By when will you follow up with your collector?
By when will you contact your gallery to ask about payment?
When I ask, the answer is almost always “by the end of next week.” And my response, when I know what’s at stake … when I know they’re capable of more, is: Why not now?
There’s always a pause. Because the idea seemed very good right up until I suggested doing it immediately. These are tactical questions. Delaying them directly delays results.
But then there are the bigger, strategic questions that also get put off — and these are the ones that cost you more in the long run.
By when will you evaluate which income streams are earning their place?
By when will you slow down long enough to review the weakest links in your business systems?
This kind of work is fuzzier. It takes longer. It requires more pieces to pull together a clear picture. And nobody is waiting on it. No order goes unfulfilled if you skip it.
Nothing breaks today. So it waits. And it costs you.
In episode 261 of The Art Biz, I walk through five specific costs that accumulate when artists keep postponing this kind of work. None of them announce themselves. That’s what makes them so damaging.