If you’re too caught up in trying to promote and sell your art, now is a great time to take a break. Invoke the spirit of the season. Slow down, open your heart, and think of others this week.
If you’ve appreciated someone’s friendship, advice, or support, take time to tell him or her. It will cost you nothing but your time (and maybe some change for sending a card in the mail). Here are five ways to give the gift of generosity.
1. Write a recommendation on LinkedIn.
If you’ve worked directly with people or know their art well, take a few minutes to write glowing recommendations for them on LinkedIn.com. You need to first be connected, but it’s easy after that. Just find the person’s profile, and (if you’re connected) a link will show up in the right column. It’s the second link down. Just click on “Recommend this Person,” and you’ll be walked through the process.
2. Leave a note on a Facebook Fan Page.
If you’re a fan on someone’s Facebook page, you might be allowed to post a comment to his or her wall. (This is a setting that the page owner controls.) Leave a compliment or a positive message that will put a smile on the person’s face. The more specific your comment, the better.
3. Send a card or email.
If you have a bricks-and-mortar address, send a card filled with your gratitude. Heart-felt emails or e-cards are also appreciated by recipients.
4. Mention someone special in a blog post.
If it’s appropriate for your blog, go out of your way to mention another artist’s work. Ask permission to post a sample photo (complete with a credit line!), and you’ll make a friend for life. You could also continue a conversation you enjoyed reading on someone else’s blog. Summarize the original post, link to it, mention the author by name, and discuss why this post was meaningful to you.
5. Tweet a compliment.
Send a short post to the Twitterverse praising someone’s work, blog post, or good deed. Use their Twitter @name and provide a link if one is available. Use under 120 characters to make it more re-tweetable.
FINAL WORD: We can’t always give physical gifts, but it’s usually the heartfelt gifts that are most meaningful to recipients. Select the appropriate delivery method to bestow your gift and aim for sending at least one message every day this week.
The podcast is an audio version of this content. Happy listening!
[powerpress url=”http://artbizsuccess.com/audio/giveheart.mp3″]
3 thoughts on “Give a Gift from the Heart”
I might recommend taking the time to handwrite your cards if you choose to send them to your collectors this year. In this time of computer twittering and emailing, handwritten letters and notes have become almost a thing of the past. Trust me, it will go a long way…I took the time this year to send a printed card out to my collectors, hand wrote a nice personal note in each one, and even addressed them all by hand… Two days later a collector (now friend) of mine took the time to send an email of thanks and boasted about how I am ONE of TWO people that actually writes something in their holiday cards – I could tell it made them feel special and made it fun to receive.
I sent out over 30 cards. With printing, designing, and writing each one it probably took me over 3 hours. BUT the results are fantastically rewarding on both ends!
What an awesome post. Sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in checking things off of our to-do list that we forget to breathe deep and enjoy for a moment. The thought of doing something nice “just because” is refreshing. Serendipitous from the task is that you will feel really good. Thanks for the reminder!
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