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As I am writing this in the sunshine on my patio (sorry, East Coast friends!), there is a whole crew of wonderful elves working inside my house wielding the pine sol, dusters and rags. This is the first time in my 6 year relationship with Rich that we have splurged on maid service but it won’t be the last. Years ago, I did treat myself to a cleaning service on rare occasions and knew the extreme joy and relief it brings, but Rich was very reluctant to pay someone else for what we can easily do ourselves. Realizing that he never had a problem paying someone else to mow our lawn when we could easily do that ourselves, too, he agreed to give this a try. He loves to shop at thrift stores but also has no problem spending money when he sees true value in something. As a self- employed contractor in the IT industry he knows the value of outsourcing and delegating; the exact thing we artists should do much more!

I had considered hiring an assistant for years now, but when it got down to it I was overwhelmed thinking about where to start, how to find it in my budget, how to teach another person just what I’d like done, how to find the right person and even how to write a job description.

 As all parents can understand, it’s hard to let your toddler dress themselves and tie their own shoes when it’s so much faster when we just do it ourselves. Or to let your older kids help with the cooking which then makes the chore so much longer. Or have your husband do the laundry only to have to refold it the correct way (although in our case Rich is much pickier about the folding of his t-shirts than I am!).

But I finally took the leap and hired Megan, a young artist with a studio at the same art center as mine and I couldn’t be happier! Yes, it takes some time to write out tasks and show her how I want it done, but already she has saved me countless hours on things that took me away from my easel, and frustrated me to no end. In time she will be able to take on more and more tasks and I won’t have to spend as much time explaining things. Being able to just say: ”Megan, please update my website with the latest news and paintings”  or “Please, add this person to the client list” while I continue painting…ahhhhh…that is pure heaven!

We both approach our arrangement as professionally as possible (even though we often have meetings in our favorite coffee shop) which means:

•  Weekly meetings to go over what was done and what needs to be done in the next week.
•  Megan gives me a detailed account of her activities and I give her a detailed list of tasks.
•  Invoices logging time spent on each task and regular paychecks every two weeks.
•  Check-ins and updates via email or phone between meetings.

Just like having to clear clutter in my home in order to make it easier for the maids to find the floors and counters that need cleaning, having to list Megan’s tasks forces me to focus and think ahead instead of just happily painting away only to panic when I wake from that blissful creative stupor to find I missed a deadline or neglected a client!

Being responsible for another person’s income (even if it’s just part time), is another great reason to get my ducks in a row!

 

To help you think about how an assistant might be helpful to your own art business here are a few things that Megan has so capably done for me:

•  Sorted my Facebook fan page pictures into albums (I had just happily posted along and never paid attention to that)
•  Updated my Pinterest boards
•  Updated my website
•  Uploaded my art and bio to several  online galleries
•  Transferred a bunch of new contacts from my studio guest book to my newsletter email list
•  Prepared hand-out folders for the students of my upcoming workshop
• Created documents for income strategies and expense reports
• Created new postcards for my classes
• Prepared my newsletter and sent it
• Made copies and ran errands

In the coming week I’ll have her take paintings to my framer (since he knows exactly how to frame my work she won’t have to pick out any frames herself), make new greeting cards featuring my paintings, sort through my receipts, enter the expenses into the document she created and place the postcards advertising my classes at various venues.

I finally feel like I’m not miles behind where I want to be (just a few hundred yards now) and that I’m making headway towards accomplishing my goals this year. Currently, I have a long list of portrait commissions but would love to find time to work on other paintings as well. Not having to spend so many hours on administrative tasks frees me up to create much more art, of course.  What is the value of this for me? Beyond measure!

I also love how it makes me more professional and holds me accountable.  Megan actually loves all those mundane tasks and we both learn from each other: she about running an art business, I about new (or not so new) technology. It makes for a much more enjoyable working relationship than when I paid my teenage daughters to do some of those tasks and was met with groans and grunts instead of the undying gratitude for getting paid that I expected!

 

It boils down to this: yes, I know how to clean my house and do all those things Megan now does, but it’s actually financially smarter for me spend those hours finishing up another commission not to mention a whole lot more enjoyable!

 

So, if you've been contemplating hiring help think about this: how much is your time worth? Think about the next 8 hours of your workday.  Is it wiser for you to spend them on your computer, cleaning your house or at your easel? Which one generates more income? Brings more joy? At the very least start with asking for help from your family with all those household chores, even if you work from a home studio! It’s hard getting taken seriously as a working artist when you work just a few feet from your bed, and it’s especially hard for women to delegate housework to others, but it’s imperative that we do so if we want to achieve our creative dreams without constantly overextending ourselves.

Maybe it’s time for you to take the next step and start outsourcing and delegating. I’m so glad I did! And after walking through our spotless home, Rich is, too!

Now, if we could only hire a personal chef…