Lacey Lorensen #10 What happens when passion meets perseverance?

What happens when passion meets perseverance? 

Lacey Lorensen journey—from a Métis artist with big dreams to a recognized young entrepreneur—is nothing short of inspiring… and it might just change how you see your own potential. 

In this powerful episode, Lacey breaks down the myth that success follows a straight path. She opens up about rediscovering her passion for art, working through perfectionism, and building her business step by step—through the messy, real moments that most people don’t talk about. 

You’ll hear about the power of starting again, leaning into community, and shifting your mindset so setbacks become setups for growth. 

In this episode, we dive into: 

•  How to turn a hobby into a thriving side hustle—even if you’ve questioned yourself before 
•  The role social media is playing in growing her art business 
•  Why community, culture, and connection are at the heart of meaningful entrepreneurship 
•  The impact of supporting Indigenous artists and elevating local talent 
•  Practical ways to fund your ideas without overwhelming stress 

This conversation is a reminder for creatives, entrepreneurs, and anyone feeling stuck: you don’t need a perfect plan—you just need to start.
 
Lacey’s story proves that your setbacks can become your greatest setups.
 
If you’re ready to tap into your creativity, grow your community, and embrace your own path, this episode is your spark.
 
Hit play and take that next step—because success isn’t about getting it perfect… it’s about showing up and doing it anyway.

Here is all Lacey's Info below:

 Website: https://littlepencilartstudio.square.site/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/14ZdCUvXYxJ/ (@Little Pencil Art Studio)

Youtube: https://youtube.com/@littlepencilart?si=XQUJrL3r7Y9JOhMq (@LittlePencilArt)

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@littlepencilart?_r=1&_t=ZS-9514l2lhZl2 (@LittlePencilArt)

Thank you for sharing two of the most precious resources one human being can share with another: your time and your energy.

If you found value in today's episode, please help us grow the Life Is Limitless Podcast by sharing it with a friend, subscribing on YouTube, and leaving a like, rating, or review. Every share helps us reach one more person who may need to hear this message.

Until next time, remember: life is limitless.

If you would like to support the show, you can use this button below:

buymeacoffee.com/codydemerais 

Music Intro and Outro:

Track Title: City Of Angels
Artist Name(s): LNDÖ

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to episode 10 of the Life is Limitless Podcast. My name is Cody Demery, and I have a good friend of mine, Miss Lacey Lawrenceon. Lacey, thank you so much for being on this podcast. We, of course, have been friends for years, and we have a lot of mutual friends that hopefully they listen to this and get to know a little bit about you know your business and some of the conversations that we'll have back and forth. Um, I know we only have X amount of time because you teach today, and I have also other things to do before I hit the road today. So thank you so much for taking an hour this morning to be here with whoever listens today.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Heck yeah, and our friends better watch this video on a loop over and over again, or I'm gonna be mad at them.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

I'm sure our friends will watch it and listen to it for sure. So, Lacey, let's get to the bottom of things. I was gonna give you a big introduction, but um, quite frankly, we ran out of time for that.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

I know, I know, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

No, you don't have to be sorry about that. That was on my end. Um, so please tell us a little bit for those who don't know you. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Lacey.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

Okay, so I think the biggest thing about me is that I am an art person. I love art, anything art. I'm also a teacher, I'm a registered teacher. Um, I actually teach art at an elementary school part-time. Right now, this year, it's just a 10 position, so we'll see where I'll be next year. I don't know. Um, and then I started my business, Little Pencil Art Studio, just before December this year, and I do painting parties and art classes and all those kinds of things. And I I live in and around Prince Albert. I grew up on the outskirts of Prince Albert, uh, the McDowell Lily Plain area. If anybody knows where that is, little métis sections with all my family all around here. Um, so yeah, I'm I'm Métis, I'm an artist, I'm a woman, I can't do anything. Oh, I'm also an equestrian and I love uh animals so so much. They are like animals are like forefront for me. Super important.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Awesome, fantastic start, Lazy. So you have been doing these paint nights. We were just talking about this b off camera beforehand, and you have your very first sold-out show tonight.

SPEAKER_02 2:57

Yeah, I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

Yes, incredible.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

I know it's it's been a little bit of a journey. Honestly, I have been doing painting parties since I graduated high school, which was over ten years ago now. Uh graduated in 2015. Um, but yeah, when I graduated high school, I s actually the first painting party I ever did was because uh family my family had already booked a painting party with somebody else, but then the instructor wasn't able to do it and they canceled. Not sure exactly what happened there, but then my cousin was like, Hey, you are artists, you love art, you're doing love doing all the art stuff. Your mom's an art teacher, you know about teaching. Why don't you come do our painting party for us? Like, we'll pay you what we were gonna pay the other instructor, and I'm like, Yeah, I guess I could do that. And then I like looked into it. I got like canvases in bulk, and I did my first painting party with my family, and they all paid me. I'm like, whoa, I can make money from this. And then I started doing it and like advertising for it, and it was, you know, it was pretty good. I did a lot of work with Muscaday. I went out there and like did painting parties with them. I'm like, so that was like right actually, I think it was in grade 12. So I kind of started doing it in high school. So I'm like, hey, like I can do this when I graduate, I'm gonna keep doing it, and so I'm like, yeah, business, all this stuff. Um, and then I just kept doing it a little, but I couldn't really figure out the business part. So I went to business school because I'm like, yeah, business school is gonna teach me how to do this stuff, and I took the wrong program. I didn't take an entrepreneurship program, I took a business certificate program, which is all about working in big corporate giant jobs, and I did not learn what I needed to learn. And I actually saved up all my money from my painting parties that I had done with Muskeday and the other odd ones here and there um to pay for this business certificate program. And then after that, I was like so discouraged. I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't, I don't know what to do. I don't know how to do the business stuff, I don't know how to register a business and do all the counting and blah, blah, blah. And so after that, I was like discouraged. And I'm like, you know what? I I'm gonna go be an EA because I want to be in the schools. I love teaching, I love schools. And so I was an EA for three years. And after being in EA for three years, I'm like, I want to be a teacher. I don't want to be sitting at the back of the room helping individual kids, I want to be up there making the lesson plans and making like big differences. So then I went to school to be a teacher, and here I am. I'm I just graduated last year, 2025, at Christmas, and I got a couple temp positions already in high schools, and I'm teaching art now, and I absolutely love it, but it's still not 100% what I want to be doing. I want to be teaching everybody, I want to be teaching adults and doing painting parties, and I love that stuff, like kind of doing on my own path. So I'm kind of doing a little bit of teaching and a little bit of the painting parties, and trying to bring up those painting parties, get them going, get bring them up. It's it feels so exciting to sell out my first painting party.

SPEAKER_00 6:10

That's definitely incredible. I know it's one of the best gifts a person can have in their own life to do something for a profession, for a career, and to be able to pay the bills with it by doing so. That's that's one incredible gift a person can have for themselves. Um I definitely only want you to keep doing more and more. If that's what excites you, that's definitely what you should try and do more. Right. I have I have faith that you can continue doing that as much as you want. And like we were chatting off camera, it's uh sometimes it's as much as you want to put into something, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:41

So Yeah, yeah, exactly. It feels exciting though. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

And so you just started your official part side of the business. When again?

SPEAKER_02 6:53

Um November. So right before Christmas, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

And the next kind of topic I want to chat about is something that you were just named the finalist for very recently, yes, which is the Samuel McLeods Business Awards Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Prince Albert Chamber of Commerce and District.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah. How's that feel, Lacey?

SPEAKER_02 7:16

It feels crazy. And like, like I said, like I tried to start a business before and I was so discouraged. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't really have a lot of help back then either. You know, like my parents aren't business people, they don't know much about business. I I didn't have my partner Scott at the time. Um I didn't really have a support group to help me. Everybody just kept saying, Oh, you know, you just you just gotta start business, just do it. Like, what do you mean? I don't know what to do, I don't know where to start. And so having a support system now means so much to me, and I feel like they've really helped me get to where I am today. And like, um, I didn't tell you this, but like Scott also kind of helps me keep track of my finances for the business too. He's been helping me like literally take the receipts and be like, hey, what did you buy on this receipt? What is that thing? What is paint art thing? And I'm like, I don't remember. And so we're like sitting there going through my receipts. I'm like, I don't know what that is. He's like, you need to do better. Help me out with this. And so, like, he helps me with that. And like I've told you, um, my best friend Mackenzie, she helps me with like social media managing. That was another thing I like really, really struggled with um before COVID when I was doing paint parties. I could not figure out Facebook for the life of me. I I didn't grow up with internet, I didn't grow up with social media. I grew up making little dirt houses in the backyard in the bush on our farm, you know, like everybody else was learning how technology worked and learning how to download an app, and I just never got there. So I've always been like really technologically behind everybody. So when I started my business and I asked uh Mackenzie to help me because she is really good with Facebook and all that stuff, that was a huge, huge motivator for me to kind of help me get going. And she still does help me with all my social media stuff. Um, she made that uh birthday post for me on Little Pencil, and my mom texted me. She's like, It looks like you posted that about yourself. McKenzie put her name at the bottom of it. I'm like, okay, I guess people don't really see that McKenzie is like really, really helping me with my social media stuff. So she's my social media manager. But yeah, being nominated for this, uh just even being nominated at all, and then um being a finalist for the award is I feel like it's not only about me, it's the help that I've got to actually starting a business now. You know, it's um the support that I have from Scott and the support that I have from Mackenzie and from my uh auntie Brenda Byers. She's helped me a lot to kind of figure out where to go and the steps to do. Um so that has helped me a lot. And I yeah, I it's definitely not on me. It's because I've tried before and I couldn't do it, right? So my success isn't only just about me. I I feel like that award is definitely about the support that I've had.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

You know, that's a fantastic way to look at it. I definitely agree. It takes, you know, a community to come together to help somebody kind of start proceeding down that path for sure. But it's not like you didn't or you weren't able to do it the first time. You just need another try at it. So you gotta rephrase that. That's you can't i it wasn't that you couldn't do it in the first place, just need another round at it.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Anybody who started a business, runs a business, knows a lot of times you need a couple tries at anything to kind of keep things moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 10:59

So true. It did take a lot, a lot of learning. Like I remember thinking, like when we were just out of high school there, I remember thinking, like, yeah, like I'm so smart, like I can do anything, like I'm so awesome, I can figure this out. Like I'm an adult now, I'm just as smart as any other adult. But like now that I'm you 29. Well I'm 29 now. Now that I'm 29, I'm like, wow, I know way more than I did back then. Oh my gosh, like I'm I'm a genius now. I guess I'm at that same spot in another, you know, 10, 20 years, I'm gonna be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe I was doing that back then. That's crazy. But I don't know, we'll see how it goes.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Well, that's like anything though, right? It takes uh it takes a few years or a few, you know, tries over and over again to really understand things. I used to hear a common phrase when I was in the trade school that um as soon as a person thinks that they know everything, they stop knowing anything.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

True.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Um and that's especially like I was an industrial mechanic apprentice, right? So people used to say um for journeymans, which is like they're fully schooled and you know, they can teach, they can supervise folks. They say when a journeyman knows everything, they stop being coming a any good of a tradesman just because they they can't learn anything from anybody else and they think they know everything. And you know, it's quite frankly the truth that people in all shapes and different sizes can teach us different things in life, and we can teach other people different things in life as well, too. And when you have an open kind of mindset about that, it's uh it's definitely a way to progress moving forward in a great way. That is, myself I used to yeah, I used to be a very um thinking I knew everything in the world and I realized very quickly you get humbled very quickly.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

That must be like a teenager thing because like after my after 20, I'm like, um I don't know everything. Yeah, when I was a teenager, like 17, 18, 19, oh my gosh. I thought like, yeah, I can start a business. I'm I'm awesome. I'm starting a business, and just you those old people are starting businesses too, but they don't know nothing. And I'm like, yeah, no, I don't know everything. I definitely need some help here. Figure that out.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

See, the most important part is just getting back up again, though, after you know, things not working out, maybe as you s you know, thought they would in the first place. Um, but getting up again and trying again is like the ultimate very important step of all of that for sure.

SPEAKER_02 13:29

Yeah, yeah, definitely. It has been it's just crazy. It's um doing very similar things to what I was doing before. Before, um, if people don't know my business was called uh Elkfield Creations. And yes, I was selling my art and the things that I made and then doing painting parties, but and I did register um as a business, but yeah, I just I couldn't figure out the accounting, I couldn't figure out taxes, I couldn't figure out social media. I just yeah, I didn't know what was going on there, what to do. So I I was discouraged. So I did, especially then when COVID happened, obviously. I couldn't do any painting parties or anything, so I kind of just stopped doing it. But and then that's when I was like, yeah, yeah, no, I'll just I'll just be a teacher, I'll take the same route as my mom. Like, I love teaching, I love art, I can just I can do that. But then like, now that I'm starting to be a teacher, I'm like, no, I I I think I when I think I could do it again, I think I could figure it out, and especially with Mackenzie's help and Scott's help, and then now I'm yeah, I'm figuring it out. And yeah, taking another shot at it was was huge and it was scary, but I started off with the mindset that I'm like, eh, I'll just try it on the side, I'll do a couple painting parties here and there, but now it is taking off with especially I think social media is a huge part of it too, like being really excited to post on Facebook and make reels and just do my art, like that's a huge, huge part of my success, I think, too. And being able to do it all again and like learn from the mistakes that I made before is huge.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yeah, I think that's a crucial, crucial part is that if you do, you know, do some actions or choices that you're not necessarily super happy with, just about taking those, you know, lessons that you learned and moving it to the next time you try that again.

SPEAKER_01 15:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

Um, that's what I've came to find a lot of times that something's worked, it's uh you know, a lot of times of trying something that didn't work on my end. Right. Uh you find as time goes on and you put enough time and consistency into something, it's bound to work eventually. Right? Right.

SPEAKER_02 15:37

Yeah. And you know what, Cody, I think this is probably a good time to say something to you that I've been wanting, I kind of wanted to talk about, is that I've actually learned a lot from you, and you have been a kind of attributed to my success as well. I um when we, for people that don't know, um I illustrated Cody's children's book that he wrote about his life. Uh, when we were doing that, um, I struggle with perfectionism, and I've struggled with perfectionism a lot, and I've had conversations with you about this multi on multiple occasions in the past, that when we were making the book, you know, I'm like, you know, we're looking at the pictures, I'm like, you know, this isn't perfect, and you know, the color in this part needs to be changed, and you're like, no, let's just I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna order all the copies. I'm like, no, Cody, this needs to be perfect. And you're like, no, you just you just need to do it. And so you didn't actually say these words, but it's been in my head, and I think about you every time I tell myself to do it. I'm just gonna send it. I'm just gonna do it. I've just been sending it. And I'm okay. I've been really, really working on not being such a perfectionist, and I've just been, you know, doing it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna post that video even though the audio isn't perfect. I'm going to um, you know, do that art piece and like actually post it even on social media even though like I don't absolutely love it, or I'm going to do this painting party even though I don't have all of the aspects that I want exactly, you know, like every like painting party and stuff that I plan, I always think about ways that I could make it better. I'm like, oh, I could have a presentation to show people, and I could have handouts for people, and I could have, you know, professional paint brushes for them to use. But I'm like, no, like I'm I'm growing. I can, you know, give them the paint brushes that I have right now, which are really, really good paint brushes. I don't need all color coordinated paintbrushes that are, you know, that can go together. I I don't need handouts and a presentation. I can just do one of them at this point, you know? So yeah, every time I've been telling myself, just do it, just do it, just send it. I've that's a big part of that will is also um because I I talked with my therapist and extend about my perfectionism problems. But also I I think about you a lot and your success in your business and because you just do it. You just you just go for it and you just keep putting stuff out there and it's always so good. It's so good, and you just keep doing it. So I'm like, no, I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna send it.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Well, I uh I greatly appreciate that, Lacey, of you to share that, especially, you know, just uh I didn't realize a lot of that lately, um, you know, of your self-talk and whatnot was I just I don't know. I'm tongue-tied. I appreciate that, Lacey.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

I know Yeah, no, no, I definitely just wanted to tell you that because like yeah, you have taught me a lot. And also, um I look up to you and the the image that you've developed for yourself with people in Prince Albert. Um another thing that I have done multiple on multiple occasions, usually at um it's a couple time at painting parties, but also at uh trade shows and stuff. Uh people will ask about my like illustrations or the art that I do because you know I've I've illustrated a couple books, including yours. And usually the reference that I give, I'm like, oh, like do you know Cody Demoray? Like the one that does like Limitless Gear. And they're like, Oh yeah, like every single person knows you, Cody. Like every anytime I'm like, oh, you know Cody Demoray? And they're like, Yeah, I'm like, oh, I illustrated his children's book. They're like, what that you did that? That's amazing. Like they always know who you are. I always have you as a reference. I'm like, yeah, I'm also his friend. I know him pretty well, actually, just so you know. They're like, Wow, good for you, you know, this famous person. So I'm like, I want to be there one day. I want to be the person that everybody's like, Oh yeah, I know I know. Lacey Laurenton does art stuff and does painting parties and art classes and stuff. That's so cool. You know, I want to be there. And I was gonna tell you the uh literally yesterday, I bought a board game off of a woman on Marketplace, and she was when she was messaging me, she's like, Hey, you're a little pencil, you make you make videos. I've been watching I watched your first YouTube video, and like I've been like working on my art techniques and stuff. I'm like, whoa, I'm almost Cody Demoray. People are starting to know me.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

I appreciate that. I'm not no famous person.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

You are for real, Zin PA. Everybody knows you, everybody wears your hoodies and your stuff like on a daily basis. If I wear, like, because I have like four or five of your hoodies, if I wear one, guarantee I'm gonna match with somebody, I'm gonna see somebody else with the exact same hoodie as me somewhere because everybody has your stuff, they know who you are, man. For real.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Well, I appreciate that, Lacey. I I truly do. Uh, to go back to that conversation, I appreciate your openness as well about chatting. I know, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No, no, it's all good. It's I appreciate your um openness about to talk about you know, over perfection uh perfectionist, you know, and also speaking to a counselor. I think that is fantastic. I do from time to time as well, too, and it's helped me a great deal as well when it comes to different things that we can ruminate in our own heads, you know, overthinking things. You know, like uh yesterday at a school I s I shared um a little statement that every single little piece of thin that I've ever done in my life, whether it's a skill, a talent, a hobby, you know, business, whatever it's been, there is not one thing that I can think of off the top of my mind that I started as like great at or as an expert at, or even good at, never mind. Right. Like everything started literally like falling you know flat on my face. And then just getting back up simply again, and then try it in trying again. And you know what, that is seemed to be like a good recipe for if as long as you give something enough tries, enough consistency, enough time, enough dedication, and you learn from other people. Like you know, you've been mentioning you've been learning from different people, which is One of the things that's been a great you know resource in my life and business as well is learning from different mentors and stuff like that. And I know some of the mentors that have came into my life in the speaking world, you know, are people who you know chat with billion dollar companies to speak for their organizations and companies and you know, they speak around the world and stuff like that. And you know, before I started meeting these people years ago, I just thought, oh, you know, you do the speaking thing maybe once in a while. But then I realized that no, this is something you can do like full-time as a profession. And it's incredible because you know, we're getting to other people to kind of see that and do it more and more and more. Like I want nothing but your paint nights to be more consistent, more often, more frequent, more sold-out shows. And I have nothing but faith, you know, in you being able to do that, you know. I I can in my head I can picture you going to different communities uh within Prince Albert area and doing workshops on paint nights and stuff like that, or paint days, you know, for staff, you know, teams, you know, all sorts of different things. And so you ever want to do that, we have a coffee, we'll chat about it, how we can make that happen. That that can happen 110% for you.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Yeah, I know. I've actually just developed a uh team building experience that I'm actually doing my first one of those on Sunday this weekend. Um and where like each team mate will like start with a pen or start with a um start with a pencil, start with a canvas, and they will kind of like paint one thing on there, and then they will eventually keep switching canvases and they all have to work together to make their paintings consistent with what the first person did. So we talk about team building, we talk about working as a team and being an individual person, yet also being a teammate. We talk about understanding your own strengths as a person and how you can contribute your strengths to the team. Um, we talk about all of those things, and then we work on our paintings, and everybody starts with one and then we pass all the paintings around until they get back to the first person again, and then everybody gets to take home a painting that they started with something that they love on it that everybody has contributed to. So I'm doing my first one yeah, this Sunday, and I hope to do a lot more of those too, because yeah, stuff like that I absolutely love. Getting mixing art with other things that can be developed, like you know, I just love that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

That's incredible, actually. That's a fantastic idea. Can I ask who's the group that you're doing that for?

SPEAKER_02 24:38

Um, it is a volleyball team. I can't remember the actual that's that's okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:44

Yeah, yeah, it's a volleyball team. And you know what's super cool about that is that you know there's obviously a lot more than just one volleyball team around, right? So that could be, you know, shaped across the board to you know, any sports team, right? So like that is something that you could do like once a day um every every week, which is incredible. Yeah, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

Yeah, no, I've just I've been really, really thinking about just sprinkling art into aspects of people's lives. How can I, you know, connect art and creativity and creating into different aspects of people's lives where it will actually benefit them. That is something that I've really been working on. You know, like like painting parties are super fun. It's just a fun little thing that you can go out and do with your friends. Um, but I'm working on things that make art more meaningful to people too. Like I every time I do a painting party, it's not just okay, now you're just going to fill in these parts of with these different colors that I give you. Any painting party that I do, I want people to learn from. I want them to learn how fun it is to mix colors. I want them to learn how fun and satisfying it is to blend the colors together on the canvas. Um yeah, I've just been working with uh in my plots in my head, just going crazy all the time. Um trying to think of ways to make people love to be creative and create new things.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

See, when your eyes light up the way they do when they talk about art and stuff like that, that just goes to show you that is what you need to do continuously.

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:22

So whatever energy, whatever time, whatever resource, you have to do that consistency or consistently because that's obviously what fires up your soul.

SPEAKER_01 26:31

Right.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

And that's what you gotta do, plain simple. Like honestly. Your eyes just shoot open when you talk about that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 26:39

Right? Oh my gosh, I know it makes me so excited. And like me and you, like we've talked about it. I have um ADHD. I've struggled with ADHD my whole life. I'm finally on medication that has helped me significantly because I constantly, constantly have new thoughts of things that I want to do and things that I would love to do, and I'm like constantly thinking about a billion different things that I could be doing with my business and with art and with my friends, different things, but being on medication and just like learning how to manage my ADHD has also really, really helped with the actual execution of the things. You know, that's another thing that I was really, really struggling with before when I tried to start my business. Before I was because I didn't know what to do or where to go, and I was so overwhelmed. I had ADHD paralysis every single day. I don't know if you don't know anything about that.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

Um executive functioning with ADHD, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:35

Yeah, it's a lot um more common with uh women with the inattentive type with ADHD, but I definitely really, really struggled with that. And I went through a huge depressive slump because I didn't know where to go. I didn't know what to do. I had 10 billion thoughts in my head, but it was so overwhelming I didn't know what to do. And so uh being on ADHD meds since Christmas has helped me. Like, I I think of an idea and boom, I start planning to do it, and then I end up doing it, you know? And it just feels amazing. As soon as I started taking medication, I'm like, oh my gosh, I can actually do all of these crazy cool ideas that I thought to do. I I don't feel overwhelmed, you know, like it's it was actually amazing.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

That's amazing. I'm happy to hear that. I know it's one of my biggest what's it called, like you know, um, strengths that I have in my life is my ADHD. Yeah, but it's also one of my biggest weaknesses, I guess. I hands down know that. I am you know, like you can ask a lot of my friends, family members, you know, the only one who doesn't get this all the time is Tasha, my wife, of course, but everyone else, I am terrible at messaging back. Like I can start a conversation, I can send a message and we start having a conversation, and then I have to go do like 20 things that I forgot to do in the meantime, and then I go back to my phone and then I forgot about that message. And lots of times that is something that basically um it's hard to stay connected with with people unless we're having like a conversation like this where it's like we're locked in, we're not on our phones, you know, we're like we're getting to the bottom of our conversations. Right. Um, but on the other side of things, it has actually been extremely amazing for my creativity and for my impulsivity when I say just go do it and do it. Yeah. Um, that's how my brain works lots of times. And I know a lot of people don't always work like that. They have to think about things in a a certain particular way, but um I've also found, like, for myself, at least for my experiences, when I try something uh that pops in my mind and it doesn't work, well, like I used to get hard and uh you know down on myself about trying something and it didn't work, like oh now I you know I'm a failure at this. And now I'm just like okay, I tried. I'm excited about that I tried in the first place instead of letting the fear overcome me. Because so many people don't pursue things because the fear of them failing, or even sometimes them succeeding, is bigger than them actually doing something in the first place.

SPEAKER_02 30:13

Right? And that, yeah, that was a huge thing for me too. Like that was the you know, the main source of my perfectionism. I would try one thing, and then if I wasn't immediately perfect at it, and I wasn't amazing at it, then I'm like, ugh, I'm not gonna keep doing that thing, yuck. Heck no. So then I would quit. And there's been so many times, you know, like when I was trying to start my business before, I would try social media and I make a post the wrong way, or like I don't know what to tag or what to do, and I post it wrong, and then if people don't like it and then I delete it, I'm like, no, I'm not gonna do it, it doesn't look good. Or I make a video. I I have like back then, like I tried to make a video and the quality wasn't good, so I just didn't post it. And there's so many of those times over and over again because it wasn't perfect, and I wasn't amazing at it right at the beginning. I would just quit, and yeah, I had so many ideas, and I I do attribute my um ADHD to a lot of my my creative ideas because I in my brain I can just keep building over and over and over on my all of my ideas. I love it, but yeah, um medication has definitely helped me with the execution of it and like calming my nervous system to be like, oh, it's okay, I'm focusing on one thing right now, it doesn't have to be perfect, I don't have to get overwhelmed with it, and I can do it. And I'm not I'm not saying that everybody needs to be on medication by any means. Like, I was definitely like I started my business before I went on medication, and I again like and I started a being able to do it, and it was good, and I think that there are a lot, a lot of really good coping mechanisms to help control your thoughts and your feelings about the things that you do, but definitely um the medication has helped me with my different feelings on things so that I don't feel so overwhelmed, and it just helps me control things a bit better.

SPEAKER_00 32:01

That's awesome. Uh you know, to be honest, it's something I've quite frankly thought about lots in my life, whether or not I want to do medication or not with my ADHD too. I've never once done it to this point. Um just kind of found different things that have worked for me to this point, like I said, for now. But I'm not saying also that I don't not believe it for other folks and stuff like that, for those who like really want to try it or you know, are just looking for something. Um I've known a few folks that have and it's it's worked for them.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 32:32

But I've known other people who have tried different things and it's worked for them too. Like for one of the things that I have to do, um, if I go speak somewhere, like every day, it's like a non-negotiable. Now, if I speak publicly, I try my very best, even if I have to wake up at 5 30 in the morning. I don't always make it, but I mean that's early, like especially if I have to be on the road by like 6 30 or 6 or something like that. Um that speak in front of, you know, like let's say 40 kids, 100 kids or 500 kids. One of the best things that helps my brain calm down enough so I can actually speak publicly, like calm and relaxed and get my points across, is I have to work out like physically, like whether it's going on my bike at home or lifting weights or whatever it is. When I actually physically work out, my brain is like a whole different, you know, situation in a good way. Like I can actually think about what I'm doing next and what I need to do, you know, after this task is done and how to start this task.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Yeah. Well, it it calms your nervous system, right? It literally calms your nervous system. I don't know the science behind it, but um, like you know, like we both used to go to good life. I used to see you there all the time at the gym. Um, I haven't been to the gym in a long time just because I've been so busy and like the whole teacher being a teacher situation is also a lot. Yeah, just blame it on that. But um, I know I know what it's like to be like physically active, and honestly, like the feeling that I get when my medication kicks in is very, very, very similar to that like almost real it's it's a relaxing high. You know, when you when you feel kind of like euphoric and you almost like feel it in your spine. You literally feel your nerves feel calm, but then also feel like you can do anything in the world. And honestly, like after I would work out, it it feels very similar to when my meds kick in. It's it's a it's a similar feeling for sure.

SPEAKER_00 34:32

That's cool. I've never you know heard somebody say it's a similar feeling like that, so it's kind of good ex good education to know actually.

SPEAKER_02 34:39

Well, actually, I've never actually thought about it just now. But as soon as you said that, as soon as you said like you feel that like that calm if you go and work out before, I'm like, yeah, yeah, it is a very similar feeling.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah. Well, like I said, I so one day if I miss one day, it's not as bad. But if I start missing three or four days in a row, I start getting out of whack. Like I have a hard time just knowing what I'm doing, like first then in the day kind of thing, unfortunately. And that's how bad I get um sometimes. But that's why, like, at least every second, every second day I try and do something physically active, and it helps me a great deal. But yeah, when you're trying to do all the things, you know, trying to run business, trying to run just anything in life, you have to have your you know tools to yourself that you need to keep moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 35:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

I know one of the things that's helped me a great deal. I remember opening my store in the first place, and the amount of things that I had to do in a day was like ridiculous.

SPEAKER_01 35:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:35

And one of the things that actually helped me a great deal was making lists. And it's kind of like a weird psychology like success reward system when you start checking them off. Right?

SPEAKER_02 35:46

It feels so exciting. It's like, yeah, I can I did that one tiny thing, and boom, I can press the little button. I have the list app on my phone. I have a galaxy, I'm a galaxy person, Samsung person. And yeah, I have like the little notes app with all the and I can just click the little thing, and there's a little check mark in it, and it feels so good. It feels amazing.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

I couldn't agree anymore. It's nice to have that little, like, yeah, I did this. I did this. Yeah. Um I wanna I wanna ask you, what are some of your goals moving forward in business here, Lazy?

SPEAKER_02 36:18

Well, I definitely like in the future, right now, I am sharing a space with Eric Tutoring. So she she's my cousin. I think I feel like that she also is another big reason why you know I've been successful as well. She lets me use the space Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, and then she has it on Mondays through Thursdays for her tutoring. And I love the space, I love it, but it is tough doing it on Friday, you're using it only on Fridays, Saturdays, Saturdays, and Sundays because I eventually would love to have like an after school program where you know kids can come straight after school and I want to have open studio classes and specific classes on like how to develop um art abilities, like people that are really passionate about art. I I don't only want to bring art into people's lives that don't do art, which is one thing I love doing with the painting parties, just one little snippets of it. But I also want to help kids like me, like I was. I was an artist. Luckily, I had an art teacher for a mom that could help me with things. But like as a teacher, I see so many kids that like, oh yeah, like I love art. Like I've been drawing, check out look teacher, teacher, look at my sketchbook. Oh my gosh. I'm like, oh, that's amazing. Like, do you draw every day? They're like, well, I try, but like nobody's really teaching me how. They don't have the supplies at home. They don't have the means to do it, they don't know how to do it, they don't know what to look up, they don't know how to research, you know, maybe they don't have internet like I did as a kid. Maybe they don't have YouTube videos to watch, you know? Like I want to, and not just kids either. Sorry, I shouldn't just say uh kids, but like adults too. I've had so many adults at painting parties say, like, oh yeah, like this, this is so much fun. I love that you taught me how to do this. Uh I used to do art. I hear that so many times from adults. Oh, I used to do art. What do you mean, oh yeah, I used to be an artist when I was a kid? What do you mean you used to be an artist? You're still an artist. You you do art, you're an artist. That's what an artist is. Somebody who does art. Are you kidding me? You why you loved it and then you don't do it anymore. Why don't you do it? You know, like I gotta ask more people that that tell me I used to be an artist because why don't you do it anymore? I really, really want to develop my business where it is a space where people can continue to do art, can learn how to do art, can learn how to love it, and can learn all the things that they need to do to succeed with their art and have fun with it. I want to have that, those after school programs and those um open studio classes and the actual specific like medium, learning about different medium classes. I want to have those. So that is kind of my goal to eventually be there. Um, obviously it's you know, my business is just starting. I don't really, I I don't want to, I didn't really, I don't have any loans or anything like that. Everything that I am building is coming from the profits of my painting parties. So I've told people to um eventually I'm going to have an open studio class where anybody can come and they can use any of the supplies that I have laid out in the studio for them. And it'll just be like a couple hours. They put they pay a one-time, you know, fee when they come in and they can stay for as long as they want. So, you know, I'll have it for open for like three hours. And they can work on anything, they can bring their own artwork, and I will be there to help them. You know, they any questions they have, like, oh, how do I blend these two or how do I use this medium? I can help them. That's what I want to have for my open studio classes. But yeah, right now, like I keep saying, like, oh yeah, like I was telling people, I'm like, yeah, in the new year I'm gonna have my open studio classes. Um, you know, next month I'm gonna have open studio classes, but I keep pushing it back because I just um I don't have the means to buy all of the materials yet. I need to keep building that up and I want to have all the materials that people can use when they come to open studio. And of course, another thing is because I only have it Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, the only time I can do it is Fridays. And people are usually partying it up on Fridays. Yay, it's the end of the week, you know. They don't want to go and sit in the studio and work on a Friday. They want to, you know, go and party and hang out or relax from the week, you know. So eventually I would like to have my own space where I could have those after school programs and after work programs that people could come to. Um, that is a big thing. I have talked to a uh I don't know what you would call them. They're not a realtor, or would they be a realtor, somebody who like looks at like rental commercial spaces? I'm not sure what you would call that position. I have talked to him and I was like, just keep an eye out. Like, I'm I'm not looking for anything like too soon. I'm still building my business, but he is keeping an eye out for like a space where I I could use in the future in Prince Albert. So that is somewhere that I am going so that I can build my business more.

SPEAKER_00 41:28

That's super awesome. Yeah, and I I think that's a great way of doing things. You're building up, you know, people who know uh more about your services and your offers. You're building up your materials, you know, and you're not putting stress on yourself more than what you have right now with life, you know, every every other day thinks. Um and I think that's a great way because you know, with art, I think it's nice to have that ability to not over stress about trying to pay the bills and trying to pay for this and trying to pay for that. You're you're having it as a relaxed, open feeling with building as you are. And I don't think that's I don't think there's anything wrong with that at all. So that's awesome. I love that idea because to be honest, I think a lot of people need outlets more than what they actually do for themselves nowadays. You know, whether it's physical activity, uh creativity, you know, music, um, you know, just all sorts of different things people have in nature. I think more people need to be connected to different things other than their phones or you know, screens all the time. And that help them r release whatever stress, release pressure in their minds or whatever it is. And you know, as a young person too, the way I look at it is a lot of artistic people, you know, who are very crafty and arty, um, sometimes they suffer mental like with mental health issues, unfortunately. And so one of the greatest things about, you know, offering that for people is for the folks who are suffering with you know, those kind of feelings, you're giving them a place to put that extra energy that they need to maybe take care of themselves a little bit better. And that's a fantastic thing to offer, especially in the Prince Albert community as it as it moves forward. So I look forward to uh seeing that that building come alive and that space come alive because I I definitely have um there's no doubt in my mind that that's gonna happen sooner than later.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

So Yeah, yeah, I know it is it is a dream. Honestly, it's been a dream for the last twelve, fifteen years that I would love to have my own space and you know, be able to just teach whatever I want it whenever I want and open these, the like help people love art again. I I just would absolutely love to do it. Another thing that I I really love to connect with the indigenous communities because I am I'm Metis, I love indigenous art, I do Metis Pointalism, and I have gotten the honor to like teach people about Metis Pointalism a lot too, and like connecting back with culture and. And I feel like that also kind of rolls in with um, you know, mental health. There's a lot of intergenerational trauma. And a lot of that can be helped and healed with connecting with your um culture. And a big part of that is art, right? Art is like a forefront of culture. So helping people like learn about different cultural arts and actually be able to do it again, like helping, you know, teaching Metis people about Metis pointalism and where it came from and why we do it. And then also uh teaching about like different indigenous artists. Like I talk about Christy Belcourt, I talk about um Leland Bell and his amazing art, and we do uh Leland Bell-inspired paintings, and he does uh Indigenous style pointalism as well, and just and he talks about he's he has videos about um what he what each point in the pointalism, what each dot in the art means to him, and you know, connecting that to your culture and your life and your experiences, and like yeah, teaching about that stuff just means so much to me, too. I love that. Um there's another woman, her name I believe is Lucille Scott. She's an amazing artist. She illustrated a book here in Prince Albert. You might have met her before, Cody, at trade shows a while ago. She used to paint on feathers, amazing paintings and like stuff like that. Like, I want to bring the indigenous community and the indigenous art to people that want to develop that more, you know? Yeah. I want to eventually at my studio as well, I would like to bring in different indigenous artists to do, you know, painting parties and to do like classes. Well, not it doesn't always have to be painting, right? I say painting parties because that's like the typical thing, but like different kinds of art lessons and craft lessons and stuff, and I want to bring different artists in too to be able to connect with the community to do that too. I want to have a space, an outlet for artists to connect and teach other artists and teach younger artists how to develop their their style. That's like huge for me.

SPEAKER_00 46:12

Well, I can see that that's what you want to do. So it's gonna happen.

unknown 46:17

Right?

SPEAKER_02 46:18

Yes, yes. I'll get that one there.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

To talk about doing like, you know, indigenous art for indigenous groups or indig and indigenous individuals. Um, yeah, like our Prince Albert and area is surrounded of course of communities that would love to have that as something that's offered. As we were just talking about, you know, I've been on the road every day this week, and that has pretty much been to a different indigenous community all around Prince Albert, and you know, tonight I'm leaving for another community, um Yorktown tonight. So speaking for a friendship center. If this is something that you want to do, you know, there is groups everywhere in Canada that would want to have that service. So um the ability, the options, they're out there if that's what you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 47:08

Yeah, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

I look forward to seeing that home base come alive because what you're talking about seems like a really collaborative space where you can have other artist, you know, folks come in, teach or offer different workshops, and then it becomes like a hub of many different, you know, artistic uh creations come alive, which you know think of all the all the good laughter, all the good medicine people have in a space like that, which would be incredible for you know small town Prince Albert.

SPEAKER_01 47:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 47:38

Um Yeah, because I think like I said, people need more of that, you know. Right people need less screen time and more hands-on stuff and creating and communicating with each other, and that's that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 47:50

And that's another thing too, like when you mentioned like screen time, that's another thing that I want to focus on as well. I feel like so many people like in the arts community now, um, people that aren't typically artists are seeing like, you know, really viral videos of uh, you know, people coloring with the fancy markers and blending, and it looks so satisfying. Oh my gosh, I want to try that, or you know, the different like the little beaded succulents were going around, you know, all these different like little crafty things. And then people drop a fortune on all the supplies that they need to do it, and then they get bored with it and they don't do it anymore, you know? So that is another thing. Like, I love that social media is inspiring people to do art, and I love social media for that. Um, but that is another thing that I want to offer at my studio one day is like I want to have enough supplies that the new trends that are going around, people can come and try it out without spending, you know, $300 on all the supplies that they need to do that one thing and be bored of it. I want them to come and do it, figure out if they like it or not, and then either keep doing it at the studio or you know, buy their own supplies to be able to do it. I want to offer that to people so that um number one, we're creating less waste. I oh my gosh, we're so many things, we're creating so many, so much waste because people throw stuff out and it kills me. Um, but I want to uh offer a place where people can just come try it out and spend sense instead of spending all of their money and they can um save money and they don't have to waste a whole bunch of art supplies that they're not gonna use anymore.

SPEAKER_00 49:26

That's fantastic too. Off the top of your head, now obviously this is something that you'd have to look at those numbers, be very specific on and you know, calculate this and that. What is the number that is on the top of your mind that you need to reach to get all the supplies that you need?

SPEAKER_02 49:44

I was thinking about that. Like, um I've actually already been talking to a wholesaler in China for I've been that's another exciting thing I was gonna tell you about. I've been um trying to get my own brand of watercolor painting. I I don't know if like if you watch or if people watch my medium Mondays that I have on my Facebook and my TikTok. Um, so I talk about different mediums every little reel or video that I do, and I haven't gotten to watercolors yet. And people are like, why don't you do watercolor? You already did acrylic paint. You know, we're talking about all the basic arts. Well, how come you don't do watercolor paint? I'm like, because I haven't got there yet, just wait. And so I've been, yeah, literally talking to a wholesaler in China, trying, and I've been getting samples, trying out, trying to find a really good, nice watercolor set. Number one, so I can buy in bulk, so I can do watercolor painting parties. Um, but number two, so that I can, you know, sell the extra art supplies on the side with my brand on it. And so just things like that. Like I've been talking about that. That's going to be about a thousand dollars to order my first big bulk set of that. And then I've, yeah, I've been looking at other bulk sets of the you know good supplies, and that's another thing that I've been struggling with too, you know. Like, do I buy the basic beginner supplies or do I buy the high quality supplies, you know, that people can try out? So I've been kind of balancing that out too, buying a couple sets of the really high quality supplies, and then, you know, buying a bunch of sets of the you know, beginner supplies that people can try out, and I can have full-on classes with the beginner supplies, and then having high quality supplies that people can experience in my open studio classes. So I don't know, I've been kind of you know fooling around with it. I haven't actually made a list of everything, but I'm thinking about $2,000, $3,000 to get the the basic supplies of all the stuff that I need and like a couple little things here and there of the fancy supplies that people can try out. You know, obviously that number could also go to $10,000. I could keep buying awesome supplies that didn't have a huge, great big studio of all this stuff. But you know, basically I'm like, hey, I gotta get to about, I gotta save like $2,000 to, you know, get the basics of everything to start doing open studios.

SPEAKER_00 52:03

Okay. Well, it's nice that you have that number in your mind because a person with a target knows how to, you know, at least some of the steps that they need to start getting towards that target, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:14

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 52:16

Yeah. There you go. Now I should expect to see that studio up and running in about a month's time, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. That's awesome. Right on, Lizzie. Well, you have to work here pretty soon as a teacher as well, too, next, right? Within an hour here. Yeah. So I don't want to leave you too much time or sorry, not enough time to get to class and do everything that you need to do in order to have a good rest of your afternoon doing your your other job, of course, and that's helping facilitate art for young minds.

SPEAKER_01 52:50

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 52:51

Well, I greatly appreciated um everything that we had a chance to chat about, Lacey. It's been fun catching up. I know we don't always get to chat too, like we said, as soon as people start getting into business, families, life, just life starts to do it. Yeah. One more train of thought, actually, before we kind of end things up. If people listen to this and they want to get a hold of you because they want to take a workshop from you one day, they want to take a paint night with you one day, they want to support your business some shape or form. How can they do that, Lacey?

SPEAKER_02 53:26

Um, so I have a website right now and I have Facebook. I'm working on an Instagram. I think all of the younger kids like they're like, Do you have an Instagram? They always ask me. I'm like, no, I'm working on it. Just give me a minute. Um, but right now I have Facebook and I have my um and I have my website and it's all just Little Pencil Art Studio. On Facebook, it's Little Pencil Art Studio. Um my website is uh little pencil art studio dot site dot or dot square dot site. Yes, that's what it is. I don't pay for my own domain yet. But anyway, yes. Um all of my stuff, like especially on Facebook, that's where I post all of my painting parties, that's where I post all of the events. You can click on the links to go buy tickets to anything like that. And then of course I have my little pencil art studio at gmail.com. You can email me, and also all my contact information is on my uh website and on my Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 54:18

Perfect. Well, I definitely have done this for the other folks I've had on uh the podcast that you know their websites I've put it in the description and on the show notes, so whether it's you know, people listen on Spotify, people can click on your website and or YouTube too. So folks will be able to find that um when I put your your information on descriptions too.

SPEAKER_02 54:39

So yeah, I forgot. I also have a TikTok and a YouTube channel as well.

SPEAKER_00 54:44

Beautiful. And what are those called again? Little pencil art studio?

SPEAKER_02 54:47

Uh Little Pencil Art is uh YouTube and I think it's Little Pencil Art Studio for TikTok as well.

SPEAKER_00 54:53

Okay, perfect. So whoever listens to this podcast can find you in those places, or we can put it on the descriptions as well, too.

SPEAKER_02 55:02

Thank you, Reynolds.

SPEAKER_00 55:03

Yeah, hopefully we get a few more sold-out paint nights for you, Lacey, as time goes on.

SPEAKER_01 55:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:09

And uh I shouldn't say hopefully, I know what's gonna happen. The only thing is you just have to book those nights. That's all it is. You book those nights and you're gonna sell them up. I know that's it.

SPEAKER_02 55:20

Well, thank you. Thank you so much for all your help and inspiration.

SPEAKER_00 55:24

Thanks, Lacey. I appreciate that. For real. No, it was nice catching up for sure. Um, yeah. Hope you have a good rest of your day. And for everybody who's listened to this, I think this is episode 10 of the Life is Limitless Podcast.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Yeah, episode 10. 10 is a magic number, Cody. Did you know that? 10 is a special number.

SPEAKER_00 55:43

10 is a magic number. I'm thankful to have reached episode 10 and with a good old-time friend as well, too, that we've known each other for years. So pretty cool. I think you know, it's 11 a.m. here, you know. I think I need my second cup of coffee. I've been really craving it. Really craving it. So that's where I'm gonna go next while you go to your your your day job. Yep, but yeah, thanks everybody for listening to me and Lacey here, chat, and giving us two of the most precious resources another human being can give to another human being. That's your time and that's your energy. Have a good day, everybody.