…so stop doing the starving part!
If you create art, then you’re an artist. If you make money at it, then you’re….happier. There’s nothing wrong with making a lot of money from your art, because the more you make, the more time you have to put back into your art.
In the previous post, I talked about the first hugely successful “commercial” artist, Maxfield Parrish, who lived a very comfortable, long life, and never worked a day in anything other than art. For most of us, there are compromises to bring in money for everyday living, not to mention the added expense from artistic endeavors.
Many artists never get the lucky breaks they need to devote themselves exclusively to their art, but I think it’s more than that. I think we all secretly harbor the notion that the art work we create is intrinsically less valuable to the rest of the world than the traditional paycheck-generating work we do at an insurance company or a corporation. And that’s what really holds us back. It’s time we got rid of these old notions and looked for ways to make money doing what we were probably meant to do anyway.
So here’s an article from financial consultant Chellie Campbell that I think applies to all of us:
How to Solve Your Love-Hate Issue With Money
“Too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears.”—Les Brown
People have funny relationships with money – studies have shown a majority of people believe money is a bad and corrupting influence. But at the same time they want to have millions of dollars to relieve their fear of financial insecurity! With that kind of ambivalence, it’s hard to make money and hold on to it. It’s been estimated that about 70% of lottery winners are broke within 5 years. Part of the problem is psychological, and part of it is just plain ignorance of sound money management principles.
Years ago I read a book on lottery winners and noticed that there seemed to be three things that all the lotto winners did – they bought a new car, took a trip (usually to Hawaii), and they all said the money “wasn’t going to change them.” Now, if you thought having money was a powerful force for good, wouldn’t you say, “Hey, this is really going to change me – I’m going to be a better person now!”?
Just this month, I read about Rob Anderson of Louisville, Kentucky who purchased a lotto ticket by mistake – he wanted 3 separate Quick Picks but the clerk printed out 3 Quick Picks on the same ticket. So he kept that ticket and bought 3 more individual tickets to give as gifts. Guess what? One of the numbers on the ticket he kept due to the mistake won him the Powerball Lottery of $128.6 million! When asked what he was going to do with the money, he said he was going to buy a new car and was thinking about taking a trip to Hawaii. (What did I tell you?) But the first thing he said was, “We’re really grounded people. My wife taught me well, so to speak, to hang on to that dollar and see how far it gets you. We’ll still clip coupons and still look for the clearance rack.”
In other words, it “wasn’t going to change him.” See what I mean?
We all need to lighten up about money and believe in the good things it can do for us. It can be a powerful force for good just as easily as a bad influence.
Here’s how to solve your love-hate issue with money:
- Make a list of all the things you can do with money that will be good for you, your family, your friends, and the world. (This doesn’t mean to give it all away – that was the number one reason that lottery winners went broke.) Money can be a powerful force for good in the world!
- Say positive money affirmations every day like, “People love to give me money!”, “I am rich and wonderful” and “The more money I have the more money I give for both are infinite!”
- Write down your million-dollar budget. When you make your million, where will you spend the money? Remember that every dollar you spend is a gift to someone and is enriching others.
- Design your business plan to generate your riches. You have to either serve a lot of people for a small price or just a few people for a large price. Which one suits you?
- Send out those ships! You can’t wait for your ship to come if you never send one out! Or, as God said to the man in the story who kept praying to win the lottery – “Buy a ticket!”
Chellie Campbell is the creator of the Financial Stress Reduction® Workshops, and author of The Wealthy Spirit and Zero to Zillionaire. She has been prominently quoted as a financial expert in the Los Angeles Times, Good Housekeeping, Lifetime, Essence, Woman’s World and more than 50 popular books. She can be reached at Chellie@chellie.com.
Read her full newsletter for more tips and info: http://www.chellie.com/newsletter/011810.html
© 2010 Arts Enclave. All Rights Reserved.
Hi, Linda!
Thank you so much for publishing my article – this one rang a bell with a lot of people. I was an actress for many years and had that “starving artist” mentality, too. I finally did enough self-help work to get past it! Now I teach Financial Stress Reduction and try to help others master their money. You have to believe in yourself and that your art is valuable – you are just looking for “Your People” and they will praise you and pay you!
Good luck with everything in your world.
Love and blessings,
Chellie
Thanks Chellie! My sister started out as an actress and actually got a few parts in movies and TV commercials, but she eventually got sick of waiting for the next casting call. Don’t laugh–she went into writing for the money! And she does very well at it. Now she’s come around to doing her own arts as well (quilting), and integrating it into her writing projects.
Linda
[…] in previous posts, where artists tend to devalue themselves if their work has commercial value and they often punish themselves financially for their art, thinking it makes it intrinsically more “artistic.” All of this is about […]