There is a lot to be said for Artists and Businesses working together

Today's topic is about artists and businesses working together. Let me share three tips about how to get the best out of that working relationship

Artists working with business doesn't seem like a particularly good match. However, artists and businesses have a lot more in common, more than you may expect. As a point of order, by businesses I’m talking private commercial companies. Listen in to find out more

Inspiration for this podcast

My inspiration for this podcast is being involved as a sponsor and a judge for the Emcees awards. I see it firsthand, the positive relationships that are built for businesses in terms of branding. Business get closer to their customers in terms of wider engagement. Artists actually help solve problems.

Tip number one

Firstly, banish preconceptions, on both sides. Go into this with an open mind, but don’t leave your brains behind. Don’t abandon due diligence and your business brain.

Tip number two

Secondly, set objectives from the outset . So both parties know when they're winning. When you set objectives and goals you know, where you want to get to. Artists and private commercial businesses need to clearly define the aims and outcomes, the expectations of working together.

Having that clarity, having clear expectations from the beginning will enable you to keep track toward your success.

Tip number three

Thirdly, monitor. Monitor what you're doing. Monitor for success, for both parties. Once you define the nature of your relationship, your objectives and goals, make sure that you measure progress. It’s great for accountability, measuring progress so you actually know you're going on the right path.

And in most things in business relationships, it's about solving somebody's problem, about solving somebody's pain.

What Next

Grab a coffee, make yourself comfortable, sit back and listen. Click the link if you want to find out more, or contact us to see where we can help .

I love doing this podcast and sharing my love of Numbers with you. Check out the link to subscribe and do not miss an episode.

In This Episode

• Understanding why preconceptions aren’t good for your business
• Knowing the benefits of setting objectives and goals
• Why monitoring your success is a positive thing for your working partnership
• Developing your own Numbers confidence and decisions
• Take more control of your numbers to help make you money, survive and thrive

Links

https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast/id1500471288

https://play.google.com/music/m/I3pvpztpjvjw6yrw2kctmtyckam?t=I_Hate_Numbers

https://open.spotify.com/show/5lKjqgbYaxnIAoTeK0zins

https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/proactiveresolutionss-podcast

https://tunein.com/podcasts/Business–Economics-Podcasts/I-Hate-Numbers-p1298505/

You are listening to the I Hate Numbers Podcast with Mahmood Reza. The I Hate Numbers podcast mission is to help your business survive and thrive by you better understanding and connecting with your numbers. Number love and care is what it's about. Tune in every week. Now, here's your host, Mahmood Reza.

Hi, folks. Welcome to episode 24 of I Hate Numbers. My topic today, artists working with businesses and, by the same token, businesses working with artists. My name is Mahmood. I'm an accountant and educator by profession and experience. Numbers and business are in my DNA from an early age in my life to where I am now, and my life's mission is about getting business owners to experience and share some of that number love.

Getting on friendlier terms with your numbers will certainly help your business survive, thrive, and make money. Hey, what's not to love? Now, today's topic I'm going to be talking about artists and businesses working together, and I'm going to share three tips about how to get the best out of that working relationship.

Now, on the face of it, you may be thinking, well, artists, working with businesses doesn't seem like a particularly good match, but artists and businesses, and by businesses we're talking about private commercial companies here, is that they have a lot more in common, more than you may expect. You may doubt that they can work together effectively, but to dismiss those sorts of partnerships will be to miss out on a winning opportunity for both parties.

Artists working with businesses, and vice versa, often brings a new light and thinking to business problems, and the two, not only can, but do work very effectively together. Now the inspiration behind today's podcast is my involvement with the MCS fundraising awards. I've been involved with those awards since 2016 when they were first contrived, and the awards is a great way to celebrate the excellent work of the fundraising industry and the contribution they make to the art, cultural, and heritage sector.

I see it firsthand, the positive relationships that are built for businesses in terms of branding, in terms of getting closer to their customers, in terms of wider engagement, getting artists to actually help solve problems, and I get artists that actually develop some networks and advance their own calls within the business environment.

Now, the three tips I mentioned earlier on. Let's number one. First of all, when you go into any sort of relationship, any working relationship with anybody, you've got to put your preconceptions to one side. Artists and private commercial businesses have a lot more in common than we probably realise. You mustn't go into this relationship with preconceptions.

Having an open mind and being keen to explore ideas and opportunities means that you get the best out of that situation. It doesn't mean you should abandon any due diligence. It doesn't mean you should go there naively, but don't preconceive that what a business represents and don't preconceive what artists represent.

Both arts organisations and business owners are creative and entrepreneurial. They come up with ideas and ways of doing things. They're both detail-oriented. Businesses set goals. Artistic organisations set goals, develop plans, and things like cash flow, the money engaging with customers, they're all part and parcel

whether you're an arts organisation or an artist or whether you're a private commercial business. Artists can shed creativity and help shine a new light, give new insight to business problems, while businesses will be able to support artists with a more analytical and more business-orientated approach, so they can adapt in their own field.

So, that's tip number one. Preconceptions. Leave them at the front door. Don't go in there with complete abandonment and leave your common sense behind, but go in there with an open mind to get the best out of that relationship. Number two. At the start of your working relationship, set objectives so both parties know when they're winning.

Now, setting objectives, setting goals, you know, where you want to get to, what you want to get out of this working relationship is absolutely critical. Artists and private commercial businesses need to clearly define the aims and outcomes, the expectations of working together. Having that clarity, having clear expectations from the beginning will enable you to keep track

towards your success. Now, KPIs are crucial for any organisation and KPIs is something we've discussed and looked at in podcast episode 21. Little bit of a plug there, go back and check it out. But they're crucial for any organisation. Those are your markers, those are your milestones to know that you are progressing towards your end goal.

They keep you focused and having good KPIs in place means that you know when you are hitting your targets. So, having some idea of what the end goals are, having some idea of what your objectives are of working together, clarify that at the beginning, and set some clear KPIs. So, we’ve talked about preconceptions.

We've talked about setting objectives at the start, so both parties know when they're winning. That will also give you some degree of clarity and some degree of framework and realism. Now, thirdly, monitor. Monitor what you are doing. Monitor for success by both parties. Once you've defined the nature of your relationship, your objectives and goals, make sure that you measure progress.

Now, I'm a big fan of accountability, of measuring progress in whatever you do, so you actually know you're going on the right path. Keep having those honest and clear conversations about where you are and the steps that you are taking toward achieving your goals. Artists working with businesses, and vice versa, is not a donation situation.

It's not saying, here's some money off you go. A donation creates a particular type of relationship. Working in business together to both advance goals and aims is a slightly different beast. If things aren't quite working out as you expect them, well, the honesty and the integrity of the conversation is that you speak up and likewise articulate what is going well so you can do more of it.

Articulate what's not going quite as you expect. Make sure you measure and monitor your progress so you keep getting lots of value from the relationship. Now, I find that businesses out there, private commercial businesses, there's a large untapped creative pool of talent there in artists, whether they're theatrical, whether they're dancers, ceramicists, whatever.

There are things to tap into to advance and help your business grow. And artists, there's a great opportunity there in private commercial businesses, but have some degree of empathy and some understanding what those businesses are, and in most things in business relationships, it's about solving somebody's problem, about solving somebody's pain.

So, let me just summarise the three tips that I've talked about in this podcast to actually get the best out of an artist and a private commercial working relationship. Preconceptions. Keep at the door. Set objectives so you both know what you want to get. What's the end destination for both parties?

Monitor your success. Both parties monitor what you think is important, keep an eye on it. Have those conversations and develop a relationship. Working together could not only solve business problems, but the artists, you can get a lot of value out of those relationships as well. Folks, I'd like to thank you for sharing your earbuds with me today on this podcast.

Next week, next podcast is going to be about tax and fundraising. Philanthropic giving. Now, what I'd like you to do is I'd, obviously, I'd love you to subscribe to the podcast. I'd love you to share the podcast with your friends, family, and foes. So, that's enough from me for this week. Hope you got some great value

from it and have a fantastic week ahead. We hope you enjoyed this episode and appreciate you taking the time to listen to the show. We hope you got some value. If you did, then we'd love it if you shared the episode. We look forward to you joining us next week for another I Hate Numbers episode.