Alyson Stanfield

Aligning Actions with Words = Success

Do your actions align with your words?

What I mean is: if you say that you want a successful art career, are you doing what it takes? Or are you exerting the minimum effort without any thought of your future?

If you say you want one thing, but aren’t taking action to support that one thing, you are out of alignment. You’re confusing the Universe – probably because you have mixed feelings yourself.

If you proclaim that you want a successful art career, I have six questions to to ensure that your actions align with your dreams.

1. Do you maintain a regular studio practice?

I don’t mean to imply that you have to be in the studio from 8:00am to 5:00pm every day for six days a week. I’m just asking if the art is getting made.

Without the art, you are not an artist. Without the art, you have nothing to promote.

Without the art, a successful art career just ain’t happenin’.

2. Are you promoting your art consistently?

Or are you promoting your art only when you feel like it?

Consistent promotion doesn’t equal bombarding your list and followers with your art. It’s about having a schedule and sticking to it rather than marketing whenever it strikes your fancy.

If you’re a dabbler, you have the luxury of marketing whenever you want to.

If you want a successful art career, you have to get over the idea that

Aligning Actions with Words = Success Read

Debra Disman Mural

How Do You Use Video? (Curious Monday)

Loyal reader Debra Disman says that she would love to see how artists are using video.

Please tell us!

What is the focus/subject of your videos?

How long are they?

Where do you post them?

What kind of results do they bring you?

Do you have help or do you do it yourself?

What have you learned about the process?

Feel free to add a link to your video.

Don’t do video? Share your favorites in a comment.

How Do You Use Video? (Curious Monday) Read

The Art Biz ep. 4: Making a Living as a Teaching Artist with Elizabeth St. Hilaire

The secret to making a living as an artist is that there are no secrets. Artists find their own paths and each path is unique.

There are some qualities, however, that you must have:

– Stamina
– Ambition
– Motivation
– Talent
– Resilience
– Boundaries

And … a willingness to learn, adapt, and grow.

It also helps to have a positive outlook, people skills, and a grateful heart.

Elizabeth St. Hilaire has all of these – in spades. I have always admired her business savvy and work ethic.

I was delighted to spend 3 days with her recently. During a hike together, where we talked mostly about art and business, I blurted, Hey! We should do a podcast while you’re here.

So we did.

In this podcast, Elizabeth breaks down where she generates income (teaching, licensing, art sales, books, and DVDs). She also outlines the various teaching models that are available to artists today.

The Art Biz ep. 4: Making a Living as a Teaching Artist with Elizabeth St. Hilaire Read

Painting of Grizzly Bear by Rosemary Conroy

Who Could Help You in Your Business? (Curious Monday)

Artists tell me there is too much work to be the creative director, CEO, chief marketer, and social media manager of their businesses.

Soooooo …

If you could wave a magic wand and have help in your art business, who would you hire?

What would their responsibilities be?

Would they help you in the office or in your studio?

Is it a single person? Or multiple people?

Do they need to work in your space or can they work virtually?

Since you’ll never get help until you define the parameters of the job, let’s start with those questions.

Who Could Help You in Your Business? (Curious Monday) Read

Multiply Your Content by Repeating Yourself

You sweat over your bio and artist statement.

You make a heroic effort to create interesting content for social media.

You work tirelessly to craft a decent artist talk that will engage an audience.

You curse at the person who told you that it was easy to use iMovie as you grit your teeth through the process of producing your first video.

You meet your deadlines for newsletters and blog posts because, ahem, somebody said you should. (Okay, maybe you didn’t meet the deadlines, but they did go out. You get points for that.)

You Are a Word Collector

You didn’t know it, but if you’re doing even a few of the things I mentioned above, you are a word collector.

Don’t worry! Being a word collector doesn’t entail heavy responsibilities. Nor is it likely that your word collection will make it to the auction block one day.

But that doesn’t mean your collection isn’t valuable. It is! I wonder if you know just how valuable.

If you’re like a lot of artists, you have all of these words that are probably being used only one time.

That’s a shame.

There is so much more you can do with your collection of words.

Multiply Your Content by Repeating Yourself Read

Pastel of palm by Susan Klinger

Entrepreneurs R Us (Curious Monday)

The world loves labels. And, yet, many artists would walk a mile out of the way to avoid a label.

Just for fun, though, try on the label “entrepreneur.”

I am an entrepreneur.

I think you, too, are an entrepreneur, but I’m not sure what you think about that word. Let’s find out.

Are You An Entrepreneur?

Without getting into the official definition of the word, do you relate to the word “entrepreneur”?

What comes up for you if I called you an artist-entrepreneur?

Do you describe yourself as an entrepreneur?

What would it take for you to feel more like an entrepreneur? Is that desirable?

Do you buy products, classes, books, and programs for entrepreneurs?

Can’t wait to hear what you have to say. Just leave a comment below.

Entrepreneurs R Us (Curious Monday) Read

Your Weekly Work Rhythm (Curious Monday)

Some time ago, I learned to block out days for no scheduled calls or appointments.

These “free days” are rarely free, but they allow big chunks of time for tasks such as writing and planning. They are usually Mondays and Fridays, which means my Tuesday-Thursday calendar is pretty jam-packed.

I prefer afternoon client calls to morning client calls so that I can catch up with my team in the mornings.

I leave Monday mornings for recombobulating after the weekend, and Fridays for writing and art-viewing.

How about  you?

How do you organize your week for maximum productivity and inspiration in the office and studio?

Your Weekly Work Rhythm (Curious Monday) Read

4 Steps for Saving Money on Your Artist Website

Ready for a new website?

Yes, you could do it yourself by using any of the template sites available. But when you take the step to have a site thoroughly customized to your branding and goals, there are things you can do to lower your monetary investment.

Designers can’t pull together a design from nothing. They need you to do your part.

When you do this, you will save money and have a more harmonious relationship with your designer. Here are four steps to get you started.

Step 1: Research

Look at other artist sites. When you find one you like, deconstruct it to figure out why you’re drawn to it.

When you’re on a site that you find attractive, is it because of …

– Colors?

– Font (styles and sizes)?

– Navigation?

– Layout of pages?

– Text/stories?

– Image sizes?

Also, know which features you want on your site. Do you want a blog? An eCommerce platform? Email sign-up?

You should also be researching your designer in this phase.

4 Steps for Saving Money on Your Artist Website Read

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