Are You Ready to Attract Art Professionals?

When you decide to sell your art, you become a business owner. In the beginning you do everything yourself. You buy the supplies and make the art. You market, promote, sell, distribute the art. You do all the paper work and customer service. Phew – no wonder you get tired sometimes!When your art sales produce a profit, it’s time to consider paying for help. You can start with finding an accountant, assistant, bookkeeper, and caregiver for family members.”The art market is huge and complicated these days… How should an artist pick an marketing advisor: how do I know if they really know the market segment my work belongs in? For clarification, I’m thinking of an art marketing advisor as someone who would give advice about how to position the type of work I am making for maximum sales; which avenues of sales (wholesale, galleries, licensing, etc.) are most appropriate for my work, and how to position myself for that particular market. I realize that there are reps who actually do the marketing of other’s work, but I’m not sure I’m ready to consider that.” KDSome of you may be ready to work with an art professional. Titles can be confusing. In a nutshell, here is what each art professional does:Artist Advisors (that would be me) guide artists who want to make a better living making art. Artist Advisors:help artists decide what they want from their art and create a pathway to get it;
visit artists’ web sites and studios to advise how to improve their Internet presence;
evaluate artist business plans to assess what is working and advise how to make it work better;
review artist marketing plans to assess what is getting results and advise how to get more exposure;
discuss artists pricing strategies and sales results and advise how to make more money;
advise on how to deal with collectors and other art professionals;
write about art marketing for blogs, web sites, magazines, or books.Unlike the remaining art professionals, art advisors do not sell or represent your work.Art Advisors purchase or lease art for private collectors. Art Advisors:educate their clients;
acquire art for collections;
manage art collections;
install the work;
rotate the collection.Art Consultants purchase or lease art for corporations, healthcare facilities and other organizations in the public and private sector. Art Consultants:acquire and manage corporate art collections;
install site-specific commissions;
curate art exhibitions;
produce art events;
develop educational activities about art for employees, customers and the local community.Art Curators advise private collectors and museums on acquisitions and loans of art. Art Curators:visit artists’ studios to learn about their work and select pieces for exhibitions;
evaluate art works that collectors wish to donate to a museum;
select art from the museum’s collections for exhibits;
organize traveling art exhibitions;
write about art for catalogs, brochures, magazines, or books.Art Licensing Agents represent artists who have work that manufacturers can lease to use on products. Art licensing agents:help you decide which work is appropriate for licensing;
identify the appropriate retail channels;
create a sales and marketing plan to promote your artwork;
promote art to their contacts in the market;
negotiate licensing contracts and royalty payments;
administer contracts for licenses;
keep up to date on current licensing trends and themes.Artist Representatives are private dealers who represent artists. Artist Representatives:arrange and produce exhibits and meetings with individual collectors;
provide museum and gallery placement;
arrange promotional support;
do public relations;
provide marketing services for the artists they represent.Gallery Dealers are retailers who present quality works of art and guarantee authenticity and archival quality. Gallery Dealers:have expert knowledge and inventory of specific artists or art periods;
have a niche of art that they exhibit;
have a clientele that appreciates the work they exhibit;
have fixed exhibit space and/or web sites where they show work and demonstrate their expertise to collectors, critics, and curators through catalogs, group or solo exhibitions.
The relatively new term “Gallerists” refers to gallery dealers who take a more active role in promoting individual contemporary artists, and not just a certain type of work. Their role echoes the “old style” galleries who took artists under their wings.

How A Complete Body Health Check Up Can Uncover Hidden Diseases

Dalai Lama: “Man surprised me most about humanity. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health… “You get your car tuned-up every year. Why wouldn’t you get an annual medical check-up as well? An annual health check-up or periodic health check is useful as it can help to detect and identify diseases or the warning signs of an impending disease very early. This makes treatment a lot more effective, less expensive and less invasive. In addition to detecting such diseases before a patient turns seriously ill, such periodic check ups also give you a detailed update on various health parameters like cholesterol levels, blood sugar levels, blood pressure and body weight. This helps to gauge your overall health and it enables health care providers to assess health risks and advise you on lifestyle on dietary measures to counter such risks.Benefits of an annual health check upThere are several advantages of a regular complete body health check up with a doctor. One of the most important benefits is the prevention of disease. Preventive health checks are important especially for individuals with risk factors for different health conditions. A master health check up can also aid in the early detection and treatment of a health problem, which is valuable especially in cases of cancer. The examinations and laboratory tests that will be done during a health check up vary depending on an individual’s age, sex, family history, and lifestyle. Health check ups also promote better patient-doctor relationships and allow the doctor to promote healthy habits through patient education.Composition of a regular health check-upBesides an overall physical examination, which includes the eyes and teeth, a standard health check up is meant to assess the functioning of the heart, lungs, digestive system, liver, kidneys and, immune system status. Sometimes certain cancer-specific tests like PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen) for men and mammography and some gynecological examinations in women are also included.A body health check up primarily comprise pathology (blood and urine), imaging (x-ray and ultra-sonography), lungs function test and cardiac stress test. These tests should ideally be carried out in an accredited laboratory or a hospital which is equipped with the best diagnostic tools. It is very important that the results of these tests be interpreted and examined by qualified physicians.Common investigations in a regular health check upA regular health check up will comprise of the following investigations:1. General Physical Examination (body weight, blood pressure, pulse rate, etc.)2. Laboratory investigations:a) Complete Haemogram: It is a panel of tests to examine different components of blood and used as broad screening test for such disorders as anemia, infection, and many other diseases.b) Lipid Profile: Used to assess the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.c) Liver Function Test: Used to assess the functioning of the liver or diagnose liver diseases.d) Kidney Function Test: Used to evaluate how well the kidneys are functioning.e) Blood Sugar: Used to measure blood glucose for checking pre-diabetes and diabetes.f) Chest X-ray: Used to examine the chest and the organs and structures located in the chest.g) ECG/Treadmill Test: Used as a diagnostic tool to measure the rate and regularity of heartbeats and for assessing cardiac stress.h) Ultrasonography of the abdomen: Diagnostic imaging technique used for visualizing organs and structures in the abdomen including the liver, gall bladder, spleen, pancreas and the kidneys.i) Urine Routine Examination: Used for general evaluation of health, metabolic or systematic diseases.Getting the right type of body health check up is important and while considering it, certain factors like age, lifestyle, family history, and risks should be taken into account. Regular health examinations and tests help detect problems before they start. Opting for a right health check up, screenings, and treatments means one is taking steps to help one live longer and healthier life.If nothing else, it gives important information about one’s body to ensure peace of mind and to make lifestyle adjustments. Even the most basic body health check up can identify underlying illnesses. An illness picked up in the early stages is, after all, far easier to cure.

How To Build Your Own Job – Would You Hire You?

What did you think the last time you saw a pool cleaner? Did you know they do really well? Now, there’s even a franchise to teach you how to clean just tile and grout – any tile and grout! How about the bed bugs in the east? You get a steamer, learn to use it and yes, we’re talking $100k a year with bed bugs and each of the businesses mentioned so far. My son makes $50k repairing iPhones part time!The advantages of building your own job are obvious. You’re in command of your life. You make all the decisions. You determine your income by your get-go. You can’t be fired unless you fire yourself. The disadvantages are obvious too, aren’t they? No health insurance. You are responsible for everything. You’ll probably work some long hours to start. And what about the money? The day you start you’ll have zero coming in. AND it’s going to take at least $1,000 to build your own job. However, it can be as simple as painting or re-painting addresses on curbs. (A) It needs to be done. (B) It is a safety factor (emergency vehicles can see them). (C) You can get $25 to $50 per job, and you can probably 15 a day, simply by knocking on doors. It can be as complex as doing computer repair where the customer lives or has their business. Demand is huge. A $60 to $120 minimum would be low.How do you figure out what job you want to build? Start with your passion. If your passion is plants, find a wholesale supplier near you, get a business license, and a van / truck, like a used U-Haul. But BEFORE you do that, figure out your marketing. Most businesses fail because they didn’t figure out how they would do their marketing (and what it would cost) to attract enough business to make sense. In the area where we live there are vast empty areas between population areas. There are tons of well-positioned vacant lots where a person could sell plants and no one would bother you. You could scout out locations, and get a schedule going to be in each location for X hours on a particular day of the week. What’s your marketing cost? Zip! Who’s your buyer? Commuters among other traffic. If they get used to you being there every Wednesday (for example) they’ll stop and buy and tell others.Can you “Test Drive” a micro business? Sure. Sticking with the plant example above – go to Lowe’s or Home Depot and buy some plants on sale that you think would sell. Make up some very visible signs. Go out to a vacant lot where the traffic passes on the outskirts of your city. Sell the plants. Now, be aware, you should be able to buy the plants for less if you do a good job finding wholesale suppliers.However, you’ll learn a lot from the test drive, won’t you? If you buy a plant for $40.00 wholesale can you sell it for $59? $49? Let’s say $55. You make a gross profit of $15. If you can sell 27 plants at that profit – that’s $100,000 a year. Impossible? NOT!We can tell you, your average profit in the iPhone Repair Business will be about $40. Test this business by calling 10 friends and asking: “Do you know anyone who broke their iPhone?” We can tell you, you’ll find demand! 10 iPhone repairs a day is $100k a year.You may not be cut out to build your job. Working for a corporation is something you get used to, and it’s hard to change. It’s important to test drive whatever job you decide to build. Demand is important. Doing something you’ll enjoy is important. Know this: You can do what you set your mind to do. We’re cheering for your success!