The Working Artist: Focus on Keeping the 3% Happy, Stop Worrying About the 97%!

When you work as an artist — or in some other creative field — it seems like it's just part of our nature that we want other people to like, or appreciate, or in some way respond to what we have been creating.

Since we closed our Red Dragonfly Gallery back in June, I have had more opportunities to take my own art to "outside shows" again, where I get to interact directly with a large cross-section of the public.

What is our true destination and desire?

WHO Are You Trying to Reach?

When I am an exhibitor at an Arts and Crafts show, one of the things I can't help but notice is just how many people walk past our booth more or less in a haze, not really looking, seeing, or commenting on anything on display.

It's easy to get discouraged by a large number of visitors who seem like they just don't CARE about what an artist has to offer! Why aren't they touched by our work? Self-doubt can quickly set in... BUT...

On the other hand, it is also very rewarding to interact with those who really appreciate the work.

There's an important lesson there, in how we choose to process the feedback we get to our work. Where do you direct your energy and focus?

It's easy to fall into the trap of fretting and worrying about how to become "more popular" with more of the people who just walk by and seem to not care. Back when we still had the gallery, many of the artists whose work we displayed would ask me (as their curator) "how to become more popular," and more appealing to more people.

My advice to them was always to not worry about it, and to instead focus their energies on listening to — and catering to — the 3-5% of the public who really loved their work!

Your art is not for everyone!

You Can't Please Everyone!

Perhaps that's an old and tired truism, but it contains a core element of how life works. Along with that, I would add that it's not worth our while to even try to please everyone.

What's really important, is to become super attentive to — and grateful for — that small segment who love our work. They are — in a sense — our greatest ambassadors and the best possible advertising for our creative output!

And (in terms of effectiveness) it is actually easier and more economical to put our marketing and awareness generation bandwidth into keeping them happy, rather than going after those "new" people who seem to be largely indifferent to what we're doing.

Here's the thing: Those "number one fans" of ours? They are actually better at spreading the word about our art than we are!

Why?

Because people tend to buy stuff their friends go on and on about as "being wonderful!" Think about it: How often have you bought something because a friend of yours kept going on about how awesome it was? Probably more often than you've bought something you saw advertised, right? And so it is with art (and other creative products) as well.

Most people don't WANT their "peace" disturbed!

If You're SERIOUS, Be Patient!

Most of the commercially successful artists I have met have also had in common that they tend to be quite patient. That is, they love doing the work they do, and they are quite willing to put in the effort and wait however long it takes for commercial success to come.

I'm still working towards my own commercial success, in the artistic sense. And I'm about six years into "taking it seriously," in terms of looking at my art as a business, as well as simply a creative outlet.

I'm thinking 2020 is likely to be a major growth year, because I finally feel like I have worked out my own "placement" within the artistic community, and the audience my (very specialized and niche) work appeals to.

And that's a major part of that process of *patience:" Having the patience to you who you are, as an artist, before you fully commit to telling the world about your work.

And so, I wish you all a fabulously creative 2020!

Thanks for reading!

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