Art Business Success
Build Business Motivation and Succeed on Your Own Terms

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Defining art business success on your terms
Success takes a lot of forms. If you're an artist or crafter these tips are here to help you keep your motivation for creating a successful craft business by defining how to succeed on your own terms, and avoid chasing someone else’s ideas about success.

Money, power, status...
If you believe many of our cultural influences, we're supposed to covet them all above all else. They are assumed to be the definition of business success. We often accept these kinds of messages without question because everywhere, in everyday life, we get so many messages about what constitutes success. If you ask many people what it means to succeed on your own terms, they would struggle to find an answer. We aim for something called "business success" without first defining it for ourselves.

Socialized Assumptions Don't Always Fit Your Own Values
These socialized assumptions about success really hit me in the subtext of a book that I was reading to my son.

The story was about a little train who was considered special because he was very fast, so all of his teachers at the school for locomotives told him he would grow up to be the big city express train (I guess this is considered the big time if you’re a train!). The most important lesson that all of the little trains at the school had to learn was that you must 'stay on the track, no matter what'.

But the little train didn't want to stay on the track no matter what. He wanted to jump off the track and play in the meadow with the daisies and the horses. He was so compelled to play in the meadow he just couldn't help himself, even though he knew everyone would disapprove. When the teachers at the locomotive school realized that the little train was not staying on the track no matter what, they got the entire town together and bullied and shamed the little train to get out of the meadow and back on the track.

And that's how the little train learned to 'stay on the track no matter what'. This, apparently, was the happy ending to the story.

Do we really need to 'stay on the track no matter what'?
If this is how we are socialized to succeed, to stay on the track no matter what, then it's no wonder few of us have considered what business success on our own terms would look like. Now, if you're already an entrepreneur and an artist, you're probably more inclined than the average person to jump off the track when it's heading in a direction that no longer meets your needs. Still, to maintain business motivation and build the kind of art or craft business success that you want, it’s helpful to assess your real goals and motivations for building your art business.

It takes some serious thought to determine what it means to succeed on your own terms. So why should you care and take the time to understand how you personally define business success? Without a clear understanding of what success means to you, you'll likely struggle to set goals that are consistently compelling and motivating to you.

Many people wonder why they procrastinate. They think business motivation comes from some magical unknown place. But unless goals are really compelling and your own, it can be hard to find the motivation to put in the serious time and effort needed to achieve them.

The biggest cause of business and career burnout is a conflict between your core values and your work or business. Knowing your values can help you to make decisions that keep you motivated and working towards your own vision of art business success.

Here are a few thoughts and questions to consider to help you clarify your own motivations and your own version of business success when you are making business decisions:

• When my art business is successful I will feel… (fill in the blank; it will help you see what you are pursuing)
  
  
• When my art business is successful I will have...
  
  
• When my art business is successful I will be...
  
  
• I started my art business because...
  
  
• What are my core values or goals that I will not compromise?
  
  
• How are those values different from others around me?
  
  
• Is my business (or a particular business decision) in line with my core values? Why or why not? If not, can I change some aspect to make it a better fit for my values?
  
  
• What personal expectations led me to create this art business (or led me to make a specific business decision)? Do those expectations make sense today?
  
  
• What social and family expectations led me to create this business (or to make a specific business decision)? Do those expectations make sense to me now?
  
  
• How will my business goals mesh with my personal or family goals?

The definition of business success for artists or professional crafters will vary with each person. Thinking through several of the above questions will help you to determine your own values and priorities related to your art or craft business.

Some people are motivated by traditional achievement, others by expressing creativity. For some, financial benefits are of primary importance. Others place a high value on personal and moral responsibility and ethics. Intellectual stimulation, independence and variety in day to day tasks are other aspects of work and business that some people value more or less than others.

If you haven't considered your own values, it can be easy to unintentionally make a business decision that goes against your values. For example, landing large wholesale accounts can be very lucrative for artists and crafters. However, for the artist or professional crafter who values variety and creativity significantly more than financial benefits, landing major wholesale accounts may not be seen as a business success. It would require large amounts of repetitive work, producing the same piece over and over, and it could be hard for that person to maintain the motivation needed to do that type of work.

On the other hand, for the person who values traditional achievement and financial benefits, getting these kinds of accounts would likely be seen as a huge business success, and business motivation wouldn’t likely be an issue.

It's Your Business – Create the Success You Want
It's your art or craft business, and you get to create it in the way that works best for you. So, as I tried to explain to my son, if I got to rewrite the story of the little train, I would tell him:

• You don't have to be a big city express engine just because you're fast and that's what others think you should do.
  
  
• If you want to jump off the track and play in the meadow, as long as you're not hurting anyone else, go ahead.
  
  
• If you want to build your own track, go for it. There's more than one way to get wherever you're going.
  
  
• If others try to push you into getting on their idea of the right track, that's their issue. Don't let it deter you from what you know about yourself.

The surest track to the feeling of business success is to do what works for you, your business and the most important people in your life. Know and maintain your core values in your art business decisions, and the feeling of business success will come.

 
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