Comments on: Dwelling In Your Zone of Genius

By: Jason

Sun, 25 Oct 2015 07:36:18 +0000

Web guy, I hire even before I started that’s the first for sure.

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By: Barbara Muir

Wed, 07 Oct 2015 04:54:49 +0000

Hi Alyson,

This is right on. I know it was a great relief to me when my husband and I hired weekly cleaners, because cleaning the house was not in our “zone of genius.”

I do need web help, seem to have been hacked recently and am hiring out to try and fix that (not fixed yet). I occasionally hire a friend to be my P.A. (personal assistant), but realize that when it comes to organizing international show entries, shipping, and many other tasks I could use a personal assistant full time. Meanwhile, I will whenever I can
financially.

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By: Dorian

Mon, 05 Oct 2015 09:50:25 +0000

Very interesting. Actually I think That artist got thousands of psychological barreers. And one of them is that they doesn’t want to delegate, because they think that it will change their art or something, that it will not match to their vision, that they will do it better if they do themselves. Not the best choice at all. Because if you stay alone, you’ll never cross the vision of others and start feeding some ego-trip. It can become toxic for your art AND your business. Great content Alyson thanks.

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By: Cherry Jeffs

Sat, 03 Oct 2015 18:02:29 +0000

Marketing, marketing and marketing. Online that is. I’m quite happy with promoting my exhibitions and selling stuff at shows but I need more traction for my online biz stuff – coaching and selling my work.

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By: Lauren Jones

Sat, 03 Oct 2015 15:23:04 +0000

Running a blog, making art, and going to school full time is tough for me. I did recently read a little ebook about outsourcing work, and honestly, I had forgotten all about it because I never thought outsourcing would be necessary as an artist. Now that I think about it, my biggest time waster is definitely managing social media and finding new blog topics. Could definitely find someone to help me with that!

The ebook I was reading had linked to some websites to outsource work to the Philippines and the advantages. While this would be the most affordable way for me as a full-time student to afford work, how do you feel about outsourcing work to other countries?

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By: Fiona

Sat, 03 Oct 2015 14:45:56 +0000

This post is brilliant. I love “the zone of genius!” My art is slow – each piece takes 10-30 hours or more to complete, and my friends joke about how they’d never have the patience, but they don’t get that you don’t need patience when you’re in the zone!

My big hurdle is shipping. I have refunded more shipping fees because I felt bad about not getting things out the door when promised…

I don’t have the volume of sales (yet?) to justify hiring someone to handle this for me, so I’m working on my systems instead to make it as painless as possible. A new postage scale, buying postage online and scheduling package pickups means I shouldn’t even have to leave the house.

BTW Alyson, I only recently discovered your blog and I love it! I’m working my way backwards through your archives and will definitely be a regular reader going forward.

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By: Kristen M. Watson

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 18:49:49 +0000

I agree with this genius zone thing too, but have found that one must be prepared to train whoever they hire which takes a lot of time that hopefully will pay off in the long run. I wish I could find someone like Susan has, who is multi-talented. They are very rare!

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 15:57:42 +0000

In reply to Lyna Lou.

LL: Click on Jasper’s name above. It goes to his site.

Hiring someone is a responsibility. Fortunately, getting Web help is a contract job.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 15:55:08 +0000

In reply to Jasper Blake.

Well this is interesting, Jasper. I realize you’re promoting your business here, but you did it with class so I’m going to leave it. I hope it helps someone.

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By: Alyson Stanfield

Fri, 02 Oct 2015 15:52:57 +0000

In reply to Christine Margotin.

Can you start just bare bones? Like 1/2 day a week? If you click on the hiring link above, I tell you how I found my assistant.

Craigslist might also yield results.

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