You're Never Going to Make Any Money with your Art (And how to fix it)

so you aren't making any money from your art you probably clicked on this video in order to tickle that little demon inside of you to tell you that you should get a real job but before you do watch this video all the way through but let's ask the biggest question is there any money to be made as an artist at all well asked whether his art will make him any money beeple once said that it's probably not going to earn him as much as a doctor's career would but he recently just sold an nft for over 60 million us dollars damien hurst is estimated to be a billionaire and jeff coons is worth more than eminem there is a lot of money in art and it's there for taking for artists who are not only creative and skillful but for those who understand that under its transcendental and inspiring layers art is still business in this video let's take a look at the most major mistakes beginner entrepreneurs make when starting up their business and what you can do to fix them before it's too late media has played a huge role in pushing the narrative that artists are poor sure art could have been a risky venture in the 90s when the only way to promote yourself was by networking and third parties who are waiting to bite a chunk out of your profits but with the advent of social media this really isn't the case anymore well i know a lot of us in the first place aren't in a great financial position to start and while poverty has always been a potent spark for artistic geniuses and predominant left motif in art across all mediums that's only really the first part of the story rothko grew up poor like many of us but he died a millionaire people love to ravel in the genius of a struggling michelangelo and read about art leaving him poor old and working as a servant of others but in reality he was lying michelangelo concealed a fortune that would today be worth close to 30 million dollars in one of his lovers bank accounts this is actually true and it's a crazy story if you really want to learn more i highly recommend you start digging into it i'll leave a link in the description and look i understand some of us and most of us are born into financial circumstances that we can't control i understand that but we need to stop romanticizing the poor artist image we've created for ourselves it's not healthy the idea of a tortured artistic genius smoking cigarettes off the balcony of a dilapidated apartment looks great in the movies and might be fun to emulate for a couple of days but then you'll need hot water and art supplies and the freedom of economic independence so what's the first step to achieving this you might ask naturally before anything else gets moving the first step will be changing your mindset i know i repeat this over and over again in my videos you need to be 100 convinced that you are venturing into an abundant career and let go of the limitations that you have mentally constricted yourself with i've talked to a ton of successful artists and businessmen and business women and the vast majority of people unanimously agree that this is the most crucial step in your career is reframing your mindset you'll be surprised at how much you can accomplish just by reframing your thoughts if you keep thinking that your art isn't going to generate any income your subconscious will always find ways to prove you right on the other hand if you start your journey knowing that your art is a valuable sought-after highly marketable product your subconscious will try to prove this theory instead you can't quite build motivation if you feel like you've already failed and you can't really build momentum if you're not seeing results that's why you need to fake it at least for a while you need to start showing up for your art business to actually give it a fair chance before deciding if it's even worth it or not the second reason that your art isn't going to make you any money is that because you have a weak business plan okay i'm going to be very honest with you for a second watching a couple of videos on passive income and creating accounts in digital marketplaces and just uploading your artwork doesn't make you an entrepreneur even if you filed the paperwork and created a logo for your business selling prints is hardly a business idea it's more of an area in which your business can potentially operate in order for you to build a scalable business and give yourself the opportunity to succeed you'll need to craft a comprehensive plan of action ask yourself these questions right now have you detangled the financial aspect do you know what it'll cost to have your business up and running have you drawn out a target you need to achieve to not only cover your expenses but also to turn a profit having these numbers in mind will help you take yourself more seriously and actually make you put in the work towards a tangible goal who's going to be your target audience you can't just rely on generous relatives to buy your product you'll need to find the people that want what you're offering so what do they look like what do they do in a typical day what is their income like what is their lifestyle like by exploring and getting to know your target audience you can gain insight into their needs as well as price points you should consider for your product but more on that later in this video don't forget to stock the competition for all their worth studying competitors in your space will give you invaluable information on their strengths and weaknesses you can leverage this information to build a brand that can easily differentiate itself from the rest if you aren't doing this already start doing it right now study your competition having done the proper market research you'll be able to craft a product or service around your art that is solving a problem or fulfilling a need having an instagram shop where you sell prints of your sci-fi renders might not win you an entrepreneur award but you could print them out and frame them in bundles following a specific theme since you have an accurate business plan you can now pitch them to landlords or real estate developers as an easy and stylish solution for decorating new apartments for example i i know this isn't the greatest example but i hope you're picking up what i'm putting down here if you think you found a good angle and you spent some time researching your next steps you might think you've got this business thing pretty down but you probably don't and that leads us to our next point you need to actually study the business of art and what does that mean you ask well art can be transcendental your art is a part of you and that can sometimes blur your vision regarding the actual steps you need to take to put it out into the world while you might feel inclined to rely on your talent and unique vision the truth is that no one really makes it big in the art world with those alone instead of viewing your artwork as your baby and just relentlessly posting pictures of it on your instagram you'll need to create a business oriented approach that can actually help you bring it to the right people the people who are going to buy it and put food on your table if you want to take it serious there's a lot of stuff you still have to do tedious planning legal arrangements project management software and finishing with business apprentices actual study time and robbing your successful friends of every piece of advice that you can you'll need to put a lot of time to get yourself off the ground if you want to learn more about that skillshare has a ton of free classes on selling your artwork organizing and scaling and marketing a new art business and more if you know this is something that you have dreamt since you were a kid that you want to do and you're in it for the long run you can get a business degree from a renowned university 100 online on coursera personally i've never taken one there though so please do some of your own research before you join an online university now if reading books is more to your speed you can check out the famous i'd rather be in the studio by alison stanfield this guide to self-promotion has helped tons of artists across the globe start thriving businesses for themselves as it contains highly applicable tips for setting a strong business foundation of course all of the information is already out there you'll be pressed not to find an answer to any business question you might have but that entails doing actual research taking notes and putting in the effort and that takes us nicely into our next point you aren't giving it 100 no online vast empire was built on sunday afternoons or at least not very fast if you've been trying to get a broader audience for your art on social media you probably already know that the most resounding advice you always get is be consistent let's circle back to beeple for a second because we stand a consistent king he managed to grow his fan base to this extent because he didn't take sick days he's posted every day for 13 years this isn't to say that you should work yourself to an early grave and this is a very extreme example of commitment but i want you to understand that success comes with consistent effort sure it's not always easy to come home from your day job and still have time or the mental energy to be creative i get it i do this every single day especially after you start viewing your art as a business and feel the pressure to show up even when you don't feel like it but the truth is something's got to give you will need to be committed to making it work even when it feels like you're working two jobs and it will and from everything i know and what i've gathered from other entrepreneurs the moment you'll be able to quit your day job and go into art full time comes sooner than you think especially if you're doing everything right now speaking of leaving your job full time how do you decide when that moment has actually come and well it depends on you as a person it's different for everyone now if you don't want the added stress of you know not knowing when you're going to be able to make rent you might want to start tackling your job full time whenever you manage enough money to keep you safe for a good say six months or so that's what a smart person will tell you to do i recommend this as well now i know people who thrive on the threat of homelessness and impending deadlines so if that's your style go ahead but you have to understand the risks that are associated with that but then again i am not a financial advisor and if you're ready to take this step i presume you've already been through studying business and you're properly equipped to take this decision on your own so one of the most important reasons and why most artists aren't making any money is because you aren't properly utilizing social media whatever your opinions on social media might be there's no denying that these platforms are an invaluable tool for promoting a business especially when we're talking about art social media might be really icky for some people but the exposure is extremely important and it's basically free social media is vital in that aspect as your audience is already using it you don't need to gather email addresses you don't need to rely on word of mouth you just need interesting posts and a consistent posting schedule to bring people in and considering all of the tools that social media provides for small business owners such as the ability to make purchases directly on the platform advanced advertising campaign tools and powerful algorithms that recommend your page to people with similar interests you would miss out if you're not using it of course to make social media work for you you need to stand out from the crowd people have a really really short attention span nowadays the desktop user will spend no more than 2.5 seconds on social media content while a mobile user will spend even less than that at 1.7 seconds this means you have a single lightning fast chance to capture their attention and have them wanting to see more this is why your profiles have to stand out you can't rely on your art alone to do this as we know art is highly subjective that's why if you've already established your target audience you craft your profile around their psychology a cohesive feed that looks pretty to them and provides value to your potential customers will do a lot more for you than a collection of your best work support your artwork with short tutorials tips and tricks making of videos or just stories from your business journey go one step further and use your creativity to not only produce art but also promote it in unique ways create limited edition clothing featuring your artwork and model it for instagram then give it away to new followers for example try to include pop culture references in your artworks and posts join non-profit organizations and attach your artwork to causes you believe in and don't be afraid to use the advertising features they were made for people like you hubspot has a great collection of free in-depth courses where you can level up your advertising skills especially on social media even if you don't use it it's a really really great thing to learn you never know where you're going to need it in the future so let's talk about one of the biggest mistakes beginner art businesses make is that your prices are wrong for a lot of people this is the most daunting part of the entire process how do you price your art now as a baby business person you might feel inclined to ask too little money for your artwork surely no one will buy anything if it costs more than ten dollars right this is probably one of the biggest mistakes you can make the price of your artwork shouldn't only reflect the time you spent learning your skills but it should also cover your expenses and all of the time you spend managing and scaling your business while also being able to turn a profit not to mention the way in which you price directly influences your clientele small prices will bring in bargain hunters which will be happy to pay subpar prices for great artwork on the other hand pricing your art correctly while accounting for all of your hard work and the actual value of your art will filter the buyers just looking for a steal and leave you with the ones who truly appreciate your effort for more in-depth explanation about pricing and other cool tips and tricks for like selling courses and stuff you can check out my passive income guide for artists where i take a deep dive into this topic a lot more i'll leave a link in the description so the title of this video was a little misleading you won't fail to make money as an artist i don't think you will it's true that a lot of artists fail to bring in a sizable income for their art that's only because they aren't employing good business practices just remember success won't happen overnight you might as well just get a jump start on it thanks for watching the video guys as usual i'm thomas and i will see you guys in the next video [Music]

Channel: Stylized Station

Views: 160,743

Rating: 4.8896928 out of 5

Keywords: blender, tutorial, blender tutorial, blender (software), blender 3d, blender tutorials, blender grass tutorial, blender fluid tutorial, blender animation tutorial, blender 3d animation tutorial, blender fluid physics tutorial, tutorials, tutorial (media genre), blender3d, blender render, beginner tutorial, blender water material, blender guru, modeling tutorial, blender online, blender curves, vfx tutorial, 3d modeling tutorial

Id: XpUkrCPgyGk

Length: 13min 32sec (812 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 23 2021