There are six principles of no-excuse art marketing that guide my teaching and my book.

The first principle, I believe, is the most important. It states:

You are in charge of your career. You have control over words, prices, artwork, and your image. People will take as much from you as you give them, so guard this power to remain in charge of your destiny. Accept 100% responsibility for your actions and make no excuses.

It might seem as though your power is in the hands of galleries, curators, granting agencies, collectors . . . anyone but you! But all of these people have only as much power over you as you give them.

In his book The Success Principles, which I never tire quoting, Jack Canfield writes:

You only have control over three things in your life – the thoughts you think, the images you visualize, and the actions you take (your behavior). How you use these three things determines everything you experience. If you don’t like what you are producing and experiencing, you have to change your responses. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones. Change what you daydream about. Change your habits. Change what you read. Change your friends. Change how you talk.

Commit to yourself that you will guide your own path – that you won’t accept situations that make your stomach turn, that you won’t adopt others’ definitions of success, and that you won’t bow to conventional ways of doing things in the art world if they don’t match your values and vision.

You know what’s best for you. Go after it! Seek guidance and inspiration when you need it, but trust your wise self.

Never blame anyone for your perceived failures. When you assume control, you bask in your successes – knowing that they were hard-earned. Likewise, you must also accept responsibility when things go wrong.

Seems like a fair deal to me.

One of my first-ever free gifts for subscribers to my newsletter was a list of Artist Resolutions.

Today – being January 1 and all – seems like as good a time as any to update and share.

Steal and adapt what feels true to you.

Artist Resolutions

RESOLVE to try a different color.
RESOLVE to experiment with a new media.

RESOLVE to take a class, read another book, watch an art documentary.
RESOLVE to expand my knowledge of art.

RESOLVE to share my art with more people.
RESOLVE to write more about my art.

RESOLVE to find my own path.

RESOLVE to stop whining about not having enough time.

RESOLVE to say No to those things that are not important to me or that get in the way of what I want to be.

RESOLVE to stop fiddle-farting around on the Internet or with the TV remote control and start dedicating myself 100% to my life’s work.

RESOLVE to stop playing it safe.
RESOLVE to take risks.

Yesterday was the annual mass shredding in New York’s Times Square. The idea is to get rid of the bad memories from the year and prepare for better days ahead.

People shredded memories of ex-boyfriends, bullies at school, battles with leukemia, and more.

What will you shred/erase/burn/banish from 2011?

Do you have a ritual around this process?

Whenever you find yourself trying to wiggle out of a commitment, remember the story of Rudolph.

©2010 Katherine Tyrrell, Giant Red Nosed Reindeer Outside Covent Garden Market. Pen and ink and colored pencils in Moleskine Sketchbook, 8 x 10 inches.

[See photo of the reindeer and read more about it.]

It would have been easy for Santa to stay home at the North Pole when the big blizzard hit on Christmas Eve. Picture him: feet up, boots off, sitting by the fireplace sipping eggnog.

But he had an appointment to keep. People were depending on him.

Santa recognized the solution to his dilemma when Rudolph’s nose lit up. Rudolph could help guide his sleigh through the blizzard.

Santa made Christmas happen despite the bad weather.

Instead of making excuses, ask yourself: “How can I make this happen?”

Guest Blogger: Heidi Spiegel

In my mind, I have created two characters: the Artist Me and the Business Me.

One is committed to making art, while the other believes in the art enough to support and promote it.

This is the result of a mental shift I made during the Art Biz Coach Blast Off class, which addresses the artist as well as the business of art.

It has helped me balance making art with marketing art, while also attending to personal needs and financial needs.

© Heidi L. Spiegel. Inside the Tuileries (detail). Pencil and collage on watercolor paper.

So, keeping myself in good health, exercising, and eating right are good business moves. Likewise, completing 5 tasks each day to market my art, setting aside time in the studio, and researching a project are good for the business.

I’m training my mind to ask: Is this good for the business? Is this good for me?

This practice is totally unrelated to my creative self, which means that there are less emotional ties to many of my decision-making tasks. The emotions are where they belong: with my art-making, and not in the business-making.

This was a breakthrough.

It helped me to understand that the Business Me has my Artist Me’s best interest in mind. The Business Me is eager for the Artist Me to succeed.

The challenges related to making a living as an artist are still overwhelming. But allowing myself to step back and ask “Is this good for the business? Is this good for me?” has removed much of the emotional frustration from the equation.

Try it!

About the Guest Blogger
A native of Hollywood, CA, Heidi Spiegel‘s art focuses on transforming various found papers into illustrative collage images. Her artwork can be found in private collections throughout Los Angeles and in Europe. Recently, Heidi has expanded her art career overseas and lives both in the US and in France.

©2009 Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo, Chenrezig. Hand-dyed cotton, silks and brocades, hand-pieced and machine-quilted, 43 x 31 inches.

From time to time I have a virtual run-in with a subscriber or customer who doesn’t wait for a response before shooting off spiteful emails. This has happened to me twice in the last month, whereas it usually happens once every year or two.

Whenever this happens, I question what I do and who I am. This is exactly what the author of the email wants and I know it.

I write this post for myself as much as for you. I intend to keep going. I intend to keep doing my personal work (it’s never done!) so that I live my best life and continue to attract good things and good people.

Trust

• That 99.9% of all people are good and kind.
  It’s hard to ignore the .1% of people because they’re so loud and so negative. I keep my LOVED file to remind me of all the generous, loving people (the 99.9%) in my virtual world.
• That even some of those 99.9% of people will go wrong at some point. They probably didn’t intend to step on your toes. Give them the opportunity to make it right.
• That something good will come from of a bad situation.

Understand

• You never know what is going on in someone else’s life. They may seem off the mark to you, but they could be dealing with enormous challenges. Don’t jump to conclusions. Don’t label them without first seeking to understand.
• When people are surly, mean, negative, and rude, it doesn’t have anything to do with you. It’s about them. Grown-ups seek dialogue and understanding and do not automatically assume that everyone is out to get them.

Give

• Tweet, +1, Like, and Share with abandon. In fact, you can do just that at the end of this post!
• Acknowledge others’ accomplishments on your Facebook page, on a stage, or anywhere else.
• Send Thank You notes daily to those who have been helpful, generous, and kind. In the Blast Off class, which starts tomorrow, we focus a lot on daily gratitude to help build and maintain relationships.
• Offer to help an artist in need.

Accept

• Accept gifts from others – be they compliments, time, knowledge, or actual physical objects. Turning them down or saying you don’t deserve them implies you don’t value the giver’s opinions.

Leave

• If a relationship isn’t serving you – whether it’s in real life or online – break it off gently. You don’t need to rant about why the person is awful. That just serves to make you feel superior. (See “Understand” above.)

How do you attract good karma?

I started teaching online classes in 2002 without ever having taken an online class or even knowing that anyone else was doing it. I delivered lessons via email manually (without autoresponders) and the discussions were on a Yahoo group.

I started selling e-books in 2003 – immediately upon hearing the word “e-book.” I believe I had purchased one e-book that was formatted poorly, but I still thought it was magical that I could instantly download all of that information in one document.

I started presenting workshops in 2003 without researching how other businesses were doing workshops. I created proposals and letters of agreement that outlined my fees and expenses and got hired immediately.

Dive In and Do the Work

You don’t have to have all the answers before beginning a project.

Whether it’s trying a new medium in the studio, writing a how-to book, or teaching a class, just dive in!

Don’t worry about how others do it. You will learn the ropes.

Yes, you’ll make mistakes, but you would have made those anyway. When I look back at those early efforts in my business, I cringe. I’ve learned so much between then and now and I wish I had do-overs. The content and formats were far from ideal! But I delivered affordable content to people who needed it.

These were necessary steps in the evolution of my business.

As long as you move forward with integrity and good intentions for your art and for you customers, you can be proud of your efforts.

I first met Mara Purl as a member of the Colorado Independent Publishers Association. I didn’t think we had much in common. After all, I wrote about the art business and she wrote novels. We were both, though, focused on connecting with our people.

I recently heard Mara speak about her journey as a hyphenate (see below) and am delighted to be part of her blog tour for the September 1 release of her book, What the Heart Knows. Miranda Jones, the central character in the book, is a fine artist.

- Alyson

Guest blogger: Mara Purl

Mara Purl, author of What the Heart Knows

An “artist” can refer very specifically to someone working in the fine arts. It can also be used in a broader sense to include anyone living and working as a creative professional. Following that definition, I’m a life-long artist. And in Los Angeles, I’m known as a “hyphenate”, or someone who works in more than one discipline. So I’m a writer-performer-producer.

As a performer, I worked as an actress in theatre and on television, probably my best known role being “Darla Cook” on Days Of Our Lives.

As a producer, I created my own soap opera, but for radio. My original radio serial Milford-Haven U.S.A. became the first American radio drama ever licensed and broadcast by the BBC, and had 4.5 million listeners in the U.K.

As a writer, I’ve penned scores of teleplays, radio plays, and theatrical plays; worked as a professional journalist for several years; have written several non-fiction books. And now, I’m a novelist.

The following are what I call the Be’s in the Artist Biz.

1 Be Authentic

I was intrigued to discover that “author” and “authentic” share the same root word, which means “created by one’s own hand.”

It’s important to study, and also to find and learn from mentors. I’ve been fortunate to study with great teachers and learn from extraordinary mentors. But ultimately, the most important part of the artist’s work is to listen to your own inner voice . . . listen hard and closely enough that it becomes louder than all others.

In writing it’s actually called “finding your voice.” This becomes the most valuable aspect of your work, that which no one else can duplicate, that which you are here to authentically share.

2 Be Brave

There is no substitute for the raw courage required to be an artist.

I can think of at least two moments in my life that required enough courage for me to leap over a chasm. One was quitting a secure day job.

The other took even more guts. I’d been invited by a radio station owner to create a show for him to broadcast. I outlined my show, a very early version of Milford-Haven, and sent him the first four scripts. But getting no response from him, I drove up to the town where his station was only to discover he had sold the station and was long gone. I, however, was not invested in my project. So I asked the new owners if they were interested. “No,” they said, “We’ve been throwing away your scripts.” I had to make an important decision on the spot. “What if I found sponsors?” I asked. “That would be different! Then we’d broadcast your show!”

I left the station knowing I now needed sponsors, but having no clue how to get them. So I started walking up and down the main street of the town, pitching my still non-existent show to store owners. And they bought sponsorships! If I’d stopped to think about what I was doing, I’d have gotten cold feet. Instead, I followed my heart. The word “courage” comes from the French word (coeur) for “heart”!

3 Be Persistent

I have now rewritten my first novel at least ten times. Why? First, because I was transitioning from writing scripts to writing narrative voice, and had a lot to learn. But even after I basically knew the form, I continued to grow as a writer. I saw what I’d left out, saw character’s moments of decision or trepidation, recognition or bafflement, and understood more clearly how to let my heart speak directly to my readers.

These ten rewrites and early editions have taken ten years. But what is time compared to realizing your heart’s desire? Time is nothing but a tool to use wisely.

Another example I could share is about my publisher. I’d heard of the president of the company for some time, and read about his projects. From the first, I felt resonance with what he believed in and how he’d created his company. About two years later, I had an opportunity to meet him, and prepared carefully for my short time with him. But the meeting turned out to be even shorter than scheduled, because he stopped it abruptly by saying he couldn’t work with me. Shocked, I asked why, and he said he felt I wasn’t ready.

I spent another two years learning everything I could about being ready . . . interviewing mentors, researching my genre. At the end of the two years, a very special opportunity arose for me to meet with him again. In a few minutes, he offered me a contract and I’m now working with the ideal publisher for me and my books.

4 Be in Integrity

What I mean by that is discover your core purpose and see how and where you can connect every aspect of your work to that purpose. Declare your word. Then live up to your word.

As customers search for or encounter things they might want to buy, one thing in their minds and hearts is trust. Can they trust you? Can they trust your work? Is it derivative or truly original? Will it be worth their investment?

The visible part of this appears in the form of branding, a very important part of marketing. When my books are on display on a website or in a bookstore, my publisher, designers, marketing team and I work to create one impression, a recognizable brand.

We’ve chosen signature colors, fonts, and layouts for my covers. And the key to my branding are the original watercolors painted for me by renowned artist Mary Helsaple. Mary and I have worked together for several years and are closely aligned in our motives and aspirations. Starting with the line-drawings created for my radio drama, she is creating the watercolors that are the ultimate visual representation of my fictitious town, my story, and my brand.

The invisible part of this quality of trustworthiness is tangible to the intuition. If you are clear about your commitment to your work, and are living the word you’ve declared, your customers will know it.

5 Be the Experience

One key point where art and business must connect is “the recipient’s experience.” That recipient is called a “customer” from a business perspective, a “viewer” from a museum perspective, a “reader” from an author perspective, a “client” from a designer or decorator perspective.

Whatever that recipient is called, to me it’s all about that person’s experience.

I like to create for myself a “guided tour” of what my reader will experience when she (for me, it’s mostly women, as I write Women’s Fiction) encounters me or my book in any form whatsoever. So I work on this in all the ways I can think of, whether it’s for this current blog tour, or a bookstore signing, one of my Milford-Haven Socie-Tea events, or a seminar for writers, a book festival panel or a package received in the mail.

6  Be Creative

This is obvious. We are creative, that’s why we’re artists!

What I mean by this is own your creativity, treasure it, and use it in all areas of your career, not just the core creative work itself. Be creative in your branding, in your approach to clients/readers/customer, and in your approach to balancing your creative and your business activities.

In a place like Kyoto, Japan, or Florence, Italy, you find yourself in a place that is already creative. For example, lunch is “good” if the presentation includes the perfect flavors, plate, utensils, window view, aromas, music, and ambience. These are all artistic considerations.

But in America, lunch is generally considered “good” if it’s moderately nutritious and gets you back to your studio or desk in less than 90 minutes. So, in our culture, we have to rebalance our own space each day.

Is your studio/ office a place that inspires you to work for hours at a time?
Do you have a special location for reflection/ meditation/ quiet?
Do you take yourself on “artist dates” where you absorb something inspiring like hiking in nature, visiting a museum, or people-watching in a café?
Schedule these special times into your life to keep your own juices flowing.

About Mara Purl

Mara is an actress-turned-writer-performer-producer. Her wildly successful radio show based on the fictional town of Milford-Haven has 4.5 million listeners in the United Kingdom. Her book, What the Heart Knows, will be released on September 1, 2011.

Yesterday I interviewed Patricia Albers about her biography: Joan Mitchell, Lady Painter: A Life.

It will be mostly of interest to those of you who have read or are reading the book.

I asked Patricia about what drew her to Mitchell’s story, how she approached her writing, and how she came to terms with Mitchell’s difficult personality.

listen

You can download the MP3 audio (38 minutes) or listen here:

read and tweet

If you haven’t already read the book, I encourage you to do so. It’s a dense read, but you’ll be rewarded.

Tweet about the book using #ladypainter.

What other art form (non-visual) inspires you?

Pat Mitchell, Ice Tango. Mosaic. ©The Artist

Music?

Dance?

Poetry?

How?