The Art Biz Alyson Stanfield

What “game” are you playing in your art business and in life?
Artist-writer-speaker Jason Kotecki makes the point that you have a unique game plan to follow—one that can’t be compared to another artist or online personality.
In a conversation with host Alyson Stanfield, Jason shares his experience of overcoming comparison and jealousy, emphasizing the importance of focusing on your unique talents and contributions. He talks about the pivotal moment in a Philadelphia ballroom that led him to merge his art with his speaking engagements and how this fusion has shaped his career.
The discussion covers practical steps artists can take to combat comparison, and the benefits of having a “talent stack” to differentiate yourself. Jason also delves into his income streams, his collaborative work with his wife, Kim, and upcoming events like Wondernite.
📖 To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit https://artbizsuccess.com/kotecki-comparison
⭐️ Connect with Jason and see more of his art: EscapeAdulthood.com
 
💁‍♀️ There are 4 ways that I can support you in your art business: 1️⃣ art-marketing training in my Essentials course 2️⃣ a community that provides structure to your days 3️⃣ higher level artist group coaching, and 4️⃣ private consulting.
Find details: ArtBizSuccess.com/work-with-me
 
🔄 Related Episodes
6 Ways to Be [Even] Happier About Running Your Art Business (ep. 155)
Risk, Rejection, and Resilience with Christine Aaron (ep. 114)
What Your Failures Are Teaching You with Laura Petrovich-Cheney (ep. 95)
Are You Playing It Too Safe in Your Art Business? (ep. 92)
 
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
 
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/

host: Alyson Stanfield
It might help (but isn’t necessary) to start this episode by listening to episode 189, which is an encore of a 2019 interview I did with Ali Cavanaugh when she was making big changes in her work life.
In this episode, Ali and I catch up with all that has transpired in the last 5 years. We discuss:
Her booming Patreon community that gives her so much joy. How she has pared back on the demands for her art and the boundaries she put in place to allow her to do that. The recent release of the Ali Cavanaugh Portrait Colors Set from Golden Artist Colors. The upcoming retrospective of her work, made possible because she has withheld prized pieces from sale to keep in her private collection. Ali is incredibly generous. As you’ll hear, she is utterly devoted to her patrons and the success of her students.
🎧 RELATED EPISODES
Maintaining Your Studio Practice with a Busy Teaching Schedule with Sally Hirst (ep. 164)
Leaving Gallery Representation to Reach More Art Buyers with Adele Sypesteyn (remix) (ep. 163)
Using Patreon as a Teaching Platform with Kimberly Santini (ep. 156)
📖 To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit artbizsuccess.com/joy-cavanaugh
⭐️ Connect with Ali and see more of her art: alicavanaugh.com
🔶 Does your art business need a boost or a refresh? Please see my comprehensive art-marketing program, Essentials for Artist Success 🔶  full of tools, strategies, and process you need to establish your professionalism and increase your visibility. For those with beginning and emerging art careers and those who need to approach their business with more thought and intention.
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/

host: Alyson Stanfield
In 2014, Ali Cavanaugh had 11 galleries representing her work throughout the U.S. and even overseas. It was all she could do to paint fast enough to supply these galleries with new work. What a great problem to have! But it was still a problem.
Then she started asking for it to be returned to her. She was rethinking her art and what her business model looked like.
She worked hard to get to that point, the way things were going no longer worked well for her. She decided to take control and be very deliberate about her next moves.
This episode is an encore of the inspiration-packed interview I did with Ali Cavanaugh back in 2019 in episode 33. I’ll be sharing a new interview with Ali next week, but I thought it would be fun to be reminded of where she was 5 years ago when we first talked. In this interview, Ali and I discuss how she made a deliberate decision to take control of her art career. She left 10 of her galleries and the stress caused by having to supply so many venues.
 
🎧 RELATED EPISODES
Self Sales, Open Studios, and Relationships with Interior Designers with Carol MacConnell (ep. 171)
Leaving Gallery Representation to Reach More Art Buyers with Adele Sypesteyn (remix) (ep. 163)
She Knows Exactly How Much Her Art Income Will Be Every Month with Kelly Pelfrey (ep. 162)
 
📖 To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit artbizsuccess.com/ali-cavanaugh-encore
⭐️ Connect with Ali and see more of her art: AliCavanaugh.com
🔶 Does your art business need a boost or a refresh? Please see my comprehensive art-marketing program, Essentials for Artist Success 🔶  full of tools, strategies, and process you need to establish your professionalism and increase your visibility. For those with beginning and emerging art careers and those who need to approach their business with more thought and intention.
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/

host: Alyson Stanfield
Elizabeth LeMaster, my guest for this episode of The Art Biz, has, like so many of us, more to balance than her studio practice and business. She has a family. A young family. A big family. A growing family.
How do you find time for working on your art when you have 6 kids under the age of 8? 😳
Elizabeth and I talk about how she has done it because she wanted to share her tips with all artist-mothers out there. She is also very honest about the bumps along the road.
Here’s my special Mothers’ Day Conversation with Elizabeth LeMaster.
HIGHLIGHTS
06:12 Selling her art through a focused audience and relatively small subscriber base 10:06 Adapting art practices around motherhood 15:44 Strategic systems for productivity 19:51 Embracing the artist's life while parenting 36:28 Elizabeth’s Artisan Christmas magazine 40:32 Elizabeth’s future plans
🎧 RELATED EPISODES
Raising Prices on Your Art, Valuing Community, and Balancing Motherhood with Bri Larson (ep. 166)
She Knows Exactly How Much Her Art Income Will be Every Month with Kelly Pelfrey (ep. 162)
Running an Artist Residency Alongside a Studio Practice with Shannon Amidon (ep. 151)
Injecting Personal Narrative into Your Art with Sara Lee Hughes (ep. 131)
📖 To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit artbizsuccess.com/motherhood-lemaster
⭐️ Connect with Elizabeth and see more of her art on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lemasterartistique/
🔶 Does your art business need a boost or a refresh? Please see my comprehensive art-marketing program, Essentials for Artist Success 🔶  full of tools, strategies, and process you need to establish your professionalism and increase your visibility. For those with beginning and emerging art careers and those who need to approach their business with more thought and intention.
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/

host: Alyson Stanfield
My utter bliss is to help artists make business systems that streamline their lives so they can spend more time in the studio. So when Skip Hill said he needed a system for following up with his collectors and important relationships, I knew I wanted to help.
In this encore episode of The Art Biz, I walk Skip through the steps to create a plan for nurturing his relationships.
We go through these steps to create his plan:
What do you want to happen? By when does it need to happen? Or … How frequently does it need to happen? What do you need to have/acquire/learn to make that happen? And/Or what tools and technology will you use for the process? Who do you need to enlist to help? What are the exact steps needed to make this system hum? The steps in that last question provides the fuel. Miss a step, and your system crashes.
🎧 RELATED EPISODES
Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz (ep. 79)
Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks (ep. 80)
How to Squeeze More Time from Your Busy Calendar (ep. 152)
📖 To read the exact steps we created for Skip, see images, and leave a comment, visit
https://artbizsuccess.com/skip-hill-encore
⭐️ Connect with Skip and see more of his art: SkipHillArt.com
🔶 Does your art business need a boost or a refresh? Please see my comprehensive art-marketing program, Essentials for Artist Success 🔶  full of tools, strategies, and process you need to establish your professionalism and increase your visibility. For those with beginning and emerging art careers and those who need to approach their business with more thought and intention. Current focus: Cultivating Connections and Collectors.
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/

host: Alyson Stanfield
I want to talk about something that I think gets in the way of how you think about what a successful art business is or can be.
I want to help you reframe your daily decisions, actions, and results (or lack thereof)—to embrace the volatility of an artist life. To understand that there will be highs and lows, and that just comes along with the territory.
One of the most-used business metaphors is the ladder of success, which is problematic for two reasons:
Nobody reaches the top of anything in life by going straight up. What happens when you get to the top? I have a different vision. Your art career is a circle consisting of 3 areas:
Inspiration+Research, Studio Practice, and Business+Marketing.
You’re a sphere (okay, a ping pong ball) bouncing back and forth from one area to the next as you grow your art career.
Let me explain …
 
🎧 RELATED EPISODES
Calculating Risks in Your Art Business with Leah Smithson (ep. 94)
What Your Failures Are Teaching You with Laura Petrovich-Cheney (ep. 95)
Risk, Rejection, and Resilience with Christine Aaron (ep. 114)
How to Feel Like a Successful Artist (ep. 165)
 
📖 To read more, see images, find resources mentioned, and leave a comment, visit https://artbizsuccess.com/growth-minded-artists
 
🔶 Does your art business need a boost or a refresh? Please see my comprehensive art-marketing program, Essentials for Artist Success 🔶  full of tools, strategies, and process you need to establish your professionalism and increase your visibility. For those with beginning and emerging art careers and those who need to approach their business with more thought and intention.
 
⛰️ The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.
 
~ ~ ! ATTENTION INDIGENOUS ARTISTS and BIPOC ARTISTS ! ~ ~
This is an invitation to all Indigenous and BIPOC artists, wherever you are in the world, to share your story here on The Art Biz. Here’s how ~~~~> https://artbizsuccess.com/pitch-podcast/