When I'm Not Painting

I made reference recently to the fact that I struggle with marketing and keeping up with all the "other" stuff that goes along with running an art business: like blogging, posting to social media, entering shows, writing newsletters, etc. I often set a schedule only to follow it for a short time and ditch it after a while. 

So here I am, once again, arranging an editorial calendar and organizing my business responsibilities for myself so that I can maintain more consistency in my bookkeeping and marketing efforts. I have some great mentors in this arena and am hopeful that I can improve my organization and follow-through. Sometimes it's hard to be me. Ha!

What part of your art business do you struggle with? 

True Confessions

work-in-progress - 6" x 6" - watercolor on aquabord

I don't know about you, but I find running a small, yet (hopefully) growing business from home very challenging.  I am not an entrepreneur by design and it's all I can do to strike a balance between painting and creating, along with book-keeping, marketing and everything else that comes with building a successful business.  In addition, my studio is in my home and therefore it's often tough avoiding interruptions:  phonecalls, dogs, housekeeping, etc.  I often find that when my home is in order, I do little painting and when I'm most productive in the studio, my house is in complete disarray!  There is only so much time in the day to do everything and while I've (happily) resigned myself to that fact, I still embark on finding and maintaining the perfect balance.  

How do you strike the balance?  Does building a business come easy to you?  I love the challenge, and enjoy researching marketing and contemplating new business ideas, but I find it's easy for me to get burnt out.  Do you ever need to take breaks from it all?  I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on this topic, so please comment if you have the time (well, you probably don't have the time, but if you can spare a moment or two, I'd be most appreciative!)  :) 

Have a great and productive day!

Not much progress . . . I'm busy working on my book-keeping right now . . . but I'm dedicated to producing new work and and improving my business and time management.