Art Marketing Buzz

Ok,  I have a pet peeve I am gonna vent about.  Business Planning or lack there of.  Alright,  maybe its not so much as a pet peeve but rather a point of contention specific to most people who teach business planning.   At least these folks believe there should be some planning and that gets some big props.  But the challenge is if you dont project, goal-set, dream and plan for specifics you may have a successful business regarding cash-flow and income but in reality that is a only a part of the whole picture.  What if you end up working 80-100 weeks which is fairly common in our industry? (actually in industries across the board 75 hour work week is the norm).  Is that what you want?  Is it your definition of success?    That is what I mean because everyone has there own idea here of what success is to them.  The point is if you dont know what you want, specifically, you most likely will get down the road and find yourself unhappy.  Also if you know exactly what you are trying to build, and more importantly why, it allows you to design patterns of success based on being extremely effective not just efficient.  Efficiency is good but if the task we are so efficient at is not necessary to be effective towards our goal…it is still a waste. Right?  This story I saw a few years back illustrates it perfectly.  I am not sure where it came from originally but I just found it again in Tim Ferris’ book, “The 4-Hour Workweek”.  Here you go.

Fables and Fortune Hunters

An American businessman took a vacation to a small coastal Mexican village on doctor’s orders.  Unable to sleep after an urgent phone call from the office the first morning, he walked out to the pier to clear his head.  A small boat with just one fisherman had docked,  and inside the boat were several large yellow fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish. 

            “How long did it take you to catch them?” the American asked.

            “Only a little while,” the Mexican replied in surprisingly good English.

            “Why don’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?” the American then asked.

            “I have enough to support my family and give a few to friends,” the Mexican said as he unloaded them into a basket.

            “But…What do you do with the rest of your time?”

            The Mexican looked up and smiled.  “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take a siesta with my wife, Julia, and stroll into the village each evening, where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos.  I have a full and busy life senior.”

            The American laughed and stood tall. “Sir, I am a Harvard M.B.A. and I can help you. You should spend more time fishing, and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat.  In no time, you could buy several boats with the increased haul. Eventually, you would have a fleet of fishing boats.”

            He continued, “Instead of selling your catch to a middleman, you would sell directly to the consumers, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product processing and distribution.  You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village, of course, and move to Mexico City, then to Los Angeles, and eventually New York City, where you could run your expanding enterprise with proper management.’

            The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, senor, how long will all this take?”

            To which the American replied, “15-20 years. 25 tops.”

            “But what then, senor?”

            The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  When the time is right, you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich.  You would make millions.”

            “Millions, senor? Then what?”

            “Then you would retire and move to a small coastal fishing village, where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with you wife, and stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos…..”

So what does all this have to do with social marketing, attraction marketing, social media marketing, photography or digital painting?  Everything.  If you don’t spend the time defining the “why” of putting your business together it wont work.  What if you get down the road and find out you would be happier doing 4-5 paintings a month or just one, instead of photographing seniors or babies and all the rest?  What if you really want to work 2 days and just hang with your family the remaining time?  Most of us plan and goal set according to previously defined social moire’s.  Why?  I think because we don’t spend the up-front time to really defined what “our”  perfect life would look like.  I am guilty of this…. bigtime.  Next-time we can pick this up again and take a look at some other issues pertaining to the “why” of your business.