What art businesses today can learn from the US Revolutionary War
As I watched Episode 2 of the “America: The Story of Us” on the History Channel, my business brain started to kick in. Not only did I learn new things about the Revolutionary War that I didn’t know before, I started to see how the tactics used by the ‘rebels’ could serve business owners well. I assure you many liberties are being taken in this comparison – I’m going on what I recall and my impressions – forgive me if they are skewed. It’s the analogy that matters.
Let me set the scene…
It’s 1773, there is a Tea Party in Boston (the original, not the remakes going on now) and we are tired of taxation without representation. By 1776, the people of the colonies grab whatever weapon they can muster and decide they’re through and they want to be independent. (Pretend they are artists and they don’t want to ‘work for the man – they want to go into business for themselves.)
The Red Coats are highly trained soldiers. They have systems, structure and certain ways things are done. Battles are fought in fields. You don’t shoot the leaders. Certain protocol is followed. The Red Coats are like big corporations.
Well the rebels, I’ll call them US soldiers, decide they can’t win if they play by the rules. They have to make up their own rules. (Like we self-employed artists do.)
The US soldiers use new tactics: snipers and sharp shooters. They kill the Indian guides so the red coats don’t know the terrain. Then they take out the leaders so there is chaos. They learn new techniques and train. Bayonettes come from France and change the way they can fight on the battlefield.
Most importantly, the US soldiers REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to be free.
They want it enough to survive crazy conditions. They want it more than the British want to keep paying for a war across the ocean. More than the soldiers want to be beat up by farmers. They want it and they fight till Britain says UNCLE.
So what can artists learn from this?
- You have to REALLY, REALLY, REALLY want to succeed and be willing to do WHATEVER IT TAKES. No giving up because it’s easier to go sell coffee at the closest Starbucks and heck, they have benefits for part-time workers.
- You have to know your strengths and how to capitalize on them.
- You have to be willing to learn new things and adapt to what is going on in the present.
- You have to be willing to try and fail – George Washington knew he had to lose many battles to win the war. How much are you willing to lose and get back up again, fighting for your dream?
- We should be grateful that no matter what is going on, we aren’t surviving Valley Forge in the dead of winter with no shoes, a smallpox outbreak and little shelter.
The US soldiers fighting for independence were willing to commit, adapt, learn and persevere. Are you?
I am! Here’s to your creative success and doing whatever it takes to get there!
– Tara Reed
P.S. While watching, this song kept going through my head! What a fun Saturday morning memory of School House Rock in between cartoons!
Live Learning Opportunities at SURTEX
If you will be at SURTEX or live within shooting distance of New York City – I recommend you take a look at the conference program offered during the SURTEX show. Details from the SURTEX website:
The SURTEX 2010 Conference Program – “The NEW Reality of Art Licensing & Sales: Strategies for Business Prosperity in a Tough Economy” – will offer 11 sessions essential to professional development in the areas of art licensing, business, technology, marketing, trend and more.
A full conference program package is $700, and a half-program package of 5 sessions is $300. Individual sessions are $75 in advance and $85 onsite. A full conference program package includes a free badge, giving you access to the Show floor. Please note that Conference registration is separate from Show registration. Full and half conference packages are available only in advance of the Show. Once the Show has opened, individual session registrations will be accepted pending space availability.
All sessions will take place in Room 1A04/5, Level 1, of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Of course, I’d love to see you in my class!
I will be part of a panel of 3 for a class based on my eBook:
How to Find, Interact & Work with Manufacturers who License Art
Sunday May 16, 2:00-3:00 pm
Whether you go it alone or have an agent, the most vital part of your business success revolves around the licensees you sign. With so many product categories and so many different requirements, you need to understand how to navigate the world of manufacturers. Presenters will provide keen ‘soup to nuts’ insight on how to maximize licensing relationships – from the artist, agent and manufacturer perspectives.
I’m excited about it since people who attend will get the “she said, he said, she said” experience from three people with three perspectives in the industry. Cool!
Speakers:
Tara Reed – Artist & Designer / Tara Reed Design Inc.
Steve Harris – Founder / Harris-Sachs LLC
Susan January – Vice President of Product Management at Leanin’ Tree
CLICK HERE to go to the SURTEX website, see all 11 classes being offered and register today!
Maybe I’ll see you in the Big Apple in a few weeks!
– Tara Reed
Are you true to your audience? Lesson learned from Sunday Night TV…
I admit it. I like to veg out in front of the tv on Sundays and get my share of drama. I avoid suburb drama like the plague in real life but Desperate Housewives have been a Sunday-staple for years. Of course I relate to Susan the most (the artist) even though I’m a bit less clumsy about how I go through my daily life. Bree is just a smidge too together – wound up like a coil ready to SNAP at any moment… great business she has going though! I wish I had a studio the size of her kitchen… woo-wee!
Last night, they broke their contract with me.
I realize that there had been some odd, evil things going on on Wisteria Lane and they were going to have to tie up the “who tried to strangle Julie” plot line at some point… but yikes! I think they borrowed the writers from Dexter for that hour of darkness. I didn’t like it – not one bit! It was too far from what I have come to expect and if they keep it up, I’ll stop watching.
I had an inspiration while explaining the situation to a friend – there is a lesson in here for us!
Are you keeping your “contract” with your clients and end consumers?
In Paul Brent’s branding teleseminar he talks about building and being true to your brand. Not building an expectation and then going off and creating in left field. He should know, he’s built quite a brand! To my way of seeing things, Desperate Housewives did just that – they went off into evil land and they better fix it, quick! (In this loyal viewers humble opinion of course.)
Just a little food for thought I felt compelled to share… think about your art brand like a tv show and make sure your audience is getting what they expect. THAT is the key to success!
– Tara Reed
Don’t Miss Laura Bray’s eCourse: Multiple Streams of Income
I had to share this amazing course – and not just because I did the content about Art Licensing… 
Laura Bray has gathered an amazing roster of artists making money in various ways with their art – it’s like a smorgasbord of opportunity. So if you are looking at all your options and trying to decide where your art fits best – take a serious look at this program.
– Tara
Multiple Streams of Income: An Online Course
May 3-15, 2010
Attention Artists and Crafters!
• Are you struggling to make a living doing what you love?
• Do you feel like you are working all the time and getting nowhere?
• Do you feel overwhelmed and confused about all the ways artists and crafters can make money?
• Are you always jumping from one idea to the next without following through on anything?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, this online course is designed for you!
Laura Bray, an artist with an M.B.A., will teach you how to create income by doing what you love. Specifically designed for the creative personality, this online course will teach you how to develop a successful business and how to have fun while you do it!
In this course, you will:
• Learn that creating multiple streams of income is the fastest way to reach your financial goals while making a living a doing what you love.
• Learn how to leverage your artwork and projects to make money for you over and over.
• Learn how to create passive income. You can be independently employed, go on vacation, and still make money!
• Find out the many ways an artist or crafter can make money from their art. You probably haven’t even thought of some of them!
• Learn from experts in creative income areas such as, making money from your blog, designing products for manufacturers, teaching and more!
• Create a personalized work plan, outlining your income choices and the steps you need to take to make your plan a reality.
You won’t want to miss this unique opportunity! Here’s what’s included in your online course:
- Access to the private, online community on the Ning network.
- 7 Lesson Plans about the various income choices you have as an artist/crafters
- Live chats with experts in: Blogging, Product Design and Print On-Demand
- Blog posts from experts in art licensing, children’s book illustration, selling online and teaching.
- A free copy of Laura Bray’s ebook, Multiple Streams of Income: Getting Started.
Chats are live and are scheduled on various days at 4:30pm PST. The chats will not be archived, so must be online for the chats in order to participate in this portion of the ecourse.
This retreat is being offered at only $32. This is an incredible deal that you don’t want to let pass by.
GO TO LAURA’S BLOG AND SIGN UP NOW
FTC disclosure: I receive a small amount for each student who enrolls in exchange for my contribution to the course.
FAQ: What Do you Mean by an “Art Collection”?
Continuing to build the FAQ page, I was surprised to see that I had never actually ‘blogged’ about this topic. We have covered it numerous times in Ask Calls but not in print. So here is what it means when someone talks about a “collection” in art licensing.
In art licensing, manufacturers usually want to see groups, or collections, of art more than stand alone pieces.
How an artist goes about creating these collections seem to fall into two categories – those who take a ‘fine art approach’ – creating painting that could be put in a frame and hung on the wall. The type of art that easily lends itself to gallery sales, for example. The other way is to start with icons and build to a scene or image digitally. Art can either be done by hand or completely digitally – there are both types of artists successfully licensing their work.
Artists who paint completed images use four coordinating pictures as the building blocks of a collection. For example, four different but coordinating snowman paintings would make up a winter or holiday collection. The artist could make the collection more easily applied to products by creating coordinating borders and repeat patterns, using elements from the four base images, to fill out the collection.
An alternate way of creating art collections is to start with individual icons as the building blocks. The icons can then be combined to create scenes (similar to the four painted images above), borders and repeat patterns.
Creating collections means thinking about the bits and pieces a manufacturer would need to create a product. When manufacturers see that you understand and can provide what they need, you are more likely to get an art licensing deal.
– Tara Reed
P.S. To learn more about the basics of Art Licensing and decide if it might be a fit for you and your art, I recommend you take a look at the “Beginner Basics Audio” or the eBook, “How to Get Started in Art Licensing”.
Here’s what we covered on the April “Ask Tara Reed” call… were you on the line?
Another great call is completed – thanks go out to everyone who submitted questions because as I say every month - YOU create the content. So do you want to know what we talked about? Here’s the run-down…
The burning art licensing questions covered…
- Starting out, is it better to have an agent?
- How long should it take to get feedback for art submissions?
- How much art should I have on a website before trying to find an agent?
- How many collections should I have before approaching a manufacturer?
- Can I show past work I’ve done for clients to prospects or do I need my own collections to offer for licensing?
- How and what do you paint each day?
- What was your biggest lesson learn when you started?
- Do you ever “give up” on a potential client?
- How important is showing product vs art at a trade show?
- Please explain “Direct to Retail” licensing
- Where do you think art licensing will be in 10 years?
- Should you avoid worldwide contracts at all costs?
- What file formats do I save art in and do I send it to licensees on CD?
We got social again – it was fun to watch people tweet on Twitter and post on the Facebook Fan Page while I talked – interesting to see what strikes a chord! Here are some excerpts -
Excellent audio stream! Microscope or binoculars, agent or no agent, numero 12 items in portfolio a good number. Thank you!
I always learn something new in these ASK calls!
Biggest Lesson learned early in art licensing @ArtistTaraReed #1 Never give up for more than half a day.
The personal experience about the company she has been sending post cards to since 2005 and just started working with 6 months ago is inspiring.
Listening to the Art Licensing call with artist Tara Reed and Kim the WordPress gal. WordPress is great by the way. Looking forward to her interview and will have some questions for her then.
Thanks, Tara, for a GREAT call! Fun to tweet with the group, too!
Great! As always, powerful questions and answers! I can’t wait till next month!
If you missed the call, the audio replay is now available to purchase.
The cost? A mere $15 through May 1st and then it goes to a whopping $25. Have you looked at the cost of live classes? This is a deal… no, a steal! Get your copy today!
(Plus, to be honest, selling some audios helps offset the cost of creating the infrastructure and time spent on these calls so … much appreciated!)
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Wondering who is up next?
May 26, 2010 www.AskPaulBrent.com
June 16, 2010 www.AskAboutWordPressForArtists.com
The April Ask Call is tonight – will you be joining us?
Well lucky me… I get to follow the Mary Engelbreit call! 
An artist could be intimidated by that… I was when I first realized who I was following. But since I’m very good at finding the silver lining in most things, I decided it was all good. Last month you heard from a woman who has been licensing her art for 30 years… tonight you get me – going on 7 years and much closer to the day-to-day activities of building a newer business.
I’ve decided that that is the beauty of what we are building with the monthly Ask Call series: a variety of perspectives and stages in the business.
Last month was great when many of you “Got Social”. The interaction and feedback was great so I’ve decided we should keep up the trend. Here are the details again… CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF TO PRINT OUT AND HAVE HANDY
Let’s get social tonight!
Here’s how it can work on Twitter:
- During the call, add #ask to any tweets about the call.
- If Mary says something quotable or that makes you go “A-HA!” – then tweet it! (don’t forget to add #ask)
- If you use TweetDeck, or HootSuite – set up a column to track #ask so you can see and interact with others who are on the call. You might make new friends – I always do! Just remember to set up your columns to track the hash tag (#ask) BEFORE the call starts so you aren’t in a panic!
- If you want to make sure I see a tweet, be sure to include @ArtistTaraReed – but I’ll be checking the #ask stream after the call.
If you prefer Facebook:
- Login to facebook and go to the ArtLicensingInfo fan page.
- Start talking. Just like on Twitter, if you hear something that makes you go “A-HA!” – add it! Comment on what other people are saying. Get to know your fellow licensed artists.
- One advantage to Facebook is that the stream stays – it doesn’t limit you to 140 characters and people can go back to it later – almost like group class notes.
I hope you can make it – the call is free if you listen live. If you can’t make it, don’t worry. The audio replay will be a mere $15 through May 1st and $25 after that.
Here’s to talking business!
– Tara Reed
P.S. To see a list of all the past call audios – free and for a small fee – be sure to visit www.ArtLicensingInfo.com/audio-archives.html
P.P.S. Plan ahead for May! Paul Brent will be doing the May call on Wednesday the 26th – the week after SURTEX. We’ll have a short show recap and questions. Head to www.AskPaulBrent.com to submit your questions anytime.
FAQ: How Much Can an Artist Make Licensing Their Art?
or…
“Show me the money!”
Of course it is a good idea to decide if working towards licensing your art will give you the income results you are looking for, right? Unfortunately, I don’t have a definitive way to answer this question.
Every business will have different results so I can safely say between $0 and millions.
Of course I’m often asked for a better, more “standard” range than that. Well… I don’t know.
While people looking for a traditional job can go online and see statistics about average salaries, most artists who license their work are in business for themselves, so these statistics don’t exist. Add to that the fact that two artists could bring in identical royalties and have very different expenses based on how they run their businesses, that what they actually “make” would be quite different.
According to License! Global Magazine, the art licensing industry as a whole (art, tv, movie, entertainment, sports…) accounts for $187.2 billion worldwide. (April 2010 source: http://digital.licensemag.com/nxtbooks/advanstar/license0410/#/40)
The fact of the matter is, how well you can do depends on how well your art fits the market, how well you market your art and how patient and consistent you are. One thing we can agree on, this isn’t ‘quick & easy’ money.
But there is money to be made, I just can’t tell you how much your share will be.
– Tara Reed
P.S. To learn more about the business side of art licensing, I recommend you take a look at the eBook, “How to Find, Interact and Work with Manufacturers Who License Art.”
The Art Licensing Info Road Map is here!
Are you confused about what we have to offer and where to begin?
I’ve suspected this could be true because I find myself answering many emails asking where to begin. I received recently a direct message on Twitter: I know you have a lot of amazing stuff on your site…but where should I start…I want to start art licensing….
I’ve come up with a solution – The Art Licensing Info Road Map. This pdf has clickable links to the many options for learning about art licensing and connecting with others. As new things are added, I’ll update the map.
I’ve create a ROAD MAP and divided it into four sections
- Free Resources for any level of artist…
- I’m new to art licensing…
- This sounds interesting…
- I’m getting down to business…
So download the road map and see if you’ve missed anything!
As I say in The Goal Wheel for Artists™, “You can’t tell if you are making progress if you don’t know where you are going”. How can you know if you are getting all the information and resources available to you about art licensing if you aren’t sure what they all are and when you might choose to look at each?
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
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