94 – The 5-Minute Mentor: When Do You Know It’s Time To Cross "The Bridge?"

In this episode, I take the time to answer a question from one of my listeners, Lisette, on how you can know when it is time to step out in faith to leave a job in order to fully pursue the art God is leading you to create. The Bridge is simply that tool the Lord has put in your path. It can be the job you’re at or even a new job, that helps you transition from being a hobbyist or emerging artist into a pro artist on your way to thriving.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Have you ever wondered how to balance maybe your current job with actually wanting to step into doing your art either seriously part-time or full-time? Well, it's a common question that a lot of emerging artists have, and we're going to cover that today here on 5-Minute Venture.

UNKNOWN 0:15

5-Minute Venture

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on 5-Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. Well, hey there, happy Friday and welcome to another episode of 5-Minute Mentoring. I'm really glad that you're here with me today. I've got a great question from one of my listeners, Lizette, who is asking about this whole balance and tension between I'm working a job now, but do I need to quit it because I want to pursue my art and how does that work? What do you do? Here's Lizette's question.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Hi, Matt. So my question is, How do artists who are entrepreneurs and are taking steps of faith towards their calling, how can they... since sometimes we have to leave our jobs for some reason or another, right, to dedicate time to our business or craft, how can we balance those things, balance a business that is beginning to grow versus working full time? How can artists balance those things out?

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Well, thank you, Lizette, for that question. I really appreciate it because so many artists are really struggling and trying to deal with this same kind of issue in their life of, gosh, I'm in a job that I hate or at least I'm not passionate about and I want to pursue my art, but I don't know what to do. In fact, really, that is why I started the Created to Thrive Artist Mentoring Program. We've got over 1,200 artists and almost 1,300 actually artists in that now from all over the world and so incredible to see them making steps in the right direction to go across what I call the bridge. All right. Because the fact is you are where you are now and you want to get to where you, you know, you're dreaming about, which is doing your art full time. But what is the bridge? Where is the bridge? How do you walk across this? And it's kind of like that old Indiana Jones movie, you know, where he comes up to the big open space, you know, the big cavern. And he's like, how am I going to get across this? And the book that he's following, the guidebook says that if he steps out, that a bridge is going to appear. And yet, as he's looking at it right now, it's like, there is no bridge here. So what do I do? But when he steps, guess what? The bridge appears. And that's what I've found to be the truth over the years, that God directs our steps, not our standing still. That as we begin to walk in a direction, starting with what's in your hand right now, all right? Not waiting until you have this or waiting until you have that, but no, starting with what you have now, then all of a sudden God begins to direct your steps. So the first thing I would say is, number one, ask the Lord for clarity, all right, about where it is that you're going. Do you have a clear vision? Do you know the ultimate goal? desire of your heart? Have you clarified that and written it down? Is it on a vision board? That's a big thing that I believe in is writing the vision down and make it plain. That's really right out of God's word. Put that on a vision board. Begin to ask the Lord for input. Ask the Lord for wisdom about how to begin to move forward in that. But you've got to get clear about what it is that you want and where it is that you're going. Number two, then I would say in line with that, set a measurable goal. I want to be doing this by this time. I want to apply for that show. I want to get in this juried exhibition. I want to be making this much money with my art by this time. Set a goal and then begin to develop a plan. Again, listening to the voice of the Lord the whole time. But begin to develop a plan that works backwards, all right? So that you take that goal and you put it into measurable steps, all right? The other thing I would say is this. It's really, really important that you understand the kingdom principle, two of them. Number one, be fruitful first and then multiply. So where does multiplication come from? Where does acceleration come from in your life? From fruitfulness, right? All right. Which leads into the second point of, you know, right out of Matthew 25, be faithful with little and God will make you ruler over much. So that goes back to my initial question with Lizette, what's in your hand right now? What is God? What resources, what ideas, what relationships, all right, are in your hand right now? And how can you begin to be faithful with those right now? At the same time, Set that vision, set those goals, measurable goals with timeframes, all right? In my book, Crafting Your Brand, I call it smarty goals. They're specific, they're measurable, they're attainable, they're realistic. They've got a timeframe and an incentive, all right? Set those and then begin to walk with the Lord. And listen, as you do, what's gonna begin to happen, I believe, is that the bridge from where you are now to where you're heading will begin to appear. Now, I wanna just give you a bit of advice, and this is free. I want you to realize that most people way overestimate what they can do in a year, but they way underestimate what they can do in three years, all right? So as you're setting that goal, all right, for yourself, I want you to set a three-year goal. All right. And then begin to work backwards with some measurable steps. All right. To begin to see that vision come to pass. All right. And as you're breaking those down, I don't want you to do those steps any further along than a 90 day goal. All right. 90 days gives you a goal to shoot for in line with your vision. And at the same time, it makes your steps really super practical and in the now so that you can do something. And then at the end of 90 days, look back, measure it, see the progress, and you know that you're making progress. All right. Listen, Elizabeth, that's going to help you begin to see the bridge form from where you are to where you want to go. And you will be amazed at the things that the Lord begins to do in your life and art as you begin to pursue that. All right. With him. All right. Don't do it by yourself. Don't get out there and try to make it happen. Sit. Again, those that wait upon the Lord will renew their strength. That's where we hear his voice. That's where we get confident in the vision. And then we begin to walk as led by his voice, empowered by his grace. All right. Now, the other thing I want you to do and everybody to do, go back in the archives of the podcast, scroll way down to episode number two. It's actually one of my most popular episodes, and it's called The Bridge, where I did an in-depth teaching on this very subject. Lizette and others, I thank you that you'll really find that to be a blessing as well in your life. As well as this little mini version of that, you'll get a kind of extended version of that teaching, again, as you're trying to walk the bridge from where you are now to where you want to go in your life. Okay? Well, listen, if you've got a question out there for me that you want me to answer here on 5-Minute Mentoring, I would love for you to do it. All you got to do, like I said earlier, go to matttommymentoring.com forward slash podcast. Leave me a voicemail message. And who knows? Maybe your question will be the next one that I feature here on 5-Minute Mentoring. All right. Until next time, remember, I love you and you were created to thrive. All right. Bye-bye. Now, before I go, I want to encourage you, make sure, make sure you pre-register for our upcoming Thriving Christian Artists Conference. It's coming up in March 2020 here in the Asheville, North Carolina area out at Ridgecrest. Incredible, beautiful conference center that we've been doing conferences at for years. Listen, this is the only conference in the world that you will be able to get online. hear from speakers on healing and wholeness, identity, being able to learn how to grow as an artist, get into creative flow with the Holy Spirit, develop your unique creative voice, how to do the practical things to grow an audience, grow your business so that you can really be the artist that God's called you to be. This is our first year we're doing this. I've been doing this online for years. My mentoring program has been uber successful over the years, helping thousands of artists move from striving and struggling to really thriving in their spiritual life, their art life, and their business life. And what I've done is I'm bringing a lot of that teaching to this conference, not only for me, but also from some of the best speakers that I know in the areas of healing and wholeness, in marketing, in Instagram, in social media, all right, and how to build a brand. What do you do with your website? All right. And so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, So much more. We're going to be talking about all of that kind of thing, plus doing it in an environment where we have worship, where we get to network with each other, hang out over the weekend, get to know each other. It's going to be a really, really great time in God's presence, and I want you to be there. So listen, when you register, registration starts on November the 5th, but you can pre-register now. And when you do that, you get the opportunity to get a$100 discount on your ticket, all right? Then we open the doors for pre-registrants only on October the 29th. We give a full week ahead of time before we open it to the public to those who are pre-registered. Why? because just about every conference that we do fills up, all right? They sell out. And we want you that are serious about coming to be a part of that. So pre-register right now at the link that's in the show notes. You can see all the details about the conference and get your name on the list so you can get that$100 discount and get first in line, all right, before we open it to the public. I would love to see you hug your neck, hear your story, and meet you face-to-face at the Thriving Christian Artists Conference coming up in March 2020 at Ridgecrest. Alright, do it now. Bye.