Hi, everyone. It’s John Paul here. Live at the Auspicious Arts Incubator. And a little bit cloudy overcast rainy day here. But I wanted to bring you tip number nine. So, this is the series of the 10 things that I learned that was essential for me to create multiple successful for arts businesses. And it’s the advice I’d been giving to thousands of artists for the last 10 years to help them build successful, sustainable, creative businesses. So, this is tip number nine. So, nine and 10 are a pair. It’s called Planning and Productivity.

So, the first part is planning, and I think that one other things that I have to be forced to do was the plan. So, I love being the artist that was going with the flow and letting things happen, and being surprised at the next offer. But what really makes the difference between being a hobbyist and being in business is having a plan. And saying, “This is how I walk to business to grow, this is where I want the business to be, this is what my business is.” And building that as a plan is essential. Now, the thing that I’ve learned that’s different from any other industry or business that tries to do planning, is that we are intuitive, we are connected, we a have deep and it’s a spiritual connection to the universe and what we should be doing and what we want to do. And we have all the wisdom inside us.

So, sometimes working with me as a coach is about bringing out the inner wisdom which you have inside. So, when people come to me and they say, “You know, I’ve told I need to get a business plan.” I say to them, “Careful, I don’t know that you really need that 27-page document, what you need is a plan for the business.” So, one of my phrases I love is, “You don’t need the business plan but you do need a plan for the business.” Because if you plan the work, then when you go into the rehearsal, while you go into the studio to record, you to the studio to paint or just sculpt, you can just do the work. The thing that burns us out as artists. The fastest is trying to do the planning at the same time that we’re trying to build the work. So, when you’re working in the business every day, and then you’re trying to work on the business at the same time, that’s was fries us and burns us out.

So, I think it’s really important to understand that you have to take some time to be the CEO of your business and plan the business. So, there’s a bunch of details that I go through for people that are part of the ASAP program because I take longer with these tips. And we go on to all kinds of detail about business plans, sole traders, business structures insurance, IPL, sort of stuff. But what I wanna do for this one just to make it easy for everyone is to get you inside this process of planning, right? So, it’s a little exercise, it’s a rhyming exercise.

So, go and get a piece of paper and you’re gonna write down this sentence. Right? I could succeed in my arts business if I could just… Now I’m gonna give you four writing problems that you’re gonna use to use, that are gonna help you complete that sentence. You’re gonna write four times… So, one piece of paper starts with that sentence. I could just set up my art business if I could just… yup? Sort it out. I could succeed in my arts business if I could just sort out…and keep going. Sorry, my notes all vanished for a second. Second piece of paper, top of the paper says, “I could succeed in my art business if I could just…understand.” I could succeed in my arts business if I could just understand…leave the rest of page blank.

Next piece of paper. Top of the page, I could succeed in my arts business if I could just learn how to… Leave the rest to page blank. And in the fourth page, top of the page, I could succeed in my arts business if I could just…solve, okay? so what you’re gonna do is you’re gonna take these four pages and you’re gonna write, and you’re not gonna edit, you’re gonna let your inner guidance, be strong. You’re gonna be cleared, you’re just gonna keep writing and you’re gonna hit breaks. You’re gonna go, “I think I’m done.” And then let your mind say, “And what else?” Just give yourself that writing prompt that says, and what else? And then keep writing.

Okay. Because the problem half stated is a problem half solved. Okay. So, in deciding a plan if you look at these things, that’s the beginning of your plan. So, the plan for your arts business is to sort out some stuff, to understand some stuff, to learn how to do some stuff, to solve some problems. That’s the structure of your plan. And then you’re starting this process of planning. Okay. Now, there’s more to be said about having an actual business plan. But understand that the process of writing that 27 pages of the business plan is the goal. Going through that process of thinking about your business. Where is it positioned? What is it do? Who’s in it? What are the finances? That’s helps you get clarity around the business. That the whole goal of this little tip is again start this planning. So, get a plan for how you gonna sort it out, understand, learn, and solve various things that are in your business right now today. Okay. If you want greater depth into any of this, the ASAP program is where you wanna go, and for the next couple of weeks, enrollments are still open at for The Artist Transformation School. So, that’s our big signature program, and that’s…you can find it. The links [inaudible 00:06:02] things on the website about it. But you can throw me an email, jp@auspiciousartsincubator.org. If you’d like an application for The Arts Transformation School, because enrollments are still open for a couple of more weeks. All right. Have a great week. And get some planning. Okay. Chao for now.