Goals and Planning

Miwa Gardner emotive watercolor portrait of a woman surrounded by birds and with vine-like markings on her face. The subject is wearing a high-necked garment adorned with intricate gold filigree patterns.

What are you waiting for? The real costs of postponing strategic work in your art business (261)

The daily work of running an art business — making art, posting, responding, shipping — always feels urgent. The strategic work doesn’t. So it waits. But postponing that deeper evaluation isn’t neutral.

There are five specific costs that accumulate when you keep the strategic work on the back burner, quarter after quarter. None of them announce themselves. And that’s precisely what makes them so damaging.

What are you waiting for? The real costs of postponing strategic work in your art business (261) Read

The career journey of growth-minded artists (186)

I want to talk about something that gets in the way of how you think your art business possibilities: The ladder of success.

I want to help you reframe your daily decisions, actions, and results (or lack thereof)—to embrace the volatility of an artist life. To understand that there will be highs and lows, and that just comes along with the territory. To do this, let’s consider a circle rather than a ladder.

The career journey of growth-minded artists (186) Read

Landscape painting by Kim T. Richards

The Art Biz ep. 152: How to Squeeze More Time from Your Busy Calendar

As an artist and business owner, you’re constantly juggling responsibilities. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, but take solace in knowing that you’re not alone. In this episode, I share 8 tips for and 2 truths about time management.

Optimize your schedule and increase efficiency—not so you can do more, but so that you make the most out of your limited time and enjoy life.

The Art Biz ep. 152: How to Squeeze More Time from Your Busy Calendar Read

Sara Drescher watercolor painting clear water bottle balanced on white and gold teacup sustainability | on Art Biz Success

Commit to Something Big

Post-show deflation is real.

But you don’t need to have a show end to experience the business blues. Maybe you’re down because you don’t have a show, you aren’t selling, or people aren’t signing up for your workshop.

Time to explore the next thing.

Commit to Something Big Read

2-page spread of notebook | on Art Biz Success

A Proven De-stressing Technique to Eliminate Overwhelm

Working on the business means evaluating your busy-ness—taking time to look critically at your next steps, if only briefly. There is a deep sense of satisfaction when working on your business.

You aren’t checking boxes and crossing items off of a list, but you are feeling more in control. You begin to see possibilities that weren’t previously evident.

When you are overwhelmed, I suggest starting the process by moving some energy around and then doing a brain dump.

A Proven De-stressing Technique to Eliminate Overwhelm Read

Portrait by Ruth D Moore | on Art Biz Success

The Art Biz ep. 100: Qualities and Tools That Lead to Achievements Worth Celebrating

When I started thinking about the 100th episode of The Art Biz podcast, I had very little enthusiasm around marking the milestone. The podcast exists to talk about artists’ challenges and the strategies they use to improve their results.

Celebrating 100 episodes didn’t seem aligned with that mission.

Fortunately, my good friend Cynthia Morris helped me find the lesson in this occasion that would help you. Cynthia is a rock star coach and podcast host herself who was the guest on the first two episodes of the podcast.  In this episode, she says:

And I think that what I’ve seen in the people that I’ve worked with is when we don’t acknowledge the milestones—when we don’t pause to savor and appreciate and see what we did that brought us here—we really lose out on a lot of the benefits that we’ve accrued in the course of making our way to that milestone. It’s almost like running past the finish line and not high-fiving the people.

I agreed:

I do know how important it is to see that you’re making progress. And every milestone shows you that you are making progress. I know how hard it is to look at to-do lists (without the DONE list) and see what you haven’t done.

More than just a self-congratulatory episode, together we discuss the value of acknowledging your progress, however imperfect it may be. We share what it takes to do the work, create the content, and develop the tenacity that results in milestones worth celebrating.

It’s not unlike the tenacity it takes you to make your art and run a business. Listen to see if you agree.

The Art Biz ep. 100: Qualities and Tools That Lead to Achievements Worth Celebrating Read

Scroll to Top