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My Blog
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Posted on Friday, May 04, 2012 11:00 AM
I have written in the past about visioning, goal setting and affirmations. These are all really important things when setting out where you want to go and reinforcing the mindset to get you there.
I do believe from my own experience that once you start putting your message and intention out into the world that things can line up in your favour.
However, before you think that I only advocate 'think happy thoughts and all will come to you', you would be wrong. Once you have your vision and goals in place, you then have to take action.
Let me give you an example from my own background.
Many years ago, I was working on the edges of theatre administration and decided that I wanted to get into theatre marketing. I had no idea of the breadth of ‘theatre marketing’, what I needed to know, how I could learn or how I could get into the sector. I also didn’t know anyone who worked in theatre marketing. The only thing I had was a huge pile of programmes from all the shows I had seen in the previous 12 months.
I went through every programme and made a list of all the people listed in the credits as being responsible for the marketing of each show. I ended up with a list of 50 people, for who I found addresses.
I wrote to every single one of them. The letter was just a polite 'I would like to do what you do - do you have any advice?' type of letter. I also sent them my very thin CV. (A side advantage was that I learnt to type as that this was the days before computers - oh yes, they did exist - and so I had to produce 50 letters and 50 CVs on a manual typewriter.) Oh, by the way, before you think I was an over eager extrovert, I wrote letters because I wasn’t brave enough to telephone.
I sent the letters off and waited for what I expected might be 4 or 5 responses.
I got 48.
A few were very nice letters with great bits of advice, courses to go on, books to read, places to look for jobs. Most were generous invitations to come in and see them for a chat.
I spent a very happy couple of months using up my holiday entitlement in odd half days visiting little cramped offices at the top of old theatres to smart swanky suites, and everything in between.
I got to meet some really fabulous, inspiring people. I heard their stories and listened to their advice. I learnt so much about theatre and marketing and was able to make some informed decisions about defining my goal and what to do next. I went to events and met more people. I built up a network. It was also very good fun.
After a couple of months, I got a phone call from one of the people to whom I had written inviting me to a job interview, resulting in a year long contract with Cameron Mackintosh, which in turn led to a contract with the Society of London Theatre. Goal reached.
So, what action will you take today to move you towards your goal? |
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Posted on Monday, April 23, 2012 3:06 PM
With a bit of practice, most of us can put together a plan to make a project or a business work. However, if putting together a great plan in which everything works was all that was needed for us to sail through life, then we would all be millionaires, household names or ... add in your own indicator of success.
As an entrepreneur, with your future and your work life in your own hands, the real key to planning is not just the “in a perfect world” scenario, but the one in which you have also considered all the things which could go wrong. For example, what do you do when:
- you have a big presentation to a potential client and your child is sick and has to be off school
- you are due to deliver a workshop and you start to lose your voice
- you are writing a article for a newspaper against the clock and your laptop dies
- your key client, who provides the bulk of your income, doesn’t renew your contract
- your comfortable timeframe get truncated because you have to wait for other people to get their parts of the project back to you
- you have 2 bad payers who owe you a lot of money and it is impacting on your cashflow
These are just a few of the many problems which could knock you off track. For every aspect of your business planning, a risk analysis is vital. At each stage, ask yourself the following questions:
- What problem could occur?
- What is the absolute worse case scenario?
- How can I avoid this problem?
- If I can’t avoid it, how could I minimise or manage this problem?
It may sound depressing to think of all the things which might not work, but I can’t stress enough how important this process is. By thinking of as many problems with as many viable solutions as possible, you can build a detailed contingency plan. (I always try to come up with 12 solutions to each problem; the first ones are sensible, the middle ones are slightly desperate and the last couple are usually outrageously silly. However, this breaks open your thinking and throws up all kinds of unexpected possibilities from which you can decide your 2 or 3 key solutions.) Hopefully, you won’t need your contingency plan, but when any problems hit, you are fully prepared.
A good risk analysis will help you to see most problems as an inconvenience rather than a disaster. As you practise the habit, it will become easier, so that when the one thing you had not anticipated happens, you can face it with confidence.
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Posted on Thursday, April 12, 2012 10:04 AM
Tinsel Edwards is a London based artist and co-founder of A-side B-side, a new gallery, artist studios and project space in Hackney Downs.
Her work comments on a wide variety of contemporary social and political issues. Often using text, her paintings are littered with action statements, personal mottos, questions and anecdotes.
She has exhibited widely across the UK and beyond, solo and duo shows include The Pure Evil Gallery in London, Steal from Work in Bristol, and Artport in Berlin. Selected group shows include FLAGSTOP Art Fair and Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art in LA, Banksy’s Santas Ghetto, The Stella Dore Gallery, Multiplied Christie’s Artfair, Printclub London, Momac Gloucester, Jenaer Kunstverein in Gerrmany, The Pursuit of Happiness in Poland, and Light Sentence in Augsberg Germany. Tinsel’s curatorial projects include ‘Punk’, a large scale group show which toured to Hamburg and ‘Here Today’, and ‘Something Borrowed’, exhibitions
co-curated with long time friend and art collaborator Twinkle Troughton.
Tinsel’s art has been featured by Metro Newspaper, Dazed and Confused, Pop, Amelia’s, Zeitgeist magazine, Art Rebels and El Pais in Spain amongst others.
In your professional life, what is the single best thing about what you do?
I love painting. I can’t think of anything I would rather do, than spend a day in my studio working on a piece. I also really enjoy exhibiting my work, the different places you discover and people you meet through doing so. There are many different aspects to my work as an artist, curating shows, running creative workshops, teaching art classes. I really enjoy all of them but the thing I love most is the painting process and creating the work.
Do you have a creative hero / heroine and if so, why?
There are so many, and I often go through phases of being inspired by different artists at different times. Billy Childish for his prolific and unwavering creative soul, Bob and Roberta Smith for his humour, wit and simplicity, and for the fact he’s so straight to the point and honest. Tracey Emin for her brutal honesty, Frida Kahlo for her exquisite and intimate painting style. Grayson Perry for his integrity and depth, Alice Neel because her beautiful paintings have so much emotion and humanity, and because she stuck to her guns as a portrait artist whilst everyone around her became pop artists. There are loads more…at the moment I am really inspired by a handful of painters and fascinated with different painting techniques.
What piece of advice do you wish you had been given at the beginning of your career?
Before I left art school, I was expecting that things would all fall into place: I would start selling work, a gallery would represent me and I would be painting everyday in a lovely studio somewhere. It was quite a shock when things didn’t turn out that way. It is really tough, but over time I’ve learnt to be resourceful, juggling different jobs to pay the bills but always ensuring that I have some time to paint. I learnt quickly that Doing It Yourself is the best attitude to have, if established galleries don’t want to represent your work then create and curate your own exhibitions. Its not about fitting into the established order of things but about making your own way. A piece of advice that would have really helped me would be being told that it wasn’t going to be easy, but be true to yourself and your ideas, find your own way to make things happen and enjoy the process.
If you hit a creative block, what is your top tip for getting through it?
For me it helps to be aware that creative blocks come and go, if I hit one I remind myself that I will come through it. If I really start hating my work I tell myself it means its time for a change. My top tips are to keep working, experiment, don’t be too precious (the bad paintings can go in the bin). Absorb everything, go to exhibitions, read, find new inspiration. Being an artist is like being on a journey, productive periods and creative blocks are all part of a bigger process of discovery.
And finally, for fun, if you were a shoe, what type of shoe would you be and why?
I would always go for the orange suede stiletto with the 6 inch heel…or something similarly glamorous but completely impractical. Not sure if thats the type of shoe I would be, but its definitely the type of shoe that I like!
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Posted on Saturday, March 31, 2012 11:42 AM
With Easter on the horizon and the sun streaming through my
office window, it looks like Spring has sprung!
It's time to open the windows, get some fresh air through the place and
spring clean your home.
Why not harness the energy of the season and spring clean
your professional life?
Here are five tips on giving your career a Spring boost.
1. Take a fresh look
at your vision. Do you know where you want to be in five years? Is your vision still pulling you
forward? Remind yourself why this vision
is important to you and how you will feel when you achieve it. If your vision needs tweaking, this is a
great time to do it so that it is challenging and exciting. If you don't have a vision, get out into the
sun and give yourself time to let your mind create your future.
2. Spring clean your space. Set aside time to go through all your files, drawers,
cupboards, etc., in your workspace. It
gives you a chance to throw out anything which is cluttering your space,
redesign your space and it can also throw up ideas and opportunities.
3. Take a new look at things. We can all get into a rut, doing things the same way because
it is how you have always done it.
During the course of a week, check out all the things you do
regularly. For each thing, ask yourself
"is this the best way to do this?
Would another way be more stimulating or effective? Could I even get someone else to do
it?" If you are happy with the way
it is going, great! If not, how could
you change it?
4. Meet new people. Find opportunities to mix with different people who can
inspire and stimulate ideas. They could
become clients, collaborators or friends or just spark new ways of seeing things.
5. Refresh your self belief. Embrace your talents, your passions, your creativity, your
drive and develop your positive attitude.
If you believe you can do it, you will enrol others in your vision. |
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Posted on Friday, March 23, 2012 9:34 AM
“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t – either way you
will be right”
Martin Luther
King Jnr
I have written before about the importance
of having a vision. This is really
powerful and if you write it down, draw it, or make a mood board, you can
read/look at your vision paper whenever you want. But how can you keep it real, as they say,
everyday? Particularly on a bad day?
One way is to distil
your vision into a few words, an affirmation that means something to you.
Your subconscious mind will give you exactly what you tell it. By repeating an affirmation again and again,
you will hard wire your mind to think positively and your vision will become more
of a reality to you. (Don’t believe
me? Have you ever felt a bit bleurgh but
have had to mentally gee yourself up because you were going to a party, meeting
friends, etc., and didn’t want to be a wet blanket? It’s just the same principle. If you are into musicals, it is just like Deborah Kerr in 'The King and I' whistling a happy tune.)
How do you go about creating your affirmation?
The first place to start is with
yourself. This affirmation is all about
you, what you want and how you want to inspire yourself. So this is one occasion when the key word is
“I”, for example:
- I am a great artist
- I am a successful writer
- I am awash with creativity
- I am a great public speaker
- I love networking
- I am confident
Notice something else about those statements? They are all quite short. These are sentences you want to be able to
remember and repeat quickly to yourself, so you don’t want an essay. Also, the subconscious mind likes simplicity.
Did you also notice that all the statements are positive? Affirmations must be done with an upbeat twist. Why?
You have to focus on what you do want because whatever you think, your
mind conjures up. Don’t think of a blue
rabbit in a tutu. Ah ha, I said don’t
think of a blue rabbit in a tutu, but I reckon that little bunny is hopping
around your brain just now. Blue bunnies
are not a problem, but if your affirmation is “I don’t want to be a failure”, it
puts the concept of failure into the brain.
And be honest, which one is more inspiring:
- I don’t want to be ill
- I am healthy
The last thing about the affirmations is that you put them in the
present tense. This is telling your subconscious
mind what you want in a way that makes it real.
If you say “I will be a successful artist”, there is still a bit of
doubt with the “will”. When you say, “I am a
successful artist”, you can start believing in it and behaving accordingly,
which can give you confidence.
Obviously, it doesn’t matter how much you say something if you
don’t put in the work to make it happen.
However, if you have the vision, your affirmation is a little language
device you can use to keep you on track and give you confidence.
Many years ago, I went to the excellent ‘Best Year Yet’ workshop
run by Jinny Ditzler and I created the affirmation for myself: “I am everything I need, to be everything I
want”. This has helped me when I want to try out new
things and more forward. I also have another affirmation which is at the back of my mind
when with clients: “I light the blue touch paper”.
What affirmation will take you to your vision? |
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