Self Leadership as an Entrepreneur | DFS 349

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:00

So welcome to Destin for success. I'm your

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:04

host, Jennifer Takagi, and today we're talking with a new friend,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:08

James Corwin, about self leadership as entrepreneurs and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:13

as an entrepreneur, leading myself is a little different

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:17

than in my corporate and federal jobs, and I cannot wait to hear

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:21

James insight and input on this. James, welcome to the show.

James Corwin: 00:00:25

Thank you. Thank you for having me. So why don't

James Corwin: 00:00:28

you tell us a little

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:29

bit about, like, where you are, how you

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:31

show up in the world, and then dive in on the the self

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:35

leadership piece of it, because I think you have kind of an

Jennifer Takagi: 00:00:38

interesting story going on back there. Sure,

James Corwin: 00:00:41

I'm a wildlife artist, and I've been painting

James Corwin: 00:00:45

professionally for 11 years, full time, and I it's been quite

James Corwin: 00:00:53

a journey, and for most people, I still get this today. We

James Corwin: 00:01:00

there's a stereotype of the starving artist and that, oh,

James Corwin: 00:01:06

really, you can make a living doing your art. Well, yes,

James Corwin: 00:01:10

actually, you can make an incredible living. So it's been

James Corwin: 00:01:14

exciting to go along and on that journey of being an artist, but

James Corwin: 00:01:21

try and really break that stereotype of the starving

James Corwin: 00:01:25

artists and trust transcend that. And so I've been sharing

James Corwin: 00:01:31

that message and trying to really inspire other artists to

James Corwin: 00:01:38

know that you can be successful as an artist, and you can build

James Corwin: 00:01:42

a wonderful life and career doing something creative that

James Corwin: 00:01:46

you love. And also, I think it's inspiring for other business

James Corwin: 00:01:52

owners who aren't in the line of, you know, artwork or even

James Corwin: 00:01:59

maybe a creative field, but to see behind the scenes of the

James Corwin: 00:02:06

life of an artist and how an artist has built a successful

James Corwin: 00:02:10

career painting. And I

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:14

love this. And I just saw a show. I don't

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:16

remember what it was. I'm recovering from knee surgery, so

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:19

I've, you know, binge watched a lot of things, and someone said,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:22

Well, I mean, it's not like you had a degree in art history, and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:26

I thought I have a degree in French, and I've made a pretty

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:30

good living all these years. So, you know, you can have an

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:33

oddball,

James Corwin: 00:02:35

exactly,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:37

degree and still, you know, make a living

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:39

to support yourself. But I have heard a lot about starving

Jennifer Takagi: 00:02:42

artists, so please tell me more.

James Corwin: 00:02:46

Yeah, yeah, it's what you put in, is obviously

James Corwin: 00:02:51

what you get out and and that goes for many things, and I've

James Corwin: 00:02:57

always been passionate about business, so it's hard to know

James Corwin: 00:03:02

what really came first. Was it the love for business or the

James Corwin: 00:03:05

love for art, but the marriage of the two has certainly helped

James Corwin: 00:03:13

propel me to where I'm at today and where I'm going, which might

James Corwin: 00:03:20

be a bit different than what other artists might experience

James Corwin: 00:03:26

through their artistic journey, but really, some of the more

James Corwin: 00:03:32

crucial aspects to growing a business in art, if that's what

James Corwin: 00:03:38

you choose to do or just selling your art, a lot of that has to

James Corwin: 00:03:42

do with marketing. So if we get really technical about it, it's

James Corwin: 00:03:48

just getting your art scene. And the more eyes you can have on

James Corwin: 00:03:54

your art, obviously the more opportunities you have to sell.

James Corwin: 00:03:58

And I think artists find that really challenging in creating

James Corwin: 00:04:06

something that's very intimate, and then, in a way, presenting

James Corwin: 00:04:12

that to the world. And you're you're kind of opening up this,

James Corwin: 00:04:18

this other side and self of you, which is self expression, that

James Corwin: 00:04:22

can be, that can be hard, and it can be hard to really put

James Corwin: 00:04:27

yourself out there, but it's so important. And you with

James Corwin: 00:04:32

leadership, where I found leadership in my life at the

James Corwin: 00:04:40

moment and and looking back, is a couple things. There's the

James Corwin: 00:04:48

leadership of now that I've I have a little bit of experience

James Corwin: 00:04:54

and and background into doing these certain things. Things

James Corwin: 00:05:00

that have made me successful at this point in my career, over

James Corwin: 00:05:07

the last 10 years, to be able to share that knowledge and

James Corwin: 00:05:13

guidance to new and emerging artists, even artists who are in

James Corwin: 00:05:20

there halfway through their career, and just wanting to jump

James Corwin: 00:05:26

that next hurdle. I also have a team of employees, and have been

James Corwin: 00:05:32

an employer for, gosh, at least half of that time, over six

James Corwin: 00:05:39

years and and that's really taught me a lot about

James Corwin: 00:05:45

leadership, and it certainly shaped me as a person and and

James Corwin: 00:05:52

from anything from, you know, trying to traverse the Am I a

James Corwin: 00:05:59

friend, or am I an employer? And what happens if I, you know, we

James Corwin: 00:06:06

become more friends, but then I have to let you go or something,

James Corwin: 00:06:11

and things like that, and also trying to, you know, be a a

James Corwin: 00:06:20

person that feels very grounded and solid in the business and

James Corwin: 00:06:26

can carry us through challenging times. Because in this business

James Corwin: 00:06:31

of art, and I'm sure, like any businesses, it's it's an ebb and

James Corwin: 00:06:36

a flow, there are times that are really good and there are times

James Corwin: 00:06:40

are challenging. I used to find those times of challenging very

James Corwin: 00:06:47

painful, of course. But now I've, I've just come to

James Corwin: 00:06:53

understand that they're, they're part of the the journey, and

James Corwin: 00:06:58

they're really a wonderful opportunity to learn what things

James Corwin: 00:07:04

need to be tweaked and fixed in the business to make it a bit

James Corwin: 00:07:11

better, and so with my team, yeah, just finding those those

James Corwin: 00:07:19

moments where I can really step up. And because during I just

James Corwin: 00:07:25

thinking in the past, there are times when I would maybe go more

James Corwin: 00:07:30

quiet during the challenge, in times of like, I need to really

James Corwin: 00:07:34

get inside my mind and my emotions here and try and figure

James Corwin: 00:07:37

this out and and I'm like, I don't want to, you know, pretend

James Corwin: 00:07:45

that everything's okay, but I think going going through so

James Corwin: 00:07:52

many, I don't even like to call them failures, because they're

James Corwin: 00:07:55

not, they're just learning lessons and going through so

James Corwin: 00:07:58

Many of those challenging learning lessons like, oh gosh,

James Corwin: 00:08:02

I've been here before. I know how to emotionally respond

James Corwin: 00:08:10

accordingly so that I can handle the stress and lead my team

James Corwin: 00:08:17

through this time and myself, because it is a lot of self

James Corwin: 00:08:22

managing and self control as well. So

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:27

I love this, and I'm really I've been on a

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:32

path for quite a while now of personal development and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:35

personal growth. And you know, when you look i I've done a lot

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:39

of leadership development training, and you have to lead

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:41

yourself and lead your team, and lead the organization, and lead

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:45

through change like they're, you know, and they all require a

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:48

little different skill set. But I think where most struggle is

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:54

that leading self, because we kind of skip by that and go

Jennifer Takagi: 00:08:57

straight to leading a team. I've, I've been in a a course

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:04

called energetic magic, and it's like shifting your own personal

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:07

stories. And there's a process you go through to help someone,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:11

and I'm certified in two levels to do the work, and there's a

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:15

third level, but you have to be invited to participate in that

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:21

third level. And I was talking to Shiraz, it's this gentleman's

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:26

program. And I was like, Shiraz, what do you have to do, like for

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:29

level three? And he said, Well, you have to be invited. And I

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:32

said, Well, I was included in the Facebook group. You know,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:34

you said, what dates Do you want? So thanks for inviting me,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:37

because I didn't invite you yet. That was just finding out the

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:42

people who could potentially be invited when they wanted to

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:45

come. And then I was a little bit crushed. It was like, wait,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:48

what? I wasn't invited yet. Yeah, well, like, what do you

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:52

look for to invite someone? And he said, When, when you when

Jennifer Takagi: 00:09:57

you're going to be at level three and really help people.

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:00

You have to leave judgment aside, like you have to just let

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:05

that go. And so fast forward five or six months. I was

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:09

talking to him, and we have a mutual friend, and I said, Man,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:12

I was talking to her, and she had gone through the course with

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:16

me. I was talking to Shiraz and to be level three, like, like,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:23

you've gotta let go of judgment and and we're not there. Like,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:26

girlfriend, the two of us together, we are not there. And

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:29

she's like, Oh yeah, we're not there. So I talked to Shiraz

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:33

again, and I said, Well, we talked about this, and we're not

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:35

there. Like, we're not ready. Because you as you're human,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:40

like, you have to train yourself not to be there. It's mainly

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:44

when you're working with a client judgmental. And I went,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:49

oh man. I told her that we just weren't level three. And

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:53

somebody walked by and said or did something. And then I had

Jennifer Takagi: 00:10:56

something snarky to say, because I'm pretty orcasm and and then I

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:01

heard I went, Man, that was not level three. That was three

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:05

behavior. And now he had this whole joke, and I told another

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:10

mutual friend about level three, and just today she goes, Man, I

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:16

said, blah, blah, blah. And my first thought was, that was not

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:20

level three behavior. So we're gonna get a motion, a whole

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:25

movement going around. That's what I'm thinking, level three

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:29

behavior, because leading yourself like and I want you to

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:34

answer to this, or if you have any like, thoughts or analogies

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:40

to go with it. There was a woman at church when I was in high

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:44

school, and she wore the same outfit every time I saw her,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:47

Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday, same outfit, a fall

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:52

kind of color, polyester, button down shirt with like flowers and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:11:59

leaves, but it was all browns and muted oranges and then brown

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:03

slacks and shoes. Yeah, every time I saw her, somebody got

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:08

married, and it was a Saturday night, and she comes in in this

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:12

bright colored, pretty, flirty dress. And I was like, Oh my

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:15

gosh, Mrs. Jones, your dress is beautiful. And she was like,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:18

gosh, it's so nice to get out of my uniform, and I said uniform?

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:24

And she said, Yeah, I'm in the nursery with the infants, and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:28

often times they see me one to three times a week. But for an

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:34

infant that's not often enough to to form a bond and a memory,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:38

but they remember textures and smells SO and colors even, to

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:42

some extent, she goes so I wear the same outfit, I use the same

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:46

detergent, same softener, same lotion all the time. So it's

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:50

easier for the babies to feel at home. And I can remember as like

Jennifer Takagi: 00:12:56

a 17 year old high school kid thinking that's a level of

Jennifer Takagi: 00:13:02

consistency that makes you approachable and makes people

Jennifer Takagi: 00:13:09

want to be around you, because they know what to expect. So I'm

Jennifer Takagi: 00:13:12

going to turn it over to you.

James Corwin: 00:13:14

Yeah, it's interesting listening to that.

James Corwin: 00:13:18

It brought up a memory when I was in high school, I also wore

James Corwin: 00:13:27

basically the same outfit every single day, and it was either

James Corwin: 00:13:33

two sweatshirts, one that was this bright orange color hoodie,

James Corwin: 00:13:39

and it was our school mascot on it, the Braves. I went to fly

James Corwin: 00:13:45

head high school in Montana and and then this really awful

James Corwin: 00:13:51

Brown, kind of olivey green, knitted sweater. And I don't

James Corwin: 00:14:00

know why I wore the same clothes every day, because they were

James Corwin: 00:14:03

really bad. And I looking back, that's one thing I really wish I

James Corwin: 00:14:09

had changed. But just hearing you speak, it kind of jogged

James Corwin: 00:14:15

this thought in my mind that I've always been this

James Corwin: 00:14:19

personality where I just it's, well, it's a paradox, right,

James Corwin: 00:14:26

with what I do, because I'm not somebody who likes a lot of

James Corwin: 00:14:31

attention or to really be seen much. I prefer to I have like, I

James Corwin: 00:14:38

don't really have that much to show, I don't really want to

James Corwin: 00:14:43

show or to make changes. I do still wear a lot of same clothes

James Corwin: 00:14:49

throughout the week that I did last week, and it's interesting,

James Corwin: 00:14:55

because I feel like the art is my art. Opportunity to go ta da.

James Corwin: 00:15:02

Here I am. Here's my show. And you don't have to look at me,

James Corwin: 00:15:07

but you can look at the art, and I can just hang out in the

James Corwin: 00:15:09

background. And I actually find it really challenging to do

James Corwin: 00:15:15

social media and take videos of myself and post photos, because

James Corwin: 00:15:21

it again, for that same reason, I'm just, I don't know, just

James Corwin: 00:15:28

don't really like to be in the spotlight, I suppose,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:15:32

in a little bit, what's that blend in? Just

Jennifer Takagi: 00:15:36

a little bit.

James Corwin: 00:15:37

Yes, exactly. So I let a lot of the art do that the

James Corwin: 00:15:42

showing for me. But I think, though I, I have to obviously

James Corwin: 00:15:53

rise to the occasion when I need to, and, and I don't know i i

James Corwin: 00:16:03

find that, yeah, that's just an interesting thought of of how we

James Corwin: 00:16:10

might dress and and what it might say about our personality.

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:16

Well, and I love this idea of you must rise

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:19

to the occasion. I'm a big fan of Brendon Burchard, and he

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:25

talks about the fact that, you know, he runs out on stage,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:28

jumping up and down and dancing and clapping and kids terrible

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:32

dancer, and he's really not that great. And how like that. We

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:38

have to do things to be a leader. We have to do things

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:41

that may not be a natural talent. So it may not be your

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:45

natural place to market yourself, but you said a few

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:50

minutes ago, one reason some artists are starving artists is

Jennifer Takagi: 00:16:55

they don't market so having this whole conundrum going on here in

Jennifer Takagi: 00:17:01

this conversation. How do you market yourself? How do you do

Jennifer Takagi: 00:17:04

that?

James Corwin: 00:17:05

Yeah, well, one thing that I found that is

James Corwin: 00:17:09

really valuable, and it might not seem like the most obvious

James Corwin: 00:17:14

answer, but Facebook ads have been wonderful. I've learned how

James Corwin: 00:17:21

to write good copy that tells the story of the art and helps

James Corwin: 00:17:30

create the emotion behind what I want the viewer to feel when

James Corwin: 00:17:33

they see the artwork and and then, you know, building the

James Corwin: 00:17:38

audience for the ad and who it serves to that's that's been

James Corwin: 00:17:43

really valuable for my business, and just driving traffic to my

James Corwin: 00:17:48

website and and being able to generate sales and and meet

James Corwin: 00:17:54

incredible people from literally all over the world, and have

James Corwin: 00:17:59

this wonderful Family, I like to think of it as a family of

James Corwin: 00:18:03

collectors, because it truly is. Now I'm in touch with them

James Corwin: 00:18:09

throughout the week, and often when I'm traveling, I get to

James Corwin: 00:18:13

meet them. And sometimes for or oftentimes for the first time,

James Corwin: 00:18:19

it would be somebody who has, you know, three or four

James Corwin: 00:18:21

paintings of mine, and it's so exciting to finally meet them

James Corwin: 00:18:24

and also see the paintings in their home that I painted years

James Corwin: 00:18:28

ago. So yeah, the Facebook ads and and Google have been

James Corwin: 00:18:36

incredibly valuable. And I tell artists you to start running

James Corwin: 00:18:41

ads, because I think it's it's largely an untapped resource by

James Corwin: 00:18:46

artists, but for other marketing, I know that can cost

James Corwin: 00:18:55

money up front, and for the more organic opportunities, it goes

James Corwin: 00:19:00

back to just being seen. And when I first started, I was

James Corwin: 00:19:06

doing the little farmers markets every Saturday. And during the

James Corwin: 00:19:11

week, I would paint these little tiny canvases and make all these

James Corwin: 00:19:16

little mini oil paintings. And I would have my whole spread of

James Corwin: 00:19:20

hundreds of these little paintings, said I would sell it

James Corwin: 00:19:23

like 20 bucks a piece, and I would, yeah, set up my own table

James Corwin: 00:19:29

and it, you know, I'd sell them throughout the summer and and do

James Corwin: 00:19:34

the little local art fairs and festivals, which then became

James Corwin: 00:19:39

slightly bigger, and then some out of state. And then, you

James Corwin: 00:19:44

know, it just it grew from there. And I didn't even really

James Corwin: 00:19:49

have that many galleries trying to sell my work at the time.

James Corwin: 00:19:54

Mostly it was through my own actions, which is something I. I

James Corwin: 00:20:00

also encourage artists to do because nobody can sell your art

James Corwin: 00:20:05

better than you can. So if you can get really good at being

James Corwin: 00:20:11

able to sell your art, then you don't need to rely on art

James Corwin: 00:20:15

galleries to do that for you. I think it's important to have

James Corwin: 00:20:21

more of a a handle on the the trajectory of your business, if

James Corwin: 00:20:33

that makes sense, because I think a lot of artists have the

James Corwin: 00:20:40

the idea backwards. They believe that they need to create the art

James Corwin: 00:20:47

and then get it into a good Gallery, and then that gallery

James Corwin: 00:20:51

is what will then help propel them into a successful career.

James Corwin: 00:20:57

And that's can happen, but galleries, they have a lot of

James Corwin: 00:21:05

artists that they're working with, and I personally even own

James Corwin: 00:21:08

a gallery that I represent other artists in. And galleries are

James Corwin: 00:21:15

like art dealers now. They facilitate the exchange of

James Corwin: 00:21:21

selling art to a buyer, somebody who's interested in the

James Corwin: 00:21:25

painting, right, or the sculpture, whatever it is, very

James Corwin: 00:21:31

few galleries operate as a marketer or an agent, so to

James Corwin: 00:21:38

speak, for an artist, where they build the artist's career. And

James Corwin: 00:21:45

that doesn't really happen too often these days. And for the

James Corwin: 00:21:48

galleries that are doing that, it's I from what I understand,

James Corwin: 00:21:54

it very challenging to get into those galleries. So a gallery is

James Corwin: 00:22:00

a wonderful resource for an artist and opportunity to place

James Corwin: 00:22:05

their artwork to be seen, but it shouldn't be the one on be all

James Corwin: 00:22:11

avenue to having a successful career.

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:19

I love this, and we can, we can draw this

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:22

into so many different areas of leadership because you took us

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:27

down the path of an artist. Mm, hmm. Some of my audience members

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:32

are coaches, whether like me and intuitive business coach. Some

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:36

are business strategists. Others are speakers, authors. And it

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:41

follows, like, I can see the thread through the same thing,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:44

you have to promote yourself. You have to show up as you,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:48

because you can sell you better than anybody else can. I just

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:52

was on a training recently about Facebook ads, and it was like,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:22:57

You need to have a good, solid opt in that people will want,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:02

and then run the ad, and then nurture, nurture the the

James Corwin: 00:23:09

relationship, yeah, the relationship,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:13

yeah. So you've kind of taken us down that whole

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:16

thing. Do you have any like suggestions on how to show up

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:25

more authentically as you because we've got complete

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:28

extreme extroverts, which would be me, and then we've got

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:32

extreme introverts, and both can be very successful, and both can

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:37

have humongous struggles, right? Like neither one is, right? We

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:42

all have struggles. So do you have a suggestion on how to move

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:46

forward in this like, What's one thing I need to walk away with

Jennifer Takagi: 00:23:50

and or embody to be a better self led entrepreneur?

James Corwin: 00:23:56

Well, I think it goes back to that idea of

James Corwin: 00:24:00

relationships. When I'm on social media and I'm posting, I

James Corwin: 00:24:09

can view my followers as a form of relationship. They're there

James Corwin: 00:24:15

to enjoy my art, to see how I'm creating, what I'm creating even

James Corwin: 00:24:24

and again, something I'd like to do more of is get a more

James Corwin: 00:24:29

authentic real life. Look at what it's like to be an artist,

James Corwin: 00:24:34

rather than this just one side facade of of it, which is what a

James Corwin: 00:24:44

lot of us see, is, you know, just the art, the picture, and

James Corwin: 00:24:49

maybe us standing by the painting, and that's it, not the

James Corwin: 00:24:53

struggles and the emotions and everything that went into that

James Corwin: 00:24:56

painting, and that's going on in the background. Um. Um, so to be

James Corwin: 00:25:01

more authentic, I think it takes it you have to be open to, I

James Corwin: 00:25:13

think being vulnerable and in touch with your emotions and

James Corwin: 00:25:22

that's something that I I'm learning to do. And if I can

James Corwin: 00:25:29

give any advice to people who struggle with trying to be

James Corwin: 00:25:34

authentic, I would say I love what I do, and when I'm creating

James Corwin: 00:25:49

artwork, it's the best part of it is seeing the emotion that it

James Corwin: 00:25:57

brings out of the viewer. Because when I'm creating an

James Corwin: 00:26:00

idea. I'm creating something that I believe is emotional,

James Corwin: 00:26:04

that moves me and inspires me, and when I can create, bring

James Corwin: 00:26:10

that to life and then share it with another person that and see

James Corwin: 00:26:15

their reaction, that that's a beautiful gift to me, and it's a

James Corwin: 00:26:22

beautiful thing to be able to share and have that exchange,

James Corwin: 00:26:27

and that's being authentic, that's being vulnerable, and

James Corwin: 00:26:34

those all those relationships, All those followers on social

James Corwin: 00:26:38

media are even though they're through a screen, there's still

James Corwin: 00:26:45

that exchange, because they'll comment the right feedback. And

James Corwin: 00:26:50

I'll, I'll get those, I'll know that, wow, this really moved

James Corwin: 00:26:56

somebody, because, you know, they told me to so and so, I

James Corwin: 00:27:01

think that you can be authentic and be vulnerable in those ways

James Corwin: 00:27:08

and in sharing you know your craft and and you Know for

James Corwin: 00:27:16

coaches or inspirational speakers, again, I think it's

James Corwin: 00:27:22

speaking from the heart and knowing that you have a

James Corwin: 00:27:25

beautiful message to share and that it's touching the life of

James Corwin: 00:27:30

each person that's listening in a special way and probably a

James Corwin: 00:27:36

unique way, and being able to offer that to them is not only a

James Corwin: 00:27:45

beautiful gift, but an opportunity to share the wisdom

James Corwin: 00:27:51

that you know, and I think that's really important.

Jennifer Takagi: 00:27:56

Oh, that's lovely. And as as I'm listening

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:00

to you, the one thing that has not come up in this conversation

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:06

that I want to touch on, if, if not briefly, in depthly, um, is

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:11

that mindset? You know, you started out with saying that,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:14

you know, some people think that you know that whole starving

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:17

artist mentality. And obviously you do not have that, or did you

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:22

have it and you had to overcome it? And was there some moment in

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:26

time where you said, I'm going to make it at this I don't have

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:31

to be a starving artist that somebody else could, you know,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:28:34

draw inspiration and strength from? Yes, yeah,

James Corwin: 00:28:40

I remember there was this well known artist that

James Corwin: 00:28:44

I really admired and looked up to when I was in high school,

James Corwin: 00:28:50

and I did a painting workshop with this person. And I just

James Corwin: 00:28:55

remember I was writing in their vehicle, and they said, well,

James Corwin: 00:28:59

you'll never what did they say? You'll Never Get Rich being an

James Corwin: 00:29:03

artist. And I said, Watch me.

Unknown: 00:29:06

Oh, I love that.

James Corwin: 00:29:10

So it's interesting because, you know,

James Corwin: 00:29:17

I, I suppose I've wanted to to show him or to anybody else

James Corwin: 00:29:24

watching since then that it's something I can do, and I always

James Corwin: 00:29:30

knew I could do, but it to me, it isn't about being rich or

James Corwin: 00:29:38

Making money anymore. I I had my moments of of wanting to be

James Corwin: 00:29:44

famous and and, you know, be super wealthy and well known for

James Corwin: 00:29:51

being an artist and all these things that I largely don't

James Corwin: 00:29:58

really have any. More. It's it's the being able to wake up every

James Corwin: 00:30:05

day and do something creative that I love and share that with

James Corwin: 00:30:11

people that love it too, that makes it keeps me going,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:30:17

and now the Money Follows, right? Because

Jennifer Takagi: 00:30:23

moment and movement of

James Corwin: 00:30:26

right and And lately, actually, something that

James Corwin: 00:30:30

I've been really grappling with on just a personal level is so

James Corwin: 00:30:36

I, again, I love business, and so I'm listening to business

James Corwin: 00:30:40

podcasts and reading books all the time, and it's always

James Corwin: 00:30:44

pushing to grow, grow, grow and get bigger and expand the

James Corwin: 00:30:48

business and get more employees and more locations, all that

James Corwin: 00:30:53

kind of stuff. And it's so hard to listen to that, but then to

James Corwin: 00:31:00

wind back from it and be like, Okay, I have an opportunity to

James Corwin: 00:31:07

do that. I could do that. But there's all the questions that

James Corwin: 00:31:12

come up is, will it make me more happier? Well now, because you

James Corwin: 00:31:18

know, happiness is a is a choice and and something you can, you

James Corwin: 00:31:24

know, practice at. And I think happiness comes from

James Corwin: 00:31:30

contentment, and I can choose to be content right now with all

James Corwin: 00:31:35

the blessings that I do have and and not have to throw it into

James Corwin: 00:31:43

multi million dollar business. And I think that comes with a

James Corwin: 00:31:49

lot of additional stress and headaches and so many other

James Corwin: 00:31:55

things and and again, like, Oh, should I, like, blow up my

James Corwin: 00:32:00

social media and have millions of followers. But then I think,

James Corwin: 00:32:03

oh, man, that could be like a prison where I have to literally

James Corwin: 00:32:07

post every day. And what if I wake up one day and I'm I'm

James Corwin: 00:32:11

like, I don't want to post anymore, and I feel like I'm

James Corwin: 00:32:15

obligated now to millions of people to keep the ball rolling,

James Corwin: 00:32:21

and the algorithms rolling and all these things. And I don't

James Corwin: 00:32:25

know it's, it's, yeah, it's sometimes, it's maybe choosing

James Corwin: 00:32:34

and not to do something can be the most powerful choice. Oh

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:38

my gosh, it can, because it comes down to

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:43

clarity and clarity of what you want and how you want to show

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:47

up. And so I love that you see the possibility and opportunity

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:53

and then you're weighing that against like what you want and

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:56

how you want to show up in the life. It's so powerful. James

Jennifer Takagi: 00:32:59

has been an awesome conversation. If our audience

Jennifer Takagi: 00:33:03

wants to get hold of you, how do we find you? Which, of course,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:33:06

it will all be in the show notes, but I want you to say it.

Jennifer Takagi: 00:33:08

How do we get hold of you? Yeah,

James Corwin: 00:33:10

yeah, thank you. It's Well, my name is James

James Corwin: 00:33:13

Corwin, C, O, R, W, I N, and you can type that into Google and my

James Corwin: 00:33:20

website, James Corwin will come up, along with a bunch of

James Corwin: 00:33:25

pictures of my artwork. My Instagram is James Corwin.

James Corwin: 00:33:30

Facebook is James Corwin. Would love to see you all there and

James Corwin: 00:33:36

feel free to send me a message saying, Hey, I you know, heard

James Corwin: 00:33:41

you on the podcast. That would be wonderful, because again,

James Corwin: 00:33:45

welcome to the family. It's all about family and relationships

James Corwin: 00:33:50

and yeah, so I would love to see you all there. Oh

Jennifer Takagi: 00:33:56

my gosh, this has been delightful. James,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:33:59

thank you for being here today, I appreciate it, and I know the

Jennifer Takagi: 00:34:04

audience is too. I'm Jennifer Takagi with destin for success,

Jennifer Takagi: 00:34:08

and I look forward to connecting with you soon. You.