Empowerment has to start with your own thinking pattern, who we surround ourselves with, and where we want to go. Another important ingredient is how much self-confidence we have. Self-confidence really comes down to how much you believe in  yourself and isn’t based on what someone else thinks. If you think you are beaten then you are and if you think you will succeed then you will. But is it that simple? 

Let me begin with self-confidence that pesky thing that can get in our way. We are taught from a young age that self-confidence is based on how much we please people and  how much they like us. This is false thinking because true self-confidence that is unwavering is based on how much you believe in you, which is improved based on your ability to succeed at the realistic goals you have set for yourself and that are in your control. You can achieve anything if you are willing to do things differently by using out of the box thinking. 

Out of the box thinking requires you know what you want to achieve, have the knowledge to understand technology, and can be open minded about the process. Just let your mind relax and don’t throw any ideas out but instead write every one of them down. After you have a long list you can select a few good answers. If you can’t find the right technology, then surf the web and I am sure you can find answers. Don’t let anything prevent you from achieving your goal. 

People are sometimes their own worse enemy because unconsciously we sabotage ourselves. It is how you think consciously and unconsciously that will determine your outcome to an extent. We displace our angry on to others for the wrong reasons, are disorganized, or are listening to the messages we have in our inner mind tape (self-talk) that has been placed there from pervious encounters. Sit down and think about the negative messages you have been carrying around inside your mind for years. Spend a day just listening to you, don’t try to change your thoughts, just be an observer, and after one day you might be shocked at the things you say to yourself. Start by taking out several small pieces of paper and write down all those negative thoughts separately, then let go of them in your mind, take out a trash can, and symbolically throw them away. Replace those negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Having a partner who can witness this will allow you to be more accountable to yourself and one other trusted friend. 

It is important to surround yourself with people who support you but that doesn’t mean they always have to agree with you. In fact you will need people who will challenge your thinking. A variety of people in your life from different backgrounds and cultures, will help you succeed in your goals and in your life. Surround yourself with people who will empower you to succeed at your dreams. 

Empowering yourself means building your self-confidence, looking at your own thinking, surrounding yourself with supportive people, and setting clear goals. You must take actions everyday to achieve your goal and empower yourself. As a person with a disability, my self-confidence has grown in part from the things I have had to overcome or learn to deal with differently. 

My dream is to connect artists, art organizations, corporate donations, and individual donations, to create a service for art organizations, artist, and art administrators that need help with special projects for one day or two weeks. Corporations and individuals would sponsor a member of my group for one day to two weeks to work in an art organization on a special project. They could also donate directly to the art organization. 

In recent years the economy has been rough and even through corporations may not be able to provide a large donation they may be willing to donate or sponsor a member of my group to work for one day to two weeks with art organization or artist who needs help with a special project. Corporations and individuals would donate to a specific project involving an art organization of their choice. The corporations and individuals would sponsor me or another person connected to me to work for an art organization for one day to two weeks through donations. The corporation  can use their donation as tax deductible donation and decided what project they want to donate to. This will benefit all parties involved and solve a need for the arts to receive more support, so they can grow and thrive even in rough economy times. Art organization and artist will benefit by receiving free help for one day to two weeks. The corporation or individual donators could choose to donate to the art organization as well as sponsor a member of my team. 

Each person or art organization can write about their project by creating a profile and joining as a member @ http://2weekartjobs.socialgo.com/.  Membership is free and open to anyone over 21 years old. You must be in NJ, NYC, or in Bucks County PA. I will blog about any organization or corporation involved in this project and promote them. The more organizations and individuals needing help that become involved then the more likely you will get to fill your dream and I will get to fill mine. You can help by spreading the word, by putting this sites link on your FB page, and by emailing your friends. Any one who wants to donate to this cause can contact me at terristerling@me.com or privately through my FB page or Linked In.

Life is short, fill your dream, and join my cause. 

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Art is expensive to make with the cost of art supplies on the rise in recent years but the sale of art may be down in certain parts of the world. Finding a balance between the cost of materials, our time, and the cost of promotions versus what people can afford is not easy but there are ways around this. 

Find Your Target Audience 

Creating a clear goal of who you want your target audience to be is the first step to consider. Do you want to reach collectors or are you willing to reach a wide range of people by selling more art but at a cheaper price? Write out with as many details as you can about who your target audience is and do some research on them, so you know what they’re investing in, what images they like, and where they hang out. You want to reach them where they hang out including the local coffee shops. 

What you are willing to do to make your art affordable to your target audience? Are you willing to make less income per hour in order to sell more art? Are you willing to make smaller pieces or several images of the same piece? Will you use natural found materials and avoid the cost of store brought supplies? 

There are grants for art supplies and business cost. One place to start looking for grants is manufactures of art supplies. Golden Paint has a social responsibility grant, which will give you professional acrylic paint for the cost of shipping. Other art manufactures might be willing to give you a free sample in an effort to sell you more supplies later on. Art manufactures, state art organizations, and local art organizations sometimes have grants for individual artist. 

Some other ways to make art affordable

 You can take one image and have it scanned into a computer, which will allow you or the place you hirer to make good quality prints but that is not an original piece of art and collects will never want a scanned print.  If you want to reach more people versus just a few collectors then you might want to make smaller pieces that anyone can afford or several prints of the same image. If you want to only reach collectors then this is not the article for you but before you leave: Can you afford to be that inclusive?

A  4” by 5” print or even an image the size of a coaster or business card can be sold for $10 to $15 depending upon your cost and the goal you have in mind. Some artist use the same basic image, change it a little, and then change the size, which would reduce the time you spend on thinking of new images to create. Printmaking will allow you to make several original hand pulled prints of the same image. 

There are websites like RedBubble where you can upload your images and sell your images on a t-shirt, mug, card, or a print. You don’t have to worry about creating any of the items but you will be more successful if you help promote your site. Estay will allow you to sell original images or journals and will reduce your marketing time. There are stock photography place that will sell your photo images to graphic designers. The key is too think of several  ways to use the same image or the same basic image by selling it in different forms, sizes, and in different ways. 

Art is in Every Home

I hope you decided to spend sometime making your art affordable to anyone. Every home has art on its walls, so why not make your art affordable to everyone especially if your at the beginning of your art career? I hope you found this article helpful and I hope you have a great day in your studio. 

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Dance images flirt across my mind as I gently wake from a deep sleep filled with memories of days gone by. Wearing my pink tooto and blowing a kiss goodbye to the audience at the end of our dance show would united them in laughter, smiles, awes, and applause. I was 5 when I learn the power of dance and all that it could do for me. I loved being the center of attention on the brightly lit stage in Virginia. 

Dance moves us to another state of awareness as the conversation begins and the story unfolds into deep levels of emotions, as the energy flows across the stage floor, and bright lights flirt with the dancers. The powerful dramas wake up our senses to a new level of connections as one dancer holds another in a romantic embrace or an intense powerful struggle. The music helps our mind to relax as we let our guard down long enough to hear the sound of the dancers feet across the wooden stage floor. We relax and let go of the days worries  when we hear the message of the dancer and feel it with every cell in our body. 

To escape from the realities of the world is the gift that dance gives back to the community with it’s flowing energetic movements across the open spans of gently lit stages. Dance is based on the metaphors of our lives as our own stories unfold, an expression from our deep inner souls wells up, and  a longing to be understood surfaces and moves in another direction. The universal language of dance has the power to wake our senses, and to heal all of us in a world filled with conflict, wars, and economic challenges. It has the power to united all of us in an emotional display of darkness and bright lights, to forces us to focus on what is really important in our lives, to hug the people around us, and to romantic embraces, so that we can heal ourselves, our community, and our country. 

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ADHD, Attention Deficit Disorder, is a neurological disorder that is inherited and affects all aspects of a persons life. Most people with ADHD are very fast thinkers who are bright but ADHD can affect your career and your relationships. 

Signs of ADHD

 ADHD involves high creativity, passion, energy, out of the box thinking, and  natural brainstorming or a constant flow of ideas. It also involves being disorganized, forgetfulness, feeling like your life is out of control, missing appointments, anxiety, tendency to procrastinate, trouble starting and finishing projects, chronic lateness, forgetting appointments and commitments, forgetting deadlines, misplacing things, a different since of time, impulse behaviors, frequently interrupting others, blurting out thoughts that are inappropriate, acting recklessly without regard for consequences, difficulty sitting still in long meetings, sense of underachievement, easily frustrated, easily stressed out, restlessness, agitation, getting bored easily, racing thoughts, constant fidgeting, craving for excitement, talking excessively, trying to do too much at once, difficulty changing tasks, hyper-focused, zoning out, difficulty paying attention, overlooking details, hard time remembering conversations and following directions, and signs of depression when under stimulate. People with ADHD often switch jobs out of boredom.

Coping Skills 

People with ADHD can take medication including SSRI’s, Stimulants, or Strattera (not recommend for children).  SSRI’s are antidepressants mediations including Elavil, Pamelor, Aventil, Norpramin, Wellbutrin. The bad part about an antidpressant then it can blunt your creativity. Stimulants can increase heart rate, so you need to be monitor. You must consult with your own doctor to find out, which one works for you and is appropriate. 

Electronic devices are a great source of help with applications for iPhone, iPod Touch, the iPad, and Android phones. ScatterBrain is a free focused note taking app where you can record your thoughts quickly and return to your ideas at a later time. ActionMethod is a great app for identifying a project you are working on, setting up the steps you need to take, and recording your progress. If you don’t have the patience to type then tryDragon Dictation that allows you to talk while it types. Having problems with impulsive eating then try Lose It, which is a nice friendly app to help you keep track of calories and exercise. 

There are ADHD coaches, therapist, and psychiatrist that can help you but make sure that if you hire one they are well train in ADHD. Psychiatrist can prescribe medication and diagnosis you. Therapist and coaches can teach you coping skills, help you become organized, and help you manage the social issues of having ADHD. 

The Positive Side of ADHD

People with ADHD are naturally highly creative, are usually right brain dominant, and have a constant flow of creative thoughts to choose from for their next artistic project. The more you create, the more you are involved in activities, then the more flow of ideas you will have to choose from. The energy you have will carry you far in athletic competitions, at work, and in creative fields.

Famous people who reportedly have ADHD included Frank Lloyd Wright, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Terry Brahshaw, Pete Rose, Michael Phelps, Charlotte and Emily Bonte, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickenson, Virgania Woolf, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Elvis Presley, Robin Williams, Ty Pennington, Ann Bancroft, Andrew Carnegie, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, and Paul Orfalea. Paul Orfalea started Kinko’s. Paul also has Dyslexia and you can read his book Copy This! to become inspired by his story. 

ADHD is usually inherit, can be both positive and negative in a persons life, can effect employment and relationships, but there are many famous successful people with ADHD, so don’t let it ruin your life but do use apps to help you stay organized.  

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Art is a Business. I know that many people do not want to hear those two words in the same sentence but they exist and we should begin to recognize this. Art in itself has a tremendous amount of value including the ability to heal, to move people emotionally, to convince people to act, and to bring cultures together. Business techniques have the ability to help us analyze stats to find out what marketing technique works, how much income we need to make a  profit, what percent of the revenue will be reinvested, and if we should close or expand our services. 

Creative places are concern with having the best performances, the best art, and finding grants. We belief that the arts bring business to the community including restaurants, local stores, and other near by retail services, and there are some stats to support this belief.  Funding is diminishing due to the economy, reduce donations, and foundations having loss some income are awarding less grant funds. Several art organization that we assumed were stable have had to close or declare bankruptcy in the last year. I am wondering how we can shift this process, so future outcomes are better and art organization do not have to close their door. I wonder what the business people would say about the financial state of the arts. 

From a business perspective, a business must stand on its own in the end or it will not survive. It cannot rely on more then seed money, loans, or income,  and rarely do grants come into play.  A business must be able to prove its value through stats and generate enough independent income to keep its doors open. If you want to succeed in business then you must be able to speak the language of stats, business planning, marketing, account receivables, and recognizes that a business must bring in enough revenue to be independent of government grants after a few years of investments. 

I fear that as the arts funding becomes more scarce,  if we keep on this trend of cutting funds to the arts for the next couple of years with less grant money, less foundation money, and less options for donations that more art places will close.  I believe that more art places will have to fully support themselves with income generate by activities, performances, art sales, and art classes. Like any other business the arts will have to learn to succeed and thrive with less grant money and with more income generated out of its own efforts and not just what it brings to the community. Arts value is and will become what it brings to the patrons, what their experience is,  how the audiences values it, how it can heal a society from war or tragic events, what revenue it brings in, and if it can stand on its own with less grant money in the coming years. Like any other business we will have to learn to stand on our own, and with less government and foundation funding in the next few years. I hope the arts value can stand on its own independent revenue and not just what it brings to the community business surrounding the art places.

Artist Counselor

-        Artist Counselors  can be career counselors for artists, writers, and creative people.

-        Artist Counselors help the artist or writer set better goals, to do more than they would on their  own, and to improve the clients results quickly.

-        Artist Counselors emphasis is place solely on a person’s present state of mind and does not  focus on the past.

-        Artist Counselors  help individuals make specific target changes and help motivated them to  reach them.

-       Artist Counselors  offer an agenda free sounding board and an equal relationship with clients.

-       Artist Counselors  help people expand their ability to take action, stay motivated, and successfully accomplish a desire goal.

-       Artist Counselors  help clients overcome obstacles that prevent them from being more successful.

-      Artist Counselors  meet their clients in the coach’s office, in the clients office or workplace, in a restaurant, on the phone and the internet.

-     Are sometimes train mental health counselor who have decided to work with artists but do not work with deep mental illness when engaging in Artist Counseling. 

Therapist

-      Therapist or mental health counselors look at past events, which may be affecting your present life.

-      Therapist or mental health counselors ask deep questions about the past.

-      Therapist or MH  counselors use treatment plans, assessments, extensive intakes, and explore family history.

-      Therapist or MH counselors  help clients resolve past emotional issues and grief issues.

Consultants

-      Consultants provide expert information usually to an organization or corporation.

-      Consultants diagnosis and prescribe remedies

-      Consultants are brought in for a short period to help an organization become more profitable.

I hope this list helps provide you with an understanding of Artist Counseling. You can email terristerling@me.com  to learn more details. Act now for a discount for a trail discount of one month, 3 45 minute phone sessions for $100, to be paid at the beginning of the month through PayPal. One 30 minute introductory phone session to begin to clarify your goals and frustration. You must mention that you found me on this site for the discount. 

Self-esteem has been define as confidence in one’s own worth or abilities. How much you believe in yourself will determine the level of your self-esteem, confidence, ability to approach galleries, enter art shows, and live as a full time artist. 

I have a strong belief in myself; however, there are times when I wish the world would support me a little more. Now is it the world’s job to support me or my job to be proactive and belief in myself? There are no easy answers but the best answer is that the more I belief in myself the more people will come to my aid and support me in any endeavor I choose to do. I don’t give up if people don’t respond to what I am saying because I know that I can succeed at listening to my own voice and having other people listen to me. 

Some people belief that if you take an appropriate risk and have a positive outcome then your self-esteem grows. The problem with this idea is that when you succeed you will feel great and when you think you failed you will feel bad and your self-esteem will decrease. So do you really want to base self-esteem on the outcome of a project when there are so many factors that go into success or a lesser out come then you want? This idea will cause you to have mood swings, can lead to less appropriate risk taking, and will prevent you from the success that you want. 

How much you believe in yourself will determine your success in life. With more self-esteem you are more likely to take appropriate risk and to work through any anxiety you have in the process. Self-esteem or self-belief is healthy when it  is based on your own thoughts about yourself; not on what other people belief and not on what the outcome of a project is but on an inner knowing that you have done your best, have learned from the experience, and can manage whatever happens in your life to the best of your ability. It is based on your beliefs about you and not an outside influence. 

Now would you rather base your self-esteem on your own positive beliefs about you or on what other people think? Would you rather base it on your beliefs about you or your belief about the outcome of your project? 

—— Terri Sterling, MA

* More on the topic of how to build your self-esteem in up coming articles. 

** Future articles will also feature grant writing, article writing, creative projects to help you grow, approaching galleries, and gallery contracts. 

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