More on artists identifying their missions…

Okay. So I got a few excited responses from artists who think, or who would like to think, that they have identified their mission. Well. I’m not so sure.

Here’s the test. Are you 100% clear?

If someone, who you have never met, heard your mission for the first time, would they get it? Or would they be left scratching their head? You know. Like when you read most artists’ statements.

Your mission must be a 100% clear! 

No one sets off to accomplish a vague mission. A mission is crystal clear.

And because your mission is so clear, so confident, and energized, others support you or they join you.

Let’s review the examples from last week’s post.

Colleen Attara’s mission is to artistically transform discarded materials to lessen the impact on our natural environment while transforming our emotional environment to hope and joy.

While Jenny McGee’s mission is to help people express their love for one another.

And Kate Bradley’s mission to help families celebrate their relationships by honoring their children.

Their missions are crystal clear. Right!?

Beware of the word “unique.” It means nothing. And it’s a sure sign that you are not sure of your mission.

Lack of clarity is also cloaked in the phrase “unique beauty.”

Here’s the thing. Your mission is not about you and is it not about your art. Your mission is about how you will serve the greater good.

Your mission is about the positive IMPACT your efforts will have.

Having a clear mission is the only way that you can make art that actually matters to someone other than you.

To be a successful artist your art must simply be a by-product of a something much bigger, and so much more important, than your artistic talent or craft.

It’s not about you. It’s about the value that you create above and beyond the art itself.

Caution. If you read the stated missions of the artists above and formed yours by responding, “yeah, me too!” I don’t think so.

You can no more copy another artist’s mission than you can copy another artist’s work.

You must delve into serious soul searching to know who you are and what you stand for. Your mission is born of your unique human experience.

Reflecting on the most painful times in your life will illuminate your mission.

Why? Because the most painful times in your life stand in stark contrast to your most dearly held values.

Your values are a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.

Frankly, very few people ever actually do this type of soul searching with significant depth.

Why? Because it requires great courage and vulnerability. 

However, the big pay off is that you find meaning in your suffering and this heals you and it can heal others.

“Visioning”, the first step of the 8-part sequential process takes the longest AND it is the most important part of developing a creative enterprise.

Why? “Visioning” is the foundation for all your efforts that follow. It has to be rock solid.

I get it. This can be confusing and confronting. And they don’t teach you this in art school.

If you get it, please share in the comments below.

If not, let’s hear about that too. There’s no right or wrong. This is a process. Just start where you are today. Follow the “Yellow Brick Road.”

 What to learn more? Get my recent Creative Live course.  

Call a friend, a master mind buddy, and ask them to do the same. Then review the course together. We don’t succeed alone.

It’s no secret that I am on a personal mission to eliminate the “starving artist” mythology.

How? By helping artists secure their creative freedom by teaching them focused business savvy.

Rule 10 in my new book “SELL YOUR ART without Selling Out, 101 Rules” is:

The “starving artist” mythology is a fundamentally disrespectful prejudice. Believing it perpetuates unnecessary self-limitation and injury.

Allow me to count five reasons why “Starving Artist” is a destructive slur.

1. The “starving artist” mythology is a fundamentally disrespectful prejudice that stops too many artists before they even get started. Many people just expect that artists must “struggle” for success or “suffer” for their art. Yeah. Whatever.

2. This limiting bias can easily be self-imposed. I’m the first to admit that I too thwarted and delayed my own success as an artist by falling for this mind trap.

I believed that I had to surrender my art to pursue a more “practical” career path so that I could have a “happy and productive” conventional life. 

But that “practical” career path turned out to be an “impractical” path of the highest order.

The pressures of running my artistic enterprise pale in comparison to my experience of the corporate grind.

3. The myth is a lie. During the first year of my artistic enterprise, I was actually more creative than ever before and I made more money than I had ever earned working for the man. And not by a small margin. It was over $100,000 in 2005.

4. Rule 25 is “Artists are thought leaders. That’s why we are the first to be commissioned and executed during a political revolution.”

 Our culture values freedom of expression and we celebrate creativity because our economy is built upon innovation.

So you would think artists could get a little respect? Unlike scientists and engineers, we don’t.

5. Rather than jokingly referring to me as an “Artsy-Fartsy Starving Artist” I would much rather people just come straight out with it and call me a “stupid loser.” Because to me, those disrespectful “playful” remarks sound about the same.

 I’m even more annoyed by other artists who broadcast their scarcity mentality.

I’m appalled that artists can be some of the worst offenders of the “starving artist” slander by throwing up the spineless excuse that they don’t really care about selling their art, when they really do.

I also find in galling when artists don’t really know how to sell their art so they excuse themselves by pretending that they just don’t want to be a “sell out.”

Come on. Admit it! On the whole we don’t know how to sell our art. Why? Because if we ask how we are going to sell our art in art school we are shamed for even asking the question.

What the hell does “selling out” really mean anyway? Does anyone even know?

And why is it that artists are accusing other more successful artists of “selling out? 

This unquestioned prejudice reminds me of a time when I was elected to be the foreman on a jury.

I asked a fellow jury member to share her thoughts about the evidence supporting the guilt or the innocence of the young female defendant. Obviously, this was a very important question.

Her response? “I don’t know. I’m just a women.”

I felt an urge well up inside me to slap her. But I refrained.

Instead I reminded her that each of us carried a vital responsibility as a juror, male or female.

Just as racist, sexiest, and all manner of other unquestioned negative cultural biases and insults can limit the victim’s opportunities they also erode our culture and our economy. We all miss out.

Yet the irony is revealed in the answer to this question. “Who are some of the people we most admire?” It’s artists.

Hardcopies of my new book “SELL YOUR ART without Selling Out, 101 Rules” are now available on Amazon here. 

  (Ann Rea is a nationally recognized artist and creator and instructor of an intimate, live, online, foundational eight-week business course for artists called MAKING Art Making MONEY.)

Sometimes artists just have to…quit!

That’s what I did. In fact, I didn’t paint or draw anything for over seven years.

What happened? I developed chronic anxiety, insomnia, and depression.

Then I began painting again to help quiet my mind and loosen the stranglehold of anxiety.

I had no intention of showing my paintings to anyone, let alone any intention of selling them.

Eventually I made a commitment to build a profitable full time creative enterprise.

I defined a unique value proposition and a target market.

I found my muse, the press found me, and I made money.

But then two vital strategic partnerships failed.

And guess what? I had to quit, again!

After I stopped feeling sorry for myself, I reached out to my mentors and I developed a new business strategy and defined a new target market.

It turned out to be a fantastic decision. My average commission price soared and I enjoy this new market so much more.

So sometimes it actually pays to just, quit!

But then you’ve got to adjust your attitude and get back on the horse. I was reminded of this today.

On March 10 and 11^th I’ll be teaching a free two-day seminar at Creative LIVE.  So sign up now!

I’m inviting a diverse group of artists who I’ve worked with to share their successes, failures, and some of the lessons they’ve learned.

I phoned one artist who I worked with early on. Unfortunately, her creative enterprise wasn’t doing so well.

Racked with debt and disappointment it seemed that she was not generating much, if any, profit and she was just out of gas.

I was concerned and I wanted to help her.

She’s smart and talented. I know that there is a market for her work but her strategy is still off. But not completely off.

So I offered to give her a mini-marketing makeover via Skype on Creative LIVE, free of charge.

What happened? She got very defensive.

My lessons learned? I failed to communicate and I was reminded that path to hell is often paved with good intentions.

I could have connected her immediately with some key prospects and helped her tune up her business strategy.

But she didn’t ask for my help and the one thing I can’t help with is reversing an artist’s negative attitude.

The moral of this story?

Failure is inevitable.

Your attitude determines your recovery rate from failure and the quality of your relationships.

Therefore, your attitude is the very best indicator of your future success and your happiness.

If you have really tried and it’s just not working, admit it. There’s no shame in that.

• As long as you take a break.
• Rejuvenate your mind, body, and soul so that you can adjust your attitude.
• Then get some help and get back at it.

Why? Because we can’t succeed alone.

Relationships equal revenue.

Wow! My last blog post, “PLEASE Unsubscribe NOW”, received a record number of comments. 

With the exception of one snarky comment, there always has to be one, I received overwhelmingly appreciative and supportive feedback. 

So THANK YOU!  It was very affirming and I am happier than ever to be of service.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m currently accepting applications for MAKING Art Making MONEY, an 8-week, intimate, live, online foundational business course for artists starting again on February 3, 2014.

You can take this course from anywhere you sit on the globe because we meet via Google Hangouts.

This course is not for everyone so this is not a hard sell.

But if you do the work, chances are very high that the course will work. 

There are, of course, no guarantees but you can see what graduates have learned and the increases in their art sales.

Also, here’s a link the top FAQs about MAKING Art Making MONEY,

I invite you to Apply NOW. Those of you who complete the application will receive a gift .pdf copy of my new book, “SELL YOUR ART without Selling Out, 101 Rules.”

But please do not apply unless you are serious.

Enrollment is limited.

Each class will have no more than nine students so that I can maximize each student’s individual attention.

If you’re down with what Artists Who THRIVE is all about, please share the love and invite two friends to subscribe today.

What do you think? What about Artists Who THRIVE resonates with you? What is your most resent success?

Please post your comments below this page…

Welcome to your brand NEW weekly Artists Who THRIVE post and to a NEW year.

Today is a fresh start and it’s time to:

• renew or to make new commitments
• let go of the past
• clear out your clutter, including unwanted messages

If you are reading these weekly messages and they are inspiring you to take action or think differently, please let me know.

Last week I took a break from sending this weekly message for the first time in three years. Did you miss it?

If not or if my messages do not resonate with you, and you don’t really read them, then please, unsubscribe below NOW.

It costs money to send you complimentary tips, strategies, stories, and inspiration each week.

If these messages inspire you to take action, then I’m happy to pay for the space that your email requires. You’re worth every penny.

Just in case you’re not clear. Artists Who THRIVE is an art agnostic community. Meaning, this is not a forum for art criticism and we are not looking for ways to navigate the broken, scarcity and permission based art establishment.

Why? Because if you have unique artistic talent and you have something to say to the world, you must make art.

If you want to be heard, you must sell art.

Artists Who THRIVE is designed to help you do just that. Sell art. 

Here is the Artists Who THRIVE 8 part credo.

1. Artists Who THRIVE destroy the “starving artist” myth.
2. Artists Who THRIVE know that they are not going to be discovered and no one is coming to save them.
3. Artists Who THRIVE know that “its not all about you, its about them. Make it about them, and it will be all about you.”
4. Artists Who THRIVE know that they don’t have a career, they run a business.
5. Artists Who THRIVE know who they are and what they stand for. They are on a heart felt mission.
6. Artists Who THRIVE secure their creative freedom through business savvy.
7. Artists Who THRIVE know that relationships equals revenue.
8. Artists Who THRIVE don’t sell art; they create value above and beyond their art.

 So again. If you’re down with what Artists Who THRIVE is all about, please share the love and invite two friends to subscribe today.

If you are not, then please unsubscribe NOW and free up space for me and for you.

What do you think? What about Artists Who THRIVE resonates with you? What is your most resent success?

Please post your comments here…

Just yesterday I was a live audience participant at the San Francisco studios of Creative LIVE attending Kare Anderson’s class, “Find The Right Partners to Grow Your Business.”

Why? My experience of strategic partnerships has been very very mixed so I decided to invest a couple days to work “on my business” versus “in my business” a la advice from eMyth by Michael Gerber.

Strategic partnerships can be a great way to help artists sell their art and now that the pilot course for MAKING Art Making MONEY is complete, I’m developing strategic partnerships to help inspire more Artists Who THRIVE.

Kare suggested that we write a manifesto or a credo.

I realized that my manifesto for Artists Who THRIVE was way too long and rambling so I drafted of a more concise credo while I was in class.

I’ve drafted this credo to inspire YOU.

So please tell me if it does. And please share what you think and how it makes you feel.

1. Artists Who THRIVE destroy the starving artist myth.
2. Artists Who THRIVE know that they are not going to be discovered and no one is coming to save them.
3. Artists Who THRIVE know that “its not all about you, its about them. Make it about them, and then it will be all about you.”
4. Artists Who THRIVE know that they don’t have a career, they run a business.
5. Artists Who THRIVE know who they are and what they stand for. They are on a heart felt mission.
6. Artists Who THRIVE secure their creative freedom through business savvy.
7. Artists Who THRIVE know that relationships equals revenue.
8. Artists Who THRIVE don’t sell art; they create value above and beyond their art.

Action Step. Which of these statements really resonates with you? What’s your credo?

Why? Please share your point of view below.

“I graduated from the San Francisco Art Academy with a degree in illustration and now I have mounds of student loan debt and I’m not sure how I will repay it. I have no steady job prospects. What am I going to do?”

This is what my former art intern was forced to ask herself.

“I know that you learned how to make art at the San Francisco Art Academy, did you learn anything about how to make money from it?”

I knew the answer but I wondered if anything had changed since I graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Her $3000 semester course “LA291 Designing Careers” did not even come close to giving her the answer.

Why? Emphasis on the word career. Fine artists and illustrators do not have careers, they have businesses.

Yes, businesses. You heard me right. This understanding is fundamental to an artist’s success.

The problem. Art school does not orient artists to be entrepreneurial. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

How do I know artists don’t have careers? Because we don’t receive a regular paycheck.

Now if you are a commercial illustrator, and you are an employee, that’s a rare horse of a different color.

“What was the focus of the course, career or business?” I asked my former intern. “Both.” “Both? You’ve got to be kidding! No damn wonder you’re confused.”

So I read through her course reader “LA291 Designing Careers.” The spiral bound, hand numbered, ¾” tall, I measured it, mish mash of assorted documents, that looks like the shabby product of a hasty trip to Kinko’s.

In fact, there was no design involved in this course. And it includes a confusing array of jumbled information about careers and business.

The good thing, it helped inspire my course, Making Art/Making Money.

If students want to enroll in art school and incur student loan debt and graduate, or not graduate, without a skill set allowing them to earn a decent living, no one has a gun to their head.

But the current and past return on investment in an art degree would not earn a five star rating from Morning Star.

In the interest of full disclosure, we must have an honest and open discussion about the business of art.

It’s only fair that young and hopeful artists, who are poised to fund their education with student loan debt, make these life-altering, and inescapable, decisions with their eyes wide open.

So my last post, Asking is Free, immediately drew some biting reactions which included a few personal passive aggressive attacks, you know who you are.

“Never surprised, always appalled.”

However, most of the feedback was very positive and seen as an affirming reminder for professional artists to value their business and their time.

Now if you are approaching your art making and your art selling as a hobby. That’s cool. But that is not what Artists Who THRIVE is all about.

The definition of Artists Who THRIVE is “creative freedom + business savvy,” emphasis on the word business.

If you are selling your art, according to the IRS, and your local taxing authority, you are by their definition, operating a business.

So. Why not operate your business to your most profitable and productive advantage?

We run into trouble when our boundaries are blurred in business. That’s why businesses have written terms, set prices, and posted hours of operation.

If you don’t, well then. That’s not smart business and you need to get on it if you want to be an artist who THRIVES.

Not communicating and adhering to your business terms is not only confusing to your market; it is very costly to you.

I have often heard my patrons complain that they want to buy art but too often artists make it too difficult for them to do business.

These unprofessional artists don’t know what to charge. They don’t do things on time. They go over budget in time and materials and expect their customer to just eat it.

Back to my point from my last post, no matter what business you are in, if prospects want your limited time then they need to make an appointment with a start and end time.

That means that you should not allow patrons or other folks just to hang out in your studio.

Do you think the Gap would allow someone to try on a pair of jeans and then just hang out to chat with the sales staff and other customers? I don’t think so.

Time is money. You can make more money. You cannot make more time.

Protect your time as you would your bank account.

And when you enforce your boundaries, remember this. You don’t owe anyone anything, including an explanation or an apology for running your business.

If they don’t get it, that’s their problem and they either will or they won’t figure it out.

I always tell the artists that I coach to reach out and ask for help but don’t be obnoxious.

I was reminded of this advice recently when a few artists, you know who you are, said that they would be visiting San Francisco so they would just like to drop by my private studio and hang out.

“Really? That’s nice.” I thought. But would you ask an attorney if you could drop by his or her office, just to say “hi”, and by the way chat about a law suit that you’re involved in.

Yeah. I think not. Not without booking and paying for an appointment.

Now before anyone gets their knickers bunched. Know this. I LOVE to help and to answer questions when and where I can.

In fact, anyone can go to “Ask Ann,” at any time, and post, a specific question for free. I actually answer all of them.

My desire to help is also what has motivated me to address the concerns of Artists Who THRIVE, every single week, for years, for free.

But like most consultants, if you want my precious and limited time, and my undivided attention, you’re going to have to pay for it and get it on my terms, by booking a Monday phone appointment. I’m not running a non-profit.

Why do I bring this up? Because it offers a teaching point.

There is nothing wrong with asking. Asking is free.

Ask for help. Be clear and direct and consider what you might be able to offer in return.

If someone declines, just be gracious and respectful of their boundaries. Just thank them for their consideration and move on.

It doesn’t reflect well on you if you tell your story of having no money or how disappointed you are.

Gripping is not going to change anything except make you look whiney and rude.

I’m a huge believer in the principle of Givers Gain and I am thankful to know that most people really do like to help, when and where they can.

And I appreciate all of the help that I have been offered over the years.

But we all have limits and we must respect that other people have other obligations and or other priorities other than us and no one owes us a damn thing.

As I enroll artists in my new 8-week course, “Making Art/Making Money,” they must complete an application and then complete a phone interview. 

Why do I do this? Because there are certain characteristics that I’m listening for that indicate they could become successful and then there are red flags.

And there are some artists that I just can’t help and I don’t even care to try. Who? Artists who:

·      think that if they just continue to hone their craft someday they will be discovered

·      will not take complete responsibility for their success

·      who are unprofessional and are cavalier about keeping commitments, budgets, schedules, or their word

·      think they have to develop their career when they actually have to grow their small business

·      have a scarcity mentality

·      think that selling art is selling out but they can’t actually define what selling out means

·      blame others for their failures and who are unwilling to examine them and to learn from them

·      who can’t focus or who tell themselves they can’t focus even though every talented artist is capable of extraordinary focus

I just met a young filmmaker who proudly announced the release of his new film. I asked him who his target market was. “Everyone.”  

Everyone? I replied. That’s not a target market.

A target is the red bull’s-eye in the middle of a target. If you try to reach everyone then that’s like trying to hit the entire target all at once. You’ll hit nothing. 

He turned that remark to, I don’t really care about making money.

Really? I didn’t believe that for a second. Nothing inspires every artist that I know than making money from art that they are proud of.

Then he followed with his opinion that, George Lucas is just a businessman and he has forgotten how to make films. 

Interesting, I thought. Do you really think that he has forgotten how to make films?

It’s this senseless and unproductive debate that I refuse to engage in. 

If you don’t care about making money with your art, cool. Make art for yourself. It’s still a worthy pursuit.

But if you really do care about making money with your art, just admit it. 

Then admit what you know and what you still need to learn about the business of selling art that you are proud of making.