"Starving" to Successful

For those of you out there who would not consider themselves an artist (at least not yet) I would venture to say you have other strengths that artists inherently do not possess. I attended a workshop this past Saturday morning about the business of art; an area in which I definitely need some insight. The owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona spoke on the material in his book "'Starving' to Successful: The Fine Artist's Guide to Getting into Galleries and Selling More Art".


 To my surprise a number of well known artists in town were in attendance at the work shop! I would have thought that at this point in their careers they would have it all together. These are artists whose work I see all over the place! What more advice could they possibly need? I guess we all have some room to learn, especially as the business world changes and commerce in the traditional sense has been so greatly changed via the Internet (don't worry, e-bay,  I totally love you!).


To my second surprise, I was definitely the youngest person there! I thought for sure there would be many more young artists there, trying to figure out how to get a break or something! Either that or I was strangely comforted to realize that I might be ahead of the learning curve... or something like that... 


I guess the one thing is; I haven't been badly burned by any galleries or arts organizations yet, as some of the other more experienced artists have been. A couple of them shared their horror stories of galleries selling work then going bankrupt with them unable to collect for their art and unable to find out to whom the art work was sold. 


All in all, the workshop was incredibly helpful and hopefully will help me avoid some serious mistakes that I may have been headed for unknowingly. But I must say, the resounding gong, the elephant in the room, the overwhelming truth about being a creative individual.... DISORGANIZATION will cripple you in your creative career! Yep, that is my fatal flaw. For all my friends and such that I seek to daily encourage to be inspired, for me inspiration comes in an abundance, perhaps too great of a flow, more than my disorganized self can handle. I have more ideas than I mostly know what to do with and I usually get them too quickly to write down. I need to get organized or I will not be able to live out my dreams. This is truly my life's struggle. 


So while I'm saying this, for those of you with a great deal of business sense and organizational and management skills that are feeling like they need to be a bit more inspired to create an art of their own.... I have a proposal for you....


... could we trade?