Consider the Wildflowers
Consider the Wildflowers
055. Sarah Rafferty: Making Six-Figures as a Cyanotype Artist
For many entrepreneurs, reaching 6-figures seems like the pinnacle of success. But sometimes the numbers can be misleading – is that revenue or profit? How much did that business owner really take home at the end of the day? Our latest podcast guest is here to set the record straight.
Sarah Rafferty is a fine artist and the owner of Atwater Designs, a cyanotype art studio. In this episode, Sarah shares her journey from photography teacher to full-time cyanotype artist, including a year-by-year breakdown of her revenue and profits.
WILDFLOWER SHOWNOTES : shannaskidmore.com/sarah-rafferty/
📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED :
Snag 3 Free Phone Backgrounds from Sarah
Speaker 1 (00:00):
John was sick of hearing me talk about it to be perfectly honest, and he was like, Sarah, enough is enough. I think you can just do this. You've built up so much momentum, your audience loves you. Just do it. Say Enough is enough. And I have a picture of me hitting send on the email resigning August, 2020 with balloons on the back of my chair and I said, peace out to teaching and I haven't looked back.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You are listening to Consider the Wildflowers, the podcast episode 55. Welcome back to our student series. Over the span of four weeks, you'll be hearing from four of my past students sharing their journeys from money, fears, insecurities, and uncertainties to financial empowerment, freedom, and joy. Whether you consider yourself a lover of spreadsheets or terrible with numbers, I hope this series sheds light on how simple but transformative knowing a few key numbers in your business can be. Today's guest is Sarah Rafferty. Sarah is a fine artist and the owner of Atwater Designs a Stenotype art studio. In this episode, Sarah shares her journey from photography teacher to full-time stenotype artists, including a year by year breakdown of her revenue and profits. If you dig professional bios, here goes. Sarah is an artist and educator, a wife and a mama to two fur babies. She founded Atwater Designs, a Stenotype design studio in 2017 after thinking about it for far too long, while simultaneously teaching photography full-time to high school girls.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
She left classroom teaching in 2020 to take Atwater Designs full-time and has loved settling into full-time artists as entrepreneur life ever since. Sarah loves to walk and be outdoors and speaks often about the importance of the natural world for our souls. Because of the nature of the Stenotype process, her art practice connects her to being outside, collecting inspiration daily and has been the constant reminder that good things come with slow and consistent intention. Okay, formal introduction's 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 reel 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 in business on your own terms. Welcome Wildflower. I'm so glad you're here. Hi Sarah Darling, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Thanks for having me, Shanna. I'm so excited to be here.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Okay, tell everyone what you were saying right before we hit record about step in a new direction, talking about numbers. Give it to me.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
I love listening to your podcast and I've loved following you for basically since the beginning of my business. And I love hearing about people's numbers because the reality of running a business is in the numbers and yet so many people don't talk about it and it's like, how are we actually supposed to do this? Well if we don't know the real deal of the numbers and particularly profit. And so I am so thrilled to be talking to you because I am willingly stepping into a place of major discomfort. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Well thank you and welcome.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
I feel like you've got to get over it and so I was like, alright, here it is. Here's my opportunity to get over it.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, I think that's so wonderful and true what you said. I think really taking the fear out of numbers, and I know some people have different comfort levels with sharing actual data and actual numbers and just like I told you before we hit record, I always tell people sometimes hearing other people's numbers is really helpful, right? It's like it gives us a benchmark, it gives us a framework, but other times hearing people's numbers is not helpful at all because we don't have any of the details behind those numbers. We don't. And numbers can I always say profit and loss statements don't lie unless you're like Bernie Madoff, but numbers can be used to tell different stories. So I love and thank you for coming on the show. I think it's going to be really helpful for others just to hear more of your story and the numbers you are willing to share. And I'm grateful for all of you listening to know we aren't here to share numbers to compare good or bad or Sarah's awesome and you're not. It's like I love that data tells stories and when we know how to read it, it gives us facts. We can make decisions based on facts and not feelings. So welcome Sarah, tell everybody who you are, what you do now, and then we're going to just kick it back to life before business.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
Okay, great. I am Sarah Rafferty and I run the company Atwater Designs. It's a cyanotype design studio, meaning I use the oldest photographic process, which is typically blue and white, but you can kind of fudge it to create botanical art. And then I sell original art and call myself a fine artist, but I also sell art prints and textiles and stationary and I just launched in April a line of wallpaper and I just like to continue to push the medium and uplevel my skills and it's just been so fun.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
How long have you been in business?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Since 2017, February, 2017.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
At the time of this recording, this is about what year six going on seven?
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Okay. What were you doing before starting your art business?
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So I started my art journey like many artists way when I was little and I just was drawing all the time and had art supplies and loved to be kind of creative in that way. And then naturally fell into loving art class and then loving more art classes. And then I majored in studio art and then went on to also get my master's of fine arts. So I loved the art education because it was where school made sense to me. I have always really loved numbers, but I didn't, words and writing have been a challenge that I'm only now in my adulthood stepping into that space. And so it was just very natural for me to learn through the arts. I always say it's not really the art, it's the world. You're learning about the world, but it's the way that you process the world.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And so it was how I made sense of the things around me. And then most people who go to art school, they're like, well, you're going to have to teach in order to do this, and so to make your art. And so I taught. So I got out of school and I taught and it was great. I taught photography to girls for almost 10 years and I really loved it, but I also just had this itch for so long to start my own thing and to kind of the business is its own artistic process. It's like this thing you birth and create and see come alive. And it was really exciting and I saw other people doing it back in 20, I don't know, 20 10, 20 15, that was really big. People were coming out of the woodwork doing awesome, creative things and I was like, I want to do that.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
So were you in a formal education role for sounds like 10 years?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yes. So I actually taught in the classroom for 15 years. The first five was actually in pre-kindergarten.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
That makes me so happy.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
I know your daughter rattling. I know. It's like I can spot a four year old from a mile away. I loved teaching, but it was like, I remember saying to myself, I think I might lose all patience in life if I keep doing this because your children grow up, but pre-K or stay four years old every year.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Yeah. Oh, so true.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
That's amazing. That takes so much patience. Okay, so it sounds like about 10 years in though you started to have this itch of starting your own thing. How did you start moving towards owning your own art business?
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So I had watched so many people do this and I was so excited by it and it was thrilling to see people do it. And I was like, how could I do that? And then I think I did what a lot of your guests say, a lot of people in my art world say is I just was scared. I was terrified of what? And I didn't even know what I was terrified of. It's like all these things that you have to unlearn. I was terrified to just start something. I was terrified to put myself out there. It was just a scary thing. And it was really helpful to have my husband who stepped into this world of me being like, I want to do this, I want to do this. And at some point he was like, just do it. Stop talking about it. And I think a lot of us often need some exterior voice that's saying, you can do it. Just do it. You'll figure it out. And I sometimes wonder if we hadn't met each other and gotten married, would I actually have started this business? I don't know. I really don't.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
I love that. It's so funny. And I kind of forgot this and I haven't talked about it in so long, but Kyle did the same thing to me. I was working with a startup fashion designer, so I was in corporate finance, but I was working with my first creative entrepreneur and I really wanted to try something more creative. Me, I love spreadsheets, but I was itching to use my art degree instead of just my finance degree and working with this fashion designer watching these beautiful clothes getting made and flying overseas and meeting manufacturers. I mean, it just lit this artistic fire in me. And I remember I just felt so irresponsible for quitting my job. And one day, Kyle, I just got home. We were living in Atlanta at the time, and I had sat in traffic for over an hour and I was just beside myself. And Kyle was like, it's time to quit it. Just take the leap. So I know sometimes we need that little push. Will you, Sarah, talk about the early days? It sounds like you kept teaching. I did. Why you started art. So how did you get started? How did you come up with your offers and your pricing and what you were going to sell? How'd you get the ball rolling?
Speaker 1 (10:50):
I did feel like I was making progress towards a business a few years before I started it because I love to make things. I love to make things and I love to see how they affect other people, but the reality is that it costs money to make things. And I was getting to this point where people were asking me to do things for them and I was like, I'm not doing this for free anymore. And I tell this to a lot of the women that I mentor. At some point, you're just going to get so sick of it, you're going to get so sick of yourself not charging for your time and for your worth that you're just going to be like, that's going to cost you. Because I got there where I was like, I'm so tired of finishing a project and getting $5 and being like it wasn't even worth it. I think I would've rather just played in the garden or watched a show with my husband. And so I think I got to that point. And then the year before I started my business, I had always done random projects for people and I had kept a very, very detailed spreadsheet because I do really love numbers.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You did say that.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
And it was each project, so it was like project title and then all my costs. So anytime I had to buy materials or whatever and I hadn't gotten to tracking my time, I still find time to be very tricky to track as an artist especially, it's like, which is art time and it's still very something I'm trying to hone in on. But during that year I was seeing right before my eyes, the numbers I was seeing, the profit, I was like, oh my gosh, if I actually charge what I'm worth and I just get over this, then I can make some money at this. And so I showed John this thing that was a huge point of, okay, I can move this forward. The numbers are not lying to me. And that year before I started my business, I actually took home some money. I had profited some extra money in addition to my teaching career.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
And so it was during that 2017 I was teaching photography to high school girls. I had kind of started a spreadsheet and then my husband was like, okay. And he said, I think we should invest a tiny bit of our savings, which at that point we didn't even have Raymond's savings. So we were standing in the garden and he said, there's this $600, which $600 at that time was a ton of money. And he was like, I would like to use this for you, for you. I would like to do this together. And I was like, oh my gosh, are you serious? And now I have on my 2017 spreadsheet of profit and loss, it's like $600 investment. But I feel like that's a really important part of the story because you know how you're listening to how I built this? And they're like, oh yeah, my parents let me $50,000. And you're like, oh, okay. And so $600 is lot of money and I just want to make sure people know I started with this little nugget of money, but that wasn't so little back then. It was a big deal. And I just started really slowly and really intentionally and kept my numbers. I just kept my numbers so clear. I literally have all my spreadsheets from 2017, every single cent I have spent and gained at this job. Thanks to you.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
Well, it sounds like you already were thinking about that, which is amazing. Something that you said, Sarah, that's so interesting. Well, two things I got to think about. I've been doing a little research for a new class that I'm teaching, and I just read that 66% of all small businesses are self-funded from our own cash. And then another 27% are funded from income from another job. So 93% of small businesses are self, we're paying for it ourselves. So I love that you brought that up. Not many of us, and I think that's the beauty of the work we do. We can start with not a lot of capital, but a lot of gumption I would say. But I love what you said about you get so tired, it gets to a point where it's like, okay, I'm charging for this because you realize money and time are so interrelated and is it worth giving your time?
Speaker 2 (15:19):
And I always say that people tend to come to me and want help with their money. A lot of them, they're tired. It's like money isn't something that excites a lot of people that I work with, but when you get to the point where it's like, I can't keep doing this for no money, that you seek out that help. And so tell us what were those first offers? Did you go straight into the type of work you're doing now? Did you play around a little bit? It sounds like you were kind of doing one-off projects for people that you knew. Talk through that the first couple of years. And then I want to hear when did you feel like you really honed in on finding your niche and your place in the world?
Speaker 1 (16:05):
So I think I did a lot of the random projects for all of my time before I started the actual business. And I think that's very much my personality. I sort of observe everything around me and collect all this data and then I'm like, okay, I'm going to put this into practice in a kind of clean way. It's very much my style. And so I, I think what I could say to myself is like, oh, I waited too long. I waited too long. But I actually feel like that's pointless to say because all of that time I was collecting all this data about how to run a business or watching other people do it and be like, I don't really want to do that. Or a lot of people, they make a bunch of stuff publicly and as their business and then in that process decide what they want to do.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
And I think I spent all of that time, not privately, but I was still dabbling in lots of different things. But when I started the business, I knew what the business was going to be. It wasn't just a random art business, it was like a business for cyanotype. And in 2017, no one was doing cyanotype. There was this tiny niche of us on Instagram. It was the sweetest, sweetest community of people. And now they've completely blown up since Covid. And what I feel like it's one of the only trends I've ever foreseen in my life was I taught photography. I mean, I was a photographer in school and I studied photography and then I taught photography, darkroom and digital and stype was one tiny little lesson that we learned in school. And I remember thinking, I'm obsessed with home interiors. My dad was a restoration architect.
Speaker 1 (17:42):
We talked about homes and design. I spent a ton of time visiting houses with him and his clients and I was like, there is space for this process in the home material world. Blue and white is classic. It will never go out a style. This is such a beautiful process. And I saw it, I saw the potential and my husband was like, I don't know, he is a lawyer so he doesn't really see that world. And so he was like, but if you see it, I support that. And he's really excited about business ideas and business strategy. He loves talking about this stuff. And so in those early, I had already made a ton of phenotypes, so I was like, okay, I'm going to scan them and I'm going to make greeting cards, which was actually John's idea. Why don't we start something kind of small?
Speaker 1 (18:34):
And so I made a ton of greeting cards with that $600 investment and then I literally pushed them to anyone who would listen. I was taking them to every garden around this area, literally meeting people in person to be like, would you like to purchase some guards and home interior shops around here? I contacted Terrain ruthlessly. Yeah, you did. I love Terrain. I do too. And so eventually, I actually had a few cards in the early days in terrain. Since then, I haven't been able to get back in there, but it was really just pure desire. I was just driven to make this work. And it did work that first year, I think I made $3,000 and I spent $3,001. I actually have the number. I was working full time. And so that's so interesting what you just said about 22% of businesses are funded by another job. And I kind of did that on purpose. I was like, I have this 10 year plan where I'm going to try to build this business and use the money that I'm making to build the business up while I have this other paycheck.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
And
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I think it's important to acknowledge my husband is a lawyer, but it's also I have always made my own money. And so I think a lot of people here, oh, your husband's a lawyer and oh, he pays all the bills. And that is not the case in our life and my paycheck is very critical to our life. So I was like, I can't give that up. Also, we met each other a little later in life. I'd always made my own money and I was really important to me to be able to really support what our family needed while trying to build this thing. I didn't want to just give it up. And I think that's also just my own desire for security. And I thought it was going to be 10 years, but I dove headfirst into learning business and I met you online. That was one of actually the first classes I remember thinking, how do you price work appropriately? How do you really do this? What's the strategy here? And I took your if I pricing
Speaker 2 (20:49):
For
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Artists or something. Oh,
Speaker 2 (20:50):
Okay. I didn't know that. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (20:52):
That
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Was 2016 is when that came out, 2017 maybe is when you took it. But
Speaker 1 (20:57):
Yeah, I think I took it that year. I started because I was Googling things and that came up and I did not even use the internet really. I always tell my friends, I didn't use the internet until 2017. It was transformative to be like, wait a minute, there are artists out there doing things I want to do. I had no idea.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
As someone who, Sarah, it sounds like had this, I don't know if it's innate, but you knew that you were tracking your numbers and you wanted to know the data, but it sounds like you still needed somewhat of a framework or a guidance. What was the motivating factor for educating yourself? Because so you did if I made, but then you took the blueprint model, I went back and looked and 2019, so that was your second full year in business. I would just love to hear what was the motivation behind getting that type of information, especially for someone who naturally looks at the numbers.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
Yeah, that's such a good question. I think recently, again, one of the women that I mentor, we were kind of breaking down her kind of frustration with marketing and my love of marketing. And what I realized is that I spent all of my time in my education and then after education, teaching in the art, I'm so comfortable and secure in the art. In my own practice, I have spent so much time in my practice. It is where I feel confident, it's where I feel. And I have not always felt that way. Grad school was really hard for me. Masters of fine art was deep dive into your soul. It was really hard. But I have spent that time and I realized as I started the business, I know the art thing and there's this whole side of doing this that I do not know about. And I was wildly curious about it.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
And
Speaker 1 (22:55):
I remember that when I found if I made and watched your class, I think we go down a rabbit trail and I actually screenshotted this little thing and it was like a picture of you with some people that you had mentored at that point. And it said like how to run it, six figure business without social media or something like that. Maybe I'm mixing up your timeline, but it was something about a 600 figure 600. Oh my gosh. Six figure.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
That would be great. No, that is timeline wise. In 2017 was when I decided to go off social media. So that's really when I started talking about, so no, that's so cool. Okay, keep telling this story. I love it.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
So when I saw that my brain exploded, like wait a minute, this is possible. And you know what that lovely phrase, you only know what's possible from what you see. You can only be what you can see. And I think there's so much truth to that. And my sight line, my whole growing up was, there's no money in art. You're going to have to get a different job. You're going to have to have something steady. You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't do this. It won't work. And here are these voices on the internet saying you can do this. And I was like, how? And I know the art. And so it has to be in the numbers. And I think that's when I just started to get wildly curious about the numbers and the business. And it's been this incredible journey since then of really staying very true to my art practice while also absorbing the knowledge of numbers and business. And I think that just comes from curiosity. It's so hard because when you work with people who are just generally, they're just not curious about the numbers. It's hard to be get curious about them.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Yeah, can't force that. But I do think people come to the numbers from different ways. It's either out of desperation or everybody gets there at some point and it just is how long you want to kind of limp along on your own. I just wrote down what you said, you knew the art, it had to be in the numbers. And I think that's so powerful. I think about this a lot. I don't teach anything about craft. You come great at your craft or you have a mentor that's another artist that's great at their craft. I don't teach anything about the craft. I teach just about numbers and finance and how to make the numbers work. And I think it's so true what you said, you have to find the desire, especially if you're not a natural numbers person, what is the motivator? And I know for me, especially now as a new mom time, it's just the time. And it sounds like for you too, Sarah, not wanting to do stuff for free. Yeah, that's just emotional. Okay. So tell me, just talk through the growth over the last few years. Are you still teaching full-time? Did you leave your teaching job? I would love to hear just about the growth.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Okay, so I actually have some spreadsheets. So to me, you guys, I'm going just say it out loud.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Isn't it funny though, when you start really digging, it kind of becomes fun. It becomes a I love it. It's like a game. It's fun. It
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Is.
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Data tells such cool, such cool stories, but okay, nerd alerts. Let's go back Sarah to your spreadsheets.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
Okay. Alright. So in 2017, I had started the business in February, I was teaching full time teaching photography full time, and we had a $600 investment and I made $4,000 that year and I spent about $4,000 that year. So the money I put in the business went right back into the business basically trying to buy cards and business cards and just start something. And I kind of knew that that was going to happen and especially that first year. The second year I went from $4,000. So 2018, I'm still teaching full time. I made $21,000. I was like, what? I can even bring in that money. But I spent $21,000 and $21,200. So I actually spent 200. But at that point I didn't realize that taking some money for our personal finances wasn't an expense. Yeah, got it. So I actually paid us. I'm not actually in the whole, my first year, my first real year, I think I made $3,000 and I paid us a thousand dollars in October, November and December that year. And I was like, this is so exciting. I'm teaching full-time and I have this little extra money. It's especially at the holidays, that was so cool. And I was like, wait a minute. There's something to this. There is something to this. And so the next
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Year, Sarah, I have to point out I'm over here crunching some numbers. 3000 may feel really big and exciting to some people listening, they're like, that would be fantastic. Send me look. Oh, that was 15% of your total sales that year. And that's in the small business world. I always teach a goal is to get close to 20 or 30% paying yourself, but 15% is not a small percentage. So there you go. Wait,
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I have been curious about that. You should get to 15 to 20%.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
No, I want people to pay themselves 20 to 30% of total revenue.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh my gosh. So if you,
Speaker 2 (28:39):
You're going to be excited. A hundred thousand, you should be paying yourself 30,000,
Speaker 1 (28:45):
You're going to be excited. Okay, stay stage. Okay,
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Let's go Sarah.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Okay, so 2019, I'm still teaching full time. I'm like, wait, I'm really seeing the momentum. And that December alone, I made $10,000 and I was like, what? And Chris, that's when really holiday sales became much more like, oh, this is definitely going to be part of my business. And up until that point I hadn't, it wasn't really. And so that year I brought in $43,000. I paid our, I can't find this exact number, but I paid out 10 grand to us that year and then at the end had a thousand dollars leftover for the next year. So it went back to the business. And then in 2020, so 2019, I'm still teaching 2020, I'm still teaching. And then every single podcast you have, everyone says, and then Covid. So Covid happened in March, 2020. I'm teaching full-time. We're all watching the news. I was actually supposed to take my students to New York City two days before school got out and I'm, thank God we didn't go.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
And we were like, oh, it'll be like a week. We're just going to have this nice week off. It'll be great. Totally clueless. None of us have any idea what's about to happen. And it turns out I set up a whole Zoom classroom in my studio. And so I had this desk that was my teacher desk, and I taught my students, I mean thankfully I had digital photography, which was actually kind of fun to teach online screen share, and the students would tell me things that they'd been taking pictures of and it was way to get them out. It was kind of a interesting time actually, and I wouldn't say fun, but it was interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:38):
And
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Then I would, in between classes, I would walk to the other side of my room and do my Atwater designs work. And so I had literally gained 10 hours a week simply by my drive time. I had gained that back. And then not to mention my students would come in my room all the time, I love them so much. Students, I love you, but I didn't get anything done at school. It was so hard to get things done because they were constantly talking to me, which is I love, I absolutely love that. It was just hard to be organized and get things done. And so I would bring homework and most teachers bring homework, but I didn't have that. It was in between each class. It was like I saw them and then it was gone. We were off Zoom and I gained so much time and my husband was across the room in his little Zoom office. We were just on the third floor of our old house just plugging away, Hey, I'm on Zoom. Okay, I'm going to go downstairs. I have to phone call. Okay, 2020,
Speaker 2 (31:36):
What a trip.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
What a trip. But he was like, I watched you literally get on the treadmill of your business and just go. And I was like, oh, interesting. He was like, you built up so much momentum because you had the time.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And
Speaker 1 (31:52):
That time was the thing that brought all of these. I had had so many ideas for things from 2017 to 2020 that I couldn't do. I just didn't have the time.
Speaker 1 (32:04):
And so I actually got the time to follow through. I made a cyanotype kit that went bananas. People wanted things at home to do, and I launched that and just sold. So I think I sold 250 cyanotype kits that year to an audience of, I don't know, a thousand people. It was insane. And then after that it just kept building and I had been feeling like I didn't have much patience left for the classroom, mostly bureaucracy of schools, which isn't really anyone's fault at all. It's just the system. And John was sick of hearing me talk about it to be perfectly honest. And he was like, Sarah, enough is enough. I think you can just do this. You've built up so much momentum, your audience loves you. Just do it. Say enough is enough. And I have a picture of me hitting send on the email resigning August, 2020 with balloons on the back of my chair and I said, peace out to teaching.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
And I haven't looked back. I loved my career in teaching and I absolutely think it is necessary for me and who I am and what I do and what I value, but I am so thrilled to have stepped full, put my full energy into it. And that year, 2020, funny, I don't have the spreadsheet for that, which is weird. I don't know where that is. So all that story and now no number to go with it, but then 2021, I was like, I will replace my teaching salary this first full year and I don't know, whatever it takes, I'm just going to do it. And that year I did and I paid myself $30,000.
Speaker 2 (33:50):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (33:52):
I love hearing the story and the journey, and I think so many people can relate to this is life. You're working your job, you have to pay your bills, you want your business to replace your income. I think sometimes we get so caught up in like, oh yeah, the six figures, and I love that you're like, that was cool to see what it can be and that gives you something that you can chase after should you want to. But in 2021, replacing your former salary, that was the goal. And when we get laser focused on a goal like that, I think it's so amazing, kind of like a fairy dust that we hit those goals and I just love hearing how it's grown and thank you so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
Yeah, there's just so little focus on slow and steady and intention, and I really feel like those are the things that I have stepped into this whole thing with slow and steady intention, curiosity, continuing to learn. Definitely I love a good mentor. I think it's been so helpful. I look to other people that are ahead of me to kind of show the way or how did they do it and what do I want to take from that and what feels like things I leave behind. The coolest thing is that since then the business has grown and profited and honestly it has profited. I'm very proud of the fact that it has actually profited every single year, even if that profit was paying myself a thousand dollars. And when you're making, that's so good to hear you say that when you're making $4,000 and you take a thousand home, that's pretty damn good. Yeah,
Speaker 2 (35:34):
25% right there. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (35:37):
So in let's fast forward because 20 20, 20 21 really ramping up the business in 2022, I brought in $109,000 and I could not believe it, and I paid our family $42,000. And what feels really vulnerable to say is there's so many people saying six figures, six figures, six figures, but they don't talk about the cost of business. They don't talk about six figures. Doesn't mean you're going to take home six figures. And that is so frustrating to me, but it's also so vulnerable to say, and I saw 40,000 of that in the grand scheme of things. It's so nice. This is why you have mentors and friends that can say, Sarah, that's really good persona.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
That's a great person.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
That's really good. I think for a product-based business particularly, it's really, really hard to profit well because you have to put a bunch of money into the product itself to then make the product or bring it to life. And I just feel this motivation to just keep on this track and be smart about it and keep my numbers going and why it feels so important to be here today with you is to just voice this. Because there are a lot of artists that I mentor and I really love them and I have really been so sheepish to share the reality, but I want that from my mentors. I want to know what is the cost of running business. I don't want to know about six figures or seven figures anymore. I want to know about your
Speaker 2 (37:12):
Profit Exactly.
Speaker 1 (37:14):
I want to know about your profit and I want to know how much it costs you to run the business that you're running. And no one is talking about that.
Speaker 2 (37:20):
Thank you, Sarah. Gosh, I'm like, preach over here. Yes, because that's why I'm so passionate about what I do and in the last few years have become even more passionate because I have a psychology degree too and a business degree and an art degree, all the things, and I just get really, I love what you talked about, slow and steady in a world that screams big and fast and it's like our dream. I think for most of us, our dream is to do work. We pay our bills and to have a healthy home life, I mean that harmony is I think what a lot of us want, but we hear seven figures and eight figures and all these things. I mean, when I started six figures, it was the whole thing. And this is so funny, Sarah, but my husband Kyle, he works now with me full time and he does all of our marketing and so he's been working a lot on our s e o search on engine optimization. And he said, Janet, this is so interesting. He said one of the most Googled things that he found was how much is six figures?
Speaker 2 (38:30):
People talk about six figures so much, but it's like that's not even on a lot of people's radar. It's a hundred thousand dollars. And I remember when I started in 20, I'm going to get on a tangent, but when I started six figures was the goal. It's like, oh, I want to make a hundred thousand dollars, and you're so right. People talk about that. That's often how much sales they brought in. Some people share a six figure business total sales over all of their years, not just in one year. That's why I always say numbers unfortunately can be used to tell different stories, and I love being transparent about the numbers and teaching people how to dig deeper like you said and understand, but what is your cost of doing business? What is your profit? I'm so passionate, and I love that you brought this up.
Speaker 2 (39:23):
So I just did my calculator. I had two, so in 2022 you said you did 1 0 9 in sales, 42 you took home as Paychex, so that was 38%. And that's incredible, and I want to empower people to know when you were working part-time in your business, you were able to pay yourself 15% and you were investing a lot back in the business. These benchmarks are the ones that matter. And so anyways, that's why I do what I do every day to empower people to know, let's look at the percentages and the fact that you're working versus full-time. You have tiny people at home versus you. There's so many factors. And so that's why I love numbers. They tell a great story, but I also have a love hate with them because so often they're used. People feel like you said, you're a little bit embarrassed to say, I made 40,000, and it's like, when did we get embarrassed? And anyways, I took over. But there's one other thing I wanted to share with you and I, I'm going to spoiler alert it, but Kyle and I were talking, he's so smart. He said the other day he was like, I wonder how much social media has affected our perception of wealth.
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Like you said, 2017, you saw a screenshot, a picture of me with some other entrepreneurs, you can make six figures and that gave you hope. That is the goal that gave you something to be excited about. I think so often though, it gives us something to compare ourselves to. And so 40,000, that's more than you're making teaching and
Speaker 1 (41:03):
Was, I think I brought home $36,000 after taxes and everything, and 42 was after taxes and expenses and everything for me. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
Anyways, okay, Sarah, I got off on a major just because I was so excited about what you're saying and I just feel like I love this podcast because we get to hear from people at all different levels of business and all different income levels, and I hope it's a great reminder and you've just spoken it so well to do work you and to know your numbers and what works for you. And I hope we can just drop all the comparison. Okay. I'm going to speed us up because I got long-winded, but I would love to hear before we shift into kind of a quick fire round, what would you say is the best thing that you have learned about money?
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Oh man. I've learned so much about money and I think the most important thing that really happened when I got married and we combined finances and John was like, I think we should go to a financial advisor. And I was like, no. I was terrified. It was getting naked in front of someone. I was like, are you kidding me? And that meeting changed my life for the better. I remember exiting that meeting thinking, I'm like, I'm forever changed. This is incredible. I've never knew how much excitement I could feel from just getting it all out in the open. And then what that allowed space for was dreams and goals and being able to say, okay, this is what we have now, but what could we have in the future? And what we could have not just money, but money and time and jobs and family and all these things that the money is a sign of that.
Speaker 1 (42:52):
I also think what I've learned is my time is worth something, and I think I've learned to stop justifying that and that money is the way that we say we value you. I'm putting my vote into you, and so it's okay and appropriate to have a job and get money from somebody. So if you're going to run your own business, it's appropriate for you to ask for money for your time. And so trying to take a little bit of that emotion out of it, and we all have a lot of emotional baggage. I don't care where you come from or how much money you had or didn't have. We all have so much baggage when it comes to money. And I think really the truth of money is the thing that I've learned is just be honest about it and get it out there and be able to talk about it. And it just makes things a little bit better.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
It takes the power from money powering over you to you powering over your money. Just this idea of it's not something that kind of happens to you. You have more control over it. I love, it's like a therapy session, Sarah. I love how you just get it out in the open. It doesn't hold that power over you.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
That is how I felt when I went to the financial advisor. I was like, oh, I feel like that was the best therapy session I've ever been to in my life. I had no idea how much I had pinned up about money and how I grew up and how we talked about money in my family, and it's all in there. It
Speaker 2 (44:17):
All affects how we run our business and how we price our work and how confident we are in making a sale and yeah. That's so good. Oh, I wish we had time to dig into that, but let's go into a quickfire round so that we don't talk for three hours to be continued. Okay. Quickfire. What is one thing you would be embarrassed if people knew?
Speaker 1 (44:40):
I'm not very easily embarrassed. I thought about this for no joke a day and I was like, I don't know. The thing I always tell people is I really love hot dogs, and it's kind of embarrassing. I don't feel like I am somebody who people think would like hot dogs, but that's not embarrassing. That's good. I don't know. I really don't. I don't embarrass easily.
Speaker 2 (45:01):
That's great. I don't know if I embarrassed it easily either, but when I was in qui sort, when I was in high school, I dislocated my shoulder playing volleyball and I had to have a bag, like a backpack with wheels on it. And so I had to roll it around. And so when my shoulder was healed and I could wear my backpack, I just used the same backpack so people would play jokes on me where they would pull up the handle. It was like a little luggage kind of. So I'd be wearing my backpack, but the handle would be up. And it was so funny. Like that should have embarrassed me. But you know what? I was just like, I mean, whatever. Yeah, no, I totally get that.
Speaker 1 (45:38):
I'm doing this. Just
Speaker 2 (45:39):
Take it in stride. If you laugh at yourself is better. Okay. Any regrets or wish you could do over moments?
Speaker 1 (45:45):
I also feel this is so, I don't mean to be a cop out, but I do think that anything in the business that has been something that didn't go so well or like, oh man, I wish that ended differently. It's taught me something. And so maybe it's just my survival instinct to turn it into a teachable moment or how I see regret, but I really feel like all of those mistakes are actually the bigger teachers in running a business. And that I feel really passionately about learning from that. And I'm somebody who really needs to learn from my mistakes. I need that actual experience. But I think if I were to say just regretful, I'm always regretful of if I don't speak to someone in kind, those are regretful moments for me. And I think that the best thing about having a business, especially one where my work really represents peace and calm and nature, that the business is this beautiful way for me to really practice that language. It's like teaching me how to do that more for in my life. I often regret when I'm being rude to my mother.
Speaker 2 (47:03):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (47:05):
Those are my biggest regrets. Mom, I love you.
Speaker 2 (47:08):
Hey, it sounds like you had great practice and patience though with your four year old season of teaching four year olds that'll teach you patience. Okay. Big win or Pinch Me moment.
Speaker 1 (47:20):
Oh, I was on the cover of Where Women Create, it's a magazine that's all about women artists, and I think that was in 19 or 2020. And I had submitted photography and my studio to the magazine and they were a dream to work with. And then they have a competition for the cover image on their Instagram, and they put three pictures and people voted for my picture, and I was like, my gosh. And then I end up on the cover of this magazine that you can get in Barnes and Noble and Whole Foods, and it was unbelievable. It was total Pinch Me moment. And then the latest Pinch Me moment is that I just got accepted into Silo Gration with Chip and Joanna Gaines. Their 20th anniversary is this October, 2023, and I will be one of 48 vendors in Waco, Texas. And I went to Waco in 2016 for my birthday. My husband took me because I was so excited about Chip and Joanna Gaines and Fixer Upper at the time and seeing the silos, and I remember thinking, gosh, that's so cool to have a vendor fair. I would never be able to do that. And 23, here I am,
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Dreams come. Oh, congratulations. I love that.
Speaker 1 (48:41):
It's a big deal.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
It's a big deal. 20th anniversary too. That's awesome. Pss email me. I have some friends that are going to be there, some other blueprint model, people I know. Fun. I think two or three other vendors from the Blueprint model. I know.
Speaker 1 (48:54):
Oh my gosh, we're
Speaker 2 (48:55):
Taking over celebration. That'll be my pinch me moment when all of us students are there. Okay. Best advice or just really good advice ever received?
Speaker 1 (49:06):
The best advice by far was changing my mindset and language around selling and marketing as giving people an opportunity to purchase or be a part of something that you love and feel passionate about. That advice came from my husband early on, and it has been echoed in every business book I've read and a lot of talks that I listen to. And I just think it's really true because if we look at the people that we like to buy from and that we look to for advice or teaching or beautiful things for our homes or anything, usually we feel pretty excited about them. And I love learning from you. I have loved learning from you since 2017, and when you put out new things, I'm like, oh, exciting. I can't wait. I can't wait to participate. And I think that's such an important thing to remember. People, when they love you, they will want to be in your world, and it's okay for you to say, and that costs money. I often am like, Shanna, take my money. I really value what you're doing and you're teaching me. Thank
Speaker 2 (50:11):
You for saying that. That is such a sunshine moment for me,
Speaker 1 (50:15):
Like
Speaker 2 (50:15):
We talked about. Well, anyways, I can get on a tangent about my, you all know about my Sunshine folder. We all have thoughts and insecurities and things that we have to preach over ourselves. Selling your work is vulnerable, and especially for I'm a one or a nine on the Enneagram, the jury's still out. Oh my gosh. I'm a nine one. I think we're the same person. Yes. I'm a perfectionist to the core and a people pleaser, so fantastic. So yeah, just hearing that. But it's funny you said that because speaking of Chip and Joanna Gaines, it's like if Joanna Gaines puts out another cookbook, even if I haven't opened the last one, I'm buying it. I'm there for it. And I think that's such a 100% great way to think about your own work. Not that we have to have a personal brand or a lifestyle brand, but I always say people buy from people as much as they buy your product. So okay. We've had such a good chat. It's been really fun to talk. Sarah, you're the best. Okay. Last quick part question, then we'll send it off. What are you working on now or one resource that you would like to share?
Speaker 1 (51:26):
I am actually working on my mastermind, which I've talked a little bit about my mentoring other artists, and my mastermind is called Wonder, a creative mastermind for creatives. And it is a yearly application and it opens October 7th, and then the applications are open for a week. And I just get so excited because the lead up to it is a retreat with my current group, and they're coming today so excited, and I'm so excited about seeing them because a lot of them I have never met in real life. And so I get to hug them and have this welcome dinner and then we'll spend three days together and then we'll go home. And it's, I think it's also one of the most wonderful things to share because it's where your marketing becomes so genuine. I'm just sharing this thing that's happening and I'm so happy about it, and it doesn't feel skeezy, at least to me. It just feels supernatural to share. Like, look at what we've done this year together and this is how it is now, and it's so fun. And we'll do some video and we'll do some testimonials in person, and then I get to work on marketing it for
Speaker 2 (52:37):
October. Hey, good luck with your mastermind launch, but also, yeah, just enjoy your people. That sounds so much fun. Sarah, thank you for your time today. It's a joy to get to work with you. It's a joy to know you. Your art is beautiful, and you were just such a wonderful, it's just been really fun to hang out. I feel like I could literally chat with you for another hour. Let's send it off and just take it back to 2017. What would you tell yourself on day one of making that leap and charging for what you do?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
Okay. The thing I would say is like strap in. It's going to be a bumpy ride. And if I know it's going to be bumpy, it be as bumpy. It's like if you know you're going on a rollercoaster, and I think we can often be surprised by the bumpy road, but if we just know it's going to be, I think it's easier to take. And then the other thing is just know your numbers and record everything from day one, everything as much as you can, and then analyze those numbers and then record more numbers based on the things you're like, oh, I wish I had recorded that. And every year I do that. And I think it really is making the business better. Every
Speaker 2 (53:56):
Year, Sarah, truer words have never been spoken. This is so good. And I also love how you give permission. If somebody's listening, it's like, Shanna, I have no idea. Or Sarah, I have no idea. Numbers, just no idea. Of course, let's hang out. But I think just starting, even if you don't really know, what am I tracking here? What am I looking at? Just starting. And it gives you, like you said, with meeting that financial advisor, it kind of takes some of that power over you and makes it more approachable. So Sarah, thank you for your time today, and it's just been a joy to hang out with you.
Speaker 1 (54:37):
Thank you so much for having me. It was so, so fun.
Speaker 2 (54:40):
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 Sarah. A little sunshine from our wildflower of the week, Dana. Dana says, a must listen. Shanna has such a beautiful and simple way of talking about finances. She's down to earth and so sweet, encouraging and full of inspiration. I love listening to all her goodness. Thanks for the sunshine, Dana. One final thought for today from Scott Belsky, when 99% of people doubt your idea, you're either gravely wrong or about to make history. As always, thank you for listening. I'll see you next time.
