Tag: creative

How To Keep Your Creative Spark During the Coronavirus

Coronavirus got you stuck at home? Stay productive and feed your creative flame!

When you’re stuck at home, it’s easy to get stuck watching TV and your favorite movies–twice. Here’s some advice on how to stay productive and feed your creative flame!

Make a list of creative projects you need to finish or want to start.

Giving yourself a written list of things to do can help you choose them over that pesky television. Sometimes having multiple tasks and projects to choose from gives you the push you need to work on your art!

Read or watch something that will inspire you to work on your own art.

If you’re going to lounge on the couch and watch or read something, choose a selection that will inspire you! For example, I (re)watched Inception, my favorite Christopher Nolan film, and suddenly remembered why my current film project is so important to me! Sometimes we need to see other people’s awesome work in order to re-ignite the motivation to work on our own.

Do a random project in your house.

Right now, you might have the opportunity to do a fun, small project that you otherwise might be too busy to take on! If you’re stressed with your larger projects, do something easy to help keep your creativity flowing! This is the opportunity you’ve been looking for to do a project for fun–not for work, for a client, or with any expectations.

Sit down and really work on your creative business.

One of the hardest things about being an artrepreneur is that you are often working on your business in your limited downtime. While you’re stuck at home, you’ve been given extra downtime to dedicate to building your art-based business! Pour yourself a cup of tea, make yourself a work space, and start working through your art-based business model!

Do something creative with those who are stuck with you!

Maybe you’re stuck in the house with your kids or significant other. Great! Pull them off the couch and tell them its time to start creating! You’ll be surprised how much creativity grows when you brainstorm and work together.

Whatever you end up doing, make sure to keep creativity, fun, and inspiration at the forefront of your activities. Coronavirus got you down? Feed your creative spark and stay motivated on your artrepreneurial journey!

Peace, Kayla

P.S. Follow Artpreneurship – where ‘art’ and ‘entrepreneurship meet to feed your creative flame and continue building your very own art-based business.

The Easiest Way to Create a Killer Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch should help you clearly and concisely state your value — here’s an easy way to create one.

The elevator pitch. It’s mystified and old school… so what’s its real purpose? It’s all about being able to clearly and concisely state your value to potential customers, partners, and/or funders. It’s about sharing your value in a way that leaves people wanting more. There’s all kinds of advice out there on creating elevator pitches, but I want to share with you an easier way to develop your perfect pitch. 

NOTE: Your pitch shouldn’t actually sound like a pitch at all. Instead, it should sound like you clearly and passionately understand the value you bring to others. 

Today I attended the International Women’s Entrepreneurship Symposium and learned a new, easy approach to the dreaded elevator pitch from two amazing marketing wizards, Kay and Shi! Here’s a basic version of the super helpful template they shared: 

When TARGET CUSTOMERS want/need THIS THING, I help provide them a solution by DOING THIS.

Before creating your own elevator pitch, I hope you’ve worked through your value and messaging. If not, please revisit this article. 

Here’s the elevator pitch I created for myself during the Symposium: 

When creatives and artists want to become entrepreneurs, I help them by sharing helpful and straight-to-the-point information about how to build their brands and business models.

Here’s why I LOVE this template: It’s one sentence! Two tops. This makes your elevator pitch easy to create and natural in conversation. Ever tried developing a pitch that sounds too much like a pitch? Or one that seems impossible to remember? Me too. This strategy will solve those problems and help you feel confident about sharing your value with anyone who asks!

Try developing your own quick and easy elevator pitch and comment what you come up with below!

Peace, Kayla

P.S. Here are some more examples to get you started:

When business owners need help growing, I help them by creating tailored video content they can use to share their brands and reach new customers.

When authors and publishers need to make their work stand out on the shelves, I help them by creating eye-catching covers and graphics that perfectly capture their stories.

When restaurant-owners need the perfect atmosphere for their new locations, I help them by creating murals that transport and entertain their customers.

Your turn. Let’s see what you’ve got!

Is art entrepreneurship?

You’ve probably heard the popular advice that “Art doesn’t pay the bills.” But what if it could?

You’ve probably heard the popular advice that “Art doesn’t pay the bills.” But what if it could? Turns out, there’s a new term flying around: ‘artrepreneurship’. It’s all about making money with your art, by building a brand and coming up with creative ways to monetize your work. In a world where content is more and more important, your creative skills are more and more in demand!

So… YES! Art can be entrepreneurship–it all depends on how you approach it. Before turning your creative vision into a business startup, there are a few things you need to think about:

Do you really want to turn your art into a business?

Being an entrepreneur is a full-time job with lots of overtime. You should ask yourself whether or not you want to make sharing your art a full-time commitment. Many artists want to take their creative endeavors full-time, but fail to realize that much of their entrepreneurial journey will be all business. In addition to working on your art, you’ll need to deal with marketing, business strategy, networking, and all kinds of other business-related activities. Are you interested in business, or would you rather work on your art in other ways? Many amazing companies need artists on their teams and many artists prefer to keep their creative endeavors as a soul-freeing hobby. What is right for you?

What’s your long-term vision?

So you’re pretty sure that you want to take your creative work and build a full-on brand and company. But what does the future of this business look like? There are two kinds of businesses out there: a lifestyle company and a growth company. A lifestyle company is one that can support you with monthly income and provide an opportunity to work on your art as a full-time job. Lifestyle companies are usually small businesses. A growth company, on the other hand, is one that has the potential to grow without you and become a global brand. This kind of company often requires products that have the potential to sell at massive quantities.

Deciding which of these you envision for the future is crucial to understanding how you will devise your business strategy and how you will build your brand. Don’t worry, we’ll talk about how to build your business in accordance with your long-term vision in upcoming posts!

Are you ready to embark on your entrepreneurial journey?

Okay, you’ve decided that you are ready to build your creative brand and pursue the entrepreneurial journey. Here are some thing you should consider before taking the leap: 1) Are you in a position to dedicate time every day or every week to building your brand and business? 2) Are you ready to learn all kinds of new skills that you may have never been interested in before (building a website, marketing campaigns, branding your message)? and 3) Are you ready to share your message with the world?

If your answer is to yes each of these 3 questions, it’s time to combine your art with entrepreneurship in order to manifest your vision and share your creativity! In this blog, we’re going talk all about how to develop your brand, your marketing messages, your business model, and more. Stay up-to-date by clicking the follow button below!

PS: Don’t be afraid to share this knowledge with other artists you know. The more our creative communities learn about how business can be used to share their messages, the more opportunity we all have to thrive in this growing ‘Artrepreneurship’ market!

Peace, Kayla