Have you guys seen these redbox DVD rental booths around? In Oregon you can find them at many McDonald’s and Albertsons Stores. Some Safeway stores too I believe.

It’s a pretty sweet deal… You can rent new DVDs for $1 / day — they have a touch screen and you scroll through and see what they have in the box. It changes because you don’t have to return a DVD to the same box it came from, any ol’ box will do!

If you get your movie back by 9 pm the next day, you only pay $1.

Now here is where I’m starting to see a problem. See how many touch screens there are? Only 1. This is gaining in popularity at my McDonald’s and the other day I had to wait 10 mins. to return my movie because the guy picking a movie couldn’t decide what he wanted to watch.

Very cool deal, but as more people use it, it will get more frustrating. I assume the redbox people thought of that and decided that for $1, their customer will wait and be patient. We’ll see how it goes.

That got me pondering business and growth. Thinking ahead. 2 main things kill a business: no business or too much too fast.

As an artist, have you considered what you would do if you had the ‘too much too fast’ problem? It’s something to think about as you work so you don’t run yourself into the ground. Here are a few ideas for the day you have more work than you can handle:

1. Get help! Do the part you have to do and hire people to help with some of the routine things. Maybe someone can help with your website, press releases, even some of the graphic design/layout work. Don’t think the big artists are doing everything themselves– they have employees helping this process along!

2. Get organized. Be sure to build systems early on to organize your art (create a code system), your contacts and your follow-up.

3. Get rest. I can tell you first hand that if you work too hard too long you will come to a point where you are just too tired to do your best creative work. Give yourself permission to sleep, relax and have non-work related fun. When you love what you do, this can be the biggest challenge of all!

That’s what I’m thinking about today — now back to my paint brushes. Have a creative day!
~ Tara