Art Marketing Boot Camp™: 1 entry from April 2012

My parents are about to learn something about me they never knew. And I pray my children never read what I'm about to tell you.

When I was 14, my parents went away on a business trip and I was left in the care of my older brothers, who pretty much left me on my own.

One night my buddies and I were hanging out at our house at 5311 Indiana Avenue in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and I found the keys to my mom's turquoise 1965 Mustang. My dad had delivered it for Christmas with a giant red bow. Egged on by friends, I decided to take a drive. So the five of us piled in, and we spent the next three hours driving all around the area, mostly on back roads so we wouldn't get caught. We returned home safely, and no one ever knew, until today.

I shudder at the thought of the danger of driving without any driving experience, a license, or driver's ed. Frankly, we're all lucky to be alive.

Today, as I put the final touches on my Marketing Boot Camp, which I'm presenting at our upcoming Plein Air Convention, I've been focusing on the importance of "driver's education" in marketing. Like me as a young teen behind the wheel of a very cool car, you'll have expectations that you may not be qualified to manage. Though you will want instant results, the reality is that success as a marketer cannot occur unless you have built a solid foundation.

Marketing is like gardening. If you plant and water seeds in hard clay, nothing will grow.

Yet if you till the soil and mix in some topsoil and nutrients, your garden will flourish.
Day one of my Marketing Boot Camp is the most essential. It will give you the drivers' education you need before you start driving in traffic at high speeds. Marketing without a foundation will be met with disaster. Though it's not life and death, most marketers waste most of their money and blow their chances of success because their foundation is not solid.

Your foundation is critical. To prepare your soil as a marketer, we need to dig deep into your cranium to flush out counterproductive behavior, to help you reach far into your soul to understand what is most important in your life, and to create a life plan. All marketing is rooted in these basics. It's the critical step most marketing training leaves behind -- but it's so important that it will determine most of your future success. Not just as a marketer, but success in life.

How solid is your foundation? Do you know exactly where you are going? Do you know exactly how you will get there? Most marketing is all tactics -- running an ad or sending a press release. My plan is to use my tools to help you not only get in touch with the reasons behind your plan and give you crystal clarity, but to empower you with the tools to create a step-by-step life plan. When you're an artist, your marketing plan is the fuel of a life well lived. The income from your painting sales is the fuel for your joy ride.

Early Birds Truly Do Get The Worms
Marketing Boot Camp was not initially planned for the Plein Air Convention. Frankly, all of our time is booked with demonstrations by some of the world's best painters and speakers. But one phone call changed all that, when someone begged me to speak on marketing at the conference because she and her friends found marketing to be their biggest challenge as artists. The only time we could find was the early morning slot when nothing else is planned.

Frankly, I have found that people who really want to learn will get up early to grab the worm. Marketing Boot Camp will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning before the conference begins. We start at 6:30 sharp.

I'm not a marketing guru, I don't want to set giant high expectations. I do have some experience I'd like to share. Marketing is hard work. Most people are not willing to do it, but those who follow the program I lay out should be able to significantly improve their sales within one year. If they stick with it, they can sell more than they ever imagined possible.

Eric Rhoads

PS: Those who stay out partying all night may not make it to the boot camp. I hope you do. I'd be honored to share what I know and hopefully make a difference in your art career. Because of the time required to prepare something like this, I would have to charge $2,500 to attend a five-hour seminar of this magnitude. We are allowing everyone who registers for the PleinAir Convention & Expo to come as part of your registration. If you're not yet registered, there are 26 seats left.