“How long did it take you to make that?”

Are you an artist who gets this question?

I have and I probably will again.

Now, I know that many artists are irritated by this question.

But the thing is, art is not always the easiest conversation starter.

“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” unknown

So when you do get this annoying question, it may just be an ill informed attempt to make conversation with you.

Many artists bristle against this question and they silently answer,

• “Really, does it matter?”

or..

• “Actually, it took me under twenty minutes and it was incredibly easy and fun. Can I charge for this?”

You bet you ass you can!

The best art is made with complete ease and enjoyment.

When you are making art and it’s no fun and it’s hard, it looks like crap. Right?

So overworking your art is not an option to be proud of.

If you want to take a long time to make your art, have at it. That may part of your creative process.

But if it’s a joyful breeze, like my painting is, then that’s fantastic!

The best answer that I have heard to the question, “How long did it take you to make that?” is “All my life.” unknown

It’s not a snarky retort; it’s actually the truth.

How do I know?

How long does it take vocalist to belt out an amazing song?

It probably takes under five minutes to perform a song yet years of preceding practice to sing it so that crowds want to actually pay to listen to it.

The reason that I’m bringing this up is that some artists that I work with are often conflicted about charging hundreds or thousands of dollars for art made in a relativity short amount of time with complete ease.

Let it go. God bless America!

If and when you get to the place where you can charge thousands of dollars an hour for your artistic effort. You’ve earned it.

How? By logging years practicing and marketing to find and celebrate your tribe who benefit from your creations.

So the real answer to the common question “How long did it take you to make that?”, is actually “All of my life.”

Don’t believe this lie!

This is the first rule in my book “SELL YOUR ART without Selling Out, 101 Rules.”

My book is really an invitation for you to question all the rules that have been set down by the permission and scarcity based art establishment and for you to define your own rules. Hence the coloring book format.

Now. Should you continue to “hone your talent?”

Of course!

But artistic talent is just the minimum price of admission to the world of selling your art.

Artists ask me, “Will you critique my work?”

My answer. “Absolutely not.”

Why?

Three reasons.

1.)Teaching art is the business that I’m in.

I’m not an art critic or an art teacher and even if I was I don’t have the expertise in every artistic medium and tradition required to offer constructive feedback.

2.) Before you think of selling and marketing your art, you need to have the making of it mastered.

Well maybe not “mastered.”

But you know that you have talent because it has been affirmed by successful artistic mentors and you have sold some work.

3.) As an artist you are never done honing your craft. I’m certainly not.

But at some point your art has got to be good enough.

Meaning that people other than your friends and family are interested in paying for your art.

So do not believe this lie.

This is what we are told by the art establishment.

Because making money is their job and it is often implied that we need not worry our pretty little heads about money or dirty our hands with it.

Right? Wrong!

When I work with artists and they define their mission, their unique value proposition, and they identify the target market they serve, their art significantly improves.

It improves because of these insights, not because these artists made more of art.

How do I know?

They tell me what they have been told.

•“Your work has more depth than before.”

•“Your work has more energy.”

•“I’m so inspired by your mission. I’d like to introduce you to some other prospects.”

 

Yes. You read that right. There is no such thing as a successful (full-time) artist.

“Ann. What do you mean? Aren’t you a successful full-time artist?”

No. Sorry to burst your bubble but I’m not. I’m both an artist and an entrepreneur and that is why I am successful, in the conventional sense of the word.

If you’re not too concerned with selling your art then this is not really the place for you.

But let’s face it. Is there anything that ignites creative inspiration like a sale? I know that it infuses me with energy and enthusiasm.

Anyway. My point is this. Successful artists are also entrepreneurs. So are physicians or attorneys who run their own practices or professional athletes.

A physician practices medicine but they must also keep up with the latest developments in medicine, generate new business, manage their practice, deal with insurance, keep an eye on cash flow, hire and fire staff, etc. You get the point. They have many realms to manage and to balance with the realm of practicing medicine.

It’s the same for a plumber, a real estate agent, or a hip-hop music mogul.

If you want someone else to take care of all that business mumbo jumbo, good luck finding that someone else.

Again. If you’re not too concerned with selling your art then this blog is not really the place for you.

But if you would like to sell your art, or more of it, I’ve identified eight sequential foundational realms of building a creative enterprise that must be balanced with your creative practice.

I’m giving you my blue print. It is the same blue print, or road map, that I use to build my art business and the one that I have coached other artists through.

The good news is that, assuming you actually have artistic talent, each of the eight realms can be mastered by most people who are intelligent and diligent. And this describes most artists who I know.

The hardest part for artists to get their head wrapped around is marketing, or as I call it, the “Visioning” realm.

I absolutely LOVE marketing. Why? Because the very best marketing is extraordinarily creative and it is engaging. Just like art.

I look at creating marketing strategies much like creating a painting.

When I paint I have a blank canvas, some paint, and an idea. Then I weave those together and I create a painting.

When I develop marketing strategies for Ann Rea, Inc., or for other artists, we define the artist’s mission, unique value proposition, pain alleviated or problem solved, and their objective. Then I weave these together and create a marketing strategy that will help the artist reach a target market.

Does every marketing strategy work? No.

Does every painting work? No.

Sometimes the first attempt, or the first draft, works beautifully but usually the last attempt informs the next. It is an iterative process.

Why is the marketing of your art so important? That’s obvious if you want to sell it but what artists often don’t appreciate is that the mission and the marketing behind your art creates more value for your collectors and inspires your creativity.

The bottom line is this. Every artist is an entrepreneur and every entrepreneur is an artist. Consequently, there is no such thing as a successful (full-time) artist.

Or as Andy Warhol said, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”

Within six months of graduating from the Cleveland Institute of Art, in 1987, I was working at a design firm who was responsible for creating the retail environments for the then new GM Saturn car.

I was flown to St. Helena, California to participate in a brain storming session at the beautiful Meadowood Resort, to construct the marketing strategies for the GM Saturn car.

I was chosen among my male counterparts because they were targeting young professional women, and they where competing with Honda.  My male counterparts referred to me as the token.  It gets better.

Even though GM was targeting young professional women, I’m sorry to say that I was the only woman in attendance, and I was largely ignored.

I withdrew and the facilitator eventually noticed this and asked why.  I stated boldly, “Because you probably won’t listen to me” mirroring my experience at car dealerships.  That hushed the room.

Now the rules of a blue-sky session are that you cannot criticize an idea, only add to it.  He said, “Well you have to contribute, we flew you out here.”

Fair enough, maybe these men were ready to listen?  “Why don’t you sell the car for the same fair price to everyone and stop this horrendous haggling process.”

The room erupted.  One of the top ten GM dealers from Texas sitting across from me actually stood up, he was about 6’5” and big, with a pie plate sized belt buckle.  He proceeded to pound his fist and shout, “That will never work!”

Well, clearly it did.  And who knows where GM would be today if they had continued to listen better to their market. The experience helped me realize that one day; I’d figure out how to best market my own art.

Since I did not go to business school, and I have a long commute over the Golden Gate Bridge to Wine Country, I keep a number of business books on my iPhone.  This is often referred to as DTU (Drive Time University.)

One of my favorite audio books is by Russell Simons, one of the very wealthiest and most successful pioneering hip-hop media and fashion moguls.

I also happen to like him because, like me, he’s down with practicing yoga, meditation, anti-censorship, and he does not reserve his political or social opinions.

Simons’ book is called “Do You, Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success.”  It’s no surprise that Oprah gave him the first part of the title.

“Do you”, delivers the value proposition.  He mixes his personal philosophy and world view and breaks down how he’s applied this to building his empire of successful brands and cultivating artist’s careers.

In the world of art, what counts is unique expression.  So if an artist tries to be anything but their authentic self, they will fall short and be subject to constant comparison or remain simply irrelevant.

By “Doing You” an artist sets themselves apart, offering their market unique value.  A student in one of my Artists Who THRIVE seminars reluctantly asked, “Is there really enough opportunity for very many “Blue Ocean Strategies.”  My answer is a resounding. YES!

Does that mean that every artist with a unique and compelling expression has a market?  Not necessarily.  The artist must know, articulate, and deliver value to a target market.  The value is expression that touches, inspires, and moves that market.

It’s only when an artist remains true to themselves, their unique essence, their vision, that they stand the very best chance of connecting with and inspiring others.

And that, my friends, is the name of the game in the world of art.  And I believe it’s also the name of the game in the world of business.

My advice is “know thyself” and take Mr. Simons’ advise. “Do you.”

Most artists are trained in art school to swim with the sharks in an ocean of blood unconsciously competing for the scarce kill. But only a few will ever feed.

The alternative is to swim in a blue ocean far away from the kill zone, making the competition irrelevant.  How?  By creating a Blue Ocean Strategy.

What’s this?  It’s when a business creates unique value to serve a target, making the competition irrelevant

When I’m working with artists to help define their Blue Ocean Strategies we have to first get to what’s unique.

The only place to start is the artist’s life purpose, passions, interests, and values so that we know who they are as an artist and a person.

This is not life coaching this is the beginning of defining truly unique value.

Take a jeweler I’ve been coaching for example.  This creative, like many, had to work a long while before we arrived at her new Blue Ocean Strategy.

The first thing that she had to learn was that she had to get out of the business of selling jewelry, a Red Ocean, and get into the business of celebrating friendships.

What? Are you scratching your head?

After much exploration she realized that one of the most important aspects to her life is her long-standing and close relationships with her best friend and other women in her life.

They all have stories and a history that they have shared over the years. And they have been her main collectors.

Her Blue Ocean Strategy?  To create a line of unique charms that mark the most meaningful milestones in a women’s life.

What’s different?  You can collect the charms, customize the bracelet or necklace, and an individual story is beautifully packaged with each charm.

You then give a bracelet or necklace to yourself and one to your friend, or friends, to celebrate the history of your friendships.

Rather than one sale she has built in two or more immediate sales and ongoing charm sales as new milestones are celebrated.

Notice we didn’t start with how to build in multiple sales. We started with the artist’s unique value.  The unique value is a reflection of this artist’s very personal purpose, interests, and values.

This Blue Ocean Strategy is something she’s passionate about and her excitement is giving her the energy to execute on this strategy.

It took time, effort, and patience to arrive at this Blue Ocean Strategy.

She’s had to work through some key frustrations that had limited her thinking. But she stuck with it until she was open to exploring marketing solutions in non-convention ways.

What happens if artists come sniffing around her waters to copy her?  We’ll create more unique value and they’ll will sink to the bottom of the ocean because they won’t be able to match her energy.

“Be a first rate version of yourself, not a second rate version of someone else.” – Judy Garland

Many artists are desperate to arrive at an answer. So they put the cart before the horse. If an artist is not open, patient, and trusting in the process, or they are clinging desperately to the traditional scarcity and permission based model, I just can’t help them.  I can’t get past that negativity.

It takes trust to surrender the fight for the kill when you’re hungry.

But in order to sustain your drive to be an artist and to build a business you must first know your purpose, passions, interests, and values.

You must “know thyself” so that you can know what unique value you can offer the world.

Note. Your compensation will be in direct proportion to the value you offer.