Starting a business? Want to start a business? What is the "new normal" environment to consider, especially as an artist or performer? Let's do an environmental analysis!
One advantage we have in modern times is the wonderful virtual landscape. You don't need an office space, store front, large overhead for many a business. As 2020 has shown us, we can actually get by with a lot of stay-at-home work. Good news? For some, not for others. Will it last? We'll see. The only thing that doesn't change is change, so "stay tuned."
Technology has also given us assistance with our growth. For example, we have several sales lead generators. Sometimes the phone doesn't ring, you have to make it ring. Finding a good service that can eliminate a lot of the marketing for you is worth the investment. As an entertainer, it's paramount to get on as many screens as possible.
That being stated, part of our growth and success is also location. If we were established in rural South Dakota instead of metropolitan Indiana, it would be a very different outcome. On the other hand, if we were established in Chicago or New York instead of New Haven, it may also have developed into a different outcome.
This is not to disparage any part of the country. The natural fit for a stilt walking, balloon twisting, costume wearing troup of weirdos is likely not a wide-open-plains-sparsely-populated location. Gotta be where the people are AND where those people would want what we have to offer.
Pare this philosophy down a bit. Look at your associates, your potential or existing team, your network, your support system (many of these discussed in previous chapters!) Sometimes it's a field of flowers and you're a vine. Are you a tiger in a society of rabbits? Is where you're looking going to "get you?"
Overhead? Check. Technology? Check. Location? Better check! However, do not ignore that you may be a pioneer in your field in an area that all ready had its log cabin phase.