Letter to a Young Decorative Painter

Letter to a Young Decorative Painter

25 Years of Painting

Recently I received  an email, the gist of which was the following:

Hello Debra,
I had an opportunity to view your website and I love your work. I commend you on your business. I recently began my endeavor in running my own decorative painting business, only to realize I have no idea what I am doing.
I have the creative background as well as sales background, but have no idea how to find clients.  I was part of Home Adviser, but they have no real category for someone with my skills.
What advice would a creative mind and business owner as your self give a fellow creative mind? I was given the advice to contact someone who is in the same industry as myself from another city  and ask questions,  being that I am not your competitor. I look forward to your response.
Respectfully,
Rene

Now, I don’t know how old in human years Rene is, but I do know that he has just begun his professional journey as a decorative painter, and thus is a “young” one, in terms of business years!

Here is what I emailed back to Rene, with a few additions and modifications, to make it  more useful for You.  It was interesting to review what I have done over the years to create, sustain and build my business, and how much it does take!  I realized this list could be valuable to just about anyone pursuing creative entrepreneurship…and entrepreneurship is always creative!

Hello Rene,

Here are my recommendations:

• Get a good Website, absolutely, to share and showcase your work.

• Start a Blog, focusing on the kind of work you would like to do, etc.

• Network with Interior Designers and Architects, as well as Painters, Paint Stores, and others in the Building/Built Environment field.

• Join a networking group, such as “BNI INTERNATIONAL“, (Business Networking International). (Google it).

• Take an entrepreneurship or business class, or whole program, and put together a Business Plan.

• Have a selection of good-sized Samples, depicting your strengths, and the kind of work you most like to do, most want to do, and from which you think you will get the most business.

• Create brochure, and a postcard, as well as a business card to go with your Site…they should all work together, as your business Visual Identity.
  

• Start an email newsletter, and start building your Mailing List.

• Put your card and brochure in Local Paint Stores.

• Selectively, Do Some High Profile Work, at a Reduced,  or no Cost, for 1-3 Clients…to get your name out there, and showcase your skills and abilities. Have a party to celebrate it, at the job site if you can, when completed.

• Follow Online:  Alyson Stanfield/Art Biz Coach, The Art Business Institute, Artists Who Thrive at Ann Rea Inc., Rebecca E. Parsons at her Artistically Speaking Talk Show on Blog Talk Radio, and Cre8tive Compass Magazine,  and “HOUZZ“.  You can Google and Facebook all of these to find them, and also “LIKE” them on Facebook. Read all posts, and save those that most apply to you and your work in an email folder.

• Get a Facebook Business Page, a  Twitter feed, and a Linked In and Pinterest account, and keep up with them…interact and support others in related fields, and post many images. Share, support, educate, inspire and inform.

• Follow “Seth Godin“ for rich, daily doses information and inspiration. You can research his work  through Google/Facebook. Sign up to receive his daily blog posts in your email inbox.

• Don’t get discouraged. Do something to grow your business every day, and keep plugging!

 

Here is how Rene responded:

Hello Debra ,
What it does in my opinion is simply show support that creative individuals as ourselves are willing to provide one another.  I truly appreciate the advice, and I have already set up a meeting with a client to provide my services at little or no cost, simply to attract his high end neighbors.  If I can ever be of assistance to you in any way, I would be happy to help. I thank you again and I wish you well always.   I would love to share my work with you as well.
Respectfully,                                                                                                                                                                                                                Rene

Have YOU ever looked back at all the things you have done, to establish, nurture, build, sustain, and grow your business?  I am certain that if you make a list you will be amazed at all you have done, and at all it takes. I look forward to elaborating on mine, and going into greater depth with it, for myself and others. It’s a fascinating and rewarding process!

Here’s to all of You creative entrepreneurs!

 

 

Vendor Spotlight: Jacobsen Design

Vendor Spotlight: Jacobsen Design

The word “vendor” doesn’t adequately describe the graphic design firm Jacobsen Design, and it’s principal, Dianna Jacobsen, though that she is, and they are.  No, Dianna is also artist, musician, entrepreneur, creative solopreneur, designer, and small business person and small business supporter. Her work is focused on identity design and web design for small business.

As she states the ABOUT section of her unique and eponymous website, “I grew up surrounded by art. Many of my family members are fine artists, including my father, who made a living with his paintings for many years. I suppose it was only natural that I would gravitate toward a creative way of making a living.”

Dianna understands that, “To grow, your business must stand out from the competition. A cohesive, interesting, visual presentation does this: one that communicates what your company is all about and why its products or services are unique.”

And she delivers just that.  Says Jim Smith, Innkeeper, The Wine Country Inn, St. Helena, Napa Valley, California, “…Jacobsen Design has helped my business immensely. Our ‘image’ was in need of a complete overhaul and Dianna moved us from the 70s into the new century with panache and ease. From a new logo to a new brochure to new letterhead and business cards, she did it all. And she did it quickly.”

Dianna did this for my decorative painting company, ArtiFactory Studio, too, as well as creating the design for the very blog, Artissima, that you are reading right now.

ArtiFactory Studio brochure, business and postcard by Jacobsen Design

ArtiFactory Studio first homepage by Jacobsen Design

I met Dianna at the Rennaissance Entrepreneurship Center‘s Annual Fundraiser, in 2006. I knew I needed to develop my graphic business identity, and that my website needed a serious and professional overhaul.  Without missing a beat, Dianna suggested we work on a template for the site, from which would spring a logo, brochure, business card and postcard design.  With creativity, talent, skill, AND tremendous patience, she inched me forward step by step into a complete visual business identity which has  proved to be an excellent and effective way of presenting my work and services, and  has garnered oohs and ahhs from clients and colleagues alike.

While preserving the site’s format, we  have upgraded, altered, and refined its images and text, adding social media links, as well as designing and installing “Artissma, blog of ArtiFactory Studio”  in May of 2010.

Throughout, Dianna has provided expert guidance, technical skills, and graphic design wisdom, as well as tremendous generosity of spirit.  She has continually upgraded her own skills, moving adeptly through the fast-paced world of  graphic and web design and  becoming a WordPress wiz in the process. She says. “For the past few months I have been building most of my new sites in WordPress with the Genesis Framework, which allows me to design a beautiful custom website with the added functionality of WordPress. What my clients can potentially do with a WordPress site is virtually limitless – blogging, photo galleries, easy form building tools, to members only sections and even eCommerce.”.

As I testify on her site, “Dianna is flexible, responsive, creative, and informed about the ever changing options available in the digital world of graphic design. She created a very unique website template for my decorative painting business, and then created a complete identity system around that site including business card, brochure, and postcard. She understands artists, and she understands business people, and that is a winning combination for those of us doing both!”
Thank you, Dianna / Jacobsen Design! Please take a moment to check out her site, and visit Jacobsen Design on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to learn more about her amazing work, and design services.  You’ll have fun!

Do you have a favorite vendor, associate colleague or business partner that you would like to spotlight?

If  you feel so inspired,  please celebrate them here.  We love to hear from you.  Remember, we are all creating our way through this Life, together.

Facebook…and You

Facebook…and You

A Group is Made of Individuals

Recently, I have been approached by no less than three esteemed colleagues, asking me to share with them how I use Facebook, and how “FB” could serve their business, organization, and publication, respectively.  This Interior Designer, Non-profit Director, and Publisher had essentially one goal in mind: swim through the potentially bewildering mass of input that is Facebook, understand its processes, and harness its power to grow their business, raise awareness of their organization,  and increase the readership of their publication.  In a nutshell…to get more people to pay more attention to what they are doing.  In essence, not to be alone howling their message into the wind.

Don't Howl Alone into the Wind

How do we do this?

Reach Out and Touch Someone...

Well…reach out through the digital divide, connect with your keyboard, and touch someone, or, a lot of people.

Say:  “Hello” – (aka: “Hello World!)

Say, "Hello World"

While not a “how-to” guide”, I offer some thoughts,  ideas, and guidelines to the new and the seasoned user of Facebook, in the hopes that they will “friend” the twin activities of giving and receiving, and thus enrich not only themselves and their endeavors, but all of us “FB” users.

OK…So, how do we do this?

Through sharing and caring. (Sound sappy?  It’s powerful.)  We can communicate, consider, and connect, each in our individual style.  It does take some effort.  There are even mathematical formulas expounded, as to how to distribute your energy across the Facebook terrain.  I will share mine (mind you the math part is flexible…adjust to your own needs, intent, and instinct).

Facebook is used to share, communicate, inspire, educate, market, network, promote, inform, connect, and all manner of other good stuff.    It may be used for other things too, but the latter is what I, and most of the folks I am connected to and observe,  use it for.

I present this simple formula for your consideration:

Make roughly 30% of your posts about YOU/Your Work, Product, Service, Cause, or Organization.

Make roughly 60% of your posts about OTHERS/Their Work, Product, Service, Cause, or Organization, or even, their jokes, videos, photos or links that you feel comfortable having on your page, and sharing with your FB friends.  Ways to do this include “sharing”, or re-posting friends’  posts on your page, “LIKING” their posts, and  “COMMENTING” on their posts in an appreciative and supportive manner.  You can also simply post about someone, or something on your page, recommending, extolling, supporting, or complimenting them, or, it, as long as this feels true to you.  I engage in these activities primarily within the context of my field of work: decorative painting, color, the visual arts in general, the arts in general, to keep my Facebook presentation cohesive. I call this activity “CELEBRATIONS”, and it is great to post them regularly.  Celebrating a person, their work, their cause, or their achievement is a gratifying way to show appreciation, reach out, and support your fellow FB friends, or even those you are not (yet) connected to on FB.  You can  promote their work, service, business, or just THEM to the world…the Facebook world, and the world in general (if your Page happens to be public, as mine is.)

Make roughly 10% of your posts about WHATEVER fun, unique, unusual, special, eccentric or eclectic  topics you wish to share…keeping in mind that these posts are indeed, sharing.  These posts may have a more personal flavor, without necessarily looking, at first glance,  like they are directly connected to your Work, Product, Service, Cause, or Organization, although at second glance, they might be.

I realize as I write this how personal Facebook really is, as regards to how folks approach it, how they use it, and what they want to get out of it.  It can be tempting to get really personal on Facebook.  I would just remind everyone that  anything placed  upon the seemingly infinite table of the Internet, can potentially be seen, read, consumed, and responded to by anyone alive on the planet.  So…please!  Be careful…be considerate, be conscientious….but don’t stop having FUN!

Don’t howl alone,  howl with and to others!  They may find your howling helpful, or at least, amusing….

Don't Howl Alone...Howl with Others!

For further FB info:

Here is an informative post on Regina Garay’s  (of GARAY ARTISANS)  far-reaching blog, “FAUXOLOGY” on how to use Facebook for your Business, written by her sister Suzanne.  This post helps to demystify the difference between FB pages and groups, so please read, and enjoy!

If you have the time, and the inclination, let us know what you think, and feel, about this post.  We are all in this thing called Life, together.

Cheerio!