How do you define what a successful artist is?
Is it the amount of work you sell or make? Perhaps it’s the new direction that you take with your art and how fulfilling it is for you.
No matter how you define it, here are three components that will help you.
Balance Creativity With Your To-Do List
You likely became an artist because you enjoy your craft and the creative process. There may come a point where you decide there are things you’d like to do that are outside of your studio.
Perhaps you want to participate in a show or be proactive about selling your art. When you decide this, it’s hard to know what you should do and how much time you should spend on the tasks that are outside of the making process.
I am often asked by the artists that work with me, “Am I on track?” and “Am I doing enough of the work that needs to be done outside of the studio to reach my goals?”
You likely know your creative process pretty well and are practiced at spending time creating in your studio. It’s when you think about doing outreach and other next-level things to promote your work that it can feel overwhelming. This is natural because it’s outside of your zone of genius and they don’t teach this at even the best art schools.
The easiest way to know if you’re doing enough to reach your goals is to spend half of your time at the studio and half of your time on all of the other administrative tasks. These may include:
Deciding how much work you want to make and sell this year
Building your community
Communicating with your past, present, and future collectors
Understanding and tracking your income and expenses
Planning shows or gallery exhibits
Social media and email newsletter activities
Administrative work
All of these activities can snowball and make you a successful artist. When you work on this side of the business, you’ll know when you’ve reached your goal and can celebrate!
Create A Flexible Plan
Follow a schedule that is best for your working style and preferences. You don’t need to follow someone else’s recommendation or example of how to spend a certain number of hours writing emails or in the studio, etc.
You get to pick where in your weekly schedule you want to put the administrative tasks as well as the art-making activities.
Perhaps you’ll spend the first two weeks of the month focused solely on making your next body of work. Then focus the last two weeks of the month on sharing that work to find collectors or a place to show it.
Maybe you decide that you want to spend the first half of each day in the studio and the second half working on the business side of your practice.
Follow Your Energy
Everybody is a little different in how they like to manage their creative process. If you take into account your energy levels around making art and working on the business side of things, it’ll be easier to make a schedule that’s ideal for you.
Daily Rhythm
Are you a morning person or a night person?
Do you prefer to get an early start to your day or do you like to sleep late and then work well into the night?
When do you feel you have the best energy levels for making your work and for doing business tasks?
Monthly Energy
How does the moon, your menstrual cycle, or your biology affect your energy throughout the month?
Track your energy throughout the month so you can coordinate your highest energy points with the most important projects.
Seasonal Energy
Notice if you prefer working in the winter versus the summer.
Maybe you’re a teacher and you know you have to do things during the summer breaks.
Paying attention to the seasonality of your schedule can help you plan. For example, if you have allergies in the spring or are a night owl, don’t plan for spring or summer projects. Perhaps the darker days of winter and no pollen will inspire you more.
Whichever sounds most like you, understanding how you work best can help align your energy level with the appropriate projects.
The Best Of Both Worlds
It’s important to be flexible and in-tune with your creative energy. Balancing both art-making as well as paying attention to the administrative and marketing sides of your business will help you be a successful artist.
If you feel overwhelmed by planning your year, connect with me and I’ll help you create a draft.