And if you believe that, I have some magic beans too…
There’s been an interesting thing going on and I decided it needs to be addressed. Believe it or not, I don’t have all the answers. I have no secret short-cut. I can’t look at your website and magically tell you if you should find an agent or if you would be successful on your own. If you want to work together I can help you as a coach, but a quick glance won’t give you the golden ticket.
Unfortunately I can’t respond to every artist who emails me telling me their story then asking me to look at their website and tell them what to do. I must be honest and say that it is especially frustrating when people say things like “I think my art would be good but I don’t have much time so can you tell me what to do / who to contact / etc.” Umm… ok. So do I have somehow unlimited time? There are over 360 blog posts about what to do. There are eBooks, audio recordings, tutorials. There is coaching that tells you what to do. And surprise! It all took time to create.
There is no magic fairy dust my friends!
No matter what you want to do, be it license your art, raise a great kid, run a marathon – TIME is required.
Who wouldn’t want to have someone say, “do x, y and z and you will have a million dollars in 3 years.” I know I’d love that kind of information. But it doesn’t work that way. Like everything else in life, you have to put time into learning, perfecting your art, making the connections. Respect your own time and respect the time of others. If you really want to build your business, how much time are you spending DOING the things you need to do? How much time are you spending talking about how it’s too hard or how everyone else has it easier than you? Really think about that for a minute – it’s a rut most people fall into at one point or another, so check yourself often – I do.
I spend a lot of time blogging, networking in the art licensing industry to bring you new experts for the Monthly Ask Call Series, creating information products and more. So please – look to these resources – it’s a gold mine!
Now, in the interest of time, here are some quick links if you are feeling pressed for time:
45 minute Beginner Basics audio – this is a great place to start! For $20 and 45 minutes of your time (you can listen while you do something else if you want!) – you can decide if licensing might be a fit for you.
How to Get Started in Art Licensing – this is the intro eBook that gives you the basic overview of what it takes to get started. You can even get the first chapter for free.
eNewsletter – it comes out twice a month and keeps you up to date on what’s going on. Highly recommend you sign up!
Free monthly calls – experts put in a lot of time to create these monthly calls where we answer questions submitted by artists. The link will get you to the page with the upcoming call schedule and the list of free and $25 replays from past calls.
Coaching – there are currently three artists (myself, Paul Brent and Jill Seale) who offer individual coaching for artists wanting one-on-one help with their business.
of course… an overview of everything available can be found at www.ArtLicensingInfo.com
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. You don’t need magic fairy dust – with consistent time and effort, you can do this!
Love this post, you are so right. Everyone needs to put in their time and effort to pave their way. We all work hard and put in many many hours so if you don’t have time, it’s not the right business for you.
I eat, sleep, drink & breath art.
Time? It has nothing to with it.
What we need here, LI is an audience, patrons,
someone that thinks what we do is worth it.
We KNOW it is………the rest of the world needs to catch up.
If it wasn’t for the creative types, you would all be living in
caves WITHOUT the cave drawings – LOL
Holy cow!! This was awesome! You know me, I really love the part about not complaining!! Funny how people think overnight success is easy. We just don’t often hear the back story. Or, when we do, we realize they were just making it LOOK easy! You have to put in a little sweat equity people!
Wow. There’s no replacement for hard work. I believe completely in what you’re saying, Tara. It’s evident there’s irritation over what sounds like quite a few people being inconsiderate. (Kind of wonder what sent you over the edge?) Sounds like a good move to define some new parameters for your accessibility, but I’m not sure you can blame people for their confusion.
I don’t know that I went “over the edge” – just thought it was something to mention since the number of emails is getting larger by the week. 🙂 And of course, no blame, “can’t blame a person for trying” but hopefully this post will help alleviate some confusion. 🙂
Tara, this is so very true! I tweeted you tonight teasing about the fairy dust, but honestly that’s the way most people think! I am always amused when people talk about the “overnight success”. They don’t ever talk about the years and years of hard work and preparation before the overnight success. You share so much of yourself and give so much information. It’s also good to see you reminding people to respect your time as well as their own. Thanks for all you do. 🙂
yup. sometimes it takes a lifetime to be an overnight success. people really need to konw that licensing is so much more than just slapping on an image on a mug and calling it a day. and thanks to tara for all the help! because of you, we don’t have to reinvent the licensing wheel…
Nice post, Tara. You are doing such a great job in promoting Art Licensing! No wonder you have many people who want your time and advice. Your honesty is true, and it does take work and perseverance. Keep it up, though, as I refer a lot of artist inquiries to your site! 🙂
Tara, this is an awesome article! I, too, get a lot of e-mails from people asking about an easy way to find success as an artist.
One guy asked what he could do to get an art show, since galleries kept turning him down. I e-mailed back suggesting he do his own show. I told him that we once put on our own show, rented a space, marketed and advertised, and it was a wild success! He e-mailed me back saying “Oh, that sounds like too much work…but thanks.” It made me laugh, and also a little angry, that he wasted my time because he wanted magic!
When you see the successful artists out there, they are the ones that just did what needed to be done, regardless of “hard work” and effort required.
PS: It took me and my artist husband, Drew, only 15 years to find “overnight success”!!!
Tara – loved your post! We get this too all the time – artists sending us messages asking how to improve their websites or their art marketing strategy with no hint of payment. I tend to err on the side of giving too much away for free but you can’t run a business like that. So, in more recent times we simply offer a $150 website or strategy consultation – that way it is fair to the artist and to our business. It’s actually turned out to be a great way to separate out artists who are really serious.
One of the things that attracted me to the U.S. before I moved here was that it seemed like it was really easy to create something here. Now that I have been here for quite a while I can say that there IS an extraordinary entrepreneurial spirit here, but you still have to work your butt off to make your dreams happen. They don’t show that in the movies and sitcoms – because it doesn’t sell!
Artists are special – but so is everyone else. You have to pay for what you get with effort, money, or service.
Daniel.
Tara,
So glad that you say it like it is! Keep up the good work!
Karen
Tara,
I agree 100% with what you say here. I love working with artists more than any other profession. And, like you I run a business, not a charity. Artists often object to being asked for donations as if their time is worth nothing, but don’t consider that asking for our services is similar. That said, all of us who help artists make a better living making art give lots away. But we can’t do it for them.
Yes, yes, and yes! Now if you can just fabricate a little extra magic dust to teach this to my kids, we’ll be all set! LOL. Sigh.
Wow – I can’t believe people have the gall to treat you like that! Your website (and those of others) is rife with leads and information, both for free and to purchase.