We were lucky to catch up with Michelle Lloyd recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michelle, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today 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?

Ten years ago, I was fresh out of university, having studied Art, and found myself unemployable. Nobody wanted to hire a recent art graduate who hadn’t worked in more than six years. I didn’t see art as a career option, even after studying Business prior to Art! I never thought to combine the two. I even turned down an offer to attend a start-up business help session, replying, “Why would I attend that when I’ve studied Art?”

I spent months applying for non-art-related jobs and was repeatedly rejected. I had already exhausted all the art-related options, such as galleries, and faced rejection there too. So, here I was, fresh out of university and unemployable.

After six months of fruitless applications, I was sitting in a doctor’s surgery, waiting for a friend who had an appointment. I picked up a magazine and started reading. I came across a triple-page spread detailing the stories of women who had been made redundant and had used that experience as a springboard to set up their own businesses. I hadn’t been made redundant, but I felt pretty redundant! I shrugged it off, thinking I was a loser with no prospects. But that article planted a seed in me that day. From then on, I saw signs everywhere pointing towards setting up a business.

Soon, I found myself in an office talking to a start-up coach about my idea of creating an art studio. I missed my art days terribly, and there were no studios in my area. I thought, maybe I could set one up. I was terrified. With dyslexia, ADHD, and dyscalculia, I was disorganised and terrible with numbers and money. But with the right support and help, I got United ArtSpace off the ground.

Now, it has become a global platform for artists, with more than 6,000 people around the world buying our courses and over 50,000 people attending one of our free training sessions. Dyslexic me even wrote a book! I have to pinch myself weekly because I can’t believe I made this happen. But, of course, chasing big dreams comes with big challenges too.

Let’s talk about what I did yesterday: I spent 12 hours straight at my desk tackling the bookkeeping I’d let slip while writing my book. The day before that, I spent seven hours looking for missing receipts. Most days, I am a hot mess of creative, divergent thinking, and I sometimes wonder if I should just get a job. In fact, as I’m currently hiring a marketing person for my team, I did some research to compare jobs in the area similar to the one I’m advertising.

As I looked, I started to imagine what it would be like to have one of those jobs, which seemed far simpler than my life. No more cash flow forecasts, no more 12-hour stretches trying to untangle my finances. No more thinking 24/7 with a brain bursting with ideas. I could go to work, do my job, and come home.

Hmmm… but what about when I wake up next Monday and want to start work at 2 pm instead of 9 am? What about next week, when I want to take three half-days off to attend my children’s school shows? And what about all the joy I experience every day from running a business that helps so many people?

I often wonder what it would be like to have a regular job. But then I remember that I’m not a regular person, and this crazy whirlwind of a life suits me better. I don’t have it all together; I make mistakes, I lose receipts, and I’m inconsistent when it comes to managing my finances. But I get by. I provide an amazing bank of resources for artists, and I have a purpose that fills my heart with joy.

Maybe one day I’ll get a job—who knows? But for now, I know I’ve still got years of entrepreneurial spirit left in me!

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

After years of depression and anxiety, I turned back to art as an adult, having not made art in more than ten years. Art saved me. I know that sounds dramatic, but it really did. Art helped me process all the anguish I was feeling, and more than anything, it helped me reconnect with myself. I was so detached. Art enabled me to feel, take notice, and truly pay attention to what I was feeling and what was happening around me. It was as if someone had turned the lights on.

It also helped me connect with amazing people from around the world. This is why I set up United ArtSpace: to help people live their most creative lives and discover all the incredible possibilities that come with being an artist and creative. I even wrote a book called Your Art Matters to help people find their voice, their purpose, and their community.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

I’m going to be really honest here because I think it’s important to share. I had no savings—in fact, I was in debt from years of mismanaging my finances, and I was steeped in student loan debt. I paid for online courses using credit cards and found myself sinking further into debt. It was incredibly stressful because, for many years, I felt like a fraud and not a “real” business owner since I was borrowing.

But I wasn’t borrowing frivolously or throwing money away. I was investing in myself and in courses to learn how to set up a business and serve others. This was, without a doubt, one of the biggest risks I’ve ever taken. When setting up the business, I had to borrow money from my mother-in-law to buy a laptop. The business wasn’t making money, and people were telling me I was crazy and that it would never work.

I remember working around the clock to launch my offer and starting to see more traction. I calculated my conversion rates based on the people attending my event and realised that if I spent £2,000 on ads, I could make at least £5,000 back. It took me years to get to the point where I felt confident enough to take this gamble, but I borrowed another chunk of money and invested it in ads.

It worked. I made £5,000 back, which gave me the confidence to scale. Within 18 months, I had paid off more than £30,000 of debt—debt that would have taken me five to eight years to repay if I had stayed in my current situation.

Throughout it all, I held onto the belief and determination that I would make this work. That belief was absolutely crucial.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

When I first launched my course, I priced it at £12 a month and managed to sign up 30 people. It was tough because that wasn’t enough to pay the bills! I had this dream that 300 people would join, but the reality felt far from that. I was stressed and felt like giving up.

But then my mentor, Stu McLaren, reached out and said, “Michelle, roll up your sleeves, love on your people, and help them get results.” So that’s exactly what I did. I poured my heart and soul into helping those 30 people achieve results, and along the way, I learned so much. Looking back, those were some of the best years.

That was a few years ago now. Today, the course is priced at £597, and it has impacted the lives of thousands. We have raving fans who return year after year, many of whom we’ve helped to make a living from their art.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://unitedartspace.org
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/unitedartspace
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UnitedArtSpace/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/unitedartspace