Art and Entrepreneurship

Many people will say that to be a true entrepreneur you have to work on your business not in it. That means as a business owner you have the ability to step away from the business and its can still run without you. Otherwise you end up becoming, what Michael Gerber calls, a technician having an entrepreneurial seizure – you’re the main cog that makes your business go, and without you it falls apart.

So what does this mean for the people who are their business? The movie stars, stand-up comedians and artists? Well, in my mind, entrepreneurship is about systems and innovation. So if you are your business but have developed systems to market and sell yourself or your work in a unique fashion, then you’re still an entrepreneur in my book.

This is a great example. Phil Hansen , is an artist with a unique twist. His art is created and marketed in very unique ways. For instance his piece called “A Moment” where he ask people to call him and tell him a story that changed their life. He then picked out a piece of that story and wrote in on a canvas. With the combination of stories he created a picture.

One of my favorites is “Bruce,” Hansen literally Karate Chopped his canvas to make a picture of Bruce Lee.

He records his sessions to show how the art was made, and then offers them for sale via his website. This is an awesome viral marketing strategy and an excellent way to get the word out. You gotta love YouTube!