Teil Duncan Henley's Art of the Deal: Successful Business Lessons from a Right-Brain Entrepreneur

By Lynne Schur

Creative types are often dubbed "right-brain" thinkers because they exhibit strong intuition, imagination and creativity. People with this style typically excel at seeing patterns, working with color and visualizing ideas (aka the "big picture"). While this might explain the success of contemporary artist Teil Henley — a Pinnacle + Synovus brand ambassador with husband Russell Henley, pro golfer — she has more of an edge than the typical creative type.

Because Teil isn't only an accomplished fine artist, she's also entrepreneurial. This trait often requires "left-brain" tasks that are needed for more structured pursuits — like starting your own business (aka the "logistical details"). Henley found a clear plan for using her creative side to launch Teil Textiles and Wallpaper, the centerpiece of her small business, as well as retail shop Mish Mash, in her hometown of Columbus, Georgia.

Teil's sought-after art and playful but sophisticated aesthetic has attracted celebrity fans like Mindy Kaling, spawned two books and driven partnerships with brands like Anthropologie and Abercrombie & Fitch.

She credits much of her path forward to her ability to handle feedback and criticism — which abounds in her line of work — in a fair, analytical and clear-minded way, as well as knowing when to ask for help.

Her 9 Pearls of Wisdom for Creating Your Dream Small Business

Below, Teil Henley explains the qualities that have gotten her to where she is today and shares her secrets for achieving success in entrepreneurial pursuits. These are all tips that can work whether you're left-brained or right-brained.

• Continually evolve: "Once you think you've got something figured out in the business world — especially when your market is an online audience — expect it to change. Success has a lot to do with staying up to date with how the online market is evolving— and then evolving with it."
  
  
• Tap people you respect for advice: "I was never afraid to ask the people that I respected for their advice and their opinion about what to do along the way. It's very helpful in making sure I'm running my business well."
  
  
• Understand your weaknesses: "If there are some things you can't do well, then it might be worth putting your money into bringing someone on board that can do it for you — because that's investing in your business."
  
  
• Give honesty to get honesty: "When people ask me what's working, I openly tell them. [I learn a lot from other] artists that can do the balance of both business and creative work. I love to feed off of those people. So I put it all on the table."
  
  
• Be concerned about the masses: "If you want to do well, be very concerned about what people think. Ask everyone at the table — your regular customers, online consumers — 'What did you like? What did you not like?' Make the people happy."
  
  
• Know when you need help: "I'm often on the right side of the brain, so I need someone [in the business] that is structured and organized. I learned that lesson the hard way. I tried to juggle the business aspect and the creative aspect, and by doing both I totally crashed and burned. That was when I knew I had to have help."
  
  
• Take steps to broaden your market: "Know what all walks of life think about your product. That can help you adjust what you have. If you're trying to appeal to a wider market — which, honestly, is the goal for all businesses — then you need to [tap] a broad audience."
  
  
• Know when to trust your own intuition: "There are times when other people's feedback is crucial, but then there are times when you have to use [your] own intuition. When someone doesn't like what you do, but you like it enough to dismiss what they say, trust [yourself]. Give yourself credit to make those calls."
  
  
• Don't be thin-skinned: "One of the most important things that I've learned as a business owner is to ask for real feedback. And be prepared to have your feelings hurt. That's what you need [to move forward]."

Lynne Schur is a freelance writer who has written extensively about Teil Henley, finance and business.