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 curveballs, 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 realise 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're in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream, let's get cracking.
So I wanted to create a video for people who have come to art a little later in life. So a little bit. Bit like me, and I was going to sort of create a video and do all sorts of different bits and pieces on it and everything. And then I thought, you know, what, what better way to talk about how you can make things work and how, you know, you can make a living or make a little bit extra money from your.
From your art? What better way than to talk you through exactly what happened to me and how I've done it? So that's what I thought I would do. So I thought instead of face to camera and you see my lovely face, I thought I'd just draw and chat and just sort of talk to you really, about how I kind of stumbled across art and I'm now making a living from it, sort of 2016.
That's when I discovered coloured pencils. So I hadn't really done any art or anything in those sort of almost 30 years from. From leaving college, I'd been in kind of the art industry and been creative, but, you know, not, not really drawing or anything like that. So I got some coloured pencils for Christmas in 2015 and that's kind of where it all started. So the colouring side of things I really, really got into and I've got loads of colouring books and I just became obsessed with my.
With my colouring. Really, really loved it. And then a friend asked me if I would draw her dog and that was probably around, I don't know, may time, 2016, something like that. She asked me if I'd draw her dog, which I did. I was a bit scared, but I did went up on YouTube and then. Not on YouTube, on Facebook. And then people started to ask me, you know, if I draw their animals as well, you know, just friends on Facebook and everything.
And. And that's where it kind of started. And very quickly, I progressed very quickly and very quickly. I got quite a few commissions, you know, over time, so much so that sort of in the October time, in the 2016, bearing in mind I'd only been drawing since the sort of may time that it was then that I was thinking, I'm going to go full time as an artist now.
I'm quite a positive. Well, I'm a very positive person, but I'm also a planner, not an organised planner, so I'm not somebody who creates the most amazing plans, really, really organised and sticks to everything. That's not me. But I have a really good idea in my head and once I put something down onto paper, then it kind of happens, you know, I do commit to any goals and plans and everything that I make.
So, you know, having decided that I was going to go full time, that's when I started to create this plan and, you know, to make. Make sure that I could actually do it if it, you know, that it was feasible, you know, and create almost like a strategy. So it was. It was. I'm not going to say it was easy, because it wasn't, but I had worked in an industry, wherever marketing was, you know, kind of what we did, working with people was what we did, you know, so it wasn't.
I was. And I'm. Plus, I'm quite a sort of an outgoing sort of person as well. So all of that type of stuff really, really helped. I'd run the studio for Aviva, so I'd. I knew all about budgeting, I knew all about forecasting, all of that type of stuff I was kind of aware of and knew, you know, what to do and how to do it. So that all kind of stood me in good stead, really, for starting my own business and hoping to become successful.
So I created my plan, obviously. I was married, I got three children, a house, got a mortgage that we need to pay for all of that type of stuff. You really really need to think, think carefully. I am a little bit of a, an activist in that, you know, I'm like, right, let's do this. You know, so I'm, I'm careful. And I did think through and I did work it out and I was, you know, yeah, we can do it.
But the whole point was, it was like, well, if I don't do it now, I don't think I ever will. And I'd really like to be a full time artist and I think I can make it alright. Not that I think I can make it successful. I know that if I put all of the right things in place, then I will make it successful. So I created a plan, and that plan, I think, was the best thing I could have ever done.
It was dead simple, dead, dead simple plan. It was just an, a three piece of paper. It had my name in the middle and then branched off that it was everything that I wanted to do. So it was commission work, it was galleries, it was art fairs, it was workshops, it was online teaching. It was every single thing that I could think about that I possibly could do or wanted to do.
The teaching side of things was a definite because that's what I'd been doing in my previous job. I've been teaching leadership and management. I'd been coaching, I'd be teaching and coaching. All of that type of stuff was really, really important for me. So, you know, that was kind of a no brainer, really. That was going to happen at some point. But the commission work was what I decided I wanted to concentrate on the first.
So I made my plan, made myself an 18 month forecast, you know, saying, right, this is how many commissions I'm going to get each month, this is how I'm going to get them. You know, so it could be word of mouth, it could be social media. I set myself an advertising budget, you know, so I could actually pay for some targeted advertising in Facebook, which worked really, really well, I have to say.
And I kind of planned everything out. I've got everything organised in my head and decided what I was going to do and how I was going to do it. And it helped that I had three months worth of commissions that were coming in and were still coming in. Obviously, my pricing was something that I really had to think about because when I first started doing commissions for people, I was charging something like 40 pounds, and then I upped it to 80 pounds for an a four and I think it was 110 for an a three.
But realistically, if I was going to do this as a full time job, then I needed to think about a pricing structure that would enable me to be able to pay for my mortgage. That was really, really important. So when I went full time on the 1 January 2017, I'd got a pricing structure that was better. You know, it was obviously a higher price with a goal price in mind, you know, to keep on upping my art so that eventually I would be earning enough from my commissions, you know, to be able to, you know, to be able to make a good living.
And I think my starting price on the 1 January 2017 was 200 pounds. And that was for my smallest piece, which think was. I think it was eleven by 15. And off I went. And, yeah, it was a bit scary. I mean, I didn't really. I never. If I'm going to do something, I never have any doubts that it's not. That it's not going to work. I think it's really, really important to keep a positive frame of mind, you know, not to be big headed or anything like that, but you've got to be.
You've got to be confident that you're going to be able to do this, because if you show anybody any sort of weakness or not weakness, but, you know, if you don't. If you don't seem confident when you're dealing with people, then they're not going to feel confident in asking you to, you know, draw their pet, or they're not going to feel confident in, you know, handing over 200 pounds for a drawing.
But if you are confident in your own abilities and that comes over in a nice, quiet, gentle way, then people are gonna. Are gonna be going to be with you, they're gonna join you, they're gonna want whatever it is that you've got, because, you know, you're the expert, so, you know, and I've. And I have got that confidence and sometimes it's, you know, it's to my detriment, but most of the time it's.
It works quite well. And my commission books just kept, kept growing. And I did a. I did a webinar course with Anne Kohlberg. So Ann Kohlberg owns the colour magazine in America. She is a portrait artist, very good portrait artist, and she runs a. I don't know whether she still runs it, but she did back then, a programme called Shine. And this programme was, I think it was three webinars.
It cost me something like 200 pounds when it was converted from dollars. And this webinar, basically, Anne shared with whoever was participating all of her little gems for building a portrait business. Now, clearly I'd already got a portrait business and it was up and running and it was doing quite well. But just doing this course really, really brought at home how important your pricing structure was and how important it was to get your pricing correct.
And what she suggested and what I took on board and did and was successful in doing was that every time you have commission books that are full for two months now, your full might be one commission, your full might be twelve commissions. You know, everybody's is going to be slightly different, but you've got your full commission books for two months. You then up your prices and you keep up in your prices every time you have two months full commission books.
And so that's what I did. I had a goal amount in my head, a goal amount that when I first started drawing or when I first started thinking about the fact that I was going to be doing commission work, I had a goal amount in my head that I eventually wanted my prices to be, and that was 500 pounds. So I kept on upping and upping up in my prices.
As I got more people on my wait list, I just kept upping my prices until, I think it was last year, I got to the 500 mark for a ten by twelve portrait. I passed that mark. Now I'm now on to 575 for a ten by twelve portrait. But I had a goal in my head that I was working towards, which I think is incredibly important. I think having a goal price was really important.
Working out how to get to your goal price or working out how much to charge, that's quite a personal thing for me. I worked out as to what I needed to be able to pay for my mortgage, you know, if, if I needed to. Obviously, I had a, I had a husband, you know, who had a wage, so that wasn't so bad. And he did say that he would support me, you know, so.
But what did I need to earn to be able to cover my mortgage? And that's how, that's what I based my prices on, you know, and it worked out really successfully for me. You know, it worked out. I based my prices on how much I needed each month and then that's, that's what I charged and it worked really quite well. Other people might decide that they want to, that they want to charge by the hour or by the, you know, per inch, anything like that.
It's quite personal. So there's no set formula, really. It's just kind of up to you and what works for you. So that's what I did, kept up in my prices. And, yeah, it's quite scary because you think, oh, gosh, you know, I've been charging 40 pounds for a portrait. Nobody on earth is going to want to buy a portrait from me for 200 pounds. But what we forget is that we've got all sorts of different people who were buying our portraits, and they come from completely different backgrounds.
They're a totally different demographic, totally different audience. So somebody who would pay 40 pounds would definitely will not pay 500 pounds for a portrait, 200 pounds for a portrait, you know, but somebody who would pay 200 pounds for a portrait would never, in a month of Sundays, pay 40 pounds for a portrait because they would consider it as being cheap. So it's a completely different demographic, totally different audience.
And that's what you have to remember when you're moving from one pricing band to another, that you're actually starting to target different people with different salaries and different wants and needs. And actually, I actually found that as soon as I started to really bump up my prices, I got more commissions from them. It's just. It's just how it happened. And the other thing as well is that people tend to, if you've got a few different prices, people will tend to leave the bottom price and go for the one just above it.
You know, if there's not a huge amount of difference in the price, then people will go for the slightly larger one, which is, you know, good for me because I prefer drawing larger portraits. So, you know, the pricing was key, getting your pricing right, because if you're going to make a living from something, you know, you need to be making more than two p an hour. And the problem is that a lot of artists really undersell themselves, I think, because they are terrified that if they put their prices up too much, they are going to lose their clients.
And they're right, they will lose their clients, but they will gain different ones who will pay more. So that's a really, really important thing to consider and to remember and to kind of reflect on a little bit as well when you're thinking about starting your business and your pricing and everything like that. The other side of things that, I mean, clearly I started in 2017. My portrait business went, was very good, still is very good.
I close my commission books now. I open them maybe once a year, maybe twice a year, and I tend to be booked up. I book a year up in about a day. Now, that's not me bragging and being big headed. Some of you might think it is, but it's not. Basically, I have built myself a list. So I've got an email list of people who want to subscribe and want to hear when my commission books are open.
As soon as I open my books, they get an email and as soon as they get an email, they contact me and they book a portrait. I then end up booking a whole year, probably in around a day, with all of the emails that come through. And I found that that is a really, really good way of managing my commission business side of the business. Now, it's not something you can do right from the beginning.
You do have to put the work in and you do have to build up your business and become seen and become known. People need to know that you're out there and you're doing all of this work. It starts with friends and family and then it goes on from there. Now, one of the things that people really, really struggle with is the marketing side of stuff. And yes, I've been really lucky, you know, in that I've kind of worked in that industry.
I kind of know, you know, how to put myself out there. You know, it's, yes, it's about quality work, but it's also about being confident and it's also about knowing how to market yourself. And many, many people, especially those of us who have kind of, you know, we've had a career, we're maybe sort of, you know, I don't know, you know, mid thirties upwards, you might have retired, you might be in your sort of fifties sixties, you might have retired and decided you want to do a little bit of extra work, you know, and the marketing side of things might be very, very new to you.
You might never have done anything like that before. And it is quite scary because it's like, well, how do I market? Do I take a course? Do I, you know, what do I do? And then as soon as you start to read things, you know, you've got to use your social media and you've got to work with algorithms and you've got to work with insights and you've got to do this.
And it's like, oh, my, there's no way I can do this. And that will be your first instinct. I can't do this. There's no way. I have no idea what to do. I don't know how to use the social media platforms. I've got no idea. Right, that little idea, gone, let's try something else. And actually, that's your first stumbling block is the real worry about how you're going to be able to do something and how you're going to be able to make it work.
Not having a marketing degree is not going to scupper your chances at all. You don't need a marketing degree. You don't need to know really very much about marketing. All you need to do is to be yourself, to be yourself and to put your work out there. And that's. That's what people find a bit tricky, is to kind of, you know, people sort of seem to think that they need this, this great big marketing strategy, you know, they need to know the ins and outs of how to market all of that type of stuff.
And you just don't, you don't. All you need to do is be yourself. And the more you can be yourself, the more comfortable you'll feel and the more able you will feel in getting your workout. So that's the first thing that you need to kind of work on and realise is, you know, what, how do you. Who you are? Who are you and how are you going to put your work out?
You know? So forget about the word marketing, because that's just scary, and start thinking about who you are. What's your voice, what's your personality? Your personality must come into it, because if you want people to follow you to buy your work, that type of stuff, they need to like you as a person as well. You know, art is. Art is something that's bought from the heart, it's not bought from the head half of the time.
Art isn't a very rational purchase. We don't need it, but we really do need it. If you see something that really, really sings to you, you can't stop thinking about it. It's like, I really need that. I really need that. And then your head starts to tell you, well, you've got to be rational, you can't blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But it's. So it's a head purchase, but it's.
It will be something. Somebody will see one of your pieces, something about that piece will resonate with them and it will be on their mind then that they, they have to have one of your pieces, they have to have their dog drawn or, you know, whatever. So it's up to you to keep putting your work in front of everybody, you know, to make sure that at one point they then go, you know what?
I'm gonna have one. You know, I've got to have it. That's what I'm doing. And it's. And it's about getting your work out there. That is the, the struggle. What I did was I shared on my. I started my Facebook page, I think, in the September of the 2016, and I did start an Instagram page, I think, around the same time. But I didn't really use Instagram until sort of 2017 ish.
I just didn't get Instagram at all. I didn't understand it. I understood Facebook because I've been using it, but Instagram was like, what is this? This is just weird. I don't know what to do with it. So I didn't kind of put much energy or effort into it. And I just built my Facebook page up. Like I say, I ran some targeted adverts, which. Which really helped, really helped get my work seen, really helped get my followers up.
And I just shared my work on my Facebook page. I shared it with my friends and any of the groups that I was in, I shared it in there, and that really, really helped me pick up quite a few commissions is sharing in the groups, you know, and Facebook is quite strict as to, you know, what you can and can't do and all of the different groups in Facebook, so, Sharon, in horsey groups, doggy groups, that type of thing, but they've all got their own rules, and you have to stick.
You've got to stick by the rules because otherwise you should be turfed out. But it's, you know, the sharing in the groups was a really, really big hit for me, and that managed to get me, you know, a fair few commissions. And then as soon as I got started to get more, you know, more followers, then I get word of mouth, and my commission books, you know, just, just flourished, really, and really took off.
But it was the, it was the sharing in the groups that was the big, the big hit and still is. And, you know, I would. I would suggest that if you're a thinking about, you know, going full time with your art, then have a look at some of the groups and have a look at some of the art that people share in the groups, and you'll see that many, many portrait artists, animal portrait artists, you know, share in the groups very successfully and, you know, are doing really, really well with their, with their commission books.
So that's. That's something that worked really well for me. The. I had all sorts of different things on my plan. One of them was art fairs. I was like, yeah, I'm gonna do art fairs. I'm gonna go sell, you know, originals and prints and all of this type of stuff. I did one art fair and I've never done another. It wasn't that I didn't like it it's just, it was a big.
It cost me an awful lot. It was sort of four days out, you know, setting up, being there for a couple of days, coming home, getting everything all sorted out, blah, blah, blah. And it didn't get me anything. And I didn't really enjoy it, I have to say. Didn't. I didn't get a kick out of it. So I just thought, you know what? I'm not going to put any more effort into art fairs.
They work for some people, they didn't work for me, you know, so I think if I'd really wanted to and I didn't enjoyed it and put, you know, I could have put more effort in, spent all of my energy doing that and I'd probably be quite successful. But because I didn't enjoy it, I was just like, yeah, no, not going to do this. Let's try something else. The, the gallery side of things.
I think everybody wants their working galleries. You know, I think it's, it's kudos. It's, you know, that, that never ended up really happening and I never really pursued it because, again, I was too busy with my commission stuff and it just kind of fizzled out, really. And it's not now something that I want to go down. It was there, but it's not something I want to pursue. Because what happened with me was that the other things on my list were the commissions were the teaching, the workshops and the online teaching.
So I didn't actually run my first workshop until the end of 2018. And I didn't. Well, I'd said that I wanted to do an online teaching channel and that probably it was going to be 2020, 2021, something like that. Actually, it came much earlier and it was 2019, it was February 2019 that I started my Patreon channel. But the reason I started my Patreon channel was because people were asking me, you know, please, will you start a Patreon?
I was like, I'm not quite sure. It's a. It's a big commitment. And anybody out there who has Patreon on their list and who is thinking about starting a Patreon, it's brilliant. It's absolutely brilliant. And I, and I love my patrons and I really enjoy doing all of the tutorials and all of that type of stuff, but it is a massive, massive, massive commitment. It's a huge commitment.
People are paying you to create videos, you know, whatever, so they have to be. They have to be good. You know, the content has to be good, the sound has to be good, the quality has to be good. And if you get anything that is slightly not as good as you'd hoped it was, which, you know, let's face it, happens, you know, you can't get everything right, and it's all a learning curve.
And as lovely as people are, you know, you will still get people, you know, and rightly so, because they're paying for the service. You'll still get people, you know, having a bit of a, having a bit of a moan or a complaint or whatever about the sound quality, and they're absolutely right in doing that. But it's, yeah, it can be quite stressful, actually. It is quite stressful. And I'm not a stressy person at all.
But the other thing with patron as well, and mine has grown really, really well. And I'm so glad I did it. And I love the community that's there. It's a fabulous, fabulous group of people and I absolutely love sharing all of my stuff with them. But it's, it's a full time job on its own, you know, engaging with everybody, making sure you're keeping up with questions, you know, making sure that you're, you're giving them what they want, you know, creating, you know, all of the different tutorials, all of that type of stuff.
So it's, it's a really lovely thing to do, but don't go into it thinking, you know, you're just going to be able to put a video up every month and that be it, because that's not kind of how it works. Well, you know, you can do that, but people will expect more. And the other side of things as well is, I find, really, really stressful, even though I'm not a stressful person, but I do get a bit, nobody's tied in, so there's no contract with Patreon, you know, so people are there and they support you and it's fantastic.
But people then go, people leave, you know, and we all know that that's what people do. You know, if we, if we join, like Disney plus or Netflix or something like that, you know, we just go, oh, I don't want to do this anymore. So we just, you know, unsubscribe. Well, that's what happens with Patreon. And, you know, you work really, really hard to keep all of your patrons happy and all of that type of stuff.
And then at the end of the month, when you see them all leaving, they don't all leave. That's, that's not true. They don't all leave. But, you know, even when you've I think it's 2%. 2%. That's generally what Patron says. 2% of your subscribers will leave each month. And it's kind of, it's kind of soul destroying, to be honest. You know, you put all of this work in, and then all of then 2% of all of, you know, what you've been doing are leaving.
And it's just like, and I've learned at the end of each month now that people are going to go. I accept that people are going to go. I don't take it personally, and I just need to think of ways of keeping people, of giving them better videos, better content, all of that type of stuff. So it's keeping me on my toes, which is good. You know, you don't get, you can't get complacent or anything like that.
But, you know, if you are thinking of trying to do that side of things, the patron side of things, you know, you're very welcome to get in touch. I will share everything I know about, you know, what's happened with me and how I've done stuff, you know, I'm really happy to do that, and I've done that with a few artists, but, you know, just don't go into it, you know, don't go into it thinking that it's going to be easy, because it's not.
It's good, it's fun, and you can be very successful, you know, but it takes a lot of hard work, and it can be a little bit stressful, you know, but it's definitely worth. It's definitely worth it. It's worth the stress, you know, and meeting all of the different people and you do get, the majority of your followers are loyal, you know, which is, which is lovely. I mean, Patreon now is kind of takes up the majority of my time.
You know, I still do commission work, but I'm taking on fewer commissions each month now just because I really enjoy the teaching side of stuff. I like the interaction with people, and it's quite nice to be able to draw sort of original pieces as well. But I really like to share my knowledge, you know, and I think that's my voice. That's what I have found has worked really, really well for me in marketing myself, is the helpful side of stuff.
So it's really important to make a plan to, you know, if you want to do something, then, then, you know, do it. But always go in with all of the information, you know, it's. And the other thing as well about Patreon is, you know, it's good to have, it's good to have, you know, a big following. If you, if you haven't got a YouTube channel or anything like that, it's good to get one up and running before starting because then you've already got people who kind of know what to expect from you.
You know, sort of putting all of that work in beforehand is quite important, but it's good. The workshops, I love the workshops. I'm doing more online now because obviously, because we're all locked down at the moment, but the workshops I really, really enjoy because you get to meet people, you know, you get to sort of work with people who have got different styles to you. I find really interesting with the workshops that, you know, all of the different sorts of characters, you've got to be able to teach in all sorts of different ways to be able to get, you know, be able to get your message through to the different people, different personalities and everything.
And I really like that. But, you know, starting that quite slowly again for me, you know, my first workshop was 2018. I planned it, you know, quite, quite well, I guess, but also I planned it so that we could just kind of go off on a tangent if we needed to. So it's, there's all sorts of things, you know, that you can do that you can, you know, you can kind of move into, you know, other than just doing the commission side of stuff.
But I guess the, I think the biggest stumbling block for maybe somebody of my age is time, you know? So somebody my age has probably got a, a family, you know, they've got commitments of a mortgage, something like that, you know, so time is a big, big factor. And before I started working full time as an artist, I had a full time job and three children, you know, husband, all of that.
And it was a case of finding the time, you know, it really was a case of finding time to be able to do what I was going to be doing, and it ended up that I was working into the night, which, you know, it's not, it's not ideal, but I've always worked long hours anyway, so it wasn't really something that was a, you know, a problem. But the time and the other thing as well is, you know, if you are married, you've got a partner, whatever, you know, just making sure that your other half, you know, understands how important it is that, you know, with what you're doing, because, you know, if you can work together and you can sort of like, you know, spread things out, looking after the children, all of that type of stuff that, that really is helpful.
That really is useful. Unfortunately for me, when I went full time in the January, my husband left me in the July. So that was a little bit scary because then I'd gone from sort of, like, having three children and two incomes coming in to just me with my six month old, seven month old art business, working on my own, thinking, oh, my God, how is this going to happen?
And I was left with all of the children as well. But we got through it, and I have to say, it's a much better place now, and it worked. But when you start these things, you can't plan for everything that happens. It's just impossible. You can't. But what you've got to do is you've just got to get through it. And luckily, I had a very supportive family. You know, we did it, and it was fine, and I'm quite a positive person.
But, you know, there were times where I was just like, yeah, you know, I'm just gonna. I'm not gonna do this. But it didn't last very long, you know? So that's. That's the other thing. You never know what's around the corner. And that's another reason for just doing it, you know, it's a reason that I do just got, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen, you know, so just.
Just do it. It's, you know, not, you know, if you. If you leave things, then you might never do it. So my motto is, you know, just give it a go. And what's the worst that can happen, you know, if this doesn't work out, then I'll go get a job. You know, it's. It's as simple as that. I know it's not as simple as that, but that was my.
How it. How it kind of worked for me. And then the social media side of stuff is, I think, is a big, big worry for people, you know, especially if you're not used to social media and you don't know how it works. I think the best thing to do is to figure out how you learn the best. So whether you're sort of like a visual person, an audible person, you know, whether you like to hear things, all of that type of stuff.
And, you know, if you prefer to read things, to research things, get yourself a book, get yourself an up to date book on social media, there are some really, really good ones around. You know, if you're more of a sort of. You want to. You want to actually be able to see. See things in action. Get yourself on YouTube. You know, there's some great videos on YouTube about how to use social media.
For me, social media is all about just being present. It's about being yourself. So I'm very big on values and value set, and my values are all around sharing kindness, that type of thing. So all of my social media posts are around that because that's what comes naturally to me. So I share a lot of information, I help a lot of people, you know, and that's kind of what works for me.
You have to find who you are and what your values are, because what you want to happen is, and what will happen is that as long as you are true to yourself and you are being who you genuinely are, then you will find a like minded people who will come and follow you because they'll be naturally attracted. So that's why I find I started, I set up a Facebook page, a Facebook group last July for sort of like coloured pencil animal artists.
And it's very quickly becoming just the most amazing place to be full of kind people, full of people who want to share their information, you know. So basically, people like me, you know, so like attracts like. So if you, you're wanting to engage with people, social media wants you to engage. And the best way to engage with people is to actually have conversations with them. And if you like the person that you're having a conversation with, you're more likely to want to go back and have more conversations with them, you know, and to have a nice conversation with somebody, you have to have something in common.
There has to be something there that kind of attracts you to them. And this is what I mean about shared values, you know, so people are going to have similar values to you. So kindness, you know, personality, trust, all of that type of stuff, you know, you want to be, you want to be really putting your personality out there. And if you want to go and look at a count that is growing brilliantly and who's the artist is really, really just being himself, then go and have a look at Alex Fleming.
Okay, that's Alex. Alex. And it's Fleming with one Mh. He is an amazing artist, you know, brilliant, but he has utilised his social media so that he is really, really being himself. And so it's easy for him to post because he doesn't have to try and be something he's not. So it's easy for him to post, it's easy for him to write the content because it's all there already because that's who he is.
And he is attracting followers who really love his personality and his style and who are probably quite similar to him. He's a little bit quirky, but he writes the most fantastic content. So I would strongly recommend you go and have a look at his Instagram. You know, and that will show you how what really, really good engagement is. You know, good engagement in that he's being himself, he's being him.
That's his marketing is being Alex Fleming. You're welcome to go and have a look at my Instagram. My Instagram. I had no idea how to use Instagram when I first started it. Absolutely no idea. I didn't get it. I was like, what are you supposed to do? I have no idea. And I think. I think I started using it a little bit more in sort of like, early 2017.
I started to actually understand what I was supposed to be doing. And I now absolutely love Instagram. And my following has grown. I mean, it's not a huge, huge, huge account, but it's sort of like, you know, 41,000, something like that. And it's grown. And the reason it's grown is because I'm me on it, you know, I mean, you don't, you don't get to see my sort of humorous side because I keep that for my live streams.
But, you know, what you do get is you get all of my sharing. So I will share anything that I've got to tell you. I'll tell you, you know, if you want to ask a question, I'll answer it. I get so many messages every day on Instagram, on email, on Facebook, and I will answer every single one of them. And if I don't answer one, it's because I've missed it and I haven't seen it.
But I will answer every single question that anybody asks me. And I see that as part of my job now. I see that as part of, you know, what I do and helping people. So, you know, it's so important to find out who you actually are. So, you know, really, really finding out who you are and how you can post and be unique. That's what's going to really help get your followings on your page and obviously good content.
Always with your pieces. If you've just started drawing or you're thinking of going full time, always think about your development. Always think about how you can develop your skills because that's really important. It's all very well running a business and creating and your portraits and everything like that, but you kind of need that bit of space for development as well. That's always been something really, really important for me is doing that continual professional development.
That's always been important for me in whatever I'm doing. I always want to be learning something new or developing or anything like that is really, really important. So make sure you put some time aside for that type of thing as well so that you can develop as an artist. And then the other thing that I did, well, we all do, don't we? We all follow our favourite artists and I asked a lot of questions of my favourite artists.
I went on workshops, you know, to learn different techniques. It's always good to learn a different technique, you know, if it's a different medium or something like that, or a different way that somebody works, I think it's always a good idea. Plus, you meet sort of like minded people, you meet other artists, that type of stuff. So I would say, you know, whichever artists you follow, ask them questions.
Hopefully they'll answer, some won't, you know, and that's. It's not because they're being rude. Well, I hope it's not because they're being rude. I don't think it's because they're being rude the majority of the time. It's because they're just too busy. They'll probably miss your question, you know, or they get so many questions that it's impossible to get through. But, you know, it's worth contacting your favourite artist and asking them questions, asking for a bit of help.
Hopefully they will give it to you. They might, they might just sort of send you to look at a video or something like that. And that's fair enough because, you know, we're all busy, you know, and if the answers are in a video, well, then, then perfect, you know, I tend to just answer questions, but then that's me, because I like chatting, you know, so ask. Go and follow your favourite artists.
Ask the questions. If you can get onto workshops with. It's a bit difficult at the moment because obviously we're all in lockdown, but, you know, if you can get onto workshops with your favourite artist, that's really worth doing as well because you get to see things firsthand. Hopefully you get to kind of ask questions, all of that type of stuff, you know, and it's just really nice to chat to people and to meet people.
And the other thing as well is, you know, don't forget, you know, I mean, when I first started drawing and I was following all of these different artists and I still get a little bit starstruck now, when they comment on my work. I'm like, oh, my God. But don't forget that, you know, everyone you're following, they're a person. They're just like you. They're sitting at home or in their studio or whatever, you know, they've got their issues, their problems, their, you know, successes and all of that type of stuff, but they're just normal people and, you know, just, just contact them and ask them questions.
I love it when people ask me questions. I love it when people contact me. You know, it makes me feel all special. But I'm just an ordinary person, you know, I'm a single mum. I've got two crazy dogs, three children, you know, I've got a mortgage that I need to pay. You know, I work hard. I try to be kind to people, you know. Well, I don't try.
I am kind to people. You know, I'm just a normal person. So, you know, don't, don't be worried about asking, contacting other artists and asking questions because they're all just normal people like you. And then I would say, do, you know, just go for it. Just go for it. There's no time like the present. I mean, at the moment, we're kind of going through a very, very strange moment in time.
Very strange. I don't think anybody really knows what's happening or what's going to happen, but let's take advantage. Let's take advantage of this time that we've all got. If you're stuck at home, you know, do some videos, do some drawing, get a plan made out, you know, really, really take advantage. And this is one of the things that I do, and I think I'm quite good at doing is, you know, taking a situation that's not particularly brilliant and flipping it and making something good out of it.
You know, I. I like to be happy. I like to be content. I don't like to feel anxious or stressed or anything like that. And I know it's not something that I can kind of switch on and switch off, but having done all of my coaching qualifications and everything like that, I have managed to find some strategies that if I do feel a little bit stressed or whatever, I can kind of bring myself down from it, you know?
So take this moment in time with all of this oddness and, you know, make a plan. Make a plan and do something, you know, and if you want some help, you are very welcome to contact me. Like I say, you know, I'm, I will help you in any way. I mean, I'm, I've I jump onto Skype calls nearly every day. People who, you know, I don't know, they've just contacted me and said, please, really help.
I'm there. Yep. What's your Skype? Let's have a quick chat because I'm here and I want to help, you know, and it's. And it's part of what I do. So, you know, don't ever feel scared about contacting people because what's the worst can happen? They can either ignore you or say no, you know, and that's that. So if you are out there and you are getting really old like me, I can't believe I'm 50 this year.
It's crazy. I'm still 17 in my head, but I just thought I'd have a chat and talk to you from perspective of an artist who has come to things quite late in life and who is very ordinary, who has actually got a face for radio, you know, middle aged, bit chubby, all on my own, crying dogs next to me. You know, if you can relate to that then, you know, hopefully this has been useful.
Maybe it's just been me just gabbling on, talking about a load of rubbish, but hopefully it's been a little bit useful for you.
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 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 in order to make it happen. Till next time.
