The Basic but Hard Facts About Starting an Art Business
Ever tried selling your artwork online, but you remained unnoticed? Do you feel unsuccessful in your attempts to be recognised as a legitimate, professional artist?
Here are some facts that could help you be accepted as a viable expert in your field and eventually expand your client base:
It’s a Business
If you make something and keep it to yourself, it’s a hobby. If you make something and sell it, it’s a sale. If you make something, sell it and convince people to want more of it, it’s promotion. If you do everything mentioned here from start to finish and earn from it, then it becomes a business. Making it a profitable business should be one of your main objectives.
You Need Money to Make Money
Investing is a word often misunderstood by people who are unfamiliar with business. Making money does require money too, but not merely for buying high-quality tools or supplies. It also means paying for classes, learning an advanced skill, and hiring other people to help you become a household name. One prominent advantage of branding and advertising is that you can be known globally, says
Chron.
It’s a Service, Not a Product
Painters, dancers, actors and singers are all craftsmen. They are no different from doctors, teachers, plumbers and chefs. If you feel like you’re
pricing your work too low or too high, change your mindset. Choose to believe that you are selling your time, effort, knowledge and understanding instead of selling ‘just’ a single painting.
Marketable Mediocrity Beats Unseen Talent
Speedex Group agrees that business promotion is not easy. If no one notices you, no one will buy your work. Put some money into creating promotional products like stickers, bookmarks, calendars or prints of your best work. Give these away as gifts or even as tokens for the Australian companies that you’re wooing. Having both marketable value and unique talent can bring you places.
Despite the belief that an artist should remain untouched by consumerism and capitalism, the modern artist must adhere to certain unfamiliar business beliefs. After all, being a capitalist in a consumer’s world is not entirely bad. It is what you do with your venture that matters in the end.