This Is The Biggest Risk I’ve Ever Taken

ignite-painting

My IGNITE program for this year is beginning to close and in our last few group mentoring calls we’ve been diving deep into the energetics of business, or what I like to think of as the spirit or essence that our business possesses.

As a heart-guided artist, referring to my business as a relationship instead of an actual thing I own feels much more in alignment with what I value and how I wish to navigate my life.  I don’t view my business as something I am in total control of.

Instead I embrace my business as a constant ever-evolving relationship that requires consistent tending, attention, space to grow, and even open communication.

When it comes to my business, I am in noway building an empire which tends to be the trendy thing to do now-a-days.  The thought of that alone makes me want to hurl.  It’s as if I was to say that I’m building an enterprise when it came to my marriage. It’s completely ridiculous sounding and NOT in alignment with what the spirit of this relationship is.

But recently I’ve expressed this to dear colleagues of mine and I’m always met lovingly with something that goes a little like this: “well, you might not be building an empire now, but later, right?”.

No, I’m very clear on this.  I’m not building an empire.

I believe the words we use to define our relationships have a huge impact on those actual relationships.  My marriage would look and feel totally different if I constantly referred to it as an “enterprise” instead of a “communion”, as I truly see it.

Check out the definition of empire and you’ll find words such as “government”, “supreme power”, and “control” used to describe it.  That’s definitely, without a doubt, NOT how I’m in relationship to my business — nor do I ever want to be.

The heart of my business is creative freedom, service, and community — these words slip from my tongue like nectar.

These words are in complete alignment with the Feminine — they are heart guided and inclusive and healing.

These words are worth devoting a life to, not just a livelihood.

I feel this is such an important conversation because so many heart-guided artists I see and know personally are striving, struggling, and depleting the spirit of their art (and themselves) because they are too freaking busy building an empire.  And I know this personally as well, because up until this last year, I too have been building an empire.

This building an empire mentality is the patriarch.

This is the same energy that fuels the wars that are happening, the terrorism that refugees are fleeing from, the horrific destruction that is occurring to our planet every second, the exploitation of children and women, and the break down of community that we are all experiencing in our own home towns and even in our own homes.

I’ve had enough.  I’ve really, truly had enough.

And this year I’ve dedicated myself to experimenting and exploring ways of letting go of this empire building bullshit and embodying a truly more Feminine way of showing up and doing business in this world economy I am part of.

But I won’t lie,  it’s been challenging.  But the more I open my heart to this, the more I am finding women and men who too feel as strongly as I do that its time to change the way we think, talk, behave, and most of all relate to business, finances, and the ways we actually serve one another.

As artists we live in an incredible time.  The internet has made it possible for us to no longer be at the mercy of the old patriarchal powers that be, such as galleries, academia, and temperamental art critics.  We no longer are in competition with other artists for limited access to success – we now can cultivate our own ways of sharing what we truly have to offer as artists and as I’m sure you know, this goes way deeper than the actual pieces of art we create.

Though if you look closely, so much of what is offered online in regards to supporting and teaching artists about this new way of “doing business” is actually mimicking this empire building, control based, patriarchal way of doing business.  The biggest testimony to this is that there are so many “authorities” out there, when in truth the Feminine believes we each hold the key.

My intention with IGNITE has always been to stay in alignment with the Feminine, though over these past four years, my understanding and relationship to the Feminine has grown wildly and this constantly influences how I approach each session of IGNITE.

In the past recent months I have personally let go of so much energetic crap I’ve been carrying in my own life, that I’ve been able to see more clearly the ways this empire building mentality is still breathing in my work here with IGNITE.

So as scary as it was, under the blessing of the past Harvest Moon and auspicious eclipse, I and Dirty Footprints Studio shifted into a new chapter.  I went ahead and did things my heart has been calling me to do for a long time now, but I’ve been to scared to do it, with the fear I won’t be supported, understood, or taken seriously.

First, I lengthened the IGNITE process to one year.  Now this intense, deeply transformative process has more time to unfold gently instead of forcing the women that join me and myself to wear exhaustion like a girls scout badge.  When building an empire there is a common agreement that the harder we work — the more we will conquer.  This mentality, as much as society champions it, is not in alignment with the Feminine, creativity, healing, community, and service and so I no longer will apply it to IGNITE.

Second, I’ve sifted through my ego and decided that if IGNITE is truly about sitting in circle with one another, than I have to dissolve myself even more as the authority in this process.  Yes, all the IGNITE content is composed and shared by me, but as the women in IGNITE will tell you, it’s not mine.  It comes from a source much greater than myself — and so I must be willing to allow this content to take shape and express itself in many different ways.  I’m doing this by inviting women from past IGNITEs to bring their expression into the circle as peer mentors.  I no longer am holding the space of IGNITE by myself — and here is where many would feel the empire starts to crumble — so bring it on baby! Let it fall!

Third, I have lowered the price of IGNITE by $1000.  The IGNITE process is stronger, longer, and more in depth than it has ever been in the past four years and I have gone ahead and lowered the price from $3500 for 8 months to $2500 for 12 months.  And I did this even though next year’s IGNITE was already half-way sold out and I am 100% certain it would sell out again at this price, like it does every year.

Why did I do this?  Because my initial price was completely based on building an empire and not on cultivating creative freedom, service, and community.  Those days are over and my pricing must reflect my intention.

I feel this is by far the biggest risk I have ever taken with my business and at the same time I have never felt so truly liberated and in alignment with what I value, believe, and know in my heart is the right thing to do.

So dear heart, if  you are feeling ripe, ready, and just as passionate as I am to discover what it means to truly live and create a heart guided business, creative practice, and world to live in, then please know that I and a circle of kindreds are waiting to welcome you into a year long beautiful, empowering journey where we will expand our hearts, strengthen our creative voices, and grow our businesses organically and sustainably as heart-guided artists.

I invite you to join us.

CLICK HERE to learn more and don’t hesitate to email me with any questions or concerns that are tugging at you.  I’m here to truly explore if IGNITE is the right fit for you.

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