How many times have you been told that the secret to success in business is marketing?  If you’re like me, I was sold on the need for marketing early in my business career, and have made it core to the growth of my art business.  So why then is my business growing so slowly?  Does it just mean that I suck at marketing after all?  What if I were to suggest to you that marketing is not “the” secret, and that you’re doing everything right?  Don’t believe me, stick around and let me explain.  
     Every business guru seems to support the notion that marketing is “the key” to unlocking business success.  But scratch the surface, and you’ll find that most articles and videos out there seem to conflate several concepts under the title of marketing.  It’s hard then for me to distinguish between sales, advertising, publicity, and marketing.  Part of me really, really wants to lump all of these concepts together in my head, and a quick survey of the literature would confirm that others do as well.  Perhaps that’s because we need to be able to do all of these things at the same time.  No pressure there.  Is it any wonder that many artists don’t want to think of themselves as marketers.  We’ve talked before about the need to be self-reflective, and to be honest about ourselves.  So let’s admit that there is more going on here.  From classical times, the arts were considered to be above commercial concerns.  Blame the ancient Greeks, the academics, or the aristocratic classes, but much of that snobbery still exists today.  It amazes me though, as Michelangelo and Leonardo daVinci both were paid for their work.  And we can see that many of the great masters ran studios that functioned like art factories.  But the notion lingers.  
     Unfortunately, we are all part of that same cultural environment, and so are our customers.  I know many artists who won’t refer to their clients as customers, or to their art as a product.  While that may be part of their marketing strategy, it may also be a stereotype that’s getting in their way.  Take a quick self-check about your own presumptions and attitudes, and feather them into your overall marketing plan.  
 
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Episode 13

John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com

As small businessmen and women, whether we like it or not, we have to be incredibly organized to do our jobs.  As creatives, that may or may not be our biggest strength, but we have to find strategies to be as professionally organized as we possibly can in our entrepreneurial careers.

We wear so many hats as small creative business owners that it can sometimes feel completely overwhelming, exhausting, and even demoralizing.  There’s just so much to do, and so little of those duties actually involve the creation of art, or the furthering of my craft.  And I mentioned this before, I’m not doing this alone, I have a spouse in the business with me.  How much harder it must be for those of you who are doing all of this alone?

Whether you address your business needs with paid online subscriptions, hired consultants, or do it all by hand in a ledger book, realize that you do need to be hyper organized in running your creative entrepreneurial business.  Remember that it’s the creative part of your business that is your passion, not the record keeping.  Find effective strategies that can remove some of the barriers to doing that work you love, and get back to making beautiful things, because that’s what will sustain you after all.

In our quest to branch out seriously into social media marketing, Bogdan and I are starting something new.  I already do a weekly blog (as you may have guessed), but I also do a weekly vlog, and a video podcast.  We’ve now started a weekly live show called Art Chat with John & Bogdan.  It’s 30 minutes every Thursday morning at 11:00 central time on Zoom.  Stop by and visit sometime, we’d love to meet you in person.  If you can’t make it at 11am, don’t worry, we record the sessions and post them on my YouTube channel.   I’ll put the link below. 
https://youtu.be/fCAcksQff3I
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John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com
Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart
Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com
Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com

Honesty… that may be the most difficult bit of running a creative business.  Consider for a moment that you’ve done all the things we’ve talked about.  You’ve set up your art business seriously, you’ve created strong goals and objectives, you’ve committed to your vision and mission, you’ve faced the fear of failure, and live and breathe your small business every day.  You have faced your secret fears, anxieties, and you can see yourself and your business as clearly as possible.  What happens if you don’t like what you see?  

One of the problems about having a business that is so completely tied to our own lives as creatives is that, at the end of the day, this is still a business.  There are rules and regulations that must be followed, and you must generate a profit to stay afloat.  It is truly important for you to be self reflective, and be your best cheerleader, but it is also inevitable that running any business is going to have drawbacks, setbacks.  We have to be able to look at ourselves and our businesses honestly, and be realistic about what we see.  
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As part of our own plan to get out into the online world with our art, we’ve started a weekly live Zoom meeting where Bogdan and I present and discuss some of our art.  It’s a half-hour show, every Thursday morning at 11am Central Time.  We’d love to have you join us, though we’ll record the sessions if you can’t make it at that time.  Send me your email address, and we’ll include you on the invitation list.  Or you can always go to my website and sign up for my newsletter.  I’ll add you to both lists if you do. 
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John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart

Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com

Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com

We’ve been talking a lot about the skills and traits we all need to run a creative business.  We’ve talked about planning, setting goals, and courting our ideal collectors.  We’ve talked about the entrepreneurial spirit, what it takes to be a freelancer, and how to keep ourselves motivated and productive while often working alone.  But what we haven’t addressed, is the elephant in the room.  At the base of many of our artistic careers is a whole lot of fear, and self-doubt.  And often, we don’t even know why….

Today I’d like to talk a bit about self knowledge.  I’m not talking about some sort of spiritual quest, though you’re certainly free to take it there if you like.  For millennia, religious traditions have used meditation and prayer to look inward, so we know that works well.  But what I’m proposing today is that we find some strategies to self-reflect on our businesses, and on ourselves as business owners.

Following our conversations about all the hats we must wear as small creative business men and women is the necessity for each of us to be a self starter.  We’ve talked about planning your business, setting goals and seeing your business strategically.  We’ve even talked about how to stay motivated.  But how can we, who often are working alone, self motivate and create productive work ethics that put all of that planning into action?

At its core, any conversation about self starting is really about organizational skills and time management.  These are the same lessons we got in college, and any number of self-help programs we’ve subscribed to.  So let’s take those strategies, that advice, and apply it to a small entrepreneurial creative business. 

John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations for Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/johnbishopfineart/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnBishopart

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart

Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com

Bogdan Mihai: http://www.bogdanfotoart.com

There are three elements to risk management: risk perception, risk assessment, and risk management.  As small business owners, how can we identify the risks we face, and find practical ways of diminishing the risks to our creative businesses?  In the search for those answers, we cannot forget that no all risks are bad.  Risks can also be opportunities, and we as artists must determine how much risk we can tolerate so that we can be cautious of danger, yet still be able to embrace innovation, opportunities and trends.  Risk taking does not imply irresponsibility, but to never take risks is not the answer.  The trick is to have strategies in place to ameliorate the effects of negative risks, and plans to seize opportunities as they occur.  Because there is no way to predict which risks will present themselves, or the positive or negative impact, the best approach is to plan as best we can, respond as quickly as we are able, and to not let fear govern our progress.  

Risk taking is a part of our everyday lives.  We take risks when we climb the stairs, or drive a car.  We take risks when we buy online, or invest in the stock market.  As small business owners, we take even more risks to our finances, our livelihood and our work/life balance.  The trick is not to avoid risks but to identify them, and manage their impact.  Not all risks are bad, many are actually opportunities.  That signals that one of the greatest risk to your creative business may be to take no risks at all.  This episode discusses how to identify risks, how to manage our perceptions around those risks, and how to either soften their negative effects, or to take advantage of their benefits to our entrepreneurial businesses.  
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Giveaway: This month we’re giving away a free copy of the budget spreadsheet template I use in my business to track sales, expenses, budgets and projects.  I hope it will be of use.  I have come to depend on it daily.  Just click on the link, leave me your email address, and I’ll send you a copy right away.  https://www.johnbishopfineart.com/giveaway

In order to be successful as a freelance creative entrepreneur, we must be able to think like a boss, not like an employee.  We must drag ourselves out of the operational management of our businesses, if only for a while each day.  We must find some time to think strategically about our business' vision, long term goals, and how to steer the business to reach those goals.  We have to be able to see the big picture, and not just dwell in the day-to-day operations of our art business.

As small business owners, we’ve taken the time to plan our strategic overarching Vision statements, build good solid goals, objectives and activities to make it all happen.  We should be really proud of ourselves.  Pat yourself on the back for that.  

We can get so involved, so busy doing the day-to-day activities, and putting out fires, that we can easily forget to see our Vision in the minutia of the moment.  That’s one of the realities of running a small operation.  It’s not like we have a team of experts helping us run things every day.  It would be great to just sit in a corner office and think about big strategic visions, with trusted employees giving me great data and sound advice.  It’s just the two of us in our business, and it may just be you in yours.  The point is not to become perfect at all this, but rather to find ways to incorporate the strategic stuff, with the everyday grunt work we all have to do.  We have to believe that they’re both important.  

And seeing the big picture is vital to any business or organization.  It’s probably core to any marriage as well.  Every time you can pull your thinking or planning out of the weeds and to a higher level, you start to make better decisions that carry your mission much further.

I should also have some strategy for keeping our planning sessions strategic.  One option would be to make a poster of our vision statement, and hang it on the wall where we see it every day.  You could create a dream board that creates triggers to help you remember what is important, why you’re doing the work you do, or provides visual symbols of what success looks like.  Perhaps it’s a quote that is meaningful, or a quarter jar that you drop a coin in every time you cross something off your strategic list.  Maybe it’s an egg timer.  Find something that works for you,

When you are able to see the big picture, you pull yourself up from operational functions to strategic work, and the strategic work is what is truly transformational in any business or organization.  Get the operational stuff done, but spend your best time at 30,000 feet.  The view from there is phenomenal.

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Giveaway: This month we’re giving away a free copy of the budget spreadsheet template I use in my business to track sales, expenses, budgets and projects.  I hope it will be of use.  I have come to depend on it daily.  Just click on the link, leave me your email address, and I’ll send you a copy right away.  https://www.johnbishopfineart.com/giveaway
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John Bishop Fine Art's "Conversations with Freelance Creatives" is a weekly blog/vlog/podcast that creates a community, a conversation, between creatives in all sorts of fields at all sorts of levels.  We want to discuss what we’re learning, what we’ve experienced, and whom we’ve met in our journey of running a freelance creative business. John Bishop is a visual artist living in Houston, Texas. His work is largely abstract, and explores how to turn mythic, archetypal symbols into individual experiences allowing us to see them in a new way, with fresh eyes. His work can be seen online, or at his studio at Silver Street Studios, 2000 Edwards Street, Studio 108, in Houston.

Website: http://www.johnbishopfineart.com

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/johnbishopfineart

Buburuza Productions: http://www.Buburuzaproductions.com

The more I read about entrepreneurship, the more people seem to conflate it with small business in general. While it makes sense to me that many small businesses can be entrepreneurial, I don't think they all are. There seems to be something more specific, or maybe more uncertain, about what makes an entrepreneur tick.

The research seems to attempt to identify the characteristics of an entrepreneur, and those tend to center around a person's creativity, intuition, decision making abilities, and tolerance to risk. I guess what bugs me about most of these models, is that they're studying the Steve Jobs types, and not really the average Joe like me. The problem is that this type of research tends to center around the rarified personality, the stellar successful businessmen and women who become the stuff of legend.

Did you know for example that entrepreneurs earn an average of twice what an employee earns in a lifetime? We tend to consider the fears and limitations of our creative careers, but we're also sitting on a lot of potential here. Imagine the possibility of doubling your income, and actually doing what you love to do. Not that you're dying to to the marketing and record keeping, but to be able to take your ideas and desires in any direction you choose. To develop your skills and direct the trajectory of your business to follow your bliss. No one said it would be easy, but no one seems to say either that it could be wonderful, life-affirming, and fun.

Mistakes and failures are a part of the process, and are learning experiences. This may be a lot harder for creatives. We're certainly willing and able to take chances, explore new boundaries, and risk more than others, but we also seem to have egos made of glass. We tend to doubt ourselves, break under pressure, and crumble before criticism. So that's somewhere I need to grow. I need to be able to take risks confident that even failure teaches me something... possibly more than success does. I need to be open to, responsive to, but not destroyed by criticism. I need to be able to push past fear of rejection, ridicule and self-doubt. There's a lesson I need to learn. But at its core, entrepreneurship is a way of looking at life, and career. It's not a matter of luck, it's just work.