Ten Keys to an Artists Success

"Live Performer" Artist Michael Pukac

The key to success is to focus our mind on things we desire, not things we fear.”  Brian Tracy

Why are some artists more successful than others?  Have a look at what they’re doing and you’ll find your answer.

I gave a lecture on the following Keys to Success for Artists in Westminster, CA.  Later in this post I share my slide show as well as recommended reading.

TEN KEYS TO SUCCESS FOR ARTISTS:

KEY 1:  CHOOSE YOUR PATH:  PLAN YOUR ART CAREER & STRATEGY

  • What does SUCCESS look like to you?  Decide who and what you want to be
  • Plan your vision, your mission
  • Create a strategy, Implement it and stay with it

KEY 2:   BRAND YOURSELF

  • What’s unique about your art?  You?
  • Everyone’s got a story

KEY 3:  PROTECT YOUR COPYRIGHTS

  • Why you should protect your copyrights like you would your children

KEY 4:  BEHAVE LIKE A PROFESSIONAL

  • You are 100% responsible for your own career
  • The contribution you make with your talent
  • Integrity is more important than the art itself – reputation rules

KEY 5:  SHOOT YOURSELF!  (DOCUMENT EVERYTHING)

  • Document you, your work, you working
  • Scan or photograph every art piece
  • Don’t let a piece leave your possession without a photo

KEY 6:  PROMOTE YOURSELF SHAMELESSLY

  • Magazines & Newspapers & Live T.V. / Radio Spots
  • Leverage your relationships with clients for THEIR ads
  • Make your art available for writers/producers/all media

KEY 7:  STRUCTURE YOUR PRICING – HOW TO PRICE YOUR ART

  • How to price your artworks in a manner that’s structured and makes sense

KEY 8:  MANAGE YOUR MONEY – Money Matters!

KEY 9:  MULTIPLE STREAMS OF INCOME:  Working Smarter, not Harder

KEY 10: ALWAYS A STUDENT: Continue Growth through reading

  • Continue educating yourself – read everyday
  • Just do it!  You’ll learn from your mistakes
  • Continue to follow the Path of An Artist

RECOMMENDED READING:

“A man only learns in two ways; one by reading and the other by association with smarter people.”  Will Rogers

In the lecture, there were many questions about developing a collector’s data base, sending mailers and creating an e-mail list, as well as questions on blogging.   Here’s a great resource to help you with all of those details:

I’D RATHER BE IN THE STUDIO is a book written by Art Business guru Alyson Stanfield.  For more details on her book, click here.  (I bought this book last year and loved it so much that I became an affiliate.)

THE ARTIST’S BIBLE:  You must have this book if you’re going to operate as a professional artist, in just about every field:  Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines (Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines)

You will find pricing guidelines, sample contract language and the low-down on how the art world works with commissions, licenses, design work, advertising, and anything else you can think of. GO NOW and buy this book. You’ll use it more than you use your electric toothbrush!

For more recommendations, go to Five Must Read Books for Artists.

Below is the slide show I promised:

Ten keys to an artists success power point presentation aug 10 

As always, I hope this is helpful.  Here’s to your success!

Maria xxoo

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7 Responses

  1. thanks Maria. This is so helpful (as usual!)
    I have not watched the slide show yet, and maybe my uestion would be answered, but I wonder if you could elaborate more on key #6, and how to promote yourself. How do you get a spot on TV or the local newspaper? what do you mean to make your art available to all media?

    thanks for this.

  2. Tanya, thanks for the comment. The PROMOTE YOURSELF section doesn’t have any links because I haven’t yet written articles that would fit it. I searched through google looking for artist promotions on other websites and didn’t find anything there, either. That surprised me.

    i now see that there’s a need to write articles on the promotion side, specifically how to get magazines and newspapers to write about you, getting on T.V. and ways to self-promote.

    You can expect to see promotion articles from me in the near future!

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