We recently connected with Ilysha Thompson and have shared our conversation below.
Ilysha, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?
I would definitely say I’m happier being a business owner ten toes down. Being able to work and get paid doing something you love is different then just clocking in to work a 9 to 5 and be bored. To be a full time artist is my dream and it takes time. But usually working for someone else and big corporations they want you to do a lot of work for minimum pay. But working for yourself you get to have a lot more fun. And at least in my field as a artist I know I’m making a change and touching people with what I create. And if I’m going to work really hard for anything I want to work hard for myself.
Ilysha, 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?
So I’m a artist not just with paint but poetry, music, fashion, and so much more. I do surrealism art which is dream, fantasy images with realism to it. I show the beauty of everyone in my art. You’ll see people of every color, every hair style, size, and etc. Because our differences are what make us all beautiful. My art goes deeper than just some paint on a canvas. All my paintings and prints come with a Bible verse, words of affirmation, or a poem written by me on the back. Because art is deeper than just some paint on a canvas. Art has the power to heal, change someone’s perspective, give them joy, and etc. That’s why my business name is “Paint Beyond” because I’m taking art further than just paint on a canvas.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I built my audience on social media by just going for it. I used to make art all the time and finally I just started sharing it with the world. And I wasn’t even selling anything in the beginning, I was just sharing my art and having fun. And after a while, people began to know me as an artist, because I was so consistent and persistent in making art. It can be hard to build your audience on social media, especially with the algorithm, but what I learned is that as long as you’re consistent and persistent, then that’s all that matters. It takes time to build a following but I think a lot of the business owners think that they have to have 1 million followers to bring an income in and that’s not the case. You could have 25 followers and make great income. Because if you’ve connected with those 25 people and they believe in what you do then they’re gonna invest in you. But if you have 1 million followers and you’re so caught up in a number and you don’t connect with them. You’re not going to bring in any income and that’s the wisest thing I learned that helped me grow my business.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
So I’ve been trying to become a full-time artist, and I realize quickly that being a full-time artist is not what I thought it was. I thought that I would be able to quit my job, make art all day, post consistently, do pop-up shops, and i thought I would be all set. And personally that’s not what worked for me. I had to end up getting a job because I wasn’t making enough income to sustain me. Then I realize that I have to provide a service to people in order to be a full-time artist. So I started hosting paint parties. Doing private ones and public ones. I would host acrylic pour and guided paint & sip parties. Which really helped me sustain myself and is a lot of fun. You get to meet a lot of people. Everyone’s chilling, painting, sipping on a little wine, and usually after every paint party. When the time was up, people were still sitting down, chatting it up, not wanting to leave. And that’s when I realized that in order to be a full-time artist, I won’t be able to just sell my art, but I’ll have to provide a service to people to actually sustain myself.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.paintbeyond.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nakai_theartist/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/ilysha.thompson.3
- Linkedin: https://linktr.ee/nakaitheartist
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nakai_theartist
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UC05bj9AL2nUSIDLuv-eqpsw
Image Credits
Photographer and videographer Instagram -NextGenerationsFilmMakers Facebook – NextGenerationsFilmmKers https://linktr.ee/NextGenerationsFilmMakers