“No One Makes It On Their Own”

This is a guest post by Bam Douglas, founder of BDAA art agency.

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‘I’ve read about a million books on success, greatness and ‘how to succeed’ but Be More Pirate has been the only book I’ve read whereby I could apply the teachings on offer to MY precise situation in a very real and actionable way.

The art world is in many ways the ultimate ‘Establishment’ environment and Sam’s book provided the precise tools I needed, at the right time, to finally see how I could position my agency in a way that not only helped increase exposure and success, but allowed me to do it in a way that felt true to me and my values.

The book taught me that not only could I retain my instinctively maverick nature, but that I could actually succeed because of it! That ‘joining the Navy’ wasn’t the only way to make it in the art world.

However; for me, the true power of the book resides in the lesson of collaboration. That working together as a small group of people with similar ambitions in a fair and equitable way provided far more opportunity for success than simply giving instructions in a top-down, prescriptive way.

As a result, the artists in my agency now not only produce artwork, but also have an equal say and direct involvement in how we market, promote and run the agency. From having an equal vote on any future artists that we sign, to guest editing our agency magazine, our artists are no longer merely “the talent”. They are equal stakeholders in an agency whereby success for one, means success for all.

I firmly believe that the teachings of Be More Pirate will become increasingly important as we move further into the 21st century and the ‘new normal’ post-COVID world.’

Bam Douglas, Founder, BDAA art agency, www.bdaa.art