How to Turn Your Art Into Income with Kimberley Pierce Cartwright

Lyric Kinard (00:01.89) Hello friends, I am here with somebody I dearly love. Kimberly Pierce Cartwright is a textile artist, a teacher, and also a friend, which is also, that's always such a lovely thing to be able to bring somebody that I've known for a long time on. Kimberly, why don't you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your business? Kimberley Carwright (00:27.732) Thank you, Kimberly Pierce Cartwright and I live in Durham, North Carolina and my business is my name, Kimberly Pierce Cartwright. I do a lot of things, I teach, I lecture, I make and then I go around and I talk about it. So that's the nature of my business and most of it I'm sure as a lot of you have stitching in your day. Today is just a day that I couldn't figure out what else to do I've got a list and I was trying to do the really hard things today So I did some of the hard things but the soft things and the easy Relaxing and wonderful thing is that I've been sewing today as well. So that's a little bit about me my goodness, and I get up every morning with the notion of what am I going to sew today? Lyric Kinard (01:16.823) Lovely. Kimberley Carwright (01:24.454) And then just like I said, I push maybe some of the big things out of the way a little bit so that can get you to always the thing that I'm passionate about. And that's the needle and the thread, whether it's hand stitching or whether it's machine stitching. Lyric Kinard (01:39.566) Right? The making. you're at heart a creative and that creating with your hands, you know, no matter what media we use that being able to create something feeds our soul. What made you choose to add in teaching to that sharing that gift and that joy with others? Cause it does take away time from the time you spend stitching, right? Why would you do that? Kimberley Carwright (02:10.438) It does take away time. And then I always had the notion to create. And when I'm creating, I'm just here by myself. I wanted to share my creativity with other people. And then I wanted to think about how I could turn what I love into a financial enterprise as well, so that I could help sustain where I live and what I do and help me to do more of it because... of financial security. So it's a two-pronged process. I get to make stuff, I get to share stuff. And then I get to make money. And I think that if you can do something that you love every day, the old saying says, then you will never work a day in your life because you'll always be happy with your passion. And that's what it is for me. It's my passion. If I can just put all of it together and come out on the end with satisfaction in all these columns. It just makes it all worthwhile and it makes me feel more as if I'm doing something right and it's all working together to be successful. Lyric Kinard (03:19.329) nice that that happiness that sense of peace and fulfillment inside is the feedback that you need to keep going. So what I heard was it's either or and not putting all your eggs in one basket, like creating and selling work is a large part of what you do, but either teaching is more reliable and stable or Kimberley Carwright (03:26.964) Yes. Lyric Kinard (03:49.641) It just diversifies your income. Kimberley Carwright (03:52.424) it definitely diversifies my income and I'm retired. And when I say that, every time I say it, I have a release that, you I don't have to go to a nine to five every day, but I to fix income. So it's not going to get any bigger unless there's, you know, this, this aha moment by the powers that be that say, we need to give all these people on social security more, more money. So then around that I have to do other things to help with that. And not only am I a quilter, then I'm a ceramic artist as well. So I picked up a couple of classes and I'm teaching ceramics. I'm learning more about it and I'm teaching it along the way. just to be able to do these other things just brings it all home. And I feel like I'm flexible enough to be able to do all of these different things and make it all make sense. So, you know, but like, it's just like a day like today. I have so many things on my plate that I, you know, I'm going on the big list, but there's always that draw, you know, and I even said today, I'm not going outside. I'm not going to get in my car, to go anywhere, to even run the errands that I know I need to run today, because I need to sew today and I need to make some notes today. I need to do this interview today. So there are lots of things that I have to. to pull up to be able to make all of it come together. the money's at the end and then the fun is in the middle, but there's a lot of planning and stuff that you have to do too. It's not all fun. It's like paperwork and calling back and emails and the whole lot. Lyric Kinard (05:32.108) all that business administration because we are professionals. We are business people. You can be an artist, you can do your thing, but unless you treat yourself and think of yourself as a professional, it's kind of mushy, squishy, right? It runs so much better if we intentionally think of ourselves as a real business because we are. Kimberley Carwright (05:56.212) Yeah, yeah, and I, you know, I have to keep up with all the business stuff too. And then, you know, my tax preparer has to be all the things, all the things. But, you know, I'm not even dissuaded a little bit by that because at the end of the rainbow, there's this amazing project that I've done and I feel like I have decreased my quilt stash. What's going on? Lyric Kinard (06:24.654) That's an impossible task for many people. All you quilters out there, we see you. We see you in your, wow, decreasing a quilt dash. Kimberley Carwright (06:32.328) You can get up. We see you and we feel you and we love you. Lyric Kinard (06:39.214) That we do. Kimberly, you and I knew each other before the Academy for Virtual Teaching was started. And then you came in fairly early on to one of our virtual teaching master classes. Why did you choose to come in to that and take on that kind of new Lyric Kinard (07:08.118) learning and that new way to run your business because it's where we learn how to do the video and software and business admin tech for teaching online instead of in person. Kimberley Carwright (07:20.884) Well, I knew you all that long ago. And you were doing on Paca South. And when I saw Paca South, I said, oh my goodness. Lyric Kinard (07:31.84) Let's do silencing our phones right now. Kimberley Carwright (07:49.96) This is something new and different. when I went there, I saw people doing the quilt work, but then I saw people doing like the professional aspect of it as well. So when I... Lyric Kinard (08:00.812) Yeah, Paco South is the professional art quilt alliance south. There's one up in Chicago, the original. just for those of you who don't know what that is. Kimberley Carwright (08:08.212) Yeah, so when I saw you doing Pacasau and then I saw you doing the Academy I was like Lyric is really like catapulting herself into a different category of how you know she's doing business and then how she's encouraging other people to do business and then she's fostering people and mentoring people and I just wanted to be one of those people. First of all out of curiosity just to see what it was about. And then secondly, to increase my skill set to see what that was all about. And since the academy, I've taught a bunch of classes. I've gone and I've done a bunch of lectures. I've had like the janky studio upstairs in my house. my God. And it was, know, the poles and the lights and that kind of thing. And I've gone out into the community as well. I've worked with people who had better equipment than what I was doing up in my studio. And I just thought that it would be another distinct to have in my arsenal of things that I would be able to do. So that's why I decided that being under your tutelage would be a good thing, and you're patient, and you're kind, and you're, you know. It doesn't matter how we come into it, wherever we come into it, that's where you take us. And then, Lyric Kinard (09:34.421) Yeah, but you guys are the ones who do the work. You know, nobody gets anywhere unless they they do the work themselves. And I have seen you can really do some really amazing work. So you did not teach online at all before you were in the Academy. You did. You did have some you did have in-person teaching experience. And then since then, you've gone in some really Kimberley Carwright (09:36.732) Yes. Lyric Kinard (10:02.944) interesting directions. We talk in the beginning of the virtual teaching master class about what is your big dream? And yours, I was like, well, that's interesting. What does that have to actually do with what we're learning here with video tech and all that stuff? But it was such a fascinating journey. So do you remember and do you want to tell us about that journey? Kimberley Carwright (10:29.172) We'll be talking about the Quilt Lyric Kinard (10:31.787) Yes I am. Kimberley Carwright (10:34.996) Yes, I would love to talk about Kindred Spirits. So the whole notion of Kindred Spirits, and Kindred Spirits is a Quill Conference that is biannual that I direct in Durham, North Carolina. The last one was this past June. The first one was in June of 2023. And we do it during June 2023. So my dream after I went to Lawrence, Kansas, Lyric Kinard (10:36.078) You Kimberley Carwright (11:02.824) to be with African American quilters in another quilt conference. my goodness, it just stuck with me the way that women were together, they were healing, African American women healing, they were creating sisterhood, they were creating quilts, there were quilt shows all around town in Lawrence, Kansas for this convention, for this conference, and I was... Ooh, I was intoxicated, Lyric, let me tell you. By all of the beautiful people, I made friends that I will have forever at that conference. And I said, you know what, Kimberly, you can do this. You can put on a conference. I don't know if everybody could get to Lawrence, Kansas. People may not be able to get to Durham, but I'm going to create Sisterhood in Durham. And then there will be people, it'll be at least regional. So we'll have, at least my Quilt Circle will come. Kimberley Carwright (12:01.234) So we put on the first conference in June, 2023 with the help of the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South. It was ragtag, it was, my goodness, I didn't know what it was gonna be. And it was in this place called The Fruit. And The Fruit is an old warehouse where they would process vegetables. So it was rough and tumble, no paint on the walls, exposed brick, these wide open spaces that we needed to come. Kimberley Carwright (12:30.504) you know, we needed to convert into our learning and our lecture space. And we did it. We pulled it off. And not only did people come from regionally, but people came from across the country. We were able to have teachers come from across the country to be with us. And we did a pop-up quilt show. And from that pop-up quilt show, like 450 people came to the quilt show. Who knew? that would happen. So then after what I said, you might be onto something here, you know? Lyric Kinard (13:05.731) Right. And it was so interesting because this was, I remember talking to you about the anxiety you had about it and how it was so big of a thing to take on. mean, and it is really big, but watching how you went through that, is, whether it's, this was an in-person live conference, this was not virtual. And most of our audience, what we're talking about right now is learning to build online businesses to reach a wider audience. And this was huge. And this was big. And this was an example of having such a huge goal and then stepping back and working it out step by step and also not worrying about it being perfect. Right? Kimberley Carwright (14:04.112) Yes, was a big thing. I had to step away and say, whatever's gonna be, it's gonna be. And then the prayer was, I want it to be amazing. Whatever it is served up in, I want people to really enjoy and be as one, be healed, be in sisterhood. And that's exactly what happened. And I wanna tell y'all, is my sweetheart. because she came not only for the first one but for the second one and she was hanging quilts helping me hang quilts so that the pop-up of the quilt show would be a success and people you know they were like who is this lady that's like Lyric Canard they were like Lyric Lyric Canard is here? Lyric yeah please please and people were really very excited about Lyric coming but Lyric Kinard (14:54.479) please. Kimberley Carwright (15:02.1) You're just so down to earth and loving and know my people could see that and I'm gonna Lyric Kinard (15:10.217) Well, that's what that's what all of us do. Right. When you have a teacher's soul and a heart, what you really want to do is create community and reach people and connect with them. You know, so this was, you know, because we live close enough together that it was easy for me to drive up and people I only spent like an hour or two volunteering or stuff. And this was like a Kimberley Carwright (15:12.434) Yeah. Kimberley Carwright (15:21.096) yet. Yes. Lyric Kinard (15:38.905) two day full on conference. And it was, I just really wanted to see how you did this. It was so amazing. Yeah, that's easy. Just on the way. Kimberley Carwright (15:43.002) Yeah, yeah, she went and picked up people from the airport for me. Keena Dorsey. She went and up people from the airport. So Keena Dorsey, go ahead, you tell it, you tell it, go ahead. You tell it. Mm-hmm. Lyric Kinard (15:56.752) I was gonna say like, first conference, First conference, it's rough around the edges, but you did not go small. You just threw the line out there as far as you could and pulled in some like top fish. I was like, whoa, I have no idea if I would. Kimberley Carwright (16:22.164) God is good. Lyric Kinard (16:25.539) be brave enough to ask the people who, so who came in? Who is one of your keynote speakers? Kimberley Carwright (16:29.844) Well, one of my keynotes was Dr. Renee Anderson from the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. I asked and she said, sure, and she's a quilter. So when she heard about what was gonna happen with all the women who were gonna be there, and we told her about what was gonna happen as far as lecture, and she was all in. So she came from Washington, D.C. Lyric Kinard (16:38.671) I'm a Smithsonian, right? Kimberley Carwright (16:58.258) And I was also able to get Marshall Price, who is like the chief curator for the Nasher magazine, I'm not Nasher magazine, the Nasher museum in Durham. And then I got your lovely friend, Keena Dorsey, who I had seen with your academy because she was helping you with your tech stuff. And I was following her and this woman was like dynamite in like following the process. and then doing her thing. So she said yes and she came from California to be with us. And then, you we had Cookie Washington who's renowned master quilter out of Charleston, South Carolina. And, you know, you have not because you have not. That was my motto. So I was asking people, I mean, I asked a whole lot more people and they say no, but you know, the people who said yes were just. Lyric Kinard (17:46.297) Bye. Kimberley Carwright (17:55.048) Dynamic people and and they're my friends. So Marshall Marshall price was my friend he and I was a part of a have some of my quilts in a part of a culture will a an art show for underrepresented artists called reckoning and resilience at the National Museum and he was the one who sought me out because he was interested in my quilt work so lyric I mean, I don't know what it is, but you know, my spirit meets the spirits of all of these amazing people and then they say yes if I ask a question. So I feel like really excited. Lyric Kinard (18:31.381) Yeah, it draws you in. Well, what I want other people to learn from this is never be afraid to reach beyond what you think you're capable of or beyond what you think other people will think you're capable of because it will surprise you. It will surprise you how it works, you know, not every Not every single time you just said, people say no, you know, all of us experience that. That's part of being an artist, especially, and part of working through being a business person and offering this. So you've had that conference, you had a second one, which was more polished. You learned, you tweaked, you figured more things out, things, you know, I didn't get emergency freakout calls this time. Kimberley Carwright (19:37.46) Girl, other people got freak out calls this year. You won't it because I wasn't freaking out. I had a bigger team. Yeah, I had a bigger team. I like, I can spread the freak out all around. it was lovely. We were able to secure the convention center in downtown Durham. So that made it, know, hike the scale up just a little bit. We had Lyric Kinard (19:44.175) Okay. And it's okay, it still went on. Lyric Kinard (20:04.592) for sure. Kimberley Carwright (20:06.164) This time at the pop-up reception, 650 people came to the reception. We had about 65, 70 attendees. Lyric Kinard (20:19.322) How did you get the word out? There were a few articles and things that kind of blew my mind. Kimberley Carwright (20:20.788) So we started really earlier. We put it on event, right? Like all of the usuals. And then the Resource Center for Women in Ministry in the South has like a deep network. We put it on all of the TV free entities. We promoted there. And every week there was some kind of buzz that would go out about the conference. And we were able to do it that way. So I think that because we started early and we dug our ditches like really deep in the beginning, we were able to let a whole lot more people know about what it is that we were doing. I was asked to come on radio talk shows and I did a bunch of like. radio interviews, I didn't get a television interview, Tom, but you know, we're gonna work on that for next time. it was just a lot, it was a lot more boots on the ground too. So the first iteration, we only had a couple of people, you know, struggling to try to do what we could. And then we had a bigger staff this past time and there was a lot more work that we could share around than, you know, than just a couple of people. But it went well, so much so that, Lyric Kinard (21:24.036) Right. Kimberley Carwright (21:46.26) There was a story done about the Quill Conference in the New York Times. Lyric Kinard (21:54.065) That was, that was amazing. Right? Kimberley Carwright (22:01.563) My name was there, people's quilts were there, the quilters who came, they were telling people, oh my God, I'm in the New York Times. So it it stretched further than I ever thought that it would. So I'm digging, like planting more seeds for this winter. The next iteration will be in June of 2027. So that gives us, you know, time, a little bit more time out. You know, look for donations, more of those. Maybe hire more staff. Talk to more people about it. mean, you passing out my cards and I'm talking about it online to get people interested. Maybe even fire it up to be able to come. So I was talking about the possibility. Yeah, I got a plan. I've got a plan and I'm just building on it. Lyric Kinard (22:43.852) Yeah, you have a plan, right? Lyric Kinard (22:51.728) And no matter what our business and whether it's online or in person, you release an iteration and you don't wait till it's perfect. And then you learn from what you just did and you reiterate with the lessons you've learned. Let's go and just congrats. Kimberley Carwright (23:02.729) Yes. Kimberley Carwright (23:06.964) And that's exactly what you talk about in the academy too. know, Bill, you don't have to have the best camera to get started. You know, just have a camera and just like make it all make sense. Even though it might be a little raggedy around the edges. If you're talking to the people and you're showing your technique and then you open yourself up so that if something goes wrong, just like me, my God, my phone is still on. Lyric Kinard (23:21.829) Mm-hmm. Kimberley Carwright (23:36.764) You people understand that you're human, you name a sex, and it makes them understand that you are just one of them, one of us. We're all in this thing. We're all learning, we're all teaching. And I think the big thing is that we're all experiencing because that's what people want. They want an experience. They want to be able to say, I did this thing and I was satisfied by Lyric Kinard (24:03.376) That is so on target. I'm listening to the buzz in the professional marketing community, right? And it's always been, you have to know, like, and trust. And they're saying, we don't really think that works as much anymore. What they want, what our people want is the most authentic connection. They want the real you. They want to have you. in a relatable, understandable connection without the polish, without all the extra fluff around it. So being truly open in your heart and none of that part has anything to do with lighting or equipment or any of that. It just has to do with that. Kimberley Carwright (24:52.659) Absolutely. Yeah, just when you get all the lighting right, you still have to have a package. You still have to be able to sell something. Who are you? What are you doing? Why is it a book? How are you serving? Yes, and if that's not a part of it, people don't want to hear that your lights look good. They don't want to see you in full makeup and you can't explain what it is that you're doing. No, they don't want that. Lyric Kinard (25:00.64) Yeah. Lyric Kinard (25:07.92) How are you serving? Kimberley Carwright (25:23.72) They want you, they want the imperfect you to show up with your perfect technique that you've developed or that you're gonna be presenting and then just do the best you can. And love, if you lead with love too and you lead with friendship too, people will come back over and over. They will trust you and depend on you to give them a good. you and you are the product. So yeah. Lyric Kinard (25:58.733) Right. It's all about it. And that takes imposter syndrome out of it when it's about the love that you have for your people. Now, you do still teach virtually, right? That's still part of your business model. Kimberley Carwright (26:12.466) I do. Still part of my business motto. And when I get the notice that somebody wants me to teach virtually, my God. Kimberley Carwright (26:24.404) I make my list, I check it, I get my equipment ready, and when the lights come on, I'm ready to go. Yeah. Lyric Kinard (26:25.264) Yeah. Lyric Kinard (26:36.388) There you go. And it gets easier with practice every time, doesn't it? Kimberley Carwright (26:38.836) Yeah, but that is that initial Calm down and I'm making sure that I'm checking my list Because you know, there's nothing any worse than my god. My scissors are way over there My my my notes are way over there So and then what I usually do too is I set up and I just do a dry run, you know Practice practice and you know, what are you gonna say? Lyric Kinard (26:44.119) Nyeh heh heh! Lyric Kinard (27:03.792) Mm-hmm. Kimberley Carwright (27:06.42) And then I love to have my markups, what do call them? Your step outs. I love to have my step outs already ready. So if something does go horribly wrong, I don't want my people to know that I'm sweating. And I have a step out and I just say, oh, this is what we're doing. This is where we're going. Lyric Kinard (27:13.026) step outs. Lyric Kinard (27:27.536) This is where we're going folks. It's the magic oven the cake's already done. Kimberley Carwright (27:31.796) Yeah, you know, you know, it'll help you with your crash and burn You don't have to crash and burn especially if you're very well prepared and I like I like to be prepared Overprepared so that you know something doesn't go exactly the way that I wrote it out on my sheet Then it'll go and then you know, I will be forgiven for whatever I think that my transgression is and then you know It'll move on and it'll be fine. And then you'll get your chance Lyric Kinard (28:01.937) And the check is nice. The check is nice. And that's part of the professional business person, right? You be real, but also you prepare. You know, we have video production checklists. In fact, we'll put a link in the show notes because we have a free video production checklist. Check all these things off before you start filming and it will keep all these other things from going wrong. Kimberley Carwright (28:09.044) Mm. Lyric Kinard (28:31.727) Right. And it's interesting, you know, I've been teaching online for forever, forever and ever and ever. And I still, if I don't follow my checklist, I'll forget something. And then in the middle of something is like, wait, cable or wait, I have to update this thing. And at the same time. Kimberley Carwright (28:41.638) In other words, in other words... Kimberley Carwright (28:50.996) Thank Lyric Kinard (28:55.833) We're prepared and understand that it is polished as we are, that things are going to go haywire because it's technology. And we keep our cool and the students are cool with it. If we panic, that comes across, right? Kimberley Carwright (29:11.796) And then they're gonna think she doesn't know what she's doing Why did I pay this money for this don't pay me? It's okay, and if something goes terribly wrong. We just apologize and try to make it up I want to make I was on this this weekend this past weekend as my right I went to a place called Bolton, North Carolina and I did a project called period and it was a project Lyric Kinard (29:26.714) Right? Kimberley Carwright (29:41.65) designed for young African American women to help them with their menses. So I had a nurse come in, had my whole family came. And then I had young women from around the community to come. And after we went through that course of study with them, then we had a really good lunch. I believe in a really good lunch after all that talking. But in the end, I taught a hand quilting class. And I said, please. Lyric Kinard (29:47.601) Mm-hmm. Lyric Kinard (30:03.899) Food. Kimberley Carwright (30:11.368) These young women are not going to be interested in this. Little did I know. Yes, they would. And there was a four year old and her name, her nickname was Juju. So Juju, anything that the big girls got, Juju wanted to too. And Juju worked on her quilt so intensely that the, like the, base, the functional foundational part, she was done before all of the grownups. Lyric Kinard (30:39.409) You know what? Children though aren't afraid of making mistakes. Children just go in there and they create. Everybody is born an artist and then it's taught out of us, right? Because of that fear of not being good enough and children don't do that. being, you know, how do we get back to that as grownups not only for Kimberley Carwright (30:42.835) We made Lyric Kinard (31:08.251) being creative, but for being business people, right? Kimberley Carwright (31:11.816) Yes, it's just a matter of determination, preparation, after preparation, execution. And then after execution, you just stand back and then admire your handiwork. Lyric Kinard (31:36.301) right? So it's prepare, prepare, and then kind of let go and let happen. And then Kimberley Carwright (31:39.316) But I told you, but I told the story about the going to Bolton, North Carolina and the quilting aspect of it just to let you guys know that I'm not all like, God, I gotta run and I gotta do this. I gotta do this in my business. But it's really wonderful to be able to give something to not. So my quilt work is a part of me being an ambassador for change as well. I wanted to affect those young women's lives. So I used my passion, hopefully to spur some passion in them, if not quilting. We also talked about school after high school, going to college or whatever. So to be able to take what I love, to use it as a catalyst to help somebody else develop what they're going to do for the rest of their life. Kimberley Carwright (32:34.482) Like that is refreshing. Lyric Kinard (32:37.487) Right? So this is also a really important thing. We have problems with pricing and women and quilters. We have insecurities about charging what we're worth for our professional services as guides, as teachers, as people who help other people have better lives, right? By being more creative, being more joyful. And what we don't understand sometimes is that we need to be supported. It's absolutely fine. And if frankly, if we were men, we would never have this conversation, right? But we deserve to be paid well. the things that opens up for us, money is an amplifier for what we want to do. both the time that teaching online opens up as opposed to traveling, you know, to go if when I get hired by a group and, and travel to teach, it's like three or four days outside of the actual teaching that are used up. But with online teaching, it's just, I show up and it's already, and it's there, you know, an hour or two, but it opens up so much more time. And then the, income opens up possibilities. It amplifies your service to your community. It gives you more time to do the other things that will help you have an impact on the world. Kimberley Carwright (34:10.9) with no. Kimberley Carwright (34:20.818) Definitely. the same energy that you would put in like going like get on a plane or, you know, to do whatever it is that you're going to do, you can take that energy and you put it into your work or put it into another project. But it is so like freeing. It's like a revelation. You know, you can do your business from home and not even well, you know, you don't even have to be dressed from the bottom down because I mean, Lyric Kinard (34:50.193) Well, we're not gonna stand up right now. Kimberley Carwright (34:53.835) I'm definitely not going to stand up. But it just gives you, it gives you another way to reach people. So it's only one of me. But if I'm, you know, if I plan my teaching correctly, if I, you know, get my feelers out for people to be able to take my class, then I can reach, you know, hundreds of people where if I'm schlepping my stuff like I went to the John C. Campbell Folk School and taught and I had to schlep, you know, everything, everything, you know, I had to do it all, go there. But had it been online, I mean, I could have, I could have taught a hundred people, made that money and then made like an impression so that they would tell another hundred people about the work that I'm doing. And then I could get another hundred people to come in and take my workshop. So it is freeing. And I think it, it has a super power. Basically, it allows you to multiply yourself so that people would have access to you in ways that they would not have had before. So I'm really all for it. This internet thing that we have is making life easier for people. And you use it the way you want to use it, but I think in the positive aspects of it, people are gaining so much more freedom from what they can do. as a teacher online. So the possibilities are limitless too because not only can you do it live, but then you can record some stuff and have some residual stuff come up and people take your class that way. You can promote your business that way. It just gives you so many flanges and tentacles that can reach far and wide to be able to broaden the scope of what it is that you do. Lyric Kinard (36:47.662) Exactly. This beautiful, miraculous technology that we have kind of democratizes our access to our audience. There's no gatekeeper between us that has to hire us and put us in front of the people that they have for us. We can reach out on our own globally. Kimberley Carwright (37:07.924) Yeah, so you don't have to have an agent, know agent like there you can be your own agent and you know, you know depend on your your own abilities and then you know, so like the Academy like help which helps you to heighten your ability to be able to present your best face forward for for your students and and that is so so very important and I think you know the more the more you put into it then the more Lyric Kinard (37:12.368) There you go. Lyric Kinard (37:16.7) Right? Kimberley Carwright (37:38.044) the more you're gonna get out of it. you know, just get into that. Lyric Kinard (37:41.873) As with everything, right? We were talking at, this brings it back full circle to the beginning where you're talking about the joy that we get from doing what we do and never working a day in our life. But you also right before that said, there's hard stuff. Anything that brings you joy also has the hard stuff you have to face and it helps us, it helps us grow. Kimberley Carwright (37:57.704) Here it starts. Kimberley Carwright (38:02.58) It does help us grow so I've got this really hard thing lyric and Yesterday I said I'm gonna do my hard thing today. I ended up at the clay studio But today I looked at my hard list and I did get two things done From my really hard list and and one of the things got resolved so quickly that I could have did that like last Wednesday But okay, it got resolved So I know that I need to approach this big old hill and I know that I need to get my cloth and my machine and drag it up the hill, but I got a shirt so I can get to the apex of it. So I still got my hard thing list and this one is so hard that I just keep skipping over it. But by the end of the week, I'm done. Thank y'all, person. Lyric Kinard (38:55.474) Well, here as your person, you are going to check in with me tomorrow at the end of the day, or I will check in with you because we're friends, people. I'm gonna check within you and say, kick you in the butt, Kimberly, you have to get this done. And always, it's just, you just gotta start. It's never as hard as we make it in our head. Kimberley Carwright (39:03.41) You check it? Kimberley Carwright (39:10.258) Yes, and I love it. Kimberley Carwright (39:15.88) You can do this. Kimberley Carwright (39:21.076) But Larry, okay, I'm just- just gonna say if I do this hard thing is like I'm gonna be working hard till March if I do if I go to hard road I'm gonna be going to hard road until March but then if I get to the hard road no and then I'm looking I'm looking ahead to like you know you have not cuz your ass not you have not cuz you do not right so I can see like myself working hard but then Lyric Kinard (39:39.548) but you only have to start. Lyric Kinard (39:48.517) Absolutely. Kimberley Carwright (39:52.274) I'm thinking that the rewards will be tremendous at the end, but it's just like, have to get into my mind and heart. I have to start this hard thing and I have to do my check off on this hard thing. So I'm kind of going underground until March. If I go in this direction, the hard thing, because it takes that. can't, you know, I can't get off into the atmosphere at the scrap exchange. And that's like a center here in our community. Everybody. Lyric Kinard (40:20.658) Yeah, it's fantastic. Kimberley Carwright (40:21.296) everything from fabric to scissors to you know, every way. my god. Yeah. Lyric Kinard (40:25.604) industrial waste that can be used in art, all kinds of interesting stuff. So Kimberly, this is one thing that we start with in the masterclass. Write your big goal, the peak you're going for, put it where you see it, and then choose the first tiniest step to take. Because walking up a mountain doesn't happen with the leap. It happens by picking up Lyric Kinard (40:54.578) one leg putting it six inches further ahead from where you were going, right? It's only one tiny step at a time. You can do this. I know you can do this. Kimberley Carwright (41:02.068) I can do this. I'm gonna get my big thing. gonna get my big thing and I'm gonna report to you that I have done the first part of my big thing. So launch the big thing. Lyric Kinard (41:12.348) that you've started. Perfect. excellent. I can't wait. We'll have to check back in in March to maybe talk to you again and see how things are going because people are going to be curious. Kimberly, where can people find you online? Kimberley Carwright (41:21.62) Right. Love you. Kimberley Carwright (41:29.692) I have a website. It's Kimberly, K-I-M-B-E-R-L-E-Y, Pierce Cartwright. Lyric Kinard (41:32.242) Woohoo! Lyric Kinard (41:44.796) There we go. And we'll put it in the show notes as well. Kimberley Carwright (41:45.236) Yeah, yeah, yeah, and then I've got information where you can hire me you can see like my works and my work this show there There's a little bit of information about kindred spirits. So you'll you'll get 2027 I'm working it out. I'm hoping that I can get some big fish To be a part of my interest. Yes I know if Lyric Kinard (41:53.906) Mm-hmm. Lyric Kinard (41:59.611) Yeah, put it on your calendar for June 2027. Lyric Kinard (42:08.72) You will. You always have. Kimberley Carwright (42:13.202) If you're anywhere around, that you will be there to come and see and be and do for me. And I love you for it. Lyric Kinard (42:22.394) Always, always. it's, it's so this is this is what we do. This is why we teach when somebody who has come through my path who I've been able to guide in any tiny way, when they accomplish something, when they reach a peak on their way to their giant summit, it brings me so much joy. And you feel that when your students get it. You feel that when you serve your people, right? That's why, again, that's why we do this. Kimberly, a question I ask all my guests just for fun. What is the last, yeah, just for fun before we go. What is the last thing you made? Kimberley Carwright (43:02.046) Yes, your final. Okay friends. Lyric Kinard (43:29.55) It is a postcard sized piece of fabric. It's black and white check in the background with a red picnic blanket check circle and then a pair on the front. It's a small, beautiful little stitched piece of textile art and it looks lovely. Kimberley Carwright (43:31.282) Is it working? Kimberley Carwright (43:45.062) Yes. Yes, so I have a pile of postcards that I'm making. And on the other side of this computer screen, have two quilts, well actually three, three quilts in progress. And before I got the call from you today, I was watching Dune, my favorite movie for the 25th time. And I was doing some embellishments for another quilt that I'm working on. So I've got three, I've got three in progress. I'm going towards my big thing. Lyric Kinard (43:52.476) Wonderful. Lyric Kinard (44:08.741) Okay. Lyric Kinard (44:13.308) Alright, you've been making all day. Lyric Kinard (44:19.012) Excellent, excellent, excellent. Well, friends, make sure you look up Kimberly, make sure you learn from her example to reach big. And my friend, I am so grateful that you have spent time with us today. Kimberley Carwright (44:37.01) Lyric Montgomery Kinard, you are one of my favorite people ever ever ever ever ever in my whole life. I'm glad that our paths crossed and I'm grateful for what you have been to me and then how you how you helped me and there's always a helping spirit from you and just let me know whatever I can do I'm here. Lyric Kinard (45:02.244) That's what we do for each other. So my friends, keep on creating, keep on teaching, keep on sharing your joy and your love and the beauty that you bring into the world. It's worth it. Don't stop.