074. Bonnie Christine: Launching a 7-Figure Online Course

Bonnie Christine always knew she would own a business one day – she just wasn’t sure what kind of business she wanted to run. Not until she started working in her mom’s quilt shop.

Bonnie is an internationally renowned Surface Pattern Designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning online educator. She’s been creating delicate and ethereal artwork for brands around the world since 2009.

In this interview, she shares the behind-the-scenes of her business journey: from $12,000 in revenue and working multiple jobs to making $350,000 on her first course launch. There are so many great takeaways from this episode on money mindset, hiring, and so much more!

WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/bonnie-christine

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Bonnie’s Podcast “The Professional Creative”
Bonnie's Free Resource "Sustainable Success to Sale" (including the Freedom Figure Formula)
Learn the Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design | Bonnie’s 8-Week Course “Immersion” is open for enrollment! *Affiliate Link

Transcript

Bonnie (00:00:00):

There was something called an email list that everyone was talking about that I couldn't wrap my mind around. And so I came out of that in 2017, very much feeling behind and that I knew I needed to focus on, kind of reviving my list and focusing on that. And so at the time I had 3000 people on a list and my open rate was like 6%. They didn't even know who I was anymore. They had just accumulated over nine years from being in a signup for my newsletter on my blog.

Shanna (00:00:36):

You are listening to Considered the Wildflowers, the podcast episode 74. Bonnie Christine always knew she would own a business one day. She just wasn't sure what kind of business she wanted to run, not until she started working in her mom's quilt shop. Bonnie is an internationally renowned service pattern designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning online educator. She's been creating delicate and ethereal artwork for brands around the world since 2009. In this interview, she shares the behind the scenes of her business journey from 12,000 in revenue and working multiple jobs to making 350,000 on her first course launch. There are so many great takeaways from this episode on money Mindset hiring and so much more, and I'm totally obsessed with her idea of your Freedom number referenced near the end of the episode. If you dig professional bios, here goes Bonnie Christine is an internationally renowned surface pattern designer, entrepreneur, and award-winning online educator.

(00:01:27):

She's been creating delicate and ethereal artwork for brands and products around the world since 2009. She's a mama artist and fabric designer living nestled back in the hills of the great Smoky Mountains. Her goal is to help creatives earn a living doing what they love. Her journey of being a self-taught designer and learning the hard way is exactly what drives her passion for teaching others how to become a successful creative entrepreneur. Okay, formal introductions over, let's dive in. Hey, it's Shanna and this is Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. For the past 15 plus years, I've had the honor to hear thousands of stories from entrepreneurs around the world. As a former Fortune 100 financial advisor turned business consultant, I have a unique opportunity to see the real behind the highlight reel. I'm talking profit and loss statements, unpaid taxes, moments of burnout, and those of utter victory. Or as my husband says, the content everyone is wondering but not many are talking about. And now I'm bringing these private conversations to you. Hear the untold stories of how industry leaders, founders, and up and coming entrepreneurs got their start, the experiences that shaped them and the journey to building the brands they have today. Stories that will inspire and reignite encourage to redefine success and build a life and business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hey Bonnie, welcome to the show. We're going to have so much fun. Hi

Bonnie (00:02:43):

Shannon. I'm so excited to be here.

Shanna (00:02:45):

We're talking before we hit record that I just am so surprised we haven't met before, but I'm really honored to have you and to have you sharing your story. I think there seems to be some kindred in just empowering women in their businesses and doing what you love, but making a paycheck from it. So I can't wait to dig in.

Bonnie (00:03:08):

I can't either. Shanna. I agree. We are kindred spirit's. Two peas in a pod.

Shanna (00:03:13):

Okay, we're going to have, so where are you originally from?

Bonnie (00:03:17):

I actually live in the same place I grew up. That hasn't always been the case. I did move around for a bit, but yeah, I was born and raised in Franklin, North Carolina and my husband and I took a tour around the US for several years until we realized there was no better place on earth. So we are right back where we started.

Shanna (00:03:40):

That's so fun. So is your family close? Are they all still there in your hometown?

Bonnie (00:03:47):

They are. They are for the most part. So David and I's parents are still in the same town, which has made just raising our children in the same town as both sets of grandparents. Just really, really sweet. And then my sister and her husband are in the same town too, so

Shanna (00:04:06):

That makes me so happy. So your husband grew up there too?

Bonnie (00:04:09):

He did, yeah. I think he moved here in middle school, but that counts. Yes,

Shanna (00:04:15):

Same. My husband is originally from Ohio, but moved to Tennessee in I think elementary school, so he doesn't have the accent but was raised here. That's a fun. So we have moved lots of different places, but just two years ago moved back to my hometown and it's funny, I left right after high school and I loved where I grew up, but I just didn't think I would come back. So it's been sweet to come back and raise funny

Bonnie (00:04:45):

How our parents knew what they were doing. I know,

Shanna (00:04:47):

I know. I'm like, now I'm like, I hope my kiddos live right down the street from me. Come back, go explore, and then come back. That's every parent's dream. Okay. Tell me, Bonnie, what you just briefly tell everybody who I'm sure they've heard of your wonderful work, but what you do now, but then I kind of want to just go back to the beginning. What were you doing before starting your business? How did you get into business? I just kind of want to take it back.

Bonnie (00:05:18):

Yeah. So today I would say that I am a surface pattern designer. I'm an entrepreneur and I'm an educator for creatives, also a mom. And I have a lot of hobbies like gardening and cooking, but we run a education company for creators. My number one goal is to help people make a living doing something that just absolutely lights them up. So my early years really tie back to where I live. So I went to college. David and I both went to separate colleges. I went to business school and I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I come from a family of entrepreneurs and always knew that I had that. I just always did. I always knew that I had that, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. So that's why I went to business school. And afterwards I got married and we moved back to our hometown for about a year and I worked at my mom's shop.

(00:06:24):

So she owned a quilt store with a fabric store. And so part of my job there was to meet with reps and decide on what fabric we wanted to carry in the store. And I was always creative. You can imagine with a mom who owns a fabric store. I grew up, yes, painting and coloring and sewing and crafting. I mean, my whole dorm room was handmade from top to bottom with my name embroidered on my towels, just the whole thing. So I was always super creative, but I didn't plan on really doing that for my life. So anyways, there was this one day where I was walking down an aisle with fabric on both sides of me and I was just looking at it, but it hit me differently that day. And I had this moment where I was like, someone is doing this for their job.

(00:07:18):

And everything just kind of aligned for me. And my dream of becoming a fabric designer settled into my bones super hardcore. So the primary problem with that was that I didn't know the first thing about being a fabric designer. And so this was in 2009. And so there were no online courses, was no Skillshare, there was none of those ways. The whole industry felt super kind of held close to the chest. So I wasted about six months being in total overwhelm because I wasn't even sure where to start. So I didn't start. And then I woke up one morning and really realized how much time had passed and quite frankly got mad. I was like, today I am starting today, I am starting and I'm going to dedicate doing one thing every day, moving towards this goal. And I obsessed with this, and I don't use that word lightly, it's a healthy obsession. But I do think sometimes it's really good to obsess over learning something new. It is such an incredible experience and such an incredible confidence builder. So I tracked, I didn't miss a day, some days we're 15 minutes, other days were eight hours. But at the end of 18 months I signed my first licensing contract as a fabric designer. And everything changed for me in that moment. So

Shanna (00:08:55):

For those 18 months, Bonnie, were you selling anything? Were you just learning

Bonnie (00:09:03):

What I did in the meantime? Because licensing in particular, it takes a little bit of time to start earning income from it. And so what I did in the meantime was I started to blog. That's what everybody did in 2009, 2010. So I started to blog and I actually gained a lot of momentum with it. I was writing on the handmade industry twice a day every day for many years. And that helped me build a foundation and kind of get my foot in the door in the industry. And then I had an Etsy shop, so I was selling handmade aprons and tea towels, and I was fairly successful with that as well. So at some point I was able to quit my job at my mom's. And then also in there is when we moved for my husband's job, he was a cycling coach, but to be clear, we had no money together. We were making like $26,000 a year. And at the time his work had us in California, which was so expensive.

(00:10:08):

And so we sold a car in order to buy me some time, and I just drove him to work every day and then got home and really went to work. So I was making incremental income from the Etsy shop, from selling ads in the sidebar of my blog. And then I also did do some random odd jobs. I taught children's yoga at the YMCA and I was a personal assistant for a woman at one point. So we were very much being scrappy and just making it work for those first few years. And then in 2012, things began to change.

Shanna (00:10:48):

Oh my goodness so much here. I have to tell you though, when Kyle and I, about a year after we got married, so I had worked in finance, I'd already been in finance for about five years, and Kyle and I sat down for the first time ever and did a net worth statement and a family budget. And I was like, first of all, how did I work in finance for five years? And no one was like, you should have a budget. But anyway, so we were like, we are so broke. We sold our cars and we started commuting with bikes.

Bonnie (00:11:20):

Wow,

Shanna (00:11:21):

That's like, that's

Bonnie (00:11:22):

Sacrifice.

Shanna (00:11:23):

No, but part of it, I think that's something we don't talk about as much anymore, especially now with the world of Instagram and just entrepreneurship looks different now, I think because so much more visible, which in a lot of ways is a good thing and then other ways makes it hard. But we were scrappy for a good minute before making enough money to live on. So okay, walk through, you get this licensing agreement, walk through the growth, and did you know what to call yourself? Did you know what your business was? How did it move into surface pattern design? Walk me through that transition.

Bonnie (00:12:10):

Yeah, so as I learned all of this, I learned that fabric design is actually a part of a much bigger industry called surface design. Surface pattern design is any artwork that needs to be in repeat wallpaper, fabric, gift wrap, ribbon tape, that kind of thing. But then surface design is really the larger industry, which is even placement artwork for things. If you go into anthropology, it's like all the artwork on the dishes and the rugs and just everything. And so I pretty quickly began to build licensing contracts. It is so fun because you can do it from anywhere in the world at any time of day. And also the way that you create revenue is through royalties. And so one of my favorite things about licensing is that it's typically industry specific. So you can take one piece of art and license it in one industry, let's say fabric, but then you can take the same piece of art and go into wallpaper and kitchen textiles and rugs and all these different places.

(00:13:18):

So your work really begins to take on a life of its own. And so once the ball begins to roll, it really begins to roll. So the next shift though, so we're not quite to education yet, that's not on my radar, but one of the biggest shifts for me was also in 2012. And little bit of a long story short, I was talking to this guy who was just the wealthiest man I'd ever met, and also just super wise and humble, and he was curious. And so we were talking about my business and he was so impressed with my blog readership. I had many thousands of daily readers and consistency and all of this stuff. And so he asked me how much revenue I was making from it and that he was not so impressed with,

(00:14:14):

And he just said this one thing, he said, if you could just turn a small percentage of your customers into recurring paying customers, you would really have a business model. And oh my goodness, that was my first introduction to recurring or residual income and what it would look like to stop trading time for money. So trading like a handmade apron for money was completely exhausting. So that day just started brainstorming this membership idea. And so I launched it three weeks after that and it was $5 a month, $5 a month, and it was actually not even a membership, it was more like a paid newsletter now that I look back at it.

(00:15:05):

But I had 200 people. So I launched it with a blog post and I had 200 people sign up on opening weekend, and that created a thousand dollars of recurring revenue for me, which was the most substantial money coming in that I'd ever had. And I still have that membership today. We just celebrated our 11th year, though it looks very different, so people get locked in though. So I still have a couple of people paying $5 today it's $47, and today it's education based, but back then it was like whatever I could do. So it was recipes, it was clip art, it was printable gift cards. It was like anything that I thought would just be worth someone paying a little bit of money for. And it got me started.

Shanna (00:15:54):

And so you would send this via email or something? Just

Bonnie (00:15:58):

Email. There was not a login, there was not a platform. I took payments by a link to a recurring PayPal subscription. That's the only way I could do it. So it was super scrappy.

Shanna (00:16:12):

I mean, what a testament though, to just getting started

Bonnie (00:16:16):

Does not need to be perfect. Just needs to get going.

Shanna (00:16:19):

Yeah, that's so good. Okay, tell me, so that's 2012, I'm interested bonding. How did you figure all of this out? Was it just trial and error, like pricing, creating licensing deals? I mean, how did you even know how to do it? And with that, what do you feel like went well? And then maybe what are one or two things that stick out? Wow, I learned that the hard way.

Bonnie (00:16:47):

Yeah. Well, so much of it, again, it's just this willingness to do it, to figure it out and make mistakes as you go. I think that it was really hard to learn all of that. I didn't understand contracts, so I found a lawyer who could look over it with me. It was all just very difficult. And so while I didn't really see this coming throughout the process, I piecemealed this education together from every corner of the internet, and it took so long, it took two years. So I came out of that with a real heart for turning around and helping anyone else come through that more quickly and more easily. And so that was my kind of first beginning of getting into education because I really wanted to just blow apart the industry and share some of, well, we call 'em secrets, share some of the industry secrets and save people time because I wasted a lot of time going down rabbit holes. I didn't need to go down or learning things I didn't really need to learn. And so it was difficult, but it worked.

Shanna (00:18:00):

So Bonnie, before starting, you had this heart for education, but before starting that, what did your business look like? What were your forms of revenue and at what point in the business did you see a shift and go more into the education stuff as well?

Bonnie (00:18:21):

Yeah, so I believe that I actually have this listed, I should go pull it up. I believe I made about $12,000 in 2012, and it has doubled just about doubled every year since. So the way that I was creating income in the following year was still ads on my blog, which were like a hundred dollars a month. So something like that, selling on Etsy still and the membership and then licensing was the biggest revenue generator, even though I was still at around that 25,002, two, I don't know. Today my licensing makes up around six figures, and then my education is multi seven figures. And so it's still a prominent place in my business, and I'm so passionate about helping people learn how to build that income through licensing, but it does take just a little bit of time to get that ball rolling and get all of the products starting to roll in for you. So that took a couple of years while I was still building out the other parts of my business.

Shanna (00:19:33):

Okay. So tell me then, as you've grown, when did you maybe looking back, tell me about the turning points or major kind of shifts or pivots. At what point did you decide to move into education?

Bonnie (00:19:51):

Yeah, so a couple of major pivots for me were first of all the moment that I got my first contract, just because I had never had something so impossible come true. And it made me believe in big dreams coming true so much and it made me believe in everyone else because I had been the person furthest away from ever making this a reality. And through hard work and consistency, totally made that happen. So the second one was that pivotal moment when I wrapped my arms around what residual income is

(00:20:34):

So huge, and the licensing is also a great example of residual income. You do the work once and you get paid for it over and over and over again. Then the next one was really when education came into the picture. So I was contacted in 2013 by a company called Creative Live, and they only knew me from my blog, so they didn't know what I was doing, but they said, is there anything that you would want to teach? And I was like, well, the only thing that I know is Illustrator specific to Surface Design. They'd never heard of that. They thought it was great, let's do it. So that was the most nerve wracking thing I've ever done in my whole life. They train you for six months with a content director, and then they fly you out to San Francisco and put you in front of a live crowd with tens of thousands of people watching live as well.

(00:21:25):

And I taught Illustrator Live for three days and it went well. But I got home and I thought, I'm so glad that's over. I'm going to get back to doing my design work. And Shanna over the next weeks and then subsequent months, stories just started rolling in specifically from women who had just gained whatever permission they needed from my class to follow their creativity. And within a few months, I was hearing from people who quit their day jobs and started working from home and eventually people telling me that they were able to retire their spouses incredible stories. And I just very slowly started to realize that that was actually the calling that was placed on my life was to help female creatives really understand how to make sure that they're doing something that they love with their life and how to generate income with it if they want to. So that was just the turning point. Yeah, it's been the most unexpected and also just incredible twist in the road.

Shanna (00:22:36):

So that was year 4, 3, 4 of your business when you went and did this with Creative Life, did you know I want to do education? I mean, were you, I see this vision, but I don't know. I mean because see, so 2013, I mean there were some online courses, but not a lot. I mean, it was still a pretty for I think in the creative space, especially an early industry.

Bonnie (00:23:02):

Yeah,

Shanna (00:23:03):

It was very early. See how to do it early. Yeah,

Bonnie (00:23:06):

Yeah, it was very early. But something really interesting happened in 2013. So I had had this great success. I had started to kind of wrap my arms around education, and that was the year I had my son. So I had my first baby in 2013, my second in 2015, and I think you'll know what I mean by this Shanna, but there's a couple of years in there where it's a beautiful baby filled kind of hole. I was not making a lot of progress on new ideas, but I did within this time hit six figures in my business. So I was doing well, and my licensing was rolling, education was rolling. I had taught on Creative Life and Skillshare at this point, and so that residual income was a huge part of allowing me to kind of step back and focus on my family, but it was not a lot of room for big new ideas. It just wasn't the time for it.

(00:24:11):

So in around 2017, I really picked up some motivation again. So at that point I was making around two 50 to 500 k and decided to bring my husband home from work. It just stopped making sense. Our kids were not in school yet, they were little, and my business was deserving of more focused time. So we made that big switch, one of the best things that we ever did. And then I decided to begin teaching my own really big online course called Immersion, which is an eight week course, and we launched that for the first time I say, but it was just me at the time. I launched that in 2018 for the first time, and by then I had a three and a 5-year-old and really felt like I had kind of resurfaced and was ready to really hit the ground running. Yeah,

Shanna (00:25:13):

Okay. So were you back in your hometown at this point?

Bonnie (00:25:16):

I was. What a great question. So we moved back in 2018,

Shanna (00:25:23):

And then when you brought your husband home, I don't know if you want to share about this, was he a part of the business? Was it just you needed more time in the business? So more help at home? My husband joined our business full-time in 2021. Oh, I love that. And so he actually is a huge piece of the business, but I'm always interested how that looks for you all.

Bonnie (00:25:48):

So no, he's not a part of the business though. He is because I talk a zero off all the time and a great, he gives great advice, but he's not actually a part of it. So he was a cycling coach. He coached endurance athletes. And so I think because our kids weren't in school yet, he came home to be a stay at home dad for a couple of years. And of course I worked from home as well, so we were just all at home together all the time. Then when my kids began school, it kind of freed him up quite a bit. We really decided that I would focus on the business and he would focus on being able to manage the back backend of the business and the money and investing and saving and giving. So he's a part of a couple of nonprofits that he's heavily involved with and he does some real estate investing now. And so he kind of is the brains behind what we do after I'm done. He takes

Shanna (00:26:52):

Over with the money

Bonnie (00:26:53):

Perspective. So it's been really, really lovely.

Shanna (00:26:57):

I love that I, I know a lot of people have different dynamics in their relationship, but I know for Kyle and I, it took a little bit of time to figure out our exact places, especially with Kyle leaving his past career to join the business full time. And I just always want to encourage people. Yeah, it takes the seasons of life determine it looks different in different seasons. And when Kyle joined the business, it took us a good year to kind of figure out the specific roles. And now that we're two plus years in, it's like, okay, now we got it.

Bonnie (00:27:35):

I think that this should be talked more about because we had about a year as well where it was just a bit of an awkward dance. Am I doing that or are you doing that? Are you doing that or am I doing that? Because it's just such a flip on the head and what does David's very much a leader in our home? What does that look like when it's not necessarily tied to the income and that kind of thing? It's just been beautiful and also interesting. And I think if someone listening is going through the same thing, at the end of the day, the number one thing you have to maintain is just so much respect for each other, and then you just work it out. So yeah, I would say we're very well seasoned now, but there was about a year where we were like, I don't know who's doing this,

Shanna (00:28:24):

Whose role is what? And also for us, we needed that defined. We needed to figure out, this is your job. I don't think many people know this about me, but I truly am built to be like a CFO. I love the numbers, I want to crunch the numbers. I could read spreadsheets all day. I love just nerding out and could go a whole day without talking to people, even though I'm super friendly, but I'm in this position of the face of the company. And so it was funny when we originally side note but brought Kyle on, it was figuring out how to do that well because actually more equipped to run, not more equipped, but to run the company, to manage the team. And that's more of his gifting. I'm over here just like could I just, I don't know, make projections all day. So yeah, it's a fun, but takes some time.

(00:29:20):

So anyways, thanks for sharing about that. It's kind of a side note, but when you started into the education again, I would just love to hear about the growth and figuring out even just the pricing side. Did you feel like you had more help in that? Do you feel like you still were figuring out Not many people I feel like know until you try. I started as a consultant at year three or four, moved into education. I'm like, wow, this is a totally different business model. I mean, it's completely different marketing, completely different pricing. Do you feel like you just figured all that out on your own? And more specifically, what do you feel like came naturally to you and then what were kind of the struggles as the business grew?

Bonnie (00:30:07):

Yeah, so a couple of things I can talk about are first of all, the growth. So I kind of knew in those dark years, not dark, just head down years that there was something called an email list that everyone was talking about that I couldn't wrap my mind around. And so I came out of that in 2017, very much feeling behind and that I knew I needed to focus on kind of reviving my list and focusing on that. And so at the time, I had 3000 people on a list, and Shannon, my open rate was like 6% because they didn't even know who I was

Shanna (00:30:53):

Anymore.

Bonnie (00:30:54):

They had just accumulated over nine years from being in a signup for my newsletter on my blog. So I first and foremost reengaged that list, and then I started to intentionally grow the list. And so I got that list up to about 8,000 before I opened the course for the first time. And so the first time I opened the course, it was 9.97 and the way that I priced that, I have a more elaborate way that I do this now, but to those of you who are in the same spot, the way that I priced that one was by looking at other courses and trying to decide how similar or not similar mine was to the amount of content. So not subject matter, but amount of content. And so I was comfortable with that. My goal was my scary goal that I could only tell David was 100 people. I thought that would be absolutely life-changing. And that first year we had 352 people. And so over the years we've advanced it. The course today is 1997. And the way that I think about pricing a course is not by comparing it to other courses, it is about the transformation that you offer.

Shanna (00:32:14):

And

Bonnie (00:32:15):

So there's multiple things that I look at when I think about pricing. One of them is what is the transformation? So in my instance, you can come in with no knowledge and leave with basically a degree if you will, in surface design everything you need in order to change or build a career. Now, the next one would be is it live or is it all prerecorded? So mine is a mixture, but I mean is it delivered live or is it available kind of all the time? So mine is all prerecorded, but it's dripped out right in modules over the course of eight weeks and then supported by three live calls every week as well. So there's this very much we're doing it together kind of aspect to it. We have live support and live Q and and calls and coaching and all of that. And then also how frequent do you offer it? So is it available year round or is it just once a year? If it's available all the time, that's typically a lower price point than more of an experience. So I like to call our course a proper experience because it involves so much of this happening in the now. You get something in the mail, we've got all these live calls, you have community, you've got access to experts. It's just very much an experience.

(00:33:37):

And then of course, quality of content, quality of the video recording and the editing and the actual content itself and that kind of thing too.

Shanna (00:33:47):

Bonnie, did you feel like after that first, because I'm assuming you opened cart, closed cart launch, 352 people, $350,000, were you just like, whoa, this is Oh, yeah.

Bonnie (00:34:02):

Yeah. That was beyond life changing. It was life changing in a lot of different ways, obviously just for our family, but also just in this is really needed. It's really valuable, it's really needed. But I remember feeling, I mean, I cried the first q and a live q and a that we had to everybody because out of love and out of a commitment to just show up for them because I also felt an immediate shift to responsibility. It's almost like after you have a baby, you're like, now I'm in charge of keeping this thing that I love so much alive. And that's very much how I felt like I had birthed this baby. And now I was very much in charge of just delivering and over-delivering on the entire experience. And so I was a team of one at the time and it was a tremendous, tremendous year and a tremendous effort and also the most just beautiful thing I'd ever done.

Shanna (00:35:06):

I'm so glad that we're talking about this. I don't think we've had, I'm sure we've had educators on the podcast before, but I feel so much of this in my soul. I too know that responsibility for me. It's like I want all of my students to succeed. And so it's like I will sacrifice myself for you. I had to learn so much. And I first launched my main program called the Blueprint Model in 2016, and I just have so many similar feelings. Will you talk through Bonnie just becoming an educator, growing? I'm sure you have more products now, but this main program and since then I'm sure you've had to hire a team. There's so much tech that goes into course creation. There's just so much to learn. I know on my end it was totally new to me. Well, you could talk through the growth of the education side and even just the shifts you've seen over the last since really 2020 in the world of education. I feel like it's changed quite a bit.

Bonnie (00:36:15):

Yeah, what a great question. So along with that concept, the course has also really doubled in students every year since 2018 as well. But that goes back to the email list. So my number one focus in growing my business has been to double my email list every year. And subsequently everything else doubles along with it. So that's kind of been my philosophy and it's been at work since that first year, which has been incredible. It has required growth. We'll talk about team growth first. So I went from just one person, so just me. And then I added on basically like a va. And over the last couple of years we went from two to four to six to eight, to now we're at 12 people on my team. And that I think is actually maybe the more unexpected, I think leadership in the role of an educator and a one to many model.

(00:37:19):

So to my creative audience has come naturally for me over the years. And it's this intimate leadership skills of leading a team that I think took me by surprise. It was almost like as surprising as education was, it's like now I find myself really a lot of my day-to-day is found in leading my team, and I didn't see that coming. And it is also one of the most unexpected and delightful twists in the journey as well. But leadership development has been something on my mind since 2020 in particular. I think that something else I wish more people would talk about or that someone would've talked to me about it is that as you see your business take off and as you see your business grow to make sure that you grow alongside of it, 2020 for me was this moment where I realized that my business had grown more than I had grown, and I wasn't sure if I could sit in the driver's seat anymore.

(00:38:22):

I didn't know if I could even handle the responsibility. And so I really sat with that and questioned it and then decided absolutely I can. And really into personal development and leadership development and just working through all of those things that you have to have, Shannon, I'm sure you feel this too, but specifically when you're also the face of your brand, being able to also take everything that comes with that. So that has been also a lovely journey, one of the hardest yet best things that kind of ever happened to me, but I suspect that that will be a very long lifelong journey for that as well. I know I'm missing one of your questions.

Shanna (00:39:08):

I do want to ask you, I know I asked you five, so I kept up really good money. I did want to ask you, we haven't talked much about your relationship with money, what you feel about money, but for you, did you ever feel like going from a place of $26,000 a year living in California to 2020, I'm sure at this point you're making over seven figures now you lead a multi seven figure team. How have you psychologically, I guess, accepted the difference in just financial change that has come? Do you feel like that was something you took in stride or did you have some internal maybe limiting beliefs, some things that you had to work through and you're running now a multi seven figure company? That's a mindset shift.

Bonnie (00:40:01):

It's a mindset shift for sure. Yeah. So I think that I had a really healthy relationship with money. I didn't struggle with money mindset issues. However, there have been some things that I've really worked on over the years, and one of them that we started very early on, so back in 2000 and maybe 10, is that we started, started giving 10% of our gross revenue. And we gave it at the very beginning, meaning when it came in the door and when we had no money, this was such a practice of this is not my money. It's like money and I have to be a good steward of it sort of thing. And it was also this abundance based mindset, like trusting and knowing that if I give off the top that there will always be enough. In other words, if you wait till the end, there's never any leftover. So we started doing this and also saving through, I think we saved $200 a month or a week, I can't remember, maybe a month as well, which was also really difficult. And then we were giving at the first, and what I just remember knowing in my heart was that if I won't give

Shanna (00:41:21):

$10

Bonnie (00:41:22):

Off of a hundred, I will not give 100,000 off of a million. And so we just implemented this practice as a way of being a good steward of money and also knowing that the more money we make, the more impact we can have. So we've practiced this throughout all of our years knowing that if we make more money, that means we can give more away. And that has just really alleviated any guilt or anything like that around it. And my goodness, what a gift it is for me to be able to employ 12 employees through a creative business and give them livelihood and an incredible impact to make through what we do to together now. And so that's probably been just the biggest kind of mindset that we've had around money. And I think a lot of people also think that they'll change if they have money or they're afraid of making money. And I just think that money magnifies who you already are. And so if you are humble and generous and grateful and giving and then all of a sudden you have more money, it just magnifies that in who you are. If you are on solid footing, you're not going to stray from that money doesn't change. You like that.

Shanna (00:42:46):

Yeah. Bonnie, thank you for sharing that. I have so many more questions I want to ask about that, but I think that is so very true, and I've heard it a lot and I hear it a lot. Sometimes we believe we'll create habits when we get here, when I have this. And I just love that you determined we're going to start today with what we have and have built that habit. So right to write a check for a hundred thousand dollars, when you make a million, that's still tough. I mean, it's probably joyful for you, but it's still, that's a big check to write for everyone. Just a technical question on the money side, I am just curious, you have a business degree, did you feel like profit and loss statements at the accounting side pricing is something that maybe came easier for you? You were able to handle that a little more?

Bonnie (00:43:50):

No, I don't think I would say that. No. And when I think about giving, we actually give, give 10% off of the gross annual revenue, not off of the profit. And I think that for one, that just simplifies it. Like no more math needed. No, I find it all really hard. My favorite hire of all time, Shana was a bookkeeper and followed by an accountant. It's not my forte, but I do love numbers, but not financial numbers.

Shanna (00:44:23):

You like the strategy,

Bonnie (00:44:25):

I like strategy numbers, but yeah, you and I would be a great team.

Shanna (00:44:29):

Yes. What's so funny, I talk to, clearly, I talk to amazing entrepreneurs every day. A lot of them would say, I'm not a numbers person, not a money person. And data, why I love the numbers is it's data and data allows us to be strategic data

Bonnie (00:44:50):

Driven decision.

Shanna (00:44:51):

Yes. And I'm like, but I never want you as the CEO to be the bookkeeper. I mean, a lot of small business owners are their own bookkeeper, but I think that should be like your second hire because the data, the more accurate it is, the more it can tell you. And so my hope is really to end financial confusion and then to empower people to at least understand the numbers. Because like you said, I love that. I do love a good spreadsheet and I do love balancing my checkbook, but it's the strategy that's so fun. You get to make those strategic decisions. I always love to ask in every episode, what is the best thing that you have learned about money?

Bonnie (00:45:38):

Yeah, I think that similar concept, the more money you have, the more good you can do, the more you can impact, of course your family, but as soon as your family's taken care of, you can start to impact your community and then even all of the causes in the world that you're passionate about. And that just is honestly, it's fun. It is so fun to see a need and be like, I could help that. Yeah,

Shanna (00:46:08):

I love it. Before we go into a quickfire round, even though Bonnie, I feel like I could pick your brain for so long and I'm so intrigued. If you do want to share a little bit about your course and what's included in it, I need to email Bonnie about I'll teach the money side. You teach the artist side. Okay, we powwow, but Bonnie, tell everybody you said the transformation that you hope for students in your program.

Bonnie (00:46:39):

So this program is eight modules, and that would be where we really set foundation and learn how to do things like gather inspiration. One of the biggest things I teach though is Adobe Illustrator. And so this program is such a incredible tool to add to your tool belt for the rest of your life for no matter what you're using or doing with it. And so we really start literally at the ground downloading it and opening it for the first time and then really leave this course being completely proficient and a professional in Illustrator. So those modules are introduction to Illustrator and then Illustrator advanced. Then we move into creating repeating patterns and collections and a portfolio and then modules on art, licensing and creative entrepreneurship. And I think that something that sets this course apart really is that it's not just business and it's not just art. It's absolutely both. It's says if you took a business degree and an art degree and kind of put them together, because again, you could be the best artist in the world and if you don't know how to market your work, you'll never make a dime from it. So I teach both of those together and it is so much fun.

Shanna (00:48:00):

And tell us the name of the course.

Bonnie (00:48:02):

Yeah, it's called Surface Design Immersion

Shanna (00:48:05):

Immersion, and it's only open one time a year.

Bonnie (00:48:08):

It's only open one time a year. And that time is upon us, Shannon. Now,

Shanna (00:48:12):

Right now time is, so if anybody is listening, we're going to link in the show notes. This program is open right now, and I love Bonnie. I feel like, again, we're such kindred spirits. My motto is business built for life, and it's just the idea of how to create a business around the life that you want. And so I teach a lot of different disciplines, a lot of different types of businesses, but I love that you are helping people walk from like, I want to learn this skill, but then I want to take that skill and turn it into a business.

Bonnie (00:48:46):

It's so good. Yes.

Shanna (00:48:48):

Alright, before we go into quickfire, thank you for sharing about that, Bonnie. I love what you're doing and I do want to ask you, I always want to hear in a world that asks us to do everything really well, be great at relationships, momming running a business, being a leader to your team. I mean, not to mention in the early stages of business and for many small businesses, the marketer, the accountant, the designer, how have you learned or what are some things you've put in place that allow you to have harmony in all of those different roles?

Bonnie (00:49:28):

What a great question. So absolutely, I'm still learning. I don't suspect I'll ever arrive, but I think I spent 10 years as a solopreneur and I wore that badge with honor. I was so proud of it until I realized that actually being a solopreneur was super selfish because it lessens your ability to make an impact to the most people. And I don't care what you do. I think most people who are listening here are doing business in order to make positive impact, whether that's through something that they make or something that they teach or whatever it may be. And so I started to obsess with this idea of functioning inside my zone of genius. So that's doing only the things that only I can do, meaning I'm only doing the things that I love doing and that I'm really good at doing. That's how I think about my zone. And for a long time, that was a lofty ideal, but it helped me decide on just the very first things that I could outsource. And then I really wrapped my mind around it and started to outsource as much as I possibly could. And so the answer is really that I have a lot of help. I mean so much help so that the time that I spend is truly focused on doing only the things that only I can do

Shanna (00:50:57):

The things you love doing or you're great at doing. Is that what you said? Both.

Bonnie (00:51:01):

They got to be both. Okay.

Shanna (00:51:02):

Wrote that down. Have to both love

Bonnie (00:51:04):

It and be great at it because if you love it and you're not great at it, you need to outsource it. That's just productive procrastination.

Shanna (00:51:11):

Okay. I love this. I'm going to ask a follow-up question. I think other people are going to wonder for someone listening, myself included, who's like, I would love to get more help, but I'm scared of paying for it.

Bonnie (00:51:23):

Okay. How

Shanna (00:51:23):

Did you deal with

Bonnie (00:51:24):

That? This could be a whole episode in and of itself, Janet, I know. What you do is you calculate what I call your freedom figure. Your freedom figure at its simplest, at its simplest equation is how much money you made in a year divided by how many hours you worked in the year. So if you're working a 40 hour work week, that would be 2080 hours. And so for instance, if you have made $100,000, hold on, let's see who can do the math fast enough.

Shanna (00:52:01):

I have my calculator in hand. I got it.

Bonnie (00:52:03):

So if you make a hundred thousand dollars, your freedom figure is $48 an hour. You worked 40 hours in the week. And so what you should do is that any task that you're currently doing that you don't have to be the one to do and you could pay someone else less than $48 an hour to do it. You should consider doing that and that will free you up. I actually have this graph, Shannon, because I've taught on this before and there is literally an elbow in my graph of where I made my first hire and my revenue began to just spike. And so because as soon as you free your own calendar up, then you begin doing some of that higher level income generating. Like you have space to have ideas and build the thing. And so it's a fear-based notion to feel like, well, you have to know whether you can afford it or not. So if your freedom figure is $10 an hour, you may be looking to still get some help, but maybe pull mom or dad out of retirement or get an intern or have one of your children help still try to get help. But as soon as you can actually start paying an hourly wage, a VA is the perfect first hire. Also someone to help you with your house perfect first hire. And so you just begin creating more time for you to do that level thinking and it'll change your business forever.

Shanna (00:53:29):

Bonnie, did you come up with this on your own?

Bonnie (00:53:32):

Well, so I have come up with my,

Shanna (00:53:35):

Because this is so, I love it, the freedom figure. It was so good.

Bonnie (00:53:39):

Yeah. So I do, I have a presentation and a workbook, Shanna, and I'm happy to give it to you and your audience if you want it. It's a task tending worksheet, which really helps you iron out all the tasks you're doing and rate them based on all these attributes so you can decide what to give away first and then how to calculate your freedom figure. And then it also includes my guide on hiring, how to create an SOP, which is our standard operating procedure. Then how to create a voice guide so that people can write emails and things like that in

Shanna (00:54:10):

Your voice guide. Bonnie, I love it. Yes, send it over. So something I've taught for years and years and years in my course of Bluebird model is about outsourcing going through, we called our four quadrant chart and your gold tasks, your mundane tasks, and then how to outsource. So it's really good, but this freedom figure idea, I just love so much, and the thing I keep coming back to as I listen to you is just you really do have that abundance mindset. I feel like you so many myself included, operate from a scarcity. I tend to operate more from fear, but I love that you're like, okay, if it's less than this, we're going to move forward. And

Bonnie (00:54:52):

Yeah, that's been intentional. I could talk about that because I also had this moment where I was making fear-based decisions all the way down to being afraid to show my work in case someone copied it. And I'm like, what if we just flipped the script? And so every time I consider a fear-based mindset or decision, I just flip it and look at what the exact opposite abundance based decision would be. And for the most part, I go with that one.

Shanna (00:55:23):

I want to talk to you for another hour. Let's quick fire Bonnie, because otherwise I will keep you. This has been set such a joy to spend time with you. I feel like I've written down so many notes and I'm just thank you for sharing your wisdom and your journey. Okay, let's quick fire, even though I'm so sad to end this, but what is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?

Bonnie (00:55:46):

Why do you ask this question? It's horrible

Shanna (00:55:49):

Know. I don't know. Actually,

Bonnie (00:55:51):

I am currently getting laser hair removal on the tops of my toes. Shanna, that's what I'm doing.

Shanna (00:55:58):

Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you. You're welcome. It's so funny you asked that. I'm like, I came up with these questions, but I don't know why.

Bonnie (00:56:06):

It's good. It's

Shanna (00:56:07):

Good to just, it's such a good one. It's so lighthearted. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?

Bonnie (00:56:16):

I would have to really sit with this. I don't know that I do. I don't know that I do. I think because I don't think about 'em. I mean, I wish I would've focused on personal development and leadership development earlier, things like that.

Shanna (00:56:33):

Yeah, you can't dwell on those things. Right. Love it. Okay. Big win or pinch me moment.

Bonnie (00:56:40):

Definitely. The moment we didn't get into this story, but the moment that I got this fabric contract, I was standing in the middle of Quilt Market, which is this big industry trade show, and I had just mustered up the courage to show my favorite company of all time, my portfolio, and she looked at it, closed, it, slid it back to me and said, I'd like you to cancel all your other appointments. And I just burst into tears. And so it was just like my life changed again. Biggest dream of my whole life came true. And yeah, it just changed everything. It changed how I believed and saw the world in every aspect.

Shanna (00:57:22):

Just in the sense of going for your dreams.

Bonnie (00:57:26):

Yes. What's possible. I still like to think if someone in the world is doing what you want to do, why can't you? And to the point of I'm pretty sure I'm still young enough to where I could go to the moon if I wanted to. It would take many, many years of education and training, but there's nothing that we can't do if we're willing to put in the time to make it happen. Yeah.

Shanna (00:57:54):

You are so encouraging. I need you in my life all the time. Okay. Best advice or just really good advice that you have received?

Bonnie (00:58:02):

I think one of the other turning points for me in more recent years has been the significant effort to make sure that I'm putting myself in a room of people who are doing things that I want to do, meaning they're really big thinkers. They stretch what I know is possible. And this for me is a mastermind, but it could be many different, just surrounding yourself with people who know how to support you, who will meet your insane ideas with let's do it kind of motivation. And so that would be my biggest encouragement. Even if you don't have that in your local land, like finding it online or somehow to just surround yourself with people. You are the average of your closest friends typically. So if closest friends are not representative of the future that you want, you've got to make sure that you put yourself in a circle that is more representative of where you want to go.

Shanna (00:59:02):

Yeah, I love that. And Bonnie, would you say people in a similar industry or does it matter?

Bonnie (00:59:07):

Does not matter. No, I'm not even actually, I actually like not being in the same industry. Yeah.

Shanna (00:59:15):

Yeah. I love it. Okay, last quick fire and then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource you want to share? This can totally be

Bonnie (00:59:24):

Immersion. It's obvious what I'm working on now because it is what we call immersion season over here. But I would absolutely love to share this workbook with you and your audience. It's called SOS to Freedom, so we'll link that up for

Shanna (00:59:39):

Everybody. Okay. S os to Freedom and everyone go check out Immersion. I love it. Bonnie, what a joy it's been. Let's go back. What would you tell yourself on day one, whether it was walking through your mom's shop and realizing somebody created this? What would you tell yourself? Looking back now, all those years ago?

Bonnie (01:00:03):

Oh, sweet little Bonnie. It will not be easy, but it will be worth

Shanna (01:00:10):

It. I love it. Bonnie, thank you so much for sharing your story, your wisdom. I've soaked it up. I could soak up so much more. It's just been a joy to get to know you.

Bonnie (01:00:22):

Thank you so much for having me. What an honor, Shanna. Thank you.

Shanna (01:00:26):

Hey, wildflower, you just finished another episode of Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast. Head over to consider the wildflowers podcast.com for show notes, resource links, and to learn how you can connect with Bonnie. One final thought for today from Reed Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn. If you're not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you've launched too late. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.