The CYOP Art Prints Have Arrived! See Also: One More Way to Support the Residency.

That's right! I'm excited to share that the first three art prints created through the 2017 CYOP Artist Residency are now available in the shop. 

If you're on the Shop Update newsletter list, you got a pretty rocking deal this weekend. (Thanks to those who've already ordered prints! If you're not on the list and missed the deal, you'll want to get signed up here to catch the next one.)

Here's the thing: these art prints are a labor of love. I have been capturing words of wisdom from podcast guests for nearly four years and I have always wanted to see them represented in a beautiful way.

Enter: the CYOP Artist Residency and Melanie Biehle. I could not have wished for a better first collaboration. Melanie's work is stunning and her desire to truly represent the words of CYOP guests in the best way possible makes me so damn happy.

What you need to know about how this whole residency thing works is that, from the very beginning, I was committed to making sure that I assumed all of the risk involved in creating physical products relating to the podcast.

I made sure I could pay the resident a fair stipend for the work. This means that the work has been commissioned so that Melanie gets paid regardless of whether or not anything in the shop actually sells.

Additionally, it means that not only am I putting up the money to pay a fair rate for an artists' work, I'm also fronting the money to create the products. It's risky and I'll be the first to tell you that some physical products have ridiculously small margins while others are a bit more generous.

It also means that I'll be the one handling order fulfillment (you'll note that I've streamlined the shipping costs—yay!). It was important for me to build a residency that allowed the artist to create and not worry about how the physical products might be made and delivered to the lovely people who order them.

Lastly, I made sure to get permission from each guest who comes on the show so that we could use their words in potential for-sale items. They've all be incredibly gracious about signing on to participate.

So, while there are many products out there created just for the sake of creating (which is a fantastic reason to create products, by the way), these art prints and the other products I hope to develop this year have the added benefit of supporting artists through paid creative opportunities and amplifying important discussions about what it means to create your own path in life.

Many thanks to those who have already supported the cause — if I'm able to sustain the residency again next year, it'll be because of YOU. And if you're looking for art prints that inspire big leaps and ignite steady progress, these babies are made just for you. You can snag your own (they also make stellar gifts) by clicking that button below.