Written by Randy Woods, October 25th. Appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine online.

Andy Fife's mission is to provide a solid financial foundation for entrepreneurial artists.

In the drizzly Pacific Northwest, Andy Fife is a rainmaker for the region’s thriving arts community. Through Shunpike, a Seattle-based arts organization, he has helped nurture more than 2,500 creative enterprises across Washington, providing a solid financial foundation for the region’s most prominent entrepreneurial artists.

So what’s his big secret? “We mostly focus on writing a business plan, creating a marketing plan, securing funding, establishing lines of credit,” Fife says. “That, itself, could be considered innovative in the art world, where most people aren’t trained in the business fundamentals.”

“Artists always do badly with money,” admits Jennie Shortridge, a Shunpike client and co-founder of Seattle7Writers, a collective of published Pacific Northwest authors. “We just aren’t very good with spreadsheets and bank accounts and, frankly, we don’t always want to be.”

That’s where Shunpike comes in, offering two tiers of service for its financially challenged members. “Basically, we’re a service hub for all the back-office functions,” Fife explains. “Our mission is to handle all of that for them and let them spend their time doing what they do best, which is producing art.”

Shunpike’s first-tier program offers grant-writing services, tax-exempt 503(c)(3) status and consultation about fundraising, finance and advisory board development for a $100 annual fee and a 7 percent cut of revenue. The second tier, called the Partner Artist program, offers all of the above, plus assistance in bookkeeping, taxes, licensing, permitting, human resources, payroll and insurance. The same $100 annual fee applies, plus 10 percent of revenue.

Even in the shadow of the Great Recession, Shunpike appears to have no shortage of potential clients. A 2010 report by Americans for the Arts said Seattle is home to 4,370 businesses in the “creative industries”–museums, symphonies, architecture, advertising–employing more than 21,000 people.

When Fife joined as executive director in 2007, Shunpike’s annual budget was $400,000; today, it’s $1.4 million. About 55 percent of these funds come through donations by government agencies, corporations, foundations and individuals, he says. The rest comes from consulting fees and percentages of Partner Artists’ revenues. Shunpike, now in its 10th year, has about 115 Partner Artists on its roster.

Providing aid to nonprofits is Shunpike’s specialty, but the group also doles out advice to for-profit ventures. Katrina Toft, co-founder and owner of Two Ravens Studio in Tacoma, Wash., sought marketing and financial advice from Shunpike in 2010 when she and her business partners wanted to grow their metalworking business.

“Andy created a diagram for us, explaining how to get bank loans, address environmental concerns and go through the permitting process,” Toft says. “We also learned to be open to not just the standard methods of marketing. He gave us great advice on utilizing social media and venturing into Facebook.”

“It’s so important to learn business skills,” says Teresa Thuman, producing artistic director of the nonprofit Sound Theatre Company, a Shunpike Partner Artist since 2006. “We had no real structure when we started, so Shunpike essentially became our business office. They helped out tremendously with grant-writing, licensing and fundraising.”

Fife recommended that Sound Theatre eliminate overhead by renting out local theaters. He is also a champion of pooling artists into collectives and raising funds via online crowdsourcing, much the way Kickstarter works, with incremental PayPal donations.

“You might find other organizations that will help support your business, but no one else will support both your business and your artwork,” Thuman says. “There’s really no other organization like Shunpike.”

Soon that may no longer be true. Fife says he may try to export the Shunpike model. “The strength is that it’s a very local approach,” he says, “but there’s no reason it can’t be repeated in other cities.”

Written by Steve Hendershot, July 18th, 2011 appeared in Crain’s Chicago Business.

Lisa Canning uses a plug-in reader and the Square app to process credit card transactions in her clarinet shop. Photo by: Stephen J. Serio

Email is so old school. These days, small businesses that are getting the most out of their smartphones and iPads are all about the apps: add-on programs that can help them do everything from process credit cards to sketch skyscrapers.

Of the small businesses surveyed in a March poll by AT&T Inc., 72% said they were using mobile apps. Thirty-eight percent reported they would struggle to survive without them.

Here’s a look at how Chicago entrepreneurs are using apps to transform their businesses, plus recommendations on which new ones might fit in their collections.

Lisa Canning using Square to process a transaction.Photo by: Stephen J. Serio

Lisa’s Clarinet Shop in Lombard takes in more than $1 million annually, but it’s only a 15-hour-per-week job for owner Lisa Canning. Ms. Canning, 47, sees clients by appointment and doesn’t keep regular hours, so she hasn’t invested in a traditional credit card terminal for the shop. That’s led to some awkward sales: She would write down each customer’s credit card information, take it home, process the card at her terminal there and then email a receipt to the customer.

That changed with the app Square. Using a small, free credit card reader provided by San Francisco-based Square Inc., Lisa’s Clarinet Shop can process credit card transactions for a 2.75% fee; there are no monthly fees or setup costs.

“I was embarrassed by my old-fashioned way of taking credit cards,” Ms. Canning says. “I built a great reputation online, but when people would come in and I (couldn’t charge them there), it felt unprofessional. Now I’m consistent. This was a no-brainer, and it also produces a really positive reaction from my customers that reflects well on me.”

Square, founded in 2009 by Twitter creator Jack Dorsey, is growing quickly. Tech industry publication TechCrunch reported that the company is valued at $1 billion in its current fundraising efforts.

WHY IT WORKS: “There is a good reason why Square is already attracting a $1-billion valuation by investors,” says Brad Spirrison, managing editor of Appolicious Inc. “Business owners like it for its simplicity and the fact that it doesn’t require monthly fees, a merchant account or contract.”

SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY: “If your business finances are already run through another service, the Intuit GoPayment credit card terminal and the Authorize.Net credit card terminal are also good apps to turn your phone or tablet into a mobile cash register,” Mr. Spirrison says.

Photographer David Ettinger, right, uses an array of apps: Simplenote and Evernote for note-taking, Toodledo to make to-do lists, TripCubby to track mileage and Google Earth to scout locations for shoots.

In David Ettinger‘s gear case, you’ll find the collection of lenses, lights and camera bodies that you’d expect from a professional photographer. It’s nothing, however, compared to the staggering array of mobile apps he uses to run his Chicago business, David Ettinger Photography.

First, there are two note-taking apps, Simplenote and Evernote. Both apps are free; Evernote is more full-featured (you can include voice memos, photos and notes with formatted text), while Mr. Ettinger finds Simplenote to be faster. Lately, he’s been using Simplenote to collect all of his notes about a particular job inside unformatted text files.

“When I’m mobile, I want to be as fast as possible, even if it comes at the expense of features,” Mr. Ettinger says. “I hate being that guy standing there at the end of the aisle at the store, waiting for something to load.”

Then he breaks his notes down into specific tasks and enters them into Toodledo, the to-do list app he uses both to track his agenda and for record-keeping. It’s a $1.99 app that utilizes Seattle-based Toodledo.com’s cloud-storage system so that to-do items will sync across multiple devices. There’s a free version of the service, but Mr. Ettinger subscribes to a $14.95-per-year plan that allows him to store two years’ worth of completed tasks online.

Then there are the specialized apps: TripCubby, to track mileage; Analytics, for checking his website and blog traffic, and Google Earth, to scout outdoor locations.

“I can work wherever I need to work,” he says. “A big part of my business is being accessible to my clients when they need me.”

WHY IT WORKS: “Simplenote is basically a premium version of the iPhone’s built-in app, but I’m a fan because of the way it syncs to outside services like Dropbox. Getting data to the next place you’re going to consume it is the key,” says Phillip Leslie, CEO of ProOnGo LLC.

SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY: “Really advanced mobile workers like (Mr. Ettinger) have figured out how to complete 90% of their tasks using mobile devices, and they’re trying to tackle that last 10% where you’re still chained to your desk,” Mr. Leslie says. “They’re using GoToMyPC to access their office computers from a mobile device to complete those tasks.”

Sandy Marshall's firm, Marshall Creative, specializes in short films, audio projects and other digital content that's often too large to email. He uses the cloud-storage app Jungle Disk to solve that problem.

When Sandy Marshall is out of his office, the CEO of Chicago marketing firm Marshall Creative is as likely to be on a Caribbean cruise as at a client meeting across town. That’s because Mr. Marshall has a second job as a director for Second City’s comedic performances aboard the Norwegian Spirit, a cruise ship operated by Norwegian Cruise Lines.

The challenge for Mr. Marshall isn’t just staying in touch, it’s that his firm specializes in short films, audio projects and other digital content that’s often too large to email. He uses the cloud-storage app Jungle Disk to solve that problem. Through Jungle Disk’s free app (which requires a paid subscription to the storage service offered by Suwanee, Georgia-based Jungle Disk LLC ), Mr. Marshall has access to the 100 gigabytes of content that Marshall Creative stores online, even when he is at sea.

Mr. Marshall uses a similar free app, Dropbox, for client meetings and to share large files with clients. San Francisco-based Dropbox Inc. offers its users 2 GB of free cloud storage, and Marshall Creative uses a free account to host individual files for presentations.

“I’m always a fan of in-person presentations, and getting that response,” he says. “With Dropbox, it’s a little easier (than with JungleDisk) to access audio and video files during a meeting.”

WHY IT WORKS: “Dropbox is far and away the best application, mobile or otherwise, to share multimedia files among co-workers. It works great on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices,” says Brad Spirrison, managing editor of the Chicago app-review company Appolicious Inc.

SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY: “Later this year Apple will be coming out with its own document-sharing service, which could be superior to Dropbox, at least on Apple products,” Mr. Spirrison says. “However, it is unclear if or how that product will interface with users with Android phones or BlackBerries.”

Helmut Jahn demonstrates a drawing program for his friend Howard Ecker. Photo by: Stephen J. Serio

Helmut Jahn has largely ignored the personal computer. The architect considers the device too complicated, too big and too heavy compared to his creative tools of choice: a sketchbook and camera. For years, as he traveled around the world, Mr. Jahn used fax machines to send and receive drawings to and from his firm’s Chicago headquarters.

Then, about eight months ago, his friend Howard Ecker introduced him to Apple Inc.’s iPad, and the device spurred a technological revolution in Mr. Jahn’s life.

“It has transformed how I think and how people in my office communicate with me,” Mr. Jahn says. First, he’s a more active emailer and better prepared for client presentations. But the centerpiece of his iPad usage is the $4.99 app SketchBook Pro, a drawing program from Autodesk Inc., the San Rafael, Calif.-based software company that also makes the AutoCAD engineering and architecture software.

Mr. Jahn, 76, estimates that he now uses SketchBook Pro for 90% of the drawings he makes while on the road, and even uses the program about a third of the time while working in his Chicago office. He also takes photographs of his sketches, then imports those images into SketchBook Pro so he can make notes and export the images. Drawings from SketchBook Pro can be emailed or transmitted to cloud-storage programs such as Dropbox.

Learning to draw on the iPad required an adjustment, but not a severe one.

“It’s a different medium, but the adjustment was no more different than working with a different pen or different paper,” says Mr. Jahn, who uses a stylus with SketchBook Pro. His drawings using the app “look a little more sketchy (than a similar drawing on paper), but I can actually work faster because I’m not attempting to get that accuracy.”

From processing credit cards to sketching skyscrapers, an increasing number of small businesses are harnessing the power of their smartphones and iPads.

In this video, architect Helmut Jahn and tenant representative Howard Ecker discuss how their favorite apps have changed their work lives.

Justin Seidenberg needs to be able to talk to his artists even when he's out of the office. Photo by: Erik Unger

Justin Seidenberg is accustomed to crises erupting at odd hours. Mr. Seidenberg manages a stable of musicians through his Chicago company, Kiqstart Music LLC, and it’s when his artists are at performance venues that they are most likely to require his help. In other words, he needs to be ready for action at 11 p.m. on a Saturday night.

“I’m out having dinner with my wife, but my artist gets to the venue and gets into a debate with the production manager. I need be available and prepared,” he says.

Mr. Seidenberg uses two iPhone apps to meet the challenge. The first is Skype, a free app from Palo Alto, Calif.-based Skype Inc. that allows him to video chat with his musicians, wherever they may be.

The second is GoogDocs from Fossil Software LLC of Austin, Texas. This app allows Mr. Seidenberg’s mobile phone to access spreadsheets he creates using Google Docs, Google Inc.’s free, cloud-based office suite. He keeps contract details there, such as the set length, sound-check time and financial arrangements between artist and venue, so he can quickly intervene if a dispute arises.

WHY IT WORKS: “A (video chat) app like Skype provides an extra layer of interaction that helps reinforce your message. If you have to air a grievance or a concern, a visual rendering can carry a lot more weight,” says Chris Pautsch, CEO of KeyLimeTie LLC.

SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY: For more formal video conferencing, Cisco Systems Inc. offers a free mobile app for users to join meetings that use the company’s WebEx Meeting Center. Mr. Pautsch uses the service at KeyLimeTie to stream video and share documents among participants.

Billy Dec uses UberSocial to streamline the process of posting to his 17,000 Twitter followers. Photo by: Erik Unger

There’s a common line among social-media critics that goes something like, “No one wants to hear what you ate for lunch today.” But that might depend on who you are and what you had for lunch.

Chicago restaurateur Billy Dec, for example, took a picture of the goulash he ordered during a recent trip to Budapest, and 45 minutes after he posted the photo on Twitter, 608 people had clicked the link to see his bowl. Mr. Dec, who owns four entertainment venues, including River North eateries Rockit and Sunda, commands a legion of more than 17,000 Twitter followers. His goal is to share his behind-the-curtain access to such scenes as a popular chef at work in the kitchen and a celebrity musician backstage.

He uses the free mobile-phone app UberSocial from Pasadena, Calif.-based software firm UberMedia Inc. Mr. Dec has been using the app for about six months and says its immediacy “allows you to see magic behind Twitter because everything is just instantaneous.”

Mr. Dec aims for 10 to 12 tweets per day.

“I feel bad if it’s more than 10 a day, but I also feel bad if I don’t get close to that because people have expressed an interest,” he says. “I didn’t realize people cared as much about this behind-the-scenes stuff as they do.”

WHY IT WORKS: “UberSocial has some neat features. It’s great to click on a tweet that includes a link and be able to see the web page in the same window,” says Brad Spirrison of Appolicious Inc. “UberSocial’s ‘Channels’ are a handy way to access ‘conference’ or ‘breaking news’ tweets.”

SOMETHING ELSE TO TRY: “Seesmic is a similar tool that allows you to view and update accounts for Twitter, Facebook and even multiple blog posts. It’s also easier to switch between multiple Twitter accounts (than with UberSocial). The free app lets you add Twitter accounts as giant buttons, so it’s easy to use in a dark nightclub,” Mr. Spirrison says.

Should you trust an app from an unknown developer?

Solo and small-shop app makers “are often creating the most innovative apps available,” according to Brad Spirrison, managing editor of the Chicago-based app-review company Appolicious Inc. However, it’s wise to vet any app before you start using it. To do that, Mr. Spirrison recommends reading reviews in Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market, as well as on Facebook, in industry publications and on sites such as Appolicious.

It’s also worthwhile, even if you don’t have an iPhone or iPad, to see if Apple has approved an app.

“There is a higher bar set for getting an app approved for use on Apple’s iOS devices than by Google for use on its Android devices,” Mr. Spirrison says. “If an app is approved or promoted by Apple, that’s a good sign.”

Our 2010 most read posts are interestingly some oldies but goodies. From our top 25, 14 are from 2007 through 2009. Our oldest post from 2007, which also happens to be our #1 post, is about my  journey writing a book.

So for all you writers out there, this list just goes to show you that it’s important to get your writing our there because its more likely to become well read with the passage of time.

#1 Starving Artist Not
#2 The Four C’s of 21st Century Education
#3 Oh the places you’ll go by Dr Seuss
#4 Tongue twisters for actors and speakers
#5 Characteristics of successful entrepreneurs
#6 Ten steps to finding your artistic voice
#7 Best and worst marketing campaigns
#8 How to create a badge for your blog
#9 An artistic entrepreneurial case study: The story of blue man group
#10 Ben Cameron on change transformation and renewal in the arts
#11 One blank piece of paper
#12 Dinner in the sky
#13 Conservatory made me successful in business
#14 How to make your creativity explode create your own strategic implode
#15 North Africa Economic Partership announced between Aspen Institute and U.S. Department of State
#16 Top 20 arts entrepreneur blogs
#17 What does fame mean to you?
#18 I’m not an entertainer. I’m a lot closer to a paramedic, a firefighter, a rescue worker
#19 Artists as social entrepreneurs
#20 Our dirty little family secret
#21 The definition of a calculated risk
#22 Innovating through artistry
#23 Paradigm shifts build innovative companies
#24 Overcoming mediocrity
#25 What is your imagination worth to you?

Have you ever knocked on a door knowing full well someone was at home but curiously they wouldn’t come and acknowledge you by opening it?

Since the beginning of my very first business at the age of 17, (I just turned 47 last week), I have to say I have unfortunately experienced this phenomenon over and over and over again. It’s maddening to keep repeating an action that produces all too often the same reaction really. It makes you feel a bit crazy.

And yet, eventually, to continue to make progress as an entrepreneur you have to be willing to step out of your comfort zone and ask others for help.

At first, when I was just starting out, I thought the reason folks didn’t answer me was because I was “knocking” at the wrong time of day. But, I quickly learned the “time of day”, month or season didn’t change anything.

Eventually, in my mid 20’s I decided the reason my knocking went mostly unnoticed was because I wasn’t knocking convincingly enough- I wasn’t strong enough or credible enough or loud enough– or good enough yet(?) for them to want to open their door to greet me.

In my 30’s, I found it so frustrating that the vast majority of doors I knocked on fell on deaf ears that I decided the only logical reason for it was because the people behind those doors were too overwhelmed with their own lives to stop what they were doing and find out why I was knocking.

And as logical as this was to me, it didn’t stop my foolish knocking.

And now in my 40’s, I finally know why most ignore a knock at their door.  It’s not personal. It’s about survival.  Opening the door is simply too great of a risk.  After all if it’s likely there is ferocious dog on the other side of it waiting to chew your hand off disguised in the shape of a loving kind soul, who would want to risk loosing a hand for a deceptive illusion?

For as long as I have been alive, there have always been deceptive people who cheat on those they love, like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Congressman Weiner. And there have been plenty of destructive people too who destroy others lives, figuratively and literally, for their own convenience like Casey Anthony- the mother of poor little Caylee Anthony.   (And yes, we all know and are fascinated by how guilty as pure sin she is. The allure of evil.)  And we also all know plenty of selfish greedy people who will promise you the moon- anything- to get what they want and then not deliver. ( I will leave that illusion up to you- I am sure it won’t take you long at all to think of who this someone might be in your life.)

Ah, the many faces of deception.

So why in the world would anyone really want to open their door and let in Darth Vadar disguised as Mother Theresa?

Folks if we can’t even manage to love, nurture and honestly care for those who we choose to spend time with behind our own closed doors, then how could we possibly ever expect to be a loving kind person to a perfect stranger knocking at our front door?  Whoever coined the expression charity begins at home knew what they were talking about.  And it’s no wonder so many NFP’s are in crisis and loosing their financial base of support really either- if you think about it.

While it’s only human nature to knock on someone’s door because you’re in need of something, which I readily admit to having done for years in search of help and support to further my own initiatives, lately it has become painfully clear to me that the people behind so many of the doors I knock on need the artist in me a whole lot more then whatever the reason was I thought I needed them.

It is critical to our economy- and the stability of our own personal eco structures- that we relearn how to love, trust, and honestly care for each other. It is crucial we become open again with our hearts and minds. Herein lies new-vital-roles for the arts, and artist alike, to play. Our future depends on dramatically improving our communication, our partnerships and working relationships. True collaboration and mutual trust and respect are essential to our survival and hold the keys to our future and its revival.

People wake up and give the arts a chance. It might just be me- the artist- who’s knocking at your door.  Come on—open up. It’s time to let me in- give the arts a chance to help us all in ways we desperately need.

Lisa Canning, Founder of EntrepreneurTheArts.com, TheIAE.com and LisasClarinetShop.com

Well, today I leave for Washington for my first PNB-NAPEO (Partners for a New Beginning- North Africa Partners for Economic Opportunity) Summit. Madeline Albright will kick off our meeting and then we will spend two days in meetings that range from a PNB overview from the ground to Entrepreneurship for Women in the Middle East to clean water initiatives. Great stuff.

IAE is supported by Partners for a New Beginning’s North Africa Partnership for Economic Opportunity (PNB-NAPEO), a public-private partnership created by the U.S. Department of State.  The mission of PNB-NAPEO is to build a network of entrepreneurs and business leaders in the United States and North Africa where both communities can identify projects that will foster entrepreneurship and job creation, especially for youth.

The meeting will be loaded with a lot of business folks interested in PNB’s mission from different vantage points. Gosh, what a big help this is going to be to The IAE. And what fun it is going to be attending such a high-voltage education oriented networking meeting. This will be a great opportunity to grow my network of support for The IAE and continue the transformation process- from idea into reality. Are YOU ready to transform from a caterpillar with 16 legs into a butterfly who, with just a single pair of wings, can fly?)

At the Summit, I am looking forward to meeting Naeem Zafar. Check out this blog post he wrote about the initiative.

Check out these ebooks that Naeem has written. I can’t wait to meet him. Imagine the possibilities for art and culture, as a ‘sector’, to create innovative new businesses and job strands in the U.S. and North Africa? I am.

Market Research on a Shoestring!

Get a Reality check on your big idea for under $100. By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkeley

Entrepreneurs don’t like to do market research. Whether they find it unnecessary, think it takes too much time and money, or are simply terrified by the idea, they often start up their businesses without the necessary preparation or understanding of exactly what they are getting into.

But market research doesn’t have to be an expensive, unbearably time-consuming nightmare. It is an essential aspect of starting a new business that can be conducted quickly and easily if you know what to look for and where to look. Market Research on a Shoestring is full of techniques, tricks, and secrets that will help you ask the right questions and find the answers you need to better understand your business and the market it faces. If you want to raise funds for your startup or simply maximize your chances of success, you need this book!

 

Get Funded!

A Definitive Guide to Seeking the right funding at the right time and from the right source
By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkeley

Entrepreneurs need funding at various stages of their companies’growth. This to-the-point book is your essential guide to the funding process. Organized into three sections, this book outlines the likely sources of funding and how they operate, how to approach investors, and the 12-step process of getting funded.

As a valuable bonus, Get Funded! includes the names of several hundred angel investors and venture capital firms.

If you are serious about seeking funding for your startup or simply want to know your options, you need this book! This book is the complete guide to seeking and getting funding that all entrepreneurs look for and seldom find.

 

The Entrepreneur’s Legal Guide to Starting Up

By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkeley

A simple, to-the-point guide that outlines the decisions all entrepreneurs must make when setting up a legal entity. This eBook is packed with practical, time-tested tips and suggestions about incorporation, hiring the right lawyer, registering patents, and
minimizing your legal bill. The eBook includes a step-by-step guide to finding and hiring the right lawyer for your company and offers proven strategies that will save you thousands on your legal bill. There’s also an easy-to-understand chart explaining the differences between the various corporate structures and offering a quick guide to the most common legal issues plaguing entrepreneurs, as well as effective methods for overcoming them.

Knowing the ins and outs of setting up a startup and picking the right lawyer isn’t a matter of intelligence—it’s about experience and expertise. You may have a great deal of both when it comes to your industry, but most entrepreneurs don’t know much about the law. Your strengths lie elsewhere. As a result, you may find yourself intimidated by the idea of selecting legal counsel.

 

The Definitive Entrepreneur’s Guide to Lawyers:

35 Little-known facts, secrets, techniques, and tricks to making sure you get every penny’s worth of value from your lawyer By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkeley

Containing nearly three dozen money-saving, angst-minimizing tips, The Definitive Entrepreneur’s Guide to Lawyers is a go-to resource for the entrepreneur who wants to streamline the budget while leveraging the most effective legal services available. The guide includes a step-by-step guide to finding and hiring the right lawyer for your company, an easy-to-understand chart explaining the differences between the various corporate structures, proven communication strategies that will slash your legal bill by half each month, and a quick guide to the most common legal issues plaguing entrepreneurs, as well as effective methods for overcoming them.

Knowing the ins and outs of picking the right lawyer isn’t a matter of intelligence—it’s about experience and expertise. You may have a great deal of both when it comes to your industry, but most entrepreneurs don’t know much about the law. Your strengths lie elsewhere. As a result, you may find yourself intimidated by the idea of selecting legal counsel.

 

Finance Essentials for entrepreneurs:
A Simple Guide to Understanding and Creating Financial Statements for Your Business. By Naeem Zafar, University of California, Berkele

Finance Essentials for Entrepreneurs is a startup owner’s indispensable guide to basic finance. Zafar draws on two decades of entrepreneurial experience to create an eBook that offers a simple, proven method for understanding the most important elements of financial management for businesses. Zafar understands what entrepreneurs need to know about business finance. He also knows that their time is precious. In Finance Essentials for Entrepreneurs, he delivers that knowledge in practical, to-the-point language free of technical jargon and longwinded discourses. Spreadsheet examples
are clear and relevant.

 

About Naeem Zafar

• A member of the faculty of the Haas business school at the University of California Berkeley, Naeem teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the MBA program. Naeem is the founder of Concordia Ventures and focuses on educating and advising entrepreneurs on all aspects of starting and running a company. Naeem’s entrepreneurial experience includes working directly with six startups, and he has extensive experience in mentoring and coaching founders and CEOs. Naeem is now the president and CEO of Bitzer Mobile, a company that simplifies enterprise mobility.
• Until 2007, Naeem was the president and CEO of Pyxis Technology Inc., a company specializing in advanced chip design software for nanometer technology. Naeem has also been president and CEO of two other high tech startups (Silicon Design Systems and Veridicom, a Bell Labs spin-off that invented the silicon fingerprint sensors today found on most laptops). Naeem has held senior marketing and engineering positions at several companies including Quickturn Design Systems that had an IPO in 1993 and grew to $125M in revenues.
• Naeem holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Brown University (magna cum laude), Rhode Island, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota.
• Naeem is a charter member of TiE (The Indus Entrepreneurs www.TiE.org ).He is also a charter member of OPEN (www.OPENSiliconValley.com ) where he serves as the president.

 

03.11.2011– Chicago– On March 23rd The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship will host Retail It! with Flourish Studios at 3020 N Lincoln Avenue from 7 to 9pm. Emerging artists and arts entrepreneurs will come together to share a conversation around best practices of merchandising and retailing in the arts.

Designed to serve as a think tank for existing Flourish Artisan Program members, as well as others interested in establishing a brick and mortar presence, Retail It will be lead by Nancy Plummer, a 20-year veteran image consultant, trainer and retail industry expert.

The March 23rd workshop will:
• Feature Flourish artist and photographer, Kathleen Warner, who will share how she is building her business, what’s working and what’s not.

• Offer an opportunity from a professional in the retail environment to comment on displays, pricing, and overall general impression of each featured artist.

• Allow for all participants to network, ask questions and meet other emerging arts entrepreneurs.

“If you are launching a new line, explore options for your merchandise, or looking for innovative ways to further develop your current marketing strategies, Retail It will teach you best practices for marketing and selling your work in a retail environment,” stated Lisa Canning, Executive Director of The IAE.

For more information on the Retail It!, visit http://www.instituteforartsentrepreneurship.com/Flourish_Artisan_Program.html. You can also contact Jess Kaswiner at Jess@TheIAE.com or call The IAE at 773.756.2163 ext 700.

Retail it is on Tuesday March 23rd, at 7pm at Flourish Studios 3020 N Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, IL. Tickets are $5.00 at the door but because seating is limited it is suggested you purchase your ticket in advance at

http://artisanbusinessreview.eventbrite.com/

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:
NANCY PLUMMER brings over 20 years of knowledge in the retail industry. Her clients have included Neiman Marcus, GAP Stores, Levis Strauss & Co. and Lazarus Department Stores. Known as an image consultant, Nancy frequently consults individuals, organizations and companies, as well as leads workshops and seminars. Nancy received a Bachelor of Science Degree (BS) in Retailing from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and earned her Master of Arts in Training and Development (MATD) from Roosevelt University in Chicago, IL

KATHLEEN WARNER, is a self-defined mother, sister, daughter, aunt, neighbor and friend. As an artist entrepreneur and a photographer, she describes herself as a joy filled seeker of hidden treasures and possibilities that guides women to unearth their own hidden brilliance through her own artistic expression. “I want to be a stand for vivaciousness among and because of women in the vibrant versatile second half of life. ‘Broken to whole’ is a theme in my art, my life and empowerment of others. I am constantly finding beauty in the ordinary and unexpected thus helping others to see with different eyes.” Kathleen is an arts retailer in the Flourish Artisan Program.

About The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship
The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship™ is a two-year program to teach artists how to earn a living. With a curriculum that combines experiential learning, mentorship and a personalized classroom environment that provides one-on-one time with the faculty of successful artist-entrepreneurs, artists are taught how to build their own arts based business while still in school. Founded by 25-year business veteran and serial artistic entrepreneur Lisa Canning, The Institute is based on her enthusiasm for the new wave of whole-brain thinking and the firm belief that the arts –and artists—can and must be allowed to contribute to the world’s financial recovery. Enrollment is limited to 45 students. Applications are available online to apply for the institute. There is no age limit for enrollment and the requirements to apply simply include artistic excellence and a desire to be self- sufficient. For more information about the school, go to www.TheIAE.com.

Most artists and arts organizations truly hope to make a big impact.  And why wouldn’t they?  The potential benefits are numerous: more money, opportunity, reputation, personal fulfillment, and meaningful legacy bestowed upon the world.

But many of us buy into the false equation that big numbers equals big impact.  The more people, the better. 

As a result, bands spam their e-newsletter out to thousands (even if only 137 people care). Artists obsessively add “friends” to Facebook accounts. Schools pack in students by the hundreds on the rare occasion when a teaching artist is invited.  I just learned about a cultural diplomacy effort whose funders explained they would only give money if future initiative affected new regions and populations, rather than returning to old ones.  They insist that support be put to good use, “impacting” as many people as possible.  Been there, done that.  Isn’t it time to expand? 

But that’s not how impact works.  If you really want to make a difference—and reap the accompanying rewards—think small-scale.  Make profound connections with the handful, rather than superficial ones with the masses.  Changing fifteen lives dramatically is much more valuable than barely making an impression on 3000.  Find ways to create relationships that are personal, deep, meaningful, and ongoing.   

Consider education.  Can a teacher with a class of 200 make a tenfold impression over one with a roster of twenty?  On the contrary. As someone who has been in both of these situations, I can definitively attest that smaller course sizes trump larger ones.  In fact, the overall composite impact may be 10 or more times greater for the reasonably sized gathering.  How can you change lives if it’s not even possible to learn people’s names?  Massive and impersonal usually can’t compete. 

Of course, when your influence is strong and significant, affected individuals may well become advocates, teachers, and thought leaders who trumpet your message.  In this way, impact spirals outward and grows exponentially.

Our fortune cookies and No More Starving Artist Button Board were a big hit at the Chicago Creative Expo.

On Saturday April 10th, at the 7th Chicago Creative Expo held at The Cultural Center in Chicago, The IAE was in full blooming form.

Our imagination training ensemble, The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble, performed What’s Your Imagination Worth? to a just about full house in the Claudia Cassidy theater.

During the day, Bite-Size Arts Ensemble members Shawn Bowers, Lance Hall, Dharmesh Bhagat and a helper from our PR firm, PR Chicago maned the IAE booth, fielded questions and  handed out applications for our workshops and 2 year program. We had so many different kinds of artists stop by, and every imaginable question asked about our workshops and programs, that not only were these guys talking all day but they gave almost ever brochure, button, and application we brought with us away!

Meanwhile, I spent the day in the Consult-A-Thon helping artists work through various issues with their existing business or start-up ideas.

Bite-Size Arts Ensemble member Dharmesh Bhagat signs up a potential student to our mailing list.

Shawn Bowers fields a question about The IAE curriculum

Bite-Size Director Lance Hall answers questions about our 12 week imagination training workshop that begins June 7th.

Here are some quotes from emails I received already today from some of the artists I met at the Consult-A-Thon!

“Thank you for giving me such a positive experience at the Consult-a-Thon.”

“You showed me so many different angles to look at things I would have never thought of (or it would take me a very long time).”
“I’m still decompressing from this weekend but will  regroup and take action!”

Is Your Imagination Worth Investing Into? The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble gave away over 300 fortune cookies with our special message inside.

“Just wanted to tell you thanks for the wonderful meeting on Saturday at the Expo. You may have changed my life!”

“You gave me so much to think about. I have been in a buzz with friends ever since.”

I have already signed up for the boost camp online..”

So what about you? While the Chicago Creative Expo 2010 may be officially over, the energy, enthusiasm and support for The IAE it created has just begun and we are calling YOU to action too!

Do you know what your imagination is worth? Is it worth investing into by becoming a Bite-Size Arts Ensemble member and creating your own show to build your communication skills and test your business ideas in our 12 week workshop beginning Monday June 7th?

Or what about shaping or re-shaping your business idea to create a better plan of action to move your career and ideas forward with our 2 week Boost Camp that starts Monday July 26th?

Or what about joining us and learning how to live life on your own terms  ONCE AND FOR ALL by attending The IAE’s 2 year weekend program that begins January 5th, 2011?

Early Bird registration discount of 20% for The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble Workshop or Boost Camp if you apply by May 15th. Discount code is: ICanFlourish

I wrote this article for the Chicago Artists Resource (CAR). I thought you all might enjoy reading The Artist as Innovator: From Starving to Entrepreneurial by Thinking out of the Box. And besides, if you have not checked out The Chicago Artists Resource site before you should – it is a great Chicago based deep resource and one stop networking site. Over 50,000 artists stop by each month for a read or to share.

And for all you local artists- this Saturday is the big event! The Chicago Creative Expo runs all day! The Bite-Size Arts Ensemble is performing at 1:30 in the Claudia Cassidy Theater.  I am also offering free one on one consultations.  The consult-a-thon will be on the 5th floor on the Washington side of the Cultural Center, 78 E. Randolph. To schedule an appointment click here. I am also willing to set up additional times after the expo for any of you who are unable to schedule a time with me there. Email me at lisa@theIAE.com if you are interested.

Here is the complete list of all of the FREE workshops being offered at the expo and where they will be held! Hope to See you this Saturday at the EXPO!

A Case for The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship

Introduction:

Founded in 2008, The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship (The IAE) is a Chicago-based 501c(3) organization committed to helping artists create sustainable artistic careers through achieving self sufficiency. Our mission is directly tied to the belief that artists have an extraordinary amount of yet-to-be-realized value they can provide to society, especially in these economically challenging times, if they can be taught to apply their artistic capacity in new ways to allow their talents to become relevant and necessary.

The 2009 Artists and the Economic Recession Survey created by Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC) demonstrates how financial difficulties can impact an artists ability to sustain a productive creative life:

• Artists often have to hold multiple jobs to make ends meet – 66% hold at least one job in addition to their artistic practice, while 21% hold two or more additional jobs.
• Two-thirds reported their total 2008 income was less than $40,000, including nearly one-third who earned less than $20,000.
• Artists have experienced a decrease in sales of work (48%) or a need to lower fees/rates charged for work (44%), both of which suggest the arts are experiencing the contraction in consumer spending as much as many other industries.
• More than a third of artists reporting a decrease in the monetary amount of grants (37%), the number of awards granted (36%), and the number of grant opportunities available (35%). More than a third of artists report that compared to 2008 they have fewer bookings scheduled (38%) and fewer opportunities to exhibit/perform/present their work (35%). About three in 10 say there are fewer services available by nonprofits (31%) and fewer teaching (30%) and artist residency (27%) opportunities.

And yet these financial challenges pose more than the obvious problems they reflect in an artists ability to create their art or deliver quality cultural experiences to their audience. It is the belief of The IAE that the economic stability of artists, or lack thereof, has not only significantly contributed to the erosion of the demand for cultural and artistic expression in general but, in today’s economic environment, has put at risk the very need for it to exist entirely.

With roughly 100,000 fine arts majors graduating each year from institutional arts programs around the country, and no decline insight of prospective students who want to study art, the fact that only 2.1 million tax payers in the US report that they earn a living as artists demonstrates the attrition rate after graduation is quite high.

While the romantic stereotype of the starving artist to a young artist/student initially often serves to only further fuel their artistic imagination and desire of what life can be like living a bohemian lifestyle, comments from family, friends, employers, colleagues, and distant admirers as to their career prospects as an artist, once he/she graduates, creates both external and internal pressure to embrace a profession that assures stability. After all, even the bohemian lifestyle of an artist gets old when you can’t afford your car payment, let alone buy a house and raise a family which an annual income, at best, of $40,000 a year income does not provide.

The IAE believes that the rate of attrition of post-graduates has contributed to the decline of the creative sector. The value of the full-time work these artists could have been doing has never been realized inside the communities they would have served. And the communities in which these artists began to work experienced, on some level, these artists inability to survive — reinforcing the lack of relevant value the arts must hold, despite their patron’s attraction to them. Thus the notion of the starving artist syndrome continues. And as we know, perceptions create reality. And as such, over the course of a 40-year career span, the impact those artists could have made, we believe, has had a slow, steady and now significant and measurable impact on society’s view of the need and relevance for consuming cultural experiences in daily life today.

Henry Fogel in a speech he gave to the National Association of Schools of Music in November 2009 said this: Any careful examination of newspapers across America over a fifty-year span, will demonstrate dramatically the shrinking of arts coverage. Fifty years ago, every small town newspaper had an arts critic, sometimes more than one. Now, many smaller communities have let that lapse completely, and even many large cities have offered buyouts to retire their art critic, and chosen not to re-fill the position. Look at Public Television if you want further proof of the decreasing importance of the arts in America. Public Television was started precisely to broadcast programming that would have too small an appeal for commercial TV. (Never mind that in my youth, classical music was seen regularly on commercial TV, the Ed Sullivan Show, Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s concerts, the Voice of Firestone, the Bell Telephone Hour, and live operas on NBC). Now, PBS considers Sarah Brightman, Andrea Bocelli, or Andre Rieu to be highbrow programming. The number of symphony concerts, quality jazz, dance, and even staged operas, available in this country on television has been declining at an alarming rate.

Specifically, as a result of the absence of proper training to ensure more artists who graduate from art school can fill needs in their communities and financially afford to remain in the creative sector, we believe society has been left with little choice but to be unable to perceive the impact, value and relevance of the arts in their daily lives as a whole.

According to a 2003 major study, Investing in Creativity, completed by The Urban Institute and financially supported by over 38 foundations, only 27% of adults think artists contribute “a lot” to the general good of society, far fewer than recognize the social contributions of teachers (82%), doctors (76%), scientists (66%), construction workers (63%), and clergy (52%). The public perceives the contributions of artists in much the same way it perceives those of elected officials (26% say they contribute a lot to the general good), and just slightly better than it perceives the contributions of athletes (18% think they contribute a lot).

And yet, as noted by John Cimino, Creative Leaps International, scholar Thomas Homer Dixon says the space between problems that arise and our ability to solve them- the ingenuity gap- is growing today at an alarming rate in business, scientific research, education, the environment and world affairs. And innovative thought leaders like Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink and Richard Florida are helping to create a mindset that the arts, and artists, are capable of offering so much more to society. Author Ken Robinson proclaims we are Out of our Minds to have sidelined creativity and the arts when every layer of American society from elementary education to supply-side economics is starved for more imagination, more original thinking, and more creative intelligence. According to business writer/entrepreneur Daniel Pink, “Artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big-picture thinkers“ can now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.  Economist Richard Florida argues that artists and other members of the “creative class” are vital to regional economic development.  He suggests that they comprise the vital cultural core essential to attracting and developing workers for knowledge industries, which are increasingly important to the U.S. economy.

In these economic times, innovation is a critical tool that can grow revenue like never before and catapult our largest companies and newest start-ups to new levels of international competitiveness and profitability that we truly need to not only save, but redefine how we achieve our future economic vitality. Certainly the arts offer, with training, fertile ground to devise new ways to contribute and become vital, integral and again relevant to society.

After all, the visceral nature of the arts provides a unique barrier breaker -a unifier- regardless of race, religion, gender, age, status or income across all sectors of society and industry. No matter what the subject matter, using the arts in new interdisciplinary ways can bring people to new levels of understanding and simultaneously create new sustainable financially viable career paths for artists.

According to the Investing in Creativity study by The Urban Institute, their research suggests there is a substantial demand for artists in hybrid markets and yet few programs exist to support their development. Artists are involved in art and community development, social services, education, health, civic engagement, and youth development, among other areas through arts-based organizations such as Project Row Houses in Houston, Street Level Youth Media and Little Black Pearl in Chicago, Cornerstone Theater in Los Angeles, El Centro de la Raza in Seattle, Life Pieces to Masterpieces in Washington, D.C., Zumix and Troubador in Boston and many more examples can be found in every one of LINC’s case study sites.

Although many artists do important work primarily in the context of conventional cultural markets, LINC found scores of examples like the ones listed above.  Investing in Creativity research suggests that many artists work in all of these sectors, either at the same time or switching from one to another. Their field research in fact highlighted this pattern.  It also reveals that artists seem to benefit when there is a wide range of different sector opportunities in which they can engage.

And yet demand for what artists do is not fully conceived or well articulated, in large part because the formal validation mechanisms in both arts and non-arts contexts are relatively narrowly developed.  For example, if an artist is working at the intersection of arts and community development and making contributions in both areas, it is very likely that the full extent of those contributions will not be recognized or valued in either the cultural realm or the community development realm.  Moreover, adequate language to describe such practice and contributions currently does not exist. The IAE seeks to bring clarity to the value of these hybrid roles to the community by focusing on the development of self-sufficient career paths for artists who will be motivated to illuminate the value of their hybrid roles to society.

Additionally, arts administrators, researchers and analysts, funders and policymakers tend to view the public, commercial, nonprofit and informal sectors as separate realms with little connection to each other.  Often artists seem to be categorized as “nonprofit” or “commercial,” as if those categories were mutually exclusive and as such funding sources are difficult to obtain and not rising in priority as demand, and need, is growing because of the cross pollination that occurs in a hybrid artistic role.

Respondents to the Investing in Creativity study emphasized the critical nature of peer-to-peer and mentoring relationships for training and professional development across the discipline spectrum and how important these relationships are to successful career transitions. Artists working at the intersection of arts and other fields, such as community development, education, health, justice, or other areas noted that the public validation and training programs needed to sustain and advance these practices is generally weak. Furthermore, many artists feel they lack the skills to market themselves to the wide range of realms where they could potentially be successful.  Our own survey indicates similar results. Over 83% of all respondents have said they would undertake a two year course of study to increase their skills to earn a living as a self-employed artist.  Additionally, LINC’s research revealed that many higher education and training institutions for the arts are not proactive in developing markets for artists or teaching them the business skills they need to succeed and that funding for such programs is virtually non existent.

The IAE believes that by helping artists imagine and create new innovative career paths we can play a significant role in helping both artists and the community rediscover new ways for artists to be recognized as contributing a lot of good though the development of self-sustaining hybrid careers that can become relevant to the communities these artists will serve. As such, through our programs at the IAE, we seek to helps artists grow their artistic imaginations about what is possible, while teaching them tangible necessary skill sets to give them the assortment of tools they need to turn their creativity into self-sufficiency.

The IAE seeks to make it possible for artists to develop a business arising from identifying gaps in the market place they can uniquely fill with a form of their creative practice. These businesses will be varied and may relate directly to a product, societal problem, service or process, a form of expertise, consultancy, or their values, beliefs or knowledge. IAE training will provide the means for artists to understand how to create the infrastructure and environment for new creative opportunities to be realized.

Although there are increasingly quality arts entrepreneurship courses and programs in colleges and universities around the country, given the attrition rate of artists exiting the field, the need for more quality programs is self -evident. Furthermore  The IAE knows of no other school focused exclusively on the development of self-sustaining hybrid career paths in the arts leveraging the strengths of ongoing one-on-one mentorship and experiential learning across all artistic disciplines. The IAE is committed to bringing artists and their creativity into the center of economic activity.

Happy 10th anniversary SEA! The SEA conference is coming right up and if you have never attended you need to! Come learn more about how to turn your artistic passion into a living from other successful artists.

What The Conference Offers

In addition to keynote presentations, topic specific sessions by artists, panel discussions, faculty sessions, and workshops,  come hang out with a lot of really fun, creative artists and entrepreneurs.  I will be speaking and hanging out there too! Hope you will join the fun.

Here’s the list of speakers and topics that will be presented:

Visual Arts:

Robert Fishbone – Keynote & Social Media Panel
Jeanette Smith (Art Consultant) – Art Licensing
Robert Lee Fritz (3-D Artist) – Creating niches and corporate sales
John McDavitt (Commercial Artist) – Heroic Decision Making
Janet Bloch (Artist & Consultant) – Exhibiting Professionalism
Andie Burchett (Pencil Artist) – TBD
Jessica & John Page – Photography & New Business (Alum)
Ping Wu – Fashion Design (Alum)

Media Arts:

Kelley Baker (Filmmaker) – Guerilla Marketing & Self-Distribution
Julie Freestone (Sundance Institute) – TBD
Jeffrey Fisher (Fisher Creative Group) – Be a Mobile Media Mogul

Performing Arts:

Matt Hennessy (Musician and Recording Engineer) – Recording Industry
Greg Eichelberger (Musician) – Creating & Managing a Career
Lisa Canning (Musician & Entrepreneur) – New Economic Opportunities for Artists
Victoria Lyman (Dance Boutique)- Turning Your Artistic Passion into a Retail business
Vanessa E (Singer) – Multiple Income Streams
Matt Boresi – Mock Auditions & Closing  Keynote

Literary Arts:

Jennifer McCord & Sheryl Stebbins – Publishing Today
McCord & Stebbins – Writing a book proposal
(A limited number will have the opportunity to have a book proposal reviewed.
Please see website for more details.)

Nuts & Bolts:

Elizabeth Russell (Russell Law)- Legal Issues
Tim Kelley (Columbia College) – Legal Issues for Performing Artists
Kay Osborne (Drury University) – Accounting for Artists

Panel Discussions:

Marketing
Social Media & Websites
Portfolios
Getting Started
Faculty Sessions:
2 Faculty Panels of Coleman Fellowes
Pam Mickelson (Morningside College ) – Brand Builder Matrix (for faculty & students)

Learn more about the speakers presentations:

Here is the schedule at a glance:

There is no time like RIGHT NOW to register! See you at SEA.

Can’t come to Lisle, Illinois?  Here are a few other opportunities to get involved:

March 13th SEA OzArts : Coordinated by Drury University in Sprinfield, MO

March 26th & 27th SEA BizArts:  Coordinated by Edmonds Community College in Washington

March 27th Southern Entrepreneurship in the Arts Conference: From Survival to Success
Coordinated by The University of North Carolina Greensboro

TBD SEA South: Coordinated by The University of Tampa

The past few months I have been seriously trying to get to the bottom of some long term issues with my health. While I have always had a lot of energy and eat healthy ( no greasy food, limit the sweets and white flour opting for salads, whole grains, lean proteins and fish), I have, since I was ten, struggled with my weight. One of my 2009 new years resolutions ( remember those you made back in Dec/Jan?) was to try and take whatever steps were necessary to make the lifestyle changes I need to reduce my weight to improve my health.

So to honor that resolution I have been working out with a body builder for the past three months three times a week for an hour and a half, mixing weight lifting up with cardio, as well as making the changes to my diet the body builder is encouraging, hoping to get my metabolism moving.

While my physical strength is improving daily, my weight has not budged. Being born into a family with horrible genetics ( obesity rules in greek families) I decide it might be a good idea to go to the doctor and rule out a thyroid problem being at the root of my difficulty.

So I went to see my general practitioner and had a number of blood tests. The tests indicated my insulin levels were higher than they should be for sure, but not high enough to label me diabetic.The doctor put me on pre-diabetic medicine and asked me to make an appointment with an endocrinologist. (Hypothyroid can look a lot like a pre-diabetic condition.) Eager to address my problem, and hoping it would help me improve my health, I called the referral my doctor gave me.

Quickly I discovered where my eagerness to consult with an “expert” about my health fit into the value system of both of the endocrinologists I was referred to by my physician.

The first I tried calling 4 different times. It seems they rarely keep office hours and never answer the phone. Each time I called this was the message I heard: ” Dr. XXX is currently not available. Our office is now closed. Don’t page the doctor, Don’t ask us when we are not open for a refill or an appointment and Don’t leave us a message unless you are willing to wait 24-48 hours for a return call. If this is an emergency call 911. Beep.”

The second endocrinologist I called won’t see me at all until I send over my blood tests and they decide if THEY are willing to set up an appointment to see me.

It seems endocrinologists are in such demand, according to my general practitioner, that they feel they don’t need to be bothered– unless they feel like it. Of course when you go to see them, they will not let you past the front office until you have signed a waiver guaranteeing to pay them and/or providing them with insurance information they accept.

It seems that these doctors have forgotten that the services they provide is a business. They have forgotten that where there is demand lies opportunity and that customers (or in this case patients) have a choice about who they see and what they tell others about their experiences.

Every profession is a business and every business has an opportunity to recognize opportunity to provide superior service that translates into a thriving enterprise and happy repeat customers.

One of the reasons I want to write books is because books, art, poetry and film, as examples, all intrinsically are built to last. Their very form offers easy “spark-creating-experience” access, like a hand full of nourishment going right into our mouth. Love that rush of energy that follows, don’t you? You know, the part before you get tired?

While it is impossible for a memory to replace the actual real time experience of euphoria, or intense joy, anger or sadness– only the kind a work of art can deliver, it can be waiting eagerly for you on a shelf, if it’s a book, or hanging on your wall.

What a basic concept entrepreneurship is for artistry, and yet without this simple “must have”, generations upon generations have defined who we are and what we are capable of creating for others in life, through a very narrow, confining, and as I see it, rather destructive single lens.

In honor of the power of the written word to enlighten and transform, here is my recommended reading list to jump start your very best you in 2009.

Do You Want to Become More Entrepreneurial?
* Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big, by Bo Burlingham

* The Art of The Start by Guy Kawasaki

* Awakening the Entrepreneur Within: How Ordinary People Can Create Extraordinary Companies,
by Michael Gerber

* Who’s Your City? How the Creative Economy is Making Where to Live the Most Important Decision of Your Life, by Richard Florida

*The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live, by
Scott A. Shane

*Bounce!: Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, by Barry J. Moltz

*Birthing the Elephant: A Woman’s Go-For-It Guide to Overcoming the Big Challenges of Launching a Business, by Karen Abarbanel and Bruce Freeman

Marketing Maven
* Unleashing the Ideavirus by Seth Godin

* The New Marketing Manifesto: The 12 Rules for Building Successful Brands in the 21st Century (Business Essentials) by John Grant

* The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference by Malcolm Gladwell

* Coercion: Why We Listen to What “They” Say by Douglas Rushkoff

* Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable by Seth Godin

* The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen

* The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly by David Meerman Scott

Organizational Development
* The Discipline of Market Leaders: Choose Your Customers, Narrow Your Focus, Dominate Your Market by Michael Treacy

* Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins

* The Art of Profitability by Adrian Slywotzky

*First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham

* Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham

* Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman

* The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Financial Health Check
*The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom: Practical & Spiritual Steps So you Can Stop Worrying by Suze Orman

* Finance Your New or Growing Business: How to Find and Raise Capital for Your Venture by Ralph Alterowitz and Jon Zonderman

*Conscious Finance: Uncover Your Hidden Money Beliefs and Transform the Role of Money in Your Life by Rick Kahle

*The Seven Stages of Money Maturity: Understanding the Spirit and Value of Money in Your Life by George Kinder

*The Soul of Money: Transforming Your Relationship with Money and Life by Lynne Twist

Reaching for Greatness
* The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and Personal Life by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander

* This Time I Dance! Creating the Work You Love by Tama Kieves

* Make the Impossible Possible by Bill Strickland

* The Everyday Work of Art by Eric Booth

* The Courage to Teach by Parker Palmer

January’s Entrepreneur Magazine offered these six tips on using free on-line tools:

#1
Just because it’s there doesn’t mean you have to use it. “Because there’s so much out there, businesses have a tendency to be like a kid in a candy store,” says Drew McLellan. “Start with the strategy of what you want to accomplish, and then find the tool that will allow you to do that.”

Adds Mike Whaling, “It’s a matter of figuring out which tools are right for your business. Know your audience, and then go to where they are already having conversations.”

#2
You don’t have to figure it all out by yourself. McLellan suggests doing a simple Google search on a tool or task you want to accomplish. “You’ll find people talking about it,” he says. “And people are incredibly quick to share what they know.”

#3
Don’t lose your company’s brand. Using a variety of tools can lead to an inconsistent company image and voice. Says McLellan, “Run it through the litmus test of ‘Is this right for my business? Does it portray my business the way I want?’” Whaling also emphasizes thinking about what your business’s name will be associated with because many free tools are ad-supported.

#4
Push your preconceived notions aside. MySpace and Facebook aren’t just for the kiddies anymore. Says McLellan, “There are a lot of people conducting business on [these sites].”

#5
Does the tool have staying power? For every successful blog, video website or social network, there are dozens that won’t make it. So, again, talk with people online and discuss their experiences with the tool to gauge its stability and reliability.

#6
It may be free, but you still need to invest. Just creating a profile won’t cut it. Making the most of these tools requires time and effort, says Whaling. “There’s an investment in reading other people’s blogs, commenting on posts, getting involved in the community and building relationships.”

Is it ever possible in life to get somewhere for nothing and have it be somewhere really good? Over the decades, we certainly have heard that “there is no such thing as a free ride” and that “if it’s too good to be true, it likely is”.

But these days, thanks to the internet, there is lots of FREE stuff online, much of which supports the entrepreneur and a start-up venture.

According to an article which appeared in Entrepreneur Magazine this month, Gary Vaynerchuck, co-founder of Wine Library, has been taking advantage of free business tools for nearly three years to grow his 11 year-old wine retail business. Using a combination of web-based tools, such as social networking, blogging and video, he’s taken his company to annual sales of $50 million. One way Wine Library uses these tools, is to notify his friends of daily specials by using MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, in place of email. His success with these tools has even landed him two book deals and regular speaking engagements across the country. “Building brand equity and connecting with your consumers through these social tools has a global impact on your business and your brand,” says Vaynerchuck, 33.

Alison Boris, 38, and Kathi Chandler, 31, have also been capitalizing on free tools since nearly the beginning of their LA based hand bag boutique, called AllyKatStyle. Besides a MySpace page, they also have profies on Digg and StumbleUpon, which are community content sharing sites, to grow their business.

All these free tools also mean that for even a small business, the “little guy” can look a whole lot bigger, not to mention more sophisticated. With a price tag of FREE, it’s hard not to want to take advantage and get on the ride to somewhere great.

Have I gotten your attention? Good, then let’s get you started:

Communication/Email
Dimdim ( dimdim.com)- open source web conferencing application; free basic service
Jott (jott.com)-voice-to-text service for creating notes, lists, e-mails and text messages; free basic service
Oovoo ( oovoo.com) -video messaging, chatting and conferencing
Paltalk ( paltalk.com) – Group IM, chat and video call application
Plugoo ( plugoo.com) -direct chatting with any blog or site visitor
YouSendIt (yousendit.com)- send files up to 2GB; free basic service

Content, Media, Video
Audacity (audacity-sourceforge.net) Open source software for cross-platform audio recording
Blip.tv: (blip.tv)- Video blogging, podcasting and video sharing service; free basic service
BlogTalkRadio (blogtalkradio.com) radio network for users to host their own shows
DropShots ( dropshots.com)- Video hosting and photo sharing
Feedburner ( feedburner.com)- media distribution services for blogs and RSS feeds
Fix My Movie ( fixmymovie.com)- Video enhancement service; free basic service
Paint.NET ( getpaint.net)- image and photo editing software
Phixr (phixr.com)- picture and photo editor
Seesmic (seesmic.com)- Video conversation platform
SlideShare ( slideshare.net)- Share and embeded slideshows. Powerpoints and PDF’s into web pages
VideoSpin ( videospin.com)- video-editing software

Financial
BizEquity ( bizequity.com) – company valuations
Mint ( mint.com) – personal finance, money mangement, budget planning and financial planning software
MyBizHomepage (mybizhomepage.com) – financial dashboard for small business Quick Book users
QuickBooks (quickbooks.com) small-business accounting software; free simple start 2009 download)
Wesabe (wesabe.com)- Financial advice, analysis and planning

Marketing, Networking, PR
Wordpress (wordpress.com)- Blog publishing tool
Craigslist ( craigslist.org)- Online classified and job posting network
CollectiveX ( collectivex.com)-Create social networking and collaboration sites for groups
Digg (digg.com)- content sharing site
Linkedin ( linkedin.com)- Business social networking site
Pligg ( pligg.com)-Open-source, community-centric site for discovering, rating and sharing content
PolicyMap( Policymap.com) -Geographic and demographic information system for creating custom maps, tables and chartes; basic free service
YouNoodle ( younoodle.com)-Netowrking for startups and valuation with Startup Predictor
YourPitchSucks (yourpitchsucks.com) PR pitch reviewing and advising
Stumble Upon ( stumbleupon.com)- Content sharing site

Office Productivity, and Organization
Adobe Buzzword (adobe.com)- Collaborative word processor application
CutePDF Write (Cutepdf.com)- PDF creator; free basic service
Dabble DB ( dabbledb.com)- Create, manage and share online databases; free basic service
Doodle (doodle.com)- Schedule, and coordinate meetings and other appointments
FreshBooks ( freshbooks.com)-Invoicing, time-tracking and expense service; free basic service
SurveyMonkey ( surveymonkey.com)-Create and publish custom online surveys; free basic service
ThinkFree Office ( thinkfree.com)-Office productivity suite; free basic service
WuFoo (wufoo.com)-HTML form builder for creating interactive forms;free basic service

Project Management, Collaboration
Remember the Milk (rememberthemilk.com)-Task management solution and to-do lists
Socialtext (socialtext.com)- Wiki and website collaboration; free basic service
Team Task ( teamtask.com)-Collaborative project management and community website builder
Yugma (yugma.com)-Web meeting and collaboration service

Web
Google Alerts ( google.com/alerts)- E-mail updates on choice of query or topic
KickApps ( kickapps.com)- platform of applications to integrates social features into a website
Microsoft Office Live Small Business (smallbusiness.officelive.com)- Create a company website, domain and email; free basic service
Synthasite ( synthasite.com)- Web hosting and building
Weebly ( weebly.com)-Website and blog creator
Widgetbox (widgetbox.com)-web widgets for various applications
Woopra ( woopra.com) -Web tracking and analysis application; free basic service

My wish for you, ON CHRISTMAS DAY,
will be for you TOO, to keep the GRINCH at bay!

But if by chance, you simply cannot,
Band mighty together, as a great big Who-Ville lot!

WWHHYY????? Smarty-Arty, I hear you say?

BECAUSE, with all your JOY stirring together,
the grinch who came to visit, just might feel a WEE bit better.

Merry Christmas, my dears, what’s your ETA,
to ENTREPRENEUR The Arts, in a new innovative way.
PLEASE COME WITH ME, lets ride far, far and away!

signed your friend, an artistic missionIST, a student of Dr. Suess-a-visionIST, gliding, and sent with love.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6S3KM92s-pg]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL0uu_q2grc]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDELa8YSqY]

The story of Ani DiFranco and how she and her partner Scot Fisher built Righteous Babe is a wonderful story about building artistry through a sense of community, the creativity to do so, falling in love, breaking up and the re-birth of relationships and the company. This story appeared in INC magazine and was written by Bo Burlingham, editor at large for Inc Magazine, who also wrote a book about companies that choose to be great instead of big called Small Giants. Righteous Babe fits right into this category!

Ani DiFranco is sitting in her dressing room at the Chicago Theater, six hours before a performance, and she wants to set the record straight. Money, she says, had nothing to do with her decision to reject all those offers from major record labels and start her own business. Nor did she turn down the offers out of fear of losing her artistic freedom. So what was it, then? “I didn’t want to participate in what big corporations are doing to society,” she says. “My decision not to work with a major label was not about me. It was about something bigger than me.”

There are, in fact, quite a few things bigger than Ani (pronounced ah-nee) DiFranco. She is, well, diminutive, although she hardly seems that way when she comes charging onto the stage at the start of a performance, her brown dreadlocks flying, her guitar blazing, her body twisting and turning in a blast of energy. Legions of fans can’t get enough of that energy and the music that goes with it. And yet, for all her artistic success, it’s often her commercial ventures that get attention — much to her chagrin. When Ms. focused on her business prowess in citing her as one of “21 feminists for the 21st century,” she fired off a letter of protest to the magazine’s editor: “Imagine how strange it must be for a girl who has spent 10 years fighting as hard as she could against the lure of the corporate carrot and the almighty forces of capital, only to be recognized by the power structure as a business pioneer.”

It is, however, a designation she can’t escape. Her record company, Righteous Babe Records, is one of the few successful artist-created labels around, having sold more than 4 million of DiFranco’s records and put out CDs by more than a dozen other performers. And it’s no ordinary company. In an industry dominated by giant corporations, Righteous Babe has the look, feel, and smell of a small hometown business. Staff members, for example, respond with handwritten notes to the thousands of letters the company gets from its customers, DiFranco’s fans. In return, the company elicits a level of devotion seldom seen in business. Customers go out of their way to protect it, patrolling the Internet and reporting on websites that try to sell unauthorized recordings of DiFranco’s music. Some fans are so passionate about the business that they come from as far away as Australia and Switzerland, not to see DiFranco perform, but to visit the company headquarters in Buffalo. “I’m standing here in total awe,” wrote one visitor from Los Angeles in the guest book.

And it’s not just the fans. Talk to the company’s record distributors, its printers, the manufacturers of its CDs, the concert promoters, not to mention its employees, and you realize that DiFranco and partner Scot Fisher have tapped into one of the most underappreciated forces in business, namely, the power of community. To do that while maintaining great margins is quite an accomplishment — especially for a company whose CEO believes, as DiFranco sang on a recent album, that “capitalism is the devil’s wet dream.”

Scot Fisher is a tall, quiet, somewhat diffident man who works out of a cluttered office at Righteous Babe’s headquarters. At 43, he still dresses like the construction guy he was when he first met DiFranco. Although he is usually referred to as her manager, the term does not do justice to the role he plays in her business life. Besides looking out for her career, he is the chief architect, co-owner, and operating head of Righteous Babe and its six component businesses, including a touring company, a retail operation, a music publisher, a real estate developer, and a foundation, as well as the record label. Together they do about $5 million in sales, mostly from DiFranco’s CDs and her touring. (Profits are harder to figure but probably run a bit less than $1 million a year.) Yet another venture, a concert venue, will open next spring in a restored church down the block, which will also house a jazz club, an art gallery, and the headquarters of Righteous Babe. In addition to complementing the other businesses, the concert hall represents a hedge against the uncertain future that Righteous Babe and all record companies face these days. “I’m in the buggy business, and it’s 1905,” says Fisher. “It would be insane to count on CDs being here in 10 years.”

“I’m in the buggy business and it’s 1905. It would be insane to count on CDs being here in 10 years.”
He wound up in the business almost by accident. Back in 1988, he was the co-owner of a small construction and housepainting company, and he’d recently moved into an apartment that the girlfriend of one of his partners was sharing with a woman she’d gone to art school with, an 18-year-old folksinger. One evening, he went to see his new housemate perform at a local bar. “It was sort of obligatory,” he says. “Then she started to play.” Nine years her senior, Fisher soon became DiFranco’s confidant and mentor. Along the way, they fell in love. At some point, Righteous Babe entered the picture. “In the beginning, it was more of a joke than a real business,” DiFranco says. “You know, ‘Yeah, uh-huh, I got a record company. You’re looking at it.’”

In retrospect, it’s not surprising that she would gravitate toward entrepreneurship. She’d been figuring out how to make her own way in the world from an early age. At nine, she was spending Saturdays busking at the local farmers’ market. At 12, she was making and selling cards of pressed flowers to earn money for horse camp. At 15, when her parents divorced, she moved out and lived on her own, largely supporting herself. Only once, in 1991, did she come close to signing with an established label, backing out as soon as she read the terms of the contract.

And yet, even without a contract, her fame spread. By the end of 1993, she had released five albums under the Righteous Babe label, and they were setting sales records at the folk festivals where she performed. Thanks to her constant touring, she was developing a loyal following, especially among young women, many of them lesbians who identified with her feminist lyrics and considered her one of their own. But Righteous Babe existed pretty much in name only. It had no structure, no organization, no full-time employees, and no office. DiFranco’s albums were getting very little radio airplay and couldn’t be found in most record stores. On top of that, she’d had a major falling-out with her business manager.

Into the breach stepped Fisher, who had been studying law while DiFranco was working on her music career. “I figured I could always be a lawyer,” he says. “When would I get another chance to manage Ani DiFranco?” DiFranco, for her part, had doubts about having her lover take charge of her business affairs. “In the end,” she says, “he just sort of declared himself my business manager.” Fisher says they had an understanding that he’d step aside if it turned out he was wrong for the job.

There was, in fact, little reason to believe he was right for the job. He lacked experience, credentials, and credibility in the music business. “It took [Ani's agent] Jim Fleming a couple of years to tell me that the first time I called, he thought, ‘Omigod, it’s the boyfriend.’” Fisher says. “But I knew where I stood. I knew people didn’t respect me. I’m from Buffalo. I’m used to it.”

To read the rest of the article click here

The Customer is a poem by Frank Halliwell, from Jimboomba, Australia. This poem is really funny, or at least it was to me, so sit back and enjoy. Have a great weekend.

************************************************************************************

“Good morning! Thanks for calling us!
We’re pleased to hear from you!
Your call’s important to us
So we’ve placed you in a queue.

Please find your account number and
Be sure it is correct..
It’s twenty digits long and if you
Mis-type, I’ll reject.

I’ll lead you through the whole routine
Please use your touch type phone.
Press eight and follow with the hash
After you hear the tone.

If you are a new client here..
Press two, ..if old, press three.
Press four in case we’ve done something
With which you disagree!

You have pressed four, please wait a moment
While I transfer you..
And please enjoy, while we play you
A symphony or two!

Our staff are all too busy now
To talk to such as you
Your call is so important that
We’ve placed you in a queue.”

Time passes and the music lingers
On, and bye and bye..
My cheek and ear go fast asleep,
My wrist gets R.S.I.

But wait! It may be there is hope!
I hear a ringing sound,
At last a human voice is heard
After the runaround!

“Good morning, this is Ladies wear
And may we help somehow?
Complaints?.. Oh! Just hang on a tick
I’ll transfer you right now!…”

***
“Good morning! Thanks for calling us!
We’re pleased to hear from you!
Your call’s important to us
So we’ve placed you in a queue.

I recently have started working with a great jazz musician who has become a new client. The other day we were discussing how to get his group into some more sought after clubs to perform. We were talking about how to make contact with club owners. My client said, “I am finding the owners of the clubs I have contacted want me to come in and see them. I find myself dropping off my press kit and then being asked to come back and talk to them, even though all the information they want from me when I do, is right on my website. I don’t get what’s going on here. This is a lot of work.”

Musicians, actors, artists, and everyone else connected to the arts, need to learn good old fashioned customer service.

Club owners don’t want musicians to play in their clubs who are not going to come early, play sober and draw in an audience. Unfortunately, because most artists lack business training, smart club owners realize the only way to make sure unknown musical performing groups will act accordingly is by testing their ability to follow up and provide them with good customer service before they even consider booking them.

Why, as artists, we think that our talent should speak for itself remains a mystery. Think about it logically:

As consumers, when we go to eat at a restaurant, we never like it when the waiter never comes to take our order, or worse does and never comes with our food. We call that bad service and usually don’t go back- no matter how many “stars” are behind the restaurants name. After all, that is why we are going to the restaurant in the first place- to have someone else wait on us and serve us a meal.

When we order products on-line, like I recently did from Rugs USA, and they tell you the rug will be here in 3-5 days and 3 weeks later, and 2 phone calls riddled with unmet promises have passed and you still don’t have your rug, do you think you are going to ever order from them again? Do you think you might even tell all your friends that they too should not order from them ever? Well, I just did and I think likely you would too.

Rugs USA boasts to be a top internet retailer and that they will match anyone else’s price. Do you think I care about how great they are when they cannot meet my needs?

If you want the gigs, the order, the opportunity, then learn how to deliver great customer service to your clients they way they want it. Trust me, I know if you do, those gigs, orders and opportunities- the ones you really want- will eventually come.

And when they do, your talent will then help you keep those gigs coming.