Happy New Year! Those of you following the podcast are aware that my wife and I accepted positions at Kent State University last year. Since May, we’ve moved, renovated most of a house, learned new gigs, etc., which is why the blog posts have slowed—but one of my New Year’s resolutions is to consistently contribute to the blog. Another resolution is to be more effective with my time, so I thought I would begin the year by sharing some content I created for a career mentorship site when asked about the most important skills for recent arts graduates to have and highlight in their resumes: 

• Across the arts the specific skill sets may vary, but highlighting critical thinking, teamwork, and leadership skills that enable candidates to build a portfolio of experiences and creative activities is very effective. Self-starters with a wide breadth of experiences are better equipped to see patterns and infer new trends, which bodes well for future growth.  
• Empathy is the most important soft skill because it enhances most, if not all, of the other soft skills. One who more deeply understands another person’s point of view creates an environment that fosters a greater degree of engagement and trust. 

A few days ago Andy and I were interviewing Nathan Daughtrey, a musician and owner of a music publishing company. He gave a lot of great entrepreneurial advice, but one statement resonated with me. Nathan said he strives to learn as much as he can about his art. I strongly agree, because to truly know an art, one should investigate every aspect of it. This is especially important for arts entrepreneurs because each new piece of information can sharpen our thinking and refine our methods. 
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Artists tend to focus on the act of creating art, and I’m suggesting we broaden our scope to take a 360° view and examine the many ways art is created, distributed, marketed, sold, etc. To highlight this approach, I’ll present a series of blog posts to take a deeper dive into some of these activities. 

Photo Courtesy José Faus

Why is it that some people enjoy being questioned on their decisions or positions on a topic, while others feel challenged, sometimes to the point of feeling threatened?   While the latter can occur in any environment, I’ve observed it more when there’s a hierarchy between people, e.g. management/employee, teacher/student etc.  Whatever the reason, these interactions frequently stifle innovation and creativity, and can affect the bottom line.  Over the years I’ve watched this play out numerous times in both industry and academia.

The other day Andy and I were coaching a pair of music school graduates who contacted us with questions on how to grow a business they recently started.  It soon became clear that the biggest hurdles they are facing at this time are the lack of a concise message and sales experience. 

Every arts entrepreneur knows it can be helpful to have some margin of safety when getting a new venture off the ground.  Margin of safety is an investing term that describes how the potential for loss is reduced when an asset is purchased at a price lower than its actual value. Because an artist’s biggest asset is human capital—the talent that creates the art, music, etc., they can avoid loss by arranging adequate resources to learn and hone their craft, which increases the value of their art and gives more time to succeed.