The artist’s work is not typical, unique, but also very demanding, and what is most important – it’s
determined by subjective feelings of recipients and customers. The question is to what extent
economic success and artistic success are determined by talent and personality?
And whether innate or acquired entrepreneurial skills and conscious activity in the commercial art
world affect the success of the artist?

What personality traits are characteristic of artists and what of entrepreneurs? The psychologist and
sociologist John L. Holland differentiates personality according to professional predispositions into six types of personality: realistic, investigate, artistic, social, enterprising and conventional.
Traits of the artist are primarily a sense of aesthetics, creativity, sensitivity, openness, well-developed imagination, unconventional thinking and innovation, nonconformity and independence, reflexivity, the ability to learn from experience, but also lack of conscientiousness and orderliness, impulsivity, often introversion. It is generally considered that artists are complicated idealists and impractical people, though also extraordinary and sensitive.

By contrast, the entrepreneurial personality is characterized by: concentration on economic benefits,
managerial and organizational skills, consistency, optimism and self-confidence, good interpersonal
skills and skills of persuasion. The entrepreneur also use manipulation to gain advantage and is
ambitious. In public opinion, this type is often seen as a self-confident person of authority, but also
who often seeks pleasure and cares about profits above all else.

Do these descriptions have anything in common? Fortunately, Holland also defines so-called mixed
types of artists and entrepreneurs. Such a combination means a person who, apart from creative
artistic competences, high sensitivity and expressiveness has developed organizational skills, can
independently make decisions, influence others and initiate innovative solutions.

Research identifies traits, which favour success as an entrepreneurs. Three basic features are:
motivation to achieve, being personality in control and tendency to take a risk (Beata Krawczyk-
Bryłka, Barbara Geniusz-Stepnowska “Professional predispositions of artist vs entrepreneurial
feature”.

Motivation to achieve means above all a continuous striving for better performance, constant
development and forward-thinking, also setting ambitious goals.
Being personality in control means feeling capable and convict that you can influence on the course
of events, but also having ability to assess a situation objectively. This person is also self-motivated and what is particularly important: has ability to defer gratification and is resistant to frustration.

2
The last of the features defined is the tendency to take risks – financial, psychological and social. On the one hand this indicates that generating economic profit and personal satisfaction is most
important, but there is also the need for independence and the fostering of creativity.

For this description certain common features of artists and entrepreneurs can be discovered: they
both welcome constant change and development, they are courageous and take risks, they are
persevere. They are also tolerant for mistake and uncertainty, creative, innovative, passionate and
yet have self-controlled. At the same time, there are some barriers which prevent artists from
undertaking entrepreneurial activities, such as: introversion, a tendency to place aesthetic values
above economic ones, but first of all – the lack of planning habits and getting lost in the process
rather than focusing on the aims (lack of coordination skills). Therefore, planning and coordination
are among the most important skills in the professional development of people who want to develop
their work in the cultural and creative sector
***
When considering business aspects of artistic work, I omitted the most important one – the creation
of culture.

Developed by Anna Ochmann