Ann Rea: (00:00)
Alrighty. Okay. Hello everyone. This is Anne Rea coming to you live from San Francisco, California. I’m an artist just like you. And this is Jina Kim who’s coming to you from North Carolina.

(00:13)
Is that where you are?

Jina Kim: (00:13)
Yes.

(00:13)
She has been a student in the Making Art Making Money program. And what’s interesting about Jina is that she had not sold any art before she joined the program, right?

Jina Kim: (00:27)
No, no arts.

Ann Rea: (00:28)
Yeah, none. A big fat zero. And I actually typically do not– I usually ask for artists to apply who have already sold their art because it’s just easier to get success. And it’s really because they have more confidence. But that said, if you’re willing to do the work like this lady, it can be done. And so what’s also interesting is that you’re sort of really selling your art as soon as the pandemic hit. That’s when you really started to get some sales traction, it sounded like.

Jina Kim: (01:02)
Yes, yes.

Ann Rea: (01:03)
And I’m going to brag or I’m going to brag on you. So when you first started selling your art, you set your prices and since then your prices have increased 900%.

Jina Kim: (01:20)
Yes. That’s correct.

Ann Rea: (01:21)
Okay. So any business–so that was like within a year, within two years, you increased your prices 900%. So there’s, I don’t know a single business that would they be out of their mind. If they were able to increase their prices 900% within two years. You should feel really proud of yourself. You did a lot of work. So that’s what’s– but here’s the thing that really helps Jina sell her art. She has a mission and she is very sincere, heartfelt, very real mission. She hasn’t tried to sell herself cause she’s not for sale. She shares a mission. And what I invited her to do as I’m inviting a lot of my students to come and do during these artists, inspiring artists series is just to simply share their mission because other artists thinking, what the heck is that? What does that even mean? So, would you just share your mission and just kind of share how the, like the lessons or the moments that shaped that mission? Um,

Jina Kim: (02:26)
Yes. My mission is that we don’t know what to leave behind and we don’t know what to move forward with. We don’t know how to move on and we don’t know how to be on our own. We don’t know what makes us feel warm and fulfilled. And we don’t know what we need in our life because we don’t know how to follow our heart. And because of that, a lot of us do what other people think that we need to do.

Ann Rea: (03:01)
Yeah. And it causes a lot of pain. I mean, unless it’s something that you want to do. So what’s one moment. And then another moment that helped shape that mission for you.

Jina Kim: (03:17)
So my mission is coming from the very worst moment of my life and the theory joyful moment of my life. And can I share that here too?

Ann Rea: (03:31)
Yes, please.

Jina Kim: (03:32)
My worst moment of my life happened when I was there young nine or 10. I remember that night because I was lying in bed and I couldn’t sleep because I hear this noise, um, from my dad screaming and yelling and swearing and threatening my mom. And I could hear all that. And I, I remember feeling this anxiety and sear and hopelessness. And I remember praying that my mom doesn’t come back from her night shift because I didn’t know what was going to happen to her. So I couldn’t sleep. So I asked my brother to hold my hand and then I fell asleep in, there was my very worst moment of my life. And, and then

Ann Rea: (04:29)
What did you learn? What did you learn from that moment? What did that moment teach you?

Jina Kim: (04:34)
That moment taught me. I don’t know, to understand what you feel at the moment.

Ann Rea: (04:45)
You can’t really change how you feel at the moment. Right? Right. So a lot of what you do is helping people connect with their emotions. Right? So tell us about like, it’s not, here’s the thing that it’s not all about just your most painful moment or most joyful moments, inform things too. And I always tell my students that your life is the story you’re telling yourself about yourself. And you might all be wondering like, why, how does this have anything to do with anything? Well, here’s what it has to do with artists are not in the business of selling goods or services. Artists are in the business of selling emotion and our job as artists is to help people connect with their humanity. And why are the affluent buying more art since the pandemic? Because our job is to connect people with their humanity. And right now there’s a lot of humanity going around. There’s a lot of inspiration. So that’s why this works. And that’s why my students like Jina and others are selling more art since the pandemic hit. And I understand that those artists who relied on shows or galleries have been hit very hard. So that’s, we’re sharing this series. But let’s go back. So let’s talk about your most joyful moment and what you learned from that.

Jina Kim: (06:04)
My most joyful moment of my life is when I am standing in front of my family, with my husband and my husband is reading a vow in front of my mom and my brother. And he’s just saying that he’s so proud of me and he will be always there for me. And he believes in me and I remember feeling this thrill and joy and for the first time, hope.

Ann Rea: (06:35)
Nice. And what did you learn from that moment?

Jina Kim: (06:39)
I learned that I should move forward with my life with heart. Follow my heart.

Ann Rea: (06:47)
Okay. So now I know you’ve been working. So what you just shared, there’s– I teach something called the 4-part code. So what Jina just shared was her Why. Now what I want to know is like, so what’s your– your mission is What. Explain your mission again just so people get it. So the Why is all these lessons and you now know your soul’s truth, right? You know who you are, you know, what you stand for and you know, what you stand against. So this is the first hurdle. If you don’t know your purpose as an artist, it’s going to be really tough for you to inspire anyone, least of all yourself, right? Right. And then from there then, you know your mission. So your mission, it sounds, I’m just going to get, I wanna just see if I got it right. But here’s what I’m getting. I’m getting that when, but most people are quite disconnected from their emotions because they’re just following the example or what they’ve been told to do despite their emotions. And that once you open your heart and follow your heart, then things work out really well. And that sounds to me, like from the bits I’ve heard you sharing now and before that seems like how I would summarize your mission. Am I, am I getting it right or not?

Jina Kim: (08:09)
Yes. That’s, that’s exactly what it is. Yes.

Ann Rea: (08:12)
Okay. So now are you, have you been working on your, by the way, everyone, I just want to remind you there’s a free private Master Class. You’re welcome to apply for the link is above. And it’s something where it’s a very thorough new class that I have that teaches you how to sell, where really where to start to sell more art, without feeling like a sellout, without feeling slimy or pushy, and even during the pandemic. So you can apply and, it’s free. There’s no obligation. So when you talk about your you’ve got where you understand your, why we understand your, what, and I know you’ve been working on your, how, which is how you can clear value above and beyond your art. Now, this is a principle. I teach my students because trying to compete with other artists to sell your art is a really feudal exercise in frustration and wasted time. Right? And so what I say is forget that don’t compete with other artists, create value above and beyond your art and distinguish what you offer from all of the other artists out there who are frankly, more talented than you are and more talented than I am. So we can’t compete based on talent. There’s no way. So what do you do? How do you create more value above and beyond your art? How did– how are you doing it now? And this is something that can change over time.

Jina Kim: (09:41)
My How right now is to– I am good at encouraging people and I’m good at listening. I’m good at, um, I’m not, I don’t judge people. That’s actually one of the biggest value of me and I am good at managing Instagram and connecting with people and creating community.

Ann Rea: (10:08)
Those are some pretty valuable skills. If you really sit and think about it, most people are really judgy, right? Number one, not everyone has Instagram figured out in a way that they’re just a lie. I see a lot of artists just blindly posting, posting, posting, and they’re just making a bunch of noise. They’re not really building any heartfelt connection. And it seems like you’re, you’re doing this.

Jina Kim: (10:34)
Yes.

Ann Rea: (10:34)
There’s a Chinese revolutionary artist named Ai Weiwei who was an early adopter of Twitter. And I would say that his understanding of Twitter got him where he is today. So it is absolutely, you know, and I don’t think you have to be a complete master of social media. I really don’t. But just be– it just seems to be something that comes natural to you and using it. And then I can, I can also say you are encouraging cause I see you encouraging other students in the program. So this is true. So I mean, you’re really not being anything other than who you already are.

Jina Kim: (11:12)
Yes. I’m just really being myself.

Ann Rea: (11:16)
I mean, cause I think that’s what a lot of artists get concerned about is that they have to be someone other than who they are. They have to change their style. What do you have to say about that?

Jina Kim: (11:28)
I’m in go ahead and try. It’s not, I dunno. It feels, I don’t know. I sometimes see main artists who, you know, they feel like they have to dress fancy in order to meet collectors and then they have to talk fancy and talk about how rich they are because of their art. And I dunno, I dunno. It just makes feel weird. It’s not right.

Ann Rea: (11:55)
So, so as going back to the, one of the primary principle that I teach is that, you know, our product is emotion, right? We can agree that we’re not selling goods or services. So that means you have to be a hundred percent authentic, And you can’t ignite emotion if you’re faking it

Jina Kim: (12:15)
Right.

Ann Rea: (12:18)
It doesn’t land. It just feels fake. It feels kind of slimy. It doesn’t feel good. But when you’re really being authentic, you’re being genuine. You’re being honest. I teach my students all the time, “Honesty is the best marketing strategy.” You really, right? It keeps it really uncomplicated. You don’t have to really worry about what to say or what to do if you believe that honesty is the best marketing strategy. Right?

Jina Kim: (12:47)
Yeah. And you feel more confident with people. Um, even though you’re wearing weird clothes and cheap clothes and all these people are fancy, you feel still confident about what you do.

Ann Rea: (12:58)
Yes, and I think what’s the one thing I will say about effluent collectors is this, what you have to understand is that most of fluent collectors grew up either middle class or lower middle class. Like it’s a pretty high percentage and it varies obviously, but it’s a pretty high percentage. I mean, it’s definitely over 80%. I think it was like 92%. The last time I looked, grew up middle-class or lower middle-class and they worked their butt off and they became effluent. So you have more and less you yourself are very affluent. You have more in common than you think. The only thing you have to remember is they don’t, they don’t need any more stuff they’re looking for meaning. And if you listen to what Gina said, she’s absolutely delivering on meaning. They’re looking for meaning, they’re looking for connection. And that is the game-changing. I mean, that’s the piece that just eludes a lot of artists and so they’re focused on only, you know, their style or their technique and competing with other artists. And it’s just, Oh it’s a sad road to go down down there. I guess one question I have for you is like, you know, what is, what’s been the most meaningful thing for you in the Making Art Making Money program? What’s, what’s been the most meaningful thing,

Jina Kim: (14:26)
The most meaningful thing, um, during the course or

Ann Rea: (14:32)
During the program, was there like one thing that stands out, like if you look like, actually let’s go back in time, let’s get in our time machine and go back. I think you saw me with you, you initially found out about me because John, my friend, Jonathan Fields was doing an interview in my living room downstairs on the Good Life Project, which is also on his podcast. And that’s where you found out about me. And at that time you are not the same person you are now you were, but you, there were some things that were missing, right? So like, what were, what were your top two challenges back then?

Jina Kim: (15:06)
My top two challenges were the first one was that I was super insecure about myself and what I do. And my– the second challenge was, I just didn’t know how to begin anything.

Ann Rea: (15:26)
No roadmap.

Jina Kim: (15:27)
Yes. Oh what was that?

Ann Rea: (15:29)
You had no roadmap. It sounds like.

Jina Kim: (15:31)
Not at all.

Ann Rea: (15:32)
You’re you’re not insecure like at all now. You don’t seem that way at all. I’m sure you are on some things, but you don’t seem that way.

Jina Kim: (15:42)
I’m not really, especially when it comes to my business, I am not insecure, and I really believe in this

Ann Rea: (15:50)
Notice that she had said business, not art career, but business, Big, big difference. You’re never going to have a fine art career. Never your parents were right. Absolutely. Right. Because there aren’t any jobs for fine artists. And if there aren’t any jobs, then there’s no careers, but what you can have is a business. Right. Okay. So, all right. So, so that’s how you were. And so what do you think, like was your biggest takeaway from the program? I know you have a lot, but what do you think? Like what pops into your head?

Jina Kim: (16:28)
The best thing is actually to find my– to discover my 4-part code.

Ann Rea: (16:37)
Yes. Yes. So for those of you who are not sure what the 4-part code is, I highly recommend that you apply to the masterclass. I don’t have time to explain it here, explain it in detail in the private Master Class, you can go ahead and apply. I guess my last question for you is if, and I’ve asked you this before, I’ll ask you again. If someone was like sitting on the fence and they weren’t sure about even applying or even scared to apply, even though it’s free and there’s no obligation, what would you honestly say to them?

Jina Kim: (17:10)
I say, follow your heart.

Ann Rea: (17:18)
That is a damn good answer. And on that note, that is so true. It is. So you say follow your heart. And what I say is just trust your gut. It’s so much smarter than your, your logical brain. Just trust your gut. Just get quiet, go for a walk, you know, quiet your mind, take a deep breath. Notice the thoughts you’re thinking. And then, you know, ask, ask what’s you’ll feel it it’ll either feel right. Or it won’t feel right. Right?

Jina Kim: (17:54)
Yeah. Yes. You always, um, yeah, whatever you feel, that always tells you where to go.

Ann Rea: (18:01)
It does. I’m very proud of you. I think you’ve done a fantastic job. You started at zero. You started being super duper shy.

Jina Kim: (18:13)
Yes.

Ann Rea: (18:20)
Not anymore! A Fine Art business, everyone, not an art career. All right, then, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. And I’ll see you in the Facebook group.

Jina Kim: (18:31)
Yes. Thank you.