Mail call! Why you may want a mailbox away from home…
By “away” I don’t mean in another country, state, county or even town… I just mean a place other than your front door.
“But Tara, that would cost money and I’d have to go and check the mail” you say?
I know. I know. It took me 6 years to take the plunge and pay for a little box in a nearby UPS Store. But I’d like to share the reasons why it might be a good idea for you to do it as well.
SAFETY. Perhaps you want to keep your home address private so when you become a big, well-known artist your groupies will have a harder time finding you.
INTERNET BUSINESS. It was when I started doing my online business that I finally got a mailbox. I had been thinking about it (for reason #1) but hadn’t taken action. When I needed to accept credit cards online it was required that I have a physical mailing address.
My first instinct was to head to the post office and get a P.O. Box. But then I remembered a conversation I had a few years ago with a friend who chose to get a box at a local Mailboxes, Etc. store. Not only could you receive mail from the post office, but they would sign for and hold packages from UPS, FedEx and the like as well. Can’t do that with a P.O. Box!
So I headed over to the UPS Store near me (I chose it because I really like the owners and it is the closest place with good parking) and got a box.
Since I’d had my home address on business cards for years, I can’t really change everything over so my box gets cob webs at times. But it has been great when I order something that needs a signature, or something that I don’t want sitting on my front step. You also save that extra $1 or so they charge when delivering to a home, rather than a business address.
I consider it money well spent. You might too. I just thought I’d share some things to consider if you want to separate your business and personal mail.
Here’s to checks in the mail!
~ Tara
The New York Times talks about licensing…
Remember last week when I was telling you about Google Alerts? Have you set any up? I know it is one (or more) more email in your inbox but you can find things you wouldn’t have stumbled across before.
Here is a case in point — yesterday I got a Google Alert for “art licensing” — several things, many not of any great interest. But there was one article that caught my eye.
The New York Times did a story in their “Shifting Careers” section called “Turning Art into a More Lucrative Career Choice”. Read the article
The talk about what we talk about — dis-connecting the words “starving” and “artist”. Looking at art and selling art differently.
I think it is wonderful to have someone like the New York Times talking about art licensing… it brings more understanding and awareness.
So read the article. And try a Google Alert — I never would have found this information without it!
~ Tara
It's a "thankful" time of year…
With Thanksgiving upon us, I thought it would be a good time to put some of my ‘gratitudes’ out in the universe.
As I wake up each morning, in that space between sleep and my feet hitting the floor, I have made it a habit to think of the many things I have to be grateful for in my life. It really helps keep things in perspective, I highly recommend it!
Here is my list for today, as they come to me while I type:
- my fabulous son – how lucky am I that he’s mine!
- my ‘boyfriend’ Craig – again, I’m SO very lucky!
- a wonderful support system of positive-minded people — friends, family, neighbors and more
- YOU! The artists reading my blog, chatting with me on Twitter, allowing me to share the ‘stuff’ in my head and heart.
- my clients — who allow me to share my art with the world in new and fun ways each day
- my teachers who have and continue to teach me new skills, expand my mind and challenge me to try new and sometimes scary things. It has always been worth it!
- my trainer, who has pushed me to really commit to getting in shape & having a more healthy lifestyle.
- my creativity and passion – I am thankful every day that I know what makes me feel alive and that I have the opportunity to do it each and every day!
- technology — I marvel at how my life has changed in 10 years with advances in technology — especially opportunities to create and connect online
- Portland — I LOVE where I live! It is so green and beautiful. Even if it is a bit “damp” for many, I chose this as my home and can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.
- My home, my studio, my Honda – the material “stuff” that gives me shelter, takes me places, brings me comfort and just plain makes me smile!
OK… going to stop before I make myself cry from all the things I have to be thankful for. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, share it with those you love, celebrate the way you choose and most importantly, take a few minutes to reflect on all that you have to be thankful for.
~ Tara
P.S. Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart, for reading and interacting with me about all things. I am looking forward to more exciting adventures together in the coming months… are you ready?
What do I know about selling art in Galleries?
Absolutely nothing! Nada! Zip! Zilch!
HOWEVER… I discovered an eBook that gave me a better understanding of how to sell in galleries, through exhibitions, making your own art prints and more. The Complete Artist’s Success Guidebook. I was thrilled to read the book and even happier to become an affiliate.
Richard Robinson has put together a great resource at an amazing price — for only $37 you can’t go wrong with the information and insights in his book. (I think he should charge more but since I want you to get a good deal – I won’t push him on the issue.)
From Personal to Business development, Richard offers great ideas and resources. His background as a graphic designer shines through when he gives advice about creating a website. And if you really want to know, he tells you “How to Never Succeed as an Artist” at the end. I’m going to skip that and take the fork in the road to “Success” thank you very much!
Enough of my chatter… if you want to see if these strategies would work for you and your art, click here.
Have a creative day and keep an open mind… who knows how many ways you can make a living with your art! Here’s to your continued success…
~ Tara
I assume you "Google" but do you get "Google Alerts"?
I recently learned about Google Alerts and thought I’d share.
My client /now friend who wrote the “Fred the Fish and the Sqaush that goes Squish” book that I illustrated turned me onto Google Alerts. His company, Brainfood Garden, is a publisher and re-seller of nutrition related books. They primarily sell to schools but are extending into other distribution methods as well. He was telling me how he set up a Google Alert for “nutrition” and “nutrition in schools”.
Each day, he will receive an email from Google with anything possibly related to his keywords. All he has to do is scan, click and he’ll be taken to the content. He has discovered schools receiving grant money to approach, nutrition education standard changes and more.
So how can you use this concept with your art business?
I set up Google Alerts for “art licensing” and “Tara Reed Designs”.
You can have your alerts come in 3 different ways:
- As-it-happens (so anytime Google finds a web post it will tell you immediately)
- Once a Day
- Once a Week
I get my alerts once a day. They don’t come every day, just when Google thinks there is something relevant.
When you get an alert, it can be divided into 2 sections — “News Alerts” and “Blog Alerts” — this quickly shows you if it is a website or news mention or that someone is blogging.
“Why do I want to do this Tara? What will I learn?” you ask? Here is a real life example:
On November 17th, I got the following alert:
I was intrigued by the first entry – the “Artist to Artist Interview” by artist Diane Knott. So I clicked on the link and was very happy to learn all about Diane and Beth Yarbrough. So happy in fact, that I then did a quick blog entry telling you what I had found.
Look what showed up in my alert the next day…
See the last entry? That is a link to my blog about Diane’s blog… talk about viral marketing!
I set up “art licensing” to see what is going on in my main industry and “Tara Reed Designs” to see if anyone is mentioning me or my products online.
Sometimes the alerts are irrelevant — like the time I learned that a woman with the first name of “Tara” in Arkansas filed bankruptcy. Thankfully that didn’t have anything to do with me or my business! My heart went out to her and I moved on with my day. But other times you discover some cool things you may have missed.
So… think about key words you would Google and set up an alert or two. You just might discover something that will help you in your life or your business!
Here’s the place to get started: http://www.google.com/alerts
Have a great day!
~ Tara
PrintSource Show – January '09 Classes
Bundle up because I’m quite sure it will be COLD OUTSIDE!
January 13-15, 2009, I will be trying out a new show: PrintSource at the Hotel Pennsylvania, just across from Penn Station.
But what is this show? I’ve never actually attended but have heard about it. According to the show’s website:
PRINTSOURCE NEW YORK.
THE HOTTEST MARKET FOR TEXTILE AND SURFACE DESIGN IN THE WORLD.
Printsource New York, The Premier Market for Textile and Surface Design in the USA, holds three shows a year at New York’s Hotel Pennsylvania, located in the heart of Manhattan. As the hub for the world’s top creative talent, Printsource showcases hundreds of collections by international textile and surface design studios and agents. England, France, Italy, Spain, Australia and the U.S.A. are just some of the countries featured each season at the Show.
As the first buying stop of the design season, Printsource is the cornerstone event for thousands of apparel, paper goods and home textile manufacturers and retailers.
The January 2009 show will be the first with a dedicated licensing section. They have noticed that some artists and studios have been doing some licensing and not just selling designs outright so they thought they’d see how they could leverage the trend. (Thinking outside the box!)
I was offered the opportunity to teach at the show so I thought I’d step outside my “licensing” box, exhibit and see what the show was about. (I’ll let you know)
On Tuesday, January 13th, I’ll be teaching “How to Get Started in Art Licensing” if you want to join me. The way they run classes is pretty neat – they have a wide variety of topics over 3 days and $100 gets you a pass to any class you want to attend. That is a LOT of education for $100! To see the full schedule and sign up, head to The Future Café (that is what they call it). Pre-register because if you want to pay at the door, the fee goes up to $125.
Hope to see you there!
~ Tara
P.S. If you are at the show, look for me in booth #7!
Licensed Artist Interview Series
I stumbled across a very cool blog post today — and “yipee skipee” it is apparently the first in a series!
Artist Diane Knott has an interview with Beth Yarbrough on her blog. Both are amazingly talented artists who I have admired for a while now and one day, maybe I’ll get to meet them!
Anyway — just a quick post to link you to Diane’s blog in case you want to check it out– it’s worth the time!
Have a wonderfully creative day!
Tara
A different kind of Business book…
My boyfriend is regularly getting on my case to read books “that don’t look like work” and are “just for fun, not expanding your mind”. I love to read but go through phases.
One of my problems is that many times I get so engrossed in “for fun” books that I just can’t put them down! Life stops dead in its tracks so that I can get to the end of the book. I have learned not to start a book like this when I have work that needs to be done by a deadline.
As well, I like reading books about business, artists, personal development… things that will expand my mind, open my eyes to new ways to look at things and help me build my business. While they are helpful, they are usually geared towards larger companies– with say, more than one person. 
Traditional books about starting a building businesses generally have theories, supported by case studies. Helpful, but not page turners.
An interesting opportunity was offered to me through Twitter about 2 weeks ago. (You know how I love Twitter… and this just keeps me all the more thrilled with it!) Gregg Fraley, an author I am following offered bloggers a free copy of his book in exchange for a post. I looked at the book, thought it looked interesting (I wasn’t going to read it just because it was free!) and emailed him. About a week later a signed copy arrived in the mail.
The book is Jack’s Notebook and is “A Business Novel about Creative Problem Solving”.
“Jack’s Notebook” was a very welcome deviation from the norm. With problem solving concepts intertwined within a fictional story– I felt like I was reading for pleasure while learning some new things I can implement in my business.
I also enjoyed the fact that Jack isn’t even in business in the beginning… he is at the ‘what do I want to do’ stage and struggling to pay his bills while working on his dream– something many of us can relate to. Of course I liked that he wanted to be a photographer – as an artist it’s easy to route for a creative underdog!
I ear-marked at least a dozen concepts that I want to go back and review — which to me is the sign of a helpful book. The basic CPS concept of “Quantity gets quality” and not judging your ideas but just letting them all flow is fabulous– I’ve used it in the past and am now reminded to keep using it in the future.
Jack’s Notebook offers a structured system you can implement to any problem or issue — personal or professional. The next time you are feeling lost and not sure what direction to take, give CPS (Creative Problem Solving) a try.
So, my final analysis would be that this is worth the read. I enjoyed the story, how the concepts were demonstrated by the characters and how they explained the concepts of CPS as well.
~ Tara
P.S. Jack gains confidence and takes action as the result of adopting this method of thinking and problem solving — who doesn’t want that?
P.P.S. I know we’ve talked about “thinking outside the box” before as far as marketing and branding — seems Gregg Fraley is doing that by looking to Twitter to expand awareness of his book and reviewer base. What might you do with Twitter?
A cool way to find books at your local store without ever leaving your computer!
While on cloud 9 about being included in Joe Vitale’s new book, Expect Miracles, I learned a very cool new thing! (If you didn’t read my “cloud 9 story and want to, click here)
I wanted a copy of the book… IMMEDIATELY!
But instead of driving from store to store, I thought I’d be smart and call the stores to see if they had any. Save time and gas, right?
I went onto borders.com and clicked on “store locator”. Right by the phone number it said something like, “Check store inventory online”. Huh? Never heard of that!
Unfortunately, they don’t have the book listed so I couldn’t show you how it worked there. But now I knew the feature existed. “Do others do this as well?” I wondered…
So, I moved on to barnesandnoble.com to see if my local store had a copy I could rush over and get this-very-minute-if-not-sooner-thank-you-very-much!
See how when you click on a book, it shows you “Buy it online”, “Buy it used” and “Enter Zip Code”? Totally cool!
Not so cool was the fact they they don’t have them in stock yet either!
The upside to this whole adrenalin rush is that I saved time, saved gas, and have something cool to share that you might not know about.
~ Tara
P.S. I’ll be waiting as patiently as I can for my book to arrive in the mail… hurry Mr. Postman, hurry!
I create miracles… do you?
Will the magic ever end?
I mean really! I’ve been floating on cloud 9 with this news for 3 days now and see no descent in sight.
If you read my blog, you know I’m a big fan of positive thinking, not letting fear control you and taking action to make all your dreams come true.
Well today I’m coming “out of the spiritual closet” once and for all!
Most of my life I have been either non-spiritual or VERY close lipped about my beliefs. I don’t like it when people push religion on me and never want to do that to others. I classify myself as “spiritual, not religious”. Honestly though, I think I’ve been more afraid of being judged as a bit too “out there” with my “hoo-ha” ways of thinking. (Yes, my issues are showing, I know!)
That ends now. Today. This minute. (Ok, a little fear creeps in, even as I type this, but that’s ok — I’ll breathe through it and keep on tapping on the keys.)
The movie “The Secret” became a sensation in 2006 – a friend had me watch it and it’s been a thought expansion ever since. Many roll their eyes when they hear talk of the Law of Attraction or “thoughts become things” but I’m a believer. I do it and it works. Not every time at my whim of course, but I truly believe that what happens is what is meant to happen.
Anyway, I digress. Just thought I’d give you a little primer for my excitement!
I’m a big fan of Joe Vitale’s — he is an excellent writer and marketer and very inspiring on the spiritual and Law of Attraction fronts. I had the honor of meeting him in June and talking with him. He is truly one of the nicest men you could ever meet. He has a very sincere and calm energy about him and walks what he talks.
I submitted a “law of attraction” story of my own when he was looking for them for his new book, Expect Miracles, last spring. Somehow I never found out it had been selected.
My friend told me last week it was finally out and she had her copy. I told her that I sent in a story and was bummed it wasn’t included.
Well, imagine both of our shock when she found herself reading MY STORY in the book!
She said she started reading and thought, “Cool, he knows a woman named Tara too…”
Then as she read further she thought, “WAIT A MINUTE… is it a coincidence that his Tara has a boyfriend named Craig, just like mine?”
Quickly looking to the end of the tale she discovered his Tara and her Tara were one in the same, meaning ME- Tara! She quickly sent me an email, knowing I would probably be asleep when she made the discovery.
So that is why I’m on cloud 9. The somewhat over-the-top nutty story of how I used the “Law of Attraction” to love is printed for all to see in Expect Miracles. (Starting on page 26)
If you read it, I want to tell you — it is ALL TRUE! My sister can confirm our conversation.
What I did in a nutshell can and has helped in business as well.
“ACT AS IF”
Act as if you have the deal you really want. Act as if you are making the income you want. Act as if you can create the art you see in your head.
Now you can’t expect this to happen in 5 seconds, you will have to take action. (Again! Me on the “Take action” soap box!) But you might be inspired to take a different action when you take a Law of Attraction-ish view of things.
Heck! I was inspired to write to Joe Vitale and think my story was worthy of being in his book. I am thrilled that he agreed!
~ Tara
P.S. I hope you have the pleasure of seeing your dreams come true as well… here’s to miracles for everyone!
P.P.S. Joe, if you read this, THANK YOU! For all that you do, the inspiration that you are, and of course, for including me in your book of miracles!
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