Season 2, Episode 9: “I don’t know how to create leads and referrals, but I’m confident in my vision.” – Jeska Losonsky

Jessica Craddock: Welcome back to Intuitive Art Sales. I am here with Jeska Losonsky, and her artwork is about nature and flowers and capturing that nostalgia and stillness of being immersed in nature. She is at the point where she's really confident in her skills and her vision, but she's trying to, like most of us, probably make this a sustainable business that can support her and her life.

Welcome Jeska.

Jeska Losonsky: Thank you.

Jessica Craddock: I'm happy to have you here.

Jeska Losonsky: Thank you for having me.

Jessica Craddock: Yes, of course. And let's see, okay, so in your application you were talking about wanting to have a multifaceted art business. Mm-hmm. You were also talking about working on increasing your sales essentially. Also that you are not in your words, the most consistent.

Jeska Losonsky: Correct.

Jessica Craddock: When you're thinking about what is my problem, that comes in as a big player?

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. Consistency, time, having a three-year-old does not help. Yeah. And then, I mean, ADHD issues, stuff like that. And then I guess also plays into the consistency, I'm definitely an introvert. I'm a huge introvert. So like, I don't even wanna show my face on social media. It's a struggle.

So, yeah.

Jessica Craddock: You know, I, I feel like what you just described fits 90% of my clients.

Jeska Losonsky: Oh yeah.

Jessica Craddock: ADHD, kid, with no time, have trouble being consistent. It's more common than you would think.

Oh,

Jeska Losonsky: I, I don't doubt it. I don't doubt it.

Jessica Craddock: But that being said, those are all problems I like to help solve. Okay. So I don't normally do this, but I think I want to today.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: I'm gonna ask you a question. So if you could walk away with one Solve today what would be the most useful for you?

Or do you know?

Jeska Losonsky: I guess it would probably be like how t/o communicate with other people to get leads. I know that's a term you use a lot is leads. I mean, how do we get,

Jessica Craddock: Jeska knows I use this because she tried my Consistent Income group trial.

Jeska Losonsky: Consistent Income, Money Now. Yes. Which is great. Absolutely!

Jessica Craddock: And there's a, a section in there where you can, you can take two different pathways. You can take the Money Now pathway or you can take the Consistent Income pathway and at the level that she is at. So she was working through the Money Now curriculum. And I, I do use the term leads a lot. I don't love it, but there it is.

So, tell me more about that. Like, you are already at a little bit of another level than anyone's who's listening because they probably have not experienced what you have. So tell me a little bit more about your question. You are looking for how to make connections, how to make leads.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, I guess so. Cuz like, honestly the whole shouting into the world of Instagram does not particularly work for me. Yeah. I do see it as important to stay current and up to date and, you know, post and whatever. And I, I do get a little bit of engagement there. I do, I have some, some fans if you will.

But I think it's far more important to be like, making connections outside of there. Yeah. So for example, oh goodness, probably about a year or so ago I was, I decided that I wanted to do wholesale and I don't necessarily know, that's like a huge thing that I wanna do now, probably to some extent.

And like, you know, I created this whole catalog and everything and whatnot. It was beautiful, whatever. And then I started like pitching, I guess, like I did my research. I found shops that I thought would work, whatever, and I wrote up an email and sent it out with all the stuff. And for the most part, it's just crickets.

And I sent follow up emails. And it's still crickets. Or it's, not at, not at this time, or maybe in the future or whatever, and it's like, how do I, I mean, I know obviously connections in person are great, but that's not always an option. How do I get the email actually read?

Because I know even as a business owner, like I get those emails too. People send me, oh, I just did an audit of your website, blah, blah, blah. Mm-hmm. Delete, delete, delete instantly.

So, yeah. How do I,

Jessica Craddock: Even though I just asked you what do you want out of this? I'm not gonna answer that question because you said, and let's, let's back up here a little bit.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Craddock: What's going on inside Jessica's mind? Me, Jessica, Jessica's

brain.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. There's two of us here.

Jessica Craddock: So you said a couple years ago I started out thinking about wholesale, and so I started going down that road. I'm not really even sure it's something I want anymore, but how do I get those emails read? And as soon as you said, I'm not even sure it's something that I want anymore.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Craddock: It felt very misaligned.

Jeska Losonsky: What do you mean?

Like it was just like, I'm just saying that

to, to like, I think I excuse myself from not being excess

successful.

Jessica Craddock: No, no, no, no. Like, and maybe that's the case. Maybe that's what I was reading.

Jessica Craddock: But what I think I saw was. It's just not really in line with the way that I, that would be the best for me and my personality, but I'm doing it because I think it checks all the boxes of what I should do.

Does that feel accurate?

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. You're probably, I don't even know how you would know that, but like, you're not wrong. You know, as like an artist and a human, I've got issues with like materialism.

Jessica Craddock: Mm-hmm.

Jeska Losonsky: And whatnot.

Jessica Craddock: I want you to get rid of that.

Jeska Losonsky: Well, no, no, no. I think it's okay.

Hold on, hold on. I think, and maybe this is too far out there, but I think there are problems with society and affordability, and I think it's bad. Mm-hmm. And I think it creates this culture in which we go to Target and we can buy anything at any time because it's affordable. But the reality is you can actually afford an original painting.

 You just don't, because you don't value it. You're not willing to choose that painting and keep it for 20 years. You'd rather spend a lot less on something, something cheaper that you can, you can switch out constantly. And I think that's a problem in a lot of different ways. Now, I'm not saying that prints aren't, you know, valid forms of income or even, I'm not saying they're bad by any means.

Yeah. I'm just saying if I were to do it, I would rather do it on like a limited edition scale where they're just not readily available all the time.

Jessica Craddock: So who you are as a person aligns more with original artwork and people choosing to value having less things that are better?

Jeska Losonsky: Yes. 100%.

Jessica Craddock: Okay.

The reason why that's important is because that is you, which is part of your brand. Which means we need to make choices that align with that brand. And wholesale does not necessarily.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. I think there are ways to do it, but it's not necessarily, same with licensing. It's, I don't particularly like the idea of licensing, just because I think we have the surplus of mass produced things in the world.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that, like you said, that doesn't mean that it wouldn't be right for someone else, but it's not right for you.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Craddock: So, If I told you how to solve that problem, it would be the wrong solve.

Jeska Losonsky: So I mentioned before we started recording that I want to get into creating custom pieces primarily for like brides at their weddings, doing live painting.

And my plan, if you will, was to team up with wedding planners because I know I'm really bad at like marketing. And I thought if I could offer other industry professionals, like in the wedding industry, whatever, a commission to book clients for me, problem solve. Everybody win.

Jessica Craddock: I call that a super connector or a referral partner.

Jeska Losonsky: Yes, exactly.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. And that's one great direction to go.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: So you want to partially as a, partially as a Money Now activity, meaning we want to raise your income as quickly as possible. And the way to, one of the ways to do that is to make sure that the thing that you are selling is very connectable. Mm-hmm. So the product that you chose is brides' bouquets live painted at a wedding. Their wedding is one of the things they want to remember in their life the most, probably.

M ost brides are very in tune with their bouquet, what goes in it. Probably the flowers have meanings to them, or even if it's just a certain color palette they're really drawn to. And the fact that you are there in person to get to, maybe not to get to know them cuz you know it's their day and they're rushing around, but like, there's that connection to you as a human, even if it's small.

And then on top of that, you've got essentially people referring you cuz you're bribing them, which is great.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. Basically. I mean, I'm bribing them, but I'm also offering them something to offer to their clients.

Jessica Craddock: A tool that will make their client's wedding better.

Jeska Losonsky: Correct.

Jessica Craddock: That they will value. Mm-hmm. It's kind of a no-brainer to just suggest it.

Jeska Losonsky: Absolutely.

Jessica Craddock: So all of those things put together work well.

This is not something that you have to only connect to people through Instagram and figure out how to market it there. You've got this whole other avenue to pursue. The only quote unquote problem that I see with it as a Money Now activity is that people plan out their weddings in advance.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm. Correct.

Jessica Craddock: Bringing in income right this second from it, we have to figure that out. Actually, we don't, I know the answer. Deposits.

Jeska Losonsky: Yes. Deposits. Deposits help. Absolutely. And I don't know, like. I guess that's something that I'm not sure, and I don't even know who to reach out to. Like when do you require deposits?

I guess I could look at like photographers or something and see what they do. I don't know.

Jessica Craddock: Ask that question again. When...

Jeska Losonsky: Like, when obviously you can accept a deposit holds your date. But is it non-refundable from any point in time? Do they get it back if it's within six months? Do you know what I mean?

Jessica Craddock: These are all personal choices. Yeah. And I think what, what I would do is just start with the deposit, whatever is comfortable for you. The deposit is due at such and such time. And then as these instances come up where, oh, is it refundable? Actually I have this other thing or whatever, then we start working through what do I feel comfortable with my policy being. And individualize it for a minute.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: And then as you start doing that, you'll kind of figure out where you land on that spectrum of do I want to, do I not want to, and you can come up with your own policy.

But we're not gonna let that keep us stuck to figure that out before we can.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: So the next part of this is how do I get in touch with these people so that they will recommend me?

Jeska Losonsky: Correct. So I'm one step ahead of you.

Jessica Craddock: Great.

Jeska Losonsky: I am already scheduled to go to a wedding convention in like two weeks.

Jessica Craddock: Like a booth kind of situation? Or like,

Jeska Losonsky: I don't have a booth. No. I'm literally just gonna go and I guess introduce myself to people.

Jessica Craddock: Network.

Jeska Losonsky: Yes. With my three year old in tow.

Jessica Craddock: Sweet. Three-year-olds are excellent conversation starters, especially when they have a head full of curly hair.

Jeska Losonsky: Exactly right. He's a cutie.

Jessica Craddock: I feel like possibly the most helpful thing for us to talk about today might be your elevator speech.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. That could be it. Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Cause you obviously know, I mean, common sense, but people don't always go there and that's okay. Like, it just hadn't occurred to you yet. Places where your person is, go hang out there.

Which you are doing. And so if you can do it once, you can do it again. You don't need my help finding the people. You've already established that. So how do you start that conversation?

How do you find your elevator speech? So in another episode, not too long ago, I talked to someone about their brand topics.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Which is the starting place. I don't think that episode has been released yet, so that does not help you any. Mm-hmm. But that's kind of where I feel like we need to go anyway. We can condense. Okay. So in the intro, when I asked you what your art was about, you said you want to capture the nostalgia and the stillness of being immersed in nature.

Mm-hmm. You said specifically something like, like when you're standing in a field and the wind is blowing mm-hmm. And it's just quiet. So one of your, and I'm paraphrasing and guessing here, but one of your values is something like nostalgia. Yes. And then we also talked about your stance on how you believe that.

I'm gonna butcher this one too.

I know where you're going though,

Jeska Losonsky: the whole like concept of less is more, but quality over quantity, more quality over quantity.

Jessica Craddock: Mm-hmm. There you go. Quality over quantity.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: I know that's hard for an introvert. I'm an introvert. And I always had a hard time like what's my stance? What's the thing that I care about? Because that's what's gonna make people connect with you. Let me give you an example.

Last summer I was thinking, you know, when I was in college I did weightlifting, and I got really addicted to it. And I was like, this makes me feel good. Like this is good for my body. And then I got outta it. And last summer I started remembering that and I was like, I wanna, I wanna do that again.

 Somehow I found this girl on Instagram and what her thing that she says all the time is strong over skinny. And not paying attention so much to Is this helping me lose weight? But is this making me feel strong?

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: That's a stance. That's something that she believes in because she has experienced that in her life.

She used to be really skinny and now she's really strong. And why that's better and like all the things about that. Not everyone's gonna agree with that. Actually, probably a lot of people are gonna disagree with that. They're gonna be like, no, actually I would just wanna be skinny. That's fine. But those people are gonna go away her people, strong over skinny, even though it's a stance that is inspiring.

actually really inspiring. Because it's refreshing and it's something that you don't hear that often.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: So she inspired me, so I hired her.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: So that being said, we're sharing who we are, so that people connect, connect with us, which is one of the reasons why they buy our art.

Okay. So we've got nostalgia and we've got quality over quantity. Can you tell me just a little bit about what those mean to you? You pick which word resonates more

Jeska Losonsky: Stillness. I don't know. I just very, very much value, calm and peace and stillness

Jessica Craddock: Calm is the best word for what you're describing. Calmness.

Jeska Losonsky: Probably. Yeah. Something like that.

 I love nostalgia. I like that feeling. It's not an active thing. It's something that happens.

It's almost like honoring the past if you will. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's just cherishing good times in life. I don't know.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. What about quality over quantity?

Jeska Losonsky: What do you want me to say about it?

Jessica Craddock: Why do you care about it? Why does it matter to you? What do you think about it that other people might not think?

Jeska Losonsky: I don't know. It just goes along with the idea of simplicity and valuing the handmade and valuing the work and creativity that goes into an item. The energy there. And it's also like, let's be realistic. We all know that the t-shirt you buy for $5 was not made by someone who was paid fairly, right?

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So if I were to say, I've got three phrases I wrote down, you tell me which one stands out the most when you were thinking about this new artwork that you would like to create.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Honoring creative energy, cherishing the past in good times, or very similarly honoring memories.

Jeska Losonsky: It's, there's like different feels for saying kind of the same thing, right? I think honoring memories is more in tune with my overall vibe.

Jessica Craddock: Don't think overall.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. But for this, for specifically bouquet paintings, you know what I mean? Obviously cherishing good times.

Jessica Craddock: I would agree. The reason why I say not overall is because as soon as you start trying to integrate everything that you do or love to do, they will muddy and means nothing.

For an elevator speech. I'll tell you why in a second. Is I create, or I creator, I make blank about blank.

 So, I create live bouquet paintings for weddings about cherishing the past and good times.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: The reason why that is what it is, because we're not trying to sell someone the second we're saying what we do, because that just turns into a hot mess. We're just trying to peak their interest so that they wanna have a conversation about it.

Jeska Losonsky: I see.

Jessica Craddock: And it's a two-sided. I'm not just word vomiting. I'm telling you what I do, and then I get to hear what your questions are and I get to curate the conversation to fit what you care about. So normally people will then go, oh, you're an artist.

Tell me about that life. Mm-hmm. Or they'll go, oh, tell me more about that. I wanna see what that looks like. And then you have the opportunity to like, oh, let me pull up my Instagram and I'll show you a couple of examples. Mm-hmm. And so that visual's gonna be a hundred percent more effective than you describing what it looks like.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm. Of course.

Jessica Craddock: What's the third one? Oh, or they might be interested in the about statement, and wanna know more about that. So if we're just trying to fit all of that into two sentences of an elevator speech, it's just not gonna land.

Jeska Losonsky: So let basically give this a snippet and let the conversation go where it goes.

 I mean, I think especially the convention, I have the added benefit of they're there to sell to me. You know, they think I'm a bride or something like that, but they're going to initiate the conversation.

Jessica Craddock: That is helpful.

Jeska Losonsky: Which is great.

Probably something like, oh, when's your wedding date? Oh, I'm not getting married.

Jessica Craddock: But lemme tell you about a brilliant opportunity. Okay. So I want you to practice saying this and let's find if there's any places in there that feel weird to you, and we can tweak it.

Jeska Losonsky: I'm an artist. I create live bouquet paintings at weddings and, let's see.

Jessica Craddock: It's okay. Takes practice.

Jeska Losonsky: I mean, that seems like enough right there to me. No, but you want me to add that? Like, okay. So I'm an artist and I create live bouquet paintings for weddings about cherishing the past and good times.

It seems too wordy for me.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah, it is. Normally all those other words aren't in the create section. But I feel like it is important in this instance. So let's see if we can cut down both sides.

I do live wedding paintings. No, hold on. I wanna distinguish between the common, because I don't want to paint the first dance.

Does it matter that it's live, is what I'm kind of mulling over in my head because that makes it a little bit longer.

Jeska Losonsky: I mean, that's where the price point comes in.

Jessica Craddock: But also it can, we don't have to fit everything into that first sentence.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm. Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Like that can come in the conversation. Just like, I don't have to tell you exactly what it looks like. So it could be I paint brides bouquets so they can cherish that good time.

Jeska Losonsky: Or just like happy memories instead of good times.

Jessica Craddock: Do you not like the word cherish? If you don't, it's okay.

Jeska Losonsky: I don't know. I mean, whatever. Even if I don't, I can, I can switch that out and figure

it out.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So let me tell you the method here, because I want you to understand how to do it so that when this isn't feeling right, you can switch it. So essentially what we did was we looked for kind of like three themes That would make people connect with you or your artwork, and we came up with calm, nostalgia and quality over quantity.

 From there, what I normally do is I have you spend a little bit of time thinking about why each of those things matter to you and writing out like three different reasons for each one. Okay, so then you have three topics and nine subtopics. Then each of those subtopics we create like a phrase.

Okay. So remember earlier when I was talking about the, the girl that I hired and strong over skinny? She always says, strong over skinny. Strong, over skinny. I can't think about her and not think about that phrase because that's at the core of what she does. And it's just something that she can repeat in her marketing all the time.

It solidifies her brand. It makes me remember her for that reason. So I tried to make it quick and skip past the majority of that work, which is maybe why it's not quite landing. We're getting there and you could go out and use that right now. But as you go like.

Figure out where it doesn't feel right. Tweak it, keep going. So that phrase that we create is usually kind of attention grabbing. And so when we insert that phrase into the about, it's like, oh, tell me more about that. I'm curious, I wanna hear why that matters to you. And then you're starting to connect as a human with another human.

Okay. Over more than just a surface level thing. Okay. So cherish the past in good times isn't really phrase yet. Honoring creative energy isn't quite a phrase yet. Honor memories. Like, they're not quite there but that's how you get there.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. Makes sense.

Jessica Craddock: And I, I think that that's going to feel better if you can actually spend a little bit of time on the step.

But we have a rough draft, and when you start putting the rough draft out there mm-hmm. You very quickly learn what's wrong with it or what's good about it. This is one of those ever evolving things. I think where people get really stuck is they're like, I have to have the final version before I tell anybody.

But you can't get to the final version without the rough draft.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, I know you have to start before you're actually ready.

Jeska Losonsky: So I guess like once I have that conversation, I guess the next step, am I trying, what am I trying to do at that initial conversation?

Am I trying to basically open the window to email them later that week, per se?

Jessica Craddock: You are trying to open the door to whatever they're ready for. So some people, which is why the conversation is so helpful. Some people are just gonna say, oh, that's cool. Mm-hmm. And the point of those conversations is would you like to have something ready but join my newsletter, follow me on Instagram, like whatever.

So that not only do they now have a place to get content from you, but you have contact information. Okay? If they follow you on Instagram, you're gonna be able to find them. If they join your newsletter, you've got their email address. So for those people who are not ready for the next step, but they're interested in what you do, one, you get them on wherever, wherever you think is most appropriate.

Jeska Losonsky: Literally ask them, would you like to join my newsletter?

Jessica Craddock: Yeah.

Jeska Losonsky: Because nobody's actually gonna say no. Well, most people aren't gonna say no, they'll just un Yeah. But they'll just unsubscribe later if they're not interested.

Jessica Craddock: You can't create a lead if they, you have a conversation and then they walk off.

Jeska Losonsky: Correct. I was thinking I would just grab their business card and then email them.

Jessica Craddock: Well, they're gonna wanna tell you about what they do too. So that's also a thing. But then you've only got. Okay, so there's the two marketing sides.

I don't know if you got to this part. Mm. There's content marketing, there's relationship marketing. If all you have is a business card, that's not a bad place to be. You only have this relationship marketing side and they are not getting anything else from you. So the only way they're ever going to hear from or about you or remember you is if you personally contact them.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: And the chances of you being consistent and doing that on a regular basis from what you've told me are not great. So you need the two working together. So that you're in more places at once.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. Gotcha, gotcha, gotcha. I see what you mean. Okay. So yeah, that's the one way to go. And then if somebody's super interested, I could just

Jessica Craddock: If someone is super interested you have a couple of choices. If it feels appropriate to be like, if like you want to give them more information about actually working together.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: You could do that in person, like you could just sit there and have that conversation. Okay. But probably that's, it's gonna be lengthy. My guess.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. And I don't want to take up a ton of their time because they're actually there to try to network with, not me. Yeah. I'm not their ideal client for that moment anyway.

Jessica Craddock: So the next step that most people would take is get their card and email them. I might even take that a step further and say, take their card and say do you wanna set up a, a zoom in the next couple of weeks. And I can walk you through it in like 15, 20 minutes.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Something like that.

Jeska Losonsky: I've gotta figure out how to use Zoom.

Jessica Craddock: Oh, it's so easy. You're here right now.

Jeska Losonsky: I mean, you know, have an account and everything. I'll figure it

out. That's the way the world works now. People don't meet for coffee.

Jessica Craddock: Like seriously, meet for coffee because you're local. You can do that. What I'm trying to get to is a deeper level of connection than words. Okay. So words are not as, connecting as voice is not as, connecting as video is not as connecting as in person.

Jeska Losonsky: Right? Absolutely.

Jessica Craddock: So the, the further you go down that scale, the more effective it's going to.

Also, it's, okay, so I have this one client who, and she'll forgive me for saying this because she said it is very impatient. And like she has a lot of conversations up in the air at all times about like commissions or buying a piece, but it takes people a while and she has to remember to follow up.

And then there's like two weeks gap before they get back to her. And like all these Yeah. Moving things that she gets really frustrated at and I said, you okay, so your homework from now on when people show that level of interest in buying from you is to, instead of emailing them the information and waiting and playing that whole game, is to meet with them, whether it's on Zoom or in person.

Have all that conversation and tie it up and wrap it up and call it good. Okay. That's essentially what I'm telling you to do.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Much less frustrating.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: They like it better because they get their questions answered in a timely manner. They don't have to remember to get back to you. You don't get lost in their inbox, like, it's a pain. So they don't have to deal with any of that.

Jeska Losonsky: Sure. Okay. That makes sense.

Jessica Craddock: I also feel like you understand, but there's still a little bit of hesitancy there. So would you like to practice saying that to me? Some, some version of that?

Jeska Losonsky: I guess it's just, I'm gonna be looking for the window. Be like, well, it was, it was really lovely to meet you. Would you like to, say would, can I add you to my newsletter?

Or, oh,

Jessica Craddock: okay. So how are we gonna say that? Because nobody wants a newsletter.

Jeska Losonsky: Nobody wants a newsletter. Okay.

I don't wanna do the instagram route. Even if they wanna follow me, that's great, but like the, you just get lost in the algorithm. And they'll never see, they'll see me in two years and that doesn't help me now.

Jessica Craddock: Well also you can do things there too, but that also requires you doing them.

Jeska Losonsky: Real quick question. These people, should I be sending them the same, not that I ever send emails, that's a whole nother issue. Whatever. I'm working on it. Mm-hmm. Should I be sending them the same thing I send to my entire audience? Or should they be getting something only related to weddings, knowing that I am nowhere near sending three emails a week or anything ridiculous like that? They'd be getting one or two a month probably, but then they would also get occasionally about a sale for prints and other things.

Jessica Craddock: I don't think either route is right or wrong necessarily. But sticking with the, I'm more apt to send one or two emails a month.

Mm-hmm. And if I have to send one or two more emails a month, that makes it more problematic. So I, in this case will say, let's just put 'em on the big list.

Jeska Losonsky: I guess I'll rephrase that. I have no problem sending a few emails directed to weddings specifically, but should I also be sending them my regular newsletter?

That's the question.

Jessica Craddock: I'd say yes, but also as you add them. Mm-hmm. , like, let's just take down their email address and you add them.

Jeska Losonsky: Make sure that I segment them and know what they're there for.

Jessica Craddock: Yes, exactly.

So that if you wanna send an extra email to them, it's almost like you have a separate list. And you can also take them out if you don't feel proper sending that email to that group.

Jeska Losonsky: Correct. Okay.

Jessica Craddock: So we don't need a whole nother list. We'll just add a tag.

Jeska Losonsky: That makes sense. Okay. That's easy. But it's okay to send them my monthly newsletter as well.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah, I think you should.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. Just because it kind of keeps the, keeps them on their, because I don't know how often I'm gonna be able to send them something about weddings. Like, that would probably be like, maybe four times a year.

Jessica Craddock: The other thing I'll say is after you get their email address, you go home. I'm telling you another techy thing, but I think you can handle it. There is a program called Loom, l o o m you can record just like, like this, like a message. Or you can do your computer screen or you can do yourself and your computer screen. You get to pick. But just make them a little, Hey, it was so good to see you. I really liked talking to you about something like make it a personal.

Jeska Losonsky: Video message is what you're saying?

Jessica Craddock: Like a video message.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: I know I'm making this hard. I'm, I'm challenging you.

Jeska Losonsky: People actually do that?

Jessica Craddock: I do. People love that.

Jeska Losonsky: Oh, you do, but you're, you're kind special.

Jessica Craddock: I just wanna say one more thing. Yes, go for it. You asked how do I get more leads?

I'm trying to give you the best pot of leads possible, as opposed to I'm just gonna go kind of like floater around and try things. But yeah, not really get things out of it.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, but I gotta be more aggressive if I really want it. I get it. Especially if I want it now. Okay. This is kind of funny.

So I did a, a popup at a coffee shop where I had artwork, whatever last month. I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this lead thing. I've never done this before, but I'm gonna reach out to like the seven or eight people on Instagram that, or I think it was all on Instagram that had shown like specific interest in what I was selling there or whatever, blah, blah, blah.

And I reached out to like eight people and it was great. Except for one, like I had several people say thank you. Several showed up and bought a ton of stuff, whatever. It was awesome. One blocked me, huh? And it was a, it was a woman who had literally just bought a painting from me, like a small painting.

Not like I was asking her to go buy, spend another thousand dollars or anything like that. She spent like $65 on a little painting like three weeks prior.

Jessica Craddock: That's so random.

Jeska Losonsky: I was like, oh, I just wanna let you know that, you know, I have more work, like what you purchased and I'll be there this weekend.

She blocked me and I was, first, I was like, my heart's sunk. And then I was like, thought it was hilarious. I was like, well, that's clearly all her. She's just,

Jessica Craddock: She got her own thing going on, don't worry about that.

Jeska Losonsky: The leads works. I just need more of them.

Jessica Craddock: Well, you're doing a great job.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: I'm giving you a high five. Virtual high five.

Jeska Losonsky: Thank you.

Jessica Craddock: Okay, let's just take note of all the things that you have done thus far. You have identified the thing you want to sell that has a good probability of going over well. You've identified how you wanna sell it. You took that a step further and you went and said, who do I want to sell it to, and where are they?

And signed up for that thing to go to it to have conversations with them. Mm-hmm. Then you showed up to this podcast episode and said, how do I do that? And we created a whole plan. So you have gone all the way to here. Without actually that much time or effort for thinking about it. Is that accurate?

Jeska Losonsky: I mean, I had this idea like a year ago, and it took me a while to get there, but I had to create samples. But yeah, as far as actually from going, creating the work, that's the other thing that I struggle with a little bit in all honesty, is like, yeah, this is like, I feel weird saying this, like being recorded and everything, but like, I haven't actually done this like as far as painting live, and it's, I feel like I'm walking the line between, I mean, clearly I can create the paintings.

I've done that. I have the samples. They're, I wish I had more, but you know, if I were to wait until I had a dozen samples, I wouldn't be able to do this for another year. So whatever, what I have is what I have. So I feel like I'm walking the line between being authentic and like fake it till you make it.

And I don't know what if I have that conversation and people straight up ask me, how many weddings have you done? Does that make sense? And might, the answer is none.

Jessica Craddock: So what would you say?

Jeska Losonsky: I don't know. What am I,

Jessica Craddock: I would say I'm looking for my first one.

Jeska Losonsky: Really? Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. The more honest you are, the more people love it.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: How many people do you know who are straight up about stuff? Mm-hmm.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. I mean, I could say like, I've done painting in person before, but I haven't actually done a wedding.

Jessica Craddock: I've done painting in person before. I've created loads of samples of these flowers. I just haven't actually sat down and done it at a wedding yet. But I have complete confidence in my skill and vision, which I know is true because you told me that.

Jeska Losonsky: Mm-hmm. So I need to go and change my website because then, cuz right now my website sort of implies that I do this. So just change your wording.

Jessica Craddock: You, you do do it. It is what you do.

Jeska Losonsky: Well, I do, but it's like, I don't know. I have to look at it again and see what I wrote specifically.

Jessica Craddock: Some people will ask that, but you can also say the price reflects that. Like, I'm starting and so it's lower than it's going to be as I get more comfortable with it.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. And then this is like, I don't know, I'm gonna ask you this question cause I don't even know who else to ask. Like what kind of commission do I offer people? Like a 10%, 15%.

Jessica Craddock: It's whatever you feel comfortable with. Again, but

Jeska Losonsky: I don't even know what commissions are normal.

Jessica Craddock: So for like selling a course, you ask people to sell it for you. 50% commission is normal.

Jeska Losonsky: 50%.

Jessica Craddock: Mm-hmm.

Jeska Losonsky: Insane.

Jessica Craddock: Now that being said, that doesn't mean that's what you have to do.

Jeska Losonsky: But that's a course that's prerecorded that you can deliver to mass amounts of people. This is one single item that I have to create every single time.

Jessica Craddock: Right. So that being said, where are we gonna go with the balance? Do we want to go higher into, I'm going to offer more, so they're more incentivized. Or do we want to go lower so that you have a higher profit margin? And neither of those are places where you have to stay. That is your starting point.

Jeska Losonsky: Correct. And I also suspect that once I get this ball rolling, I won't even need planners.

Jessica Craddock: So then you'll start getting referrals.

Jeska Losonsky: You'll get referrals. Exactly. And I will meet people at weddings and stuff like that. Yes.

Jessica Craddock: My gut says 30% to start.

Jeska Losonsky: 30%. Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Because we, we really, this is how we are marketing.

We're basically paying them to do it. And we want them to do it. So we need to make sure that they have some motivation behind it.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. That makes sense.

Jessica Craddock: And then you can lower it as you go. But just as a starting place, think about it like I'm paying for Instagram ads almost. Something like that. That's just my budget.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. No, I mean, that's fine. I can always change it.

Jessica Craddock: And you can always increase your price too.

Jeska Losonsky: Well, yeah, exactly. I would increase my price, I guess, down once I filled. Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Get three booked.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: And then either increase your price or decrease the commission a little bit.

But just get comfortable with, this is something people want. I can sell this, it's gonna go good. Say my first five I'm paying 30% commission. And then I'm gonna edit as I go from there, but that's gonna be probably the highest commission I'm gonna offer.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. And then I could do a little bit of both if I wanna lower the commission, but raise the price and then they don't see the decrease, but I see an increase type of thing.

Okay, cool.

Jessica Craddock: I foresee, and I don't know, we didn't even talk about what you're gonna charge, but I foresee you being able to charge quite a bit for these.

Jeska Losonsky: I was gonna start at 2000 and I have three different packages. I've seen other people do like the actual couple and stuff like that, and I see them charging 3, 4, 5.

Mm-hmm. So I feel like two is decent.

Jessica Craddock: And so if you're doing two at 30% 600.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: So then you're making 1400, I mean 600 would motivate me, I think.

Jeska Losonsky: Absolutely. I think that's motivating, especially if you think about it. If you're a wedding and you can book four in a month.

Right. That's a good chunk of money.

Jessica Craddock: That's my mortgage.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, exactly. It might not be theirs, but you know, it's a nice vacation at least or something.

Jessica Craddock: I feel like this was a very productive conversation.

Jeska Losonsky: Yes, I think so too.

I feel confident. Yeah, we'll see, because, otherwise it's back to waiting tables.

Jessica Craddock: One thing and then we're gonna wrap up. I think that for you to feel more confident in this venture the one thing you need is to actually do one.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, I know.

Jessica Craddock: But you don't know anybody in the area cause you're new. I was gonna say like, do you know anybody getting married? Can you just go do it for free? It could be, hold on. Formulating that for like the next six months, you offer one for free to anyone that you talked not to anyone you talked to, but say like, this month I'm giving away one free one for your clients. Tell the planners this, essentially. Right. But it's just one across the board. I don't know exactly how you'll say this, you'll have to practice it a little bit.

But essentially, like you're saying, since I'm getting started, I really want more practice. So I'm giving away one in April, giving away one in May. The reason why I think that's worth your time to do is because one that's going to give them a little bit more reason to connect with you, but also you're creating your own referrals.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. No, I see it. I can make my own referrals there. I can get the practice, I can get the photos of me actually doing it. All that stuff.

What do they do? They're literally just like,

Jessica Craddock: They get you the wedding.

Jeska Losonsky: Well, I know they get me the wedding, but it's, it's just something nice that they can give to one of their couples because they don't get a commission on it if it's free.

Jessica Craddock: So just logistically, you might offer Just one person, like someone who's really interested.

Say, you know what, I was thinking about doing this thing. Do you want this spot? Do you know anyone? And then logistically, you don't have to figure out how to figure out who gets it.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah. Okay. Or they could even use it as like promotion or something on social media.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. Yeah. There you go.

Now you're talking. Get those wheels turning

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. All right. Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Sound good. You know what to do.

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Are you overwhelmed or are you simplified?

Jeska Losonsky: No, I'm simplified in this. I mean, of course I've got like three other ventures that I need to work on too,

but like,

Jessica Craddock: No, no, no, no, no, no. All in.

All in, but this is literally just networking right now until I actually have people.

You're gonna have people soon.

Jeska Losonsky: You think? You really think so?

Jessica Craddock: I really do because one, we are creating our own referrals with the last piece. Two, we're creating some urgency with the 30% bookings, whatever, whatever.

We are actively networking. We're not just putting it out on social media. Mm-hmm. And they book their spot with a deposit. If you spread your energy, and you don't go all in, it won't work as well.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. No, that makes sense.

Jessica Craddock: And that doesn't mean you have to do this forever. But like, go deep instead of wide.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay, so what else do I do with my time that I complain that I don't have enough of?

 Because I'm also thinking, well I don't wanna give up landscapes and I'd like to get my work into local places in the DC area, coffee shops or whatever, but I need to create it. So I was thinking about doing like a daily project on that, like on Instagram and then creating prints from that if I want to.

Jessica Craddock: I mean, you can do all that, but I think that should be your next project.

Jeska Losonsky: So what do I do?

Jessica Craddock: You're painting. You are, Maybe doing some quote unquote cold calling to wedding planners.

Jeska Losonsky: Okay. So basically I would say like, you know, I just moved into the area and I'm looking for, for wedding industry professionals to partner with as a live bouquet painter, essentially.

Jessica Craddock: That sounds beautiful. Do you know anyone? Are you interested?

Jeska Losonsky: Okay.

Jessica Craddock: Okay, Jeska, if they happen to be a wedding planner, or they know someone who's getting married, or they just want to check out your artwork, how do you want to connect with people?

Jeska Losonsky: As much as I hate on Instagram, you know, Instagram is probably a great place.

You can send me a DM if you want or email. They're both gonna be about the same. But my name is spelled really weird, so it's Jeska Losonsky Art is my Instagram handle. And it's j e s k a l o s o n s k y a r t.

And then my email is info@JeskaLosonsky.com. And I have a website, which is also

Jessica Craddock: JeskaLosonsky.com

Jeska Losonsky: Yeah, any of those are great.

Jessica Craddock: So if you just wanna see what she's about, maybe go to her website or Instagram. If you wanna talk to her, go to Instagram or email.

Jeska Losonsky: Yes. Perfect.

Jessica Craddock: Great. Lovely having you. Thank you for coming. Okay.

Jeska Losonsky: Alright. Have a nice day.

Thank you so much. I'll talk to you later.

Jessica Craddock: Bye.

Jeska Losonsky: Bye.