Watch the interview here.

Memphis based artist Kate Bradley is 28 years old and she graduated from art school only 3 years ago. 

Kate graduated from MAKING Art Making MONEY only last year, but she is already making a very good living.

Kate specializes in painting portraits of children and capturing their essence in the context of their interests.

3 Biggest Successes as a Portrait Painter

1.    Kate is 28 years old and with only three years experience, she is earning a very good living as an artist. Her sales are impressive for any new business, never mind an artistic enterprise. After six months of us working together Kate’s art sales increased 53%.

2.    As soon as Kate determined her unique value proposition and defined her target market not only did her art sales increase significantly, so did her confidence.

3.    Loving her work gives her a sense of peace and real purpose.

3 Fattest Failures

1.    Not clearly communicating her business terms to a patron and not liking working that patron. 

2.    Surrendering her creative control and not liking what she was creating.

3.    Failing to keep her financial house in order and not really knowing how she should do this.

3 Most Important Lessons

1.    Listen to your gut. If a patron does not seem to be a good fit don’t risk it.

2.    Maintain your creative boundaries. You have the responsibility to complete the commission so you have the control.

3.    Slow down. Pace yourself. Don’t loose your joy. Don’t be so focused on making money that you loose the fun and passion in making art.

1 Piece of Advice for Artists

Kate quotes a rule from my book, “SELL YOUR ART without Selling Out, 101 Rules”, “It’s not all about you, it’s all about them, and when you make it all about them, then it will all about you.”

This week I’m introducing a brand new interview format that I devised for the THRIVING Artists Series. It’s called 3x3x3.

There’s no hair, makeup, or lighting crew. It’s just me in my San Francisco Pacific beach studio connecting with other artists on the globe via Google Hangouts on Air, one of my new favorite tools.

I’m interviewing THRIVING Artists about their three biggest:

1. successes
2. fattest failures
3. lessons that they’ve learned

The point is that successful artists succeed, of course, but they also fail.

The difference between the losers and the winners is that winners learn from their failures and press on. 

Successes are inspiring but I also want to talk about the other side of the coin, no pun intended.

My hope is that this format will deliver more actionable bite sized take aways.

A few weeks ago I heard an NPR segment on a poet in St. Louis named Henry Goldkamp who has created a community art project called “What the hell is St. Louis Thinking?”

What? A poet thriving? I had to talk to that guy.

He has spread out 40 typewriters throughout St. Louis for average citizens to express their thoughts and then place their prose in drop boxes.

What’s the unique value proposition that this poet created? 

Rather than Henry writing the prose himself, he’s providing a free thinking platform and inviting average citizens to express themselves.

Henry asserts that “Everyone has art inside of them.” And that “This project is rooted in finding beauty in the everyday word.”

Goldkamp will be publishing a hard copy book available on Amazon.

Become a Face Book fan and follow the project here:

https://www.facebook.com/WhatTheHellIsSaintLouisThinking

I love my home of San Francisco for many reasons.  But one big reason is that it is the hot bed for creative entrepreneurship. 

And let’s face it; the money is flowing here and near Silicon Valley so the seeds of innovation have fertile soil and plenty of water.

It’s no surprise that an angel investor I know recently introduced me to the CEO of Hear It Local.

When I found out what they were up to I just had to learn more and lend my support.

Hear It Local is circumventing the traditional scarcity and permission based music industry. Hallelujah!

Hear It Local is an online booking platform for Independent music that helps fans find, fund, and book local musicians for their house concerts and parties. 

Even musicians who are pursuing traditional music tours can make money along their way.

Tune into my video interview with the co-founder of HearItLocal.com, Matt Lombardi. 

Musicians take your power back, connect with your fans directly, own and build your platform, and get paid.

Even if you are not a musician, learn how two friends, armed with a great idea are challenging the music establishment and helping musicians THRIVE.

Tune into another THRIVING Artist interview with Leo Zero, who is a thriving mix of collage artist, musician, and entrepreneur from North London.

Leo’s creative process takes him from visual collages to music remixing. 

He’s been a DJ since age 15 and he emerged from the thick of the house music scene in London.

Leo had a global music hit record, yet he didn’t get paid. In fact, he “Got ripped off around every corner in the music industry.”

Music royalties are complicated business, allowing those with selfish interests to be very cagy and to take advantage of ignorant musicians.

Without Leo knowing, his income streams where ferreted away.

Eventually he realized that fast the talking big egos in the music industry had helped themselves to his intellectual property and sold his young naive pop group down the river.

This musician paid the ultimate price for being a reluctant businessman; the stress of the industry and financial losses tossed him into a deep depression in 2002.

Avoiding Big Pharma he delved into self-help he started a serious meditation practice.

The result of Leo’s mindfulness practice was a big boost in his self confidence and clarity that prompted the turning point of his music business. 

Leo began to follow through on things he had put off for years, including an art show and producing his own album.

Leo learned the hard way how to manage his property of songs but now he owns his own music publishing company.

This artist has become much more instinctive and trusting of his heart over his head. The resulting “strength of will” has made him more his “own man.”

Leo more keenly judges business opportunities presented by people by determining if they are coming from a place or fear or of love.  That’s the way to spot a good deal!

Check out LeoZero.com

Kate Bradley – portrait painter

Memphis, Tennessee Portrait painter Kate Bradley, age 27, is currently enrolled in the Artist Who THRIVE Crossing the Finish Line coaching program.

Kate is a fairly recent graduate from Auburn University’s Art Department. But because of her dedication to the Artists Who THRIVE program in less than six months she is very likely already earning more than her art professors and living a very satisfying life as a creative.

Artist Kate Bradley shares what she learned in art school and what she didn’t learn, a story all too familiar to struggling artists. 

Success as an artist is not just about talent. 

It’s about:

• celebrating the values of a certain tribe or target market
• identifying and connecting to a tribe or target market
• making art that makes your tribe feel
• making it easy for your tribe to do business with you

Success as an artist is NOT about:

• an artist’s statement
• what materials are used
• credentials or where you have shown
• or who you studied with

Although Kate did not consider herself an entrepreneur, she does now. 

It is this new mantel of entrepreneurship that is actually inspiring her creatively and helping her thrive financially.

Tune in and learn how Kate treats her successes and her failures as equally important and valuable.  (Please note, the interview may take some time to load.)

Ann Rea, Founder of Artists Who THRIVE

Click here to listen to Ann Rea on KZSC radio’s “Artists on Art“.

Artist, CEO | Ann Rea, Inc. & Founder of the Artists Who THRIVE website was on KZSC 88.1 FM, 3/29/11 AT 8 pm. Ann is a San Francisco based painter and marketing expert. During the show, we talked her art and her upcoming workshop with Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County CCSCC entitled “Art of Marketing.”

Ann will be teaching for Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County the “Art of Marketing” seminar at the Cabrillo College Visual Arts Lecture Hall in Aptos on Saturday, April 16, 2011 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. To register for this seminar, call (831-475-9600 x 16 or click here. Location: Visual Arts Lecture Hall #1001 6500 Soquel Drive Aptos, CA. Cost: $25.

Ann will help you learn to:

• Define your unique value proposition
• Define your market
• Create an action plan for success
• Learn a non-traditional approach to successfully marketing art and how you can generate sales even without a gallery

Up to three students will be selected for a mini marketing makeover in class ($500 value).

Other upcoming Seminars  from Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County (go to www.ccscc.org for full description and location):

Ways to Register: Call (831) 475-9600 x 16 to pay by credit card. Stop by the CCSCC office to make a payment by cash, check or credit card. Visit our website to register online.

Mark Monlux, Illustrator

I met Mark Monlux by phone a few years ago.  I was in the middle of dealing with a frustrating case of copyright infringement.

I designed a wine label and licensed my image for the label.  The license clearly defined that the image could only be reproduced on one print run of that label.  That’s it.  But later I discovered my image very poorly presented on a dirty sidewalk sign and on the client’s website.

Two cease and desist letters were simply ignored.

My membership to California Lawyers for the Arts yielded a fairly useless, less than 30 minute, consultation with an intellectual property attorney.

So I called the Graphic Design Guild to see if they could offer some guidance.  I was referred to Mark, an illustrator, and he offered valuable guidance that helped me win my case.

I wanted to learn more about Mark and his success because it was clear to me that not only is he creative and talented, he is also an astute business man.

Listen to the recorded interview.

Melissa McDaniel, photographer

This is the second installment in The Artists Who THRIVE Profile Series.

In this recording I interview Melissa McDaniel, a former editor who worked for years in an unfulfilling corporate setting.  Now she’s a successful photographer and animal rescue advocate who enjoys traveling while pursuing her passion.  It’s clear she’s not going back to sitting in a cubicle.

Melissa embraced both her creative passion and her values. She’s growing her photography business by employing both cause marketing and strategic partnerships.  And in less than two years she’s garnering national press, including most recently, Parade magazine.

Listen to Melissa honestly share some of the biggest lessons she’s learned since she quit her day job two years ago, including:

The importance of her:

1.    commitment

2.    attitude

3.    support system

4.    organization

5.    focus

Share the message of compassion for animals, enjoy beautiful photography books, and support Melissa’s project by ordering her photo books today at https://www.thephotobooks.com.

Customers who order by 11/08/2010,  will receive autographed copies.

Melissa will be traveling the country in the coming year.  If you would like to have your dog photographed for the photo books, email Melissa for one of a limited number of applications at [email protected].

Colleen Attara, mixed media artist

This is the first installment in The Artists Who THRIVE Profile Series.

As I mention in this recording I’m often wondering what to write about next and I’m often focused on business and marketing challenges facing artists.

So I decided to switch my focus, and my medium, to a recorded interview with a thriving artist who I coached, Colleen Attara. Colleen deserves all the credit for her success.  I was only there for a relatively short time to help her build a road map towards her goal and to teach her ways to avoid some of my very expensive lessons.

Colleen is a full time artist with a new scenic studio that she’s always dreamed of, six galleries represent her, and she regularly receives private commissions.  Colleen’s current focus is a significant large-scale commission for 90 foot wall in an innovative new hospital.

Listen to Colleen’s focus and confidence.  She’s developed this by taking planned action.