The Sundaze Studios Story
In 2004, I had the pleasure to speak at “Making Dreams Happen” with experts, Barbara Sher, Valerie Young, and Barbara Winter in Colorado. Here’s the story that I shared then. I hope it inspires you now.
I’ve always loved color and play. Being creative kept me balanced growing up. When I was 19 years old I remember saying, “I’m going to be a professional artist someday,” however, I didn’t follow that path until a WAKE-UP call in 1987.
At that time, I was working as a secretary for a fortune 500 company. A routine Gyn appointment identified a large cyst on my ovary. What was suppose to be a simple operation turned out to be major surgery. I had been ill and didn’t even know it. This experience was the beginning of my spiritual awakening.
As a get-well gift, my sister bought You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. Hay’s ideas were foreign to me but I was open to them. I often wondered “why” did this happened to me? After reading her book and doing some research I found out that the ovaries are located in the 2nd chakra—representing creativity. I had always been an artist but never had the courage to “Go For It” until this experience. What dawned on me is that I was suppressing my creativity and denying myself something I loved doing, so, I can see why what happened did happen. I realized that life is precious and you never know when it will be your time to leave this planet. I quit my job.
I decided to work at a small magazine publishing company and pursue my associates degree in marketing (not art). I worked and went to college full-time and made beaded jewelry (something I loved to do as a kid) selling my wares at small craft fairs. While in college, I got up enough courage to take a painting class. For me, this was a huge step! A very important thing happened while in this art class… I discovered I could paint! It was fun! I was so into it. My professor said, “I think you have a lot of talent, have you considered continuing on to a four year college in art?“ That’s all I needed to hear.
In 1990, I started at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst for fine art. Again, I worked part-time, made and sold jewelry and continued on my spiritual path. In 1994, I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I did it! Then it set in…now what do I do? I still wanted to paint, but thought, how am I going to make any money? I knew how to make jewelry and I had administrative skills. Perfect! I temped and made and sold my jewelry at local craft fairs. I named my company Bonadventure Jewelry (short for “good venture“). My husband and I rented our condo and moved into an art studio.
In 1997 and I remember going out to my garden reached my arms up to the sky, and asked God for help. Within a week I was assigned a new temp job working for a designer of inspirational calligraphic messages surrounded by ornate borders printed on giftware. She inspired and encouraged me to continue on my path. I had thoughts like, “if only my art could be on products” this thought inspired me and at the same time terrified me. While working for the designer, I attended the National Stationery Show at the Javits Center in New York City. There, I came upon a section for artists called SURTEX (short for Surface Textile Design). All I could see were booth walls covered with amazing artwork. Hesitantly, I asked an artist what is this show all about? She replied, “it’s where artists meet manufacturing companies of apparel, cards, wall paper and sell and license their artwork.” Oh, I thought… “if only I could be in a show like this someday.” Later that year, I was in a major car accident. Another wake-up call. I made my decision to paint and let go of making jewelry altogether. I was scared. I didn‘t feel good enough. I didn‘t feel I deserved to do what I love.
I went searching for support and found Valerie Young’s six week course for women who needed guidance on making their dreams a reality. Valerie was great. She brought up Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, and how he wrote out his goals 15 times a day until it became a reality. This information was all new to me! But I committed to it. I wrote “my designs are licensed world-wide” 15 times a day. It was so scary. I kept making mistakes, my hand-writing was messy, and my palms sweaty. I was engulfed with fear and excitement all at the same time. I kept writing the statements and my handwriting became clean and crisp and I felt more confident. Then I found How to License Your Million Dollar Idea by Harvey Reese. It gave me an idea of what to do, how to turn ideas into products.
In May of 1998 I participated in SURTEX, my first juried trade show at the Javits Center in New York City. Having no experience at a trade show I had to wing-it. I made some color photo copies of my art and put them on foam core board. I “dummyed-up” prototypes onto mugs, and t-shirts. I named my business Sundaze Studios (my sister came up with that name because of my “love” of hot fudge sundaes). I took Tony Robbins advice, “if you don’t know what to do, act as if you do.” Fortunately, my husband came with me to the show and helped me work the booth. We got great responses from everyone that visited. On the 2nd day of the show a national giftware company stopped by and I had an instant connection with them. They looked at one of my designs of a figure with her arms raised up to the universe and said, “we want to license your artwork, we’ll drop off the licensing agreement tomorrow.” My dream… becoming a reality… OMG. I had to create several new designs, hire a licensing attorney, communicate back and forth with the company. In a few months my artwork was complete. In the beginning of 2000 and after a lot of work, the 32 piece “Strength From Within” product line was launched and sold in the United States and Canada.
Throughout my experience I listened to my intuition, that little voice inside of me, that said “…do this …don’t do that.” I surrounded myself with like-minded people, I took a lot of action. All the small steps lead me to my goal. Today, I’m having fun painting, growing my business, and enjoying life with my husband, family and friends.
- Bonnie