The following are fifteen pieces of advice for aspiring and current Arts Entrepreneurs.
- Never sacrifice quality in your artistic work and keep your skills sharp. Quality must be priority for the sake of value. Unused skills rust like farm tools in the rain.
- You can both profit and commit a social good. This is social entrepreneurship.
- Don’t do everything. Inspire collaborators. Lead them and learn to effectively delegate.
- Don’t be afraid because of what you don’t know. You will either assume the learning curve or find others who will fill your skill deficiencies.
- Explore being for-profit before nonprofit. Fiscal Sponsorship, through organizations like Fractured Atlas, enable for-profits to compete for nonprofit-only available grants.
- As an artist, find your voice. It is the greatest tool you can posses. Blogging can help. Very quickly, one learns what they can and want to post about.
- Know your company revenue drivers. How does cash flow into, through and out of your business?
- Competition is part of the market game. Don’t let this compromise your art, but work with it. Find a balance between artistic integrity and the realities of commerce and the market.
- As often as possible, ask of yourself, “What if….?” The question “What if….?” opens our minds to possibility, to potential. “What if?” is a key to unlock insight and creative vision.
- Engage your pursuits heroically. You can do this by serving others and willfully sacrificing on occasion to serve their needs. Get comfortable with risk and obstacles. They are inevitable.
- Remember that if something’s been done before, it can be done again.
- If something has never been done before, know that everything starts at some point.
- Learn from your failures. Failure is inevitable and a primary learning tool. Glean what you can from such hard experience, as this is a path towards greater wisdom, insight and ability.
- Don’t forget those who help you. Repay them as you can. Take care of your people and they will take care of you. Business is a give and take. Drop those that only take.
- Entrepreneurship is a game–one that is experientially-based. It’s one that hurts, but can also feel great, as the entrepreneur’s impact is a felt one. This is due to arts entrepreneurship being a lifestyle, rather than mere career pursuit. It is a lifestyle that can yield treasure, personal insight and new-found meaning. Play the game and commit to realizing both your needs and those of others and if you fail, try again.
Jim Hart
