Unlocking Success in Creativity and Entrepreneurship with Marisa Cummings

Christine Li  0:01  
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 134. 

What if everything was possible? That is the interesting question my special guest today Marissa Cummings has asked herself over and over again, you're going to hear her story and how she created not only a successful career for herself, but how she's been creative in designing her success, too. Marissa is an LA based artist, designer and founder of creative Thursday. She's passionate about encouraging others to live a life they love, especially creatively. She also coaches artists in business. Her art sells worldwide and can be found in her own online boutique, as well as select galleries and shops like Urban Outfitters, Crate and Barrel kids and Papyrus. Marissa has designed at nine fabric collections and her book, creative Thursday, everyday inspiration to grow your creative practice was published in four languages on a mission to invite artists to rewrite their story of selling to value their work, and to consistently sell their creations to dedicated collectors online. Marisa founded the expansive artists, a community of business artists, she mentors, and yes, Iron Man owns her art, as seen in The Avengers end game. So she's this brilliant woman. She's this lovely woman, and she's so good at telling a great story of success. Let's go listen to Marissa and my interview now together.

Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn about powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important, and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. 

Hi, everyone. Its Dr. Christine Li again. Thanks for being here. Today. I am already having fun with my special guest, Marissa Cummings, we've both decided that we're gonna have a lot of fun with this conversation today. Marissa is an artist, textile designer, author, podcast host, business woman and business coach. We've got so much to learn from her today. And I'm so excited to welcome her to the show. Welcome, Marissa.

Marisa Cummings  3:03  
Thank you, Christine, thank you so much for having me.

Christine Li  3:07  
Thank you for being here. Let us know what you would like us to know about your background, who you are. And what is your list of passions?

Marisa Cummings  3:17  
Will this weekend long list? I would say first and foremost, it's creativity. Really, that's an umbrella for for so much, right. And that's part of the reason that I originally called myself my business creative Thursday because I just, I've always been drawn to creativity and also have had those elements of self doubt that can accompany that journey. And so maybe as I share it with you now I think about how it probably felt a little safe to call myself creative Thursday because I could I could go anywhere within that particular brand name, which often brings up the question, what does that mean? Why does creative Thursday why Thursday, and I'll share with you a really simple story behind that because it's just a powerful reminder for all of us that it was a small intention to be more creative. And for me, that was one day a week. So I didn't believe that I could be an artist. by that. I mean a professional artist. I always made art since I was a kid. And I went to school and said, You know, I will major in advertising because that seems like a very good business choice, a good career choice that also brings in the creativity because again, who really makes it as a professional artist, which as I often look back on life and look forward in life. There's just you know, a path that leads you to where you need to be. So advertising ended up being this incredible background to become an entrepreneur, which I had no idea that was in the cards for me either. So all of that to say that advertising led me to careers in both graphic design, and then interior design. And within both of those areas, or in both of those careers, I really still did not feel fully tapped into my creativity. And it's not that I didn't enjoy both of those careers, it's just very different, creating work for a client versus creating work for yourself. And ultimately, that's what being an artist for me is, is the ability to create work that I love, and have someone love it equally, that they purchase it for me. And to me, that's like the most incredible exchange. It's just like, Wow, it's amazing. It still amazes me and lights me up. Every time someone buys a painting. It's so special. And certainly, you know, I've enjoyed doing Commission's and illustration, work and design work when you get to collaborate with amazing collaborators that's really special in itself. But all along this journey of asking myself, you know, well, if I really believe in what's possible for me, I really believe I can do anything in this world. What does that look like? And it just gradually led me to a place where I said, you know, what, if I really could become an artist, it's always been there. What if I really went for that, and it all started with this intention of, well, let me just be more creative within these fields. I was working in interior design at the time, let me just pick one day a week. And I had a very dear friend, I was living in Boulder, Colorado, she had just given birth to twins. And she had started and entire business based upon her ceramics and that had grown so big. And she had a couple of challenges along the way. And she had to kind of pull it all back. And she leaned into motherhood, but she was also missing that creative side. So we would get together on Thursdays. And I say, Thursday's, just the day that I tend to have the best energy in the week, I don't know how most of us seem to have a day that is sort of our good energy days. So Thursday is that for me, it's like the beginning of the weekend. And it just I always love that day. And it just so happened that we would get together on this day. And then the story goes that we would have wine together, we would talk about ideas. We weren't necessarily even at that making art stage or making something creative. And I highlight that to say that there's so much power in an having an intention, and just allowing that to be and just enjoying that intention. And that that gradually, or to what you know, whatever pace you want it to go. That is ultimately what built a business. For me. It's sometimes it's still, it's so incredible to think that that one intention became so much and became the name of my business became the name of a book of about inspiring creativity. I took it into the podcast and has signified this intention for so many people who are wanting the same, just adding some creativity into their lives. So wonderful, love how it began.

Christine Li  8:52  
It's a wonderful story I love it sounds really smooth, as you tell it. And I'm hoping it felt that way. But I have a feeling there were oh

Marisa Cummings  9:08  
it was not smooth. Not at all.

Christine Li  9:13  
So So could you start telling us how you recognize that the interior design the graphic design work, though enjoyable was not fully satisfying to you. Was it a feeling or was it a way you went through your day? What was it for you?

Marisa Cummings  9:31  
That's a and yeah, I haven't been asked that question. So let me ponder that for a moment. Well, when I first started in graphic design, my very first job was at the Tampa Tribune, in Tampa, Florida. It was a newspaper I haven't. I haven't been to Tampa in a while. I'm assuming it's still there. But I was in the human resources department and I ended up having one of the best bosses, I've only had a couple of bosses, I've really, I've only had a couple of bosses at all. I've been working for myself for a very long time. And I've had two I really adore. And he was one of them. And he just gave me a lot of free rein to, I created an entire newsletter for the newspaper about the interior of all the employees working there. And, you know, he let me create a logo, and I just had so much creative license right away. And I think that then parlayed into me working within a tech company. So this is not even 2000. This is like late 90s. This is when I first was introduced to Adobe, and started working in Photoshop. And what fascinated me about that experience is that I ended up working alongside a lot of fine art grads. And I thought I could have done that. I could have we were in Florida. So they were super talented. They had a most of them had gone to the Ringling School of Art and Design, which I thought I had contemplated. Because I literally lived right there was a beautiful school. So there was that first awareness that I thought, oh, gosh, well, what if I had done that? What if I had pursued art as my major, I did end up pursuing it as best I could. They called it an outside concentration. So I did take classes in college. And within that environment, it was potentially, I would say it's not just the environment, there was a lot of competition among the artists. And it just there was a lot of you have to do it our way, instead of doing it, what your vision is, you know, and by our way, it's either aligning in that case with the company, of course, which makes sense, right? I'm not the founder of that company, they have a vision for the kind of work they want to create, but then with the clients. And there's certainly excitement in that and challenges within that. But if your vision doesn't align with the client's vision, and they aren't willing to listen to your expertise, which, you know, in fairness, I was like 2122, fine, I'm not gonna say it and have a vision I did. A lot of what I create today is, is similar, like I've always loved drawing by hand and bringing that into the computer, even then, and still to this day, even though I work digitally, I still love and nothing to me compares to something created by hand. But, you know, I just had to go along with a lot of vision. That wasn't what I saw, I think on its simplest level. And if you also have, I want to say this as diplomatic as possible, if you're also at all in contact with unhealthy collaborations, collaborators, whether that be within the team that you're working on, in that particular company had a very unhealthy leader that created a very unhealthy culture, I did end up having some very nice friends there certainly loved a lot of that being in a room full of creatives was fantastic, but the culture was off. And that also attracts certain kinds of clients. It's just always been a top down mentality to me. And it's so interesting that I see it play out again, and again, whoever's at the top of the organization, it just influences everything, the culture of the company, the clients that you attract. And it was similar in interior design that some clients were very, very high maintenance, and we were in their personal space. So then that became a whole other level of now we are someone's psychologist, therapist in their homes. And we were dealing with very high end clients. And there was a lot of just some people had come into a great fortune and then suddenly put all that investment into their home, but then maybe they weren't quite ready for everything that came along with that. And there was a lot of stress. When I think about it, I'm like we're just dealing with your house. But at the same time again, not to not to judge that. It's just the amount of stress that that brought people when I think about it now from this perspective, again, I was in my 20s when I was doing this work and assisting at the time primarily. I just think we really create a lot of upset for ourselves sometimes To over not such important issues. And when that starts to affect your day to day though, and it's when you're that young, you're also not able to fully set up boundaries. Now, if I were doing that work today, it would certainly look different. And what happened though out of those experiences is that it propelled me I guess I had and have high standards or high expectations around the environments, I want to be in the people I want in my life, the leaders I choose to be led by. And I just ultimately could not find an environment that would honor the vision I had, and also respect the way I would like to be treated. And so it just pushed me into entrepreneurship is quite honestly what happened. And I did, I loved my interior, design boss loved her, Marty, I just also didn't want to live in Florida. That is the truth there more than anything, but I kept feeling this desire not only to tap into more creativity, but I kept feeling a desire for more in my career, and I couldn't quite pinpoint what that was at the time. So there are many factors. I don't mean for that to become a bigger, broad story. But there are many factors that led me to wanting to create for myself and do so independently that came out of a couple of those experiences.

Christine Li  16:41  
Okay, thank you for sharing those. Could you tell us the flip side of that what may have been one or two experiences that really helped you to eliminate the self doubt when it came to being on your own and being an entrepreneur and choosing creativity as your primary and stable place to be?

Marisa Cummings  17:03  
The flip side? How did I get rid of self doubt basically, what was it? Well, here's a interesting part of the journey that was not included in the in the first the first synopsis. And that is that I ended up starting an E commerce company in the early 2000s. As an entrepreneur born out of interior design mistake, we create custom pieces for our clients. And this was a mistake that I made, I think I had gotten the measurements wrong on a sofa. And it was, you know, several $1,000 custom sofa. And my boss at the time, I was more independent. I was almost like a independent contractor within her company. But she still had to absorb that, which was unfortunate. And the problem solver in me was like, gosh, wouldn't it be great if there was a place that, you know, we could find clients who would love to purchase this? So it wasn't just this piece of furniture that we are now absorbing? You know, not only into the business financially, but physically where do we store this, and yet, it's this beautiful custom sofa. And so I started a company that was meant to match designer pieces with clients. And it was, I guess, well, it's kind of like what cherishes now today. So I was just about 15 years ahead of my time, the infrastructure wasn't quite there. And the short version of that story is that I was pitching design centers across the country, and I started in Denver, and then I got almost all the showrooms to agree to participate. And then I was moving on to Los Angeles. And something happened when I came out to Los Angeles. It was like my intuition. My world just ignited like, I never thought I'd live here. I don't know why I felt compelled to come out here. I had grown up in California for a little bit, but I never thought I'd live in Los Angeles. And I ended up moving here turning my entire life upside down. And I kept asking that question, the through line was always well, if I really believe in what's possible for me, what can I do? And that led me to acting. I decided to look into acting. And I started working wise, I got a commercial agent. And I would do some commercial jobs here and there. But on that journey, I was led to study improv at the Groundlings theater in Los Angeles. And it was through the practice of studying improv for comedy but improv is so improv is one of the most amazing things in terms of all the rules that go into it to make it very good. It seems like you're just off the cuff but there's a whole structure there that supports you being off the cuff. It was so liberating, I studied at nonstop for probably two years. And I did get on stage a couple of times. And it was so liberating to create so freely, with no net in front of an audience, that it gave me this confidence of, if I can do it, if I can do this, I can do anything. And I would have never guessed that that was the moment that invited me back to my art. So it was a complete, like, a complete zigzag of going down a path of acting to realize I don't want to read someone else's lines. Here's the theme again, right, I want to create for myself, and so I'd either make my own movie, or once you improvise, you just, there's nothing like it's just so free. That led me back to making art which had been there from the time I was a child. And it is what gave me confidence. It's that practice is what helped me eliminate the self doubt, at least enough to start putting my toe into the game.

Christine Li  21:05  
Okay, thank you for that great story. I know, a lot of people turn to improv for so many different needs and results. And I think it's something that maybe people in our audience can take away. As an option. If you're feeling like you need to unlock something, perhaps the local improv situation might be the unexpected container for your growth. I've heard that quite a bit in my work with have with people who are in development, too. As I'm listening to you, I'm thinking of two things. One is that you're creative, not just artistically, you're creative in terms of just how you think, and how you experience opportunity, and how you can turn your current situation into a bigger situation. That's my impression. And then my second impression is your independence that you have a strong pull towards freedom, independence, thinking for yourself doing for yourself, and that I just wanted to share with you, you probably know both of those things at this point. But they come through loud and clear. I just wonder, were you an independent child? Did you like to do just what you wanted to do when you were a kid too?

Marisa Cummings  22:29  
Yeah, I was. And some of that was probably due to being an only child, and an only child to more mature parents. And I just, you know, I had to fit into their lives. And I also had a lot of alone time and time to be in my imagination. Time to create, I think that's where a lot of the creativity really started to ignite was just during the very early part of my childhood. Yes, for sure. Yeah, great.

Christine Li  23:06  
I love your art. I just wanted to say that again. I love your Instagram, many videos where we're just watching you create and speak over the video, and you're so personable, and so open with sharing what your processes, can you just bring us into what you think about when you're creating what messages you want to put out into the world and the kind of people that you're attracting to your community these days.

Marisa Cummings  23:38  
Thank you, first of all, thank you, thank you for for being an Instagram friend. My words about my art coming from the journey I've been on. I'm self taught. As I shared, I took a couple of classes. But I certainly never felt like a person, you know, where people came up to me and said, Oh, my goodness, you're amazing, you should pursue your art. And very often, we also think of really strong artists as at least I did, you know, someone who can just illustrate anything from their mind, not a photo just they're amazing. So I had it's funny how we get these ideas in our head of what that is and artists so much more than that. And of course, that's an incredible skill that can also be taught. And so I kept finding myself in situations where I wasn't necessarily having someone really championing that for me. I did have my own mom, my grandmother, who's in who was in Germany, and I was just thinking about her the other day because it was her birthday. And I thought how much I loved creating when I was in Europe and how she was a huge part of of that support for me really Lee was one of my primary supporters. But having come into art as an adult, being primarily self taught, I have a huge passion of telling everyone I know we're supposed to niche down, right? She says, I know everyone is creative, right? I opened my book with I believe everyone is creative. I do. And I also, I want anyone who feels that call to follow it. And that's not necessarily as a profession that just happened to work out for me. And then I'm extra passionate about helping any creative, especially visual art happens to be my specialty. But I love you know, I love inspiring, I basically love and inspiring anyone with a dream to pursue it, and then bring that down to creativity. I want to invite people into what's possible for them, and my art happens to be that pathway. And when you say that you enjoy my art I always want to ask, especially now because I'm, I'm in an evolutionary process that I'll understand a little bit further down the line. But is it the character work that really speaks to you? Or is it because I do I do everything. I'm known primarily for my characters. I do everything from floral to abstract to more realistic like I can, I can cover a lot of territory with my art. So I was curious, when you talk about my art, what stands out to you the most,

Christine Li  26:41  
I think about the piece that you did, where you were just doing gentle brushstrokes, and all of a sudden, on your wooden canvas, I think it was a wooden canvas, it might not have been a series of candy wrappers, and I'm up, maybe it was just the the intersection with my sweet tooth, but it was so beautiful and your color uses vibrant. There's a lightness to your process from from my point of view, that I enjoy, and that it seems to be very free that your your work process seems to be lively, open and free. And I think I'm drawn to the whole thing. So not just the images, which the animals I love as well. But I think it's the color the process you behind the art and also just the vibrant results that you get.

Marisa Cummings  27:37  
Thank you for sharing that. It's interesting that you chose that particular piece. When I first started making art. I don't know, you know how and where this came from. But I was able to look at something and replicate it. And that even to me as a 13 year old 15 year old that impressed me. I'm like, How do I how is this present? I don't know. But it's in there. And it it came naturally to me. And I thought well, I want to experiment with these candy wrappers. This Halloween, we get, we get about between 1015 100 kids that come to our neighborhood that come to our block. And we love Halloween. And it happens to be a very big event here. And it was the first time that we were reopening after everything that we've been through the last couple of years. And we might partake in Halloween candy ahead of Halloween. Because they're legit wrappers that I noticed when we after we watched the movie, Sean and I there are these wrappers and like, gosh, those look really cool, open, and all together because of the colors. And it's all those little mini candies that we're talking about. And so I took a photograph of that. And that's what I worked from for that particular painting. And certainly, it was really fun also to ask everyone what their title was. I had some of the best titles, which I ultimately landed on Halloween hangover was my title for that piece. But to answer your question, there is an accessibility and that I'm seeking to connect with in my art like in that case, there's just well who I don't want to say who doesn't love a little Halloween candy? Who doesn't? Someone has a favorite somewhere even if you aren't having it all the time. And what happened though initially with my art as I was sharing with you, I didn't have a whole I knew I could create from a photograph. I knew I could create from a still life. But I wasn't as confident believing I could create from imagination. And it was an art show that a group of women artists and I put together in LA that we call the dark Ling's where we all agreed we would make a character and we were all making sweet or art are. And we were challenging ourselves to come into the dark side, which of course, everything was still cute. Even my dark characters, they're still cute, can't help it. We made the dark wings and it was the dark laying, I was looking to the left, because I still have the original Dark lane that I made. And that particular event, that challenge brought out the awareness that I could indeed create from my imagination. And that led to characters that then came through and what was a daily art practice. And yes, I paint on wood, I typically tend to paint smaller, so that I have that quick result, I was able to scan those I was able to then turn that into reproductions. And that ended up starting the beginning of building my for our business listeners, my email list, my business, my everything. It just was like this beautiful domino that kicked into this practice that brought through these characters. And the reason I share the story of the characters is that they became cheerleaders for me. So as I was I mentioned how improv helped me to let go of some of the self doubt initially, it comes back. Anytime you're growing, right? Krissy, it comes back. It's a sign that you're growing. It's okay, it happens for all of us. I've been I've been doing this, I'm about to celebrate my 16th year as a working artist, but I bought my domain in 2004, which makes it almost I think I'm doing the math 19 years that I've had creative thursday.com And I still experience a form of self doubt when I'm growing. Now I just recognize it as that's okay. That's just means I'm I'm venturing into something new. And the characters I look back now, because a lot of them are holding hands. A lot of them are just they sort of stand in solidarity. They emanate a lot of love. They emanate a little bit of humor, they emanate a little bit of skepticism, healthy skepticism, to call it and they represented this group that really cheered me on. And it's why I chose to put them as the cover of the book that I wrote on creativity because a lie notice that as people were collecting them, that's what it did for them was like, these characters went out into the world and cheered them on and whatever they were needing a little support and love. And they they just were that for them. And certainly they ended up in a lot of babies rooms, there's a lot of babies in the world that grew up with these I have been sent some beautiful photos of babies literally reaching up for them. So there's some innocence in them, I realized they probably are connected to my childhood and that way, like almost like imaginary friends, as characters that supported me. And that is all the same mission of you know, I'm here for for you. I'm on the journey with you. I'm sending you love I just want to cheer you on. And that is an essence, I think what ultimately comes through in my art, you know, wanting to inspire creativity and say, Look, if I can do it, you can you can do it too.

Christine Li  33:34  
I think you really pull that off, at least from what I've seen. Could you talk about your community and what you've learned from being the host and leader and guide for this community and what they've also given you in return?

Marisa Cummings  33:47  
Sure. So coming into this and realizing I could create a business out of it. And a lot of that was due to this incredible space called the Internet and, and online, I basically built the entire business online and brought people into the journey very early with a simple my first podcast was 2006 and went something like this, Hey, I've always wanted to pursue creativity. I also really want to do work I love I'm gonna give this thing a go. You want to come along and see how it works out for me. And you can you know if you feel inspired to do the same, let's do it together. Let's turn our creativity into work that we love. And so I attracted not only collectors who loved the work, but it did open that door for a number of artists to begin saying well what if this was possible for me to and my first online course was 2008 who is called in the fishbowl life as an artist online. And it was how to market and maneuver, making art that you love in this online space. And I realized the reason that that even came to be because I didn't, I didn't think I would be an artist or who didn't think I'd be an entrepreneur certainly didn't think I was meant to be an educator or a mentor. There's just a passion for helping. And I think people could sense that I was certainly blogging and inviting people into the journey at the time. And they kept asking me, How do I do what I do. But there was a very weaving self doubt back in, I started that course. But my art business was also taking off. I didn't know to hire help. There weren't mentors in business as artists, at the time that I knew I could reach out to especially who had online experience, we were sort of the pioneers in that space. And so I felt I had to choose and I chose my art, which I'm really grateful for it. It's when I designed the fabric, that's when I wrote a book. It was very, very fruitful time for me. But I always wanted to help. And I started making mistakes, I started making business mistakes that were were threatening what I had worked so hard to build, and I really wasn't having answers. And I was a little, that independent streak, I was a little stubborn about feeling like I could get help. And like I said, I didn't know who to turn to within my industry. So I turned to a lot of our shared mentors, and I found my way back to education with this incredible passion to help make an artist's journey easier with everything I learned. So not only Hey, yes, this is possible for you. But hey, how about let me shave off years of time on your journey? How about I'm not going to remove all the challenges because they're a part of your journey. But I do want to remove the struggle around the challenges and help you feel less alone that we all can appreciate within a community. It's just so great to find people like you, Christine, you know, to be in a world where someone understands an online business owner, a creative artist. And so all of that led to me wanting to create a community that I didn't see happening online and the way I wanted an inclusive community, a non competitive oddly, I found creative, surprisingly more competitive than one might think. And I wanted a generous community that felt safe, that's a really important piece to creating your best art is to feel safe, and cared for and nurtured. And I also tend to be really direct about business, I'm not here to I love making art, I think it's one of the most incredible paths you can choose. And it's not for everyone, to turn it into your business. And the online space requires a lot from us these days, it requires an immense skill set. It's not meant to be done alone as a solopreneur anymore. And you know, it's okay for us to make money as artists and own that as well. So I tend to be really direct, whereas I found in my creative space and still find that people romanticize it more. And it's not really helping our industry. It's not helping our industry actually support themselves with the work that they're making, because they're looking out competitively and building businesses based on what other people are doing on Instagram, instead of actually putting a solid business together, which that took me years to learn, and in some cases the hard way. And so I wanted to create not only that warm and friendly environment, but also an environment that was going to educate on business. And so I created the expansive artists. And it's been incredibly rewarding to see someone come in sometimes at the beginning of their journey of can I do this and, and within six months to a year or two, they're like, Yeah, I'm doing it. It happened. I mean, wow, there's just nothing better, nothing better. And you know, what it has given me as is certainly the community aspect of I get to engage with some of the coolest humans and see incredible art and be a part of a creative community that has shared values and you know, wants to support each other and it's just I get everything I figure out I get really excited to take to them and share and it's just been an incredible exchange that way.

Christine Li  39:47  
I love this. I love this. I love this. And I have been thinking as you're describing these different stories, how it has been a windy path for you, but that it all real We followed your initial intention just to make space for creativity. And to make sure that you were enjoying yourself along the way that you were really engaged in activity that you really cared about and loved. And I love this entire all the stories that you've shared, they've all been meaningful. And I can see how they've all contributed to the business and the artist, career that you have for yourself now, and I know you're, you're continuing to grow and learn and change. And this is just another point on the journey. But congratulations on building all of this and succeeding as an artist in business to as an artist and as an artist and business.

Marisa Cummings  40:44  
Thank you so much. Yeah, it's, I often say, you know, I just want to help people do work they love that supports a life that they love. I mean, that's, that's what we're here for. And it's why I was just gonna share with you I've been in the most tedious like four days, but worth every minute of it, where I have been doing deep digital organization went through notes. Alright, four years of notes. And Christine, we've been on a lot of coaching calls together. Yeah. Conferences. Oh, my gosh, so many notes. But what was cathartic, and I organize those notes or, or let them go. But there was a lot of good information I saved on my notes on my phone, I guess that's what it's there for. I saw this through line of these last four years, which is really been primarily dedicated to the education side of my business. And it's always been there. And I share this story, because I think sometimes as we're building something, or venturing into a new part of our career, or really anything, we we can really overthink what's already there. Yeah, it's pretty, it's pretty simple. You know, when we think about intuition, and how I've been paying more attention, because it's quieter than all the other stuff that's going on in my mind. And it's gentle, and it's quiet. And it's just never not present in terms of the message that I have to share the environment I want to create, whether online or in person, the relationships, I want to cultivate what I want coming through and my art, it's always been there. And whenever I find my way back to what that is, that's honestly when self doubt just goes away almost entirely, is finding, finding my way back. So I appreciate your acknowledgement and recognition of I do jokingly say that I use the word love way too much of my coffee. And back in the day, though, the very first coach I hired, that was a huge influence for me, early on, and I remember him saying to me, he's like, your most just simple reason. It's just love and creativity. Everything you do is love and creativity. Like that's it. That's what it is. And so I woven it into it is like one of my sign offs in my in my email, but I've come to embrace it right? Sometimes we kind of meander away and then we just go that's what it is. He was right. That's what it is. It's it's pretty much weaving that into everything that we do. And, you know, I always made a point of yes, we can build a life as an artist. Oh, and by the way doing work love, which then supports a life that you love. No keeping the the big picture in mind with everything that we're doing, and how is this really fulfilling what it is that we want most in life that is most satisfying for us and emphasizing that that looks very different for every individual. So when I do coach, my artists and when I think about myself, because I'm still asking myself that question, well, what if everything's possible? Why or would I take this now? I always remind my, again, myself and everyone. There isn't this one goal that we're all trying to reach. It's all very much about what does success look like for us? And you know, how can we cultivate what that definition is? How can we cultivate an environment, a life, business, relationships that support what that definition is for us as individuals. And what's so unique about a path as a creative is there's a Not a better path where that makes more sense, because we all make different art. We all work eight creatively most creatives and really can access it on all levels or many different areas, disciplines. And so that individuality is so important to come back to

Christine Li  45:20  
thank you, Marisa, for reminding us of these really important life and career lessons or their heart lessons. And I think we can stray and we can make mistakes, and we can come across lots of different hurdles. But like you said, the gentle intuition always remains. And you always have lots of opportunities, I think, to explore where your creative path and your love path are going to lead you. So thank you, Marisa, for being such a role model, with your stories and with your work. And with your commitment to really seeing this all through and to teaching new people along the way can you share with us how our listeners can stay in touch with you and potentially work with you to?

Marisa Cummings  46:05  
Yeah, thank you so much receive creative thursday.com is always, it's always an easy way to find me, which is also at Creative Thursday on Instagram, if you want to message me there, let me know that you heard this episode I was so appreciate that, if it made a difference for you, I would love to know. And I also have at the profitable artists plan.com. I also have a five step roadmap to building a profitable business. You know, I touched on the money side of art, it is a passion of mine. Not to say that we all need to agree on what that number looks like. But we we need to decide what that number looks like for us because we live in a in a physical world where money is part of what supports us. And it is truly such an incredible exchange when someone purchases the art that your gift and you value it and you feel good about that there's a way that you know that the value you placed on it is right when that exchange feels so good. So I have learned over the years of how to set myself up in business. So we're not just Yes, bringing money in selling our art and then have our expenses. And then at the end of the day, because because I've done this we're like, and what am I doing tomorrow to support myself and business. And I started a business with debt, which I don't recommend, it just worked out that way. So I get really passionate about helping you to build something sustainable, that is profitable for you. And again, that's going to look different based upon the art that you make where you live based upon your financial desires, your financial necessities. And so I like to help, I like to help you figure that out. So that you're starting from a place that you know you can build upon instead of potentially lead to burnout, which can happen for a lot of artists is that we build we do build a business on what we love. And then we realize, oh wait, the way we're pricing ourselves or the way that we've structured our business is just no longer. It's not sustainable, or it's not sustainable if we become a parent, or if we are caretaking or we're you know, there are other responsibilities in our life, that suddenly or health situation. You know, when we're business owners, I think we opened this was saying that we would have fun. I hope it has been fun for you, Christine, it has been amazing listener. I know that is part of your skill set. You're beautiful listener. And I tend to go on in my stories, but I always circle back my inspired tangents as I call them. But you know, we want to I find that business is creative, I find that business is fun. And I really like to dispel this resistance and stereotype that art and money are mutually exclusive, or Wait, am I saying it right? They're not mutually exclusive, that you know, profit is a part of our business as well. And that artists can be very strong in business by leveraging their creative skills and that it can be very fun to run your business. So that's another infusion that I like to put into my business coaching. So that doesn't feel like this daunting. I got a business and now I can't make art right we I want to help you build a business that allows you the freedom and the time to make the art that you want. I think many times that's why an artist goes into business is to really support the passions that they have within their creativity. And so how can we do that? How can we make that a really fun dance to do together, and not in the silence or the solitude of our studios as artists, which can happen as well, but really, as a community that we can cultivate that kind of energy together and support each other in creating, creating those kinds of businesses? Those kinds of creative businesses?

Christine Li  50:28  
Yes, let's go for it. Yes, I will,

Marisa Cummings  50:32  
artists plan.com.

Christine Li  50:35  
Beautiful you did. And I will make sure to include that in the show notes. I'm going to look forward to seeing Risa in person sometime soon, we enjoy seeing each other at conferences and in our shared communities. And you can see ladies and gentlemen, how wonderful a leader and guide, Marissa is and can be for you. So I encourage you to connect with her find that Halloween hangover post for me.

Marisa Cummings  51:02  
It's on Instagram, I don't think it's on my site at the moment. And yeah, as you mentioned, in person, I'm excited. And maybe when this comes out, I'm excited that we're having a collaborating with a dear friend, and we're doing a design and painting workshop in person. And we're weaving, we have a business day, it's like over a weekend, and you can join us for one or all three days. But I plan to be doing more of those events, and also, potentially bringing back retreats, again, possibly in Europe. And so there's nothing better than taking all of this and getting to come together in person. As we know. It's just such a powerful experience. And I'm so grateful we get to do that again. And so come and make some art. Let's make some art together. Let's always make that our pre priorities are creative time and our creative practice.

Christine Li  51:56  
All right. I love it. I love your creativity. I love your love. I can't wait to see what happens from my listeners connecting with you. So please keep me in the loop everyone, including Marisa, and just share this episode out with your creative friends and your own community. And let's continue to learn with each other. Thank you, Marissa best wishes to you as you move forward on your journey. And I will see you soon. Thank you so much for being here.

Marisa Cummings  52:24  
Thank you so much, Christine. It's an honor to be with you. I appreciate your wonderful energy that you bring wherever you go and through your podcast as well. So thank you.

Christine Li  52:35  
Thank you. All right, everyone, we're signing off with love and creativity. Go enjoy. We'll see you soon I'll drop another episode on my drop day, which is always Thursday. Bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. We'll talk to you soon!

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