Business for Self-Employed Creatives

From a stay-at-home mom to a model to forming her own casting agency, Cast Vegas, Crystal Thurman is proof that it is possible to have it all.

In this episode, she talks about turning her passion into a dream career and why it doesn't feel like work. She credits drive, faith and fear for motivating her throughout the journey, along with working hard and keeping herself accountable to her vision.

We also discuss some positive outcomes of the pandemic, such as finding her love for Lululemon clothing, giving herself more down time, and not stressing out so much to get everything done right away.

Her biggest piece of advice? If you want to do something, jump right in and do it. The worst thing would be to look back and wonder "what if?" Believe in yourself and you might find yourself becoming an extraordinary success!

Connect with Crystal @crystal_thurman & @castvegas

Connect with me @aardvarkgirl on all platforms: https://pods.link/aardvarkgirl

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00:39 You definitely don't have to choose between being a mom and having a career.

01:53 I love the model and talent industry, and I love helping people. And I thought, where can I put this all together and make it like my dream job?

05:02 There is extraordinary talent in Las Vegas. I definitely tried to figure out our demographics, our clients, add a little bit more family and customer service to it, where I felt like that was lacking here.

08:30 When you have drive and passion behind your dream, there is absolutely nothing you can’t accomplish. If you love something, just jump in and do it.

12:03 If you're not uncomfortable in your own skin almost every day, then you're not pushing yourself. Drive, faith and fear might be the biggest components of everything. But you have to have the drive. And if you really want it, you can obtain it.

15:25 I kept my vision board in my office, and I would sit in my office and I would look at it. And on Friday, I would give myself a checkpoint. So at the end of the week, I would say, “What did I do to move towards one of those things, or two of those things, or three of those things on my vision board? I accomplished probably 80% of my vision board in four or five years, so there's just 20% left, but I still check myself every week how I’m getting there.

17:00 Don't think we didn't do the work. There were business coaches, there were classes I took. Everywhere I went, I asked questions like, “What are you lacking? What could be better? What can I do more?”

19:41 I kind of jumped in with that blind faith, knowing that it would come to fruition. I just had to put in the work.

Do you ever want to look back and say, “What if?” So what is the worst thing? You don't succeed at it? But you tried it. You gave it everything you had, and it didn't quite work? Or you gave it everything you had and now you're this extraordinary success?

25:38 There's actually more power in figuring out what doesn't work. If you know what doesn't work, and you have the tools to make that one thing work, you will rise to the top very quickly. 

27:11 Before the pandemic hit, I was spinning 150 miles an hour every single day, all day. COVID, ironically enough, gave me a new love for my job. I'm much more balanced in my life than I was before.

33:03 When you start taking care of yourself first and not running yourself so beyond ragged, you're just as productive. I definitely find myself in a much calmer, happier place after this whole pandemic.

37:08 I know I keep on coming back to the positives of the pandemic. It gave everyone a lot of time to kind of really reevaluate their world and where they truly want to be and what's really important, like what really is important.

40:36 I love talent, I love my friends, I love my job. I seriously love my company so much. But I think realizing that we can do things via Zoom, FaceTime, that kind of stuff, has freed up a lot of my time. I've also hired someone on full-time now who now can do the same thing that I was doing, and so it's made the company actually more efficient, giving me more free time to reach out. 

42:30 If you can look back and say there's no what-ifs and you're uncomfortable, then that's where your dream and your gift will come in. Because that's how you know you're growing. And that's how you know you're moving forward. And there is nothing better than being your own owner and having your company at your heart and doing what you love. There's no greater gift.