Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chris Mitchell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chris, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

A few years ago I was struggling to balance the responsibilities of my job in the food service industry with my dream of using my passion for art to create a meaningful career and business.

It seemed like every time there was an opportunity for an art show, market or anything that would benefit my art dreams, there would be a conflicting event, party, or no one to cover me at my day job. In the food service industry, you work nights, weekends, and holidays if you want to make a decent living, so I never had time for in person networking.

My job didn’t pay me when I was off, so I had to choose between earning income for my family, and my own personal dreams. I chose the income most times because I didn’t want to fail my family.

Then the opportunity of a lifetime came along when my wife landed her dream job. We talked about using the increase in her pay as a way for me to transition from my day job into a full-time art-making machine. I was delighted and simultaneously terrified.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s incredible that someone would believe in me so fully, but the thought of failing had me panic-stricken. My wife worked her entire life to get to that job and the raise in pay and she was willing to give up every penny to cover the income I would be walking away from. I didn’t want to disappoint her or myself. After a talking it through about a hundred times, we finally decided the best option would be for me to quit my day job and follow my heart.

I remember writing my letter of resignation and thinking, “What the hell am I doing right now? There’s a world-wide pandemic. People in every industry are out of work and some are desperate just to pay their bills. Events like art shows and pop-up markets are cancelled until who knows when. Despite all this I am sitting here planning to quit my job to start a business during one of the worst economical periods in my lifetime. I have lost my mind.”

Fully convinced that my marbles we completely gone, I printed the resignation and quit my day job. After a few months, the novelty wore off and I felt like a complete failure. I naively expected my leap of faith to immediately pay off in the form of landing multiple distribution contracts with stores, massive art sales and maybe even a few features by the local news media. What I got instead was an extremely long to-do list of actions I needed to take to market my art and my business.

It’s been a long road, but I keep checking those boxes and moving forward. Today, my art is sold in gift shops, breweries, and grocery stores. My business has a thriving customer-base and an online presence like no other, and I’m finally earning enough income to help support my family. It’s been a roller-coaster on steroids, but totally worth the risk.

Chris, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’ve been creating art for as long as I can remember, it just feels right to make something that adds beauty and meaning to peoples’ lives.

Old Pueblo Collective was dreamed up years go on the doorstep of an art gallery. My wife and I are huge art lovers and were shocked to find we could either afford to start an art collection or send our kids to college.

We were not rich by any stretch of the imagination, and investors were not lined up with stacks of cash to throw at us, but we had a mutual “aha” moment because it just made sense for us to build an organization that makes wildly unique art accessible to everyday people like us.

It’s been a wild ride, but my wife and I worked together to offer our customer’s art they can afford without maxing out their credit cards.

My kids are still in high school and there’s nothing better than hearing that they walked into a friend’s house to find my art on their walls. I love knowing that I’m the guy who walks away from a little extra cash, so students and everyday folks can have the art of their dreams.

I’m so proud that we’ve been able to grow Old Pueblo Collective by doing the right thing!

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I’d like to take all the credit for Old Pueblo Collective’s success, but my wife Sunny has been instrumental to our achievements, so I asked her to chime in on this one.

Sunny was thrilled and said, “Yes, yes, yes! I have a list two pages long for anyone who cares to reach out, but I’ll spare the masses and summarize with a shortlist of the most vital books for entrepreneurs in my opinion.
Oddly none of my top picks can be found the business category because even though I value business strategies, I think developing and maintaining the right mindset is foundation of success for creative entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs live outside of comfort zones which is why Year of Yes by Shonda Rhimes is a must read. It challenged and inspired me to take actions that forced me outside of my comfort zones, and ultimately paid off in monumental ways.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by the late Dr. Stephen R. Covey is basically my bible. Applying these habits to my life was how I created a work ethic that led me to massive career, family, and financial success despite being born into poverty.

Get Rich, Lucky B*tch by Denise Duffield-Thomas was a game changer for me. If you can get past the slightly offensive title, you’re in luck because this book shares a ton of easy everyday practices that helped me break through the six-figure glass ceiling even though I am a woman of color who came from a poor background, had kids at age sixteen, didn’t get my college degree until I was well into my thirties and worked in an industry that was predominately male.

Read this book, do all the things it for a year or two, then meet me on a beach in Hawaii because that’s exactly the kind of success that comes from doing the practices it shares!

Last, I always recommend Untamed by Glennon Doyle and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert because they both validated and inspired me to connect to my passion and own my truth.”

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that making a lot of money is wrong. We’ve all heard that money is the root of all evil and that really used to hit home for me.

When I was a kid, my dad worked for the electric company and my mom was a nurse. We were a working-class family, and my parents didn’t speak very highly of rich people.

Everyone in my world seemed to think that anyone with an abundance of cash did something very bad to get it. It left me feeling like I had to choose between morality and earning wealth.

As an artist, that translates into giving away everything I created instead of giving people and opportunity to support me by paying for my work. For years I gave away my art without knowing that I was doing it because I was afraid of turning into one of the evil rich people I learned about in childhood.

Honestly it was my wife who put a stop to this with a firm, “Oh hell no!” when she heard me talking about giving away an original piece that would normally be sold for hundreds. Her push to start charging people for the time, effort, energy and love I put into my work was just what I need.

I ended up selling the piece to the same person I was considering giving it to. I realized that people were completely willing to pay for my art and I had the opportunity to donate some of the profit to charity which helped me feel good about earning lots of cash.

Today I know that charging for my work is totally normal and far from evil, but in all honesty, it took years to get used to it.

Contact Info:

• Website: opctucson.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/opctucson
• Facebook: facebook.com/opctucson
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Alaina Brownell Chapin Photography and Kensy Apodaca Photography