The Business of Art

In my other life as a marketing and business consultant, I help my clients focus their goals into a cohesive plan of action via a business plan. There's usually some resistance to the idea because the process seems daunting, but no matter how simple or elaborate a plan, the results are always rewarding. I experienced the same daunting feelings when I put myself through the task of writing my own business plan for Calypso Art Quilts these past few weeks.

After the rush of creating all the pieces I needed for my first solo show, I switched gears and got into thinking mode. I spent hours at the computer doing research, considering all the venues through which I could sell my quilts, and with so many possibilities I could feel myself going into information overload. I exacted of myself the same questions I would ask of any business owner and finally condensed my ideas into a few basic strategies to follow.

It was a great feeling when I finally got my thoughts in order on paper. And although this is just the beginning, the jumble of ideas now have a home that I can go visit whenever I'm ready for them, rather than having them all knocking about in my brain. I've got the plan organized into main categories (inventory, website exposure, local market exposure, etc.), and now comes the job of distilling each category down to a series of to-dos for each week. These to-do's are going to be bite-size pieces, small enough steps to trick the brain from thinking that building a business from scratch has to be difficult or labor-intensive.