We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Anthony Galati. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Anthony below.

Anthony, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you recount a story of an unexpected problem you’ve faced along the way?

I am not a risk taker by nature. I like security. When I was 7 years old, I saved up about two or three months worth of my weekly allowance so that my dad could buy me a Voltron toy in Chinatown in New York City for $40. The really good one with the die cast metal parts, where all of the lions separated from the big robot as individual toys. Not spending your allowance for that long is like an eternity for a kid, but I’m a saver.

As an adult, I eventually had to throw this way of thinking in the trash to become a full time fine artist. When I graduated from art school, I never planned to try to support myself by selling work in galleries because there is no security at all, and I always knew that it would be very difficult. There came a point in my life years later though, that I decided that this was what I wanted, since doing work like that was what really mattered to me.

I also like to consider myself an optimistic realist. I’m able to find the bright side of almost any situation, and I am very good at accepting things as they are, even if they are far from ideal. There came a time that I realized that this was a huge disadvantage for a person trying to make it on their own. Being too easily comfortable with things as they are is the opposite of drive. It can keep you in the same place for years if you don’t do something about it. Who would have thought that being optimistic could be a bad thing?

Several years ago, the film “I’m Not There” was getting a lot of buzz, so my girlfriend and I decided to watch it. I ended up falling asleep halfway through the movie, and probably enjoyed that nap more that I would have enjoyed the second half of the film. I was not into it. But there was one very valuable tidbit that I got from the experience which wasn’t even in the film at all. There was a behind the scenes feature in which a notable venue owner was interviewed (hey, my girlfriend wanted to watch it, not me). The venue owner had many big name musicians come through and play at his club over many years. He was asked, what was the most important thing that an artist needed to be great. His response, “Hunger.” I thought about that. I realized right then that I didn’t really have it, and that I needed to.

In the years since, I found that hunger. I did it by focussing on what I really wanted as an artist, which was not what I had. I had skill, supplies, know how, but I didn’t have the final product. I thought about the paintings that I wanted to do first thing in the morning and used it as motivation to get through the work that I had to do to get closer to what I really wanted to do. Even though I still feel frustrated with the amount of time I need to devote to doing things other than that final goal, getting clear on what I really want was very valuable because it’s the compass that I can always use to continue making progress towards achieving what matters most.

When you have to do work that you don’t want to be doing, you can use it as motivation to push yourself towards what you do want. You’ve got to get angry, get sickened with your situation, get bothered enough by it that you decide that you will do whatever you need to to start finally doing the work that you are meant to be doing!

Some of the biggest problems that I faced came from the way that I thought or felt about the territory that you are required to travel through when you have no one to answer to for a weekly paycheck. It’s filled with creatures that want to eat you up, waiting in the shadows to pounce, and you need to find a way to outrun or outsmart them when you choose to venture into the jungle on your own.

Anthony, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I became a full time working fine artist after being laid off in the great economic toilet flush of 2008. I literally told my dad that everything was fine at the graphic design studio on a Friday, and was clearing out my desk the following Monday. I wasn’t ready to work on my own, but I figured, instead of trying to get another job that wouldn’t allow me to reach my full potential, I might as well go for what I actually want. There were many, many things to be learned as I started out on that road, and plenty of mistakes on the way.

I currently do commissioned oil paintings of portraits, as well as my own non-commission drawings and paintings of figures and landscapes. Painting people and detail in a very realistic style is my forte. However, many of my landscape paintings are created plein air, and have a much looser style.

I also teach online drawing and oil painting lessons. My style of teaching is different from many other people. I teach advanced techniques that I have been using for decades to students of any skill level all the way down to 7 years old. The mother of one of my long term students, who is now 14, had said that her daughter felt like the teachers they tried before me were glorified babysitters. I don’t have a lot of fluff in my lessons, but I do my best to make the process fun, and I have shown several students how to draw or paint far better than they ever thought they could.

I’ve had many one-on-one students, and also group classes on painting landscapes, and drawing portraits. I am working on a new group class  mastermind on oil painting secrets to streamline your productivity and make the overall process easier. There is also a prerecorded Photoshop for visual artists course in the works.

The stereotype that artists are lazy flakes definitely isn’t true for any of the serious full time artists that I know. I am friends with several people in the New York realism art scene that are nationally or internationally well known, and all of them work very hard. Many years ago, I learned to cut out almost every part of my life that didn’t lead to making money with my art. And then I cut out more. And then I cut out even more. There were several years that I worked seven days a week, and could count on one hand the number of days I took off for the whole year.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

You have to keep going until you find something that works. To become successful, there’s a need to hustle and be willing to do things that you don’t particularly want to do. But at the same time, it’s best to always have your sites locked on what you truly want. If you recognize that what you’re currently doing, even if you don’t want to do it, is part of the path that you are taking to reach the golden tower, then you are able to continue getting closer to your goal. If you forget about, or give up on what you set out to do, you may get stuck in a bog where you will languish.

I pivoted many times since becoming a full time fine artist, after being laid off in 2008. From house and dog portrait drawings, to live event paintings at weddings, to teaching art online, to the place that I plan to end up, supporting myself almost entirely from non-commission paintings.

With live event painting in particular, I adjusted what I offered several times. These were paintings that were worked on during wedding receptions, and finished over many, many hours afterwards. I changed the sizes of the paintings, the prices, the options that were available for the composition of the images. I kept refining my offerings over the years, and I was consistently surprised that people not only were willing to pay far more than I would have expected when I started out, but they were also happy to hire me to paint compositions that were much more in line with what I preferred to paint.

For the longest time, I painted large interiors of rooms with a lot of detail, as well as 20 or so guests in these paintings. I thought that surely, it would be a problem if I chose to say no more wide view of the room and no more guests. But the amount of time that it was taking me to finish these paintings just wasn’t compatible with how much I was making, even though I was charging a substantial investment. I made the move to paint the couple only, with the venue in the background as more of an afterthought, the composition that I really wanted to paint, and I still continued to book more events.

So don’t be afraid to get paid to do what you really want to do. You need to continually look at what’s working in your business and what isn’t, and consider what you can do to adjust things in areas where a change is needed. Finding that perfect balance in all aspects of your work is the secret to finding happiness and success with it.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

I highly recommend that any entrepreneur or full time artist follow Tony Robbins. I also follow Brendon Burchard and Dean Graziosi, who are great as well (check out the April 2018 episodes of the Motivation With Brendon Burchard podcast to listen to his High Performance Habits book for free). But Tony is the master. He presents various ways for you to accomplish more in your personal or business life that are very different than what many other people would encourage you to do. Because of this, his approaches at times may seem radical or surprising, but they work. Tony’s energy is so infectious and he is such an inspiration for what a human being can become to maximize their potential, that just listening to him talk about anything is enough to make you feel more empowered.

Two takeaways that Tony emphasizes a lot are:
1. To be successful, you need to be really resourceful and find a way to work with whatever is available to you.
2. Overdeliver for your clients so that they aren’t just satisfied with your work, but they become raving fans who will come back again and again.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.AnthonyGalati.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/Anthony_Galati_art
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaintWithAnthony
• Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonygalati
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2O1nDaxZnxE7eRrk4VQF8Q