Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person and mother turned successful artist entrepreneur. It wasn't that long ago though that I lacked the confidence, vision, and support network to focus on growing my dream business. Fast forward past many life curve balls, waves of self-doubt, and so many lessons learned, and you'll see Ignite my thriving online coloured pencil artist community, a community that changes members' lives for the better and gives me freedom to live abundantly whilst doing what I love and spending quality time with my beloved family and dogs, all whilst creating my best artwork with coloured pencils and mentoring others to do the same. But this life wasn't always how it was for me. It used to only exist in my imagination. I've created the, It's A Bonny Old Life podcast to help increase people's confidence, share mine and my community's experience, and hope through fascinating personal stories, champion the other amazing humans in my personal, professional, and membership community and create another channel through which I can support others to realize their dreams. If you're a passionate coloured pencil artist or an aspiring one who's looking to create their best work and a joyful life you love, you are in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream. Let's get cracking.
I want to talk to you about the most important factor in running an art business, and you'll be surprised to hear that it's not necessarily marketing. Put your feet up for a few minutes with a cup of tea and find out what my number one piece of advice is for anyone wanting to make a living from their art.
I am incredibly passionate about my art and helping people become creative again, but I'm also incredibly passionate about my business, and the combination of both has of course led me to create two businesses that are successful.
My commission business and my teaching business. I have been fortunate to find amazing people along the way when learning about business. And the one thing that has struck a chord and that I still work on more than anything is the one thing that many people don't even think about when it comes to running or starting a business. If you were to think of one of the most important aspects of running a business,
what would you choose? Marketing, perhaps a business plan. Understanding your figures. All of these things are of course vital, but the thing that's missing is going to make learning about all of these things and implementing them so much easier. So what is this elusive, missing piece of the puzzle? Well, it's you. You are the most important part of your art business.
Without you, there wouldn't be a business, so that makes you the most important asset. And yes, of course, at some point you need to ensure that there's some kind of backup or plan, but when you're starting out, usually it's just you and your pencils or paints. My advice for anyone thinking about taking their work full-time or monetizing it, is work on yourself first before anything else.
By that I mean to run a successful business and be happy and motivated, you need to have, amongst other things, belief, belief in yourself and in your art belief that it will sell, that people will want to buy it. Belief that you are worthy of running a successful business belief that you can do all of the things necessary to run a business,
a mindset that is open and allows for possibilities. A mindset that doesn't constantly have an internal dialogue working against you, A mindset that sees the possibilities in things and isn't always negative. Confidence that you can achieve everything you want to. Confidence in learning new things, confidence in reaching out to people, confidence in making changes, tenacity things. Don't always go to plan,
but having a can-do attitude that doesn't give up at the first hurdle will definitely set you in good stead. Be able to self-reflect. Know how you come across to others, understand how you tick, what will make you keep going and what will stop you in your tracks. Because if you know this, you can plan. If you're sitting there thinking, oh, time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend,
well, in that case I'm never going to make it because I don't have all of those things. Well, believe me, you can change, you can grow. And if you have the passion to take your art full time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend, time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend, time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend, time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend, time, you can achieve all the above and more. Where do you start? You invest in yourself, and I don't mean you have to spend,
spend, spend. I mean you invest in your development and learning. There's so much available now for free, great content that doesn't cost you anything. Go and look for it. Read books. If you don't have a budget for buying books, head to the library. Buy secondhand on Amazon. Watch out for authors you love who are guests on podcasts.
Maybe they have a social media and give out valuable content there. Listen to podcasts. There's so much valuable information now on podcasts. Make a list of what you want to work on and you will find so many podcasts that will give you information to help you build your belief or your confidence. If you do have the budget, get yourself a coach. This has been the single most valuable investment I have ever made.
A good coach will help you pull all the best bits of you to the surface will help you discover why you find it challenging. To believe in yourself will help you build your confidence, and this working on you never ends. It's a constant wheel that keeps going round and round. And if you keep working on you first and foremost, building your belief,
building your confidence, you can do anything you set your mind to. If you don't believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to? One of the easiest ways to start is to banish harmful negative self-talk. Our internal dialogue is unique to each of us. Think about how you talk to a friend. You would never say anything unkind to them or I'd hope you wouldn't.
Why then do we accept our internal voice being so incredibly mean and unkind, banish the unkind things you say about yourself? Start to be kinder more positive and telling yourself that you can do the things you want to do and that you are worthy of succeeding in your goals. Listen to what your internal voice is saying and ask yourself this one question, is this true? outta that zone. So it's time to question that voice. Now, time to really understand that you can do whatever you put your mind to, that anything is possible within reason.
The likelihood that it isn't true is very high. Our internal voice is trying to keep us safe, trying to keep us in our comfort zone, and we all know that the magic happens when we step out of that zone. So it's time to question that voice. Now, time to really understand that you can do whatever you put your mind to, that anything is possible within reason.
Of course, as I would never make a hundred meter sprinter, although if it was my passion, I would give it a really good try. I honestly put the reason to me creating a successful, sustainable business down to first and foremost, working on my mindset, building my confidence, and doing a lot of self-reflection. It's come at a bit of a cost as I've had to put things in place that some people haven't liked,
but that's okay. Those people were harmful to my mindset and my business, and it's made me a better person in the long run, and it's enabled me to create a business that I love and that is allowing me to create a life for my children and leave a legacy. Change has to happen to enable you to grow, and that's one of the biggest obstacles when working on yourself. Change is hard. It means work and work can be hard, but it's so, so worth it. So if you want to grow your art business or start an art business, then work on yourself first.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my It's A Bonny Old Life podcast. If you did, I'd be so grateful to you for emailing me or texting a link to the show or sharing it on social media with those you know, who might like it too. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my community's experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, championing the other amazing humans in my personal, professional, and membership community. And to create another channel through which I can support you to realise your coloured pencil and life dreams. If you haven't done so yet, please help me on my mission to spread positivity and joy throughout the Coloured pencil world by following me on my socials at Bonny Snowdon Academy or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdonacademy.com. And remember, I truly believe if I can live the life of my dreams doing what I love, then you can too. We just need to keep championing and supporting each other along the way and order to make it happen. Till next time.
