SACRED MONEY ARCHETYPES® REVIEW

Catherine Lucktaylor

Ceramics Artist, UK
Archetype: Alchemist

I’m Catherine, I live in Cornwall, UK, and I'm an Alchemist, Connector and Celebrity. I'm a ceramic artist. I also create installations.

 How do your top 3 Archetypes work together or against each other?

So I'm an Alchemist, Connector and Celebrity and they're all pretty close together. I can't remember the exact figures, but there was only a few points between each of them. So they were very close together. And I think for me, it's really helped me understand and create a business model that works for me. And I think one of the things I think you said at one time, Denise, was about being an Alchemist and not promising you're going to follow up with something. And that was like, "Wow, I can do that?" And I really have to hold myself back and not say, "Oh yes and I'll send you this thing, or I'll send you that thing." No, I'm not going to do that because I'll just forget and just won't do it and don't want to do it. So that was a revelation. I absolutely love that.

"I think the way they work together for me, it's just incredible. I've got the Alchemist, which is the ideas and I create things and then I can put on the show and then I can show up for the private view and be the Celebrity, and the Connector will bring and attract all those people to it. And so that has been amazing for me. And it's really made me see how I can bring it all together and just allowing myself to just do what I want to do and say no to the things I don't want to do."

I think what I do still struggle a little bit with, I keep thinking I want, because I have this idea of like something that could be a membership that people could sign up for so I started a Patreon page, right? And I got one person sign up and I haven't done anything with it. This is like two years ago. And I've got someone paying me every month and I feel really bad, and I haven't done anything else with it. And I keep getting this one account, someone in America signed up. And then it's like, "Okay, well I did do that and I never followed through with it." It was a great idea and I spent ages creating it all and I had all these different options. And then it was like, "Yeah, I'm bored of that. I don't want to do that anymore."

But I keep thinking, "Oh, it'd be such a good thing to do." And I've got all these ideas, but I just know I'm not going to follow through with it, so I've realized that I work better doing projects. I will do this, for this amount of time, and I don't know if it'll continue in the future. I don't know if I'll do it again. It's like at the moment I've created a retreat. In September I'm doing this three-day retreat and it's working with art and creativity and grief rituals. And it's this beautiful place, but I don't know if I'll want to do it after I've done the first... I might do it again in the future, but I just don't want to have that pressure of knowing that I've got to do it again next year, because I might not want to. I'll probably be onto the next thing.

It is challenging, but I think my three seem to work really well together. And now I'm knowing and I'm seeing how they can work well together and I just love it and I really relate to them and I really love the magic of being an Alchemist. So I think for me, that is the big one because of what I do, I do Raku, so I'm working with all the elements and I take things out of the kiln when they're red hot and there's fire and there's smoke and it's really exciting.

And I do demonstrations, I have my open studios and people come and they watch me create these amazing things. And for me, it's kind of easy. I mean, I've been doing it for like 30-odd years, but I can create and people are like, "Oh, how do you get that color with Raku? And how do you do that?" It's just, "Oh, I just do it." Yeah. Magician. I just do it. And I love it, but I just know that I can't work under pressure. I need to just be able to create. It's like yesterday, I had a really bad day because I was having to work to a deadline, so it didn't work.

So this pot I was making for a gallery, they wanted it and they wanted this certain type. And because I had that pressure and I really didn't feel like being there, but I had to because that was the only day I had, it just didn't work. And I've just got to remember that it doesn't work for me. I hate working. I hate doing commissions because it's that external pressure of somebody wanting something a certain way. It just makes me tighten up and I can't be in that creative flow. It's just like, it's crazy. I just can't do it. Always goes wrong and I end up having to make loads of different versions and I'm working for a pittance because I'm having to make different ones until I get it right. And it's just like, "No, I'm just going to make something. If you like it, you can buy it."

So that's giving myself permission to just do that and to just know that I'm going to create something and people are going to like it and respond to it and not, not really... I mean, I do consider what people want and I do have that back and forth and that conversation with my customers. But I also know that, "Yes, but I'm the magician, I'm the Alchemist. I'm bringing something into being and no one could ever know or suggest what I could create and it is just going to come out and then I will find the people who want it." I think that is the thing for me. And that's what's really helped me.

What are some of the sabotages you experience because of your Archetypes?

First thing that comes to mind when you talk about sabotages was just thinking that I didn’t really value my ideas and my talents, because I've always been really good at making things and creating things. And I think for a long time, I just didn't charge enough for what I was making. And just having so many ideas, that I never really followed through on things. I never could finish anything because I start making something and then I'm kind of onto the next thing. So there was no kind of continuity and I think that's something I've learned how to create collections and have something from start to finish and not just put it aside for the next thing. I still do that a bit. I still do that a bit because I just get really excited. And also realizing that yes, I have loads of ideas, but I don't have to do them all and I don't have time to do them all.

And I think I used to get really just stuck on making a decision on moving forward because I didn't know what to go with, what idea I wanted to carry forward. So I never really did anything. So I think for a long time when I was younger, that really held me back and I think just not valuing myself and my talents. I think that's the main thing. And realizing there's always going to be more ideas and they're valuable and I do inspire people and that's okay. And I used to hate being the center of attention, but I still kind of find it a bit difficult, but I think knowing that I've got that Celebrity has allowed me to step into that and be in the limelight and it be okay. And like, yes, I can come and I can perform. And then I can just go away and be on my own for ages. And that's absolutely fine.

"And there are those two sides of me and just allowing myself to be in the limelight. I think I used to just hide away or give myself a really hard time. Like I'd overanalyze things I'd said or what I'd done and get really negative and give myself a really hard time instead of focusing on, "Well, people got really a lot out of that." Whether it was... Whether I thought it was any good, if people are kind of giving me really positive feedback, just accepting that and that's okay and I don't have to overanalyze and think, "Oh, I should have done it this way. I should have done it that way."

What is your favorite aspect of Sacred Money Archetypes®?

I really got a lot out of SMA. I think it really helped me to understand myself and how I wanted to run my business. And giving myself permission to run my business in my own way. And to understand what my business model is and how it works. So I really recommend it. I think it's fantastic. It works really well with Money Bootcamp and it gives you more of an insight into your own personality and creating a business that works for your life. I think that's the main thing.

And it's also helped me to be aware of what to say no to and what to say yes to. So when I get opportunities, I think about my archetypes and that helps me to think, "Well, is that a good fit for what I want or where I want my business to be going in the future?" Like for instance, I don't want to do a membership, even though it looks like on paper it would be an ideal thing for me. Actually, I know that I'm not going to follow through because I'm an Alchemist. So yeah. I really, really think it's been useful.

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