The Importance of creating a Vision for Your Artistry Business
Working on your vision isn’t just about sticking some pretty pictures on a board and daydreaming.
Getting clear on your vision is about knowing what you want to create in your business and your life.
What are you actually working for?
Your vision is your north star - the thing you’re driving towards and the beginning of knowing what action you need to take.
Work through one of these exercises so you have your vision clear in your mind…
Vision Board
Artists are generally visual beings so creating a pictorial vision board is a great place to start. whether you create a Pinterest collage, use Canva or PowerPoint to collage digital images or go old school with magazines and a glue stick, the principal is the same.
Choose an end date
I’ve seen a lot of suggestions on what your timescale should be. Some people say a year while others suggest that that’s too long because you lose focus. I find that 3 months is a good starting point - especially for business related goals.
Once you’ve decided on this - add the date to the top of your board.
Decide what you want to have achieved by then
At this stage we want to set juicy goals and be ambitious but we also want to be able to find success so it’s a matter of balance. If you’re starting out then it is probably not achievable to make 6 figures in 3 months but only you can determine that based on your situation and the time you have to give to it.
Also remember that this is your opportunity to dream and think about what is truly important to you.
Ask yourself, what do you want to have achieved in…
your personal life
business
creating art
financially
Select images that represent those achievements (or draw them - you are an artist after all)
Look though magazines, travel brochures and family photos.
Draw doodles on post it notes.
Take photos of places you want to live.
Make lists of places to visit…Whatever is important to you!
Add notes or captions for extra detail
Sometimes the visuals aren’t enough and you want to add numbers or captions. This is your space so make it your own.
Stick this up somewhere or make it your screen saver. It needs to be something that you keep seeing to believe in it.
Written Visioning
As with vision boarding, you need to decide on a timescale. When do you want to be living this version of your life? Write it at the top of your page and try to be as specific as you can.
After that, write about these key areas in present tense as if they are already happening…
What is happening in your personal life and how does it feel?
What have you achieved in your art business and what does it look like on a typical day - go into all of the senses to make it as real as you can.
What does it feel like when you are creating art? What scale are you working at? Who is buying it and where is it shown?
Where are you financially? How much are you bringing in each month and what does that enable you to do for you and others?
Make a habit of reading this back to yourself. You could even record it and play it back to yourself every day so that your brain starts to believe it.
Meditation
If starting with a blank page for this is too much then I would highly recommend using a guided meditation. There are tons on YouTube - you need to find one with a backing track or voice that you find soothing so that you can really relax into it and focus on the visioning.
Alternatively:
Record yourself asking the questions from above and play it to yourself as you sit and breath deeply, imagining the answers.
Play a binaural beats soundtrack as you sit and imagine what your day will look like when you have achieved what you want to.
I’d love to know which of these exercises you tried and how it went for you? Let me know in the comments and join the mailing list for more tips for artists.