Now no one says it better than TenBiz and founder and western coordinator of NCREAL, Tonya Snider.

OBJECTIVES

Our objectives for the tenBiz, Inc. Summer Institute are:

• to foster professional and personal relationships among participants and between tenBiz, Inc. and other organizations

• to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the people and organizations which comprise the REAL network

• to recognize and address the varying needs of a diverse group of participants and their students

• to model the experiential process, content, and pacing of the REAL curriculum

• to expand participants’ knowledge of themselves as facilitators and learners, and of entrepreneurship and small business planning, operations, and management

• to facilitate facilitators’ success by familiarizing them with the REAL course curriculum and resource materials, and offering guidance on implementation of the program

• to give experienced facilitators opportunities to further develop their skills, to share their experience in the REAL program with others, and to learn to design and lead future REAL training events

• to create an atmosphere of fun, cooperation and shared responsibility

So if that doesn’t grab your interest then maybe what I will begin teaching in August of this year will!

NC REAL Professional Crafts Artists Entrepreneurship….. Each class is once every week for seven weeks (3 hours each class). This program is developed for students who have craft and artistry skills, and who need support in applying their talents to entrepreneurial endeavors. Students will experience hands-on activities that have been specifically designed to address needs and challenges faced by craft artists who already have or wish to start their own business.

Today was one of those days where we were able to check off yet one more thing on our perpetual “to do” list!

And what we checked off was the fence in front of the Art studio! As with any big project we’ve put a lot of time and effort into our art studio. We spend a lot of time in here and we try to make it not just a place to work, but a retreat.  Visitors love the look and feel of our studio.

We built it a little over ten years ago from recycled materials gathered from a 1910 house being demolished, a warehouse of construction leftovers and good old fashioned muscle and help from family members! …it took us almost two years  because  we paid as we went along. No debt .

So today, we were able to step back and admire our new section of fence. It’s the same kind of fence we have around our rose and herb garden. Tobacco stick screwed to treated wood…and the sticks, if not touching the ground, last as long as the treated wood!  We had to first tear down the picket fence we installed at the beginning as the invading wisteria (yes we stupidly planted it on purpose!) had started to pull it down. Putting up the fence was the easy part. Attacking the vegetation with chainsaw, clippers and Round Up, was a the hard part . Oh well the original concept was good…we just picked the wrong plant for an arbor!

Artists often need beauty and quiet times for inspiration…. it’s a perfect place for many of our classes and our art retreats. Sure you can find the beauty elsewhere as an option. But being a part of it, nourishing it and reveling in it…well now, that’s the artist’s life!

Same type of fence around herb and rose garden

What we learned about dismissing  or negating a compliment was that you are essentially telling the person giving you the compliment is that “his/her tastes are not very good.”Think about that and it will make sense!

“I love this art piece!”     “Oh I was just playing around in the studio!”

In the art world I recently congratulated an artist at an opening on her long distance sale via telephone. I happened to be in the gallery when the owner received the call and the sale from another state after seeing the email with images! The artist’s response to me was “Oh that was just a very old friend from Florida who wanted to help out!”   Now seriously. The best response to me would have been a simple “Thank you.”  But to diminish the sale (after all it WAS a sale) by dismissing the buyer also put her confidence in her own art in question. Better for me to think that buyers were flocking to her art than only a close friend would buy my art. See the difference?

I have had students in art workshops who go on and on about how bad their attempts are until it becomes very trying for the other students! At one such event I finally said “OK. it’s not good.” There was a moment of silence but the other participants laughed and then I laughed too and said “I am the teacher. If it wasn’t good I would tell you. And I have told you it’s good! But you still don’t believe me so I might as well agree with you!”  The woman laughed as well and agreed that she would accept my compliments as fact from now on. Silly story but it happens ALL the time. You might  dismiss compliments because you honestly fell you don’t deserve them but to dismiss them because you’re fishing for more compliments is manipulative

Read the article and see whether or not you agree with it.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/why-you-cant-take-a-compliment.aspx?xid=aol_eh-emo_19-_20110905&aolcat=HLT&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%7C94744

With a business to run, and other communication tools such as a website to update, many Facebook pages unfortunately become inactive. How can a business owner make use of a Facebook page without devoting too much time to its upkeep?

http://blogs.constantcontact.com/commentary/so-you-have-a-facebook-page-now-what/

Author John Jantsch says,  “Creating a partnership with a non-profit agency can have a dramatically positive marketing impact if handled correctly. I’ve worked with countless non-profit agencies over the years, and while they they’ll take contributions from businesses all day long, what they really want is something much more valuable.”

To enjoy the benefit of the complete article written for the American Express forum, click HERE! or copy and paste below:

http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/marketing/article/how-to-create-a-win-with-a-non-profit-partner-john-jantsch?sorttype=newest&sourcepage=1&pagenumber=1

One of the answers to that question is, “Decide to whom you will be selling your art and focus on them.”

“How do I do that?” Well, if your art can be categorized you are a giant step closer to connecting with your future collectors. It allows you to focus on a specific group of people rather then “everyone.” (Does the word “categorized” sent shivers down your artistic spine? Don’t worry, all your art is going to be categorized by someone at sometime. I just think that it helps if you are the one doing it. ) Lets take painting for an example. Who is the market for paintings? Who is the market for oil paintings? Who is the market for oil paintings of animals? Who is the market for oil paintings of pets? Who is the….dog? Who is…..hunting dogs? Who is….german shorthaired pointers?

Now the collector of oil paintings of german shorthaired pointers would be part of the group collectors of paintings. But don’t you think that it would be easier to interest them with paintings of German shorthairs rather than with  “paintings in general?” Don’t you think that they will share you and your art with other  German shorhaired owners if your paintings are German short haired pointers?

So what you create determines to whom and how you sell your work and can make the job either easier or harder.

Restricting yourself (geez, that word is worse than “categorizing” ) to a specific category or niche ( I know, that word is getting a bit overused now days) will focus your work and allow you to improve and reach greater depth in your work.

So everything is connected, your decision of what to create determines who you market to and how easy that will be. Your decision to focus determine how much your work improves.  Which gives you positive feedback, which makes you willing to do the work needed to create and market your art.

So what I am saying is that when it comes to marketing and selling your work you can’t just categorize…….