Art Marketing ~ Life On The Dark Side

SMARTER Goals

7 Steps To Help You Set Goals For Your Creative Life

So many artists are disappointed with their creative careers. They are frustrated by day jobs that suck the life from them. They struggle to get to the “next level”.

Why is that? They have talent. They show and enter contests. Folks like their works.

The real problem is far too many artists do not have goals or a plan.

A Goal is a well-defined target. A Goal without a plan and timeline is just a dream. The truth is the bigger goal is really comprised of many little goals. The goal is the destination and the plan is the road map.

Here are seven steps to help you set SMARTER goals and develop a workable plan to achieve them:

1. Specific

Exactly what is it you want to achieve in your creative life? If your goal statement is vague, you will find it hard to achieve because it will be hard to define what creative success means to you.

A well-defined goal will give you clarity, direction and motivation towards what you want. A specific goal will usually answer question; What do I really want to accomplish?

Andrew Simonet, of Artists U, goes into more details in his free e-book: MAKING Your Life as an Artist. You can download it for free!

2. Measurable

You must be able to track progress and measure the result of your goal. Some goals are easy to measure while others have no apparent qualities.

Tracking your results will help you determine if you are headed in the right direction. A good goal statements answer the question: How will I know when I achieve my goal?

3. Attainable and Action-oriented

An Attainable goal should stretch you a little. When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true.

Develop an Action plan to reach them. Ensure the actions you need to take to achieve your goal are things you can do and control. Within in each big goal, there are smaller goals. What steps are needed to Achieve your goal? Identify the requirements and constraints. Setting lofty goals can be very intimidating. By breaking down goals into smaller, bite-sized pieces makes it easier to achieve the end goal.

4. Realistic, Result-Oriented, Record and Resourced

A Realistic, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both represents a willing and able to work. A goal can be both high and realistic; you are the only one who can decide just how high your goal should be. Be sure that every goal states a Result.

Record your goal and progress towards it. Written goals are visible and have a greater chance of being completed successfully. Recording is necessary for planning, monitoring and reviewing progress. Is your goal written down?

R also stands for Resources. How much money will this project require? Where is the money coming from? Does your budget match your goals? What shoestring solutions can I implement? Can I barter services? Can I crowd-fund this project?

5. Time-Bound

Goals must have a deadline. Without a deadline, it's easy to put goals off and forget them. As well as a deadline, it's a good idea to set some short-term milestones along the way to help you measure progress.

A time-bound goal will usually answer the question of When? What can I do six months from now? What can I do six weeks from now? What can I do today?

6. Excitable, Enjoyable, Engaging

Goal must Excite you. You must really want this with all your heart and soul. Goals must also be Enjoyable. If you are not having fun then you must ask yourself is this really the goal you want?

Goals must also be Engaging to you as well as others. You must find your audience. Who wants what you create?

  

7. Rejoice, Relax, Review, Reevaluate, Regroup, Repeat

Rejoice in your efforts and results. Relax to Renew your energy.

Review the good and bad results. What could have been better? Reevaluate your goal and the steps needed. Then Regroup the action plan and Repeat.

A final thought. Once you have your goals written down and a plan in place. You must keep your goals CLEAR.

Commit to the goal & the action plan

Look outside the box for solutions

Keep your Energy high. Get enough rest, eat properly and remember to have fun.

Attitude is Everything. Stay positive and focused.

Reward yourself when goals are met. Do not under any circumstance reward yourself for disappointments & failures. What I mean is, saying to yourself: I didn’t achieve my goal so I’m going to go out to dinner or buy a new pair of shoes to make me feel better. That dinner out or new pair of shoes should be the reward for “getting something done”.

Don’t wait until New Years Day to create a plan. Start now and take the time to create a road map to your creative success. Below are links to some excellent resources to helping you to identify and articulate your goals and to create the plan.

Art Marketing ~ Life on the Dark Side

7 Things Network Marketing Taught Me About Marketing Art . . . or Anything Else!

Mention Network Marketing at a party and watch the fur fly. It's an explosive subject. Folks either Love it, Hate it, or just don't understand it. I am not going to debate any of that. I simply will comment on the skills I developed while building a Network Marketing business and how it helped me to improve my art marketing.

The term Network Marketing is commonly associated with a type of home-based business opportunity like Avon, Mary Kay, SendOutCards and Tupperware. But in reality, it encompasses any business that is built on relationships.

First, What is Network Marketing? I found the most accurate definition on Investopedia.com:

A sales strategy in which a salesperson attends meetings of organizations whose members are likely to be interested in a particular product or service in order to develop a book of business. The three major components of network marketing involve prospecting (finding sources of potential customers), following up with inquiries from interested parties, and selling the good or service to the prospect. Once prospects are cultivated, the salesperson will try to use his or her relationships with the prospect to get in contact with other individuals that the prospect might know.

Yes, Dears, we are Network Marketers. We must find people that like what we do, build relationships and follow up, and sell our work to them. That is the basic 3-step plan of (any) business building model. Simple, but not easy.

Here are the seven things I learned:

1.  You need unwavering belief and commitment to yourself, your artwork, and the value of your craft in the marketplace.

• You: You need an unwavering belief & commitment to Yourself. Do I need to repeat that?
• Your Artwork: Is it any good? Technique, Skills, Uniqueness. Are you constant working to improve and grow?
• The Marketplace: Who is interested in what you do? Who already uses what you do?  There are Riches in Niches. Belief that there is a real market for what you create. Did you know DaVinci, Renoir and Warhol all did commercial work.

2.  It's a big world outside of your comfort zone. Don't be afraid to explore it. Get out of the BOX and Stretch!  Network, Volunteer, Go to shows and TALK to people. Networking is critical! Meeting people, developing relationships, then staying in touch. Hundreds of books are written on this alone. I really, really like Bob Burg. Both personally and professionally. Bob Burg is truly the Master of Networking.

3.  Have your One-minute speech committed to memory. Hey, You never know who you might meet or WHO they can lead you to! Don't forget to Always ask for their card First then hand them your business card. The key is to stay in touch!

4.  Develop your listening skills. This is the one that trips me up every time. I get so excited when someone asks about my artwork, that I'll forget good manners and dominate the conversation with me, me, me, meeee. I have gotten better at catching myself - hopefully before they are lost to me. 

5.  Nothing Happens Until Something Moves. Develop an Action Plan and work it everyday. Plan, Do, Review. Then Rinse and Repeat.

6. It's all a Numbers Game. I've written about this already, but it bears repeating; You have to get a lot of NOs to get to the YESs. You just have to keep putting it out there. The more you do, the more things happen. Some things will work while most will not. Don't beat yourself up. Review Number 5.

7.  The Master is Always The Student. Never stop improving your people skills, your communication skills and most of all your creative skills. My dear friend and mentor Jim Briggs, taught me the mantra of Continuous Improvement. Never stop learning. Never stop working to be a little bit better everyday. Both your skills and your head.

Hundreds of books have been written about each of these aspects. In the months to come, I'll discuss what has worked for me and a few other artists in more detail.

One fails forward toward success. ~Charles F. Kettering