Give Your Customers What They Want: Interview with Art Entrepreneur Randall J. Slavin

I recently went one on one with entrepreneur and fine art dealer Randall J. Slavin.

Adam: Thanks again for taking the time to share your advice. First things first, though, I am sure readers would love to learn more about you. How did you get here? What experiences, failures, setbacks, or challenges have been most instrumental to your growth?

Randall: As the son of an artist who never made a living with his art, I grew up in poverty. Because of that, I had no interest in pursuing anything in the arts. Instead, I pursued degrees in business, information systems, and economics. My first career was in information management.

After 15 years, I grew bored of it and began looking for something else. That is the point at which I met Daniel Winn. Daniel is a brilliant artist and curator but needed help with the business side of his gallery.

I started advising him, and that evolved into Masterpiece Publishing, Inc., an artist agency and fine art wholesaler. After two decades of selling wholesale, I realized that no one could do a better job for our artists on the retail side than we could. In 2016, I entered the retail side of the art business as Winn Slavin Fine Art. 

The first gallery was in Beverly Hills in 2017. The locations in Shanghai and Vietnam followed in 2018. Our current Rodeo Drive gallery location opened in the aftermath of the pandemic in early 2021.

Adam: How did you come up with your business idea? What advice do you have for others on how to come up with great ideas?

Randall: Masterpiece Publishing originated, at least in part, because of my childhood experiences. I watched my father, who had potential as an artist, wander aimlessly as he tried and failed to establish his reputation. He lacked the discipline, business mind, and objective guidance artists require to succeed.

When I met Daniel, a light bulb turned on. Although the idea of an artist agency, fine art publisher, and wholesaler wasn’t new to the industry, those functions were typically handled by retail galleries or independent agents, who generally also sell retail. Masterpiece was unique because we didn’t sell retail and thus weren’t competing with our customers.

That was a successful model for the day. Masterpiece quickly became a premier limited-edition art and sculpture publisher, selling wholesale to over a hundred galleries. In that process, I learned a great deal about the gallery business and often functioned more as a strategic partner than simply a vendor.

But change is the only constant. The Great Recession, inexpensive reproduction techniques, and the rise of social media resulted in fundamental changes in the art industry. Consequently, I had to reinvent the company and take our product offerings upmarket to appeal to the higher-end buyers still collecting fine art.

The impetus to enter the gallery market as a retailer was seeing galleries that were too ego driven to succeed. There is a perception that the art business is all about champagne and caviar on yachts and private jets. While that is a part of the business, the majority is hard work and good business decision-making. Too often, new gallery owners enter the industry because they want to be part of the champagne and caviar scene, but they’re not willing to do the work required to succeed. Often, they lack the necessary business skills.

Adam: How did you know your business idea was worth pursuing? What advice do you have on how to best test a business idea? 

Randall: That’s a good question and not one that is easy to answer. I have to say that it started with intuition and an idea. I didn’t know that it would work. There was nothing out there quite like it, which meant there wasn’t a track record I could evaluate.

The idea of “testing” a business idea is a bit of an oxymoron. Success in any business requires hard work, dogged determination, and a fair amount of blind faith. You’ll likely give up too quickly if you go into something tentatively. Even if you survive, you probably won’t realize the level of success you could have achieved if you had entered with determination.

Adam: What are the key steps you have taken to grow your business? What advice do you have for others on how to take their businesses to the next level? 

Randall: Humility is perhaps the most essential key to growing my business. If I’d gotten too invested in “my way” of doing things, I wouldn’t have been able to learn the lessons I needed to learn and adapt to the changing environment. If I hadn’t adapted, my business wouldn’t have survived.

Adam: What are your best sales and marketing tips?

Randall: In my business, integrity, innovation, adaptability, and hard work have been key. In the luxury space, buyers seek experiences, not simply products.

If I had to give one tip, it would be to give your customers what they want – and realize that may not simply be the product or service you’re selling.

Adam: In your experience, what are the keys to fostering creativity and innovation? 

Randall: Creativity and innovation are intuitive; they originate in the brain’s right hemisphere. But realizing and implementing those ideas require rational attributes originating in the brain’s left hemisphere. Without the creativity and innovation, you’re just doing the same thing over and over again. But you’re just spinning your wheels if you don’t have the skills to implement the products of that creativity and innovation.

The key is fostering creativity and innovation and being prepared to implement the results. They’re two different skill sets; if you don’t possess both as a business leader, you need to recognize that and surround yourself with people you trust who have the skill set you don’t.

Adam: What do you believe are the defining qualities of an effective leader? How can leaders and aspiring leaders take their leadership skills to the next level? 

Randall: An effective leader is, first and foremost, self-actualized. No matter how talented we believe we are, if we’re not encouraging those around us to develop and pursue their potential, we’ll always be limited. To lead others to success, we must recognize and overcome our own limitations.

Adam: What are your three best tips applicable to entrepreneurs, executives, and civic leaders?

Randall: First, recognize that integrity and hard work are the keystones of success. Second, be flexible enough to adapt to change without sacrificing your core values. Third, know that your job is to bring others together to accomplish common goals.

Adam: What is the single best piece of advice you have ever received?

Randall: Another good question that isn’t easy to answer! The thing about advice is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Understanding and maximizing any good advice you receive requires synthesizing all the good advice you’ve previously received.

If I had to choose one thing, however, it would probably be what was inscribed at the entrance to the temple of Delphi: know thyself.


Adam Mendler is an entrepreneur, writer, speaker, educator, and nationally-recognized authority on leadership. Adam is the creator and host of the business and leadership podcast Thirty Minute Mentors, where he goes one on one with America's most successful people - Fortune 500 CEOs, founders of household name companies, Hall of Fame and Olympic gold medal-winning athletes, political and military leaders - for intimate half-hour conversations each week. A top leadership speaker, Adam draws upon his insights building and leading businesses and interviewing hundreds of America's top leaders as a top keynote speaker to businesses, universities, and non-profit organizations. Adam has written extensively on leadership and related topics, having authored over 70 articles published in major media outlets including Forbes, Inc. and HuffPost, and has conducted more than 500 one on one interviews with America’s top leaders through his collective media projects. Adam teaches graduate-level courses on leadership at UCLA and is an advisor to numerous companies and leaders. A Los Angeles native, Adam is a lifelong Angels fan and an avid backgammon player.

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