We were lucky to catch up with John Howell recently and have shared our conversation below.

John , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

My life has been a story of following the rules, and then changing them. Let me explain.

I grew up a straight A student, in the top 15 of my class. I listened to my teachers, my coaches and my parents. I listened to the voices of my community that said that the best choice for a career is to become a doctor, attorney, or accountant. Don’t get me wrong, I like those guys. My dad is an attorney. But it just wasn’t for me. From the time I was 5 years old, I had already decided that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, and that dream never died.

By the time I had graduated from High School I had won every art contest I entered…almost. But the problem was that I also knew the low-value our society has placed on creativity. I heard over and over that the first rule about being an artist is “nobody can make a living as an artist.” When I talked about wanting to be an artist it was always followed by a 1-liner that ended with the words “starving artist.” My dad told me, “Don’t worry about money. Do what you want to do in life and we will help you financially.”

But, that only fueled my desire to succeed.

I got married during my junior year in college, and the only thing that I could think of was: how am I going to break the news to her parents that I want to be an artist?

Leaving college with a degree in illustration, you can only imagine what a thrill it was for me to receive a call from a small book publisher asking me to illustrate an early reader’s children book. The pay was $1,500 for my very first illustration job. I was ecstatic! That job was followed by a call from Smart Money Magazine that paid even more than my first job. I was not going to succumb to society’s playbook. No way. No starving artist life for me. I was on top of the world living the dream I had always wanted!

After a while, a friend asked me if I would be willing to teach art lessons to his daughter. Within a few months, I went from 1 student to 15 students as word started to spread. That was when I decided it was time to officially open up Cordovan Art School. I wanted to make a difference in somebody’s life and share the joy of art and creativity.

The same time I opened Cordovan Art School, I was reading an article in Newsweek. The article polled 1,500 CEO’s who identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. It left me thinking how much of our early years are spent sucking the creativity out of us. We take standardized tests that have only one correct answer; we are taught to memorize; and we are taught to always follow the rules.

One of my missions in life is to break the stigma of “starving artists”.

I see the inner-struggle of artists all the time. They want to share their creative genius with the world, but most people just don’t value their gifts.
My students come into class and tell me that their friend called them and asked “will you paint a portrait for me.” I ask my students how much their friend is willing to pay? Almost always the answer is “nothing”. I wonder how many times that friend has asked their doctor: “will you perform this surgery for me for free.” Not likely.

So, the fight over the value we place on creativity starts now. Why do schools cut music and art programs first? When are we going to realize what 1,500 CEO’s have realized–that creativity is the #1 leadership competency? When are we going to learn to value creative people and pay them for the value they bring? At Cordovan Art School, our slogan is “We Create Artists”, and we have chosen to omit the word “starving” on purpose.

We need doctors, attorneys and accountants. But we also need people who can think differently. We need creative people and artists.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am the owner and founder of Cordovan Art School where “We create artists”.

Part of what makes us unique is that we try to create an environment where everyone feels welcomed and loved the moment they walk in the doors. Most of our students are so nervous to come to their first class because they have this false idea that everyone else is so much more talented than they are. So, we try to help them see how talented they are, and then work with them to build their art skills and their confidence.

So often I hear things like “I really enjoyed art when I was a kid, and I was really good at it, but it just wasn’t a practical career choice.” So, we try to change the narrative and help our students understand how needed and valuable art. And, as a creative person, they are so valuable to our society.

I love it when I hear students say things like “I fit in here” or “this is where I belong”

We just opened our 8th art studio this past year, so we see the daily need for creativity, especially when it comes to visual art.

Let’s move on to buying businesses – can you talk to us about your experience with business acquisitions?

Last year I was searching online for businesses for sale. My search was limited to the Austin TX area because that is where I live, and I was looking to diversify my business portfolio and buy a non-art related business.
As fate would have it, as I scrolled down through the businesses that were listed and an Art School showed up for sale. Even though my search was limited to Austin, TX, the location if this business was Houston, TX.

Since I know a lot about running an art school, I was curious enough to call the owner. I asked a lot of questions, and started thinking that it might be a possibility to acquire this business. There were 3 main hurdles. 1) The business was 2.5 hours away, and I didn’t know if I wanted to manage a business that far away. 2) The previous owner had kept poor financial records making it very difficult to understand the financial state of the business. 3) I would need to find a really good local manager.

In the end, I negotiated a price that I was comfortable with. With the help of an attorney, we drafted the legal paperwork and made the transition.

The business only had 1.5 years left on the lease, so I figured that in a worst-case scenario, I could walk away from the lease if it didn’t work out. Taking the leap, I went to work to convert the studio to our new brand while keeping the current art students. I found a great manager. Since it was an existing business, we weren’t starting from scratch which helped with cash flow. Within 4 months we knew we had mad the right decision, and we decided to extend the lease. The 1st year in business, that studio doubled the sales from the previous owner.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Because I have a creative mind, I like to dream big and try new things. As a result, I have had a hand in many start-up creative ventures along the way, and failed at many of them. I have learned some of the greatest life-lessons from my failures. At the low points in my life, I learned how to be more compassionate and caring of other people–because there are a lot of people who are going through hard things in life just like I was.

After I opened up the first Cordovan Art School in Round Rock, TX, I decided if 1 art school is good, then 2 is better. However, the second art school failed; it was 100% my fault for bad decisions I had made, and I was devastated. My 3 and 4th attempts were also flops. But, each time I learned what NOT to do. It was a refining process and I learned each time I failed. I hadn’t figured out the business model yet. This year, I had such a feeling of accomplishment as I opened up my 8th Cordovan Art studio, and it would have never happened without all the bumps and bruises along the way.

While I was building my art schools, I was also helping build the communities around them. Many people didn’t understand the value of art at first, and it was an uphill battle. I was a founding member of the Round Rock Chalk Walk. It started as a small arts and music festival, and I literally had to PAY artists out of my own pocket to participate. However that festival grew from a few hundred people to over 45,000 people. It has now been adopted by the city of Round Rock and moved to the Dell Diamond.
The community is finally starting to rally around the arts–a work in progress for over 13 years now!

I wonder what would have happened if I quit and stopped trying after so many failures when things looked bleak. Thankfully, I kept going or there would be no Round Rock Chalk Walk, and no Cordovan Art School.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cordovanartschool.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cordovanartschool
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cordovanartschool

Image Credits
Photos courtesy of Cordovan Art School