When To Upgrade Your Art Business
What does it mean to be a professional artist in 2023?
Website maintainer
Website admin
Finance committee
Secretary
Costumer service representative
Business card designer
Transportation services
Cleaning expert
Representative of your brand
Social media expert
And so much more..
You are:
A Painter/illustrator/sculptor
Photographer
Videographer
Photo editor
Video editor
Canva expert
King of the mockups
Branding head
Website designer
When you are a beginner/intermediate artist, you are basically forced to be all of these things yourself. It costs money to outsource these things and you have to be protective of your small business. You get pretty good at being a website designer, Ok at taking product photography, decent at cleaning, and very very good at being Tired.
I want to talk to you today about things I wish I upgraded or outsourced in my creative career, earlier. These are things that once I was able, or even knew to outsource- sky rocketed my sales and made my art business much easier to manage.
Some of theses things I paid a lot of money for, some I pay a small yearly subscription to, others were free.
One thing I learned from my studies last year is the 80/20 rule. That 20 percent of what you do makes 80 percent of the impact for your business. That by automating, deleting, or delegating the other tasks to people/software who can do it better: will cause game changing effects for your work.
Upgrade 1: The first upgrade I should have done sooner, was getting a bigger studio. I was super cramped in my last studio space for 3 years too long. I avoided spending more money on a bigger space dispite the fact that my rent was getting higher regardless. I had the budget to go from my 200 sq ft studio to a 500 sq ft AND the opportunity to do so, but didn’t.
3 years later, I’m currently in my bigger studio space and oh my gosh i have freedom, i have movement, and it allowed me to stream my work on Twitch.
Upgrade 2: Getting a dedicated email for your art business. Even if you don’t have an LLC or whatever, having a professional sounding email with your artist name is a really important and FREE way to upgrade your art business game.
I had an email that wasn’t even close to my name for years and years. Let’s call it Fluffybunny7at hotmail lol I talked to collectors with that email and applied to shows.
When I changed my email to the current one, stephanie@stephaniescott.art, I started getting more acceptance letters, more yeses and more sales. To get professional kinds of money, you have to have a professional kind of face to your digital self.
Full disclosure, I pay for my email address through my website platform. Speaking of,
Upgrade 3: lol were you expecting a sponsorship ad here because this is the ideal spot for it. Unfortunately I’m not that fancy YET.
Upgrade your website. My first online gallery was with Deviant Art way back in the day and it was perfect for the time and the fact I was in high school and the first year of college.
I upgraded that in a timely manner, but not the best I could have. I got myself a tumblr account, spent $20 on a fun template and used it as my online portfolio.
It worked, but ultimately didn’t serve me well.
4 years after graduation, which is way WAY later than i should have done this, i got myself an account on Squarespace and that’s where I host my current website.
Upgrade 3.5 is getting someone to help me make my website from ok to Beautiful. Last year I hired my coach Brittany Torres to give me a website audit. I came to her and was like: I like what I’ve got but I want it to be better.
And then she was all “We could change a few things”
And then we went through 3 renditions of the website. I changed the template 3 times, changed my whole gallery layout, nixed my older and unrelevent art, and set up my online store.
Hire someone to go through your website and give you advice. There are plenty of web designers out there with an eye for art work who would be happy to help you out for an hour or do the work themselves.
I wish I had hired someone to design my website from the get go, but now I’m really happy with what I’ve made and I’m fully knowledgeable about how to upgrade it.
Upgrade 4 Make a brand
I waited way too long to pick out my brand colors and design a logo. For the first eight years of my art career I didn’t have any sort of branding or cohesive look to my art business.
Finally picking out the colors, Sunshine orange, black, and white, for my brand allowed me to quickly do other things for my social media pages. No longer did i have to hem and haw over color but i could quickly pick out a design and customize it to my color set.
Upgrade 5 Automate
Any time I have a yearly subscription to something ( like quick books or Canva) I make sure to turn on auto renewal. This little upgrade saves me time and mental load of “did i get the payment made?” We love not stressing about paying a bill.
I implement this practice two years ago and it’s been a big game changer.
In the future I’m intending to automate emails, invoices, and thank you letters.
The goal with all of these is to open up as much time as possible for painting and hobbies.
Upgrade 6 Getting better tools
I made sketchbooks by hand for my shop on Etsy for 5 years before i bought a paper cutter. It would take me 3-4 hours to make a single book. When i bought my giloutine cutter it cut the time in fourths. I can make a whole sketchbook in under an hour.
If you are using something in your trade ALL THE TIME and there is a better version out there- get it. Don’t wait till you think you ‘deserve it’. Budget allowing, when you get the better tools, the better materials, your work will improve dramatically. The time spent working will be reduced, your comfort increased, and your product more lux. There is no downside to upgrading. This is expecially true of one time purchase items, like the paper cutter.
Upgrade 7 Apply to bigger shows.
I have a friend, who will only apply to have her art in small displays at tiny shops that are usually empty. She seeks out these little shows, and they work for her. But she never try’s for bigger things.
Upgrade your audacity. Apply for bigger shows! Apply for group exhibitions and for things that feel ‘out of your league’.
Opportunities only come for those who apply. You must put yourself out there. If you feel like you are getting stuck in your growth then you probably aren’t pushing yourself enough.
Upgrade 8 Upgrade your advisors.
This one can be a little touchy, but I want you to consider who it is that is helping you with your art. Who is giving you advice that you are taking.
Are you listening to people who know about art in a broad sense or are you listening to people who are experts in this field? Consider your goals. If your goal is to get your art in a museum, are you going to listen to someone who has never shown their art anywhere, or will you listen to someone who regularly has exhibition level shows and beyond.
When you change who you surround yourself with, you change your perspective and therefore actions.
Upgrade 9 Always Be Learning
Take lots of classes and find coaches! Online courses, brand audits, in-person seminars. All of these will expand your learning and transform your art business.
What sort of upgrades will you be doing for your art?
Host and artist Stephanie Scott breaks down the practicality of the art career with topics including: sustainable creative practices, social media skills, and the mindsets that keep it all together. New episodes every Tuesday!
Visual Nomad: https://www.instagram.com/visualnomad__/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephaniescott.art/
Website: http://www.stephaniescott.art/brushwork
Music by @winepot https://www.instagram.com/thewinepot/
Podcast Cover photo by Maryna Blumqvist https://instagram.com/picturemaryna