that you're bugging too much like just keep building up the practice and being consistent. And you will it will build you will get the results. People will start responding. People will appreciate it. And the people that don't great, they're not your tribe. Don't worry about

Olya Konell 45:18

them. Don't worry about them. Yeah. Well, and a really good point that you made. And other artists have made this before. No person, let me back up, very few people on this planet will buy something that's, you know, 1000s of dollars without having a personal connection to who they're buying it from. It's probably going to be a scammer that wants to, you know, Venmo, you extra and have you send some back, like you're going to get those kinds of inquiries, but if you have a painting listed for, you know, a, you know, any and, and we've had guests mention this where it's like, if I'm selling small studies or prints, those will come off my website. You know, these are affordable, you know, they're within a price range that somebody can buy because they're a fan of the work, but they're, you know, they're not going to be shelling out 1000s of dollars for an original. So if you want to sell originals, you you're not going to get you're not going to do that successfully. If you're just going to treat them like you're selling prints. It's a completely different thing. You know, yes, are more affordable. They're easier to get in front of people. A lot of artists buy prints. Students buy prints. You know, just because I saw this in the chat, target artists are one of the biggest buyers of art. FYI, in case you all didn't know, so just because you have artists following you, artists interested in your work, doesn't mean that they cannot be a collector. A lot of collectors are artists

Christopher Remmers 46:40

and and your most frequent buyers, the previous buyers, and so it's that that is also the thing of like, when I talk, when I talk about, like, nurturing relationships. Like, it really is, like, if someone buys something from you, like, that is, that is, like, an amazing relationship to cultivate for multiple reasons. But like, you know, I mean, it's said that, I have heard this many times that, like a lot of artists, that, and there's their success, like, you know, most of their success came from, like, a handful of consistent clients that were constantly buying from them.

Olya Konell 47:15

Yeah, no, that's that is absolutely, very, very true. One of the things that I want to highlight this, because I saw this in the chat too about Squarespace as well. So, um, so for those that you know, Christopher has a website with artful Squarespace by Faso. I know I mentioned it in the beginning. He's actually one of the main reasons why we decided to dive into it, because we've been contemplating with the idea. And Clint was like, you know, we are our our mission is to inspire artists and to help them with free and paid resources and tools. Okay, and so this totally aligns with what we want to do. We want to help artists, you know, be able to do the things they want to do. And you're a teaching artist, you you know, do a lot of mentorship. We want to be able to provide you with the tools that you need, and we have a lot of artists that are like that. So that is why we built that partnership, to be able to offer it at a much discounted rate, that still allows you to be a part of our Faso BoldBrush community. And so have you when you made the switch, okay, you know, for anyone that's in the audience, that's like, Okay, I want to sell horses, or I want to have certain types of, you know, other print options. Or maybe I want to design my own site, you know, I want a little bit more of that Lego functionality of being able to drop, drag and drop elements, you know, and I want to do that, you know. Would you say that they should explore Squarespace, artful Squarespace. Or would you say that, you know, I guess. What's your advice for artists, like getting started versus, like, wanting to do certain things, which

Christopher Remmers 48:59

would be specific with like, the website, yeah,

Olya Konell 49:01

yeah. Like which, which is a better fit, I guess. Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 49:04

I love what i've what I've set up with you guys, through, through Squarespace, you know. And I think it's primarily for me, like, I just, I wanted to have a little bit more hands on design control over curating the experience on my website. It's simply that I think that's the and that's, that's not a small thing. And, like, and then, in addition to that, having the added support that you're not going to get from just joining Squarespace, like, having been that you're a part of a community where you can get, you know, you can get marketing advice, and you can, you can help, you know, get your name out there and get your product out there. I mean, there's a lot of added benefit in terms of, you know, again, just working with Squarespace directly, like, you know, you guys specialize in helping artists specifically around website and around marketing and around branding and all that. And so to me, it's just, it's like the best of both worlds. You get, like, an excellent website. Builder and the community involved with it,

Olya Konell 50:03

that's awesome. And we're, we're, we're just excited to watch your your journey and all the things that you're doing, and the site turned out absolutely beautiful. But, yeah, we, we've had quite artists asks like, hey, you know what is a better fit for me and that sort of thing. And I think it really just depends on what you just said. Do you want more control, or do you want something more plug and play? You know, because, going back to the big marketing picture, the funnel that you just that, you just that you described, which is like your social media, all the public events you go to all the different things that you do, you know that is kind of your funnel, or funnels, if you have multiple and at the end of the day, you're directing them to one place and so and that, if you're an artist that wants to sell your worker or, you know, build that audience that you actually own through your newsletter, you need a site. Even if it's a basic site, you need some place to send people to. But also this is so important. If you build a website and you don't have that funnel, and you're not doing those things, it's like opening a store and not telling anyone about it, like, no one's going to walk in there if you don't put a sign up, no one's going to walk in there if you don't like, hey, you know, and now you know the grand opening. Like, you need to do those things just like you would in real life.

Angela Agosto 51:22

Yeah, your LinkedIn. Well,

Christopher Remmers 51:24

the other thing too to say is, like, depending on where you are on the journey, like, as, if you're, like, just beginner, like, never had a website before, you know, I think, like, starting with, like, the basic Faso setup, right? Because then you don't have to think about it. You guys have templates and, like, you don't have to get into this whole world of, like, designing and doing all this stuff, and you can start there, and then as you sort of grow, this is similar to what I did. Then I, like, had space, and then I wanted to, like, have more of a hand in designing and curating the experience. And so then that going over to Squarespace with you guys allowed me to then, kind of like, grow into what I had. So I would say, like, if you're just straight out beginning, like, I would kind of go along that trajectory answer, and

Angela Agosto 52:07

because people are always confused in asking, what's better? And basically, like you said, if you don't want to do anything, you just want to be in your studio. You don't, you know, what we offer is design with artists and collectors in mind. Or Squarespace, the artful score space. It is where you want to design, you know, to match your brand, or, you know, you want to kind of have a hand in, because you do courses or mentorships or whatever. So yeah, that was like the perfect explanation.

Olya Konell 52:32

And one thing I wanted to share for those of you guys are like, well, I don't know what to post on social media. I need more help with marketing. I don't know. I don't even know what to say. So, so I'm going to back up a little bit in our all of our members and and all of our customers, whether they're on Squarespace or on artful Squarespace, or just by Faso or Faso itself. In this marketing community, there's a place called start here. So if for any of our members that are watching this right now, and you're like, Well, I don't you log in to your Faso. You go to marketing, and then you go into this community, and then there's a place called start here, and it tells you, it basically teaches you about, there's a getting started guide, art marketing ebook that kind of explains how to market art in general, email marketing, the BoldBrush way, and then, actually, this is a very good one improve your sales ability. Because some of us feel awkward talking to people. We feel it's almost like the imposter syndrome when it comes to actually making a sale. We feel weird. This will help you, and then once you're done going through those you would if you need help, and knowing what to do, or having a calendar of what to do and when to do it, and having some sort of a framework for a first schedule. We have an art marketing calendar that we update every month. And on there, there is a posting idea every single day. So if you just need to brainstorm what to write about in your newsletter or what to post about, you could actually connect this to your Google Calendar, or you could just save the link to the spreadsheet and be able to access it. So, you know, this is where this is, this is where we can't answer some of your questions on the webinar specifically, but we have tools for that, and we have resources. So if you need help with that, that's where you would go. But you know, in general, we're trying to kind of get, like a high level overview of some of the best practices and strategies and things like that on this particular session. One of the things that I wanted to touch base on So, and you talked about it previously, and I saw people ask questions about it in the chat. Was the conscious creativity, course. So what inspired you to start that, I mean it, besides just, you know, this is something that you were passionate about, or, you know, was it being. Because you wanted to diversify your income. I remember you mentioning that. I mean, these are real questions, because maybe there's somebody in the audience that says, hey, I have something to teach, and I want to teach something I want to offer, you know, educational stuff. Maybe I want to make some courses. What advice do you have to those artists that want to start, you know what inspired you? And how can you recommend they get into it? Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 55:25

yeah. So, I mean, there was a few things that inspired it. One, I mean, kind of going all the way back to when I was a student at the Georgetown Atelier, is I just I discovered that I love to teach. While I was a student, my my teacher invited me to start teaching, and I just, I really, really enjoyed it, and but it was, like, it was a particular type of thing that I liked to teach. Like, I like teaching technique, but it's not, it's not the main thing that I love to teach. I like, I like helping people kind of problem solve, like, what it is that they want to like, bring into the world? What is it they want to say, what is like? What are their creative ideas, and what are ways that they can explore that? And like, how do we think of like, being an artist? And from this perspective of like, a whole systems design, right? It's not just about the craft in the business. There's this whole other part of it, which is, like, what I talk about is like taking care of the vessel, right? It's like me and like, I'm putting all these demands on this person to show up and do all these things, and I need to make sure that I'm taken care of and that I can optimize, you know, like my creative output and feel good, and feel like, you know, like I'm enjoying the process, and that, like I believe in myself, and that, like, I feel good about the ideas that I'm bringing into the world, and this whole idea, like, around cultivating your creative capacity, right? And so it comes back to, like, why I am an artist. The thing that that precedes, like the craft was, like these things that I was interested in and exploring and navigating, either through, like meditation practice, or, like retreats, or whatever it was that I found, like, holy cow, there's like this wellspring of tapping into this through this direct process of, like, trying to get to know myself and that. So anyway, I found like that was the place that I really thrived as as a teacher, and how that grouped in with the technical and so it was just this process of one be like, What do I wish like I had when I was kind of coming up as an artist, which was like, I wish I had someone like, as, like a coach in my corner that was like, helping me kind of figure out the right direction to go, like, where to focus my attention and my energy, how to balance my lifestyle and all that stuff, and just someone that had kind of been through that process. So that was, that was the big inspiration, was to, like, start doing that. And that organically happened at the atelier. Like I was, I started to, like, have relationships with the students that were kind of on that capacity outside of teaching them how to paint and draw. And then that turned into sort of like, one on one, coaching outside once I graduated, and then it kind of grew from there. I was like, Okay, there's something here that like, Yeah, I think people really value and and so that was one part of it. The other part is that, you know, like any business you know, it goes through, it goes through seasons and cycles, and it's, it's no different for artists. And I think sometimes, you know, especially in recent years with everything that's been going on, you know, overseas and politically and all this stuff like, you know it, you can, you can experience seasons where you might not sell work for months at a time, and depending on the kind of work, for me, like my my work is is a high ticket item, and it doesn't sell very fast oftentimes. And so when things are there's like a looming recession, and there's like all this stuff happening globally that's going to affect the art market. And so for me, I just wanted to make sure that I had diversified my income streams to where, like, I could, I could consistently keep, be putting, or be showing up to the studio. And that coincided with starting a family, and then, like, you know, this ongoing conversation that I'd been having with my wife, of like, wanting to work together, and so that kind of, that's how it all came to be. Came to be, yeah, yeah. Um, what was the other the second question.

Olya Konell 59:28

So if there's other artists out there that are in the same boat, paintings aren't, you know, they want to diversify their income. Maybe they want to get into creating a course. Or maybe they've, because they've achieved a certain level of mastery, and they have something that they could offer in some level, you know, any advice on getting started like, because they might have this idea. They might have conquered all these other mountains, and now they're ready to bring in some additional income. You know, it. Any recommendations of where they can learn?

Christopher Remmers 1:00:04

Yeah. I mean, I think first and foremost, like to sit and ask the question of, like, what do you want your life to look like? Like, what you know, I gotta have my students go through this exercise of like, dream up the adventure of a lifetime that you can imagine for yourself. Like, down to the detail of like, the kinds of paintings, the types of clients, like how you sell your work, where you live, how much time you spend in the studio, how much time you spend doing all these other things like that. Because it has to resonate. Like, if it's not something that you want to do, then it's just going to be a slog. It's going to be an uphill battle the whole time. And so like, if you've enjoyed teaching and creating courses. Then, like, Yes, do it. If it doesn't feel like it's in your wheelhouse and it's something that you would find joy doing. Then there's other ways that you can you can figure that out in terms of, if you want to go the direction of creating courses or educational content around your art. I think it's an incredible way to to diversify your income, and it makes you a better painter. It gives you a deeper understanding of your own process, right? I mean, there's that adage of, you know, you know, if you teach what you know, you're going to become, you're going to become much more knowledgeable of, like, your own craft and doing so. You're going to become better at it because of it, because you're, you're constantly interfacing with, like, your own process and how to make it better and all that. So it's, I think it has made me a better artist and a better business person all around by doing that, because you're also then kind of held accountable, right? It's different than if you're not having to deal with people all the time. When you have students like you have a responsibility and an obligation, and so it it helps you show up in a way that you might not otherwise, with consistency. Yeah, and, and I like that. I you know, I think finding ways to hold ourselves accountable on different levels is it's such a good thing to do whether you do it with friends, whether you do it with other, you know, with students, whether you do it with whoever you can, you know, let people know what your goals are, and create like a system around that to keep you on task. In terms of like, specifically, if you want to do courses, I went, like, a very particular way. I ended up working with a company that that helps, course, creators thrive and create, like, what they call, like a legacy business, like something for people that want to like, they're not just doing this for sort of a short term kind of go. You're like, really trying to understand how to create a business, it's going to last a long time, and that was the route I go. There's a lot of those companies out there. Yeah, yes. So, so I work with a company, and now I'm part of, like a mastermind group with them, and they're called the authority accelerator, and it's not specifically for artists. There are artists that run through that program. And, and it's a very, very robust program. I mean, it's and it's lifetime access. And so they teach you everything from, I mean, they like, they teach people, even if they don't even know what they want to teach how to, like, start, right? Like, they don't have a subject that they know. They're like, I just want to try this out. And so they like, they they know how to do it, even if you don't have the thing to help you kind of discover what your expertise is. But for those of you that know, like, they teach you the whole gamut of like, how to build interest, how to brand, how to market, how to build the course itself, the right platforms, to use the tech, everything right and, and so that's, that's the route that we went, and it's been, it's been really great for us. And like I said, we, we then, you know, last year, like, they did a little mini documentary film about us, and like, our success that we've had in the program, and we're, like, part of a mastermind with them now. So it's been really great. But like I said, there's a ton of there's a ton of programs out there. If someone wants to know more, feel free to reach out to me. I'm happy to share because there are also a lot of like, scams and charlatans out there trying to teach people how to sell courses. So it's just part of the world today. I mean, online education is, like, I think one of the fastest growing industries in the world right now, and and so there's a lot of people that have a lot of BS programs. So you need to be careful.

Olya Konell 1:04:31

It's true, yeah, and yeah. And that is such good advice. And thank you for sharing. I wanted to touch on that because we get that question in our ama is, like, I want to do this, but I don't even know where to begin. And so yeah, we don't provide that framework. We can tell you, this is something you can do, but we love connecting with and one thing to know, you do offer mentorship and those types of things. So if you want to learn from Christopher, you can connect with him. We've shared his links. Um. Um, because having a mentor does help. One of the things I tackled a couple years ago was learning about YouTube, and I joined a group, and I paid for the course. I would join their like they had, like a mastermind thing afterwards, and it was the most, it was the most I'd spent on education out, you know, like on a thing, but it was the most valuable thing that I had done. I learned so much. And so I even though I am a self paced learner, I learned on YouTube all the time or on reading. So it still helps. And I think that it makes you more accountable to learning and getting those things done if you've invested a penny, a pretty penny, and so, yeah, you're gonna more likely use that knowledge. So for 100% somebody was saying, I have a lot of ideas, but pulling it together is an issue, accountability, a mentor. Those are things that help me, finding somebody that can be that for you, or connecting with somebody who offers that.

Christopher Remmers 1:05:59

Yeah, and that's a, that's a good point too. I've, I mean, going all the way back the long time, I've had mentors and coaches along every step of the way, whether it's in, like, the craft and the art development or the business or whatever. Like, lean on those resources, and you are rarely going to regret investing in yourself. Like, it's just, you know, like, of all the things we could spend money on, like, invest that in yourself and your own education and getting better at what it is that you love to do, and, yeah, that no one can take away from you, right? Yeah,

Angela Agosto 1:06:34

yeah. And also probably help you understand what you don't want to do, so that you don't spend

Christopher Remmers 1:06:38

Right, right? That's huge. Yeah,

Olya Konell 1:06:42

that is huge. And that is, that is important. And you don't know what you don't know, you know, and if, if you're somebody that's like, hey, you know, I, I, I'm trying to figure out this whole Instagram thing, which I know we're a little bit over on time. And thanks for you guys for for for hanging on, but like on Instagram thing, one of the things you you know you're doing well on is Instagram, but Instagram has its own issues, and you know, one of those is censorship, and I saw somebody ask about that in in, in the chat. But you're always having to learn. You're always having to in innovate. You're always having to figure out, well, if this isn't working, I got to do this. And I that just comes with that. Just comes with the act of trying to get your work out there. You know, I Right, right. Always problem solving.

Christopher Remmers 1:07:35

Well, I think that's a good point too. Just real quick is like what I said earlier, adaptability. Like, if you try one way and it's not working for you, like, yeah, like, you know, the idea is, like, design, what it is that you want your life to look like, and then, and then do whatever you need to do in order to get that right. Like, don't stop after trying one thing or two thing, or, frankly, even three things, like, keep going until you hit the thing that works specifically for you, and that might be way different than anybody else you know and like, I think that's the thing that really will help you endure and thrive in the long run, is just like stopping at nothing to figure out how to, like, creatively, solve that problem for yourself. Yeah, and

Olya Konell 1:08:18

one really good resource that I love, just sharing this if you want to learn how to do something. Like, I really like this shot right here. So I love how you took this video of your wife taking a picture right like, I love this. This is a story. This is the story of the creation of the painting. Like, when you mentioned storytelling, you can do that through your social media in so many ways. And if you're you kind of suck at that, the best way you can learn for free is to go to somebody else's Instagram that you really like, how they're doing it and they're doing it well, like this post right here. It's like, okay, how can I recreate this with what I do? How can I create a little unveiling? Maybe have a friend pretend they're taking a picture. You know what I mean? Like, you can get ideas for free online by seeing other successful people and make them your own. For those of you that have fun with it, have fun with exactly have have fun with it. And just to kind of nail nail this in some more like everything that you talked about, and I know everybody's like, we want to learn more about marketing, and you can't market your work, if you don't have this figured out, if your story sucks, your marketing is going to suck. That's plainly put, like, what are you trying to What are you trying to share? If you don't have a story, if your story is 11 by, you know, or 24 by by 36 and then you have the title of the painting, that's not a story like you need more than that, and because just posting that online in you know, as part of your funnel is not going to really do anything for you, because I was just a beautiful picture. There's lots of beautiful pictures. You need something more than that, and so once you have that figured out, then it makes it so much easier for you just to throw out these creative. Of beautiful, curated little peeks into your studio. And you know, I love what, what you've done. It's fantastic. Yeah, one thing, and I know I'm so sorry I taking you over your time, but,

Christopher Remmers 1:10:15

oh, I thought we were talking for a lot longer,

Olya Konell 1:10:20

well. And I try to be sensitive, you know, to like, if somebody doesn't mind going over, then that's okay. I wanted to, if you could give one piece of advice to your younger self as an artist, what would it be? Or, you know, what would be like?

Angela Agosto 1:10:38

I love that question. Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 1:10:42

this thing just came up really powerfully for me recently. I think it's two parts. I think first and foremost was trust myself. I think so often, early on, like we have a we have an idea, we get excited about something, and we don't, we don't like believe in ourselves. We don't trust ourselves. The like, that it's actually something that's worth spending our time doing, and you don't really know until you've given enough of your attention for long enough to see what it can become. And so I think that, like the big message, and then in terms of just, you know, taking, take the time to get really clear on what you want. You know, I think I waited a long time before I took that seriously in terms of my artwork and where I wanted to go. So I think those two things, like, trust that that what you want to bring into the world has value and it's worth it and and stay the course and get really clear on it as much as you can and like, just keep going. Yeah,

Olya Konell 1:11:44

that is so true, because your intuition, you know, even science, can't fully explain all aspects of our intuition, you know, yes, it's coming from our brain, but there's like, a deeper knowing and that trust, I think is important, because self doubt is a huge, I think, enemy of all of us. You know that the oh, I mean, it's good to question things, but you know, there's a certain level of of trust that we need, that we need to have, yeah, yeah.

Christopher Remmers 1:12:14

Well, we don't know. We don't know until we commit, right? Like, otherwise, is what I say oftentimes in students, is like, you're just digging many shallow wells and like, like you, you have to give yourself enough time to prove that you can actually make something that's that's valuable, that's great. You have to dedicate and practice it. So yeah,

Olya Konell 1:12:36

and people can sense that authenticity. They can sense that passion. So if you're not passionate, you're about what it is that you're doing, because you've you know, you're doing everything at the surface level, even though somebody might be looking at your work or watching you online, creating the creating the work, whatever it is, it's in how you write, it's in how you speak, it's in everything that you do, that that vibe can be sensed through the Internet. Call me crazy, but there's people that I'll be you know, you just see somebody and you're like, wow, they're magnetic. I want to learn more about their story. And then you become excited about whatever it is that they are creating. And so I that's how it especially for artists, it's not just about your painting. It's about you. If you're not putting yourself out there, it's gonna, I mean, unless your banks, Banksy, right? Like, that's part of who he is, is the fact that no one knows, you know, yeah,

Christopher Remmers 1:13:30

it's all that's still a story, and it's still a story, yeah, yeah,

Olya Konell 1:13:34

yeah. So that's the, you know, a big marketing tip is, is figure out how to put yourself out there. And if you're shy, if you have stage fright, you feel uncomfortable, learning, diving deeper into yourself, becoming comfortable with you, I think, will make it easier for you to get yourself out there as well.

Angela Agosto 1:13:53

Yeah, showing your work and your interactions, and like you said, in your stories and your writing,

Olya Konell 1:13:59

you probably already talked about this, but what about where's the best place to learn about how to post on Instagram? So my recommendation is YouTube. And you would type in, go to YouTube and type in Instagram tutorial, 2025 Instagram tutorial, and put in the year so you get videos that are relevant, and make sure that the video was didn't just change the title that it was posted, because somebody will give you a full tutorial on how to use the platform. And then you can get more specific, like how to make reels, good reels, how to edit a video, how to do this. And you can learn for free just by watching these. If you're a customer, we do have some video editing videos, how to stuff kind of core basics in our video library. You can dive in into that. And there was one more question I wanted to grab from the chat. Somebody was saying, when can we change our email to professional email, and then info at your name.com so if you have a. Website you should be you should, for sure, have that, and if you don't have a website, that usually comes with your website most of the time, so like Faso or Squarespace, Squarespace uses Google, so you get the Google one. But I would do that from the get go. It just makes it easier, especially if you're already setting up a site.

Angela Agosto 1:15:18

I just wanted to say using info. We did learn from our web provider, our email provider, I'm sorry that using info sometimes blocks, like a lot, oh, those block anything that has info with your domain. So they're like, not to use that. Maybe just use Frank at you know, because it was Frank's question instead of info. So I just kind of wanted to make you all aware.

Olya Konell 1:15:39

yeah, good, good advice. Any? I just wanted to grab those because they popped up and kind of going back to, kind of land the plane. And to wrap this up, if there was, you know, if, if the audience wants to connect with you, join your course, or stay updated. What's the best way that they can do that?

Christopher Remmers 1:16:03

Yeah, I mean, Instagram is the place where we're the most active right now. But there's, there's a couple links. One, you can go to my website and check out the courses which I think you guys have posted. You can post the link now, I'll give you a little bit of kind of the high level information of what we offer. But really the best way, and that I that I do, is you can, you can book a live zoom call with me for a half an hour. It's free. It's totally pressure free, and you can ask me whatever questions you want about the academy and about all that stuff. And so, yeah, that's really the best thing to do that's awesome.

Olya Konell 1:16:41

I love that, and we've shared the links with you guys. I will actually drop these in your follow up emails as well. So when you guys get that tomorrow, if you didn't get a chance to grab it, you'll have that, and you can take advantage of that. Yeah, thank you so much for Yeah, thank you for having me on here. Yeah, kind of like a crash course and as many different while we need to do it, yeah,

Christopher Remmers 1:17:06

yeah. I mean, I'm happy if there's any more questions. I've got space if, if we want to hit a couple more, but if you guys got to go, I understand too. But yeah,

Olya Konell 1:17:17

yeah, if anybody has any last questions, and I know there were some in the chat scrolling through, yeah, a recent thing.

Angela Agosto 1:17:23

You make sure you read those. Christopher, yeah. And

Olya Konell 1:17:25

if you guys want, yeah,

Christopher Remmers 1:17:26

I have been, I will be passing my wife's in here too. So, oh yeah, yeah. She's, she's really the mastermind behind my, my social media these days. She's, she's, like, amazing with all of that.

Olya Konell 1:17:40

I know what, what I would love to have you both back together. Would that be okay sometime, like, you know, we'll give it time,

Christopher Remmers 1:17:46

which, yeah, I would love to, I think she would be, yeah,

Olya Konell 1:17:49

okay, we'll have to chat. Yeah. Here, like, from

Angela Agosto 1:17:52

a lot of artists that they select the spouse, sometimes it really does, yeah, stuff, you know, like,

Christopher Remmers 1:17:57

she just said, Sure.

Olya Konell 1:17:58

So awesome, you know,

Angela Agosto 1:18:01

question for you, one last question. The Joseph Campbell, which books? I know my daughter actually reads it for her school. She's in film, but, oh yeah, which one of his books

Christopher Remmers 1:18:11

there's, there's a few. I mean, the hero of 1000 Faces is like, kind of the go to I mean, yeah, he's got a lot of books, but that one really talks about kind of the mono myth and, like his whole ethos around mythology. Yeah,

Angela Agosto 1:18:26

that's funny, because she's a sharing writer, and she's studying in London, and that's the book that they recommended, which is why we got it for her for for Christmas. The Joseph Campbell, what you just mentioned, the heroes, yeah,

Olya Konell 1:18:36

shared it in, in in the chat. And I actually just a quick by the way, if you will have any thank yous comments, I'll forward everything to Christopher afterwards, so feel free to drop things in the chat. But somebody was saying, I'm a realtor, and this information also applies to my real estate business too. Actually, yes, I have friends that are in real estate, and the ones that are doing well have put a very personal touch to how they're share, you know, like, what they post about their listings, and the things that they do, so and, and, yeah, I concur. Yeah,

Christopher Remmers 1:19:10

yeah. Real quick. I saw Steve asked this a couple times, and Steve 100% nudity has affected how I post on Instagram. I can't post it anymore, so we've, like completely changed our strategy to to keep that off, and I unfortunately don't have a clear answer on how to navigate that. Currently, hoping that matters, new change in policy might affect that, but doubtful.

Olya Konell 1:19:39

Yeah, and there's one more that I see, do you take on commissions in addition to creating your own work, or do you find these requests aligned with what you're already doing?

Christopher Remmers 1:19:48

Yeah, I do, actually, that's, that's the majority of my work outside of the academy. And you know, it took some time to get there, but I'm able to be very selective and cherry. Tech, the kind of commissions that come on on my plate, and so that's, yeah, I like, I, I'm working on personal work slowly, but most of the paintings that I do recently have been commission work. And for, for, like, course, content, Oh,

Olya Konell 1:20:15

that's amazing. That's awesome. And I, I think I there's, I've heard both sides of the camp. You know, some people run away from commissions, but I think if you do it right, where you a lot, as long as it aligns with who you are and what you do, commissions can be quite enjoyable.

Christopher Remmers 1:20:30

Yeah. I mean, you like, even from the get go, you can be in the driver's seat of that. Like, if someone comes to you and you know you're painting whatever, like people see that you know how to paint, and then suddenly you're like, Oh, you can paint my dog, or you can paint a portrait, or you can paint this. And like, rather than just like, we either say yes and then we end up doing a bunch of work that we don't want to be doing. Or you can be like, Thanks for reaching out. Like, I don't know if you've taken a look at my work, but this is the type of work that I do. How can your vision of what you want fit into this. And like, you know, give your like, give them the opportunity to like, or like, kind of, you know, like, direct the conversation to where you can be in the design seat of like, how you want those pieces to go, so that it works for both of you. And do that in the beginning more and more. And then then you'll get to a place where you are your your commission work is not much different than the work you would be doing personally. So it's

Olya Konell 1:21:26

very, yeah, very cohesive. I love that. That is a very good tip, and I will actually have to remember that. But yeah, thank you so much you guys for your questions, and thank you so much for your feedback and advice. I'm excited to have you both back sometime soon. We'll, you know, we'll give you some time, we'll give you a break. We have a lot going on, but we'd love to have that. It'd be fun. And you've launched this stuff, and then you can come back. Yeah, we can kind of touch base. And then thank you to the audience, for those of us, to everybody that's hung on, and the recording will be sent out to members next week, and non members posted to our BoldBrush newsletter. And I'll send you some clips, Christopher, I'll send you some like, reels and stuff that you can Oh, great.

Christopher Remmers 1:22:14

That would be wonderful. Yes, thank you everybody. Yeah, thanks for having me on here again, and thank you all for for your attention and and all the wonderful questions. Yes,

Olya Konell 1:22:24

thank you so much. Take care. Have a creative rest of your week. You.

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