We were lucky to catch up with Gregory Farah recently and have shared our conversation below.
Gregory , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Owning a business isn’t always glamorous and so most business owners we’ve connected with have shared that on tough days they sometimes wonder what it would have been like to have just had a regular job instead of all the responsibility of running a business. Have you ever felt that way?
I feel very fortunate and blessed to have a been given the opportunity to become an independent Art dealer broker, gallery, Director, etc. I Originally got into the Fine art business in a relatively non-traditional manner purely through some connections and whirlwind circumstances. After a few years of learning the ropes, and working for someone else, I devised a plan, and was given the opportunity and the tools to go out on my own. That would’ve never happened without others, believing in me and financially supporting my Endeavor. So that’s some thing I do not take for granted. But yes, sometimes I do think about what it would be like to work a regular 9 to 5 or have a more stable traditional occupation, as opposed to being an independent entrepreneur were things can be fantastic one day, and a total nightmare the other. As I keep on going and learn from past mistakes and get a better grip on the reins, there is a little bit more stability to my occupation, but it always has unforeseen obstacles. And being your own boss, at least for me is not always a great thing. I personally don’t have the best time management or managerial skills, especially when it comes to implementing them myself for myself. For the most part, I’m extremely happy and couldn’t think of doing anything else and it this point I don’t know if I’d be suited to doing anything else pretty stubborn and stuck in my ways to go take orders or direction from someone else not sure I could cut the mustard a soda speak. I mean when things get tough and I’m stressed out and full of anxiety. I do daydream about having a regular 9 to 5, but it doesn’t last for long it’s fleeting. And when things are good, and for the most part, they usually are again I count my blessings and can’t think of doing anything else know what I want to.
Gregory , 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?
FarahNHeight Fine Art who started in Taos New Mexico in March 2016, as a Retail Fine art gallery with a vision of promoting showcasing & educating potential clients to Contemporary Native American & Southwest Contempory Fine Art. The majority of the art that we showcase is from living working artists most of which are early to mid career artists, many of which have never shown in galleries before let alone exhibited their work for sale.
I myself got my start working for the RC Gorman estate starting around 2011 as a contract employee and working for them full-time by 2012. Then took the leap of faith and went independent and with the help of many started FaraHNHeight phone or gallery in 2016.
Our original gallery in Taos New Mexico was incredible 4000+ square-foot venue on the main drag through town. It was incredible and a fantastic petri dish to kind of get my start. We unfortunately lost that building end of 2018 and moved our primary retail gallery to Santa Fe, NM where we have been ever since.
WE PRIMARILY FOCUS ON TWO DIMENSIONAL FINE ART ALTHOUGH NOW AND THEN WE SHOWCASE SOME 3-D AND MIX MEDIA NONTRADITIONAL WORK BUT MAJORITY OF THE WORK WE FOCUS ON OUR PAINTINGS ON CANVAS ORIGINAL WORKS ON PAPER, AND SOME FINE ART LIMITED-EDITION PRINT MEDIUM.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
In 2018 when I just started to get my stride pay off the majority of our debt really feel like this was gonna work, and I wasn’t gonna fail we unexpectedly were told we had to relocate. This was completely without any forewarning a complete shock was really like I said, hitting our stride, and all of a sudden we had to leave our current gallery space in a extremely unexpected and fast manner. I mean we had two months to basically vacate, and that was devastating for a new business only two/three years old we had such an amazing space we put a lot of time and thought into the space. It was getting better all the time I Netwerk our relationship with the community. Everything was really just starting to work out in the best way and all the sudden we had to leave, it was a shock and one that still. I look back at and gives me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, but you know as they say one door closes others open took a shot left. Taos came to Santa Fe New Mexico which at the time really intimidated me but since then things have been fantastic and a lot of opportunities have come out of that move that most likely would’ve never happened if I had stayed in Taos I still miss Taos quite a bit and I miss our old gallery space and the community there and I daydream about what it would be like to still be there and I probably would be very happy and content, but the same time Santa Fe has been very good to us, and again opened a lot of opportunity and a lot of doors that might not have happened otherwise.
Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?
The original seed money to start came from a couple different avenues some savings, personal savings, some family money, basically family backing me and loaning me some money, and then I had a business partner are basically an investor who I’ve met and worked with previously who believed in my vision and put up more than half of the start up money for us to realize our goals in the first two years. That was incredible. Couldn’t of done it without any of those entities. They all took a gamble. They all took a chance and I’m happy to say I paid them all back and I’m still on good terms with all of them so I feel like that’s a huge win.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.farahnheight.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/farahnheight/
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/farahnheight/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryfarah
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/a-h4p6QMv-M?si=y5rPY2Oe8mC5zgpk
- Yelp: https://m.yelp.com/biz/farahnheight-fine-art-santa-fe-3