PK 110: How to Hustle in Your Art Career – Interview With Jonas Koffler, Co-author of Hustle

Should you learn how to hustle in your art career? In this podcast, Jonas Koffler, co-author of New York bestseller, Hustle, reveals exactly how to propel your career forwards as an artist.

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I think that the main thing is just to do something. Doing nothing, or overthinking it or over-planning it…all those things are an insidious trap.

~ Jonas Koffler

Should you learn how to hustle in your art career?

In this week’s podcast interview, Jonas Koffler, co-author of New York Times bestseller, Hustle, explains what it really means to find and create opportunities as an artist.

You’ll learn why ‘hustle’ isn’t a dirty word, how a simple change of mindset can make a huge difference to your success as an artist, and how to leave the myth of ‘the starving artist’ behind once and for all…

How to Hustle in Your Art Career…Without Feeling Awkward

If you’ve ever wondered how to hustle in your art career, or even if you should, Jonas Koffler has got some advice for you.

And that’s to stop feeling guilty or ‘sales-y’ about putting yourself out there. To stop letting the quest for perfection stop you in your tracks.

And, most importantly, to forget about the myth of the ‘starving artist’ once and for all.

As co-author of New York Times bestseller, Hustle, he’s learned a thing or two during his research.

He’s spoken to countless artists (both successful and struggling), and applied his own knowledge and that of his high-flying fellow writers, Neil Patel and Patrick Vlaskovits, to the art world.

He says: “Hustle is sometimes seen as a dirty word, but it really means ‘to shake things up’.

“We re-defined it as a decisive movement towards a goal, however indirect, by which the motion itself manufactures luck, surfaces hidden opportunities, and charges our lives with more money, meaning, and momentum.

“If we reflect back on history, there is this romantic notion of being comfortable as a starving artist and that creativity only comes through suffering.

“Well, to some degree that might be true, but it’s not the be-all and end-all. Based on our research, this myth of the starving artist; this idea of holding success in contempt, has really influenced a lot of artists in the wrong way.”

So what are the main themes explored in Hustle and how can you make success happen?

Jonas explains: “Number 1 is that it’s not about putting your head down and running through a wall. It’s not simply about grit and grime.

“Number 2 is that making art is a grind – we are at war every time we enter the studio, and one of the key things we recommend to people is to start small and just spend 10 minutes experimenting at first.

“So, instead of trying to produce the perfect work in a very confined period, let’s allow ourselves to forget perfection, suspend judgement, and work through it.”Here are some of the questions we asked Jonas Koffler on how to hustle in your art career…

  1. How is hustling different to the daily grind? (06:26 – 09:36)
  2. How do you rise above rejection? (13:03 – 16:30) 
  3. How do you get the momentum you need? (16:31 – 22:11)
  4. What new things can you try as an artist? (24:34 – 30:59)

We hope this week’s podcast interview with Jonas Koffler helps teach you everything you need to know about how to hustle in your art career.

It’s amazing how just making a small change to your mindset can have such a huge impact upon your success.

So, if you enjoyed this podcast, why not leave us a comment below? We’d love to know what you guys think 🙂

Here’s to your art and to your success!

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Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Mitch

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