How To NOT Be A Starving Artist - 6 Tips To Kick Start Your Journey
There is no reason for anyone to be a starving artist in this day and age.
We have endless access to resources on how to teach us to make our craft a full time gig. But I think the problem may also lie in people’s incorrect idea about art and business, sometimes believing that doing business will make you less creative or that if you’re business minded, you’re probably a fake creative.
Ain’t nothing fake about eating two minute noodles all of your life and allowing your art to go to the grave with you because you didn’t know how to sell it.
I’m personally very grateful that I didn’t discover I was creative until about 4 years ago when I first picked up a camera. Before that I was a business person, studied business and marketing, and was convinced I didn’t have a creative bone in my body. Well…I was wrong. But I’m glad I have skills in both departments because they go hand in hand.
For those worried that a business plan might take away from your creativity, think again. It’s been proven through research, and my own personal experience, that when you have that steady cashflow, you stress less and can concentrate on your craft more.
It also helps that you don’t feel like the world is against you and you build up resentment for your mum, nephew, neighbours cat and the checkout chick down the road. Resentment paralyses every creative.
But how much do you need to make to be comfortable and how to make that cash?
An easy way to calculate everything backwards is to work out how much it costs you to live comfortable.
Figure out your eating expenses, other bills, rent, car payments and a little extra leeway for life enjoyment per month. Then figure out how much that is daily.
Once you have a daily figure you need to aspire for, you’ll probably notice it’s not as high as you thought.
And then it’s a case of figuring out how many pieces of your art, music, gigs, services you need to sell in order to match that figure.
Making your goal an actual number instead of…ummmm….I just wanna make some money, will help you to streamline and focus.
Then it was research and action time.
In my personal journey of learning to make money as a business person and artist, I have:
sold physical products online
sold affiliate products
sold online coaching information
sold online coaching one on one sessions
sold photography tours
sold ebooks
sold tickets to events
sold digital products
sold my marketing skills
sold my social media skills
Did they all work? No. But did all the knowledge help? Yes
Here are a few quick starting points to get you on your way to being a wealthy artist:
Set up an online brand - website
If you don’t know what brand you are or you don’t have specific art to sell just yet, ask your friends what your strengths are and find out what brand you are. What problems do your friends come to you for?
Set up your social media and work on it - properly
Work with brands for free stuff to offset the cost of equipment
Create a newsletter for your following with valuable information
Concentrate on uniqueness and utilising PR
Do…just do. And add value wherever possible
Package your information that you know and make it into products. Ebooks, audio books, online courses - like my Advanced Selfie University, my presets, etc
Rinse and repeat
What other things can you do now to stop being a starving artist? Let me know down below.