Rufus Puts Your Foot in Your Mouth
Picture this…
A prospective buyer complements your latest painting and immediately your internal dialogue shifts to…
“ It’s not a real painting, it’s Photoshop.”
“Cloning techniques mean you’re not a real artist.”
“If you don’t tell them it’s a digital painting, you’re a liar.”
Every single one of those degrading thoughts comes directly from Rufus. He knows just what buttons to push and when to push them to make you question yourself and your skills.
It is Rufus making you verbally vomit all the justifications of your “digital painting” onto prospective buyers. Clearly, the prospective buyer didn’t care what technique you used — they complimented you and showed interest in your work!
Rufus cannot stand idly by and allow compliments to be well received. He must make you ramble on your justifications, knowing good and well that you’re cheapening your work and creating questions of legitimacy in the process.
If you find yourself rambling about “hand-rendered” and “one brushstroke at a time” instead of readily accepting a compliment on a painting, it is always Rufus.
Tell him to shut up!
… and then you shut up too.😂
But what about when the prospective buyer asks about the process? In that case, my painting friend, you need an elevator pitch.
“What’s an elevator pitch?” you ask.
It’s a short explanation of what you do that will satisfy most prospective buyers without tripping over into justifications that go on and on and in the process, cheapen your work. It should be one sentence that accurately describes what you do without any justification.
My elevator pitch is, “It is a hand-rendered, mixed-media art piece.” Period. Done. Anything beyond that is like asking a famous chef for their secret ingredient. It just isn’t done!
Practice your elevator pitch so that when you need it, you can roll it off the tongue in a smooth, confident way, and 99.9% of the time, that will end the questions. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve been asked to elaborate on my elevator pitch — confidence is the key!
Don’t let Rufus convince you to keep talking — because he will surely try!
Give your elevator pitch and hush!
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