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Sell Your Art Without Selling Out

We're so excited to have an join us today and is an author an artist she works with artists from all over the world and her biggest thing is to dispel the myth of a starving artist we want to have a starving artist no more and art has been featured on hdtv fortune magazine and the good life project among many others we're thrilled to have her and can you join us up here and stage thank you great we're so excited to have you here and and I know we have two days filled with epiphanies I hope so I let you get away thank you so much thank you so much I want to thank everyone for taking time out of your busy schedule I want to thank everybody in the audience were taken two days off of your enterprises to come and be here and share with a worldwide audience your questions your concerns and I want to thank the worldwide audience which is amazing it's just makes me imagination flow to think of all the people tuning in from all over the globe it's just so exciting I only want to thank you want ...

to congratulate you because you're taking the time that's required to invest in your creative enterprises and it takes time to actually not only make art but if you want to sell it you have to invest in the time that it takes to build the business side of things and I promise you that part is a lot more fun than what many of us have been led to believe so I want to tell you why I'm here obviously just evey said I am on a mission I am on a personal mission I want to dispel the starving artist mythology I want to crush it and the reason I want to crush it is because it's what crushed me for many years I didn't paint or draw anything for over seven years I was depressed I was anxious and I didn't really um step into my calling the ironic thing is my first year in business painting full time I made more money than I ever had working for a corporation and then I was very fortunate I received impress recognition and artists are to come to me asking for help and I thought at first I just shooed them away but then I realized it's so critical to share what I learned which is this is not rocket science you just have to change the way you view things you have to understand that you can sell art and you don't have to sell out that is a destructive paradigm and I promise you I'm gonna prove that to you so that's why I'm here and what I'm going to teach you is I'm gonna teach you I'm gonna open my kimono and I'm going to teach you what I learned right which is I've taken what I've learned from all my successes and all my failures, and I've had those two and also working with other artists there's a couple here in the audience if you in the audience I worked with learn from their struggles to and I've put together a process basically a road map and it's an eight steps sequential, illiterate ihe ve process and it's gonna help you do a few things that are critically important to your success in business, not just a success success as an artist, but your success in business it's going to help you define what your personal mission is, which is who you are and we stand for that's really critical to understand his artists were thought leaders and we have to know who we are and what we stand for because we have something to say to the world and if you have unique talent and you've got something to say, you know you've got to make are right you're just called do it, but if you want to be heard, you've gotta sell art that's the only way the world gets to hear what you have to say and the world needs are it's hungry for it look around the world needs inspiration and you all have it you all have something to say, every one of you in the audience and everyone of you at home it has something to say so you're also going to learn about how to define a unique value proposition what does that mean unique value proposition means how are you going to be of service to other people how are you going to be of service what are you gonna offer that's unique from anyone else and that unique value proposition is going to be born of your personal mission that means your values that means who you are and what you stand for which means you're not going to be selling out far from it so maybe wondering who's this four right I'm a painter's it's not just for painters this's for photographers this is for jewelry designers this's for musicians this's for other painters this's for photographers filmmakers I mean anyone who's building a creative enterprise you khun benefit from understanding just what is the road map so I like to think of myself as glinda the good witch but I like her she's so pretty so strong and powerful so what I'm going to teach you in the next two days is how to follow the yellow brick road okay a minute I know how to get to the emerald city I did it in my first year but I'm not gonna walk it for you and you're going to encounter lions and tigers and bears and if you fall asleep in a poppy field you're gonna have to get yourself up I can't do it, but I can tell you this process works alright, persistence is key. I want to talk to you a little bit about why I'm here a creative life, first of all, it's an amazing cruise creative people and they are truly on a mission to if you look at the creative live website on the about paige, something I read really resonated with me, and I knew that I needed to work hard with this with these people because what it said was this and this is true, every artist is an entrepreneur and every entrepreneur is an artist think of steve jobs, for example, he actually thought of himself as an artist. So this is something that's been useful for me, it's been something that's been useful for artists? I worked with one on one, but I'm not gonna be able to conquer the starving artist mythology if I don't reach a broader audience. So for everyone at home, thank you so much for tuning in and for giving me the opportunity to spread this message because it's really near and dear to my heart and I've seen artist transform I have witnessed artists who are struggling with business who are struggling, articulating what their value proposition wass and struggling making money, and I have seen them transform and it's just a magical, wonderful thing to witness so I want to talk to you a little bit of who you're going to meet. I'm going meet obviously he pulled in the audience who have taken the time to come here, but you're also going to meet other artists who have worked with throughout the country they're going to be coming on this screen right here via google hangouts on air and, um, they're going to share with you where they've succeeded, where they failed, the lessons they have learned from those failures, and they're going to give you cem some advice and some insight since gave you an opportunity to ask them so you don't have to just take it all don't just take my word for it. I want you to talk to other artists who are really thriving, who will be on, um, on the screen right here. Um what's that an interesting exercise saying what it is you d'oh wasn't interesting who felt one hundred percent comfortable raise your hand, raise your hand at home? He felt really comfortable nobody felt comfortable, okay? Vernon felt kind of comfortable, cheryl a little bit more so a little more, so I thought you did a great job here's what happens as artists? We explain who we are by explaining our medium, right? I know you don't really know what I do if I say painter because that's not really. I mean that's part of what I d'oh it's a small part of what I d'oh I really creating experience of art from my collectors, and, uh, I don't know other ways. I'm really just selling paint stuck on canvas, right? It doesn't describe what I do and it's important for you to know what I d'oh in a way that feels authentic in a way that doesn't feel like a elevator pitch. Who's. Comfortable with an elevator pitch. Raise your hand. No, no, not a good feeling. Yeah. So what happens is we feel inauthentic and we stumble around for the words and no one really gets what is we offer to the world. And so the reason why this is so critical is what evie said and it's, the it's this most of your business is going to come by way of referrals by way of introductions. Face time, you know, I'm gonna find out what you do, and I'm gonna think dan that's really cool. I know someone I know someone who would be really interested in what she does. This photographer over here, she's just got a really unique approach and I can think of two or three people right now who might be interested in what she has to offer. But if she just said I'm a photographer and she didn't explain the value that she offered to the world then it would be really hard for me to connect the dots does that make sense? Okay, so um so I was funny is the producer was saying we're gonna have a little oprah moment because you have presents underneath here underneath your chairs you may be wondering what they are so for everyone in the audience and anyone who purchase is the course I've put together a fifty step action plan that you can use to follow along in the next two days you can also study afterwards and I really encourage you to find a buddy you know, because we do not succeed alone it's just too hard and artists on the whole are quite isolated so what we can dio is you know, right now I would suggest you get on facebook or twitter or email and you you have a friend who might want to follow along with you and actually finish this action plan which actually has a checklist on the back and there's just nothing more satisfying for me personally check list right? Dun dun dun dun dun but I think if you maybe if you are relying on your own power you it's going to be harder to get through this list, right? But if I say cheryl will you will you hold me accountable and will you be supportive and check in with me to see that I've done one through five by the end of this week would you would you agree to that absolutely right and I'll do the same for you now does this does this seem less daunting right you know in traditionally in business they understand networking they understand mastermind groups they understand mentoring but on the whole artists are really in quite a bit of isolation and that does not serve us right itjust doesn't so buddy up you know get help reach out do it now do it right now because the time is now if you wouldn't sell more art raise your hand raise her in a home if you want to sell more r okay, so that's clearly an important thing if you want to sell more art you're not going to do it by yourself you're not going to do it in isolation and as the point we were hoping to drive home at the very beginning of the segment is you're going to get most of your business by way of referral and by way of personal introduction so that means you're not going to be up flying solo right? This is a contact sport and what I've really been very grateful for is when I first started I didn't know anyone in san francisco I also didn't know anyone in the wine industry which is a very close knit hard to break in a kind of industry, and I just started cold calling, and I started asking for help. I was very clear about what I was going to dio and the value that I could offer, and so it was easy for people to make introductions. Now, trust me, the first year was not at all easy. I don't recommend you do what I did. I really don't. I quit my job and I moved to the beach in san francisco, one of the most expensive cities in the nation to painful time. My brother is the dean of a business school, and I did not get help from my brother. My brother thought it was crazy, which I probably I was, I was crazy, and my sister isa self made multimillionaire, and she retired in her early thirties. And do you think she had any words of wisdom for me? What do you think? She said, you're nuts, you're absolutely nuts. So I just so this is an interesting thing, right? Of course, here's, what happened? So I got my eye got into fortune magazine, and I found out that my brother was actually using that article as a teaching moment in one of his classes, and how you could actually live your passion and make money in that funny, so when ah ah lot of us were younger or maybe this is even happening now um we announce to the world that we're going to be a singer we're going to be a painter going the photographer right? Um who got a rousing rousing round of applause and support burning did you already sing in? No, like when you were this high I know, vernon okay. So anyway, the point is is that we have to not only strengthen our mission and our value proposition because it's good business but we have to even be more grounded in it because the fact is is that we are dealing with some of these stereotypes likes the starving artist mythology. And if we do succeed making money, then we're accused of selling out. So you gotta be really grounded and really clear that you are offering value and you are on a mission and it is aligned with your values. There's no selling out here. None. Okay, so I understand our google hangout is ready. That correct? Okay. Hey, grammy dan! Hi. Hello. Wow, this is so cool. So, um, this is grammy dan so daniel, I wantto just ask you real quickly, teo, introduce yourself to the studio in studio audience and to everyone watching all over the globe the way that you used to introduce yourself when someone asked you hey, nice to meet you, dan. Daniel, what is it that you dio? How did he used to answer that question? A musician playing a band and I do some teaching and produce produce some records and a couple other things. La la la whatever. What the hell do you want to hear? You lost me. Yeah. All right. Now what do you say? Hi, daniel. What do you do? I'm the ceo unless to meet you. I'm the ceo of rubicon artist development and we are the premier artist development company in the country. We connect your inner life to your music and your music business on you. Just wrote a book. I do. I'm an author and it's called the remembering process and it's going to be out first week in april on hey, house publishing congratulations! Congratulations. So just a little a little bit about grammy. Why you probably wonder why I don't call him grammy dammit! Do you want to say we don't say why I call you grant me dan and won't call you anything else? Absolutely you give your address picked out. I knew this is great opposite on the color wheel, but I'm going to get the red drive okay and coming to the grammys with me in one of our sessions, we went backwards too a grammy that I haven't won yet which is what my book is about which is going from the future back and that is you remembering your future past and s o grammy dan is a version of myself existing in the future that I consult regularly for information on what to do next so I can kind of catch up to grammy dance so I don't have a grammy on my uh my desk here in the studio but I do have a screen saver that tiles hundreds of grammys so as my computer goes asleep grammys just I like hundreds of them per day and I wouldn't thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule because today you're actually working with a musician who was just nominated for a grammy it's not right absolutely it's ironic and beautiful that we're doing this now because it's we're starting an album this week with ruthie foster and ruthie was nominated for a grammy and the blues category she is absolutely one of the finest singers remember heard so we're we're getting there and hopefully ruthie and I will will be that grammy winning should she and when our first together and I'll get my red dress absolutely get picked out I can't wait I can't wait oh my gosh well that was beautiful and I just I just wantto just want to mention your book one more time because I think it's a really this is actually how he has manifested a lot of his success, and you co wrote it with a very famous author to write my good friend and client joe vitality, who I was in the secret and there's a known promoter of new thought law of attraction and marketing, and it is just a nen credible man, and I went down to him for some help on how to promote rubicon, ours development and the course that conversation he said, I don't know where you came from, but, uh, this is exactly what I've been looking for. We transformed him into a musician, and we just finished his fifth album, so things happen in mysterious ways, and then we wrote this book together. Wow, I am so proud of you. Oh, like their artist that I get to work with. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. We're gonna hear from you tomorrow. Going to do a little deeper dive into the world's grammy. Dan, thank you so much. Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. All right in there. All right, so we're going to meet jenny mcgee's up next. It looked like you were outside jenny, but it's your painting hi, so, jenny, I'm going to ask you the same question when people used to ask q hey jenny what it is that what is it that you dio before you met me? Of course how did you answer that question? I like to paint and I'm a contemporary abstract painter how about you I'm gonna say this over and over again because jenny's heard this over and over again one of the rules in my book which you all got it pete pdf copy for of is what is it jenny? Remember that you know you know what rule I'm gonna talk about it's not all about you it's not about you it's about them and when you make it about them then it will be about you write it as artists were or where the way we're generally oriented is we think it's all about us great we think it's all about our creative process and we think that somehow very interesting to people it's not that interesting and people don't even understand what the hell you're talking about frankly, what they care about is what's in it for them what value do you offer? So now how do you introduce yourself, jenny? Now I say that I help people expressed their love to another person through my artwork it's true she does and she's got a cover it gotta cover article recently in a luxury lifestyle magazine just recently when did that come out but that came out last month? February so this is really true that's exactly what she does that's exactly the value she offers you see the difference between the two beautiful thank you so much jenny okay okay case up next from memphis tennessee where are you kate what were you were you at the doctor's a hotel room in marathon florida are you taking a vacation yeah oh good she's worked so hard she needs a vacation oh good for you thanks god so glad I'm so glad to hear that um I'm gonna I don't wanna brag on uk kate's on her way to make one hundred k she graduated when and two thousand three two thousand three okay yeah so she's cooking but she's also really tired right now she'd break so cate would you please tell me how you introduced yourself before I got ahold of you uh what someone said hi kate nice to meet you what is it that you do how did you answer that question I said I'm a portrait painter yeah okay whatever now my turn to talk about myself freed all pay attention right now how do you answer the question hi kate nice to meet you what is it that you d'oh I say that I help people celebrate their relationships with their children by creating custom commission paintings of their children with a focus on their individuality and interests you understand more of what she does do you understand the value she offers she's not describing her process she's not describing her medium right she's describing what you might be interested in if you have children right? Raise your hand if you have children wow. Okay, so wouldn't it be cool if she could help you celebrate that relationship and honor those children in a way that's truly meaningful you can't get that if she just says she's a portrait painter oh, wait I made a very live morning about well okay then hee hee forgot do not disturb sign well, that's great. Okay, so kate we're going also hear from kate later on she's going to do a deeper dive into her top success is her big fat failures, the lessons she has learned the things and also we're going to talk about the things that are going well right now and each one of these artists enterprises and what's not going so well what they're struggling with because it's never perfect it's an iterative process and you have to work through some deep stuff sometimes right? So go enjoy put sun tan lotion on kate thing all right, thank you so very much. Thank you so very much. Okay, what's that no that's right it's okay, this is actually a painting that I painted of the ocean off of my balcony I live across from the ocean in the presidio but I'm gonna be showing this image over and over and over again because one of the things I want to be talking about teaching you uh I'm going to be talking about the blue ocean strategy is anyone familiar with what that isthe okay? Is that because you read my plug because people talk about blue sky strategy is the same analogy no it's different thank you very much for clarifying so we're going to do a blue sky session and that's ideation where we're going to throw out ideas and we're not going to have any editing or but this won't work or that it's where we freely generate ideas and record them blue sky session is something much more specific and to give credit where credit is due it's the name of a book that was written by two french business professors I can't remember their name it's a great book but it's what is going to fundamentally help you differentiate yourself you're going to see it over and over again because I want to burn it in your brain he would home you in the studio that the blue ocean strategy can be the keys to the kingdom for you okay when bankers get together for dinner they discuss art when artists get together for dinner they discussed money this is true cut two of my corporate sponsors are first republic bank and wells fargo it's true it's very true you guys find yourselves kvetching or concerning yourselves with money a lot when you talk to other artists and ru enlightening each other are you helping each other out of the abyss? I know a lot of usually like this was hard right? I don't know where to start that gallery didn't let me in the gallery and pay me carol gallery lost my art right okay so we're going to talk about money and art here is the yellow brick road actually starts with a yellow pie and this air basically you know what we did a feasibility study that was pretty in depth and we interviewed artists from all over the globe and artists being photographers and film makers and painters and one thing we heard time and time again is I just need a road map I don't even know where to start so hence my analogy the yellow brick road there is a process um what we typically dio is we decide we're going to sell our art and o r photography or our craft and we get ourselves a website and we get ourselves a business card right that's where we start we start in the middle is really where we start and that's not the place to start the place to start is realm one visioning in valuing and then you work through these other elements of building a creative enterprise in the next two days we're going to spend most of our time unvisited ing and valuing and we're going to spend some time on targeting and selling and the reason being we are going to cover these all eight elements, but creative live is an amazing resource. You could probably take a creative life course and just this money part, right? And I wouldn't be able to do it justice in two days, so we're going to cover all of them were goingto elsa going to see how they link up and remember this once you get to the end of it, unfortunately, you gotta walk the yellow brick road again, do you get to the emerald city? And then you're going to check in with yourself and say, does not now? I've made money it's really aligned with my values? Is this really my mission? Or am I off course? Do I need to course correct? And you have to go through it again? So that's the bad news? I am really do feel like I'm leading revolution, and I feel like I'm an accidental leader of revolution because when I started to sell my paintings and I started to receive press attention, artist started calling and asking for help was they said, and I and I just kind of actually shooed them away, but I'm busy on painting, but I get really sick and tired of hearing stupid question you know I'd be you know be all put together and I'd be in an environment with other business people and I'd be introduced as an artist and they say oh dear to make a living or they might think I was a kept woman right so she's got a sugar daddy to deal with all of the wish I did but I don't to deal with all this and then I and then I just started hearing a lot of self limiting thoughts and ideas from artists themselves and frankly just really I was just really not happy with what I was hearing and then someone made the student observation you know your favorite thing to talk about is is actually indeed marketing so why don't you start a blogger so it started blogging so now I've come to a place where I really want to lead this revolution and I'm gonna need your help I want you to thrive I really just want you to thrive and I want you to dispel this notion I want to challenge this notion not on ly in the world but also just within yourself so I'm taking a stab at a credo and I'd like your feedback at home and I'd like your feedback here in the studio um this is how this is my view of an artist who thrives you know it's really where we take full responsibility for our success and our happiness by investing in it and we're not waiting for someone to discover us you know, I'm telling you press is great, but it doesn't sell a bunch of paintings it doesn't work that way it looks real good and it does sell some paintings, but it doesn't solve all your problems. The other thing is that we're going as we've covered in initially, you know it's about creating value above and beyond our art and further let's have our students grabbed their workbooks so we conform because and also, well, yeah, were we up to with our long line audience wants to know what page there are? Oh that's a great question we're waiting for the notes too come on and, um, if we look at thiss workbook comes with the course when you actually purchase it is called make money making art is the fifty step action plan it's, a really detailed, dense book of this fabulous material here you actually follow along with this you do need to purchase the course to actually do that, but once you do that you have it as a pdf, I wouldn't recommend printing it out so you could follow it along as a pdf and then throughout the day also you'll be able to see exactly where we are with students very effective when you're going along with the course as last night and a very useful resource, good yeah it helps it tells just help solidify the concept in our minds if we write it down okay and it helps you track a long time I'm trying a lot of material at you and some of this baby may be a very new worldview um so in order for you to digest it really really integrate this into your thinking it helps to write it down um thanks for correcting my typo I'm known for that that's not my strong suit um okay, so this is wonderful moving along all right, so I also um I think that artists are fear they're free of fear of judgment because you know who you are and what you stand for. You know, if you took my jenny jenny's mission jenny's value proposition helping people express their love for one another you know judge me go right ahead right pretty beautiful I want you to claim your creative freedom through business savvy that's how you're going to get it and that's what artists who thrive d'oh and marketing is art it absolutely is art and it is delightful to get paid raise your hand if you like getting paid raise your hand if it inspires you to get paid you don't care about money is in the class for you relationships equal revenue success is shared ok and every as I said, I'm ripping this right off of the creative live website every day every artist is an entrepreneur, and every entrepreneur is an artist.