It can be very difficult to hire someone to help with your business, but if you want your business to grow, there comes a point at which you must hire to support that growth. And the wisdom is to hire before you think you can afford it. In this episode I talk with Angela Fehr and Robin Edmundson. Angela has been building a thriving business teaching heart-led watercolor, along with a community of artists to support one another on that journey. She knew she needed help, but she wasn't prepared to struggle to find that help. She was content in setting her intention and being open.

Enter Robin—Angela's student as well as a member of my former Inner Circle program for artists. In our conversation you'll hear how Angela has handled building a team and how Robin has been able to support her in this process. We talk about the technology they use, how they communicate with one another, and how they work with other team members who have since come on board.

First posted: https://artbizsuccess.com/fehr-edmundson-podcast

Highlights

• Angela and Robin both focus on watercolor and Angela's teaching offers regular lightbulb moments. (1:43)

• How has Angela's approach to watercolor grown her art teaching business? (4:45)

• Building a thriving business while raising families and connecting in the artist community. (9:09)

• At what point do you know it's time to get help? (11:15)

• Finding the best fit—from both Robin and Angela's perspective. (13:25)

• Learning how to hire correctly while trusting and protecting your values. (16:22)

• Finding assistants that have the skill set you might be lacking. (19:35)

• Building a support staff as your art business needs expand. (24:13)

• A typical week in this thriving art business. (29:32)

• The first step of a journey might be a boring one, but it can lead to a great adventure. (32:18)

• Email support, tech support, and everything you might want to hire an assistant to do for you. (34:54)

• The policies and procedures that keep a sustainable business running smoothly. (39:18)

• What are the rewards and challenges of supporting another artist? (43:32)

Mentioned

• Angela Fehr

• Angela on YouTube

• Angela on Instagram

• Robin Edmundson

• Robin on Instagram

Resources

• Grow Your List program at Art Biz Success

• Free e-course: 31 People Who Can Help Sell Your Art

Guest Bios

Angela Fehr first picked up a watercolor brush as a shy teenager newly returned to Canada. During her teen years she'd lived in a remote village in Papua New Guinea, and the solitude had cemented a passion for art that she was excited to pursue. She quickly realized that watercolor was a perfect fit, and along the way, realized that she wanted something more for her paintings than simply to copy what she could see with her eyes. Angela aims to show her heart in her paintings, to pair the beauty of the world with a loose, intuitive, heart-led style.

She launched her first online course in November of 2013, with the goal of teaching technique and empowerment to help painters become their own favorite artist. Angela shares her home in northern British Columbia with her husband and three teens. The beauty of the Peace River and northern Rocky Mountain region serves as the main source of inspiration for her paintings.

Robin Edmundson paints everyday rural things in new ways with bold and unusual colors, using simplified shapes and lines to emphasize the patterns and rhythms of rural life. Robin grew up in northern Indiana in an old farmhouse on a property full of old farm buildings. Her early goal was to learn as many languages as she could. In college, she quickly found Linguistics and earned a Ph.D. in that field. She taught in various capacities at Indiana University for twenty-seven years. Always looking for creative outlets to balance her academic life, she learned to dye and weave and became an award winning fiber artist.

In 2011 she began blogging about rural life in southern Indiana. It took her a while to realize that she was still searching for a language that could express some things she wanted to say about life in rural southern Indiana. Imagine her surprise when she finally figured out that the language she was looking for was one of paint, color and line instead of words. Nothing makes her happier than to communicate through her paintings her deep love and respect for the unruly places and people of rural Indiana.