From Bankruptcy to Multi-Million Dollar Paint Parties with Heidi Easley

From bankruptcy to Buffalo Wild Wings to building a multi-million dollar paint party business—Heidi Easley’s story is one for the books. 🎨✨

In this episode, Heidi (artist, educator, author, and founder of Texas Art & Soul + 100K Creative) shares how she rebuilt her life from rock bottom by turning her creativity into cash. We dive into:

• The moment her business clicked (outside a Starbucks!)
• Scaling to 3,000+ online members from in-person parties
• Her surprising Facebook ad hack that changed everything
• How she leads with strategy, heart—and a spreadsheet!
• The lavender farm dream she and her husband brought to life

This convo is equal parts inspiration, business strategy, and soulful truth. If you’ve ever doubted your dream, Heidi’s story will remind you: you’re not done yet.

Click play to hear all of this and:

[00:02] From bankruptcy to painting surfboards: Heidi’s powerful backstory

[08:00] The paint party that changed everything: $50 to $4K in one night

[14:20] The business model: Memberships, courses, affiliates, and in-person events

[22:39] Strategic bets, paid ads, and scaling to her biggest launch ever

[28:00] How spreadsheets replaced stress: Leading with data, not drama

[30:40] Letting go of control: Building a team and stepping into CEO leadership

[36:32] Buying Whimsy Hollow: A lavender farm, a dream, and a new chapter

[41:23] Your dreams don’t die. They haunt you. Why Heidi wrote her book

[43:49] How to connect with Heidi and be part of her next big thing

Connect With Heidi Easley:

Heidi Easley is the founder of Texas Art & Soul, a multi-million dollar brand teaching artists and crafters how to make money hosting paint parties. She’s also the creator of 100K Creative, where she helps creatives scale their businesses online. After going bankrupt before 30, Heidi rebuilt her life and business one paintbrush at a time—and now empowers thousands of artists to do the same.

🖌️ IG: @texasartandsoul_

🌿 New brand: @100kcreative

💻 Website: www.texasartandsoul.com

📧 Join my Newsletter for a weekly cocktail of insider business strategy, personal reflections, and the journey of being a thought leader: https://jasminestar.com/newsletter 📧

For full show notes, visit jasminestar.com/podcast/episode535

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I built my website with Showit because it gives me total design freedom.

If you’re ready to build a website that works FOR you—and not against you—head to JasmineStar.com/showit for a 14-day free trial + first month free when you subscribe!

Transcript

Jasmine Star 00:00:00  Welcome to the Jasmin Starr Show, where today I have the distinct honor of having a conversation with an unexpectedly, wildly, profoundly successful entrepreneur who has gone so deep in a niche that I am so attracted to, so fascinated by. Had never known how deep this niche could go, and then to watch somebody serve this niche so well, I could not be more happy to have Heidi Easley here on the Jasmine Starr Show. Welcome, Heidi.

Heidi Easley 00:00:26  Thank you. Thanks for having me. I'm excited.

Jasmine Star 00:00:29  I am very excited because there's a couple of things that are going to be happening. The aim for the show, as we focus deeply into 2025, is to highlight really incredible entrepreneurs who are doing things in new or unexpected ways, serving new or unexpected markets to open expansion to show how successful one might be. And I met Heidi by way of my mastermind. Heidi is in my mastermind. I couldn't be more excited, and she has agreed to join on the second cohort of the mastermind, and I get to walk this journey with her.

Jasmine Star 00:00:57  But regardless of that, I would have never have known the depths of how successful this woman is without having to understand the market that she serves. So without further ado, Heidi, can you explain your business?

Heidi Easley 00:01:12  yes. So I teach artists and crafters how to make money teaching paint parties and that's it. I keep it simple.

Jasmine Star 00:01:20  Okay, so when I first met Heidi, we do interviews for the mastermind because we want to make sure that we're curating the right room. That was the exact same pitch that she gave to me. And I was like, oh, okay, well, well, this is great. And once we decided to work together, I started asking Heidi a lot of numbers, data analytics. I wanted to get a deep understanding of her business. And I have to say that even before we met, as together as a group, the information, the data, the team, how you're asking people, you show up as an entrepreneur. And I think that there's this kind of like an idea that you are creative, like beautiful things and you do and you inspire people to do that, but you also are a very savvy businesswoman.

Jasmine Star 00:01:59  Oh, thanks. And I know a lot. Okay. And so we're going to get to why I wanted to have this conversation was because I saw her do something really incredible during our time together in the first cohort. And I said, oh, Heidi, we have to share this because what you did was absolutely attainable by other people who might not actually be looking or seeing it that way. But before we do that, I really want to talk about your journey getting to here, because I think there's this temptation of looking at you and saying, well, she's just a creative fairy, like she's, you know.

Heidi Easley 00:02:28  She's just.

Jasmine Star 00:02:28  Okay, good. We'll keep it our creative fairy. And you are an an artist and you are lucky and you are blessed. And there's things that you do that nobody else can do. And I've seen you. I've been in the trenches with you, and that's not the truth. So let's talk a little bit more about the story that gets us here, because I don't want to talk about the glorious things that you're doing without actually telling the back story of how you got here.

Heidi Easley 00:02:47  Oh, well, thank you. I love Creative Fairy. I may have to write that down. Okay. And yeah, so bankrupt to business owner before the age of 30. Pretty much failure on all accounts. Lost my house, lost everything and really struggling. You know how to toddler. You know having a little girl. It's it's, you know, trying to raise a kid while working. Can I ask.

Jasmine Star 00:03:06  What led you to the bankruptcy? Like what?

Heidi Easley 00:03:09  Yes. So we, We had bought a house. We were living in Florida at the time. I spent my 20s in Florida, and we just. They were giving out loans like crazy, like loans on top of loans. And we didn't know we were literally just grabbing it and going. And then I would spend, like, I would have my credit cards and I would pay it off and then literally like, pay the minimum balance, not pay it off, pay the minimum balance, go get 20 or $30 in gas just to try to make it till the next paycheck.

Heidi Easley 00:03:37  Like we were so overwhelmed. And then whenever the housing crisis came, I thought I was the only one going through that. I didn't realize that there were, you know, millions of people going through it. At the time, I thought it was just me, so I didn't talk about it. I was so ashamed. I was so embarrassed and just literally lost everything. So.

Jasmine Star 00:03:55  So you filed for bankruptcy.

Heidi Easley 00:03:56  So we filed for bankruptcy. Moved to an apartment. My husband's, you know, working for the apartments. Like picking up dog crap as part of his job. Like, talk about being humbled, right? Like going to the to the bottom again and and just starting over. And so I was trying to heal. So I paint because as an artist, we paint to heal. And so I'm painting surfboards, these little mini wooden surfboards that we had cut out in my sister's house. And I took them to my classroom because I was a teacher at the time, teaching 850 students.

Heidi Easley 00:04:27  And so I'm working on them during breaks or lunch, and my kids are seeing them and they come in and they go miss easily, miss easily, like, paint me one, put my name on it, and I'm like, no, this is just art for healing. Like, you know, leave me alone, right? Like, no, it's my it's my project.

Jasmine Star 00:04:42  I'm healing. It's my.

Heidi Easley 00:04:43  Project. I'm scared. You know, it's all so hard. And so he's.

Heidi Easley 00:04:46  Like, you know, my kids are like, you know, miss easily, you know, paint me a surfboard. Like, every time they saw it, they lit up. And about the 150th kid said that and a light bulb finally, you know, hits me in the head and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, I might be able to help my family get out of this financial trouble through painting. And so I call my mother in law. She's my best friend. And I'm like, I'm like, I think this is something big that we can do.

Heidi Easley 00:05:11  And she she's like, okay. So she agrees. I paint these surfboards. I mean, they are like rough cut. They're awful. And and I take it they're still wet with polyurethane. And I take them to this outdoor mall called Pier Park in Panama City Beach. And I'm like, you know, cheapest, you know, like, very shy, like, you know, you think we could sell these here? And he, we, you know, he's like, I think you could probably make some money. And so he rents me like a ten by ten foot square piece of concrete basically in front of Starbucks. And he's like, you can sell these. You know, it's going to be 1200 a month to rent this. And so my mother in law didn't have any money. So she's like, let's go 5050. I'll buy all the supplies, pay the rent, and then the profits will pay that back and we'll split it 5050. And so I was like, so excited.

Heidi Easley 00:05:54  Like I'm like, okay, this is plan B, this is going to get me out of all of this. Like I am just, you know, staying up late painting these surfboards, all of this. And then we set up and nobody is buying. And I'm like, you gotta be freaking kidding me. Like, this is plan B, like, well, you know, this is supposed to work. You know? I mean, so new to life. Like, I don't know what's going on. And so what do you do when you lose everything? You go bankrupt before 30, and you go to the bar and you have a drink. So my mother in law is like, hey, let's go to Buffalo Wild Wings. So we walk across the street to Buffalo Wild Wings and I'm at the bar.

Jasmine Star 00:06:28  Okay. Hold on, I, I'm a storyteller. Right. So you're you're out with your surfboards outside of Starbucks. You guys are already, at minimum, a couple grand in.

Heidi Easley 00:06:36  Way more than that. Okay.

Jasmine Star 00:06:38  And so then I'm imagining you guys are packing up your goods and you're putting them where? So this is you guys go have a drink the day that you realize it's not working.

Heidi Easley 00:06:47  Okay. Yes. So we're we're sat that out. My husband watches the booth. Okay. So I'm like, I'm going to the bar. You watch the booth. Good luck with this. This sucks. And so I'm a couple drinks in, and I'm just like. Life. Life is hard. Like, you know, what am I going to do with this little girl? Like, I want to give her everything. And I can't even make money. You know, it was it was really, really hard and so little, you know, another drink in, and I'm like, what do I do? You know, I don't know what to do. And then my husband calls and everything changes. And I answer the phone and he's like, get over here, get over here.

Heidi Easley 00:07:25  And I'm like, what? And he's like, we have orders. Get over here. And I'm like, you're lying. He's like, Heidi, get over here. And so I look at my mother in law and she's like, go, go, go. And I, you know, slowly walk across the street because I by then I was a few drinks in and I will never forget this moment like he is looking at me. And we had these paper tickets for orders and he's holding him out and and he goes, Heidi, get to painting. And in that moment, Jasmine. Like I was flat on my face. Done for. Count me out. And it's like God scooped me up. And not only did he say it's going to be okay, but you're going to be able to do what you love for the rest of your life, which is paint. And I just painted those surfboards happily and little tipsy. And I remember just, like, thanking God and laughing and being so excited.

Heidi Easley 00:08:12  And we went on to sell over a thousand hand-painted surfboards in just two months, which meant me, the slowest painter in the world. I took a year to finish a painting. I had to paint a thousand miniature paintings in two months, but I did everything that I could because I knew every single sale at $20 a sale was going to change my family's life. So that's what started it.

Jasmine Star 00:08:35  And so there are somebody here who their interest is piqued because they have a thing that they love, and they're not quite sure they can actually make money doing it. And it might not be painting might not, but I just want to hold space for what that story is. There's something you love. And then you tried a few things and it didn't work. And then it did fine. But where do we go from a thousand surfboards at $20 apiece to you building millions and millions of dollars in a business here today, what was the next step?

Heidi Easley 00:09:03  So we ended up doing a much needed move back to Texas, which now we live in Tennessee.

Heidi Easley 00:09:07  That's a whole nother story, but much needed move. And it was harder to sell surfboards in North Dallas because it's really and you know, it wasn't real savvy yet online. And I remember again, my mother in law is such a big part of my story. One day she said, she goes, what if people. So by then I was doing paint parties. So I was a teacher full time, but I was doing paint parties on the side.

Jasmine Star 00:09:29  So you moved from Florida to Texas. You are still a teacher? Yes. And the demand for the surfboards is lessening.

Heidi Easley 00:09:35  There's no demand.

Jasmine Star 00:09:36  Okay. I was trying to be nice to, like, buff up the story.

Jasmine Star 00:09:38  So there's no demand for.

Jasmine Star 00:09:40  Surfboards in Texas. Surfboard paintings. And then you decide I'm going to host paint parties?

Heidi Easley 00:09:45  Yes. So in Florida, actually, somebody had I went to a paint party and somebody had asked me the the owner of the place asked. They said they said, hey, we're looking for other artists, would you be interested in painting? And she said that she would pay me $50 to paint for two hours to teach a painting.

Heidi Easley 00:10:03  And I was like, this is heaven. Like, are you kidding me? Like, I can just paint for you and make 50 bucks. And she's like, yeah, I remember crying being like, this is like a dream come true. You know, and and so I started teaching her her paint parties. Well, the business had shut down and she had a private party at a school. And so she said, hey, Heidi, we can't do this. The owners were not artists. And so she said, can you take this on? It's, you know, you make $400, you can have all the profit. And I was like, are you kidding? So I took off a day of work, which I didn't make near that in a day, and I made that in two hours. And I just thought, what? And so I started teaching paint parties where, you know, 402 hours from 50 to 400. Then teaching, you know, 20 people at a time, 50 people at a time, 200 people at a time.

Heidi Easley 00:10:49  Like I was making $4,000 at an event. And I'm like, I'm not even a stripper. Like, I'm just like, this is insane. You know? Like, this is I'm teaching painting and making four grand in a night like, this is insane. And so people would see my post and, like, literally count these people and be like, did you really make that right? You know? And then they started asking like, how are you doing this? So it led me to,

Jasmine Star 00:11:15  And you're in Texas.

Heidi Easley 00:11:16  By now. I'm in Texas and my mother in law one time said, well, what if people stop coming to your paint parties? And I was like, I was so offended. I was like, why would people stop coming to my paint parties? I mean, I was like, I've been like. And then it just kept creeping in, you know, like when somebody says something. And so then I thought, okay, I don't want to put my family ever in the bankruptcy situation.

Heidi Easley 00:11:38  So how do millionaires do it? What do they do? And I just went on this quest of, like, searching. And it led me to my first business coach, Shanda Sumner. And she taught me how to build an email list. I built an email list of 5000 people and. But I had interviewed all fine artists, which was a great experience. I met some of the coolest artists like Oceana, Kramaric, and just so many cool artists through that process. But then I went to, you know, show them how to teach a party, and they're like, well, I don't I don't want to do this. Like, that's stupid. But it just really showed me the power of creating an online business and then went into building a membership. And it's just so many.

Jasmine Star 00:12:17  How many in-person paint parties do you think you hosted before you said, I'm going to take my in-person business online?

Heidi Easley 00:12:25  I have thousands of people. I mean, I have taught paint parties nearly 20 years. I still teach paint parties today because I want my members and my membership to know I still have a finger on the pulse, and I know what's out there.

Heidi Easley 00:12:38  I know their struggles because I, you know, I could. I've done thousands of them at this point. Like, I could easily be like, you know, I've done that, been there, done that. But I still like literally before we moved a couple weeks ago, I had done two more paint parties that month just to always have, you know, content, always be able to relate and say, hey, I know your struggles, I know how to book one. And then the coolest part with me moving to Tennessee is I'm able to tell them I am starting from scratch. Like, I don't know anybody. Everything's new. Watch me. You know you're scared. Well, I'm scared too. I gotta start over in front of all of you, watching to make sure I don't totally fail.

Jasmine Star 00:13:16  So you have to prove.

Jasmine Star 00:13:17  The theory of your business in front of your current audience. Yeah, because you've done it in Texas, and then you start teaching. So let's talk about the revenue streams of the business now.

Jasmine Star 00:13:25  Okay. So the business is currently describe the current nature of the business and then the revenue streams leading into it. Because we went from paint parties in person and now we have an online component. Can you explain what those are.

Heidi Easley 00:13:36  Yes. So I am a person because of my past history and past failures, so many of them that I always want to kind of have like several revenue streams. Right? Because that's what I learned with, you know, researching how to be a millionaire. And so I was like, okay, I need several revenue streams. So right now we have the in-person paint parties. So that's money coming in. I'm an affiliate for several things. So like, you know, anytime and I'm very open about that. Like I will not ever push a product unless it's something I use and I'm fully endorsing myself. And then we also have the membership. And then we also do.

Jasmine Star 00:14:11  Talk to me about the membership. What is the promise of the membership? Who is signing up for the membership? Because I want people to hear, even though they might not be painters, how did you start thinking like a millionaire? And then what does the membership itself look like? Because when they're going to talk about the revenue streams too.

Heidi Easley 00:14:23  Yeah. So the membership basically, it's like pretend if you were a teacher and you needed a substitute, you would just have those lesson plans for that substitute. You could go about your business and they could take care of your class. I'm basically the person providing the lesson plans for the paint parties. So these are artists or crafters. I want to make.

Jasmine Star 00:14:41  Newport.

Jasmine Star 00:14:42  Beach, and I want to host a paint party, and I join your membership because it's basically a turnkey solution. I get to go and I learn from you, and I get your stuff, and then I get to take what I learn here, and I get to make my own money hosting my own paint parties out here. Yes, that's the membership.

Heidi Easley 00:14:56  I would have the painting for you, the tutorial for you, the marketing done for you, like everything is done for you so that you just grab and go. So it takes out all the the headache, the stuff that I really wish somebody would have provided for me when I was teaching full time, trying to do this business on the side is exactly what we provide.

Jasmine Star 00:15:14  Beautiful. And then the next revenue stream.

Heidi Easley 00:15:16  So we have a course as well. So every couple of years I do a course and that's basically like so all the people in my membership, we have 3000 members right now. They watch me and then they want to learn the online side of things. So a lot of times like as they've been doing paint parties, now they're curious and okay, what do what do you do with this? How do you do a membership? And so and Stu McLaren, who I love, he's one of my mentors and business coach. We love Stu loves Stu. And he taught me the membership model, which I love. And so a lot of times, like what I was doing is I was saying, hey, if you want to learn this next step, go to Stu. Well, what happened was there was this huge gap between somebody teaching paint parties to an online business, as you know, is a totally different beast. And so I was like, oh my gosh, I felt the first time I had sent them to Stu, it was almost like they were flailing because they didn't know how to build an email list.

Heidi Easley 00:16:10  They didn't know.

Jasmine Star 00:16:10  They didn't.

Jasmine Star 00:16:11  Have.

Jasmine Star 00:16:11  A few foundational pieces. That Stu program he where he picks up is a very large assumption that that is in place. Yes. And so I just want to pause here because this is where you and I begin to intersect. And I say there is a gap that only Heidi could see because she's in a niche in an industry that is kind of not I wouldn't say it's overlooked, but it's not one of those, like, glamorous. Like I have an HVAC or I'm a photographer. This is a smaller I teach paint parties. And what she had said is, hey, there is an offer out here that exists to teach you how to build a business. And then she has membership. And then there's this gap. And what I loved about Heidi is that she said, there is a gap and there's nobody who's filling it. She steps in with this program and now has added another revenue stream to her online business.

Heidi Easley 00:16:56  Yes, it's so fun. And it's it's kind of cool too, because it's like I, it's almost like I try to talk people out of taking the course because I'm like, it's hard, you know what I mean? Like doing online business, it's it's not easy.

Heidi Easley 00:17:11  And so I'm, I'm, I'm always very, very honest even, you know, with my paint party members, I'm always like, you know, it takes work, you know, I mean, me going and selling those surfboards, it wasn't an easy, you know, sell. I mean, it takes work. But I think that's the beauty of this. Like, I always tell my daughter, she's 18 now, but I always tell her I'm like, man, if you just do the bare minimum in life, you are already way ahead of most people. So when you go above, you just always stand out. And so that's one of our big like kind of values in our family is like, we don't have anything like we go full force all the time.

Jasmine Star 00:17:50  And so one of the things, if you don't mind me sharing, we can cut this out if it makes you feel uncomfortable. But you join the mastermind and we're in a Newport Beach and it is cocktail hour. So when we had joined, do you know where I'm going with this? Are you okay with that? Okay.

Jasmine Star 00:18:02  So so we're so. We are. Okay. So I interview everybody. People come join. We have one online zoom. We're meeting everybody. But quite honestly, everybody's meeting essentially for the first time in person here in Newport Beach. And so we're there and I'm floating between conversations. And then we all gather in a circle and we are talking for a little bit, and then we break off in some circles. And we started talking you, myself and a few other people, and we started talking about ads. We're talking about our budgets, we're talking about our spends. And what do you what do you do? You want to take the story over here or am I going to jump in?

Heidi Easley 00:18:35  Go for.

Jasmine Star 00:18:35  It. So so Heidi's here and she's talking about how you're paying cash for your ads.

Heidi Easley 00:18:40  Oh yes, I remember that.

Jasmine Star 00:18:42  And and I'm thinking okay. Why? Why? Number one, I'm a big believer. I come from a family, a long, long line of being in debt and very, very strenuous financial situation.

Jasmine Star 00:18:51  So I really only pay for what I can afford. However, when I am running ads and I can find a credit card that I can run full speed, get points on or cash back and I'm paying off that credit card. It was like your mind was blown. You're like, wait, I'm going to get a credit card.

Heidi Easley 00:19:08  And I was freaked out. Okay. So okay, so because of the bankruptcy, I had a very strong aversion to credit cards. Like, we don't allow them. We don't do them anymore because we had, you know, gotten ourselves in so much trouble, and it ruined it, ruined so many things. However, now I talk about the bankruptcy and it's I smile because I'm like, I literally can see God's hand of how he turned something that I did so stupid into something so great. So I really do love and appreciate all of the bankruptcy stuff that happened. So what happened was I ended up getting hacked on Facebook. So yes. So I got hacked and I was going to get a massage.

Heidi Easley 00:19:45  So I'm in the massage room, my phone is in my car, and I get to my car to check my phone. And I'm like, all these missed calls from Bobby, my husband, and I'm like, what is going on? And I call him and he's like, hey, the accounts are empty. What's going on? And I was like, what? You know, because we run everything through our, our cash. And so we were in the middle of a launch. And so we were running several thousand dollars a day and ads, but we were bringing in money. So it was kind of, you know, we always watch it when we're doing these like $100,000 launches. We're we're on it. We're watching it. So I was literally for one hour away. All of a sudden my entire PayPal account was emptied. My entire and debit account was emptied like that. Like within an hour. And so what had happened was there was a spammer that had come in, he was selling jeans, so he was running like $5,000 and many times like ten different $5,000 ads.

Heidi Easley 00:20:40  So what happened was, you know, it was just taking this money as fast as it could take it. And so by the time we got in there and stopped it, I would, I would literally go, it's just this is just a note to all of you. If you ever have this, this problem, it happens to a lot of people. I would go and pay my PayPal balance because he would charge it. And then, I mean, I don't know if it's a he, I'm just saying he but he would charge it and then I would like pay it because I couldn't stop it if there was a balance on my PayPal. So as soon as I would clear it, he would charge it again. And so I'm on the phone with PayPal and they're like, well, you have to have a zero balance for us to cut it off. I'm like, I'm trying to have zero balance. But he keeps charging like he's taking it every five seconds. And so we finally get it stopped.

Heidi Easley 00:21:24  We get the account stopped and within an hour he took over $14,000. And so somebody like that's not on a credit card, I'm like, we don't have credit cards. Like, we pay everything cash. And so now you'll be so proud of me. This whole trip out here was done with points, my flight and mighty.

Jasmine Star 00:21:43  I told you, I told you because I had said I'm like. I'm like. But here's the thing. I would never advocate for a business owner to really go deep in debt. But I'm like, you have the money for what you're going to spend. Just get the points. And then I was like, her mind is blown. She's like, I'm like, Heidi. We go on vacations, lovely vacations, and we use just points on it and you're like, okay, I'm so stinking proud of you. Okay, okay, okay. Big stuff. Okay, so when you and I had a conversation, you had said something that stuck out to me and you had said when I had started the business, it felt like it was easy to take a risk because you didn't have anything to lose.

Jasmine Star 00:22:16  And now that the business has gotten very successful, it's harder to take those risks. So can you go back to us, take us back to December of last year when you made a strategic bet to really go in and look at the numbers, talk to me about how did you start looking at the numbers? When were you ready to make a big strategic bet so that it resulted? And I don't want to steal any thunder, but your biggest launch ever. Talk to us about that process.

Heidi Easley 00:22:39  Yeah, that was so exciting because one of the things I love about you is that a lot of times we'll have a hope or a dream and we'll be like, oh, do you think that could happen? And they're like, oh yeah, sure, it can happen. Well, I remember we were going to look at Utah to possibly live there, and I was on a call at a coffee shop with.

Jasmine Star 00:22:57  You.

Heidi Easley 00:22:58  Remember, and I said, you're like, what's your goal? And I'm like, I want to hit 5000 members.

Heidi Easley 00:23:02  Like, that's always been in my head for years. Now we have the membership now going on seven years in May. And I said, do you think I can do that? And you were like, well, tell me how many launches you're doing. And it was like immediate, like straight back at me with Bubble Popper.

Jasmine Star 00:23:16  I just want people to know, like, I want you to have a dream, but you better back it up with some numbers.

Heidi Easley 00:23:20  I love it, I love it because I don't want somebody to just be like, yeah, it can happen. Like, you know, let's manifest it. No, I'm a worker and I know that it takes hard work. So whenever you were like, no, well let's see. Well, you're only launch them once. How do you think you're going to hit 5000? And I love that pushback. And so it got me thinking. I was like, well, I, I really don't want to launch in the spring because of these reasons.

Heidi Easley 00:23:41  I'll do evergreens, I'll do this, and maybe I have to push my number back. So what was the question?

Jasmine Star 00:23:46  The question was what was happening in December? Okay. So I just want to add a little bit of color here, because once I asked Heidi that question of you want to get to 5000 members, then what are we doing to get there? Right. And then we had to run numbers like, well, something called churn. How many people are leaving a month? How many people are coming in? What are our marketing mechanisms? What is the LTV, how long are they with us so that we can really run numbers on? How much are we going to invest to acquire that customer? So I went very deep with Heidi in regards to these numbers, and I said, okay, Heidi, anything is possible. 5000 is possible. Now we just have to figure out what are we going to do in order to hit that number? And so in spring, she had said, for these reasons, I don't want to do a very big launch, but I'm going to do X, Y, and Z.

Jasmine Star 00:24:27  They had a back to school launch and you said, we're going to go big, but there's a few things at play. And then December comes around where you said, okay, I am ready to go all in. What got you there for December?

Heidi Easley 00:24:37  So we did this. We did challenges. So we have this thing called the Snowman Showdown. I do it every year. And so what I noticed we keep track of everything. So we track every single launch, every single number. If I pay my team bonuses, like, every single number is accounted for. And so what was cool was I noticed there was this pattern where I was spending more money on my ads for the actual challenge and less on the open cart, so we flipped it. So we start. So you would ask me like, okay, what, you know, talk to your husband. What number are you comfortable with risking based on your conversions? Because our conversions go anywhere from 20 to 30%.

Jasmine Star 00:25:16  And I'm looking at this and I'm in a spreadsheet with Heidi and I am saying, okay, so this I think it was like a back to school or an autumn type challenge.

Heidi Easley 00:25:25  We did the fall.

Jasmine Star 00:25:26  Ball of the fall ball. Okay. So and so what she has on this beautiful spreadsheet. And this is where strategy and this is where millionaires are built, knowing their numbers and knowing where to thrust and throttle. And so I would never just say, okay Heidi, let's just go and bet the farm or let's go big on this one. So I was actually looking at what has been the history of the launches. Which one have been over indexing as slightly more successful than the others? What are the reasons? Where is the mindset. And so we could strategically bet where things were going to be based on the trajectory. And her Christmas challenge had always killed. And I'm thinking, well, great, she's running ads to acquire a lead to a challenge. But then there was this big gap when, like when we're in sale, open cart period, we have to hit just as hard because we've already built that trust in likability. So I wanted just to point out and paint the picture a little bit for somebody who's on the outside saying, but what numbers were you looking at? We were looking at cost ads, cost of customer acquisition where the the ad spend was actually going, what percentage we were actually using the lifetime value, how long they were on the inside of the membership.

Jasmine Star 00:26:24  So after having done all of that, we're now here at December and you talk to your husband and say, how much are we willing to risk for the cost of customer acquisition?

Heidi Easley 00:26:34  Yeah. And we basically were when we were looking at it, we were like, okay, let's flip the numbers. Let's spend more on the open cart. So it ended up bringing in, I believe, 957 new members, a.

Jasmine Star 00:26:49  Thousand people join a membership. And the thing about a membership that I've always loved and is really beautiful to join the membership is X per month, but they don't stay for one month. They stay for months.

Heidi Easley 00:27:00  Ours is 8 to 9 months.

Jasmine Star 00:27:02  That is in credit. Well, so this is I was seeing her LTV versus her cost of customer acquisition. I was like, Heidi crank, you are you are positive sometimes in month one and 9.9 times in month two.

Heidi Easley 00:27:15  Yeah. Month two were always positive. Yes.

Jasmine Star 00:27:18  So okay, so let's go back to December and you guys decide to shift a couple things all at once.

Jasmine Star 00:27:23  You bring in 957 new people into the membership. And then where's your head at that time?

Heidi Easley 00:27:28  It's so cool because when I started approaching it from a numbers standpoint, I took away all emotions. So I used to have. So I mean, I literally during my launches, I've done so many launches now and I would like usually by Tuesday I'm like crying. I'm like, oh my gosh, nobody likes me. Like, you know, just the stupid stuff that we go through as we grow as a business owner. And then now it's like, I have no emotion towards it. I mean, I'm excited, but I'm like, it's literally like it's like a science experiment. And now it's so much fun because I don't really yes, I obviously want the business to prosper, obviously, because I now I have people, I pay and I want to make sure I pay them well, and I want to make sure that they're taken care of, and I want to make sure my members are taken care of.

Heidi Easley 00:28:16  And so I do have that pressure, obviously, but as far as the emotion goes, it really is like a science experiment. It's like the game. I'm more addicted to the game than I am the money. Like, it's so exciting.

Jasmine Star 00:28:28  That the millionaires say that baby millionaire, I'm wondering you had said is you had simply said to extract emotion because somebody hears that. I'm like, wow, I would love not to be emotionally connected. And so if that is you, this is what Heidi told me. I just look at the budget and I look at the risk, and then I look at a spreadsheet and a spreadsheet. Can't predict the future, but it makes you a lot less attached to the risks that you're taking. And so for somebody who felt a little bit stuck, I wanted to share that this is somebody who's a practitioner and is absolutely doing it. And part of the things that I saw, like a big change, is part of the first cohort in the mastermind is I saw Heidi, I saw you changed, and you stepped into leadership in a very different way.

Jasmine Star 00:29:05  And so as you are really adding another revenue stream, so the 100 K creative is going to be its own thing in a very big way. And you are pouring yourself into it. And one thing that you had said to me, and I want you to break this down, if possible, that you really trust your membership team, and then you trust your affiliates team and you trust your paint party teams to step in and do this. And as a leader, you're going to put a lot of time and energy towards really building out 100 K creative. What have you had to change as a leader to build that team where you can say, you got it, I trust you.

Heidi Easley 00:29:39  Yeah, it's been totally different. It's almost like, and I don't know if part of, you know, buying the place in Nashville like that, you know, just going through this whole, like, identity change of stepping into it. And you've been a big part of that, just like being such a good example.

Heidi Easley 00:29:57  I just want to say thank you publicly for that. But it's been so cool because like, even the other day, I was going to do an interview to ask about something, and it was I was like, okay, I'll paint it. You know, if you can't film the tutorial, send it to me. And I was like, wait a minute, I have Julie that does that. I was like, actually mail it to Julie. Julie will do it. Take pictures of it. And it's so cool because before I never thought I could let go of that. I thought it would take away part of my not identity, but a part of like my. I don't know the right word for it.

Jasmine Star 00:30:26  Can I try? For me, what I felt is I did actually feel when I started turning things over to the team, I did feel like I was losing a bit of my identity, but I also felt like I was losing a little bit of my value. Yes, it's like this was my power play.

Jasmine Star 00:30:40  My my power play. Was this. Yeah. And if I don't do that, am I bringing the value to the organization? And I had to do a lot of work around that.

Heidi Easley 00:30:48  Yeah, I get that because I don't want to be. And maybe it has to do, you know, getting deep and maybe it has to do. We need Doctor Natasha back.

Jasmine Star 00:30:57  Doctor Natasha needs to come in. Yes.

Heidi Easley 00:30:59  I think it might have to do with, you know, you never. Especially when you don't come for money. You never want to be in a position where you feel like I can't make the money. And so if I'm delegating that. What is that saying if I'm not doing the work right. And then I finally I think with buying this new place. I mean, I know it sounds silly, but like making my hair darker, like just all these things. It's like I'm coming into, okay if I want to go to the next phase. And and honestly, it's out of service to my members.

Heidi Easley 00:31:30  I can't help them if I keep staying in the one position of, here's where you go buy your paint brushes. I got to have somebody else step in. So now my team is like a well-oiled machine. I'm like, here's my idea. They go make the funnels, they go make the products. I film a couple videos and it's done. And we're making money. Like, we have funnels all over the place right now. Making money because I am allowing them to do that. Being paid very well, they're doing something they're good at. And then I can step in and go, okay, how can I help these people that are building up to the next level? And I couldn't do that when I'm tying myself into all of these other things. So I'm excited.

Jasmine Star 00:32:05  So I want to pause here. I'm going to link to Doctor Natasha's show in our show notes. But one of the things that she had mentioned was she is a very strong pattern. More than 90% of the women in my mastermind had two needs, and that was to be strong and self-reliant.

Jasmine Star 00:32:19  And then what Heidi just said was, I felt powerless if I could not make my own money. And then what we said in the conversation with Doctor Natasha was that the way that what got us here, what what got Heidi to multi-millions of dollars is not going to get her to the eight figures. She can't be that person anymore. So what Heidi just said, and I want to be special attention, is she's built out the structure, she's built out funnels. She has a team who loves what they do. They're getting paid to do what they do in their own way. She is freed to create another revenue stream in her business, and once she has systematized and operationalized, she can turn that over to another team member so she can go on and be on her lavender farm in Nashville or start another revenue stream. She gets to decide that her and Bobby get to decide how do we want to live this chapter of our lives? And I just want to say, like, Heidi, what I have seen you do in such a short amount of time has just blown my mind.

Jasmine Star 00:33:18  But I wanted to have this conversation to show people that you have to let go of some things. Yes. Like what got you into that mess? Or I will not be the thing that gets you to the next version or chapter of your life. So as now we're in a unique position because we've never seen Heidi at the beginning of a new, profitable, wildly amazing revenue stream. Now 100 K creative has existed in different forms. But you're saying no, no, no, no, no, I know who I am. I know what this person needs. There's a tire rebuild. There's a totally different value transformation like value proposition and transformation. So we're looking at the ground level, Heidi, of a new revenue stream. What are you doing now? What are you looking for? What are you building based on all these other revenue streams you've built? What do you know now that's different going into this one?

Heidi Easley 00:34:01  Oh, I'm so excited. I am so excited. I have been. It's so funny because my team's like, we need to meet about this.

Heidi Easley 00:34:08  And I'm like, it's still germinating. It's still we're still figuring this out because I want to be very like. It's like when you know more, you have more responsibility, like the more knowledge you gain and you don't. And again, I think earlier in my career, I just didn't know. I didn't know what I didn't know. And now I'm like, I have to be more mindful of how I'm leading people. And that's been for the past two years. Leadership has been my biggest thing that I've been working on. And so I, I just I build this trust with people and I don't want to let them down. And so as I move forward in 100 K creative, I want them to succeed. I want them to see that, oh my gosh, I don't have to be a starving artist. And so I'm really developing it. So yeah, we're matching everything we did before and starting over because I want to make sure that it's not just like, here's a program, here's a course with 5000 things I want to be like.

Heidi Easley 00:35:06  It might be less, but you're going to gain way more traction.

Jasmine Star 00:35:10  I love that, I love that. So one of the things I heard that I repeat back from you is what you're learning now, based on the things that you've learned in the past, is less can mean more. Yes, when we provide less, but a more distilled version where they take action and get a result that's better for everybody. There's a higher completion rate, there's a higher satisfaction rate, and then there's more people who want to believe in say, I want to go to the next level with you. And so if you don't mind, I kind of feel like we talked a lot about the business, but so much about you is about the energy and the space that you're in and your creative ventures. And so I was lucky to meet you when you were in the process of moving, but you didn't know where. And so I met you our very first call. You were vacationing with girlfriends in Florida? Yes.

Heidi Easley 00:35:48  Yeah. That's right.

Jasmine Star 00:35:49  Yeah, I remember, I remember.

Jasmine Star 00:35:51  And you were just like you were vivacious and everything was uncertain, and you were just so like, yes, yes and yes. And I'm like, this is incredible. She is a different type of entrepreneur. And then the next time I saw you were at this, like, outdoor coffee shop in the middle of nowhere, Utah, and you're like, I think we're kind of sort of maybe moving out here. We're not quite sure. And then the next time we have a conversation, you're back at home in Texas and your daughter is growing up and going to college.

Heidi Easley 00:36:13  Yeah, she's going to Paris for study abroad.

Jasmine Star 00:36:15  This is I'm.

Heidi Easley 00:36:16  Like, oh, I'm so happy for.

Jasmine Star 00:36:18  Her.

Jasmine Star 00:36:18  I mean, and I'm sad for myself. I already think of Luna leaving and I'm.

Jasmine Star 00:36:20  Like, no, no, no, no, no.

Jasmine Star 00:36:22  But all of this is a sign of good creative mothership and entrepreneurship in showing your daughter what it means to be a strong, independent woman.

Jasmine Star 00:36:27  And then out of nowhere, we get in our slack channel in the mastermind, you're like, we bought a lavender.

Jasmine Star 00:36:32  Farm, and we're like, we're.

Jasmine Star 00:36:34  National. Okay, so I want to focus on that because what happens is I don't want to tell a part of the story around business success if it comes at a cost, and it always will come at a cost, but sometimes it comes out too much. But what I highlight here is you've done it your own way. You're very happy you are working with Bobby, you're supporting your daughter. You have this team who's growing alongside of you, and you get to taste the goodness of that. Talk to us about this home.

Heidi Easley 00:36:55  Oh my gosh.

Jasmine Star 00:36:56  So you could share you could share the name of the home because you're going to share it. By the time this debuts, you will already have announced it.

Heidi Easley 00:37:01  Yes. So oh my gosh, you'll have to go to to Instagram to to see the greenhouse. But this place I'm telling you, like God has literally made it for us.

Heidi Easley 00:37:12  And this place is we're calling it whimsy hollow.

Jasmine Star 00:37:16  Whimsy.

Jasmine Star 00:37:16  Hollow.

Heidi Easley 00:37:16  Whimsy hollow. And so the lady before she was an artist as well. And so it's like this really cool. It's like so practical magic is my favorite movie. So it's like a practical magic. And my favorite company, Junk Gypsy, had a baby and created this farm for me. This is literally what it is. And so it's this beautiful greenhouse that this artist created. And she actually rented it out for, you know, photography shoots and wedding proposals. So we're going to do the same thing. We're going to make it to where it can be rented out. And then up on this really steep hill is this old farmhouse. It's an 80 style old farmhouse. It has like five outdated bathrooms, like, you know, and I think that's why, you know, it was kind of safe for us. People didn't want to do the work, which I'm like, bring it.

Jasmine Star 00:38:01  On, do the work. I will do the work.

Heidi Easley 00:38:03  And it's literally in the tree. So, Jasmine, it's like in my art studio slash office. It's this giant room that goes from the front of the house to the back of the house, and it's surrounded by trees and all the windows go to the floor. And so I literally go get my coffee, go sit in this little spot I made myself, and I'm able to like, look at the trees. I can watch the sunrise on one side of my art studio and watch it set on the other. And then I take my walks down to the greenhouse. And it is magical, like it is magic there. And I'm just so thankful. And I saw I have this, like, whole new, like renewed spirit of like, what are we going to create? Like, what are we going to make out of this life like this, this whole new adventure we have? And so I'm just so, so thankful. And I'm, I'm so excited about, like, the personal side of my life as much as I am the business.

Heidi Easley 00:38:54  And I literally sat in that chair. I've never wanted to retire. Ever. Like, that's like a bad word in my my vocabulary. And I sat in that chair and I was drinking my coffee last week because we've only been there a week. And I told I told Bobby I was like, I finally want to retire.

Jasmine Star 00:39:10  Like, I have so many activities.

Heidi Easley 00:39:11  I want to do. I want to do pottery. I want to do this. Like I finally have this feeling of like, man, this is home. Like this is home. And so I don't know what's to come of all of this. I do feel like God has given us this. And as I walk that hill, I don't want it to be just for myself. I feel like, you know, I can't wait to invite the creatives there. I can't wait to invite Paint Party Headquarters.

Jasmine Star 00:39:32  They're like.

Heidi Easley 00:39:33  I feel like this is for all of us, not just me.

Jasmine Star 00:39:36  And I don't think that anybody could say that having not built this successful business.

Jasmine Star 00:39:41  And here's one thing that I know about us, Heidi, is we want optionality. We don't want to be forced to retire, but do we don't want the option not to retire. And so the fact that you have found a place to give you the option, now you settle and then you get to decide how you want to play the rest of the game. And you couldn't say that without having those really big decisions and making these courageous jumps and leaps. You talk a lot about what those leaps are in great detail. Can you talk a little bit about this? Can we hold them up for the cameras?

Jasmine Star 00:40:08  Oh, yes. Your dreams.

Jasmine Star 00:40:09  Don't die. They haunt you. I mean, lessons from a millionaire entrepreneur. She also has Paint Party Business, a step by step guide, and then Paint Party lookbook. We will be linking to all of these resources.

Jasmine Star 00:40:22  But who.

Jasmine Star 00:40:23  Was who was this created.

Jasmine Star 00:40:24  For?

Heidi Easley 00:40:25  So this is created for the underdog, especially my book. This book is created for somebody who feels like they just keep getting knocked down.

Heidi Easley 00:40:34  So I literally wrote and so my one of my favorite books is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Jasmine Star 00:40:40  Let's go. I read it, and.

Jasmine Star 00:40:42  Again, you keep it by your bed every night. It's just like a little passage to kick you in the arms.

Jasmine Star 00:40:45  Yeah, I love it.

Jasmine Star 00:40:46  It's terrible. I love it. It's so real and awful.

Jasmine Star 00:40:49  And you're like, yes, okay, I can create tomorrow. Yes.

Heidi Easley 00:40:53  Yeah, it's it really is about like. Stop whining. Stop playing the victim. Make it happen. And so this book was, you know, kind of written based on my love of that book. And so I share stories in here of all my failures, so that you can see that it's okay, and it happens and you can get back up. And so and also there's, there's parts where you can do your own takeaways. So my, my hope is, is for the underdog who feels like, man I just want to go to the next level.

Heidi Easley 00:41:23  But I can't get there. You can because most of the time I've learned almost every single big success has come. Right before I was about to quit right before, and so years ago I was about to quit my membership. Thank God I didn't, but I was. I was in my office and I was crying. I was filling out a application for a middle school art position. I hate teaching middle.

Jasmine Star 00:41:47  School.

Heidi Easley 00:41:48  Like.

Jasmine Star 00:41:48  I have taught all the.

Heidi Easley 00:41:49  Grades.

Jasmine Star 00:41:50  But.

Heidi Easley 00:41:50  Middle schoolers are the hardest. And so I was filling it out and I was crying. And my husband came home from work and he's like, what are you doing? I'm like, I can't do this online thing anymore. Like, it's too hard. And he's like, step away from the computer. He's like, you can't quit. You were so close. And so being a Dave Ramsey fan, we were like, okay, well, let's track every single penny we've ever, you know, we make for two straight months, write everything down.

Heidi Easley 00:42:14  And so the artist to me wants to put it on poster boards. My husband wants a spreadsheet. So I've got poster boards all over his office. He's got a spreadsheet going. And I realized at that time I was bringing in over 7000 a month doing my teaching and my membership and my paint parties. And if I were to quit and went down to like 3300 a month, I would have cut my family's income in half. So once I saw it so plain and clear, game on. And so I think that's what I love so much about you, is showing me the numbers, making me accountable for the numbers because I can see it. I don't have the emotion in it and I can game on.

Jasmine Star 00:42:49  So as we speak about 100 K creative, you can find them on Instagram at 100 K creative. But one of the things that we had a conversation about was I said, well, Heidi, what do you want to do with this first launch? What do you want to do? And so she had questions, but we want to talk about those questions.

Jasmine Star 00:43:04  But she had questions around the pricing, the launching things of that nature. And I said, well, I'm completely unattached to this, but what do you want to do? So first let's figure out what do you want to do. Then we attach numbers and then we say, how risky are we going to be on that front end? And it feels so good to watch you step into this so differently and confidently. And I think that you are an embodiment, an example of people at home who are saying, I think my dreams are dead. And you say, no, they're haunting you. Like, this episode did not find you for no reason this episode, and you've stayed to this point. And so if you have stayed at this point, there is somebody else who needs it. Share this episode with somebody who felt like their dreams have died, so that the two of you all can do it together, so that one day Heidi and I can see you in masterminds and we could celebrate your 7 to 8 figure success.

Jasmine Star 00:43:49  Heidi, where do people go to connect deeper with you?

Heidi Easley 00:43:51  So you can find me everywhere on Texas art and soul. Com and Texas art and soul underscore. And then of course hundred K creative on Instagram.

Jasmine Star 00:44:00  And I mean we didn't even get into this. I might have to have this queen back okay. She is so digging in to this YouTube strategy that.

Jasmine Star 00:44:07  Oh my god. Oh my.

Jasmine Star 00:44:08  Gosh, are we gonna.

Jasmine Star 00:44:09  Work out? What are you talking about there? We didn't even.

Jasmine Star 00:44:11  Get. How's that for a cliffhanger?

Jasmine Star 00:44:12  Okay, we're.

Jasmine Star 00:44:13  Going to bring Heidi back if you want to learn more about what is going on.

Jasmine Star 00:44:16  It's insane. It's insane. I can't believe.

Jasmine Star 00:44:18  It. We weren't supposed to. It's supposed to be a cliffhanger, girl.

Jasmine Star 00:44:20  Okay, okay.

Jasmine Star 00:44:21  Bobby, you all come back. Come back to Kelly. We have to do part two. If you guys want to hear part two, send Heidi Texas Art and Soul on Instagram or myself. Jasmine star on Instagram.

Jasmine Star 00:44:30  Let us know about this. But just remember 100 K Creative Heidi Easley. She will remind you that when you don't get sales, go and get tipsy because they're just one. They're just a few receipts away.

Jasmine Star 00:44:41  Thank you Heidi, thank.

Jasmine Star 00:44:42  You for watching and listening to the Jasmine Star Show.