I hate GaryVee. Something about his never-ending energy, idiotic truisms, and single minded focus on ‘the game’ drives me crazy. But what I hate even more is that, at least in part, he’s right. If you want to be or do anything with your career you need to ‘hustle’, no matter what industry you’re in.

I was fortunate enough to meet a gallery owner and artist the other day. I was trying to see what it was like to live and deal in the art world. How do you find new artists? How do you figure out who’s going to pop and who isn’t? What’s the advice you would give to young artists? Basic bitch kind of questions.

The theme throughout the discussion was that, in one sense, art is a job like any other. It requires a 9 to 5 slog over the course of many years before one becomes good at it. Knowing who’s good and who’s not largely depends on knowing what their willingness is to work.

One of the issues I have with new writers is that they pitch me an article, without any previous work, and demand a price tag that’s worth more than this entire site. In the initial iteration of this site, I had a similar issue with new artists. There’s a sense that because you put effort into something, and you’re proud of it, it’s somehow worth a lot of money. The fact is, it’s not. I honestly wish it was, I’d be rich, but unfortunately nothing works like that.

One of the gallery owners I met said that a painter should paint until her apartment is full. Once it’s full, maybe then it’s time to start moving out some inventory. I think that’s probably true. In the words of GaryVee: “You gotta eat shit. You gotta love eating shit, then you win”. You see why I hate this guy?

So you eat shit for years (maybe more) and then one day, like magic, something changes. At least that’s what this owner said when I asked him what it takes to become great. One day you get it. An instagram post pops, a video goes viral, a painting says something in the exact right away and suddenly art, and life, is different.

I put hours into this website, and guess what? It’s not worth anything. But it’s worth something to me, and that’s enough…for now.