Kimberly English: ArtBiz Lancaster Mastermind Workshop

Last week I had the opportunity to work with Alyson B. Stanfield during her Mastermind Workshop in Lancaster, PA. Alyson is the author of "I'd Rather Be In The Studio" and provides awesome webinars, podcasts, blog posts, and other relevant information to help artists build their business. If you are an artist and you haven't heard of Alyson, be sure to sign up for her newsletter to get acquainted!

On Thursday I left my house at 5AM to get ahead of the morning traffic and planned to arrive at the Perkins Restaurant in Avondale right as they opened. I pulled in at 6AM and had a delicious breakfast served by the sweetest waitress, Barbara. I was back on the road in no time and made it to the Marriott at Penn Square by 7:45AM. I was so excited to be meeting Alyson! Over the last four years, I have read her blog countless times, tuned into webinars, and participated in online classes. I was moments away from working with her about MY art business. How amazing!

The first day's morning session was jam packed full of "big picture" activities. We used our elevator speeches as our introductions to the group and shared our favorite accomplishment from this past year. Alyson provided us with a handout that would help us identify opportunities. We wrote down 3 top accomplishments within the last 5 months. We used the worksheet to identify how we could expand upon those accomplishments and identify what we need to do in order to achieve it, as well as recognize any obstacles that may hinder us along the way.

After a short break, we started a question burst exercise which was adapted from Hal Gregersen's "Better Brainstorming"in the March-April 2018 issue of Harvard Business Review. The presenter had one minute to describe a challenge that they are currently facing in their art business along with any emotions that the presenter is feeling. The group had 6 minutes to ask open ended questions in relation to the challenge. We could not offer solutions or suggestions. The presenter could not answer the questions and would record the questions for further review. After the question asking portion time was completed, the presenter had one minute to share which questions were most helpful or thought provoking. The presenter was also encouraged to share what emotions they were now feeling related to the challenge.

The question burst exercise is used to offer deeper divergent thinking and enable creative brainstorming. Alyson was extremely helpful in rephrasing questions so that the presenter had a more open ended question to consider. It was very hard to not ask yes or no questions! I found this exercise to be very helpful and would love to try it with some of my local art business owner friends.

We had a guest speaker come talk to our group: Loryn Spangler-Jones is a local Lancaster artist and owner of the LSJ Studios Gallery. She discussed her social media practice, different income streams, and community involvement. She was full of energy and shared lots of great ideas! We had an interesting discussion about pricing works of art and how to talk to customers who may think the prices are too high.

In the afternoon, we participated in an Artist Case Study. We were given the background and financial information about a factious artist and were to create solutions in regard to her artistic business. In our breakout group, we came up with a list full of ideas! As we were discussing her options with the entire group, we talked about how obvious some of her options were. Alyson encouraged us to use the same technique about ourselves at a later date and that we might discover similar, obvious solutions in our own business.

After Thursday's session Alyson and Mesa, her assistant, had a cocktail party for us. We had Rosé wine and decadent appetizers. Everyone was having a great time networking and enjoying each other's company. We decided to continue our evening at Tellus 360, a local bar with a rooftop area. It was a gorgeous night! After dinner I went for a swim in the hotel pool. It was very refreshing!

The next day we focused on specific goals for ourselves and started our session with a worksheet for Strategy Session Focus. We had to identify our top 3 goals for the next 6 months and the obstacles we might face while obtaining those goals. After we individually filled out our worksheets, we participated in a Mastermind Strategy Session where each presenter shared one goal and the group had 10 minutes to discuss ways in which they could achieve that goal. Alyson organized the groups by categories and I was in the sales group. We had four people in our group and we all gave and received so many awesome ideas!

Throughout the two days, there were also designated times where each artist would share their best business practice tip with the group. There were so many amazing tips about being productive, hiring help, open houses, social media, cataloging artwork, bookkeeping, scheduling, and so much more! I really enjoyed listening to the other artists discuss their most successful practices in their businesses.

Alyson was so attentive to our needs and skillfully led our group through self and group discoveries. Over the two days I learned so much, not just about my art business, but also about how to help other artists! I feel so honored to have participated in such game changing conversations with pivotal contemporary artists. So much trust was built while sharing our dreams, accomplishments, setbacks, and future plans. It was so emotional leaving such a POWERFUL group of artistic individuals. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room. Below are some pictures from the ArtBiz Lancaster Mastermind Workshop along with a list and links to the artists I worked with.