One year ago I had the pleasure of interviewing artist and coach Jennifer Lee as a guest for the Artist Conspiracy. She is the author of The Right-Brain Business Plan, which was released last February.

Jennifer and I discussed why artists don’t like to set goals and how you might be able to find your own way of achieving your heart’s desire.

I invite you to listen to the interview (38 minutes):

You may also download the interview. (right click to save to your computer)

Gain Access to More Interviews Like This

Every month I talk with accomplished people like Jennifer for the Artist Conspiracy – carefully selected to help Conspiracy members reach their goals.

In 2011, I interviewed artists, social media experts, copywriters, bloggers, gallerists, event organizers, and more.

These interviews are archived in the Conspiracy and available to all new members.

When you join the Artist Conspiracy now, you’ll be part of our group effort to plan for a successful 2012.

The Conspiracy is not a class, but an ongoing program – a commitment to your art career. You can begin any time and start working toward your goals. Read more and join us.

The end of the year is often accompanied by a tinge of regret. Maybe you didn’t stick to your New Year’s Resolution or accomplish all of your goals.

I’ll bet you did more than you think.

Take time between now and December 31 to write down all you accomplished in 2011.

David Bechtol, Truck Stop. Photograph, 20 x 35 inches. ©The Artist

This is a ritual I’ve implemented for a number of years and shared it with newsletter subscribers each December. People who do this exercise are happy they took the time. Most are amazed by all they got done.

Get a pen and paper or open up a document on your computer and start counting your feats. I’ll be working on mine during the afternoon of December 22 if you care to join me at that time.

Consider accomplishments in these art business areas:

• Connections
• Marketing & Business
• Education & Exploration
• Recognition

What 2011 accomplishment are you most proud of? Brag! Tell us about it and how you’re celebrating.

Stop saying you don’t have enough time.

It’s exhausting to hear that excuse over and over again, and you’re wasting time just thinking or saying those words. They’re unproductive.

Harriete Estel Berman, Winning the Race with Time. Recycled tin, sterling silver, 2.5 x 3.5 x .25 inches. ©The Artist

You have just as much time as everyone else. It’s up to you what you do with that time.

It’s also up to you how you frame the time you have.

You can embrace the important stuff and be happy to participate in life, or you can complain about wanting more.

The choice is yours.

How are you spending your time?

While those of you on the East Coast are hunkering down for the big storm, I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you of two very important deadlines.

It’s one thing to read a book or take a class online.

It’s entirely different to be in a room full of like-minded artists who are going places. Can you say . . . motivated?

That’s what I want most for those who attend my workshops: a whole new level of inspiration and motivation to get their art out into the world so that more people can see it and buy it.

I don’t want you to miss out!

Wednesday, August 31

This is the last day to save $30 when you register for my workshop on Long Island October 1-2.

Shameless Self-Promotion is my best stuff. We cover everything from artist statements, to website do’s and don’ts, to social media.

You go home with a plan – energized!

Get the details and sign up now.

Friday, September 9

This will be your last chance to save when you register for my Golden, Colorado workshop on October 15-16.

This is a brand new event: Social Media Immersion.

We’ll be conquering Facebook, blogging, and Twitter.

This workshop isn’t to show you how to get set up on these platforms. It’s for helping you make better use of them for your art career goals.

Read more and join us!

PS: There isn’t even the slightest risk of hurricanes in Colorado.

The fall art season is just around the corner. Imagine how nice it would feel to get your business in order before the rush begins.

Why not spend August clearing out, cleaning up, and making room for your success?

Susan Wells snapped these Before and After pics of her office space
for the last Get Organized class.

Clutter gets in your way. It steals your attention away from more important matters.

If you’re having trouble keeping up with information, meeting deadlines, or are feeling overwhelmed, it’s time to de-clutter.

As you’re debating what to save and what to scrap, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you love it? If so, keep it and find a forever place for it.
• Do you need it for your business or personal use? If you can’t do a quick Web search to find it online, keep it and find the perfect place for it. That place is not in a pile on your desk. It’s filed in a system where you can easily find it when it’s needed.
• Have you kept it around for 5-10 years in hopes that you might one day use it, yet that day has never come? If so, recycle it.
• When is the last time you used it? Has better technology or information surpassed its use?
• Would you miss it if it were gone? Really, would you miss it?

The first step to getting organized is de-cluttering, which means recycling, donating, or trashing. There’s no sense moving stuff around only to find out later that you don’t want or need it.

If you found this helpful, I’d love for you to share using any or all of the options below.

©2010 Michael Newberry, Cutting Through Red. Oil on canvas, 20 x 24 inches.

A few months back, I gave advice for hiring a consultant for your art career. I said that if you’re going to spend money on a consultant, you should understand what you want to get out of the relationship – you should know exactly what you want.

Michael Newberry took issue in a comment. He said there have been times in his career when he’s been totally clueless and wouldn’t even know where to begin. He thought it would be of great service to artists to help them understand what they want.

Point taken.

If you are in the dark about what you want from your art, perhaps these 9 pieces of advice might help.

1. Don’t quit your day job! You need money coming in while you’re figuring all of this out. If you don’t have a day job, go get one.
beginning
biz basics
2. Spend more time in the studio. If you have an inkling that the life of a professional artist might be for you, you’d better be in the studio consistently. You must be making art.
3. Take more studio classes. Work through all of the artmaking problems you can think of. Then tackle some more.
4. Attend business classes. Find out what it takes to own your own business.
5. Talk to other artists for the same reason: to find out what it takes. Ask them about their studio practices, their highs and lows, and how they make a living.
6. Read artist biographies and art non-fiction. Forget anything you read about alcoholism and drug use. You don’t need either to thrive as an artist. Pay attention to the artists’ paths.
7. Watch art documentaries to be inspired.
8. Figure out exactly how much money you need to survive and save and what that means. How much work would you need to sell? How many students do you need to enroll? Can you meet those demands?
9. Search your soul. Are you prepared for rejection? Are you okay with failing a lot before you succeed? Do you have the emotional support you need? Are you ready to work your butt off?

What did I forget?

This week marks the halfway point in the year. How are you doing on your goals?

©2009 Shane Cooper, Clemintino y Javier. Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 inches.

Because my primary concern is about your business goals and financial well-being, let me remind you of a couple of articles about achieving your income goals. Have you read these?

6 Steps to Identify Your Income Goals

The 7^th Step to Achieving Income Goals

Get Real with Where the Money Comes From

My income-achieving process is daunting for some artists who find it a challenge to face the bottom line. But ignoring your financial situation based on fear or lack of knowledge doesn’t make it better. It just makes you an oblivious businessperson.

The process is based on multiple streams of income for your art business (art sales, teaching, greeting cards, consulting, e-books, etc.). If you’ve been looking at your income potential as one line item, it’s time to reconsider your approach and take a closer look at your earning potential.

Financial Check-In

This week – the 26^th in 2011 – sit down with your income goals for the year and see how you’re doing.

For each stream of income, is your income-to-date more or less than it should be at this point? By how much?

The most important question you can answer through this process is: WHY? Why have you made more or less than your goal?

What did you do that worked? Can you do more of it?

Where did you mess up or goof off? Can you correct that for the rest of the year? Consider alternatives that would yield higher profits or better results.

Share your income-achieving thoughts and process in a comment below.

With my mom in front of the Denver Art Museum a few years ago.

Happy Mother’s Day!

I hope you had a chance to read Sandhya Manne’s blog post yesterday on balancing the roles of artist and mother.

This is a recurring theme for my clients. It comes up so often that today, I ask again for your tips.

What advice would you give other artist-mothers who might be struggling to find time for their art or feeling guilty about spending time on their art and away from their families?

Dads also encouraged to respond!

Guest blogger: Sandhya Manne

Happy Mothers’ Day tomorrow to all artist-mothers out there.

Sandhya Manne, Zen Chakra. Watercolor and ink on paper, 10 x 8 inches. ©The Artist

Five years ago I quit my corporate job to raise my family and to take up my art career.

I quickly learned – out of necessity – to balance motherhood with studio time. I actually fed my child in between my painting sessions!

I made more art, learned new skills, created a page on Facebook, discovered new technologies and some best practices of the art world, connected with new people, established relationships, created a website, and I plan to start tweeting and blogging soon.

And yet, at the end of the day, I still I feed my children, change diapers, put them to bed, and catch the beautiful moments like watching those first steps.

When you love something, you will make time for it — whether “it” is children or art.

I have tried to be easy on myself, but I always take time for art. I so something in the studio or art office every day. Just like tiny drops make an ocean, I am slowly building my portfolio and taking many tiny steps, including exhibiting, toward expanding my art career.

A Mother’s Tips for Staying Organized

I stay focused by:

• Putting things back into their places
• Cleaning up after every painting session
• Planning the next day, week and month in advance

These routines give me more space and energy to create and allow me to switch between my roles of artist and mother more seamlessly.

Rules for time, studio and boundaries . . .

Having a dedicated studio and business time has helped me immensely. It’s easy to get lured into doing house chores with a home studio, but I have learned to stick to the studio time.

I found it well worth my time to educate my children about studio/office boundaries. My 4-year-old knows the studio rules: No touching, No fiddling, No “just looking” at art supplies, and No throwing toys around.

With boundaries in place, my daughter (the older child) and I can enjoy our creative time together. It’s a pleasure to watch her get inspired by me. I love it when she says she wants to be an artist like me. I know she doesn’t mean anything at this age . . . but it still feels good.

How do you balance motherhood and the life of an artist?

What are your boundaries for your children?

What are your secrets for success?

About the Guest Blogger
Sandhya Manne is an Indian artist living in Dallas,Texas. Since the start of her art career in 2007, her artworks have joined private collections in Canada, USA and India. She is currently exhibiting through juried shows in Dallas-Fort Worth area and serving as an artist role model to her kids. Connect with her on Facebook.

A Creativity Brief can help you make any creative project more successful.

Caution: It’s hard work!

In his book Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity, Josh Linkner, founder of ePrize, shares an outline for a Creativity Brief that you can use for any project – a major installation, an exhibit, a workshop, or a new blog or website.

Linker writes:

Warning: the Creativity Brief is intense and will take real work to complete. But that work is a good investment. By taking the time up front to get it right, you will yield an exponentially better end result.

He’s not kidding! It’s an intense process that isn’t for the weak. I’d compare it to writing a grant application.

Defining, in detail, the major components of your project gives you a blueprint to take action. You don’t worry about your next step(s) because it’s all mapped out for you.

I started the Creativity Brief last week to help me define a major art-marketing workshop in Golden, Colorado for October 15-16. My Brief isn’t completed, but the process has already yielded big results. I’ve gotten plenty of new ideas just by wading through the outline.

The structure of the Creativity Brief supports – rather than limits – your creativity. Without such a structure, you can be too easily distracted and neglect your priorities.

Linkner discusses creativity primarily through an organizational structure, but what he has to say can be applied to the solopreneur. I’ve adapted his Creativity Brief for your use.

Download my version of The Creativity Brief for Artists:

PDF or MS Word (.docx)

Try it out on your next big project, and let me know how it works for you. Or leave a comment about a similar process that you use.