Meet Jonathan Kardamis

We were lucky to catch up with Jonathan Kardamis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jonathan, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Entering my tenth year as a full-time artist, I always tell people – I could not be doing what I am right now without God. Being any type of business owner, or entrepreneur you will be faced with numerous setbacks, failures, and doors slammed in your face. It’s just a fact of life. Now add in the element of being an artist, and you have in my opinion an even greater list of challenges to face. You are not just selling some random product, but you’re selling your work. That makes the pain of failure sting that much worse. My strong faith in God is what has been my centering force. I’ve seen in real-time His hand of guidance through unsure times. He allowed me to grow up in a strong supportive home, brought along my wife early on who believed in my talents, directed me to successful artists and people who were so helpful in my development, and blessed me with an amazing family that adds even more meaning to my life.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I’m a self-represented professional artist who specializes in custom paintings and drawings of a wide range of subject matter. While I started early on specializing in people and pet portraits, I’ve branched out into other fields such as representations of homes, cars, landscapes, and water/boat scenes. I’ve had the opportunity to create several hundred commissions for numerous clients worldwide, including an official mayoral painting, a commission for the U.S. Navy, artwork for professional athletes, and more. In 2023 my wife and I launched a start-up called Relax It’s Art which develops unique paint scenes and offers these as at-home DIY paint kits. Right now we offer 3 unique scenes that include step-by-step video guidance. This is meant to reach anyone whether art-inclined or not to utilize and appreciate many of the benefits art offers.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

To steal some very practical sales fundamentals, patience and persistence has been very helpful to me over the years. I’ve had to learn and grow in regards to the former, but both elements have been praised by those I’ve had the privilege to work with. Another quality I’ve found helpful is networking. Not just in terms of the art community, but branching out into the business world. I’ve gained countless connections and grown very meaningful relationships with individuals in the business world. Beginning in your immediate community, seek out people successful in their field, and learn what you can from them. Don’t be scared to ask for referrals and further connections. Find other networking opportunities in your area. There are many business meetups and events where you can learn and grow as a young entrepreneur.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

I think for me over the years something I had limited myself with was the amount of time I spent on a project. I had often set longer timelines as I had developed certain understandings of what the length of a project should look like. Generally in my field of work, a painting can take anywhere from 2-4 months time. However, a common principle in the business world called timeboxing is this: If you give yourself 3 months to complete something, you’ll complete it in 3 months, if you give yourself 3 weeks, you’ll complete it in 3 weeks. I’ve used this principle to help reshape how I view project turnaround, and becoming more efficient in my work.

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Image Credits

Artwork by Jon Kardamis

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