Keys to Success

Gallery owner Peg Longstreth has learned from her mistakes to build a thriving business.

Peg Longstreth didn’t set out to be an art dealer, let alone a gallery owner. A former executive for nonprofit health care and social service agencies in Indiana, Longstreth eventually became disillusioned with the never-ending funding cuts.

“I got out of bed one day and I got the shakes,” she recalls, sitting at a small, cluttered reception desk in her Naples gallery on Taylor Street. “I thought, ‘I need to do something for me.”

Longstreth quit her job and took six months to contemplate her strengths and weaknesses, playing piano at private parties to pay the bills. It became clear that music, writing and art had always been her passions. In fact, all through high school and college, she bought art pieces that she enjoyed. Eventually, Longstreth and her late husband, Joseph, realized they could turn this hobby into a successful second career as private art dealers. That was 28 years ago.

“Because I was already well-known in my community it wasn’t hard for me to get clients,” says Longstreth.

While customers may have come easy, having confidence to sell did not.

“I spent hours in the mirror practicing,” she remembers. “Once I gained confidence in myself…when I stopped apologizing (for selling), things started to go well.”

Just about 10 years ago, the couple moved to Naples, opened the Longstreth-Goldberg Gallery, and nearly re-built their business from scratch.

Longstreth admits she’s made every possible mistake during her 28 years in business, and she’s happy to pass on what she’s learned.

Rule Number One for potential business owners — know why you want to do it. Are you money-driven? Power-driven? Do you want to make a difference in the world? Set your goals from the start.

Longstreth then suggests evaluating your strengths and weaknesses. What are you good at? What are you willing to sacrifice to accomplish your goals? What kind of contacts and resources do you have? Are you comfortable working long hours to succeed, and how will that affect your family, children and other relationships?

The third step is do your research. Know the marketplace, your competition, and what sets your business apart from others. Part of that research includes creating a five-year business plan, complete with earnings and loss estimates.

Finally, Longstreth says the most important advice she can give to women is ask for the sale.

Longstreth believes it’s much harder to succeed in today’s world than when she first started her business, and despite the equal rights movement, women are held to a different standard.

“I think it’s more difficult to be taken seriously,” says Longstreth of being a woman. “People think when you’re a female you shouldn’t be passionate,” or money-oriented.

Longstreth is confident of the reputation she’s earned over the years. Her success gives her freedom to represent only artists whose work she’s passionate about. Even today, she admits she still makes mistakes, but her greatest strength is recognizing those errors and learning from them.

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