One of the things I strive for in teaching the guest-speaker based Midwest Entrepreneurs class is diversity in as broad of terms as possible; meaning diversity with regard to type of business and industry, stage of the entrepreneurial enterprise, and historical and personal background of the speakers and their businesses.

As part of my incessant and ongoing quest for entrepreneurial diversity, I have for some time been looking to have an artist as a guest speaker. Unfortunately, although I have known and know a fair number of artists—painters, poets, musicians, and writers—I would characterize very few of them as also being entrepreneurs (and even fewer live anywhere near Monmouth, IL). Most are not artists in business or career but rather artists in their spare time (i.e., hobbyist artists).

This conundrum began to dissipate recently with each visit to the home of my next-door neighbor Rev. Dr. Kathleen Fannin (former long-time Monmouth College Chaplain and, in her recently enacted retirement, budding watercolor artist). With each visit of late, Kathleen has had more and more to tell me about her efforts to expand her artistic efforts beyond being just hobbyist in form into the entrepreneurial realm.

During one of these visits she excitedly and proudly told me of her ventures into turning her paintings into jigsaw puzzles and the posting of many of her amazing paintings—in a variety of forms—on her artist webpage (http://cattail.artistwebsites.com/). I shortly thereafter came to the conclusion that I might just have located my desired artist-as-entrepreneur. I invited her to be our guest speaker on my next visit and she—although shocked to find herself referred to as an entrepreneur—graciously accepted the invitation. She was our guest this past Tuesday.

Below, class member Casto Flores tells the captivating story of Rev. Dr. Kathleen Fannin, an accidental entrepreneur who did not discover her passion for painting—or even her ability to paint—until after retirement from a formal career.

Prof. Gabel

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In our mid-west entrepreneurs class we have had a good diversity of business men and women come speak to us, but yesterday we had our first artist share her experience with the class.

Rev. Dr. Kathleen Fannin’s business revolves around her hobby of watercolor painting. Unlike most entrepreneurs, Dr. Fannin started to pursue her business after retirement. She explained to the class that she never meant for this to happen.

One day, she went to a Blick art supplies store and decided that she wanted to learn how to watercolor paint. From the first time she painted, she discovered that she had a “gift” for this kind of art work. She enjoyed painting so much that she decided to share her gift with her family and friends by sending postcards with her art work on them as gifts. As time went by, she improved her talent and decided to take it to an art show. At the end of the show Dr. Kathleen’s painting won “Best of Class: Works on Paper.”  This left her in awe. She never expected that to happen. At that same art show, premonitions of her upcoming business showed. Again to her amazement, people started to want to buy her art work.

Ever since that art show, Dr. Fannin decided to sell more of her art work and in an increasing variety of formats. She started to sell to people near to her here in Monmouth. Then one of our Monmouth College Staff asked her if she could paint a portrait of her mother’s house for her. People started to notice that her houses were beautifully portrayed in watercolor paint and from there she has painted many of them.

After she saw how well her paintings were selling among the community, she decided to look to the world of online shopping to expand her business. She got word of a website— http://artistwebsites.com/–that allows artists to sell their creations to buyers all over the world. For only thirty dollars a year this website takes care of almost everything from ordering to shipping and handling. Even though she has not marketed her website, she has made some sales from it.

Another tool that she uses in her entrepreneurial effort is Vistaprint (www.vistaprint.com), which allows her to diversify her product offerings. This tool allows her to make prints from original paintings. This also allows customers who cannot afford an original painting purchase a replica of the art work at a much more affordable price. Vista Print also allows Dr. Fannin to create calendars with her artwork on them.

During her presentation someone asked her a question mentioning her plans for expansion. Dr. Fannin responded by stating that she wants her painting to remain fun and to not feel like she is actually running a business. In other words, she wants to enjoy her well-earned retirement (while still being an entrepreneur).

Some of her last words to the class were “don’t be afraid to fail.” As our Prof. Connell likes to mention in his classes, the world of business is full of risk, but only the brave ones who are willing to take that risk truly benefit. Rev. Dr. Kathleen Fannin is taking more and more risk as an accidental entrepreneur, but she plans to keep her risk-taking at a manageable level while living out her newly found passion as an amazingly talented watercolor painter.

Casto Flores