Art and Writing As Viable Businesses

What is it about artists and writers that makes them avoid business at all costs? At all costs can be a lot.

"We just want to paint. We just want to write," we say.

Is that really true? After all, it is nice to cash a big check sometimes. It's rewarding to feel the pride after the sale of a large favorite painting. What an amazing high comes to us when a nice royalty check rolls in.

Unless you are especially lucky or have the backing of a very talented entrepreneur, that is not going to happen without a lot of work on your part. You need to swallow your pride and step out into the world of business.

Do you have a web site? You need one with your name as the major focus. You need this as the place to send your clients whether you are an artist or a writer. Put your web site on business cards and send folks there. Long ago, I claimed the domain name Mary Montague Sikes. My web site is marymontaguesikes.com and I use it all the time when people ask.

Last week, I attended  a seminar, "Art as Business", presented in Gloucester by Marc Wilson, Virginia Small Business Development Center. He brought up many tools a small business owner (that's what creatives are) can use to develop their business.

Marc suggests making a 30-second video of your elevation speech. (We've heard that before, haven't we, writers?) That speech should explain why the person should care about your work and will their life be better because of it? I plan to do it.

High on Marc's list is developing a business plan. That's something I think I have, but I don't. That is something I intend to create in 2020.

Perhaps you would like to follow me, starting in December. Let's build a plan, piece by piece. Let's follow our plan and see what happens.

Art and writing can be viable businesses. Business can improve our lives, if we let it.