A business plan is built from proven, repeatable and measurable strategies that have been designed to move you forward towards your vision. Failure, pain and quitting seem to be the most common results when an artist chases a dream without strategy and without a business plan. And yet, the vast majority of artists never create a business plan beyond simply creating art and waiting for their dreams to just happen.
A business plan does not sound very “artsy” so for you artists out there that are turned off by business jargon we have created “The Dream Catcher.” We call it The Dream Catcher because it's purpose is to, well... catch dreams! Dreams tend to just float around without any strategy to anchor them or give them direction. This model will help you reel that dream in and focus it down into real world applications.
Here we go: Dreams go in and results come out!
How to Turn Dreams Into Goals
The first step in the Dream Catcher process is breaking dreams down into concrete goals. A vision can be gigantic and therefore difficult to wrap your brain around. Step one is to break that vision up into smaller pieces. A goal is different from a dream or vision in a few ways. First, your goals are meant as intermediaries or steps that move you towards your grander vision. Goals are milestones that you must hit along the way to the promise land. We call this the "Dora the Explorer Principle." Yes, We did just mention Dora the Explorer!
If you are lucky enough... or unlucky enough to remember Dora you will recall that every episode followed a very specific formula. Dora and Boots need to get to some important destination. For our purposes today we'll just say she needs to get to the magic chocolate tree. But before Dora can begin her quest she always consults a singing map who tells her how to get there. Of course, it goes without saying that singing maps are very wise and trustworthy. The Map does not simply tell Dora how to get to her destination, rather he gives her a series of milestones that will eventually lead her there. For our example he would say something like, "first go through the scary forest, then go over the troll bridge, then climb the muddy mountain, and THEN you will make it to the magic chocolate tree!"
Your Goals should do for you what Map does for Dora. Thanks, Nick Jr!
Goals should also be S.M.A.R.T. This is a famous old goal setting acronym that never goes out of fashion because it is so dang true!
We will continue to talk about goal setting and goal achieving in another blog. For now, ask yourself what kinds of milestones must you hit in order to make it to your ultimate vision?
How to Turn Goals Into Strategies
A strategy is your game plan or method. The Vision and Goals are both “what’s” while your strategies are the “how’s.” As we already stated (and will restate many more times) a strategy is a proven, repeatable, and measurable method for moving you towards your goal. You may be wondering what we mean by proven, repeatable, and measurable. Let’s break it down…
Proven
First of all, do not confuse the word proven with the word guaranteed. When we say that a strategy should be proven we mean that it has been validated in the marketplace. You can follow proven strategies and still fail but you will do far better than if you hadn’t. A proven strategy is a method or model that has been tested and therefore can give you reasonably predictable results. As you will see throughout our book (Art To Income) and our other programs, so much hinges on results that you can predict and later measure.
An example of a proven strategy for a musician who wants to break into the college market would be to showcase at a NACA (National Association of Campus Activities) conference to get booked at colleges around the country. People get booked out of these conferences all the time. It is perfectly reasonable to predict a certain kind of outcome and there is ample data you can collect to support this assumption. An example of an unproven method would be what most musicians typically do…. play for free in venues all over Hollywood with the hope of being discovered, picked up and made famous. We can call this “The Justin Bieber Phenomenon.” One-in-a-million opportunities do get handed out to a lucky few now and then. Their stories get repeated in the media and thus the myth gets perpetuated. That myth states that all you need to be is “good enough” to eventually be discovered and make it big. One-in-a-million opportunities are just that… one-in-a-million! You want results that you can rely upon and therefore anticipate. Building a business model around the Bieber Phenomenon would be like telling your mom that you just launched a new Silicon Valley startup whose sole business plan is purchasing lottery tickets every day!
Repeatable
A strategy also needs to be repeatable. Here is the test to tell if a strategy is repeatable. When you are presented with a potential new method for generating income ask yourself two questions. First, “can I do this?” Second, “can I then do it again, and again and again.” Once you have achieved your desired and predictable result, the worse thing you could do is then wander off in a new direction looking for the next big strategy. The best strategies should become something you can rely upon. You want and need methods you can trust and return to again and again.
Measurable
There should be equations attached to your strategies. Remember how back in your Junior High math class you would roll your eyes and think “when will I even use this boring stuff in the real world?” Well, dust off your calculator. That time has arrived! As we break down strategies in the chapters that follow we will include metrics by which you can measure your success. For now, the most basic and universal equation is this:
Results of the Strategy (income) > Cost of the Strategy (in cash) + Cost of the Strategy (in time)
At bare minimum you need to be able to measure the results generated by each strategic method and the costs of that method in dollars and time spent. If your strategies cost more money than they generate then it is time to investigate better strategies!
How to Turn Strategies Into Steps
What are the tasks that must be done to get you to your goal? What are the things you can do today, tomorrow and the next day that will move you forward? Steps are your immediate tasks. These are your short term “to do” items. They are not ideas, milestones or destinations. Rather, they are action items that you can look at and say “I am going to do this step on this day at this time.” If you cannot assign a date and time to actually doing the step, then you need to break it down further into even smaller steps.
Taking Action
As we’ve said before the first thing is to keep the first things the first things. Don’t be distracted from your steps or tasks by things that do not move you towards your next goal. Stay focused! We learned one of our most valuable lessons about running an art business while shooting Driven by the Sound back in 2008. We were interviewing an indie musician named Kalai at his home in Utah. During that interview Kalai told us about the moment that his music went from simply being his artform to being his career. That moment came when he realized that if he was going to be serious about earning money as a musician he needed to work 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, just like any other professional or business-person would. You too must plan out enough time for following through with your steps every day. Make your action-items your top priority. Dedicate X amount of hours a week solely towards completing the tasks that move you forward.
Now you know how to turn your dreams into your reality, so go out and start taking action!
Kenny and Jake Ballentine Co-Founders of Art to Income and Independent Artist Day arttoincome.com
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