Every Thanksgiving I try to write something about gratitude. But we shouldn’t wait until November to remember the value of writing a note, addressing an envelope, attaching a stamp, and sticking it in the mail.

My friend Cynthia likes to say that a handwritten note in the mail “blows people away.” It’s true.

Aren’t you delighted when you fish out a personal letter from a pile of junk mail?

And isn’t it always the first thing you open and read?

You do this because you know that someone went to great effort to send real mail.

And it looks infinitely more interesting than everything else in the stack.

It also seems more special than an email in your inbox or a card written and addressed by a machine.

Don’t get me wrong: there is a place for every form of communication as you nurture relationships. But you can’t replace the handwritten note.

Why? It’s tactile and appeals to other senses as well.

Recipients can feel your personality through your handwriting and your choices of paper, texture, and image.

Studies have shown that envelopes addressed in ink, even with imperfect penmanship, are opened first.

It’s because, as I mentioned above, they look more personal that everything else that makes it to your mailbox. And they don’t just look more personal. They are more personal. Someone went to a lot of trouble to send them.

We also know that sending something in the mail is more reliable than sending an email. Junk mail filters and people liberal with the Delete key make it impossible to guarantee email delivery these days.

Art Marketing Actions

1. Order note cards with images of your art on the front. They should have your name, complete credit line for the image, and website URL on the back.
2. Support the post office! In the U.S. you can order stamps online, often with fine art on them, delivered to your doorstep.
3. Remember to gather brick-and-mortar addresses whenever you can.
4. Keep your cards, pen, and stamps handy at all times and make a point to travel with them. Use short pockets of time to get those notes in the mail.

Blow people away! Embrace the handwritten thank-you note.

Ideas for what to say in your thank-you notes are in Action 11 of I’d Rather Be in the Studio.

The post Handwritten Thank-You Notes for Artists appeared first on Art Biz Success.

2. The housekeeper who does good work, so that you can focus on your good work.

3. The gardener and lawn mower who tend to the outside of your space.

4. The tech person who was so patient with you when you thought the world was falling apart.

5. The person at the shipping company who “gets” that your art needs white-glove treatment.

6. The mail carrier who delivers important correspondence and packages.

7. The coffee shop owner who lets you mooch wifi for two hours in exchange for a $5 cuppa joe.

8. The employees who make sure your art supplies are exactly as you like them.

9. The printer who saved you from spending too much money.

10. The framer who gave you a discount when you ordered in bulk.

11. The gallerist who loves your art, sells it, and pays you promptly.

12. The newspaper columnist who wrote about your art.

13. The photographer who took perfect photos of your art.

14. The coach who held you accountable for your goals.

15. The mentor who inspired you.

16. The muse that gave you the $100,000 idea.

17. The naysayer who challenged you by doubting your commitment to the life of an artist.Yes, you can be especially grateful for this person. But be equally grateful for your fortitude.

18. The artist-friend who completely gets you and in whom you can entrust your tippy-top secrets.

19. The grade-school teacher who encouraged you to color outside of the lines.

20. The long-passed artist from whom you draw creative strength.

21. The social media followers who share your art.

22. The neighbor who moved his schedule around to attend your opening.

23. The day-job boss who encouraged his team to attend your open studio.

+ Too Many To Count

Every friend or family member who ever helped you hang a show, lick an envelope, or spread the word about your art.

Every blogger or podcaster who shared FREE information that helped you take a step forward in your art career.



THANK YOU! I am grateful that you are here.

Your Turn

Who are you grateful for today?

The post 23+ People to Be Grateful For appeared first on Art Biz Success.

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My Birthday Challenge

Just for this one day, could you please do the following? I estimate everything except #1 will take less than an hour (though you could spend longer on #6 – up to you).

1. Spend time making art – whatever your art is and whatever it needs from you today.
2. Smile to yourself at least five times.
3. Tell 1 person you love them.
4. Tell 1 person – via phone, email, or social media – that you appreciate them.
5. Write in your journal or on your blog about 5 things you are grateful for.
6. Splurge in some way on yourself (take a bubble bath, get a manicure, buy a new art supply, take a walk, have a piece of cake).
7. Listen to your favorite music. *Bonus points if you dance!
8. Donate $5, $10, $25 or more to a deserving cause. I’ll be donating to the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+), which provides assistance for artists in need all over the country. You can donate to CERF+ here.

I’d Love To Send You This Gift

If you do these TODAY, leave a comment here in the next 24 hours and share the details of what you’ve done. I have to be able to see that you’ve done all of them.
I’ll pick a winner to receive an Art Biz Coach goodie bag – shipped anywhere in the world. Includes:

• Hard copy of my book, I’d Rather Be in the Studio
• 5 CDs: Pricing Your Art, Go Pro, Website Makeover, Your Artist Talk, and Promote Your Art Through Video
• E-book on CD: The Relatively Pain-Free Artist Statement

Value = $234

Picking the winner is my sole discretion. It might be based on what I hear from you or, if all is equal, I’ll pull a name out of the birthday cake.
UPDATE: We have a winner! Selected from a pile of names on paper dropped to the floor (blindly): Denise Newberry of Cabin Press Studio. Congratulations, Denise!

PS: Even if you don’t get all of them, done, at least do a few and tell me about them. I hope they make you feel good.

The post Have a Good Day with Me – Time Sensitive appeared first on Art Biz Success.

About a month or two after I bought my car, I received a box in the mail from Mini Cooper. True to their brand, it was a small box, but it was full of delight.

The photo below reveals the contents of that box, which was titled “Mini Adventure Field Kit.” Included were a humorous “Field Guide to Good Motoring” pamphlet; an adventure log—hard bound—with Mini pen; mouse pad; mini die; and reusable Window Poetry.

I loved getting this. It made me feel like I was part of a special club. And, then, I thought, “Hey! This is an idea that artists can use.”

I’m not encouraging you to spend a lot of time and money putting together gift kits, but, if you are like most artists, you have a top tier of collectors that you want to show extra care. Overspending would be inappropriate. You simply want to express your gratitude.

Here are a few ideas for themed kits you can use as patron gifts. Notice how, depending on your selections, you can spend next-to-nothing on these.

The Proud Patron Kit

The Proud Patron Kit reinforces the decision your patron made when buying your art. Include any of the following:

• Set of note cards
• Functional goods with your art, such as a mug, mouse pad, or T-shirt
• A giclée of the item purchased
• A certificate of ownership with the image on it (have fun with it!)

The Art Explorer Kit

Help the adventurous souls on your list discover art on a deeper level with The Art Explorer Kit. Wrap up a mixture of:

• A map of your city, state or province, which is highlighted and annotated with your favorite art venues
• Two tickets to a hot museum exhibition
• Event schedules for local venues
• Quarters for parking meters or, if available, parking passes
• A loupe or magnifying glass for “examining art”
• A list of your favorite artists, their studio locations, and their website or blog addresses

The Art Care Kit

If your art requires upkeep or special care, The Art Care Kit will be appreciated by your collectors. Consider a selection of:

• Cleaning tools: soft brush, Plexiglas cleaner, silver polish, or jewelry cloth
• Articles about caring for the work
• A pair of white cotton gloves like curators use
• A gift certificate for a lifetime of free repairs

What can you surprise your patrons with?

What you send is not nearly as important as the fact that you send something. And if a handwritten letter is all that is in your budget, send the letter!

It’s your thoughtfulness that will make an impression and the surprise element that will delight the recipient.

The post Gift Ideas for Your Special Art Patrons appeared first on Art Biz Success.

Must post to Facebook!
Must update Twitter!
Gotta get one of those fancy new business pages on Pinterest!
Have to blog more consistently!

I can sense when students in my live seminars are on the verge of whining about all of the work required of business owners.

I ask them to remember what artists 20 or 30 years ago had to do to get noticed. About the only self-promotion tool at that time was to send a set of slides to gallery prospects.

One set of slides = 20 slides @ $1.50 = $30 without postage, and recipients rarely acknowledged or returned your package. Thirty bucks thrown out into the ether – never to be seen again.

Next time you feel like complaining about all you have to do, remember the marketing tools (most of them free or inexpensive) that you have at your disposal. Repeat these 4 words, as I request students at my seminars to do:

I am SO lucky!

You ARE lucky! Be grateful for everything you have available to help you share your art with the world.

So, in this time of Thanksgiving in the U.S., consider four things that you probably take for granted.

4 Gratitudes for Your Art Business

1. The Internet
As frustrating as it is at times, can you really imagine your art business without the Internet?

Your gratitude: “I am grateful for how I can use the Internet to showcase my art with the world. Artists 25 years ago had infinitely smaller audiences.”

2. Software
We take for granted that we can click on a button and see how much money we’ve made this year or which exhibit a particular piece of art is promised to. If you’re still doing all of this by paper . . . um . . . Why?

Your gratitude: “I am grateful for the software that keeps me organized and able to focus more fully on my art.”

3. Email
Stop cursing at your overflowing inbox and consider communication without email. Not so pretty, huh? If you really want to get your inbox under control, join us for the Organize Your Art Biz online class.

Your gratitude: “I am grateful that email allows me to communicate instantly with other artists, curators, collectors, and fans.”

4. Postcards
You can get 1,000 postcards with 4-color images of your art on the front for under $100. How amazing is that?! When I worked in museums, we used to have most of our printing done in China because 4-color printing was so much cheaper there.

Your gratitude: “I am grateful that I can have postcards printed inexpensively. The cost to mail to my own qualified, targeted list is minuscule compared to the cost of advertising or sending a bunch of slide sets.”

What other everyday business tools are you grateful for?

By the way, I’m very grateful that you are here reading this. I don’t say it often enough, but I really am.

The post You Are So Lucky appeared first on Art Biz Success.

It’s not who you say you are, it’s what you do.

The Titles We Give Ourselves

Students in my Cultivate Collectors class are, today, answering the question, “What do you do?” It’s a lesson for developing their 10-second introductions.
You can try it, too.
Answering this question helps you go beyond the title “Artist” (or whatever you call yourself) and get to the heart of what makes you you.
But how you answer this question (What do you do?) is less important than doing what you say you’re doing.

Reality Check

If you say you’re an artist, but you can’t seem to make the commitment to studio work, are you really an artist?
If you say you are grateful, but you don’t thank people properly, are you really grateful?
If you say you live up to your commitments, but you’re missing deadlines and making others wait on you, are you really reliable?
If you say you have an art business, but you aren’t trying to make money, are you really in business? Or is your art a hobby? (By the way, neither is better than the other, but you must understand the difference.)

Act On Your Words

Something that people say to me repeatedly is that I model the behavior I teach others. Nothing pleases me more than hearing this.
I do my best to see that my actions are in line with what I teach. I wish I could say that this happens all of the time, but I know it doesn’t. I know I come up short here and there, so I will continue to improve.
I have a few thoughts on how you might ensure that what you do is more important than who you say you are.

• If you say you’re an artist, commit to your studio time.
• If you say you are trying to make money, share your art with the world consistently and enthusiastically.
• If you say you are trying to make money, see that your business systems are in good order and that they support you rather than cause you headaches.
• If you say you support other artists, attend their openings, send them congratulatory messages, and promote their art on Facebook and Twitter.

How do you walk the talk?
Remember, it’s not who you say you are, it’s what you do.

The post Are You Walking the Talk? appeared first on Art Biz Success.

We’re Luckier

We’re luckier when other people buy our art, talk about our art, and share our art.
We’re luckier when we are grateful about what we have rather than dwelling on what is missing.

We’re Luckiest

We’re luckiest of all when we have people to support emotionally during our artist journey.

I’m Lucky

I’m lucky to do what I do and to share this virtual community with you. Thanks for being here.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all – Irish, wannabes, or annual green-beer drinkers.
 

The post We're Darn Lucky appeared first on Art Biz Success.

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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 Art Biz Bootcamp 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?

The post Attracting Good Karma appeared first on Art Biz Success.