The Ultimate Creativity Course: Artist Awakening

1. Introduction: Welcome to Artist Awakening!: Hello and welcome to Artist Awakening, unleash your creative spirit and achieve your artistic dreams. I am so happy and so excited that you are here. I know you can't see it, but in my mind I am launching off fireworks and popping confetti and popping champagne. And it makes me so happy from the bottom of my heart that you are ready to embrace your inner artist and tap into this big piece of your life purpose. It is so exciting. Oh my gosh. I'm going to start by sharing with you what we're going to cover inside of this amazing course. Then I'll tell you a little bit about myself, my story, the family I came from. And that'll be our lovely introduction. Here's what we're going to cover inside of Artist Awakening Module one is embracing who you are, your deepest desires and your life's purpose. This is big stuff. I cannot wait to dive into that section with you and really get to the root of who you are and what you want, and what you want your life to be, and what you want your artistic legacy to be. It's so thrilling. Module two, Something we were never taught in school. Something we've been steered away from forever, right? I'm going to teach you why it is so important for you to make your art. I'm going to teach you why it's not selfish. I'm going to teach you why it really, really matters. And I'm so, so excited for that section, module three. Everybody's big block in art and creativity. Overcoming procrastination and perfectionism. We're going to get to the root of that. I'm going to give you tons of implementable solutions, new mindset shifts ways to look at it differently, and we'll get you back to work. Doing what you love. Module four. Another block that we bump into as artists and visionaries, rising above jealousy, imposture syndrome and comparison. I think we've all been there. Okay, so I'm going to walk you through my process for rising above all of that. Again, getting back to your creative magic. Module five, Pitching Yourself, Creating opportunities and networking tips. This is some business magic right here. You've got to be willing to pitch yourself, and I will show you how you've got to create opportunities for yourself. I'll tell you what that means. We can't just sit around waiting to be discovered, waiting for a gatekeeper. It doesn't really work that way anymore. Module five is really empowering, with a lot of practical tips. Module six is social media magic, embracing visibility and vulnerability. This is huge, this is so important. Are you willing to be vulnerable? And put yourself out there? And put your name out there? And put your work out there and show up consistently on these platforms. If you're having trouble with that, this module is going to be your Golden Ticket Module. Seven more business stuff, art and money, abundance mindset, business basics. We're going to talk about the frequency and energy of money, of charging money for what you do, of stepping into an abundance mindset of basic business things that you need to know if you want to make money doing your art. If you don't, that's okay too. But it's always good to know. I'm just really excited about this because there's sometimes this belief that like, well, if you love it, you wouldn't charge money for it. I personally believe that you get to be supported for the work that you do and the work that you love to do. So we're going to get into all of that in module seven, module eight, self care, rest and nurturing your creative spirit. This is not just about go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go. I do not want you to burn yourself out in your art. I am very qualified to teach on this module because I have burned myself out in art so many times. Module eight is a message for all of us, including me. How to slow down, how to enjoy the journey, how to take care of yourself every step of the way as you move towards your big amazing visions. Module nine, playing the long game, Staying Power for a lifetime of creativity. I don't just want this course to be something that revs you up and gives you energy for the next two weeks or two months. I want you to be in this for life. I want you to make your art your whole life. I want you to have the time of your life doing what you love most forever. And I come from a line of people who do that. I know how it's done. Module nine is so much about sustainability and just finding the joy in it. Then module ten, I'm going to give you some bonus content by being in this course. You're going to get a digital download of my book, Courageously Creative, which I'm so excited to gift you. You're going to get a collection of meditations, guided meditations, specifically for artists and creatives. And I'm going to drop my favorite inspiring playlist for you as well. This is a lot of ground to cover. And can you imagine how all of this is going to change your life? It's, I really feel like I was born to teach this. Mm. It's going to be so good. Let me just tell you a little bit about me. If you are new to my world or you just found me today. My name is Juliette Piper. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, into a very musical, creative family. There are newspaper clippings from the '50s of my grandparents starting their own traveling theater company, The Piper Players. They put on shows all across the country. They were actors. My grandpa created concentration, The longest running game show in history. My grandma acted into her late '80s, she was on Nickelodeon and Disney, and she was doing all these amazing things. She got roles in movies, and you've never heard of her, right? Beverly Piper. But she spent her whole life doing what? She loved. My dad, my uncle, my whole childhood up until recently, traveled the world, making music, performing for huge crowds, being onstage. I just saw that this was a way of life. My mother was a professional photographer for celebrities, for major events. Her work was published and all sorts of big magazines. I just saw this like, oh, you find out what you love and you do it and you don't question it. And I feel like I have this really rare perspective of that because I realize the older I get that that is not the norm. It is not the norm to say I'm going to be an artist and the people around you wholeheartedly support that. If you didn't have that growing up or even now. I want to be here to be your support. I want to sprinkle the piper, family magic and wisdom onto you. In this course, the age of seven, I became obsessed with songwriting. It's all I wanted to do. I would run home from school and I would play school because I wanted to be a teacher. Hello. Hi. And I wanted to write songs. I've played on the same bills as Sarah Brells, Kesha Him, Matt Corby. I've had residencies. I've played big festivals. I'm a composer for Sesame Street. I've had original songs placed on MTV, HBO, PBS kids, and in short films. I've had my music on major radio stations. I've gotten really amazing write ups totally organically in ear milk. Music connection, free people. Rolling Stone. I co hosted the top charted podcast, Goddess Hangs. I love to paint, dance, produce music videos. I'm a certified life coach. I have experience working with hundreds of happy clients. Right now, the number is at about 800, which is thrilling. And I'm the author of Courageously Creative, which you get inside of this course. And I'm a happy thriving artist on a mission to pay it forward and show you that it is possible and it gets to be good, and it gets to be life giving. And it gets to be the best decision you've ever made. Oh, oh, I just cannot wait to get into all of this with you. So that is a little bit about me and my background and what is inside this course. I cannot wait to see you inside. This is going to be so transformative, so life changing. And if you've always wanted to be an artist, or you are an artist, but you're ready to fully embrace it. This is for you. I made this just for you, and I'm so happy you're here. I will see you inside module one. 2. Embracing Who You Are, Your Deepest Desires, and Your Life's Purpose: Welcome in. You're here. I'm so happy. We're going to jump right into module number one. Embracing who you are, your deepest desires and your life's purpose. No biggie, right? Just some little things I can't, I can't wait. Let's just get started. Right now, if you're here watching this, you are an artist, how did that feel? When I said that to you, were you like, no, I'm not Or did you say, yeah, I am right. It's okay. Whatever you thought is perfectly okay, but I want you to know that you are an artist. We feel resistance around this word and this identity. I know I did for a really long time. I had a lyric when I was 19 that said you told me I'm an artist. I don't believe it. I won't believe it till I'm dead. Well, I was incorrect. I'm in my '30s and I 100% believe it. Now I do, and I'm excited for you to embrace this identity as well. We might ask ourselves, did we earn it? Are we good enough? Am I a real artist? There are just a lot of beliefs and entanglements about this word. Also, there's a part of us that might have learned that artist was a bad word. Is it selfish to be an artist? Is it a waste of time? Of course not. But some of these things have been programmed. I mean, even going through school, at least in the United States, art was an elective. It was an extra. It was something that you maybe fit into your schedule if you had time. And it wasn't as revered as if you chose to do math or a language, right, Like if you chose that as an elective instead. So we have these interesting beliefs about being an artist. And I will add in that we also have beliefs that artists struggle and suffer. And that it's the hardest path you can possibly take, though that may be true, and I want to validate the experiences of the people who've had that journey. It doesn't have to be like that. You can thrive. You can feel fulfilled. It can be exciting. You can be successful. Today, right here, right now, we begin the work of untangling these beliefs and ideas and redefining what the word artist means in our minds and in our hearts. This right here might be your first big breakthrough inside of this course. Am I feeling resistance around the word artist? Am I afraid to claim it right? And why might that be? I want to tell you something that is going to just lift all the weights off your shoulders. If you've ever made art of any kind, even 20 years ago, even when you were three years old, you're an artist. If you currently make art of any kind, you're an artist if you desire to make art of any kind, if you see it in your mind, if you have these visions, you're also an artist. Children are natural artists. Let being an artist feel as natural as saying you are a human. I'm a human, I'm a woman, I'm an artist. I'm born in July. I have brown hair, I'm an artist. Right. Let's neutralize it. Let's normalize it. What we define as art is totally subjective. Anyway, I'm sure we've all seen, or at least I have. I've gone to the Museum of Modern Art, and there's just a box with nothing in it and that got put in a museum. It does make you think that is art. Art is totally subjective. To be an artist, we simply have to claim that we are in this moment. Take a deep breath and to clear your mind of everything you thought about this word and what it means to be this word. Look at these three bolded phrases. If you ever made art. If you currently make art, if you desire to make art, you're an artist. Welcome home. Welcome home to who you are. Here are some old beliefs that we're going to shed today. Artists are selfish and self centered. Artists could be doing something more meaningful with their lives. Artists are not contributing to society and only focused on themselves. Artists are irresponsible and out of touch with reality and art is only ever a hobby. These are not facts, These are things that we have been told over and over. When you hear something enough times you believe that it's true. The truth is, none of this is true, it's not. Let's talk about some new beliefs. Let's alchemize These artists are generous. The work we create gets the world through difficult times. Artists fill the world with beauty, meaning, and or opportunities to see things from new perspectives. It's sacred, it's holy. Artists help us process our feelings and emotions in powerful ways. Artists are as important as any other job that you deem important. Artists are selfless, empathetic, and doing important spiritual work. Art can be a deeply fulfilling hobby. And there are also millions of full time artists in the world. How does that feel? I have told myself this over and over, and I watched this growing up. I watched my dad and my uncle, they had a big Beatles tribute show for decades. And I would thousands of people in the audience get up and sing and dance and feel good and have fun and sing along. And I thought, gosh, this is a service. What a gift that they're giving that they get to do what they love so much. And the people in the audience are having the best time. Even if just for that hour or two, they forget about their worries and they come back into the present moment and they have fun with their loved ones. I just saw this growing up. I want you to consider that this is true. This is another way to look at art. And remember that your art and your contributions are incredible and incredibly important. Now that we see the massive good in being an artist and we're feeling closer to fully claiming it, what is your deepest dream when it comes to your art? Don't worry, there will be some homework and journal questions at the end of each and every module. I really want you to reflect. I want you to get a journal and I want you to write because you can think about it, but I want you to put it down on paper. What is your deepest dream when it comes to your art? If a genius showed up and could grant you any creative wish, what would it be if you won the lottery? How would you use the money? Assume that all your needs are figured out and you have a home and you have food, and you have investments, and you have all this money left over and you can put it towards your art or your creativity or your visions. What are you going to do? I want you to take a moment and really reflect on this. Do not water anything down or think about what's realistic. I want you to really own what you want. It is safe in this space to own your big, incredible dreams. I want you to do just that. These are my beliefs. I'm going to share them with you and see how they land. Okay. This, this creative desire was placed in your heart on purpose and for a reason. I don't think it was an accident that at seven years old I was like, I'm going to write songs I just don't think that was a fluke or a coincidence. I felt that spark and I knew what's the spark in your heart. And can you trust that it was placed there on purpose and for a reason? Can you trust that it wasn't placed there to trick you or lead you down a dark path or towards failure, Right? It's not an accident that you are drawn to your specific creative field. Our desires are safe, guidance. Our desires are our destiny if we trust ourselves enough to follow them. It's never too late. By the way, if you're watching this and you're in your '60s, '70s, '80s, whatever, age, and you're like, I still really want to do this trust yourself. It's time when we get unapologetically crystal clear on what we want, we start taking action and the universe, God angels, whatever you believe in or don't believe in can step in and help us as well. Our energy shifts when we make a decision. It's the energy of wishing and dreaming versus committing and taking action. And I'm going to help you a lot throughout this course. Into the energy of committing and taking action, you get to decide that this is your destiny and this is what you want to do. You don't need anybody's permission. Your desires are 100% possible. We listen to me. We have never lived in a better time to make our art and share it with the world. We can self publish a book. I just self published a book. I didn't need any gatekeeper. I didn't need anybody's permission. I went on Amazon KDP, and I self published my book, and it was free to do that. We can record and release our own music. We can upload our own dances on social media. We can make print on demand merchandise, clothing prints. We can produce our own podcasts and logs. We can showcase our paintings and photographs on our very own website or our social media pages. We have everything at our fingertips right now. You don't have to wait for anybody. I have never waited for anybody. It's not over saturated. I refuse to believe that. It's just not. Everybody's energetic fingerprint and artistic fingerprint is different. It is filled with limitless possibilities. There's never been a better time. Sometimes we mute our desires to protect our hearts. We might tell ourselves if I pretend I don't want it, it won't hurt as bad when I don't get it. This is a sure fire way to guarantee that you will not get it. It is not only safe, but it is essential that your heart is on fire for what you want to create. I want you to turn your desire past ten up to 11 and let yourself want what you want fully and completely. I want you to jump out of bed every morning. Because today you will devote time to your creations. Not focused on the outcome, but just focused on the process and the love and the passion of it all. You came here to bring your work forward. You came here to be an artist. There's nothing more magical. Maybe love, love and art. To me, the most magical things, it is essential. Anything that we desire is part of our life's purpose. I know I've spent a lot of time thinking, what's my purpose? Am I acting in alignment with my purpose? Whatever you want is your purpose. Feeling good, having fun, making your art, falling in love, whatever you desire. This is part of your purpose. Being a parent, climbing up a corporate ladder, whatever you want to do, There's no wrong answer. It's what's true for you, whether you're painting, fostering kittens, planting a garden, it's part of your life purpose if you deeply and sincerely desire it. Therefore, being an artist is an important part of your life's purpose. Whether or not we become famous or billionaires doing our art, it's totally irrelevant. It's irrelevant. You still have the opportunity to live out your purpose regardless of how the external world reacts or how you're compensated or if you go viral. Right. None of that really matters. It's about fulfilling your own destiny. We can live in our purpose or we can just float by. Life is precious and unpredictable. I love this quote and it truly drives me every day. For me it's quite literal, but it says, don't die with your music still in, you refuse. I have thoughts often about the fact that this is all temporary. One day I won't be here, and we don't know when that day is when I go. Whether or not my music got millions of streams or not, I will leave behind a legacy of music. I will leave behind my songs, I will leave behind courses. I will leave behind a book. I will leave behind things that had to channel through me just because they simply had to and because it was part of my destiny. A, this is a little intense, are you going to die with your music inside of you, or you're going to set it free? How can you immerse yourself in your purpose on a daily basis? And how can you create the most meaning and magic in your life? That's really what this chorus is about. Yes. I include some business tips, some social media tips, some community building, some social media. Did I just say that I include things that are practical and helpful? Because I want to give you the full scope. But what I want most is for you to create the most meaning and magic in your life. I want you to step into the artist identity that has been bubbling up inside of you probably for years, and that wants to be set free. That's what we're here to do. This is big work. Okay, I mentioned there's going to be some journal prompts and homework. This is required. This is not optional. You don't have to turn it in, but I want you to grab a journal and I want you to answer these questions thoughtfully. Take your time. Go somewhere where no one's going to interrupt you. Ideally, what unhelpful emotions, beliefs, or judgments come up around the word artist for you. And where do you think you learned these from? You might remember the specific time. You might remember, oh yeah, this third grade teacher said this about art or this peer said this, okay? Write it out. In what ways is denying your true artist identity, holding you back from your deepest calling and the life that you want? How is pushing down this artist within holding you back from your dream life? Holding you back from your purpose? What new empowering beliefs about artists get you more excited to embrace the title? What something that was said during this module where you thought, you know what, I am an artist, you know what it is that simple. What is your deepest dream when it comes to your art? Think about the question. If a genius showed up, if you won the lottery, what do you want? I want you to own it. It can be scary, you can feel vulnerable. Owning what you want, right? I want to perform to really big crowds that know every word and feel like my music has been a guiding light to them. I want to have an amazing show and I want to have amazing dancers and effects. I see the whole world. I'm going to keep going until I get there. What is your life's purpose? How will you begin honoring it? If you have a hard time answering that, remember, go back to what do you love, what do you desire, what do you daydream about? This is a lot and it's a lot of good stuff. Take your time, do your journaling, and I will see you in module number two. 3. Why It's So Important For You To Make Your Art: Welcome back. We are jumping right in to a module number two, which is why it is so important for you to make your art. This might be the first time you're hearing this. I'm honored. I'm honored to be the one to tell you why it is so important. Let's dive right in your art equals inner soul growth. When you make your art, you discover pieces of yourself that you never knew of before. You express different facets of your soul, you process big emotions like loss, grief, even joy in a healthy way. You heal yourself at a deep level. You learn to turn pain into purpose. You mark different seasons in your life with something tangible. Think about Taylor Swift and her eras, right? You give yourself permission to evolve and change. You. Gift yourself a ritual practice that no one can take away from you if you want to see it this way. You also connect with the divine. I cannot tell you how much. Writing songs and making music videos, and being on stage and all the things that I do and I've ever worked on have been so healing for me, helped me process so many events in my life and have helped me grow and mark seasons of time. I don't know what my life would be if I didn't make my art. I want you to know that it is so healing and so profound. I don't want you to ever deny yourself of this. This is huge, this is real magic. Your art is also butterfly effect inducing. And what do I mean by that? When you make your art, you truly never know how far the impact of your creations will reach. No idea. You might think you know, but you really don't. Okay, let's say you write a heartfelt love song that a stranger hears. It inspires hope in that person, that true love exists. It inspires them to give dating another go. They get back on the dating app, they meet the love of their life, they get married and have children together. Then somebody sees their sweet love and their sweet family and they're inspired and they get back on the dating app. Right, And on and on and on. You may think your art doesn't matter or you may think, oh, only three people know about it. Three people can butterfly effect out in ways that you have no idea. I want you to release this obsession with numbers during this course. Followers going viral, all these things we will talk about social media. But your art is bigger than that. Your art is doing butterfly effect magic that you don't even know. You may think your art doesn't matter, but it can go a measurably far. Imagine if you didn't put out that love song. That person didn't hear it at the right moment. They might still be alone. They might still be closed off. You truly never know. Do not hold your art back from us. We need it. Your art is also a permission slip for others. When you make your art, you are an authentic light of courage and confidence that inspires others to bring forward their own work. It's that amazing web of you inspired me. You inspired me to do this, you inspired me to do that. Every artist you love has artists who came before them that they looked up to and helped give them permission to shine. I was in Memphis last year. I went to Graceland. It was amazing. And there was a giant museum. There was a John Lennon piano in this museum, and a quote from John Lennon that said, without Elvis, there would be no Beatles. Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles. I think about artists that I look up to without So and so there would be no Juliette Piper. I would be thrilled if you said without Juliette Piper there would be no. Insert your name here. Or without other artists you look up to. Okay. When you step forward in your art and think about how many people the Beatles inspired, you, create a permission slip for others to step into their own art too. It's a service, It's big, it's amazing. You show your family, your friends, your community, and strangers, what is possible. You remind people of the desires in their own heart and you inspire people to live in their deepest creative truth. None of this sounds selfish to me, right? Or self serving or self centered. Yes. The inner soul growth is amazing, but that's just one layer. Then we get into the butterfly effect, then we get into this permission slip aspect. Okay, Your art serves the world. It is so important. When you make your art. You also create new opportunities for beauty or for a shift in perspective. You leave the world more beautiful than how you found it. You add to the thousands year old tapestry of divine creations. I love the way that sounds. You make something that inspires people to think differently. I mentioned that empty box or a blank canvas or I don't know if any of you saw when banks sold a painting at auction and then it went through a shredder. I'm still thinking about that. You make something that invites people to question, something to lean in. Okay, Keith Herring was an activist artist. He had this profound Aids artwork. And I went to that exhibit in LA, and I'm still thinking about it. Art can cause people to see things from a new perspective. To have compassion for something, to bring something into their awareness. You can give people a sense of wonder and, or a possibility. Do you know Marina Abramovic? She had a performance art piece. I don't know what you would call it, but she would sit with people at a table in silence for a minute. She would just sit and look right into your eyes. And then when that minute was up, you'd leave and the next person would go. People had wonder and possibility, you make people feel something they hadn't felt. When I came up with this example, I thought hands down, Beyonce's Lemonade album video, that was the most mesmerizing thing to me. It shifted my perspective on some things. I feel like this is another layer, This is another piece of why it is so important that you make your art. I am not done yet. There's more. There's more. I want you to take these new reasons and stack them up against the reasons why you think you shouldn't make your art. By the end of this module, you're going to see that these reasons I'm giving you are actually a lot bigger and are a lot heavier. And these are things you can root into generational healing. I love this. When you make your art, you show future generations that there was an artist in the family. Even if you're the first, you are giving future generations inspiration and permission and you show them what's possible. As somebody who grew up with artists who came before me, multi generations of artists, it was so easy and natural for me to express myself creatively. I did not have a problem with this. I did not need to read a book or take a course. I just I saw how it was done and I modeled. And they modeled it for me and I learned. But if you're going to be the first or one of the first, you are giving a gift to your future children. Your future nieces and nephews, your future grandchildren, neighbors, whoever, okay? But you are giving this gift of saying, oh no, I was an artist my whole life. Of course it's worth it. We need examples of that. We need examples of that. This is another reason that our art is not selfish you. Now, this is my belief. You don't have to believe this, but I believe that we have the potential to heal the lineage that came before us. Maybe your ancestors near or far wanted to make art, but they lived through more difficult times or it just wasn't possible for them. Like they had to figure out how to eat or stay alive or stay safe. They didn't have time to draw. They didn't have time to put on a show, right? I love this idea that energetically they're supporting me in this lifetime, they're supporting you in this lifetime. I love getting lost on my ancestry account and going back to my 11th great grandparents and seeing, oh, wow, they lived here. They lived there, they might have had this life. I don't know if they had time for art. Okay. It's fairly recent in my lineage up until my great grandmother. But beyond that, I don't know if anybody had the time or resources. Imagine that you're healing your lineage in both directions. How selfless and wonderful is that your art heals the world. We love to hear it. When you make your art, you are truly healing the world, whether your impact seems large or small, because we have this butterfly effect at play. The generational stuff, adding beauty, adding perspective, permission slips everything. This heals the world. There is often a belief that pursuing our art is selfish, and I want all of these reasons to smash that belief right down. Okay, there's a table example where a table has three legs. This is how a belief is formed, like my art is selfish, my art is self serving, My art won't help anybody. We're going to chop those down and create a new table with these new beliefs. Okay, Finally, your art is fun, okay? This is my favorite reason you get to make your art because you do. You get to make your art because it's fun, because it feels good. It gets to exist because you want it to exist. A deeper reason is not required. I give these deeper reasons because some of us need to build a new table of beliefs. Some of us are so certain that being an artist is frivolous and selfish, and that I give you the deeper meaning, these more spiritual meanings, these generational meanings. But the truth is, this meaning is enough. It just gets to feel good, it just gets to be fun. You get to do it without any bigger purpose other than your desire. Your art doesn't have to be in service of others. But sometimes that perspective does help people move forward who are feeling stuck, okay? Take the reasons that light you up inside and that feel good to you and feel free to leave the rest. Service oriented people, helpers, people with a longstanding belief that art is selfish. That's what I said, right? These are the people who I want to create these alternative perspectives for. But really at the end of the day, you get to create because you do, you do. Here are your journal prompts and homework for module two. Why is making your art important to your soul's growth? Imagine an example of how your art could produce a butterfly effect that changes the world. Who is one person you can think of, real or imaginary, that would see you shining in your creative magic and feel inspired to pursue their own dreams. In what ways will your art leave the world a more beautiful place? Or invite people to see things from a new perspective? And how is making your art healing your lineage? These questions will help you root into a deeper purpose, shift your beliefs. This is important stuff. Take your time, do your journaling. I will see you in module three where we're going to talk about overcoming procrastination and perfectionism. It's really good. 4. Overcoming Procrastination and Perfectionism: Welcome back. It is time for us to stop procrastinating and being perfectionists. And I, for 01:00 A.M. stroked. Let's get into it. I have to start this off by talking about the force of resistance. I did not invent this. The person who is famous for talking about resistance in the realm of art is an author named Stephen Presfield. He has a book called The War of Art that I love so much credit to him, resistance is an energy that we bump into when we pursue new things that are outside of our comfort zone. Like an artistic endeavor, starting a workout regimen, starting a business, it's an undeniable force in the universe, okay? And this is how Stephen Pressfield talks about it. The bigger the desire. Imagine you have this tall tower of this art that you want to make in your mind. Like I want this so bad. So the tower is super tall and the light is shining on it. Well, the bigger the structure, the bigger the shadow that is cast. We feel more resistance towards the things we want the most. It's like a natural counterpart. It tends to show up as procrastination and perfectionism. So let me know if any of these phrases sound familiar. Yes, I'm absolutely doing it. But I will be starting tomorrow, or next week, or after this semester, or when work slows down. Right. It's never the right time. It's never a good time. Yes, of course, I'm committed. But for some reason, it's been five years and I haven't started yet. Or I'll start when I can devote 8 hours a day when I only have the best art supplies, when I can redo my whole wardrobe. When my anxiety disappears completely, when my heart break is healed, this is again saying yes, I'm going to do it, but we're constantly putting it off. We're waiting for the perfect time, which does not exist as somebody who is a hard worker and likes to be organized and likes for all the ducks to be in a row. I get it. And I've had to learn this as well, that there is no perfect time. Just notice if you start to tell yourself these things, little alarm bells should be going off. Because that is resistance in its purest form. Why do we do this? Right? Resistance tricks us into thinking we're committed. We say of course I'm doing it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm. But we haven't made a single meaningful move or we haven't picked it up again, like we start but we won't finish it. Right? So it tells us that we're not ready yet or, or we're not experienced enough. And why? Because resistance is goal is to keep us safe and in our comfort zone. Some people refer to this as the ego, right? To avoid embarrassment, disappointment, failure, judgment, scrutiny, and even success, greatness, the Unknown. Because even if we get what we want, things are going to change. If all of a sudden tomorrow I was as popular musically as a huge name act, I want it, but it's scary because everything would change, right? We fear success as much as we fear failure. Deep down, no change equals no danger equals we never make our art. There's a payoff by staying exactly where we are, we get to stay safe. We get to avoid these things like scrutiny, judgment change, success. But we trick ourselves. We say, no, I'm doing it, I'm all in, I'm doing it. But really or not, we need to rewire our motivation. You can stay exactly where you are and avoid potential judgment failure, disappointment, embarrassment, visibility, vulnerability, all that stuff. But you already know the outcome of that. The outcome of that is what your life looks like right now. But something tells me that you are here taking this course because you want more. You want to create more. You're a dreamer. There's real magic inside of you. You want the world to see it. You want to let it out, right? You can stay where you are, but look around and it will be exactly as it is. What will you miss out on if you stay frozen in procrastination and perfectionism? Here's what you're going to miss out on. This is going to help rewire your motivation. The chance to express yourself fully and bring forward your creations. The chance to meet a dream community of artists, besties and soulmates. The chance for your work to change people's lives, change the world. Perhaps the chance for financial freedom and to live a creative, inspiring life. This is what's on the other side of resistance. On the other side of the discomfort, This is what's on the other side of taking action and moving, even though it's not perfect and moving, even though you're scared. I look back at my life and I think, oh my gosh. Some of my best friends in the world I would never have met because I met them through music. Even my fiance, we met at a show because we knew the same people in music. My whole life would be different, right? I make a living doing what I love. It's like I could have stayed frozen in this fear, but I spent a lot of time thinking, especially in 2020, I had like a big awakening because I had just come from doing a lot of day jobs that didn't feel right to me, and being sick a lot and all sorts of stuff. I really reflected on this question, what will I miss out on if I stay frozen in perfectionism, in procrastination? If I stay frozen in the way things are right now, what do I miss out on? It's going to be a different answer for all of us. But that motivates me more than anything. Sometimes thinking, well, I could throw in the towel, what might I miss out on? Not like in a unhealthy Fomo way, in a remembering why I want what I want way, what's driving you, You know when resistance is driving your path because nothing changes. You may feel like you're living the same year over and over on repeat. You may feel bored, ansy, or jealous more on that later. But you'll know that courage is driving you when things start moving. When you know that the stakes are high and your purpose is on the line, your life is on the line. You are acutely aware of what you will miss out on by standing still, and you are focused on everything you have to gain. Which of these two forces is driving you? Okay? I want you to note that 100% of courage is not necessary. I don't even know if it's possible, I feel resistance. Every artist you admire and look up to at every level feels resistance. Even just 1% more courage turns the car in the right direction. Move towards that 51, 49 split. Just tip the scale. Don't worry about 100% Just start tipping the scale. What is driving you? What are you letting lead you? Overcoming procrastination. We all have non negotiables in our lives. Eating dinner, brushing our teeth, showering for me, it's making the bed. I will always make my bed. All of our non negotiables are different from one another. I have a new non negotiable now of going to the gym that was not a non negotiable like a year ago. We can add new ones at any time. If you procrastinate, it's likely that you don't yet view your art as a non negotiable because we make time for the things that matter to us and the things that we feel in our heart we need to get done. Now, of course, I always like to add in the disclaimer, If you have a really stressful family emergency or a life situation, or your safety is at risk, obviously there might not be time in that day to whip out the pain brush. But I'm talking about a typical day in your life. What is non negotiable for you? What do you always get done no matter whether it's getting dressed, putting on a little bit of make up like whatever it is for you. How can you add art to that non negotiable part of your day? I want you to decide right now that your art is a non negotiable. I want you to schedule in time, every day or every week, even if it's once a week for 20 minutes. Okay? It is a myth that you need to commit 8 hours a day to your art to succeed. I just don't believe it. I just don't believe it. And I think it's unfair. And I think a lot of people have busy lives and they have children and they work full time and they can't do that. And I want you to know that you can commit 15, 20 minutes a day, 15, 20 minutes a week. Ideally more than that. But you can commit little bits of time and show up on a semi consistent basis and be an artist and express yourself and share that work with the world. I want you to do what you can with what you have. I want you to wake up 20 minutes earlier, if that's what you need to do. I want you to make it a positive part of your day that you look forward to. And I want you to protect this sacred time. Maybe your phones on, silent, maybe you have no distractions. Release this feeling that I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time. I don't have enough time. Remember what you do make time for every day? How can you add art as a non negotiable. That is my number one. Biggest tip for overcoming procrastination, make it a non negotiable. Perfectionism holds us back from creating anything great. Okay, I would rather you make great art than perfect art. Because the great art gets out into the world and reaches people's hearts. And the perfect art stays in our heads forever. Because perfect art doesn't exist, it is always out of reach. I also want to add, it is okay to have high standards. I have high standards in the recording studio. I have high standards when I'm editing something. Okay. But I get it done and it gets released. I've had some people tell me like, you're too much of a perfectionist. No, I'm not. If I was a perfectionist, I would never release anything. I would still be sitting on songs from ten years ago because they weren't perfect. Knowing the difference is key. You are allowed to have high standards. But I want you to share your work. I want you to make great work. I want you to know that it's okay. I have a couple recordings where it's like, oops, there's a little crinkly sound there. Oops, there's a little whatever. Oh well, it was as good as it was going to get and I had to share it with the world, and that is more important to me. What do you value more? Your job as an artist is to make a mess. Your job as an artist is to make bad art. Has nobody ever told you this before? I cannot emphasize this enough. It takes piles and piles and piles and piles of mediocre work to get to a masterpiece. Usually some people just whip out the masterpiece first try. But I would say that's the minority of artists. It takes hundreds of soso songs to get to the hit. This is a part of the process. I was in Florence, Italy earlier this year, I went and saw Michael Angelo's David, which by the way, is so much bigger than you think like I thought it was the size of a man. It is huge. The whole hallway leading up to David, it was called like prisoners and stone. And it was all this art that Michael Angelo had started sculpting into and then stopped, he said it was like, well, I wanted to show them coming out of the stone, what I think it is. And this is my personal opinion and I have nothing to back this. But I think that he started didn't like it and then started over and thought, well, these are kind of cool, let's throw in. It was really cool to see the process. And it was cool to see something imperfect. And it was cool to see the mess leading up to the masterpiece. I want you to release perfectionism by allowing yourself to make bad art. You know how many paintings I've made that are like this is not great and I'll paint over it, or I'll try to revisit it another day. I still loved painting that day. I still had a great time. Then the next few I did were also so, so and then I made one that I loved and it was exactly how I saw it in my head. Have to make bad art. As a kid, we don't have this pressure that every time we create something, it has to be the next best thing that's ever existed. No, we just create because we have to create. We love to create. We see it in our heads. We make it. We show our parents, and then we move on to the next thing. Embrace that in our child. Embrace that mess. Here is the annoyingly simple solution. Okay? The solution to procrastination is to create. The solution to perfectionism is to create. It's like the children's book, we're going on a bear hunt. Can't go over it, can't go under it, can't go around it. You got to go through it. And there is a really amazing account that I would highly recommend following on Instagram called Inspired To Write. Her name is Amy Mcnee. She just posts artist inspiration constantly. She's awesome. And she said, if you cannot point to the big pile of recently made bad art, you aren't doing the work. And I was like, well, that's going in this chorus. I love that. All credit to Amy Mcnee. But yeah, you got to just create, make a mess. Make bad things make so, so things make a little bit every day. Make a little bit once a week. Just create the solution is to create. And I want you to know about resistance and how it is actually a sign and it's a good omen. When you feel that resistance and when you feel yourself procrastinating and being a perfectionist, I want you to be kind to yourself because this is a normal human response. But it is also a sign that your destiny is calling out to you. Because the stronger the resistance, like I said, the bigger the shadow, the bigger the shadow, the bigger the desire. The taller the tower Moving feeling is the direct path to your next beautiful level. Moving through this feeling, I should say. Moving through resistance, it's where your soul wants to go next, right? It's a total indicator. The higher the level of resistance, the more important the creative calling is to your soul's growth. And the resistance honestly starts to trickle away when you start. I felt resistance to sitting down and recording this today. I knew I wanted to, but I was like, oh, I don't have my hair curled perfectly. This and that and the other, I should be doing this. And I was like, just sit down and do it. And once you get in the flow, you're going to feel amazing. And that's exactly what happened, and that's what happens a lot during the creative process. You just sit down, you make it a non negotiable, and all of a sudden magic unfolds. The higher level of resistance, the more important the creative calling is to your soul's growth. And the more magic that's waiting for you on the other side of it. Let's think of sometimes when we don't feel resistance, right? Learning to bowl. I don't have resistance about that. I just don't care about it. Right? I'm neutral. Do you want to learn to bowl? I guess I'm not like, right? Notice where you feel neutral in life. And notice where you feel resistance and see where you have your desires. I do resist self publishing my book, which at the time of recording the book, comes out in two weeks. It scares the heck out of me. But this means that I need to do it and I am doing it and it's going to be great. But yeah, I was terrified. Absolutely terrified. Oh, who do I think I am an author? Yes, I am actually, Right. Resistance is a good omen. It means you're doing something you care about. Notice that. Tell yourself that next time that feeling comes up. This leads us to some journal prompts to some homework. Where do you feel the strongest resistance in relation to your art and creativity? If you're putting things off and you're waiting for things to be perfect, what's the payoff? And what do you have to gain by things staying exactly as they are? What will you miss out on? If you feel the resistance and never push through it? What will you miss out on? Have you made your art a non negotiable in your life yet? And if not, what would that look like in your day to day schedule? Then finally, one of my favorite questions, how can you make more messes and have more fun as always? Take your time, Reflect on these questions and I will see you in module four. 5. Rising Above Jealousy, Imposter Syndrome, and Comparison: Welcome back. I'm so happy you're here. Let's go to module number four. It's so funny, the way this works is it doesn't let me start it where I want to start it. Okay, here we go. Rising above jealousy, imposture syndrome and comparison. This is, and I hope you get a lot from it. And watch it over and over and over because this is important stuff. Okay, let's reframe jealousy. It is a natural human emotion. Judging yourself for feeling jealous makes it ten times worse. I have felt jealous. Have you ever felt jealous? It's okay. I grew up hearing things like, oh, jealousy is an ugly feeling. It's not good to be jealous. It's so natural. It's a very human emotion. Let's neutralize that. Let's say, oh, I'm human, I'm feeling jealous. That's okay. I'm not a bad person for feeling jealous. I don't want to take away that person's success. And just a feeling, it's just moving through me. So we're going to learn this new way to approach jealousy as artists because it's going to come up. You are not a bad or ungrateful person for feeling jealous sometimes. I mean, just flat out life can be unfair, right? People can have advantages, opportunities, or privileges that we don't. I have some advantages, opportunities, and privileges that others don't. Other people have, ones that I don't have. It's not an even playing field in the real world, right? And that's the sad reality. Someone's art can become popular after 20 days when we've been in the game for 20 years. And sometimes we're going to watch people live out our exact dreams and visions and we're going to feel that sting. Okay. Have you been there? I know that I have. Again, I just want to say it's okay. It's okay. You're not a bad person for feeling jealous sometimes. So here's some old beliefs about jealousy. Okay, throughout this course, we are shifting our beliefs. So some beliefs about jealousy. I'm a bad, ungrateful, unsupportive person. Anytime I feel jealous, I can't be happy for others, I'm sabotaging my energy or my vibe with this feeling. I'm throwing off my manifesting process. I hate when I feel jealous, I feel judgmental, it feels constricting. Okay. No wonder you're not getting to the message and the magic of jealousy. Because when the feeling comes up, your brain is going here. And my brain went here for a long time. So I'm going to show you a new way to approach it. Okay? Jealousy is simply a neutral indicator of something that I want. Jealousy reminds me that I still deeply desire something. Okay, If the jealousy goes away. If you see somebody with an art gallery and you don't feel jealous, maybe that anymore, right? It helps you figure out what you still want. But if you see that art gallery and you're like, oh, I want that, right? The desire is still there and there's a message to be taken from that. Jealousy points me in the direction I need to go and a new affirmation can be. I am so grateful when I feel jealousy because it provides me with clarity. I like to picture it as a flashing neon arrow saying, go that way, You still want that. It is neutral, it is expansive, it is eye opening, okay? If you start acting on your jealousy and gossiping and talking crap, that's not what I'm talking about, don't do that. What I'm talking about is feeling of feeling rise up within you and trying to decipher what that means and what the message in it is. Let's transmute it. Let's notice where it comes up. Instead of trying to shove it down, because I know I'm a bad person for feeling this. Open up. Let yourself feel it and say, what are you trying to tell me? What is the wisdom here? What is the message of clarity that is trying to come through? When that message appears? Feel grateful for the breakthrough and take deep breaths and release self judgment. And that jealousy is just going to melt away because you got the message. I will feel jealous when I see somebody with a home with a giant backyard and lots of bedrooms. Right. I do feel jealous. Okay. Instead of feeling like I'm a terrible person, of course, I'm happy for them. Of course, I'm celebrating them. I go, oh, I still want that. Oh, that desire is still strong. Okay, Thank you. And I can be happy for that person, and I can realize that I still want something, and then we move forward with our day. When we celebrate another person's success, I want to tell you that you can have a both and you can feel a little jealous and you can genuinely celebrate somebody. We do become more magnetic to that thing itself. Oka, celebrate the person who has the thing that you want. Get in that energy and see what lessons you can learn from that person. There's probably at least one. How are they showing up? How did they get there? What are they doing? How are they being? What can you learn from it? Isn't this a much nicer approach for jealousy? I love it. Okay, let's get into imposture syndrome. We've all been there. The more that you take brave steps in your art and creativity, the more this is going to come up for you. And it's actually a good sign. Imposture syndrome is the feeling of I'm a fraud. I'm not a real artist. Everyone's going to realize I don't belong here. How did I get in this room? They're going to discover I'm a fake. Someone's going to call the police. This is also like jealousy, a common and normal and neutral experience. It means that you deeply care about what you're pursuing. It also means that you have high aspirations, which is a wonderful thing. My favorite perspective on imposture syndrome is this. And if you take one thing away from this module, I want it to be what's on this next slide. Imposture syndrome only shows up when you're doing epic things. Take it as a good sign, you do not feel it when you're folding laundry or brushing your teeth. It's when you really put yourself out there and bet on yourself, and you bet on your art. It's when you let yourself be viserable, visible, and vulnerable. It's when you take risks and bump up against the edges of your comfort zone. The truest artists and the bravest people are feeling imposture syndrome. They just are when you feel it. I want you to think back to this moment and give yourself a pat on the back and say, oh, I'm being brave. I'm doing something epic. I'm leveling up, that's what this is all about, of course, breathe through it. This is not to dismiss the fact that it can feel intense, it can feel hard, but you will get through it the next time you feel this way. It means you're pursuing your wildest creative dreams. It's a good omen as you begin self regulating, as you begin calming down and staying with yourself during this feeling. Here are some affirmations you can either write down or say to yourself, or keep on your pum, I belong in this room. I have something unique and brilliant to bring to this group or this space. I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be. I am here on purpose and everyone is excited to have me. My skills, talents, and visions are immeasurably valuable. Real artists feel imposture syndrome. Therefore, I am a real artist. I'm making that noise a lot in this module because I love what we're saying here. Real artists feel imposture syndrome. Therefore, this is a sign that I am a real artist. Let's talk about comparison. Comparison on its own is neutral and natural. Okay, we're doing it all day long in our brains. We're assessing our environment. It's a biological function. We're comparing all the time. Oh, I have three apples. That person has two apples. Oh, I wore a red shirt. They wore a blue shirt. We're always, our brains are keeping busy comparing all day long. It's something we've done for thousands of years, but it can get problematic when we start to fixate on us versus another person. For example, they have this, but I don't. They are this, I'm not. This is when comparison moves from being neutral to becoming unhelpful and potentially even really toxic and negative for us. I want you to know that art is about community. It's not about comparison, and it's not about competition. Comparison has no place in the world of art. We compare because we're hard wired to, and that is okay. However, artists create their own incomparable worlds and creations. We're not in competition with each other. There is an illusion of it with award shows and contests. And I really wish we didn't have this for art, like I wish the Grammys were just a celebration of music and we didn't give a words out, right? But art was always meant to be a community. There is enough room for everyone. There is infinite space online and energetically, the universe is infinite and it is expanding every day. The online world is infinite. There's no limit to how much you can post, how much you can show up, how much you can share. There's enough room for all of us. Comparison is also just practically unhelpful because there's not one set pathway to success. And the way that so and so got there or did it is likely not the way that you'll get there or do it too. We also never know what's going on behind the scenes. We live in a world of illusions. People share as much as they want to share and they hide what they want to hide, and they keep private what they want to keep private. Comparing is a waste of energy because we don't actually know what's going on in anybody's life. Just remember we are a community. There's enough room for everybody. I want you to channel that energy into making your art and into creating, because you can spend time comparing or you can spend time creating like jealousy. I want you to give yourself love, grace, and self compassion when it comes up, Okay, notice who you compare yourself to and how do you feel when you compare yourself to them. Is it empowering? Likely it's disempowering. And is there any neutral information you can gather? Are there any magic messages creeping up in this comparison? For me, a lot of the time if I have compared myself, I'm like, oh, actually that person is really going for it. That person's even braver. That person's being themselves unapologetically right. I'd like to do that as well in my own way. Look for the neutral information beneath the highly charged feeling and find the gold nuggets, But release any feelings of inferiority. Okay, Putting people on pedestals, I learned this recently and it just felt so good, is actually as dehumanizing as putting them below you. It's not good to do either, spiritually, Artistically, I want you to imagine that all of us, whether a person has one fan or 100 million fans, we're all on a flat playing field. Let's ditch that hierarchy model. Nobody is above you and nobody is below you. And we're all here. And I'll tell you what. It feels really good. It feels really good to own this. Here are your journal prompts and homework for this module. Where do you get jealous? Where does jealousy come up for you? I want you to really sit with yourself and answer this question. How can you use your jealousy as a neutral indicator of what you want and what you need to do next? What messages is jealousy trying to tell you? What directions is it trying to give? Which affirmation or new perspective about impostor syndrome stood out to you the most? How will this help you moving forward? Then finally, who are you constantly comparing yourself to? What nuggets of wisdom can you find in that that will serve you? Additionally, how does it feel to take that person off of a pedestal once and for all powerful, powerful questions? I cannot wait to see you in module five. 6. Pitching Yourself, Creating Opportunities, and Networking Tips: Welcome back. We are entering module number five, which is about networking, pitching yourself, creating opportunities. I cannot wait to share this information with you. Let's start with pitching yourself. I wholeheartedly believe in artists being their own biggest advocates and number one fans does this feel cringy to you. If so, that's okay. Because cringy people get things done and cringy people make magic happen. As a general rule of thumb, people are involved in their own worlds, right? So we have to bravely place our work in their eye line in order to be seen. This might look like sending e mails, making phone calls, sending a DM physically going somewhere to meet someone. Just generally being brave and taking the first step, you have to put yourself out there. I cannot emphasize the importance of that enough, and I love making it fun. I love making it just a joyful part of the process. Yes, opportunities can come to you organically, and I've had some great opportunities come to me organically. But more often than not, it is the go getters and the mountain movers who make things happen. Half the battle is tapping into your inner confidence. When it comes to this, I like to call it divine confidence. I chat about that in my book quite a bit. It's shifting from why me to me. It's releasing, feeling not ready or experienced enough, or not feeling anything enough, like appearance wise, education wise, your age, I'm too old. I'm too young. None of that matters. It's about tapping into inherent worthiness. Feeling whole since birth never needed to be earned. Let me talk about that for a second. I believe that we are all born inherently worthy. That there's this piece of us that no matter what happens to us in our lives, what setbacks, what heartbreaks, what injustices like. There's this piece of us that has never been touched, you can't get through to it. And it was 100% worthiness from the second we were born until this very moment, knowing that we are enough. We are more than enough, are worthy. Knowing that that doesn't change whether or not you're rejected. Whether or not you're accepted, whether the opportunity comes, whether the opportunity doesn't come, you're still worthy. That's just in you, like you have lungs or like you have blood. It's just in you. And I like imagining it like a little shining, glowing, or right in my heart. That's what I mean when I say inherent worthiness. Saying, you know what? Why not me? Why not me feeling grounded and resilient, knowing that there is a potential for rejection. I've been rejected a zillion times. It's okay. But it takes moving through those rejections to get to the yeses and to get to the good fits. And all of that confidence is built up like a muscle over time. The more we pitch ourselves, the more naturally it comes. And also, the more that we're rejected, the more that we learn to let that wash off of us. And it's not the end of the world. And it's not the only possible way for us to get from point A to point B. Be a go getter, be a mountain mover, Shift into why not me? I am inherently worthy. As you pitch yourself, here are some empowering beliefs that I love to tap into. When I'm getting ready to pitch myself for something, the world is full of people who will say yes. Sometimes it just takes one right person to change your life. There's enough room for all of us to succeed if it's not this, It's something better that's one of my favorites. This. Or something better. There are more than enough opportunities for everyone, including me. No field is too oversaturated. People love to hear from me. My e mails are sweet, genuine, and help solve people's problems. Rejection doesn't mean anything about me. The universe is on my side and supports me wholeheartedly and my desires are safe. Guidance, I trust them and listen to their wisdom. If you can plug into this, when you start pitching yourself and you start putting yourself out there, you are going to feel very grounded. And you're going to feel really good. As you do this big, brave, sometimes scary work, you got to pitch yourself. You got to put yourself in people's faces. Using these affirmations and beliefs will make it. Feel so much better. I want to provide you with a sample E mail that I have used to pitch myself or open the door for a collaboration, that type of opportunity. The goal is to be confident and clear. You can say, hi there. I love your work and get specific. I love your work. Writing songs for kids. I love your work. On this music video, let them know that you're not just sending out a slew of random generic e mails that you really took the time to look at their work. I was introduced to you or found you through so and so if possible, this is a great place to mention a mutual contact. If you don't have a mutual contact, that's okay. Just say you found them on Tik, Tok. You found them on Youtube, whatever, drop a link to your work. I would say the most relevant, the top two, best thing, three best things you've done and say, I think we'd make a great team. Let me know if I can serve or support you with such and such. It always piques somebody's interest when you genuinely offer a way to be of service to them and then sign your name. I love a confident and clear e mail. I've gotten a lot of good responses from e mails like this as artists and creatives, there are people who are stronger in certain areas. I would find people who were amazing melody writers and I would say, hey, I'm super strong in lyrics, if you ever want to join forces, here are some of my lyric examples. And they would be totally excited because I could help lift both of us up to new opportunities, new success, right? So find people to connect with where your strengths can come together and you can create something amazing. You should definitely consider following up. About a week later, I once went to an expo and I sat down with the manager and he said, it's okay to bug people a little. People are busy. E mails get overlooked, it's okay. I have done so much pitching through cold DMs, cold E mails. Things that have led to not just a lot of excitement, but also a lot of money. I mean, we get advised sometimes like, oh, don't cold pitch. Don't cold e mail, Don't cold, reach out. I think that's nonsense. I've had some of my best breakthroughs through just cold, blindly introducing myself and saying clearly and confidently, this is how I found you. I love that you do this, this is what I do. I'd love to serve and support you. Doing such and such people respond to that. Not always. I've had plenty of e mails go silent, but that's okay. I don't even blink at that anymore. It costs nothing to send an e mail. No one's going to look at you and think this person, it's either not a match and they delete it, or it is a match and they respond. We have e mail. You're not showing up at somebody's door and banging on the door. It is okay to send an e mail. This is my sample e mail. Use this format. Fill in the blank. Be confident, be clear. A note about cold e mails. I said this. It is always beneficial to get an introduction or referral first I met you through so and so I heard about you through so and so, but I believe personally that people love receiving cold E mails from me. I've just decided that I don't know if it's, but I decided that it's I envision my e mails as piping hot. I send a little magical energy that people can't wait to get my E mails. They can't wait. I don't think that I'm inconveniencing anybody with my introduction and my offer to bring something valuable to the table. Right. I also have a background in sales. I used to do high end luxury sales. I would sell jewelry and crystals and things that were like I had to sort of hold a straight face while I said, oh, this necklace is $20,000 And just be like, that's what it costs and here's what it'll help you with, and here's the stones and here's the properties and da, da, da, da. So I just feel like I have that background of being able to hold the energy and say, yeah, I'm offering something valuable. See yourself is the most valuable jewel, the most valuable gem in the store, right? Imagine that these e mails are piping hot, even if they're technically cold. Most cold e mails don't receive a response. Don't be shocked when you send out ten cold E mails and you don't hear back here. You only hear back from one. There's hundreds of people that I have not heard back from. But in the few times that I have heard back, it led to life changing opportunities. Don't write them off because you heard someone say that you should or that, oh, no one does that anymore. Well, I do it and it works. If you want to reach out to somebody, reach out. There's no rule against it, and you never know what could happen. And you're also just putting that energy into the universe. That you're somebody who's pursuing something. You're somebody who's brave. You're somebody who's open to opportunities and possibilities. And you're also building up your courage muscle. And you're building up your rejection muscle because sometimes we're rejected in art, It's just the way it is if you can just start getting in the habit of sending out ten e mails a week and maybe once a month, one person writes back. I consider that a win. If every hundred e mails you get one response, pop the confetti, right? That e mail could change your life. You have no idea. That's my thought about pitching yourself in that way. I like to think, like I just shared about 100 nose for every Yes. Right. It's not a hard and fast rule. It's not like a proven statistic. But we just have to make hearing no no big deal because no means we're in the game and no means we're no longer on the sidelines. And not hearing something like getting ghosted is also means, oh, I'm in the game, I'm not sitting in the sidelines, I'm in the game. Here are some things to not take personally. When people say, take me off your mailing list, sorry, I can't help you. Your post gets zero likes. The e mail gets no response. Somebody follows. We don't have a position at this time. We're all booked up for the year. I'm not interested. I can't afford that rate. This isn't for me. I don't really like it. That's okay. We are not supposed to be for everyone and that's fine. I want you to know that in this creative realm, rejection is safe. Some people don't like Taylor Swift, I can't imagine why. But there are people out there who are like n. I'm just not about it, right? But she's not going to try to cater to those people. She's going to be even more true to herself. Some people don't like mac and cheese. Are you kidding me? And it could be the best mac and cheese in the world. And people will reject it, they'll say, I don't like that. You can be the sweetest, juiciest, peach and there's going to be somebody who doesn't like peaches. I think did. Devante said that and I love that quote. Let's chat about creating opportunities. If something doesn't exist yet, that doesn't mean that it never can you get to be the one to create it. I want you to think outside the box, okay? Even if you live in a teeny, tiny small town. I got really lucky. I grew up in Los Angeles. There's a zillion venues to play music. There's tons of people recording music. There's production sets you can rent out, you throw a stone, and there's a backup dancers. I mean, there's everybody in LA, but maybe you don't live in LA or New York or another major Metropolitan art city and you want to create a scene and you want to share your work. I want you to know that there are potential opportunities all around you. Maybe you want to go to a local restaurant and hang up your art in that restaurant. You want to set up a microphone and do comedy beside a food truck or at a farmer's market. Maybe you're going to play your songs at a local coffee shop, bring a little amp. Maybe you're going to perform your dance for a halftime at a little league game. Not little league like kids, but maybe there's like an adult league, like a fun league. And you want to say, hey, can we perform at your halftime? He can we cheer on your sidelines? Maybe you want to create your own group or team? I'm friends with the rolettes. They are an all wheelchair dance team. My friend Chelsea got in an accident when she was 16 or 17. She was a dancer and it broke her heart after her accident because she could not dance again the same way She decided to start this all wheelchair dance team and connected with women from all around the world and they've done huge performances and she was just on the cover of women's health, I mean, just created this whole world that didn't exist. I want you to know that you can create a world that doesn't exist. Look for opportunities in what you have around you with the internet. There's so much world building possibility, okay? Just remember that you can create positive, mutually beneficial relationships with people who live in your town. If you keep hearing no, it means you're meant to create the opportunity for yourself. Like, oh, no one's booking me here, I can't get my art in the gallery. Okay, Well, maybe you're meant to create your own art gallery in some other way. I love imagining like, okay, well this door is locked, but I'm going to go around the back and find the side door or the little window to climb through, creating opportunities, being open minded, seeing what can I do here, what can I do here? That's never been done. Let's chit chat about networking. Networking, whether online or in your town. Out and about is huge. Many people overlook networking and community building. I just played a show with somebody and I had to model what it was like to go up to her after and give her a hug and say, oh my gosh, you were great. Let me follow you on Instagram. I loved performing with you tonight because she didn't approach me and that's okay. People have to be taught like network, I want you to be the artist that's out there in the world. Introducing yourself, congratulating other people, and just like being a good team player because we're all one big community. Make it a point to attend events in your area and introduce yourself. Live music galleries, sculpture classes, dance classes, tattoo expos. Whatever world that you're in, go be around your people, go make friends. Because art can be lonely. Sometimes it's just you on your journey and having friends who get it is huge. Okay? This is not about social climbing, this is not about networking just for the sake of getting things out of people. It's about making genuine, lasting friendships and supporting one another along the way. And as a result, that leads to opportunities. It just does when you have no expectations and when you really care about people, opportunities just emerge. Making genuine friends is networking. It's the best, best form of networking. Artists need friends who get them, who inspire them, who lift them up. Like I just said, be sincere. Don't hold expectations of what people can do for you. People can also sniff that out. We're all very intuitive as creatives, right? You don't want to be that person. Be generous, share how you conserver, support them in a way that feels good. People can sniff out a social climber and friends tend to refer true friends for opportunities or bring them along. It's just like a tail as old as time get out there. Hot tip, this is a piping. Hot tip. As you meet new fellow creatives, ask if there are any people they could introduce you to that might be a great fit for collaborating. Okay, I sent an e mail to somebody. I was working with some people on Diplo's team for a minute as a writer. I said, is there anybody you might want to introduce me to that you think I'd be a good fit with? I'm just looking to expand my network and meet some new friends. This is how I met my friend Evan. We got connected over an e mail and he is my producer now, and we make the most beautiful stuff together. And I just adore him and that wouldn't have happened if I didn't ask. Asking for help is okay. People don't often think to offer it as say, is there anybody you think I'd like? It'd be great for me to know and that I could support and vice versa as a go to your friends or your peers events. Be a supportive part of the community. Don't just expect everybody to come to your event, but don't go to theirs, right? Keep meeting people. Keep putting your best foot forward and not because you want them to come to yours, but because you want to be the kind of artist who supports their friends like it's such a great feeling. Depending on your field, there may be expos or workshops with industry professionals in attendance. I highly recommend signing up or registering for those if you can. I've gone to the Durango Songwriters Expo, I've gone to the Ascap Expo one or two times. I leave floating on a cloud. You meet so many amazing people, you get to attend so many cool seminars and lectures. I think one time I got to have like a little pitch session. I mean, it was just so awesome. Awesome. You didn't read any of this. My TLDR is genuine. Be friendly, Get out there and introduce yourself confidently to as many people as possible. This is timeless advice. Networking is going to change over time. The platforms that we use are going to change over time. When I get into social media, I'll touch on that as well. But the advice I'm giving you in this course is meant to be timeless. Whether you're watching this in 2023 or 100 years later, you can use this advice. It means the world to me. To give you something that doesn't expire and doesn't become outdated. Okay. I want you to be friendly. Be genuine. Get out there, Introduce yourself and ask, ask for introductions. Here are your journal prompts and homework. What, if anything, has held you back from pitching yourself in the past? How will you overcome this moving forward? Make a list of people or places you'd like to pitch yourself to. Then begin brainstorm some ways you can create opportunities for yourself in your local community. Which of your ideas feels most exciting? I remember when I was in high school, I would play shows at local parks because I was like, well, it's free, everybody can come, it's all ages, I'll be under the big tree and people would flock to them. I mean, it was so fun, create, create opportunities. In what ways can you be more proactive in your networking activities? How will you prioritize community and friendships when it comes to your art? When it comes to having more fun doing this. In a whole module coming up, I talk about a life long creative practice. I talk about sustainability. I want you to have friends. I want you to have peers. I want you to have fun. I want you to have people you can connect with. I want you to have people that get you like I get you. Take a moment journal on these questions and I will see you inside module number six. 7. Social Media Magic: Embracing Visibility and Vulnerability: Welcome back. It is time for module number six. We're going to talk about social media. We're going to talk about visibility vulnerability hanging out in the online space. I'm very excited for this. This is my disclaimer. All of these things are not go viral fast tips, okay? These are timeless proven strategies that are going to help you in the inner work and in the practical work. No matter when you watch this, no matter what platform is popular, no matter what's going on in the digital world. I have created this module to help you at every turn. Let's start with visibility. When it comes to your art and your visions, this is not the time to play small or hide your brilliance away. Remember all the reasons earlier on in the course. The butterfly effect the world, changing, the generational healing, the permission slip the desires right? It is essential that you allow yourself to be seen imperfectly as you are. Perfectionism and procrastination will try to creep up as you shine more light on yourself. Are you willing to be not ready and show up anyway? The more you step into visibility, your good friend resistance is going to come back in. No, we don't want to be seen. What if this happens? What if that happens? Right? It's very normal. It's very natural. You can take up as much space as you want. I'm going to be big as I tell you this part. You can take up as much space as you want. What would it feel like to expand? There is unlimited infinite virtual space. There is unlimited, infinite energetic space. I grew up as a woman. There were some societal stories about being raised to be small. Cross your legs. It was all about being smaller. Obey, right? But in your art and in your creativity, you got to spread eagle situation. I want you to be, I want you to be big. It feels vulnerable to be seen. You're putting your heart and your art out there to be potentially judged or critique. This fear is natural. I would argue that all artists feel it. Can you hold the discomfort of knowing that some people will not like or understand your creations or even not like or understand you. I have worked really hard on that one because I know my heart and I know my intentions. And there are still people out there who have a very particular opinion of me that I personally feel is incorrect, right? But I can hold that discomfort. This takes time to build. You only start building it by going through it. Can you root into something bigger and more powerful? Your purpose, your vision, your mission, your expression, your joy? Can that be more important to you? And can that keep you focused more than if this person over here has an opinion or this person doesn't like the art or this person wrote a bad review. Right? What's more important? What can you root into that will help you create long term and feel good? My favorite people in the world are the ones who choose to boldly be seen. And they say with their energy and with their actions, they say, here I am world. Watch me fumble and trip and try. Watch me fail. Watch me win. Watch me evolve and try new things. It is safe to be seen. Visibility and vulnerability are required to some degree to be an artist. Avoiding it for the short term gain will make us unhappy in the long run. At least for me, right? If I avoided being seen, I would have avoided some encounters that were not fun. But that's a drop in the water compared to everything else I've gained by being me fully lo, boldly. Right. What's more important to you? It is not egotistical or selfish in the slightest to want to be seen. Read that again. It is not egotistical or selfish in the slightest to want to be seen. It's also not moral or immoral. It's totally neutral. It's totally wonderful to want to be seen. Your work is worthy of reaching people and impacting their hearts. I want you to take a minute and think about the artists whose work has impacted your life greatly. Thinking about some people that have really helped me through difficult times. People whose books, people whose music. Right? Really got to me. Aren't they polarizing? Aren't there people that love them? And aren't there people that just like roll their eyes? Polarizing isn't bad. Did they have huge fans? Did they have haters? Are you so glad that they shared their work? Sat in the discomfort knowing that some people would inevitably dislike or misunderstand them or their work. Aren't you so grateful that they said, that's fine? Some people won't get it, some people won't get me. I can't control that. I have a bigger mission. I have a bigger purpose. I'm here to create something isn't that powerful. I also like to remember that everybody is entitled to their opinion. And it's none of my business. It's none of my business. Somebody has the absolute right to dislike me or find my music boring. That's not my business also to not take it personally. We're all mirrors for each other. Sometimes we're triggering things in one another all the time when we don't even realize it, right? What can you plug into, how can you ground yourself into what really matters in a world where people have opinions and people express those opinions. And knowing that you're safe to be you and you're safe to be seen even if those opinions rise to the surface. Nowadays, social media is the ultimate space to practice visibility and vulnerability. Of course, I'd like to add this note, share what you feel comfortable sharing. There's a difference between types of discomfort, there's things that you want to share, but you're uncomfortable sharing them. And then there's things that you have boundaries around. I don't get too deep about my personal life, my relationships. I just don't make that like the center of my content online and I also don't desire to do that. But I want to share my poems and I want to share my lyrics and I want to share my music videos. And I want to share myself dancing super sexy, right? I have a desire around that. It does make me uncomfortable. I'm always scared, but I still press post noticing and discerning the difference between what is something that makes me uncomfortable, but I do want to share it and what is something that makes me uncomfortable. Because I do have a strong boundary there. I don't ever want you to misunderstand this part of the module for post everything that makes you uncomfortable. That is not what this is about. Release resistance around platforms that could change your life. Okay, I kick myself because I waited years to get onto Tiktok. And if I had gotten on at the beginning, I probably could have opened up a lot of doors for myself. Right. Whatever it was meant to be. At the timing it was, it's fine. I'm over it. But a lot of us like a new platform comes up and we're like, no, I'm not going over there. I have to learn a new thing. And it's another step. If there's a new space and you could just share your work in that space, there, release beliefs on whether or not you belong. There, you do. There's not a rule, there's infinite unlimited space. There is no need to be shy, okay. Your 100 story posts a day does not stop anybody else from posting 100 story posts a day or hard posts or whatever. It gives you the opportunity to build community and create your own world. If you go to my Instagram, which is at Juliet dot Piper and I hope you do. I hope you give me a follow, send me a message, let me know how you're loving this course. My page is a whole little universe. I love world building. It's an awesome, awesome thing. It offers us a free platform to connect with fans and fellow artists. Do some of that networking, some of that cold pitching. You can cold pitch in DM's. I've done it and I've had awesome things happen. The biggest thing I can tell you is release expectations around numbers and engagement and focus on sharing your journey and having fun. I cannot tell you the amount of stress I see artists put on themselves. Well, this didn't go viral. Well this only got ten likes, nobody cares. It's not about that. It's not about that that will burn you out so fast. It's about sharing your journey. It's about letting people into your world. The right people will come. And your art isn't about everybody's reaction to it. Okay. That's a part of it. It can be really fun, it can be really rewarding. But it's really about you on your journey and you sharing your creativity and your visions. Focus on sharing your journey and having fun. That also, by the way, is so much more magnetic than somebody who is like desperately trying to go viral. We can sniff it out. We're all like little psychics and we don't even know it, but we know when somebody is being sincere. Like we can read it in their energy. This is my social media strategy. I've got four slides on this. Everyone is overthinking it, in my opinion. Okay, the algorithm will always change. But this strategy is simple and timeless. Approach social media with a playful attitude. Okay, lower the pressure and tell your story over and over. What is your story? We love knowing people's stories. We love knowing what makes them them. What got you into your creative practice? Where did you grow up? What are some fun or unique facts about you? Okay, keep reintroducing yourself. Hey, it's a new month. I want to say hi to all people in my world and some new people who've popped in. Here's something about me, right? Keep telling your story. Insert yourself into the page and add a human element. We love knowing the artist connected to the art. We love to see you in the process. This might not be for everybody, some people just want to show their art, but we do as humans connect to other humans. We like to know who's doing it. We like to know who's behind it. Tell your story. Be visible. Tell your story. Be visible. Tell your story. Show up and be visible. That will never fail. You post consistently, whatever that means to you. I like to do three to five posts a week. You could do photos, a new painting every Friday, a new dance every Monday. Your audience begins to trust you and look forward to things, right? What is being consistent mean to you? What is something you can share Consistently? Be crystal clear in who you are and what you do. Own your story, your art, and your vision. Your page should not be confusing. Your content should be valuable and captivating in some way. This is a big top three people use. Is it educational, Is it entertaining, or is it inspiring? These are my top three. I typically like to be entertaining and inspiring. Give people a reason to show up, interact. And it's almost like each post is a little gift to the world and make an intentional mess. Showing up is better than showing up perfectly. I have stopped caring what the feed looks like or if the color is met, who cares? I'd rather keep showing up. I'd rather my community get to know me and feel connected to me. Consistency. Clarity. Consistency. Clarity, value. Tell your story over and over. I just and I have taken very expensive programs in social media marketing. It all boils down to this. It all boils down to these two things. We are often told, at least at this moment in time, that what matters is the posting window, like, oh, I need to wait til tomorrow at 09:00 A.M. Or the hash tags or the right trending audio or the right filter, or having the best phone or camera, or having a perfectly curated feed. These things can help. They can help. But what really matters is, are you consistent? Is your personality and authenticity shining through? Are you telling your unique story? Are you able to create something engaging, valuable, educational, entertaining, inspiring? Are you resilient? Do you allow yourself to repeat yourself? Are you repeating your story? Are you showing the song for the eighth time? Are you showing the body of work, right? This is what matters. I cannot tell you how much money I have spent to learn this. This is what matters. I just saved you thousands. This is what matters. This is the golden ticket. Take the pressure off of the feeling that every post on social media has to be life changing. Okay? You will never post anything if you feel like every post has to change somebody's life. Instead, take us with you on your journey. Show us behind the scenes of your process. Give us a peek into your personal life if you want to celebrate your accomplishments with us. If you still feel pressure. I love to imagine that my future grandchildren are going to see my Instagram someday. And just be so proud and so impressed by my bravery and my creativity that like it drives me. Okay. You don't need any sort of influence or personality. Your current personality is perfect. The more authentic you can be, the easier it'll be to find your people, your audience, your world, your community. Remember, at the end of the day, it's all just pixels on a screen. When you start to feel like there's pressure or you're doing it wrong or it's not working, it's all just pixels. It's little tiny digital pixels and none of it's real. Just release the pressure. Just release the pressure. But remember, it's about being consistent, telling your story. It's about, I'm going back. It's about being genuine to you, being engaging. That's it. You can Tiktok or you can go on Youtube and you can look up how to make an engaging video. Or you can look up how to introduce yourself. Like there's ways you can go deeper in this that align with the current trends. But I felt like it was so unnecessary to teach you current trends. Because even by the time I release this in a few weeks, the trends will have changed. But this is the timeless stuff. Here are your journal prompts. What is a part of you or your art that you desire to experience more visibility around? Where do you want to be seen? What do you want to be seen as? What parts of your art do you want people to experience? We know why being vulnerable is scary, but what beautiful things are waiting for you on the other side of it? What is your current relationship like with social media? Do you feel resistance or pressure or stress around it? Right. Perfectionism, procrastination. How would you like this relationship to transform between consistency, authenticity, and clarity? Where are you shining? Right? Which of these three things do you feel like you're doing quite well? Where can you shine even brighter then create a social media plan or approach that feels inspiring and fun for you? Like I said, maybe every Monday you post a certain type of thing. Maybe every Wednesday you post a certain type of thing. You know what I mean? Come up with something that I don't even want to give you a template for it. Because everyone's definition of an inspiring and fun social media plan or approach is going to be totally different. Some people are going to love posting five things a day. Other people are going to be happy with three times a week and so on and so forth. Create a plan, something you can stick to and make it a non negotiable. I will see you in module seven. 8. Art and Money: Abundance Mindset and Business Basics: Are you ready to chat about art and money? An abundance, the abundance mindset. Some best business practices. This is some juicy stuff. Let's get into it. Isn't it interesting how I have art and money together? Right? Because there is a big taboo around art and money. You're either the starving artist or you make money and then you're selling out artists just can't win, right? Or people will say, well, it shouldn't be about the money if you love it. We don't tell that to people in other professions who love their work. Imagine saying that to a therapist, like you should just do this because you like to. Or a surgeon. Right. It's also not about the money, but we can believe that our work is of high value and worthy of compensation. You get to make money doing what you love. You get to set a price or a rate that feels a line for you. We sometimes feel guilty charging for our time and efforts because of these stories we've been told, oh well, if you love it, you wouldn't charge money. That is the least helpful thing, anybody could say. Okay, we're going to start intentionally shifting away from this perspective. Some of you will want to make money with your art, will never want to make money with your art. What I'm here to do is tell you that neither is wrong. One is not better than the other. But if you'd like to make some money, if you'd like to sell your work, if you'd like to earn some income doing something you love. Let's talk about that money mindset. Some of the highest paid people in the world are artists. I think we forget that we say, oh, all artists are starving. That is not true, my friend. Some of the highest paid people in the world are artists. As of 2022, the market value of media and entertainment was at 2.51 trillion. Think of the joy that you received after purchasing your favorite book or going to your dream concert and how that was worth every penny to you, or I remember being a little kid back when you could still buy a CD and you would go to Tower Records and you'd buy the new Britney Spears CD, the new Backstreet Boys CD for $15 or whatever it was back then, maybe less. Oh my gosh. The way I enjoyed those CDs and still do I still keep them in my car. Right. Think about how it was worth every penny. Talking about money mindset in a broader sense, it is a big lesson to learn that money is a neutral resource. We're talking a lot about. We're kind of neutralizing things. We neutralized comparison and jealousy, right? I want to remember that. I want you to know that money is the same way, we add all this meaning to it. We decide what it means when we desire it or when we have it or when we don't have it is a tool. Money doesn't make people good or bad. It simply amplifies what's already there. Money is not the root of all evil. Our beliefs about money are oftentimes passed down through generations. I want you to release the belief that people with money or people who charge money for their art, their creations or services are greedy. They're not money allows our visions to be possible. By that, I mean maybe you want to record music. Maybe you want to produce a video. You're going to need some capital to make these things happen. What a beautiful way to spend money. Money allows us to eat, have shelter, travel, wear clothes, drive a car. Money has no opinion of us, but we certainly have a lot of opinions about it. What would it feel like? Let's dig into this for a second. What would it feel like to be highly compensated for what you do? What feelings come up? Oh, I just got a chill. Do you feel gratitude or do you feel guilt? Do you feel worthy or do you feel unworthy? Do you feel yourself expanding like yes, I am ready to receive money for the things that I create. I am ready to receive money for the magic and the beauty that I add to the world. Or do you feel like you're contracting like, oh, I shot, no, I shouldn't do that. I feel weird. How do you feel? How can you create opportunities to welcome in financial flow? Maybe you have a tip jar. Maybe you have a Venmo QR code. Maybe you sell things on your website. Maybe you sell during a live stream. Maybe you have merchandise, right? How can you create opportunities to welcome in financial flow, if that's something you want to add to your creative journey? Here are my business basics. Okay. Just begin, Just start the business. You will figure out so much along the way. Okay, these next things are in no particular order. Always represent yourself well, like you're already successful. I have done that in different realms. When I co hosted the podcast and we built a business together around Goddess from day one, I was like, this is a successful endeavor, even when there was no proof of it yet. I just moved around like it was, we just began. And I've done this with my music and I've done this in all sorts of areas, right? Remember to avoid the pedestal gate keeper thinking of like, well, if I do this long enough, somebody up here above me is going to discover me and take me to the moon. There was a time when it did work like that, that time is over, that time is really over. People want you to be big and established and magnetic before they invest in you. Now, the pendulum totally swung the other way, which I actually think is great because it empowers creatives to own their magic and own their art, and really do a lot of the inner work. First, look at the silver lining of that, okay? Have a strong elevator pitch, be able to tell people in one sentence who you are and what you uniquely do. Hi, my name is so and so and I create this using this like what is your world like? What is your vision? When offered an opportunity, you can always take time to think about it. I think we are taught to say yes to everything. Yes, I'll do it. Yes, I'll take it. But you're allowed to say, let me think about that. When's the latest I can get back to you? I want you to do things that feel good for you. Always, be, always, be kind. Word gets around when people aren't then. I love to tell you this because it's important. Do not ever feel rushed into signing a contract that is a red flag. All contracts are negotiable. Be mindful of signing away your ownership rights. Have an amazing attorney who specializes in your field, look over any contracts that are sent to you in music. There's a lot of contracts that float around. I don't know the logistics for other creative endeavors, but just don't ever let anybody try to force or rush you into signing anything. That is not how contracts are supposed to be done. It's usually the only time I've been rushed into signing something. It was a sketchy deal and a sketchy person, Just keep these things in mind. These are my little business basics. But more than anything, just begin, start selling your stuff. Just like just jump all in. You don't need to be a professional in business to start one. You can start it in whatever way feels right to you. And you can learn along the way, getting paid, you get to charge whatever you want. This was so interesting to me when I first learned it because I thought I had to charge what everybody else was charging you. But if you feel like you'd like to charge less or you'd like to charge more, you can charge whatever you want. At least where I am in the United States, you get to charge whatever you want. Keep copies of invoices and receipts for things you've sold for the money received. Just keep a paper trail of everything depending on the work that you do. Like if somebody is hiring you to do something, have clients sign a contract saying this is what it's going to cost, this is what you're going to get in return. This is how many revisions I'm willing to make. You can just go, you can Google contracts and adjust them to your needs, or if you have the budget, you can hire an attorney and have them draft up a really good work contract for you. I recommend doing upfront payments. Even half upfront is always best. That's how I've always worked it. As a writer, or when I've paid people to produce my music, I will give them half upfront. It's just a good way. It's like a good will payment type thing. And then you know the person serious and they'll pay you the other half. Those are my getting paid basics and then tax tips, one oh one because you might be thinking like, oh my gosh. Now I'm going to have to file taxes. Taxes are not scary. Just keep track of all your receipts connected to your art, okay? Any money you spent towards your art. If you plan on making money with your art, keep those receipts. Those would be your expenses. Like if you bought canvases or you bought recording equipment, like whatever you needed. Keep track of all your earnings connected to your art. That would be your income and when it's tax season, have your numbers ready to go. Ideally divided into categories your attorney can help or I've used tax Act.com and it's free. Individual filing, you want to have a section of like meals you spent money on, gas materials, education, travel, website fees, advertising fees, whatever. It is not as scary and complicated as people make it out to be. This is not a course where I teach you every step of doing your taxes, but these are like the quick and dirty basics. Then let's talk about a business license and LLC information. If you plan on selling things in your city, this is at least for the United States, you're going to need a business license. It is free to get a business license, at least in the state of California. It's free as of now. And you just have to renew it every year. They send you a postcard. You go to the website, tipity tap and some things and it's renewed for another year. And it's basically just letting the city know or the state know that it's the city. It's letting the city know that you are doing business within the city. And then you have the official license. So I've had a business license for many years now. An LLC, the simplest way I can describe this is an LLC, is important if you feel there is a potential that you're going to be sued for something. An LLC is a Limited Liability company. So what that means is if you're selling things and you think somebody might like for my music, I don't have an LLC. I'm like, nobody's going to sue me. That's just my personal belief. But if you're selling other things and you like, I just want that extra bit of protection. Basically, what happens is if somebody sues you, suing your LLC, and it doesn't touch any of your personal assets, that doesn't touch your personal bank account, your home, your car, right? The LLC like puts up this barrier of protection. It is about $800 a year to have an LLC. You don't have to rush into any of this. Okay. We only did it when we had the podcast because we were starting to like grow and reach a bigger audience. And I just felt like the right thing to do to just have some protections in place. That's all you need to know about an LLC. It's not even about money, it's not even about, oh, well, if you earn over X amount, you should get an LLC. It's just about legal protections. If you're doing dance or art and you just don't feel like that's going to come up, you might not even need to do it, but I wanted to offer it. Again, none of this is legal advice. This is just some basic information, some things that I've learned along my journey and hopefully some ways that I've been able to simplify these topics for you. You might over time compile a dream team, okay, Which is including, but not limited to, an agent, which is the person who books things for you. A manager who handles just about all the other aspects. An attorney, the person who looks over your contracts and helps you with copyrights. An accountant who will file your taxes and can help you manage your money. And an assistant perhaps who helps with errands and day to day things. I have had different configurations of these different people helping me out. But the best thing I can recommend for you is a great attorney. I've been able to do a lot of my own accounting and manage my own stuff and assist myself sometimes I've had assistance. I've had a couple different assistants. But the best thing you can have, I believe is an attorney. Somebody who can have your back legally and they're not cheap. So just keep that in mind. I think mind charge is like 400 an hour or something. That's amazing for her and she's a great attorney. But just keep that in mind. Monday, you might be presented with some big, amazing contract. Find an attorney, specifically an entertainment attorney, an art attorney. Find somebody who does work in the realm that you're in representation in general, the right fit can be a huge asset. Remember that these days it's really about building up your following and your presence first. And then the industry people come and find you. No matter what industry you're in, you get to build your world first and give yourself permission to have fun in the process and take your time. And maybe your artist awakening is not about building a dream team and not about selling anything. That's a perfect vision as well. I just know that some of you here want to expand into more of a career position in art. So I wanted to provide you with these resources, tap into your own inner power and magnetism, and remember that you can make so much magic happen independently. I hope that that module was the most condensed and helpful and clear, step by step business help when it comes to your art and your creations. I hope the money mindset was really helpful. I hope looking at art through a different lens was helpful. And I hope the business basics of like just get started and you can charge what you want and keep track of your records and your expenses and your income. And have a good attorney, perhaps have a good accountant like get a business license. These are things that you can look more into. Again, this module was really just about covering the basics. And feel free to come back and revisit it whenever you need more insights on these things. I know that we're not all, you know, filing our taxes and opening an LLC and hiring a manager all on the same day. But I wanted you to have this information. Here are your journal prompts and homework for module seven. Plan a fun money date. I love doing a money date. Make looking over your finances an intimate and positive experience. Maybe you're going to pour yourself a glass of wine or a bubblely soda or like some tea, and play some nice music and light a candle. And just become more comfortable with your money and be grateful for every penny that is there. And see, okay, where is this going to go and where's that going to go? No matter what the financial situation is. If we feel tight and scrunched up around our money, we're like resisting more from coming in. This is like a manifestation principle that I believe in. You personally don't have to believe in it, but I do. I recommend a money date. What limiting beliefs around money might be blocking you from earning more in connection to your art. If I just handed you $1,000 for one piece of artwork, how would that feel? Is it not enough? Is it too much? What comes up for you? What would like your dream price point be that you can get your energy behind. Which business tip can you start implementing today? How can you create opportunities to welcome in financial flow? This is juicy stuff. I love talking about money, especially when it comes to art and business and all these topics. Have fun doing these journal prompts. I will see you in module eight. We're almost done. Oh my gosh. I'll see you there. 9. Self-Care, Rest, and Nurturing Your Creative Spirit: Welcome back. I want you to take a few deep breaths because this module, even though it is short, it's really important. We're going to talk about self care and rest and nurturing your artist soul. There we are. I just want you to be so comfortable and cozy as you listen to this one, because this is going to help you out, help you have a good experience. He just live your best life. Here's something groundbreaking. You are still an artist, even on days when you're not making your art, you are still an artist. Even on days when you're not making your art. Artist to the need, the ebb and the flow they need. The cycles, Everything moves and grows in cycles. Trees, flowers, give yourself permission to rest. I talk a lot about go getting, I talk a lot about moving mountains and I want you to do that. But I don't want you to do that to the point of burnout. I want you to do that in a way that feels inspiring and exciting. Then I want you to take care of yourself. This module, this is probably what I struggle with the most. What I am really prioritizing more and more because I just output so much work and it makes me so happy. But I need more self care. I need more rest. As I teach this, I'm teaching it to myself as well. Balance is everything in all areas of life. Let me tell you about the wheel of life. There is a life coaching tool that I learned when I got certified as a life coach called the Wheel of Life. We have all these different areas in life. We have our relationships, our career, our finances, our spirituality, our fun, play, extracurricular. We have all these different areas of life. We can look at all those areas and rate them on a scale of one to ten. If we're at a ten in all those areas when that wheel spins, it's going to be really smooth. But if we're at a seven in one area and a one in another area and a four in other bump, bump up, like it's going to be a really bumpy ride. I really want to emphasize that balance is really important. I want you to use art as a portal to enjoyment and expression rather than burn out. There are so many things that can burn us out in this life. I want you to keep an eye out if art starts becoming one of those things, the thriving artist knows that their well being leads to better art. That your healthy body and your healthy mind make your art possible. Are you taking good care of yourself? This is where we're going to have a little mental health check in and you can do this with yourself. Am I taking good care of myself? What do I need right now? What is my body need? What is my heart? What is my mind? What is my soul need? My own personal story is what I already started sharing. I can burn myself out really easily. I also am predisposed to anxiety, to depression. I've experienced panic disorder. I've had to slow down and seek support and seek help. That's a beautiful thing. As artists were sensitive, might be more likely, I don't know the statistic and please don't quote me on this, but we might be more likely to feel anxiety because we're sensitive. We pick up on things, right? I want you to move through life with the perspective that baby steps forward, a steps forward. You don't have to sprint to know that sometimes other things come first and that's okay. And that's sometimes our child comes first, sometimes our job comes. We don't have time to do our art in that day, but you're still an artist, even on days when you're not making your art. And can you still make it a non negotiable at some point in the week, right? I want you to be really kind to yourself. I want you to view this through a holistic approach. There is no point in producing a ton of art if you're unhappy, if you're unhealthy, if you're lonely, and so on, and that's a lesson that I've had to learn. Okay, what's the point if I'm not enjoying myself? If you're not enjoying yourself, who cares that there's a ton of art? I want you to feel good while you create. Let's chat about chaos versus routines. Stephen Pressfield, who I love to reference, said trouble is a fake form of fame. What drama are you calling in to feel important or to relate to others? Sometimes people have friend groups where they all just get together and complain. Or they use the drama or the trouble to feel important. All eyes are on them, It's all about them, right? I want you to do it for the plot. If the plot is amazing, I don't want you to do it for the plot. That's a little phrase that's been going around recently like, oh, just do it for the plot. If it's going to totally spiral your life out of control and burn you out, don't do it for the plot. Your plot can be gentler than that. Become energetically unavailable for chaos and drama. I want you to find the magic in the mundane. I want you to make your art that non negotiable that we've been talking about. I don't want you to wait for inspiration to strike. Because inspiration strikes when we sit down to do our work. Typically, sometimes I'll get a lightning bolt out of nowhere. And that's always very fun. But it's usually when I sit down, schedule in time, daily or weekly, even if it's just 20 minutes. Call it your artist play date. Where there's no expectations and you're not trying to hit a goal, it's just about sitting down and doing it. I love doing this with coloring, with painting, just playing the guitar, playing the piano, just doing it feels so good. You can live an ordinary life and still be endlessly inspired. You can live an ordinary life. You don't have to be in chaos and running around in New York City and having your heart broken every other weekend to write songs or to paint meaningful pictures. You don't have to be the tortured artist. You don't have to be the struggling artist. You can live a very ordinary life and still be endlessly inspired. You just have to find inspiration in other ways. You have to add a little novelty to your life. Go see something new, something different, right? That's where we talk about scheduling it in. I call that an inspiration date. What would be new and inspiring? How can you be a tourist in your own town? How can you walk a path that you haven't walked down? Literally, this slide is really just a reminder that things can be good things, nurturing, and you can feel protected and safe and provided for and you can still make great art. And that's something that I just felt like I didn't hear a lot about. I saw my family doing it, like my parents were both artists and they were married and we had a house and there was a lot of security there. But then when I was comparing myself to like the young people in music, their lives were really chaotic. I felt like my life had to be chaotic. If I wanted to make good art too, I want you to know that you can make a routine. You can make an artist play date. You can make an inspiration date. Your life does not have to spiral out of control for you to make something meaningful. Here are the best ways to nurture your creative spirit. Listen to your intuition. Your body is going to tell you when it's time to rest, when it's time to create, when it's time to take action, when it's time to rest again. When to say yes, when to say no, your body will know. Finding community and friendships. That's why I emphasized so much in the networking and community module. Uplifting, ambitious, positive people are so important to have around you. They will energize you. They will help you feel less isolated. You will support one another on your journeys, your accomplishments, your wins. Okay, meditation, It's a beautiful opportunity to connect to your higher self. You can visualize things, you can download new ideas. I have included some guided meditations for you, specifically ones I created for artists and creatives. As a bonus to this course, I highly recommend using them. I've gotten the best feedback from them. Journal, rant journal. Guided journal. Okay, guided journaling is what we're doing in this course. In the homework I'm giving you, guided journaling prompts, rant. Journaling is you just open up that journal and you write. And you write until three pages are full and you just let it out. Prioritizing what makes you happy, follow and create what lights you up. Honor your inner child. Focus on the joy and the process rather than the outcome presence, mindfulness. I would also like to say set goals that you have within your power to accomplish. For instance, if you wanted to be like an Olympic runner or an Olympic swimmer, your goal could still be that I want you to dream big. I want you to have a goal that says I'm going to run twice a week, I'm going to swim once a week, right? What are some goals you can create that you can say, yes, I did it, yes I did it. Because if your only goal is I'm going to be in a feature film as an actor, please keep that goal a dream big, big. Then create goals that you can accomplish on your own. I'm going to take an acting class once a week. I'm going to post a skit once a week. I'm going to audition twice a month. Right? Bring things into your to do list that are doable that nurtures your creative spirit. That's a big success secret to a confidence booster. Because as you show up for yourself, as you commit to yourself, your confidence increases focus on the joy and the process rather than the outcome. Remember, I'm also going to add this, you're not trying to be an artist. You are one. You are one. It's not something you're going to become someday. You're already it. Create from that place, move from that place, ditch the drama and the chaos from that place. Build a routine from that place. On the subject of guided journaling, do you give yourself permission to rest and slow down? Why or why not? Where might you be letting trouble or drama steal your time and energy? Be really honest with yourself here. When is a good time for you to plan an artist play date with yourself? Remember, that's where we sit down for 20 minutes and we create just because it is fun to create with no expectations, no outcome in mind. What about an inspiration date? Where you go out and you soak up some novelty. A new experience in some way, something you can bring back home into your creative practice. Schedule it in. What is your creative community like right now? How can you nurture or expand it if there isn't anyone in real life yet, which is okay? Who are five creators online whose work and energy that you can lean into for support and inspiration. Podcasts, books like, What are Things you can soak in from people who inspire you? Then I'd like you to choose one of the guided meditations included in the bonus section of this course. And I want you to just melt into it. I want you to see how that goes and see how that feels and then journal about it after if you feel inspired to. We have one more module which is playing the long game, Staying Power for a lifetime of creativity. Everything I just shared in this module will help you play the long game, will help you stay in the game for your whole life. These are things that I've learned from the artists that came before me and from my own experience, 17 plus years. Doing what I love professionally. Right. I will see you there and I can't wait, Take good care of yourself. 10. Playing the Long Game: Staying Power for a Lifetime of Creativity: We've made it all the way to the final module where I really want to talk about what it means to be an artist for your whole life. This is not just something you're going to try for six months or try for 60 days, right? This is a life long journey. And I come from, like I mentioned, family members that have done these lifelong journeys. My dad just turned 70, he is still playing gigs having the time of his life, my grandma was booking acting gigs into her '80s. I have seen people spend their whole life doing what they love. And I've done it almost two decades, which is so exciting. And I want to tell you some secrets, some tips, some ways that you get to be an artist forever and ever and ever. Because you just simply do. This is something that I hear often and something that I've definitely thought to myself to at times, which is, I'm nearly blank, age, my window is closing. This is a belief, this is not a fact. There is no expiration date on art. Our muses do not care how old we are. Like with any craft that we work at, we actually get better with time. I love this perspective. Our fans are growing up with us. We're all growing up together. If our goal is to live a creative life that lights us up, we must release the pressure we place on ourselves that our time is running out. Oh, I just got the biggest chill as I said that our time is not running out. You are not too old. You did not wait too long, and there is no window that is closing. I often like to say that my muses aren't like Disney Channel casting agents who are looking for somebody who's under 18 or they're not interested. My muses do not care how old I am. They keep bringing me songs, they keep bringing me ideas. This whole course was an idea that came as a download, right? Your window is closing. We are all growing up together. Release and refocus. I want you to dream big. I want you to dream so big that it both scares you and totally and completely thrills you. At the same time, I want you to release the outcome who I'm getting a lot of chills in this section, okay? I want you to dream big and envision such an amazing, artistic, creative life for yourself that it would blow your mind if it were to happen. I also want you to release it and say, you know it, but if it doesn't ever happen, I'm still going to devote my life to my art. This doesn't need to happen, be amazing. If it did, I'm going to work towards it. But I'm also rooted in something deeper. I'm here to express myself. I'm here to be myself. I'm here to create. This is a key manifestation, principle, even more importantly, the key to living a creative life that you love. And a life where you're happy. Where you're not just forever waiting for something to happen. Where you're in it and you're enjoying every step of the journey. You're having fun in the process where three months, like you blink and it becomes 17 years of, oh my God, I've had the time of my life, this has been amazing. Let's do it for another 17 and then another 17, right? Do you want to burn out or do you want to live in your purpose? That's the big question. We cannot control a lot of things. We can't control who the algorithm pushes or who meets the right contact, or who's in the right place at the right time. There are a lot of really talented people in this world. I want you to focus on what you can control. You can focus on showing up, on honoring your commitments, on being visible, on making art, your non negotiable, on refocusing on your vision, mission, your passions. Doesn't that just feel so good? We're a very outcome driven society. I love a good outcome. Okay, right. Let's say you get everything you want. Then what I think about one hit wonders, their dream came true. They got a big song in 94 in 2006. Whenever, if a lot of them were truly in it, because they were artists, they kept creating. You never know what your journey is going to be like. This is how you release and refocus and set yourself up for years and years and decades and decades to come. I want to talk about pivoting and evolving. You get to pivot or evolve at any time, okay? The Beatles pivoted and evolved. Picasso. Think of all of his periods. I love referencing Taylor Swift, her eras. Any lifelong artist is not doing the same thing over and over. Typically, some people might have a thing they're known for and it brings them joy and they love doing it for 70 years. But most artists are evolving and they're pivoting. Give yourself permission to do that. You get to try new things whenever you want to. Change is inevitable for artists, you get to reinvent yourself. You get to play with new inspirations. This whole year has been a reinvention for me and it's not always easy. Sometimes you got to walk through that dark night of the soul and figure out who am I. Now, you don't just come out of the cocoon. Once you go back into another cocoon, and in and out, in and out, your job is to make your art and be true to you. Trusting yourself and your intuition is everything you will feel when you've outgrown something, okay? There was a time when I would go on stage barefoot and I would have folky little music, and I would have a flower crown in my hair, and my gosh, did I love that? And that was so me. For such a long time then, I felt like I outgrew that. And I had lived out that vision. And I was ready to do something a little darker and a little more interesting. And then I did this whole pop project, and my videos were a little more sensual and it was so fun. And then I wanted to do something else, right? Give yourself permission to pivot and evolve. You are a multi dimensional being. You are meant to express and explore different sides of yourself. And it's don't like the new thing. I've had people tell me, oh, I liked your old stuff better or oh, I didn't like your old stuff, but I like the new stuff. It's not about that, it's about us going on our individual journeys and expressing ourselves. If people prefer the old stuff, I like to remind them it's not going anywhere. Oh, you liked the old songs? Great. They're still on Spotify. You cannot make your art to please other people. Whether people love it or whether they hate it, you can't cash that in either way. What really matters is your experience with it. Here are some long game beliefs that have kept me going for a very long time, very excited, very eager to see what's around the next corner, and just generally enthusiastic about what I do. I love believing that a miracle could happen at any moment, and I've experienced a lot of beautiful miracles over the past 17 years. A miracle could happen at any moment. I can get a letter in the mail. I could get something in my inbox. I could get a DM. You just never know. A miracle doesn't mean winning the lottery. A miracle, could you meet one of your new best friends or somebody discovers your song and sends you the most beautiful letter about how much it changed their life. A miracle could happen at any moment. This could be the day or the month or the year that I have a huge breakthrough, a huge realization. I get a vision of what my next step is going to be. I get a download of what the next art project is going to be. Again, a miracle could happen at any moment. I love believing that my best work is ahead of me. It's all ahead of me. The best is yet to come. Whether it's one person or 1 million people. I am impacting people's lives. The money I earn or don't earn does not define my success. The followers I have or don't have does not define my success. All of these things can and will change, ebb and flow. There are times when I'm making a really wonderful income through art and music and entrepreneurship, and there are times when it's flat. I hope that your journey is just one straight upward arrow, but that's not usually the norm. It's possible. But how can you stay with yourself when you're getting a lot of attention or when you're not getting any attention? Right? When you're earning a lot. When you're not earning a lot. These are some good long game beliefs that I really keep close to my heart. Here are some more, I have two more slides of long game beliefs. My success, putting my hands to my heart. As I say this, my success is defined by me showing up and creating and sharing it with people. I would do this even if I was alone on an island. And I would. I focus on the joy and the fun. And the joy keeps expanding. All of my efforts matter and all of my efforts add up, even if I don't see it yet. I am building my legacy and my empire in the spiritual realm. It is done. What has happened is not an indication of what's possible for me. Okay. Because if you're like, I don't know, it's been two years and nothing's happened, that is no indication of what could happen. Next year might be your golden year. You have no idea. You just got to keep going. I am being who I came here to be. No matter what, I just felt some little tears come into my eyes. I am being who I came here to be, no matter what. Remember at the beginning I said, hold on to your gigantic dream. Feel it, envision it, and then release that outcome. And knowing that I am who I came here to be, no matter what I am creating, what I came here to create by literally making it. Make it by creating. Aren't those good? Okay, The present moment, we're almost done here. The present moment is your point of power. The past is over. Regrets, mistakes, Mrs. Failures. Right? The future is unknown what will happen. We can't create in either of those spaces. We can only in the present moment. This is where the power is right now. As you hear me say these words, this is your moment of power. What can you do? What is in your power to do today? Here and now? That will light up your soul, honor your creativity, add to your legacy, Embrace your life's purpose and passions, and make you feel deeply and fully alive. For me, I woke up and I said, I'm going to record this course today. That's what I'm going to do that's going to light up my soul, honor my creativity, add to my legacy, Embrace my life's purpose and passions, and make me feel deeply and fully alive. And boy, do I ever We get to our big goals and dreams by leaning into what we can do today. When you refocus to what can I do today, you will have unbelievable staying power and longevity. Because you're not freaking out about the future you're creating, you're expanding, you're discovering your being, and you're happy, and it feels good. Here are my final words as we wrap up this really powerful course together. You are an artist, you always have been. You are inherently worthy. Your time is you're not too late. Now is the time. This is your divine time. I just love this. Okay. Of course, I'm not going to dip out without leaving you with some incredible journal prompts and some homework from here on out. How will you move through moments where you tell yourself that your window is closing or that you are behind in some way? What do you need to refocus on right now? Passion, purpose, vision. How do you feel called to evolve or pivot? How? And what, if anything, is holding you back? Which long game belief really resonated with your heart? Of all the beliefs I shared? Which one just really stuck with you? Then your homework is to create. In the following module, you're going to see some bonus content. You're going to get my inspiring playlist. You're going to get my book, Courageously Creative, a digital download. And you're going to get all of my creatrix meditations that you're going to love so much. I also want you to keep in touch. Please find me on Instagram and Tiktok at Juliet Piper, J, U, L, I, E, T, E, R, Come, follow, come, say hi. Share your work with me. I will be cheering you on. It has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you, teach you. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for being here. I cannot wait to see what you do. You are an artist. You always have been. You are inherently worthy. Your time is now go create.