Comments on: The 7th Step to Achieving Income Goals

By: Alyson Stanfield

Mon, 31 Jan 2011 03:58:46 +0000

Nicole: Did you do the spreadsheet as a result of reading about it here? Regardless, I’m very happy you did it for yourself.

]]>

By: Nicole Royer

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:45:10 +0000

Creating a spreadsheet of my income goals by month for 2011 was the best jump start I could take for my financial Art goals this year. It helped me to put things into perspective & realize that I need to get cracking on looking for new shows & opportunities. It also reminded me to look at past events’ failures & successes. Now I have all of my goals in one spreadsheet including personal, Art, financial and I can try to manage them all together since I am living the life of full-time employee at someone else’s company as well as Artist, wife, home-owner, etc. Life is all about time management since we only get one in this body.

]]>

By: Alyson Stanfield

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:13:03 +0000

In reply to Leanne.

Leanne: This is awesome! I’m so glad you crunched the numbers. It is eye-opening and your experience is evidence.
Now, how can we get others to do it?

]]>

By: Leanne

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:46:04 +0000

Hi Alyson,
Thanks so much for this seven step process. I don’t have a specific income goal, just more sales than last year! Hopefully many more!
When I did the spreadsheet of what I sold each month and how many of each, I was very suprised. I am a textile designer, so my work is different depending on the seasons. It’s easy to get caught up with what sold in the fall/winter, since that’s the most recent, but right now I’m trying to plan on the spring/summer, so this made it really easy to look back at last year.
Crunching the numbers really made a difference. It is so easy to get emotional about your work and what you would like to be producing. When a favorite piece or several from a series sell, it can often be more rewarding emotionally than financially. When it comes to the numbers, you’re getting the raw truth. And the truth of the matter is that product lines that I spent more time on sometimes sold less (percentage wise) than those I did not invest as much time into. This was a real eye opener for me, because now I know which lines to enhance and which to scrap, which was not at all in line with my expectations.
Now that I plan to invest more time into these successful lines, I’m expecting my sales to increase exponentially, because I’ll be planning my time wiser (resulting in more works) and thus selling more works, because these lines were so popular. Thanks for helping me put emotions aside and to be more objective. I think it will generate more income in 2011!

]]>

By: Donna Iona Drozda

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:00:41 +0000

Hi Alyson
I’m following this through and it’s opening my eyes…I have multiple income streams from my studio however the last three years (I now see) there has been a drought building.
It’s time to seed the clouds and so the rain dance.
2011 is the year to get a grip…for the past 24 months I maintained a dilgent work schedule and have felt that ‘any minute the tide will turn and come back in.
I have weathered many a financial storm over the years.
NOW.
TODAY.
I need help and support to get a handle on the appropriate changes to make.
Your contribution in this area is a huge assist.
Thank you.

]]>

By: Alana Hastings

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 17:27:41 +0000

Having to do the analized work is really hard for me. I have my income in my receipt books and also on my computer but not broken down there. In my receipt books I did put which ones were teaching art, cards, and paintings. I did date them. I also have one computer that I share so I can’t put in a full day on analizing. Anyway it might be exscue. Take care

]]>

By: Carol McIntyre

Thu, 20 Jan 2011 00:17:24 +0000

In reply to Alyson Stanfield.

Oops! For some reason I thought you liked spreadsheets. Oh, I know the analysis still needs to be done, but don’t know how, nor want to know how, to create a spread sheet. So I will start with my QuickBoooks report. For example, I just realized that my “Original Painting” category in QuickBooks needs to be broken down between commissioned and non-commissioned work. Back to the drawing board I go!
This is good, but head hurting stuff to do. 🙂

]]>

By: Patricia C Vener

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 23:52:07 +0000

Alyson always makes me think.
Well, I like the other work but not as much. I’d like it better if it sold – Hahahaha! What I am thinking, though, is to work on tutorials and patterns which are more likely to result in smaller works and of course I have to make prototypes which would then be sold as well. The nice thing about tutorials (and patterns) is that I only have to do the hard work once and then I can sell them over and over again. What’s not to love, eh? My plan is to then combine groups of tutorials into one or more ebooks. This would do nicely for an income base which would then allow me to work on both art bead weaving and my paintings (which have another kind of reprintable potential through such venues as Imagekind and zazzle).

]]>

By: Alyson Stanfield

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:54:30 +0000

In reply to Patricia C Vener.

Patricia: That sounds appropriate in this instance. Balance. You must keep making the work that you want to be known for.
Is there a way to love the other work, too?

]]>

By: Alyson Stanfield

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 22:53:00 +0000

In reply to Carol McIntyre.

Carol: What in the world makes you think I love them? I don’t love any part of this. What I do love is the visual and the concreteness of the process.
I have QuickBooks, too, but just because you’re keeping your data together doesn’t mean you have done the analysis.

]]>