Since starting Primerry PRO (a sister business to Deep Space Sparkle for creative business owners) in 2023, I’ve had a front row seat to see women surpass their business goals, hear their questions and watch as they navigate their art businesses.

With every question, I’m reminded of the many moments when I experienced the same fears, joys and aspirations as they do.

The most important thing to know about running a 7-figure business is that it didn’t start out that way.

Here’s a look back at a few significant milestones along the way and how each step was essential in growing the next stage of Deep Space Sparkle.

It starts with a passion… or does it?

Have you ever heard that the best businesses are the ones that are driven by your passion?

Certainly I was passionate about being an art teacher. You may have heard me say this a few times, because it’s true. I couldn’t have loved a job more.

So yes, I was very passionate about teaching art to kids.

BUT, I would say that starting my business selling art lessons was based more on solving a problem rather than working from my passion.

Which leads me to my first milestone in starting my business:

Milestone #1: Find a Solution to a Problem

Art teachers everywhere are no strangers to the dilemma of realizing there is typically zero resources available to them after being hired.

Lesson plans? Perhaps a few photocopied pages, but a curriculum? Not likely.

That was my experience as well. I was hired as an art teacher, was given a schedule and that’s about it.

I literally had no idea what to do.

I worked through my year piecing together art activities from books, sourcing the internet for some gem of an idea and basically spent more time researching lessons than actually teaching them.

So it was really not surprising that when I did find a lesson that worked, and posted about it on my blog, teachers everywhere started asking questions.

That was the trigger point to creating a solution to an art teacher’s problem: creating digital lesson plans.

How this can help you: If you are looking to start a business, ask yourself what type of problem could you solve with your services?

Could it be to offer in-person art lessons in a community where there are none?

What about sharing your adaptive art skills and expertise to children who have specific developmental needs?

Do you love gardening and art? Perhaps you could offer live painting classes in your garden?

Milestone #2: Creating Consistent Content

By far, the most significant milestone of Deep Space Sparkle was creating consistent free content in the form of a blog and podcast.

This is where you pull out all your passion cards and share who you are and what you love so that you can help people.

It’s really that simple.

No doubt you are a creative person because you wouldn’t be reading this blog if you weren’t. You have very specific skills, unique perspectives and a driving need to help people.

Offering free content or services is always a smart move no matter what business you’re in, as it allows people to see what you do, test out your product and come back for more if they are happy.

But it takes time and while many people would rather just get on with selling their product or service, I would challenge that idea.

A ‘freebie’ or free class is actually a great litmus test to see if you have a product at all.

And yes, it takes time to create a freebie or offer a free class and nurture your customers down your funnel, but it can also really hone your skills and help develop your productivity muscle.

Here’s what my life looked like back in my early blogging days:

I worked as an art teacher from Tuesday to Friday at 2 elementary schools from 7:30-3:30 teaching about 700 kids.

I’d see about 150 kids per day, teach between 4 and 6 art classes, take pictures of the projects and snap a few in-process art pics throughout the day.

I’d head home everyday and upload my digital photos from my snappy Sony camera and edit them in Pic Monkey. I LOVED this part. I mean, obsessed.

Seeing the art work come to life after weeks of working with the kids and studying what they loved and didn’t love was a really creative time for me.

I adored the kids, loved the process of sharing art and seeing the transformation of a project from an idea to the finished piece.

On Fridays and Sundays I would work on the blog and create 1-2 blog posts a week.

Most of the work ended up as free content but some of my best lessons were reserved for a long form PDF lesson plan that I sold through my website and through Teacher’s Pay Teachers.

How this can help you:

Creating an online presence through my blog and later my podcast was paramount in establishing my audience and community in order to sell my digital products.

Through these blog posts, I captured email addresses which helped grow my email list from 0 to about 12,000 in those early days.

Email was my #1 way to sell my PDF’s and Online Course (anyone remember Teaching Art 101 and Beyond the Basics?)

By the time I started The Sparklers’ Club in 2016, I had about 30,000 emails, which was more than enough to start the membership and set the course for making my first 7-figure year in 2017.

Need to know how to start an email list? Primerry PRO shares all the deets!

Milestone #3: Finding a Mentor

There is a moment in one’s business when you know with absolute certainty that you can’t do it alone.

I don’t mean hiring a team – that certainly comes – but it’s more about knowing that you don’t know what’s possible with what you’ve built or how to put your ideas into action.

Right around 2015, I retired from teaching art and committed to going full-time growing Deep Space Sparkle.

It wasn’t a big decision for the logical part of my brain but it was an adjustment for my heart. I never felt like I had “enough” of teaching art. I could have taught forever. 

Yet a new chapter was evolving for me and I said yes to it.

I started listening to business podcasts and began watching YouTube videos.

James Wedmore, a bright marketer with the ability to explain how to create videos in a creative, yet linear way, appealed to my educational mindset.

Then a weird thing happened: I received an email from James announcing his first Mastermind opportunity.

At the time I thought this random email was divine intervention but later, after working with James, I learned it was called retargeting website visitors. Brilliant, I thought.

Of course, I applied to be a part of his mastermind and hoped that I would be accepted.

I was, and it started a journey that changed my life.

You see, finding a mentor, coach or business group that can help you go from where you are now to where you want to go is the biggest and most important milestone you can make in your business.

James helped me see what was possible for my business by teaching me how to market my online products. He taught me how to think like an entrepreneur and CEO (which I’m still working on BTW) and he also introduced me to Stu Mclaren.

I will say this: If you are confident in your business. If you have laid down a good foundation in which to start (see Milestone #2) then there is no better time to invest your dollars in a very good business course and/or business coach than at this stage.

Stu taught me everything about starting and running a membership.

I spent 2 days with Stu and a few other entrepreneurs in Hawaii in March 2016, took a hundred zillion pages of notes, listened hard, went back to Santa Barbara and changed the way I operated my business (and my life) in about 3 months.

Stu knew what he was talking about. 

I believed in his vision and how it applied directly to me and I followed his framework with about as much accuracy as I could.

Between James’s mastermind and Stu’s membership mentorship, I set a chart that went beyond anything I thought was possible.

How this can help you:

If you are in a place in your business where you feel stuck yet you know there’s a solution or if you want to increase your studio enrollments but aren’t sure how, then mentorship might be right for you.

The point in which I met James and Stu was a bit farther along my path, but before them was Marie Forleo and B-School, Amy Porterfield’s podcast and a plethora of other amazing business mentors.

Only you know when you’re feeling stuck, or at a point where your business is really taking off and you need a roadmap on what to consider next.

Business is fun and having a mentor makes it profitable (but only if you’re ready to take action and use the advice given).

Primerry PRO is our mentorship program with mini-courses, mentorship calls and a community that can help you move from business idea to a thriving business.

Milestone #4: Hiring a Team

By far, the hardest thing to do in a business if you’re working for yourself is hiring a team to help.

It’s hard because we have this crazy notion that we should know how to do everything.

Okay…there’s a bit of truth to the arguments of going it alone.

If you’re just starting out and getting your business established, working on creating consistent content or teaching classes on a regular basis, it makes sense to continue to do this until you have the sales to warrant expansion.

I would even argue that learning all facets of your business is essential to being able to hire for the role later on. It really helps to have a keen understanding of all aspects of your business.

But that’s where it ends. 

As soon as you make traction, feel your schedule taking over your life or feel you are limiting your income because of your lack of time, it’s time to consider hiring someone to help out.

Here’s what I want you to know about hiring:

You will hire amazing people who will give your business tremendous value.

And you will hire amazing people who will offer nothing but headaches.

It’s just a part of the process of learning to hire.

You might never really get good at it. 

But I do wish that when my mentors told me that hiring someone who later quits or you have to let go is a normal part of a business, well, let’s just say I wish I believed them.

It would have saved me a lot of sleepless nights, crazy amounts of stress and a lot of self-doubt.

The best thing about hiring your first team member is that they allow your business to grow faster. 

My first hire was Amy. She was an amazing graphic designer that could help me do social media, create graphics for my lesson plans and website plus she had a hidden marketing talent.

The business grew quickly because I could spend my time creating lessons and videos while Amy helped prepare the content. This allowed me to work smarter, not harder.

Then I hired Marisa, an art teacher, to write my lesson plans. Holy Moly. Working with Marisa was a dream. 

We essentially started The Sparkler’s Club together.

Fun fact about Marisa for anyone who has been a member of The Sparklers’ Club: she was in labor with her 3rd daughter while putting the finishing touches on the original EPIC curriculum!

Then came Shannon, Ashley and Emma who took over accounts and customer service, publishing and social media. We were quite a team and accomplished a lot during some of Deep Space Sparkles’ highest growth stages. 

There have been so many amazing women come after this original duo that took over a task that I was doing.

This allowed me to focus on the ONE thing that only I could do and that would grow the business: teach, educate and sell.

How this can help you:

So here’s my advice (and I do hope you will believe me), hire very slowly. More slowly than you are comfortable with. 

Really get to know the person even if they are filling a 5-hour a week role.

People are always on their very best behavior in interviews.

They often over exaggerate what they are good at.

Instead of taking their word for it, offer them a chance to demonstrate their skills.

Give them a task that shows how qualified they are and see how excited they are to do it.

The team members who performed hiring tasks in my organization are still with us today.

Those who I hired without a task are not.

I’ll end there!

You can find great people on Craigslist, Facebook, in your email list and in your community. The world is full of amazing people so get out there and find someone to help grow your beautiful business.

Milestone #5: Expanding my Product Suite

I often tell the business owners in Primerry PRO to niche down as much as possible, especially at first.

All this means is to really hone in on one thing.

• If you’re great at teaching art to children, stick to art classes for kids.

• If you love teaching through video, consider online classes.

• If you love the community and energy of paint parties with adults, teach paint parties.

This doesn’t mean forever and only…it just means focus on one thing as a way to gain traction as your business gets started.

The distinction probably makes more sense if I describe what it would be like to run a business hosting jewelry parties in the evening, pottery classes Saturday, Mommy and Me process art classes on Tuesdays and Thursday, etc.

Lack of one specific focus might be fun and even easy for you to teach, but it’s really confusing for a customer.

The goal is for you to be really well known for one thing. So if someone mentions they love to go to paint parties at a neighborhood party, you want YOUR name to be the one they list of business owners someone recommends.

I’m a big believer of niching down.

For 15 years, Deep Space Sparkle was known for providing lessons and resources for K-6 art teachers. I only expanded my offerings in 2020 to teach art directly to children via Primerry and in 2023 to include a membership for creative business owners. 

I grew a multiple 7-figure business by focusing on ONE thing: helping art teachers teach art with more ease and confidence.

What’s your Business?

When your business has evolved from those early stages of carving out your space in the world, hiring your first employee, finding mentorships and learning about running a business, it makes sense to see what works for you and your business.

Running a business is not a sprint.

I think many people can get up and running super quickly especially if they choose the right business for them, but it still takes work.

One of the KEY signs when choosing a business is to identify what you would do for FREE.

I would have taught art for free and it just happens that I did a lot of that. And that love was the key ingredient to Deep Space Sparkle.

So what’s your I’d-do-it-or-free activity? Let me know below!

That’s why having a roadmap to follow helps you get started on the right path. It’s a proven path to success!

Links:

James interviews Patty on Mind Your Own Business Podcast