What does the concept of 'GDP' mean for an artist's business?

GDP in a creative business context means gross domestic product: the sum total of work you create (the actual art), plus all the marketing work done to get that art in front of people, plus all the work that results in sales. It encompasses everything from creating pieces to writing descriptions, posting on social media, sending emails, creating blog posts, and all customer interactions. Using AI effectively, you can 10x your GDP using less time than you currently spend. As you get better with AI tools, you can potentially 50x your output. This shift from linear growth (doing everything yourself, slowly) to exponential growth (leveraging AI to multiply your output) is what changes a creative business from a slow train to a rocket ship.

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Asked by general teaching point · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-01-23