Today we’re talking about the surprising truth about happiness and purpose through lessons from the book, “Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier,” written by Arther C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey.

If you have a vision for your life but believe there are barriers keeping you from achieving a more satisfied and happy outlook, this is the episode for you.

Links to the book and workbook are below. I encourage you to order both and put in the work to respond to the prompts. You have the power to get yourself closer to your definition of happiness.

• Book: "Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier" by Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey
• Workbook for Build the Life You Want

How to Support Artists and Arts Organizations that were impacted by Hurricane Helene

• NC Arts Disaster Relief Fund

Welcome to Episode 6!

If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Episode 5 which is called, “Get Organized in Your Business with this Sales Tracking Process for Creatives,” that’s a great episode to listen to BEFORE you get into Episode 6.

Episode 5 is highly tactical. I lay out how you can prepare for your end of month or end of quarter sales review and what you can do to get started with your quarterly and monthly sales numbers, what they mean to you now and what that means for Q4.

Today’s Episode carries that observing and documenting review exercise one step further. Today you get to hear about a simple framework–an acronym–you can use as you look at things like monthly and quarterly sales reviews.

You can also use this framework for decision-making in projects, planning head, planning for a pivot or change in your art business. This framework is not unique to my teaching. It was developed by strategist and U.S. Air Force Colonel John Boyd several decades ago as a practical concept designed to function as the foundation of rational thinking in confusing or chaotic situations.

I’m getting into this topic in my interview with Chris Anderson, former law-enforcement officer turned jewelry maker, inventor, metalsmith, and founder of the metalsmith collective. Chris shares how he transferred skills learned in law enforcement to his business as a jewelry maker, then how he pivoted what he was making in order to turn followers into customers, and how he uses this decision-making framework, this acronym, to make decisions.

Next Steps:

1. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
2. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.
3. To learn more about Chris Anderson, visit

• Website: www.lionpunchforge.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lionpunchforge/

Welcome to Episode 5 and Happy Mon-yay to you!

Today we’re taking a gentle stab at a topic people typically dread – bookkeeping, sales tracking, looking at your numbers, and doing a little spreadsheet administration.

Somehow we’re nearing the end of September. So in the coming weeks, you might want to set aside some time to review the last month and quarter.

In the first week of October, give yourself dedicated time to review sales that came into your art business during the quarter before across all of your sales platforms.

We’re going to talk about doing this with curiosity rather than with judgment.

This exercise can benefit you in so many ways. First and foremost, it gives you usable data for decision-making. This exercise can also help you to step out of the emotion of business ownership and the emotional blockers that might be keeping you from taking certain actions.

We’ll look at what your numbers are telling you and what decisions you might want to make for the quarter ahead, Q4. Or even for Q3 of next year.

Next Steps:

1. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
2. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.