Guest post by by Cass Mullane, Accountability Coach, Right-Brain Business Plan® Licensed Facilitator, Prosper Creatively, LLC
I have the distinct pleasure of co-hosting a four day retreat this weekend for a group who call themselves The Spider Women. For over a decade, these ladies have been getting together annually to go on a journey to discover something new. They are vibrant, juicy women who drink up knowledge like sponges. They dive into the classes with tremendous enthusiasm and joy. They are open to trying new things and applying what they’ve learned. They come from all over the US and from Canada. They have diverse politics, diverse backgrounds and diverse personalities. Oh, did I mention that the youngest is in her 60s, the oldest in her mid-80s?
And the glue that binds them together is art.
Art is a most wonderful thing. As artists, we find it a means of creative expression. As viewers, we can receive inspiration, perhaps a challenge to our thinking and even have our souls stirred by art. For me, art is a never ending source of exploration and growth. When I look at these ladies I see the joy of the journey.
This retreat never would have happened if my studio mate and I hadn’t been business minded artists. We saw the opportunity to create an event for The Spider Women and we made it happen. We came up with fun and creative class proposals, did the budget, calculated the supplies costs, estimated the number of hours we’d be teaching, came up with a fee for the retreat, negotiated the contract and managed the logistics. In essence, we married art and business.
I’m lucky enough to have a Spider Women-like group of my own. We’re called Full Circle. We‘re all artists and we’re all businesswomen. We meet regularly in a mastermind format and, once each year, we all go off to the beautiful mountains of Colorado for our own retreat, specifically to work on our businesses. There is great power in this retreat as we strive to challenge each other and to hold each other accountable. These are smart, amazing women and our collective brainpower and creativity makes for a marvelous group of creative cohorts.
What I’d like to have you walk away with from this post is that art and business can, and should, go hand in hand. It takes work and really understanding how to run a business. It requires you to consistently show up as your true self. It means being both strong and vulnerable. It is essential to surround yourself with other amazing people who challenge you and who tell you the truth. It demands that you be open to learning and to making changes.
The bottom line is when you put in the effort to marry business and art, magic happens!
Cass Mullane is an artist with an MBA. Cass’ calm, comfortable approach consistently yields positive results for clients. Her business and personal coaching practice, www.ProsperCreatively.com, specializes in delivering solid left brain business skills to right brainers and creatives in a fun, visual way. She’s a best selling author, textile and mixed media artist and creator of the Cool Stuff Jar™ coaching program. You can also visit Cass on Facebook!
