042 – Loving the Artist Life with Cathy Nolan
Cathy Nolan is a Caricaturist and has been illustrating and bringing joy with her art for over 20 years. Her passion for art and people are combined in her method of drawing faces and capturing the essence of her subjects whether they are adults, children or pets!
She has drawn famous celebrities such as actress Lily Tomlin, “Eat, Pray, Love” best-seller author Elizabeth Gilbert and Marianne Williamson. She has drawn for corporations such as Zyloware Eyewear, HSBC, Citibank, Ann Taylor and for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Pre-Party.
Cathy resides in Brooklyn, NY with her husband Fred Richer and pup Ollie.
Motivational Quote
Business Inspiration
Her epiphany happened at 10 years old [8:50]
This can actually be a money making thing [10:22]
Candle Flickering Moments
Working through a TV deal [19:19]
Copyright Infringement from a big chain [23:03]
Business Building Insight
Cathy’s perspective on failure [5:29]
Developing her business [11:50] [13:45]
Success Trait
Thinking outside the box for ideas to promote herself [29:11]
Productivity/Lifestyle Tool
Hootsuite – Manage social networks, schedule messages, engage your audiences, and measure ROI right from the dashboard.
Periscope – A picture may be worth a thousand words, but live video can take you someplace and show you around.
Valuable Book
Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert
Contact Links
If you found value in this podcast, make sure to subscribe and leave a review in Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts. That helps us spread the word to more makers just like you. Thanks! Sue
Transcript
Gift biz unwrapped episode 42.
Speaker:At the end of that week,
Speaker:I grossed over a thousand dollars and I thought to myself,
Speaker:Oh, like I could be making money doing this.
Speaker:This is John Lee Dumas of entrepreneur on fire.
Speaker:And you're listening to gift gifted biz unwrapped.
Speaker:And now it's time to light it up.
Speaker:Welcome to gift biz,
Speaker:unwrapped your source for industry specific insights and advice to develop
Speaker:and grow your business.
Speaker:And now here's your host,
Speaker:Sue Monheit.
Speaker:Hi there.
Speaker:I'm Sue and welcome to the gift fairs,
Speaker:unwrapped podcast,
Speaker:whether you own a brick and mortar store sell online Or
Speaker:are just getting started,
Speaker:you'll discover new insight to gain traction and to grow your
Speaker:business. And today I have joining us.
Speaker:Cathy Nolan,
Speaker:Kathy is a characteristic and has been illustrating and bringing joy
Speaker:with her art for over 20 years.
Speaker:Her passion for art and people are combined in her method
Speaker:with drawing faces and capturing the essence of her subjects,
Speaker:whether they're adults,
Speaker:children, or pets,
Speaker:she is drawn famous celebrities,
Speaker:such as actress,
Speaker:Lily Tomlin eat,
Speaker:pray, love bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert and Marianne Williamson.
Speaker:She's drawn for corporations such as Zilo where I wear C
Speaker:SBC, Citibank and Taylor,
Speaker:and for Macy's Thanksgiving day parade.
Speaker:Pre-party Cathy lives in Brooklyn,
Speaker:New York with her husband,
Speaker:Fred richer and pop Ali.
Speaker:Welcome to the show,
Speaker:Kathy. Thank you,
Speaker:Sue. I'm so excited to be here Is such fun for
Speaker:you to be here.
Speaker:And I just want to share with our audience that Kathy
Speaker:and I met and have started to become friends through Periscoping.
Speaker:So we may bring that up in the conversation as well,
Speaker:but we've had a little bit of a history because we've
Speaker:gotten to know each other some,
Speaker:and I look forward Kathy,
Speaker:to even hearing your journey.
Speaker:That's going to unfold through this podcast as well,
Speaker:because I don't know some of it yet.
Speaker:I'm excited to share.
Speaker:Absolutely. Is There anything you'd like to fill in with the
Speaker:intro before we get started?
Speaker:No, just that I've been drawing all my life and I
Speaker:do corporate parties and events.
Speaker:I also draw people at family gatherings as well as commissioned
Speaker:illustrations, also for publications like classic media,
Speaker:as well as highlights for children magazine.
Speaker:So I've done a lot of illustration as well with,
Speaker:along with the caricaturing Super well.
Speaker:I'm looking forward to getting into hearing how that all started,
Speaker:but before we do our listeners know,
Speaker:we like to align the conversation around the life of a
Speaker:motivational candle.
Speaker:The light shines on you while you share and highlight all
Speaker:these stories and experiences.
Speaker:Are you ready to light it up?
Speaker:Kathy? I've got my lighter.
Speaker:Alrighty. So let's talk about that.
Speaker:You are,
Speaker:I'm going to create a scene here for you.
Speaker:Okay. Let's say you're scoping and you wanted the environment to
Speaker:look really nice and kind of festive and you know,
Speaker:the ambience really nice.
Speaker:And so you have a motivational candle on your table while
Speaker:you're drawing one of your characters on scope.
Speaker:What color is that candle?
Speaker:And what's the quote that's on the candle.
Speaker:I love the color purple.
Speaker:So I feel like purple is a calming color.
Speaker:So my candle would be purple.
Speaker:And on the candle,
Speaker:it would say this amazing quote from Nelson Mandela and the
Speaker:quote goes like this.
Speaker:And as we let our own light shine,
Speaker:we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Speaker:Ooh, what does that mean to you?
Speaker:I feel like it means we're all called to do something
Speaker:and to put ourselves out there,
Speaker:whether it's a talent or a business scale,
Speaker:helping others.
Speaker:And the more that we are successful in what we do
Speaker:and shine our own inner light,
Speaker:we inspire people through our actions by motivating them to tap
Speaker:into their own inner light.
Speaker:So that's where I strongly believe that we can't be afraid
Speaker:to the calling that we're called to do and to just
Speaker:not be afraid to try,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:not be afraid to try to run that business,
Speaker:not be afraid to try to put yourself out there and
Speaker:to really just try to show up to the calling from
Speaker:within that might be nudging you to move forward in any
Speaker:aspect of a business,
Speaker:whether it's having that meeting with that difficult client or opening
Speaker:up your first boutique store,
Speaker:or finally publishing that greeting card.
Speaker:I feel like we're all called to do something through our
Speaker:own actions.
Speaker:I know we can definitely inspire others to do the same.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:I've not heard that quote before and your explanation is really
Speaker:deep. And I think it's totally on target.
Speaker:It's almost our responsibility.
Speaker:If we have something that we know that we can share
Speaker:with everybody to put it out there,
Speaker:because if we don't,
Speaker:the world's never going to know exactly what came to mind.
Speaker:Also for me with that quote is that if you're communicating
Speaker:and putting something else out there,
Speaker:it's kind of giving permission to someone else to also take
Speaker:the risk.
Speaker:Like you're saying,
Speaker:don't be afraid to fail,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:have that meeting overcome and do something that's hard.
Speaker:If you show by wave example that you're doing it.
Speaker:And yeah,
Speaker:sometimes we might fail.
Speaker:We're just empowering other people to try it for themselves as
Speaker:well. Well,
Speaker:and failure's part of the journey,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we're all on this journey together and when you fail,
Speaker:it's not really a bad thing because when you fail,
Speaker:it's kind of a wake up call like,
Speaker:oops, okay,
Speaker:I'm not on the right path.
Speaker:Let me see where I can do things differently.
Speaker:Next time around my husband went said,
Speaker:we always learned the most from the most difficult situations.
Speaker:And it's so true because if everything was going smoothly all
Speaker:the time,
Speaker:well, I don't think we would be learning as much.
Speaker:I agree.
Speaker:And you know what?
Speaker:You're not going to Necessarily land the thing that's gonna propel
Speaker:you forward the very first time you have to try something.
Speaker:And if that doesn't work,
Speaker:all right,
Speaker:check it off the list,
Speaker:try the next thing.
Speaker:And that's where so many people will stop is they'll try
Speaker:something and it didn't work.
Speaker:And they'll say,
Speaker:Oh, well,
Speaker:I just,
Speaker:I'm not able to do it instead of saying,
Speaker:okay, this wasn't the right way.
Speaker:Let me try something else.
Speaker:And it might've been the right way if it was 10
Speaker:years ago,
Speaker:it just isn't the right way now.
Speaker:Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker:because you do have to kind of adapt to the changes
Speaker:of what's going on now,
Speaker:especially with technology.
Speaker:So things are very different than they were 15 years ago.
Speaker:And it's,
Speaker:I'm always constantly learning about how can I better myself?
Speaker:How can I better my business?
Speaker:How can I better my art skills,
Speaker:we all can learn and adapt and not being afraid to
Speaker:ask for help is also key because if you kind of
Speaker:felt like you failed in a certain way,
Speaker:it's just having that dialogue with yourself.
Speaker:Well, is this really right for me?
Speaker:Maybe it's not really right for me and that's okay.
Speaker:I can let that go,
Speaker:right. Or this didn't work out for me,
Speaker:but who do I know that has a better skillset.
Speaker:Who's a bit more polished than I am in this regard
Speaker:that I can maybe talk to and ask for some advice
Speaker:or mentor me,
Speaker:or maybe I can pay them to do what I didn't
Speaker:do so well,
Speaker:Very good point,
Speaker:reaching out for help.
Speaker:And that's not a sign of weakness.
Speaker:Actually. It's a sign of strength because you're being resourceful and
Speaker:give busy listeners.
Speaker:I've talked a lot about an entrepreneur.
Speaker:I think one of the biggest skills that you can have
Speaker:is to be resourceful.
Speaker:And that either means finding the information yourself,
Speaker:or finding a person who has that information that you need
Speaker:to lay the groundwork or to overcome,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:whatever obstacle you're currently encountering.
Speaker:Yeah. And not being afraid to be proactive.
Speaker:I'm a very proactive person.
Speaker:I am the person that will just make it happen.
Speaker:You just got to take initiative because nobody's going to do
Speaker:it for you.
Speaker:But you not saying that you can't ask for help.
Speaker:Of course you should ask for help if you feel it's
Speaker:needed. But a lot of people just wait for people to
Speaker:respond back.
Speaker:And when I do my follow-up,
Speaker:the fortune is always in the followup.
Speaker:You have to be persistent and consistent.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I struggle with that in some ways,
Speaker:but in other ways,
Speaker:I'm very good at that in terms of like following up
Speaker:with a particular client,
Speaker:like I want to do business with you,
Speaker:what can we do to make this happen if it's not
Speaker:the right time then okay.
Speaker:When can I approach you again?
Speaker:Just trying to nudge the person to say with my services,
Speaker:I'm here to help you.
Speaker:That's what I just want to say is not to be
Speaker:afraid to be proactive,
Speaker:Good point about being proactive.
Speaker:So Kathy,
Speaker:now let's go back.
Speaker:You were mentioning that when you were younger and virtually all
Speaker:your life,
Speaker:you've loved drawing and the whole art area,
Speaker:if you will talk to us a little bit about how
Speaker:you got the idea that this could actually merge into a
Speaker:money making business.
Speaker:When I was 10 years old growing up in the Chicago
Speaker:area, we went to great America,
Speaker:which is a huge amusement park.
Speaker:And it was the first time I was exposed to a
Speaker:caricature is drawing people.
Speaker:I don't know why I was fascinated by it to the
Speaker:point where I didn't want to leave the booth.
Speaker:And my siblings were like,
Speaker:come on,
Speaker:come on.
Speaker:We got to get hit.
Speaker:I hit up these rides and I didn't want to leave.
Speaker:I was mesmerized by the fact that these artists were drawing
Speaker:people and getting paid.
Speaker:So I think from such a young age,
Speaker:at 10 years old,
Speaker:I just was like,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:I had this epiphany.
Speaker:Like, this is what I want to do.
Speaker:And then over the years,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:taking art classes,
Speaker:I didn't really start my business until I was 18.
Speaker:When I had graduated college was visiting friends in Michigan and
Speaker:a friend of mine dared me.
Speaker:He had dared me to do this County fair.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I had been always drawing for like exchange of beer money
Speaker:and things like that in college.
Speaker:But this was the first business opportunity where everything just fell
Speaker:into place.
Speaker:I only had a hundred dollars to my name.
Speaker:It was just the right amount of money to pay for
Speaker:participating in this County fair,
Speaker:which was a week long.
Speaker:Things just fell into place.
Speaker:I had my grandfather's car,
Speaker:a friend of mine gave me a place to stay.
Speaker:A teacher had a portable table and chairs.
Speaker:Somebody donated art supplies,
Speaker:everything just fell into place.
Speaker:And I befriended some people at the fair to keep my
Speaker:equipment overnight.
Speaker:Cause you know,
Speaker:this was like a Sunday through Saturday working at 12 hour
Speaker:days during this week.
Speaker:And I was just talking to people to my booth,
Speaker:drawing them.
Speaker:And at the end of that week,
Speaker:I grossed over a thousand dollars and I thought to myself,
Speaker:Oh, like I could be making money doing this.
Speaker:Think about that.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:back at that time,
Speaker:that was a lot of money.
Speaker:Exactly. And I loved doing it.
Speaker:And one of the things I had loved at the time
Speaker:was just talking to people,
Speaker:coaxing them to come over so I could draw them.
Speaker:I was hustling people.
Speaker:You have no idea.
Speaker:I'd be like,
Speaker:come up and get drawn,
Speaker:come over and get drawn.
Speaker:And from that experience,
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:I've been doing this for over 20 years now,
Speaker:but I actually ended up drawing a Vietnam vet who was
Speaker:telling me all about his different personalities,
Speaker:who was kind of schizophrenia.
Speaker:And he was working at the County fair as well.
Speaker:And he loved the drawing and I drew him in the
Speaker:middle and then aspects of his personality around the paper.
Speaker:So you just have to visualize his face in the middle
Speaker:and then smaller faces like as a circle around the big
Speaker:face in the middle.
Speaker:And his wife actually said to me that evening when I
Speaker:was storing my equipment at their place,
Speaker:she said he has never told anybody about his aspects of
Speaker:his personality or his time in Vietnam as a soldier.
Speaker:Wow. I thought to myself and I was very young at
Speaker:the time.
Speaker:I thought,
Speaker:wow, this is like a mission,
Speaker:like missionary work in a way where I just talk to
Speaker:people, get to know who they are.
Speaker:I listened to them and I draw it.
Speaker:And I think that's the thing that I just love so
Speaker:much is connecting with people,
Speaker:finding out who they are and then drawing them and bringing
Speaker:that aspect of themselves to life through my drawings,
Speaker:it's been pretty successful.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:a lot of people are very happy with the style I
Speaker:draw. We all artists have different styles and techniques,
Speaker:but being 18 and doing that County fair was really the
Speaker:kickstart of my business because then I ended up doing the
Speaker:Illinois state fair,
Speaker:a lot of trade shows in Chicago land area before I
Speaker:had moved to New York city,
Speaker:17 years ago.
Speaker:That is so interesting.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:the thing that jumps out at me with that is you're
Speaker:so comfortable in terms of your style withdrawing.
Speaker:And I know that from watching you on your scopes,
Speaker:but to be able to pull something out for that Vietnam
Speaker:vet who was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:in a very comfortable situation and kind of a little bit
Speaker:off guard in terms of keeping a wall up in terms
Speaker:of who he is and all that.
Speaker:But he had the opportunity to really share information with you
Speaker:that you could then capture,
Speaker:which is just probably an experience he never would have gotten
Speaker:anywhere else.
Speaker:Exactly. And I like to think of it as it was
Speaker:healing in a way for him.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:It's funny how this happened also in the beginning of my
Speaker:career as a character trust in the artists,
Speaker:because since then I haven't really had that kind of experience,
Speaker:but that's okay.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I think it was sort of like,
Speaker:okay, this is what I'm called to do.
Speaker:And it's okay.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it's about people enjoying who they are and capturing that essence
Speaker:about themselves.
Speaker:Right. Okay.
Speaker:So walk us down the path a little further with your
Speaker:business journey.
Speaker:So you've mentioned that you did the first fair and then
Speaker:from there you started doing other fairs and conferences and all
Speaker:of that.
Speaker:How did it continue to progress?
Speaker:Basically, I partnered up with a few agencies that would do
Speaker:my bookings.
Speaker:A lot of entertainment companies would do that.
Speaker:And keep in mind,
Speaker:this is back in the nineties and the early two thousands
Speaker:before the economic crash.
Speaker:So people were spending a lot of money on parties.
Speaker:And so when I had moved to New York city,
Speaker:I did work in publishing,
Speaker:but that was my nine to five job.
Speaker:And I still did my caricature business by drawing people at
Speaker:like yacht parties.
Speaker:And I did loft parties and corporations.
Speaker:So it was more of like connecting with people,
Speaker:telling people,
Speaker:Hey, this is what I do.
Speaker:Who can I talk to about getting some bookings or reaching
Speaker:out to corporations?
Speaker:So, you know,
Speaker:sometimes I would look in the phone book and call people
Speaker:at that time,
Speaker:cold calling or sending out flyers and mailers or participating in
Speaker:trade shows it just kind of built over time.
Speaker:So yeah,
Speaker:Really were specifically promoting yourself,
Speaker:talking it up,
Speaker:talking it to people.
Speaker:Did you have a written plan in terms of,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I'm going to be cold calling these types of businesses,
Speaker:I'm going to be setting up brochures.
Speaker:You just,
Speaker:there was no plan.
Speaker:It's just,
Speaker:you were getting the word out as many ways as you
Speaker:possibly could with whatever ideas you had.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:I had the business cards printed up,
Speaker:of course,
Speaker:but I didn't really know.
Speaker:I'll be honest.
Speaker:I didn't really have a strategy.
Speaker:I just kind of intuitively knew I have a gift of
Speaker:connecting with people and I would just let people know I'm
Speaker:a caricature artist.
Speaker:And one example is I worked in publishing full-time nine to
Speaker:five. I will talk to you more about that with my
Speaker:favorite book that I recently read.
Speaker:I'll explain that more in detail later.
Speaker:But on the side I had my caricature business and so
Speaker:the joke would be in my department.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah. Kathy's just doing this nine to five job to pay
Speaker:our bills.
Speaker:But we all know what her real job is because I
Speaker:ended up drawing and got paid to do a lot of
Speaker:the employees at Scholastic.
Speaker:So that was sort of one way of promoting my business
Speaker:was just letting people know what I do and showing them
Speaker:not being afraid to show people,
Speaker:Hey, look at my work.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:are you interested?
Speaker:Do you know anybody who's interested?
Speaker:If somebody says no to you,
Speaker:don't be afraid to ask,
Speaker:well, okay,
Speaker:I know this may not serve your needs now,
Speaker:but do you know of anybody else that would be of
Speaker:interest? So my services,
Speaker:because you don't know who those people know.
Speaker:And I always say to people always try to get two
Speaker:more names from somebody else that you can follow up with
Speaker:and then always ask for permission.
Speaker:Can I drop so-and-so's name?
Speaker:And nine times out of 10,
Speaker:people will say no problem.
Speaker:So that when you have approached that person that you don't
Speaker:know, you can always say,
Speaker:Oh, I got your name through John DOE.
Speaker:And he recommended that.
Speaker:I speak with you.
Speaker:He thought maybe you'd be needing my services.
Speaker:And then let's say,
Speaker:that person says,
Speaker:well, I don't really need that anymore.
Speaker:I don't need that.
Speaker:Doesn't work for me.
Speaker:Then don't be afraid to say,
Speaker:Oh, okay,
Speaker:well, do you know of anybody?
Speaker:But you just keep going down the path of asking or
Speaker:keep me in mind and you think of anybody,
Speaker:please let me know.
Speaker:I'll follow up with you in a few weeks,
Speaker:build on that.
Speaker:Wanna go back to this because you say you really didn't
Speaker:have a plan,
Speaker:but in a way you had a very clear plan and
Speaker:the plan was strategically.
Speaker:Anytime you were able to talk about your business,
Speaker:you did no matter where it came up or you're just
Speaker:like, you're talking about,
Speaker:if it wasn't exactly for that person,
Speaker:who else do they know?
Speaker:And I think GIF his listeners think about this because no,
Speaker:one's going to know about what you do unless you're telling
Speaker:them people,
Speaker:aren't just going to magically appear at your doorstep and you
Speaker:need to have the pride and the confidence in what you're
Speaker:putting out in Kathy's case,
Speaker:it's her art and being able to draw live in front
Speaker:of people.
Speaker:And if she hadn't been telling people all the way along,
Speaker:even in areas,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:just like in her office space,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:talking just as part of her other job,
Speaker:no one would have known.
Speaker:And she wouldn't have been able to build up to the
Speaker:level that she's at today.
Speaker:Exactly. Anything to add to that.
Speaker:Cathy, I'm just going to say people love stories.
Speaker:So even if you're reluctant to tell people what you do,
Speaker:just tell a story.
Speaker:People will always love listening to stories.
Speaker:So maybe you can share an experience you had in relation
Speaker:to your business,
Speaker:or maybe you had a wonderful experience with a particular client,
Speaker:and you want to share that story of how your business
Speaker:helped that client out in a jam.
Speaker:People will remember a story like you guys will remember the
Speaker:Vietnam, that story,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:stories will stick.
Speaker:And if somebody is shy about promoting their business,
Speaker:think of it as just telling somebody a story about an
Speaker:experience you had in relation to your business.
Speaker:And I think it'll take the edge off and the fear
Speaker:out of that.
Speaker:And if you are not hesitant to tell a story about
Speaker:your business or about yourself and how you got into your
Speaker:business, you might be surprised.
Speaker:People will be more inclined to listen to you and hear
Speaker:what you have to say by starting that dialogue.
Speaker:That's super input,
Speaker:Cathy. I really appreciate that.
Speaker:And now having said that,
Speaker:I am going to ask you to tell us somewhat of
Speaker:a horror story.
Speaker:Talk to us about a time when things might not have
Speaker:been going so well,
Speaker:maybe you encountered,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:a roadblock or hurdle or something happened that you really had
Speaker:to put some effort forth to be able to carry on.
Speaker:Actually, I have two stories to share with that.
Speaker:I created some characters when I lived in London called sheeps
Speaker:and I Sheep's like S H E P S.
Speaker:Yeah, well it's actually S H H H H E P
Speaker:Z. Okay.
Speaker:So basically,
Speaker:cause I was living in London,
Speaker:my husband had a job over there and I was looking
Speaker:for work and I thought,
Speaker:well, let me just kind of work for myself.
Speaker:And I was still doing caricaturing in London,
Speaker:but I wanted to just put my other artwork out there.
Speaker:Long story short,
Speaker:the Al Jazeera's children's channel has my dad was saying,
Speaker:you made the bin Ladin network.
Speaker:I'm like,
Speaker:no, dad,
Speaker:this is a reputable children's channel.
Speaker:This was back in:Speaker:they wanted to do a TV show with me.
Speaker:So I was actually flown out to Doha,
Speaker:Qatar, totally nervous,
Speaker:totally no guidance whatsoever.
Speaker:Talk about putting myself out there.
Speaker:And they wanted to buy all the worldwide rights to my
Speaker:artwork. And I was like,
Speaker:well, wait a minute,
Speaker:your distribution's only in North Africa,
Speaker:why would you want to buy worldwide rights?
Speaker:That's what most people do is they'll buy worldwide rights just
Speaker:to get started like Matt growing,
Speaker:when he did the Simpsons,
Speaker:he sold all the rights to Fox.
Speaker:And then when the show became very successful,
Speaker:he was able to renegotiate the rights back.
Speaker:So what I've learned now is that sometimes creators will give
Speaker:all their rights away just to get something started.
Speaker:And then based on the success of a TV show,
Speaker:they can then put themselves in a position to renegotiate.
Speaker:So I really stretched myself.
Speaker:I didn't know anything about TV animation,
Speaker:and I really did.
Speaker:Here I am in this foreign country,
Speaker:in the middle East,
Speaker:all by myself,
Speaker:doing the very best I can with what I knew and
Speaker:the deal didn't really go through.
Speaker:And like I said earlier,
Speaker:I was very persistent,
Speaker:consistent in following up,
Speaker:trying to find out,
Speaker:well, why haven't they gotten back to me?
Speaker:I just needed closure for that part of that experience I
Speaker:went through.
Speaker:And so finally,
Speaker:after being very persistent with them,
Speaker:the woman who I was dealing with said,
Speaker:well, Kathy,
Speaker:we just realized you didn't have enough experience.
Speaker:And I was like,
Speaker:okay, that's fine.
Speaker:And then I did ask myself,
Speaker:do you really,
Speaker:Kathy want to be flying back and forth from London to
Speaker:Doha all the time,
Speaker:because that's what you would be doing.
Speaker:Had you partnered up with this channel and I didn't really
Speaker:want to be doing that.
Speaker:So I felt a bit down after the experience,
Speaker:I felt like I had failed,
Speaker:but here's the funny thing.
Speaker:Years later,
Speaker:I'm back in New York city and animation conference.
Speaker:And I sit down next to this gentleman who was doing
Speaker:some work with the algae zeros children's channel.
Speaker:And I brought up this woman's name to him is saying,
Speaker:just sharing my story with him about who I was dealing
Speaker:with. And you know what he said to me,
Speaker:he said to me,
Speaker:Oh, that person,
Speaker:she got fired for embezzling money from the Algiers children's channel.
Speaker:Oh my gosh.
Speaker:And I Sat there dumbfounded because here all along,
Speaker:I felt like I failed.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:I always have been very confident about my artwork and my
Speaker:ability, but I was dumbfounded because rejection sometimes is God's protection.
Speaker:And I just said to myself,
Speaker:Oh my gosh,
Speaker:here all these years,
Speaker:I felt like I failed.
Speaker:I didn't succeed.
Speaker:And either it was probably not the right calling for me
Speaker:or it just,
Speaker:I was just being protected.
Speaker:Yeah. I mean,
Speaker:you may have dodged a real bullet because had you been
Speaker:working side by side with her,
Speaker:however, intricate that relationship would have needed to be,
Speaker:you could have been looped into some of that.
Speaker:Exactly. And the other struggle I went through,
Speaker:which is a different story as I'm back in New York
Speaker:city now,
Speaker:and my lawyer from London calls me and she's like,
Speaker:are you aware that toys R us has a similar,
Speaker:I had created an intellectual property.
Speaker:I can't really say what it is,
Speaker:but they created a similar intellectual property and the categories are
Speaker:very similar,
Speaker:long story short.
Speaker:This lawyer was reaching out to me to say,
Speaker:Hey, you could have a case.
Speaker:Let me take it on.
Speaker:And so I was really frightened by that because a lot
Speaker:of corporations will rip off a lot of artists work.
Speaker:I had a friend who had a lawsuit with Dreamworks and
Speaker:these corporations will just drag creators through the legal nightmare because
Speaker:they have the money and,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:an independent creator like myself,
Speaker:where a small business,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we don't have like those big legal guns behind us.
Speaker:So it felt really frightened,
Speaker:not frightened,
Speaker:but just,
Speaker:I was upset.
Speaker:I was like,
Speaker:okay, I don't want my intellectual property that I worked so
Speaker:hard on to get ripped off.
Speaker:You know,
Speaker:it was fascinating because in that journey,
Speaker:I was very persistent and consistent.
Speaker:I didn't know what the outcome was going to be,
Speaker:but I just wanted to make sure that I was protected
Speaker:with my artwork.
Speaker:So you did advance with some legal action.
Speaker:Yeah. So what happened was I was the one coaching though,
Speaker:the UK lawyer,
Speaker:he would be like,
Speaker:okay, I'm thinking of calling toys R us.
Speaker:And I'm like,
Speaker:no, you just need to say like I was coaching him.
Speaker:Like, no,
Speaker:you have to say,
Speaker:I'm going to call you at this date.
Speaker:We're like,
Speaker:you have to be proactive.
Speaker:You can't be polite with these people because this is a
Speaker:corporation we're dealing with.
Speaker:So in a way,
Speaker:it was like I was coaching the lawyer about how to
Speaker:handle this corporation because of my tenacity and being persistent.
Speaker:This lawyer left the firm and I ended up dealing with
Speaker:the partner who owns the firm.
Speaker:So she and I were working together.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:one of the things I'm very good at is always showing
Speaker:appreciation. When people work really hard for you,
Speaker:you have to show appreciation for them to keep going.
Speaker:And it got to a point.
Speaker:This is like a nine month process.
Speaker:I went through it finally got to a point where she
Speaker:was able to get them to provide a settlement for a
Speaker:certain amount,
Speaker:but it was the same amount of the legal fees.
Speaker:And so I said to her,
Speaker:well, why would I pay you these legal fees?
Speaker:If this is the same amount that they're going to settle
Speaker:with me,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:th that doesn't,
Speaker:I'm not going to pay these legal fees.
Speaker:So long story short,
Speaker:I got her to waive her legal fees.
Speaker:I got my settlement from toys R us and I sent
Speaker:her a really nice,
Speaker:expensive gift to thank her for her time and energy.
Speaker:I could have kept going,
Speaker:fighting this corporation,
Speaker:but she wanted to be done with the case.
Speaker:So that's the fascinating part too,
Speaker:is that because I'm so passionate about my art and protective
Speaker:of it.
Speaker:I have no qualms fighting for what I believe is right.
Speaker:And I guess what I learned from that experience was,
Speaker:well, my work is good to the point where corporations want
Speaker:to rip it off.
Speaker:And you do have to be careful because there are people
Speaker:who will try to get something out of.
Speaker:I don't know how to word this.
Speaker:I think that lawyer called me cause he just wanted money
Speaker:for himself.
Speaker:And didn't realize he was dealing with the wrong person.
Speaker:Right. Cause did get my settlement.
Speaker:He didn't think I was going to get anything.
Speaker:And you know,
Speaker:I just took control of that situation as,
Speaker:as I could.
Speaker:And I prayed a lot,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:I did pray a lot.
Speaker:Like why is this happening?
Speaker:Let me just get through this.
Speaker:What I learned about that is it's very important to be
Speaker:tenacious and to be persistent,
Speaker:consistent, even if you're going through a difficult time,
Speaker:always have faith and hope that there's going to be a
Speaker:reason for it and an outcome.
Speaker:This is a great story to share Kathy,
Speaker:because gift biz listeners,
Speaker:I want you to really listen and think about the story
Speaker:that Kathy just said and how she stood up for her
Speaker:rights. And a lot of us who are in the creative
Speaker:industry, whether it's intellectual property,
Speaker:because it's a physical piece,
Speaker:like a photo that you've done or jewelry that you've made
Speaker:or intellectual property that you've created,
Speaker:just because you've made it,
Speaker:it has such great value.
Speaker:And I think a lot of us don't think of it
Speaker:that way,
Speaker:because we've put it together ourselves,
Speaker:but it is valuable.
Speaker:And it's so important because it differentiates you from anybody else.
Speaker:No one else can draw like Kathy draws,
Speaker:no one else can put together jewelry.
Speaker:Like others of you who are out there or bake cakes
Speaker:and design cakes with the fun Dante and all that.
Speaker:Like you can't do it like the person next to you.
Speaker:You do it in your own creative way.
Speaker:And that's really,
Speaker:really important.
Speaker:Number one to continually recognize,
Speaker:but also to protect just like Kathy's talking about with her
Speaker:story. And let me just say,
Speaker:I did not want to go through that experience.
Speaker:That, that whole lawsuit thing,
Speaker:it was not pleasant.
Speaker:It was not easy,
Speaker:but I'm very happy that chapter closed in my life.
Speaker:And what I learned from it was,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:we all have this inner strength within and sometimes life will
Speaker:throw you a challenge to test you.
Speaker:I don't know.
Speaker:I don't know what else to say about that experience,
Speaker:but just that I'm glad it's over.
Speaker:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker:At the same time it showed my inner strength and how
Speaker:important my art is to me,
Speaker:to the point where I am willing to fight tooth and
Speaker:nail. If I have to,
Speaker:That has been such great input.
Speaker:Cathy, I'm going to roll now into our reflection section.
Speaker:And this is a look at you and what has helped
Speaker:you to be successful along the way.
Speaker:And some of it,
Speaker:we already have a feel for,
Speaker:from your Vietnam vet story in terms of making people feel
Speaker:comfortable and willing to share when you're drawing them.
Speaker:But what else,
Speaker:or how would you expand on that trait?
Speaker:Or is there another trait that you have that you think
Speaker:has helped you to be successful?
Speaker:Well, being a creative person,
Speaker:I feel that we always think outside the box in terms
Speaker:of how do we get noticed?
Speaker:How can I do things differently than other people are promoting
Speaker:themselves? How can I differentiate myself?
Speaker:Like sometimes I'll look at people I admire and see what
Speaker:they're doing and just maybe take bits and pieces of what
Speaker:they're doing and then make it into my own in terms
Speaker:of like marketing myself or,
Speaker:Oh, I didn't think about this.
Speaker:That's a great idea.
Speaker:Wonderful. What tool do you use regularly to keep productive or
Speaker:to help create balance in your life?
Speaker:I use a calendar I'm very old fashioned.
Speaker:I have a big calendar in my office and I put
Speaker:in dates and times of meetings.
Speaker:And I also love my iPhone,
Speaker:where I schedule for calls.
Speaker:I love using hoot suite for social media and Facebook to
Speaker:schedule things out.
Speaker:And I love Periscope.
Speaker:Periscope is great too,
Speaker:but in terms of keeping myself on track,
Speaker:I've always been a very organized person.
Speaker:So that just comes naturally for me,
Speaker:Just a little bit about how you're using Hootsuite.
Speaker:I think that would be really interesting With Hootsuite.
Speaker:What's really great about this program and software is you can
Speaker:schedule ahead of time on Twitter,
Speaker:on Instagram,
Speaker:on Facebook,
Speaker:on your personal Facebook page,
Speaker:on your Facebook business page.
Speaker:So what are the things like?
Speaker:Let's say I'm taking a trip cause I do travel a
Speaker:lot. If I'm going to be gone for a week,
Speaker:I love this program because I can preschedule things so that
Speaker:when I'm on my vacation,
Speaker:I don't have to worry about marketing myself on social media.
Speaker:So I will either do quotes or I will create something
Speaker:in Canva,
Speaker:upload it through hoot suite.
Speaker:So basically like a Sunday night,
Speaker:I will just,
Speaker:okay, what do I want to communicate this week?
Speaker:Or who do I want to draw this week?
Speaker:And I will just try to think ahead of time.
Speaker:I like to preschedule that Doing it then on your computer
Speaker:or on your phone,
Speaker:or I love my desktop.
Speaker:Okay. On my desktop usually,
Speaker:but let's say I'm away and I forgot I'll use my
Speaker:iPhone as well.
Speaker:What I usually do when I'm overseas is I will,
Speaker:before I leave,
Speaker:I will schedule things ahead of time on HootSweet to send
Speaker:things out.
Speaker:Got it.
Speaker:That's a great explanation.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:What book have you read lately that you think our listeners
Speaker:could find value in?
Speaker:I think everybody listening should get Elizabeth's new book,
Speaker:creative magic.
Speaker:It was recently published and I loved reading this book.
Speaker:First of all,
Speaker:I just love her way of writing.
Speaker:She's just so real and raw.
Speaker:I've met her in person.
Speaker:She's a lovely person.
Speaker:What I love about this book is I've always known I've
Speaker:been creative,
Speaker:but I know there's a lot of people out there that
Speaker:don't think they are and that's not true.
Speaker:And this is a great book to read because she explained
Speaker:how creativity is like a muse.
Speaker:It comes and it goes,
Speaker:you cannot tame it.
Speaker:It's like this wild horse that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:she explains in her book about ideas and how it comes.
Speaker:And you can take an idea and take it so far
Speaker:and about how we always put pressure on ourselves to be
Speaker:a full-time fledge artist all the time.
Speaker:And she talks about giving yourself permission to play and tapping
Speaker:into your inner kid.
Speaker:There's a chapter in her book where she's like,
Speaker:Oh, these artists that say I'm going to be a full
Speaker:fledge, 100% artists.
Speaker:And you're putting pressure on yourself to pay those bills.
Speaker:And I kind of experienced that myself when I was doing
Speaker:caricaturing all time,
Speaker:110% of the time,
Speaker:it took the fun out of it.
Speaker:So what I'm just trying to say is this book is
Speaker:a great book to read because it encourages each and every
Speaker:one of us to tap into our creativity.
Speaker:We all have that creative aspect of ourselves.
Speaker:Some of us had found it sooner than others,
Speaker:but it's there.
Speaker:It's a great rate.
Speaker:It's a really great read.
Speaker:Wonderful and give biz listeners just as you're listening to the
Speaker:podcast today,
Speaker:you can also listen to audio books with ease.
Speaker:I've teamed up with audible as you know,
Speaker:and you can get an audio book just like the one
Speaker:Kathy's recommending for free.
Speaker:All you need to do is go to gift biz,
Speaker:book.com and make your selection.
Speaker:That's gift biz,
Speaker:book.com. All right,
Speaker:Cathy for we get onto my favorite thing,
Speaker:which is your dare to dream question.
Speaker:I first want to ask you what would be the best
Speaker:way for our listeners to get in touch with you?
Speaker:Oh, thank you.
Speaker:The best way to get in touch with me is just
Speaker:send me an email@cathyatcathynolan.com
Speaker:was the SI or you can tweet me at Cathy Nolan
Speaker:art, or reach me on Facebook.
Speaker:Send me a Facebook message.
Speaker:I do have a Facebook page,
Speaker:Cathy Nolan.
Speaker:Caricaturists if you are interested in me drawing you or promoting
Speaker:your business on my Periscope channel,
Speaker:which is also Cathy Nolan art,
Speaker:just get in touch with me or contact me through my
Speaker:website, Cathy nolan.com.
Speaker:There is a contact page at the very end of the
Speaker:website. Wonderful.
Speaker:And now I would like to present you with a virtual
Speaker:gift. It's a magical box containing unlimited possibilities for your future.
Speaker:This is your dream or your goal,
Speaker:Cathy of almost UN reachable Heights that you would wish to
Speaker:obtain. Please accept this gift and open it in our presence.
Speaker:What is inside your virtual box?
Speaker:Hm. Inside my ritual box is the unwavering belief in God's
Speaker:plan for me sometimes in life.
Speaker:We don't know why we're on a certain path,
Speaker:but having that trust and belief that it is all coming
Speaker:together. There is a Supreme destiny for each and every one
Speaker:of us.
Speaker:Even if you're feeling you're not on the right path,
Speaker:you have to center yourself and ask yourself,
Speaker:well, what's the one thing I can do today to move
Speaker:forward in the right direction.
Speaker:And just having that trust,
Speaker:that trust that,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:it's all good.
Speaker:It's all falling into place and just taking one Day at
Speaker:a time.
Speaker:Love that message.
Speaker:And we've all pretty much done that.
Speaker:Taken that one step,
Speaker:moving forward by all being together here today,
Speaker:listening to all of this information,
Speaker:you have said so many really important things for our audience.
Speaker:I really appreciated Kathy the comments about what an artist,
Speaker:you know,
Speaker:the value of the art that you provide to the world,
Speaker:how important it is.
Speaker:I know that all of us being together and listening to
Speaker:you speaking and you sharing your information will move all of
Speaker:us forward in a much better way.
Speaker:And let's just say that that's also belief in God's plan,
Speaker:that we were all supposed to be together on this podcast
Speaker:today. How about that?
Speaker:And I do hope that the gift of his listeners,
Speaker:that I've inspired you to even like have an art date
Speaker:with yourself or get some Kranz and just draw a picture
Speaker:and it's okay.
Speaker:Just, don't be afraid to play and tap into your inner
Speaker:kid and give yourself permission to be childlike towards your business.
Speaker:Because if you always stay curious and you'll be led to
Speaker:a path that you may never have thought about being on
Speaker:before, that should be a quote from you,
Speaker:Cathy somewhere.
Speaker:Definitely. Well,
Speaker:thank you once again.
Speaker:I appreciate your time.
Speaker:All the information that you've shared and Kathy may your candle
Speaker:always burn bright.
Speaker:Thank you Sue,
Speaker:for having me.
Speaker:It's been a joy to be with.
Speaker:You Learn how to work smarter while developing and growing your
Speaker:business. Download our guide called 25 free tools to enhance your
Speaker:business in life.
Speaker:It's our gift to you and available@giftbizonrap.com
Speaker:slash tools.
Speaker:Thanks for listening and be sure to join us for the
Speaker:next episode.
Speaker:Today's show is sponsored by the ribbon print company,
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Speaker:It's a great way to pay it forward,