Alyson Stanfield, Author at Art Biz Success

artist Lea K Tawd what flows between mixed media on wood panel for Art Biz Success podcast

The Art Biz ep. 84: Money Mindset Breakthrough Secrets with Lea K. Tawd

When we think about cleaning out we usually think of physical things or digital files. We want to Kon Mari that sock drawer—keeping only the socks that spark joy, of course. Or delete the hundreds of photos we’ve taken that we’ll never use. Not only will we never use them, but we want to make sure nobody else ever lays eyes on them.

But there’s another kind of cleaning out that is even more important.

It’s the purging of commitments we made at a previous point in our lives. Maybe we really needed them at the time. Or perhaps we agreed to them out of fear. Whatever it was, we’ve been hanging on to them long past their expiration date.

In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, I talk with Lea K. Tawd about the obligations she eliminated in 2020 that allowed her to dive deeper into her creativity and step into her business more fully.

We discuss the book she wrote, how she structures her days as a mom with a 6-year-old who has to show up for the virtual classroom, and how she quickly replaced the income from an outside source she had been holding on to out of fear.

The Art Biz ep. 84: Money Mindset Breakthrough Secrets with Lea K. Tawd Read

96 Strategies for Improving Art Business Results

It is said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If true, why do we continue to manage our art businesses the same way we did last year or the year before?

In order to see better results, you have to do something different.

I don’t share this list lightly. It’s got some things on it that could really shake up the status quo. They could skyrocket your success when implemented with sound counsel or just as easily fail miserably if you don’t have the proper knowledge and support in place.

I share it because it’s something I wanted for my own business—a list I could have at the ready when I sensed a necessary change. I wanted something to remind me of everything that is possible. To remind me that anything is possible when I commit to it.

In a sense, this is a master list of possibilities. You are not meant to use it as a checklist of items to tackle one at a time.

I encourage you to use this in the following situations.

You are stuck or bored—creatively, financially, or mentally—and want a new project.
You are seeing a drop-off in any aspect of your business.
You want to make the most of a big exhibition or event you have coming up.

Let’s dive in.

96 Strategies for Improving Art Business Results Read

The Art Biz ep. 83: Tools to Help You Emerge from a Struggle Even Stronger Than Before with Kelly Milukas

This month we’re focusing on the benefits of cleaning out—removing physical clutter that leads to disorganization, eliminating obligations that are no longer serving you, and slowing down enough to focus on what matters most, in your art business and in your life.

Kelly Milukas has been through more in the last 10 years than anyone should have to endure, and yet she never lost hope and determination. My conversation with her is about coming out the other side of a long struggle stronger than you were previously.

Kelly and I scheduled our conversation for this episode of Art Biz Podcast to discuss her “life edit,” which involved getting rid of what no longer served her. It quickly became apparent that ridding herself of stuff when she had to downsize her studio is something she had been preparing herself for in the many years leading up to that moment.

Her story is one of perseverance and joy. She was eager to discuss the many tools she used to facilitate her healing and the people she relied on along the way.

I hope Kelly inspires you to rid your life, with the help of proper tools and support, of what might be getting in the way of your happiness.

The Art Biz ep. 83: Tools to Help You Emerge from a Struggle Even Stronger Than Before with Kelly Milukas Read

The Art Biz ep. 82: Spring Cleaning to Streamline Your Art Business

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s the perfect time to consider the aspects of your life that are weighing you down without contributing to your happiness and success.

April is the month for cleaning out in the Art Biz Success community. In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, I’m highlighting some of my previous interviews with artists who have discussed cleaning out in one form or another, from removing physical items to cleaning out business ideas and strategies, modes of working, and even the venues where you show and sell your art.

If you are ready to deep clean your art business, to release what isn’t serving you and banish all that is getting in the way of your productivity and creativity, then you won’t want to miss the insights and inspiration from these successful artists.

The Art Biz ep. 82: Spring Cleaning to Streamline Your Art Business Read

Columbo Bazaar 20 x 25 mixed media collage artist Carole-Ann Ricketts ©

The Art Biz ep. 81: Art Business Procedures to Keep You Organized

If you’re an intentional artist, you’re in the right place.

I’m wrapping up a month of talking about how systems can keep you organized and make you a more productive artist. The Art Biz Podcast episodes have been a tad more didactic than usual, and hopefully they are helping you get your art business better organized.

In episodes 79 and 80 I talked with artists Jennifer Printz and Betty Franks about how they have systematized aspects of their successful art businesses.

In episode 78, I did a broad overview of this topic and shared my definition of a system.

A system is a series of clear steps or procedures for accomplishing a specific task. It could be a task that you do regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) or one that you do infrequently but know that you’ll need to repeat it in the future.

I also went through the individual steps for creating a new business (or even personal) system that you can rely on to make life easier. Now I want to focus on documenting your system.

Procedures that you have to rely on to stay productive should be written down and saved in a central location. It doesn’t count to have a general idea of what needs to be done and how it must happen. You document everything to save time and effort in the future, and I can’t think of a single artist who wouldn’t be thrilled with a little extra time in their day accompanied by a lot fewer frustrations.

So type up the procedures you’ll need and keep them in a central location.

We call this your Art Biz Handbook.You may hear it referred to by other, more corporate-y businesses as an Operations Manual or as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). My team member Kristen O’Neill says those sound too much like manuals for a nuclear plant, so we settled on Your Art Biz Handbook.

Written procedures are used in large and small businesses. And they can be a lifesaver even if you’re a 1-person business.

The Art Biz ep. 81: Art Business Procedures to Keep You Organized Read

artist Betty Franks paint palette studio colorful Art Biz Success podcast

Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks (80)

Betty Franks loves her business and life as an artist. She just might have found the secret sauce—a healthy combination of passion for the work and a continuing curiosity about business and becoming a better CEO of your art business.

Betty’s art business has exploded over the last four years. By 440%!

You can’t have and sustain this kind of business growth if you don’t have solid systems in place.

Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks (80) Read

The Art Biz ep. 79: Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz

For the sake of her art, Jennifer Printz has been very successful tapping into that part of her that is, as she says, typical Pisces.

On the other hand, she has learned to access another part of her to stay organized—the perfectionism that comes with being an Enneagram 1.

It’s a good thing Jennifer has embraced these two sides of her because she needs them. Not only is she a practicing artist with an enviable record of exhibitions, but she’s also an assistant professor at Florida International University in Miami. She has two full-time jobs.

I’ve watched Jennifer whip her business into shape by getting organized and creating reliable systems. I’ve even had the pleasure of helping her with parts of that.

In this episode, I talk with her about how she compartmentalizes her two jobs. We also discuss the planning process she uses, the digital and paper tools she relies on to stay organized, and why writing by hand is critical for her and her students.

The Art Biz ep. 79: Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz Read

Lynda Fay Braun Release From Form photo based digital painting photographer Slow Dance Series dynamic fluidity Art Biz Success podcast blog systematizing your art business

The Art Biz ep. 78: How to Increase Your Productivity and Creativity with Art Business Systems

I am the queen of systems.

There is a reason why my signature program is the Art Career Success SYSTEM. I believe that when you take the time to put in place easily repeatable steps to do a certain task or implement a project, you free your mind and calendar for the more creative pursuits of the studio.

You have a better organized business and life. You are more productive, fueling the creativity you need in the studio.

What is a System for Your Art Business?

We often think of the technology that we use as a system, but the technology is just a means to the end. It’s a tool we use for a specific step (or set of steps) in part (or all) of the systematic process.

My definition of a system is this …

A system is a series of clear steps or procedures for accomplishing a specific task. It could be a task that you do regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) or one that you do infrequently but know that you’ll need to repeat in the future.

You can create systems for almost everything in your art business. As I said, I have even developed a system that helps your entire art business run smoothly. The Art Career Success System gives you a reliable structure that you can turn to at any point in your art business and career. And return to again and again as you evolve.

I think of this program as a complete ecosystem that holds together the meta-systems within the various spokes of your business.

Examples of Business Systems for Artists

You might benefit from any of these meta-systems within your art business.

A system for following up with your best prospects and supporters so that they don’t get lost in your ecosystem.
A system for shipping artwork, including packaging, insurance, and tracking.
A system for publishing a newsletter—from storing ideas to writing the first draft to scheduling it to be sent.
A system for when you have completed an artwork. Consider what you want to do with a finished work: photograph it, add it to your inventory, post it to social media, and perhaps ship it.
A system for accepting commissioned artwork. What is your process for onboarding collectors who commission work? And how do you accept payment and keep them informed?

In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, I discuss the 3 benefits to implementing solid systems in your business, how to know when you need to fix a system, and the process for documenting your system.

The Art Biz ep. 78: How to Increase Your Productivity and Creativity with Art Business Systems Read

Artist Trudy Rice monotype printmaking Art Biz Success podcast

The Art Biz ep. 77: Growing Your Audience with Good Karma with Trudy Rice

I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think it would be great to attract more Instagram followers. More email list subscribers. More sales.

More of anything! Because it makes our efforts feel worthwhile. It seems validating.

But we’re often stopped in our tracks when we begin to realize what we need to do in order to increase our numbers.

We think we have to post more, research hashtags, invest in advertising, create a lead magnet, learn to write better copy, or forget about a restful night’s sleep.

Yeah, you probably do have to do some of those things in order to attract more followers and subscribers, but you might also benefit from being open to doing things a little differently to increase those numbers.

In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast I talk with Trudy Rice about how she has grown her Instagram and email list by cross-promoting other brands.

Trudy uses a platform called Ampjar, but the underlying lesson is to find like-minded people and share each other’s art, products, and services. Trudy refers to these as “shout outs” and loves this system because of the good karma it creates.

The Art Biz ep. 77: Growing Your Audience with Good Karma with Trudy Rice Read

romy owens under her wing was the universe enid oklahoma public art sculpture

The Art Biz ep. 76: Crowdfunding a Public Art Project with Romy Owens

I live to track down art off the beaten path—traveling to out-of-the-way places to see works of art that delight and inspire, or even confound me. I like knowing that 1) there won’t be a huge crowd or line to get in and that 2) I’m one of a small(ish) group of people who have actually visited that spot.

One of my favorite art writers, Martin Gayford, wrote a book on this topic titled The Pursuit of Art: Travels, Encounters, and Revelations. It’s as much about the journey to see art, much of it in far-flung locations, as it is about the art itself.

Every so often, I can get my mom interested in accompanying me on one of my art trips. Mom isn’t a huge follower of art, but she likes a good adventure, and it was easy to get her to hop in the car with me last fall to see Under Her Wing was the Universe, an enormous public sculpture by artist and curator Romy Owens that was installed in 2020 in Enid, Oklahoma.

Enid is the 9th-largest city in Oklahoma, with a population of about 50,000, but it doesn’t sit on a major interstate highway. It’s about 90 minutes northwest of Oklahoma City, where Mom lives, and not really on the way to anywhere else. You kinda have to go out of your way to get there.

And that’s what we did. Mom and I had both been following the progression of Romy’s sculpture and donated to its crowdfunding. After following the progression of this enormous endeavor and seeing it for myself, I couldn’t wait to talk more with Romy.

On this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, Romy and I discuss her commitment to raising $100,000 for this outdoor public sculpture and native prairie landscape as a gift to her hometown. As it turns out, $100,000 was just the beginning.

While it all worked out in the end, it wasn’t exactly easy getting there. Not only did Romy have to raise a lot more money than originally projected, she had to stand up to the naysayers in the community.

Romy is an artist that knows how to effectively measure success. Community collaboration, fundraising, overcoming controversy and yes, using spreadsheets are just a few of the topics that you won’t want to miss in this conversation.

The Art Biz ep. 76: Crowdfunding a Public Art Project with Romy Owens Read

Alyson Stanfield