Learn business basics, apply to art field?
April 22, 2011 5:02 AM   Subscribe

How can I learn basic principles of business?

I work in artsy and semi-artsy fields. Sometimes I make money from them, sometimes not.

Looking back, one of the things I wish I'd done from the beginning of my "career" in college was learn basic principles of business. I mean things like learn what capital is and what investors expect when they invest in an enterprise; the idea of 'scalability' and of creating a business that can grow and not be limited by your own work week; basic ideas of marketing and creating value for people and so on.

My suspicion is that artists who combine this knowledge with their own skill at self-expression are the ones who do best.

I suppose I've picked up some of this knowledge as the years go on, through conversations, casual reading, and popular sources like the TV show 'Dragons' Den' and easy-to-read bestsellers like 'The 4-Hour Workweek.'

What can I do to better understand basic principles of business? Blogs, books, audio programs? Just to be clear: I am interested in practical knowledge I can apply in my own endeavors, not theoretical economics.
posted by meadowlark lime to Education (8 answers total) 20 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is actually what I am researching right now in grad school: how do creative workers expand into agency?

A good place to begin is this inspirational work presentation by Mike Monteiro.

Questions:

What field are you in?

Have you ever held a management position?

Do you consider yourself aiming to remain artistic, what would that career require of you?
posted by parmanparman at 5:17 AM on April 22, 2011


I'd pick up a textbook for an undergraduate business school's introduction to business course. That course at UC Berkeley uses this book. It will walk through all the basics presuming a minimum of knowledge (a tiny bit of math, an appreciation for the profit motive).
posted by MattD at 6:05 AM on April 22, 2011


I can relate to your situation. The same problem is true of contractors - they spend their careers learning to perfect their craft (carpentry, electrical, plumbing, whatever) - and do not spend enough time learning business.

The most successful contractors are the ones that can combine the craftsmenship with the business skills. That was a realization (and a period of growing pain) that my own company went through.

I am sure the same is true of artists.

One problem is, you can't be sure which business skills you need, and which you do not. That means, you need to dedicate yourself to a never ending process. Read various business books periodically, talk to people, pay attention. Don't just hand your taxes over to your accountant, try to understand what he did.

There is not going to be an one easy fix. Even if you went and got a business degree, that might not give you the specific things that you need. You have to really watch and pay attention to your field. And read and understand as much as you can.

One book I would recommend, which is a general book, and is more about networking and handling people, but it is a classic and it is easy to read, is: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
posted by Flood at 6:18 AM on April 22, 2011


As a former journalist who transitioned into the business side of the news industry after I realized that knowing nothing about business was sticking my head in the sand in service of a false sense of purity and misguided idealism, I would say that the most important basics I learned were:

1) A new approach to understanding and viewing salesmanship that is really well-summed up here - and involves ridding yourself of the notion that sales is somehow dirty or cheesy

2) Negotiation tactics, for which the book "Getting To Yes" is crucial reading

3) Understanding a little more about process and workflow in operations theory - if you need to get from concept A to product Z, what are all the steps in between that you need to take, and where are your bottlenecks and where can you speed things up or cut costs

4) Beginner's behavioral economics which explore why people don't act as rationally as economists would expect - how they make their decisions based on circumstantial factors - books like "Nudge" by the economists Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein explore these ideas

5) An introduction to basic corporate finance - I can't seem to find the title here but will update when I do - there's a great paperback book that looks almost like it's a goofy business comic book, but lays out all the foundations you need to understand how debt leverage works and how to value a business and all the accompanying terminology

6) Learn to read an earnings report / financial statement. For both the finance and accounting, I have not personally used this book, but maybe it's a start.
posted by sestaaak at 7:12 AM on April 22, 2011 [5 favorites]


A key realisation that will help you both with your personal finances and in whatever business ventures you get involved in is that cash is king. Money in your bank account is better than in somebody else's bank account and if you haven't got enough liquidity to meet your payments as they fall due your venture will eventually fail. Perhaps not immediately but if you have more cash outflows than inflows on a regular basis you have a serious problem. No reading recommendation - suggest you google 'liquidity' and 'business' and you should get plenty of hits.
posted by koahiatamadl at 8:12 AM on April 22, 2011


This book is not a comic book, but I found it a good introduction to corporate finance when I was taking a four week "mini-MBA" course. The link is to the latest edition.

With regards to creating value, this is a book I read at the start of my MBA program -- it goes through the steps you would want to consider before starting a new business. Having been part of many product development teams in my career, you go through similar steps when creating a new product for a new market, even within an existing business.

You didn't mention the topic in your question, but I would recommend learning a little bit about project management. There are certainly a lot of project management books out there and lots and lots of training, but most of it is focused at people running multi-million dollar several year projects. Even if what you're doing is being responsible for putting on an art show over a weekend, that's a project. I don't have a recommendation here, but I have found the "Dummies" series to be easy reads with decent advice. I'm sure they have one (or more!) books on managing projects.
posted by elmay at 11:42 AM on April 22, 2011


Here's a thing: if you're in the US, take classes at a community college, then apply the tuition costs to your income tax.

There are two tax credits available (one for people in their first 4 years of post-secondary education, one for anyone else). At the very least, if you already have a 4-year degree, the Hope credit will let you apply up to $2,000 of qualified tuition costs to your taxes. If you are like most people and file a W2 from your employer, this means that you will get your tuition back as a tax refund.

Awesome, right? Just take a basic business course, one per quarter, at your local community college. They have night courses, online courses, weekend courses - anything to fit your schedule. And community colleges tend - in my experience - to be much more focused on the practical than the theoretical, since so many of the students are returning or older people (or both, like me).
posted by ErikaB at 11:53 AM on April 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


Take a look at "The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business" by Josh Kaufman. The author summarizes many business concepts and offers suggestions for further reading on each topic.
posted by avoidance at 4:55 PM on April 22, 2011


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