How can be possible to do what you love and be successful at the same time? If you are an artist it may be difficult to live on the earnings of your work alone.
The main thing is to recognize that talent alone isn’t enough and you need to learn the basics of running a real business. You should focus just on a specific niche and produce as much content as possible for that targeted audience. Once done that, you have to create a good network of people around you and in socials, that will help with promotion and set the right price for your creations.
According to a survey conducted by LinkedIn, happiness is the foundation of everyone’s dream job, but only a fifth of the sample showed satisfaction towards their job.
Being an artist today is difficult but there are ways to exploit your art. We’re going to examine them in the following paragraphs.
Recognize That Talent Alone Isn’t Enough
It seems obvious but talent alone is not enough.
In a highly competitive environment, it’s easy to get lost if you don’t have the right motivation.
What must never be lacking is tenacity, patience, and a solid strategy at the base that can guide you during this journey.
Even if you are talented and capable to create the most beautiful masterpiece but you do not know anything about promotion, it will just be useless.
And then, if you are wondering what is the secret to making money, we will tell you right now: you have to stop thinking like an artist and start thinking like an entrepreneur.
There’s no better rule than this, as we will see as it follows.
Entrepreneurship Basics
The reason why many artists fail to be successful is that they spend much time just doing their art instead of learning to be entrepreneurs. And this means enhancing one’s talent making it accessible to the great public and to anyone who wants to approach that niche.
You can learn the basics of entrepreneurship on in-depth sites like Udemy. Here you can find great courses taught by low-cost professionals that may come in handy in the future.
This may not exactly coincide with your passion but it’s important to take your satisfactions, even small, from a financial point of view. We don’t see anything wrong with that.
You just have to change your approach first and exploit to the fullest skills to make them your most powerful weapon against competitors
Be open-minded. Opportunities come when least expected!
Find Your Niche
Today, there are no limits on how to make money online. The basic rule, as always, is to find a meeting point between demand and supply.
Therefore, as an entrepreneur, you have to make sure that you know which is your target market and ask yourself what people’s tastes are.
There are two ways: either discover the trends of the moment or narrow down your attention on a specific niche.
In the first case, you know in advance the successful product of the moment. In contrast, you have competition from many potential sellers. In the second, however, your articles may have much less resonance so you will have to find a way to promote them and make them known to your audience.
Either way, you’ll have to go through lots of efforts to attract potential customers to your store.
Stay Up-To-Date
Whatever your level is, it’s important that you are able to refine your technique and open yourself up to new frontiers.
Your talent is not enough if you don’t experiment and develop your style consistently, stay up to date with new trends and use the latest apps, software, and technologies available.
So, it’s important to constantly practice and improve your skills, explore new techniques, and test new tools, whether you are a master or not.
No less important is the amount of artworks and designs that you will be able to publish and the consistency with which you will do so.
Build A Solid Network
It’s essential to build a solid network of contacts.
With the right network, it will be easier to promote your artworks and reach the targeted audience you have chosen.
Try to attend important meetings or events and make yourself known around. If you are a talented artist or photographer it will not be difficult to find a place in an art exhibition to increase your visibility.
In short, try to be creative and take advantage of all the opportunities around you.
Social media are the sounding board of your actions. Wherever you will do try to promote it to the public through social media.
With patience and hard work, people will get to know you, and time after time you will surely be rewarded.
Price Your Artworks
It is also important to set the right price for your creations, and this is a crucial point.
Whatever the value you attribute to your artworks, a certain limit of reasonableness is needed.
To determine it, you could start with the average price charged by your competitors, just visiting their website or their social pages.
Alternatively, you could get an idea from our “Perfect Gift Ideas” section, which is definitely a great advantage.
However, it may not be easy to establish the value for artwork, because it can vary depending on the artist in question and the type of product created.
In any case, you could start with a basic tariff and add some variants at a discount depending on the number of orders purchased.
Conclusion
Following these steps is important but not enough unless you don’t show the right mindset. It’s not just a matter of technical skills, we’re talking about entrepreneurship. You need to develop new marketing skills as well as your creative mastery, and doing that requires a business owner mindset.
But, although seems difficult, with hard work and dedication, today it’s definitely possible to learn how to make money as an artist.
Are you ready to catch this challenge?
BONUS – Top 3 Print On Demand Companies For Your Art
1. Teespring
Teespring is a print on demand platform founded in 2012 and based in San Francisco. With over 35 million products sold across the globe, they’re one of the leading creator commerce platforms in the world.
Their platform is user friendly, it’s quite easy to upload designs and sell products no matter if you’re a professional or not.
Their catalog isn’t limited at all: the range goes from apparel to artwork and home decor.
Once you receive the order, Teespring will take care of the fulfillment, shipping, and customer service. Their distribution channels cover 180 countries, with delivery times varying from 2-5 business days for fast shipping up to 10-13 business days for standard one and international orders.
A great feature of Teespring is its Boosted Network, which makes you integrate your storefront with Shopify and other e-commerce platforms. And that’s important if you’re willing to offer POD products next to dropshipping ones.
2. Redbubble
Redbubble is a print on demand company based in Australia and founded in 2006.
Their marketplace hosts millions of artists every day, whose creative designs fascinate customers all around the world. It’s one of the main players in the POD industry and a well-used platform by independent artists.
A huge pro of Redbubble is its user experience: the website is easy to navigate, the creation process just takes a few clicks, as the publishing one. Really useful is the feature that makes you duplicate the same settings used for another product. It can literally save you a ton of time.
The learning curve it’s not steep at all, both buyers and sellers can benefit from a clear help center, and also their customer center is really supportive via chat or email.
In Redbubble you can get multiple variants of multiple products: men/women/kids clothing, stickers, home décor, wall art, device cases, bags, and much more.
Your order will be processed and shipped within 24-48 hours, and that’s a huge boost for your customer’s experience.
3. Zazzle
Launched in 2005 as a Silicon Valley startup, Zazzle has quickly become a leading marketplace with multiple offices and manufacturing facilities worldwide.
Their platform is thought for designers, creators, associates, and every creative individual willing to compete in the POD business.
Zazzle offers incredible customized solutions, spanning over 1300 products, for the best shopping experience possible.
Through their marketplace, you can get in touch with great designers who can sell you artworks and quality templates for your tastes. The exposure is guaranteed, as the website receives around 30 million visitors every single month.
Furthermore, Zazzle lets you not only sell your products but also lets sellers reuse your designs as their own for a royalty fee, that you can set manually on the dashboard.
Like the other marketplaces mentioned before, Zazzle takes care of manufacturing, shipping, and customer services. The only task upon you is the account opening and the store creation.
