the way of the artist-entrepreneur — kening zhu

Some artists tend to think making money is either a system you sell out to or something to be avoided altogether. But in reality, it’s neither. If you don’t make money, you won’t have any art to make. We must seek to better understand the business of being an artist. Ignoring this reality is the fastest route to stop creating altogether. To be an a

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rather than thinking about business as the exchange of value for money , instead, I’m thinking about business as:

a set of systems and processes

to help me honor my creative energy,

shared with purpose in the world.

Our business in living is to become fluent with…life…and art can help this.” And elsewhere: “Art…is not self expression but self alteration.” Artmaking isn’t just something we do for the outcome; it’s something we do for the process, which includes the process of becoming the person with the taste, knowledge, sensitivity, agency, and ambition to pr... See more

Like the artist, the business professional or founder must develop the capacity to see what others have missed—to recognize patterns and possibilities invisible to those trapped in conventional thinking. While we praise businesses as competitive when they capture market share, we might better describe them as artful when they've mastered value crea

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