The Thriving Christian Artist
The Thriving Christian Artist
266 - 5-Minute Mentoring: Are You a Slave to Your Business?
When I first started my art business, I was in “hustle mode.” I was working 6-7 days a week, burning the midnight oil, and creating art that was selling - but that wasn’t bringing me any joy.
It wasn’t until I realized that I needed to make my business work for me - and not the other way around - that I finally discovered the life God meant for me to live.
On this episode of 5-Minute Mentoring, we’re talking about how to avoid letting your business run the show, and I’ll share the two things you need to design the business and the life that works for you...and for God’s Kingdom.
Want to learn more about how to price your art?
How to Price Your Art: Pricing with Confidence for Sales & Profit (Book Just Released!)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097XBP733
How To Price Your Art: The 2021 Definitive Guide to Pricing Your Art for Visual Artists
https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/how-to-price-your-art.html
Connect with me online: https://www.matttommeymentoring.com
Instagram and Facebook: @thethrivingchristianartist
Watch this podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/mjtommey
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You know, sometimes when you start an art business, it's easy to find yourself in the place of serving your business rather than having your business serve you. I'm going to talk about the difference today and also give you some tips on how you can create a business that serves the lifestyle you want to live today here on 5-Minute Mentoring.
UNKNOWN:Music
SPEAKER_00:Have you ever wanted to have someone in your life who you could ask real questions about your art, your business, and even your walk with the Lord? Well, that's exactly what we do every Friday here on Five Minute Mentoring, where I answer one question from one of my awesome podcast listeners in order to help you start really thriving as the artist you know God created you to be. Hey, my friend. So glad that you are with me today here on 5-Minute Mentoring. You know, one of the quotes that I love is from a guy, Michael Gerber, who wrote the book E-Myth. And he says that in that book, he says that most people who start businesses are actually great technicians. That is, they're good at what they do, but who are suffering from a temporary entrepreneurial seizure.
UNKNOWN:I love that.
SPEAKER_00:Because most of us, when we start our businesses and we're like, I'm going to do art as a living or as a part-time or full-time gig. Rarely do we realize what it takes to actually do that. That's why I'm so passionate about helping you do that here on the Thriving Christian Artist podcast and through our mentoring program. I want you to realize that you're both an artist and an entrepreneur, that you've got to be able to balance both of those things in order for God to be able to bless you in the marketplace in what you're called to do. The interesting thing is, however, that as we grow our businesses, a lot of times that happens unintentionally. And because we want to serve people, because we're passionate about what we do, because a lot of times artists don't have business training. Maybe you've never maybe you're just starting to listen to the podcast. Maybe you've not been in the mentoring program yet. You're just like doing the best you can. A lot of times what happens is this dream of becoming an artist and a dream of having an art business, actually you become a servant or a slave to the business rather than allowing this business to create the income and lifestyle that you want to live as an artist and as a person. You know, I remember when I, first of all, I didn't even know that was a possibility. When I started my art business, I was just doing the best I knew how. I started selling my baskets as a hobby and then later on, When we moved to Asheville, North Carolina, after 15 years or so of just doing it as a part-time every now and then hobby, I started getting more focused on my business. I started a full-time studio. Things started growing. I started having success. That was great. I gave no thought to whether or not I was serving my business or my business was serving me. And what happened was... I started working six, sometimes seven days a week. I started working long hours. I was creating types of work that I was selling a lot of, but it wasn't bringing me a lot of joy. I wasn't making a lot of profit from it. And it turned out this dream of being an artist actually became sort of a weight around my neck until I realized that, hey, I'm the boss. I can be in charge. And my business... The beauty of it is that I get to design it in a way that serves me, not just serves me as an artist, not just serves me as a business person, but serves me as a person, as a dad, as a husband, as an artist, as a person in the kingdom. And so I started thinking about, gosh, how can I actually create something? a business that serves me. And what's the difference? Well, instead of me working all the time, not being able to take time off, not having help in my business, creating work that I wasn't really passionate about, I started realizing, oh my gosh, I can start working when I want to. I can actually set a schedule. I can begin to price my work in a way that builds in profit to every piece so that I'm making the money that I need to make, selling it at a great rate so that I'm not having to produce as much, but I'm producing better quality things that I'm passionate about and selling it at a price that is a going market rate. I can even have help. I remember the first time I hired a studio assistant, it was like changed my life. Like, oh my goodness, you know, and it wasn't huge amounts of money. It was money I was already paying myself, but I invested in a studio assistant. And guess what? All of a sudden they were able to do things quicker and cheaper than I was able to do it, which allowed me to focus on my creative process, being with clients, networking more, all those sorts of things. And before long, Instead of me serving my business, my business was serving me. I was working five days a week, making more money than I'd ever made. I started actually having breathing room in my schedule. It changed my life. I just want to give you vision for that, that you don't have to be a slave to your business. You can actually have a business that serves you. But one of the keys in there, there are two keys, I think. Number one is, is regulated cash flow, building regulated cash flow into your business through what we call the Parthenon plan. I teach this in the mentoring program, this multi-pronged approach to having multiple streams of income and marketing coming into your business so that you're not relying on one stream of income. And number two is, pricing your artwork in a way that you're pricing it for profit. You know, there's a lot that goes into developing pricing that really makes sense. And instead of me trying to do that on a five-minute mentoring video and podcast, I want to encourage you, grab my book. It's actually called How to Price Your Art, Pricing with Confidence for Sales and Profit. It walks from soup to nuts, beginning to end, and answers a ton of questions that you're going to have about how to price your art, how to find a price that works for you, how to make sure all of your expenses are built in, even how to overcome some of the objections that you'll find as you're internally trying to price your art and as you're putting that price out into the marketplace. You can grab that book right now by clicking in the show notes and go to Amazon, grab that. And you can even see an invitation down there to attend a great workshop that I did, almost two hours of teaching that I did on how to price your artwork that comes with an art pricing catalog. calculator worksheet. I mean, you're going to love that. Both of those resources will be really, really, really beneficial for you as you're learning to develop a business that serves you rather than you serving your business. It's absolutely possible, my friend. It's possible for you. And I'd love to continue to help you get there. So grab that book, How to Price Your Art on Amazon or grab the link to the workshop and I'll see you inside. All right. Listen, love you very much. And until next time, remember, You were created to thrive. All right, bye.