Student Spotlight Series #5 - Melissa Marzan
Overview
Welcome to my ongoing Student Spotlight Blog + Instagram Live Series.
I created this episodic adventure to:
Flex the incredible wins my students are stacking while blazing their own paths.
Reveal the adversity they’ve overcome and/or are currently navigating in their day-to-day.
Showcase how they persistently show up like creative professionals who take their shit seriously.
Below, you have 2 ways to consume this interview:
Watch the Instagram Live full interview below where students expand on the 7 questions.
Read the Blog Post 7-Questions-based interview further down this page.
Note: Scroll to the bottom of this page if you’d like to be a student I feature here in the future!
Meet Melissa Marzan
This session highlight’s my student making savage moves, Melissa Marzan of The Letter Mermaid, who specializes in ocean themes lettering, illustration, murals, and merch based in Santa Cruz, CA.
We started working together back in Spring 2020, during Round 2 of my 12-Week Fall + Spring Coaching Programs.
(Learn more about 12-Week Coaching here.)
We’ve stayed in touch over the years and she’s a current student in my Monthly Alumni Mastermind…
As well as a staple mini-coach in my quarterly 3-Week Boot Camps.
(Learn more about these Boot Camps here.)
I’m excited for you to soak up her creative genius below!
Instagram Live Interview
Click to watch the full interview.
7 Questions Interview
1. Tell us a little bit about who you are, what you do, and why we should care?
My name is Melissa Marzan of The Letter Mermaid. My business specializes in hand lettering, illustrations, and a current focus on murals.
I am based in the beautiful Santa Cruz, California area, raised not too far in Monterey Bay County.
This is where my love for the sea began—always having field trips to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and visiting local beaches.
My work consists of silly puns, the honesty of the human experience, and emotional vulnerability.
My goal is to inspire others to live their most authentic lives and embrace themselves as they are.
I also love spreading awareness on eco-friendly living/lifestyles while being an advocate for the ocean and this lovely planet we all call home.
And as a first-generation Filipino American, I like to weave in bits and pieces of my Filipino Culture in the mix as well :)
Lastly, I do build all of this outside my part-time job as a graphic artist for a sports network, NBC Sports Bay Area.
2. Before we started working together, where were you at with your work, confidence, and direction?
I was a victim of imposter syndrome—something I’ll most likely struggle with for the rest of my creative career.
I also struggled with shiny object syndrome.
Prior to working with Scotty, I had just discovered the world of Hand Lettering and wanted to take a stab at it.
At the time, I was doing too many things and didn’t have a focus, style, or niche. I’d take on any project that came my way.
I lacked a filter on the kind of projects I wanted to take on and didn’t know how to price myself accurately.
I was missing direction and did whatever felt right at the time.
3. What were your top 1-3 biggest hurdles you’ve had to work hardest on to overcome—and what are some lingering blind spots you’re continually improving on?
1. Imposter Syndrome
Again, I’m continually dealing with imposter syndrome.
For example, I still haven’t announced online that my business is an LLC even though I’m really proud of that.
It has taken me years of research and convincing myself that I could really take the leap and run my own business.
Feelings of “having the audacity” to think that, “Yeah, I’m good enough to make it!” has impeded my growth and the success I know in my heart that I’ve worked hard enough to deserve.
2. Pricing
It was so difficult figuring out how to price projects.
I used to do hourly but then learned about pricing the whole project—which I feel works out better for me.
I also built out a creative process by asking friends what their pricing contracts looked like as well as I invested in premade contracts.
Finally, I paid attention to how much people who did similar work in my creative corner charged and I placed myself within their ranges.
3. Mindset
I’ve spent a lot of time restructuring my mindset.
I’ve realized that seasons of growth are just another way to give me permission to still pursue the type of work I want to be doing…
But doing them one-by-one instead of all of the things I’m interested in all at one time.
4. What was the defining moment of getting fed up AND/OR waking up to start taking your shit seriously?
I’ve had a handful of these, but the first BIG one was when I applied for your Round 2 Spring Group Coaching session.
That initial Discovery Call with you changed the course of where I wanted to be as a creative professional.
I had been so emotionally miserable at that time in my previous full-time job. I couldn’t figure out why because I felt like most people would feel so fulfilled in my position.
It was honestly one of the best jobs a person could have at the time and I felt so lucky and honored to have it…
But my SOUL felt like it wasn’t being fulfilled by the work I was doing in terms of graphic design and art.
I felt like I had a bigger purpose than just designing shirts and banners with cool sports graphics.
I didn’t feel spiritually fulfilled at my current day job at the time, but I had the audacity to feel like I was meant to inspire and change lives through my art.
A second defining moment was more recently.
One of my dearest best friends unexpectedly passed this year which made me look at my life through a different lens. A lens I knew existed, but you aren’t able to see through until it happens to you.
It made me examine the life I’m living through a magnifying glass looking at:
All of the things I am currently doing AND not doing.
The way I’m currently living and the life I WANT to be living.
It shifted my focus because life is so fragile and so short.
I want to make sure I’m fulfilling my purpose, which is to help others realize their strength in embracing who they truly are and sharing that with the world.
You are fully capable and it is fully in your power to build the life you’ve always wanted, no excuses.
5. What have been your biggest wins since we worked together?
This is difficult because we’ve been working with each other for 2 years now and a crazy amount of things happened!
During the Spring Session, I landed a hand lettering project that paid my investment into the program back and more which was AMAZING.
I was hired to paint my first mural in a former high school teacher’s classroom
I did a series of sidewalk chalk art that led me to an opportunity to do chalk art for the Golden State Warriors.
I’ve had multiple live mural painting gigs: Local art festival & California Mermaid Convention
My art was purchased to be a part of the new renovation of the Mermaid Dive bar in Sacramento
The local arts community in my city hired me as an artist for public installations.
I became a mentor for Alphabettes and my mentee ended up being chosen to present during the Showcase party.
Roughly ~4 mentees were chosen out of hundreds that year—mind blowing! 🤯
I was invited to do a Career talk for the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
I registered my business as an LLC! 🥳
I led a Community Mural for the 1st Annual Watsonville Filipino American History Festival.
Getting hired by a local artist to be a mural assistant and help out on a beautiful nature mural installation for the local arts campus.
Landing my FIRST official mural gig where I get to paint my OWN design through painting a traffic box for the city that I live in.
My biggest win is the massive growth between my first two years of taking my business seriously.
In 2021, I had 9 client projects, ending the year with $1.8K in profit.
In 2022, this year, I’ve had 24 clients/events, and am currently at $7K in total income from my business.
I never thought I could make even close to a thousand dollars off of my art, let alone seven thousand.
6. What was your biggest highlight/takeaway from working together?
My biggest takeaway is knowing that I am capable of anything I have a passion for and that I will always need my community to back me up.
Community is so POWERFUL in:
Creating momentum.
Holding you accountable to your goals.
Making you feel like there’s solidarity in the struggle.
We’re all just aiming to live our best lives on our terms…
And mindset is EVERYTHING.
7. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone who’s dealing with the same struggles as your past self?
It’s okay to ride the big waves, but it’s also okay to take it slow and splash in the water. As long as you are doing your best at everything you do, you will make it.
You have always been worthy of success and deserve every opportunity that comes your way.
You are destined to make a positive difference in so many people’s lives with your passions.
But most importantly, you don’t have to do this alone 💙
Connect With Melissa
Make sure to show Melissa some love and connect with her if you found this helpful:
I’m always looking for the next Melissa to make moves with, if that’s you, learn how we can work together below. 👇🏻
Let’s Work Together 🤝
Join the 3-Week Boot Camp Waitlist!
These 3-week quarterly Boot Camps (Feb., May, Aug., Nov.) provide you with step-by-step, year-round guidance, accountability, and support based on strategic topics to grow your creative biz.
You’ll experience powerful group coaching combined with challenging exercises and 2x-a-week live coaching calls!
They’re designed to be “evergreen” meaning you can continue to enroll in them and build off your previous session OR enroll in them one-off based on an agenda that tackles a specific struggle.
SCOTTY HERE 👋
I’m a full-time Coach for Web 2 + Web 3 creatives and I side hustle my own art in the rapidly evolving NFT space.
I’m also a designer, podcaster, speaker, + husband, and rad dad to 2 kids (and 3 cats), making moves out of Cedar Falls, Iowa.
After 5.5 years of side hustling outside my Corporate Cubicle, I made the full-time leap to Side Hustle Coach in January 2020.
I’ve since scaled this into a 6-figure creative business and have coached well over 1.5k students worldwide. 🤯
My mission is to put you in a position to get paid to play creating work you vibe to that impacts the people you care about the most.
I’d love the chance to work with you in a future 3-Week Boot Camp or 12-Week Coaching Program.