From Bold Decisions to Creative Freedom

What happens when you embrace change head-on, take risks, and allow yourself to grow? Discover how cutting my hair unexpectedly became a symbol of my personal and professional transformation. Join me in this episode as I recount my whirlwind experiences of preparing for our first Black Friday sale at the studio, which taught me the power of bold decisions. Dive into my journey with Margo's online art community, where I found inspiration and support to chase my dream of turning art into a full-time career. It's a testament to how taking risks can lead to refreshingly positive outcomes and the courage it takes to turn passion into reality.

This episode is a celebration of empowerment and the audacity to act without waiting for approval. We explore stories of individuals who integrate technology seamlessly into their creative endeavors, inspiring others to break free from self-imposed limitations. It's about finding joy in the process, embracing failures, and learning from them while balancing personal ambitions with responsibilities to others. As we wrap up, I share my gratitude for the exciting opportunities on the horizon and reaffirm the joy of doing what I love. Let's journey together through this creative adventure, surrounded by supportive individuals who uplift and inspire.

Chapters

• 0:06 Embracing Change for Growth
• 8:13 Empower Yourself to Take Action
• 21:37 Discovering Exciting Opportunities

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Hello, welcome back to an episode of Brutally Made. Oh, thank you for the grace of time. I had to delay a couple weeks of recording because I have been going through a lot of new things happening at the studio, just been so busy and honestly just couldn't find a moment in the morning on the weeks to record. So I'm really sorry I've had such a break this month, but I am ending the month with an episode and I'm really excited to be here. Month was an episode and I'm really excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Next Friday will be super crazy because we have a Black Friday sale at our store, so I'm calling it a Frenzy Friday. It will be 12 hours of sales. I'll be opening at 9am Not really into opening at the 6am hour, opening at 9am, not really into opening at the 6am hour, but yeah. So I'm going to do that for the first time at the studio and doodling today will be really just sharing some of my upcoming winter magical art. I wanted to share that and what it looks like. I am very excited about sharing what I created and offer as prints and canvases on that sale Never really done anything like that before and the different sizes and I've matted those so they're a little bit more readily available to frame, and just thought I would talk about that with a focus on today's episode about change. And I have had a few, I guess, extra special moments to talk to and be in the presence of some creative business entrepreneurs and people that have been in my life for a while and hearing what they're doing and how their gosh, I guess visions for what they're wanting to do with their companies have changed a lot and moving in new directions. Changed, changed a lot and moving in new directions.

Speaker 1: 2:29

And here, at the beginning of the visual part of my podcast, if you have watched the YouTube, you can see that I've went through a little bit of a change. I cut about a foot of hair off. I have a shorter do Very fun and just wanted to change, just wanted to make it a little easier, uh, to take care of it and, um, it needed it. I had not been to a salon in like two years. If you know me, I am very I feel like I'm very low maintenance. I don't color my hair anymore. It it is gray and white and it used to be auburn red, so maybe I'll throw in some before pictures. Yeah, so there's been a lot that I physically have gone through in change in the last two years, so this was like one of the things that I had done Literally scheduled the appointment with my sweet friend Ashley, who owns Shine Salon and Spa here in Canton, at 2 50 am.

Speaker 1: 3:28

That's like that's how I roll, that is how I make my decision. Oh, I'm gonna do this. So glad her company has a scheduler online. Boom, did it, and then, like in less than a day, I was there and I'm like we're chopping it off. So funny, so funny, and that's I don't know. Do I make all my decisions on the fly like that? I would like to say I don't, and I have a lot of thought behind them. Sometimes, though, some of the best decisions are like yep off the cuff, doing it right now. So yeah.

Speaker 1: 4:02

So I joined this group with the mastermind, and I've talked to Margo many, many times, and she has a podcast, wendicill Chats, which I absolutely adore and love and have supported from day one, and just a great inspiration for creativity. She shares other artists and other business owners and other people that help support artists within her podcast world, from attorneys to accountants, to other people that have started businesses and how they've done it and what their creative process is, and it's just great insight and just absolutely love what she does. So she's now an art agent and I have so many sweet friends that are being represented by her now. And then she's created this online community, the Foundry, and so I kind of like changed my support for her and joined that so I could follow along and hear more inspirational stories from this side of an art agent and community, and I absolutely love it. I've been able to attend a couple of events that she's held online, which I'm very grateful for for being online, because that's most accessible to me and I feel very connected.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Even though a lot of people don't understand how you can stay connected virtually, it is no different in my mind than having a pen pal, making a phone call, any of the old traditional ways that you would say that was legitimate ways to stay connected with someone. This is the same thing in my mind, in my heart, and no different. We just have technology and we're using it in that way. So I think it's tremendous what she's doing and I absolutely love it.

Speaker 1: 5:57

So, hearing how those changes happened in her life and what she has gone through and such unplanned ways from moving. I mean, she literally had to move and relocate, not because of this decision to start a business but for other reasons. And then creating space to, I think, do something that was frightening very fear, you know, fear filled, always contemplating it in the back of your mind, wanting to do this. When do you make that leap? When do you try? When do you just say you know what, I'm just going to make it work. And I resonate with that so deeply. If you have not heard from the beginning podcast to now, you know how scared I have been and how I was to start my business in person finding the physical space, securing that space, making it work. Still, I mean, I'm still working full time in health care and making the space work and I am super excited about making art my full time job focus and that is the goal and that's what I'm doing and that is a change that I'm making very conscientiously, step by step, and if something happens to where I have to leap faster, so be it, and I feel like some of the things that are happening in my life may be presenting that opportunity.

Speaker 1: 7:34

So I got to spend some more time with a dear friend who I met in our leadership community here locally he was part of my leadership class four years ago I cannot believe it's been that long and offered a chance to get to see a manufacturer who has ties to a lot of great industry creatively, you know, making displays and packaging and stuff and I said, yes, absolutely, I want to see what they do. I want to hear what you're doing. You know, I knew about his business. I knew what he has created and has done Absolutely amazing.

Speaker 1: 8:13

I love following his work. They would share installations from different places all over the world and it was just fascinating because I was in construction at one time and I was in design and interior design and I felt like that was something that he and his organization, that they had, you know, hands in and what they had done and I just loved it. I thought it was so cool to follow and really that was it. I was just watching what he was doing and just thought it was really cool. He's got a wonderful family. We've been in a couple different fundraising events. I just, you know, just adore everything that he was doing and, you know, just love getting to talk to him. Just a really super, super great guy. So we're on our way to Columbus, and then I find out that he has this whole dream of taking this company and these new levels and directions and integrating some new technology and communication, and I was like this is fantastic. I loved hearing these ideas, I think that they're so unique and it's just like, yes, do this, yes, do this.

Speaker 1: 9:24

Because I have been just in this mindset that, oh my gosh, what are you waiting for? And I know that that was really inspired by you know, hearing and working with Margo and hearing just like, what are you waiting for? What is it that? What's giving you the permission? Is it somebody else? If you're waiting to, I don't know what's the old adage, what's the old saying? That if you want to have a child, you're waiting to save up to have that baby you'll never have. It just needs to happen. It just needs to happen.

Speaker 1: 9:56

If you've got this dream and if you don't start working on what you want right now, why? What is the bigger? Why do something to get you going in that direction? Don't just wait. I don't care if you wanted to learn how to draw and you're waiting to have supplies. I'm doing air quotes. You can't see me Get a pencil, follow a YouTube channel that teaches you basics and just start there. I don't care what it is that. You have a dream.

Speaker 1: 10:31

Write down a business plan in your mind, and doesn't have to be a formal one. Write an outline down of what it is that you want to do. Start brainstorming, start talking about it, start putting it out there in the world. Find someone, like my friend did, who has these great ideas. We're going to this location, to this manufacturer, and he starts telling me what he wants to do. I'm just like, yes, fracture it. And he starts telling me what he wants to do. I'm just like, yes, absolutely Don't wait, just do this, start and let it go. Let's see where it goes. What's it going to hurt? This is terrific. Your idea has validation. Your heart, what you want to do. That's the why. That's why you need to start. That's where it needs to begin.

Speaker 1: 11:23

You do not need permission from anybody else but yourself, and we have the worst time giving ourselves permission, and not everything is going to be, you know, 100%, perfect, perfect, that's okay. Stop striving for perfection. Enjoy the process. You get one life, one time, to try something that you love and want to do, and don't spend that one chance, just being miserable and thinking about it. Just start trying and doing it and exploring. You know, you do not know. I'm telling you, you do not know the full outcome. You don't know if it's going to 100% fail or fly, and that's okay. That's part of the process. You have got to stop waiting for permission from people. You have to give yourself permission and you have to put it out there. People want to see your authentic failures and they're going to celebrate those more than your successes. I'm telling you, people are just like yep told you so, yep, that wasn't going to work. Why did you do it this way? That's okay, that's human nature. Just it's okay. Roll with it.

Speaker 1: 12:39

Not everyone has a perfect day and you've got to stop beating yourself up for it. You've got to. You've got to find something that brings you joy. You have to ground your joy in your decisions and what you can do and can't do and want to learn to do, because no one else is going to bring that joy to your life but yourself. And you've got to start with yourself and if it's getting yourself healthier, to get yourself in your mindset healthier, find the ways to do it. Find the right people to be around, find the people that you can talk to and, if it's weeding out the ones that you can't, that are bringing you down, you know, maybe that's a decision you have to make too. It's. They're not easy decisions. This is hard. Doing things that you love and what you want to do is one of the most difficult things, I think, if not the most difficult thing. And especially if you're responsible for other people's lives and other people's income and other people's joy, you can create an environment that brings joy to others and keep that in mind when you're creating something and when you're building something, because that's just as important. You need to. You know, honor other people's feelings. That's huge.

Speaker 1: 14:01

Giving people space to have an authentic reaction. It's not going to be good all the time. People aren't going to love everything that you do. People are going to roll their eyes and like, oh, that's how you say this, that's how you. You know that's what you do here. I've got that a hundred times. You don't brew coffee or beer. I wanted coffee. I thought this was a microbrewery. I thought this was a paint and sip. No, bring it in. I'm in a door plaza. I'm not going to. I don't have a license for any of that stuff, but I'm here to let you be creative and to enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 14:33

I had two gals this week who came in, grabbed some food and drink, sat down, purchased a paint by number, and they enjoyed the time and the space to just visit and laugh and create those pieces added extra stuff that wasn't in the kit. I had it. That's the beauty of having the space. They had a blast. They were there for almost four hours and I adored.

Speaker 1: 15:04

I was busy, I had things to do because we have all these market things coming up and I have a birthday party this weekend at the shop. I was swamped, I was doing stuff and I was just at my own table working and they had a blast and it warmed my heart beyond words. I'm like I have a space that somebody can come in and enjoy time with one another and they're like we never get to talk. This was wonderful and that was one of the goals of what I wanted to open the space for and it was wonderful, it was perfect.

Speaker 1: 15:35

I loved having that opportunity to offer that to them, and so you never know what you do and what makes you happy will bring joy to others. You've got to try. You've got to put that out there and just you know. Please, just be authentic, just be yourself and try, just try. Don't wait for permission. Change is okay. When's the last time you initiated change?

Speaker 1: 16:06

Sometimes we are very proactive in change because it's been presented to us and we have to react, and so we have this negative connotation with change because it's, almost 100% of the time, a reaction. Initiate your own change, create your change, be the master of that change. That's okay, and stick with it and let it pivot. We love that word, don't we? Yes, it's okay. You know you can make a plan. It doesn't have to. You know, follow through 100%, be very open and give yourself grace to let it ebb and flow. You know my plan is to do a podcast every week.

Speaker 1: 16:47

Sometimes I am not hitting that mark and I apologize because I love that you listen, but I also love that you know that I'm human and I'm one person and I'm trying to make my dreams come true, and this is a huge part of it having the space to talk to all of you and have you react and tell me you listen and that you're hearing, you know this or that, or inspired by this or that, or having the space to share my artists that are exhibiting and my friends who are artists. I'm going to have a couple of those friends who are on the Foundry's art agency. I really want to talk to them and cause they're they're so excited and I'm so excited for them. But it's okay if it you know. Oh, I missed a step. I'm not you know a hundred percent where I wanted to be. Just pick up and start again, it's okay. It's okay.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Nothing is perfect and it doesn't have to be perfect. We are not perfect, we are human. Nothing is perfect and it doesn't have to be perfect. We are not perfect, we are human. We've got to embrace our humanness. It's. Do not stress about those kind of things. It'll, you'll get through it and there's you know, that minute in that day, you'll never get that box. So just try to take that second to breathe and work through it and embrace the change and initiate the change and gosh, make it. Make the change. That's the most important thing. Please, find something that you want to do that you love. Let me know what it is. I want to support you in that. If you're doing something big, small, physical, mental, what's that change? And you want to shout it out. Let me know. I would love to know what it is because I want to share it with the world. I want to get it out there. I'll be your cheerleader. People call me one of the biggest cheerleaders. I'm only 5'3", I'm not that big, but yeah, man, I love shouting people out, I love being part of something bigger.

Speaker 1: 18:50

I got to be part of a huge bit of change for a young girl this week. She's battling cancer, she's 12. I got to spend the day with her mom and her sisters and we got to start on her wish to grant and it was making a craft room for her, for that space and giving her space to deal with the change in her life that she had no control over whatsoever. And to see her smile and laugh and the excitement picking things out and knowing that I got to be a teeny tiny part of that, that joy, to help bring her joy. Oh, my goodness, she changed me, she changed my life in that day and her parents trying to navigate through all this and her sisters and their heart. Just you know, we have our six kids and watching my three daughters grow into this beautiful relationship with one another and getting to see those girls do the same thing, making these memories with their sister. It was. It was huge.

Speaker 1: 20:02

That's life changing. Those are changes you have no control over, but you can change how you approach it and how you're going to find some joy in it, and it was a huge lesson in change. So, yeah, there are going to be things that happen that we have no control over, that involve change, but, buddy, there are some that you can, that you can just get a hold of and make it your own, and you need to do that. You need to take what you want to do in this life and make it happen. And now is the time, not tomorrow. Do one little thing today that puts you moving towards that change and makes you happy. And makes you happy You're brutally made.

Speaker 1: 20:52

I am Tracy Dawn Brewer and I truly believe that. So thanks for spending a moment with me and I'm excited to share more change that's coming up and, man, this next year it is totally moving towards full-time art, and to tell you that that's fueling me is an understatement. That is what makes me so happy. So, thank you, thank you for the support, and I hope you enjoyed seeing my art move, my magical pictures and I'm really hoping that the communication that I've had with some major manufacturers, that the communication that I've had with some major manufacturers in regards to that as, like, some cool wall art being offered across the country that still happens.

Speaker 1: 21:37

I don't know, that was a discussion that kind of fueled this, but what I got to experience this week, the possibilities that are maybe presented with that, are huge and exciting for me and it makes me feel happy and honored that someone sees what I love to do and sees that I can help them. I love that. So that's what I'm here for and I'm here for it. So have a great weekend and I will talk to you next time. Thanks for being with me today. Bye-bye.