Marketing Your Art the Right Way

Selling Art, Not Selling Out

Three Habits that can Transform Your Life

This article is based on a question that was asked on Quora:

Set SMART goals and work towards them

Create smart goalsPhoto by Glenn Carstens-Peters

Most of us have goals. We might not share them with the world, but we have internalized them and we want to work towards them. Having goals is good, but it’s usually not good enough. In order for goals to work in our favor, we should turn them into SMART goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. Each part of SMART goals makes them more likely to be completed.

For example, one of your goals is probably something along the lines of “I want to own a house.”

Specific

Without specificity your goals will be harder to achieve, they will lack clear calls to action, and they will lead to more hesitation.

In the example of owning a house, there are a few details you need to know. It would be very difficult to become a first-time home owner if you don’t nail down some specific details. What size will the house be? What locations are you looking in? What’s your overall budget and your budgets for a down payment and monthly mortgage?

These specific details will help narrow down your options and will make it a lot easier to find a house that fits all your needs.

Measurable

Your goals should be measurable so you can track your progress. Without measurables, it’s hard to see how close you are to achieving your goal.

In the case of buying a house, your measurables could be figuring out how much money you need to save per week to reach your down payment, how much you can afford to pay on your mortgage each month, and how much is required for repairs or upgrades. If you calculate these numbers, and can comfortably make enough money to pay for them, you will be much better prepared for all the expenses of owning a house.

That is why measurable metrics are so important when creating goals. They help you stay on track and prevent you from getting in over your head. They allow you to track the progress towards your goal, and how much work is involved before you can reach your goal.

Achievable

When setting goals, it’s best to be honest with ourselves. When we set goals that are unrealistic, we’re just setting ourselves up for failure.

In the case of buying a house, you already know your constraints. It’s probably not a realistic goal to own a high rise condo in Downtown Manhattan. You are constrained by both where you live and how much money you can spend.

That’s why our goals should always be achievable. If you set your goals too high, you will just be disappointed when you don’t achieve them. That doesn’t mean you can’t aim high. It just means you need to know what’s achievable within a reasonable amount of time.

Relevant

Our goals should always be relevant to us. Relevant doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Relevant means it’s worth doing, it’s the right time to do it, and you have the right conditions to do it in.

In the example of buying a house you can ask yourself a few questions to determine whether it’s a relevant goal. Why do you want a house right now? Are there any other financial obligations you have to take care of too? Is this the best use of both your time and money?

When coming up with goals, it’s important that they are not only important to you, but they are also relevant at this point in time. That’s how you can determine if your goal is worth both your time and effort.

Time-bound

Your goals should be time-bound because without a timeline, you can easily lose focus on things that are important. When you don’t set a time frame for your goals, your day to day tasks can creep into your schedule, and your goals will get lost in the shuffle. You will also be more likely to procrastinate if there is no timeline for completion.

In the example of buying a house, if you don’t set a timeline for certain tasks, your other chores and errands can easily get in the way. We are all busy in our own ways, so determining a budget or finding a good location for your house might not sound like an appealing idea. That’s why we need to set a time frame for our goals.

One helpful thing you can do is break your goals down into multiple manageable pieces. Don’t cram all of your tasks into one large time frame. Break them up into smaller tasks you can tackle in smaller time frames. This makes them much easier to tackle.

Work on your SMART goals

It’s always a good idea to set goals, but if you don’t work on those goals, it’s just a meaningless exercise. The point of setting SMART goals is to help you accomplish daunting goals. SMART goals may take more work upfront than regular goals, but that extra work in the beginning makes your goals much easier to achieve.

If you are struggling to complete your goals, you should give SMART goals a try. Worst case scenario, they aren’t 100% effective for you. Best case scenario, you are accomplishing things you never thought possible.

Give them a try and see if they work for you. You can always tweak them afterwards to fit exactly what you need. Anything is better than the status quo. What do you have to lose?

Read and write every day

One of the things that’s had a big impact on my life is the habit of reading and writing every day. It may seem like an insignificant change when you start out, but over time, it’s helped me learn more about the world and my thoughts about the world.

A Pew research study found that about 24% of US adults didn’t read a single book in 2017. That includes reading a book in print, electronic or audio form. That’s a shocking number.

Books are a gateway to new information. They teach us empathy. They help us see the world through a different lens. They present different viewpoints and perspectives. And if this study is true, 24% of US adults missed out on that opportunity.

Since I made it a goal to read every day, here are some of my favorite books and my takeaways from them.

Masters of Doom by David KushnerMasters of Doom by David Kushner

In 2017 the gaming industry made $108.4 billion. We owe much of that success to games like Doom.

Masters of Doom goes into great details about id Software and its co-founders John D. Carmack and John Romero. The two Johns are titans of the gaming industry and have been instrumental in turning it into what it is today.

When the two Johns were running id Software as a cohesive team, they built DOOM, one of the most influential games of our times. DOOM was one of the first games to have a cult following. It made the creators into rock stars of the industry. This was only possible because everyone on the id team was working towards a unified goal.

The reason DOOM was so popular is because it pushed the boundaries of gaming. It exceeded the expectations of what everyone thought was possible. The game was top of its class in graphics, realism, and level design. These things working in conjunction gave the game a feel of something new, something revolutionary.

When things were going well, the id team worked like a well oiled machine. One John was in charge of designing the intricate level designs. The other John was in charge of pushing the limits of game mechanics and physics.

Following the success of DOOM, the two creators followed it up with another massive success in Quake. It felt like the team was unstoppable.

But some things are not meant to last. Once their two massive successes went out to the world, the two men had differing views of what to do next. This led to an irreparable rift in the company and the two revolutionary creators went their separate ways.

This is why teams must always work together in unity. It doesn’t matter how much potential your company has or how much money you are making. Once you start working against each other, teams fall apart. You build mistrust and your team fractures into pieces.

Shoe Dog by Phil KnightShoe Dog by Phil Knight

Nike might seem like an unstoppable force in the sports industry now, and it is. In 2018 Nike made around $36.4 billion. But Nike wasn’t always such a successful http://company.In fact, Nike, and its predecessor Blue Ribbon, almost went out of business multiple times. They were sued by the U.S. government. They had to pull off a few miracles to pay all their employees. Yet they made it through all this adversity.

Shoe Dog, written by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, tells all of those stories in great detail. In it Phil talks about everything from coming up with the idea of Nike as a grad student to becoming one of the world’s most successful companies.

The idea for Nike started when Knight was a grad student at Stanford. He hypothesized that Japanese sports shoes could compete with the dominant German shoe market just like Japanese cameras did to the German camera market. So he approached his former track coach Bill Bowerman and formed Blue Ribbon Sports.

Even though it might seem like a foregone conclusion that this company would succeed now, that was far from the case. Blue Ribbon Sports hit many bumps along the road before becoming the Nike behemoth.

In its infancy, the Blue Ribbon ran into many funding problems. While they were taking a lot of orders, they couldn’t keep up with the demand and had trouble paying all of their employees. Not only that, their Japanese supplier tried to cut off their supply, and ended up suing them.

If Shoe Dog taught me anything, it’s that you shouldn’t take success for granted. It doesn’t matter how good your idea is, success is not guaranteed. In fact, most companies fail. It’s not because they had bad ideas or leadership. It’s because success takes a certain amount of persistence, hard work, dedication, and luck.

Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang Fresh Off the Boat by Eddie Huang

Eddie Huang is known for being the inspiration behind the TV show Fresh Off the Boat, but most people don’t know the show was inspired by his wonderful memoir of the same name. While the show mostly concentrates on humorous scenarios involving his family, Eddie’s real life home was not the idealistic one portrayed on the show.

As a child of Asian immigrant parents myself, it was refreshing to read about another person going through the same struggles with identity many of us have to deal with. But while I was trying my best to assimilate into the system, Eddie was doing everything he could to find himself without giving in to other peoples’ expectations.

His struggles with identity and his place in the world were so strong that he started lashing out. He didn’t conform to the Asian “model minority” stereotype. He got into fights, hustled in illegal activities, and even got arrested.

At one of the lowest points in his life, Eddie was arrested and convicted in Orlando. Instead of sitting at home waiting out his punishment, he went to Taiwan to contemplate his future. In Taiwan, he faced similar struggles with fitting in. But he also learned to embrace all parts of himself instead of trying to hide them or push them away.

After his stay in Taiwan, Eddie tried a handful of things including being a lawyer, a stand-up comic, and clothing designer, none of which worked out. It wasn’t until he decided to own and run his own restaurant that Eddie’s life started to come into focus. That was the moment things really started to turn around for him.

It’s refreshing to see that even though he faced a lot of struggles, changes in scenery, and life paths, Eddie still ended up finding himself and being successful. Even though his life could have taken a turn for the worst, he was able to figure things out. He overcame his own adversities and now has a thriving restaurant, a TV show based on his life, and his own show on food and culture on VICE.

Writing

Write Every DayPhoto by Lisa Fotios

Before you can become a good writer, you have to be a good reader. That’s why I made reading a daily habit. It teaches you what to do and what not to do when writing. It expands your vocabulary, your empathy, and your storytelling skills.

Even though I try to write every day, that doesn’t mean I am a good writer, but it does make me a more prolific one. I subscribe to the theory that most of what you do will be mediocre. But every now and then you will create a few gems.

This would never be possible without the habit of writing. If you write just 100 words each day, you will end up with 36,500 words in a year. That number might seem like a daunting amount, but if you break it down into small chunks, it becomes much more manageable.

A few years ago, I started my writing habit. I wrote about my favorite quotes and people who lived up to the ideals of those quotes. When I started, it was just a fun idea, but over time, I had enough of these quotes and stories to turn them into a book. So I created digital pieces of art to accompany each quote and story, and self-published my book.

I had no intentions of writing my own book, but as the number quotes piled up, it made more and more sense. Even though my book may not be a best-seller, I am extremely proud of it. How many people can say they’ve written their own book?

You may not be interested in writing your own book, but I wasn’t either… until I was. That is the power of a daily reading and writing habit. It can open up possibilities you never thought possible. Try starting your own reading and writing habit. A whole world of possibilities can open up when you dedicate yourself to something!

Improve Yourself Every Day

Improve YourselfPhoto by Matthew Henry

Big shifts in life don’t happen quickly. It takes time and patience to go from where you are to where you want to be. It will also take time to develop and build the habits that can help change your life.

That’s why it’s important to concentrate on the here and now. You can set goals for what you want in the future, but in order to accomplish those goals, you have to work on the now. The best we can do as people is improve ourselves and live life to the fullest each day.

The problem with most self-improvement programs is that they lead to a roller coaster effect. We read all the self-help articles we can get our hands on. We try every new tactic in the hopes of getting instant results, but in the end, we usually end up failing. Then we move on to the next “big thing” in hopes that we just haven’t found the right solution. It’s an endless cycle of ups and downs.

Do we fail because we are inadequate? No, we fail because we become overwhelmed, and end up doing nothing. We hype ourselves up, but at the first sign of hesitation, discomfort, or uncertainty, we give up.

That’s why some self-help experts recommend the idea of Kaizen, or continuous self-improvement. Instead of trying out every new tactic in hopes of quick wins, we need to focus on improving ourselves a little bit every day.

If this doesn’t sound like a glamorous solution, that’s because it isn’t. Glamorous solutions are for headlines and fantasies. Kaizen works because you aren’t trying to take on too much all at one time. You aren’t going for the home run. All you doing is trying to improve 1% each day.

That might not seem like a lot, but improving 1% every day compounds over time and ends up having a massive impact. You are no longer giving up when faced with a daunting task. You are slowly and steadily improving over time.

Making a 1% improvement doesn’t have to be a hassle. If you start small and improve in different areas of life every day, you can easily make progress.

Here are some examples of how you can improve in different areas of life:

Healthy Eating – If you aren’t eating any vegetables, make a goal of eating just one piece each day.

Exercise – If you don’t get enough exercise, make it a goal to take an extra 100 steps each day.

Meditation – If you are always in your head, set a goal of meditating for just one minute each day.

Learning New Things – If you you want to be a more knowledgeable person, learn one new fact or skill each day.

Gratitude – If you always have a negative mindset, find one thing to be grateful for each day.

When taken alone, these things may not seem like much, but over time you can vastly improve your life. If you slowly but consistently ramp up the amount you improve over time, you will see massive results.

One vegetable turns into one serving of vegetables. 100 steps turns into 1,000 steps. One minute of meditation turns into 30 minutes. Learning one new skill turns into into learning ten. Your negative attitude can turn into a positive one.

It’s all about starting small and building up from there. If you miss a day, it’s not a catastrophe. You can just start over the next day. Stop worrying about making giant leaps in your productivity. Make incremental steps towards improvement.

It may not seem like you are doing a lot, but over time you can see huge improvements in your life.

Nick Gray on Turning Your Hobby Into a Business, Standing Out in a Crowded Market, and Being a Leader – Cracking Creativity Episode 92

Nick Gray is the founder of Museum Hack, a twist on the traditional museum experience. The funny thing about Nick is, he used to hate museums. That is until he went on a date that forever changed his life.

During a snowy day in NYC, a girl brought him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and showed him artifacts, furniture, and other interesting things in the museum. This changed Nick’s perception of what a museum tour could be. That’s when he started frequenting the MET, and learned to love museums.

The first time Nick charged for a museum tour, he even tried to give money back to the people who took it. He had so much fun with the tour that he thought he shouldn’t charge people for it.

“The first tour that I actually charged money for, it was a Sunday morning tour at 11 in the morning, and I was like ‘Alright I’ll just see if I can charge money. I’ll charge them $20. See if they come.’ And everyone gave me their cash, and I gave them the tour. And I had so much fun Kevin, I had so much fun, that at the end of the tour, I think I freaked everybody out because I gave them all of their money back. And they were like ‘Why are you giving us… is this Candid Camera or something?’ and I was like “No, I had so much fun. It feels dirty for me to take your money, to do something that I love, something that I’m having so much fun with.’ So for me that was the first time I experimented, but it didn’t really go so well.”

Before Nick started Musuem Hack he was a salesman of flat screen monitors. But the success of his initial tours, and the experience he gained as a salesman, allowed him to turn his passion project into a business.

“What I think is special about what I’ve done with Museum Hack that your listeners might find fascinating, is that I took something that was a passion project, something that I just did for a hobby, for fun, and I was able to convert it and make it into a business. And my time selling these screens really taught me the importance of marketing and sales and dollar value of creating premium experiences. So for me that was really helpful.”

The thing that makes Museum Hack different from other museum tours is what Nick likes to dub the 3 G’s. While most other tours are zigging, Museum Hack is zagging.

“The three Gs. These are the three things that makes Museum Hack completely different from most museum tours. Three Gs. Number one, guides. Number two, games. and number three gossip. So it’s the tour guides that are so engaging, that are actors and educators, and science teachers, and musicians who write their own tours who are so special. That’s the guides. The games means that the tours are so fast paced. They’re ultra fast paced. They’re two to three times as fast as most museum tours. And we also do selfie challenges. We takes shots of espresso or drink some wine. And then the gossip, that’s the juicy back story. The cool stuff about the art that we like to talk about.”

Instead of trying to find people who are knowledgeable in history and museums, Nick hires guides who are good with people. Anyone can learn about art, but not everyone is good at connecting with people.

“The number one thing we look for is someone’s ability to be a good host. How is their body language? How comfortable to they make people? Do they make us laugh? That’s the most important thing. It’s not about their knowledge. It’s not about how much they know about the art history. It’s about how do they make the guests feel. Because that’s what we’re trying to do, right? We’re trying to make people comfortable and we’re trying to get them to warm up inside the space. So that’s really what we hire for first and foremost. And then we can teach them about the art. We can teach them about the museum… We hire folks that are really good with people.”

He also gives his guides the freedom to create their own tours. When you are building something yourself, you become passionate about it. So, Nick gives them the freedom to come up with their own tours and write their own scripts.

“We think that having our tour guides write their own tours is so powerful because the guests and the visitors can hear that excitement and that passion, and you can hear me talk right now, right? I’m excited. I’m pumped up. I’m jazzed to talk about my business with you, and that’s because I’m not going off a script. No one is telling me what to do. Our tour guides have to be the same way, so we let them explore the whole museum, come up with their own tours, stuff that they’re excited about and they write their own scripts.”

One would think that competing with instant gratification culture would be a detriment to Museum Hack, but it isn’t. Nick tells his guides to embrace people’s attention spans and work it into their tours.

“We’re dealing with an increasingly ADD generation. These are people that are like me that are on their phones every two or three minutes. I mean, it’s not just millenials. It’s people of all ages that have a short attention span, and we try to teach our museum friends ways to engage with that type of audience. Make it personal. Keep it fast. Don’t be afraid of smart phones. Encourage people to take selfies and pictures. Things like that.”

In a world where museums can seem stale and uninteresting, Nick has captured people’s imaginations. That sort of innovation requires curiosity, risks, and failures, and that’s exactly what he has done with Museum Hack.

“Figuring out like you did, people who have that curiosity, and people who are willing to troubleshoot and make failures, and I’m guessing the podcast hasn’t been perfect since day one, would that be a correct assumption?… That willingness to make mistakes and resourcefulness to figure things out. Those are two key things we look for.”

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Erik Young on Creativity vs. Natural Inspiration, Stealing in Art, Taking Chances, and Learning from Your Mistakes – Cracking Creativity Episode 91

Erik Young is one of my friends from high school. In this episode we broke from the normal format of the show and talked about our thoughts on creativity, inspiration, the education system, and learning from your mistakes. We also talked about some of the projects he’s worked on including his children’s book and work as owner of 7Mangos.

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Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up – Cracking Creativity Podcast Episode 90

Chalky White  grew up in an abusive household, so much so that he gave up trying in school as an act of rebellion. When he 17 he joined the police cadets where he worked with alcoholics and drug addicts. It was at this point that Chalky realized he wanted to be in service of others.

One day his friend asked Chalky if he wanted to go skiing. By saying yes to his friend’s request, Chalky unknowingly changed his life. Even though he wasn’t very good at skiing on that first trip, he was hooked.

A year after that first ski trip Chalky went to Andorra and decided to become a ski instructor. When he ran out of money, he went back to Britain to become an encyclopedia salesman just so he could go back to Andorra.

After a series of tests in Andorra, and failed attempts to become a licensed instructor, Chalky went to New Zealand to get certified. Chalky was constantly told he was never going to be good enough to be an instructor, but through persistence and his system of What If? questions, Chalky was finally able to gain his certification.

Chalky not only became a certified instructor. He also wrote his own book on skiing and became a motivational speaker through it all.

In this episode, Chalky talks about asking yourself what if, being persistent, and why continuing to try leads to success.

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Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website – Cracking Creativity Episode 89

Victor Yocco went to school and studied psychology and communication. After school he became a researcher for zoos and science centers, but after a while he decided he needed a change. So he asked a friend who worked at Intuitive, a design and research company, if they had any open jobs.

Even though he didn’t have any experience in design or user research, Victor found that he was a good fit for the job. His background in psychology and research allowed him to make the transition from researching zoos to researching user experience design.

The biggest obstacle Victor faced didn’t have anything to do with his new job. While everything in his professional life was going well, his battle with alcohol was not. Victor’s problem with drinking was interfering with his relationship and productivity. So he sought counseling and made a vow of sobriety. Since his pledge of sobriety, Victor has accomplished many things from articles to writing a book.

In this episode, Victor talks about why your message should change based on your platform, the importance of a support system, and the power of creating an effective website, among many other things.

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Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work – Cracking Creativity Podcast Episode 88

Shawn Coss grew up loving cartoons, but never dreamed it could become his full-time job. He grew up in a time and place where art wasn’t considered a viable career.

His dad told him he should get a “real job” instead of pursuing his dreams. The thought was, you could only be a professional artist if you went to an art institute, or learned at Disney. Like most people who grow up in difficult financial situations, Shawn’s dad didn’t want Shawn to grow up with the same hardships he had to go through.

Shawn hit his first break when he met Kris Wilson of Cyanhide and Happiness through MySpace. Kris liked Shawn’s work so much, that he invited him to work on the C&H team.

Cyanide and Happiness provided Shawn enough financial stability to start his own clothing company, Any Means Necessary. One of the clothing company’s campaigns, Inktober, brought an influx of fans and attention.

This brings Shawn to a an exciting but difficult crossroads. Should he go all-in on his company or keep it as a side hustle.

In this episode, Shawn talks about why there’s no formula for becoming a popular artist, defining success on your own terms, and why running an art business is such hard work, among many other things.

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Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yourself – Cracking Creativity Podcast Episode 87

Derek Miller has always had a creative side to his life. As a kid he wanted to be a cartoonist, and little did he know, he would become deeply entrenched in that world as an adult through the web comic Cyanide and Happiness.

While he was in college, and a few years afterward, Derek was part of a small metal band and also ran a small music blog. He was also a part of a non-profit to help artists turn their passion into full-time jobs.

All that experience in the art world helped Derek run three successful Kickstarter campaigns at Cyanide and Happiness. Instead of treating Kickstarter like another crowdfunding tool, he treated each campaign like its own event.

After three successful Kicstarter campaigns and constantly being approached by creatives about crowdfunding, Derek decided to write a book on the topic. This led to the creation of his book Six Figure Crowdfunding.

In this episode, Derek talks about why you need to keep your creative momentum, the power of a positive mindset, and not getting down on yourself, among many other things.

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Katie Hornor on Sharing Your Gifts, Respecting People, and Defining Success – Cracking Creativity Episode 86

Katie Hornor knew from a young age that wanted to serve God. She also realized that she had a teacher’s heart, so she majored in education.

After finishing school with a degree in education and a minor in Spanish, Katie and her husband moved to Mexico as missionaries. While in Mexico she worked at a Bible college and local mission college.

But one of the most pivotal decisions in her life was deciding to home school her children. This was the moment she realized that other parents in Mexico had no resources for home schooling their children.

So, to supplement her income and help out parents who wanted to home school their children, Katie and her husband started a home school blog. Katie realized their was a massive whole in the market for home schooling in Spanish, so she filled that gap.

Her home schooling blog became so successful that bloggers started approaching her asking how she grew her business. Katie now helps teach bloggers from all over the world how to grow their blogs and businesses.

In this episode Katie talks about sharing your gifts with the world, respecting everyone even if they don’t deserve it, and defining what  success means to you.

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“I suspect the truth is that we are waiting… for something extraordinary to happen to us.”  ― Khaled Hosseini Quote Art

“I suspect the truth is that we are waiting, all of us, against insurmountable odds, for something extraordinary to happen to us.”

― Khaled Hosseini

Buy this print from Storenvy.

Great things happen to those who wait. I’ve heard this advice for as long as I can remember. This advice tells us to be patient. It tells us to persevere when things aren’t going our way. It tells us to let things sort themselves out.

While this advice is great in some situations, it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand it advocates for patience, but it also builds a sense of complacency. It tells us to persevere, but it also tells us to wait our turn.

This advice makes us believe something extraordinary will happen to us if we just wait patiently enough for it. If you’re anything like me, you’re tired of waiting. I want to seize the day.

If you’re tired of waiting too, there are some things you can do about it.

Seek Out What You Want

We have two choices when it comes to getting what we want. We can wait for something good to happen to us or we can seek it out for ourselves.

If we seek what we want for ourselves, we have a much greater chance of getting it. Click To Tweet

The problem with waiting is, we are putting our fate in the hands of others. We are letting other people dictate what happens to us. But if we seek what we want for ourselves, we have a much greater chance of getting it.

Let’s say, for example, you want to get your art into a gallery. You can either wait for a gallery to approach you about exhibiting your art or you can approach the galleries yourself.

In one scenario you are waiting for something good to happen. In the other you are trying to make good things happen for yourself. Which method do you think is more likely to work?

Put in the Hard Work

Another thing we do far too often is rely on luck. We believe the only thing that separates us from those who have made it is luck.

While luck does play a role in our lives, you can’t rely on it to get what you want. What you can do is work hard and try to create your own luck.

People aren't going to find you if you don't put yourself out there. Click To Tweet

Instead of creating your art and hoping people “discover” you, seek out your audience. People aren’t going to find you if you don’t put yourself out there.

That means trying to get into galleries. It means going to shows and art fairs. It means entering competitions. It means talking to people in your local community to see if they are interested in displaying your art.

Stop waiting for your lucky break. Do the hard work and create your own luck. Click To Tweet

If you want something bad enough, you have to be willing to put in the work to get it. Stop waiting for your lucky break. Do the hard work and create your own luck.

Set Yourself Up for Success

If you really want something extraordinary to happen in your life you have to take action. That is the best way to improve your circumstances.

Unfortunately taking action won’t do enough on its own. You also have to do research. You have to be intentional. You have to be willing to experiment. You have to carry on despite your failure.

  •  Research helps you avoid mistakes others have made. Learning from others will make your path easier.
  • Being intentional is also a must. You can’t just try everything under the sun. You need to pick and choose your fights.
  • Experimentation is one of the most important things an artist can do. But you can’t just experiment with your art. You also have to experiment with your pricing, your marketing, and where you sell your work.
  • Persistence is also necessary for anyone who wants to find success. There are very few instances of people finding immediate success. Don’t let failure get you down. Learn from your mistakes and try again.

It’s Time to Get Started

There’s no better time to get started than right now. We usually wait far too long before we commit to changing our ways. Inspiration is fine, but if you don’t turn that inspiration into action, nothing will change.

Great things won’t happen unless you take matters into your own hands. Luck can only get you so far. Prepare yourself for the journey ahead and make the extraordinary happen.

Buy Khaled Hosseini Quote Art

Photo by Benh LIEU SONG

Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly – Cracking Creativity Episode 85

Ron Dawson‘s earliest experience with film came through a time traveling caper film he created when he was a kid. Unfortunately, like many creatives, “real life” aspirations took over.

Instead of following his passion for film, he followed his interest in business.  Ron’s first endeavor in business was attempting to buy and sell businesses with his cousin. Although this idea did not work out, it gave him a taste of the  business world.

After failing to launch his business buying venture, and graduating with a business degree from UC Berkley, Ron got a job at Screen Play Systems.  After some time there, he later moved up to become a business manager at Intuit.

While working for these different businesses,  Ron was also working as a wedding videographer on the side. This was a pivotal crossroads for him. He could either continue with his six-figure salary, or he could venture out on his own. Instead of continuing to work at a high paying job he didn’t love, he chose to do a job he did love, making films.

In this episode Ron talks about the power of storytelling, putting in the work, and learning on the fly among many other things.

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