As part of an ongoing series on the acquisitions process, I am going to talk about what you can start doing today if you do want to submit but just aren’t ready yet. You can be working on some things to help you prepare.
First of all: Have a plan! Take the time in the beginning to really do a proper business plan. This doesn’t have to be a big formal 30 page document with 5 year projections of profit and loss statements (but if it is, that’s great too). Just sit down and really concentrate on what you think you are willing to invest—both time and money-wise—and what kind of financial return you expect to see.
If you see yourself only being able to spend 2 hours a day, then budget out that time in terms of what you can achieve for what return and stick to it, unless something changes. You could decide to hire a babysitter, get a housekeeping service, cut back your day job hours, etc. to free up more time to develop your business. Look at what you are going to have to sacrifice in order to get that done.
This doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of opportunities as they come up, but if you know that teaching locally is really what you love, then having to sacrifice teaching time to write a book (or a magazine article or lots of tutorials on your blog) can cause you to burn out. In this scenario, you aren’t doing what you love, and you are being reactive.
There comes a point where most really successful artists have to decide between (1) running a business and managing the brand that they have created and (2) continuing to be creative. That progression can happen really quickly where all of a sudden you see that you can’t possibly get everything done yourself. So, sitting down in the beginning stages and taking the time to project the seemingly improbable is crucial. Once you determine how you will maintain a balance between the business and creative sides, you can help promote yourself in a much more targeted and controlled way.
Next and last time…top ten tips for publishing a craft book!
Related Posts:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
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