Stick to it!
Consistency is essential to success with your art business. But, a regular routine of studio time and business activity is not always an easy thing to maintain.
You start the week with the best intentions—to spend time in the studio, market your work, and make good choices about how you use your time. Then life happens. The dog is sick. School is canceled for the day. There could be a hundred other things that can get you off track. Before you know it, your plan is in trouble and your goals for the week aren’t looking very doable. Something has to give. Often, “what gives” is that plans for your business that week don’t happen.
So how do you change this pattern? Here are three tips for building consistency.
1 Build momentum one step at a time.
It’s never easy to change old habits or start new routines. The key to long-term consistency is building momentum. The hardest part is always getting things started. But once you’re moving, staying in motion and picking up speed becomes a lot easier. There are a lot of ways you can gradually build momentum as you work. Start with something that’s easy to complete and build from there. For example, set a goal of one social media post a day for your work. Then increase it to a post on two platforms each day. The simple act of setting a small amount of time aside time for this every day and sticking to it is enough to start building the habit.
2 Find an accountability partner.
Find a friend or family member whose judgment and opinion you respect. Each time you find yourself thinking about not sticking to your plan, write down the reason. Share this with your accountability partner and get an honest opinion about whether the reason is justifiable or just an excuse.
3 Always have a plan B.
Life is unpredictable. You need to have plan B ready—even before you actually need it. Plan B helps you to stay consistent with your goals when your regular routine doesn’t work out as planned. Surprises won’t throw you off track if you plan ahead. For example, make a short list of three specific marketing tasks for the week. Then, when you do get even a small amount of time, you can get right to business, rather than sit and think about what you need to do. Or, have your studio set up and ready to go as best as you can, so that when you get a moment to work, you ready. Put a little time into identifying the most common problems that disrupt your routine, and plan (in advance) what you can do to handle these problems without sacrificing your art business goals.
Being consistent does not mean being perfect.
There are days or weeks when it just might not work out how you planned. But, being mindful of how you can handle disruptions in your schedule will help you to stay more consistent in your business.
I hope these ideas help you overcome obstacles that crop up in your art business.
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Photo by Antonio Francisco on Unsplash
