money

The Art Biz ep. 161: My Money Odyssey and the Evolution of Art Biz Success

I’ve always thought that my money story was pretty boring. As it turns out, I have some good (and funny) stories around my encounters with money throughout the decades. They involve balancing checkbooks, collecting for charities, perfect accounting scores, starting a business with too little money, and the creation of the income accelerator for artists.

This is from Parker Stevenson’s interview with me on The Bottom Line by Evolved Finance podcast.

The Art Biz ep. 161: My Money Odyssey and the Evolution of Art Biz Success Read

acrylic painting orchid artist Shannon Deana Johnson | on Art Biz Success

The Art Biz ep. 99: A Realistic Strategy for Increasing Your Income

Don’t be content to break even when running an art business. You need money to survive and shouldn’t be ashamed to admit it. Everyone needs an income to put a roof over their heads and food on the table.

That means you need to make a profit. You need for your expenses to be lower—far lower—than your income.

One of the best things you can do to improve your chance of success in any area is to create a plan. If you’d like to make more money—especially if you’re trying to make a living from your art—you need an income-accelerating plan.

I’m going to tell you exactly what that looks like and how to go through the process. I think it’s helpful to start with an income-accelerating plan before you make other plans. It helps to know how much you need and want to make and then you can select the projects to support that goal.

If you’ve been listening awhile, you know that one of my super powers is to help artists make plans. It’s not affordable for most artists to hire me to walk them through the planning process. But you can make a business plan customized to your own goals during my Artist Planning Sessions, which are very affordable.

So what if you’re hyper focused on profitability and need that income-boosting plan before you join me in the planning sessions. How do you do it?

I developed a process that we use in my programs called, conveniently, the Income Accelerator. We actually make a plan to increase income.

I know what you’re thinking because I’ve heard it many times before. It goes something like this: How can I plan for more money when I don’t know when my art will sell or who will buy it?

I get it. You make a plan because you’re the CEO of your art business and that’s what CEOs do. They make business projections. They have to in order to attract buy-in to their products and services.

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. Take charge, like I said back in episode 96. Be the CEO of your art business and of your life.

Here are the 4 Steps to accelerate your income.

The Art Biz ep. 99: A Realistic Strategy for Increasing Your Income Read

Is Being Too Cheap Hurting Your Art Business?

I am tired of watching artists and arts organizations live on leftover scraps.

Mind you, the organizations and agencies aren’t cheap with the patrons and board members with the big bank accounts. They are cheap with the artists, without whom their passionate interest would not exist.

Artists, in turn, grow to feel they are not worthy of more.

Don’t get me wrong. Frugality isn’t inherently bad. In fact, it can be good.

I don’t believe in spending for spending’s sake or in extravagance.

But frugality becomes detrimental when it feeds the notion that we are not worthy of more.

Many of my clients develop this sense of unworthiness that is perpetuated by the very organizations that were created to serve them.

I confess that I behaved similarly in the past.

For years I have been writing about how artists can show that their work has value. But I continued to allow the organizers who hired me for workshops to do things “on the cheap,” and I was doing the same with the workshops and events I organized myself.

How can I save money? was my modus operandi.

My first workshop, in 2003, was held at an office building that a friend managed. I recall my parents (!) picking up and delivering boxed lunches to the group.

At a much later workshop, I ran my team ragged making coffee all day long – trekking repeatedly to the kitchen on the other end of the building. Coffee! Because I didn’t pay for a venue that had food service.

No more.

I began attending

Is Being Too Cheap Hurting Your Art Business? Read

Karen Lynn Link painting

How Much Will That Juried Art Show Cost You?

Those in charge of juried art shows have made it stupid easy for you to enter.

Step 1: Upload images.

Step 2: Complete form.

Step 3: Enter credit card and click the submit button.

The wise artist will pause before that last step and ask these questions.

  • Does this show contribute to my goals?
  • What do I want to accomplish by being in this exhibition?
  • Aside from the nominal entry fee, what are the other costs that are involved if my work is selected?

There are many other things to consider, but these are at the top of the list. And it’s the final bullet point that I want to address.

The Costs of a Juried Art Show

You won’t know if a show is worth your financial investment until you do the math.

Back in 2012, an artist sent me an email about a  painting she was sending to a juried art exhibition that would sell for $1200.

She outlined the fees involved as follows,

How Much Will That Juried Art Show Cost You? Read

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