Learn why facing your numbers feels so scary and how a simple monthly review, built around a handful of high-level numbers, shows you what's working in your art business and what isn't. Then your next step is based on data instead of the next idea you see online.
The post This monthly review keeps your art business honest (279) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Are your sales where you want them to be?
Maybe, like many of the artists who become my clients, they have slowed down. Or stopped altogether.
I’m asked to help my artist-clients troubleshoot the slow sales, and sometimes they want a quick answer. Post more on Instagram. Send more emails.
I won’t do that. I refuse to tell people what to do if I don’t know what they want.
First I need to understand their goals. What do they really want, and why is it important to them? How much energy are they willing to put into it? Then I’m going to ask about their numbers.
I don’t expect you to know your numbers off the top of your head, but I do want you to know where to find them quickly. In episode 279 of The Art Biz, I talk about why artists avoid their numbers and how to make looking at them part of your routine.
Listen
Why business numbers feel scary
I’ve been in business long enough to know that facing reality can be scary.
That’s what numbers are. They’re real. They’re attached to something measurable, and they tell a story you might not like. And they get downright frightening when they’re attached to your art and your art business.
Maybe you’re afraid you’ll get depressed when you see them. Or that low numbers reflect on the quality of your art. Or that you’ll see clearly how high your expenses are and something will have to change. (You can’t unsee the numbers once you see them.)
Even good numbers can be scary. Great results from one project or body of work might be telling you to pivot and take advantage of the moment. But you question whether or not this is the right move.
So you ignore them until tax time because ignoring them skirts change and at least keeps hope alive.
I beg you not to wait. Ignoring your numbers only makes your anxiety worse, because you know they’re hanging over your head. As I often tell you, you are the CEO of your art business. If you’re trying to make a profit, you pay attention along the way.
Remember this: Numbers are neutral. They’re objective data points. They don’t care how you feel. They just exist.
Which numbers to track
If they’re just data, the obvious question is which data? Not knowing what to look for is one more reason you might be avoiding this work.
Start with the two that are on the top of my list with every client.
Money
You know the formula: sales minus expenses equals profit. Track your sales and expenses every month.
Then break sales down by income source, whether that’s venues or types of art like commissions, reproductions, and originals. What was selling?
How many people are on your list? Is it growing or shrinking? Most email lists are shrinking these days, which is okay because there are other ways to stay in touch.
Look at your open rate and click-through rate. A low open rate affects your deliverability all around, so perhaps it’s time to clean your list.
If you only email once a month, 90-day trends will tell you more. And if there are 2,000 people on your list but you aren’t using it, what good is it?
After those two, consider numbers from your:
- Website :: Unique visitors and top content.
- Social followers :: This isn’t something I use to diagnose sales, but can be useful for seeing whether your following is growing and what content is working.
- Whatever else you’re trying to grow :: Submissions, proposals, students enrolled, personal outreach. In case I haven’t said it enough lately, I’m big on personal outreach because it moves the needle more than any amount of broadcasts.
Whatever it is you’re trying to grow, track it.
What you pay attention to grows, so ignoring your numbers is stunting your growth.
Formalize your regular review
Get in the habit of checking in with your numbers. It can be part of a broader business review.
How often depends on your level of activity. If you’re part-time or just starting out, quarterly might be enough. If you’re very busy, do it monthly.
Formalize it because it doesn’t count if you’re trying to keep this in your head. Use a notebook or a spreadsheet so you can compare month after month.
I did this every single month for years. I had a whole binder of monthly check-ins because I knew what one of my coaches told me was true: What you pay attention to grows.
Keep it high level
It’s tempting to add more to your review. To track more. But I caution you against that because it becomes onerous.
You want a high-level picture of the health of your art business to use as a baseline.
Numbers are only part of the review. Look at the activity behind them. What was going on, or not going on, to get you those numbers?
Get curious. “I sold more of this. Why is that?” Or, “My click-through rate plummeted. What happened there?”
When you know what’s behind your numbers, you’ll know what to adjust. Your next step will be based on something (data), not the next great idea you see some marketing person posting online.
These are your numbers. It’s data only you have. You’re the CEO of your art business, so don’t put it off.
The post This monthly review keeps your art business honest (279) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>This conversation explores why artists develop allergies to financial conversations, how negative beliefs about wealth prevent fair compensation, and two practical strategies for building confidence with your numbers.
The post Healing Your Money Allergy with Hannah Cole (256) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>When Hannah Cole sat down with her dad’s accountant expecting to learn about quarterly taxes, the first words out of his mouth were: “When are you gonna get a real job?”
Encounters like this are why so many artists develop what Hannah calls a “money allergy.” Financial conversations become the place where your work gets dismissed, where you’re flooded with shame, where you have to defend your right to exist.
But we’re battling more than just the naysayers.
Many of us carry subconscious beliefs that money itself is corrupting. That having more would makes us greedy or compromise our values. When that mindset sets in, you won’t advocate for higher prices. You won’t negotiate fair compensation. You won’t ask for what you deserve.
These realizations and experiences are why Hannah educated herself and, now, as a tax expert, helps other artists navigate their finances. Without the professional jargon. In this conversation, Hannah shares:
- How to reframe money as a neutral tool that amplifies your intentions (rather than corrupts them)
- Her ritual for making bookkeeping pleasant: favorite tea, good music, clean desk, and one tiny goal
- Why opening a separate bank account just for your art is so important, and …
- That you don’t need an LLC or business account—a personal checking account designated for your art practice works perfectly
Listen if you’re ready for a money mindset refresh.
Listen
Hannah’s Suggested Action for You
Set up one pleasant bookkeeping session. Just you, your favorite beverage, and a goal to make one entry. Notice how it feels when you remove the dread and replace it with intention.
Hannah Cole Quotes
“You start to develop an allergy over time. You avoid it and start to think, oh, money is a place where I am made to feel terrible, made to feel shame, made to feel like my contribution to society is not valuable.”
“I’m not asking anybody to go worship money or think that money is the end goal. It’s not, but it is a tool, right?”
“If you have that sort of in your subconscious, are you going to have that difficult conversation with your gallerist about raising your prices? Are you going to push for better pay from an exhibition or more grant money? Probably not.”
“What I want you to do is make yourself a beautiful cup of tea or glass of Chardonnay, whatever the thing is, putting on your favorite music, maybe even lighting a candle. Make it as pleasant as you can and reward yourself with a tiny goal.”
“Once you’ve made the first entry, second one’s easy.”
“ I think artists are the solution. We are the people who move the culture, and culture eats policy for breakfast.”
Hannah’s Money Mindset class
Mentioned
About Hannah Cole
Hannah Cole is a tax expert and long-time working artist who specializes in helping self-employed creatives take control of the financial side of their careers. Through accessible tax and money education, she’s helped tens of thousands of self-employed people skill up without the jargon or judgment.
Hannah is the founder of Sunlight Tax (and the eponymous podcast) and the author of Taxes for Humans: Simplify Your Taxes and Change the World When You’re Self-Employed.
Follow Hannah on Instagram: @sunlighttax
The post Healing Your Money Allergy with Hannah Cole (256) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>She breaks down her income streams, shares her five-year vision for gallery representation, and explains why she wants her son to grow up watching her do work she loves while staying financially stable.
The post Being the Artist I Want My Son to See with Stephanie Brown (248) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>When Stephanie Brown’s son is old enough to answer “What does your mom do?”, she wants him to see someone building a sustainable life around work they love.
In part two of our conversation, Stephanie gets specific about the day-to-day reality of running an art practice: the money, the decisions, and how motherhood changed everything.
Stephanie is transparent with her income breakdown: 20-25% consulting and speaking, 20% art sales, 20% workshops, and 35-40% grants. Knowing these numbers lets her make better decisions about what to grow and what to let go.
Her current approach includes:
- 5-year goal of being a full-time artist, obtaining gallery representation, and participating in international exhibitions
- Saying no to shows that don’t align with where she’s headed
- Consistent newsletters and direct outreach
- If forced to choose one income stream? Speaking, because it takes the pressure off making sales from her art
When Stephanie became a mother 17 months ago, people expected her to slow down. She accomplished more. Being home put her in more of a creative space, and the new demands made her realize she no longer had time to “goose around.”
She wants her son to see her doing work she loves while being financially stable—not so he’ll become an artist, but so he knows it’s possible to build a life around your passion.
That’s the example she’s setting.
Listen
STEPHANIE’S ACTION FOR YOU
Make a list of the top ten things you’re most scared to do in your art career. Then do the scariest thing on that list.
Maybe it’s reaching out directly to a gallery you admire. Maybe it’s raising your prices. Maybe it’s applying to that prestigious residency you’ve been bookmarking for years. Maybe it’s finally having an honest conversation about money with your partner or family.
The scary thing is usually the thing that will move you forward the most.
Stephanie Brown Quotes
“[A child is a] strain on the finances, that’s for sure. It’s just another thing to pay for. But for my art practice, it’s really pushed me harder.”
“Things that I’ve accomplished [since my pregnancy] is crazy. Like I’ve done so much.”
“I’m feeling my time left more. That’s just the reality of it, because it’s one thing to celebrate your own birthdays, but now you’re celebrating the birthdays of somebody else that depends on you.”
“When he’s old enough to articulate, what does your mom do? What do I want him to say? And I feel like these are the years where I get to hone what it is that he’s gonna end up saying. I wanna be a living, breathing embodiment of that.”
“There’s a freedom, I think, to seeing adults in your life do what they want to do and do what brings them joy and be financially stable.”
“I am more focused on myself. And being more focused on myself has been more fruitful, because I’m spending more time writing newsletters and reflecting and just talking about what I wanna talk about and sharing what I wanna share.”
Related Episodes
These episodes touch on juggling parenthood with an art career.
About Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown is an Atlanta based photographer and interactive installation artist. She is also the host of IN BTWN ARTIST, a podcast about navigating sustainable creative careers. Her conceptual artwork explores how people of African descent construct their identities through social, cultural, and systematic confines.
Stephanie identifies as an interdisciplinary artist interweaving mediums to narrate a greater contextual story rooted in historical research and contributes contemporary perspectives that empower people of African descent to discover themselves and take control of who they choose to be and become.
Follow Stephanie on Instagram: @createdbrown and @stephaniesquared_
The post Being the Artist I Want My Son to See with Stephanie Brown (248) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>She also shares how she's built a sustainable art career by treating it like a business from day one, leveraging transferable skills, and setting non-negotiable rules for her practice.
The post The Strategic Artist: Zero Debt Art Degrees with Stephanie Brown (247) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Here’s a belief I encounter constantly that might sound familiar: that being strategic about money somehow makes you less of an artist. That planning ahead or making calculated career decisions means you’re selling out.
Stephanie Brown proves otherwise.
The photographer and interactive installation artist graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design debt-free, secured a fully funded MFA at University of Michigan, and has spent the past 7 years building a sustainable art practice with intentional, strategic thinking.
In this conversation, which is the first of a 2-part interview, Stephanie shares exactly how she made it work, and why treating your art career like a business from day one doesn’t diminish your creativity. It amplifies it.
An Intentional Path
Stephanie didn’t leave her education to chance. She applied early to SCAD, worked relentlessly for scholarships, and made her first year completely free. Then she took general education classes at community college during summers to save thousands of dollars—and ended up graduating a year early.
For her MFA, she only applied to fully funded programs. The best advice she received? Only pursue graduate school when you know what you want to say to the world as an artist.
[ Suggested read: “The Art School Debt Trap” by Damien Davis for Hyperallergic. ]
After graduation, she continued thinking strategically. She:
- Set non-negotiable rules for herself: at least one residency and two exhibitions per year so she could always say “I’m an exhibiting artist.”
- Earned certifications in project management during the pandemic to increase her earning power.
- Leveraged transferable skills from managing art project budgets ($5,000-$50,000) to land higher-paying roles.
- Transitioned to remote work and never looked back, eliminating the commute gave her energy and time for her studio practice.
The result? A career built on intention rather than hope. Financial stability that supports her art rather than draining it. And the freedom to make the work she wants to make.
Create your own non-negotiable parameters for your art practice. Stephanie’s are at least one residency and two exhibitions per year.
What would your rules be?
Stephanie Brown Quotes
“I know that a private school, our education is expensive and I wanna make sure that I’m maximizing the dollars being here. So I did not take any non-art classes at SCAD.”
“You either get a master’s degree for one of two reasons. Either 1, because you need your terminal degree and you wanna be a professor or 2 because you want to utilize your master’s program to launch your career.”
“My name is Stephanie Brown and I’m a full-time artist. I pay my bills with my art practice. That has always been the goal.”
“I started coming up with rules for myself, like one art residency a year, at least two exhibitions a year. Different things to ensure that … if I met you on whatever day I could say I’m an exhibiting artist.”
“This is how people do it. This is how I can be an artist and not be drained. Like just the commute alone kills you.”
“I can tell you about artwork that I’ve done (with) $10,000 budgets, $5,000 budgets, $50,000 budgets. I had to manage all of that for myself and my art practice. And these are the transferable skills that a lot of artists don’t realize they have.”
About Stephanie Brown
Stephanie Brown is an Atlanta based photographer and interactive installation artist. She is also the host of IN BTWN ARTIST, a podcast about navigating sustainable creative careers. Her conceptual artwork explores how people of African descent construct their identities through social, cultural, and systematic confines.
Stephanie identifies as an interdisciplinary artist interweaving mediums to narrate a greater contextual story rooted in historical research and contributes contemporary perspectives that empower people of African descent to discover themselves and take control of who they choose to be and become.
Follow Stephanie on Instagram: @createdbrown and @stephaniesquared_
The post The Strategic Artist: Zero Debt Art Degrees with Stephanie Brown (247) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>In this episode, Jeff shares insights on organizing studio tours, highlights the benefits for participating artists (and which artists do well during open studios), and emphasizes the importance of self-marketing. We touch on effective marketing strategies (he likes a catalog), his budget and associated costs, and more.
The post Selling Directly to Collectors at Open Studios with Jeff Schaller (ep. 195) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Thank heavens for people who organize events that encourage art buying and collecting in real life!
My guest for this episode of The Art Biz is one of those people. Artist Jeff Schaller started a county-wide open studio tour in Pennsylvania at the height of the recession out of need.
Somehow, while remaining committed to his studio practice, Jeff has created this other job for himself because he believes that artists can do well by connecting directly with people—potential fans, buyers, and collectors—who visit them in their studios.
The Chester County Studio Tour is still growing and supporting the participating artists.
In this conversation, Jeff and I talk about:
- What it takes to organize and put on a successful studio tour.
- Which artists do well in studio tours—because not everyone is cut out for it.
- Why it’s important to do plenty of marketing yourself and not rely solely on the organizer of a studio tour. (I’ll add: You should never rely solely on the organizer of any event to promote it. You have more at stake.)
- His marketing strategies, costs, and lots more.
There are, of course, ramifications around opening your studio to visitors, supporters, and strangers, but we’ll save that for another episode.
Listen
Scroll down to watch the video interview.
Mentioned
- Chester County Studio Tour
- David Oleski
- Dirty Martini mixed media on paper
Highlights
01:30 The birth of county studio tour
05:04 The concept of county collectors
07:16 Growth and structure of the studio tour
08:19 Funding and business model
15:46 Challenges and realities of organizing studio tours
19:01 Application process for artists
20:44 Engaging gallery owners and art directors
21:21 Secrets to successful studio tours
22:08 Marketing strategies for artists
22:45 The importance of social media presence
26:12 Navigating the studio tour process
30:53 Balancing art and business
34:09 Jeff Schaller’s artistic journey
37:12 Jeff imagines having other studio tours use the platform he has built
Jeff Schaller Quotes
“I love sales. I love meeting people and just making that connection.”
“If your photo’s good and you do good artwork … Be professional, be friendly, and be enthusiastic about your artwork … They sell.”
“Basically, I’m trying to save [artists] from themselves.”
“I’m trying to try to save the art world one artist at a time.“
“You don’t need my problems on your wall, you have your own. So have fun stuff on your wall.”
“My advice is patience, organization, and learn Excel.”
Related Episodes
These artists concentrate on self-sales.
About My Guest
Jeff Shaller comes from a humble upbringing in what some would call “the country.” After graduating somewhere in the middle of his high school class, he left the countryside to attended Beaver College. He graduated with a graphic design degree after the painting professor told him there was no hope in being a professional painter. Fast forward 30 years, married, three kids, he quit his corporate gig designing webpages and hasn’t looked back.
His paintings have been on the hit TV show Friends and on Oprah. His work can be seen in Chester County, Pennsylvania watering holes such as Iron Hill Brewery, and in galleries here and abroad.
Follow the County Studio Tour on Instagram at @countystudiotour
Follow Jeff on Instagram: @jeff_schaller
The post Selling Directly to Collectors at Open Studios with Jeff Schaller (ep. 195) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>In this conversation, Monique shares her income streams, how she uses her email list, and how she was motivated to do a Black Friday sale after working on her money plan with me and noticing that her gallery sales were down for the year.
The post Smart strategies for artist income growth with Monique Carr (193) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>It’s possible to make more money and find a little more peace of mind by making a few tweaks in how you approach your art business.
My guest for this episode of The Art Biz tells you how she has done it.
When Monique Carr reached out to me a couple of years ago for a private coaching partnership, she had just adopted this motto for her art business:
Half the work, twice the money, and have FUN in whatever I do.
It’s this brilliant sentence that guides our partnership and her everyday decisions.
During our conversation, Monique shares:
- The breakdown of her income streams and how they have evolved.
- How she uses her email list for students and collectors.
- Why she was motivated to do a Black Friday sale after working on her money plan with me and noticing that her gallery sales were down for the year.
I love how Monique takes action without complaining. She figures out what needs to be done and does it.
Listen
Scroll down to watch the video interview.
Mentioned
- FASO websites
- Teachable teaching platform
- Essentials for Artist Success courses
Highlights
01:50 Monique’s guiding motto for avoiding burnout
04:05 Monique’s background and the start of online teaching
08:23 The breakdown of Monique’s current income streams
09:18 Success with her first self-sales event on Black Friday weekend
12:34 Balancing studio time and business
18:11 Monique’s biggest accomplishment in the last few years
20:52 Adding value to her courses and increasing the prices
30:04 Monique’s daily routine and time management practices
33:13 What’s on the horizon for Monique
Quotes
“I was working like seven days a week and crazy hours. I was just so tired and I felt that I was not making enough money and I was getting frustrated. Then I decided to say, wait a minute, you have to fix that.”—Monique
“When you have an evergreen course, you have to keep reminding people that it’s out there. It doesn’t have a start date and an end date. It is constant.”—Alyson
“I increase the price every time I [add value to a course].”—Monique
“I’m not going to send to a collector [information] about my online course. I don’t want to bother people the wrong way. So I want to make sure that I target the people for my newsletter the right way.”—Monique
“[On my calendar] there’s a square and I put painting day. Don’t bother me, nobody can call me. It’s my day, so this is the only thing I’m going to do. It’s because I do the planning sessions with you.”—Monique
Related Episodes
Listen to these other episodes with a money focus.
About My Guest
Monique Carr is a contemporary painter and instructor. After growing up in Montreal, Canada and spending 10 years in the Cayman Islands, Monique and her husband made East Tennessee home in 1999.
Monique worked as a graphic artist for over 20 years prior to becoming a full-time fine artist. Monique says, “I am blessed to be represented by several galleries and I get to teach in-person and online to artists from all over the world!” The style that emerges in Monique’s work bursts with energy as she combines expressive colors and intriguing textures.
Follow her on Instagram @moniquecarrtist
The post Smart strategies for artist income growth with Monique Carr (193) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>This is from Parker Stevenson's interview with me on The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance podcast.
The post The Art Biz ep. 161: My Money Odyssey and the Evolution of Art Biz Success appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>We all have a money story. Some are more interesting than others.
Maybe you made your riches and gambled it away for an MFA. Or you grew up in a house where thrifty was the modus operandi. Or you had to save for years in order to put yourself through school.
My money story will not keep you on the edge of your seat, but perhaps it’s something to which you can relate.
In this episode of The Art Biz, I share my money story from an interview with Parker Stevenson of The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance.
It’s the money story of an average person from a middle income family.
You will hear me talk about …
- How my dad taught me to balance my checkbook (and how it was radically different from my mother’s suggestion).
- How I learned to ask for money by collecting donations for charities as a little girl.
- Setting the curve in my accounting classes at the University of Wyoming (which, by the way, I’m still waiting on some kind of badge for. Or at least an invitation into the accounting 101 hall of fame at UW).
- Gaming the system at the U.S. Senate credit union, to get cash because I knew the checks I was writing would take 8 days to process.
- How little money I had when I quit my museum job to start my business.
I also mention my income accelerator, a process I developed and am teaching live in the upcoming workshop The Money Plan (no longer available).
Before we started, I told Parker I didn’t think I had much to say. I guess I was wrong. I hope you enjoy this conversation from The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance.
Listen
Quotes
“My mom volunteered to collect money for charities on the block, and she volunteered to do it because she sent her daughter out to get the money.”—Alyson Stanfield
“I think probably those skills came into play when I worked in museums and wrote grants and asked for donations for the shows that we wanted to put on.”—Alyson Stanfield
“If I have something that I believe in, I don’t have a problem asking for money from people.”—Alyson Stanfield
“I didn’t want to sell art after 9/11. And I didn’t know how to run a business because I’d been working in art museums for 10 years.”—Alyson Stanfield
“You were definitely way ahead of the game in terms of just seeing the opportunity with the internet in a way where, again, I was in college in 2003, and I never would have even guessed you could do any of the things that you said you did in your business. I wasn’t even aware that these were possibilities.”—Parker Stevenson
About The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance
The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance explores the financial journeys of some of the most successful online educators, thought leaders, influencers, and service providers in the online space. Each week, host Parker Stevenson sits down with a current Evolved Finance client to talk about their relationship with money and how their mindset has changed as their business has grown.
Look for their podcast here or by finding this logo wherever you listen.
Parker Stevenson is the Chief Business Officer at Evolved Finance, an accounting firm that specializes in helping online entrepreneurs to build more profitable and financially stable online businesses.
For over 8 years, Parker has been advising some of the top coaches, course creators, influencers, and thought leaders on how to make more sound business decisions using their financial data. Before joining Evolved Finance, Parker spent five years at adidas America where he became the US merchandising manager for golf footwear.
Follow Evolved Finance on Instagram: @EvolvedFinance
The post The Art Biz ep. 161: My Money Odyssey and the Evolution of Art Biz Success appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>In this episode, I discuss why you might want to diversify beyond originals, how to categorize your income sources, and how to analyze where the money has come from in the past so you can plan for the future.
The post How do artists make money? (159) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Today I want to start a conversation about one of those things that can get in the way of feeling successful: Money.
This isn’t an easy topic for any of us to discuss. It’s not even easy for me, even though I lead the Art Biz Success learning programs and community.
I went to art school—starting as a painting major. Eventually I got my master’s degree in art history and worked in art museums. The focus was always on the art. Not the market.
But when I began helping artists a couple of decades ago, I really wanted to help artists succeed—however they defined that success. And for many artists, making money is necessary to keep going.
My focus for this episode of The Art Biz is income sources for artists.
Where does the money come from?
I discuss:
- Why you might want to branch out and sell more than originals.
- How to categorize your income sources so that you can better understand the possibilities.
- How to analyze where the money has come from in the past so you can plan for the future.
This is also a 3-part video series on my YouTube channel. I’ve embedded those episodes below.
[Note: The Money Plan workshop is no longer available.]
Listen
Mentioned and Of Interest
- The Money Plan workshop is no longer available
- How to Price Your Art free report
- Increasing Self-Sales by 400% with Sarah Becktel (ep. 158)
- Transforming Your Ideas into Multiple Income Streams with Helen Hiebert (ep. 18)
- Increasing Art Sales with Online Events with Patricia Griffin (ep. 97)
- You might also read why juggling multiple income sources might be a bad move.
Watch The Videos
1
How Do Artists Make Money?
2
Categorizing Your Income
3
Analyzing Your Numbers
Alyson Quotes
“Any plan for increasing your art income begins with identifying revenue categories in a way that makes the most sense for you, the work you do, and the way you want your life to be.”
“There is nothing wrong with having a day job. It will ease some of the pressure to make money from your art.”
“You must look out for yourself, which includes attending to your financial well-being.”
“When you do this work and take the time to really dive into the numbers—on your own or with me in The Money Plan—a story will emerge. You will discover things you didn’t know before.”
“The numbers tell a story.”
Related Episodes
These episodes include art income other than sales of original work.
The post How do artists make money? (159) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>It involves 4 steps that begin with a realistic look at where you are right now and projecting based on your activity, goals, and lifestyle. The secret sauce is your motivation to work the plan.
The post A realistic strategy for increasing your income (99) appeared first on Art Biz Success.
]]>Don’t be content to break even when running an art business. You need money to survive and shouldn’t be ashamed to admit it. Everyone needs an income to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.
That means you need to make a profit. You need for your expenses to be lower—far lower—than your income.
One of the best things you can do to improve your chance of success in any area is to create a plan. If you’d like to make more money—especially if you’re trying to make a living from your art—you need an income-accelerating plan.
I’m going to tell you exactly what that looks like and how to go through the process. I think it’s helpful to start with an income-accelerating plan before you make other plans. It helps to know how much you need and want to make and then you can select the projects to support that goal.
If you’ve been listening awhile, you know that one of my super powers is to help artists make plans. This is something that I do best in my private consulting.
So what if you’re hyper focused on profitability and need that income-boosting plan before you join me in the planning sessions. How do you do it?
I developed a process called, conveniently, the Income Accelerator. We actually make a plan to increase income.
I know what you’re thinking because I’ve heard it many times before. It goes something like this: How can I plan for more money when I don’t know when my art will sell or who will buy it?
I get it. You make a plan because you’re the CEO of your art business and that’s what CEOs do. They make business projections. They have to in order to attract buy-in to their products and services.
This is particularly important when you need to make a living from your art.
While you don’t have any control over results, you do have control over the actions you take (or don’t take) to get the results. Take charge, like I said back in episode 96. Be the CEO of your art business and of your life.
Here are the 4 Steps to accelerate your income.
Music by Wildermiss
Step 1: Find Out Where the Money Came From
In order to boost your income, you have to know what it is currently, what it was in the past, and where it all came from. This requires a little detective work.
For the purposes of this exercise, you’re going to focus on your gross sales. Ready to get real?
Gather your sales figures for the past 3 years. You can use a different time period, but this is my suggested starting point.
What were your streams of income during this period? These are the sources of your income and vary from artist to artist.
Examples of income streams include:
- Selling original works
- Selling reproductions
- Teaching
- Licensing
- Merchandising
You will still have multiple income streams even if you sell only original works or make all of your money from teaching. If you only sell original work, your income streams might be categorized according to venues. For example, arts festivals, personal website, social media, and galleries.
Likewise, if you sell original work only online, you might break down your income streams into how people found you. This could mean your income categories are your blog, Facebook, and Instagram.
If you only make money from teaching, you would break down the income according to classes and workshops.
Now for some calculations. (Warning! Math is going to be involved, but you can do it.)
What are the sales totals for each income stream during the selected time period? When you have that number, determine the percentage of each in relation to your total sales. That is the dollar amount in sales for that income stream divided by the total sales.
For example, if your gross income for one of the given years was $10,000 and $1,000 of that came from teaching, that would mean that 10% of your gross income (1,000 divided by 10,000) was from teaching. Go ahead and figure out the percentages of each income stream for the records you are working with.
Step 2: Analyze Your Numbers
This means spending time looking at the numbers in front of you: sales totals and percentages of each income stream compared to the total.
Whereas step 1 required detective work and a lot of digging, this step requires patience and openness. They might not make sense at first, but I guarantee that a story will emerge as they become familiar.
Here are some questions you might want answered.
What are the trends you see across the months and years?
What events happened to lead to your results? In other words, did your income increase when you had more in-person shows or when you doubled down on online sales?
What surprised you?
Where do you see room for growth?
Step 3: Set Your Income Goal
This is where those CEO projections I mentioned earlier come into play.
Again, you don’t have control over the outcome, but you do have control over your actions. You have control over how big you think or how small you stay.
After gathering your numbers and analyzing them during the first two steps, you aren’t pulling a number out of a hat when you set an income goal. Your goal, be it for 3, 6, or 12 months, is based in data from the past and thoughtful consideration of what is possible in the future. It’s realistic.
As you were analyzing the numbers in step 2, did you discover that you’re naturally increasing your gross income 10% every year? If so, set an income goal of a 20% or 30% increase for this time period because it’s a stretch, but not out of the realm of possibility. Of course you want to keep your expenses the same so that your profit margin goes up.
How are you going ensure that you aren’t merely breaking even, but actually turning a profit?
What’s the exact number that will make your business profitable (or more profitable) in the next 6-12 months?
How much would you need to bring in in order to make a 10% profit? 20% profit? 30% profit?
Step 4: Set Yourself Up for Success
You are now ready to make a plan that will allow you to achieve your new income goal.
This is kind of a plan within your plan. You need to commit to actions that will help you attain your income goal.
The projects and tasks you choose to add to an income-accelerating plan will depend on the timespan you’ve identified to reach your goal, be it 3, 6, or 12 months. Think of the things you do that might produce additional income.
- Showing your work
- Having a sale
- Sending emails
- Posting to social media
- Reaching out to individuals
- Hosting private parties
- Teaching
What makes sense for you at this time?
This is where strategic planning with me come into play. My process helps you get very clear about your current commitments and what you do or do not have time or bandwidth for in your schedule.
For example, if you’d really like to hustle and make up some lost ground between now and the end of the year, it is not the time to add an extra income stream. You likely already have a lot on your calendar at this late date in the year. (You can do what we do in the planning sessions and add up the actual hours you already have committed on your calendar. Mind. Blowing.)
Rather than adding a new income stream, this is the time to double down on what you already have in place, and the time to get real about what is required to be profitable with that work. It’s the time to work smarter, not harder.
An income goal in the more distant future would allow more lead time to add additional income streams.
Your goal is to increase income and lower expenses—all expenses except for paying yourself. I want you to keep (or start!) paying yourself. At the same time, I’d encourage you to increase joy and lower your frustration level. Embrace more of doing what you love while minimizing doing what you don’t love.
Watch My Livestream on This Topic
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Artists who go through the income-accelerating process have told me that it is empowering. It’s daunting, I admit. But you will dramatically up your business IQ when you understand where the money came from, where it can come from, and how you can make it happen. You will begin to more easily visualize a profitable future.
Music by Wildermiss
This post was originally published on January 17, 2018 and has been updated with the podcast added. Original comments are intact.
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]]>Mind you, the organizations and agencies aren’t cheap with the patrons and board members with the big bank accounts. They are cheap with the artists, without whom their passionate interest would not exist.
Artists, in turn, grow to feel they are not worthy of more.
Don’t get me wrong. Frugality isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can be good.
I don’t believe in spending for spending’s sake or in extravagance.
But frugality becomes detrimental when it feeds the notion that we are not worthy of more.
Many of my clients develop this sense of unworthiness that is perpetuated by the very organizations that were created to serve them.
I confess that I behaved similarly in the past.
For years I have been writing about how artists can show that their work has value. But I continued to allow the organizers who hired me for workshops to do things “on the cheap,” and I was doing the same with the workshops and events I organized myself.
How can I save money? was my modus operandi.
My first workshop, in 2003, was held at an office building that a friend managed. I recall my parents (!) picking up and delivering boxed lunches to the group.
At a much later workshop, I ran my team ragged making coffee all day long - trekking repeatedly to the kitchen on the other end of the building. Coffee! Because I didn’t pay for a venue that had food service.
No more.
I began attending
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]]>It starts at the top with arts organizations and agencies, and then it filters down into all aspects of the art economy.
Mind you, the organizations and agencies aren’t cheap with the patrons and board members with the big bank accounts. They are cheap with the artists, without whom their passionate interest would not exist.
Artists, in turn, grow to feel they are not worthy of more.
Watch The Video
Watch the IGTV video from June 23, 2021 or keep reading for more.
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Frugality Isn’t Bad
Don’t get me wrong. Frugality isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can be good.
I don’t believe in spending for spending’s sake or in extravagance.
But frugality becomes detrimental when it feeds the notion that we are not worthy of more.
Many of my clients develop this sense of unworthiness that is perpetuated by the very organizations that were created to serve them.
I confess that I behaved similarly in the past.
For years I have been writing about how artists can show that their work has value. But I continued to allow the organizers who hired me for workshops to do things “on the cheap,” and I was doing the same with the workshops and events I organized myself.
How can I save money? was my modus operandi.
My first workshop, in 2003, was held at an office building that a friend managed. I recall my parents (!) picking up and delivering boxed lunches to the group.
At a much later workshop, I ran my team ragged making coffee all day long—trekking repeatedly to the kitchen on the other end of the building. Coffee! Because I didn’t pay for a venue that had food service. And because I didn’t charge enough to offer these services.
No more.
I began attending “nice” conferences for marketing, mindset, and software. These conferences were set up with white tablecloths, fresh flowers, music, sophisticated audio-visual systems, and bright spaces.
I realized that the people and companies that were producing these conferences would have never treated their guests as cheaply as artists are treated.
So I modeled what they are doing, and this is what my guests experience when they come to the workshops I host.
If I ask you to embrace an abundance mindset, as I do, you need to be treated like you already have on— and that you deserve it.
I decided back in 2013 to take over my own workshops and adopt a new mantra: How can I provide the best value while showing my artist-guests that they and the work they do are valued. And I charged more for this experience.
Are you Out of Alignment?
People who look for quality tend to look for it in every aspect of their lives.
You can’t advocate cheap materials, products, and services from one side of your mouth and ask for high-dollar sales from the other side. These are conflicting messages to the Universe and to your potential collectors.
I know an artist who makes beautiful handmade, high-end furniture. My husband and I were having dinner with him and his wife, and they began ranting about their daughter who had purchased a $25 toilet paper holder. $25! They couldn’t believe she spent so much money on a toilet paper holder.
Now I really have no idea that the toilet paper holder was or wasn’t worth $25.
All I know is what I asked him next: You do understand that the people you want to buy your furniture probably pay more than $25 for their toilet paper holders? Your mindset—that you shouldn’t spend a little extra for things you appreciate—is out of alignment with what you want people to spend on your work.
Your Penny-Pinching Can Hurt Art Sales and Opportunities
You must remember that you are not your ideal art buyer or collector. You can’t ask, “What would I pay for this?”
If you come from a less-than-abundant place, it’s time to do some work on your money mindset.
Consider these questions.
- How do others treat you at your art organization meetings, in your booth, or online?
- How do you treat yourself? Do you look for quality or do you buy what’s least expensive? Do you settle for what is worn down and broken even though you could do better work with new tools?
- How do you treat your art? Are you using the best materials so that you can show the highest value? Are you investing in excellent photography or learning how to improve your own photo abilities?
- How do you treat others? Do you share generously or do you keep the good stuff to yourself – afraid that there isn’t enough to go around? And the corollary to that … Do you place a high enough value on your time and expertise? Or are you giving everything away and keeping nothing for yourself. This is being frugal with yourself and your value.
Let’s start treating each other (and ourselves) like we are as worthy of abundance as our patrons.
Related: How to Feel More Abundant
This post was originally published on August 31, 2017, and has been updated with the very useful comments intact.
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