Newbie Lessons
I officially launched into being a full time Entrepreneur and Artist in July, but waited until I was really settled in before announcing it to the world in August. Since then I’ve come to a greater level of peace about doing something that could be perceived as rash and unwise. Despite the riskiness of it, being an Artist is actually a good path for me, but it has pitfalls about which I must be aware.
Pitfalls? In doing art full time?! No way! Surely that cannot be…. I am being not so subtly sarcastic. A better question might be: How can there be anything BUT pitfalls?!
Perhaps because I’ve had this dream of being a Professional Artist for so long, and the timing was right to do so, and I have a few months’ worth of work to accomplish before I start wondering where my next meal is coming from, the pitfalls seem scarce for the time being. However my desire to make wise decisions and better my business skills actually ended up being a catalyst for much learning. For the full story about my most impacting recent lesson, check out the blog post here.
I’d been approached a number of times by folks that claimed to be Life or Business Coaches. The first couple of “opportunities” were mildly tempting for they promised improvements in all my areas of weakness, but follow ups gave me pause as I didn’t feel confident that the kind of assistance being offered was actually worth the large price tags. That changed when I learned of a program specifically designed for artists! Now that was appealing and gave me a bit more confidence in the offer.
It started with a free webinar. Fine. It was easy enough to sign up for that. It turned out to be a fancy sales pitch for their program. Fair enough. At the end of the webinar, an invitation was given to sign up right away for a free 1-hour phone consultation. There were limited spaces and – oh by the way - you had to submit an application to see if you were even a suitable candidate before being approved for a phone call. They had to keep adding spaces as they were filling up so fast! Imagine my joy when I was approved for a call at 10 pm EST a week later (since it was a worldwide opportunity and I still don’t know where the company is based I had to take what time slot I could get). At this point the only hint to the cost was a question on the application about if I had access to x amount of money, or if I could eventually get it.
Then the time came for the phone call. I didn’t know what they’d want to know. I tried to prepare. I felt like it was going to be a test. If I missed it, I couldn’t rebook. It turned out to be a lot of questions about numbers – Instagram followers, mailing list, income last year, number of paintings sold – and what my new goals were. I am not a numbers person (maybe no surprise there), so found myself floundering, drawing blanks, and making really erroneous estimates. And there were a lot of weird silent moments from the other end. I didn’t know if I was supposed to be saying something winsome and eloquent or if they were busy microwaving a burrito. Finally at the end I asked about the price. The number I was given was far more than what the application had asked about, but I was told they’d slashed the price just for this phone chat opportunity. Oh my! I was so lucky! It was still a good chunk of cash (especially given that I am just starting my business full time), and the crux of the matter was I had to decide then and there if I would take this stunning offer or not. In retrospect, I see all kind of red flags! But in my frantic state I figured “Well, I should do this. Look at the success other artists have had with this. I don’t spend much on myself. You’ve got to spend money to make money…” So I pulled out the credit card.
I got off the phone and didn’t feel an ounce of the joy that I should have because I realize now, I was pressured into the whole thing! In talking it over with my savvy husband right away, he brought up many questions that would have been amazing to ask in those pregnant pauses of the conversation. He is super supportive of this venture but doesn’t want me getting burned either. I’ll spare the painful details of the next few weeks after requesting a refund, hoping I hadn’t squandered my savings, and trying to back out. The company is legitimate, so I wasn’t being swindled; however, the tactics employed to get me signed up were very much about their numbers and not mine. Thank God, they did grant a refund in the end but advised me I could never apply again for the program as it had been a “misuse” of their time in talking to me. Whew! Sigh of relief! And a bit of a frown too – so much for being a great supportive program if they discard those who are not immediately financially useful.
In a nutshell I’ve learned:
I need to take things at my own pace; even great ambitions about improved marketing (or anything) are useless if I don’t have the resources to follow through and do the work necessary
Just because something is a “proven success” for many others, that doesn’t make it the correct fit for my unique journey
Never buy something if not given time to consider the decision and weigh it out with an advisor
I don’t need to do a million things halfway. I need to focus on doing a couple things really well before adding to my “To Do List”
One real life Art Collector far outweighs hundreds of anonymous online followers
Mistakes are learning experiences. Make them once and learn from them, then they become positive experiences. Just don’t keep making them without learning from them
I fell straight into this lesson and was therefore even more frustrated because I felt like the mistake was so blindingly obvious that I should have seen it coming and avoided it. My own enthusiasm and desire for betterment contributed to my blindness, strangely. There is nothing wrong with doing programs and courses to better oneself or one’s business. For me the matter was one of timing. With so many parts of my business just starting and needing to develop, I could not have successfully given my attention and time to multiple new tasks. For this turtle, slow and steady really is the only way to survive the race.
So for now I’ll continue with my simple game plan, offering custom paintings, fine art prints (including greeting cards, and magnets) and having occasional auctions of my work. The next auction will be in the fall. I’ll have a number of adorable mushroom pieces available for sale; the fruits of my “Friday Fun Fungi” series labours! To see them as I produce them, follow me on Instagram of Facebook (links in website header).
Some of my collection of “Friday Fun Fungi” paintings
I’ll close this update with wishes for only the most beneficial mistakes to everyone. Mistakes will always be present in our lives, but it’s up to us how we handle them and respond to them. May as well make use of them rather than them pulverizing us!
Here’s to good mistake making!
Marion
