Your holidays Speaks Volumes About Your Arts Business

title1Question? Has this ever happened to you? You get to the holiday event, but the food is not quite ready yet. Tv is playing and the small talk begins. How you doing? You rattle off the exciting list of all of your latest ventures. Really? Your friend or family replies. Then they say, “Do you make any money doing that?” or “How do you survive?” You feel all the life rip out of you, especially if your numbers are not where they should be. Even if you do not answer the question you are greeted with job opportunities available at the local grocery store. Still an honest living, but not an honest living you are interested in.

This scenario has frustrated even the most successful artist entrepreneurs for years. If you aren’t winning an Oscar and including that person(s) in the speech you may never be taken seriously. From many the advice would be to ignore, take pride in yourself, just move on. Not me. I am wayy too petty. Just kidding.

My advice is to meet it head on. A medical doctor can talk numbers of the many lives they have saved or promotions. A lawyer shows off by telling how many cases they have won or getting promoted. Your family, friends and most of the world can relate to that. When you are asked these questions the person is really saying: “I have never been taught how money comes from that. Explain it to me. In simple terms.” This is just an opportunity for you to teach and earn in return. How an artist does that is with a media kit or a portfolio. These items speaks volumes on your achievements. Consider it. What do entrepreneurs need the most of? Money and Movement. Money to complete a project. Movement of the material for more people to see it. Repeat. What do clients need? Something to believe in. A visual. If you use the month before the holidays (there are at least 4 major ones that grab our attention) to create a lookbook where people can see what you do. If they can learn how to contribute, to share or understand how getting involved would be beneficial the support should come..

Now, I can not help you with the one aunt that is just….ugh! But there is that one uncle that will surprise you by shutting her down and show off your work. You might even get some leads from it. At the very least, you can enjoy the food in peace. Now, the conversation about you having kids?