TEN TRAITS FOR SUCCESS from John DeFrancesco

Jan 2014

TEN TRAITS FOR SUCCESS     …. and here a word to plan for your 2014 success from John DeFrancesco:

What are your resolutions, if any, regarding your art for the new year? The following 10 traits are based on analysis (by professional researchers) of traits of successful business leaders. Keeping them in mind can help you in marketing your art.

 1. How you think is everything. Concentrate on being positive. Ignore all negative thoughts, influences, environments and people.
 2. Decide upon your true dreams and goals. Set realistic and limited targets to accomplish during the year. By setting too many goals, we usually complete hardly any.
 3. Take action. Your plan won’t complete itself. Resolve to get started and to keep going, without excuse or rationalization.

 4. Never stop learning. Learn new things about your craft. Read and study magazines, books and videos about your craft. Seek out artists whose work you admire and take lessons from them.
 5. Be persistent and work hard. True success is a long-term, not a short-term endeavor. It can take many years to reach a satisfactory level of art achievement.
 6. Stay in the details. Gather facts and information that will help you market and sell better. For example, analyze which of your pieces sell best based on subjects, sizes, formats and prices. Also learn who buys what, where and why.
 7. Focus your time and energy. Don’t let distractions, chores, commitments, people or anything else distract you from devoting yourself to your art.
 8. Be innovative; be different. Be daring and try different media, techniques, venues and marketing and selling approaches.
 9. Deal with and communicate with people effectively. Appreciating customers and informing prospects is as important as creating the work.
10. Be honest and dependable; take responsibility. Otherwise numbers 1 through 9 won’t matter. Amen.