Podcast Episode 105:
You are listening to the Art Problems Podcast, episode 105. I'm your host, Paddy Johnson. This is the podcast where we talk about how to get more shows, grants and residencies. And on today's podcast I wanna talk to you about a solution to the issue. Most artists I work with have. Which is not finding the right opportunities or enough opportunities.
Now, if a solution to this particular problem sounds too good to be true, I hear you. Because it kind of is right? Like if I had a formula that would get every artist to show their dreams, I'd be a millionaire, you'd all be happy. The world be a better place, all those things, right? Uh, but I actually did develop a formula for this. So that's what I wanna share with you. Now, it doesn't guarantee that every artist I work with will suddenly get into the Whitney Biennial. There are limited spaces in shows like that, but it will ensure that you not only reach your full potential, but that you can identify what that even is. I call this tool the Network Navigator, and it's designed to help your voice and your work stand out from other artists by reducing your workload so you can focus on what matters.
It's super cool. And with that, I've created a means for you to get career changing personalized feedback from me when you join the membership. So I can't wait to share all of that with you at the end of the show, but first I wanna share all the solutions that you can use immediately. So just look forward to that other stuff at the end of the podcast. Now. To get to the solutions, I wanna articulate the problem as clearly as I can. So first, a lot of artists, particularly in mid-career, get stuck, and there are a lot of explanations for this. You don't have the connections you need, you don't make the work that matches the moment you don't live in a major city or have the right MFA or any number of bazillion things that you have no control over.
That impact your career? These are never the reasons that artists stay stuck. I mean, yes, they definitely impact your career, but the things that you can actually control or are really what will move the needle one way or another. So there's really no point in focusing on the rest. So why aren't your efforts working? In my experience, it's the result of three things. The first one is not identifying a value set that guides your art. The second one is not understanding that this value set will impact who your audience is or what they need, and finally, not setting goals that align with who your audience is or what they need.
So without identifying the answers to these problems, your efforts in all other areas will be watered down or ineffective. In short, you are gonna get stuck and sometimes this happens to us for years. I know this because I've seen this problem manifest a thousand different ways in a thousands different artists. So, let me give you an example. I'm working with a member who came to me. She was completely overwhelmed. She had a list of about 30 things she needed to do. Update her website, build an email list, apply for residencies, reach out to galleries, post more on Instagram, update her cv, fix her artist statement, research collectors, apply for grants, take another course.
You name it. She wanted to do it. Some days she did nothing. She was so overwhelmed. Other days she worked nonstop, but without purpose. So she wasn't pleased with anything she produced. And my guess is, is that some of this, at least some of this feels familiar to you. So when she took the assessment, it didn't tell her anything surprising, and I think this will be the case for you, right? Like she already knew that her website needed work. Her email list was not existent, so it wasn't a surprise that she scored low on that, right? But what it did do is it gave her a clear order. Start here, then do this. Then that it showed her that her audience and narrative scores were actually pretty strong.
She knew who she was making work for and why, but her website was a two out of eight, or email was a zero out of zero out of eight. The assessment said, fix your website first. Then build your email list, then focus on applications. Don't worry about an Instagram or gallery outreach yet, those come later. Right? So having that prioritized roadmap took her from, I have 30 things to do and I'm doing none of them, or I'm doing all of them badly to badly. I have three things to do this quarter, and I'm actually making progress. So within a day, she had a plan. Within six months, she had a professional website, a small email list, and had submitted a couple of applications.
So the difference here is that rather than doing a mediocre job at everything, she could focus on doing an outstanding job on a few things that really mattered for her. And that is the thing that makes you stand apart from other artists. So everyone's path will be different. That's as it should be. What artists don't need are courses and tools that assume that you're one monolith because they have to be personalized to your work. You are making one of a kind art, not software that caters to a common user, right? So we need these things to be really bespoke. They have to be catered and and tailored specifically to the artist's practice. And this is why. I created the Network Navigator, a brand new assessment and skills benchmark test for artists.
And I did this in collaboration with William Po. Haida, an artist known for charting the art world through his drawings. So here's how it works. We've built a curriculum framework that shows you the right order to build your career. So the framework has four stages. Position. This is where you identify your values, audience and narrative represent. You create materials that present you to the world, manage where you get operationally ready to take opportunities when they come and amplify. This is where you get the word out and the order matters here because each stage builds on the last. You can't effectively do outreach to galleries if you don't know your audience.
You can't maintain relationships if you're not operationally ready when those opportunities come in. Right? So the assessment shows you where you are in this progression, which areas you're strong in. Which are holding you back and what specifically to work on next. And this really comes down to four main benefits that come with the assessment. So first of all, it provides a roadmap. It's not just that it tells you what you're doing well and what's holding you back. It gives you a prioritized set of actions based on your scores and framework itself, right? So if you don't have your audience and values identified. You shouldn't be working on anything else.
Like none of it is going to work until you know those things. So also, if you don't have your website and pricing figured out, you shouldn't be cold calling anyone. Right. And I think cold calling, that also is something that happens really much later on in the pro uh, in the process. A lot of people are not ready to do anything of that sort. And usually I, I like to avoid it whenever possible. So the second thing is, and, and this is wrapped into number one, is that it shows you what you're doing well. This can help you stop, stop second guessing yourself. And it should serve as a reminder too, that you don't need to mess with things that you are already doing well if it works.
Do not fix it. Also wrapped into number number one, but uh, number three on this list worth pulling out. It shows what's holding you back. This is a big one because in combination with the curriculum, it gets you unstuck. Those are the things you need to be working on and. Number four. It tracks your progress over time with visual charts and your own notes. So when you take the assessment, you can record what's working, what's not, what's getting in the way. Six months later when you retake it, you can look back and say, oh, right, I was struggling with pricing because I didn't know my audience yet. And that makes sense. It's easier now. These notes become a record of your growth.
Now, if you're an annual member, there's another benefit and this one is massive. You get a video walkthrough from a coach who looks at your website, your Instagram, your artist statement, your assessment, your goals, anything that's online. Seven days after you take the assessment, you'll get a form asking you to share these materials and your goals. This timing gives you a chance to work through the positions module first. This is the one that helps you do goal setting so that you are able to prioritize what you wanna work on. It helps you give better answers, and then within two weeks. You get a personalized video review. This used to be a written assessment, and I just love this upgrade.
I'm so proud of it because it means that you can actually see what we're talking about on the screen and make adjustments. It's totally personalized. To you from an actual human, and here's where things get really cool. This Wednesday I have a special deal for my subscribers. For the first 10 annual signups, I will personally be doing your video review. This is an async review, so I look at all your materials and give you feedback via video recording, and this is the only time that you'll have access to my feedback in this form because we normally have another coach do this. It's an incredible deal. It only exists. For this introductory offer, and this is not some generic advice, this is me looking at your website, your Instagram, your assessment results, your stated goals, and walking through exactly what to change.
One of the reasons I'm so proud of this is that there's no AI generated material in any of this. Not the assessment or the video walkthrough, nothing. It's a hundred percent human touch, which in 2026 feels like a small miracle. Half the time I can't even tell if the cat videos I'm watching are real, and that's pretty low stakes with your career. You wanna talk to a real person, and right now that's harder than ever. This is the opposite of that. It's a real coach looking at your actual work with specific feedback that you can actually use. So the assessment launches this Wednesday if you're already a member. Watch for your invite. If you wanna join or your monthly and you wanna upgrade, this is the time to do it Firsthand.
Personal reviews from me are not going to last long.
Paddy
