Whether it’s in my individual coaching or my online community, I find that most people come to me looking for help with specific tactics.
They want to know how to build their wholesale business, or if they’re ready to do a trade show, or how to grow their online sales. They’re often stuck in the nitty gritty details of their businesses, unable to move forward.
And so they come to me looking for answers.
Now, this makes sense. There are a lot of ways any one person can grow their business, and while you might have a vague sense of how to do it, it can often be difficult to really nail down the details and next steps, or make decisions when it comes to your business.
But often, these nitty gritty questions actually reveal a deeper problem, the real reason someone is struggling to gain traction with their business.
They lack a big vision of where they want their art and their business to go.
Now, when I say big vision, I’m not talking about some higher purpose or overarching why. (Though if you have one, that’s great!)
Instead, what I’m talking about in terms of big vision is actually the answer to two seemingly simple questions:
What kind of work do you want to make?
How do you want to spend your day?
These are questions that I started asking my coaching clients (and eventually myself) and it’s amazing how much clarity they can bring in terms of making business decisions.
When you know what kind of work you want to make and how you want to spend your day, whenever you need to make a crucial decision on tactics, you can evaluate them to see if they will take you closer or further away from your ideal vision for your art and work.
Now for some people, the answer to these two questions comes quite easily. But for others, it may be tougher.
I think there are two reasons for this.
The first is that no one has ever asked you these questions before. Because so many business coaches don’t come from a creative or art background, they aren’t used to thinking about business in this way. So it’s very likely that you’ve never thought to frame your business around these two questions.
If that’s the case, simply take some time to ponder these questions.
But in doing so, you might come up against the second reason defining your business around these two questions feels tough:
The answers might scare you.
Being really honest about the kind of work you want to make and how you want to spend your time might potentially bring up all kinds of negative thoughts. Things like, “who am I to deserve this kind of life” or “there’s no way that is even possible.”
What I find is that, when these thoughts come up, we tend to temper our dreams. We slide into safe mode and revert back to just focusing on tactics over our big vision.
But I’m encouraging you to sit with that discomfort so you can move past it. Allow yourself to dream, and start thinking about those two questions from the perspective of an ideal world.
Now, I’m not saying that, once you know the answers to these two questions, everything in your business will sort itself out overnight.
Instead, what I’m saying is that, when you know where you want your business (and your art) to go. it becomes so much easier to answer those tactical questions.
It becomes so much easier to identify marketing strategies and seize opportunities. And to let go of marketing strategies and opportunities that aren’t right for where you want to go.
When you have that big vision of where you want to go, it get easier to ignore all those shiny object marketing strategies that gurus are trying to sell you. And it frees you from needing to do things a certain way, just because everyone else in your industry is.
Having that big vision for the kind of art you want to make and how you want to spend your days becomes a light post that can guide everything you do in your business.
Don’t get me wrong. Tactics matter. But only if they’re in service of the bigger vision for your art and business.
So even if you’re feeling crazy busy in your business (especially if you’re feeling crazy busy in your business) I’d encourage you to take some time to ponder these two questions:
What kind of work do you want to make?
How do you want to spend your day?
The answers might surprise you, but they’ll also help you get really clear on what you should be working on to move your business forward.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
If you need help understanding how the answers to these questions influence decisions in your business (everything from how to price your work to where to sell to what marketing strategies to use) I’m holding a training on that exact topic today! The training is only open to members of my online mentorship program, Artists and Profit Makers, so if you’d like access, head over to artistsandprofitmakers.com to join today! (The training will be recorded, so even if you can’t make it live, as a member, you’ll still have access!)