Entrepreneur Interview: Janet Zeh of Zeh Original Art

Business Name:
Zeh Original Art

Website URL:
http://zehoriginalart.com

Year Founded:
1998

What does your company do?

I create pathways to the Divine in people’s hearts. As an artist, I create nature and flower paintings that transport people beyond the visual, uplifting their spirits. My paintings evoke feelings of happiness and wonderful memories through the use of vivid detail and bright, vibrant, saturated color.

Was there a specific turning point when you realized your business was moving to the next level?

What made the difference for me as a visual artist was when I took a leap of faith and decided to support myself entirely with my art profession. At that point, I reached out to other successful artists and business people for help and advice. I now have two mentors who guide me with the business and marketing of my work. I study continuously how to improve and move on to further success.

What processes or procedures have you implemented that have helped grow your company?
Developing a social presence has been vital. I have an opt-in email newsletter that goes out once per month, a blog that is kept updated with new work and two Facebook pages that address different aspects of my work.

What is most rewarding about running your business?

It’s wonderful to get up every day knowing that much of the day will be spent doing the work that I love – creating artwork. It’s also very rewarding to see my work accepted and collected and to get positive feedback from people who are deeply moved by it.

What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?
The biggest challenge for me is the Balancing Act of being able to take risks and experiment with my artwork, which every artist needs to do to keep the creative juices flowing, with the very real need to sell what I make in order to pay the bills. When an artist gets a following, those people expect a certain type of work to be presented. If I present them with radically different material, the artwork won’t easily sell.

So, what I do is find any opportunity, any little bit of time in my day to experiment with something that I don’t care about selling. Sometimes I’ll do this with a student. I will be getting paid by the student to teach, so it’s not as urgent to sell what we have created. Sometimes I’ll just create something that I can give away.

If you were starting over today, what would you do differently?
I would certainly reach out earlier to find a mentor who could help me learn how to plan for my business and develop marketing techniques. Those were never strong points for me before I did this.

What advice do you have for other business owners?
Believe in your dreams. Develop a plan, a Road Map to Success, and specific goals that will help you attain your dream. Think always about how it will feel to attain your dream in order to be inspired to get up every day and do the necessary work. Remember that it’s the small daily steps that help you attain your goals. Enjoy the journey!

Please list any favorite books, tools or resources (software, website, etc.) you would recommend for others:
For artists:
The Artist’s Guide by Jackie Battenfield
The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

For any entrepreneur:
Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch
Good to Great by Jim Collins

Online Success Institute - http://osirockstars.com

What is something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
Most people know me by my artistic side since I paint, sing, dance and write but I also have a techie side – the only technical thing that I enjoy learning about – working with HTML, cascading style sheets, javascript and the like. I enjoy slinking around technical sites to see what else I can pick up.