From Burnt Out to Balanced with Amanda Reid Designs

Feeling the burnout of balancing your personal life, entrepreneurship, and being an artist? This episode has exactly what you need.

Alex of Signs of our Lives and Cat of Cat Lauren calligraphy interview Amanda Reid of Amanda Reid Designs. She teaches us about the realities of burnout and reminds us that our bodies are our most precious tools—and it's about time we started treating them as such!

Reignite your creativity with practical tips about avoiding burnout,  addressing it when it happens, and prioritizing self-care as a non-negotiable for personal and professional success.

Join us on this thought-provoking journey as we empower you to prioritize your well-being, set healthy boundaries, and find inspiration in the everyday. Whether you're an entrepreneur, creative, or someone seeking a holistic approach to life, this episode offers a roadmap to thrive in a world that often demands more than it gives. Tune in and take the first step towards a healthier, more balanced you!

Episode Links

Amanda Reid Designs - Instagram

Amanda Reid Designs - website

Calligraphers of Color - Instagram

The Luxury Calligraphy Retreat - Instagram

The Luxury Calligraphy Retreat - Link

Jodi Tellier Art - Instagram

Affiliate Links

The Artist Way

Stylus

Transcript

Hi everybody. Welcome back to the Keeping Up with the Calligraphers podcast. I am Cat of Cat Lauren Calligraphy. I'm Alex of Signs of Our Lives. And we are here with our first guest and we're so excited to have her. I will let her introduce herself. Hi guys. My name is Amanda of Amanda Reid Designs and I'm so excited to be here.

We're so excited to have you! Yay! I can't believe I'm the first guest. I feel so honored. Oh my gosh. We feel honored to have you. Oh my gosh. I have listened to every episode of y'all's podcast, so I definitely was super excited to join when you asked.

Oh my gosh. That's so awesome. Okay, before we jump into it for those that may or may not be familiar, although I do feel like most people that listen to our podcast are familiar when we announced on our Instagram that you were going to be coming on or rather we said we were having someone and they all guessed that it was you. We got so many DMs. Everybody was so excited to hear from you. But in case there is somebody out there, we do have kind of other artists that maybe aren't calligraphers that haven't come across you yet, I'll do a quick brief version of your bio.

Amanda Reid is a calligraphy artist, educator, and doctor of physical therapy. She is the owner of Amanda Reid Designs, a modern calligraphy studio based in Austin, Texas, that specializes in live events, calligraphy, and engraving services for corporate events and brands. Amanda blends her background as a physical therapist with her creative passions by sharing self-care and wellness tips for creatives through her YouTube channel, weekly newsletter, workshops and retreats. Oh my gosh. And I'm so excited to learn more about you and all of those things and how just like all of that comes together. Should we be calling you doctor? Like are we, should we call you Dr. Amanda Reid?

Oh, you can if you want to. I feel like it depends on the setting. In the calligraphy space, I do not introduce myself as Dr. Reid. Even at the hospital, my patients don't call me Dr. Reid because there's medical doctors and so it gets confused. But if I'm in the outpatient clinic, then sometimes my patients will call me Dr. Reid. I mean, I feel like I shouldn't be ashamed of my degree. So if you want to call me Dr. Reid, you can call me Dr. Reid, but you don't have to. Absolutely. Girl, you put in all that work to get that degree. I will call you “doctor” all day long. Yes, you earned it. It was a lot of work, I'm not going to lie. And it was expensive.

Oh my gosh. I feel that. OK, but I would love to hear a little bit more about you, just from you. So tell us, like, how long have you been a physical therapist? Yeah, so I've been a physical therapist since 2018. So it's been about six years now. I've been in the rehab space a little bit longer. I started off, or before I was a physical therapist and went to PT school, I got my master's in athletic training. And so I used to work with collegiate athletes at a university here in Texas.

So I work with different sports like football, women's basketball, volleyball, track. So I just like health stuff. I like self care, wellness, all the things. So yeah, that's my background. I did not ever, ever think I was going to be doing anything related to calligraphy or being in the live event industry. So it's been a fun journey for sure. Yeah. How did you stumble into that?

Yeah. So I learned calligraphy in 2015 when I was in PT school, calligraphy or not calligraphy. Physical therapy is a very stressful program. So I was looking for like, you know, just something fun to do. And a friend of mine mentioned calligraphy, which I hadn't ever really heard of before. So I took a workshop. It was an in -person class and I fell in love with it. The first one was like a brush lettering workshop. And then I just kept taking all of her classes. So I did brush lettering. I did pointed pen, watercolor lettering, like anything that she offered, I just took it. And then I would practice all the time, like with my notes, rewriting my school notes. And yeah, so that's how I learned calligraphy.

And then I didn't start my business until 2019. And that's a whole other story. So yeah, wait, like we were already in PT school, fully locked in on that as our career. We found this passion. At what point did we decide to go into business? How is that? Did you just casually decide, oh, well, I'm getting my doctorate, and I'm also doing this and this and this. So I'm also just going to add a business. Girl, no. No. I remember telling myself I never

ever want to be an entrepreneur. I do not want to have a business. It's too much work. Like I was very set on that. Like in PT school, some of my classmates were like, we're going to start our own clinic. I'm like, no, I'm going work for somebody else because I don't have time to start anything new. I feel that. Yeah. But so I graduated in 2017 and I started working January, February 2018. My first job as a physical therapist was extremely stressful.

It was a high volume clinic. I was seeing a lot of patients. I also was doing an orthopedic residency program. I just got married to my husband and it was a lot of transition and it was affecting my physical and mental health to the point where I was having heart palpitations. I was having like these mini panic attacks on the way to work. So I quit that job in like six months because I was like, this is not why I got into this profession. And I didn't have time to do things that made me happy, so I left that job. And so I started working for another company part -time or PRN in our industry, which is like as needed. So I still work for the same company.

And now that I had all this free time, I started doing calligraphy again. And I would share my work online and then people asked like, oh, can you make a sign for my house? Can you do something for my wedding? Oh, can you teach me how to do calligraphy? And I just kept saying yes. And then January of 2019 is when I was like, I'm gonna start a business and I'm gonna call it Amanda Reid Designs. And that's when I started. Wow. Awesome.

I mean, not awesome that we had that whole like, burn out. It came. Yes. Yeah. Your business came out of that. Like the light at the end of the tunnel that you didn't even know was there. It was like an unexpected thing that you never thought would be for you. Never thought. Exactly. Yeah. Here you are. And here we are. Like what a brave, what a brave move to first of all, like acknowledge that you were like burning out, and like six months in too, to just be like, this is not for me. And to like, make a better decision for yourself. That is so huge. And I think that's like, that fear is so strong for so many people. And you just, it seems like you just pushed right through that. You're like, whatever.

Yeah. I probably toiled with the idea of quitting my first job for at least, for weeks, at least a month or so because I just wasn't happy. I liked the people I worked with, but the workload was too much. And I mean, I think that's another reason why I'm so passionate about self -care and wellness, because of how it affected me. And yeah. That makes so much sense, because I was going to say, how and when did you decide to put those things together? But it sounds like you were your own inspiration, and you were not wanting anybody to feel similar. Does that feel like that accurately encompassed that?

Yeah, I feel like that it's always kind of been like in the back of my mind, like an underlying theme for me, like we have to take care of ourselves. And then being in the healthcare industry anyways, you just, I just think that way. But maybe I want to say last year, 2023 is when I really was like, I really want to share more information about how calligraphers can take care of themselves because we just don't know. Like some of my, you know, close calligraphy friends would text me like, my back is hurting after an event. What should I do? My wrist is hurting. What should I do? My neck is hurting. And I would like, you know, send them like, text some little things to help. And I was like, nobody's really talking about this. You know, people share posture tips or how your desk should be set up, but it's not from like the background that I have. 

Yeah, not from Dr. Amanda Reid. Girls, I'm here to hand out all the tips and tricks. Drop it. Yeah, if I can be a resource, I'm happy to do that. That's literally amazing. And honestly, I could have really used you today with a five hour event earlier. Oh, girl. That's really awesome. And so, okay, so you've combined kind of like… so many things. You've combined both the physical health part of it, but also like the mental health part as well. For some of the people who don't know, could you share some of like the practices that you've been kind of doing to kind of like promote recognizing burnout as well as like that self -care sort of thing?

Yeah. So I think it's important first to define like what burnout really is. So burnout, yeah, a textbook definition of what burnout is, is it's a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that's caused by excessive and prolonged stress. And so the key words are excessive and prolonged. And then also the fact that it affects your physical, mental and emotional health.

So it's really all of those components that make someone really feel burnt out. And signs or symptoms are just how it affects you. One, in the mind, it can lead to anxiety and depression. It could affect your relationships, just feelings of like negativity or like detachment from your work. And then there's also like the effects that it has on your body. You'll have like a lot of tension, especially like in your neck and your shoulders. You just feel really tight and tense.

It affects your sleep. It can affect your immune system. And if you're burnt out, you tend to get sick more often, or like the cold or flu or whatever else. And then it just like raises your cortisol levels, which is the stress hormone. And it also affects your blood pressure, high blood pressure, all those things. It just, it affects everything. Stress is not your friend at all. I'm just nodding my head like really aggressively right now, because I'm like, yes, yes, yes, check, check, check. Not right now. Yeah.

But like previously when I, you know, worked 50 hours a week, it was just like, yep, yep, yep, yep. In our society, I feel like at this point we've all experienced it at some point and especially after the whole pandemic, there's like collective burnout from all the things that have been going on in our society and then trying to manage your family and a business and social media and a day job if you have that like I do. So it's a lot. It's a lot. I feel that.

So balancing. I mean, I know for me it's very difficult. Like I am sometimes like an all in all out type of person. So I will get like laser focused on just work or like, okay, I can't even focus on work at all because I don't know, like I'm just too concerned with other things. So like, you manage your, like the creative aspects of calligraphy and the administrative aspects of running a business and your PT like plus, you know, family, friend, all those things that like, you know, you have in your life. So like, what are, what are some tips for like artists who are like, oh my God, I'm so overwhelmed. There's so many tasks.

Um, obviously I think we all have our own like personal things, right? But like, what are some things maybe like in your business or like some practices that you do for yourself or like, who do you lean on? Things like that. Like, yeah. That's a good question. Um, I definitely relate to what you said about like being the type that's like all or nothing. Cause I am that. I hit the ground running and I realized that I was going a little bit too fast. So I've actually paused a little bit. Right now I'm doing a social media break. So no social media, digital detox, no TV, no YouTube, no TikTok, nothing for two weeks.

Oh my God, my face right now. I'm like, no TikTok. Oh my God. I don't even have a TikTok. I mean, I have a TikTok, but I'm not really on it that much. But I mean, just to like really clear my mind because there is so much noise on social media, TV, like all the channels. And when you're focused on listening to what others are saying, seeing what others are doing, it takes you away from yourself, number one, and then whatever goals you have for your business. And so that's what I'm doing right now, just to kind of reset, recenter and refocus myself. And it feels so good. Like I literally feel lighter, just taking a break. And then I think something that people don't think about when we're on social media all the time is it causes decision fatigue.

When you're scrolling, watching videos, you are making a ton of micro decisions every second about what that video is discussing, how does it relate to me, am I gonna like it, what should I comment, should I share it, what video am I gonna post, what am I putting in my stories, like those are a ton of different micro decisions that you're making throughout the day on top of all the major decisions we should be making. And so taking a break really frees up a lot of brain space and mental energy. So that's just one thing that you can do to help.

I feel like you just like blew my mind. Like I feel like that's something I've always felt, but I've never had words to like connect to that feeling to. But that's half the reason why I have like zero social media strategy. Cause I don't want to have to decide like for my own content. Yeah. Like I'm already doing that for everybody else. Wow. Okay. That was already so validating for me. Thank you. How much should you charge Cat for this therapy session? Breakthrough done. Done. You are fixed.

I highly recommend that every business owner take a regular, like regular social media breaks, at least once a quarter and for it to be at least two weeks. I know a lot of people have kind of FOMO or like, I'm going to lose engagement or whatever. People will be there. Your audience will be there. When you come back, you can do things to build your audience back up. It's not going anywhere, hopefully. But if you're afraid to commit to two weeks, at least, you know, maybe once a week, just one day off, you know, media, just to help your mind to, you know, recharge and rethink. But that's one strategy that you can do to help.

Well, and I was gonna say, I think this is like such a helpful tip because I literally have like four accounts on Instagram as well as like all the other types of things. So I'm just like, so many. So good tip, good reminder. And I just realized like, this is kind of the perfect time to be recording this episode because everyone, I genuinely do feel like everyone like hit the ground running in January.

And like, I know for me, I was not, I was like, I haven't actually known motivation and seeing everyone being motivated. I'm like so confused right now. But I feel that, like I feel everyone else's collective burnout because I think a lot of people went into the new year doing the things and seeing what everyone's doing and like, I'm going to do this and I'm going to update my website and I'm going to do, update this and that. And you know, all the things. So I think I'm actually really glad that this is coming out when it's coming out because I think everyone's gonna be like, yeah, same.

Yeah, yeah. We feel like we have to like really ramp up when the new year starts, but this is a good reminder that it's okay to slow down. Literally. Yeah. I feel like too, like the social media break is good for just us as creatives. I feel like I'm most creative when I have space away from everything because otherwise I'm so wrapped up in like what everyone else is doing and even like an idea I feel like I generated on my own like always ends up looking like something else that someone else is doing. And then I'm like, no, this is stupid. And I have to like, holy crap. Yeah, the ideas are still like a social media break is good too if you're feeling like you're in a creative rut and that's like part of your burnout, just to like give yourself some space to have your own thoughts and your own ideas.

That's like a thing with writers, right? Like you go and like, if you're having writers block, it's like, go do something. Like go to the park, go walk your dog, go do something, go hang out with a friend, go to a coffee shop, like live life. Because otherwise you just keep doing like the same monotonous thing, right? Like, I don't know if I just like added one of your tips for you, but like do something. No, that's great. Yes, that actually is one of my tips. But before we get to that, yes. What? What? So. I know that people who are listening cannot see us, but when you're holding your phone in your hand, what finger do you scroll with? Your thumb. Your thumb. I have to literally get my phone. Oh yeah, my thumb. Yes. So if you are constantly scrolling, typing, texting with your thumb, that is overuse of the muscles and tendons that lead into that finger. And so people have wrist pain on like the thumb side of their hand or their hand feels fatigued or tired or sore.

And if you're a calligrapher, you have one tool, which is our hands, to create the work that we create. And if we're overusing it by scrolling on our phones and putting it in awkward positions to take photos or watch things, you're damaging your tools. Like if you were a mechanic, you wouldn't purposely abuse and overuse the tools that you use for work. So, I mean, when we're on our phones, we do that. I was waiting for you to drop a mechanic tool and I was like, what tools do they use? I have no idea. I don't know. I don't know what mechanics they use. I have no idea. Oh my gosh.

No, I feel like you just blew my mind again. Like, I feel like you see all these things, like about like how to take care of your burrs, how you can like say, you know, whatever else, like how to take care of like your nibs if you're doing pointed pen or how to like take care of your paint brushes and stuff like that. But no one talks about the literal tool that is like attached to your body that is injured, you can't do literally any of it.

Exactly. Without your hands, all the tools that we buy are nothing because they they – It requires the muscle memory, the skills, the strategies that we've practiced for years and years to implement that or to, you know, execute it using the tools and we have to take care of them. And if you're on the phone all the time, it, it leads to, it can lead to overuse. I'm not taking care of my tools.

Let me tell you, if you have to be on your phone, a strategy that can help though, is instead of scrolling with your thumb, you can use like your pointer finger, like, you know, like what you say your parents are like, like your granny. Yeah, like you can do that instead. Or you can use a stylus, like, you know, like a little stylus throw it to Blackberry days. Are you? Yes, when we had the luxury calligraphy retreat, I put a stylus pin in everyone's welcome bag because I was like, look, we taking care of ourselves over here. So that's another thing. That's another thing that you can do to help. That's incredible. Thank you for blowing our minds. No problem.

Okay. What's next? What other tips do you have? What else are you going to blow our minds with? So let's see what else. Another, so we mentioned like self care, doing things like creating work outside of work. So I started reading “The Artist Way” last year. If you haven't heard of it, it's an amazing book and it helps to unlock creativity for yourself. But they talk about two strategies. One is morning pages and that's like three pages of journaling every morning.

And then the other one is going on weekly artist dates. And those are so life -giving. It's just like finding an activity, something that like just refuels you. It could be as simple as like, going to a park. In two weeks, I'm going to be taking a crochet class for my art date. And it's for the purpose of just enjoyment and living life, not to monetize it or anything. You don't have to share it on social media, but it's just like taking yourself on a date because as creatives, in order for us to be inspired, we have to be pouring into ourselves creatively in a way that makes us feel good. You can't always be putting out, you know, that's how you get burnt out. You have to refuel yourself with things that make you feel good and make you happy. So I recommend going on an art date or just doing things for fun.

That's so cute. I love that. I actually did that recently. I went to a thing. It's like too far across the room. Well, maybe I could get it for you later. But I mean, like we went to like a Taylor Swift themed disco ball painting class. Oh, that's fun. Literally so fun. I'd always wanted to do that and I had to do it. And now I have one sitting in my studio and I love disco balls. So, yay. It was really fun. Okay, that is like literally so, okay.

So for those people who are like, oh my God, Amanda, I don't have time. I don't have time to go on an artist date. I don't have time to go for a walk with my dog. Look, Cat's raising her hand right now. I'm so curious, like what is your response to that? You have time. You have to make the time. And that's, that's part of prioritizing yourself. If you feel like you don't have time, it's because you are not prioritizing yourself. And I think that's the mindset shift that has to be made. There is only one you in this universe and you are your biggest advocate. And if you are making time for everyone and everything else, like what does that say about yourself? You know, not to make anyone feel guilty, but it's just a mindset shift that if I want to be here for a long time, if I want to enjoy my business and be my best self for my family, my friends, my business, I have to, you know, like, it's like when you're in the airplane and they say, put your own mask on first. That's what you have to do for yourself.

So if you're an artist, like you have to refuel yourself in some way and you don't have to spend a bunch of money and like go out and you know, spend, you know, a ton of money. Yeah. It could be something as small as like on the way home from work, you pick up a little bubbly or a little charcuterie board or some snacks. A little charcut You tell your family or loved ones. Okay guys, I have one hour it’s mommy time. One hour it’s Amanda time. And I don't want to be disturbed. And you just go watch your favorite Netflix show for that hour or a movie like by yourself or just paint or create, put some music on and practice your calligraphy. Just something small. It could be like little micro dates. It doesn't have to be a big planned out thing, but just something that you look forward to on a regular basis, weekly, daily, that gives yourself some joy.

I gotta be better about that. Okay, it's hard. I do want to share. So like when you said artist dates, I literally thought you meant like meet up with another artist and go on like a date, not like a romantic date. I mean, it could be if you wanna. But I was like, oh, oh my God. No, I literally love that because there are certain friends that like I, I like hang out with when I'm feeling like I need that like, yeah, that like creative juice. Like I need someone to like resonate with me. Yeah. And I feel like sometimes only like artists, and especially like artists who are also business owners, like understand. Yeah. Yeah. Like can resonate with what you're going through and like, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.

Community is everything. I know we're going to talk about that soon, but yeah, you can do a real artist meetup date. That works too. Yeah. I mean, like, yeah, I think, I mean, I did a couple recently where I like, went to an artist meetup in San Diego and like they really are like it's like oh like we're all in this like we're all doing this we're all feeling like we want community, we're all feeling like we're fighting algorithms, we're all feeling like where the heck are the clients, and why do I have to work on, what the hell is SEO and why do I have to work on it, you know, so the worst yeah worst.

So yeah, I mean, I feel like you definitely have cultivated that though. I feel like you have even provided that for a lot of the calligraphy community. And I'm sure other artists who are maybe not even calligraphers, it's just through some of the things you've done, through creating Calligraphers of Color and providing that space, through The Luxury Retreat that we've been kind of mentioning here and there, through your...

Oh my gosh, The Calligraphy Room. Yeah, the calligraphy room. So like tell people about that. Now, I started the calligraphy room in 2020 when, you know, everything was going down and it was, you know, exactly what we need. We were all at home and it was just a way for me. I feel like most of the things that I have created were from selfish desire, like Calligraphers of Color, because I couldn't find other calligraphers that look like me, like diversity -wise. The Calligraphy Room was, I just wanted to practice calligraphy with other people and it like be a little vibe. And then even the retreat, I just wanted to meet people in real life. So yeah, The Calligraphy Room is, it's virtual. I've only done one in person and that's at The luxury Calligraphy Retreat. But The virtual Calligraphy Room is we get online and we practice calligraphy together for two hours. There is relaxing music playing and I kind of walk everyone through like a guided calligraphy practice. So we do our basic strokes, the lowercase alphabet, the uppercase alphabet. We do like these letter drills and then we do like a self -care quote together at the end and we share like some reflection. And then before the meetup, I email everyone like, it's like a little workbook kind of that kind of walks you through it. And it has like a little charcuterie recipe in there. Or just like how to like a whole vibe. Yeah, it's a vibe. Like we need more stuff for us to like refuel us. And so yeah, I just I just I'm here for the vibes. I'm here for the experience. We love that. 

Something that you mentioned, you said it was came out of selfishness, or not selfishness. What were you saying? Selfish desire. Yeah. I wanted it for myself. Yeah. But in reality, what I, I interpret it as like you seeking connection, like you seeking these things and then making that happen. I think so many of us are just like in these silos, right? By ourselves, like we're all so lonely and it's like, okay, like we gotta do something about that. And I think, you know, I mentioned this before in a previous episode that like loneliness is literally killing us. So like inside and out. And so the fact that you're like, you took it upon yourself to just like do something about that is amazing. And you did it for not just you, you did it for a bunch of people as well, so they now have like a place. A place to go. To go and that space. So thank you for that. Yeah, of course. I knew that if I was feeling it, I wasn't the only one. So we are out here struggling, trying to get through life. So let's just do it together. Why not?

Yeah. Oh my gosh. I love it. I would love to hear more about The Luxury Calligraphers Retreat. You already had one, like how was that? How did that go? And then I know you have one coming up. So anything that you want to share about that, tell us. I want to hear all of the things that look phenomenal. What's the scoop? So last year's retreat was amazing. Like, we cried multiple times. We laughed so many times. Like it was, it was so life -giving. I can't even put into words. So yeah, so last year's retreat was in October of 2023 and it was held in Austin, Texas. And we rented this big house that we all stayed in so that we can really get to know each other. Cause I've been to conferences before where there's a lot of people.

And if you're an introvert, I'm naturally introverted. As many community events as I put on, like I'm an introvert. I like to be alone, but I like to be around people too. So I need like structured activities. And I feel like sometimes if I go to a big conference or event, it can be easy to feel alone in a big space. So when you're all together in a small intimate group, you're kind of forced to like make some friends and be close.

But pretty much what we did was we all stayed in the same house. So it was like a big sleepover. We had Syl from Via Calligraphy and Jodi from Sunday Art Co. But I think she's changing her business name soon. She's like rebranding. By the time we release this, I'm sure she's going to be a different name. But anyway, we'll link her in the show notes. Jodi Tellier, that's her name. I hope I said her last name right. But those were our guest speakers.

So I spoke about how to prevent burnout and strategies, pretty much what we're talking about today, and strategies to overcome that and just be like your best calligraphy self. And then, Syl, her background is in digital marketing. That's what she does for her day job. And so she brought the heat with marketing strategies and branding. And she's actually gonna be back this year and she's going to be sharing more marketing, business, just helping us elevate as calligraphy business owners because we're all trying to figure it out. Yeah. And then Jodi taught a wonderful workshop on bottle painting, which I had never done before. I see a lot of people do it, but it's not something I offer. So it was really cool to learn that from her because she is so talented.

So talented. Very talented. Yeah. Other things that we did was we had massage therapists come and gave everyone massages. We did. The luxury. It was there. Listen, we are not playing games. Okay. It is an experience. We had massages. Luxury. Yeah, we were taking, we were taking care of our bodies with massages. We had a professional photographer come and had like a little photo shoot, head shots for everyone. We went out into town and we ate at some amazing restaurants. We had some good Texas barbecue and Mexican food. We played games. It was, we just did so many things. We had a welcome dinner with a private chef that catered for us and cooked for us. We're gonna be doing all that again this year.

This year's retreat is in May. It's May 27th through the 30th, 2024. And tickets are on sale now through the end of February. So if you're interested, I would love for y'all to come. There's a few spots left. So yeah. That's awesome. Tell us, is the retreat for anybody that's in calligraphy or is it kind of tailored? I feel like that kind of an experience might be tailored for a specific audience. Is there anything you want to share about that? Yeah. So it's not for beginners right now. It is for people who are mostly in the luxury live event industry. Just because I feel like it's a new niche and it's so nuanced and the techniques and information that we are talking about is advanced. So it is for people who already have an established business.

This year, Carla Hagan will be joining us and she is like a living engraving legend. She is like the queen. And she's going to be teaching us. She so sweet y 'all. She's amazing. I was literally just messaging her like right before this. I totally forgot she's going to be there. Yeah. It's so exciting. I'm so excited to learn from her. She's going to be teaching some advanced engraving techniques. So if you know how to engrave already and you want to elevate that, she's like teaching like how to do shading, how to put logos on your, I don't even know all she's gonna teach. I need to be learning that. Okay, so it's for again, like experienced, people that are already maybe in the luxury space. Maybe they've booked a couple and they're kind of ready to like level up with that. Does that sound accurate? Okay, that's correct. That makes sense to me. Okay.

Um, yeah, so I mean, it's a whole ass vibe. I feel like I can't make it this year. But catch me there at some point in the future because I love a bougie bitch vibe. Girl, me too.

Okay, well, we are very excited to see who goes this year and to see everything that happens on the gram. Hopefully you won't be taking a social media break during this time. So okay, we also have some more questions for you. So since you have like this kind of like wellness vibe to your brand, I'm curious, like, do you feel like you've had clients who see what you're doing, see that you're a PT, see that you're talking about burnout and are like, oh my God, must have you must book you.

I feel like when it comes to booking events, no. They don't care that I'm a PT. They do not care. They do not care. did not give a fuck, actually. Not yet. Well, actually. Not yet. I take that back. I've had a few people reach out who want to do a collaboration for a conference. I did a conference, was it last year? It was like a mom's self -care day, and they wanted me to come teach a brush lettering class like as a workshop for the moms. And they were like, we know that you do self -care and wellness and we just love that approach. So would you come teach our moms how to do that? So I will say I've done that. For live events, I haven't really had people specifically book me because I'm into wellness. Because I don't know, I feel like people are looking for entertainment for their events. So it's a little different.

Things that I've booked for, because of my background in self -care and wellness were like speaking gigs or like this podcast we're talking about wellness. I was on a podcast recently and we talked about self -care for creatives and I've done some stuff. The Happy Ever Crafter, Becca, she has a Workshop Week every year, or she's been doing it for the past couple of years. I think I've attended every year. Yeah, it's fun. It's a fun thing. So this year, I'll be joining to talk about some wellness, mindfulness type things. And last year when I did a workshop, oh, I hosted The Calligraphy Room last time I joined Workshop Week. And I have like a little segment where I did like some stretching for, you know, creatives, prior to starting the calligraphy room. So it's just stuff like that. Nice.

Okay, you're saying just, but I feel like you just lifted off like five million things. You're like, so it's just these like 20 things that I've gotten booked for, it's fine. Just these like very casual things. Just these casual speaking engagements and workshops. I need to give myself more credit, I guess. You do. Oh my gosh. Okay, so in that same vein, you said that, you know, live events, maybe your clients aren't necessarily like, oh, we want like someone who's into wellness to like be entertainment at this wellness event or whatever. Do you feel like your clients, well, I guess, are you more inclined to communicate your boundaries with your clients because of that, like having that lens and also do you feel like your clients like know and respect those?

I will say I have a couple clients who will text me. I don't like being texted for events, like to book me for stuff. And I also don't like DMs. I prefer stuff to go through email. We're all shaking our heads right now. Because for me, like my personal cell phone is for my friends and family and people who know me intimately. It's not for work. And then DMs, it just, things get lost in the DMs. And so when people reach out to me via DM, ask me if I'm available, I immediately will send them a link to my contact page or I ask them to email me at hello@AmandaReidDesigns.com, just so that we have like a paper trail of what's going on. I don't like completely shut them out. I'm not rude about it. Like, excuse me, you have crossed the boundary.

You know, you just redirect them, so that they know the best way to communicate with you. So for example, I had one client who has texted me several times and I don't always get back to her immediately because that's not like my primary form of communication for events. So I didn't say anything about it because I was like, maybe this is just how they operate like in retail. But I sent her or I texted her because she would ask me if I was available on a date. I didn't respond because I was busy working at the hospital or something. And then if I don't respond, then she'll like come back and put like the little question emoji or something like, hello. Oh my Gosh. So I sent her a response back saying, my apologies for the delayed response. I don't normally communicate with clients through texting. Email is the best way to communicate with me. And she was like, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't have your email address. So I was like, how did you get my phone number? So I sent her my email and she immediately sent me an email saying, hey, just wanted to follow up here. And so we'll be communicating through emails from here on out, hopefully.

I think that's an important lesson for a lot of us though – to gently but kindly communicate our boundaries, right? Because people don't just automatically know not to text us or not to call us in the middle of the night or whatever weird things they might be doing. And so I think that's totally reasonable, and it sounds like you did in such a professional way. And for all the girlies out there, I know this meme has gone around a lot, but instead of saying sorry for the delay, just like, thank you for your patience. Just because I'm like, I'm on a mission to make every woman stop apologizing. Stop apologizing. Yes. You're so right. This is the hill I'll die on.

But no, that's like such a perfect way to like redirect the client and to just be like, hey, like, thank you for your patience. I was literally working. And the fact that you would explain yourself is so kind because sometimes it's like, like, no, like I was driving. I was taking care of a child, I was doing something, right? Like eating dinner with your family. There's so many reasons why you might not be answering, but I think that's such a kind, nice way to redirect and to communicate with your client professionally.

Okay, one last burning question. If you could change one thing about our industry, what would it be? One thing that I would change about our industry. And we kind of talked about this before we started recording, but I feel like the calligraphy industry is behind compared to other event vendors, yeah, other industries, professionals. Creative, like business is, yeah. Yeah, because I feel like when people think of calligraphers, they immediately think of weddings, but like this new little pathway we've carved ourselves to do like live events, entertainment, activations, working with brands is new. And so we are all like, you know, figuring out and obviously there's people who have done it longer than others and know what they're doing. But for most of us, it's pretty new.

I wish that we and clients understood that calligraphy is a luxury service. It's a luxury service to have a calligrapher, either customize invitations, note cards, live on site, literally creating individual pieces of unique skilled art. Like that's luxury to have someone hand write, hand letter, hand calligraphy, like your name, like that's art and it's luxury. And so I think when people, especially it's tough when you're starting out, it's like, oh, charge 50 cent per, you know, place card or a dollar per place card. Girl, elevate that price. Because it's quick. Because it's not just writing a name. Like you've practiced these skills for years. So it's like an accumulation of your knowledge and skills. You have to get the paper goods. You're going back and forth with the client. You are packaging them up professionally and delivering them in some manner through mail or in person.

So it's a lot that you're doing. It's not just, you know – it’s a white glove service, even if we're forgetting to remind people that that is like, that is what we're doing. Yes, that's what we're doing. Yeah, it's one of a kind piece of art for each individual person that you engrave a bottle for, or whatever you're doing. It's a skill that most people in the world do not have. And yeah, we need to be charging a premium price for it. Premium price for premium service, everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah. I love it. Cheers to that. Mic drop. Literally.

On that note, we absolutely loved having you. I love this too. We are definitely doing another episode because we have more to talk about. Oh, yes we do. Yes we do.

So tell us before we wrap up, where can listeners learn more about you? Instagram, Website, Newsletter? Yeah, so a couple ways to connect. When I get back on Instagram, that's where I am the most. So my Instagram is Amanda Reid Designs. And Reid is spelled R -E -I -D. Another way that I'm sharing more self -care wellness content is through two other channels: my weekly newsletter. I've taken a break from that because I've just taken a break from everything right now. But by the time you hear this episode, it will be back. But I do Wellness Wednesdays where I share self -care and wellness for calligraphers and creatives. And then I also will share any updates, events, things like that.

And then I have a YouTube channel now. So exciting. Okay, wait, tell us about your YouTube channel. So the YouTube channel, I've, I only have a few videos because I just started last month. But I just wanted to have a little bit more long form content and just share more behind the scenes of being in the live event industry and then sharing more tips and education on how to take care of ourselves as creatives. So all the stuff we talked about today – I'm wanting to share more content on that platform regarding being our best selves. I love that. Everyone go subscribe. I need to go do that. And that's, same thing? Amanda Reid designs. Yes. Amanda Reid designs everywhere. Yep. Perfect. Thank you.

And then what about The Luxury Calligraphy Retreat? I know you mentioned that I think applications are through the end of February. So where can people find information about that? Where can they apply? Any other applicable information you want the people to know? Yeah. So if you are interested in joining us this year, we've got a few spots left. Please join us. We would love to have you. But you can find more information on it at www.amandareiddesigns .com. And then you'll see a tab at the top that says retreat and it has all the information there, including the link for the registration application. The application is just to make sure the people that are attending are there for good intentions and they're established business owners. So it's really quick to do and that's how you can join us. Or if you're on Instagram, you can just click the link in my bio and all this stuff is there too.

Perfect. And if you got this far, then I think we have a special promo code. Do you want to share that right now? Yes. Okay. So, and just being generous because I'm so grateful for Alex and Cat for inviting me to their show. I'm providing an exclusive discount to their listeners for a little bonus off of the cost of the retreat. So when you are checking out, just type in the code “Podcast2024” and that gives you $500 off the cost of the retreat. Yes.

That is… I literally my jaw hit the floor when I saw that come through in the emails like what like yes the most generous offer for like the most luxurious retreat you're gonna come across so yeah, hop on that code, y'all. That's how bad I want y 'all to come if you're listening you have an exclusive discount so please use it. Um, we love that so much.

So thank you so much for being on our podcast, we absolutely loved having you. We're gonna have you again. Everyone follow, like, subscribe to all the things Amanda. And then if you wanna continue following along with us on Instagram, it's at Keeping Up With The Calligs. And that's where we basically shout out new things, we share new episodes, we have polls, we ask for your feedback, so, and we love DMing you. We'll give you advice in there, all things. So follow along there as well. Yep. And if you for any reason aren't already following us, you can find us on our individual pages. So again, I am Cat at Cat Lauren calligraphy. That is Cat with a C and Alex is... Why I had a brain fart there. I'm like, who am I? I don't know. Signs of our Lives on Instagram.

Thank you everyone and thank you, Amanda. Thank you all for having me so much. This was so much fun. I can't wait to come back. It was so much fun. Oh my gosh. Okay. Bye everyone. Bye.