Be Business-Efficient
Sandy Hammer for Catersource

The key to freeing up more time is simply to get through your to-do list faster. Easier said than done, right? Stay with me, though, and we’ll look at some of the biggest efficiency hindrances, as well as best practices for overcoming them and finding more time in your day.

image via William Iven

Emails

Ah, the dreaded inbox. While necessary for communication with colleagues, clients, and prospects, it can easily become a black hole that sucks up hours of time. Soon enough, it’s time to go home and you’re wondering where the day went. Sound familiar? Well, it’s time to take your inbox back!

I like to look over all of my emails that I received overnight, first thing in the morning. At this time, I respond to emails to the best of my abilities and work to tackle the emails which have pending answers. I make it a point to answer my emails daily, but I also allow specific time periods for it. This allows me to fully focus on the task at hand throughout the workday.

11 Essential Online Music Marketing Tools
 Lisa Occhino for bandzoogle

If you’re just starting to dip your toes into the world of online music marketing, the number of platforms at your disposal can be overwhelming. Fortunately, many of them are free (or very affordable), so there’s little risk with trying them out.

Mailing list

For the average artist, the mailing list is that thing you put in the back of the room on your semi-professional-looking merch table. You don’t encourage people to sign up, and your average fan doesn’t even know you have one. What’s worse is that you rarely use it, and you probably send out one newsletter update every four months or so.

That’s a big mistake, because your mailing list is the single most important marketing tool you have. Social media is great and all, but no one can keep track of everything in their feeds. And certain platforms (like Facebook) have made it increasingly difficult to get your content seen unless you pay for advertising.

Art Fair Show Tips: How to Make More Sales
Carolyn Edlund for Artsy Shark

Make a personal appearance and be accessible.

It’s amazing how many times exhibitors are simply not in their booths during festival hours. At times this may be unavoidable, but often artists have a level of discomfort and stress that finds them socializing elsewhere, or they subconsciously avoid dealing with the public.

3 Trends To Consider When Developing Your Spring 2019 Menu
By Richard Myrick for Mobile Cuisine

Open Up Your Options

Your customers are looking for ways to personalize their meals. What this means for food concession owners is that you need to provide options to your existing menus that appeal to everyone from gluten-free eaters to vegetarians and vegans to paleo-diets and healthy eaters.

image by Nick Hillier

Menu items should be swapped out as dining trends come and go because this will help your menu to stay fresh and exciting for your regular customers. This is a great way for you to appeal to a larger portion of your local community. This doesn’t mean that you need to create a menu with 10 to 15 entrees, but you can still offer 4 to 6 items with various options for each. The key is that any option changes work with your food business brand.

Don’t Get Caught in a Lawsuit! Implement These Food Safety Tips Before Your Next Catering Event
Food Liability Insurance Program 

Imagine you're serving food at a wedding reception and the guests fall ill after consuming your food! How would you respond? Food poisoning can happen to any caterer and it is important to make sure your business is covered.

image by @neonbrand

THE CONARTON-ABBOTT WEDDING

Melissa Conarton and Jesse Abbott contracted a catering company to serve food at their wedding reception. There were over 100 people that got sick and 22 that were hospitalized overnight. According to court papers, the caterer's macaroni and cheese was statistically significant for staphylococcus aureus, a gastrointestinal illness. The couple sued for damages in order to pay their guest's medical bills and the caterer countersued for lack of payment for their services.

5 Mandatory Tips for Emerging Artists
Eric Armusik for Fine Art Views

I really didn't have any support early on in my career and because of that, I promised myself that when I achieved some level of success I'd never refuse anyone who asked for help. The question I get asked the most is: what advice would you give to an artist just starting out?

Why Artists Must Say No
Carolyn Edlund of Artsy-Sharky

As a business owner, you need to keep the big picture in mind. What is the vision you have for your business? Have you created a road map to get there? Break down the steps to reach your goals into manageable bite-sized pieces and prioritize them in a logical fashion. Then, execute. Keep your eye on the prize and refuse to get derailed by distractions!

image gemma evans

Tools and Gigs
Special Video by FN member Tim Charron
TimCharron.com | AntiBullyTour.com

View video!

3 Website Updates Artists Need for the New Year
Sandi Dettman of Artsy-Sharky

As an artist, you wear many hats. Trying to carve out time to deal with technical issues is not nearly as enjoyable as creating. However, your online presence goes a long way in getting your name and portfolio out there. With many artists moving toward selling art online, it’s important to put your best foot forward.

image @rawpixel

How To Return From Vacation The Right Way
Richard Myrick for mobile-cuisine.com

There will be many things awaiting you on your first day back:

• A full inbox
• A long list of to-dos
• Staff and customers needing your attention

image courtesy of mobile-cuisine.com

If you dive right in to your work, you’re likely to wipe out all the benefits of taking time off! Instead, get back into the swing of things while maintaining some of the calm and restoration of your time away.

Block off your morning.

Make sure you don’t have any meetings scheduled or big projects due. Then before you open your inbox, pause and think about your work priorities. As you make your way through emails and voicemails, focus on returning the messages that are connected to what matters most. Defer or delegate things that aren’t top priorities. And, remember it will probably take more than one day to get caught up, so be easy on yourself!

Hate Marketing Your Art? Try Aromatherapy!
by Dr. Thea Fiore-Bloom of The Charmed Studio courtesy of for Artsy-Sharky

image @kellysikkema

How to Choose Your Best Artwork to Display at an Art Fair or Festival
Niki Hilsabeck for emptyeasel.com

Cleanup Your Accounting With These 4 Bookkeeping Tips
Richard Myrick for mobile-cuisine.com

Getting a better handle on your money can help you to make and keep long-term goals, smooth out the seasonal ups and downs of your cash flow and maybe improve your food truck profits. It can also help you stay out of trouble with the IRS.

image via Gades Photography

Plan for major expenses

The first of our bookkeeping tips is to put events like a major POS upgrade on the calendar. Mark it a year in advance or, ideally, three to five years ahead. Be sure to take seasonal ups and downs into account.

By following this tip, you’ll avoid taking money out of your food truck business during the flush periods only to find yourself short in the slower months, when costly projects like upgrading kitchen equipment usually happen

How to Find Companies Interested in Sponsoring Events
Stephen Kim for bizzabo.com

Sell to those who want what you’re selling! Sounds obvious, but organizers often overlook this fact when the need for buyers becomes urgent and overbearing. These 10 tips can help you find the right sponsor partnerships:

image via olivia hutcherson

1) Define The Fundamentals of Your Event

• What is the overall vision of the event?
• What overarching goals are you trying to achieve through the event?
• What are the values of the event brand?

Even interested companies will only only buy-in if they understand your event’s goals and vision. Being able to clearly communicate these values will be crucial in helping you find companies interested in sponsorship.

Using our Artistic Gifts in Troubling Times
Phawnda Moore for emptyeasel.com

image via Phawnda Moore

After we donate money, express our opinions on Facebook and lament with friends, in private moments we still wonder if it will all be OK someday. We wonder how our family and friends across the country will rebuild, heal, and carry on. So many lives are affected, so much needs to be done. How do we go forward?

Let's remember that we can offer encouragement to each other in a unique way, with our art. Someone once said, "People only know what you tell them." This is true of relationships across the board and around the world. There are doubts and fears that art can calm. So what, specifically, can we do?

Read more!

Top 10 Insurance Mistakes for Food Trailers and Trucks
By Joel Paprocki for insuremyfood.com

Let's run through the most common mistakes mobile food business owners make when they purchase insurance – as well as tips on how to avoid them.

1. Buying The Lowest Price Policy You Can Find

Choosing low-cost insurance can – ironically – end up costing you a lot of money. Many low-cost policies have a very small list of claims they cover. 

image via william krause

Since insurance companies are continually pressured to lower prices, they're also forced to reduce plan benefits. This hurts the relationship between insured and insurer, especially when claims are filed that aren't covered by the plan. Don't just jump at the lowest price – jump at the plan and agency that fits you best.

2. Paying Extra For Additional Insurance Certificates

Commissary kitchens, landlords, event managers, and city health departments often require that you present them with additional insurance certificates. 

Shift Your Event Into Overdrive by becoming a Featured Event!
Julie Cochrane for FestivalNet.com

image via matthew miner

YouTube – How To Make It Work For You
NationWide Source

image via marc-olivier paquin

Being prepared before presenting your art to the public is what makes art shows mangeable and fun to attend. I've got some tips to help you prepare for exhibiting and talking about your art at a show. Grab a notepad and let's dig in!

image via eddie howell

Food Concession Menus - Know Your Market
Barb Fitzgerald of FoodBooth.net

image via shari sirotnak