Your first year as an artistpreneur

ARTISTPRENEURSHIP TIPS

Whether you’re diving straight in as a full time artist or taking it slow as a part-time artistpreneur, there are a few strategies that can help you survive your first year. In this article, I’ll go over what you need to focus on to stick with it, make a profit, and expand your brand awareness.

MY FIRST YEAR

This month (Nov 2019) marks the first anniversary of my online shop! Hooray!!

Before taking this leap, I sold my work at art shows for years and designed work for friends and family — basically I made just enough money to fund my painting hobby. I was content with this for a while. I had a full-time job as an editor at a newspaper and thought my career would be in writing, publishing, editing, journalism — something with words and a steady paycheck. 

But over time I felt like I could be doing more meaningful and more profitable work. 

I would go to an art show on the weekend and make $300 in a night, then return to my day job to earn $90 that day. As an artist, I felt like I was bringing joy and wonder into people’s homes in the form of unique imagery, but as an editor, my behind-the-scenes work went largely unnoticed — and I felt like a program such as Grammarly or anyone with an English degree could do the same job.

So in the fall of 2018, I launched A Cup of Cloudy. 

A Cup of Cloudy has helped me fulfill my need for meaning in my career. I can send beautiful paintings to anyone in the world and help fellow artists get their feet on the ground when it comes to their own artistpreneur journey. It’s blossomed from a hobby into a real business.
I kept my full-time job at the newspaper, and for a long time I was a part-time artistpreneur. 

Then, in the summer of that year, my entire department was laid off and outsourced across the country. Replaced with a cheaper, centralized option. I was in trouble. 

How would I pay my rent? My student loans? Feed my dogs?

I decided then that even if I got another full-time job, my artwork would get my full attention and be my main focus. What’s the point of settling for the traditional “safe career” option if it’s not even safe?

I decided to create my own business that I could control. 

On the anniversary of A Cup of Cloudy, I’m reflecting on my journey and everything that I had to do to get here. 

During this powerful year, I’ve learned a lot about the business of art. Here are the most important things you need to focus on when beginning your artistpreneur journey. 

ARTISTPRENEUR SURVIVAL MINDSET

The most important thing you need will be the right mindset. 

Yes, I’m serious. 

You need confidence, perseverance when things get hard, a creative flow, and discipline. 

Confidence: You need to KNOW for certain that this is exactly what you want to do — your passion for your artistic adventure needs to be strong and unbreakable. You need to KNOW that you absolutely can achieve it with patience and effort. (Spoiler alert — you can!)

Perseverance: Like Natalie Bacon says, problems are forever. You will have problems in the very beginning of your journey, and you’ll have new problems when you’re making a full-time living from your art. You must be mentally prepared to tackle these artistpreneur struggles and not let them damper your spirits. 

Creativity: Of course you need to be creative in your artwork, and bring originality and new perspectives into the world. But you’ll also need to be creative when it comes to your struggles. Running out of money? Create a quick side hustle to get back on top. Unhappy customer? Create a way to make it up to them. Feel like no one is seeing your art? Create a powerful marketing strategy. 

Discipline: You’re an artist, but you must also become a business owner. That means learning legal stuff and accounting and actually organizing your life. I hate doing these things, and so these skills take discipline for me. For you, it might be sitting down to paint a new thing each week. Develop the discipline to do important things even when you don’t feel like it. 

With a strong mindset, you can accomplish anything. Willpower can turn a nobody into a full time artistpreneur in a snap. 

MAKE ARTWORK THAT PEOPLE WANT

The harsh truth is that your illustrations could be conceptual masterpieces, but that doesn’t mean anyone will want to buy them. And if you can’t sell your work — to individuals, to stationary businesses, to galleries, to local shops, to museums, to companies with an advertising budget — you don’t really have a business model selling art. 

Don’t be discouraged by this. You don’t need to paint boring farmhouse scenes for the rest of your life, I promise. 

But you need to make sure there’s a market for your art, whether it’s super niche or super mainstream. 

If you need help finding out your target market, check out this post. It’ll help you. 

If you can’t find your market, or your market is full of people with no money, you may not have a viable one. That means you’ll have to tweak your actual artwork to move into a new niche. 

If you find yourself serving a market that loves something popular, like anime, manga, chibi-style work, great! There is absolutely a big market for that. If you find yourself in a tight niche, say middle earth fantasy illustration, that’s okay too, as long as people are interested enough to buy. Some argue that a smaller niche is better, because it’s easier to dominate a market with less competition. 

Either way, if you are making sales, you’re in some type of market, and you know people there are willing to buy.

And once you know what market you’re in, you have to start serving those people.

If you find yourself in a market you don’t like (or in no viable market at all,) you likely need to work on your art style. Learn more about art style here.

The key is to make more of what sells and make less of what sits on your shelf for months. It’s not “selling out” — it’s serving your market. If you make skeleton illustrations and they sell like hotcakes, and you also make portrait illustrations and they never sell, stop making portraits and make more skeletons. 

Trial and error is your friend 🙂

A quicker way to see what works is to just ask your followers what they like best. 

For example: Before I make new products, such as tote bags or stickers with my art on them, I will host a poll. I’ll ask my followers to pick from one of five designs. The one they’d prefer best on a tote bag is the one I make. And often, I’m surprised by their choice. The one that I love the most is almost invariably NOT the one that they choose. 

You can still make some artwork for fun, but ultimately you’ve got to produce artwork and products that people actually want to buy. 

A MARKETING PLAN

Every artistpreneur needs to spread the word about their art constantly, lest people forget that they exist. 

I know, you’re probably cringing and thinking about the word “exposure.” Yuck. But it is important I promise. Just don’t let your clients pay you in this currency and you’ll do fine.

Here are some tools for artistpreneur marketing:

Social media: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, TikTok, and other social media platforms are a gold mine for marketing if used right. Billions of people are on Facebook, and chances are some of those billions will love your work. You can post organically, or pay for advertising so that more people will see your post. While you don’t HAVE to pay for advertising, these companies are making it increasingly difficult to get seen without it. 

Art shows: Local events and national art tours are the perfect way to get your work seen. People can view it in person, get to know you, take a business card, and tell their friends about the cool artist they met earlier. You can also network with other artists who can help you with more marketing opportunities in the future. This is my favorite marketing technique since it accomplishes many goals at one time.

Traditional print advertising: Maybe I’m biased because of my background, but I believe that print isn’t dead! Paying for a page in a magazine (Hi-Frustose or Juxtapoz fans, anyone?) that your target market is reading will get thousands of new eyeballs on your work — and the right eyeballs. It can be expensive, but it’s worth every penny.

News features: Pitch your story and your artwork to a local news outlet in your area. Journalists and content writers are always looking for new and engaging content that their readers will care about. I know from experience that journalists are real people too so it’s not a big deal to give their line a ring. Give them a call or send an email and tell them about your story. They might just pick it up and write about you in your city’s newspaper!

Guest blogging: The same concept of pitching a story works for blogs and online-only content sites. Some blogs also let you write your own piece, and post it on their site as a guest post. Shoot them an email with your guest post idea and see if they’re interested in letting you write for them for free in exchange for some new artistpreneur exposure. 

Word of mouth: Other people’s recommendations are the strongest form of marketing. Whether people have something good or bad to say about you can change the image of your art business. Humans are wired to trust each other, and to warn each other of bad experiences so that others can avoid them. If people recommend your artwork to their friends because they love it, your sales will skyrocket. So tell your friends and family to share your illustrations with their coworkers, share your posts online, and put your name in the hat when opportunities arise. It’s a free way for them to support you even if they don’t have the funds to buy your work. And honestly I think it’s worth more. 

Email lists: You can avoid the trap of a social media algorithm by starting an email list. When people join your email list, you can send them things about your art, works in progress, any sales you’re having, and know that they’ll have the chance to see it. Social media sites are all using an algorithm now — a computer formula that shows people things they think they want to see, and hides the rest unless they specifically search for it. An email list avoids this problem because every email is sent to every inbox. Host your lists on sites like Convertkit or MailChimp.

Give away free art: Strategically. Give your artwork to popular businesses in town so that people will see it. Donate it to motels for their lobby, give a painting to your local coffee shop for free. Ask a doctor’s office if they’ll display some pieces in their waiting rooms, or give it to the manager of a restaurant. This may seem like a loss at first, but when you become a popular image that people recognize, you won’t want to trade that for anything. 

Host giveaways: Another form of giving art away for free. Ask people to follow you on social media or tag their friends in a post to enter a drawing for free artwork. New people will see your work in exchange for a piece of art. 

I’ve learned during my first year of being an artistpreneur that 80% of selling your art is really just marketing. Take these strategies seriously!

MAKE YOUR ART BUSINESS LEGAL

Okay, here’s the hard part. It’s not actually tough or even expensive to file the paperwork, but becoming mentally ready for this and learning the ins and outs of the law was hard for me. 

It doesn’t have to be for you. 

In this post I outline all the first steps you need to take to become a legal art business. 

Things vary from state to state, but I include resources that will tell you what to do in your specific state. 

You can’t be an artistpreneur without being an entrepreneur. Filing to be a legal business is mandatory since I know you don’t want the IRS chasing you in the future. If you plan to make a full-time living (or even a good part-time hustle) you’ve got to do this. 

MAKE A WEBSITE OR ONLINE SHOP

You need a place to sell your art on the web. 

For the first few years as a hobbyist, I sold only at art shows. I full-heartedly believe you should attend art shows as a vendor throughout your artist career, but it shouldn’t be your only way to make sales. 

Having an online shop is a game changer. You can sell to anyone in the world and the potential to grow as an artistpreneur is limitless.

I took the route of building my own website on WordPress. Like I said earlier, I wanted to build a business I had full control over. I bought my own domain, designed my own website, wrote my own product descriptions, I choose whether there are ads on my site or not, I determine my own policies and conditions of use. I don’t have to follow anyone else’s rules and no one else gets a cut. It was more complicated to start A Cup of Cloudy like this, but I think the rewards pay off in the end. You can use WordPress, Squarespace, Shopify, or any other content managing system. 

Some artists choose to host their artwork on sites like Etsy. This brings its own challenges and advantages. For example, they charge listing fees every time you put a new item in your shop. They decide how much this fee will be and can change it whenever. It’s the same concept as renting space in a physical shop, only cheaper. But they have the advantage of thousands of users searching Etsy every single day for handmade items and vintage goods. Your site may get more traffic with less effort this way.

There are also print-on-demand sites like RedBubble and Society6. Some artists have built a successful business using these sites, but I would not recommend them. I dabbled in Society6 before I had my website, and found that you have the least control over your items and make the least amount of money. The customer is charged a lot and you get a tiny cut. When I made my own products, I could sell them for cheaper, make more money from them, and they would be the same quality. I didn’t see the point. However, print-on-demand sites have their advantages too. The quality of products are great, it costs nothing to set it up except your time, and they do everything for you — deciding when to host sales, promoting things, producing the products, and building your shop space. All you do is upload your images and tweak pricing where available. 

Whichever way you choose, you need an online space to sell your art. And I don’t mean just Instagram. Every artistpreneur needs a shop where customers can enter their payment info on their own time and know they’ll receive a package in the mail in the next week or two. 

Make it easy for people to buy from you online!

MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS

I’m just going to say it flat out, I’m still bad at this.

But I know that it’s so so so important. 

Using tools such as Google Analytics, Instagram Insights, and your own shop sales records can help you keep track of your numbers. By numbers I mean traffic to your website, gross sales and net profits, how many people are seeing your social media posts, how many people are subscribing to and actually opening your emails, and the like.

Everyone starts at zero. That’s what makes it so rewarding to see the progress you make as that first year goes by. I went from zero to 200 email subscribers. From zero to a few thousand dollars in online sales. I found cheaper ways to make the same art products to boost my net profit.

These are the numbers that matter to an artistpreneur. To a business owner. To an independent creative. They need to matter to you.

So keep track of how far you have come so at the end of the first year, you can see what you did right, what you did wrong, and change accordingly during the next year. 

I’m so grateful that I decided to start this journey.

When will your first year anniversary be???