getting organized

The Art Biz ep. 82: Spring Cleaning to Streamline Your Art Business

Spring is here in the Northern Hemisphere and it’s the perfect time to consider the aspects of your life that are weighing you down without contributing to your happiness and success.

April is the month for cleaning out in the Art Biz Success community. In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, I’m highlighting some of my previous interviews with artists who have discussed cleaning out in one form or another, from removing physical items to cleaning out business ideas and strategies, modes of working, and even the venues where you show and sell your art.

If you are ready to deep clean your art business, to release what isn’t serving you and banish all that is getting in the way of your productivity and creativity, then you won’t want to miss the insights and inspiration from these successful artists.

The Art Biz ep. 82: Spring Cleaning to Streamline Your Art Business Read

Columbo Bazaar 20 x 25 mixed media collage artist Carole-Ann Ricketts ©

The Art Biz ep. 81: Art Business Procedures to Keep You Organized

If you’re an intentional artist, you’re in the right place.

I’m wrapping up a month of talking about how systems can keep you organized and make you a more productive artist. The Art Biz Podcast episodes have been a tad more didactic than usual, and hopefully they are helping you get your art business better organized.

In episodes 79 and 80 I talked with artists Jennifer Printz and Betty Franks about how they have systematized aspects of their successful art businesses.

In episode 78, I did a broad overview of this topic and shared my definition of a system.

A system is a series of clear steps or procedures for accomplishing a specific task. It could be a task that you do regularly (weekly, monthly, or quarterly) or one that you do infrequently but know that you’ll need to repeat it in the future.

I also went through the individual steps for creating a new business (or even personal) system that you can rely on to make life easier. Now I want to focus on documenting your system.

Procedures that you have to rely on to stay productive should be written down and saved in a central location. It doesn’t count to have a general idea of what needs to be done and how it must happen. You document everything to save time and effort in the future, and I can’t think of a single artist who wouldn’t be thrilled with a little extra time in their day accompanied by a lot fewer frustrations.

So type up the procedures you’ll need and keep them in a central location.

We call this your Art Biz Handbook.You may hear it referred to by other, more corporate-y businesses as an Operations Manual or as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). My team member Kristen O’Neill says those sound too much like manuals for a nuclear plant, so we settled on Your Art Biz Handbook.

Written procedures are used in large and small businesses. And they can be a lifesaver even if you’re a 1-person business.

The Art Biz ep. 81: Art Business Procedures to Keep You Organized Read

artist Betty Franks paint palette studio colorful Art Biz Success podcast

The Art Biz ep. 80: Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks

Betty Franks loves her business and life as an artist. She just might have found the secret sauce—a healthy combination of passion for the work and a continuing curiosity about business and becoming a better CEO of your art business.

Betty’s art business has exploded over the last four years. By 440%!

You can’t have and sustain this kind of business growth if you don’t have solid systems in place.

As I said back in episode #78, you need reliable systems to help you run a profitable business so that you can spend more creative time in the studio.

At the time of this recording, Betty has over 120,000 Instagram followers and sells paintings almost as fast as she makes them. In this episode, we discuss the digital and analog systems that she depends on to support her growth. She generously shares her real numbers, the new postage system she just started using (update since the recording: she loves it!), and how she organizes all of the digital images of her paintings.

The Art Biz ep. 80: Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks Read

Artist Jennifer Printz in her studio

The Art Biz ep. 79: Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz

For the sake of her art, Jennifer Printz has been very successful tapping into that part of her that is, as she says, typical Pisces.

On the other hand, she has learned to access another part of her to stay organized—the perfectionism that comes with being an Enneagram 1.

It’s a good thing Jennifer has embraced these two sides of her because she needs them. Not only is she a practicing artist with an enviable record of exhibitions, but she’s also an assistant professor at Florida International University in Miami. She has two full-time jobs.

I’ve watched Jennifer whip her business into shape by getting organized and creating reliable systems. I’ve even had the pleasure of helping her with parts of that.

In this episode, I talk with her about how she compartmentalizes her two jobs. We also discuss the planning process she uses, the digital and paper tools she relies on to stay organized, and why writing by hand is critical for her and her students.

The Art Biz ep. 79: Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz Read

The Art Biz ep. 49: A Year of Cleaning with Daryl Johnson

A lot of people are using their self-isolating time to clean out. Not artist Daryl Johnson. She has nothing left to clean. (I can’t imagine!)

Daryl is a member of my Art Career Success System and messaged me in March when we had a spring cleaning theme in our community. She said she had spent the last year cleaning out her life in preparation for a big move.

Most people who know they’re going to move delay the hard part of getting rid of things until packing time. Again, not Daryl. She made a year-long plan to alleviate much of the stress by recycling, donating, gifting, and selling many of her possessions—a little at a time.

In this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, Daryl talks about a life-changing event that led to a very different relationship with things. When you listen, you’ll discover why the plan took an entire year to implement (it’s brilliant).

You’ll also find out how Daryl made a big wad of cash by selling things through carefully selected channels.

The Art Biz ep. 49: A Year of Cleaning with Daryl Johnson Read

Artist and organizing expert Fiona Valentine

The Art Biz ep. 38: 5 Simple Steps to an Organized Studio with Fiona Valentine

When I was little, my mother used to get me to clean up my room by telling me that the queen was coming. The room had to look nice because, for some lord-knows-why reason, Her Royal Highness was crossing the pond to visit our humble home on 69th Street in Oklahoma City.

Funny thing. She never came.

I’m not sure when I caught onto Mom’s charade, but the clean rooms didn’t last. I loved to pull things out, try them on, and make messes. I still do. And I don’t like to clean up.

But I do love a tidy workspace. I can breathe better. I can think better when I know where things are and when I have space.

My guest for the latest episode of the Art Biz Podcast is Fiona Valentine, who shares 5 simple steps to organize your studio and save time, money, and materials while increasing your productivity.

Organizing your studio might not sound like much fun and, honestly, I don’t care what your office or studio looks like. But here’s what I know: Most of my clients are overwhelmed and stressed out. At the same time, most would probably tell you that they aren’t very good at the whole organizing thing.

I’m pretty sure that you’ll alleviate a lot of stress when you take the time to 1) get organized and 2) stay organized by keeping a tidy workspace.

Fiona has adapted a proven 5-step technique to her art studio and her outline makes it easy for you to follow. If you listen closely you’ll hear that we added a 6th step (and it’s a fun one). Then you’ll be ready if, indeed, her majesty drops in unexpectedly.

The Art Biz ep. 38: 5 Simple Steps to an Organized Studio with Fiona Valentine Read

The Art Biz ep. 10: Creative Organizing with Heather K. Powers

I used to teach an online class called Organize Your Art Biz. I quit teaching it when I realized that there’s no such thing as the right way to get organized.

My guest for this episode of the Art Biz Podcast, Heather K. Powers, figured it out long before I did. As the founder of Creatively Organized Spaces, Heather customizes solutions for organizing systems and storage for her creative clients.

In this interview, Heather and I discuss:

  • The stereotype that artists are inherently disorganized.
  • Her philosophy for helping artists get organized.
  • The biggest pain point artists have when it comes to organizing.

Heather also shares a number of tips, including:

  • Know what you want before you start organizing.
  • Schedule time for organizing (3-4 hours at a time seems to be a sweet spot).
  • Make a plan before you go buy a lot of containers.
  • Create work zones.

LISTEN NOW …

The Art Biz ep. 10: Creative Organizing with Heather K. Powers Read

Bluff painting by Marsha Savage

Organize Your Busy Art Career with Evernote

I am writing this draft in Evernote on my iPad while taking the light rail train into Denver to see a few art shows.

When I want a document that I will reuse and share with students, clients, or my team, I create it in Word, Pages, or Google Docs.

When I want to save drafts of documents or to store something to remember, it goes straight to Evernote where I can access it across devices.

Evernote is an app that organizes information into digital notes and notebooks. It would be impossible for me to keep track of all the information I need to without it.

Here’s a peek at how I use Evernote in my life and business along with suggestions for how you might use it in your art career.

Keep Your Travel Information in One Place

This might be my favorite use of Evernote. In your Travel notebook you might store:

  • Hotel arrangements
  • Flight details
  • Car rentals
  • Contact names and information
  • Directions
  • Things you want to do and see when you arrive
  • Local restaurants

You might also store travel information for your family or for friends who are visiting.

Capture Content Ideas

One of the problems I hear most often from artists is that they don’t have anything to say. And this is a problem when so much of your marketing is based on the written word.

No more worries! The minute you have a bright idea, you can start a note in Evernote. Save drafts for:

Organize Your Busy Art Career with Evernote Read

Planning for Artists

Planners and Bullet Journals (Curious Monday)

It’s getting to be the time of year when we start looking for new calendars and planners for the New Year.

I am highly reliant on my electronic calendar and task lists, but I’ve never given up paper for the daily to-dos. And I’m constantly refining how I use each piece in the planning process.

What Do You Use?

How do you keep track of your schedule, projects and tasks?

What do you have on paper? What’s your preferred method for using paper? Notebooks? Journals? Daytimers? Bullet journals?

What is kept electronically? What programs do you rely on to keep you focused?

Please share in a comment below.

When you’re finished commenting here, please hop over to my Facebook page and share a pic of your planner with the top post.

Read about and subscribe to Curious Monday posts.

Planners and Bullet Journals (Curious Monday) Read

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