The problem for most people with art isn’t that it’s not impressive.

It’s not that it’s not interesting, beautiful, remarkable even.

The problem is that they don’t understand what it’s for.

“What’s the point? What do I do with it? How will it help me?”

To the average person, the average piece of art is little more than a pleasing piece of canvas that costs hundreds, thousands, or even millions of dollars more than that piece from IKEA they currently have making that space on their living room wall feel a little less empty.

How Does This Affect Us?

Ok, so most people aren’t art lovers, so what? Why should we as creators, makers and entrepreneurs care? How is this information useful?

Well, I’d argue that for most of us, art plays a significant roll in the work we do.

For most of us, there is an artistry, a craft to our work that we’ve spent a lot of time developing, but which isn’t always outwardly apparent to the uninitiated.

At some point, we all need to convince a customer or client that our work is worth them paying for, and paying at a rate we know it’s worth.

Which means that a core part of the work we do if we want to reach new audiences needs to be explaining to the uninitiated how our work will help them.

Conveying Our Work’s Value

Luckily for us, we have some advantages over pure artists when it comes to reaching a broader audience.

Most of us as business owners, entrepreneurs, freelancers and creators have a product or service for which there is already a market. Even if it’s small or competitive or both, there are probably people out there who are looking to hire someone to do work similar to the work we do.

Sometimes we connect with these people, their budget matches our asking price and we’re able to create great work together and get paid a fair price for it.

More often, we connect with a potential client looking for what we’re selling but who doesn’t see the value in the price we’re charging.

We know that the reason we charge what we do is because of the art in our work.

The art is the piece that makes our work that crucial 10% more effective, pleasing to use, or profitable for our clients than a cheaper alternative from Fivver or UpWork.

But our potential client doesn’t know that.

Our job then, is to be prepared to educate them on what sets our work apart. On why the extra cost of working with us is really a bargain compared to the returns they’ll get as a result of doing so.

Considering how often these potential client interactions come up, most of us are woefully ill-equipped to deal with them when they do.

This is a skill we must hone if we want to do more work and create a bigger impact with it.

Educating The Masses

Finally, there are aaaalllll the people who have no idea what we do and no idea how our work could potentially help them.

These are the people who feel alienated by the “pretentious” art community.

They’re not in on it.

“What is it you even do online all day? I can make really great designs in Canva on my own. So as a copy writer does that mean you deal with trademark stuff? Isn’t there already an app for that that works fine?”

How is this thing you do useful or relevant to me?

Too many of us write these people off as lost causes, not worth the effort of detailing the process, goals, and impact of our work.

That’s a short term view.

If we took the long view, we would realize that if we were able to speak concisely and engagingly about the impact that our work has on the people we interact with every day, we are expanding the pool of potential future customers and clients, and raising the perceived value of the work we do.

We may never work directly with any of the people we take the time to educate, but if we believe in the work we do, we benefit by spreading awareness, appreciation and even excitement about it.

Invite People In

To educate in a way that engages the people we talk to and doesn’t leave people feeling like idiots takes thought. We need to understand deeply the true benefits and impact of our work and why it matters beyond giving us a paycheck.

But we also need empathy. We need to understand where the average person is coming from, their blindspots, the gaps in their knowledge, as well as their goals and desires.

Once we know this, we can begin to have a real honest conversation about what we do, and hopefully create one more new art fan.

More than simply being great, maybe even the best at the work you do, this is what being a leader in your field is about.