My mom is also creative and she was the first to teach me this lesson of kindness and treating everyone equally.  My mom worked retail while I was in college to help finance my education.  I grew up in Vermont. As my mom told it, one day a farmer came in.  He’d been working all day on the farm so he smelled of a combination of sweat and manure.  Four sales clerks passed him by and did everything they could to avoid him, but not my mom.  She asked him if she could assist him.  He was there that day to buy anniversary gifts for his wife of many years.  When my mom was finished waiting on him, it was the largest sale the store had ever had.  I’m not sure if my mom worked on commission or not, but she told us this story and I never forgot it.

I like to be treated with kindness and respect so I treat others with kindness and respect.  The CEO of Zappos has a book out called “Delivering Happiness”.  Zappos is a great role model for how to treat customers.  If I order on a Sunday afternoon, I’ll often have my order by Monday afternoon or Tuesday at the latest.  They often waive the shipping costs and if what I ordered doesn’t fit, they’ll take it back without question. I’ve only had to return something once but their exceptional level of customer service shocks me every time.

Compare this to the customer service I received at my Saab dealership a few years back.  I walked up to the counter and the service manager looked up and just stared at me.  He didn’t say hello.  He didn’t ask if he could help me. He just stared.  So, I stared back, too.  I wish I had started whistling or singing or something to really throw him off, but it was a stare down until he grunted something.  Please note that this Saab dealership is no longer in business.

I was with a friend once when a clerk was rude to her.  She responded in this way “I’m so sorry that the person who trained you didn’t train you correctly.  Had your trainer trained you correctly, he or she would have taught you the value of being polite to customers.”  My friend is a trainer on customer service, so I suppose this was one of her sales tactics and very effective.  The clerk had no idea what to say next.

Here are two of my favorite quotes:  1) It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.2) Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are.   I’ll just say that these lessons did not come easily but they are very effective.

So, what matters to me most…YOU matter to me.  Without you reading these articles, I would not have an opportunity to write them

1.  This past summer we launched a Barter for Art page on www.artnsoulinc.com where people looking for art can trade their stuff for art.  OR, where artists looking to trade their art can find stuff they need.  Right now, we have an artist named Faust who is looking for a laptop computer.  He does amazing wood carvings.  If you’ve got stuff to trade, let us know.  You can even trade art for art.  I just traded Faust my art for his…

2.  In July, we launched a Business of Art Mastermind Group where artists have a dialogue once a month about all sorts of things like how to market their art, social networking, Blogs, copyrights, watermarks, and so much more.

3.  In August, we launched Art n Soul TV.  We film artists in their own studios with Pilot Girl Productions.  We have some awesome footage and we’re looking for sponsors to keep the project going.

What’s my point?  Re-inventing yourself keeps your business fresh and keeps your clients and others creating a buzz around your business.  Re-inventing yourself keeps your competitors on their toes and keeps bringing new sources of revenue into your business.   You never know what is just going to really take off if you let things remain stagnant.   Re-inventing yourself means grabbing opportunities when they come my way.  If I don’t act right away, someone else will. I am cautiously impulsive if there is such a thing.  I’ve learned over the years not to be too impulsive and reactionary and I’ve also learned to act quickly once I know the facts and the idea seems plausible.  The funny part is that I always listen to my intuition and I always know that when doors start to open about the idea that I’m in a place of synchronicity and I keep going.  When I start to hit too many roadblocks, I take a pause to make sure I’m going in the right direction.   As always, I’m open to your ideas for my business so feel free to contact me and share your thoughts.

Let’s face it, the true sale is really about closing the deal.  Selling art is really personal. I know many artists who have a really hard time selling their originals.  Artists spend time with their art, sometimes days, sometimes months or years.  They learn to grow and love their art.  They tweak it and manipulate it and move it and maybe paint over or start over many times. When it comes time to sell it, some artists just have a hard time letting go.  So, the first rule of thumb in selling is that you have to be passionate about wanting to sell whatever it is you are selling.  If there is hesitation on your part, the potential prospect or buyer will see that.  And, ask for the sale.

Next, know when to push and when not to push the sale.  Sales is also about reading the personality of your buyers.  Some people like to be wined and dined and entertained and others like a more direct, get to the point approach.  The minute they say they like your art enough to buy it, ask “will that be Mastercard or Visa, check or cash, money order”?  This mere question often gently pushes a prospect into the sale.

If someone likes your art but hesitates, find out why.  Is it too large?  We can get you a smaller print.  Is it the framing?  We can frame it in a different color or with different matting.  Is it the price?  Can we make you a print instead of selling you the original?

Above all else, LISTEN to your prospects.  If they want red, don’t push blue on them.  If they want big, give them big.  Some artists are so busy talking about the aspects of their art that they like that they miss what their buyers like.  Survey buyers and non-buyers to find out what they like and what they don’t like about your art.  If you can handle the criticism, it will make you a better artist and a better salesperson.

It also can’t hurt to have people you know encouraging the sale.  If you are at an outdoor art sale, bring friends to subtly mention that you’ve been written up in magazines or won some awards.  The more people in your outdoor art show booth, the more buzz is created.  Use testimonials on your website from every happy customer.

I personally like to sell.  It’s how I started out in my career, cold calling.  I made it into a game.  If people were rude to me on the phone, I scored points.  I learned how to work with rude people in the selling process.  Here are a few tips I learned:

• Always be the nicest to the gatekeeper.  They hold the key to all of the information about a company so don’t negate, look down upon or bypass them.
• Never spill your beans in the lobby.  In other words, don’t start talking about what you do or what you are selling ad nauseum.  Instead, find out what your prospect needs first.  They don’t want to hear about things they don’t need and it will typically turn them right off.  But, if you have a solution to what they do need, you will be revered for solving their problem and they might look to you for more things as well.

Give your customers more than what they expect.  WOW! your clients.  I offer creative packaging.  I work with broken musical instrument parts in my work so I often use creative musical cases to package the art like violin or guitar cases.  When your customer walks away with creative packaging, they become a walking billboard for your art/your company.

Finally, don’t forget to follow up.  I became a SendOutCards.com rep so that I never forget to send a thank you note to my clients.  It means the world to them to know how much I appreciate their sale.  The cards I send are also worthy of being framed.  I’ve had clients want the packaging almost as much as the art!

Good luck, and contact me if you need help selling your art.

An Artist’s Theory on Being Proactive

As an artist, it’s in my nature to ‘go with the flow’.  By going with the flow in a painting, my work sometimes turns from mediocre to amazing.  However, I’ve learned as a business owner that going with the flow really involves trusting my intuition.  It’s one thing to go with the flow, but another thing entirely to wait for that flow to take you over a raging waterfall.  Here’s the difference:  one way is reactive and the other way is proactive. I’m an advocate of being proactive in my approach to art and business.

My father was a successful entrepreneur and, from the time I was a small child, he always told me it was more important to worry about myself than to worry about what others are doing or thinking.  Let’s take the economy for example.  Most people I speak with lately are full of doom and gloom about what is happening in the world on an economic front.  Instead of jumping on that bandwagon, my proactive self is asking questions like “What niche could I find in this economy?  What can I be doing to make my personal and business situation better?” and “What can I be doing to solve the problem instead of adding to the problem?”  By helping others solve their problems, you become the solution.  As a result, I’ve coached people on how to write their resumes, how to network for increased sales, and how to use their art as added income.

Instead of focusing on the negative, focus on areas you can influence.  The area I have most influence over is ME.  So, I check in with my intuition a lot.  I still go with the flow as before, only now I control the flow because if that cliff is coming, I shift gears.  I go with my own flow instead of being dragged along in someone else’s flow.

I especially watch the language I use.  I have eliminated the word ‘but’ from my vocabulary.  The word ‘but’ negates everything someone has just said to you.  Instead, I substitute it with the word ‘and’.  So, if someone says “the economy is so bad right now that my business has really slowed down”, I say “yes, and that gives us an opportunity to focus on sales and learn a new skill that we wouldn’t ordinarily have time for”.  You are agreeing that the economy is bad and you offer a solution.

To be proactive in business, evaluate your procedures.  Are their areas where you’ve given yourself limitations where you could be thinking outside the box?  Are there seasonal changes in your business that you could be addressing?  Are you ready and prepared for the next shoe to drop?

I constantly create new workshops in my business when I hear people say that they are having a hard time finding a certain class.  I’ve identified a need.  Typically, if one person has a need, there are many others that are also trying to find the same solution.  I currently have classes scheduled on “The Business of Art” and “Eggshell Art”.  I don’t wait for other people to conduct workshops.  The more outrageous the topic, the more I’m apt to move forward in presenting the workshop.

A few other key points to being proactive.  Watch your language.  How you react to a given situation is important.  Don’t blame others.  For instance, I was recently honored with a significant award in my entrepreneurial role.  The award is the highest achievement I can win in my program statewide and the company I run the program for has not won this award in 17 years (I’ve been running the program for three years).  However, the award was given little publicity.  My initial ‘reaction’ was one of disappointment and dismay.  Instead, I took a couple days off and re-grouped.  I focused on the entrepreneurs I am really doing the work for and the artists I am helping along the way.  I can’t control the way the communications department chooses to deliver the message. I can control my behavior and my response and keep on helping entrepreneurs.  The entrepreneurs are my passion and that is where my focus will remain.

Empower yourself to choose alternatives.  People often stay stuck in the same careers for years without visualizing that something may be better and brighter in a new company.  At a networking event, if no one is speaking with you, go up and introduce yourself to someone you might not otherwise have reached out to.  I push myself at events to speak with people who are already in groups or those that are significantly older or younger than I am.  I push myself to speak with people who ‘look’ arrogant.  What I typically find is that people in groups are trying to play it safe and that people who look arrogant are often just shy.

Being proactive takes courage and discipline and planning.  Building good habits can reduce frustration and stress.  You also have to realize that you can’t control everything.   Many things are not in our control.  I use these methods to be prepared for anything out of the ordinary:  laughter, deep breathing, meditation and accepting change and imperfection.  My artwork uses the Japanese concept called “Wabi Sabi or The Art of Imperfection”.  Knowing that life is a constant flow of change, chaos and beauty has made all of the difference in my art and in my life.  I’m prepared for life being messy and painful and sad and dirty because I always know that I will also find pockets of energy and creativity and awe-inspiring, breathtaking beauty.  Without opposites, we wouldn’t have the experiences we have.  Without cold, we wouldn’t know warmth.  Without hate, we wouldn’t experience love.  I now experience life’s unexpected interruptions with a pause and I keep on plugging away, one step at a time.  I still go with the flow, and I’m prepared to be proactive when I feel it is warranted.

Squelch Your Impulsivity

I’m impulsive by nature.  I sometimes speak before I think and I leap before I know the net will appear.  Sometimes, I end up with my foot in my mouth but I have to say that the net usually appears.  Here is when I could have benefited from slowing down a bit.  I registered as an S-Corp immediately upon starting my business.  Unlike an LLC, where you have to advertise for 6 weeks in a publication, the S-Corp did not require this.  I also initially liked that the S-Corp taxes were kept separate from my personal taxes.  In hindsight, I would have initially registered as a sole proprietorship.  Why?  It took me a couple years to get my business off the ground.  A sole proprietorship doesn’t offer personal protection and I wanted my home and personal assets protected.  In the first couple of years, sales were low and there really wasn’t much liability at all.  However, I still had to pay fees to continue having an S-Corp, etc.  You can always switch from a sole proprietorship to an S-Corp but it is much more difficult to move backwards from an S-Corp to a sole proprietorship.  I’m ok now but I would have taken the process a little slower if I had to do it again.

Put Your Agreements in Writing

I’m a trusting person by nature.  I consider myself trustworthy and I so when I first started out in business I made an assumption that all other people were honest, too.  Most of my contracts were word of mouth.  I still believe that people are inherently good. However, a few bad apples do ruin the whole darn bunch and so now I put contracts into place when I work.  Here’s why.  I conduct workshops on various topics related to my business like “The Business of Art” or “Getting Around Being Stuck” or “Creative Ways to Work Less & Play More”.  Sometimes, I hire outside contractors to teach my classes if they have an area of expertise I think might benefit my clients.  Basically, the deal was that I would obtain the clients, set up the space, buy the food, etc. and then after costs, the other instructor and I would split the fee from any profits made.  One day, I obtained a corporate account with a sizeable group of people.  I wanted to lock in a fee with the corporate client.  The client would provide the space and the food, so my costs were minimal other than the instructor’s fee.  So, I asked the instructor what she would charge for the workshop and she said $500.  Then, the instructor discovered it was a corporate client and not a group of various clients.  Her fee jumped from $500 to $5,000.  This left me scrambling to find another instructor at the last minute.  Needless to say, it was a lesson learned, and I always have an upfront contract now.  This goes for talent releases when I’m filming or taping or taking pictures.  It also goes for hold harmless agreements I put in place when my artists are showing in galleries or corporate offices.  I put everything in writing.  This also provides for a nice record of the event.

Focus on You Not the Competition

I used to worry that people would steal my ideas and take the money and run.  Not anymore.  I now know that the partnerships and alliances we form are much stronger than worrying about the competition.

I form partnerships with other artists.  I help them get gigs in venues I’ve already appeared in.  I work collaboratively with other artists on projects and learn something each and every time that enhances my work.  I teach collaboratively with other artists.  It really is a win win situation.

Let me give you another example.  I started out working four days a week at our local Chamber of Commerce teaching entrepreneurs about how to start a business through the Entrepreneurial Assistance Program. I like being on the fringes.  If you are an entrepreneurial type, I highly recommend reading the book “Orbiting the Giant Hairball”.  It’s one of my favorite books about people who are necessary to an organization but not necessarily the rule followers.  Recently, our Chamber adopted that model and decided to go to a four-day workweek, mainly to ‘go green’ and save energy on Fridays and Mondays.  We’re still staffed because half the team works Mondays and the other half works Fridays.  However, we all have three-day weekends now.  Instead of being bitter that everyone was now on a four-day workweek, I embraced the deal.  I’m now working on a three-day work week!

Take Care of Yourself Physically, Spiritually, Mentally, Emotionally and Financially

In his book, Harmonic Wealth, author James Arthur Ray talks about the five pillars of attracting the life you want.  I truly believe in this model for success in all areas of your life.  They don’t necessarily need to be in balance all at once.  However, you must pay attention to each one.  When I’m paying attention to my health by eating right, exercising, scheduling a shiatsu session, taking time to meditate or go to a yoga class, feeling my emotions and expressing them through my art, money ends up showing up in my mailbox just like that.  When one of these areas is out of whack, just the opposite happens.

Be Grateful

I wake up every day grateful for the lessons I’ve learned and the mistakes I’ve made.  They make me who I am today.  I also got to bed at night grateful for whatever experiences the day brought.  This one exercise has changed my life.  If I sell a piece of artwork or take on a new client, I am extra grateful.  If someone flips a finger at me in a road rage incident, I am grateful for that because it reminds me that I don’t want to be like that and how grateful I am when I let go of stress and a bad attitude.  I believe that if more people were grateful, we could change the world.  It would give us a deeper appreciation for all of life and each other.  My business has grown exponentially by being grateful each day for the opportunities given to me.  I’m writing more, creating more art and meeting some extraordinary people along the way.  So, thank you for being a part of my journey by reading my article.  I am truly grateful to Elisa and to you.

1. Set an intention or goal for the meeting. Know exactly what you expect going into and coming out of the negotiation process. Make sure this intention is realistic and the goal is clear. Clarity is key. Many of my clients are artists. I never go into a meeting thinking that artists are starving and cannot afford my services. I offer a great, affordable service and one that can expand their sales. My intention is always to help them sell their work.

2. Enter the meeting with knowledge but only give it away when asked. One of my best negotiation teachers once told me ‘don’t spill your beans in the lobby’. In other words, if you come in and start sharing your features and benefits, the prospect might not need or want them. People feel better when they get a chance to talk about themselves and their needs. And, you walk away learning more about the prospect.

3. Not spilling your beans in the lobby means listening to the needs of your prospect so that you can design something specifically for them. I can’t assume each of my artist clients wants the same thing. I have amateur artists who want their first opportunity in a gallery and I have experience artists who have regular shows at the Javitz Center in NYC and are seen all over the world. The needs of each client are dramatically different. I need to customize my services to fit each client’s needs.

4. Customization means also knowing your personality or style and the personality of each of your prospects and clients. There are some great tools around that help assess this including Myers Briggs and DISC. I took the DISC (Dominant, Influencer, Steady, Conscious thinker) assessment recently and found out that I’m an Achiever type. I like to be sold to in a very certain way. I like sales people who are direct and just tell me the facts. I don’t need a lot of ‘schmoozing’ or to get caught up in a lot of details or facts. This means that when I’m with an Influencer, I have to be more jovial and social when negotiating and selling. When I’m someone who needs the facts, I have to step up my game and find those facts. While you can’t ask your client to take a personality test, by knowing your style, you can typically start assessing your client’s style. This has helped negotiations in my business tremendously.

5. Know who the final decision maker is when you are involved in negotiations. Sometimes you can spend hours with someone who is friendly and says ‘yes’ and then in the end you find out they are not the person who controls the finances or can really make the decision to buy your product or service. I ask right up front if the person I’m negotiating with can make these decisions. If not, I make sure that that person is on board in the first meeting.

6. Find creative solutions to your customer’s problems. Negotiations end very quickly when you offer a solution to your customer’s problems. One of my clients wanted to sell artwork on line but admittedly had limited technological skills and no desire to host her own website. So, I offered her an affordable web page on my site. As a result, other artists have jumped on board and my business in this area has grown – a win-win for all of us.

7. It’s important in negotiations to have both sides leave feeling empowered and good about the interaction. If you are selling as a team, this is when ‘good cop/bad cop‘ comes in handy. One person on your team is positive and one person is a naysayer. This helps you gauge really where your client stands on certain issues. Eventually, good cop wins and your client leaves feeling confident.

8. Knowing when to walk away is a skill that takes some practice. Many times, I’ve left a meeting too early without the sale. Salespeople who leave with business stand their ground. I consider myself pretty good at reading people. I hear when a client says ‘well, anyway’ or ‘maybe I’ll call you later’ or words that indicate that you are going to walk away without a deal. I still respect my client’s time but now I ask right up front what the hesitation is. It sometimes comes down to money and then I’m prepared with some options for my clients. Oftentimes, however, it is about something other than money. Finding out exactly why a prospect or client is hesitating is important and should be determined before the meeting is over. Plus, it lengthens the meeting and I often walk away with the sale by just standing my ground.

9. You have to believe in what you do. I genuinely help people get unstuck, move forward, increase sales, live their dreams and creatively explore new opportunities. I’m confident in my abilities and this shows. There is no way you can negotiate without a strong and confident position.

10. Enjoy the process of negotiation. I make it a game and have fun in everything I do.

Good luck! If you want to practice your negotiation skills, give me a call at 518-842-1757 and we’ll negotiate a price!

Last week, a local phone book directory advertising service called me to see if I wanted to take out a display ad in their publication for $500/year. I have had good luck with finding clients through the phonebook, so my initial reaction was ‘sure, sign me up’. However, my new approach to business is to take a step back, evaluate and say no, even when I want to say yes. What does this approach do? Most salespeople are negotiable. Their initial price is high. Once you say no, this opens the door for them to come back with some sort of offer. In this case, I was particularly stubborn. By the beginning of this week, here is the offer I was presented with: If you refer us three people who sign up for an ad in our phonebook, we’ll give you your ad for FREE! Now, that’s smart spending. So, I always ask now what kinds of deals or discounts salespeople have available.

I noticed that this approach also worked with an on-line printing company I use often. Each week, I get offers from them for small discounts on various items. I used to buy into their first discount offer right away. Lately, I have been exploring the sight for items I use often. I know they can track where I’ve been on their site because when I get the initial email, it’s always an item I’ve been looking into and check out but don’t buy. Invevitably, my next email offers an even deeper discount on the item, and if I keep ignoring their deals, I eventually get the item for FREE plus the cost of shipping! It may not be in the quantity I want but I just wait for the next deal. Can you learn to negotiate with businesses that sell to you regularly?

Since I have an on-line company (www.artnsoulinc.com), I write large checks to my web design company for web revisions. I recently switched to a web design company who created funky, customized templates for me to use so that I could make revisions myself. This will save me lots of money in years to come. What can you do yourself in your business that will save you from spending with some of your important vendors?

I recently started taking art lessons to expand my technical ability in art. I’ve mostly worked in acrylics and now am learning to paint with oils. Some art teachers I researched taught techniques over a long period of time. I eventually found an art teacher who charges $50 PER SESSION (not per hour), provides the canvas and I walk away in one lesson with a completed painting. I then price it higher, pay for the lesson, and make a profit. I know a local ski resort that trains their trainers to ski, then the newly trained skiers start training beginners right away within the 3^rd or 4^th lesson. They do know more than the beginners even though they aren’t experts. Are there services you can offer to your clients that you just may have newly learned?

I partner with other coaches and artists and then we share information with each other by forming Mastermind groups. Let me explain how this works. One of us might join an association in a particular area or a trade group that has a particular topic of focus or one of us attends a webinar or teleseminar or subscribes to a particular trade magazine or publication. Then, we all share the information we’ve learned. My former competition (artists and coaches) are now my strongest allies. We’re stronger helping one another than we are as competitors. I now represent other artists and coaches to help them expand their businesses while mine continues to expand both nationally and internationally.

Companies often have empty space within their organizations waiting to be used. One local retirement center encourages use of their beautiful conference room to expose the community to their facility. The room is provided for FREE if they can share some quick information with my groups about their facility. They even provide FREE coffee and cake. Their goal is to send out the message that their facility is a great place to retire, and it works for both of us.

Here are some of the other tips I’ve used lately to spend in smart ways. I buy recycled ink jet cartridges. I buy items I use often in bulk from warehouse stores. I barter for services.

My final tip: Getting an article written about you in newspapers and on-line is always better than spending money on advertising. I constantly create a buzz about my business and get FREE publicity!

Finding ways to spend smart is now a creative challenge for me. I hope you, too, can find similar opportunities and feel free to share your ideas with me!

Janet Tanguay is the owner of www.artnsoulinc.com. She is a Creativity Life Coach, Artist, Author and Artist Representative helping people achieve their personal and professional goals using creative expression.

One of the great messages of the Tao is to live without excess, to voluntarily decide in favor of simplicity, to know when to stop, to decrease, to do things in moderation and to stop accumulating.  This is a hard model to follow in a world where sales managers strive for increased sales from their teams and where people often measure success by how much wealth they amass.  What most businesses don’t understand is that the more you give, the more you receive.

I work with a web design company that has adopted a wonderful model for giving some of their excess profits away.  Each year, they set aside $100,000 that will be given to a charitable cause at the end of the year.  Throughout the year, their employees visit the charitable organizations that apply for the money.  This gives the employees an inside look at the people who will distribute the money they give and the causes behind the names.  The employees become educated about the various causes and become volunteers in the process.  There is a real connection made between people.  When the money is rewarded by an employee vote at the end of each year, there is heartfelt confidence in the winner.  An interesting thing has happened to this company’s sales as a result of their giving.  More people want to do business with them because they know that some of their money will be going to a good cause.  What can your company do to share the excess and stop accumulating to pay it forward instead?

Letting go and looking at things without attachment is another message of the Tao.  Get rid of a few rules, never use force and live without authoritarianism.  I find that if I give my contractors flexibility, they often do way more than I expect.  When I change to allow people to share their opinions and viewpoints, I always learn way more than dictating my own rules and ways of being.  When I stop myself from speaking and genuinely take the time to listen to others, I always learn something that enhances my business.  Is there a rule you could give up in your business?  Could you allow your employees some flex time or delegate a decision that really doesn’t have to be made by you?  How can you be more flexible in your business dealings?

I was discussing with one of my colleagues the other day how I need a new bookshelf.  She suggested I make a bookshelf out of books.  Why buy a bookshelf when I can take a few books I probably will never open again and make a frame out of them to support the books I will reference again?  Not only will I save money by not buying a bookshelf, I’ll have a really cool piece of artwork suspended in space that will cause my clients to pause yet also serve a function. What can you change in your business to let go of something that is no longer useful?  Can you stop before you buy something and recycle something you already have or look at something old in a new way?  Make a list of 10 things that you’ve labeled useless or outdated and re-interpret them.

Change the way you think of yourself as separate and start seeing yourself and your business connected to everyone and every other business.  I often put myself in my clients’ or employees’ shoes. 

How would I feel if my order didn’t arrive on time?  How would I feel if I missed my child’s soccer practice to work overtime?   When you shift your perspective towards connecting with and understanding others will you recycle, relax and accept more.   Will you judge less?  What happens to your thought process to know that your business is connected to the entire planet?  I never see my competition as a threat.  In fact, I often seek out the competition to see if they are interested in partnering on projects.  What does it matter if we’re all successful?  My energy is better spent wishing my competition well than sending out fear-based thoughts against them.  Changing my thought process changes the way I conduct business.

Change is the only constant in life.  You are bound to feel this ebb and flow in business.  “When bad fortune feels so troublesome that you can’t get unstuck, see good fortune leaning on it”.   Everything changes.  We wouldn’t know what good is if we hadn’t experience the bad.  We couldn’t appreciate beauty if something wasn’t ugly.  The one thing you can bank on in your business is change.  Why not just expect it and accept it?

Whether your dream is of wearing a tiara and a crown or a cowboy hat or knit cap, the reality of owning a business is that you’ll ultimately wear many hats.

When I first started out, I thought I’d be coaching a few clients from home over the phone. The reality is that most people want to meet you to get to know you, so I put my networking hat on and went out and started selling myself and my business at leads groups.

Next, my business started to rapidly build. Clients asked for more things. Would you be able to conduct a workshop with me and some of my colleagues? Would you be able to do a weekend retreat on Cape Cod? How about a workshop in Israel? So, I put on new hats…my travel hat, my trainer hat, my event planning hat, and my organizational hat. Many of my clients are either artists or have a creative interest of some sort. They began asking me if I could help them create sales of their artwork, so I put my on-line marketing hat on and my gallery owner hat on. Pretty soon, my head was running out of room for so many hats!

Well, then the money started rolling in. I then put on my accounting hat and my legal hat and my tax hat and my administrative hat.

The dream of being a successful business owner was working, but the reality was that I was saying yes to everything and really needed to define what I did and didn’t want to do. So, now, I sometimes wear no hat at all.

I also encourage my clients to approach their dreams with conscious steps. I truly believe that it isn’t the fear of failure that holds us back, it is the fear of our success. The reality is that we’re more powerful than our wildest dreams. I truly hope that you get to wear each and every hat you want to wear.

Here’s a simple mnemonic system that I like to use to get unstuck – GET AROUND IT:

Get around it, over it, under it or through it any way you can
Elaborate on key concepts
Take a broader look

Approach it from a different angle
Replace one part with another
Other styles
Unique attributes
New spin
Discard old habits

Ideas for improvement
Take a closer look

Get around it, over it, under it or through it any way you can
Truly getting unstuck means setting your ego aside. I try not to be a know it all and ask for help. Admitting that you need assistance and may lack knowledge in some areas is not an easy task, but the rewards are great. One of the ways I do this is to network with everyone from other entrepreneurs to my hair stylist to children (who often have the most insight). The breakthrough usually comes from some small comment made that resonates with me, but if I stay in my own world and don’t venture out and ask for help, I stay stuck.

Who can you ask for help? Who can you network with who can help you accomplish your goal?

Elaborate on key concepts
When I initially start creating something new, there are inevitably elements I like and elements I know I need to change. Recently, I took an idea I liked and made it into a series, divided it up, split it in three and now I have three pieces of artwork I like that I can either sell individually or as a unit.

Towards the end of a project, I do the same. I create energy around the work by finding the elements that also get other people excited and then motivating everyone else to talk about it. Once a few people start talking about it, a chain reaction happens and everyone starts talking about the project.

What can you do to get others to start spreading the news about your project? How can you add something to enhance your idea?

Take a broader look
I’m a big picture person and I usually leave the details for those better at the steps it takes to define the broader vision. Because I already see the bigger picture, I really have to exaggerate to make something outrageous, but I do this to get unstuck. I buy a huge canvas, step so far back that I can barely see what I’ve created, climb up high and look down at what I’ve created or lay on the floor and look up at what I’ve created. This broader look always shifts my perspective, which brings me to the next topic.

Where can you go to see your project from a bigger angle? What can you do to really see the big picture?

Approach from a different angle
In order to look at a creation from all angles, imagination must be employed. Here are some methods I use to enhance my perspective. I paint with my eyes closed or put the brush in my non-dominant hand. I rearrange the three-dimensional elements to create opposites. I use other mediums like clay or gels or writing to enhance the work. I combine different materials or colors or add new features.

How can you approach your project from a different perspective? Can you look at it upside down or backwards or inside out?

Replace one part with another
My entire collection of work is based on recycling broken instrument parts (or ‘injured instruments’ as some of my collectors call them) into new, beautiful and spiritual works of art. I turn violin bows into Cupid’s bow and arrow. I turn saxophone bells into fountains. If I’m completely stuck, I just start over and paint over. Some of my paintings become three-dimensional due to the fact that I’ve painted over them so much that there are layers and layers of work underneath.

True entrepreneurs often start many businesses before they hit it big and fail at many projects before they succeed. Successful entrepreneurs often start several businesses over the course of their lifetime.

What failures can you take and turn into lessons? What projects can you start completely over and make them better? What part can you replace with another?

Other styles
Perhaps my favorite technique is to put myself in someone else’s shoes. I pretend I’m Basquiat or Georgia O’Keefe or Jackson Pollock and try to approach my work as they would from what I’ve read about them or seen in their work.

Storytelling can be another great style of getting to the heart of the matter. Everyone has unique stories to tell that can spark an idea and pave a new way. Listen to the stories of others or share your stories with someone new.

Finally, I think of possible other uses and markets. Would my work look good in a café or at a train station? As a result, I’ve made sales in every venue from theatre lobbies to wine stores to flower stores and used bookstores and corporate offices.

Whose style would fit your project? Is there an entrepreneur you admire whose shoes you would like to walk in for a day? Where could you sell where you are not currently selling?

Unique attributes
I never worry about the competition thanks to a manager I had once who said to me “it’s YOU who makes this project unique not the material”. I am not the best or the brightest artist, however, what I write about my artwork moves people emotionally. It is original. It is uniquely my experience.

I also think of how the senses can affect the work…can I add sound, feel, smells, etc.

What makes you unique? What makes people buy from you and not someone else?

New spin
Sometimes you just can’t easily change your project or your path. When this happens, I look for a new spin on an old idea. I turn the painting upside down to give it a whole new feel or I change where I do the work. I take the painting out into nature or onto a busy street. I might frame the painting in a new way or paint the frame a different color or remove the frame altogether.

How can you give your business a new spin? How can you frame your project a different way?

Discard old habits
I embrace mistakes, flaws, and errors. I always look for new and improved so I’m not someone who hangs onto old habits very tightly. I’ve learned that the one constant in life is change and that’s what I thrive on. Luckily, I’m someone who never take myself seriously. The Japanese have a concept called “Wabi Sabi” or the art of imperfection. Not one piece of my artwork is ‘perfect’ and that is exactly what I want.

Is there something you’ve been hanging onto that you could let go of? Is there a routine that you go through that you could change right now? Could you take a different path to work or stop a different place for coffee on the way to your office? Could you call a different vendor that might add something different to your work? Could you dress differently or speak more slowly just for today? Can you let go of perfection?

Ideas for improvement
One of the best ways for me to improve my work is to tinker. I believe that great geniuses have made wonderful discoveries by tinkering with and tweaking an old idea. Most times I make improvements this way but sometimes I discover something completely new that takes me in a whole new direction.

What part can you tinker with to make subtle improvements in the way you do business? What small change can you make that could take you to a new level?

Take a closer look
Just as I try to look at the big picture, when I take a closer look, I also find intriguing opportunities in the details. I become a spy, a sleuth, a researcher by looking at everything from nature to sheet music to the way a chef creates my meal.

What do you see when you take a closer look at the minute details? What can you learn by digging a little deeper?

Needless to say, with all of these options, I don’t get stuck very often anymore. I hope by using a few of these techniques that you will no longer be stuck, either!