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Art + Audience
Ep. 42: Building a Brand That Can Survive the Pivot: Mindy Young on Risk Resilience and Going All In
00:35:36
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- [00:01]
A
The Bleacher Report app is your destination for sports right now. The NBA is heating up, March Madness is here, and MLB is almost back. Every day there's a new headline, a new highlight, a new moment you've got to see for yourself. That's why I stay locked in with the Bleacher Report app. For me, it's about staying connected to my sports. I can follow the teams I care about, get real time, scores, breaking news and highlights all in one place. Download the Bleacher Report app today so you never miss a moment.
- [00:30]
B
Like, all these little changes they made had big impacts on people who were doing very well there. And I know I'm not the only one. And so but at the same time, it's their platform. They can do whatever they want with it. And I realized then I've built enough. Now it's time for me to, like, go to the next step.
- [00:49]
C
Wouldn't it be nice if your art business loved you back? Hi, I'm Stacy Bloomfield. After years of trial and error and late night doodling, I went from being a coffee shop manager to running a vibrant seven figure art business that I love. And now I'm on a mission to help more artists create an art business that they love too. So I invite you to find a cozy spot, pull out your favorite sketchbook, and listen in. It's never too late to chase your creative dreams. Welcome to the Art plus Audience podcast. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Art plus Audience podcast podcast. I'm so excited today because we're joined by one of my my good friends in just powerhouses in this creative industry, Mindy Young of Indie Bloom Design. Hi, Mindy.
- [01:35]
B
Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to be here.
- [01:39]
C
I'm really happy that you're here. First of all, I think you're brilliant and lovely and kind and you're a mama like me building this thing for your family. But also, I think that you and I have a lot in common in terms of how we just never give up on what we're building and we're not afraid to pivot. And I think a lot of people in our audience really would benefit from hearing a story from someone to look up to like you, Mindy, because you're so admired in our world and rightfully so, about the pivots you've made and why you've made them and why you're not afraid to make those changes whenever you feel like you're led to make them. So. So before we dive into all of that, Mindy can You tell everyone just a little bit about yourself if they're new and don't know who you are.
- [02:22]
B
Yes. I started designing in 2016 when I had my last daughter. I was looking for stuff to put in her nursery or dress her in, and I couldn't find the style that I was looking for. So I like, I'm just going to create this. And then I put it on Facebook. My friends and family were like, hey, I want to buy that, too. Then I ended up, like, trying to figure it out and found Snowflower selling all of my designs still flower. I actually didn't even know how to make a real, like, repeating pattern at the time. I was just kind of, like, eyeballing it and made hundreds of designs that way. Then I had to go back and fix them all. When I figured out how to make a real repeating pattern, my design just really resonated there and took off. I built my business there. I made multiple six figures selling on Springflower for years. Then, as we continue to grow, do we want to make this sustainable? And Spoonflower made lots of changes here. A couple years ago when they sold to Shutterfly, really affected my business big time. It scared me because my husband had left his job. He was working full time for me now. We thought we had everything made and in the bank. And then when everything started to shift, I realized I built my foundation based on someone else's platform and someone else's rules. And even though Spinflowers are a wonderful place for artists to get started and build their portfolios and their brand, I realized, though, like, to be a sustainable business, to build my own foundation now, now that I knew what worked, now that I knew, like, what sold well, I realized that I needed to make that fit. So we started manufacturing and selling our own wallpaper because we knew that sold well on Spoonflower, and we knew that's where we could kind of pivot and. And it has been the biggest, the hardest thing I've ever been through. I will say, like, I went through a couple of years where I thought it was going to break me, and it's right when I decided to start teaching everybody how to do Spoonflower, too. So it all kind of was piled on at once. It was overwhelming. I will say, though, it was the best growing experience for me. And now we're, like, starting to see the sunshine after going through a few cloudy years. That's kind of like the story, and we can dive deeper into it. But, like, that's kind of like my story. And I got started, and where I Grew from, I guess.
- [04:41]
C
Yeah. So, Mindy, I've watched you throughout this journey because I met you maybe four years ago online. And watching you go from drink to strength, people assume looking at you and how beautiful your artwork is and how articulate you are, you know, that like, you know, it must be great to be men young all the time, you know, but you're right. People don't realize that in order to build a brand, and we're going to talk a lot about building a brand, not on someone else's foundation, why that's important, you have to be willing to go through hard things. Like, you have to choose the hard that you're willing to go through. And a lot of times people want something that looks really great on social media, but they may not necessarily be willing to keep going whenever something changes suddenly. Like you said, I remember the day Spoonflower sold, and I remember my gut being like, nothing ever good happens whenever something goes from one hand to the other in our world. And my foundation wasn't on Spoonflower, but, you know, years ago, my foundation was on Etsy. And so I realized that I couldn't continue to build something that was mine using Etsy as my foundation. And so I went through that arduous journey of feeling like I was about to lose it all. Am I going to shut down? What am I going to do to finding the way forward that has created stability and growth, which, you know, you say it out loud like that and it's like, oh, it's one sentence, one long run on sentence, and then we're here on the other side. Would you mind going into a little bit more detail about what it really is like to be someone who people follow and admire and you teach them online whenever behind the scenes, you're actually having to change your whole kind of identity as a business owner.
- [06:34]
B
Yeah. So I would say the best thing that you can do as an artist really is truly serve your audience and know who you are talking to. Because if you are just creating beautiful things every day, you're a hobbyist. Like, you're not actually being serious about making it a business. And you have to come to terms with like, when you are ready to go, I'm ready to go from hobbyist to actually making money with my art and, like, being a business owner. And there's a big difference there. And you have to step into that role when you're ready. But when you're ready, that's when it, like really starts to take shape and you really start to start building foundations that are going to help make you successful. And until you make that decision in your own mind, like, nobody can force you to do it. You have to just really commit to like giving your all to it. Because then you're going to obsess about, like, who you're selling to every day. You're going to start understanding other things that you can help them with, and that stands out. And I will say, like, we've been able to pivot, thankfully, based on data that we had on Spoonflower, knowing what sold best. And you were able to like, really lean into that customer as well. I had to switch my customers who I was speaking to before. I was speaking to fabric designers and small business owners. And then I had to make this pivot to speaking to now people who buy wallpaper, interior designers. I had to start speaking a different language and learning that. And there was a little lull for when I made that jump from one ship to the other. And it was scary because you don't know if it's going to work. But there comes a point where, like, you're all in. Like, you've burned the boats like you, you said, I am. There's no back door for me to go run to anymore. Like, I am all in. And that is the difference maker with, I think, artists who are actually successful and artists who are dabbling and just barely getting by. There's people who are like, all in. And I am all in. In my business, no matter which direction I'm going, I'm going to go a hundred percent. And that is understanding who I'm selling to, where my style, like, if it needs to shift a little bit in the colors, the motifs that are popular, you know, what's selling well on wallpaper. Now I have to do that research and understand, okay, like, can I do this? Does my art style fit here? Am I willing to change my art style a little bit if it needs to change to be sold, like, you have to know what sells well. And so really understanding that, I think and having those foundations in business makes you so much more successful as an artist when you are all in and focused and like very clear on the path that you want to take forward.
- [09:25]
C
Let's talk a little bit about what it actually means to have a foundation in business. Because two things I want to say real quick and then get your feedback on it. First of all, I see so often people say, you know, I want to be self made, I want to build my own career. I want creativity to be the thing that pays my bills. And I mean, I Wanted that too. I've wanted it since I was a little kid. But a lot of times people don't realize that anytime you're building a business, whenever you face your first obstacle, your face, your first roadblock, the thing that you put out there, and it doesn't work. A lot of times people read into that, especially, I feel like creatives, that it is assigned from the universe that you are on the wrong page path. And so I see a lot of people have these false starts. They start something and then something doesn't work right away. And they're like, okay, I'm gonna. I'll put it on pause for a while. And then before you know it, it's on pause for a very long time. And then I see the people who are the serial dabblers who start multiple businesses, and they just don't have enough energy to go, like you said, 100% in on something. I'm the same way as you, Mindy. When I'm into something, I'm all in. When I worked at Starbucks, I was the best Starbucks ambassador in the whole freaking world.
- [10:34]
B
I'm.
- [10:34]
C
I convinced everybody because I believed it too. I believe in what I'm saying. I believe that, like, at the time, it was the best thing you could do. And so whenever you're working with someone who's a creative and they want to build this thing and they. They hit these roadblocks and the moments that will either make or break them. How do you help someone now not give up? And how do you convince them that it's okay, that it's going to be painful along the way? But that's actually how you get better and better. Because how do you advertise? I love pain. Pain is good. It means it's growth without people being like, she's weird. Gonna run away now.
- [11:12]
B
Exactly right? No one wants to hear how painful it's actually going to be. They just want to hear that sunshine and rainbows. But it's not. And it is, though. At the same time, it's. It's beautiful. When you're aligned, if you're aligned to sell the type of product that you started with, it absolutely is going to be something that is painful, but it's joyful pain. Like, you're. You're enjoying the process, you're enjoying the growth, and you're, like, willing to, like, sacrifice for it, because you're gonna have to sacrifice some things for a little bit anyways. And there's always give and take in your business. But I would say, like, if you're not aligned to sell the product. If you're selling. If you're trying to sell a product or sell like say your surface pattern designs on product that is not aligned with, like, who you are, what you wanna do, where your style fits, it's not going to do well and you're gonna burn out. You're gonna wanna give up because you don't love it that much. And so what I like to tell designers is like, find a product that like, you love, that you obsess about and make sure that your art style fits there too. Like, do the market research first, make sure it fits in alliance and then obsess about it and tell everybody about it. Pretend like you're the only person in the world that is selling that to people because that's the energy that you're going to need to launch. Because you got to talk about it all the time. Not just one post, not just uploading four designs to Spoonflower and then ghosting it for months because nobody liked or bought your designs. You have to show up a lot to get people to even notice you once. And like, I'm telling my students that I teach, I'm telling them, like, you've got to create like at least 12 pieces of content for like the one surface pattern design that you just released. Like, people need to know about it and hear about it a lot pretty you to like, resonate. And so it's like, making sure that you have that alignment is going to help you so much. And if you're still pushing it and nobody's buying, like, for say like three to six months, you've been doing this. You're all in. You're showing up, you're doing the work that it actually takes. Then if no one's paying attention, that's where it's kind of like, okay, does my art style need to change a little bit to make this more trendy so that people will buy it? Do I need to look at a different product type to put my artwork on? You know, you start to kind of evaluate, like, where did I go wrong? And it's usually starting with, like, you. Like, you are your niche. Like, you're the person, like anything that you love, your art style, everything. Like, you have to go all in on something that you love and make sure that you're talking to somebody too who loves that kind of stuff, because that's when it connects. That's the magic maker.
- [13:49]
C
And, you know, for me, you know, Mindy, you and I are very different in terms of our style of how we create. And I'd say, like, that's important. We have to lean in to what makes us different. My followers know a couple things about me. They know that I love Scotland and Outlander. They know that I watch a lot of television. They know that I love to draw animals. They know my dogs. But they also love my art on tea towels and love Gingerbread, the business that I built for all these years. And there are people who have been along the journey for now 17 years who remember when my core product was a hand cut calendar. Then my core product became a hand sewn pillow with the fronts from Spoonflower. I was once one of their biggest buyers, just buying my own stuff from them to sew and sell. And then it became tea towels. So sometimes you have the right product and, and then things change in the industry. Saturation in your what, what you do really well. Like, you know how you said the beginning, like you have to pretend you're the only person I was like, I am the only person who can sell this calendar, this Fox calendar. But then other people start making Fox calendars. So then if you're really aware of your numbers and what sells and who your people are that you're serving and you're obsessed about it, then it's really easy to think what is the next thing, thing that I can do really, really well right now and do it before the need is there. I think this is what I'm going to get at. It's this anticipatory thing. The more you know your people, the more Angie, who works with me, you know, my sister, we like to say that we've always made the right change just in time. Just in time. And I think that's only because we're so intimately connected with our business, our products and what we love doing and what we're best at. And so speak on that a little bit, if you don't mind, because you had to make pivots yourself in products that you focused on. So let's go in there.
- [15:40]
B
Yeah. So I would say I, I was feeling that with Spoonflower. When they made their changes, I like instantly started seeing like, or hearing like the customers not super happy with the quality. I had huge accounts that said, we're leaving Spoonflower, we've bought there for years. And I don't want this to be like a negative thing on Spoonflower because it's still such a great place. Like, I just want to like, we're still making like $4,000 a month and I'm not even really putting effort There, like, it's still a great place. But I will say, their. Their shift, which it happens when they sell to corporate, makes huge impacts on people, and we had to adjust to those. And so even though I'm still doing great there, I wasn't doing as great as I was. And we. We had bills to pay. We. My husband left his job, and we started, like, having to figure that out.
- [16:29]
C
And.
- [16:29]
B
And the only thing I could think of is how do we pivot? Like, how. How do we do this on our own so that we have control? Because we had no control over this. We. I could keep showing up, but also with their changes, I would have had to show up, like, double what I was already doing, which was really hard to do because I was already giving so much, and I couldn't give. Like, I couldn't make more designs than I already was because I was already creating lots of designs. And because of the way they structured their tiers now to hit, like, the bonus and payouts and everything, it would have taken a lot more energy. And I'm like, I can't physically do this. So we have to figure this out. And so an opportunity came along where we were able to start manufacturing, and now we can. Now we have full control over the sales. The way we push people to our site, the. The emails we capture, that was another huge thing. Spoonflower made it so you couldn't talk to your customers anymore.
- [17:22]
C
That's a big problem when that happened.
- [17:25]
B
Yeah, that's hard because I was doing lots of communication between my customers, asking what they wanted, hearing their feedback. You know, that is so important for you as a successful business owner, to get that kind of feedback so that you can make good decisions, so you can make more money. And so, like, all these little changes they made had big impacts on people who were doing very well there. And I know I'm not the only one. And so, but at the same time, it's their platform. They can do whatever they want with it. And I realized then I've built enough. Now it's time for me to, like, go to the next step. And so just make sure everyone understands, like, you can absolutely still do great on Spoonflower now and build, but you've gotta have an endpoint in mind. You have to have bigger dreams. You have to think about this, because at first it's like, you just want to get sales, which is great. You just want to start somewhere, which is awesome. But you got to keep growing. You got to keep going. How can I make this sustainable for my family if If I'm really going to do this as a business forever, you know what is sustainable? Because what it starts at is not sustainable if you're on someone else's platform. And so you got to think about that over time. Where do you want this to grow? Write those things down. It doesn't have to be today. You don't have to start today because I wouldn't tell someone to go do exactly what we're doing now. You in the beginning, because it's a lot harder to get traffic if you don't have traffic already. It's a lot harder to do that on your own. Getting started on a platform that already has traffic is perfect for beginners. So that's like, I don't know.
- [19:00]
C
No, I get it. You're leading to this perfect pivot point. Because what I teach my students is meet, make, move. So you're meeting people on Spoonflower, you're figuring out who they are intimately, knowing them inside and out, like you know who the indie bloom girl is. And we'll talk about that in a second. Your pivot towards Wallp, why you've gone all in on that. Then you have to literally make the right things for them. But then what you really have to do is find a way to connect with them off of that platform. And platforms make that really, really difficult. Which is why we obsess. And you obsess over email now. So, you know, early days on Etsy, I also didn't collect emails and I was like one of the best sellers early on in my category on Etsy and there was a lot of money left on the table. I actually made a calculator that everyone can grab. We'll have the link for it below this episode when it's out. But it's a marketing lane calculator to try to help people understand how important the effort of trying to get someone to give you their email is. It doesn't just have to be a lead magnet with money ads behind it. It doesn't have to be just a post. But like, if there is a way for you to incentivize somehow someone on Spoonflower to sign up for your email list by whatever ways they still allow. You have to do it. Because you know now and I know when I'm selling my products through ads, let's say now selling a tea towel, Facebook ads, whether you like Facebook or not. And I have mixed feelings, it can cost me anywhere between $8 and $20 to get one conversion. Think about that. So if you on your own, which is A little extra effort while you're on someone else's platform can work on getting people over to talk to you on your own email list and take control of that. It's worth your hourly time to do that because it becomes very expensive to acquire people whenever you don't have your own platform. It's going to be time, it's going to be money. So whenever you are somewhere else, you have to have that endpoint of mind. Like you said, Mindy, how do I get them? It's my world, so I can control this. Because email marketing, when you're selling a product of your own, like your wallpaper, becomes one of your best assets. So you decided to go all in on wallpaper. I know it's a higher price point item. You know, if someone's going to buy it, they're going to buy several rolls either for a, you know, wall or a whole room. Tell us a little bit about the adventure into wallpaper, why you chose it and who your girl is who wants it.
- [21:21]
B
Yeah, so I kind of already was like there a little bit on Spoonflower because I was selling to fabric buyers and wallpaper buyers. They were both buying those things. But my numbers showed that the wallpaper was selling better at the time. I made my pivot. So that's kind of why we decided to lean in that way. I didn't want to sell my own fabric. I've tried that before, actually. And I realized I didn't want to be somebody who cuts fabric and ships fabric. I want to be the person that designs it. And I became the cutter and the shipper. And we were doing it in my basement on my ping pong table. And I just realized like, okay, this is not what I want to do. People still begged me for that quality because I found really good quality in China that I was printing. But I just, I. The. The physical labor was not what I wanted. And now I know I probably could have hired somebody to do that for me. But, you know, you have to try. You have to try things and not be afraid to try. And so then going over to wallpaper, I already knew my stuff was selling on wallpaper well, and I realized that it's mainly for little girls rooms because I was seeing customer images, people were tagging me on Instagram. So I knew that was the market that I kind of needed to hit was I'm going to be known as the wallpaper girl for little girls rooms and nurseries. And that's like, kind of like the market that I'm going to target. And everyone says, you know, like, you don't need to go niche. But I believe in niching or niching, however you say it, because it truly does make a difference, especially when you're making a pivot and you have to be loud. We needed to make money. We needed to make up the losses because we were like, we were bleeding out. I just knew I had to go all in. And so I started creating mockups that didn't look like everybody else's on the market. I. I needed to figure out a way to look different than everybody else. So I started creating my own mockups with my style, with my type of products that I would buy, with what also goes into what's popular right now for the little girls, because my little girls are all grown up now, and so I still have to remember what is popular for the people now. I have to understand that customer now and started studying and following all the places that my style kind of aligns with and making sure that, like, I'm designing types of styles that, like, I normally probably wouldn't design, but that's what's popular right now. So I'm doing things that are trendy and finding my own way to trend, though not doing everything that's trendy, and that's what's made my brand grow so fast in a short amount of time. We hit our biggest month last month, over $20,000, and we've been doing it for eight months. We've been selling our own wallpaper for eight months. But we started and we launched all excited. I had $500 in sales that first month, and I was like. It felt like a failure to me personally, because, like, of the big numbers that I've been used to in the past, but then I stuck with it, stayed consistent with my messaging, kept marketing to the right person, and then guess what? People finally start paying attention. It's like lining up dominoes. You get your dominoes in a row, and before you know it, when you're starting to knock them over, they go faster and faster and faster, and the right opportunities come. We've had, like, influencers reach out. We've had YouTubers reach out because my style resonates with them, and I've been very clear on what I offer. And so now we're. It's like picking up faster and faster and faster every single day for us. So, like, being so all in is the only way that you can get that kind of momentum. And everyone wants to dabble, and they're wondering why they're not getting lots of sales, but it's because you're dabbling. You have to just commit and go all in on one thing that you feel like is most aligned with you and be smart, do market research and then just make sure that you're online and it all works out. And I've done this multiple times in different businesses. I know it works. So it's like you just have to make sure you're paying attention to the things that are telling you. Like this is a good idea and it feels aligned with you. And then sell it. Like you are the only girl. Like, I don't try to follow anybody else that sells wallpaper. I do my market research and then I, I unfollow. Like I have to block some things so that I don't get ads and everything. Because I just want to be all in my head. Like, I don't want be looking at everybody else's stuff so that I can be great at what I love to do and I can show up the best me and not even compete with the people around me. It's just me competing with myself every day.
- [25:49]
C
Exactly. Because it's not like we're not happy for other brands who are able to grow and build. But for you to be successful with your own brand, you have to be siloed in a way. Like, I never go on Pinterest to look at things that might have anything to do with my business. I don't research other people or programs out there that are similar to mine. I don't look at other tea towels. I pretty much only use Pinterest for fun, for decorating my own house. Because it takes one little seed of a thought that can derail your entire energy and momentum with something that you have been building. And if you have a, if you have a seat of doubt, like, and then you go through an eight month window of from starting to building like you did until you got to that big month. It only takes a little bit of doubt to completely get you off track and to make you lose the energy that you have to have to carry you through the belief that this is worth it. And it is so much about mindset whenever it comes to getting over that hurdle.
- [26:46]
B
Yeah, for sure. I struggled there for a couple years during this shift with mindset so bad. I felt like such an imposter because it was like, yeah, I was making six figures and then all of a sudden started to tank and I had to go through this like, growth period of like, okay, you've done this before, you can do this again. Get Yourself off the floor, stop crying about it, and just, like, go all in. And that's what I did. So we got up, I started, like, really deep diving into my market, and I'm like, we are going to make this freaking work. And my husband is so great. He's so supportive to be able to, like, help me. He understands, like, the creativity that I need and, like, the space that I need to be able to do this. And he believes in me because he's seen me do it before. So it's like his help was so helpful in this pivot, too, for ourselves. He did have to go back to work, which he doesn't love because he loved working with me every day. But we're trying to get him back to leave his job so that he can work full time with us again. But it's one of those things, though, like, when you finally just make that decision in your brain to, like, be a hundred percent believe in yourself, you have to be your biggest cheerleader. That's what I say all the time. Because there's so many haters out there. There's so many people there. The market's saturated everything. But it's not when you are operating at a higher level, like, when you are not looking at all the competition and things. It's like you are doing your own thing, being great in your own world, and people feel it. It's, like, magnetic. It's just the energy that people feel from you. They want to be a part of it and they want to watch you and they want to buy from you because they can feel that energy from you because you're all in. And so that's what I try to bring to the table in all of my businesses, because I know that's what it takes is to, like, really freaking love what you do and show up every day doing it, you know?
- [28:34]
C
Mindy, I just want to say thank you for your transparency because I think it's really important, especially right now online, there's a lot of people who feel like they're smoke and mirrors. And you can both be a powerhouse, really great at what you do, and be honest about the fact that it goes up and down. And if you're really in it and you really have learned how to run a business, then even when it's hard, you can endure that. And, you know, not a lot of people are brave enough to be transparent about these kind of things. And I applaud you for that, because I think people who are listening to this episode are going to be like, they're going to fall even more in love with the Mindy magic. Because I think that it's rare for people who are leaders, whether you mean to be one or not, to just lay it all out there, you know? So thank you. I appreciate that.
- [29:25]
B
Yeah, I feel like transparency is so important nowadays especially, and I think me trying to keep that behind the scenes for a little bit was killing me to not just speak about the hard stuff. You know, I've been told before in the past, you shouldn't be talking about things that are hard when they're hard. But I'm like, no, people need to see that you are a human and you're going through hard things too, just like everyone else feels. And then there's rainbows if you keep freaking going for it and figuring it out. I'm just someone who always says that, like, just figure it out. My mom taught me that as a young child. Like, just be somebody who doesn't complain and just go figure it out. And so whenever something's hard, I have to remind myself, okay, just figure it out. What's the next step? What's the step that I need to take today to get one step closer to the actual goal that I want or the thing that I want to accomplish? Because that's when your brain starts to be creative and opening up new doors for you. When you stop wallowing in like self pity and go, okay, like, I'm not going to wallow in this. Like, there's people who are having a harder life than me, but they figured stuff out. I can do this too. And like, I wasn't raised with wealth or anything. And that was something that I always paid attention to. Like, man, how do these people, how are they successful and paying attention to, like, their attitude, their habits, like what they do every day. I had to do a lot of self work to get to this point too, which was super hard. I'm not going to lie. But mindset is a huge thing. I think for a lot of artists that we struggle with, we have like, limiting beliefs. A lot of us came from hard backgrounds, but we can't let those things hold us back. Like, you are your person today. Like, show up as the person that you want to be, even if that's not who you are today. Show up as if you are her today and just freaking do it every day until you finally become that. Because that's where, like, it becomes so powerful. Like, you're unstoppable when you believe in yourself and you are your biggest cheerleader and you've Helped yourself. Get up off the floor and figure it out.
- [31:31]
C
Yeah, that's some good stuff right there. People don't realize that whenever you are doing it, showing up online, have the good photos, have the great products, people have no idea what you come from. And we all come from in the background some kind of struggle. Most of us, if you're one of the rare people who never had a struggle, applaud you. I'm so happy for you. But you know also you grow when there's hard things and you know, we have to be willing to know where we started from and no one else is going to pick us up from that place. Only you can do that internal work. And it sucks and it's painful, but at the end of it, like you said, there's going to be hard things, but then there's beautiful things that only can happen through your work and through your hands and through some support from family and some luck. But I just think that your message is really important and encouraging right now because you're a phoenix. I think that people who are those phoenixes who keep rising and rising and rising, they just keep going higher and higher. I love that you're a phoenix, Mindy. So as we wrap up, what's next for Mindy and Indie Bloom?
- [32:36]
B
So right now we are currently just trying to grow the wallpaper brand. We are trying to just make that as big and grand as possible. Just because I know the power in building with one product first and then expanding. But we did have someone contact us and this is the thing you guys, about being frigging great at what you do. Opportunities come your way because other people see like, man, this girl knows what she's doing. Let's go talk to her. So we've got an opportunity from another company that is like, we're doing luxury print on demand products. We were wondering if you're interested, they're doing like a small batch launch and so it's something new that they are doing and we're probably going to do that too as well and start manufacturing some new things for Indie Bloom. So we're going to start expanding our product lines. But we want to make sure that people know us for our wallpaper first. And then we're going to start introducing little drops of these new products and just growing our brand to something that is like something that when I started I never thought was possible. But now, like I want to be like a brand that's known like a rifle paper company, you know, like, I want to have that kind of an impact in the world that people know Indie Bloom. And so I just look forward to just continuing to grow it even bigger and grander and just dreams that I never thought were possible that are starting to like align and make my brain, I guess, think bigger than I've ever thought before.
- [34:02]
C
I love it. Thank you so much Mindy for being here. And everyone can follow you online at
- [34:07]
B
Indie Bloom Design is my social and or indiebloom.com too. You can go to both. That's where you can find me. Thank you so much for having me. It's been wonderful.
- [34:16]
C
Oh love chatting with you and everybody who's here listening from Art plus audience. Go give Mindy a like and a follow and tell her if you listen to this episode, send her a dm. Our guests love it whenever they hear from our audience members whenever they loved an episode. So do that little extra step. Send that energy out there. It'll come back to you eventually, I guarantee it. And that's it for this episode. I'll see you next time. Bye. And just like that, we've reached the end of season two. Thank you so much for listening, watching on YouTube and all of your reviews and sharing about the podcast. It truly means so much to me that you continue to show up for yourself and for this creative community. Now, if you're looking for more guidance on building your audience in between seasons, you're in luck. I created a brand new workshop for you to help you figure out where your art fits fits and who will actually buy it. Visit stacybloomfield.comworkshop to get a hold of this amazing workshop to help you identify your ideal customer. If you're looking for more tools, guidance and resources to help you build your art business, you can find everything@staceybloomfield.com and be sure to follow Leverage your art on Instagram so that you can stay connected, keep learning and be the first to to know when season three begins. See you then. Thanks so much for tuning in. Hey, could you do me a favor? Could you subscribe to this podcast and then share it with one of your best art friends? I'd really appreciate it. And then head on over to Instagram and follow me at the Leverage youe Art account and you can keep up with all of our future episodes. Thank you so much for your support. It means everything to have you here listening and learning. Bye.
- [36:06]
A
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