From my son's podcast: What Can the Entrepreneur Learn from the Starving Artist?

This recent post on my son's podcast really resonated with me so I'd like to share it with you as well.

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By Caleb Scoville - Founder and chief engineer of North Bank Audio Solutions

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Are you as passionate about your business as a musician is his or her music or a painter his or her paintings? If you’re not, you might as well stop reading now – but if you truly care about your business, you must treat it as art.

In school, I once heard this quote:

“Art is everything except things inherently necessary to survival and procreation.”

In this sense, a caveman running from a tiger is not art. Climbing into the tree to escape the tiger is not art either, but the moment he realizes he has outsmarted his hunter and mocks the tiger with a taunting face or gesture from his perch – that is art.

In this very same sense, your business is art. Sure, it brings in money and affords you the ability to eat, have shelter and otherwise provide for yourself – but going into a business for yourself wasn’t purely an act of survival.

Think about it – could you physically continue living is you had stayed in your job?

Going into business was an act of art because it went beyond the basic needs and genetic programming of survival and procreation. You went above and beyond the bare essentials to create the life that you wanted and to fill a need in the world – much like a painter or sculptor creates based on creative desire.

For this reason, it only makes sense to be as dedicated to the needs of your business as the artist is his or her work.

As a budding musician in high school, I remember saving up and spending my last dollar (literally) on a new Gibson Les Paul guitar. It felt good because I knew that tool would help me in my artistic endeavors for years to come. There are plenty of painters who eat top ramen just so they can afford art supplies.

Here’s the big difference between you and the starving artist – you have the ability to make your investments pay off, big time! Most musicians and artists will never see a dime from their time and money spent on their art and they are perfectly happy just creating it. You have the advantage in this situation because as long as you invest wisely, it can pay off over and over down the line.

So - by now you’re probably thinking, what does this all have to do with audio and video anyway?

I’ve met so many business owners who are afraid to invest in new marketing strategies or to create new information products because of the initial cost. What they fail to see is that in order to make great paintings, you must buy new paint every once and a while.

Here are a few things you can invest a little bit of time and money in that are sure to result in more profits and more free time in the long run.

1. Teleseminars: Stop working exclusively one-on-one and interact with your prospects and customers. You can record them too and have them transcribed for easy product creation and content repurposing.
2. Audio Information Products: These are so easy to create, it’s not even funny. In a matter of hours, you can put a new information product together.
3. Podcasts and Blogs: These are easy to create and manage and can help you gain web traffic, credibility and new audiences. Podcasts are especially useful because they help your prospects and customers get to know you more intimately.
4. Viral Video Marketing: Repurpose video and audio that you already have or create marketing videos and distribute them to the top video sites. People are literally becoming famous these days without even having to leave their homes.

Did any of these suggestions overwhelm you? Or perhaps you barely even know what they are. Remember, you only have so much time and you can’t be expected to do it all yourself.

That’s why so many entrepreneurs have turned to us to outsource their audio and video marketing and product creation needs. We’ve done the research and we already have the best tools so we can guide you through the process of implementing these new marketing and product creation strategies. It’s easier and less expensive than you think.

To get started, contact us at info@northbankaudio.com or www.northbankaudio.com