By: Violet Baldwin
I’m an Entrepreneur. This past August saw me celebrating 7 years of entrepreneurship; 7 years of living my dream, 7 years of helping artists achieve their goals and 7 years of off and on sleep deprivation.
Owning a small business is much like giving birth to and raising a child, especially at the start. And just like having a baby you lose sleep, lots and lots of sleep. In return for those sleepless nights where you toss and turn thinking of your new project, product, service or client you reap the benefits of having filled a need in someone’s life. In my case the need is assisting artists and artisans in what they seek to do in their creative careers.
For 7 years I sat down with creative minded individuals and asked them what exactly they want to do with their talents and passion. I ask them about their past successes and try to help them find or develop their new path to whatever it is they dream of accomplishing. Each artist is different so I design services to fit a variety of needs which they can view at: www.baldwinsdirtylittlepeoplegallery.weebly.com. Before coming on board an artist has several options to help him or her grow and achieve success; a 9 Month Contract that allows them to start and grow their own set of systems they can then maintain as they go, a 12 Month Agreement that allows me to fully represent their work in different environments or a simple consultation session where we discuss the topics they believe they need the most help with such as marketing, networking and pricing. In 7 years as the founder and owner of Baldwin’s Dirty Little People Gallery I have helped over 30 artists and artisans manage their art careers in order to obtain their individual version of success, I have produced 80 art exhibitions and participated in close to 50 shows coordinated by others. I have had the opportunity to handle and sell some amazing art, jewelry as well as art reproductions and I have been beyond happy doing so! I have also been beyond tired! As an Entrepreneur I need sleep. We all do! It’s vital for me to take care of myself in order to present the best version of myself to the world. As an Artist Representative it’s also important that I maintain a healthy wellbeing so that I can make sure my clients receive the best services I can provide.
There will always be bouts of insomnia, nights where we toss and turn and times when we just can’t sleep. I’m used to it but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t honor and take care of myself by allowing it to happen too often- no one wants to deal with a cranky business owner. In the midst of running a small business I still make self care a priority and sleep is definitely part of taking care of oneself. To be honest I add rest, self care and time away from work as video and written content for my followers on www.facebook.com/baldwinsdirtylittlepeoplegallery, just to remind the creative people out there (and other Entrepreneurs) to make sure to “get some sleep”!
Baldwin’s Dirty Little People Gallery specializes in helping both visual artists and accessory artisans find retail homes for their work. Violet Baldwin- owner and artist representative also offers low priced consulting work for anyone in need of help putting together an artist reception or simply looking to get her/his foot in the door of the art world. You can find her at http://www.baldwinsdirtylittlepeoplegallery.weebly.com.
