Start & Run an Art Teaching Business. Tanya Freedman

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СКАЧАТЬ Prepare

      Study Toastmasters manuals and read as many books on the subject of public speaking as you can. (See the Appendix for suggested reading.) You should also look up books on body language, humor, entertainment, education, and assertiveness/self-improvement. (Attending courses in the latter is also a good idea.) These topics will help you in the many avenues of business: You will learn to interact more effectively with those around you as well as gain more confidence figuring out what your clients want and need. Forgo TV or your recreational time for self-development — you are investing in your future!

       Practice

      Prepare your speeches thoroughly and practice them in front of your family members and even a mirror. Give it your best. Practicing helps even acutely shy people overcome their stuttering and blushing.

      Try to follow these tips in order to be completely prepared:

      • Be interactive; take the initiative to address the audience.

      • Act confident by smiling, and vary the tone of your voice. Perform like you are enjoying yourself and the crowd will love it.

      • Learn to “read” your audience. This will give you a tremendous boost and will become easier as you gain experience.

       Perfect

      The following tips will help you perfect your public speaking skills:

      • Believe in yourself. You have information others will learn from and they will respect your opinion.

      • Learn to push yourself out of your comfort zone.

      • Do not second-guess yourself; follow your instincts and do what feels right. You know yourself best.

      Shyness and fear of rejection

      Who do you really admire in your community or in your circle of friends and family? Who do you emulate in terms of profession, spiritual beliefs, or ethics?

      Even if you think this person may not be able to spare his or her valuable time, what is the worst that can happen if you ask for his or her advice? He or she may direct you to someone who could help you. As far as I am concerned, getting a “No, sorry,” reply is better than to hear years later: “You never asked; I’d have been more than happy to help.”

      Do not let shyness steal opportunities away from you or prematurely strip you of your chance for success just because you are afraid to be rejected. If you ask diplomatically for help and support, you may find that people are flattered that you hold them in such high regard. (There are more in-depth guidelines about mentorship and mentoring others in Chapter 9, Networking.)

      Know that your passion and love of what you do — art, teaching, and imparting your knowledge — are what will drive you out of your comfort zone. With experience your inner strength and confidence will grow. Have faith in your core beliefs and surround yourself with those who can help you grow even more resilient.

      Learning to delegate

      If you want your company to grow, and you want to gain long-term benefits, you have to learn to delegate. This comes with a good support system and committed staff, and your trust in them. Learn to let go of all the different tasks that you have been doing alone. If you have family and reliable staff, enlist their help and cooperation. If you are already benefiting from the help of assistants, occasional or seasonal staff, or teachers with specific qualifications (e.g., in special needs education), then you have already seen the rewards. (Read Chapter 8 for advice on hiring employees.)

      When you have established your business, you will probably want to hire an accountant or a bookkeeper. He or she can help you keep your finances in order while you spend your time doing other things to increase your business.

      You may also consider hiring a lawyer for legal advice on such matters as zoning laws, and for dealing with liability issues. He or she will be up to date on current laws and will save you time researching and understanding complicated insurance forms and legal issues that may arise.

      As will be discussed in Chapter 7, Creating Your Web Presence, you may also want to delegate your website design (and all of the updating this entails) to a professional web designer. This could save you many hours of research and frustration!

      For personal support (in addition to any family cooperation you may have), I suggest you consider hiring domestic help. At first, doing so may seem unnecessary or too expensive, but I found that a cleaner every two weeks kept the house in order and my housekeeping duties to a minimum. Each visit meant that I saved four or five hours of cleaning time. I could then spend more time on other business-related activities such as networking and mining for more prospective clients. Or I could spend that time recharging or being with my family.

      Learning Styles

      We are each unique and have individual learning styles based on our personalities, our life experiences, and our environment. There are three methods of interpreting everything and everyone around us:

      • Visual

      • Auditory

      • Physical

      Usually one method is predominant for a person, and this becomes his or her learning style; also, we sometimes adopt a different learning style according to circumstances. Another common way to categorize learning styles is by “left brain” (responsible for logic and fact processing) and “right brain” (responsible for creativity, imagination, and intuition). There is no right or wrong method to learning — it just depends on what works best for you. Although our preferred habits of learning and interacting with others are ingrained, we can develop other skills or hone existing ones.

      So you may be a true artist at heart with the classic tendency to use the right (creative) side of your brain, or you may lean more toward using the left side (all about logic, facts, and details). And what about your students? You must learn how to match your teaching style to your students, and how best to stimulate them. This insight into your behavior and the behavior of those around you is invaluable for your life as a businessperson, teacher, and artist.

      Studies show that when it comes to decision making, the right-brain-dominant people are guided and influenced by their emotions and their intuition while left-brain-dominant people depend on their logic and sequential thinking. Obviously this affects how we study and learn as well as how we conduct our business and personal lives. Knowing how your entrepreneurial brain works helps you make informed and confident decisions. Good decisions are made when you are aware of all your strengths and weaknesses, and of where your ideas come from (whether they are artistic ideas or business ideas).

      Understanding your students’ learning styles will help you adjust your own teaching methods to get the best results from the students. But remember that each person is unique and has a mix of learning styles, and can adapt and use other techniques too. For more detailed information on the many different learning styles, visit www.learning-styles-online.com.

      Other Things to Consider

      Having a dream or passion to start a business and envisioning yourself thriving in it does not always guarantee success. Faced with unpredictable СКАЧАТЬ