Perfectionism Is Poison

Patrick discusses the harmful impact of perfectionism on running an art business, emphasizing the importance of taking action and learning from market feedback instead of striving for a perfect launch. He shares insights from consulting with artists and photographers, explaining how overanalyzing decisions can hinder progress. Patrick encourages artists to 'ship it'—to execute and get their work to the market quickly to gather accurate data and make informed decisions. During the session, he also addresses comments from viewers, discusses the importance of surrounding oneself with knowledgeable people, and invites listeners to a free art business consulting workshop.

Podcast Transcribe

Patrick Shanahan: Ah, Facebook right now and I'm gonna talk about how perfectionism is poison in an art business. When you're running an art business, it's really any business for that matter. Let me just put this phone down here and get set up. Getting some Father's Day texts here as I'm doing this. Anyways, alright, looks like I'm all set up. Hey guys, hey Pat Thompson, Frannie, Juhi, Bob Buckles. How we doing guys? Hope you guys are doing well this morning. Yeah, so I'm gonna talk about perfectionism. Perfectionism is poison. Right now you guys all know that, right? You know that, right? Like, that's kind of an obvious statement, but there's something more to it that I want to talk about based on all of the consulting that we've been doing, okay? And with photographers and artists running their businesses, right?

So here's where I see the perfectionism really, really hurting everybody, okay? There is a major tendency for photographers and artists, you know, when thinking about their marketing or thinking about their business or just trying to do the next thing, to stop and overanalyze it and look for a perfect solution to their problem, okay? And they overanalyze it and they stop right there, you know, and instead of actually moving forward, they start asking like, "Hey, what exactly should I do with this?" So, for example, right, like, "Is it okay if I do a social media post this way or that way?" or "Should I sell limited editions at this price or this price?" Right? Or "Should I sell originals and limited editions? I've never sold open editions before. Should I sell open editions and at what price?" or "How should I do my website if I sell photography and I also paint?" You know, or "If I have this subject matter and this subject matter," right? It doesn't matter what it is. It always keeps coming through. Or "I need my website to be absolutely perfect with every single image, every single little detail before I actually launch it and get it in the water," right?

The problem with this is the thought process that launching perfectly with anything is actually the right way to do it in business, and that is absolutely flawed. That is the most important lesson to take away here, right? Like, as an entrepreneur or as a business owner, you are not seeking perfectionism upfront. In fact, it doesn't even matter what you are seeking. What you should be seeking is the most accurate answer to your current problem. And how do you get that? The way that you get that is by getting to market quickly, right? Only the market can tell you exactly what it is that you can do for your business, right? And only the market can tell you accurately what that is. And what's going to be necessary for you is not going to be the same as somebody else. So that's why you can't ask just an expert or anyone, "What exactly should I do about my niches?" or "How exactly should I price my artwork?" Right? You have to actually get to market and let the market tell you what it wants, what is going to be successful for you. That is the key takeaway, right? And so this is why perfectionism is extreme poison because whatever decision that you have right now, whatever hurdle it is that you think you have in your art business, there's actually something behind it. It's the fact that the way to solve that problem is not what you think. The way to solve that problem is just to go and get to market. And as we say, "ship it," right? Ship it means execute, get to market. Nobody is looking and hanging off of every word you have. Nobody's hanging off of every price that you email out or blast out. They don't care. The market does not care about what you're doing. You don't have enough traffic and eyeballs anyways, right? So the best thing that you can do is just start moving, right?

And so I'm constantly myself and Pat, our marketing director, when we're doing direct one-on-one consulting, we're constantly faced with this and it comes in so many different forms. So think about what problem you have right now and what's stopping you from actually moving forward, right? What is it? I would love to know. If you guys have comments, feel free to drop them in the comments, either on Instagram or on Facebook or YouTube, whichever one, because I'm broadcasting to all three right now. By the way, is that not amazing? So appreciate that, Benjamin. He said, "Great subject to kick off my day. LOL, I needed that." Yeah, we all need it. We all need it. You know, like most people don't know that like, you know, you're looking for like the perfect strategy and the perfect plan, you know, before you do something and actually do it. The best thing that you can do is launch. Just launch whatever it is. Now, it's either launch your business and go for it or it's launch this new strategy and go for it or launch that new product at whatever price it is. It doesn't really matter what it is, right? If you're wondering about pricing, for example, it's like just launch it. What's the first thought in your mind, right? Okay, I want to sell this original or whatever for $500. Fine. Or you want to sell your limited editions for $1,500 for the first time. Fine. Go do it. What I say is, you know, when you're doing something like that, go with the lower, like the least risky entry into it, right? And so you could say like a good way to go about a pricing decision would be, "Okay, I really want to sell these things at like $2,000 a pop or for $1,500, but what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna launch them at an introductory discount price, right, for the first 10 buyers." And then you can offer it at, you know, maybe $1,000 or $750, a discount from where you plan to be. Therefore, you have not curbed your ability, you know, to get to the price that you want to be at, but you're testing the market, right? And you know what? And you can launch that immediately and as soon as you get feedback and you understand, then you're good to go. You start doing price increases from there, right? Like just start upping it 15% until you start getting to the point where you feel like it's not working anymore, okay? And then that's where you stop. That's where you know you've reached your limits. But nobody can tell you that. You've got to get to market, right? So it's the best advice that I can give you on anything. If you guys have other comments about what you think is holding you back and how to actually get over that, let me know and I will help you.

Darren Julien Metzker: My problem is the judgments from others. It blocks me.

Patrick Shanahan: Yes, always. Always. That's something that you definitely have to get out of the way, right? Like, don't let judgments from others block you. Don't even think about it. You know, who are these others? And you know, do they really belong in your life or, you know, as close to you in your life that they're really holding you back? Because if that's really taking up your mental space, you really have to deal with that and understand why it is that you care so much, you know, about their opinion. And because, you know, until you actually resolve that, it's gonna continue to haunt you. So I highly recommend sitting down with a pad and paper. I do this all the time, right? Like, analyze why you actually are being bothered, you know, or have anxiety or whatever it is over, you know, that thing. And I think once you have awareness of what that is, then you start poking a hole in the problem and the air slowly gets released over a period of time and that's how you get past it.

Jim Livingston: The enemy of the good is the best.

Patrick Shanahan: Spock, happy Father's Day to everyone, by the way. Thank you for that, Deborah. Appreciate that. Okay, let's see here. I'm scanning for some more questions on Instagram. I keep pushing that button. I'm sorry, guys. Yeah, so, so yeah, perfectionism, guys. You guys are artists and photographers, right? You are creative. You are going to have that perfectionism gene no matter what, right? It's in you. And so I think as business owners, as solo entrepreneurs that you guys are, you're going to have to deal with this and recognize this more than other entrepreneurs would. You guys agree? I think we would all agree, right? So you will tend to have more perfectionism in your decision-making process every day. And what I want you to do is check that. I want you to check that, right? Think about this week, all these decisions that you're gonna make this week. I want you to think about what decisions you're not making because you are being perfectionist about it or you want to be perfect or, you know, you're not sure about this detail or that detail. And instead, just go, "You know what? I just need to get to market. I just need to try it. Nobody can tell me whether this is gonna be right or wrong. I just need to ship it and get it to market." And that's what I want you to do. I want you to just do it. I don't want you to ask a question. I don't want you to say, "Should I do it this way or should I do it that way?" Right? I want you to just get it to market and I want you to come back to me and tell me that you did that, right? Like, there was something that you really wanted to get approval on, you know, or an expert opinion on. But instead of doing that, you just went to market because you know what I really want as a consultant for our members? What I want is I want you to go to market and then I want to know what happens. I want to know what happened. I want the information. I want the data back after what happened. And then I can help you with the next best decision. So the first decision is go to market. The next decision is, right, like, that's on you on your own. The next thing is collect the information, figure out what happens. And then I think you could probably iterate again with your next, you know, improvement on whatever that was. But with that information, you now have something concrete from the market, from the market, the truth, right? Because the market is always the truth that you can use, you know, to make a better decision and that our team could help you with.

So it's really interesting. Jim posted on Facebook here, "You are the sum of the top five people you hang around with." But my name is that, it's not me who says it all the time. It's actually originally from Jim Rohn. He is one of the old-school motivational speakers and he was the mentor of Tony Robbins, which is really interesting. But yes, "You are the sum of the top five people you hang around with." Upgrade who you hang around with, guys, in terms of, and I'm saying this obviously in your personal life that matters, but I'm specifically referring to your business career, right? As a creative professional, as an artist or a photographer, who are the top five people, you know, that you surround yourself in this community, in this world? Because whoever that is, is going to be, is going to determine the quality of information that you have in your head about the reality of the market, what you need to do to succeed, what your next steps are, right? Most photographers and artists are operating on an island all alone, and that is a big problem because then they start saying things like, "Oh, art doesn't sell online," which nobody says anymore, but they were saying that for the last ten years, "Oh, originals can't sell online," you know, anything like that. Like, "Oh, limited editions, oh, oh, my niche will not sell." Everything sells online, guys. But it's these thoughts and these misconceptions that you might have about running your business that can be easily squashed in like a second if you upgrade the quality of people that you're surrounding yourself with in the industry, in the business, other photographers and artists who are running businesses just like you, you know? And I think that is so important. It's so important because the sooner the quality of your decision-making improves, the sooner you're going to get better outcomes in your business and your life. Like, wrap your head around that. So, Jim, thank you so much for bringing that up. It's always a good thing to talk about.

Peter Rath: Who are the top five selling photographers in Art Storefronts?

Patrick Shanahan: Some of them I can't talk about because we don't have the authority to mention them, but I will tell you that they are on covers of magazines that you probably view. That's what I'll tell you, okay? Super famous. And what's interesting too, I think what's great about that question is, yes, there are super famous photographers that we work with that are world famous, world-class, world-famous, big names. And what's interesting is how there are also other unknown photographers, not world-renowned, not famous, not, you know, nobody you would know, and they're selling just as much and in some cases more than some of those super famous ones. Why that is, is because... I know why it is. It's, I mean, here's the thing is that the super famous, you know, world-famous photographers, they could sell a lot more if they actually put the effort into the marketing and/or hired competent staff, you know, to handle the marketing for them. So that's their problem, right? Is they're not putting enough time and effort, however you slice it, into their own marketing. That's how they get beat by others regularly. But yeah, so what it comes down to is the other unknown photographers are just out executing them from a marketing standpoint. So it all... You guys, the whole thing comes down to marketing, honestly. At a certain point, once your website has all the features that you need for, like, selling art, the website is essentially a commodity. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. At Art Storefronts, we have, you know, the members know this. We get your website. We want you to get your website live in 14 days and we do everything we can to help you do that. We have automatic art SEO. We've got all these different features and everything is done so that you can get live in 14 days. Check that box off. Never worry about it again, right? Because your entire business and the growth of it is going to be determined by marketing, right? Marketing is the only thing that matters. It's the problem behind the problem, right? And all you have to do, you know, we talk about this all the time. You can google it. 99% of all Shopify stores fail. And it's not a knock against Shopify because it applies to any website platform, whether it's Squarespace and Wix or WordPress. It's not them and their software. It's the fact that when you have a website, it doesn't mean you have a business. And that industry has done a really good job with their advertising on TV and everywhere else to make you think, "Hey, your dream is just one website away." No, it's not. Until you actually have a successful marketing strategy, you don't have an art business. You don't have any business. You don't have any business. So you have to solve the marketing problem. Otherwise, you end up with a glorified business card. And that's what most photographers and artists have. They just have a glorified business card online. It really doesn't do anything for them because you've got to get traffic and eyeballs on your work.

Pat Thompson: Yes, so let the market help you make the changes you need to make.

Patrick Shanahan: Exactly. Exactly right. At least get, you know, at least do launch or ship whatever it is that you need to do, right? Or that you're thinking about or whatever your hurdle is, get that to market, right? Launch it. Launch that product. Launch that website. Launch your new marketing initiative, whatever it is. And then get the data back from how the market reacted to what you did. And then ask for help based on that, but not the preliminary thing that's stopping you from getting to the market. Because if I'm gonna help you, if I'm gonna help anyone, I need to know what the market says about what you did, right? Otherwise, all I'm gonna say is get to market. Get to market. Because we ultimately want to get to the most accurate answer, right, to your question or to your hurdle. But the way to get there is through the market and by listening to the market and being smart with the information that you get back from the market. That's how you optimize.

Peter: FYI, I went from two email signups the previous week to 250 signups last week. Can't wait to MailChimp them.

Patrick Shanahan: Yes, Peter, I love it. Great job. That's good to hear. Love hearing that.

Ben: Good morning.

Patrick Shanahan: Ben's always on, I love it. Del Palma Browder said, "This is the best platform out there from a marketing approach, which is essential for any business." Wow, I really appreciate that. I've been researching Art Storefronts...

Del Palma: You're not even a member yet either, Nick and Patrick, for about a month now, and it's a no-brainer. I'll be joining the membership circle this week.

Patrick Shanahan: Cannot wait to have you. Thank you so much for popping on here and saying that. Alright guys, it's Father's Day. My family is calling me down. I've got three daughters and my wife, and so we're going to lunch. Anyways, I hope you guys have a great day. All the fathers out there, happy Father's Day. Thank you for what you all do. And you guys, perfectionism is poison. So remember what I said this week. Try to be cognizant of anywhere you are not executing because you've got something in your path that you think, you know, you need to get a better, clearer answer for before you launch it, right? Whether it's a product or a marketing strategy or originals, limited editions, pricing, a niche, I don't care what it is, right? Just ship it. Just launch it. Just execute on it and get the market feedback. And then come let me know, right?

So I will let you guys know tomorrow. For non-Art Storefronts customers, non-members, we are running a free art business consulting workshop. I am running it. I will be there hosting it where we bring you guys on and answer your questions live on a Zoom call, okay? That's tomorrow at, it will be 3 p.m. Central. So that'll be 1 p.m. Pacific and 4 p.m. Eastern, right? I kind of jumbled that around, but yeah, 1 p.m. Pacific, 3 p.m. Central, and 4 p.m. Eastern. Come join us if you are struggling with something with your art business. I want to help you. Patrick will be with me and we will be answering questions. If you guys haven't seen these things, they're awesome. Tell a friend, you know, who needs help with whatever that hurdle is, and come with what you think your one biggest struggle is. That's what we want to know. What is your one biggest struggle? What do you think the one thing is that's getting in your way? We feel like when you force yourself to think about, like, you know, like organize all the things that are in your way and come to us with the one that you think it is, and we will help you. So it's a Zoom call that you get on, conference, and you get to talk to us directly. They're super fun. And even if you don't have a question, learn from the other artists that come on there, right? You'll just learn as we shuffle through all the different people that come on. It's just, it's phenomenal. So yeah, so that will be tomorrow, Monday, right? Again, at 1 Pacific, 3 Central, 4 Eastern. And make sure you get on our email list and like us on Facebook in order to be notified when that happens so that you get the Zoom link and that way you can actually join on the Zoom conference. But don't let yourself be stuck, guys. Don't let yourself be stuck. We can help you. Alright? And I think that's one of the biggest things that we've noticed is that if you, you know, if you have something that's in your way, a hurdle, like a mental roadblock, some sort of a hurdle, it doesn't matter if you have the best marketing advice, you know, or I give you my, you know, the best marketing plan ever, it's not going to help you until you remove that problem out of the way. But once you remove that problem, boy, the world is your oyster. I'm serious. Like, you are free to move forward and execute. So I look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow.

Another reminder is we are running a summer special at Art Storefronts, okay? So it's a great time to join. It ends at the end of June. There's only, what, next week and I think maybe Monday or Tuesday after that. So get your demo request in in order to join or to talk to our team about potentially joining. And to get more of the details, request a demo. The way you do that is just go to the website. There's a big request a demo button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Always click on that. You can request a demo and one of our team members will call you and learn more about you and your goals and make sure that you're actually a good fit for what we do. Because if we can't help you, we will not sign you up. We are all about, you know, customer success. So it doesn't hurt. Request a demo and we'll let you know. Alright guys, have a great day and we will see you tomorrow on that Zoom call. Thanks.