Designing a strategic plan is crucial to the success of any business. In this article art business basics before you plan I will share with you some things that you will want to think about before you set up a plan.

Art Business Basics Before You Plan

Let’s go over some things that you will need to think about before you can start planning.

A plan will only be successful as long as you have the boundaries.

You have your vision of where you would like to be in 10 years. If you do not have that written done yet, take the time to do it now.

Your vision should include a three-year vision, five-year vision, and a ten-year vision.

Your plan will guide you towards your vision.

Start planning for your three-year vision. That is the closest vision and if you accomplish what you have set out to achieve you will be that much closer to your five-year vision. At that point, you will need to adjust.

To plan for your three-year vision, you will need to know your work schedule. How many hours are you able to work in a week? Do you have children? Do you have a part-time job or full-time job?

Take some time to think about when you can work on your art business. There is no correct answer. It will depend on your unique lifestyle. However, you will want to designate a specific amount of time that you will be working on your art business. When you know your hours, you will be able to plug-in the tasks that will need to be accomplished.

Consistency is what will get you to your end goal quicker. If you put in a couple of hours in here, a few hours there, you are not running a business. It is a hobby. If you want to sell art, you are running a business, and you will want to treat it as a job.

After you know what hours you will be able to work during a week, you will want to plan what days you can work and for how long. Be precise, just as if you were working for a company and they gave you a schedule. You would know exactly when you needed to be at work. Do the same for your art business.

The next step is to decide what you will need to accomplish.

Here are some basic things an artist will need to do to run an art business:

• Create art
• Price art
• Collect money
• Online marketing
• Offline marketing
• Craft shows
• Galleries
• Order supplies
• Ship products
• Email
• Communicate with buyers and potential buyers
• Accounting

Each of these categories will have their unique tasks. Some will be easier, and some will take more time. Your goal when you are designing a plan is to place your jobs at the best times. You will find out that you will be more productive at different times throughout the day. You want to work smarter not harder. Place the harder jobs when you are more focused. The jobs that you can do on autopilot can be done when you not as focused.

For example, I have found that the best time for me to write is early in the morning. I wake up at five every morning and start writing after I feed the animals and make some coffee.

From 5-6 I work on blog posts. From 6-8 I work on books that I am writing.

Then I go into the studio to create art.

I have specific times throughout the day for social media posts, marketing, shipping products, taking photos for social media, and so on. The end of my workday is when I will engage with people on social networks and answer any emails. I put the emails last because I can do that job when I am not as energetic. I will also get them done quickly because it is towards the end of the day and I do not want to work longer than I have to.

My days are very structured, and every task has a specific time frame allowed. Setting a time for each task makes me work quicker and smarter. Instead of a job taking me two hours to complete because I feel lax, I can get more done in an hour if I know that I only have an hour to work on that task.

Before I call it quits for the day, I will write a list of what I want to accomplish the next day. The list allows me to get more done and spend less time thinking of what needs to get done. The end of the day works best for me to write the list because I will know if I need to work on something that did not get accomplished during the day.

Action Plan:

Take the time to write out a work week schedule. Write a list of jobs that you will have for running your business. Start plugging in the jobs throughout your workweek.

At this point do not be too concerned when the best time is for each job. At the end of every week, you will assess the week and make adjustments for the next week. It will take some trial and error to find what works best for you. As long as you have a plan, assess your plan and tweak your plan, you will find yourself a master at time management. One thing that will make a person fail is poor time management. You can have dreams, visions, goals, and passion but if you do not have time management skills you will achieve nothing.

The art business basics before you plan will help you set the path towards your goals.

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