Mark E Shellshear.

Learn to e mbrace uncertainty, this is the walk of the original creative Artist. Don’t walk down the beaten Art path with every other Artist , their work begins to merge and look alike and we won’t recognize you. D on’t allow yourself to be average, mediocre, one of the crowd, dare to blaze a new Art trail that is your creative trail alone. Creating something new and original is scary, but exciting . T here is something wonderful about being the first to do something, i t is exciting and challenging, that is what makes being a trailblazer so amazing. Y ou are special, your an original Artist. The thief will try to use shame or any tactic to stop you from doing something new and challenging it wants average and safe . D ream big and d on’t ask for directions from others , make your own vision a reality, walk down your unknown road of creativity . We are waiting to see what you create, amaze us.

Delight your true fans with the work that you make for them. You cannot please the whole Art market, so don’t even try, but you can please those who love you and your Art. Creating original Art for those who love you is important and satisfying because when you make it for them they are delighted and rejoice with you and they spread the word about you. It is wonderful when you sincerely care about your fans, they will love you back, they will buy your work, they will be promote you, they will be at all your shows and will be eager to talk to others about you. Continue the life long journey of personal improvement and making exceptional Art for those who love you and they will tell the world.

Are we always courteous and friendly with them, showing them the same respect and courtesy that we want from them? We are always respectful and courteous to buyers and those we respect, but what about the other people, the not so important the insignificant ones? Every person an Artist comes in contact with is important because that person no matter how unimportant will have an opinion about you after you have left them and that opinion could be good or bad. If good, they will sing your praises, yet if bad it could eventually hurt us because we never know who knows who. I found in the Art business that often the sales people and those people in the back rooms, who unpacked and packed paintings and did the hanging often knew a lot of the collectors and they would talk. Collectors are always looking to find out what is going on and these unknown workers often had more influence than they are given credit for. Treat others how you want to be treated. Respect is something ...

In all our dealings with our customers, hesitate doing things quickly, the impulsive thing, it is usually wrong. Find out what your customer really wants by listening carefully and once you know what it is you can then meet that need. Do not presume what your customer wants, learn to listen to them carefully and understand what they want. I think learning to listen is so important in selling, I am always amazed when talking to sales people and often people in general how little they hear and I know this by their answers and their eyes and body language. They presume what I am saying, not listening to what I am saying. Good listening is a learned discipline and I have learned to use triggers to make me listen. If I see a conversation is getting serious I say to myself, “ This is a counselling situation, listen very carefully.” Or with a customer, “ This is an important sale, listen carefully to what the customer is saying and reflect back.” All sales are importa...

I often look at Artists that I thought had great potential to be successful but over the years they never really attained the potential that they had. I find it is important to consider why people never attain their real potential in their Art careers, rather than look at why others succeed. If we can find what hindered them we can then learn from their stagnation and don’t do what they did. We always hear the success stories and they are wonderful but I always want to know why others who seemed to have everything going for them didn’t make it. Many times it is little destructive habits and beliefs that stop them and the inability to innovate and change and learn new things. For most it is not a major fall from grace but small destructive habits and beliefs that slowly stops them. How sad it would be to know that something like procrastination or jealousy or criticism or something else is a problem and never fix it and that is what stopped us from achieving your dre...

Another important thing we can do in our Art business that will not cost us any money but will bring increased income into our Art business is to bring great value to our collectors. Building value for our customers comes in two forms, giving great value in our Art works and being of personal value to our Art collectors. Bringing great value in our Art works is not about low prices but doing quality Art works at competitive prices, professionally finished and presented. We bring exceptional value to our Art work when we are confident within our selves and believe in what we are doing and that our Art makes a difference. It is amazing the confidence you have in your Art when you believe that it makes a difference and your Art is important. Self belief is infectious and people will believe in you when you believe in yourself. Bring value to your Art business with professionally finished and presented Art works and believe in yourself and others will take notice and spre...

Another important thing we can bring to our Art business that will cost us very little but will bring good returns, is always treat our customers with generosity. Be the Artist who is always prepared to take the time to talk about your work to others. Be generous and make it part of your Art business, I don’t mean give away away your Art or give big discounts, I mean be generous with your appreciation of others, listen to what they have to say, always have a positive, encouraging word for others. If you are generous with your time, your appreciation of others and your encouraging speech it will cause others to gravitate to you, because you become the person they want to be like and they will like you and that is so important in selling to strangers, if they like you most times they will like your work. You can never give away to much praise, or to much encouragement or, to much appreciation, or to much caring, these are all renewable resources for us to use over and ove...

One thing you can easily do that would not cost you money but would bring increased income to your Art business. It is great service. Give the best possible personal service you can, before the sale, during the sale and after the sale. Make the sales process a memorable, enjoyable experience one the customer will talk about to their friends in a positive way. Word of mouth is still the surest form of advertising. Before the sale be very friendly and polite and story tell your Art so the customer learns to see your painting through their own eyes according to the story you tell them. When the sale takes place don’t let it be just a financial transaction, make it about two friends chatting about their new Art work and their life. After sales service, send them an email thanking them for buying your work and asking for them to take a photo of their work hanging in their house and get permission to post it on social media. Also get permission to put them on your mo...

Do not think of success only in terms of money but in the quality of your life you want to live and the influence and change you want to make in your world. Money is very important as we all have to survive but it is not as important as good health and personal fulfillment and seeing the lives of others change for the better. Do not be shaped by outside forces, decide on the Art lifestyle that you want and build your Art business around that. People are looking for leaders, that original voice that says, “ Come take my hand and I will lead the way.” So be seen, do videos, write a blog, you will need to step out of the crowd and walk alone, be generous and help others and then people will follow. We are looking for leaders like you in the Art world to help bring change. One positive, generous, caring person can make a difference.

I read a post by an Artist complaining that there is to many Artists and paintings in the market now and how hard it was to sell Art. Yes it is true that there has never before been as many Artists as there are today but also there is more Art sold today than ever before. We live in a new age where the Art business like most businesses is having to change and evolve because of the disruption that the Internet has bought upon us. Now it easy to complain about there being so many Artists today and so much Art work up for sale, yet we live in a vibrant Art market. The problem is not to many Artists or paintings for sale, the problem is that Artists have to change and change can be hard. Today the majority of Artists have to sell their own Art and so they have to learn new skills that the Artist of yesterday never had to deal with and I think that is a game changer. We have the opportunity to manage our own careers like no Artists before us, we are in control of our o...

So often Artists look at the Art business now and think about how paintings and Art works were sold before and they think that they were better off in years past. The Art business then was clearly defined and it worked for some and then along came the Internet and the old ways are slowly disappearing. I am not one who yearns for the “good old days” they were not so good for many Artists, most were locked out of the game but now with the Internet we can all play and the gatekeepers have lost their power. The Internet has given so many Artists the opportunity to showcase their work for all to see and this is mostly for free. We can now show our work on so many platforms around the world, the Art world has changed. With these new opportunities also come new responsibilities Artists did not have before, now we have to sell our Art as well as be the creator of our Art and this is where the majority of Artists find themselves. It is no good saying it’s not fair and you wa...

Persistence is necessary but not enough. Persistence must be combined with experimentation. Doing the same thing over and over again is persistence but if we are not selling our Art then we will need to change and experiment with how we sell our Art. We need to persist and find a better way. No results, so then try another approach. There is a way to solve your problems you just have to find it. Attract solutions by believing solutions are available and be brave enough to experiment. I hear of Artists who want to give up because they just are not selling and my answer is always, find another way to sell your Art. Often the blockage is with us and how we think, don’t just do what you have always done if it is not working, that is persistence, stop, think this through, experiment and find another way. And of course there is always another way, often we are so fixed on how we believe it should be done, we don’t see how it could be done. ...

If you don’t produce, you don’t get to where you are going. If you want to be a great painter, then you are going to have to produce great paintings. If you want to be a great writer, then you are going to have produce great writing. That is easy to say, but how do I do that? When you start, your writing will be average at best, but if you are persistent and get all the bad writing out of the way, it is amazing how your writing gets better and better and so with painting and anything else you choose to do. You have to paint the bad paintings to get to the good ones. When you do videos people may laugh at them at first, they did with mine, but you will improve each time you make a video and the laughter will fade away to applause. When you start writing people may mock your average content, they did with mine, but that’s ok it will improve each time you write another blog and the laughter will fade and then they will say thank you for being generous and helping peo...

If you understand from the very start that not everyone will like your Art and that some will dislike it, you are then free to create for those who love you. When you try and create for everyone your work will lack energy and creativity because you are trying to create to please everyone, which is impossible, your work will look average and nondescript. Ignore those who don’t love you, you do not create for them, you create for those who love you. You know the people that love you, so paint for them, to please them, they want you to be creative and original, surprise them with your new and wonderful Art work created especially for them. “ We love you and we want you to delight us and surprise us with your new original Art work. We loved your work from yesterday, we are captivated with your work today and we are with you on your Art journey into tomorrow. We are your true fans, delight us with your original creativity, make it just for us.”

I believe all Artist must strive for excellence in their profession, and excellence does not start with those other Artists it starts with us personally first. We must choose excellence first in our Art careers and create original work, clearly defining us as original Artists, h av ing original thought and creat ing new original work. We must strive to be the best Artist and the best person that we can be. I say this so often and it is not just a nice thought it is something we must work hard on always, it does not matter what others do, it is what we do that counts. We are responsible for ourselves only, so always remember, o ur good name and reputation as an Artist is very important and we must do all we can to protect it. Ancient text says, “ A good reputation is more desirable than great wealt h.” Strive for excellence in every area of your life and be the best you can be.

Yet so few Artists take advantage of this opportunity and push as hard as they can to get attention and hopefully sales. Now is the time to promote yourself and you Art through videos, blogs and showing your Art work on Artist pages in Facebook and other platforms. When you show a painting always tell a short story about the painting or what you were thinking at the time it will engage the viewer and help bring about a sale. Do a video of each individual painting with a voice over, very few are doing this and it is a great way to get known and get attention. None of this is very difficult to do but it is time consuming and when you go to do something different and challenging you will have to deal with the “thief.” It will help you to make excuses as to why you can’t do these things or shouldn’t do it and if that does not work it will try shame and ridicule to stop you, so prepare for the thief and when it turns up you will know you are on the right track. Use fea...