Creating Assets

Art school carries a striking irony.

You spend tens of thousands of dollars producing countless pieces of work, only to try to reverse engineer that entire mindset after graduation.

The artist who "makes it" after art school feels like they've won a golden ticket if they manage to create work that yields a financial return.

Yet art school rarely teaches you the business skills needed to sustain a career. Instead, it fosters the opposite: the more time you devote strictly to art-making, the poorer you become.

James Clear helped break me out of this routine when he noted, "Anytime you create an asset, you're creating something that continues working for you."

That insight completely reframed how I viewed artistic creation and my career.

We create art to create value in the world. That value doesn't need to be strictly monetary. It can be symbolic, relational, cultural, aesthetic, or rooted in good works.

Your work doesn't have to gather dust in a parent's closet (as mine did for years).

Instead, the art you release into the world has its own feet. It works for you even while you sleep.