A year of “Daylite” and how it has improved my business
It’s been a year since my big search for a better way to track licensees, potential licensees, mailing lists, email interactions and more… after many Google searches and Twitter inquiries, I discovered Daylite software from Marketcircle*. A Mac application, the PC equivalent would be ACT.
How has Daylite helped my business?
- I no longer have to manually move emails to folders to track communication with people and companies. If a contact is in Daylite and linked to their email, any correspondence in or out, is automatically recorded. So if I wonder when I last emailed a client and what I sent, I simply look at the activity for that person. So more organized, less time.
- People are connected to companies and categorized as I wish. I have a “Manufacturer” list that gets moved to mailing labels for semi-annual postcards. If a person doesn’t need a postcard, they are on the “Manufacturer – no mailing” list. Organize people and companies however you want – quickly and easily.
- My calendar is in Daylite and I can link to people and profiles. So no need to re-type info, just hit a “+” button, connect to the person and the info trail is made for you.
- I use the Daylite Touch feature so I can sync to my iPhone as well. Handy for appointments set outside the office. While it is only me now, if I were to grow and different people were adding things to the calendar, we could all stay sync’d through the web. Cool!
- I organize art submissions and task lists for specific companies and events. There are some licensees I work with on an ongoing basis. Instead of searching through all the emails to see what art I have submitted, I can create a note where I keep a running list. I keep a list of articles I publish on art licensing. I have a checklist of things to do to prepare for trade shows. Whatever you want to track, you can, in a variety of ways but all in one place.
Those are the first things that come to mind, there are probably more. But this I know for sure: I have better control of my information flow and calendar than I did before using more disjointed systems. More control with less effort means more time to paint, call licensees, find new business… heck, even take some time for myself!
As you grow your business, add systems and software that will help you become more productive.
Great systems make you more productive with less effort and in less time.
Equally important, I discovered Matthew Bookspan – a Daylite Elite Partner who helped me get setup and get the program organized and working for my business. Now I have no vested interest in constantly telling you about Matthew (as in I get no free products or compensation) but I really feel he was a great investment. I’m quite sure that if I ordered the software online and installed it myself, I wouldn’t be using it to it’s fullest potential. By getting help, I spent a little money but reap the benefits in my business every day.
I thought my 1 year anniversary of Daylite was a great time to revisit this system that has me smiling and moving forward.
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. In case you missed this video in the fall, here’s more info about Daylite:
FTC Disclosure: The Daylite link is Matthew Bookspan’s source link – I’ve been so happy with his service that I want Daylite to know how much interest he is generating. 
More great art licensing advice from Paul Brent
Once again, Paul Brent proved why he is so successful at art licensing. Not only is he a talented artist, but also very savvy about the business side of things as well. We had over 125 artists listen live – the SURTEX show and trend review was the hit of the evening!
Here is what we covered on the May 26, 2010 Ask Paul Brent call
- SURTEX review
- Can you show your work at a trade show without having a booth?
- Is it really worth it to pay all the $ to exhibit at an art licensing trade show?
- How do you decide if and when to exhibit at an art licensing trade show?
- Do I have to work digitally to succeed in art licensing?
- What is your opinion of allowing manufacturers to show your work around before committing to it?
- How do you adapt your art to trends while maintaining your brand?
- How do you approach the design process?
- How do you organize your day?
- Do you use the same images from collection to collection or always have all new?
- What is the best licensing advice anyone ever gave you?
The mp3 audio replay will be a mere $15 through June 5th and $25 after that. As an added bonus, when you buy the mp3 you will also get a PDF of Paul’s SURTEX Wrap-Up and trend review – cool, huh? We appreciate your support in purchasing these calls – it helps us continue to attract and create the great content artists have come to love and expect each and every month!
Thanks for another great call Paul!
– Tara Reed
What’s coming up soon…
June 16th Ask Call: www.AskAboutWordPressForArtists.com
Next week, Wednesday June 2nd - don’t forget about the free product demo – GridIron Flow Workflow Management Software. Zero commitment to come and learn about it!
Wednesday, June 9th – If you couldn’t make the live class, I’ll be doing a teleseminar through Artist Career Training on June 9th – CLICK HERE for all the details.* (this is my affiliate link and how I get compensated for doing the class)
A peek at SURTEX
Paul Brent and I will be doing a recap of SURTEX on the Ask Paul Brent call tomorrow night (Wed, 5/26) – will you be listening? We have the questions all organized and will get to as many as we can in the hour. As usual, artists have submitted some great questions so it will be another info-packed call. If you don’t have the dial-in details, head to www.AskPaulBrent.com to register. (Just put “no question” in the form, give us your name and email and we’ll get you the details for the call.)
Here’s a quick video I did if you want to see what booth setup looks like in the meantime.
Let’s keep getting social!
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.
Here are the details again… CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD A PDF TO PRINT OUT AND HAVE HANDY
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 June 5th 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 June! Kim Beasley, the WordPress Lady, will be doing the June call on Wednesday the 16th. Head to www.AskAboutWordPressForArtists.com to submit your questions anytime.
What does boiling water have to do with using an art coach?
To boil water, you have to get the temperature to 212 degrees… period. End of story. No water boils and 100, 150 or 200… you have to get to 212. But does everyone use the same method to get there? Nope!
One person might put water in a metal bowl, on top of their car in the desert sun assuming it will boil in no time it’s so blasted hot. (I’d probably try that!)
Another will use the microwave. Some won’t go near microwaves because it changes the molecular structure of things too much.
In this video clip, I use the analogy of a traditional tea kettle placed on a stove top and an electric kettle that plugs into the wall. No molecular difference in the water – both methods will make the water boil.
The difference is HOW LONG IT TAKES.
The tea kettle took 7 minutes to boil my water. Electric Kettle? Just under 3.
So the question I pose is this: Are you building your business with a traditional tea kettle or an electric tea kettle?
Both will get you where you want to go, but one takes twice as long.
The “Traditional Tea Kettle” route is to learn what you can and go it alone. Trial and error, you doing all the work, analyzing and strategizing.
The “Electric Kettle” method of speeding up the process involves consulting a coach. Someone who has already been where you are and has experience to guide you and make sure you are going in the right direction. Someone to give you feedback and suggestions. You might just check in with a coach once, or every few months. Others choose to work with a coach on an ongoing basis.
If you want to jump-start your business or consult an artist in the industry to see what they think of your plan, consider our coaching services. Paul Brent and Jill Seale and I (Tara Reed) all currently offer hourly and 6 hour coaching services. We each have a different background and experience in the industry. We have different personalities. (Although we believe we are all delightful!)
To learn more about each coach’s background and rates, visit www.ArtLicensingInfo.com/coaching.html
Here’s to your creative success – however you choose to build it!
– Tara Reed
P.S.I have to say I need to get some lights! Please excuse the poor lighting in my kitchen – we did our best to avoid the light from the windows but it’s still a bit dim… after several tries we went with the “done is better than perfect” philosophy – oh, and the fact that Craig said his arm was going to want overtime if I made him hold the camera any longer!
Facebook – if you have a fan page, have you registered a good url?
I’ve talked about this before… back in June when they launched the ability to register a username and in September. But I seem to be sending people to the September post a bit lately so I’ve decided it’s time to let it “float to the top” and repost it.
Facebook fan pages can be a great way to connect and build community.
Let’s face it, these days you have to offer your information in several ways and several formats so people can consume it how and where they want to. That’s why I have a blog, a bi-monthly eNewsletter, a forum, a YouTube channel and yes… a Facebook fan page.
As my friends online create fan pages, I keep saying, “Now that you have 25 fans, have you registered a better url?” Of course you can use a budurl, tinyurl or other url compression to make something easier to share, but wouldn’t it be better to have a cool “facebook.com/YOURNAME” url? (The answer is yes…)
SO… here is how you do it. In chunks from past posts…
(excerpt from the June 23rd post…)
Last week Facebook made it easier for people to share their Facebook pages… assuming you grab your name!
Having the joy of sharing a name with an actress presents some issues for me… I can’t get www.TaraReed.com so I had to go with TaraReedDesigns.com. And forget getting my name on Twitter or Facebook either. So I’ve become “ArtistTaraReed” and am using that consistently across social media platforms. I’m now quite happy with it since it makes it quite obvious what I do!
Before the change, this is what people had to type in or link from to find me on Facebook:
http://profile.to/artisttarareed/
http://apps.facebook.com/webaddress/artisttarareed
(end of the June 23rd excerpt)
(here is the Sept 9th post in it’s entirety…)
Way back in June, which is like the 80′s in ‘internet time’, you could do this for yourself. That was all I had and all I really cared about at the time. (you know, back in the 80′s)
But NOW I’m getting on board with ‘fan pages’. Continuing my ‘separation of church and state’ (you might recall I now have a separate YouTube channel just for Art Licensing Info)
I decided to set up two: one for Art Licensing Info (this may replace the ning forum… or not replace it but I might HIGHLY recommend everyone go over there… more on that in another post) and one for fans of my art (Tara Reed Designs.)
But there is a catch to registering a username with Facebook – you have to have at least 25 fans before they let you do it.
So here is what you need to do, as best as I can remember.
Creating a “Fan Page” is just like creating your own page. But you create it for your business. (And you have to have a personal page to get a fan page – login information is the same.) Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/advertising/?pages
(don’t worry – they won’t ask you to open your wallet unless you want to do those little ads down the right hand side of Facebook when you are logged in.)
Click on the Green “Create a Page” button in the upper right. You might want to read through the ‘how-to’ as well. Maybe even bookmark it.
Set up the basics. The “Who”, “What” and “Why”. Make sure you become a fan of your page so it can be found.
Add a link on your personal page. I understand that business pages are a way of letting people know about your business without being your personal ‘friend’ on Facebook, but two things may be true. First, you may already have a cloudy line and have lots of business people as friends. Second, some of your friends (or their friends) may also be interested in your business. So I say, make sure there is somewhere for anyone on your personal page to know about your business page.
To do this, I added links in the “info” box below my photo and all the “contact”, “message”, and “poke” me links. Since your link will have both words and lots of numbers until you can register a better looking username, I put the long url in at http://www.tinyurl.com to create a shortcut.
Now go find some fans. At least 25 to be exact. That is the first magic number because then you can grab the special url.
I found that the ‘ethical bribe’ method got me to 25 fans in 6 hours. (If you missed it, sorry! Maybe next time.) I gave a discount coupon and artists came running. I advertised it on Facebook (of course) and Twitter (again, of course).
Once I had collected my fans and sent out my coupon codes, it was time to register the name. Go to:
http://www.facebook.com/username/
If you already registered your personal name like I did back in June, the screen will look like mine above and say “Your user name has been set”. If not, that is where you can start.
But now that I had my 25 business and art fans, I clicked on the “Set a user name for your pages”. The drop down showed me the pages I owned and if I had the requisite 25, I could pick a name, say I was sure it was the name I wanted (you can’t change them later) and I was all set!
That’s it. Now I just need to add the parts and pieces I want to the pages. I’ve already linked the associated blogs. (I’ll blog about how to do that another day. One thing at a time.)
SO… if you are reading this blog, you just might be interested in becoming a fan here:
www.Facebook.com/ArtLicensingInfo
If you are a fan of my art and want to know what I’m up to on that side of things, I’m at:
www.Facebook.com/TaraReedDesigns.com
I hope this helps! Here’s to your creative success and your successful navigation of pages and name registration on Facebook.
– Tara Reed
Why the Ning Forum will be closing…
About a year ago I took a poll to see if we really needed this forum or if we could use the Facebook fan page. Many here liked that it was not part of the more visible FB platform and asked to keep the forum.
Now Ning is going to be charging for the forums. I simply can’t justify paying for more ‘free’ services so I will be closing the forum on June 15th, Ning becomes fee based in July. I also spend an inordinate amount of time getting rid of Canadian drug and porn “members” who try to join this forum – to the tune of 100-300 per week!
If you’d like to read about Ning’s decision to make the change, CLICK HERE. As they so eloquently put it, “eyeballs don’t pay the bills”.
Every business needs to take time to evaluate whether the free services they provide are generating enough revenue by leading to sales of products, affiliate promotions, etc – ArtLicensingInfo.com is no different. The cost of free needs to be offset by sales – or I need to spend more time on my art which means less free… it’s all a balance!
There have been some great discussions and exchanging of ideas on the forum – but they can be done on Facebook as well. I encourage you to join the Art Licensing Info page and use it to ask questions and share ideas.
www.Facebook.com/ArtLicensingInfo
I posted the basics on the Ning site and one concern was about Facebook being too much of an open forum and giving too much information to advertisers.
Here is my understanding of how your information is used with advertisers on Facebook:
FB does share some info with advertisers but only information that you put on your profile. So if you fill out your age, where you live and if you are married or not – advertisers looking for married women of a certain age in your area will be able to target the ads in the right sidebar to you. You don’t get email from advertisers – it is how they generate targeted ad on your pages, instead of the Google AdWords we have here.
You can limit the details you add to your account to protect against that if it concerns you. Personally, I see it as more valuable than a nuisance. For example, I don’t have to look at Dominoe’s pizza ads every day like my 16 year old son says he sees – he is more likely to buy from them than I am so they target him. I think it’s similar to tv commercials you see on different shows – South Park will attract different advertisers than the Golden Girls because a different audience will be watching.
The way Facebook can target ads is also how they are monetizing the site and hopefully won’t have to resort to pulling all free services as Ning has. You simply can’t support a platform on Google Ads.
Also, from my research into ads, FB doesn’t give the average advertiser visibility of the individual – your name for example isn’t given out – just the ability to laser focus demographics. However, an artist shared the link to this article saying that FB will be selling some information so who knows… everyone needs to make the decision for themselves.
Here’s to your creative success!
- Tara Reed
leaving SURTEX
I’m in my hotel by the JFK airport, ready to fly home after my 6th year at SURTEX at 7th year exhibiting at any art licensing show. It’s hard to believe it’s been 7 years! I wanted to jot down some thoughts while they are fresh in my tired mind and promise to blog more details soon!
The show was amazing!
Our booth was busy overall, with some lulls here and there of course. I’ve never been to or heard of a show that was hoping every hour from start to finish! I met with clients and many companies I have never worked with before. Lots of follow-up in my future!
My sister Christine, as always, was an invaluable asset – I don’t know how I’d do it without her! (Thanks again sis!)
I met so many amazing artists – even from as far as Australia – who stopped by to say hi and tell me they read the blog and listen to the monthly Ask Calls. Thank you so much – it is cool to know the information is helpful and inspiring and not just me typing or talking into a void. Also neat to meet so many artists I know from social media!
The class based on my eBook – How to Find, Interact and Work with Artists Who License Art – was a huge success! For the first time in at least 4 years there was a sell-out with 100 people attending. Susan January from Leanin’ Tree and I gave both the artist and manufacturers views of how to best interact with manufacturers and got great feedback.
I was honored to be used as an example of how to use social media by Daniel Schutzsmith in the class about Social Networking – apparently they evaluated my Twitter page and maybe Facebook page? I’m not exactly sure but I was tickled to hear about it! (If you’ve read this blog often you know what a big fan I am of Twitter!)
I’ll write more about the show in the next few days but wanted to share a little before I fly home. If you were at the show – I hope it was a great experience. If you exhibited, I hope you have A LOT to do when you get home! (It’s all in the follow up!) Even with all the capabilities to talk and connect online and by phone, I still contend that face to face from time to time just can’t be beat. If artists who exhibit do well – we all do well and the shows keep giving us the opportunity to meet and connect in person!
I also brought my video camera to the show and got 8 more artist’s Art Licensing Story videos – I’ll be editing and posting them over the next few weeks so stay tuned for more inspirational stories!
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. If you were at SURTEX, feel free to add your impressions and observations in the comments!
P.P.S. If you couldn’t make the live class, I’ll be doing a teleseminar through Artist Career Training on June 9th – CLICK HERE for all the details.* (this is my affiliate link and how I get compensated for doing the class)
Paul Brent’s advice on how to decide what new art collection to do next
A few weeks before SURTEX, I decided I wanted to do “one more collection” for the show… (I ended up doing 3 “last” collections and was laughing at myself by the end of the third!)
All day I was undecided, what theme should I choose? What style? What, what, what…
Somehow I ended up emailing Paul about something and mentioned that I was trying to figure this out and kept changing my mind.
Paul Brent’s suggestion:
“Do a new collection for a theme you have done well with before rather than something new. Then manufacturers have a choice. They can say “no” to one and feel better saying “yes” to the other.”
I liked it and whipped up a new wine collection. I’m loving it and time will tell how it does for licensing…
So the next time you are feeling a little stuck, consider adding to your art offering in a theme you already do well in. Don’t forget to create deep and not just wide – sometimes it’s better to have 5 of one theme than 1 of many…
Thanks for the advice Paul!
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Paul added more detail to his advice in a comment – but I didn’t want you to miss it so here it is:
Maybe I should talk about this a little more. When you are rushed, the last thing I would recommend is to create far from your center. Pick a style and a subject that you are familiar with and give it a new twist, like a new background, new elements to go with the familiar subject, or a different perspective such as from above rather than at eye level.
For example, I always need new shell collections. The last thing we worked on at the studio before coming to Surtex was to create new backgrounds in a new color palette for some shells that I had already painted. They were “new” enough and we got a good response to them with the fresh and updated look and we wrote them for several manufacturers.
My “very new” subjects and styles, things that took a long time to research, draw and paint, I had already finished and we were only adding coordinating patterns and borders. So I had three “new” shell collections for customers to select from rather than the two we had worked on earlier.
P.P.S. Paul will be giving more sage advice on Wednesday, May 26th – have you asked your question? www.AskPaulBrent.com
FAQ: What is the best size to create designs for licensing?
This is an excellent question and one where I have apparently created confusion. The question was submitted for an Ask Call:
What is the best size to create designs in for licensing? In Tara Reed’s e-book she says she puts all her images for a collection on one sheet and scans that into her computer. That seems like the images would be very small. How can I use my existing oil paintings for licensing?
I thought this would be a great place to clarify what I do so you don’t think you have to paint in miniature. First, every artist has a different process and you need to do what works for you. Some art that is licensed started out as large canvas, others did not. If you paint or draw too small, the resolution will suffer and not reproduce well if enlarged.
I have a large format scanner and dislike having to scan art in pieces and get them to go together seamlessly on the computer. It just doesn’t work for me! So I never paint larger than 11 x 15. But I don’t paint full “paintings” either. If I create a holiday scene for example, Santa, the tree and each and every gift are painted and scanned separately then put together in Photoshop. So they may not all be on the same piece of paper to start with. An entire collection of images never fits on a single sheet of watercolor paper.
Bigger is better when dealing with hand painted designs for licensing.
Art can be scaled down and look good but if are enlarged too much, they will get blurry. If you know what the end product will be or have something in mind, I recommend you paint larger than you think the art will need to be. For example, I just took a ruler to a rooster I painted recently – he is 7″ wide by 8″ high – but will probably be about 2″ x 3″ on the final product.
One thing that is certain, you will need to get your art into a digital format if you want to license it. So figure out how you can get it from the easel to pixels in a way that puts your work in its best light!
Here’s to your creative success!
– Tara Reed
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