Meet Amiel Cocco | Art Dealer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amiel Cocco and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amiel, how do you think about risk?
If you are an employee, you are at risk no matter your position, what you do or how safe you feel today. Risk is also necessary for any entrepreneurial endeavor. So, you might as well take a leap of faith and go for it, whatever your dream is.

Now, excessive risk will take a toll on your mental, social and physical health, so you can take provisions to minimize risk or have a risk mitigation strategy.

A couple of examples from my own life:

1. After working comfortably for over ten years at a packaging company, one day the plant shut down. That day I lost my job, and I would have to leave the country soon because I was employed under a working visa that only allowed me to work for my sponsor company. I could not get another job under that visa and my wife was not allowed to work. Also, we had put a huge down payment towards our dreamhouse a couple of years ago, but it was 2010 now and the housing market had crashed. We were upside down with the house. It was stressful to think that we needed to take care of our two young children under those circumstances.

Fortunately, we had plan on mitigation strategies. We had no credit card debt and no car payments. Our only debt was the house. We had also set up a savings account that could keep us afloat for about a year if we were austere. We turned the house back to the bank and lost a lot a money, but at least we were able to go to our native country with no debt and we were able to land on our feet.

2. Years passed and I wanted to own a business. Before leaving my job as a teacher, I made sure the company I wanted to start would be profitable. That meant that I had to work two jobs at the same time. During the day I would go to the elementary school and teach pre-k, and in the evenings I would work developing a marketing strategy, social media channels, and product creation. I kept working my daytime job and growing my enterprise until I was making double in my business than as a teacher. This was a great start because it helped me save money and have peace of mind that I was not risking our financial stability. After a couple of years doing it, I was 100% sure that the business was going to take off and only then I left the teaching position.

Risk is necessary and risk mitigation strategies like getting out of debt and having savings to keep you afloat for a year are not easy to achieve. However, by doing it this way you will have piece of mind and a more stable transition from being an employee to being a business owner. It is better to take the necessary time to develop things and have a financial cushion. You might feel desperate to quit your job and start your own business, but beware that no matter how great an idea you have, it will take time to start making profit and you probably have financial obligations. Having a working partner while you start a new business could be another great way to mitigate risk.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My father is a great artist with no business sense. He had won international art competitions all over the world, exhibited his art in Argentina, Spain, Mexico, Japan and the US. He was an excellent art teacher at university level, but he could not make a living off his art alone.

I was able to market him and inserted him in a unique niche and now we both enjoy financial independence.
The road was not easy and we knocked on many doors before anyone would give us an opportunity. It was mostly closed doors in our face for about twenty years. But if you believe in yourself and you are certain you have a unique talent or product, then keep marketing, taking different approaches, and talking to different people. My dad thought that if a prospect was not sure about buying a piece, we needed to immediately lower prices. My philosophy is the opposite, I don’t negotiate prices, I believe I represent a great artist and I take my job seriously, so I charge accordingly.

Now, we even had the United Kingdom’s Royal Mail commissioning art for their stamps and collectors from all over the world want an original Cocco in their collection. Museum and galleries call me all the time to try to schedule a show.

Again, it might sound like a dream life, and it is now. But remember that I spent twenty years working in failure, I believed in a dream while I was in the middle of a nightmare. It took even more time for my father who is 85 years old now and not until recently he was able to be properly recognized. He too believed in himself despite so much opposition.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
When my friends come to town I take them to downtown Dallas to look at the architecture. Other places we visit: Dealey Plaza, where president Kennedy was assassinated.
Reunion Tower
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas Arboretum
Nasher Sculpture Garden
At&T Discovery District
Bone Daddy’s BBQShoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Shoutout to my supporting and adventurous wife. I knew she would make a great wife when she jumped holding hands with me, from the highest diving platform at a swimming pool. Note she did not know how to swim and I am afraid of heights. She’s been my support for almost two decades.

Website: www.jorgecocco.com

Instagram: @sacrocubism