I talked to some very wise women this weekend, and here are some things I learned:
NEW FACT #1 On art and business….
Nobody gets famous for jumping on the bandwagon.
We were talking about art, and how painting in someone else’s school/style/class/whatever can gain you some success. But it won’t make you famous. You are always a step behind the original—who WILL be famous, if he-or-she isn’t already.
It’s a good thought for other areas of business and life, too. In fact, this particular wise woman and I were talking about a book called “THE MILLIONAIRE MIND” a bit later, and the same concept came up. Successful business people, the author claimed, rarely competed with other business models already out in the marketplace. They found niches or “voids” that needed to be filled, an opportunity no one else had seen yet—and jumped in.
Your product or service can’t be a little cheaper, a little better than what’s already out there. It has to be stellar to be a hit.
NEW FACT #2 On art and business….
Make what you love, because if you are successful, you are going to be doing it for a long time.
We were talking about a painter who went into overdrive, working round the clock painting, focusing only on her financial goals and making art that she knew would sell. At the end of a year, she was exhausted, her non-professional life was in shambles, and because of her prices, she cleared only a modest amount of money. Unfortunately, now she has to turn around and do it all over again this year. She has created expectations in her family’s income, her galleries and her customers—and she feels trapped.
This is fine if you were planning on being in high production mode anyway. But if your professional goals were to be producing in a different mode or a different style, be aware that a successful business can be just as difficult to turn as the Titanic.
NOTE: The point here is NOT about which goals are best; it’s about which goals are best for YOU. Think carefully about what you want your business/art to look like.
NEW FACT #3 On life and love…and business, too!
You cannot hold somebody so tightly they will WANT to stay.
Another wise woman told me this when I mentioned my my daughter was agonizing about her boyfriend who wanted more freedom. The second half of the quote is “You can hold them so they HAVE to stay, but the minute you loosen your grip, they’ll fly away.” You have to either let go of your jealousy, or let go of them. Either one will do.
This started out about love, but as we talked, we realized it applies to business, too. If someone really doesn’t want what you have to sell, you can dazzle them with the sales spiel and fast talking and hold them to it. But the minute you stop to take a breath, they’ll run. This is a customer, a gallery, the buying public. It may take time to find and develop your market, but you shouldn’t have to beat people over the head to love your work. If you do, you are talking to the wrong people or trying to sell them the wrong work. Find the right people. Or find the right art to make. For YOU.
OLD FACT #4
Truth don't stop to pick up the teeth of the man who speaks it.
