Attitude is Success, Success, Attitude.

In any endeavor you take on, your success comes down to attitude, your attitude. 

Choice of attitude is your ultimate freedom according to Viktor Frankl, an Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor.  Even in the degradation and abject misery of a concentration camp, Frankl was able to exercise his freedom to determine his own attitude and survive World War Two then go on to become one of the most influential professionals in his field.

This simple life truth applies in business as in life.  If you are to succeed in a business of your own, you must develop the attitude of the successful entrepreneur as well as the basic skills of business success. Think about this:

• Henry Ford failed in business three times before finding success with the Model T.  
• For 25 years Mary Kay Ash worked at Stanley Home Products only to resign as the company repeatedly promoted those she trained over her.  She started writing a book on her experiences only to realize that she had the makings of a business in her manuscript, a business that sold $2.5 billion of Mary Kay products in 2009.
• Bill Gates and Paul Allen failed with their start-up Traf-O-Data, a failure which led directly to their new start-up "Micro-Soft."
• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor because he "lacked imagination and had no good ideas," then fled creditors in Kansas City after a business failure there. In Hollywood, $4,000,000 in debt and having just lost the copyright to his only product, he forged ahead with the film Snow White.
• Winston Churchill was a political failure between 1929 to 1939. Then at the outbreak of World War II on he was appointed to the British Admiralty before becoming prime minister at the age of 62.
• Thomas Edison's teachers told him he was "too stupid to learn anything." By the end of his career, he held more than 1,000 patents. By his own count, he failed over 5,000 times before inventing the incandescent light bulb that completely changed our lives.
• Oprah Winfrey was fired from her first television job as an anchor in Baltimore before starting her talk show and creating a media empire worth an estimated $2.9 billion, according to Forbes.
• Steven Spielberg was rejected by the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts multiple times yet persevered to create "Jaws" in 1975, and winning three Academy Awards in the years since.
• Vera Wang failed to make the U.S. Olympic figure-skating team before becoming an editor at Vogue - and being passed over for editor-in-chief.  She began designing wedding gowns at age 40 and today is one of the premier designers in the fashion industry with a business worth over $1 billion.
• J.K. Rowling was a single mother on welfare when she wrote the first "Harry Potter" novel.  She became the first billionaire author in 2004.
• Harrison Ford was told he'd never succeed in the movie business.  Ford's six-decade career includes both the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" series.
• Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, had his first book rejected by 27 different publishers. His books such as "The Cat in the Hat" and "Green Eggs and Ham," have sold over 600 million copies.

I can keep listing examples all day long.  

The questions are

• Can you learn to develop a successful attitude? 
• Can you learn the basic skills needed to think like a successful writer, artist or other creative professional?  

I don’t know.  Can you?

My workshops will help you

• develop an attitude that will give you the strength to survive the struggle of starting a successful business.
• understand the skills and self-knowledge you need to learn to think like an experienced entrepreneur – learning from other people’s mistakes.

Business Basics for the Self-employed
Are you currently self-employed, or considering becoming self-employed, and want to take the next big step to make a profit with your work? To be successful in any self-employed craft, professional or art, you have to craft a winner’s attitude, and incorporate a simple set of financial and marketing skills into your existing daily routine.

We’ll talk about how to approach and manage clients or buyers, how to price your work, how to negotiate work-for-hire contracts, what records to keep, and how to maximize your income.

Common questions I’ve been asked at past classes:

1. As an artist don’t I have to sell-out to be commercially successful?  The answer is no.  You do not have to sell out in any way, shape or form to turn a hobby or passion into a money-maker.  Running a business has nothing to do with politics, selling out or becoming “commercial”.  Wouldn’t you like to earn enough from what you’re doing to be able to do it full time?  The basic skills of business I teach have been around for thousands of years, and while they have become more sophisticated over the centuries, you can learn to use the basics quickly.  Most successful self-employed people have figured these things out, usually the hard way, by trial and error.  We’re not talking rocket science here.  It’s simple but powerful stuff.  
2. I don’t have time to keep books and market my products or services.  Is there an easier way?  To succeed in any form of self-employment, you must make basic business skills a daily and routine part of what you do.  This takes a combination of an entrepreneur's attitude and an understanding of the basic business skills that will add to your success.  Join us as we work to help you develop a holistic approach to your art, craft or professional practice. 
1. Do you know why research says the first ten seconds of your first meeting with a gallery owner, prospective client or customer is critical?  
2. Do you know the one thing research says you most likely do in front of a prospective buyer that kills your sale every time?  
3. Do you know how to set realistic prices?  Or, do you know the one thing that Mercedes-Benz did pricing their cars that made them such a huge success.  It’s not illegal or immoral, but does it ever work.
4. Most basic of all, do you understand how much your time is worth?  Most people who take this class are shocked when they work this out for themselves.

Spring 2014 Class Schedule: North Seattle College, Thursdays 6:00 p.m.to 8:30 p.m. May 8th, May 15th, May 22nd  (3 sessions)

Click here for enrollment information for:  Business Basics for the Self-employed