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The Art Biz

Looking for art career inspiration and ideas while you’re working in the studio or schlepping your art across the country? Alyson Stanfield helps you be a more productive artist, a more empowered artist, and a more successful artist.
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Now displaying: August, 2021

Looking for art career inspiration and ideas while you’re working in the studio or schlepping your art across the country? Alyson Stanfield helps you be a more productive artist, a more empowered artist, and a more successful artist. https://ArtBizSuccess.com/podcasts/

Aug 26, 2021
What can you do if your art business isn’t profitable? When you’ve trimmed business expenses as far as you can, the only other thing you can do to be profitable is to increase your income. Your goal as the CEO of your art business should be to increase income and lower expenses while also increasing joy and lowering your frustration level.

In this solo episode, you will learn about the income-accelerating plan that shapes a realistic strategy for increasing your income. This four-step process is what you need to begin to more easily visualize a more profitable future. If you’re ready to dramatically up level your business IQ by gaining insights into where your income came from, where it can come from, and how you can make it happen, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.

Highlights

  • You cannot be content to just break even in your art business. (:10)

  • The value of creating an income-accelerating plan. (1:20)

  • How can you make a plan for more money when you don’t know if anyone will buy your art? (2:35)

  • Step 1- Figure out where your income has been coming from. (3:38)

  • Step 2- Analyze the numbers and what they can tell you. (6:32)

  • Step 3- Set your next income goal. (7:25)

  • Step 4- Make a plan that will allow you to achieve your new income goal. (8:51)

  • Join the Artist Planning Sessions to get real about the work you can realistically commit to. (9:35)

  • What other artists are saying about the income-accelerating process. (10:57)

Resources

Quotes

  • “Don’t be content to break even when running an art business.” — Alyson Stanfield

  • "You need money to survive and shouldn’t be ashamed to admit it.” — Alyson Stanfield

  • “One of the best things you can do to improve your chances of success in any area is to create a plan.” — Alyson Stanfield

  • “You make a plan because you’re the CEO of your art business and that’s what CEOs do.” — Alyson Stanfield

  • While you don’t have any control over results, you do have control over the actions you take (or don’t take) to get the results.” — Alyson Stanfield

Aug 19, 2021
Being profitable as an artist doesn't necessarily mean you need to do more. Sometimes it's about doing less by being discerning about what you take on and where you invest your energy.

This is extremely difficult to do when you are trying to show and sell your art. You want to do more. To add new income streams and the latest marketing platforms. The ads and social media posts want you to do more.

But more is exhausting.

My guest for this episode knows how to get what she wants without doing more. Jill Soukup, who has been a student and client of mine over the past decade, is dedicated to becoming a better artist. She methodically improves her work to make sure that her career, her business, and her life are what she wants them to be.

In this conversation, Jill and I discuss how and where she sells her work, how teaching fits in with her income plan, how she makes sure she remains profitable, and why it's important for her to keep things simple.

Highlights

 

  • Jill’s transition to full-time artist and where she shows and sells her art today. (1:51)

  • The inspiration behind Jill’s Western-themed art. (5:56)

  • Selling on Instagram is changing the dynamics of Jill’s work. (8:39)

  • Logistics of selling prints and giving customers what they want. (11:34)

  • You have to spend money to make money. (15:25)

  • The strategies that allow Jill to get work done without working harder. (19:31)

  • For Jill, doing less has resulted in even more success in her art business. (23:47)

  • Dedication to your craft and honing your skills is the hallmark of an exceptional artist. (29:10)

  • Teaching, raising prices, and decreasing her painting output keeps Jill’s income steady. (30:45)

  • Bookkeeping details and how Jill knows she is profitable. (37:24)

  • Why is simplifying so important in Jill’s business and life? (40:56)

  • Insights from Jill’s typical work day and what she's working toward now. (46:14)

 

Mentioned

 

Resources

 

Quotes

  • “As artists we ebb and flow in our process and what we’re producing.” Jill Soukup

  • “This experience is teaching me to dig deeper and to see things that I wasn’t seeing before.” Jill Soukup

  • “At that point I recognized that I was so overwhelmed. I wasn’t making any decisions because I had too many decisions to make.” Jill Soukup

  • “At that moment I realized what really was important to me, and that all of the other things on my list were not even necessary.” Jill Soukup

  • “Everything I chose to do had to meet one of my three goals and it just simplified everything. And it was such a beautiful thing.” Jill Soukup

 

About My Guest

Jill Soukup was born in Buffalo, New York. Shortly thereafter, her family moved to Colorado, where she still resides. Jill’s affinity for horses as a young girl resulted in countless drawings and studies of them, which made for a strong drawing foundation. As a teen, she started a pet-portrait business, acquired jobs painting murals, and designed logos for local organizations. Jill graduated from Colorado State University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Fine Art. There, she received awards for illustration and design and worked as an illustrator and designer for the university. She initially pursued a career in graphic design while continuing to paint part time. After 11 years as a designer, she made the switch to full-time painting. Her work continues to gain recognition as she receives awards, appears in national publications, and shows in important juried and one-woman exhibitions.

 

First posted: artbizsuccess.com/online-events-griffin-podcast

Let’s do this together: https://artbizsuccess.com/community

Music by https://wildermiss.com

Aug 12, 2021
Sometimes you just need to throw out the old models for doing business and try something totally new. Maybe you're bored with business as usual. Maybe the results aren't as profitable as they were in the past. Or maybe you are no longer enjoying the same old way of doing business.

It's okay to go off-script.

In this episode, I talk with ceramic artist Patricia Griffin. If you visit her website during certain times of the year, you won't see anything for sale because she has sold out. Zero inventory. What you will see are items she has sold and an opportunity to get on her list so you don't miss a chance to purchase the next time her shop opens.

Patricia and I discuss what she refers to as events — the 3- or 4-times a year sales of her ceramics that sell out within hours and have led to a dramatic increase in income. She'll describe the philosophy behind them, the promotional timeline, the collaborations to help raise money for nonprofits, and how the events are a valuable tool for her to cultivate relationships with buyers and potential buyers.

Highlights

 

  • The book that changed the course of Patricia’s artistic life. (2:04)

  • Patricia’s cautious first step into selling her art. (6:35)

  • A visual description of Patricia’s functional stoneware. (8:52)

  • An overview of Patricia’s sales philosophy and the online sales events that bring in more orders than she can quickly fill. (11:20)

  • The learning curve that comes with selling art in a non-traditional way. (15:46)

  • Cultivating a studio friends list allows Patricia to connect with interested buyers. (17:47)

  • Timing sales events and refining the sales process. (21:50)

  • How many pieces does Patricia have ready to go when her events go live? (26:25)

  • The benefit of connecting your Instagram feed to your sales website. (27:14)

  • Marketing for sales events and what launch day looks like for Patricia. (28:53)

  • Collaborating with a non-profit does not have to mean donating your work for free. (33:05)

  • Hosting online events, for Patricia, has resulted in a dramatic increase in sales and skills. (34:43)

  • Stories of creating connections and increasing loyalty with buyers. (36:20)

  • How to create the deadlines that will result in increased sales. (39:16)

  • The success of Patricia’s most recent online event by the numbers. (41:04)

  • Which social media platform brings in the greatest number of customers? (43:18)

  • How does Patricia balance the need to produce art for her soul and the need to produce art for her business? (46:07)

 

Mentioned

 

Resources

 

Quotes

  • “I like the association with the people who are buying my art through online sales. I don’t know that doing it another way would cultivate the same kind of relationships that I have now.” Patricia Griffin

  • “Some of these people had been on my email list for years and maybe just purchased something for the first time.” Patricia Griffin

  • “Hosting online events has been really beneficial, not only to my business but also to my skills.” Patricia Griffin

  • “I don’t think I would have had those commissions if it wasn’t for the online events.” Patricia Griffin

  • “I’ve really felt the pull to do something else and get back to some of the experimenting that I like to do.” Patricia Griffin

  • “I’m continually walking that tight line between the need to produce art in my soul and the need to produce art in my business hat.” Patricia Griffin

 

About My Guest

Patricia Griffin is a potter-artist in the seaside community of Cambria on California's central coast. She makes functional ceramics that are hand-thrown and hand-built and etched with designs that look like woodcuts. Griffin’s work is sold primarily through shopping events held three to four times a year on her website.

First posted: artbizsuccess.com/online-events-griffin-podcast

Let’s do this together: https://artbizsuccess.com/community

Music by https://wildermiss.com

Aug 5, 2021
You’re most likely listening to this podcast because you are in the art business. It’s more than a hobby to you. It’s your professional line of work. In this episode I want to talk about profitability—what it takes not just to make and sell art, but to also make money and to ensure that you have a positive net income in your art business.

As the CEO of your art business there are things youand only youneed to be doing to make sure that you are running your business in the most profitable and productive way possible. From running the numbers in your books to delegating the menial tasks that someone else can do so that you can focus on making art, I offer six different ways that you can ensure profitability in your art business.

 

Highlights

 

  • Getting serious about making money out of your art businessnot your art hobby. (0:01)

  • Yes, you really are the CEO of your art business. What exactly does that mean? (1:42)

  • Art business CEOs know when and how to ask for help. (3:53)

  • CEOs do what they do best and they delegate the rest. (4:43)

  • Do you know exactly how you are spending money in your art business? (5:30)

  • What you will learn from analyzing your profit and loss statements. (6:37)

  • 3 evolving art business trends you need to be aware of. (9:23)

  • A look at the upcoming and inspiring episodes on the Art Biz Podcast. (12:02)

 

Mentioned

 

Resources

 

First posted: https://artbizsuccess.com/ceo

Let’s do this together: https://artbizsuccess.com/community

Music by https://wildermiss.com

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