Season 2, Episode 8: “I want to have the confidence to show who I really am through my art.” – Casey Wait

Jessica Craddock: I'm here with a gorgeous Ms. Casey Wait. She is a pastor and also a storyteller. Her art is mostly a mixed media that celebrates humanity and they're called to create and the freedom to be yourself. Isn't that lovely? Love it. She's been selling for about three years, seriously for two. It's still her side income, but she's growing in both her practice and her business.

And where she currently is at is deepening her marketing rather than throwing everything against the wall like she has in the past, trying to have more of a strategy and more of a plan. And I know that that's hard, especially for someone who has A D H D, as I do, and we really relate in that manner.

She's actually a client of mine, so that's something that we've kind of been working through together. So. Hello Ms. Casey. How are you doing?

Casey Wait: I'm good. I love when you talk, so that's awesome. And, and I was thinking when you were saying the ADHD part, that one of the ways that I really do connect to you and work with you is, and this is definitely not a backhanded compliment, but that freedom to kind of put yourself out there, not need it to be like a hundred percent polished all of the time because the goodness of it is already there and to get out of your own way. I experience you as living that authentically and authenticity is like top priority for me.

So that makes it easy to kind of follow what you are telling me to do, which is to put myself out there because I see you doing that as well. And in the community itself, there's this mutual uplifting of yes, go ahead and, and do that. Don't worry that you're not ready. You won't know until you try and you'll definitely learn regardless.

So thank you.

Jessica Craddock: Thank you. I don't take that as a backhanded compliment at all. I take that as the best compliment you could give me. So, Super appreciate that.

Okay. So let's see. Where are we gonna go today, Casey? We're both talking before we started this recording and we're like, I don't know. I kind of like when that happens. Sometimes these episodes have a plan and sometimes they are a free flow, which is kind of a reflection of what we were just talking about.

Right. But I find that organic, it feels different. It can be a lot more fun. So, let's see.

Casey Wait: It's kind of like when I, when we have our coaching calls or our group calls, similar to when I've gone to therapists in the past where I'm like, oh my gosh, I have to have something to say.

And then if I, the times that I go in to have something to say, I probably get out what I brought. You know, I don't, I don't get nearly as much out. So yes, I'm ready .

Jessica Craddock: Yeah, that's such a good analogy. I hate going to my therapist with a thing because then I feel like we are confined to that thing. It's very, I don't know, it just feels way too structured and they're trying to problem solve for me. And we're never really getting to the thing that I needed,

so, yeah. I'm with you there. So we were talking in the intro or before the intro about how you are working to deepen your marketing rather than throwing everything against a wall. Can you talk about that for a second? And say, what does that mean to you?

Casey Wait: I think it began and continues with my art itself.

I read once that emerging artists will tend to kind of do anything that they can get their hands on to learn more things. And, and you, you're a mile wide and an inch deep.

Casey Wait: But all that is to say with the marketing, I think, especially for somebody like me with the way that my brain works and how novelty is like a super dopamine thing. Mm-hmm. I could read or buy a new course for every week of the year, watch half of it and then think I'm sure this is the right thing for me.

And then start, start something new. And what I have been encouraged to do through you and the group is to just choose something. Just live with who I am and what I have and what I have to offer and to present that, which actually feels very right to me when I talked about authenticity,

like rather than try to figure out what other people want. Which feels icky to me sometimes, to figure out who I am and how best to say that with the various platforms that I have with which to say it. When I was thinking about coming on here and like you ask the big dream question, was like, actually, wouldn't it be awesome just to have somebody that will come into my house, my studio once a week and be like, what do you need me to take pictures of?

What do you need me to do on your website and maybe even be in charge of responding to email things? Not the marketing, it's not doing the marketing itself, but just the things that tend to get me really hung up psychologically and that I can avoid and really aren't a part of being authentically me, photographing my art, or making sure that the right thing is uploaded to the right place on the website.

So, yeah, I think I would love to make enough income where I could do that and not feel like crap all the time for forgetting things or not following through or being unsure about the quality of images, et cetera. I mean, for anyone that is interested in my art I am pretty sure about that.

However, it shouldn't be as hard as it is for me. And instead of beating myself up about that...

Jessica Craddock: Can I ask you a question?

Casey Wait: Yep.

Jessica Craddock: Would you be comfortable sharing numbers on this podcast or would you rather beat around

that bush?

Casey Wait: Yeah. Do you wanna explain what you're kind of

Jessica Craddock: Sure. So I have an arbitrary, it's not a number I've made up, but I feel like it's a, it's a pretty good benchmark that if you're making around $1,500 a month, and when I say 1500 a month, I mean that as an average.

I don't necessarily mean every single month you hit that or you go a little bit over, a little bit under, it might be 9,000 one month and then zero and zero, and then 9,000, zero and zero. But that being said, that benchmark just kind of shows that you're established enough that you know people wanna buy what you have.

You figured out marketing enough to make that number. And so that's just kind of this cutoff that I've decided, like there are different actions below that number and above that number. And so Casey was saying earlier that she is hitting that number maybe even a little bit above that, but not necessarily every month and it feels, what was the word you used?

Precarious.

Casey Wait: Yeah. Unless I really keep pushing, that might not continue. I don't know how much of that is lack of faith on my part and how much of it is reality. But you know, until right now, I think the last time that we had a conversation, I was feeling fairly insecure because I said I don't have anything coming around the bend while I'm working on a large commission.

So I have something that's going on and that's bringing income. I just sold another, you know, big embellished print that is a significant source of income. So it's not. I think I am in a very different position than last year when I was like, oh, I'll try this show and I will do this Christmas, you know, craft fair even though it's not a fine art fair.

So that I can figure out what, what I should eliminate in terms of types of art sales. And the reality is now that I'm not feeling like I'm not in that insecure place, I don't, because I am a pastor, because I work on Sundays, I have a full-time job that I really love and three kids, and I'm a single parent.

I have my kids every other week, but I have pockets of time, but I don't have, I don't have weekends of time to do the kind of things that artists who travel do. So instead of feeling bad for myself around that, what I really like about settling into this other path that I'm going down, that we can talk more about if you want, but is that it doesn't really include those shows.

 Presented to me, you know, as somebody that was not involved in the art world at all before, a couple of years ago, it was like you do tent shows, popup shows, whatever, or you find a gallery to represent you. And if you're a beginning artist, generally speaking, you're not finding a gallery to represent you.

And the pop-up shows are really hit or miss and very expensive and very time consuming. So to find a different path is scary because it's not one of the two traditional paths. But I think it's also. Far more realistic for who I am, the time that I have to give, and really the kind of relationships that I already have.

 I do have the benefit of sort of having a lot of relationships across the country because of the church and so access to platforms and people that not everyone has, and I know that, so I feel grateful for that. But instead of just going, well, that's not the real way to do art, I can say, well, actually I can say, mostly because of you,

That, no, that's actually like the most authentic way. I don't have to convince strangers to love my art.

Jessica Craddock: Right.

Casey Wait: I wanna find the people that are the people that love my art because of what it is. And I create a lot of abstract backgrounds with figures in the foreground. I think it's a way of distilling emotion.

I do a lot of scriptural ones, scriptural figures, but I also do just plain abstract and then a lot of animals. And not everyone likes abstract art. That has nothing to do with me or anything else. So, it really, I have to tell myself this over and over again, but they're really not going, like, I'd like to blow a couple hundred dollars or even a couple thousand dollars on something I'm not sure about.

Because I really like Casey. Like they're not my, they feel bad for me. Which has taken me a long time to figure out, like, you didn't ask me to paint a six foot by eight foot painting because you felt bad for me. It still doesn't make sense in my head, you know. I'm sure that they just felt bad for me.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So there's a couple of different things that I'm hearing here. And one is we could go down the, what would it actually look like to bring someone in for a couple of hours a week, and how could I make that work? And what would they do? What would be the most effective?

Or we could go down that foundation finding your footing underneath the plan that I already have and that I'm executing. And that actually kind of is working, but maybe just in a different way that you thought it might be working in your head. And you've never seen it before, so you don't really know how it's gonna go.

But like finding that solidity and confidence in, okay, this is working. I'm making it move forward. I'm doing the work. Look at me go. Does one feel better than the other?

Casey Wait: I think, because I know myself, the one where I hire somebody feels like the next distraction. It feels like a good idea and something that I should consider, but I also feel like it might be more helpful for other people and for myself to just talk about what it's been like to, and what it might be like to really get more secure in this foundation.

But I don't know how much people wanna hear about my psychological hang-ups. I won't go there.

Jessica Craddock: I actually would be very willing to bet that any psychological hang-up you have is one that.

Casey Wait: Oh yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Some of the people listening also have,

Casey Wait: And so that anybody listening knows, you did not ask me to say anything nice about you or the group, but I will say that, from the group coaching and the individual coaching, like I don't always come with things that I need to talk about.

But I always, but there's accountability there, which I don't have if I don't have a coach. Like I really just believe in coaching across the board. I'm about to get one for pastoring. Just you need an objective person to say, where are you?

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. I completely agree. I almost never go without a coach. I think it was like a couple of months at one time.

Casey Wait: And coaching has like really blown up. And sometimes I'm like, like half of my pastor friends have become certified coaches, and sometimes I feel like rolling my eyes. However, I also feel like this, a lot of it is women supporting women, and I think that's a really significant thing and to poo poo it or whatever is to denigrate the way that women are finding their power and empowering other people through this process.

And so I'm, I'm here for it basically. So, yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So tell me, actually, could you explain just a little bit about, Hmm. I don't know if we need to dive into the exact. Framework of what your plan is, but what do you feel like is and isn't working?

What is your head telling you, whether it's fact or not, what's happening up there?

Casey Wait: So my head is telling me, and I can preface it by saying it's, I have no idea whether it's fact or not, because unless I measure it or look at it, my MO is to just start avoiding it .

My head is telling me that because I'm signed up for all these other things that I'm not doing the work or that I'm not gonna make what I made last year because I don't have the venues through which to sell my art, or the same ones. My head is telling me that I'm in a rut.

Honestly I may not be where I want to be, but that's not the same as being a rut. It's really easy to go to a pop-up show and put up a tent and sell my art. If it's the right mix and feel good about that and feel like, okay, people, people like what I do.

But not doing that doesn't negate that they like what I do. One of the things that we decided to do, or I decided to do with your coaching was to lean into kind of who I am because my, you know, I am a pastor. I was very worried about putting people off if I was overtly

pastoral in my approach to art, because the church turns a lot of people off and I mean, I'm a progressive Christian. We tend to stink at talking about that stuff anyway, but a painting is a spiritual practice for me. Mm-hmm. And I know from many of the artists that I know it is for them, regardless of any religious affiliation.

And so that's a connection that still gets made. And the reality is, I am who I am, right? So if I try to water that down, it just waters me down. And doesn't really present my full self to people, and I think what people connect to is that authenticity.

Jessica Craddock: Okay, so let's go back to you, you said a couple things.

Let's go back to all of them and kind of look at them objectively. Because when they're in your head, you know, we talked about this, they're just all swirling around, and they can say whatever they want. And there's no real way to make them shut up.

So the first thing you said was, I feel like I'm in a rut.

And then you went real quickly, went back and said, well, I know I'm not. But your head is telling you you're in a rut.

Casey Wait: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Why, why are you in a rut?

Casey Wait: No, I think it's, because I don't know where I'm going.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. Okay.

Casey Wait: Not knowing where you're going. I know that that does not necessarily mean you're in a rut. It could just mean I don't know what's three steps down the line. And part of the intuitive model is not necessarily knowing. And that's scary.

Jessica Craddock: But do you really not know what's next? I know what's next. We already talked about it.

Casey Wait: Yeah, so creating my own solo show and solo shows is what's next. I have to finish this commission, but then after that I'll be working on a series that I have planned out. And also I've done a series for the last church season. So I've gotten a lot more exposure through that, creating videos of my painting process along with scripture and devotional And that felt like a really different way of approaching my art, which I've really tried to keep separate.

Jessica Craddock: Mm-hmm.

Casey Wait: I don't think anyone's unfollowed me. I don't really know. It's been fine. And I,

Jessica Craddock: Okay. Wait, stop for a second. You said, well, I'm going to create a solo show about the last series that I just made that I think people responded to, but I'm not really sure. And then probably I'd like to do other shows after that.

And I have this series planned out, and I need to finish this commission. I just love reflecting back to you. You just gave yourself every single answer, I think, about what's next. What's missing from there?

Casey Wait: I think the communication piece of it, like the details of where, when, how. I know the why, which is a big thing, right? But taking it from the safety of my studio and the safety of my heart and my head and putting it out there is scary.

Jessica Craddock: So it's not really about being in a rut or knowing what's next. It's about, it's scary to put it out there. All these weird little fears that we all have hide under so many layers. I was just talking to someone who hasbeen talking to me for like five years on Instagram and she was telling me this beautiful story about her daughter and how she broke her leg.

And just the way she said it was gorgeous. I was like, you really need to share that with other people. Like I loved listening to you tell that story. And she said, well, I don't know how. And I said, you know what? I doubt that's true. The how is never the hard part. The how is actually the easy part. It's all the things that you think are going to come from doing the how that keeps you from actually doing it.

But it gets disguised in your head as I don't know how. So you could just take some B-roll and narrate a reel, and it's done. But, how does that fit into my overall scheme and what is the strategy, and what if I'm not selling art right now and blah blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I just wanted to say that because it's such a common way of not knowing what the real problem is, and you can't solve the real problem if you don't know. So we're not in a rut. Okay. Can we agree on that?

Casey Wait: Yes.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. Next thing not gonna make what I made last year, I'm not gonna ask you for particular numbers and maybe you don't know, but you should know because we,

Casey Wait: It would be very difficult for me not to make what I made last year because I had that giant commission in January.

So, and then this one on top of it. So I've already made probably over 50% of what I made last year.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So let's just shoot that one in the foot, right? Okay. That one's gone. You said, I was worried about being pastoral in my approach to art that it's going to come off wrong or people gonna feel weird about it.

Since the last series that you did was about Lent and your particular brand of messaging around that, how have you felt like it's been received?

Casey Wait: I spent so much time on creating these videos. By the way, I used Descript, and it was very helpful. We love Descript.

I spent so much time on that because my computer is slow as molasses, so using Final Cut Pro and just all this stuff, it just took so much time. And then creating the devotional itself and getting it on my website. So I did not do a lot of social media around it. Mm-hmm.

Jessica Craddock: But we need to make an easier way to do it next time.

Casey Wait: I didn't have a lot of lead time either, so the next series that I wanna do around

divine experiences, let's say Annunciation, I think I've now set up my studio so I can do some pretty easy filming. And so just to keep that on hand and to do morning pages about the pieces that I'm working on and what I'm thinking about. So, so that there's something that I can just like pull from later on to make it easier on future me.

Because I was really, I mean, I decided to do this like the week of, or something, and I only had two pieces that would naturally fit in there. So I created three or four new pieces just for that. Filmed, edited, all that stuff.

So, I knew I wasn't, I was not going to be able to do it perfectly. And when I asked people, Do you want to get these devotionals to send to your congregation? I said, it's free. A number of people said you should be charging for this. And I said, I am looking for some exposure, some feedback and also I am looking to not have to be polished on this.

Mm-hmm. So that was really super freeing because I don't want to do packages like that. That stuff gives me a lot of anxiety. But this was a vehicle, and I think it was a good vehicle. So I think 33 people wound up being on the list that requested those videos. I don't know how many of them actually sent them out, but a number of people then saw the videos themselves and used them in their places of worship that weren't on that list.

And so I think it will bear fruit.

Jessica Craddock: So 33 people said yes, and other pastors decided to use them inside of their congregation as a teaching tool. From my perspective, standing over here does not feel like people who are turned off by what you are doing.

Casey Wait: Correct.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. Do we agree with that?

Casey Wait: Because it was targeted. And so, because I didn't do a lot of that on social media, I didn't, I

Jessica Craddock: I see.

Casey Wait: Test that as much, but honestly, like I am who I am, so,

Jessica Craddock: Well, and also that is where you in particular are growing your audience from.

We're not just social media and whoever's following me on social media and how they respond. We looked for your particular connection points, and that's where we started putting your art and your story and your message out too.

Casey Wait: Right.

Jessica Craddock: And so by doing that we are, while it doesn't feel like a viral reel that gets us 7,000 new followers, the followers that you get from that are real, concrete, and super going to be engaged, connected and into it.

Otherwise they wouldn't be there. So can we check that one off or do we feel like we need to keep going down that one for a minute, pastoral in my approach to art?

Casey Wait: I'm fine with that. I mean, I think I was just summarizing it for anyone.

Jessica Craddock: Sure. Yeah.

Casey Wait: Listening.

Jessica Craddock: That's something we've worked through.

Casey Wait: Yeah. I don't feel like I'm excluding, because I'm not an exclusive person anyway. Like, it's just not,

Jessica Craddock: No, you're not. You're very inclusive. The other thing you said, and this might be similar to the one above, but you said, I am who I am, and I feel like that relates back to the pastoral side of things, but do you have any discomfort in the I'm in a rut. I'm not moving forward because I'm trying to be who I am instead of some other person?

Casey Wait: So there's the acceptance of who I am and that very much is part of my art. There's liberation in it. There's freedom in it, and I love painting figures, animals or people

being or becoming who they are. But the other side of that is I'm a grower. Like, I'm always looking to learn more, grow my heart, grow my skill. I think the impulse is then to say, well, so that means now I'm not good enough. But the reframe of it is, and I think we worked through this with some limiting belief stuff, is like I'm also trying to grow. That connects me to people, but it also gives them the permission to be authentically also growing.

And I want that for people just as much as I want it for me. There's no shame. And yeah, I think a lot of our, well, I'm gonna get soap-boxy, but our, our inability to be kind to each other or stand up for what we believe in or change our minds is, so much because we don't wanna feel the shame of like, well, I used to think that, or I used to be like that. But gosh, if I can be a better human being than I was yesterday, I need to think to myself, God, that somebody corrected me. Somebody taught me a better way. Somebody showed me that what I did wasn't great. It still sucks. But the same thing with the art is like, I look back at pieces from even three years ago and I'm like, Ugh. You know, I can't believe somebody paid for that.

But somebody paid for that. They liked it, they felt, felt connected with it. It was who I was authentically in that moment. But I still have those thoughts that are going back and forth, like all the time.

Jessica Craddock: Can I tell you, earlier today I was recording some videos for the group and I was like, Ugh, these are just not as good as I want them to be.

And then I started thinking about it and I was like, I sound like the artists, which is almost every artist I've ever met, but the artist who says, well, my work isn't quite there yet. So I don't wanna put it out there because I know I can do better. And I had to immediately stop myself. Cause I was like, you know what, five years ago if I had put this out, I would've thought I was the most amazing teacher in the whole history of the world.

 I hope that next year I can look back and say, that wasn't my best. I can do better. But from a place of looking back, instead of beating myself about where I am at today. I don't actually know where I was going with that except to say that we can always be better, and we hopefully always are going to be better.

And if you put something out that's not as good as you're going to be. Good. Because if you don't put that out, you're never gonna put anything out. Cause you're never gonna be as good as you can be.

Casey Wait: Right. I think art is also such a vulnerability to put something that you love out into the world and to never feel like it's finished.

But also to know that people are gonna look at it and go, Ugh, I don't like that.

Jessica Craddock: Cause it's not for them,

Casey Wait: or mm-hmm. Or to go, I love that, but maybe they won't like it later. Maybe it'll wind up in the thrift shop. I have no, because people's tastes and styles change. The reality is there's no, and this, it's the same in jobs and especially in pastoring.

I put myself out there every week preaching to people and you know, sometimes they're home run and sometimes I don't get on base. And I still get up every week and, and keep going. And that's, that's part of the model too. But if I seek that affirmation from the outside, I will never be comfortable with who I am.

Again, I have a gift for saying these things.

Jessica Craddock: It's, it's wonderful. I love it

Casey Wait: And for believing them, but I would like to believe. I would like to have that in my bones, but now, at least I have the two voices. The, the voice I grew up hearing and still hear that's so negative

and then the secondary voice that says, eh, there's another true thing out there.

Jessica Craddock: So let's back up for a second. We started talking about building up the confidence in where you are going. And I said, well, what's going through your head that's telling you that it's not working, whether it's true or not. We talked about being in a rut. We talked about not making what you're gonna make last year. We talked about being too pastoral in your approach to art or being who you are and all of those things being scary.

And really how we worked through that was just by me asking you what are the things that you think about that? Like why is that holding you back? Why is that keeping you stuck? What's going through your head? And I wrote them down as you listed them, and then we looked at each one individually and said, is this true?

It's a lot easier to look at things when they're outside of your head. So for one, you have me to reflect it back to you, but if you were doing this on your own, you talked about morning pages, which we both really love. But if you were doing a morning page, for example, you could ask yourself these same questions.

Do I really I feel like I'm in a rut today? I don't know if things are working, I don't know where I'm going next. Actually, that was the initial belief. Mm-hmm. So do you still feel that way? Like did we make any progress on that front or where, where are we still sticky?

Casey Wait: To a certain extent, I will always feel this way because you don't just undo that. But I feel much more confident now than I did at the beginning of the conversation. I feel much better. Like, okay. No, I just said like four different things that even if I don't know the specifics of the marketing piece, I really did learn stuff from this, this Lent experience. And I think my next step will be to go and write down what I would do to take care of my future and to make the next thing a little bit easier.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah, no, it's, it's a universal thing, but I am 150% believer, absolutely, in going back and reflecting and writing down your lessons and all of that. But that's part of the rotation, right? You, you get out there and you build relationships and you sell, and then you look and see how did that all work?

But I wanted to point out that you were saying, I've already thought about this a lot because the thing that really held me back was spending so much time making the videos, and so I wasn't able to do all these other things. And so you've already got through that enough to set up space in your studio to make it easier to record videos.

Maybe next time I can talk you out of using a couple of the different programs you ran it through and just use one, make it a little bit simpler, and then just put those two things together. You would never have gotten to do that had you not done it the way you did it in the first place. So by forcing yourself to go, even though you didn't know the exact perfect way and all the answers, you never will until a hundred iterations in and you're on your deathbed. That's about the most perfect you're gonna get, but you're gonna be better this time and better the next time.

Better the next time.

Casey Wait: Also, my whole church saw these videos every week, and then we discussed the topics at Wednesday night dinners. And it was a really beautiful connecting experience for me in my day-to-day job. So, that was a really lovely byproduct of it.

Those things are being integrated in a way that I don't think I thought would be possible. And you said they would be.

Jessica Craddock: So, you know that at least once I haven't lied to you, so you can just press me on one, one more thing.

Casey Wait: I get, I lie to myself enough. So for both of us.

Jessica Craddock: So what do you need, and I don't care if it's related to what we just talked about or not, do you need anything else?

Casey Wait: I don't think so. I think the writing down of, of what worked and what I might do differently, what gave me energy and what depleted my energy. Because some things might work, but they might also just not be where I wanna spend my time, which is limited, will be helpful. And I mean, I just said the morning pages thing because I'd started doing it again. But randomly when we were talking and I, I just had that idea in the moment and I actually really liked that idea.

Jessica Craddock: Oh yeah.

Casey Wait: I'm doing some, like nobody has to see it reflecting on my paintings and where I wanna go. And the reality of just that brain dump of getting all that limiting belief stuff out in the open. Cuz oftentimes, even in the morning pages, if I, if I go down that rabbit hole, I, I exhaust myself and I'm like, mm-hmm. You know what? I keep writing and I'm like, it always ends in gratitude, which is always a surprise too.

It's probably not that bad. Like, I get to make art. If you get to paint, if you get to, if you get to do something that you love, that's pretty darn fantastic.

Jessica Craddock: What this all boils down to, and I think this is again true for everyone, but it's that every day you are in one moment and that is all that is there and that is all that you know for sure is what is happening at that very moment in time.

We wanna be able to see into the future and we wanna know exactly what I'm doing is going to get me X, Y, and Z results. And that's where we get stuck cuz we can't prove to ourselves that we know that is gonna happen. And I think that's generally when people get into that, I don't know what to do next.

I'm in a rut head space. I think the most important thing that you can do is, like you said, clear as much of that out as you can so that you can be present. And then know, and this is not something I'm gonna be able to explain in just a little bit, but there's another podcast episode that will be coming out about it.

But what are the most important things for me to be working on? To be creating more connections, to be making the art, finding the most aligned way to market it for me. And also to be giving some time and inspiration space and creativity back to myself. And if you can purposefully spend time on those things, every day, it's inevitable that you're gonna get there.

I can't give you the exact timeframe, and I can't say exactly what the path is gonna look like. But if you're taking those aligned actions, which you are, they're gonna work.

And it almost then becomes just about trust, which is hard.

Casey Wait: It is. It's supposed to be one of the things I'm actually, you know, good at and teach people about.

Doing it for yourself is difficult, but yes, I think that's where it boils down to the joy of just getting to do it in the first place.

Jessica Craddock: It's real and it's authentic. It's just a better way to build.

So last thing I'll leave you with is take that number that you made last year, whatever it is, let's pretend it's 12,000. Okay. So if you made $12,000 last year, what is a, and I almost don't even really like setting goals, but I feel like in this particular case, it's gonna be more helpful than detrimental. What if we said I'm gonna make 50% more, because I feel like that's realistic for you.

If you made 12 and next year we're aiming for 18, that doesn't feel like a sexy joke. But then maybe next year we've made 18 and we're gonna have 50% that, and then we're looking at 30, and then after that we're looking at 45. And you're probably gonna blow that out of the water one of those years or all of those years.

Right. But it takes so much pressure off that then you're able to take a lot more action.

Casey Wait: And I know if the switching my tactic piece makes it delay a little bit or not, but I'm comfortable with aiming, I mean, I'm certainly aiming for more, I'm investing more in my business, obviously working with you. Mm-hmm. And in other ways.

Jessica Craddock: This is about taking the pressure off of yourself. So by setting my example goal reasonable $18,000 instead of 12, that has nothing to do with how much money you're gonna make. That has to do with how fast you think things are supposed to work.

Casey Wait: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Does that make sense?

Casey Wait: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: So if you are interested, if you love some of the things that Casey had to say and you felt like this connection to her, based on those things, where might they find your art? Ms. Casey, where would you like them to go?

Casey Wait: @CaseyWaitArt,so CASEY WAIT ART on Instagram or TikTok. Don't bother with Twitter.

 And then it's just Casey Wait Art.com. But I'm better at responding on Instagram probably than anything else.

Jessica Craddock: So Instagram. Then if you wanna check it out more, you can check out the website. What if actually, they're interested in your series about Lent? Tell them about how to get that.

Casey Wait: For now it's at my link in bio. It's the first thing. It'll stay there for a little while. And it's also at my website backslash Lent. But you can see it in the menu.

Jessica Craddock: Alright, Ms. Casey, thank you so much. I appreciate you as always.

Casey Wait: I appreciate you back.

Jessica Craddock: Thank you.