012: Be Willing to Be Bad at Business

As artists, we are good at our craft. We’ve spent years honing and perfecting our skills, and our art is an area of our lives over which we have mastery. Sure, we’re always learning and growing, but the refined skills are there. When it comes to our art, we know what we’re doing. But being a creative entrepreneur is about more than just our art; that pesky little “entrepreneur” part is tagged on there. What about the entrepreneurial skills and concepts we need to be good at that part of what we do? They’re a little harder to come by. Today, we’re going to talk about how you can acquire the business skills you need to be a thriving creative entrepreneur, but I’ll give you a quick hint: it starts by being willing to be bad at it. In order to be good at business, you must first be willing to be bad at business.

In this episode, you will learn: 

• The purpose of practicing at business and why it matters to you as an artist.
• Why you should take action to grow your business even before you feel like you're ready.
• How you can adjust your mindset so that failure is a learning experience, not a disaster. 
• Why you should foster gradual growth in your creative business rather than striving for rapid growth.
• How to establish daily, weekly, and monthly habits that support your identity as a creative entrepreneur.
• Why you need support from others on your journey as a creative entrepreneur, and how to seek out that support. 

In this episode, I reference this article by Austin Kleon. Kleon is the author of the books Steal Like an Artist and Steal Like an Artist Journal.

 A full transcript of this episode can be found here. Full transcripts of every episode will always be available at the Starving Artist No More Blog.

Thank you for listening. Please feel free to reach out to me at www.StarvingArtistNoMore.com, with any questions, comments, or feedback. I'd love to hear from you.