Show Your Work!

Austin Kleon | ISBN: 076117897X & 978-0761178972 | Rating: 10/10

Austin Kleon’s incredible book Steal Like an Artist paved the way for his equally good Show Your Work! In Steal Like an Artist, Austin showed us how we could pull inspiration from everything around us. It gave us 10 examples of how we can be more creative as artists and creatives.

Show Your Work! is more of a companion book than a sequel to Steal Like an Artist. It explains why creatives need to show their work if they want to be “discovered.” In it, Kleon gives 10 examples of how we can share our creativity to grow an audience of passionate fans.

The reason you should read this along side Steal Like an Artist is, while Steal tells you how to boost your creativity, Show Your Work tells you how to share it. Both elements are necessary for living the optimum creative life.

If you start sharing your work from the beginning, there’s a timeline of your progress as an artist. There’s proof of your growth as an artist and everything it took to get to where you are.

It’s a way for fans to connect with you more deeply as you discover your own creative expression. It acts as a living creative journal of your progress.

With all that being said, here are my thoughts on each section of the book:

1. You Don’t Have to be a Genius

Photo by Alper Çuğun

Find a Scenius

One of the very first points Kleon makes in the book is reminding us that the “lone genius” is a myth. We have this false perception that we, as artists, need to do everything ourselves, but that simply is not true.

In fact, he advocates becoming part of a scenius. Scenius is a term coined by musician Brian Eno that advocates surrounding yourself with other creatives: artists, curators, thinkers, etc.

Being a part of a scenius doesn’t take away from our work as creators, it adds to it. Austin believes “creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds.” We need to find our own tribes so we can become more productive and successful artists.

In this age, it’s easier to join a scenius than ever. The internet is the perfect place to do it. You can connect with people around the world despite our physical locations. Anyone can make a contribution. On the internet, the artist, curator, and amateur can all contribute something.

Being in a scenius can not only make the group stronger, it can spark your own creativity as well.

Be an Amateur

When many people think of the word amateur, they think it’s a bad thing. They think of someone who isn’t good enough to be a professional. They think of someone who just dabbles on the side. But that doesn’t mean it’s true. In fact, thinking like an amateur can be a good thing.

Amateurs take chances. They are unafraid of the consequences of experimenting. They love exploring their craft. They are unafraid of making mistakes. “Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.”

Amateurs are lifelong learners. They learn from their failures and successes. They love exploring possibilities. “They’ll use whatever tools they can get their hands on to try to get their ideas into the world.”

Amateurs are enthusiastic. They embrace uncertainty. “They’re just regular people who get obsessed by something and spend a ton of time thinking out loud about it.”

You Can’t Find Your Voice if You Don’t Use It

No one will hear you if you don’t share your thoughts with the world. The only way to get your message out there is if you use your voice.

Kleon gives the example of film critic Roger Ebert who lost his ability to speak. Ebert made a living through his television show, so you might think losing his voice would force him to quit in frustration. Instead, he did the opposite.

He used social media and blogging to churn out thousands of words about everything he could think of. And it worked. Hundreds of people responded to his posts and he responded back.

For Ebert blogging was “a matter of being heard, or not being heard. A matter of existing or not existing,” Kleon explains. “If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share.”

Read Obituaries

The inevitable fact is, one day we will all be dead. Many people only come to this realization when they have a near death experience. Others will come to that conclusion on their own.

The sad reality of it is, some of us will only listen to our inner creative voice once we realize our own mortality. Kleon mentions a few of those notable examples in the book.

George Lucas almost died in a car accident as a kid and dedicated the rest of his life to making movies. The lead singer of The Flaming Lips was working a Long John Silver when he realized he was going to die and it changed him. Cartoonist and essayist Tim Kreider said getting stabbed was the best thing to ever happen to him. The year after his near death experience he lived a blissful life.

The thing is, we don’t need near death experiences or life altering realizations to come to grips with our own mortality. Kleon advocates reading obituaries as a reminder.

“It’s for this reason that I read the obituaries every morning. Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards. Reading them is a way for me to think about death while also keeping it at arm’s length,” Kleon explains. “Reading about people who are dead now and did things with their lives makes me want to get up and do something decent with mine. Thinking about death every morning makes me want to live.”

2. Think Process, Not Product

Photo by Viktor Hanacek

Take People Behind the Scenes

There are two distinct things artists mean when they talk about their “work.” The first is the artwork, the finished product, the thing you hang up in a gallery. The second is the art work, the thing you work at all day, the creation, the process.

In the world before the internet, all your audience could see was the artwork. They only saw the finished product. But today, things are different. You can share anything and everything about your process.

That shift in the way artists work can make a profound difference. Austin believes by sharing our process, we can connect with our audience on a deeper level. “By sharing her day-to-day process— the thing she really cares about— she can form a unique bond with her audience.”

Many artists who grew up before the internet are scared to open up about their work, but our audiences love the inside glimpse into the way our minds work. Here’s how Kleon sums it up, “Audiences not only want to stumble across great work, but they, too, long to be creative and part of the creative process. By letting go of our egos and sharing our process, we allow for the possibility of people having an ongoing connection with us and our work, which helps us move more of our product.”

Become a Documentarian of What You Do

It doesn’t matter what type of art you create, there’s an art to what you do, and people are interested in seeing how you do it. Austin gives the example of astronaut Chris Hadfield.

While Hadfield is not an artist in the traditional sense, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from him. During one of his missions, Hadfield turned to social media to give people a glimpse of what it’s like to be an astronaut.

He tweeted and answered questions from followers. He posted pictures of Earth. He recorded music and he filmed YouTube videos showing him doing everyday tasks. He became hugely popular with millions of people tuning in to see what it’s like to be an astronaut.

While your work might not be as unique as an astronaut’s, that doesn’t mean people won’t tune in. Most people aren’t artists and have no idea how artists work. Use that to your advantage.

Like Kleon says, you need to be a documentarian of your work. Write your thoughts in a journal or record your thoughts on tape. Take photos or record videos of your work in progress. Keep track of what you do. While it may not seem interesting to us, it is for other people.

How great would it be of you could watch Walt Disney creating Mickey Mouse or watch Jim Henson craft his puppets? There’s a reason people are fascinated with Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks. They give you a glimpse into his mind, his ideas, and his process.

Documenting your work creates a historical archive of your art. People can see your progress as an artist. They can get an idea of what your art is about. They can see what inspired and moved you.

3. Share Something Small Every Day

Photo by Hoffnungsschimmer

Send a Daily Dispatch

Many of us still believe in the myth of the overnight success. But that’s exactly what it is, a myth. No one consequential ever got where they are instantaneously. They spent years working at their craft before they ever got “noticed.”

That is why you need to build a body of work to show your progress and persistence. Kleon advocates focusing on each day. Thinking in terms of months or years can be too nebulous. The only thing we can control is what we do today.

That is why he recommends documenting and sharing “one little piece of your process” with your audience every day. You can share any part of your process from your influences to your finished paintings and everything in between.

Austin  believes the daily dispatch is better than a portfolio because it shows what you are working on right now. He likens it to the extras on a DVD. “A good daily dispatch is like getting all the DVD extras before a movie comes out— you get to watch deleted scenes and listen to director’s commentary while the movie is being made.”

Social media is probably the best place to share your daily updates. But don’t use every single social media platform. Find the one that best suits your work and make it work for you.

Also, don’t worry about being perfect. As the creators, we are too close to our work to judge how it will be perceived. Post your work, then gauge the reaction to it. Don’t judge your work before getting valuable feedback first.

Another excuse people use is, there isn’t enough time. If you truly love the work you do, you will find the time for it. There are 24 hours in a day, and you aren’t busy during every minute of those hours. You must find the time if you want to engage your audience.

The “So What?” Test

One thing to remember when sharing your work is to be selective about what you share. You should only share work you want other people to read or see because once something is on the internet, it has the potential to stay there forever. Do not share things that aren’t ready to be shared.

Kleon believes sharing is an act of generosity, and I agree. You should only post things that are either helpful or entertaining. Otherwise, what’s the point? This story perfectly illustrates his point.

“I had a professor in college who returned our graded essays, walked up to the chalkboard, and wrote in huge letters: ‘SO WHAT?’ She threw the piece of chalk down and said, ‘Ask yourself that every time you turn in a piece of writing.’ It’s a lesson I never forgot.”

Before sharing something, put it through the “So What?” Test. Ask yourself if it is helpful, entertaining, thought provoking, or worthy of being shared. If you don’t know, let it sit for 24 hours and ask yourself again. One thing to remember is, saving your work for later is okay. You can always perfect it. Just don’t share something you will regret later.

Turn Your Flow Into Stock

Kleon explains “Stock and Flow” through writer Robin Sloan. Robin took the economic principle and turned it into a media metaphor.

Flow is your feed. It’s the posts, tweets, and updates you put out there every day. Stock is the content you produce. It’s the stuff that people discover. It builds your fan base.

Austin believes “stock is best made by collecting, organizing, and expanding upon your flow.” He believes social media acts as a public notebook. It lets us think out loud, but he also believes we need to revisit our notebooks to make the best use of them. “You have to flip back through old ideas to see what you’ve been thinking.”

When sharing is a part of your daily routine you’ll begin to notice themes. “You’ll find patterns in your flow.” It is only when you start adding all these small pieces together that you can build something bigger. You turn your flow into stock.

As an example, Austin says many of his idea start off as tweets or blog posts. But when expanded upon, they became chapters in his book.

Build a Good (Domain) Name

One big mistake many people make is only putting their content on other people’s networks. If you built your online presence on MySpace, you would be dead in the water. That’s why you need a place to call your own. When you own your own domain, you have “a place that you control, a place that no one can take away from you, a world headquarters where people can always find you.”

Austin bought his domain over 10 years ago, and when he started, it was “bare bones and ugly.” But what he found was, blogs are the “ideal machine for turning flow into stock.” It’s proof of your life’s work and is yours to keep. This statement from Kleon is probably the most telling example of why you should start your own blog, “Absolutely everything good that has happened in my career can be traced back to my blog.”

If you are opposed to heavy self-promotion, Kleon has an answer for that too. Instead of thinking of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. Post your work. Post things you care about. Post your ideas. And most crucially, don’t give up on it.

The last point he makes is, your blog is your own. You aren’t censored. You don’t need to do what other people want you to do. You can do whatever you want with it, and you can evolve it any way you see fit.

4. Open Up Your Cabinet of Curiosities

Photo by Decorating and other stuff

Don’t be a Hoarder

Kleon opens this section with a wonderful quote from Paul Arden, “The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually, you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. . . . Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you.”

The point he is trying to make is that instead of keeping all the good ideas to ourselves, we should share them with the world. As we are growing as artists and developing our skills, there’s a gap between our tastes and the work we create. Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, explains the gap perfectly. “For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.”

Thus, Austin advocates sharing your tastes and influences before sharing your own work. Become a curator first, then become a creator. “Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do— sometimes even more than your own work.”

No Guilty Pleasures

As the saying goes, One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Everyone’s taste is different, and that’s a good thing. The things that you enjoy are the things that make you who you are. They influence your style, your taste, and the type of art you create.

In fact, Austin encourages artists to dumpster dive. “‘Dumpster diving’ is one of the jobs of the artist— finding the treasure in other people’s trash, sifting through the debris of our culture, paying attention to the stuff that everyone else is ignoring, and taking inspiration from the stuff that people have tossed aside for whatever reasons.”

But in order to do this, we must be keenly aware of where to look. “All it takes to uncover hidden gems is a clear eye, an open mind, and a willingness to search for inspiration in places other people aren’t willing or able to go.”

One thing you will encounter when declaring your love for certain things is that other people will vehemently disagree with you. But you can’t let that discourage you from loving something. “You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences.”

You must be willing to stick by the things you like. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. “When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don’t feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.”

We must have the courage and conviction to stick by our so called guilty pleasures. If we don’t, what kind of person would that make us? We must embrace all the things that make us who we are, even if others don’t agree.

Credit is Always Due

One of the problems with the way the internet works is that, often times, creators don’t get credit for what they do. There are many examples of people, all over the internet, who use an image on their site without crediting the artist.

Let’s for a moment forget about the legal ramifications of such an act. It is just common decency to credit the artist with the work they created, especially if you like it.

Kleon believes when you don’t give credit to the original creator, you are not only robbing them, but you are also robbing your audience. “[I]f you fail to properly attribute work that you share, you not only rob the person who made it, you rob all the people you’ve shared it with. Without attribution, they have no way to dig deeper into the work or find more of it.

He also believes we should provide as much context as possible when sharing someone else’s work. “Attribution is all about providing context for what you’re sharing: what the work is, who made it, how they made it, when and where it was made, why you’re sharing it, why people should care about it, and where people can see some more work like it.”

If you truly respect the work of another artist, it is your duty to share as much as you can about their work. It all comes back to the golden rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If you like the work of another artist, share their story. In return others will be more compelled to do the same for you.

5. Tell Good Stories

Photo by COD Newsroom

Work Doesn’t Speak for Itself

One of the most surprising facts about art is that  art does not speak for itself. To start off this section, Austin talked about two identical looking paintings on a wall. Without knowing the stories behind them, you would think they were created by the same person. But when you learn about the paintings, you discover one was created by a 17th century Dutch master and the other was a forgery by an art student. At that moment, your perception immediately shifts.

Another example he gives is from the book Significant Objects, where Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker created an experiment to test the power of stories. Their hypothesis was: “Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.” So they went out to thrift stores and flea markets and paid a total of $128.74 for some objects with an average cost of $1.25. Then they went onto eBay and invented stories for each object and listed them for the original price they paid. By the end of the experiment, they sold those same objects for $3,612.51.

As artists, we believe our work speaks for itself, but that simply is not the case. Kleon explains it succinctly, “Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work effects how they value it.”

Since our art doesn’t speak for itself, we have to learn to tell better stories. “If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller. You need to know what a good story is and how to tell one.”

Structure is Everything.

Telling our own stories is extremely important and also quite difficult. While good stories are tidy and logical, life is messy and illogical. The best thing we can do is try to crop and edit our lives into something that looks like a story.

Kleon distills stories into three parts: the initial problem, the work to solve the problem, and the solution. This sounds great in theory, but the difficulty lies in the fact that, when we’re in the middle of our story, we don’t know we’re in a story at all. We don’t know how far we are into the journey or how that journey is going to end.

Luckily, there’s a way to tell open-ended stories where we acknowledge that fact. Here’s how Austin explains it, “Every client presentation, every personal essay, every cover letter, every fund-raising request— they’re all pitches. They’re stories with the endings chopped off.” He goes on by showing how our pitches fit a story’s structure, “A good pitch is set up in three acts: The first act is the past, the second act is the present, and the third act is the future.”

He ends this section with some advice on telling a good story, “Whether you’re telling a finished or unfinished story, always keep your audience in mind. Speak to them directly in plain language. Value their time. Be brief. Learn to speak. Learn to write.”

Storytelling does not come easy to everyone. It’s something that can take a lifetime to master. You just have to study great stories and create some of your own.

Talk About Yourself at Parties.

One of the most uncomfortable situations you can have at a party is fumbling to find an answer when someone asks you what you do. “Am I a painter?” “Am I an artist?” “How do I explain my work?”

Austin recommends treating these situations as opportunities to connect with people instead of treating them like interrogations. We need to be able to explain our work to anybody who is interested. “You should be able to explain your work to a kindergartner, a senior citizen, and everybody in between.”

One thing you need to always keep in mind is who your audience is. The introduction you make at a party is completely different than one you would make at a networking event.

Another thing you need to do is put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Most people won’t know what you do, even when you explain your work to them. Here’s some great advice from Austin, “Have empathy for your audience. Anticipate blank stares. Be ready for more questions. Answer patiently and politely.”

These same principles apply when you are writing your bio. Stop embellishing your words. Kleon believes bios should be short and to the point.”Bios are not the place to practice your creativity… a two-sentence explanation is usually what the world wants from us. Keep it short and sweet.”

6. Teach What You Know.

Photo by Nathan Russell

Share Your Trade Secrets.

Many of us are afraid to share our process with the world. We believe that once we share our knowledge, people won’t need to buy our work. We believe we’ll create competition for ourselves. But that’s not the way it works. If you are great at your craft, it likely took you years to get there.

Austin believes you can only master something through practice. “There’s an intuition that you only gain through the repetition of practice.” And he’s right. Have you ever tried something new and were immediately great at it? Probably not.

In the book, Kleon gives the example of the owner of a barbecue stop. The owner was taping a segment with the local PBS station and he was walking people through every step of his barbecue process. While most people would be afraid of sharing their secrets with the world, the BBQ stop owner knew it would take years to master his cooking style. He knew that if people attempted to follow his process exactly, they still wouldn’t be able replicate the same taste. Instead of detracting people from buying from him, he attracted even more people because it is so hard to replicate his food.

This is how Austin explains it, “Teaching doesn’t mean instant competition. Just because you know the master’s technique doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to emulate it right away.” Instead, he believes you should share everything you learn. “The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others.” When you do this you add value to and generate interest in your work. “People feel closer to your work because you’re letting them in on what you know.”

7. Don’t Turn Into Human Spam.

Photo by janet galore

Shut Up and Listen.

If you are someone who just shoves your art in front of people without learning how the art market works, you are in for some trouble. Austin calls these people human spam. “They’re everywhere, and they exist in every profession. They don’t want to pay their dues, they want their piece right here, right now. They don’t want to listen to your ideas; they want to tell you theirs.”

You don’t want to be human spam. These people are only interested in themselves. They can’t find the time to be interested in anything else.

Instead of always pushing your own work, find out how you can be a collaborator. “No matter how famous they get, the forward-thinking artists of today aren’t just looking for fans or passive consumers of their work, they’re looking for potential collaborators, or co-conspirators. These artists acknowledge that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that the experience of art is always a two-way street, incomplete without feedback,” says Kleon.

One of the best pieces of advice Austin gives is on how to build your fan base and community. “If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community. If you’re only pointing to your own stuff online, you’re doing it wrong. You have to be a connector.”

Connectors are the ones who make messages spread like wildfire. They are the ones who can make an introduction for you at a moment’s notice. They are the ones who help communities grow and flourish. Don’t be human spam. Be a connector.

You Want Hearts, Not Eyeballs.

One of the misconceptions artists have about building their presence online is they think the key to success is having a lot of followers. While it does help to have followers, you should worry more about the quality of your followers.

Here is what Austin has to say about the quality vs. the quantity of your followers. “Stop worrying about how many people follow you online and start worrying about the quality of people who follow you. Don’t waste your time reading articles about how to get more followers. Don’t waste time following people online just because you think it’ll get you somewhere.” I agree. It is more helpful to have 100 passionate fans than it is to have 1,000 tepid fans.

The best way to do this is to be someone worth following. Your work needs to be so good that people want to talk about it, and the only way you can do that is to make great work and talk about it. “Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.”

Identify Your Fellow Knuckleballers.

In this section, Kleon talks about the brotherhood of knuckleball pitchers in baseball. While most pitchers guard the secrets behind their pitches, knuckleballers share tips with each other. “Knuckleball pitchers are basically the ugly ducklings of baseball. Because there are so few of them, they actually form a kind of brotherhood, and they often get together and share tips with one another.”

Most artists try to guard their secrets from everyone else, but there are a few who are open and willing to teach you what they know. These are the knuckleballers of the art world. They are your friends.

Austin believes you should befriend them because we are all on a shared mission. These are the people who “share your obsessions, the people who share a similar mission to your own, the people with whom you share a mutual respect.”

You need to befriend them because their are so few of them. “Do what you can to nurture your relationships with these people. Sing their praises to the universe. Invite them to collaborate. Show them work before you show anybody else. Call them on the phone and share your secrets. Keep them as close as you can.”

Meet Up in Meatspace.

One of the great things about building your presence online is, you are becoming part of a community. Austin believes the relationships we form allow us to ignore the small talk and get right to the big ideas. “There’s never any small talk— we know all about one another and what one another does. We can just sip beer or some other social lubricant and talk about big ideas.”

Another benefit is, you can meet up with people you’ve met online when you’re traveling. “If you’re traveling, let your online friends know you’re going to be in town. I like asking my artist friends to take me to their favorite art museums and asking my writer friends to take me to their favorite bookstore. If we get sick of talking to one another, we can browse, and if we get sick of browsing, we can grab a coffee in the café.”

Turn your online friendships into real life friends. It will make your travel much more fun and it will strengthen your friendships. “Meeting people online is awesome, but turning them into IRL friends is even better.”

8. Learn to Take a Punch

Photo by Ryan McGuire

Let ‘Em Take Their Best Shot.

Criticism is a touchy subject for artists. Although we know it is necessary, it doesn’t make it any easier to take. But if you want to become a successful artist, you have to take the bad with the good, and that means learning to take criticism. “When you put your work out into the world, you have to be ready for the good, the bad, and the ugly. The more people come across your work, the more criticism you’ll face.” says Kleon.

Luckily he has some helpful tips for us:

Relax and breathe. Instead of dwelling on good or bad reviews, accept whatever comes.

Strengthen your neck. Put out a lot of work and let people criticize it. The best way to overcome criticism is to get used to it.

Roll with the punches. Continue creating work no matter what. You can’t stop people from criticizing your work, but you can control your reaction to that criticism.

Protect your vulnerable areas. Keep vulnerable details hidden from public view, but remember, vulnerability also connects us with others. Find the right balance of vulnerability and secrecy.

Keep your balance. Remember that you are not your work. Stay close with those who care about you and will support you no matter what.

Don’t Feed the Trolls.

One of the beautiful things about being an artist is that many people get to see your work. It also leads to one of the biggest negatives of being an artist, the trolls that come out when you release your work. “A troll is a person who isn’t interested in improving your work, only provoking you with hateful, aggressive, or upsetting talk.”

That’s why Austin stresses the need to be wary about who we listen to. “The first step in evaluating feedback is sizing up who it came from. You want feedback from people who care about you and what you do. Be extra wary of feedback from anybody who falls outside of that circle.”

While we can filter out most of the people who try to tear us down, there is one troll that is hard not to listen to: ourselves. “The worst trolls is the one that lives in your head. It’s the voice that tells you you’re not good enough, that you suck, and that you’ll never amount to anything.”

Austin recommends using the block button on social media sites. We need to delete nasty comments from our lives because if we listen to them, they can paralyze us. You also have the option of removing the ability to comment all together. “Let people contact you directly or let them copy your work over to their own spaces and talk about it all they want.”

9. Sell Out

Photo by Skitterphoto

Even the Renaissance Had to be Funded.

This statement about money and art by Austin has to be one of the most profound things I’ve ever read. “Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust fund, an arts grant, or a patron.”

This concept is often overlooked by artists who want to make a career out of their art: artists need money to create. You can continue to make art for arts sake, but at a certain point, if you want to become a working artist, you need money to do it.

Austin blames the starving artist mindset. “We all have to get over our ‘starving artist’ romanticism and the idea that touching money inherently corrupts creativity.” He’s right. How do you think he was able to write his books?

Austin even gives some great examples of artists making money. Michelangelo was commissioned by the Pope to paint the Sistine Chapel. Mario Puzo wrote the Godfather because he owed people money. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote songs to pay for things like swimming pools.

Another great point he makes is that everyone wants artists to make money but “when they do, everybody hates them for it.” This type of thinking needs to end. We need to stop calling people sellouts. Instead let’s aspire to sell out of our work.

Pass Around the Hat.

When your work starts to gain attention, it might be time to get paid for it. There are a few ways you can do this:

Asking for Donations

If you put a donation button on your site, remember to make it sound more human. Austin suggest something along the lines of “Like this? Buy me a coffee.”

Crowdfunding Platforms

If you want upfront capital, you can use platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo who offer fund-raising campaigns with tiered rewards for donors. One successful example of an artist using crowdfunding is Amanda Palmer. After sharing her work and cultivating relationships with her fans, she asked for $100,000 to help record her album, but she ended up raising more than a million dollars.

The Old-Fashioned Way

You can also use the old-fashioned model and sell your work on your site. This is the method that Kleon uses on his sites. Instead of donation buttons, he has buy now and hire me buttons. Even so, he tries to incorporate some of the principles from crowdfunding. “I try to be open about my process, connect with my audience, and ask them to support me by buying the things I’m selling.”

Caveat

One thing to remember when attempting to make money from your work is, you have to put out work that has value. “Whether you ask for donations, crowdfund, or sell your products or services, asking for money in return for your work is a leap you want to take only when you feel confident that you’re putting work out into the world that you think is truly worth something. Don’t be afraid to charge for your work, but put a price on it that you think is fair.”

Keep a Mailing List.

People will often cite the death of the email list, yet it just keep on chugging along. Austin believes we need to have an email list even if we aren’t selling anything yet. “Even if you don’t have anything to sell right now, you should always be collecting email addresses from people who come across your work and want to stay in touch.”

There are people who run multi-million-dollar businesses from their mailing list by simply giving away great information on their sites, collecting emails, and sending emails when they have something remarkable to share or sell.

All you need to do is sign up for a newsletter account with a company like Mailchimp. Then add a sign-up widget to every page on your site. But also remember to encourage people to sign up by giving  them a clear reason to do so. You should also consider mentioning how often you will be sending updates.

One thing Austin has discovered about his email list is “The People who sign up for your list will be some of your biggest supporters.” So just remember “Don’t betray their trust and don’t push your luck. Build your list and treat it with respect.”

Make More Work for Yourself.

If there’s one important thing we can take away from Austin, it’s that selling out is not a thing. “Some awful people use the term sellout to include any artist who dares to have any ambition whatsoever.”

Just because you want to advance your career and make a living from your art does not mean you are selling out. What we should focus on is creating good work and taking the opportunities that come to us.

Our lives and our art are about evolution and change. Without either, you will stay stagnant or become dispassionate. All the great artists of the world had phases where they grew and evolved their artistic style. “A life of creativity is all about change—moving forward, taking chances, exploring new frontiers,” says Kleon.

We need to develop a growth mindset instead of a mindset of scarcity. Austin ends this section with these wise words, “Be ambitious. Keep yourself busy. Think bigger. Expand your audience. Don’t hobble yourself in the name of ‘keeping it real,’ or ‘not selling out.'”

And he gives some great advice for determining whether you should take an opportunity. “Try new things. If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kind of work you want to do, say Yes. If an opportunity comes along that would mean more money, but less of the kind of work you want to do, say No.”

Pay It Forward.

When you achieve success, it is better to share what you’ve found. Just like what Austin does with his books, and just like I’m trying to do with my own writing. “When you have success it’s important to use any dough, clout, or platform you’ve acquired to help along the work of the people who’ve helped you get to where you are,” says Kleon.

Of course this comes with a caveat. You have to spend your time wisely as well. At a certain point, you have to decide what you want to say yes to and what to say no to. The way Austin overcomes this is by offering office hours on his site. “Once a month, I make myself available so that anybody can ask me anything on my website, and I try to give thoughtful answers that I then post so anyone can see.”

Austin believes the key is finding the balance between your work and giving. “You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.”

10. Stick Around

Photo by Mosman Council

Don’t Quit Your Show.

I know you’ve thought about doing it many times before, but don’t quit. It’s so easy to give up, to let other people take your spot, to let go of your dreams.

We all have the capacity to succeed. It’s usually a matter of when, not if. Just like every success story, you don’t know where you are in your journey until you look back on it. Kleon believes many of us are just in the middle of our stories. “Every career is full of ups and downs, and just like with stories, when you’re in the middle of living out your life and career, you don’t know whether you’re up or down or what’s about to happen next.”

Austin believes the most important thing is not to give up prematurely. “The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough. It’s very important not to quit prematurely.”

After all we can’t expect success, but we can be open to it. “You can’t count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.”

So stop worrying about your lack of success. If it is meant to be, it will come. If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to wait long enough to get it.

Chain-Smoke.

Have you ever finished a project and thought ‘Now what?’ Have you ever worked on a project for so long that you let it make or break you? Have you ever wondered how successful creators keep making such great work?

If you’ve ever been stuck after finishing a project, Austin has an answer that will solve your problems. It’s not sexy or glamorous ,but it will work regardless of whether your last project was a success or failure. It’s been the formula for every creator who has had success, “If you look to artists who’ve managed to achieve lifelong careers, you detect the same pattern: They all have been able to persevere, regardless of success or failure,” says Kleon.

The thing that all these artists have in common is something Austin calls chain-smoking. You can stop your career from stalling by never losing momentum, and here’s how: “Instead of taking a break in between projects, waiting for feedback, and worrying about what’s next, use the end of one project to light up the next one. Just do the work that’s in front of you, and when it’s finished, ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project.”

Don’t wait for inspiration or the Muse to come to you. Take the momentum from your previous project and let it feed into your next one. It’s how every successful creative person is able to sustain their careers.

Go Away So You Can Come Back.

The problem with constantly working on your next project is, at some point, you will burn out. The best thing you can do at that point is taking a sabbatical.

Austin points to Stefan Sagmeister as an example of how sabbaticals can be extremely helpful. Every seven years, the award winning designer shuts down his studio and takes a year off. Here’s what Sagmeister says about sabbaticals, “Everything that we designed in the seven years following the first sabbatical had its roots in thinking done during that sabbatical.”

Not everyone can take a year long sabbatical every seven years, but we can take what Kleon calls practical sabbaticals: daily, weekly, or monthly breaks where we completely walk away from our work.

Here are some ways to do it:

Commute. If you take a train or subway to work, take that time to write, doodle, or read. You can also listen to audio books if you drive to work.

Exercise. When we exercise our bodies, it gives our minds a break and opens us up to new thoughts.

Nature. Go outside and disconnect from anything electronic. This gives us a nice break from our digital lives.

Start Over. Begin Again.

Have you ever felt like you got so good at doing something that you were no longer creatively fulfilled by it? If you have, then it is time to move on and learn something new. Austin believes this is the best way to evolve. “When you feel like you’ve learned whatever there is to learn from what you’re doing, it’s time to change course and find something new to learn so that you can move forward. You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.”

The only way to do this is to push your old work aside and start something new. Making way for new work pushes you further and helps you create something better. “You have to have the courage to get rid of work and rethink things completely,” says Kleon.

Besides, you are never really starting over. The lessons you’ve learned along the way are all still with you, and they make your work better. Instead of thinking of it as starting over, think of it as beginning again. Approach it from the mindset of an amateur.

Austin ends the book beautifully by telling us to all become beginners again.

“Look for something new to learn, and when you find it, dedicate yourself to learning it out in the open. Document your progress and share as you go so that others can learn along with you. Show your work, and when the right people show up, pay close attention to them, because they’ll have a lot to show you.”

—

Conclusion

As you can see, Show Your Work! is a beautiful primer for artists who want to make it in the ever growing ever competitive art world. While other artists continue trying to keep their art and their lives a guarded secret, Austin advocates sharing yourself with the world. When you do this you build a stronger connection with your fans and followers. You create a cycle of giving and sharing that reaches beyond your own audience. It helps give permission to other artists to do this same. If you enjoyed this review, I highly recommend checking out Austin’s book. It’s well worth the investment.

Buy Show Your Work!

Show Your Work! Kindle Highlights

“Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” —John Cleese
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You don’t really find an audience for your work; they find you. But it’s not enough to be good. In order to be found, you have to be findable.
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Almost all of the people I look up to and try to steal from today, regardless of their profession, have built sharing into their routine.
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They’re cranking away in their studios, their laboratories, or their cubicles, but instead of maintaining absolute secrecy and hoarding their work, they’re open about what they’re working on, and they’re consistently posting bits and pieces of their work, their ideas, and what they’re learning online.
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By generously sharing their ideas and their knowledge, they often gain an audience that they can then leverage when they need it—for fellowship, feedback, or patronage.
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“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.” —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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There are a lot of destructive myths about creativity, but one of the most dangerous is the “lone genius” myth: An individual with superhuman talents appears out of nowhere at certain points in history, free of influences or precedent, with a direct connection to God or The Muse. When inspiration comes, it strikes like a lightning bolt, a lightbulb switches on in his head, and then he spends the rest of his time toiling away in his studio, shaping this idea into a finished masterpiece that he releases into the world to great fanfare.
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There’s a healthier way of thinking about creativity that the musician Brian Eno refers to as “scenius.” Under this model, great ideas are often birthed by a group of creative individuals—artists, curators, thinkers, theorists, and other tastemakers—who make up an “ecology of talent.”
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Scenius doesn’t take away from the achievements of those great individuals; it just acknowledges that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that creativity is always, in some sense, a collaboration, the result of a mind connected to other minds.
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Being a valuable part of a scenius is not necessarily about how smart or talented you are, but about what you have to contribute—the ideas you share, the quality of the connections you make, and the conversations you start.
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forget about genius and think more about how we can nurture and contribute to a scenius,
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adjust our own expectations
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stop asking what others can do for us, and start asking what we can do for others.
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We live in an age where it’s easier than ever to join a scenius. The Internet is basically a bunch of sceniuses connected together, divorced from physical geography.
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There’s no bouncer, no gatekeeper, and no barrier to entering these scenes:
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Online, everyone—the artist and the curator, the master and the apprentice, the expert and the amateur—has the ability to contribute something.
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“That’s all any of us are: amateurs. We don’t live long enough to be anything else.” —Charlie Chaplin
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We’re all terrified of being revealed as amateurs, but in fact, today it is the amateur—the enthusiast who pursues her work in the spirit of love (in French, the word means “lover”), regardless of the potential for fame, money, or career—who often has the advantage over the professional.
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they have little to lose, amateurs are willing to try anything and share the results. They take chances, experiment, and follow their whims.
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they make new discoveries.
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Amateurs are not afraid to make mistakes or look ridiculous in public.
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“The stupidest possible creative act is still a creative act,” writes Clay Shirky
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“On the spectrum of creative work, the difference between the mediocre and the good is vast. Mediocrity is, however, still on the spectrum; you can move from mediocre to good in increments. The real gap is between doing nothing and doing something.”
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Amateurs know that contributing something is better than contributing nothing.
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Amateurs might lack formal training, but they’re all lifelong learners, and they make a point of learning in the open, so that others can learn from their failures and successes.
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Amateurs fit the same bill: They’re just regular people who get obsessed by something and spend a ton of time thinking out loud about it.
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Sometimes, amateurs have more to teach us than experts.
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“The fellow-pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. The expert met it so long ago he has forgotten.”
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Raw enthusiasm is contagious.
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The world is changing at such a rapid rate that it’s turning us all into amateurs. Even for professionals, the best way to flourish is to retain an amateur’s spirit and embrace uncertainty and the unknown.
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When Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke was asked what he thought his greatest strength was, he answered, “That I don’t know what I’m doing.”
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whenever Yorke feels like his songwriting is getting too comfortable or stale, he’ll pick up an instrument he doesn’t know how to play and try to write with it.
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amateurs—they’ll use whatever tools they can get their hands on to try to get their ideas into the world.
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The best way to get started on the path to sharing your work is to think about what you want to learn, and make a commitment to learning it in front of others.
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Find a scenius, pay attention to what others are sharing, and then start taking note of what they’re not sharing.
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Forget about being an expert or a professional, and wear your amateurism (your heart, your love) on your sleeve.
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Share what you love, and the people who love the same things will find you.
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“Find your voice, shout it from the rooftops, and keep doing it until the people that are looking for you find you.” — Dan Harmon
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the only way to find your voice is to use it.
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Talk about the things you love. Your voice will follow.
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When the late film critic Roger Ebert went through several intense surgeries to treat his cancer, he lost the ability to speak.
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Cut off from everyday conversation, he poured himself into tweeting, posting to Facebook, and blogging
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He ripped out posts at a breakneck speed, writing thousands and thousands of words about everything he could think of—his
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Hundreds and hundreds of people would respond to his posts, and he would respond back. Blogging became his primary way of communicating with the world.
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“Mr. Ebert writes as if it were a matter of life and death,” wrote journalist Janet Maslin, “because it is.” Ebert was blogging because he had to blog—because it was a matter of being heard, or not being heard. A matter of existing or not existing.
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in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist.
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If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share.
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“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked.” —Steve Jobs
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One day you’ll be dead. Most of us prefer to ignore this most basic fact of life, but thinking about our inevitable end has a way of putting everything into perspective.
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I’m not going to sit here and wait for things to happen, I’m going to make them happen, and if people think I’m an idiot I don’t care.”
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if you could walk around like that all the time, to really have that awareness that it’s actually going to end. That’s the trick.”
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Unfortunately, I am a coward. As much as I would like the existential euphoria that comes with it, I don’t really want a near-death experience.
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But I do somehow want to remember that it’s coming for me.
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Obituaries are like near-death experiences for cowards. Reading them is a way for me to think about death while also keeping it at arm’s length.
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Obituaries aren’t really about death; they’re about life. “The sum of every obituary is how heroic people are, and how noble,” writes artist Maira Kalman.
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Thinking about death every morning makes me want to live.
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Take inspiration from the people who muddled through life before you—they all started out as amateurs, and they got where they were going by making do with what they were given, and having the guts to put themselves out there.
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“A lot of people are so used to just seeing the outcome of work. They never see the side of the work you go through to produce the outcome.” —Michael Jackson
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When a painter talks about her “work,” she could be talking about two different things: There’s the artwork, the finished piece, framed and hung on a gallery wall, and there’s the art work, all the day-to-day stuff that goes on behind the scenes in her studio: looking for inspiration, getting an idea, applying oil to a canvas, etc.
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As in all kinds of work, there is a distinction between the painter’s process, and the products of her process.
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Traditionally, the artist has been trained to regard her creative process as something that should be kept to herself.
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David Bayles and Ted Orland in their book, Art and Fear: “To all viewers but yourself, what matters is the product: the finished artwork. To you, and you alone, what matters is the process: the experience of shaping the artwork.”
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“The private details of artmaking are utterly uninteresting to audiences,” write Bayles and Orland, “because they’re almost never visible—or even knowable—from examining the finished work.”
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This all made sense in a pre-digital age,
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But today, by taking advantage of the Internet and social media, an artist can share whatever she wants, whenever she wants, at almost no cost. She can decide exactly how much or how little of her work and herself she will share, and she can be as open about her process as she wants to—she
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By sharing her day-to-day process—the thing she really cares about—she can form a unique bond with her audience.
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To many artists, particularly those who grew up in the pre-digital era, this kind of openness and the potential vulnerability that goes along with sharing one’s process is a terrifying idea.
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human beings are interested in other human beings and what other human beings do. “People really do want to see how the sausage gets made.” That’s how designers Dan Provost and Tom Gerhardt put it in their book on entrepreneurship, It Will Be Exhilarating.
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“By putting things out there, consistently, you can form a relationship with your customers. It allows them to see the person behind the products.”
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Audiences not only want to stumble across great work, but they, too, long to be creative and part of the creative process.
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By letting go of our egos and sharing our process, we allow for the possibility of people having an ongoing connection with us and our work, which helps us move more of our product.
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“In order for connection to happen, we have to allow ourselves to be seen—really seen.” —Brené Brown
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Hadfield and his family were sitting around the dinner table, trying to figure out ways to generate interest for the Canadian Space Agency,
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Things fell into place when his sons explained social media to him and got him set up on Twitter and other social networks.
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During his next five-month mission, while performing all his regular astronautical duties, he tweeted, answered questions from his followers, posted pictures he’d taken of Earth, recorded music, and filmed YouTube videos of himself clipping his nails, brushing his teeth, sleeping, and even performing maintenance on the space station. Millions of people ate it all up,
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whatever the nature of your work, there is an art to what you do, and there are people who would be interested in that art, if only you presented it to them in the right way.
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sharing your process might actually be most valuable if the products of your work aren’t easily shared,
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How can you show your work even when you have nothing to show? The first step is to scoop up the scraps and the residue of your process and shape them into some interesting bit of media that you can share. You have to turn the invisible into something other people can see.
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Become a documentarian of what you do. Start a work journal: Write your thoughts down in a notebook, or speak them into an audio recorder. Keep a scrapbook. Take a lot of photographs of your work at different stages in your process.
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This isn’t about making art, it’s about simply keeping track of what’s going on around you. Take advantage of all the cheap, easy tools at your disposal—these days,
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Whether you share it or not, documenting and recording your process as you go along has its own rewards: You’ll start to see the work you’re doing more clearly and feel like you’re making progress.
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“Put yourself, and your work, out there every day, and you’ll start meeting some amazing people.” —Bobby Solomon
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Overnight success is a myth. Dig into almost every overnight success story and you’ll find about a decade’s worth of hard work and perseverance.
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Building a substantial body of work takes a long time—a lifetime,
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you don’t need that time all in one big chunk.
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Focus on days.
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The day is the only unit of time that I can really get my head around. Seasons change, weeks are completely human-made, but the day has a rhythm.
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Once a day, after you’ve done your day’s work, go back to your documentation and find one little piece of your process that you can share.
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A daily dispatch is even better than a résumé or a portfolio, because it shows what we’re working on right now.
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A good daily dispatch is like getting all the DVD extras before a movie comes out—you get to watch deleted scenes and listen to director’s commentary while the movie is being made.
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Social media sites are the perfect place to share daily updates. Don’t worry about being on every platform; pick and choose based on what you do and the people you’re trying to reach.
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The landscape is constantly changing, and new platforms are always popping up . . . and disappearing.
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Don’t be afraid to be an early adopter—jump on a new platform and see if there’s something interesting you can do with it.
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Don’t worry about everything you post being perfect.
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The trouble is, we don’t always know what’s good and what sucks. That’s why it’s important to get things in front of others and see how they react.
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Don’t say you don’t have enough time. We’re all busy, but we all get 24 hours a day.
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People often ask me, “How do you find the time for all this?” And I answer, “I look for it.” You find time the same place you find spare change: in the nooks and crannies.
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I like to work while the world is sleeping, and share while the world is at work.
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Of course, don’t let sharing your work take precedence over actually doing your work.
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“One day at a time. It sounds so simple. It actually is simple but it isn’t easy: It requires incredible support and fastidious structuring.” —Russell Brand
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“Make no mistake: This is not your diary. You are not letting it all hang out. You are picking and choosing every single word.” —Dani Shapiro
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Always remember that anything you post to the Internet has now become public.
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Ideally, you want the work you post online to be copied and spread to every corner of the Internet, so don’t post things online that you’re not ready for everyone in the world to see.
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Be open, share imperfect and unfinished work that you want feedback on, but don’t share absolutely everything.
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The act of sharing is one of generosity—you’re putting something out there because you think it might be helpful or entertaining to someone on the other side of the screen.
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Always be sure to run everything you share with others through The “So What?” Test.
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If you’re unsure about whether to share something, let it sit for 24 hours. Put it in a drawer and walk out the door. The next day, take it out and look at it with fresh eyes. Ask yourself, “Is this helpful? Is it entertaining? Is it something I’d be comfortable with my boss or my mother seeing?”
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“If you work on something a little bit every day, you end up with something that is massive.” —Kenneth Goldsmith
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“Stock and flow” is an economic concept that writer Robin Sloan has adapted into a metaphor for media: “Flow is the feed. It’s the posts and the tweets. It’s the stream of daily and sub-daily updates that remind people you exist. Stock is the durable stuff. It’s the content you produce that’s as interesting in two months (or two years) as it is today. It’s what people discover via search. It’s what spreads slowly but surely, building fans over time.”
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maintain your flow while working on your stock in the background.
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stock is best made by collecting, organizing, and expanding upon your flow.
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the thing about keeping notebooks is that you have to revisit them in order to make the most out of them. You have to flip back through old ideas to see what you’ve been thinking.
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find patterns in your flow.
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a lot of the ideas in this book started out as tweets, which then became blog posts, which then became book chapters. Small things, over time, can get big.
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“Carving out a space for yourself online, somewhere where you can express yourself and share your work, is still one of the best possible investments you can make with your time.” —Andy Baio
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If you’re really interested in sharing your work and expressing yourself, nothing beats owning your own space online, a place that you control, a place that no one can take away from you, a world headquarters where people can always find you.
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I was a complete amateur with no skills when I began building my website: It started off bare bones and ugly.
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A blog is the ideal machine for turning flow into stock: One little blog post is nothing on its own, but publish a thousand blog posts over a decade, and it turns into your life’s work.
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Absolutely everything good that has happened in my career can be traced back to my blog.
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Don’t think of your website as a self-promotion machine, think of it as a self-invention machine. Online, you can become the person you really want to be. Fill your website with your work and your ideas and the stuff you care about.
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Stick with it, maintain it, and let it change with you over time.
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Patti Smith got this advice from William Burroughs: “Build a good name. Keep your name clean. Don’t make compromises. Don’t worry about making a bunch of money or being successful. Be concerned with doing good work . . . and if you can build a good name, eventually that name will be its own currency.”
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The beauty of owning your own turf is that you can do whatever you want with it.
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Whether people show up or they don’t, you’re out there, doing your thing, ready whenever they are.
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“The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually, you’ll become stale. If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish. . . . Somehow the more you give away, the more comes back to you.” —Paul Arden
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If you happened to be wealthy
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and educated and alive in 16th- and 17th-century Europe, it was fashionable to have a Wunderkammern, a “wonder chamber,” or a “cabinet of curiosities” in your house—a room filled with rare and remarkable objects
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These collections often juxtaposed both natural and human-made marvels, revealing a kind of mash-up of handiwork by both God and human beings.
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We all have our own treasured collections.
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We all carry around the weird and wonderful things we’ve come across while doing our work and living our lives. These mental scrapbooks form our tastes, and our tastes influence our work.
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reading feeds the writing, which feeds the reading. “I’m basically a curator,” says the writer and former bookseller Jonathan Lethem. “Making books has always felt very connected to my bookselling experience, that of wanting to draw people’s attention to things that I liked, to shape things that I liked into new shapes.”
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Our tastes make us what we are, but they can also cast a shadow over our own work.
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there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.”
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Your influences are all worth sharing because they clue people in to who you are and what you do—sometimes even more than your own work.
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“I don’t believe in guilty pleasures. If you f—ing like something, like it.” —Dave Grohl
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“Dumpster diving” is one of the jobs of the artist—finding the treasure in other people’s trash, sifting through the debris of our culture, paying attention to the stuff that everyone else is ignoring, and taking inspiration from the stuff that people have tossed aside for whatever reasons.
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Michel de Montaigne, in his essay “On Experience,” wrote, “In my opinion, the most ordinary things, the most common and familiar, if we could see them in their true light, would turn out to be the grandest miracles . . . and the most marvelous examples.”
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All it takes to uncover hidden gems is a clear eye, an open mind, and a willingness to search for inspiration in places other people aren’t willing or able to go.
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You have to have the courage to keep loving your garbage, because what makes us unique is the diversity and breadth of our influences,
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When you find things you genuinely enjoy, don’t let anyone else make you feel bad about it. Don’t feel guilty about the pleasure you take in the things you enjoy. Celebrate them.
LOCATION: 353

Don’t give in to the pressure to self-edit too much.
LOCATION: 355

Don’t try to be hip or cool. Being open and honest about what you like is the best way to connect with people who like those things, too.
LOCATION: 356

“Do what you do best and link to the rest.” —Jeff Jarvis
LOCATION: 358

If you share the work of others, it’s your duty to make sure that the creators of that work get proper credit.
LOCATION: 360

You should always share the work of others as if it were your own, treating it with respect and care.
LOCATION: 361

When we make the case for crediting our sources, most of us concentrate on the plight of the original creator of the work. But that’s only half of the story—if you fail to properly attribute work that you share, you not only rob the person who made it, you rob all the people you’ve shared it with.
LOCATION: 362

Attribution is all about providing context for what you’re sharing: what the work is, who made it, how they made it, when and where it was made, why you’re sharing it, why people should care about it, and where people can see some more work like it.
LOCATION: 366

Another form of attribution that we often neglect is where we found the work that we’re sharing.
LOCATION: 368

Online, the most important form of attribution is a hyperlink pointing back to the website of the creator of the work.
LOCATION: 372

Art forgery is a strange phenomenon. “You might think that the pleasure you get from a painting depends on its color and its shape and its pattern,” says psychology professor Paul Bloom. “And if that’s right, it shouldn’t matter whether it’s an original or a forgery.” But our brains don’t work that way. “When shown an object, or given a food, or shown a face, people’s assessment of it—how much they like it, how valuable it is—is deeply affected by what you tell them about it.”
LOCATION: 389

In their book, Significant Objects, Joshua Glenn and Rob Walker recount an experiment in which they set out to test this hypothesis: “Stories are such a powerful driver of emotional value that their effect on any given object’s subjective value can actually be measured objectively.”
LOCATION: 393

By the end of the experiment, they had sold $128.74 worth of trinkets for $3,612.51.
LOCATION: 398

“To fake a photograph, all you have to do is change the caption. To fake a painting, change the attribution.” —Errol Morris
LOCATION: 399

Words matter. Artists love to trot out the tired line, “My work speaks for itself,” but the truth is, our work doesn’t speak for itself.
LOCATION: 401

Human beings want to know where things came from, how they were made, and who made them. The stories you tell about the work you do have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about your work, and how people feel and what they understand about your work effects how they value it.
LOCATION: 402

“Why should we describe the frustrations and turning points in the lab,
LOCATION: 404

asks artist Rachel Sussman. “Because, rarified exceptions aside, our audience is a human one, and humans want to connect. Personal stories can make the complex more tangible, spark associations, and offer entry into things that might otherwise leave one cold.”
LOCATION: 405

Your work doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Whether you realize it or not, you’re already telling a story about your work.
LOCATION: 408

If you want to be more effective when sharing yourself and your work, you need to become a better storyteller. You need to know what a good story is and how to tell one.
LOCATION: 411

The most important part of a story is its structure. A good story structure is tidy, sturdy, and logical. Unfortunately, most of life is messy, uncertain, and illogical.
LOCATION: 417

Sometimes we have to do a lot of cropping and editing to fit our lives into something that resembles a story.
LOCATION: 418

Emma Coats, a former storyboard artist at Pixar, outlined the basic structure of a fairy tale as a kind of Mad Lib that you can fill in with your own elements: “Once upon a time, there was _____. Every day, _____. One day, _____. Because of that, _____. Because of that, _____. Until finally, _____.”
LOCATION: 421

Author John Gardner said the basic plot of nearly all stories is this: “A character wants something, goes after it despite opposition (perhaps including his own doubts), and so arrives at a win, lose, or draw.”
LOCATION: 426

I like Gardner’s plot formula because it’s also the shape of most creative work: You get a great idea, you go through the hard work of executing the idea, and then you release the idea out into the world, coming to a win, lose, or draw. Sometimes the idea succeeds, sometimes it fails, and more often than not, it does nothing at all.
LOCATION: 427

when you’re in the middle of a story, as most of us in life are, you don’t know if it’s a story at all, because you don’t know how far into it you are, and you don’t know how it’s going to end.
LOCATION: 431

Every client presentation, every personal essay, every cover letter, every fund-raising request—they’re all pitches. They’re stories with the endings chopped off.
LOCATION: 434

A good pitch is set up in three acts: The first act is the past, the second act is the present, and the third act is the future.
LOCATION: 435

Whether you’re telling a finished or unfinished story, always keep your audience in mind. Speak to them directly in plain language. Value their time. Be brief. Learn to speak. Learn to write.
LOCATION: 440

Everybody loves a good story, but good storytelling doesn’t come easy to everybody. It’s a skill that takes a lifetime to master. So study the great stories and then go find some of your own.
LOCATION: 443

You should be able to explain your work to a kindergartner, a senior citizen, and everybody in between. Of course, you always need to keep your audience in mind:
LOCATION: 454

Just because you’re trying to tell a good story about yourself doesn’t mean you’re inventing fiction. Stick to nonfiction. Tell the truth and tell it with dignity and self-respect.
LOCATION: 457

George Orwell wrote: “Autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.”
LOCATION: 463

Have empathy for your audience. Anticipate blank stares. Be ready for more questions. Answer patiently and politely.
LOCATION: 464

All the same principles apply when you start writing your bio. Bios are not the place to practice your creativity.
LOCATION: 466

a two-sentence explanation is usually what the world wants from us. Keep it short and sweet.
LOCATION: 467

Don’t get cute. Don’t brag. Just state the facts.
LOCATION: 469

“Whatever we say, we’re always talking about ourselves.” —Alison Bechdel
LOCATION: 471

“The impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.” —Annie Dillard
LOCATION: 475

There’s an intuition that you only gain through the repetition of practice.
LOCATION: 488

Teaching doesn’t mean instant competition. Just because you know the master’s technique doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to emulate it right away.
LOCATION: 490

In their book, Rework, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson encourage businesses to emulate chefs by out-teaching their competition. “What do you do? What are your ‘recipes’? What’s your ‘cookbook’? What can you tell the world about how you operate that’s informative, educational, and promotional?” They encourage businesses to figure out the equivalent of their own cooking show.
LOCATION: 497

Think about what you can share from your process that would inform the people you’re trying to reach.
LOCATION: 500

The minute you learn something, turn around and teach it to others. Share your reading list. Point to helpful reference materials. Create some tutorials and post them online. Use pictures, words, and video. Take people step-by-step through part of your process. As blogger Kathy Sierra says, “Make people better at something they want to be better at.”
LOCATION: 502

Teaching people doesn’t subtract value from what you do, it actually adds to it.
LOCATION: 505

when you share your knowledge and your work with others, you receive an education in return.
LOCATION: 507

Author Christopher Hitchens said that the great thing about putting out a book is that “it brings you into contact with people whose opinions you should have canvassed before you ever pressed pen to paper.
LOCATION: 508

He said that having his work out in the world was “a free education that goes on for a lifetime.”
LOCATION: 510

“When people realize they’re being listened to, they tell you things.” —Richard Ford
LOCATION: 514

As every writer knows, if you want to be a writer, you have to be a reader first.
LOCATION: 517

I call these people human spam. They’re everywhere, and they exist in every profession. They don’t want to pay their dues, they want their piece right here, right now. They don’t want to listen to your ideas; they want to tell you theirs.
LOCATION: 521

They can’t find the time to be interested in anything other than themselves.
LOCATION: 526

No matter how famous they get, the forward-thinking artists of today aren’t just looking for fans or passive consumers of their work, they’re looking for potential collaborators, or co-conspirators. These artists acknowledge that good work isn’t created in a vacuum, and that the experience of art is always a two-way street, incomplete without feedback.
LOCATION: 527

If you want fans, you have to be a fan first. If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community.
LOCATION: 538

You have to be a connector. The writer Blake Butler calls this being an open node. If you want to get, you have to give. If you want to be noticed, you have to notice. Shut up and listen once in a while. Be thoughtful. Be considerate.
LOCATION: 540

“What you want is to follow and be followed by human beings who care about issues you care about. This thing we make together. This thing is about hearts and minds, not eyeballs.” —Jeffrey Zeldman
LOCATION: 543

Stop worrying about how many people follow you online and start worrying about the quality of people who follow you.
LOCATION: 545

If you want followers, be someone worth following.
LOCATION: 548

If you want to be interesting, you have to be interested.
LOCATION: 551

It is actually true that life is all about “who you know.” But who you know is largely dependent on who you are and what you do, and the people you know can’t do anything for you if you’re not doing good work.
LOCATION: 553

Albini laments how many people waste time and energy trying to make connections instead of getting good at what they do, when “being good at things is the only thing that earns you clout or connections.”
LOCATION: 555

Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff. It’s that simple.
LOCATION: 557

“Whatever excites you, go do it. Whatever drains you, stop doing it.” —Derek Sivers
LOCATION: 561

If, after hanging out with someone you feel worn out and depleted, that person is a vampire.
LOCATION: 570

The Vampire Test works on many things in our lives, not just people—you can apply it to jobs, hobbies, places, etc.
LOCATION: 572

“Part of the act of creating is in discovering your own kind. They are everywhere. But don’t look for them in the wrong places.” —Henry Miller
LOCATION: 574

Knuckleball pitchers are basically the ugly ducklings of baseball. Because there are so few of them, they actually form a kind of brotherhood, and they often get together and share tips with one another.
LOCATION: 581

“Knuckleballers don’t keep secrets. It’s as if we have a greater mission beyond our own fortunes. And that mission is to pass it on, to keep the pitch alive.”
LOCATION: 585

As you put yourself and your work out there, you will run into your fellow knuckleballers. These are your real peers—the people who share your obsessions, the people who share a similar mission to your own, the people with whom you share a mutual respect.
LOCATION: 586

Do what you can to nurture your relationships with these people.
LOCATION: 588

“It’s all about paying attention. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others.” —Susan Sontag
LOCATION: 591

It freaks me out a little bit how many of my very favorite people in the world came into my life as ones and zeros.
LOCATION: 595

There’s never any small talk—we know all about one another and what one another does.
LOCATION: 597

I love the phenomenon of “meetups”—an online community throwing a party at a bar or a restaurant and inviting everybody to show up at a certain place and time.
LOCATION: 600

Meeting people online is awesome, but turning them into IRL friends is even better.
LOCATION: 607

“I ain’t going to give up. Every time you think I’m one place, I’m going to show up someplace else. I come pre-hated. Take your best shot.” —Cyndi Lauper
LOCATION: 611

Designer Mike Monteiro says that the most valuable skill he picked up in art school was learning how to take a punch.
LOCATION: 613

Those vicious critiques taught him not to take criticism personally.
LOCATION: 615

When you put your work out into the world, you have to be ready for the good, the bad, and the ugly. The more people come across your work, the more criticism you’ll face.
LOCATION: 616

Relax and breathe.
LOCATION: 617

The trouble with imaginative people is that we’re good at picturing the worst that could happen to us. Fear is often just the imagination taking a wrong turn.
LOCATION: 618

Take a deep breath and accept whatever comes.
LOCATION: 619

Strengthen your neck.
LOCATION: 621

The way to be able to take a punch is to practice getting hit a lot.
LOCATION: 621

The more criticism you take, the more you realize it can’t hurt you.
LOCATION: 623

Roll with the punches.
LOCATION: 623

Keep moving. Every piece of criticism is an opportunity for new work. You can’t control what sort of criticism you receive, but you can control how you react to it.
LOCATION: 624

Having your work hated by certain people is a badge of honor.
LOCATION: 626

Protect your vulnerable areas.
LOCATION: 627

If you have work that is too sensitive or too close to you to be exposed to criticism, keep it hidden.
LOCATION: 627

Colin Marshall says: “Compulsive avoidance of embarrassment is a form of suicide.” If you spend your life avoiding vulnerability, you and your work will never truly connect with other people.
LOCATION: 628

Keep your balance.
LOCATION: 629

You have to remember that your work is something you do, not who you are.
LOCATION: 630

Keep close to your family, friends, and the people who love you for you, not just the work.
LOCATION: 631

“The trick is not caring what EVERYBODY thinks of you and just caring about what the RIGHT people think of you.” —Brian Michael Bendis
LOCATION: 632

The first step in evaluating feedback is sizing up who it came from. You want feedback from people who care about you and what you do. Be extra wary of feedback from anybody who falls outside of that circle.
LOCATION: 634

A troll is a person who isn’t interested in improving your work, only provoking you with hateful, aggressive, or upsetting talk.
LOCATION: 636

Trolls can come out of nowhere and pop up in unexpected places.
LOCATION: 638

the worst troll is the one that lives in your head. It’s the voice that tells you you’re not good enough, that you suck, and that you’ll never amount to anything.
LOCATION: 644

Do you have a troll problem? Use the block button on social media sites. Delete nasty comments.
LOCATION: 647

Having a form for comments is the same as inviting comments. “There’s never a space under paintings in a gallery where someone writes their opinion,” says cartoonist Natalie Dee.
LOCATION: 650

Let people contact you directly or let them copy your work over to their own spaces and talk about it all they want.
LOCATION: 652

“Sellout . . . I’m not crazy about that word. We’re all entrepreneurs. To me, I don’t care if you own a furniture store or whatever—the best sign you can put up is sold out.” —Bill Withers
LOCATION: 656

Whether an artist makes money off his work or not, money has to come from somewhere, be it a day job, a wealthy spouse, a trust fund, an arts grant, or a patron.
LOCATION: 660

We all have to get over our “starving artist” romanticism and the idea that touching money inherently corrupts creativity.
LOCATION: 661

Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel ceiling because the pope commissioned him. Mario Puzo wrote The Godfather to make money:
LOCATION: 662

Paul McCartney has said that he and John Lennon used to sit down before a Beatles songwriting session and say, “Now, let’s write a swimming pool.”
LOCATION: 664

Everybody says they want artists to make money, and then when they do, everybody hates them for it.
LOCATION: 666

Don’t be one of those horrible fans who stops listening to your favorite band just because they have a hit single. Don’t write off your friends because they’ve had a little bit of success. Don’t be jealous when the people you like do well—celebrate their victory as if it’s your own.
LOCATION: 668

“I’d love to sell out completely. It’s just that nobody has been willing to buy.” —John Waters
LOCATION: 671

When an audience starts gathering for the work that you’re freely putting into the world, you might eventually want to take the leap of turning them into patrons.
LOCATION: 672

Put a little virtual tip jar or a donate now button on your website.
LOCATION: 674

if people are digging what you do, they’ll throw a few bucks your way.
LOCATION: 676

If you have work you want to attempt that requires some up-front capital, platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo make it easy to run fund-raising campaigns with tiered rewards for donors.
LOCATION: 676

The musician Amanda Palmer has had wild success turning her audience into patrons: After showing her work, sharing her music freely, and cultivating relationships with her fans, she asked for $100,000 from them to help record her next album. They gave her more than a million dollars.
LOCATION: 679

There are certainly some strings attached to crowdfunding—when people become patrons, they feel, not altogether wrongly, that they should have some say in how their money is being used.
LOCATION: 681

even though I operate more like a traditional salesman, I do use some of the same tactics as crowdfunders: I try to be open about my process, connect with my audience, and ask them to support me by buying the things I’m selling.
LOCATION: 684

Beware of selling the things that you love: When people are asked to get out their wallets, you find out how much they really value what you do.
LOCATION: 686

My friend John T. Unger tells this terrific story from his days as a street poet. He would do a poetry reading and afterward some guy would come up to him and say, “Your poem changed my life, man!” And John would say, “Oh, thanks. Want to buy a book? It’s five dollars.” And the guy would take the book, hand it back to John, and say, “Nah, that’s okay.” To which John would respond, “Geez, how much is your life worth?”
LOCATION: 687

Whether you ask for donations, crowdfund, or sell your products or services, asking for money in return for your work is a leap you want to take only when you feel confident that you’re putting work out into the world that you think is truly worth something.
LOCATION: 691

Even if you don’t have anything to sell right now, you should always be collecting email addresses from people who come across your work and want to stay in touch.
LOCATION: 694

I know people who run multimillion-dollar businesses off of their mailing lists. The model is very simple: They give away great stuff on their sites, they collect emails, and then when they have something remarkable to share or sell, they send an email.
LOCATION: 699

Keep your own list, or get an account with an email newsletter company like MailChimp and put a little sign-up widget on every page of your website.
LOCATION: 701

Never ever add someone’s email address to your mailing list without her permission.
LOCATION: 703

The people who sign up for your list will be some of your biggest supporters,
LOCATION: 705

Don’t betray their trust and don’t push your luck. Build your list and treat it with respect.
LOCATION: 706

“We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” —Walt Disney
LOCATION: 708

Some awful people use the term sellout to include any artist who dares to have any ambition whatsoever.
LOCATION: 710

“There is a point in one’s life when one cares about selling out and not selling out,” writes author Dave Eggers. “Thankfully, for some, this all passes.” What really matters, Eggers says, is doing good work and taking advantage of every opportunity that comes your way.
LOCATION: 712

a life of creativity is all about change—moving forward, taking chances, exploring new frontiers.
LOCATION: 716

“The real risk is in not changing,” said saxophonist John Coltrane. “I have to feel that I’m after something. If I make money, fine. But I’d rather be striving. It’s the striving, man, it’s that I want.”
LOCATION: 717

Be ambitious. Keep yourself busy. Think bigger. Expand your audience. Don’t hobble yourself in the name of “keeping it real,” or “not selling out.” Try new things.
LOCATION: 719

If an opportunity comes along that will allow you to do more of the kind of work you want to do, say Yes. If an opportunity comes along that would mean more money, but less of the kind of work you want to do, say No.
LOCATION: 720

“There is no misery in art. All art is about saying yes, and all art is about its own making.” —John Currin
LOCATION: 722

When you have success, it’s important to use any dough, clout, or platform you’ve acquired to help along the work of the people who’ve helped you get to where you are.
LOCATION: 725

Give them a chance to share their own work. Throw opportunities their way.
LOCATION: 726

As a human being, you have a finite amount of time and attention. At some point, you have to switch from saying “yes” a lot to saying “no” a lot.
LOCATION: 728

“The biggest problem of success is that the world conspires to stop you doing the thing that you do, because you are successful,” writes author Neil Gaiman.
LOCATION: 729

The way I get over my guilt about not answering email is to hold office hours. Once a month, I make myself available so that anybody can ask me anything on my website, and I try to give thoughtful answers that I then post so anyone can see.
LOCATION: 732

You just have to be as generous as you can, but selfish enough to get your work done.
LOCATION: 734

“Above all, recognize that if you have had success, you have also had luck—and with luck comes obligation. You owe a debt, and not just to your gods. You owe a debt to the unlucky.” —Michael Lewis
LOCATION: 736

Every career is full of ups and downs, and just like with stories, when you’re in the middle of living out your life and career, you don’t know whether you’re up or down or what’s about to happen next.
LOCATION: 740

“If you want a happy ending,” actor Orson Welles wrote, “that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.”
LOCATION: 742

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “There are no second acts in American life,” but if you look around you’ll notice that not only are there second acts, there are third, fourth, and even fifth ones.
LOCATION: 742

The people who get what they’re after are very often the ones who just stick around long enough. It’s very important not to quit prematurely.
LOCATION: 745

“In our business you don’t quit,” says comedian Joan Rivers. “You’re holding on to the ladder. When they cut off your hands, hold on with your elbow. When they cut off your arms, hold on with your teeth. You don’t quit because you don’t know where the next job is coming from.”
LOCATION: 749

“Work is never finished, only abandoned.” —Paul Valéry
LOCATION: 751

You can’t plan on anything; you can only go about your work, as Isak Dinesen wrote, “every day, without hope or despair.” You can’t count on success; you can only leave open the possibility for it, and be ready to jump on and take the ride when it comes for you.
LOCATION: 752

As every author knows, your last book isn’t going to write your next one for you. A successful or failed project is no guarantee of another success or failure. Whether you’ve just won big or lost big, you still have to face the question “What’s next?”
LOCATION: 763

If you look to artists who’ve managed to achieve lifelong careers, you detect the same pattern: They all have been able to persevere, regardless of success or failure.
LOCATION: 765

Bob Pollard, the lead singer and songwriter for Guided by Voices, says he never gets writer’s block because he never stops writing.
LOCATION: 768

Author Ernest Hemingway would stop in the middle of a sentence at the end of his day’s work so he knew where to start in the morning.
LOCATION: 769

Add all this together and you get a way of working I call chain-smoking. You avoid stalling out in your career by never losing momentum.
LOCATION: 771

Instead of taking a break in between projects, waiting for feedback, and worrying about what’s next, use the end of one project to light up the next one.
LOCATION: 773

when it’s finished, ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project.
LOCATION: 774

“We work because it’s a chain reaction, each subject leads to the next.” —Charles Eames
LOCATION: 776

“The minute you stop wanting something you get it.” —Andy Warhol
LOCATION: 778

at some point, you might burn out and need to go looking for a match. The best time to find one is while taking a sabbatical.
LOCATION: 779

The designer Stefan Sagmeister swears by the power of the sabbatical—every seven years, he shuts down his studio and takes a year off.
LOCATION: 781

“Everything that we designed in the seven years following the first sabbatical had its roots in thinking done during that sabbatical.”
LOCATION: 784

Sagmeister says his first sabbatical took two years of planning and budgeting, and his clients were warned a full year in advance.
LOCATION: 789

we can all take practical sabbaticals—daily, weekly, or monthly breaks where we walk away from our work completely.
LOCATION: 791

Commute. A moving train or subway car is the perfect time to write, doodle, read, or just stare out the window.
LOCATION: 793

Exercise. Using our body relaxes our mind, and when our mind gets relaxed, it opens up to having new thoughts.
LOCATION: 795

Nature. Go to a park. Take a hike. Dig in your garden. Get outside in the fresh air. Disconnect from anything and everything electronic.
LOCATION: 798

It’s very important to separate your work from the rest of your life. As my wife said to me, “If you never go to work, you never get to leave work.”
LOCATION: 799

“Whenever Picasso learned how to do something, he abandoned it.” —Milton Glaser
LOCATION: 803

When you feel like you’ve learned whatever there is to learn from what you’re doing, it’s time to change course and find something new to learn so that you can move forward. You can’t be content with mastery; you have to push yourself to become a student again.
LOCATION: 805

The comedian Louis C.K. worked on the same hour of material for 15 years, until he found out that his hero, George Carlin, threw out his material every year and started from scratch. C.K. was scared to try it, but once he did, it set him free.
LOCATION: 808

When you get rid of old material, you push yourself further and come up with something better. When you throw out old work, what you’re really doing is making room for new work.
LOCATION: 811

You have to have the courage to get rid of work and rethink things completely. “I need to sort of tear down everything I’ve done and rebuild from scratch,” said director Steven Soderbergh
LOCATION: 813

“Not because I’ve figured everything out, I’ve just figured out what I can’t figure out and I need to tear it down and start over again.”
LOCATION: 814

don’t think of it as starting over. Think of it as beginning again. Go back to chapter one—literally!—and become an amateur.
LOCATION: 818

Look for something new to learn, and when you find it, dedicate yourself to learning it out in the open. Document your progress and share as you go so that others can learn along with you.
LOCATION: 818

The post Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon Book Review & Highlights appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Kym Dolcimascolo got a degree in photography and film making but didn’t follow that path once she graduated from school. Instead she became a computer engineer and worked her way up the career ladder.

After working for a while in the corporate world, she decided she had had enough. So, she set herself up to leave her corporate job and started a web design company.

This career move allowed her to work with people who embraced creativity, and eventually led her into coaching for artists and creatives.

In this episode Kym talks about creating plans, why you should know your audience, and how artists can change the world.

Here are three things you can learn from Kym:

You Need a Plan

As artists, we tend to do things on a whim. We want to live a free-spirited life. We want the freedom to choose our own destinies. But this line of thinking often hurts us instead of helping us.

We should be planning our way to success instead. Kym didn’t walk away from her job immediately. She decided what steps needed to be taken and she took them. “It wasn’t instant. It wasn’t, you know, I walked out that day and that’s the end of the story. I created a plan for myself. And the plan was, I’m going to start working on my business and I’m going to actually have my business be able to generate enough money that I can afford my cost of living. And then I literally went out and did that.”

Many artists believe in the starving artist mentality so they give up on their dreams. But what they really need is a plan of action. Kym believes a plan of action can help us overcome our negative mentality. “I think that part of it is that a lot of people… don’t see that if they actually plan things out, and if they actually take actions that they need to take, that the starving artist thing is just whatever it is. It’s something we’ve bought into. It’s something that everybody’s told us. It’s something we’ve bought into. It’s just kind of another BS that we fall for.”

Know Your Audience

One of the mistakes that artists make when trying to selling their work is not knowing who they are selling to. Instead of figuring out who wants to buy their art, they try to sell it to everyone.

Unfortunately, that strategy does not work. Kym believes it is vital for us, especially in the beginning, to focus on finding people who want our work. “There is a market that’s dying for your particular work and if you don’t focus on that market, at least in the beginning, then the frustration is really high, if nothing else. Obviously the frustration becomes very high and your bank account stays pretty low.”

That’s why Kym believes we have two choices. We either need to find the people who want the art we are already creating or we need to create art for the audience we have. “If you really want to create that kind of art, then there is a particular person that wants that. Go find those people… It’s one thing or the other. Either if you really want that kind of audience, then produce the art that that audience wants or if you really want to produce this kind of art and sell it, then go find that audience.”

If you an artist that wants to create for your own self expression, that is awesome, but if you want to sell your art, you need to learn the game. “There are tons of artists… [that] create for their own self-expression. They have no interest in selling their art at all… and that’s fabulous, but for those artists who really do want to make a living off of it, then there is a game afoot.”

Artists Can Change the World

One of the things that artists fail to realize is how much of an impact they can have on the world. While many artists start creating to satisfy their own creative needs, most don’t realize how big of an impact they can make.

Kym believes artists can make a difference once they are ready to move to the next level. “If you really had it inside of you to alter some of the things on this planet, that we could totally do it through art, and I think a lot of artists are up to that… They move beyond the ‘I just create for me,’ and they… actually admit ‘No, I actually want to make a difference with my art.’ Right? It’s not just for me…. I think that that’s kind of the next level.”

It all begins with thinking and knowing you can make a difference. “It’s beyond I just create because I have to create. Now it’s move to I can take what I create and make a statement, make a difference on the planet with it. But even those artists sometimes resist the conversation about making money off of it.”

In order to get to that level, you have to change your mindset. You have to be able to produce work when you want to, not when the Muse hits you. You have to call on the Muse yourself. “I think that’s one of those things too, by the way, that I see that the artists that do actually build success and continue to build success for themselves is that they really know, that they can actually sit down, and they can create, and they can produce what they need to produce, whenever that is… and it’s not waiting for the moon to be in a certain phase, and them to be in a certain space, and their environment to look in a certain way. It’s like, okay, I can harness this and I can pull it forward, and I can put it to work right this second because I have everything it takes to do that.”

Shownotes

• about Kym
  • first company she owned was a web design company
    • merged tech/artist background
    • spent a lot of time coaching people on businesses
  • has coaching company for full service coaching
    • entrepreneurial, spiritual, health, etc.
  • wanted to start working with artists
• her upbringing
  • did something different every 3 weeks from painting to playing guitar
  • father joined her in her pursuits
  • when she was four she drew all over her walls
• degree in fine arts
  • focus on photography/film making
  • film making was a different art form than it is now
  • physically spliced it by film
  • everyone around her was interested in the arts
• choosing film/about her films
  • loved photography, but found something magical in film
  • computers/programming were new at the time
  • learned to program on punch cards
  • created electronic music for her films
  • got to merge visual/music/movement
  • moved to NY because she wanted to go to NYU film school
  • couldn’t afford to do a Masters degree full time
  • bailed out of art at that moment and went into corporate work
  • her films were colorful and full of emotion and abstract ideas
  • films were an expression of her thoughts/feelings
  • one of her films involved a woman floating through a tube/cocoon
  • her films being ruined by leak in storage unit
  • differences between what you remember and the actual end result
  • “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.” ― Steve Jobs
• being creative
  • some of the most creative people she knows are not artistic
  • it has to do with how we label ourselves

18:16 “I think that, bottom line, the blessing of being an artist is that we get to express our creativity and it’s accepted. Within the art communities, it’s very accepted that we’re using our creativity to express something. And for the most part we put that something, whatever it is, out there for other people to then be able to utilize that to tap into some of their own expression.”

• usefulness of labels
  • depends on what you correlate it to
  • celebrating creativity within children
    • they take that idea and find it exciting and positive
    • if children are told not to do something, they repress their creativity
  • John Lennon quote art about children being artists
  • what would life look like if creativity was encouraged
  • quote art of graveyard being the richest place on earth
• work as an engineer
  • lasted for year and a half
  • game was to move up the ladder
  • moved from programming to management to work more with people
  • creativity in management/working with people
  • that morning she felt unfulfilled, she started her web design company
  • wanted to surround herself more with people who embraced creativity

24:28 “There really was this one morning where I woke up and it was like ‘Wow, this so doesn’t resonate with me anymore.’ … unfortunately that was… or fortunately depending on how you look at it, that was twenty years later.”

24:46 “I think there’s probably a lot of artists that go through this, like in some way shape or form, I had fallen for the myth that to be an artist I would have to starve and if I just played this game, if I played the corporate game for long enough, I could stock away some money, and then I can stop doing that, and then I can actually pursue my art.”

• making the leap from the corporate world to creative world
  • set herself up to leave
  • created a six month plan
  • told the vice president what she was going to do
  • company wasn’t as much as she was making, but it was enough for the cost of living

27:30 “It wasn’t instant. It wasn’t, you know, I walked out that day and that’s the end of the story. I created a plan for myself. And the plan was, I’m going to start working on my business and I’m going to actually have my business be able to generate enough money that I can afford my cost of living. And then I literally went out and did that.”

28:11 “I think that part of it is that a lot of people… don’t see that if they actually plan things out, and if they actually take actions that they need to take, that the starving artist thing is just whatever it is. It’s something we’ve bought into. It’s something that everybody’s told us. It’s something we’ve bought into. It’s just kind of another BS that we fall for.”

• plan for leaving the company
  • calculated how much she needed to live on
  • figured out how many customers she needed and how much they would pay
  • made a plan and executed it

28:38 “When I think about planning… I think so many of us as artists, we have a kind of free spirit, like I have to do what the mood hits me to do at this particular point in time but the planning process , it doesn’t have to be minute by minute, hour by hour. But the planning process itself, if we can create a plan, we can fulfill on it. So that’s what I did. I backed it down in time.”

• type of clients
  • 1997 – there wasn’t anything like WordPress, it was hard to DIY
  • her push was for low end entrepreneurs
  • was looking for startup entrepreneurs
    • they didn’t have time or idea of how to do it, so she could be the answer
  • went for quantity of people
  • everything was new, so her risk wasn’t as high
  • had company for eight years, and had larger customers and expanded
• importance of knowing who you are talking to
  • knew her audience was entrepreneurs and new startups
  • her game was to play with people she understood
  • the whole world is not your market
  • seeing through the yes of people who want your work and not necessarily being your own audience
  • find the people who want what you’re creating

35:24 “There is a market that’s dying for your particular work and if you don’t focus on that market, at least in the beginning, then the frustration is really high, if nothing else. Obviously the frustration becomes very high and your bank account stays pretty low.”

38:04 “If you really want to create that kind of art, then there is a particular person that wants that. Go find those people… It’s one thing or the other. Either if you really want that kind of audience, then produce the art that that audience wants or if you really want to produce this kind of art and sell it, then go find that audience.”

39:17 “There are tons of artists… [that] create for their own self-expression. They have no interest in selling their art at all… and that’s fabulous, but for those artists who really do want to make a living off of it, then there is a game afoot.”

• reluctance to learn marketing
  • artists come to believe it’s a necessary evil
  • comes down to the mindsets we have and what we’ve been told
  • creating for ourselves vs. creating for other people
  • believes artists can transform the planet
  • her work revolves around mindsets
  • artists and people who are spiritual see money as bad/evil
    • she helps them break old patterns
  • Andy Warhol and business
  • consistency principle – when you hold a certain mindset, you tend to think in a way that is consistent with that mindset
    • Influence by Robert Cialdini
    • looking at the world through blinders
    • opening up our views
  • everyone has the same number of hours in the day
  • breaking unhelpful patterns
  • the magic of practice and building new brain patterns
  • create your own environments, don’t wait for them to come to you

41:06 “Most artists, if we actually ask them… all they really want to do is create art. They don’t really want to get into the business of it. but if they want to make a living off of it, then it becomes the necessary evil that they have to deal with.”

42:42 “If you really had it inside of you to alter some of the things on this planet, that we could totally do it through art, and I think a lot of artists are up to that… They move beyond the ‘I just create for me,’ and they… actually admit ‘No, I actually want to make a difference with my art.’ Right? It’s not just for me…. I think that that’s kind of the next level.”

43:18 “It’s beyond I just create because I have to create. Now it’s move to I can take what  I create and make a statement, make a difference on the planet with it. But even those artists sometimes resist the conversation about making money off of it.”

45:07 “There’s a particular mindset. Money is bad. Money is evil. I’m not worthy of money. People that do what I do don’t make money. There’s a ton of conversations wrapped up around that that become beliefs. And once they become beliefs for people, then they’re pretty kinda solid there.”

46:15 “We’re at least in a day and age where business is more accessible for artists which has them looking at it more than it did in the past. You know they can actually see that there are people going online and there are people selling their art, and I don’t have to… be in a gallery. I may not have to have an agent and you know those kinds of things that twenty years ago, if they didn’t have that, then they couldn’t get into the business of selling their art. Now they can.”

51:54 “Another thing I knew I had to break down… and it’s one thing that I see with artists that I have to break down a lot. There’s this thing that I used to have like I’m a free spirit. I do things when the mood hits me… When I actually got for myself, no, no really. I can be creative at any moment in time. I can do whatever it is that needs to be done, at any moment in time, and I can actually own the twenty four in my day. Then it became magical.”

54:23 “I think that’s one of those things too, by the way, that I see that the artists that do actually build success and continue to build success for themselves is that they really know, that they can actually sit down, and they can create, and they can produce what they need to produce, whenever that is… and it’s not waiting for the moon to be in a certain phase, and them to be in a certain space, and their environment to look in a certain way. It’s like, okay, I can harness this and I can pull it forward, and I can put it to work right this second because I have everything it takes to do that.”

• working with people to change their limiting beliefs
  • help people see patterns that are stopping them
  • “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
  • brains being a series of patterns
  • doing things consistently over and over again until they become new patterns
  • waking up earlier in the morning to do tasks you want to accomplish
  • creating patterns and thinking differently to
  • our mornings being our time of day or finding pockets of time throughout the day
  • friend creating space for herself

56:35 “Now the dilemma is, when you’re living in a pattern, you can’t necessarily see the pattern. So the  first step is helping actually them see the patterns that may be stopping, or slowing them down, or sabotaging them, and then actually helping them actually determine what is the pattern they want instead, and then working with them to create that new pattern that will fulfill  on what they really want.”

59:10 “You do have to not only think differently about things, but sometimes, you know, you obviously have to take, we all have to take, new actions, right? Sometimes the new actions can give you a new way to think about it, and sometimes the thoughts can give you new actions, but it all works together.”

• the future of Kym’s work
  • right now she’s working one on one with clients
  • ran non-profit – live coaching women on how to promote their art
    • had events with poetry, music, and art on the wall
    • worked with hundreds of people at a time
  • wants to continue one on one work but is also plotting webinars and creating an organization that can be replicated
  • internet allows you to build communities but there’s also something about being together in the same place
• ways she currently creates
  • actively  paints, writes poetry, and does photography
  • creation being important for business

1:08:37 “It’s kind of back to the conversation about… you know when we were talking about target market and being able to be… over there in the world of  the people that are your target market… Since life to me has seemed like a very creative process, I could to some degree let myself off the hook by saying ‘All of life is a creation so I don’t need to be creating.’ but there’s something so about me being in the process myself that allows me to tap into what they’re experiencing and what they’re going through. And frankly I don’t think I could separate myself from it even if I wanted to.”

• favorite quote
  • “The most visible creators are those artists whose medium is life itself. The ones who express the inexpressible ~ without brush, hammer, clay, or guitar. They neither paint nor sculpt. Their medium is simply being. Whatever their presence touches has increased life. They see, but don’t have to draw…
    Because they are the artists of being alive.” ― Donna J. Stone
  • being creators and being creative
  • anyone has the potential to be a creator or be creative
• morning routine
  • turned herself from nocturnal artist to morning person
  • starts day in gratitude
  • then juices, meditates, showers, then writes
    • writes for 30 minutes then jumps on her first phone call
  • first 1.5 hours of her day is about her and her mindset
  • helping yourself before you help others
• recommendations
  • The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
  • Be Here Now by Ram Dass
  • The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
  • The Velveteen Rabbit by  Margery Williams
  • The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery – learning to love ourselves and experience love
    • Little Prince movie
  • art being about love

1:16:06 “I think that us learning to love ourselves and  us learning to be open to it and experiencing love… I think that that’s something that for us human beings is incredibly potent. When we talk about mindset or we talk about expressing ourselves, or creating, or any of those things, like us really being able to be open to love and expressing love, and in particular loving ourselves is really kinda where a lot of this starts.”

• creative people
  • business partner – Carolina Aramburo
    • didn’t think of herself as creative
    • synthesizes and puts info together
  • Annie Lennox – inspired by her creativity and boldness
• definition of creativity
  • includes passion and commitment
  • teaching ourselves to be aware of things
  • seeing things in new ways and tapping into that place

1:19:40 “First of all I think creativity is created. I think we all have the tools for creativity, but we need to utilize those. So it’s not like we’re born with creativity. It really is created. We create our creativity.”

• being more creative
  • being curious and playful are big keys
  • allowing ourselves to use all the tools we have
• challenge
  • allow yourself to spend time looking for what’s right and what’s possible
    • instead of what’s lacking and what’s not possible
  • look at things from “What if..”

Creative Visions Rising

The post Kym Dolcimascolo on Creating a Plan, Knowing Your Audience, and How Artists Can Change the World – Cracking Creativity Episode 68 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Bob Baker has always been determined to make a living from his creative career. He started off his career by creating a music publication from scratch, with no prior experience. He didn’t let his lack of experience prevent him from achieving his goals. He just experimented with different ideas until he made it work.

Since that first publication he has expanded his interests well beyond a local music magazine. He has dabbled with writing, painting, and creating courses for aspiring artists. He even got into stand-up and improv comedy.

Bob has not let the starving artist mentality prevent him from making a career out of his creativity. In fact, he has thrived as an artist and creative.

In this episode, Bob talks about doing things that interest you, why you need to be persistent, and what separates successful artists from unsuccessful artists.

Here are three things you can learn from Bob:

Do Things That Interest You

Many of us have this fear of pursuing our creative careers. We are afraid that we will crash and burn, and never recover from our failures.

Bob takes a different approach to his creative interests. He doesn’t play it safe. He explores the things he thinks are fun. “I had this philosophy early on where, if something seemed liked it was fun to do, I was like, I want to take some action… I want to experience that and see what it’s like sooner rather than later. So, you know, a lot of people play it safe, or they wait til they know everything about a topic or they think everything’s perfect… before they dive into doing something. And I was just like, ‘I want to see what that’s like. That looks like fun.’ So I did that with comedy, with improv, with publishing a newspaper.”

It all started with creating his local music publication and has blossomed from there. Bob has never let his lack of experience stop him, and neither should you. “I published a local music newspaper and I had no business doing that whatsoever because I had no previous experience. Never wrote for the school paper, never really took journalism classes. You know, had just written on my own, had a passion for music. So I said I want to combine these two long standing passions, and just started publishing a local newspaper. And it was ugly. There were typos. People pointed things out. And I eventually learned just from doing and getting things out there to make it better.”

You Need to Be Persistent

There are no guarantees that you will ever make a living from your creative career. Not everyone is cut out for it. But there is something to be said for doing something you are passionate about.

That’s why Bob believes persistence is crucial if you want to make a career out of your art. You need to pursue it regardless of the outcome. “There are no guarantees. The world does not owe you a living. So even if you are persistent and keep your nose to the grindstone for years on end, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to make it, whatever make it means to you. However, I guess what I encourage is if you’re meant to do that thing, to express yourself in that way… You should do it regardless of the outcome. You should do it for the joy of it, however, at the same time, you could be strategic in doing it and learning the things that will move you to toward that greater potential of maybe supporting yourself some day. But hopefully it’s something that even if you don’t make a living at it or you don’t reach that point, that you’ll still do it for the joy.”

Bob recommends creating goals you can work your way towards so you can see the progress you’ve made. The key is to be strategic when you move towards your goal. “Making sure that your financial needs are met first just takes the pressure off to do your art more free flowingly I guess. And I kinda like that approach. But you can still be strategic in moving toward that goal if you have one of sustaining yourself like I did. It’s just… it may not happen on your time table… and that’s where the persistence comes in I guess. Yeah, if the payoff is not there in a month or two, are you willing to stick with it? And that’s another thing… that not everyone will, which is why not everyone succeeds because all of these rare… traits have to come together to make for a successful life.”

Being Successful vs. Being Unsuccessful

There are always people who will find success and those who won’t. There’s a fine line between success and failure.

Bob believes one of the things that separates success from failure is seeing thing through to completion. “There are tons of people that want to write a book. There’s tons of people that have started writing books. There’s tons of people who have even finished the first draft of a manuscript of a book. But there’s a very small percentage who actually follow it through to get the darn thing published. So there’s this seeing it concept, and I don’t know what quality that is, but it’s like, when you start on a project, make a commitment to chip away at it and to see it through to completion.”

Bob also sees another trait from many creative people: the need to jump from one project to the next. But you can’t always chase the shiny new object. You need discipline. “Another thing creative people are excited about new fresh things, and that’s cool, but you also have to follow through on the things that you’ve already started that may not be as exciting as they were those early weeks that you’re working on them. And that’s just a discipline I suppose and a personal commitment to stuff.”

Another thing Bob recommends is re-framing the way you look at marketing. Artists need to stop looking at marketing as a necessary evil and approach it as something that is creative. “To me the marketing thing, the necessary evil, is all about an attitude toward it. If you re-frame and realize that all you’re doing is just sharing your work with people who are going to resonate with it, that’s not painful, you know. You just gotta do it in a more strategic way. So get on friendly terms with marketing and don’t lump a lot of things into this “business” category.”

• about Bob
  • author, musician, painter, etc.
  • traces creative interests to childhood
  • wrote on his own outside of school/homework
  • also learned guitar and joined bands
  • expanded into theater, stand-up, and improv
  • published local music newspaper without any experience
  • has made a living from publishing books on music, publishing, and the arts

7:25 “I had this philosophy early on where, if something seemed liked it was fun to do, I was like, I want to take some action… I want to experience that and see what it’s like sooner rather than later. So, you know, a lot of people play it safe, or they wait til they know everything about a topic or they think everything’s perfect… before they dive into doing something. And I was just like, ‘I want to see what that’s like. That looks like fun.’ So I did that with comedy, with improv, with publishing a newspaper.”

8:04 “I published a local music newspaper and I had no business doing that whatsoever because I had no previous experience. Never wrote for the school paper, never really took journalism classes. You know, had just written on my own, had a passion for music. So I said I want to combine these two long standing passions, and just started publishing a local newspaper. And it was ugly. There were typos. People pointed things out. And I eventually learned just from doing and getting things out there to make it better.”

• how his different creative endeavors influenced each other
  • was spreading himself thin, wasn’t focusing on any one thing to support himself
  • had to make a decision to focus on something
    • decided to focus on books/writing

11:12 “Everything you do in life… is not wasted. You know, you can use those skills. Because when it came time to podcasting, or Youtube, or whatever came along, I had performance experience.”

12:07 “All this stuff feeds what you do. So I don’t feel like any of it was wasted… If anybody should ever feel like, ‘I never should have had that day job. I never should have gone down this path.’ Well, don’t beat yourself up about it because I’m sure there’s something you learned that you can implement into whatever you’re doing now.”

• choosing what path to choose
  • Bob was stubbornly determined to make a living with his creative career
  • intersection of passion/something you are attracted to and a need/want in the world
  • your work has to benefit other people
  • four reasons people create – hobby mode vs. career mode

12:48 “I encourage people to express themselves creatively first and foremost and then decide how that fits into their lives. And it’s not necessarily ‘Everyone isn’t cut out  or I have to make a living doing it or you even have to make a lot of money doing it. Sometimes it’s just personal expression and doing good in the world is enough. ”

13:13 “You don’t have to be making a living or making money or having a best seller to be worthy of pursuing a creative career.”

15:35 “If you want to make a career out of it, I think you really do need to tap into how does this benefit other people and in such a way that… at least a percentage of them are willing to pay for it… So that’s the trick that each artist or creative person needs to decide. How is what I do going to benefit people and how can I package it and present it in a way that makes people aware of what it is, they benefit from it, and they say, ‘Hell yeah I’ll buy that.’ Whether it’s a book or an album or a concert or event. It comes in many forms. But I guess that’s the best way of how to explain that choice. Sometimes you got to play with a couple different angles of it before you find one that gains traction and can actually bring in money and support it.”

• motivation for the music publication
  • New Year’s 1987 – created local publication for musicians
    • could offset cost through promotions
    • coverage of local musicians
  • learned writing, editing, graphic design, appealing to audience

19:06 “There were two audiences that I had to sell. One was the readership. I had to create content . It was an early lesson in appealing to fan base. I had to create content that would be of interest to local musicians and people involved in the local music scene. And I also had to sell it literally to advertisers that this is getting read. So if I had the readership… covered, then I thought it would be more likely that local music stores and recording studios would pay to run display ads to reach my audience.”

• contacting people for publication
  • started by writing everything himself
  • once it was out, writers contacted him
  • potential advertisers would also act as distributions (music stores)
  • saw first hand someone engaging with content at a music store
  • not waiting for experience for doing something
  • focusing locally
  • also built his authorship audience slowly
  • The Empowered Artist book Bob wrote

23:16 “I think that’s really smart, especially when you’re early in your career, early in a new project, to really hyper focus… So yeah, I focused on places where musicians went. And as it gained traction,  I expanded to my hang outs like coffee shops and restaurants. Like cool hangouts… because I know the readership didn’t filter over into fans of bands I covered… I focused on the musician then expanded.”

24:44 “It helps to start in one niche and then slowly widen the gap than to start broad right out of the gate. It’s a little tougher to get traction that way.”

• 1,000 True Fans by Kevin Kelly
  • making a living from 1,000 people who are extremely dedicated to your work
  • don’t get obsessed with the numbers, but be aware of the general concept
  • a core group of fans can support an artist – cites himself as an example
  • having much smaller following than celebrities, but still being able to live off your work
  • there are many people making a living off their art that you don’t know about
  • Michael Laskow’s company: Taxi
    • Musical Middle Class/Creative Middle Class – people between chart toppers and starving artists
    • serve their audiences and make a living from their art
  • reaching many people through the internet but also being a hard place to reach people
  • why not me vs. why me
    • new crops of people are always making it through
• power of persistence
  • what’s your motivation or why?
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
    • having a day job to support your creativity

31:04 “One thing I kinda gotten a little wiser about, again not everyone is cut out to be self-employed. Not everyone has… the tolerance to learn all the wide array of things you need to learn and embrace all the tools… I’ve written and taught a lot over the years about marketing, and there are tons of people out there that just curse marketing, and they hate it, and they think it’s a necessary evil… You’re not going to really do well promoting yourself or sharing what you have if you think of marketing in that way.”

32:09 “There are no guarantees. The world does not owe you a living. So even if you are persistent and keep your nose to the grindstone for years on end, there’s no guarantee that you’re going to make it, whatever make it means to you. However, I guess what I encourage is if you’re meant to do that thing, to express yourself in that way… You should do it regardless of the outcome. You should do it for the joy of it, however, at the same time, you could be strategic in doing it and learning the things that will move you to toward that greater potential of maybe supporting yourself some day. But hopefully it’s something that even if you don’t make a living at it or you don’t reach that point, that you’ll still do it for the joy.”

33:45 “Making sure that your financial needs are met first just takes the pressure off to do your art more free flowingly I guess. And I kinda like that approach. But you can still be strategic in moving toward that goal if you have one of sustaining yourself like I did. It’s just… it may not happen on your time table… and that’s where the persistence comes in I guess. Yeah, if the payoff is not there in a month or two, are you willing to stick with it? And that’s another thing… that not everyone will, which is why not everyone succeeds because all of these rare… traits have to come together to make for a successful life.”

• what separates people who “make it” vs. those who don’t
  • the ability to focus and see things through
  • has interviewed people over the years who have done well in their fields
  • he notices patterns and what works, and compares it to his own success stories
  • is both creative and analytical
  • relieving tension by finishing things instead of getting distracted by new things

36:29 “There are tons of people that want to write a book. There’s tons of people that have started writing  books. There’s tons of people who have even finished the first draft of a manuscript of a book. But there’s a very small percentage who actually follow it through to get the darn thing published. So there’s this seeing it concept, and I don’t know what quality that is, but it’s like, when you start on a project, make a commitment to chip away at it and to see it through to completion.”

37:14 “Another thing creative people are excited about new fresh things, and that’s cool, but you also have to follow through on the things that you’ve already started that may not be as exciting as they were those early weeks that you’re working on them. And that’s just a discipline I suppose and a personal commitment to stuff.”

37:49 “To me the marketing thing, the necessary evil, is all about an attitude toward it. If you re-frame and realize that all you’re doing is just sharing your work with people who are going to resonate with it, that’s not painful, you know.  You just gotta do it in a more strategic way. So get on friendly terms with marketing and don’t lump a lot of things into this “business” category.”

38:27 “But marketing, I don’t think of it as being part of the business aspect, the heavy, dreary business. I think of it as being fun and creative and spontaneous as art. It can be just as creative, I should say, as whatever the work is that you do.”

• creative things he’s done with marketing
  • got on the internet on 1995
    • main form of communicating was the written word: email, articles, etc.
  • viewed new tech as a way to reach new audiences
    • “How can I provide value?”
  • Facebook Live  |  Youtube Live  |  Periscope
    • scheduling AMAs
  • Empowered Artist Mastermind
  • Facebook Live videos are saved for later consumption
  • video tours, painting demonstrations, live gigs/performances/taking requests, etc.
  • getting noticed when you jump on new tech early
  • be playful with your art/career
  • “What if I…”
  • improv – everyone should take an improv class even if you are scared
    • makes you comfortable with uncertainty
    • Yes and…
      • accepting what your partner gives you and adding something to the scene
    • teamwork in improv
      • active listening and making your partner look good
    • encouraging sillyness and being childlike

44:30 “I think that’s a great point and a great attitude to embrace in regardless is that we are all making this up as we go along. A lot of people when they say “Oh I’m going to get serious about my art, and I’m going to making it a career.’ So they read all the books and they want to know exactly the right path to take. So my take on that is, yeah educate yourself. Learn about it… but there is no one right path.”

46:05 “I recommend anyone take an improv class, especially if it scares you. That’s perfect. It really forces you to be open minded and to trust yourself and to be comfortable with uncertainty.”

46:46 “Wouldn’t it be a greater way to approach a career in the arts? It’s like this whole series of things you’re experimenting with and playing with and you notice some of the ones that resonate and some of the ones you enjoy more and do more of those. And you do less of those that didn’t quite pan out? And always be looking at the new thing you can play with. But you may just find something that really works and connects that you can focus on.”

• Bob’s book in School of Rock
• teaching music marketing course at Berklee College of Music
  • teaching students all over the world
  • honed his teaching skills

54:05 “When you put yourself out there and you sort of stake your claim on whatever your identity is and you just show commitment and quality over the years, opportunities will come to you.”

• advice for people who are stuck trying to figure out how to sell their work
  • visual artists who are trying to get into galleries
    • stop knocking on doors that won’t open
  • ask yourself open ended questions
  • stop asking unempowered questions, ask more empowering questions
    • What can I do that will blow people away?
    • What can I do that is different and will get attention?
    • start brainstorming answers and pick one
  • if you are doing something solo, try group events
  • How can you collaborate with others and have a collective group attract art fans?
  • Bob’s course on creating compelling writing to get people to buy.
    • describe what you do to pull people in and make what you offer more compelling
  • shake things up and ask for the sale
  • Amanda Palmer – TED Talk and book on asking

1:02:10 “Make people aware that you have stuff for sale and don’t be afraid to ask for a sale and determine a price, and when somebody asks you, state it as confidentially as you can, which is really tough. I know, even I struggle with this stuff. Just state it and shut up and wait for their response.”

• favorite quote
  • documentary on The Roosevelts
  • “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ― Theodore Roosevelt
  • the importance of taking action
  • How can I experience this sooner?
  • people always come up with excuses
  • examine the excuses you are giving
  • there is no right time
• morning routine
  • get up by 7am
  • warm glass of water with lemon squeeze and apple cider vinegar
  • does morning pages style journaling
  • listen/read something inspirational/spiritual/positive
  • meditates for 20 minutes
  • get some movement going with dancing/stretches
  • eat breakfast/smoothie/coffee
  • does creative stuff in the early hours
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and TED Talks on creativity
    • Magic Lessons podcast
  • Empowered Artist by Bob Baker
• creative people
  • Laura Hall and Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway?
  • Jack Conte of Pomplamoose and founder of Patreon
  • Richard Branson of Virgin empire
• definition of creativity

1:13:09 “Creativity to me is basically the human instinct or drive for self-expression and I guess that’s one of the things that separates us from other species on the planet… We have these individual drives or talents or instincts to do certain things, and I think it’s just part of our being human to express ourselves. And I think a lot of the frustration in the world is people who don’t give themselves permission to fully express who they are.”

• being more creative

1:14:08 “Prioritize your art to realize that that self-expression is important and to actually put it on your calendar… treat it with the respect that it deserves because for most people creativity is something… only people do when they get around to it, after everything else is done, so move that up on your priority list and actually block out times on the calendar every week… and honor those commitments to yourself. Again, just don’t do when you get around to it, because that’s a mystery fantasy land that never comes.”

• challenge
  • pick a little project you’ve been putting off, and choose a doable thing in an hour or less
  • write it down and do it
  • celebrate completing it

Bob Baker‘s hub for all his work  |  Twitter

The post Bob Baker on Following Your Curiosity, Being Persistent, and Finding Success as an Artist – Cracking Creativity Episode 69 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo

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Many of us have this funny expectation of people we consider experts or people we consider successful. We believe their talent is inherent. We believe they were born with a special gift. We believe we will never reach their status no matter how hard we try.

This way of thinking can be dangerous to our aspirations as artists. It ignores all the hard work people put into achieving mastery. It assumes that we can never achieve mastery no matter how hard we work. It assumes that we are born with or without talent. It assumes that talent can’t be developed over time.

While these ideas may have a sliver of truth to them, they are usually unhelpful. They force us to settle for good enough or they force us to quit.

No one was born a master at their craft
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I can assure you of one thing: no one was born a master at their craft. Everyone started as a beginner. Every master had to work hard to become the best.

If you want to be the best, you have to work hard. There is no shortcut to becoming great at something. It takes, time, dedication, and yes, some talent, to achieve mastery.

Before you start envying the masters, know what it takes to get there
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So before you start envying the masters, know what it takes to get there. Know that it requires sacrifice. Know that it takes time. Know that it will be a difficult road. Know that to become the next Michelangelo, you have to be willing to put in the work.

Photo by Luis Brizzante

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The post “If people knew how hard I worked to get my mastery, it wouldn’t seem so wonderful at all.” – Michelangelo Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Kent Sanders has lived a life full of creativity ever since he was young, but it never occurred to him that he could make a living from his creativity. When Kent was young, he separated his love of creativity from his love of religion. It never occurred to him that he could combine those two interests.

After working in the ministry for a few years, he decided he wanted to go back to school to teach. He wanted to challenge himself by doing something new.

While finishing up his master’s degree, a realization dawned on him. He realized he could combine his two passions for art and religion. So he became a professor at a religious college where has taught everything from technology, to art, and film.

In this episode, Kent talks about why breaks are important, some of the biggest things holding us back, and changing our mindsets about money.

Here are three things you can learn from Kent:

Breaks are Extremely Important

One of the things that plagues many workers today is our pull to always be working. Society has led us to believe that we must work all the time in order to be successful. Kent believes it’s not about the number of hours you work, but how effective you are in the hours you do work. “The more that you work, the more people tend to look on that as a good thing. Where ‘Oh, this person has worked so much. They haven’t taken a vacation in so many years, and they’re working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, and that’s such a great thing, and they’re so devoted.’ We kind of have a messed up culture, I think, in the Western world in that regard. Where we believe that the more you work, the more effective you are, and that’s not true at all. It’s not necessarily about the number of hours, it’s about how effective you are, how you are using your time, and are you focusing in on the right things?”

Instead, Kent believes we need to set healthy boundaries for for how much we work. “We kind of have to set these limits for ourselves so that we can have some healthy boundaries.”

Because when we work so many hours, we can become distracted. We tend to lose focus. Half the time we are working and half the time we aren’t. Kent believes we can prevent this by setting up times to complete different tasks. “Sometimes we operate in that space where we’re kind of working, we’re kind of not working… to me it’s much better to set a clear, delineated line. And have specific times for things. That can be a real struggle because we can work any time and anywhere. To me it requires more self-discipline and more clear boundaries that we have to set because other people are not setting them for us.”

The Biggest Thing Holding Us Back is Us

One of the false perceptions people have about creativity is that restraints are a bad thing. Many artists believe restraints hold us back from doing our best work. Kent believes restraints can be helpful in our creative work.

An example of this is how Kent uses timers when working. Instead of giving yourself unlimited amounts of time, you should set time limits for your work. “Actually if you set a timer and you only focus intently on that one thing, it’s amazing how fast you can get something done. The problem is that it requires a lot of focus and mental energy, and sometimes we don’t want to spend that mental energy because it’s hard. It’s really hard to focus on one thing for even ten minutes or a half hour. So that’s something that has been helpful to me, just placing that limit on yourself. But also, I think, other kinds of limits can be helpful too… because you’re forced to find other solutions to get something done.”

Kent also believes our resources are not holding us back. What we are missing is a tenacious spirit. “To me the issue is not do I have enough time to get something done or do I have enough money to get something done. To me the issue is, am I going to figure out a way to get it done no matter what, and that to me seems to be the single biggest key to success for almost anything. It’s not about the talents or gifts that you have. It’s not about how much money you have or how much time you have. It’s about having that really tenacious spirit where you say ‘I’m going to get this done no matter what. I’m going to find a way to make it happen.’ It may take longer than I want. It may not exactly be the way I wanted or it may not get done the exact way that I envision it, but I’m going to make it happen. And that to me is the most critical thing of all. You’re willing to kinda plow through the obstacles and figure out creative ways to get things done and just make it happen.”

We Need to Change Our Mindsets About Money

After talking to many artists, I’ve come to realize that many artists struggle with the idea of making money from their art. They believe marketing is a necessary evil instead of a tool to help progress their careers.

Kent also had these same struggles until he realized that giving doesn’t pay the bills. “I just like to give. That’s just part of who I am, but giving doesn’t pay the bills. You gotta charge for things at some point. And once I kinda got past that initial discomfort, I think my mindset began to shift a lot on just what it means to sell things and to think more in terms of business.”

This is often times the biggest obstacle artists face. So changing your mindset can make a huge difference. “Once you understand selling things isn’t bad, that selling things is actually good, then your whole mindset kinda changes because you have to support your family. You should be compensated for the work that you do. But it’s really not about you getting paid. It’s really about doing the best for the person who you’re selling to.”

The best way to look at it is by realizing how much value your work has. When you don’t charge for your work, you devalue it. What Kent realized was that if you want customers to get real value from your work, you have to charge for it. “People just don’t tend to emotionally value things that they have not personally invested in. So really the best thing we can do for people sometimes is to charge them for what we do because then that person is going to value it more. They’ll probably be a lot more likely to follow through with what they have bought, whether it’s a book or a course or something. So I think once you get past this idea that making money from something is bad, you know, you’ve got to kinda ditch that idea and understand that making money from something can be a really good thing because when you have money, it lets you do more good in the world.”

• about Kent
  • author of Artist Suitcase, editor at The Good Men Project
  • started off in pastoral ministry
  • was involved in church music ministry
  • didn’t know of any roles other than being a preacher
  • got heavily involved in music/arts in college
  • went back to his college and started teaching
  • created a book on Evernote for church leaders
    • loved the book making process
  • path has been a lot of twists and turns

8:00 “That’s kinda how I ended up where I am now. Basically it’s been a lot of twists and turns. Not a straight path at all, but I guess if there’s one them of my journey up to this point it’s just taking the small opportunities that I’ve had in front of me and just challenging myself a bit, and taking the next step. And before long you’re doing thing that you feel like ‘Wow, I’m really glad I did this,’ like writing a book, or getting into editing, or whatever it is. It’s been a very interesting journey. It’s been good though… I really enjoy the process.”

• creative interests as a kid
  • was interested in a lot of stuff
  • was involved in music and musical productions
  • separated interests in art/religion early in life
  • never considered creative work as a job
  • did creative things on the side

10:28 “I hadn’t really ever considered doing any kind of creative work as a vocation because I really didn’t know that was an option.”

11:00 “I just kind of knew, I like all this art stuff but I don’t see that as a possible vocation because it seemed to me my options were limited as far as that goes.”

• why he only considering preaching
  • only knew people who were priests
  • didn’t know being creative could be an option
  • creative fields seemed out of reach
• going back to school to teach
  • was working full time at a church
  • felt like he did everything he could do with the ministry
  • was looking for a new challenge
  • was close to finish master’s degrees
  • wanted to work with college kids to help them grow
  • seemed like a natural path to take
• differences before and after leaving ministry
  • church work having its own rhythm
    • personal identity tied to your role
    • almost like a 24/7 job
  • thought teaching would be similar
  • had a hard time adjusting to different rhythm
  • education cycle involves sprints and breaks
  • church work doesn’t end, it’s all year round

21:38 “I think you just kind of do whatever you do in that season of life and you appreciate the advantages that you have… but then there are also things in any job that you just sort of learn to deal with.”

• breaks in life
  • they are vital
  • struggles with taking breaks at times
  • culture of workaholism
  • becoming less effective over the course of a day
  • making time for your art
  • The Power of Full Engagement by Jim Loehr
    • time vs. energy management
  • still working with an industrial mindset
  • lack of work boundaries our parents/grandparents had
  • set specific times for your tasks

24:25 “The more that you work, the more people tend to look on that as a good thing. Where ‘Oh, this person has worked so much. They haven’t taken a vacation in so many years, and they’re working 60, 70, 80 hours a week, and that’s such a great thing, and they’re so devoted.’ We kind of have a messed up culture, I think, in the Western world in that regard. Where we believe that the more you work, the more effective you are, and that’s not true at all. It’s not necessarily about the number of hours, it’s about how effective you are, how you are using your time, and are you focusing in on the right things?”

30:58 “We kind of have to set these limits for ourselves so that we can have some healthy boundaries.”

31:20 “Sometimes we operate in that space where we’re kind of working, we’re kind of not working… to me it’s much better to set a clear, delineated line. And have specific times for things. That can be a real struggle because we can work any time and anywhere. To me it requires more self-discipline and more clear boundaries that we have to set because other people are not setting them for us.”

• being present

32:41 “It goes back to the idea of multitasking and why it really doesn’t help you. I think it takes more time to get something done if you’re trying to do more than one thing at once.”

• benefits of restraints
  • Kent has a kitchen timer when he writes
  • types as much as he can in that time to get a post done
  • thinking people who are highly successful as having an easy path
    • people who found real success find a way to make things happen
    • having a tenacious hungry spirit
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
    • forcing yourself to look at problems in different ways to find a solution
    • based on stoicism

33:41 “Actually if you set a timer and you only focus intently on that one thing, it’s amazing how fast you can get something done. The problem is that it requires a lot of focus and mental energy, and sometimes we don’t want to spend that mental energy because it’s hard. It’s really hard to focus on one thing for even ten minutes or a half hour. So that’s something that has been helpful to me, just placing that limit on yourself. But also, I think, other kinds of limits can be helpful too… because you’re forced to find other solutions to get something done.”

34:20 “To me the issue is not do I have enough time to get something done or do I have enough money to get something done. To me the issue is, am I going to figure out a way to get it done no matter what, and that to me seems to be the single biggest key to success for almost anything. It’s not about the talents or gifts that you have. It’s not about how much money you have or how much time you have. It’s about having that really tenacious spirit where you say ‘I’m going to get this done no matter what. I’m going to find a way to make it happen.’ It may take longer than I want. It may not exactly be the way I wanted or it may not get done the exact way that I envision it, but I’m going to make it happen. And that to me is the most critical thing of all. You’re willing to kinda plow through the obstacles and figure out creative ways to get things done and just make it happen.”

37:32 “So many times we look at our lives and see things that are not ideal and situations or realities that we don’t like and seem to be a problem. Or sometimes we even look at people like that… and we tend to think, ‘Okay, that person’s a problem. If only I could remove that factor from my life…’ Many times we do think in terms of man, if only I could not have to deal with one particular problem, this one particular person, then my life would be ideal and I would be able to be more successful, or I could have the time to do this or that… but you’re exactly right, you can’t just wait for… everything to get perfect magically. You gotta create. You got to figure out a way to make it work with what you have and what you are.”

• not waiting for the “perfect” moment
  • course for helping pastors become writers
  • Kent thought for a long time things would happen magically
  • wanted to be a writer when he was young, but he never put in the effort
  • difficulty of being a passive person vs. as active person

39:08 “I’m really big on taking the next step toward your goal. You know, if it’s something that’s going to help you get there then take that next step.”

40:12 “I think that when people see the work that’s required to do something they don’t sometimes want to follow through with it because it’s like ‘Oh, this is actually going to require time. This is going to require resources. This is going to require some effort that I’m actually going to have to put into it…’ and sometimes we shrink back when we see what’s really required for something.”

40:52 “You’re going to be waiting a long time if you want life to be perfect before you start moving toward your goals. You gotta take what you have in front of you.”

41:30 “That’s the key right there. You have to make it happen. It’s not going to happen magically.”

42:31 “Just because somebody tells you you can do something, or just because you want to do it, or because you think you deserve for something to happen, it’s not going to magically make it appear. You have to actually change things. You have to actually make it happen. You have to force it to happen.”

43:35 “You have to stop looking at your life from the outside and start being almost like the builder or the architect of your life, and just determine to make things happen.”

• writing for himself/getting into business with his writing
  • got into blogging/building an audience 3 years ago when he started paying for courses
  • the moment he decided to get into business
    • was telling his wife about his book ideas and she was acting weird about it
    • she called him out for talking about writing a book but not actually doing it
    • it really bothered him because it felt like his wife lost faith
    • he got angry at himself and determined to get it done
    • started taking it more seriously at that moment
  • that moment was a turning point for him

48:00 “A lot of times we have these grand motivations for doing things. We want to change the world. We want to impact people and help people and those kinds of things. I think that has to be part of the equation. However, there are some times where I think it’s okay to have a little bit baser motivations in terms of, you know, I want to be able to say to my wife, ‘I got this done.’ Or I want this person to be proud of me.”

• Does it take a moment of reflection to get people to do things?
  • when you have a change or crisis in your life, it brings your life back into focus
    • these normally don’t last that long
    • we go back to our routines after a while

50:11 “What it takes to actually get something done is just sitting and doing the work that’s required and you can’t rely on an emotional burst or some type of crisis to force you to do that, I don’t think. At least that’s not the case, that’s not how it was for me. I think it just requires plugging away and plowing through the minutia of getting something done.”

50:46 “You just have to sit down and go through it and get it done, even if you don’t feel like it, you gotta get it done.”

51:00 “Those emotional moments can be good, those crises, but I don’t think they’re enough to  actually propel us through getting things done all the time.”

• creative habits vs. inspiration
  • doesn’t feel inspired most of the time, feels rushed
  • “I only write when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes at nine every morning.” – William Faulkner and others
  • not relying on inspiration
  • the pain worth achieving your goals
  • pain shapes character and brings deeper joy

52:07 “I just kind of operate by the philosophy that when you sit down to do the work, you almost always get inspired.”

52:45 “You can’t rely on your emotions to pull you through much of anything because our emotions are usually gonna take us to a place that, if we just follow them naturally, they’re going to take us to a place where we’re not working hard, and we’re avoiding things that are challenging, and we just want to be comfortable. That’s kinda where our emotions tend to take us.”

• Kent’s book: The Artist’s Suitcase: 26 Essentials for the Creative Journey
  • takes every letter of the alphabet and talks about a word associated with it
  • ex: A for attitude, F for failure, K for key, etc.
  • quick guide for people who do creative work
  • designed to have short chapters
  • free audio book, PDF, and workbook
• idea behind the book
  • started off as a course – intro to the arts
    • talked about various types of art
    • looked at them from philosophical perspective
    • last few weeks – ways to develop creativity
      • stop being observers
    • kids loved book he created
    • turned it into a book
  • based on things people asked him about
  • addressing questions about the creative process
• making money from your work as an artist
  • used to struggle with it
  • shifting mentality from giving standpoint
  • ministry doesn’t sell things
  • had to change to a business mindset
  • people not valuing things that are free
    • charging people changes people’s perceptions of value
    • people are more likely to follow through
  • doesn’t mind selling or giving things away

1:00:00 “I just like to give. That’s just part of who I am, but giving doesn’t pay the bills. You gotta charge for things at some point. And once I kinda got past that initial discomfort, I think my mindset began to shift a lot on just what it means to sell things and to think more in terms of business.”

1:00:28 “Once you understand selling things isn’t bad, that selling things is actually good, then your whole mindset kinda changes because you have to support your family. You should be compensated for the work that you do. But it’s really not about you getting paid. It’s really about doing the best for the person who you’re selling to.”

1:01:04 “People just don’t tend to emotionally value things that they have not personally invested in. So really the best thing we can do for people sometimes is to charge them for what we do because then that person is going to value it more. They’ll probably be a lot more likely to follow through with what they have bought, whether it’s a book or a course or something. So I think once you get past this idea that making money from something is bad, you know, you’ve got to kinda ditch that idea and understand that making money from something can be a really good thing because when you have money, it lets you do more good in the world.”

1:02:37 “Sometimes we’re actually hurting people by making something available for free because then they’re not investing themselves into the process.”

• Kent’s plans for the future
  • parable book of someone who has lost their creative mojo and wants to get it back
    • tell principles of creativity through the book
    • likes short books that people will actually read
  • writing a novel and online course
• favorite quote
  • “You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want.” – Zig Zigler
  • if you want something, you have to give before you get
  • The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
    • people only buy from others if you know, like, and trust someone
  • giving mentality establishes a good relationship with others
• morning routine
  • he and a friend text each other at 6am to make sure the other is awake
    • accountability to help with the process
  • bible, praryer time, journaling, etc.
• books, podcasts, documentaries
  • The Myths of Creativity by David Burkus
    • popular ideas about creative people and he shoots them down
  • The Accidental Creative podcast with Todd Henry
  • Stuff You Should Know podcast
• creative people
  • son – gifted artist and fun sense of humor
    • writing book about surviving middle school
  • Leonardo da Vinci – inquisitive mind that followed many disciples and constant learning
• definition of creativity
  • serve people with purpose and passion

1:14:11 “I think creativity is way simpler than what we make it. Many times we think of creative people as people who paint, or draw, or do music, or write, or things we associate with “creative vocations” or creative jobs. I don’t think that’s the case at all. I think any type of work is creative work by the nature of what it is because all that creativity means is just creating something. It’s the ability to create or have the mindset of creating something.”

1:14:46 “I would say creativity is doing what you were born to do which means finding out what your life’s purpose is, what you’re good at, what you love doing, and doing that thing… It’s just bringing to the world a gift based on who you are and what your talents are and what you’re excited about.”

• challenge
  • look at your schedule and find things you can eliminate from it
  • stop overcomitting and take control of your life

KentSanders.net

The post Kent Sanders on Taking Breaks, the Obstacles That Hold Us Back, and Changing Our Money Mentality – Cracking Creativity Episode 70 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”  ― Andy Warhol

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Andy Warhol may be one of the most famous artists of the last century. He is well known even among people who know nothing about art. His work and influence on the art world have endured well beyond his death.

While many artists shun the idea of making money, Warhol embraced it.
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That is why we must follow his example. While many artists shun the idea of making money, Warhol embraced it.

He was one of the originators of pop art. He not only created paintings of celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, he became a celebrity himself.

Warhol did not believe making money from his work was evil. He used money as a tool to spread his ideas.

He did not shun working. He worked hard to make sure his art and ideas reached the largest audience possible.

He did not hate business like most artists do. He turned himself and his work into a business. He used business as a way to continue making art. He used it as a way to make sure everyone noticed what he was doing.

If you have been struggling with the idea of making art for money or turning your art into a business, you may want to reconsider. If you don’t make money from your art or have a good business plan for selling your art, you will have a hard time turning your art into a career.

But don’t take my word for it. Look at the words of Andy Warhol, one of the most successful commercial artists to ever live. He did not take himself or his art too seriously. He used art to make a statement about society while also living life on his own terms.

Buy Andy Warhol Quote Art

Photo by Tech109

The post “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” – Andy Warhol Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Cassia Cogger has created art ever since she was young. In middle school she won a national contest for a laundry detergent brand. And unlike most artists, she began selling her art early in life.

After college, Cassia abandoned her artistic pursuits and got a job as an editor at a trade magazine. It was during this time that Cassia realized she wanted to become a full-time artist. So she picked up a few odd jobs to support her painting business.

Before her daughter was born, Cassia was featured in a magazine as a rising star in water color. But after her daughter’s birth, she stopped painting as frequently.

It wasn’t until after her second child was born that Cassia got serious about art again. The same art magazine wanted to follow up with her to see what she had done in the past five years. This was the call to action she needed to get serious about art again.

In this episode, Cassia talks about why we need to be open to new ideas, the importance of avoiding complacency and being consistent, and the art of simplification, among many other things.

Here are three things you can learn from Cassia:

We Should Always be Open to New Ideas

One of the things that holds artists back from reaching their full potential is being too closed minded. Many artists only want to learn about one specific thing. They are not open to exploring new ideas.

Cassia used to have these closed minded ideas about art, but after a while, she started believing art can be enhanced by everything around us. “Art is everywhere and can be anything, and to limit it to something like a painting or a sculpture, I was really missing out at that time seeing work. And when I do think when you do say ‘I do this’ or ‘I do that’, you’re missing out as well.”

Many artists are afraid of exploring something new. We like the safety and comfort of the known. Cassia believes this mindset is holding us back. “That entire new world can be kinda scary, right? The unknown is scary. What we know is safe and it’s easy and it’s comfortable, but you’re not growing or shifting or changing or learning.”

During our conversation, Cassia realized that she wasn’t just an artist. She realized she was a learner and explorer. “Having this conversation right now, maybe even more than being an artist, I am a learner… I am the consummate student. I just love information and I love figuring things out, and I love coming to the next eureka phenomena until two minutes later when something else kind of hits me. There’s nothing that excites me more and maybe the creative process or making artwork is what keeps me in that state of openness that allows me to keep receiving new information again and again and again.”

Avoid Complacency and Become More Consistent

A lot of times, we try to do things the same way, even though they don’t work. We repeat the same mistakes because it’s easier than trying to forge a new path for ourselves.

Cassia believes we should stop being satisfied with the status quo. Instead, we need to try something new. “I think a lot of people hit a wall and they aren’t satisfied but… they think they need to go through it, right, instead figuring out that they can build something to go over it or carve a path go around it, or heck let’s burrow a tunnel to go under it. There are a number of people who reach that point and I think it’s very comfortable and it’s fine and wow, that would be awesome.”

Another thing holding artists back is their failure to develop a routine behind their work. Instead of learning how to create work consistently, we try to work when we feel inspired. But routine is essential to becoming a better artist. It’s the reason Cassia become a more creative and productive artist. “You reach this point where I have wanted to buck routine my entire life, and now I’m like so much more productive and creative and just a better person when I kinda have my systems and processes and routines and frameworks in place because I’m not wasting all this energy on trying to figure out the world around me.”

The Art of Simplification

One of the things that plagues most people, especially artists, is our tendency complicate things unnecessarily. Often times we do so much planning and thinking that we over complicate things.

But the best solution is often the simplest one. Cassia’s art is the result of simplifying the things around her. “Art making for me is distilling my experience. It’s removing the non-essential from the world around me through the process of making, and maybe that’s expressed on the page, maybe I just experience it in the process, but it’s about simplification.”

That is why she relies on routine and consistency. When we create routines, we are able to be more productive. We are able to maximize our time because we are no longer wasting our time on the unnecessary. “In a perfect world, I do find in my perfect world, that routine and consistency just leads to far greater… productivity because I’m not wasting my time on all the other stuff.”

Shownotes

• about Cassia
  • has always been a creative person
  • mother of two young children who wow her with their creativity
    • they push her to explore
  • background in 2D art and art history
  • got regular job, then turned to commissioned work
    • personal tragedies forced her to move away from it
    • started to paint for the sake of painting
    • realized the power of painting and exploring experiences
  • morphed into sacred geometrical and mandala painting
• first piece of art she created
  • got in trouble for drawing on grandparents’ walls
  • turkey tracing and getting in trouble at school
  • not worrying about the consequences of your art making when you’re young
• creating as a young artist
  • middle school art teacher gave assignments based on pop culture
    • made enormous sculpture of Lemonheads
  • won national competition for detergent and got $1,000 prize
    • started selling her work at a young age
    • didn’t develop her own voice until later in life
  • 13-14 yrs old painted floral but needed source material
    • found things in magazine and re-created things
    • gallery wanted her work when person went in to frame her art
  • stumbling on ways to make money even when she wasn’t looking for it
  • she was too young to have fear of selling
  • growing up in a supportive community
  • the beauty of not knowing what you’re doing wrong
  • calls herself a creative explorer

24:21 “When I was fourteen I was too young to have any fear or to know there would be any challenge. Now to think of approaching galleries, or this or that… once you know the fear of rejection, it becomes much more challenging than when you’re this kid and you’re like sure, what do I have to lose? Why not?”

25:32 “I’m so pleased that I had the experience at the time. But to think of doing it now, it just makes me shudder.”

• sharing her work
  • tries to work from a place of experimentation
  • introduces herself a creative explorer
  • doesn’t like to call herself an artist because it can be limiting
  • loves to push the envelope and explore things from a place of curiosity
  • used to consider herself a painter

28:38 “At some point you realize that the excitement and that the learning and that the benefit comes through the act of curiosity and of exploring, and if you can’t go in with an open mind, then you are missing out on so so so so much. I would say it’s that shifting from being product driven or product focused, to being processed focused. I often say now that my work is more of an artifact of whatever happens in the making of it versus me coming in with a very concrete idea about what it was I wanted to make.”

• the line between being open to creativity and the use of restraints
  • going deep versus wide and focusing on one thing
  • likes to work on 100 day projects
    • it forces you to become creative

30:27 “That has been one of the most powerful choices that I could have ever made because it does force you within those confines to become creative. Because if you can go anywhere, you can scratch the surface on things and not really learn anything from them, but when you have to sit with something and visit with it every single day for three and a half months, you get to know a lot about what it is you are exploring and experimenting with as well as yourself through the process.”

• how looking outside of your area of expertise makes you more creative
  • came from a closed/archaic environment
  • moving to NYC changed the way she viewed art/creativity
  • new words can be scary

33:55 “Art is everywhere and can be anything, and to limit it to something like a painting or a sculpture, I was really missing out at that time seeing work. And when I do think when you do say ‘I do this’ or ‘I do that’, you’re missing out as well.”

34:38 “That entire new world can be kinda scary, right? The unknown is scary. What we know is safe and it’s easy and it’s comfortable, but you’re not growing or shifting or changing or learning.”

35:00 “Having this conversation right now, maybe even more than being an artist, I am a learner… I am the consummate student. I just love information and I love figuring things out, and I love coming to the next eureka phenomena until two minutes later when something else kind of hits me. There’s nothing that excites me more and maybe the creative process or making artwork is what keeps me in that state of openness that allows me to keep receiving new information again and again and again.”

• choosing to learn vs. choosing to stop learning
  • she envies people who can find satisfaction
  • the serenity some people find in being content
  • exploration leading to further exploration
  • Cassia being lost in being who she wanted to be as an artist

36:22 “I think a lot of people hit a wall and they aren’t satisfied but… they think they need to go through it, right, instead figuring out that they can build something to go over it or carve a path go around it, or heck let’s burrow a tunnel to go under it. There are a number of people who reach that point and I think it’s very comfortable and it’s fine and wow, that would be awesome.”

38:31 “You need to have discipline and you need to have direction and it is incredibly easy to get lost.”

39:59 “You reach this point where I have wanted to buck routine my entire life, and now I’m like so much more productive and creative and just a better person when I kinda have my systems and processes and routines and frameworks in place because I’m not wasting all this energy on trying to figure out the world around me.”

• building a strong container around your life/art
  • framework/rules/expectations
  • instructor believes we lack masterpieces because people didn’t have distractions, they had no options
    • people had to paint during a set time because they had no other options
  • 100 day project and committing to creative daily expression
    • painting 100 circles
      • figured out different ways to use paint

42:34 “I know when I have a tight constraint or deadlines, I am so prolific. But if I’m wide open, it’s kinda like ‘Uh, tomorrow. Oh yeah, I’m going to get to it.'”

43:04 “If you can commit to anything… a creative daily expression can do so much because you’re tapping in consistently and each time you tap in, you tap in a little to the left or a little to the right, or you might go in a little deeper and you just learn something every single day.”

44:07 “Being open to what other people might deem failures, you know aesthetically, but really huge successes in the learning that comes from them.”

• doing things when you feel inspiration vs. doing them every day
  • Muses will only show up if you do
  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
  • maintaining a clear work space

45:48 “Art making for me is distilling my experience. It’s removing the non-essential from the world around me through the process of making, and maybe that’s expressed on the page, maybe I just experience it in the process, but it’s about simplification.”

46:26 “In a perfect world, I do find in my perfect world, that routine and consistency just leads to far greater… productivity because I’m not wasting my time on all the other stuff.”

• her job before becoming an artist
  • lived with people who got business degrees
  • interviewed to be editor at a trade magazine
    • turned out to be a cold calling job
    • told them she wasn’t doing the job they hired her for, and they fired her
    • decided then that she would do art full time
    • had to take odd jobs, but realized she wasn’t being creative
  • got a job working in policies/procedures
    • worked there while building painting business
  • moved form Colorado to New York
    • painted only for herself because she thought she couldn’t sell in NY
    • studied at Artist Students League
    • created a lot of work but only showed work to mentors
    • found her voice and started sharing it again
  • had kids, and lost/re-found her voice
• finding her way back to her art
  • painted after having daughter but not with the same energy
  • had boy 3.5 years later
  • was in magazine before daughter was born as a rising star in water color
  • stopped painting frequently when she was born
  • contacted her five years later for a follow up
  • decided she needed a project
    • what could she consistently dedicate herself to
    • chose to do sacred geometry
  • found connection with herself and a voice that she could sustain
  • creating a sacred container/vessel and exploring within it
• forcing herself to be consistent
  • What will it take to be consistent?
  • staging her own show
  • creating accountability by forcing herself to do a show

56:44 “I think everybody’s different, but for me, having an end goal with a definitive timeline to be accountable to, really helped me. And… I wasn’t willing to put out crap work. So that meant I had to slow down and really tap back into the technical skills that I already possessed but maybe the new knowledge that I had gathered since I had created my last serious body of paintings.”

• how Cassia’s class came to be
  • early 2000’s – opened online store that turned into a big online store
  • ignored people’s pleas for her to use the internet to sell her work
    • friend told her to use Etsy and she ignored her
  • years later she knew she needed to use the internet to teach
  • was excited to teach about symbols and colors, etc.
    • brought together all parts of herself to create the class
• people who take her classes
  • thought she was teaching an art class
    • it wasn’t a class for artists it was a class for the “disconnected”
    • she was using the process for her own benefit
    • offering to people to use artwork to find a way back to themselves
  • class for people who have ever felt creative urge
  • likens it to yoga
  • teaches class at entrepreneurial business class
  • has taught at womens’ groups
  • circle as a container to express in
  • some people need very little direction (permission/direction)
  • others require methodical instruction
    • as an instructor, you offer enough to get them started
  • making authentic art for herself and not worrying about the outcome
    • not allowing her creations to be precious/or shown to others
  • approaching artists and non-artists differently
    • artists – doing the work and not worrying about the outcome
    • non-artists – just look for permission

1:03:00 “In this case I see the art making… of your mandala as a form of yoga in that it unites… your physical body… to that deep expressive soul or spirit within that maybe you don’t often slow down and listen to.”

1:04:34 “I think so many people just need permission and direction, so as an instructor, I’m just here to say it’s okay. It’s okay to scribble, to paint, to draw, or be methodical, or express in any way you want on the page.”

1:08:48 “It’s really a fine line when you make art for a living, and you teach art for a living, and then you’re having to step back and be like ‘Oh, I’m not doing what I’m teaching’ or ‘I’m not doing it to the full extent that I could be, so let’s change it up.'”

• being comfortable with the uncomfortable/unfamiliar
  • giving permission to lose control and the safe space of the container

1:11:54 “Just setting an expectation that allows for something that they wouldn’t typically let happen to happen, I think that’s kinda where the magic is.”

• storytelling aspect of art
  • circle as a primordial symbol
  • pre-programmed universal associations within us
  • responding well to the circular form
• how Cassia came to write her book
  • was blogging/sending out newsletter
  • was consistent with releasing work
  • was approached by an acquisitions editor
  • being open to experimentation and trying
  • changing her thought patterns to be open to possibilities
    • used to be closed off
    • being open to whatever comes
  • Jonathan Fields’ Good Life Project
    • curiosity is the opposite of depression
    • curiosity leading to openings and expansiveness
  • story circles being an exploration of ourselves

1:17:08 “So I’ve had these little inklings about things that I’ve said yes to and they just kind of roll in to the next thing.”

1:17:55 “It’s right down to the way the book came about. I didn’t sit around for years thinking I wanted to write books. I didn’t have a proposal that I went nuts over… It just happened, and I said yes because it was in alignment with what I was already creating.”

• favorite quote
  • “And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” ― Anaïs Nin
  • came across it when she was getting back into art
• morning routine
  • sits and makes time to breath/make coffee
  • finishes up projects/journals
  • if kids wake up at the same time, they will also do creative work
    • not quite as calm or peaceful
  • exercises then heads to studio
• recommendations for books, podcasts, documentaries
  • The Lotus and the Lily by  Janet Conner
    • 30 days of journaling prompts, and then you create an intention mandala
    • has done it for three years
  • Good Life Project, Jealous Curator, Note to Self
  • likes to watch movies that help her escape: Old School

1:30:51 “It’s all about the balance… I can only spend so much time in this state of thought and introspection and expression. And you need some levity.”

• creative people
  • her kids – constant desire to make new things
    • use creative problem solving/thinking/approaches
  • Sean Platt is constantly creating Kindle books
    • thought process and volume of books is impressive
• definition of creativity

1:34:25 “I think creativity is just a way of being… Creativity works in tandem with curiosity… It’s a way of thinking. It’s a way of acting. It’s a way of interacting. I don’t think it’s a thing. I don’t think it’s necessarily art because people can make art and be very much not creative… It’s a way of approaching the world and it’s an openness.”

• challenge
  • sit down with materials and mandalas
  • see what comes
  • do it every day for a week
  • do it in 5 minutes
  • it’s a gateway to creativity

http://www.cassiacogger.com/  |  Instagram  |  Creating Personal Mandalas

The post Cassia Cogger on Being Open to New Ideas, Avoiding Complacency, Being Consistent, and the Art of Simplification – Cracking Creativity Episode 71 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Amy Oestreicher thought she had her life all figured out. Ever since she was young, she felt she was born to perform. She was all set to go to college for musical theater when medical complications derailed everything.

During her senior year of high school Amy started having stomach pains. When she went into surgery to fix it, her stomach shot out of her body and she went into a coma for months. She spent years and many surgeries in hospitals trying to reach some semblance of normalcy.

During this trying time, Amy turned to creativity to help keep her busy. She started painting and she even developed her own one person play based on all of her troubles and overcoming adversity.

With one play in the books, and another on the way, Amy is the prime example of what it means to persevere.

In this episode, Amy talks about being a detourist, being more capable than we think we are, and how our creativity benefits from taking small risks.

Here are three things you can learn from Amy:

Become a Detourist

As we go through life, we often face obstacles that push us past our comfort zones. We face obstacles that scare us. Amy believes we need to force ourselves to take risks, to push past the comfortable. “Unfortunately I think we all get something that pushes us sooner or later but obviously, to prepare ourselves, I think we have to look for the scary… We have to take the risk. We have to go inside and ask that question… ‘If I could not fail, I would do this.'”

Amy believes we need to follow our curiosity. We need to stop feeling so comfortable and safe. We need to embrace the risk even in the face of the unknown. “My TEDx talk was about being a detourist, and for me, a detourist is someone who at least shows up and has this curiosity. I think that’s the best thing we can do with anything in life even if life seems settled and okay. Be curious like what if, ‘What if I went in this alternate direction?’… The truth is, it’s not so hard for adversity to find us but I think sometimes we do feel comfortable and safe. We do have to really go inside and ask ourselves ‘What is a risk I can take in this moment?’ And the truth is if it’s not, even if you’re not in a comfortable place, I say start with a gratitude list. That’s what I tell anyone.”

Being a detourist requires knowing yourself. And one of the best ways to get to know yourself is by creating a gratitude list. Your gratitude list will reveal what’s important to you, even if it scares you. “Those gratitude items on my list… were actually my values. And the more I did those lists, the more I realized what was important to me. So the reason I think anyone should start with that is, you’ll realize what’s really important to you and what you need to go for, even if you’ve been scared of it.”

We Are More Capable Than We Think

One of the things that you might realize over time is that we have the capacity to do great things. Even if you don’t know exactly what you are doing, you can create beautiful results. That’s exactly what Amy did when she got back into acting after all her surgeries. “It’s fake it til you make it. I feel like, just by acting, I was the actress back at work with the director. I felt like my mind was in such a better place.”

Don’t let your lack of experience prevent you from doing something you believe in. With the fake it til you make it attitude and the willingness to embark on new adventures you can make the impossible come true. “The truth is, I booked a theater in New York when I still had tubes and bags on me and I had never even touched professional theater after the hospital. So it was a big risk and it was an investment. So I think we were all very nervous cause I had never done anything like this in my sick or healthy life.”

Amy did not let her lack of professional experience dissuade her. She did not let the financial risk or her own nervousness get in the way. She went after what she wanted, regardless of the obstacles she faced.

That is why we sometimes need to force ourselves into uncomfortable situations. We need to push ourselves to the limits to see what we are truly capable of. “Sometimes you need to light a fire under you to get yourself in gear. You know why I don’t ever feel like a victim is because I think we are always more capable than I think we are or than other people perceive us as. And sometimes it takes saying ‘You know what, I’m going to fail,’ to see that we don’t fail.”

How Our Creativity Benefits from Taking Small Risks

We often believe risk is a huge commitment or step in our lives that will change our whole perspective on the world, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Even the smallest risks can take you in the right direction. “I like to ask myself ‘What is the smallest micro-movement I could take? If I were an amoeba… what is the tiniest thing I could do?”

That’s because risks aren’t an all or nothing proposition. Risks lie on a spectrum. You don’t have to quit your job to take a risk. Risk can be almost anything. “Risk is not an all or nothing thing. There are a spectrum of risks we can take. It doesn’t have to be quit my job and become a performance artist. It could be I’m going to make myself sit and write that opening paragraph I’ve been putting off… and I think that’s what makes it a little bit easier to start with. Not I’m going to paint a canvas. I’m going to take a crayon and draw a stick figure. So, there’s no excuse.”

One important lesson we can learn about creativity and risk can be learned from kids. Kids aren’t worried about embarrassing themselves or making mistakes. They embrace it in the name of creativity. “Creativity can feel really superfluous, you know, like why I have this to do or that to do. But kids own it. You see that it’s a priority to them.”

If we just allow ourselves to take risks and look at the world from a child’s mind, we can slowly create a world where risk isn’t such a big deal.

Shownotes

• about Amy
  • grew up as a musical theater nerd
    • felt she was born to perform
  • was driven at a young age
  • was working with voice teacher who abused her
    • repressed memories of the incidents
    • couldn’t take it physically anymore
    • thought there was something wrong with her
  • told her mother during her senior year
    • 2 weeks later stomach started hurting
    • blood clot developed
    • surgeons at ER cut her open and her stomach flew out of her body from the pressure
    • was in a coma for months
  • woke up with nurses her knew her and she had no idea what happened
  • didn’t know how to act like a patient
  • performing is how she made a connection to the world
  • her biggest fear was not being relevant
  • it filled her with a drive
  • as soon as she learned to walk again, she wouldn’t go back to the bed
  • family made her feel like she was before
  • months later, she was discharged from the hospital but she didn’t have a stomach
    • half in/half out way to live
    • had no game plan
    • all she had was creativity
  • doesn’t know what she would have done without creativity
    • wrote stories about mythology and learned about Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey
      • thought of herself as a warrior
      • created things around the idea of being a hero
  • was supposed to have her last surgery after 13 others
    • didn’t end right
    • doctors didn’t have an answer to what went wrong
    • was in the worst shape ever
    • her mother bought things to cheer Amy up
    • brought art kits to get her to do things
  • picking up a paint brush for the first time at Yale hospital
    • felt something spiritual
    • decided to put everything into the paint brush and painting
    • big blue tear painting – became signature painting
      • people see happiness in it even though she created it in a time of despair
  • created 70 canvases
    • had a new voice and second wind
    • put on a solo art show when she left the hospital
  • took thousands of journal entries and turned them into songs
    • transformed into one woman show
    • never talked about it before
    • took a big leap by bringing it to stage and talking about it
    • credits it for her coming into the world

4:43 “I have this drive that like, I don’t care what I’m dealing with, I’m going to find ways to at least feel as passionate as I was before.”

6:42 “Creativity was, I don’t know what I would have done without it because… It was a way to re-frame my narrative. I felt like I had control in a situation where there was no control, and for me creativity was through writing.”

11:03 “That really showed me the transformative power of art. We can just create it at such terrible times because we’re with those feelings, they can be tranformed on a canvas.”

11:39 “Why I call it the beautiful detour, I mean I would never have discovered art, and it really came at the right time where it was too painful to put into words. I needed some way to express myself without having to speak it because I didn’t really have the voice. Why art was an amazing transition step for me too is that it provided me with the courage to eventually find the words.”

13:10 “That’s really what I credit to initiating my full coming back into the world as a person because I realized that even though what I’d been through, and my story was a little out there at the extreme, the emotions that I feel, the pain, the frustration, the anger, those are things that we all feel. And actually telling this story made me feel normal for the first time, and I actually felt I had permission to kinda join back in to the human race.”

15:28 “For me at least the comfort in any uncertainty is that I’ll always have some way to transform it because I think it’s our job is just to make it from one uncertainty to the next until it becomes something better… creativity is all my life, basically.”

• musical theater in her life
  • didn’t know what she would do other than theater
  • got in musical theater at University of Michigan before her medical complications
  • finishing up her degree from another university now
  • created, directed, and wrote musicals from an early age
  • theater was a world she could live in
  • other creative things felt compressed
  • gave herself warrior traits
  • instinctively built a world for herself

19:56 I’ve turned my musical about being grateful into a mental health program that I’m touring, where I’m talking about how we’re all capable of finding skills for resilience. And I created that program from my own experience and also based on all the research I did, and it’s been so fascinating for me to kinda read about what I did intuitively… had been researched and proven to spawn on post traumatic growth.

20:22 And for me that just shows that it’s amazing what anyone is capable of when they’re really pushed. That we’re not always pushed. And that can seem like a good thing but I see  that it’s really been abrupt in my life.”

• pushing people out of their comfort zones to cause growth
  • being a detourist
    • shows up with a sense of curiosity
  • kept gratitude list during her surgeries
    • forced herself to think of things

21:06 “Unfortunately I think we all get something that pushes us sooner or later but obviously, to prepare ourselves, I think we have to look for the scary… We have to take the risk. We have to go inside and ask that question… ‘If I could not fail, I would do this.'”

21:46 “My TEDx talk was about being a detourist, and for me, a detourist is someone who at least shows up and has this curiosity.  I think that’s the best thing we can do with anything in life even if life seems settled and okay. Be curious like what if, ‘What if I went in this alternate direction?’… The truth is, it’s not so hard for adversity to find us but I think sometimes we do feel comfortable and safe. We do have to really go inside and ask ourselves ‘What is a risk I can take in this moment?’ And the truth is if it’s not, even if you’re not in a comfortable place, I say start with a gratitude list. That’s what I tell anyone.”

22:57 “Those gratitude items on my list… were actually my values. And the more I did those lists, the more I realized what was important to me. So the reason I think anyone should start with that is, you’ll realize what’s really important to you and what you need to go for, even if you’ve been scared of it.”

• her value list
  • family – doesn’t know what she would have done without her family
    • was in the hospital from 18-22
    • never spent one night in the hospital by herself
    • spending nights in her room alone
  • creativity
  • nature
    • obsessed with trees and nature
    • seeing the world around her gives her perspective

25:08 “I realized I couldn’t heal until I was able to come out of that vacuum. No growth can come if you don’t have people in our lives. That is always something that is on my gratitude list.”

• distilling thousands of pages in her journal into a play
  • she has trouble condensing her thoughts
  • picked some good parts
  • her story having ten stories in it
• the need to talk/think in such detail
  • documented everything when she was locked in her room
  • had the feeling that she needed to be heard
  • evolved to another level after her show
    • recreated her voice
    • vital to the healing process
  • Why Not Wednesday
    • people write in about detours in their lives
    • writing about things rewires the way we think

29:10 “What I was going through in isolation every day was so crazy that it became a very OCD thing… that started locked in my room for years. I would document every little thing, and I remember thinking ‘If I don’t write this down, it’s not going to exist.’ And as a performer and as a person I had to find some way to be vital.”

31:15 “I think that was a very vital part of my healing process and that’ why now, especially with my mental health program, I’m a big fan of just getting people to tell their story.”

• being on a detour
  • what would she be doing if this never happened to her
  • one path leads to another
  • Daniel Pink
    • convocation address at Northwestern
    • creatives don’t take  straight line paths in their lives
  • detours can be good
    • require risk and uncertainty
    • there is always risk
  •  figuring out if something is calling out to you
    • The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam
  • emotions telling us wear to go on our detours
  • get our thoughts out of the way

33:24 “Your detour opens so many new avenues that I think you get to the point, whether you like it or not, that you can’t really map out how that other theoretical path would have gone, because that’s just not your path anymore.”

36:20 “Sometimes it takes extra work on our part, when things are good to be like ‘How can I really make the most of my aliveness?’ Well a lot of us, especially with with social media… we’re kind of like the Walking Dead or we just kinda go through our lives. And you read all these inspiring stories… about people who dropped everything… Sometimes we have to look for those things.”

37:27 “I love the books that blur the line, that say, ‘Listen, pick up a pen and doodle.’ We need some way to get in touch with that part of us that, you know, words are great. I use a lot of them, but there is something beneath there that we try to out think. You know. It’s that intuitive part of us that we can’t hear when we don’t have absolute quiet.”

38:13 “I am a terrible mediator, but I know for me, creativity can be my meditation, where it’s just picking up a pen and doodling on a napkin or listening to music and seeing where that’s taking my heart and my mind. I think we can all find some definition of meditation where we’re getting our thoughts to take a break.”

• experimenting and following your curiosity
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
    • tough love, practical guide to creativity

40:17 “You’re not always going to have the time to take these long ritual retreat and let the creativity come.”

40:37 “It’s not going to be a spiritual awakening all the time. It’s not going to be this glamorous calm that hits you on the head, but it is something that you can access. There are just so many different ways.”

• details about her play
  • compacting her thoughts into a singular play
  • had events in life she wanted to sing about
  • “What story do I want to tell?”
  • created rough outline
  • picked the songs first b/c she wanted to make it a cabaret
  • threaded stories together
  • cutting and pasting her journal entries together
  • was an innocent and exciting time for her
  • evolved after performing in front of audiences
  • musical director told her it was time to stop evolving the play and move on
  • always looking for the next thing

43:53 “It’s interesting… when you create, you also have to ask yourself, how much is this my life right now and how should I frame this?”

44:38 “I think when something, especially if you’re so personally invested in, you have to know when it’s not your story anymore, and I think as artists, we have this drive in us that, listen, it’s wonderful when we have some kind of commercial success, but we’re not going to be happy just with that for long.”

• bringing people together to create her play
  • on Today Show to talk about her art
  • segment: Everyone Has a Story
  • David Friedman composed her segment, mentored her, and wrote song for her
  • got back in touch with director she had when she was young
    • sang entire show for him
    • told her there was good material there
    • worked with her on it for a year
    • rebuilt their relationship
  • taking a big risk

48:33 “It’s fake it til you make it. I feel like, just by acting, I was the actress back at work with the director. I felt like my mind was in such a better place.”

48:53 “The truth is, I booked a theater in New York when I still had tubes and bags on me and I had never even touched professional theater after the hospital. So it was a big risk and it was an investment. So I think we were all very nervous cause I had never done anything like this in my sick or healthy life.”

49:33 “Sometimes you need to light a fire under you to get yourself in gear. You know why I don’t ever feel like a victim is because I think we are always more capable than I think we are or than other people perceive us as. And sometimes it takes saying ‘You know what, I’m going to fail,’ to see that we don’t fail.”

• when you don’t take chances, you fail by default
  • theater intensives
  • reaching your limits
  • risk, fail, risk again as a tagline
  • while she was in the hospital, she was on her right side, so her right leg shrunk
    • had the fear she would never dance again
    • has been able to tap dance again
    • her nerves grew a milometer at a time
    • the way babies learn step by step and the fearlessness they exhibit
  • learning from kids and how they learn
  • Why Creativity is the Only Mindset You Need
    • exercises she built from little imagination games
    • things that make our eyes widen a bit and give us a spark
    • exercise with dried rice and spoons
  • crayons being a life force for cancer patients
    • being faced with what really matters
  • it only takes one paint stroke

51:42 “Risk is not an all or nothing thing. There are a spectrum of risks we can take. It doesn’t have to be quit my job and become a performance artist. It could be I’m going to make myself sit and write that opening paragraph I’ve been putting off… and I think that’s what makes it a little bit easier to start with. Not I’m going to paint a canvas. I’m going to take a crayon and draw a stick figure. So, there’s no excuse.”

52:51 “I like to ask myself ‘What is the smallest micro-movement I could take? If I were an amoeba… what is the tiniest thing I could do?”

57:35 “Creativity can feel really superfluous, you know, like why I have this to do or that to do. But kids own it. You see that it’s a priority to them.”

59:02 “I think sometimes we just need to let ourselves know that we matter… People see my name all over the place now, writing articles and doing my show. And people always ask ‘I don’t even know where to start with sharing my story.’ And I always say ‘For almost ten years I was just sharing my story with myself.’ That’s an important part of the process too. You may not be ready to share your story with the world and that’s okay. I don’t think I really could have if I hadn’t spent all those years in forced isolation… I’m kinda fortunate that I was just left with myself because I think those seeds needed to cultivate and self-reflect.”

• things that scare her that she hasn’t done
  • surgeries caused setbacks
  • things like travel aren’t as easy to do
  • doing what she can to not settle
  • acting teacher told her if you can’t travel, you won’t see the signs changing
  • wants to do something with multimedia – dance, art, music, and story
  • painting on stage and story through that painting
• first show
  • spiritual experience that felt like old times
  • wanted to feel like herself again and performing gave it to her
  • didn’t expect her story to be relateable
• stories as part of art
  • you have to know the story behind your art
  • know the why behind what you do

1:05:23 “People don’t gravitate to causes. They gravitate to stories. They gravitate to what’s authentic to us So I think stories is a really loose term. It’s whatever speaks to our hearts and where we come from.”

• favorite quote
  • “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” ― John Lennon
  • reminds her to keep going
  • don’t stay in isolation
  • find connection any way we can
• morning routine
  • do something physical, where she doesn’t have to think
• recommendations
  • Unmistakable Creative
  • Bill Moyer’s Interview with Joseph Campbell
• creative people
  • brother Matt
  • Wassily Kandinsky
  • Stephen Sondheim
• definition of creativity
  • not judging our intuition

1:12:53 “Creativity is intuition at play, definitely.  To be more creative, start with a micro-movement.”

• challenge
  • what is one uncomfortable thing I can do in this moment to move forward

Amyoes.com  |  Twitter

The post Amy Oestreicher on Being a Detourist, Being More Capable Than We Think, and Taking Risks – Cracking Creativity Episode 72 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” ― William Shakespeare

Buy this print from Storenvy.

One thing that has always bothered me is when people blame their lack of success on others. They believe because their fates have already been determined. They believe they should just give up because things haven’t gone their way.

As any successful person will tell you, your fate isn’t tied to the whim of others. Stop worrying about things you can’t control. Instead, worry about the things you can control.

Things you can’t control:

What people think about you. You can’t control how people feel about you. People will form their own opinions regardless of what you do. So there’s no point in worrying about it. You are better off focusing on things you can control like finding the right audience.

What people think about your work. The same goes for people’s opinion about your work. People will either like it or they won’t. It’s almost impossible to change people’s minds, so stop trying. The best thing you can do is appreciate the people who do like your work.

Being rich already. Some people complain that other artists have an unfair advantage of already being rich. So what? Everyone’s situation is different. You can’t control whether you have rich relatives or whether you made money from a previous life. So stop worrying about how you are unprivileged. Instead, focus on what you can do to change your own financial situation.

Things you can control:

Building good habits. One of the biggest indicators of success is the habits you’ve built over time. You can only achieve so much when you are always running around like a chicken with its head cut off. You can’t do things on a whim. It’s hard to be consistent if you haven’t built the right habits around being consistent. You have to build a consistent routine and self-discipline.

Being persistent. Those who give up will never achieve anything. It’s just a fact of life. We will never achieve our dreams if we quit at the first sign of trouble. You have to be willing to fail and pick yourself back up again. Persistent people are the ones still standing while everything around them is crumbling to the ground. You can’t control much about the world, but you can control whether you let the world bring you down.

Learning and self-improvement. While most people stop learning after they finish school, those who continue to learn achieve the most. There are a surprising number of people who are content with what they know. They refuse to become more knowledgeable even about things that interest them. Just by the virtue of reading this, you are different. If you want to continue to grow and improve as an artist and a person, you have to continue learning.

Conclusion:

If you’ve read this far, you have realized that our paths in life are not predetermined. We are not bound by our destinies. We create our own destinies. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different.

Sure, there are things in life we can’t control, but that doesn’t mean we need to let those things affect who we are and what we become. You can’t control the people or the things around you, but you can control how you react to them. So stop looking towards the stars for directions, look within yourself.

Buy William Shakespeare Quote Art

Photos by NASA | Unsplash

The post “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” ― William Shakespeare Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Logan Nickleson has always had an admiration for the arts. When he was a child he liked to draw and paint. When he was 15-16 years old he started getting into music. And for college, he went into journalism.

While in college, Logan saw the changes that were happening in journalism. So he changed his major to advertising. This led to his internship at an advertising agency.

His internship turned into a full-time job, where he worked on numerous projects. It was during this time that a revelation came to him. While making short videos for clients, he was having a hard time finding music for his videos. So he decided to use his own music.

Inspired by stock photography sites like Death to Stock and Unsplash, Logan decided to take all the music he created, and started his own stock site. The only difference was his stock site would for music. Thus, Music For Makers was born.

In this episode, Logan talks about why marketing has gotten such a bad rap, the most essential element for finding your audience, and how we can use psychology to our advantage.

Here are three things you can learn from Logan:

Marketing is given a bad name

Many artists and creatives believe marketing is a spammy tool to sell things, but that’s far from the truth. Logan believes marketing gets a bad rap. “I think there’s a perception out there to market yourself and your work, it’s icky and you’re like this salesman, you know, almost like the car salesman type. I think it’s really just a lack of understanding of really it doesn’t have to be that way.”

Logan believes people just have a false notion of what marketing is. Marketing is often thought of as a bad thing, but it isn’t. “I think it’s just, mostly people have this preconceived notion of what selling your art or what marketing your art is, and… it doesn’t have to be gross or pushy or whatever.”

Marketing, in its essence is getting your product out in front of an audience. The problem is, most marketers are still trying to do it the old-fashioned way where they just spam their audiences. This is what artists think about when they hear the word marketing. That’s why they think marketing is selling out. “There’s a lot of artists that think that to try to push your art out as a business is kinda selling out. I think it’s kind of a misunderstanding of the process really.”

If you still think marketing means selling out, I urge you to listen to Logan, and discover for yourself what marketing really is.

Finding the right audience

One of the biggest troubles artists and creatives have is figuring out who our audience is. This is one of the most important, and often times most difficult, things an artist has to do.

The problem is, we usually go about it the wrong way. We believe everyone is our audience, and that is simply not true. Figuring out who your audience is involves finding people who are actually interested in your work as a starting point. “I think it just starts off with a basic critical thinking of… who’s the most basic version of the person who is interested in this, and then kinda putting it out there, and then just revising and reiterating until you find the right audience.”

It doesn’t end there either. You can’t just rely on your initial hunch of who your audience is. Knowing your audience is a continuous process. Your audience evolves as you do. That’s why it’s crucial for you to constantly reevaluate who your audience is. “I would say it’s kind of a continuous process where you reevaluate to see whether… this is still the primary audience or are there other audiences out there who would love their product that don’t have any idea that they exist… So the research is ongoing I would say.”

Using Psychology to Your Advantage

One point that consistently came up during my conversation with Logan was the book Influence by Robert Cialdini. In the book, Cialdini talks about all the ways we are influenced by psychology.

One of these points is one of commitment. When we commit to things, we are more likely to follow through on them. So start small, and work your way up from there. “When we commit to something, we are a lot more likely to be consistent… If you can get somebody to commit to a small thing, you can then later convince them to commit to a bigger thing like buying your product.”

Another thing we talked about was the idea of accountability. Accountability nudges us to do things we commit ourselves to. It helps motivate you when you don’t feel like doing something. It helps get you to the finish line. It gives you compelling reason to do something. “It’s about this idea about accountability. Kinda announcing that you’re going to do this or whatever and using that as a motivator to make you actually follow through and finish… I think it’s a critical piece to let people know and… ideally let there be some consequence if you don’t follow through. It makes a more compelling reason to do the thing you’re wanting to do.”

In its simplest form, it is about survival. We aren’t necessarily in physical danger, but those basic instincts that helped our ancestors survive can help us thrive. “All these kinds of psychological triggers and just the way we think, I find it really interesting because it all really goes back to human survival. That idea of… the punishment is more important to us than the reward is just basic survival that we as humans have kind of learned over years and years of trying to survive.”

Shownotes

• about Logan
  • works at ad agency as content strategist
  • struggles with creative work
  • hard to find music that’s free to use for makers
  • Music for Makers – free to use music for commercial projects
• creative upbringing
  • has always been interested in creative things like art
  • started doing music at 15-16
  • went into journalism for college
• parallels between different creative work
  • taking in influences/ideas and putting them together in new/unique way

5:15 “You can’t really create anything new. It’s really all about taking other things and rehashing and remixing them to create your own spin on it. I would say that’s true of anything you do, whether it’s drawing, making music, or writing. It’s really taking all these influences and ideas that have impacted you and making them your own.”

• why he went to school for journalism
  • thought it would lead to the most viable career path
  • wasn’t interested in commercial art, was more interested in fine art
  • switched to advertising because of changes in journalism
  • finding different ways to make your talents viable
  • making money in music – touring or licensing
  • creative professions being disrupted by the internet
  • finding creative ways to make things work

8:55 “There are not that many people who are gonna blaze their own trail. For those that are, there’s a good opportunity.”

• work as an intern
  • interned while in college and worked out a deal to go full-time after graduating
  • exposure to different things within digital marketing (search, copy writing, email marketing, etc.)
  • started college as fine arts major then switched to interactive media/web design, then went into journalism
  • thought of journalism as a way to write for the web
  • didn’t want people to tell him what to do with his art
  • would try to do art on the side and find a job that paid better
  • has switched from fine art to digital creating in general
  • advertising job and Music for Makers have taken up his time
• evolution of his role at the agency
  • when he started out he was a “digital specialist”
    • help out with various projects
    • was the go to person for various tasks like graphic design and search engine optimization
  • has come to specialize in content marketing and writing
• why artists oppose marketing
  • some fine artists have gone into marketing and love it

7:52 “I think there’s a perception out there to market yourself and your work, it’s icky and you’re like this salesman, you know, almost like the car salesman type. I think it’s really just a lack of understanding of really it doesn’t have to be that way.”

8:28 “I think it’s just, mostly people have this preconceived notion of what selling your art or what marketing your art is, and… it doesn’t have to be gross or pushy or whatever.”

8:54 “There’s a lot of artists that think that to try to push your art out as a business is kinda selling out. I think it’s kind of a misunderstanding of the process really.”

9:38 “A lot of people think advertising is about somebody just trying to convince you or manipulate you… into buying a certain thing.”

• opening yourself to different ideas
  • just try things
  • social media/blogging feels more like engaging one on one with people
    • give and take and feels more natural
  • don’t think of it as marketing, think of it as making connections and meeting people
  • agencies being creative places
  • if you try it you might be surprised by how much you enjoy

12:00 “Sometimes you have to leave behind the old ways of doing things and you have to be willing to try something new and go about it a little differently… The most successful people and the most successful artists are going to be the ones that try something that nobody else is doing. Because that’s really… the only way to get through to people and get noticed.”

12:59 “When it comes down to it, I think marketing is about creativity. I think it would resonate with artists who are all about creativity.”

• creativity in different campaigns
  • Tower Garden – gardening system for people who don’t think they can garden
    • getting info in front of ppl
    • creative ways to find these ppl
    • where do they hang out? what would appeal to them?
    • presenting the product in a way that resonates with the audience
    • support/educate/make sure they get the best experience
  • find people who need what you have to offer
  • finding audience for Tower Garden
    • building a profile
    • see what resonates with people
    • what are the similarities among all the people who do like it
  • reasons for failure: reaching out to the wrong people or reaching them the wrong way

17:43 “I think it just starts off with a basic critical thinking of… who’s the most basic version of the person who is interested in this, and then kinda putting it out there, and then just revising and reiterating until you find the right audience.”

20:34 “I would say it’s kind of a continuous process where you reevaluate to see whether… this is still the primary audience or are there other audiences out there who would love their product that don’t have any idea that they exist… So the research is ongoing I would say.”

• idea behind Music for Makers
  • videos as a compelling form of media
  • he started making short videos/animations for clients
  • creating video wasn’t too difficult but found pain point of finding music for the videos
  • had backlog of recordings he wanted to giveaway for free
  • being inspired by Death to Stock and Unsplash
    • give out free photo content for email address
  • he felt he could solve the problem of stock music
• promoting Music for Makers
  • started by going where anyone would listen (blog comments, Reddit, forums, etc.)
  • who would need music?
    • content marketers, video editors, podcasters, video game makers
    • where do they hang out? go there
    • what do these people look for?
  • Copyblogger & Rainmaker
    • being a part of your audience helps
    • products that solve a problem for yourself tend to do well  because you are a member of that audience
    • understand pain points and where people are hanging out
  • attractiveness of free, especially in music
  • pricing and value
  • providing value and willingness to pay
  • Influence by Robert Cialdini
    • the need to reciprocate something when you get value from it
• Logan’s influences
  • Unemployable by Brian Clark
    • for solopreneurs/entrepreneurs/freelancers who want to take control of their lives
    • instructive and has a community
  • Megamaker by Justin Jackson
    • making 100 things in a year
    • invited other ppl to join him in making more things
    • motivating and inspirational
  • public declarations make you more accountable
  • commitment and consistency
  • Logan’s article on accountability
    • the more accountable you are, the more likely you are
  • punishments as a stronger motivator than rewards
    • identifying pain points and convincing people to avoid it

36:20 “When we commit to something, we are a lot more likely to be consistent… If you can get somebody to commit to a small thing, you can then later convince them to commit to a bigger thing like buying your product.”

36:43 “It’s about this idea about accountability. Kinda announcing that you’re going to do this or whatever and using that as a motivator to make you actually follow through and finish… I think it’s a critical piece to let people know and… ideally let there be some consequence if you don’t follow through. It makes a more compelling reason to do the thing you’re wanting to do.”

38:40 “All these kinds of psychological triggers and just the way we think, I find it really interesting because it all really goes back to human survival. That idea of… the punishment is more important to us than the reward is just basic survival that we as humans have kind of learned over years and years of trying to survive.”

• storytelling as a great communication tool
  • good stories have the same elements
  • making yourself the protagonist or having someone your audience can relate to
  • case studies and testimonials work well when they resemble your audience
  • relating to people who are like you
  • story behind Buzzfeed’s analytics
• making a public declaration for MFM
  • music making doesn’t have to be hard
  • his mission was to help creative people to ship products

45:26 “I think it is kinda important for anybody making anything, I think it is important to sit down, even if you don’t go public with it. Sit down and think about what is the why, what’s the real meaning behind what you’re doing. It’s not necessarily just to make a buck or to get notoriety but what are you really trying to achieve at the end of the day.”

• creating different songs each week
  • had a lot of ideas on the back burner
  • songs had a starting place from previous ideas
  • his song – The Captain – came from sitting at Yosemite

47:55 “I think inspiration really comes from anywhere and everywhere… For me, there’s not really a defined process every week. It’s just kinda something different… So far, it’s just kinda been all over the board.”

48:39 “I think it’s also really important to know when enough is enough. There’s this kind of idea that I adhere to that is also born into Music for Makers now because I have to produce a new song every week now. There’s only a certain number of hours every day that I’m able to work on it. So at a certain point, I have to know when to stop… It’s an idea that’s termed creative minimalism. So it’s about basically… putting constraints on your creative process so that you know how to operate within it, having a structure that you can then build from. So I think it is important at least in the brainstorming or ideation stage to have as many influences and inspirations as possible, and be open minded there. But I think when it actually comes to creating the thing, the fewer options you have, it makes it easier to create, I would say.”

• conflicting and competing ideas within the creative process

50:30 “It’s a challenge, and I think that’s why it’s so fulfilling to actually produce something and put it out into the world because it’s a lot of work but it’s also a lot of fun.”

51:10 “it’s easy to come up with excuses to not make something, to not create. To set this rule for yourself that you’re going to have to make something every week, or every month, or every day, whatever you decide to do. Consistency is actually the key to making it happen.”

• future plans
  • Music for Makers – creating pro subscription
    • used to only be free song every week
    • make accessing music as easy and painless as possible
  • having ideas vs. putting them into action
• why behind Music for Makers
  • fixing a problem people were having
  • helping people create more things
  • help people make more stuff without excuses
  • the possibility of opening submissions for other people
  • it’s a side project where he has total control
  • the misconception about competition within the same space
  • open source mentality of building something better to solve a problem
• favorite quote
  • “I am a part of all that I have met,” Alfred, Lord Tennyson from Ulysses
  • your identity being the sum of your experiences

58:40 “Really, you’re drawing inspiration and getting influence from everything around you, and that’s… both making who you are and it’s impacting the things you create.”

• morning routine
  • finding pockets of time for Music for Makers
  • working for you vs. working for someone else
  • getting quick wins as early as possible and carrying it through the day
• recommendations
  • Further Newsletter – going further and improving your health/wealth
  • Everybody Writes by Ann Handley – writing book for non-writers & communicating in the modern age
• creative people
  • ad agencies being a creative place
  • people who respond to his email telling him how they use his music
  • video playlist of people who have used Music for Makers
• definition of creativity
  • Einstein and combinatory play 
    • taking two unrelated things and combining them for something unique

1:08:14 “Creativity is making something either out of nothing, so basically, where nothing exists now something exists. I think that’s inherently creativity because you’re literally creating something. But I think, more often, creativity is taking two things… or more… taking two things that are not seemingly connected in any way, and combining them in a unique and clever way to create something new. I think that’s incredibly creative too.”

• challenge
  • bite off the smallest chunk of something you’ve always wanted to do
  • many interesting things aren’t created because people don’t take the first step

Music for Makers

The post Logan Nickleson on Misunderstandings About Marketing, Finding Your Audience, and Using Psychology to Your Advantage – Cracking Creativity Episode 73 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Dave Conrey‘s path to becoming a full-time artist is not a simple one. Growing up, he wasn’t that passionate about art, but over time, and after a series of jobs and ventures, he has finally dedicated himself to the idea.

After going to school for art and graphic design, Dave had two separate stints as an art director, but was laid off both times. He also spent time as a author, podcaster, and creator of Fresh Rag, which helped artists sell their work.

After years of feeling unfulfilled, Dave finally decided to put everything else on hiatus to pursue his art full-time.

In this episode, Dave talks about the importance of connecting with others, some of his keys to building a creative business, and getting started.

Here are three things you can learn from Dave:

The Importance of Connecting with Others

One of the most important things we can do as artists and creatives is building a strong connection with other people. When Dave hosted the Fresh Rag show, people listened to it because his conversations felt deep and meaningful.

His conversations felt fresh and different because he didn’t try to force conversations with people just because they were famous. He just tried to build a report with his guests so they would have great conversations. “The most important factor for me is having a really good conversation, rather than just two people that might not know each other very well, talking about it, and the conversation is happening, but it’s kinda weird because there’s no real relationship built up. It’s just two people talking about it. And I want to have people that I know on so that we can have good conversations about it. And their experience level is less important to me than how charismatic they are in that conversation.”

The best way to build up to those great conversations is by building and fostering relationships with people. You are much more likely to have a great conversation with someone if there is a mutual trust and respect for each other. “It really comes down to having and building relationships with people over time. I mean, the people I’m going to have on the show are people that I’ve known, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes for years.”

The Keys to Building a Creative Business

Dave is a believer that there are a couple of keys to building your creative business. The first is building a brand that people love. The problem with branding is many creatives don’t know what their brand is. They believe good branding is just selling great products. But having a good product is not enough. “If you’re building up a brand that people love and adore, they follow you, not because of your product. I mean you make good products, that’s just important to make great products, but they’re not… on the edge of their seat waiting for your next Instagram post because your products are good. It’s because you are telling good stories and you… have good customer interaction and you have these relationships built.”

Another important factor for creative businesses is getting over your fears. Dave helped his audience get over their fears by having them participate in thirty day challenges. These challenges helped to change people’s mindsets from one of fear to one of action. “In my opinion, mindset is very important to how we do the things we do and so the idea was to create this thirty day challenge where you do a certain thing every day, or every single time you pick up a new challenge, whether it’s daily, weekly, or whatever. You pick up this challenge and do this thing, and it helps you kinda grow as an artist and grow as a maker. And whether its super actionable things you can do to… change your marketing program or it’s something you do in your head, getting outside of fear, the very first action is very fear based… fighting fear.”

The Perfect Moment Doesn’t Exist

One of the most easily overlooked, but incredibly important, aspects of creative work is just getting started. This may sound like an obvious suggestion, but often times we wait too long before taking action. We are so worried about failure that we instead of releasing something imperfect, we release nothing at all.

Dave believes we need to stop worrying so much and just get started. “Let’s say somebody wants to sell their photographic art prints… Figure out where you want to sell it and then just go put that stuff up there. Don’t worry about failing. Don’t worry about getting it wrong. Don’t worry about who’s going to see it because chances are nobody’s going to see it at first. Don’t worry about making sure you get your logo just so… don’t worry about any of that. Just get out there and post that thing up and then repeat the process, and then tweak as you go.”

Something that holds many creatives back, including myself, is the desire for perfection. But perfection is not only elusive, it’s impossible. You can’t wait for the stars to align because they never will. There is no better time than now. Remember, you can always start now and tweak later. “It’s less important for you to get it right and more important for you to get it out there and fix and tweak later because that makes all the difference. The ones that who take the action today, right now, are the ones who are going to win. The ones who are sitting back thinking ‘I don’t know. I’ll launch my show next month when I have everything just perfect,’ or ‘I’m going to buy that new microphone,’ or ‘I’m going to start my blog when I have enough money to get the really great theme that I need.’ Forget it man, just go.”

Shownotes

• about Dave
  • worked as an Art Director at a magazine company and as marketing director at an art studio
  • had the choice of finding another job as art director or he could help creative entrepreneurs
• creative background growing up
  • wasn’t passionate about it because it wasn’t fostered
  • he was encouraged and enjoyed doing it, but wasn’t passionate about it yet
  • in his 20’s he drifted towards art books/magazines
  • went back to school for art and graphic design
• after school
  • got an internship at his professor’s studio
  • a lot of employers were impressed with his internship credentials
  • got job at boutique design studio for auto industry
    • worked his way up to art director
    • was laid off during the recession of early 2000’s
  • was in moment of transition, didn’t know if he would stay in graphic arts
    • didn’t have the tenacity to seek more work
    • worked his way through it through freelance and menial jobs
• creating on his own
  • his site Fresh Rag already existed for a year
  • he enjoyed curating artists/designers but didn’t feel completely fulfilled
  • conversations about promotion/branding with co-worker convinced him to change direction
• building his audience
  • interacted on Twitter
  • wrote his first book Selling Art Online
  • started his first podcast – biggest attractor of attention
    • many podcasts don’t have staying power
• about his podcast
  • was attracted to the medium
  • has always been told he has a good voice and is a good conversationalist
  • enjoyed having conversations with people smarter than himself
    • digging deep on topics and having meaningful conversations
  • his conversation with Ashley Longshore
  • everyone doing interview podcasts
    • a lot of people went on the podcast circuit with the same set of people
  • changing what he did while still staying true to himself
    • the different stages of burnout
    • conversations got him thinking about the future
    • doing a different format or start something new?
  • re-listening to old episodes of your own show
  • learning from and fixing mistakes
  • Dave’s Maker’s Gonna Make Podcast
    • stories to help creative entrepreneurs
    • conversations about different topics with friends
  • expanding on newsletter topics instead of just links

28:37 “I always welcome conversation, or debate, or whatever. Lively debate is one of my favorite things… I try to put some sort of context into the world that we work and then hopefully start a conversation.”

• creating conversations and connecting with people
  • tight group of people he wants to have conversations with
  • The Poster List – great at retail
  • Paige Poppe – hustler at a young age
  • connecting with people of all ages from all places
    • the context of the internet and building tribes
    • building a business through conversations and connections
  • Austin Kleon and scenius
  • getting the biggest names on your show
    • 9/10 times the conversations lacked
    • the relationship wasn’t there and it wasn’t comfortable
    • avoiding the mess and talking to people you like
    • entertaining first as a goal of podcasting
  • Aaron Draplin
  • proof of concept from his stories/voice and bringing in similar voices
    • creating moments for his community
    • helping someone with our conversation
    • serendipity
  • no one know what will and what won’t work, you can only find out through trying
  • being more prepared to make another shift
  • making shakeups (ex: The Tonight Show)
  • the evolution of comic book artists

29:33 “The most important factor for me is having a really good conversation, rather than just two people that might not know each other very well, talking about it, and the conversation is happening, but it’s kinda weird because there’s no real relationship built up. It’s just two people talking about it. And I want to have people that I know on so that we can have good conversations about it. And their experience level is less important to me than how charismatic they are in that conversation.”

30:34 “It really comes down to having and building relationships with people over time. I mean, the people I’m going to have on the show are people that I’ve known, sometimes for a few months, and sometimes for years.”

33:58 “Genius is something you posses and like a mindset or scope of your awareness, even if that means knowing who to reach out to for the right types of information… So using that concept and applying it to your scene, and that’s… our scenius. The people we hang out with in our scene.”

44:00 “I mean, that’s just the nature of the beast. We’re going to do things and we shouldn’t have to put these… ideas that we have to do something and it’s going to be that way, and it’s never going to change… ‘Because what happens if the fans don’t like it if I make this shift, that people don’t like it. What’s going to happen? People will hate me.’ That doesn’t work that way. People are just going to do something new if you quit or if you start something new, they’ll go over there or they won’t. But you’ll find new people. So, that’s the nature of the beast.”

44:51 “We’re creative people. I mean, name me one creative person that did the same thing forever, I mean the same exact thing forever, and if they did, they really weren’t that creative in my opinion.”

46:18 “Things are always going to change, even if it’s tiny little changes, there’s always going to be an evolution. Anybody who doesn’t change is just… not being very creative.”

• helping creatives build businesses
  • Life After Christmas – branding and getting past slumps
    • Etsy users who suffer slumps after the holidays
  • Creativity Badass Challenge
    • challenging people’s mindsets
  • The Gold is in the List
    • help people build e-mail lists and get to 1,000 subscribers
    • email as a powerful tool for businesses

47:51 “If you’re building up a brand that people love and adore, they follow you, not because of your product. I mean you make good products, that’s just important to make great products, but they’re not… on the edge of their seat waiting for your next Instagram post because your products are good. It’s because you are telling good stories and you… have good customer interaction and you have these relationships built.”

48:30 “In my opinion, mindset is very important to how we do the things we do and so the idea was to create this thirty day challenge where you do a certain thing every day, or every single time you pick up a new challenge, whether it’s daily, weekly, or whatever. You pick up this challenge and do this thing, and it helps you kinda grow as an artist and grow as a maker. And whether its super actionable things you can do to… change your marketing program or it’s something you do in your head, getting outside of fear, the very first action is very fear based… fighting fear.”

• determining when to create his books
  • Selling Art Online started out as a week’s worth of list posts
    • series was so popular that he turned it into a book
  • Life After Christmas is least popular book
    • wasn’t chasing after something people were looking for
    • something people need don’t seek out
    • branding as a large topic to tackle
  • Creativity Badass Challenge started as newsletter challenge that became popular
  • Gold is in the List started by asking what his audience wanted to know about
    • people were asking about licensing and wholesale, but it wasn’t his specialty
  • books evolved because of their popularity, not because he was compelled to write them
• designing his books
  • built and formatted his book but outsourced editing
  • sends to other people to read and get ideas
• challenges people face
  • two mindsets – just in case and just in time learning
    • just in case – constantly consume
    • just in time – learn and do thing
    • few people fall into doer category
  • making sure people do something, not just listen to it
  • Gary Vaynerchuk
  • Michael Jordan quote on failure
    • MJ did not make his high school varsity team one year
    • Did it give him the drive to become better?
  • moments that shape people’s lives

55:10 “I would say the number one challenge anybody has, especially with any advice is that they don’t take action. There’s people that are advice addicts, right? Where they may read a book, and they like that book so much that then they read another book, then they read another book, and then maybe they take a course, then they go and buy somebody’s program, and then they buy another program. It’s just… they’re constantly building up all this information because it’s like ‘Oh, I’m getting so much better at all this learning, and all this stuff, yet they haven’t taken action on anything.”

56:42 “That’s the biggest thing, it’s just go learn something, even if it’s just reading a… chapter out of my book or a blog post that gives you very specific information about what to do, Go read that and apply it.”

58:23 “Nobody is undefeated… everybody gets beat at some point, and everybody’s going to lose at some point. You are going to lose at your business at some point. You are gonna fail. Your are gonna get beat up. You’re gonna get knocked out… The people that end up becoming champions are the ones that get back up and get back to it.”

• advice for people starting their creative careers
  • starting is the best thing you can do
  • “Real artists ship.” – Steve Jobs
  • first step: just start
  • second step: start a newsletter list
  • social media as passive interactions
    • they aren’t really engaged
  • evolution of your work and what you’re working on
  • first gen iPhone
    • lack of functionality and being pushed by Android
  • do things now and fix them later

1:00:41 “Let’s say somebody wants to sell their photographic art prints… Figure out where you want to sell it and then just go put that stuff up there. Don’t worry about failing. Don’t worry about getting it wrong. Don’t worry about who’s going to see it because chances are nobody’s going to see it at first. Don’t worry about making sure you get your logo just so… don’t worry about any of that. Just get out there and post that thing up and then repeat the process, and then tweak as you go.”

1:01:33 “It’s less important for you to get it right and more important for you to get it out there and fix and tweak later because that makes all the difference. The ones that who take the action today, right now, are the ones who are going to win. The ones who are sitting back thinking ‘I don’t know. I’ll launch my show next month when I have everything just perfect,’ or ‘I’m going to buy that new microphone,’ or ‘I’m going to start my blog when I have enough money to get the really great theme that I need.’ Forget it man, just go.”

1:02:42 “If you start a newsletter and you get people on that newsletter and they’re interested in what it is you’re doing, if they’re signing up for your newsletter, then they’re at least saying to you ‘I’m interested to know what you’re about.’… They’re engaged in that and you have them. They’re captive. You have those people that you can reach out to anytime you want. They’ve given you their permission to say ‘Send me an email when you have something to say.’ So… start and start an email list.”

1:04:20 “Apple is like, they go and they launch before they’re really ready, I mean, before it’s perfect, they go and they launch because they want to find out. They want the data to find out ‘How are people interacting with this thing that we’re creating?’ rather than just saying ‘I’m going to try and make up the product, the best I possibly can for everybody,’ and then launch that ten years down the road. I’m going to launch the minimum viable product, see how people interact with it, and then adjust. Pivot. Pivot on that.”

• plans for the future
  • focusing on what he’s doing now
  • working on his art
• favorite quote
  • “A tiger doesn’t lose sleep over the opinion of sheep.” ― Shahir Zag
  • people telling him how to do his show

1:08:00 “A winner doesn’t care what everyone else is talking about. It’s still going to go out there and hunt.”

1:08:51 “If this is going to be mine, then it has to be 100% for me… Of course there is something to be said for taking in information that might be valuable… constructive criticism is good. But at the end of the day, very often I would tell people, ‘Hey do me a favor. Tell me what you think. I’m not necessarily going to listen to you, but tell me what you think.’ I tell them that all the time because it’s important to maintain who I am and I’m still going to push forward on what I believe is right, and you’re not going to get in my way.”

• morning routine
  • five year old dictates his routine
  • sets aside time each morning for himself
  • 100 day challenge – sitting with notebook and sketching something
    • sketches first thing he thinks of
    • absorbing himself in something creative and meditative to set the day
  • putting your dreams onto paper
  • Dream:On app (no longer being worked on)
• recommendations
  • PopFashion podcast
    • 2 women with great report and the inspiration for his show
    • lessons you can learn even if you aren’t into fashion
  • Ask GaryVee
    • lessons on business and an honest perspective
  • Start and Quitter by Jon Acuff
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • #AskGaryVee by Gary Vaynerchuk
  • Mind of a Chef , Chef’s Table,  Cooked
    • perspective of chefs and how they turn their work into art
    • creative world we don’t think of as creative
    • lessons you can take from cooking and apply to another industry
• creative people
  • Marta Spendowska – mixing of colors in abstract work
  • James Victore – poster/activist designer who isn’t afraid to share
• definition of creativity

1:22:53 “Creativity to define that is being open to exploring new ways of thinking about the things that you do. So whether that’s graphic arts, arts, crafts, web design, mechanical engineering, whatever… looking at things differently, and taking at that thing you look at, say you’re a cook or a chef, and you want to make a cheese sandwich. How can you deconstruct that or make it different, rather than just changing the cheese or putting a tomato in there, or whatever. What can you do that’s different? What can you do that’s out of the norm or completely radical? That might not make a cheese sandwich anymore, but your interpretation of that cheese sandwich. That’s the definition of creativity, to be willing and open to the possibility of a new way of thinking.”

• how to be more creative
  • creativity is a muscle
  • you are going to suck when you first do something, you get better as you go
  • evolution of people’s drawings on Instagram
  • Maya Angelou quote on creativity

“To get more creative, you have to practice. You have to practice thinking outside that box. You have to practice thinking about things differently. You have to practice looking at things from the right instead of the left.”

• challenge
  • if you’re thinking about doing something, stop thinking
  • take action today
  • buy that domain, research something on Youtube, etc.
  • the action you do today leads to further action
  • superstars are becoming less common because anyone can put out content
    • the amount of content will go wider
  • be a shining light to someone

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“Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” ― Will Smith

Buy this print from Storenvy.

One of the things that has always bugged me is my willingness to settle for good enough. I think we all have aspirations for greatness, but we often times let complacency set in.

Instead of pursuing our goals, we give up. We tell ourselves that there’s nothing to complain about. We tell ourselves we should be grateful for what we have. We tell ourselves we are doing good enough.

While all of these things might be true, that doesn’t mean we should stop aspiring for more. We need to ask ourselves if we want to settle for what we have or if we want to achieve more, to be more.

Realistic expectations are great if you are happy with mediocrity. But I’m personally tired of being mediocre.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with mediocrity. By definition, mediocrity is normal. It’s average. Most of us have to be mediocre for others of us to stand out.

That’s exactly what I’m advocating. I want those of us who are tired of being mediocre to start standing out. The only way we can achieve this is if we make an effort to do better.

We all need to stop being so realistic with our goals (myself included.) But how do we stand out?

I suggest we follow the advice given by one of my former podcast guests: Dorie Clark. In our interview, Dorie explained how she went from a journalist and documentary filmmaker to a business teacher, adviser, and author.

According to Dorie, there are three stages for standing out: building a network, building an audience, and building a community. I think the problem most of us encounter is going from building a network and audience to building a community.

Many of us can build a network. Fewer of us can build an audience. And even fewer of us are able to create communities around our work.

If we want to stop settling for mediocrity, we need to build communities around our work. The most well known and accomplished creatives build communities around their ideas and their work ( Tim Ferriss, Chase Jarvis, Chris Guillebeau,  and Tina Roth Eisenberg to name a few.)

They have die hard fans that will travel from near and far to meet them. They don’t settle for realistic goals. They aim for the stars, and so should we.

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The post “Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.” ― Will Smith Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Kerry Burki had an idea simmering in her head ever since high school. She wanted to make all women feel beautiful. This idea sat in her head for years before she would finally unleash it.

Kerry’s story starts like a lot of our stories. We have a kernel of an idea that sits in our heads. Sometimes we act on it, but more often than not, we let it sit. Then, something pushes us to act on it. Kerry’s push came twenty years later in the form of her time in Marie Forleo’s B School.

Kerry was working on a blog called Handmade Success, which helps people sell their work on Etsy, when her kernel of an idea crept back in her head. The only difference was, this time, instead of pushing the idea away again, Kerry decided to pull the trigger.

She asked women of all different ages and sizes to come over for a photo shoot. And with the help of a photographer friend, she began the first shoot of what became Kerry Magazine. She was finally doing her part in making all women feel beautiful. What started off as a small idea in her head has evolved into a full-blown magazine with three issues under its belt.

In this episode, Kerry talks about letting your younger self guide you, learning to say no, and shifting your mindset, among many other things.

Here are three things you can learn from Kerry:

Let Your Younger Self Guide You

We all have ambitious ideas when we’re young and naive, before life gets in the way. We believe the whole world is our stage. We believe we can do anything.

Most of the time we let those ideas go and we lose our way. Just like Kerry did. “I feel like we have things about ourselves when we’re younger that could guide us as we get older, you know, for what we want to do in the world, the changes we would see and everything, but sometimes… you can get really way off track. And that definitely happened to me.”

While most of us never act on those ideas. Some of us do. All it takes is listening to what your inner voice is telling you to do. Because if you do it right, executing your ideas can change your life. “Sometimes I think it is kinda important to get back in touch with your younger self and see if you can remember what some of those ideals were and see if some ideas pop up… because since I’ve been working on this, it’s been awesome and amazing and so fun, and it’s not even anything I was thinking about over the last twenty years and there’s some stuff that we knew when we were younger that I think we’ve forgotten.”

Learn to Say No

One of the things that plagues many people is our discomfort with saying no. When people ask us to do something, it feels uncomfortable saying no them. But that’s exactly what Kerry did.

Instead of agreeing to lead a class for kids’ yoga, she decided it was best to say no. Because once that door was open, she was afraid she would be known as someone teaches kids’ yoga. “I didn’t want that to be what I’m known for, and it’s not what I do. So it was interesting to have to come and figure out who do I want to help, what do I want to be doing, and to say no to things that don’t go with that.”

Kerry was afraid that she would fill up all her time with things she didn’t want to do. Instead, she asked herself who she wanted to help and who she wanted to align with. Doing this would help clear her path forward. “I felt like I could have filled myself up so that when something did come along, I would have been like I don’t have time for it. Right? And that would have been hard, you need to find where you need to be aligned , who you need to be aligned with… I started adding to what I say to myself in the morning… in the beginning of the day to say ‘Please allow the people who are going to light my path to easily show up in my life today.’ And when I read that, I said I need to start saying that every morning. Open myself up to allow the right people to come in that will help you see the path of you where you want to go forward.”

Shift Your Mindset

One of the keys to Kerry’s creative breakthrough was changing her mindset. Like most creatives, she used to have a mindset of fear and scarcity. After all, doing nothing is much easier than doing something. But once she re-framed her mindset, things started to work in her favor.

“I feel like there’s a lot I’ve learned. That you have to come from a place of being open to receive instead of fear of that scarcity. Like I’m not going to be able to figure it out or people aren’t going to want to do it. That’s just an easier place, your thoughts just go there easier, and again I just started coming up with re-framing those types of thoughts and repeating it… a lot and saying ‘It’s all going to work out. It’s all going to come together.’ And… when I do that regularly, it works.”

The biggest mindset shift comes from looking at things in a positive light. When you expect good things to happen, they really do start to happen. “Really, if you can switch to being open and expecting to receive good to come your way… it’s almost like a light switch. It can really start to shift things.”

Shownotes

• about Kerry
  • B School with Marie Forleo
  • had a blog called Handmade Success and was looking to expand it
    • wished there was a magazine that showed every woman was beautiful
    • working online with creatives on building websites and writing blog posts
    • asked herself, “Why not me?”
    • asked people to help her out with the magazine
    • also relied on social accountability
• early influences
  • had a collage of super models on her wall
    • never thought she would be that type of person
    • noticing her appearance and what was considered “pretty”
• why vs. why not
  • question of doubt vs. question of action
  • shifting your point of view
  • being in the comparison trap and shifting your way of thinking

11:38 “By then, I was already both feet in when I started looking at layouts and formats and stuff, when I coulda maybe get caught in a comparison trap and everything I looked at wasn’t what I was doing. So it was all kinda helpful. You know how you can look at other people’s creative projects to learn formats and stuff but while you’re doing your own thing. It definitely… shifted my way of thinking. I’m going to have to remember to say that to other people too. Why not you?”

• shifting from Handmade Success
  • considered doing full shift, even wrote whole post about it
  • someone else started it for Etsy, then it grew
  • met someone who wanted to help Etsy creators and wanted to team up

13:40 “With what I’ve learned, creating the magazine and the role of being creative, of an artist putting something out in the world, that could kinda help me think that then I could easily be offering advice again for creatives, and then also drawing what I know from other backgrounds to help them even more.”

• first issue of the magazine
  • someone from high school told her she remembered telling her the idea
  • being scared of shifts and taking steps

15:20 “I feel like we have things about ourselves when we’re younger that could guide us as we get older, you know, for what we want to do in the world, the changes we would see and everything, but sometimes… you can get really way off track. And that definitely happened to me.”

15:55 “Sometimes I think it is kinda important to get back in touch with your younger self and see if you can remember what some of those ideals were and see if some ideas pop up… because since I’ve been working on this, it’s been awesome and amazing and so fun, and it’s not even anything I was thinking about over the last twenty years and there’s some stuff that we knew when we were younger that I think we’ve forgotten.”

• creating the first issue
  • she jumps in and figures things out later
  • started with photoshoot of women of different ages/sizes
    • asked people on Facebook if they wanted to participate
    • photographer friend volunteered her time for shoot
    • had the shoot at her house
    • didn’t know what she was doing
    • women filled out cards “I feel beautiful when____”
    • women were chatting and having a good time
    • people were sharing their photos on Facebook
  • decided to create the magazine then
  • Pixelmator – photo editing for Macs
  • Canva – offers magazine layouts
  • offered ad space for giveaways
  • people offered to do things like book reviews, jewelry, recipes, etc.
  • had some experience through Handmade Success, but used mostly trial and error
• lack of experience as a helpful tool

23:19 “Just having the idea saying I want to create a magazine to show all that is beautiful, and I’m going to do it, was the attitude needed…. If I had started thinking about how I would do all of that, and then even kinda getting it out into the world… you’re right, that’s what stops other people. That word can’t comes into a lot of people’s heads. ‘I can’t do that,’ or ‘I couldn’t do it on my own.’ And I will say, I don’t feel like I did it on my own… I’ll say there’s other projects that  I feel like I probably held back on because I had thought too much… There’s a certain beauty in not thinking.”

• confidence to ask people to support the magazine
  • energy behind the photo shoot
  • something joyful/beautiful coming out of something with no money involved
  • people wanting to be a part of the magazine
  • people who find it believe it is unique
  • being okay with who you are regardless of success/failure

26:41 “When you have an idea and you kind of start to notice an energy around it, that can really just help you take those risks like asking other people to be involved… I mean that why sometimes… you put something out there to see how people react a little bit and decide whether or not you’re going to get the support you need going forward.”

• featured photos
  • first issue: age/where they’re from/about their lives/non-profits they like
  • second issue: write letter to younger selves along with photo of younger selves, accompanied by current photo
  • third issue: moms of children with special needs
    • makeup artist from Sparkle Bar and photographer both volunteered time
    • resources that are helpful for these moms
• promoting the magazine
  • first two magazines are on Issu
  • also featured her magazines through Facebook ads
  • has been read in ten countries
  • looking to get magazines printed
• Facebook ads
  • tried 30 and older, and under 30, didn’t notice a difference
  • targeting pages people like, finding similar magazines or positive image sites
  • getting more targeted with her ads
• biggest supporters of her project
  • people told her it was a positive magazine for young women
  • women in fifties felt she was tapping into something
    • thought they weren’t pretty/beautiful when they were younger, but realized they were later
    • women who gave up on feeling beautiful
• surprising stories
  • woman sharing letter to herself
    • led to her making the feature
  • third photoshoot – was in the first two issues
    • came because she was inspired by the first two shoots
    • wanted to be around the positivity
  • people told her the magazine made them feel good

37:18 “I’m learning that how you feel is really kind of a big part of the life you create. You kinda act one way but if you’re feeling another, then you’re probably going to be unhappy.”

• bringing those feelings into our daily lives
  • she avoided feeling certain things to avoid feeling emotional
  • you store your feelings if you don’t express them
  • You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay
    • how you talk to yourself
    • you don’t like thoughts you have about yourself
    • changing thoughts
    • positive affirmations and why not me
  • taking time for herself throughout the day
  • detaching yourself from negative thoughts
• meditation practice
  • grounding visualization
  • start at the crown of your head and work downwards
  • listening to breath and using positive affirmations
  • taking five deep breaths throughout the day during transition periods
  • creating reminders on her phone to remember to practice self-affirmations/breathing
  • “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.” – Zen proverb

43:58 “I noticed that when I do what I think is easier, I end up unhappy. I kinda get caught in that comparing thing that people are better than me, thinking I’m not doing enough, but when I do what I find to be challenging a little bit, at the moment, then I don’t get caught up in all the comparison. I end up making better choices and end up having better feelings about things.”

• what to say yes to
  • said yes to things related to kids yoga
  • if you keep saying yes to something, people will associate that thing with you
  • creating space for opportunities to happen

48:55 “I didn’t want that to be what I’m known for, and it’s not what I do. So it was interesting to have to come and figure out who do I want to help, what do I want to be doing, and to say no to things that don’t go with that.”

50:23 “I felt like I could have filled myself up so that when something did come along, I would have been like I don’t have time for it. Right? And that would have been hard, you need to find where you need to be aligned , who you need to be aligned with… I started adding to what I say to myself in the morning… in the beginning of the day to say ‘Please allow the people who are going to light my path to easily show up in my life today.’ And when I read that, I said I need to start saying that every morning. Open myself up to allow the right people to come in that will help you see the path of you where you want to go forward.”

• people who helped her with the magazine & how they helped
  • friends volunteered to proof read the magazines
  • the difficulty of proofreading your own work
  • gave credit to all those who helped her from people who submitted work to those who helped edit it
• aligning people to your mission not making money
  • found advertisers who aligned with her vision
  • free issues online and pay for physical copies
  • coming from a place of passion
  • first issue made no money, second made money which she used to promote
  • Southwest Institute of Healing Arts – works as blogger/life coach
  • manifesting her ideal job
  • connections among moms and groups of people to help promote the mag.

58:00 “I feel like there’s a lot to be said to opening yourself up to drawing in what will serve your highest good… and because of that, that allowed me to not come from a point of money because… any time I start thinking about that, it starts to stress me out. “

• biggest lessons between issues
  • initially intended for it to be seasonal
  • husband convinced her she didn’t need to put so much stress on herself
  • felt pressure for creating more issues and coming up with content
  • getting out of the space of fear
  • people contacted her about being featured in issues
  • having too much content
  • fixing your mindset

1:02:19 “I feel like there’s a lot I’ve learned. That you have to come from a place of being open to receive instead of fear of that scarcity. Like I’m not going to be able to figure it out or people aren’t going to want to do it. That’s just an easier place, your thoughts just go there easier, and again I just started coming up with re-framing those types of thoughts and repeating it… a lot and saying ‘It’s all going to work out. It’s all going to come together.’ And… when I do that regularly, it works.”

1:03:26 “Really, if you can switch to being open and expecting to receive good to come your way… it’s almost like a light switch. It can really start to shift things.”

• how the magazine will evolve
  • before the magazine, she had the slogan to slow down to move forward
  • but  she found she likes bold action
  • new issue is about slowing down and following intuition

1:05:00 “When I just go go go, things they’re not of good quality, I say yes to too many things, I don’t think good thoughts of myself, but when I slow down and take time for myself and take time to discover nice things to say to myself, and take time to… say ‘I’m open to good things flowing into my life.’ That is then a huge thing and I’m realizing that’s just overall. When I speed through, I’m not as happy and when I slow down, then I am.”

• advice for people who want to start their own creative projects
  • Facebook group talking about self-doubt being bad for creativity
    • asked group to share their self-doubts
  • Cheryl Sosnowski said to take action on projects you feel doubt about

1:09:37 “My advice is to find nice things to say to yourself about the project or about what you can do, about your abilities, about anything,  to start saying to yourself when that doubt comes in and when you have this idea you’re kinda unsure about.”

• favorite quote
  • “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi quote
  • was concerned with the way people saw her
  • over the last year, she shifted how she talked to herself
  • became more confident and inspired others
• morning routine
  • meditation with a timer
• recommendations
  • You Can Heal Your Life by Louise L. Hay
  • Love is a Verb podcast
• creative people
  • Kristen Fagan – gets people to paint things they didn’t know was possible
  • Lisa Messenger of Collective Hub
• definition of creativity
  • larger than artistic endeavors
  • everybody is creating but not everybody knows that they are
  • start small and start noticing what you’re doing

1:15:36 “It’s really about how you can… create your life and how you can create your thoughts and how those thoughts help you create your life and how every day everyone is creating their future. And creativity is something… if we all pay closer attention, you can really make sure that your actions and your thoughts are starting to create a life that you really want to live.”

• challenge
  • create your own positive affirmation about yourself and repeat it often and write it down
    • take a big negative thought about yourself and switch it to a positive one
    • think about how it will feel and tap into that feeling
    • act like it is already true
  • if you were the best in the world at something, what would you do? – via Marie Forleo
    • creates a ripple effect

kerryburki.com

The post Kerry Burki on Listening to Your Younger Self, Learning to Say No, and Shifting Your Mindset – Cracking Creativity Episode 75 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Melissa Dinwiddie spent much of her life thinking she wasn’t an artist. Even though she loved doing creative things, and her parents encouraged her to become an artist, she still chose to take a different path. She was intimidated by all the people who drew better than her, so she stopped making art for 15 years.

Even a stint as a dance student at Julliard, a prestigious performing arts school, didn’t convince her to stick with her creative inclinations. Instead, she went to school for cultural studies and even attempted to get her PhD.

While trying to fill out her PhD application, she was filled with fear. Her body was telling her something wasn’t right. It was telling her to be more creative.

This integral moment in her life brought her back to creativity. It led her to create a business around designing ketubahs, and eventually led her to creating her blog Living a Creative Life.

In this episode Melissa talks about being happy with your self and your work, making time for your goals and creativity, and sharing your work without expectations, among many other things.

Here are three things you can learn from Melissa:

Be Happy With Who You Are

One of the misconceptions we develop early in life is believing that people can create great things with little to no effort. We wonder why we struggle so much while those around us create amazing things.

The truth is, most people don’t have an innate talent. Most people go through the same struggles we do. We just don’t see it. So we just assume everyone else is great and we aren’t.

Making this discovery changed the way Melissa viewed her art.

“Part of me still believed… that if it were truly possible, if I were truly talented, if I were a genius, than I would instantaneously be able to do all this stuff. I used to looked at people’s finished pieces and, without realizing it, I would assume that they just picked up a pen, picked up a brush, and went to town, and booms there’s this incredible finished piece that in fact, in reality… was planned out and designed, and took them fifty-two hours or something… so I think that I knew that I must be getting better and there must be hope for improvement.”

That doesn’t mean she wasn’t envious of people who created great work. She decided that her self-worth shouldn’t be tied to whether or not she was a genius. She realized that it was okay to be a normal person.

“I used to flip through the pages of the premier lettering arts journal, Letter Arts Review, and I would cry because I knew my work was never going to be that good. And God, my ego was so tied up in , I think I believed on some level… that in order to be okay, in order to be worthy and a loveable person, I needed to be a genius. You know, out of this world amazing, out of this world outstanding, remarkable, and one of the really wonderful things about getting older is that… I have let myself off the hook and essentially forgiving myself for being a regular person, and life is a lot better on this side.”

After years of worrying about being the best, Melissa realized that happiness is more important than the constant need to feel validated.

“The younger me might look at the older me and think, ‘My God, you just let yourself go, you’ve given up,’ and on this side of it, I see it really differently. I see it as, ‘Yeah, but my life is so much happier.’ Back then I didn’t care about happiness. I wanted to be great. Why did I want to be great? I guess I thought it would give me happiness.”

Make Time for Your Creativity

One of the most overused phrases we all use as creatives is I don’t have enough time. We blame our lack of time for our lack of progress or success. But the truth is, time is just a convenient excuse. “If you can’t put fifteen minutes a day into your art, you’re making an excuse.”

Melissa used time as an excuse for ten years. She said she didn’t have the time, but in actuality, she was paralyzed by fear.

“I’ve been making an excuse for ten years, saying ‘I don’t have time, I don’t have time, I don’t have time…’ It wasn’t about the time. It was about fear. It was about perfectionism. It was about comparison trap. It was self-doubt. It was all those things getting in my way, but time was this really convenient excuse.”

If you are having trouble making room for your creative work, just dedicate a little bit of time to it every day. By spending fifteen minutes a day on her creativity, Melissa was able to keep her creative juices flowing.

“When I spend just a little bit of time every day, it keeps my toe in the creative stream. So I constantly feel like I am immersed in my creativity. Whereas, imagine if I were to spend two hours once a week, which is actually more than fifteen minutes a day for seven days. But two hours once a week would not have that sense of keeping my toe in the creative stream, but just a little bit every day, does. Plus the hardest part is starting, and when the commitment is tiny… it gets you past the starting friction.”

If there’s anything we can learn from Melissa it’s that we need to stop using time as an excuse. If you really want to get something done, you have to find the time for it. You have to prioritize your time and make room for it on your schedule.

“It’s really not a matter of finding the time. It’s a matter of making the time. You have to schedule it in. And like I said, I’m a big believer in scheduling it earlier in the day, because then you have less time for monkey wrenches to get thrown into the works… that tiny little bit of time. It’s amazing baby steps will get you anywhere if you do enough of them.”

Don’t be Afraid to Share Your Work

More often than not, there is one critic in particular that prevents us from achieving our goals. This critic knows exactly what to say to keep us down. That critic is ourselves.

We are so afraid that others will see the flaws in our work that we become paralyzed by it. But others don’t see the flaws we see. And realizing that was one of the most empowering lessons Melissa has learned.

“We’re all so afraid to share our work because we’re afraid people are going to see what we see. They’re going to see what’s not living up, where it’s lacking, and they don’t see that. But we’re afraid they’re going to and we’re afraid to be humiliated, and we’re afraid to be so horrified and embarrassed… My experience has been, when I just put my work out there… no comment, no apologies… just put it out there and then watch and see what happens… that has been so empowering.”

Even when we don’t think our work is good or worthy, we can never predict how others will react to it. The work Melissa feels the least comfortable with is often the work that people appreciate the most.

“I can’t tell you how many times I put something out there and think ‘Ugh, that wasn’t my best effort… I’m embarrassed to share this but I’m going to because I’m doing this practice. I’m practicing putting things out there and that’s the thing that I’m embarrassed by.’ I’m cringing because I’m pushing the publish button or whatever. But that’s the thing that gets a bazillion likes, that gets somebody emailing me and saying, ‘Oh my god, I needed to hear that today.”

That’s not to say you should seek validation from others. What we really need to do is publish our work and see what comes from it.

“We definitely don’t want to get caught up in seeking validation from other people. That’s never useful… but when I can put my work out there and let go of the outcome, and just observe… it’s very liberating and it’s very empowering.”

• about Melissa
  • loved doing creative things and parents thought she would be an artist
  • she was intimidated by people who drew better than her and quit
    • same thing happened with music
  • 15 year hiatus not making any art/music
  • was a dancer, got injured while dancing at Julliard
    • was the end of her dance career
  • went back to school and got Masters degree in England
    • couldn’t fill out PhD applications because of her fear
    • her body was smarter than she was
    • her reaction told her something wasn’t right
    • body told her to be more creative
  • got engaged and spent seven months planning the wedding to delay her decision
    • brought her back to creative expression
    • interviewed artists to commission ketubah
      • one of the artists used paper cutting, but they went with less expensive one
    • felt a lack in her life
  • decided to go into writing, but her gremlins prevented her from success
    • spent more time reading about writing than she did writing
    • didn’t realize practice would make her better
  • spent half a day doing paper cutting and didn’t realize so much time had passed by
    • was challenging but also compelling
    • writing was challenging, but making things was fun and easy in comparison
    • decided to start making things
    • wanted to turn it into some type of business
  • took on calligraphy and paper cutting
    • signed up for every art class she could find
    • started hobby business taking any job
    • spent dozen years building up ketubah business
    • business tanked in 2008, and she sunk more money into her business
  • spent years trying to build business back up, and in 2010 she had a bunch of crises
    • realized she didn’t have to do the same thing or settle
    • ketubah wasn’t feeding her creativity anymore
  • started her blog Living a Creative Life
    • charted her journey to the life she wanted in hopes it would help others too
  • realized her pillars were: relationships, creative expression,  making a difference

8:50 “It didn’t occur to me that, I have this skill that I have now and the way to get better is to do it. What I now say is ‘Nobody wants to make crap, but we need the crap, because it’s the crap that fertilizes the good stuff. But I didn’t know that at the time, so I procrastinated on my writing.”

14:28 “I really started it (her blog) as a way to chart my journey towards the life I really wanted in the hopes that some day it might be useful to other people as well.”

13:37 “I had this epiphany moment when I realized ‘I don’t have to keep doing the same thing. I can do something different. I don’t have to settle for what at the time seemed like a full colored life. I didn’t have that language. But being a ketubah artist was this big dream and this big goal, but… fifteen years down the road, that wasn’t the thing that was feeding me anymore. I had completely lost track of my own creative joy because I was only making art to please other people, to please my clients… not to explore, to play. I had forgotten how to play. And so I made the decision to go after the life I really really wanted, which I would now call full-color life, and I had to figure out what that meant.”

• childhood creativity
  • after school art program after school and being exposed to art
  • comparison started in kindergarten
    • in first grade, felt intimidated by a boy who drew better than her
  • fourth grade – Sholastic book club
    • saw rabbit painting in photorealistic style and was awestruck by the realism
    • had a sense of impossibility “I could never do that.”
  • grandmas bought her oil painting set
    • was frustrated because she couldn’t achieve realistic style
    • didn’t realize she could learn to do it
    • had a fixed mindset
  • learning in fourth grade school orchestra
    • picked violin
    • in seventh grade, she switched to viola
  • high school – remembered girls being much better than her
    • was stuck in fixed mindset
    • quit playing in 10th grade
• having a vivid recollection of events
  • felt she wasn’t creative
  • one of her friends sent her drawings in the mail
    • she was blown away by the doodles/creativity
    • friend told her she could doodle too
  • self-identified as non-creative person
  • friend’s three ring binder gift
    • believed she didn’t have that creative ability

23:50 “Now it’s really funny because people who know me tell me all the time ‘You’re the most creative person I know.’ But I so did not believe that about myself. And what I remember about that time period was that it just felt very grey.”

24:22 “Existence felt very grey compared to what it is now, because I wasn’t feeding that part of me that really… needed to be fed. So that part of me was just constantly malnourished.”

• living a colorful life with creativity
  • affecting the lives of people and making a big difference

25:10  “I believe that in order to live the richest, most engaged life, fullest life where you’re feeling the most fulfilled, I believe that human beings need to feed their creative side. And that’s going to look different in different people. So for some people, drawing and painting and making music may have not interest to them, but maybe it’s solving math problems or something, or maybe it’s cooking or gardening. I mean there are so many ways that human beings express ourselves. And I think that without that, I think what happens is that we kind of shrink and we become kinda tight.”

26:07 “My hypothesis is, I really really believe that if creativity, if creative expression and creative play was valued to the same degree that reading, writing, and arithmetic are valued, and if it were treated as normal as and daily as brushing your teeth, that everyone would be encouraged from birth to express themselves creatively, I believe that we would not have nearly as much violence and conflict and war and negativity in the world.”

• realizing she could get better by practicing
  • probably discovered this in her late 20’s while making calligraphy
  • wanted her calligraphy to look like she had been doing it for 10 years
  • felt like she had a Mozart complex
  • Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
    • putting in 10k hours
  • wanting to be a genius and being let down by not being one
  • losing yourself when trying to be great
  • changing her identity after losing ability to dance

28:00 “Part of me still believed… that if it were truly possible, if I were truly talented, if I were a genius, than I would instantaneously be able to do all this stuff. I used to looked at people’s finished pieces and, without realizing it, I would assume that they just picked up a pen, picked up a brush, and went to town, and booms there’s this incredible finished piece that in fact, in reality… was planned out and designed, and took them fifty-two hours or something… so I think that I knew that I must be getting better and there must be hope for improvement.”

30:00 “I used to flip through the pages of the premier lettering arts journal, Letter Arts Review, and I would cry because I knew my work was never going to be that good. And God, my ego was so tied up in , I think I believed on some level… that in order to be okay, in order to be worthy and a loveable person, I needed to be a genius. You know, out of this world amazing, out of this world outstanding, remarkable, and one of the really wonderful things about getting older is that… I have let myself off the hook and essentially forgiving myself for being a regular person, and life is a lot better on this side.”

31:04 “The younger me might look at the older me and think, ‘My God, you just let yourself go, you’ve given up,’ and on this side of it, I see it really differently. I see it as, ‘Yeah, but my life is so much happier.’ Back then I didn’t care about happiness. I wanted to be great. Why did I want to be great? I guess I thought it would give me happiness.”

• auditioning for Julliard
  • didn’t plan on going there
  • went to UC Berkley for a year to prepare
  • friends auditioned for Julliard and all got in
  • auditioned because her teacher pushed her to
  • dropped out of Berkley to audition week before school started
  • music test for theory and an audition class/piece
  • expected everyone who applied to be professional dancer, but realized afterwards that they were all training to be professional dancers
  • Fame – movie about students in the performing arts which set Melissa’s standards
  • coming in with strengths/weaknesses
• not liking Julliard
  • went from school with ten’s of thousands of students
    • you could just go to class and enroll
  • Julliard felt restrictive
    • no electives and told you exactly what to take
  • placement audition class with three levels
    • she was placed in level 2 of modern class
  •  had a keyboard class requirement
  • wanted to take an art history class in her schedule opening
    • was chewed out because she enrolled in it
    • dancers weren’t allowed to take more than one academic class per semester
  •  made an enemy out of the director of the dance school
  • she couldn’t dance after the injury and didn’t like the teachers

40:53 “It really made me realize that I probably wouldn’t ever want to go back to an institutional setting for a creative pursuit because you’re stuck with the teachers that they have, who might not be good teachers for you, but you’re stuck with them, and you’re stuck with the curriculum they have, which may not be the right curriculum for you.”

• the influence of your environment and the people around you
  • feeling alone and isolated
• getting a Masters degree
  • cultural studies
  • went to honors thesis adviser at Cal, who told her to go to Birmingham, England
  • Masters thesis -women readers of science fiction and how they use it in their lives
• having so many interests
  • calls herself a passion pluralite
  • stove top metaphor
    • working on different things at different times
    • allowing projects to sit and simmer
    • giving herself permission to change focus

44:43 “I finally realized in my early thirties that this is how I’m wired. I am not somebody who can be happy sticking with one thing and one thing only. So when I finally accepted that about myself, that enabled me to start to look at that as ‘Okay this is basically the hand I’ve been dealt. Now let’s figure out how to make it work for me.’ Because what I was doing up until then was kind of trying to do everything that interested me all the time.”

45:29 “You can’t do everything all the time at the same time and I remember having this actual epiphany in my kitchen, in my apartment… realizing, ‘Oh I do get to do everything, just not all at the same time, and I thought ‘I know I can’t stick with one because I won’t be happy… and I was in my kitchen, and I realized… my life is like a stove.’ If I just allow myself four different things at a time, I think that will make me feel pretty happy. And I can rotate the pots on the stove top however I want.”

• Melissa’s main pot and simmering pots
  • main pot – figuring out business side
    • has spent most of her time not knowing how business works
    • wants to learn how to make a business that’s nourishing and brings in money
  • side pots
    • the thing she does first in the day is the thing that gets done
    • doing things that feeds her creatively
    • it’s okay to have things sitting on a shelf
    • get out to do more public speaking and corporate training
  • doing improv
    • training for life and skills
    • games to help people get out of their heads
    • working with other people
    • podcast episode with Bob Baker
  • being drawn to things that are challenging
    • being drawn to things with an improvisational element (music, dancing, acting)
    • being in a space of discovery
    • being attracted to the unknown
  • balancing perfectionism and improvisation
    • when she got back into art, she lost interest in non-improvisational art
    • was avoiding her art table during this time
    • felt like work/working for a client
    • didn’t like work that didn’t feel like play
  • Feb 2011 – interviewing artists
    • learning from what other artists have done
    • friend Michelle helping people who struggle with Resistance
    • being called out for making excuses
  • Melissa was convinced for a month to take 15 minutes a day making art
    • discovered 15 minutes was enough to get her into flow
    • lost track of time and ego
    • bigger tasks feel harder to overcome
    • bodies in motion stay in motion
    • made more than 150 pieces in 11 months, which is more art than she made in the previous decade
    • believes in tiny and daily
    • making excuses and giving into fear
    • seeing something valuable in your own work
  • looking at your work through other people’s eyes
    • Golden Formula – Self Awareness + Self Compassion = The Key to Everything good

59:08 “So when I wanted to get back to creating for me, not for clients, I realized, ‘Okay, I need to figure out how to play.’ And I thought about my little nephew playing in a sandbox… and I thought ‘That’s what I need. I need to be like that. I need to be in that space of making messes, and exploring, and asking myself, what would happen if I did this? Wow that’s cool. Now what would happen if I did this other thing…” That’s the place that I wanted to be. So understanding that about myself helped me come up with a way of working that would work with that.”

1:01:02 “If you can’t put fifteen minutes a day into your art, you’re making an excuse.”

1:01:24 “I’ve been making an excuse for ten years, saying ‘I don’t have time, I don’t have time, I don’t have time…’  It wasn’t about the time. It was about fear. It was about perfectionism. It was about comparison trap. It was self-doubt. It was all those things getting in my way, but time was this really convenient excuse.”

1:02:59 “When I spend just a little bit of time every day, it keeps my toe in the creative stream. So I constantly feel like I am immersed in my creativity. Whereas, imagine if I were to spend two hours once a week, which is actually more than fifteen minutes a day for seven days. But two hours once a week would not have that sense of keeping my toe in the creative stream, but just a little bit every day, does. Plus the hardest part is starting, and when the commitment is tiny… it gets you past the starting friction.”

1:06:21 “It’s really not a matter of finding the time. It’s a matter of making the time. You have to schedule it in. And like I said, I’m a big believer in scheduling it earlier in the day, because then you have less time for monkey wrenches to get thrown into the works… that tiny little bit of time. It’s amazing baby steps will get you anywhere if you do enough of them.”

1:08:08 “The reality is, it’s the things that we want the most that we resist. The more important something is to you, the more Resistance you’re going to feel, not the less, and people often don’t understand that. I certainly didn’t. I didn’t understand why I was so resistant to do the things I wanted more than anything.”

10:8:38 “What really helped me is getting into the mindset of a four year old and practicing imperfectionism, allowing myself to be imperfect, allowing myself to make crap… Just because you allow yourself to make crap doesn’t mean you will. Plus the stuff that I think is crap, other people see your work for what it is. You see your work for what it isn’t. You see your work for what it’s lacking, where it’s not meeting up to your idea in your head, right? And other people don’t see that. They don’t see the idea in your head. They just see what’s presented in front of them.”

1:10:26 “Everything comes down to my Golden Formula… If you can notice and have awareness for how you’re feeling, what’s going on with you, what’s working, what’s not working, what you like, what you don’t like, all of that stuff… awareness of yourself in the world, and then respond to that awareness, with compassion, acknowledging that you’re human and that’s okay. There are several billion people out there who have experienced similar things and they’re not invalid people. They’re lovable and good, and so are you, and then treat yourself kindly and gently. That has been the hugest, hardest lesson for me, and I’m so grateful that I finally figured that part out. It took me long enough.”

• two books related to Melissa’s Golden Formula
  • The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
    • talks about Resistance
  • Still Writing by Dani Shapiro
    • looking at things through other peoples’ eyes
  • get creating and share your work
    • you can’t see your own work yourself
  • people wanting to buy paintings she thinks are imperfect
    • validation of people wanting to buy your work
  • Creative Courage Lab
    • creating and putting work out there
    • opening yourself up to shifts
    • stop anticipating the perfect

1:13:00 “We’re all so afraid to share our work because we’re afraid people are going to see what we see. They’re going to see what’s not living up, where it’s lacking, and they don’t see that. But we’re afraid they’re going to and we’re afraid to be humiliated, and we’re afraid to be so horrified and embarrassed… My experience has been, when I just put my work out there… no comment, no apologies… just put it out there and then watch and see what happens… that has been so empowering.”

1:13:56 “I can’t tell you how many times I put something out there and think ‘Ugh, that wasn’t my best effort… I’m embarrassed to share this but I’m going to because I’m doing this practice. I’m practicing putting things out there and that’s the thing that I’m embarrassed by.’ I’m cringing because I’m pushing the publish button or whatever. But that’s the thing that gets a bazillion likes, that gets somebody emailing me and saying, ‘Oh my god, I needed to hear that today.”

1:15:42 “We definitely don’t want to get caught up in seeking validation from other people. That’s never useful… but when I can put my work out there and let go of the outcome, and just observe… it’s very liberating and it’s very empowering.”

• The Gap by Ira Glass
  • distance between the work you create and the work you envisioned
  • Melissa believes The Gap will always be there
    • she gets bored and seeks things more challenging
  • get comfortable with the gap and seek to expand it
  • being a beginner in Jazz
  • she was better equipped to be in that position at 38 as opposed to 28
    • she already felt accomplished and had carved out a place in the world
    • becoming more relaxed and mature and owning your identity
    • being okay as a beginner and enjoying the journey

1:19:48 “Hopefully when we get older, we get a little more relaxed, a little more mature, and I was able at that age to be in this place of being a beginner and to want really really badly to be really good. I was here and I really badly wanted to be way over there, but I was going to enjoy being here. I was going to enjoy the journey of going from here to there instead of creating this miserable cage for myself, which is where I had been ten years before.”

• having self-awareness and self-compassion
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday
    • stoic philosphy and living outside of yourself

1:20:40 “Self-awareness and self-compassion, that’s what it comes down to. Or as I like to say, ‘Don’t beat yourself up, love yourself up.’… When you catch yourself beating yourself up, don’t beat yourself up for beating yourself up.”

1:21:17 “Notice it. Step outside of it, and remind yourself ‘Oh yeah, I’m human. I get to forgive myself for being a human being.’ and how can I treat myself really lovingly and kindly like I would my most precious, most most beloved friend or person in my life. How would I treat them?… We would never treat somebody like that… the way we treat ourselves. So the practice… is to treat yourself kindly, and it’s a practice. It’s an ongoing practice because we’re not perfect. We have to let ourselves be crappy at it.”

• favorite quote
  • likes mantras rather than favorites
  • “Don’t beat yourself up, love yourself up.”
  • “Other people see your work for what it is. You see your work for what it isn’t.”
    • calligraphy teacher Peter Thornton
  • the most creative practice is just getting back on the wagon because you’re going to stumble
    • the problem is when we never get back on
• morning routine
  • journal/draw in morning for 20-30 min each
  • meditate/stretching for 15 min each
  • playing with workout routines in morning/afternoon
  • in constant state of evaluation
  • self-awareness of what’s working/not working
• recommendations
  • The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal
    • teaches class called the Science of Willpower
    • studies on willpower and what increases/decreases willpower
    • has had the most direct impact on her life
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • Script Notes podcast 
    • for screenwriters
  • This American Life, Gimlet shows, and Magic Lessons
• creative people
  • husband sees and experiences the world differently
    • when he hears music, he sees a scene happening in his head
  • Elizabeth Gilbert and Brene Brown 
  • Rising Strong by Brene Brown
    • told group of friends stories and took their notes and typed them up
    • tapped into her creative power
• definition of creativity
  • jump into the creative sandbox

1:36 :23 “Creativity is generating something new, that didn’t exist before… is how I would define it at its most basic level. And that includes finding a solution to a problem because that creates something new that didn’t exist before. And creativity doesn’t necessarily mean making art or making music or writing… any of those traditional art forms that we think of when we tend to think about creativity. And one of the biggest things that gets in the way of people feeling that they’re creative and expressing themselves creatively, is this idea that some people are creative… but really the only difference between artists and everybody else… is not talent. It’s entitlement. It’s permission.”

• being more creative

1:37:36 “So the way to be more creative is to get past the self-doubt and the fear that comes up as this form of resistance and gets in the way. And what’s worked for me and my students is to really get yourself in the mind space of a four year. Of somebody before all that stuff got laid into us. Before the self-doubt and fear and comparison started… You really have to allow yourself to make crap. We need the crap because it fertilizes the good stuff.”

• challenge
  • take on a fifteen minute a day challenge
  • tiny/daily creative practice for a limited time period
  • try it and see how your life changes
  • 15 minutes a day challenge

http://melissadinwiddie.com/ | Facebook |  Instagram | Twitter

The post Melissa Dinwiddie on Being Happy, Making Time for Creativity, and Sharing Your Work – Cracking Creativity Episode 76 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

“Make each day your masterpiece.” ― John Wooden

Buy this print from Storenvy.

We all have aspirations in life that seem so far out of reach. We keep climbing the mountain towards success, but it feels like the weight of the world is holding us down.

We so badly want to believe we can achieve success, but it feels like the destination is so far away. Then doubt creeps into our minds. “How do other people do it?” we ask ourselves.

While our goals might seem like a pipe dream at the moment, the truth is, they probably aren’t that far off. The problem is, far too often we are so concentrated on achieving our long term goals that we forget to live in the moment. We are so transfixed on the destination that we forget to concentrate on the present.

When we look at how far we have to go, we have trouble seeing everything we’ve already accomplished. We become so worried about the future that we don’t recognize how much progress we’ve made since we started our journeys. We don’t enough time celebrating our victories. That needs to end.

Every day presents a new opportunity to create a masterpiece. John Wooden didn’t win ten NCAA basketball championships by just looking towards the future.

He did it by focusing his efforts on the now. He realized that you can’t live your life worrying about what might happen in the future. He realized it would be much more effective to make the most out of every day by concentrating his efforts on the now.

Buy John Wooden Quote Art

Photo by Sabri Tuzcu

The post “Make each day your masterpiece.” ― John Wooden Quote Art appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

David Smooke studied economics and creative writing in university because he liked to write and felt economics had real world applications. He believed these two areas of study would be practical skills to have for his career.

After graduating, David got a job as a journalist, but felt his creativity was being stifled. He was given assignments, and was given very little leeway in how he could apply his creativity.

So he saved up a few months rent and moved to San Francisco. This turned out to be the pivotal moment in David’s career. It was here that he got his first taste of marketing while working for a startup.

At the startup David honed his marketing and community building skills. The lessons he learned here allowed him to start his own marketing firm called Art Map Inc.

In this episode, David talks about taking small incremental steps, the importance of community, and why you shouldn’t hold yourself back.

Here are three things you can learn from David:

Small Incremental Steps Work

Many artists want to run before they even learn to crawl. They want to be a well-known, successful, artist, without figuring out what steps will help them get there.

If you’ve had trouble reaching your goals, that’s a sign you might need to slow down. Instead of trying to tackle your tasks full speed, you need to break your goal down into smaller, more manageable, parts.

David believes everyone should work at their own speed. “Everyone moves at their own pace and whatever their age is irrelevant.”

He believes we need to position ourselves to make giant leaps by taking incremental steps. “You have to do a million of these incremental steps to even be in a position to make the leap, whatever the leap is.”

So, no matter what stage in life you’re in, you can make strides towards your goal. You just need to be patient and practical about it.

The Importance of Community

One of the most important and overlooked aspects of a successful creative career is finding your tribe or community. As artists, many of us would prefer to work alone or in isolation, but we can’t do everything ourselves. The most successful artists have a community they can count on in their moments of need.

David believes community engagement is much more important than vanity metrics like likes. An small active community around your work can make the world of a difference.

“One hundred likes aren’t worth as much as one comment. Someone else actually contributing and being a part of it is always been more meaningful to me.”

David owes the growth of his agency and publications to the community he’s built around them.

“Really a lot of the initial growth, from the beginning, I owe to the community.”

It has allowed him to grow his following from zero to tens of thousands of subscribers. It is how he built his business.

Don’t Hold Yourself Back

One thing that holds artists back from growing their audience is holding work to themselves. If you have a tendency to hold yourself back when sharing your art, you are doing your fans a disservice.

“If you’re a good artist, you’re probably doing a lot more than you’re putting online, and you’re probably more interesting to look at your actual work and talk to you then it is to browse and search for you on the internet. So closing that identity gap is a lot of where I would start with.”

David also believes you should share your work before it’s even finished. It allows people to see your process while you’re in the act of creation.

“I would also say that a major barrier that I see is that people being scared to put things out there before they’re what they would call finished. You know, it’s very acceptable and good marketing to put out there the process that you’re doing, while you’re doing it.”

Don’t wait for your work to end up in a gallery, or in the hands of your customer, to share it. Be proactive with sharing your art.

“You shouldn’t wait to finish a painting, get it in a gallery, get it sold, and wait for that customer to put the painting online. You don’t have to do that to market your art.”

What many artists fail to realize is that your work is interesting to other people. People are interested in your process and how you create. Share that with them and you will start to build a community around your work.

“There are so many things around what you’re doing that’s interesting content to other people, that will create your audience and community.”

Shownotes

• about David
  • Art + Marketing – started around the same time Medium started
  • didn’t like ads around content
  • talked to other writers and found common threads
  • grew up on east coast and went to school in west coast
  • creating is different from executing
  • builders vs. visionaries
• creative things as a kid
  • wrote a play in the first grade

6:46 “When you’re younger, you communicate the way you want to communicate, and then when you’re older, you realize you have to cater your communication to whoever you’re talking to a little bit, just so you’re not speaking two different languages entirely.”

• his first grade play
  • had to write something to explain why he wasn’t in class
• college studies
  • degrees in economics and creative writing
  • didn’t really know what he wanted to do
  • chose based on class/teacher and what he was interested in
  • has always liked to write
  • the real world application of economics
  • being pigeon holed into certain areas of study
  • me wanting to be a Disney animator as a kid
• being a journalist
  • Talent Hits the Road article
  • was given topics to write about
  • saw the inner workings of a newspaper
• leaving journalism job
  • moved to San Francisco with three months of rent saved up
  • started working with Smart Recruiters
• marketing
  • two criteria to hire for marketing: writing and being friendly

17:57 “When I’ve been hiring since, I basically said to marketers, ‘How well can you write and are you friendly?’ and really, if I could only have two criteria to evaluate someone to hire in marketing, that’s where I would go because it’s basically saying ‘Can you communicate effectively and do people like communicating with you?'”

18:57 “Frankly if people are listening and it’s like ‘I’m not positioned for that job or I’m not positioned to be an artist full-time.’ You just have to be honest with what your position is and you can still be what you want to be.”

• taking small steps
  • good thing vs. great things and how long they take
  • experimenting vs. making steps towards your goals
  • building awareness

19:42 “Everyone moves at their own pace and whatever their age is irrelevant.”

19:59 “You have to do a million of these incremental steps to even be in a position to make the leap, whatever the leap is.”

• things he learned at Smart Recruiters
  • doing well for a small company vs. larger business
  • Disrupted by Dan Lyons
    • getting burned and churned to the ground
  • seeing things function at a high growth level
  • making small iterations and improving
  • never knowing what will bring the most traffic/attention
  • success is dependent on persistence
• company values
  • write every day – something you have to do every day to get better
  • amplify the publish button – creating a larger network for content, no content in silos
  • make clients smile – enjoy doing business with people, surrounding yourself with people enjoy working with
  • serve the community – giving back and create value in the community
  • add art whenever possible – attract and create things that aren’t boring
• starting his own marketing firm Art Map Inc
  • 90% of business comes from referrals
  • got a submission from Craig of Craigslist to Art + Marketing
  • brought in friend to help grow publications, has over 20 of them
  • HackerNoon how startups should position themselves
  • notifications are a drug

34:27 “It’s pretty fun to grow a thing. I really like that this is a place and this is the type of things that are in this place and this is how I make this place a lot cooler and then to see other people respond to it.”

• initial writings for Art + Marketing and how he grew it
  • was writing about engagement marketing
  • creating deeper engagements with articles
  • being against vanity likes

35:52 “For every like on an article… one hundred likes aren’t worth as much as one comment. Someone else actually contributing and being a part of it is always been more meaningful to me.”

36:21 “Really a lot of the initial growth, from the beginning, I owe to the community.”

• choosing new publications
  • based them upon his interests
  • Student Voices
  • Future Travel
  • list of all the publications
• the name Art Map Inc.
  • was building an app while at Smart Recruiters
    • backgrounds of maps are boring
    • the picture taken in an area would be used as the background
    • app failed because it needed more resources
  • he thinks in terms of arts and maps, and likes to meet creative people

41:17 “Everyone should fail a project. If you haven’t failed a project that’s kind of big, you should probably just create a new project for yourself… hopefully it succeeds obviously, but you’ll definitely be better at your next project.”

• what Art Map Inc. does
  • content/social media marketing, public relations, etc.
  • getting initial customers and traction
  • beginning of sales and users
• recommendations for artists who want to grow their businesses
  • ask about who they are and what they do
  • how does internet reflect who you are and what you do
  • showing people the progress of your work
  • examples of things you can do:
    • take a pic of your brush
    • talk about the story behind your work

43:26 “If you’re a good artist, you’re probably doing a lot more than you’re putting online, and you’re probably more interesting to look at your actual work and talk to you then it is to browse and search for you on the internet. So closing that identity gap is a lot of where I would start with.”

43:55 “I would also say that a major barrier that I see is that people being scared to put things out there before they’re what they would call finished. You know, it’s very acceptable and good marketing to put out there the process that you’re doing, while you’re doing it.”

44:06 “It’s very acceptable and good marketing to put out there the process that you’re doing, while you’re doing it.”

44:24 “You shouldn’t wait to finish a painting, get it in a gallery, get it sold, and wait for that customer to put the painting online. You don’t have to do that to market your art.”

44:45 “There are so many things around what you’re doing that’s interesting content to other people, that will create your audience and community.”

• what you do is interesting to other people and why you should just release your work
  • your choices are interesting to other people, not just the finished product
  • deadlines are important
  • keep people updated on what you’re building
  • Kanye West – all the work he shared before releasing The Life of Pablo
    • dissecting the real vs. the showmanship
• David’s walking podcast
  • Davidwalks.com
  • started walking to work and listened to podcasts
  • walked around with friends and talked about different subjects
  • 20-25 min conversations walking around San Francisco
  • wants to work on it as albums
• commonalities between his projects
  • storytelling content
  • sense of community
  • Dogs of War album has clips from all different people/eras
  • iterative process of making music
    • giving feedback on music
• fostering a creative community
  • writers and networks need each other to grow
  • setting up win/win interactions
  • mutually beneficial arrangements
  • all publications need content

54:18 “Instead of you ask/I ask, it’s more like one on one projects. If it does well, we’re both better off. So I think fundamentally shifting that arrangement creates a lot more long-term value for both parties.”

• future of his work
  • growing his media and content marketing
  • blazing a new path
  • Should his work be to serve clients or to generate media?
• favorite quote
  • the line between art and practicality
  • your perspective makes all the difference
  • the value and practicality of ice cube trays

“I recently took up ice sculpting. Last night I made an ice cube. This morning I made 12, I was prolific.” – MItch Hedberg

“Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.” ― Andy Warhol

• morning routine
  • thinking about what he’ll do during the day
  • walk to work and listen to what’s going on in the street/listen to podcasts
• recommendations
  • Bill Simmons creating his own empire
  • Zach Lowe’s podcast
  • Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace  – audio book ignores footnotes
  • Ezra Klein and 538 podcast
• creative people
  • his parents
  • humor as the highest form of intellect
  • mother creates greeting cards at mountainnotes.com
  • David Choe and his documentary, Oprah Winfrey, Jasper Johns, Neil Degrasse Tyson, Trey Parker and Matt Stone
• definition of creativity
  • working your creativity muscle like working your physical body

1:07:07 “Creatvity is connecting dots that other people haven’t thought of, but once they see them, it makes more sense. It’s a lot of how you see the world, and how you can help others see it differently.”

• challenge

  • 1:08:40

  • coming up with a better definition of creativity than he has

Twitter  |  Medium

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Kristen Fagan has always been a creator. Even when she was young, she would create coloring book drawings for her younger family members to color in. That creative mindset helped her get a degree and a job doing graphic design.

After a few years working in design, her interest in art was reignited. Her job allowed her to work on her art while also working in design, which fueled her interest in paintings and drawing. Her passion for art grew so much that it even led to creating her own painting workshops.

In this episode, Kristen talks about letting go of your perfectionism, the power of play, and following your intuition.

Here are three things you can learn from Kristen:

Let Go of Your Need to be Perfect

One thing that plagues many creatives is the idea of perfectionism. We spend all of our time worrying about making things just right, that we are petrified to make mistakes.

Kristen believes we need to stop worrying about making things perfect and just let go. “Just keep letting go. Just keep letting what happens, happen on the canvas. Paint dries. You can paint over it. You can always change the outcome… and that’s the same in life. You can always change the outcome. You can always do something different. Try something different. And that is so much more empowering and so much more exciting to me than being perfect.”

The way we let go of our perfectionism is by taking on the mindset of a beginner. Beginners aren’t afraid to screw up. They go into things head on without the fear of doing something wrong.

When you are a beginner, things are exciting and new. You get to experience things for the first time. Instead of worrying about how everything that can go wrong, look at how exciting it can be.

“You have to be a beginner. You have to allow yourself to be a beginner. And by being a beginner, then all of these wonderful things happen. If you just came in and knew how to do something right away, there you go, it’s done, what fun is in that? What did you really learn in that journey? What things did you take away in the end? Nothing. You just came in, created it, then you’re done.”

So stop creating unrealistic expectations for yourself. The harder the struggle, the more fulfilling and unexpected it will be.

“So I feel like it’s within those struggles that the reward is even greater and you feel like you were really able to express yourself in a way you didn’t even imagine because you didn’t come in with any expectation of what you were gonna do. You just let it happen.”

The Power of Play

One of the things that prevents many people from being truly creative, is their unwillingness to let go of their inhibitions and just play. As children, we let our imaginations run wild. We embrace the impossible. That all changes when we begin to grow up.

Kristen believes we need to let go of these imaginary restrictions and learn to just play again.

“As we get older… the world becomes labeled more with this and that, and good and bad, and right and wrong. And it becomes really difficult to remember that childlike wonder, and I think play is where that really brings you back.”

Kristen believes the symbolism of the paintbrush prevents many people from getting started. Instead of embracing the canvas, they are let the paintbrush and canvas intimidate them.

“You can almost finish an entire painting without picking up a paintbrush, and that kind of gets people out of that mind. It’s like when they pick up that paintbrush they get really nervous.”

When she removes the formality of the paintbrush people begin to let go.

“If you’re just playing with bubble wrap or you’re playing with tissue paper or all of these random items, you don’t really know what that outcome is, so you can kind of let go of it a little bit more.”

Once people figure this out, it becomes much easier to play. Instead of worrying about making the wrong choices, her students are able to embrace their choices. When they learn to trust their own intuition, it leads to some amazing results.

“You just figure things out… As you go, as you play, you just start to figure things out on the canvas. And I think in the long run, you start to build a… trust of yourself because you’re not worried about ‘Oh, I’m gonna make the wrong choice.’ You go ‘I’m just gonna make this choice and I’m gonna do it. If I don’t like it, I can paint over it… And other times you go ‘Wow, what did I just make? That’s amazing.’ And now you have this whole new feeling of trusting your intuition and that I can do this on my own. And you don’t have to show me every step. I can just play and see where this leads.”

Let Your Intuition Guide You

Early in our creative careers it’s easy to take every job that comes our way. We want to gain exposure and we want to open ourselves up to as many opportunities as possible.

But as we grow, and demand for our services grow, it becomes much harder to decide what we should work on. Kristen has solved this dilemma by relying on her intuition.

“You have to know what your mission is and not get too distracted. And I think the work on my intuition over the past two years with my painting practice has made it easier for me to feel like when something is right, or maybe something is a little bit off. And feeling a little nervous when you say yes to something is one thing, but if you feel sick… you should say no.”

Listening to your intuition is easier said than done. Some opportunities sound good on the surface, but they might also drive us crazy. In the end, it all comes down to being in touch with yourself.

“It really comes back to working on your intuition and being in touch with yourself, however that means for you… and when other things arise, you can say ‘Is this a feel good nervous yes or is this a uhh this sounds terrible,’ And really be able to tap into that and listen to yourself.”

It’s all about listening to what your mind and body are telling you. And just like other skills you want to perfect, honing your intuition takes practice.

“When you’re not practicing your intuition or you’re not in touch with it, sometimes it’s hard to tell. I think when you give yourself that space of self-care and all those things that allow you to make those choices when stuff comes up, because you can really listen to what it is your body is telling you.”

Shownotes

• about Kristen
  • has always liked to create
  • chose graphic design path because of stability
  • got to dabble in art while doing graphic design
  • halfway through, decided to stop design and switch to illustration, but chickened out
  • got internship at jewelry maker working on their catalog
  • second design job was with manufacturer of beading wire as graphic designer
  • job has allowed her to take on artistic pursuits too
  • after children were born, she got back into painting/drawing
  • started off with paintings, then moved to small furniture
  • after second child, she realized how hard it was to do everything involved with shows/selling
• creative things she did when she was younger
  • taught herself to draw through coloring books
  • sat for hours and copied drawings
  • cousins asked her to draw things for them
• difference between fine art and graphic design and how they influence each other
  • for a long time, kept them separate in her mind
  • loves marrying the two now
  • has taken ten years to let them influence each other
  • art is intuitive and intentional
    • she does it through feeling
  • design is used to communicate something, usually marketing
  • both used for visual communication
    • design prompts an action
    • art prompts a feeling
• using design knowledge to promote her art
  • suffers from having too many ideas
  • consistency is key in design
  • getting tired of your own design work vs. what audiences will think
  • lots of testing/trial and error go into design work
• having a design mindset as an artist
  • separation of mindsets helps
  • works well as a collaborator
  • for art she lets go of perfection and just lets it be
  • paying attention to how people react and letting go of ego
  • criticizing ourselves more than others
  • creating art that’s about play, intuition, and using colors

16:10 “When it comes to my artwork, I’m much more let go of perfection, let it be what it is, and I do like some feedback. You know, we all have our social media, that we like to post things and if people don’t, I get a lot of likes on that or I didn’t get any likes on that, maybe people aren’t into it. I’ve had to really pay attention to how I feel with that and let go of the ego in that part, and just try and let the art be what it wants to be without worrying about how much people are maybe into it. While on the design side, if your client isn’t happy, it’s a problem… and that’s probably a big reason why they’ve been separate for me.”

17:15 “Taking constructive criticism in design is super easy for me. I don’t get worked up about it, but taking criticism from my artwork is a whole different thing… It’s a harder thing to swallow for sure.”

18:44 “The purpose of being here was to actually step out of your comfort zone, do this creative journey, and in the process, you’ll learn something about yourself. And letting go of that perfectionist side is huge and it totally carries into a million other places in your life. If you can do it on the canvas, you can do it other places too.”

• dealing with her perfectionism and helping others
  • when she was younger, it was a huge stumbling block
  • had anxiety/frustration when things didn’t go right
    • mom worried about her and how she handled things
  • you have more than one chance, you can always get better or try again
  • people expecting to be perfect from the beginning

20:06 “Just keep letting go. Just keep letting what happens, happen on the canvas. Paint dries. You can paint over it. You can always change the outcome… and that’s the same in life. You can always change the outcome. You can always do something different. Try something different. And that is so much more empowering and so much more exciting to me than being perfect.”

21:15 “You have to be a beginner. You have to allow yourself to be a beginner. And by being a beginner, then all of these wonderful things happen. If you just came in and knew how to do something right away, there you go, it’s done, what fun is in that? What did you really learn in that journey? What things did you take away in the end? Nothing. You just came in, created it, then you’re done.”

21:42 “So I feel like it’s within those struggles that the reward is even greater and you feel like you were really able to express yourself in a way you didn’t even imagine because you didn’t come in with any expectation of what you were gonna do. You just let it happen.”

• becoming complacent

22:23 “If you’re not growing in some way, if you’re not pushing yourself in some way, you’re just sort of sleepwalking. Right? You’re not really here. Your senses are not heightened to the fact that when you’re really feeling alive, when you’re really doing something that is a little bit out of your comfort zone or a little bit scary, that’s when the real magic shows up.”

• beginner’s mindset and play
  • kid’s ability to create freely
  • using household items to her creation classes
  • being nervous when using a paintbrush
  • empty canvas being a scary thing
  • figuring things out as you play
  • Bob Ross and happy accidents
  • surrender and play

23:35 “As we get older… the world becomes labeled more with this and that, and good and bad, and right and wrong. And it becomes really difficult to remember that childlike wonder, and I think play is where that really brings you back.”

24:18 “You can almost finish an entire painting without picking up a paintbrush, and that kind of gets people out of that mind. It’s like when they pick up that paintbrush they get really nervous.”

24:33 “If you’re just playing with bubble wrap or you’re playing with tissue paper or all of these random items, you don’t really know what that outcome is, so you can kind of let go of it a little bit more.”

25:59 “You just figure things out… As you go, as you play, you just start to figure things out on the canvas. And I think in the long run, you start to build a… trust of yourself because you’re not worried about ‘Oh, I’m gonna make the wrong choice.’ You go ‘I’m just gonna make this choice and I’m gonna do it. If I don’t like it, I can paint over it… And other times you go ‘Wow, what did I just make? That’s amazing.’ And now you have this whole new feeling of trusting your intuition and that I can do this on my own. And you don’t have to show me every step. I can just play and see where this leads.”

• getting into teaching workshops
  • people told her she should teach
  • first one was max of five people around her kitchen table
  • only invited people who would be supportive
  • never thought holding a workshop was what she wanted to do
  • after she did it, she wondered why it took so long
  • change/growth through sharing
  • making connections and being an outcast
    • never felt like she was part of a tribe
    • workshops made her feel part of a tribe
  • plans on growing her workshops
  • using creativity as a catalyst of self-discovery and transformation
• parallels teaching people to paint and running workshops
  • getting people to relax and go with the flow
  • letting go of judgement and expectation

31:06 “I mean that is really a biggie, is getting people in our society to relax and just kind of go with the flow and let down the guard of judgement and expectation, and things that people come in with, and hopefully by the end of the class they’ve really, totally transformed that and let that all out.”

31:38 “It’s really cathartic to create, to paint, to just, you don’t even have to make anything that’s really great… just the practice of doing it is just a release and we can all use that in different areas of our life. And if you can make something wonderful that you love and you can hang up, I mean that’s just even more empowering… You get to release in the process and then empower every time you look at it, you can be empowered.”

• the ability to let go of a painting
  • it’s okay to come back to a piece
  • never being done with a painting, just stopping
  • knowing when something is finished
    • when it stops talking to me
    • each time is different
    • like having a conversation with it

32:56 “There doesn’t need to be an end with your creativity. You don’t have to say ‘I’ve gotten to the end and failed because I’m not happy with this. There’s always a new beginning. There’s always a fresh start. You can always start again and that I think is pretty cool.”

• her art classes changing or affecting people
  • people coming in with expectations and difficulty loosening up
    • some people are able to free themselves
  • helping people in ways she didn’t expect

36:05 “They can live a little bit more freely because they’ve given themselves the opportunity to paint away and let go. And I think that is just so exciting, and that’s the part that gets me.”

36:38 “When I first started teaching workshops, it was just about ‘Oh, we’re just going to play and make art,” and now I feel like it’s really more that ‘You’re going to come and you’re going to transform things, and you’re gonna transform yourself in the process, and you’re going to become braver in your everyday life, and you’re going to become freer in your everyday life.”

• letting things evolve
  • living in the moment and not worrying about everything else
  • being distracted by all the things around us
  • not rushing and taking your time with things
  • Kristen’s word of the year: presence

38:10 “To give ourselves presence is really a gift. And if you can do that in settings like in a workshop or in a painting, I think you find value in other areas… If I just gave this particular part of the day a little more presence… I could really enjoy what that moment is.”

• balancing time between all the things she does
  • works on things when she has the time
  • constantly working on projects
  • shifting what she works on

40:13 “Balance can not be achieved is what I’ve sort come to find out. There’s no such thing as total balance, but there is a such thing as balancing things over time. So there’s sort of an ebb and a flow of how things work.”

• self-care and doing things you enjoy
  • taking care of yourself before taking care of others
  • using planners and to-do lists
  • likes to have physical lists/planners
• business/money aspect of creativity
  • has always had strong entrepreneurial spirit
  • mental blocks when it comes to value and money blocks
  • difficulty of pricing things what they’re worth
    • needing to change her perceived value
  • testing pricing models
    • formula for making incremental price increases
  • the difficulty of taking your own advice
  • felt comfortable charging for freelance design work, but not with art
    • there aren’t any industry standards for art
    • has sold consistently enough so that she doesn’t have to change prices

46:07 “I have always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and I’ve always felt like money is an exchange of energy and I do what I do… and I’m able to do it because I have that exchange of money, but valuing myself and my worth, and what that means has been very long. I’m still figuring it out.”

51:22 “When you’re balancing so much stuff… it’s harder to stay on track with everything. It’s harder to decide where the priority is and what to focus on and what to give the time to.”

• having people help you
  • being a complete do it yourselfer
  • Kerry Burki – mindful pricing
    • how connections can help us
    • Kerry’s superpower of connecting people
• power of experimentation
  • if something feels good, you have to say yes
  • Kristen writing a jewelry making how-to book
  • staying still does nothing for us
  • listening to your gut

55:52 “It’s pretty cool when you just say yes and let something just kind of blossom from that.”

56:46 “It’s really fun to do something new and exciting, and take that risk.”

57:20 “You have to know what your mission is and not get too distracted. And I think the work on my intuition over the past two years with my painting practice has made it easier for me to feel like when something is right, or maybe something is a little bit off. And feeling a little nervous when you say yes to something is one thing, but if you feel sick… you should say no.”

58:02 “It really comes back to working on your intuition and being in touch with yourself, however that means for you… and when other things arise, you can say ‘Is this a feel good nervous yes or is this a uhh this sounds terrible,’ And really be able to tap into that and listen to yourself.”

58:49 “When you’re not practicing your intuition or you’re not in touch with it, sometimes it’s hard to tell. I think when you give yourself that space of self-care and all those things that allow you to make those choices when stuff comes up, because you can really listen to what it is your body is telling you.”

• favorite quote

  • “Life is yours to create.”

  • you have the power to change your life
• routines/habits
  • meditation/foot massage before bed
  • 5 min meditation and stretching in the morning
  • live life with ease and with the time she has
  • journaling/creating as a weekly routine
• recommendations
  • Brave Intuitive Painting by Flora Bowley
  • Rise Above by Whitney Freya
  • I’d Rather be in the Studio by Alyson Stanfield
  • A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
  • Artists Helping Artists podcast
  • On Being podcast
• creative people
  • Sara Oehler – co-author of Seed Bead Revolution, mystery projects
  • Whitney Freya – creativity coach
  • Alisa Burke
• definition of creativity

1:08:38 “Be in a state of play and discovery and presence. And you know, that can happen in so many different ways in your life, but just by going out and taking a walk and really looking at what you see… that to me is being creative. When you take the time to take in your surroundings and just be present.”

• challenge
  • Sign up for her email and receive a free 7 Day to Awaken Your Creativity Challenge
    • different ways to play with what’s available to you

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The post Kristen Fagan on the Downside of Perfectionism, the Power of Play, and Following Your Intuition – Cracking Creativity Episode 78 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Henry May spent his childhood playing with LEGOs. He loved the outdoors and harmless mischief. He thought his life was pre-ordained. He thought our paths are set for us.

This all changed the summer he joined Teach First. The two years he spent here, changed his thoughts on the education system and his role in the world.

After his time at Teach First, and a short stint at Procter & Gamble, Henry took a trip to Colombia through Teach Colombia and fell in love with the country. But he also heard horrible stories about the public schools there.

These were the driving forces that pulled him to leave everything he knew in London and to start CoSchool in Colombia.

In this episode Henry talks about why well respected jobs aren’t always right for us, why good ideas take time to develop, and why you need to stop waiting and put your ideas into action.

Here are three things you can learn from Henry:

Respected Jobs Aren’t Always the Best For Us

If you ask most people what they want out of life, one thing they will mention is a good career. They want a safe job at a well established company. They want stability and security. But that doesn’t mean a job at a well respected company is right for everyone.

That’s exactly what Henry found out while working at Procter & Gamble. While most people would be overjoyed to have a job at a company like P&G, Henry found it frustrating.

“It was such a different world from this real life, hard hitting world of being a teacher in a school in South London. To then be found in an office talking about selling razor blades, nappies, shampoo. I just couldn’t connect with the deeper purpose. I really respect an organization like Procter & Gamble for the success that they’ve had, for the benefit that they bring to the world… however I found it very frustrating to see so many intelligent, capable, caring people there who were using all of that talent and all of that brilliance to sell 1% more shampoo than their rivals.”

Just because a company is a good business, that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for everyone. Sometimes our hearts just aren’t into it.

“Ultimately that’s the bottom line in an organization like that. They do a great job of developing people, and growing leaders, and making some fantastic business people, but I was a mismatch in terms of where my heart was.”

Sometimes Good Ideas Take Time to Develop

In the modern age, we want things to happen instantaneously. We have been conditioned to expect instant gratification. But sometimes good ideas take time develop. Sometimes we need to think things over before they can become a reality.

That’s exactly what happened to Henry. His dual passions for Huracan FC and CoSchool were on completely different journeys, but after thinking about it for a few months, the ideas converged.

“They were separate dots on… different journeys of my life that didn’t make a connection immediately. There wasn’t intentions. It took a process of reflection and iteration, and three or four months initially of thinking ‘Am I going to focus on the Huracan foundation? Is that my thing? Is that what I am going to do? And eventually CoSchool was born out of this process of stopping.”

We’re always in such a rush to get our ideas off the ground that we don’t give them time to breath. That’s why Henry advises aspiring entrepreneurs to spend some time thinking about their ideas.

“I think that if there’s something that I learned from that, there’s something I share with other people, with friends who are thinking about doing something entrepreneurial, the value of stopping and stepping outside of the white water, not just for a day or for a week, I mean I did it for three months. I gave myself the time and space to think, to explore, to consider, to evaluate, to analyze. I think out of that space, was the birth of probably my greatest moment of creativity.”

Stop Waiting and Put Your Ideas Into Action

We all have ideas we’re passionate about but far too often, we let them sit inside our heads. Instead of giving ourselves the chance to succeed we self-sabotage and do nothing.

Henry believes that if you have a good idea, you need to treat it with a sense of urgency. You need to talk to people about it. You need to test it, to write it down, and prototype it so you can learn as much as possible.

“Every day that you wait to make that idea a reality is a day less of your life to make your idea happen. So if you have an idea and you care about it, treat it with a sense of urgency. Treat it with the same sense of urgency that you would treat a ticking time bomb in your hand. You don’t know what might happen in your life or what things will go on and what circumstances might change, and you don’t know how long that idea might be in your hands for. So give yourself the chance to, if you really care about it and you really feel it in your gut, and you feel like it’s something you want to do, the how and route to success and execution, to creating a business plan and model and team, that’s not important. That’s not the most important first thing. And I think that’s a common mistake. People go ‘I haven’t got a plan. I don’t know how to make this a reality.’ Well, I think every single entrepreneur that ever had an idea probably had a moment like that… What you do is get an idea and speak to people. Test it. Write it down. Draw it. Try and prototype it in the quickest and shortest way possible to learn as fast as possible.”

If you don’t put your ideas into action, you’ll never know if they’re going to work. You can’t learn anything about your idea if it just sits inside your head. The best thing you can do is lean into your fear and take action.

“You can learn an incredible amount in about twenty minutes of your life, about ideas, by putting them into action. You can learn zero about ideas by just thinking about them. If you put them into action, act them out, listen to them, and role play them… all of a sudden stuff starts happening. So that would be my biggest advice and lean into fear. Take that step out of your comfort zone and go somewhere you haven’t been before. Take the idea with you. Let the idea lead you. Don’t be afraid of failure. I mean, learn. Learn, grow, test. See what happens.”

Shownotes

• about Henry
  • founder/CEO of CoSchool
    • develop children’s leadership skills
  • from England, lives in Colombia now
  • passion for education
  • went through Teach First program in UK similar to Teach for America in US
  • taught in public school in London
  • short stint at Procter & Gamble
  • started CoSchool in 2013
  • solve Colombian education system
    • base education on skill development
• interests as a child
  • loved LEGOs
  • loved football/being outside/harmless mischief
  • happy childhood full of adventures
• what people would think of his transformation since he was a kid

10:36 “My view of education and of schools is that many schools prohibit kids from fulfilling their potential and even getting a glimpse into that potential.”

11:09 “I don’t think people would have really seen this entrepreneur that I think I had inside me. I think I showed glimpses of it, but really those glimpses were really shadowed by the need for results, of academic performance, and for competing in a competitive environment, and that’s what school is for so many people. I don’t think many people would have seen it coming.”

• what he studied in school
  • went to university for education
  • studied Theology
    • most interesting subject
    • hard subject to crack
    • more than just learning facts
    • big questions that go beyond the classroom
• beliefs before/after school
  • before
    • saw life as pre-ordained
    • pre-destined paths set out for us
  • his path
    • thought he would be a journalist
    • loved reading/writing
    • initial plan was to be a football journalist
  • changing his path
    • mom told him about Teach First
    • enjoying working summer camps
    • the challenge of Teach First
    • didn’t feel challenged in university

16:40 “When I saw Teach First, I thought, for some reason, that’s what I’ve been waiting for. Something where I’m going to be way out of my comfort zone. It’s going to be really hard, it’s going to be really new, and I’m going to learn a lot while I’m making a difference to the world. And so I saw it as a kind of win win. I’ll be doing something where I’m going to be learning a lot and hopefully I’m going to be making a little bit of a difference somehow.”

17:17 “The world tends to change you before you make any real impact on the world.”

• Teach First program
  • theoretical knowledge/practical teaching practice
  • begin teaching full-time for 2 years
  • assigned to public schools based on certain criteria
• Teach First experience
  • transformational, eye opening, inspiring, challenging, frustrating
  • gift of an experience and learning journey
  • found his passion for education
• moments that stood out in his experience
  • Colin – 15 yr old Nigerian boy
  • big kid who got into mischief
  • was bright, but wasn’t into school
  • by the end of the year Colin became one of his success stories
  • Colin graduated early
  • next year, an assembly announced Colin being part of murder
  • went to jail
  • challenged his thoughts on teaching/education system
  • school was shut down
  • second year the school was in limbo
  • event caused anger/frustration towards the education system
• coping with tragedy with former student
  • learning about Aristotle instead of life lessons
  • asked himself a lot of what ifs

24:52 “I probably couldn’t have done something in my first year that would have necessarily have stopped Colin from making those decisions that night… but we can spend our time as teachers so much better than we do.”

25:22 “Teachers are out there wasting time and wasting students’ time on teaching things that perhaps are not what really matters. And thanks to the education system we’ve set up, the way things work, we have these old-fashioned out dated systems in place that are stifling kids.”

26:16 “What if I had approached my classes differently? What if I had the freedom to teach what I wanted? What if I had the freedom to teach what my kids wanted to learn? What if instead of talking about schools and academics results we’re focused on developing kids as human beings? What if we really wanted to understand who are these amazing/talented individuals inside our class?… Instead of trying to secure these… grades in my school that ultimately are futile.

• educational system
  • key ingredients
    • literacy at a young age – ability to read and write
    • basic mathematical skills
    • skill development – cognitive/character skills
  • system should have standards, but there are too many
  • came up with principles through combination of learning and designing  curriculum
• after two years teaching
  • before joining P&G he worked recruiting and selecting teachers for Teach First
    • learned about what it takes to recruit successful people
    • look for many skills in their candidates
  • being able to learn on the fly
  • Teach First created world for each teacher that helps in skill development
    • these skills grow throughout the process
• after Teach First
  • chose to do internship with Procter & Gamble
  • wanted to learn marketing
  • his experience at P&G was boring and lacking purpose

34:44 “It was such a different world from this real life, hard hitting world of being a teacher in a school in South London. To then be found in an office talking about selling razor blades, nappies, shampoo. I just couldn’t connect with the deeper purpose. I really respect an organization like Procter & Gamble for the success that they’ve had, for the benefit that they bring to the world… however I found it very frustrating to see so many intelligent, capable, caring people there who were using all of that talent and all of that brilliance to sell 1% more shampoo than their rivals.”

35:45 “Ultimately that’s the bottom line in an organization like that. They do a great job of developing people, and growing leaders, and making some fantastic business people, but I was a mismatch in terms of where my heart was.”

• sense of purpose
  • big believer in Dan Pink’s Drive
    • talks about three motivators: purpose, autonomy, mastery

36:46 “Purpose for me is the biggest gift you can have in a job. To wake up every morning, to come out of every meeting… to see one of your colleagues do some great work and constantly have this feeling like just this big box being ticked going this matters to me. I know it matters to other people here. This really matters. This is really important and that belief is an incredible source of strength for someone that’s working. If you believe in what you’re doing, you’ll probably be around other people that believe in what you’re doing as well. And that’s an amazing thing to be a part of.”

• going to Colombia
  • happened right after P&G
  • got opportunity through Teach Colombia
  • getting around Bogota hearing stories about public schools
  • knew he wanted to be there
• why he chose Colombia
  • fell in love with the country during a previous trip
  • strange reputation of the country
  • great scenery and different types of cities
  • people are emerging into a new era feeling the change happening in the country
  • didn’t feel optimisim in London/England
  • knew he would go back one day
• feelings before going to Colombia
  • ran marathon in Berlin 3 days before moving
  • asked himself what he was doing
  • felt fear and anxiety

43:31 “What can you do when you’re going to a new place, don’t know anyone, you don’t have a clear path for what life’s going to be like. You know that it’s going to be exciting, but you know it’s going to be a pain in the ass. It’s like walking into a dark room with your eyes closed. You don’t know what’s going to happen and that’s scary.”

• knowing if he was in the right place
  • after being there for nine months, and going back to London to write a business plan for three months
  • first year summer camp
  • realized he could do it
  • he was doing something interesting and felt he was in the right place creating CoSchool
  • two journeys
  • education – developing kids skills
    • the lights went out for the kids there schools weren’t helping them fulfill their potential entrepreneurial journey
    • two moments  collided in CoSchool
• what inspired his entrepreneurial journey
  • living in Argentina and following a team there
  • known for passionate fans
  • fell in love with the team
  • created a team inspired by Argentinian team called Huracan FC London
  • played amateur football in parks of London
  • 2010 – started a Facebook page
    • fans from Argentina liked their page
    • manager of Argentinian team wore their shirt
    • fans came to watch them play in the park
    • got press about their fans from Argentina
    • relationship grew between people in both countries
  • 2011 – played a game in their stadium
    • had 40k fans and got a standing ovation
    • got to speak to their board of directors
    • got to live a dream of being famous for two weeks in Argentina
    • started selling their shirts and making revenue from them
  • when they came back to London, they decided to do something more
    • support projects around the world through football
    • identified and supported projects around the world
    • created a global network of Huracan FC teams
    • 72k Facebook likes, raised 30k pounds
  • turned story of friends into a global phenomenon
  • 2013 – exploded to another level
    • combine it with his education initiatives
    • develop skills through football
• creating something bigger by combining passions

55:18 “They were separate dots on… different journeys of my life that didn’t make a connection immediately. There wasn’t intentions. It took a process of reflection and iteration, and three or four months initially of thinking ‘Am I going to focus on the Huracan foundation? Is that my thing? Is that what I am going to do? And eventually CoSchool was born out of this process of stopping.”

55:53 “I think that if there’s something that I learned from that, there’s something I share with other people, with friends who are thinking about doing something entrepreneurial, the value of stopping and stepping outside of the white water, not just for a day or for a week, I mean I did it for three months. I gave myself the time and space to think, to explore, to consider, to evaluate, to analyze. I think out of that space, was the birth of probably my greatest moment of creativity.”

• unexpected combination of ideas to create new ideas
  • fusion of two things to create new possibilities
  • collaboration as the bedrock for creativity and resilience
  • brainstorms being better with more people
• lone creative genius
  • not completely valid, it’s possible to be creative by yourself
  • CoSchool was collaborative from day one
  • mix public and private schools
  • was only able to figure out CoSchool’s first iteration by speaking to other people
  • being challenged and questioned by people he talked to
  • couldn’t start it without co-founder Carlos
  • advocate of mentors
  • resilience requires other people

1:00:47 “I am probably the biggest advocate of mentors, of coaches. If you can surround yourself with people that will only give you good advice if you ask good questions and think so much stronger than if you decided to go alone.”

1:01:05 “I think there’s a misunderstanding about creativity being this solo genius up in a tower. I think it’s a misunderstanding in entrepreneurship particularly of perseverance… and being a solo sport.”

• first CoSchool project and how it evolved
  • first project involved taking a group of 10-12 tenth graders and putting them in leadership development program
    • having those kids work with group of younger kids
    • giving them an experience similar to Teach First
    • discovered the program was not scalable
  • what has stayed the same
    • still use model of mentorship
    • still mix public/private schools
    • still foster learning from each other
• evolution not revolution

2:57 “There’s always something you can learn from every experience. Iteration is a great word I think. Iteration repeats with small changes and that’s what being in a startup is all about. And you’re constantly learning. You have to set a course, a vision, and decide roughly where you’re going to go, and just be prepared for a bumpy and windy road and changes. That’s learning. That’s growth.”

• parallels between education and entrepreneurship
  • students not going on entrepreneurial journeys in school
    • the path is straight and answers are laid out in front of them
      changing the education system through CoSchool
  • wanting to make impact at policy level
  • hoping for an education system that allows kids to fulfill their potential
•  future of CoSchool
  • reach 1 million young people by 2025
    • will require learning, questions, and experiments
    • making training better, teaching local people to run programs
  • exploring, learning, and impacting
• impact CoSchool has made
  • difficulty of measuring social levels
  • wants to see kids graduating and reaching leadership positions
  • Carla was shy girl in public school
    • didn’t have idea of who she was or potential she had
    • solving a local problem by the end, she was talking in front of a group for receiving a reward in diversity
    • led summer camp

9:05 “Kids are amazing and have such potential. They are usually so adept, and so ready to pick up new ideas, try things, and run with them. And if you put it in the right infrastructure. It’s about lighting that fire, about creating those moments and experiences for the kids to help them go onto people they want to be and can be.”

• for people that have ideas but don’t know what to do
  • rapid prototyping with Tom Chi of Google Glass/Google X
  • Let Your Life Speak by Parker Palmer
    • watching granddaughter play and be engaged in the activity
    • beautiful image of kids being present

10:22 “Every day that you wait to make that idea a reality is a day less of your life to make your idea happen. So if you have an idea and you care about it, treat it with a sense of urgency. Treat it with the same sense of urgency that you would treat a ticking time bomb in your hand. You don’t know what might happen in your life or what things will go on and what circumstances might change, and you don’t know how long that idea might be in your hands for. So give yourself the chance to, if you really care about it and you really feel it in your gut, and you feel like it’s something you want to do, the how and route to success and execution, to creating a business plan and model and team, that’s not important. That’s not the most important first thing. And I think that’s a common mistake. People go ‘I haven’t got a plan. I don’t know how to make this a reality.’ Well, I think every single entrepreneur that ever had an idea probably had a moment like that… What you do is get an idea and speak to people. Test it. Write it down. Draw it. Try and prototype it in the quickest and shortest way possible to learn as fast as possible.”

12:15 “You can learn an incredible amount in about twenty minutes of your life, about ideas, by putting them into action. You can learn zero about ideas by just thinking about them. If you put them into action, act them out, listen to them, and role play them… all of a sudden stuff starts happening. So that would be my biggest advice and lean into fear. Take that step out of your comfort zone and go somewhere you haven’t been before. Take the idea with you. Let the idea lead you. Don’t be afraid of failure. I mean, learn. Learn, grow, test. See what happens.”

14:15 “Kids are absolute masters… of being present, being totally present, and living moments in the realest way possible. And that’s something that starts to get taken away from us as we get to age seven or eight, and we start going to school. We start seeing how other people dress. We start getting called names… and all of a sudden our sense of self starts to get buried behind our masks. And we start to wear mask after mask after mask. By the time we get to age 21 we’re behind so many mask we don’t even who we are ourselves.”

• favorite quote
  • importance of taking responsibility
  • “When you think everything is someone else’s fault, you will suffer a lot. When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.”  ― The 14th Dalai Lama
  • Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside awakens. ― Carl Gustav Jung

16:23 “I feel like it’s we are brought up into a world where it’s so easy to blame and it’s so easy to be the victim. It’s not easy to take responsibility and to own things in your life. In my experience, the more ownership you do through expressing vulnerability, through admitting when you’re wrong, through saying sorry, through giving gratitude… that’s when you start to find answers and joy and peace. That’s when you awaken and that’s something for me, the journey of being an entrepreneur is a journey inwards and as much as it’s been about meeting new people and exploring a new part of the world… there’s been a journey inwards. A spiritual journey inwards. And of understanding who I am and understanding better what I’m like… and that comes about through owning it, and owning yourself and taking responsibility and becoming responsible for your life and not a victim.”

• morning routine
  • plays with cat, go for run to clear his head
  • scrambled eggs/toast/fruit juice for breakfast
• recommendations
  • Reboot podcast – startup CEOs/founders on their journeys
  • Switch by Chip and Dan Heat – changing things when things are hard
    • managing sides of your brain
  • Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• creative people
  • Laura from CoSchool
    • connect things that he’s not able to explain
  • Elon Musk
    • forward thinking innovations
    • taking ideas most people don’t even dream of
• definition of creativity

24:31 “Creativity is the ability and the practice of adding something new to the world. Every time you’re creative, for me it’s breaking into a new part of something that hasn’t been done before or maybe it’s been done before, but in a different way. It’s about creating a new world of creativity.”

• challenge
  • 36 questions – if you ask these questions to someone you just met, you could fall in love with them
  • call someone to chat
  • say thanks for what you’re grateful for

CoSchool Twitter &  Facebook | Henry’s Twitter | Huracan FC Facebook & Twitter

The post Henry May on Leaving His Respected Job, Letting Ideas Develop, and Taking Action – Cracking Creativity Episode 79 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Angela Ferrari has always lived a creative life. When she was young she lived in a rural area where she figured out creative ways to play. She would build tree forts, spray paint plants, and turn her mundane environment into stories.

Angela continued that creative streak in college where she studied studio art and painting. After college, she moved to Portland, Maine and started working at a restaurant. While working as a waitress, Angela forged relationships with the restaurant owners and patrons. After a while, Angela was able to quit her job as a waitress to work on her art full-time.

For some, having a successful business as an artist would be enough, but that wasn’t the case for Angela. One day while doing yoga,  she had a vision about a dog doing yoga. This would eventually turn into her first children’s book Digger’s Daily Routine. Even with three completed books and a newly released podcast, it still feels like Angela has more creativity to share with the world.

In this episode Angela talks about believing in yourself, having fun, and how struggles can lead to success.

Here are three things you can learn from Angela:

Believe in Yourself

When we are first starting out in our creative careers, a lot of self-doubt creeps in. “I’m not a professional artist, why would anyone buy from me?” we ask ourselves. We believe in our work, but don’t believe in ourselves.

That’s why it’s so important to believe in who you are and what you are doing. That’s what Angela did when she went from being a painter to also being a writer.

“A big part of it too was I was afraid of the impostor syndrome, especially transitioning from painter to writer. I was afraid to call myself a writer, and therefore I was afraid to promote myself as a writer. Once I got established painting, I liked being called a painter. I liked that being part of my identity, but it was a little harder when I was unpublished or before I launched a podcast, calling myself a podcaster. It’s hard to almost validate yourself when you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. But then I realized the action of doing it is what makes me a writer. The action of recording and creating episodes is what made me a podcaster.”

The only way you can overcome the impostor syndrome is by believing in what you do. You have to own it.

“Once I started being kinda comfortable with myself and saying yes, I do belong in this space, and I can put myself out there, not just my work, but myself into my work, and that’s now part of my identity.”

Many of us believe we just have to reach our goals and we’ll have “made it.” The truth is, there’s no such thing as making it. The bar is constantly moving. You have to evolve with that sliding scale.

“You never really arrive. You’re always going to be growing in this creative space. You’re always going to be evolving in staying current in your field. So once you start that initial page in the book, you now are a writer. The more you say to yourself, “I am this. I am doing this.” Then it kind of positively reinforces and motivates you to say “I need to follow through because this is now part of who I am.”

Have Fun

Most creative people discover their love for art early in life because they had a blast while creating. We enjoyed every moment of the creative process from dipping the brush into the paints to wrapping up a finished painting.

But along the way, we lose sight of that fun and joy. We let the business side of creativity distract us. We become discouraged when we don’t see immediate results. Angela found a way around this by making sure everything she does is fun.

“For me, I don’t like doing something if it’s not fun. I like to have fun and it’s everything from cooking to working out, once I find a method of ‘Oh, this is a creative way I can do this. This works for me.”

This was especially true for the way she approached marketing. She found a way to make marketing fun.

“My approach to marketing, I knew it’s necessary and it feeds into that big picture goal I have of ‘Okay, I want to tell stories. That’s my big goal.’ So I start telling stories when I market. I find really fun images to use when I create campaigns for social media. And starting a podcast was a way I could promote myself in an authentic way or I could use my voice and speak directly to people. I knew that was something I could have fun with for marketing.”

Sure there are some tedious elements to starting and maintaining a business, but the best way to get around the tedium is to have fun with it.

“The business side, yeah there are definitely some tedious things that are hard to do, but once you learn something, you can find a way to have fun with it because the learning part of it is definitely I think the hard part of any part of a business.”

Struggles Can Help in the Long Run

We’ve all faced struggles in our creative careers. It’s why the term “starving artist” exists. No one said living a fulfilling creative life would be easy. You will face ups and downs. You will soar to the highest highs and hit rock bottom. That’s just how the uncertain life of a creative goes.

Those same struggles are also what makes success so sweet. We might dread them in the moment, but when we look back, we are usually glad we found our way through them. That’s exactly what happened to Angela when she went from being a painter to being a writer too.

“A lot of times I look back and things that felt like struggles or hardships, I look back and think, ‘Oh thank goodness that happened.’ I mean, I’ve had a lot of rejection and failure… starting out as a painter and going and working my way up as a writer. Any time I’m submitting a piece I’d get feedback that, a lot of times I just didn’t feel like I could do it. I didn’t realize I had it in me.”

Those struggles push us to achieve more. They help us determine determine if we want to forge on. They help us ask ourselves the right questions. They help keep us honest.

“So those struggles, they definitely push me. They definitely make me check in and say ‘Do I want this enough? Is this what I want?’ And the answer has always been yes. So I’ve always had to push through by again asking the questions. Keep that goal in mind. I do have a lot of visual images in my work space… Those kinds of things are those kind of reminders that really help push me forward when I’m going through an area where I just don’t think I can do it.”

Shownotes

• about Angela
  • grew up in rural area outdoors
  • had to find creative ways to play
  • inspired by books (Winnie the Pooh and The Secret Garden)
  • did painting and music
  • studied studio art and painting
  • didn’t feel prepared to make living off of her art
  • after college, she moved to Portland, Maine
  • paintings were inspired by nautical landscape
  • forged relationships with restaurants in the area
  • her art would be exclusive work of the restaurants
    • sold hundreds of paintings there
  • looked at ways to expand art business
  • wanted to expand into childrens’ books
  • joined Assets for Artists
    • learned financial/business training
    • got matched savings grants
    • two sides of art and business converged
  • self publish or traditional publishing?
    • learned a lot of people weren’t being published after years
    • decided to self-publish
    • led to creating her podcast
• play as a kid
  • made tree forts and spray painted plants, rocks, etc.
  • making her own space outside
  • made her comfortable working by herself
  • being in her own world and turning the mundane into stories

10:22 “You can turn almost anything into a story when you have the time and the head space to do it.”

• selling art through story
  • All Marketers Are Liars Tell Stories by Seth Godin
    • not just having a brand, but also having an identity behind the business
    • puts herself into her paintings
    • people at the restaurant tell her stories too
    • people at restaurants ask her questions
    • childrens’ books help her teach creativity

11:47 “You can definitely see my wanting to teach creativity as a skill because it was so important to me. I think that mission really comes across in my work.”

• difference between  before and after telling her story
  • no one can be anything before they start doing it
  • hitting milestones and “arriving”
  • “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.” – Muhammad Ali
  • fake it til you make it

12:12 “A big part of it too was I was afraid of the impostor syndrome, especially transitioning from painter to writer. I was afraid to call myself a writer, and therefore I was afraid to promote myself as a writer. Once I got established painting, I liked being called a painter. I liked that being part of my identity, but it was a little harder when I was unpublished or before I launched a podcast, calling myself a podcaster. It’s hard to almost validate yourself when you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. But then I realized the action of doing it is what makes me a writer. The action of recording and creating episodes is what made me a podcaster.”

12:56 “Once I started being kinda comfortable with myself and saying yes, I do belong in this space, and I can put myself out there, not just my work, but myself into my work, and that’s now part of my identity.”

13:49 “You never really arrive. You’re always going to be growing in this creative space. You’re always going to be evolving in staying current in your field. So once you start that initial page in the book, you now are a writer. The more you say to yourself, “I am this. I am doing this.” Then it kind of positively reinforces  and motivates you to say “I need to follow through because this is now part of who I am.”

14:50 “Most kids kind of grow out of that pretend stage when they’re teenagers and adults, and part of me never really grew out of that. So I’ve always believed that something great is possible for me. I never stopped giving up on that dream. This is something that I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve always wanted to be a published writer, and now I am. It’s just taken me a long time to get to this space but I always knew this was in the cards for me.”

• missing the business knowledge
  • didn’t realize she needed that knowledge
  • didn’t know money was important
  • after college she waited tables and interacted with different people
  • realized she didn’t know about the financial side of art
  • didn’t understand importance of business
  • bootstrapping your way to anything

16:07 “Then when I graduated and started working, I waited tables on the side and I got to interact with so many different kinds of people and I realized I wanted to make art to make people happy. I wanted to make art for other people and they would be in my mind when I started creating and then from there is where the business came in on marketing and creating for people. There’s a transaction that goes on there that’s inherit to the art business.”

• resisting learning about marketing
  • likes to do things that are fun
  • workout/fitness became more fun when she started doing hip hop dancing/booty yoga

18:49 “For me, I don’t like doing something if it’s not fun. I like to have fun and it’s everything from cooking to working out, once I find a method of ‘Oh, this is a creative way I can do this. This works for me.”

19:26 “My approach to marketing, I knew it’s necessary and it feeds into that big picture goal I have of ‘Okay, I want to tell stories. That’s my big goal.’ So I start telling stories when I market. I find really fun images to use when I create campaigns for social media. And starting a podcast was a way I could promote myself in an authentic way or I could use my voice and speak directly to people. I knew that was something I could have fun with for marketing.”

19:58 “The business side, yeah there are definitely some tedious things that are hard to do, but once you learn something, you can find a way to have fun with it because the learning part of it is definitely I think the hard part of any part of a business.”

• changing your perspective to make things more interesting
  • road trips and playing games as an example

21:39 “Sometimes the struggle are what make it so much more rewarding too. It makes it feel so much more real  when you’ve really had to work for it and keep checking in with yourself and saying, ‘Okay, do I really want this? Yeah I do. I do really want this,’ and when you get it, it’s amazing. It’s overwhelming.”

• getting her paintings in a restaurant
  • started as a waitress there
  • owners valued people’s outside talent and encouraged life outside of it
  • got to paint mural in their lobby
  • created commissioned piece in exchange for allowing her to hang her art
  • people learned about her making the art in the restaurant
• relationships as the basis for building connection and selling art

23:45 “I wish earlier on I started telling people what I was doing outside of work. Again it goes back to that, you don’t always feel comfortable promoting yourself as a painter or as a writer until you have something to show for it. I think I could have started marketing before I launched in those cases too and gotten a little further ahead .”

24:35 “You don’t want to do shameless self-promoting… It definitely has to be something that you earn from people when you’ve built a relationship with them.”

• creating the mural and selling her art at the restaurant
  • took ownership of the space
  • started taking herself more seriously
  • went from waiting tables 5 days, to weekends, to painting full-time
• pricing her art
  • was under pricing her art in the beginning
  • women tend to set prices lower than men
  • had a pricing wheel
  • mentors told her she could sell her work for more
• get mentorships
  • people came into her life when she was ready to listen
  • family has always been supportive
  • has met a lot of people doing great things

28:48 “I think when you’re willing to ask for help you can definitely find some mentors out there that will come to you in your circle.”

• the value of a support network
  • took a while to be comfortable with writing process
  • didn’t feel her writing was strong
  • used to think grammar was frivolous until she joined critique group
    • grammar is just tools to add to your toolkit
    • makes it easier to convey message in colorful way
    • ended up embracing tools
• accepting help
  • has changed from close minded to open minded
  • learning from other people
  • looking outside of your own creative space

31:26 “It’s funny for me, being such a creative person, I could be so closed minded about that kind of stuff and now I’ve really tried to talk to a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds, what their work is like, what inspires them, and people that are very different from me, they have things to say that I can gleam from. Even if what they’re doing isn’t in lock step with my career path. They still have ways that they work that you can definitely learn from.”

• first book idea
  • Digger’s Daily Routine
    • dog that does the same routine every day
    • one day he finds a cave and gem stones on the walls
  • was inspired while imagining dog doing yoga
  • once she saw the story in her mind, she had to pursue it
• process for creating first book
  • joined Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators
  • got connected to critique group
  • met editors in the industry
  • looked into self-publishing as well
  • pushed herself out of her comfort zone
  • went to a critique where every idea was passed on
  • anger turned to inspiration and fuel

36:44 “I can’t put my creative work into the hands of someone else. I think I’m self-directed enough where I can be the one to put this out there because I want to have the control over my destiny.”

• not relying on the gatekeepers
  • having the ability to do it on your own
  • learning through tutorials and googling
• pushing yourself out of your comfort zone
  • has to check in with herself and hold herself accountable
  • dance classes are fun but make you vulnerable, which has helped
  • not being afraid to embarrass yourself
  • most people don’t care if you mess up
  • making things for people who love your work

40:30 “Everybody’s been there. Everybody had to start somewhere. So just keep going through the motions and keep doing the fake it til you make it thing and you can definitely get to where you want to be.”

• finding your audience and catering to a specific niche

41:11 “You can’t compare yourself to other people too. I’m putting work out right now that’s definitely not going to be for everybody. A lot of people, it’s not going to be their thing and I’m okay with that.”

42:40 “When you go for that niche, stuff is a lot more interesting than when you’re trying to attract such a broad audience and you don’t really have much to say in that setting. A lot of the shows that are successful, who would have thought that something like Game of Thrones would be so successful. It seems like something with such a niche audience would like that, but you just never know until you put it out there how people will respond, what’s the thing that’s going to go viral and take off.”

• We Are All Weird by Seth Godin
  • tribes and focusing on specific audiences
  • Tribes by Seth Godin and the age of the internet
• promoting her first children’s book
  • YouTube channel where she puts full books on slideshows
  • concerned with building a regular audience and getting the word out
  • converting those people into purchasers
  • Masters of Doom
    • releasing Doom as shareware instead of through a normal publisher

47:16 “I mean again, the age of the internet, I think a lot of things are changing. There’s a lot of industries being disrupted because of that. I think people’s expectations have changed too. People are used to getting a lot more nowadays for free and you kinda have to earn people’s attention in another way too.”

• splitting her time
  • has a queue of paintings
  • she paints to order
  • focus has been on the podcast
  • has recorded 40 episodes
  • took a year to build up a runway
  • being ready for the unknown
  • balancing creating and consuming
  • starts day with harder stuff like tech
  • after a few hours, she takes a break and does creative stuff
  • taking dance breaks, or moving along with music to refuel her energy

48:55 “I spend a lot of time working… It’s funny how entrepreneurs spend 80 hours a week to avoid the 40 hour a work week, and it’s true. I’m doing that right now, but I’m having so much fun doing what I’m doing that the days are just flying by and I’m getting so much done. It sounds like a lot, and it is a lot but it’s not cumbersome.”

• biggest struggles

51:39 “A lot of times I look back and things that felt like struggles or hardships, I look back and think, ‘Oh thank goodness that happened.’ I mean, I’ve had a lot of rejection and failure… starting out as a painter and going and working my way up as a writer. Any time I’m submitting a piece I’d get feedback that, a lot of times I just didn’t feel like I could do it. I didn’t realize I had it in me.”

52:14 “So those struggles, they definitely push me. They definitely make me check in and say ‘Do I want this enough? Is this what I want?’ And the answer has always been yes. So I’ve always had to push through by again asking the questions. Keep that goal in mind. I do have a lot of visual images in my work space… Those kinds of things are those kind of reminders that really help push me forward when I’m going through an area where I just don’t think I can do it.”

• learning lessons through failure
  • not looking at failure the same way
  • put your head down and keep moving
• idea behind the podcast
  • wrote a lot of manuscripts for potential storybooks
  • family members were great storytellers
  • wanted to do a storytelling children’s show
  • incorporate different parts of her creativity
• the ability to create what we want and get it out to people

56:39 “Now that I’ve been able to incorporate music into the show. I get to sing and play around with beats and instruments. Oh my gosh it’s opened me up in such a way that I feel like I’m fully living right now. It’s just been so cool to be able to do that and incorporate it in a way that’s creative.”

• long term goals
  • has a few more books in the works
  • wants to do coloring/activity book and albums
  • two years of stories planned out
  • having flexibility with your goals
• favorite quote
  • “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” –  Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
• daily habits or routines
  • eat breakfast, take supplements, make bed
  • change into an outfit/do makeup even if she stays at home
  • two hour sprint tackling biggest challenges
  • goes for walks to refuel
• recommendations
  • Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
  • fiction/memoirs
  • David Sedaris
  • Every Little Thing podcast – deep look into alternative points of view
    • episode on Office Plants
  • true crime – The Jinx
    • learning about behavior and the way media reacts
  • sports documentaries and the stories, 30 for 30
    • Wilt Chamberlain
    • You Don’t Know Bo
• creative people
  • grandmother who works with yarn and crochet
    • cellphone carrier, band for beach towels, shower mat out of garbage bags
  • Erykah Badu – But You Caint Use My Phone album
• definition of creativity

1:49 “Every once in a while you kinda tap into those things as an adult where you just have no concept of time.  You’re just so content, and whatever outlet that gives you that feeling I would say is my definition of creativity.”

• being more creative

2:14 “I think there are so many ways to be creative. Everybody has access to this in themselves. I think a lot of times people feel too busy to have an outlet and I think one thing you could do is maybe add an unexpected ingredient to a meal that you’re cooking or wear and accessory that really expresses yourself and you get to feel like you’re taking a risk. All those are really important small steps I think to living a creative life.”

• challenge
  • ask questions, ask for help
  • you don’t get what you don’t ask for
  • What do I really want? What’s important to me? What big picture accomplishment do I want to see done in my lifetime?

Story Spectacular  |  Twitter  |  Instagram

The post Angela Ferrari on Believing in Yourself, Having Fun, and Struggles and Success – Cracking Creativity Episode 80 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.

Ja-Nae Duane has worn many creative hats in her career. She started off as an opera singer where she performed at places like The Met and the White House, but soon realized it wasn’t a sustainable career.

So she branched out and started working for a social networking company, which was the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. While working there she realized the major difference between the way men and women approached entrepreneurship. This led her to start a group called Wild Women Entrepreneurs, which grew to 55 chapters in nine months.

After a stint running her own companies, Ja-Nae realized other people probably needed help with their own entrepreneurial journeys too, which is why she wrote The Startup Equation, a book that helps owners throughout their business journeys.

In this episode, Ja-Nae talks about how vulnerability leads to great work, why you need to stay in touch with your creativity, and why your mindset is so important.

Here are three things you can learn from Ja-Nae:

Vulnerability Often Leads to Our Best Work

When it comes to our art, many of us take the easy road. We work on things that come easily to us. We work within our comfort zone. We work on things we think will be popular.

But the truth is, our best work comes when we open ourselves up to vulnerability. Our best work comes when we dive deep and create something personal. Our best work comes out when we feel anxious about it, but put it out there anyways.

That’s exactly what Ja-nae discovered about her greatest work.

“Whenever I start to feel anxious about something that I’m putting out, particularly something that’s creative, because when we’re creating something it’s usually personal. And what I find the more personal that you can get in all of your work, and that can be professionally, that can be in stuff that you’re doing artistically, but the more that you can actually gear it into diving deep and really getting it close and under your skin, and then exposing it to the world, almost like ripping off a Band-aid and just exposing that sort of flesh to the world, that’s really where vulnerability and fear can be drivers, and that’s usually what our best work is.”

Ja-nae feels like our work is concentrates too much on the surface level. She feels like a lot of people are creating just to put stuff out there. She believes we are creating too much fluff.

Ja-nae believes our best work gets to the heart of humanity. It explores boundaries. It helps us connect with other people. It transforms the way we live.

“I find that many people are just putting stuff out there to just put stuff out there, but if we’re not actually getting to the heart of humanity, what’s the point? If we’re not really exploring the boundaries of what life is, and what it could be, and how we can interact with one another, and how we can transform in the way that we live and breathe and create, that’s interesting. Everything else is just fluff and noise in my book.”

Stay in Touch with Your Creativity

Ja-nae began her career as an opera singer, but later transitioned into marketing after realizing how unsustainable being an opera singer was. She found a lot of success in marketing and even created her own marketing company. What she didn’t realize was that she was becoming depressed because she lost touch with her creativity.

“You know, I actually think there was a little bit of depression in there… You know, I knew something was wrong. I knew something was off for years and I didn’t necessarily know exactly what it was. And it wasn’t all of this, but it was a large part of this. And what I found was, I was the least happiest when I was known as a marketer, and I was viewing that as my primary living and running that company… I liked the challenge and I love strategies, so those two things fueled at least my brain, but there was nothing that really intersected with my heart. And I think that emptiness was really something that stuck out more than I knew. And sometimes when you live in it so long, or with something for so long… you almost forget that it’s there or life could be without it.”

Ja-nae forgot what drove her. She was so concentrated on her business and being successful that she lost sight of something that made her happy. So she decided to bring creativity back into into her life.

“I realized how far I had gotten from my roots, we’ll say, and how much that had affected me, and so that’s actually one of the things that I have really started to bring back into my life.”

What she discovered was that sometimes we need other people to point out the obvious. With the help of her husband, Ja-nae was able to get back on track with her creativity.

“I find that that type of reaction is something that, unless we have people to call us out on it or unless we are super self-aware all the time, that we fall in to the patterns, and we sometimes forget our potential and the potential of what life could be.”

That’s why Ja-nae advocates surrounding yourself with the right types of people. We need people who will help push us. Sure, you could rest on your laurels, but when you have people pushing you, you tend to create your best work.

“I am truly a firm believer in surrounding myself with people who will push me. Who won’t just allow me to sit idly by rest on my laurels but will really say… ‘Are you good with this? Is this what you want or do you feel like there’s more that you can do here say in the project or in life? I noticed this pattern.’ To me you have to surround yourself with people that won’t just allow you to go idly through life but will really be your… companions to help you to thrive, so that you get the most out of it.”

Mindsets Make All the Difference

Often times the hardest thing we have to overcome to be successful is the way we think. We hear things all the time that sound right, but are actually a deterrence to our success: We need to be thrifty. We are not good enough. We are stuck in our current situation.

One of the things Ja-nae had to overcome was growing up poor. She started off believing she had to horde her resources, but what she realized was that giving lead to great success.

“When a person grows up poor or has a lack of resources it becomes very easy to horde those resources and keep things close to you because you’re afraid that they’re going to go away if you don’t. And the thing is, it’s the exact opposite. If you’re looking for things and for more resources, being that connector and opening yourself up, and whether or not you’re volunteering time or you’re connecting people with one another or even if you’re offering up a bit of expertise to people… Being in a state of giving is one of the first things that I would say to people.”

But the most important thing Ja-nae did, was changing her negative self-talk. Instead of looking at things in a defeatist way, she looked at ways she could solve her problems.

“The other thing I would say… and this was huge for me. This would actually be number one is change your self-talk. So instead of I can’t or the world’s against me or I don’t have enough. Just switch that slightly to I will find a way. I have what I need for today. What are the ways that we can push this forward? Just change it to… it doesn’t have to be fluffy… but if you do change it to this almost problem solving verbiage instead of this defeatist verbiage, then it allows your brain to start to compare and contrast different ways, and find a solution.”

Another thing Ja-nae found helpful was surrounding herself with the right type of people. The people around you can have an immense impact on the way you think. So if you often find yourself in a negative mood, see if the people around you are affecting the way you think.

“If you’re looking for a change… you’re just not happy with where you are, then I would take a close look at who you’re surrounding yourself with and listen to how they talk to you, how they talk to one another. What is their work ethic? How do they contribute to the world? Are they in a constant state of giving? You know, we are the average of the five people we surround ourselves with the most.”

One of the biggest positive changes we can make in our lives is surrounding ourselves with people who push us to do our best.

“If you are unhappy with where you are, change your environment. Change the game, and surround yourself with people that you don’t feel deserve to be around or you feel like an impostor. Because again, that fear… will force you to be a little more vulnerable but will also open up more doors.”

Shownotes

• about Ja-Nae
  • award winning public speaker, opera singer, best-selling author, former radio host, creativity researcher
  • our lives are not linear
  • first career was as an opera singer, sang at MET and White House
    • wasn’t a sustainable career, had to have a day job too
  • Rise.com social networking company
    • ran networking events
    • men and women approached them differently
    • women wanted to build trust before doing business
      • missed a lot of opportunities
      • approached women about finding resources
  • started Wild Women Entrepreneurs
    • grew to 55 chapters in nine months
    • became an entrepreneur over night
    • had no idea what she was doing
  • recession hit, and companies that hired her were gone
  • had no artistic outlet
• childhood dreams
  • always loved performing
    • gathered people for performances
  • exploring things and pulling things apart
  • started professionally singing at 13 for church
    • did weddings/funerals

12:33 “If you have something that you love to do, it usually starts pretty early on.”

• being a public speaker at 13
  • mom is alcoholic/drug addict
  • she raised her siblings when she was younger
  • found it was easy to share her story
  • used it as an outlet and way to connect with people her age
• fears when she was younger
  • always had fear, but used it to her advantage

14:54 “I always have fear Kevin, but to me, you use the fear. To me, when I look at fear it can either be a motivator, or something you can use to your benefit, or could be something that hinders you and something that consumes you. And I learned very early on because of what was happening at home and my background, that you had to use that fear and that anxiety as fuel. Otherwise you weren’t going to survive, and so that’s what I’ve done, and almost like a defense mechanism if you will, but it’s worked and it continues to work. And the… older that I get and the more removed from my history and that situation, the more I realize that fear is healthy and will always be a part of us, but we have to allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to almost live, and work, and be with it, and use it as something that fuels us and drives us.”

• opening up to vulnerability
  • people putting stuff out there just to put it out there

16:36 “Whenever I start to feel anxious about something that I’m putting out, particularly something that’s creative,  because when we’re creating something it’s usually personal. And what I find the more personal that you can get in all of your work, and that can be professionally, that can be in stuff that you’re doing artistically, but the more that you can actually gear it into diving deep and really getting it close and under your skin, and then exposing it to the world, almost like ripping off a Band-aid and just exposing that sort of flesh to the world, that’s really where vulnerability and fear can be drivers, and that’s usually what our best work is.”

18:08 “I find that many people are just putting stuff out there to just put stuff out there, but if we’re not actually getting to the heart of humanity, what’s the point? If we’re not really exploring the boundaries of what life is, and what it could be, and how we can interact with one another, and how we can transform in the way that we live and breathe and create, that’s interesting. Everything else is just fluff and noise in my book.”

• Brené Brown
  • friends at Culture Pilot were helping produce her talk
  • tapping into vulnerability to reach connect with other people
  • don’t do it for connection, do it to show your true self

20:20 “Just cut through the crap, and really really, anything that makes you uncomfortable is usually the path to go and don’t hold yourself back. If you feel hesitant that means that there’s something that’s really true there and that’s going to connect or resonate with people.”

• connection between connecting with people when she was younger and connecting with women entrepreneurs
  • when she was younger
    • had persona of being rough around the edges
    • was part of her story
  • story didn’t connect when transitioning to entrepreneurial women
    • understand struggles and understand their plight
    • had cultural challenges that she couldn’t change
    • women in different countries had different goals
    • finding ways to connect with each person and have them connect with each other
  • couldn’t solve problems for them
  • at the time she couldn’t find the right solution
    • ended company because of it

24:40 “If we’re not able to help you succeed, then what are we doing? And that just felt dirty to me. I was working 90 hour weeks and I really just think knowing that there are things that I can not change and just accepting that was one of the reasons why I had moved on from that company.”

• working with startups
  • Wild Women Entrepreneurs led her to start working with startups
    •  wanted to know how she growth hacked it
  • taught corporations how to market to women and build trust

26:33 “At the end of the day, if you need to grow something with nothing, it’s all about leverage. If you don’t have money and you don’t have time.”

• research before working with companies
  • makes sure the companies she works with do their own research
  • they need to know what they are solving and who they are solving it for
  • do research around target market first
  • see if target market needs to solve it
  • 10-20 solutions for problems and which one should you choose and test

28:24 “With every startup that I work with, just getting them to dig in and create something new that’s not out there is my goal. But you need to find out who you’re building for before you can actually really start building because we don’t need another app that does the same thing. You want to create something and either create a part of the market that doesn’t necessarily exist yet, or even if it is say an app, approach the problem in a completely different way that no one else is doing and then test it.”

• parallels between startups and artists
  • figuring out your audience
  • encourages artists to create before figuring out audience

30:00 “When an artist is creating, it’s really an output of their imagination. It’s one of the ways they’re expressing themselves. It’s not necessarily something that, one, needs to be monetized, or two, should be for max consumption. And so I find that for artists, if they are producing a body of work, whatever that might be… as long as they’re being very true to themselves, their target audience is going to immediately start to bubble up if they’re putting themselves out there and their work out there.”

31:08 “It really comes down to scale. If you’re building a business that’s not a lifestyle brand or you’re not an artist, then really building something that is scale-able or that can run without you is key, and as an artist, you are the art. It’s an extension of yourself and so your true believers and your target audience is going to come out of the wood works. You just have to find other creative ways to expose people to your art. And I really think that’s where artists can use more help.”

• knowing where to position yourself
  • marketing a book – finding multiple targets for a book
  • three targets – two natural, one that developed
    • independent entrepreneur and teacher were existing audiences
    • large agencies came to her and asked her to run curriculum

34:34 “Know that your work is yours and then just know who’s usually on these different outlets or channels and publish accordingly.”

35;20 “You just have to figure out what works for you and also what makes sense for you time wise and budget wise as well. Your time is worth money, and so you can spend all this time marketing your stuff or you can be selective about where and how you market your stuff so you have more time to create. So it’s really thinking very strategically through all of that.”

• why she wrote The Startup Equation
  • would talk with husband about their companies and how they have changed over time
  • she had three different companies doing different things
  • no one resource you could go to as an entrepreneur
  • asked themselves: What if there was one place you could go to to bring together all the great work to help entrepreneurs
    • create flexible framework that changes depending on where you are as an entrepreneur
    • plug and play flexible framework for entrepreneurs
    • figuring out strategies depending on who you are and what you need at the time
• catering to different audiences – entrepreneurs and teachers
  • beginning of the book – beginning entrepreneurs
  • later – growth strategies
    • looking to scale businesses
  • visual guide to starting/growing your business
  • over 140 infographics
  • students need bite sized actionable things to move forward
    • build in next steps to help people along
• creative pursuits
  • there were many years where her creativity didn’t have an outlet
  • tested a one woman show and performance ensemble
  • writing as a creative outlet as well
  • pushing herself into new genres

42:33 “I realized how far I had gotten from my roots, we’ll say, and how much that had affected me, and so that’s actually one of the things that I have really started to bring back into my life.”

43:32 “Why do they want to coast? It’s because they are paralyzed by fear, whether that be fear of the unknown or fear of their own potential, and that’s really when… fear can really break you, and it’s really your decision on whether you choose to accept it and love it and harness it and can use it as momentum or to have it overcome you. And all I can do, all you can do, is really live by example and help share, for us each to help share stories to help people get up and over that hump and allow them to be exposed to those who are allowing themselves to be out there a little bit more, and show them that nothing bad happens when you do so. If not, more serendipity happens. That’s where the magic lies in my book.”

• noticing a lack of creative outlet
  • had some depression
  • her husband pointed it out to her
  • her mom being in an abusive relationship
    • asking mom to leave him
    • mom said “This is what life is like”

45:00 “You know, I actually think there was a little bit of depression in there… You know, I knew something was wrong. I knew something was off for years and I didn’t necessarily know exactly what it was. And it wasn’t all of this, but it was a large part of this. And what I found was, I was the least happiest when I was known as a marketer, and I was viewing that as my primary living and running that company… I liked the challenge and I love strategies, so those two things fueled at least my brain, but there was nothing that really intersected with my heart. And I think that emptiness was really something that stuck out more than I knew. And sometimes when you live in it so long, or with something for so long… you almost forget that it’s there or life could be without it.”

47:15 “I find that that type of reaction is something that, unless we have people to call us out on it or unless we are super self-aware all the time, that we fall in to the patterns, and we sometimes forget our potential and the potential of what life could be.”

48:05 “I am truly a firm believer in surrounding myself with people who will push me. Who won’t just allow me to sit idly by rest on my laurels but will really say… ‘Are you good with this? Is this what you want or do you feel like there’s more that you can do here say in the project or in life? I noticed this pattern.’ To me you have to surround yourself with people that won’t just allow you to go idly through life but will really be your… companions to help you to thrive, so that you get the most out of it.”

• another example of getting out of a rut
  • left agency and gained a lot of weight
  • was miserable and constantly crying
  • noticed she was going in the wrong direction

50:09 “What I found was almost this relief and it was that breaking point of ‘I’m going in the wrong direction and I took this job because I thought it was what I needed to do.’ When really what I needed to do is connect back to what empowers me and what fuels me. And those are my creative outlets… It doesn’t necessarily need to be big. It can be small things, but you have to incorporate creativity into your daily life, and I wasn’t doing that at that time. And I can tell that I don’t know how long I would have lasted if I didn’t leave.”

• one woman show
  • thrives under deadlines
  • hadn’t created anything creative in a while
  • was going to California for holiday
  • thought about performing with a friend
  • friend got venue and she agreed to perform even though she didn’t know what to do
  • storyboarded, created arc, and decided on what types of things to do
  • didn’t rehearse at all
  • called DJ to help
  • tested material for a new book, tested rhythm of poetry
  • likes to put feet to fire to help her perform
• my experimentation with improv forms
  • she likes improv because it puts you into the moment
  • you have no choice to be present
• upcoming projects
  • ensemble performance
  • research writing on creativity/happiness, poverty and entrepreneurship
  • seeing how people think and scarcity mindset
    • changing your mindset to get out of the environment you are in
• most important mindsets for starting your business
  • get in to the habit of giving

59:51 “When a person grows up poor or has a lack of resources it becomes very easy to horde those resources and keep things close to you because you’re afraid that they’re going to go away if you don’t. And the thing is, it’s the exact opposite. If you’re looking for things and for more resources, being that connector and opening yourself up, and whether or not you’re volunteering time or you’re connecting people with one another or even if you’re offering up a bit of expertise to people… Being in a state of giving is one of the first things that I would say to people.”

1:00:47 “The other thing I would say… and this was huge for me. This would actually be number one is change your self-talk. So instead of I can’t or the world’s against me or I don’t have enough. Just switch that slightly to I will find a way. I have what I need for today. What are the ways that we can push this forward? Just change it to… it doesn’t have to be fluffy… but if you do change it to this almost problem solving verbiage instead of this defeatist verbiage, then it allows your brain to start to compare and contrast different ways, and find a solution.”

1:02:00 “If you’re looking for a change… you’re just not happy with where you are, then I would take a close look at who you’re surrounding yourself with and listen to how they talk to you, how they talk to one another. What is their work ethic? How do they contribute to the world? Are they in a constant state of giving? You know, we are the average of the five people we surround ourselves with the most.”

1:02:57 “If you are unhappy with where you are, change your environment. Change the game, and surround yourself with people that you don’t feel deserve to be around or you feel like an impostor. Because again, that fear… will force you to be a little more vulnerable but will also open up more doors.”

• try not to be the smartest person in the room
  • vampire relationships – people who suck you dry
  • you should feel a reciprocity with the people you hang out with
• stop thinking I can’t, think why can’t I
  • change the frame in which you look at situations
  • stoic philosophy – look at problems from an outsider’s lens
• favorite quote
  • “Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!” ― John Anster, The First Part of Goethe’s Faust
• morning routine
  • has more night routines than morning routines
  • listen to podcast that will teach or allow her to think more strategically
  • night routine
    • research, writing, and creative time
    • bounces between things
    • likes to play games like Lumosity or Duolingo
• recommendations
  • books by Hermann Hesse
  • Nerdist podcast
  • The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
• creative people
  • creativity is not necessarily thinking outside of the box
  • figuring out where our creative intelligences are
  • people who don’t think they are creative just aren’t looking in the right places
  • conductor friend who has harnessed his craft
  • friend who switched between opera and law
• definition of creativity

1:14:58 “My definition is around the use of your own imagination but in a way that allows you to find the connective tissue between things. And so the more you can do that, the more that you will find you’re doing things that are creative and you’re creating more output or creating more creative output.”

1:15:47 “Most people… say that they’re being creative once a day, and that’s usually about 5-15 minutes, which I know seems like a big stretch, but the point is that in order to get into flow and really have a creative output where you’re just lost in time, you need to spend at least twenty minutes because it’s going to take you about 7-9 minutes to really fall into flow in the first place. So I say just allow a little bit longer in whatever it is that you’re doing so that you’re able to really enjoy it a little bit more and to feel more contentment an happiness around those creative actions.”

• challenge
  • figure out what your dominant creative intelligence is
  • spend 20 minutes a day for the next five days doing something within that category
  • share with her on Twitter @TheSunQueen
  • the more you do it, the more you will find contentment
  • incorporate it into everything you do

Startup Equation | Twitter

The post Ja-Nae Duane on Vulnerability, Staying in Touch with Creativity, and the Power of Mindsets – Cracking Creativity Episode 81 appeared first on Marketing Your Art the Right Way.