Andy Warhol
Yes you’re a talented Creative. Yes you can weave, paint, sculpt and solder but 10-1 you can’t handle every medium expertly. Now, if you wanted a special piece of art for your home, you’d buy from another artist, a. to support the Arts and b. because you’d want to purchase a piece from someone who’s studied that medium a lot longer than you have and has been able to bring it to another level.
Is your art business any different? Not at all. When you’re ready to Open Your Studio and really grow your art business, hire professionals, don’t DIY.
You know Word Press? Great! You can use Illustrator or In Design well? Kudos to you and by all means whip up a simple blog site to get your ideas down and the ball rolling but when you’re ready for a website that will be visually stimulating and have the correct SEO content, hire a designer. Can you research magazines you’d like to be mentioned in? Sure you can. Do you know how to write a press release? Probably not, however, you can Google “how to” but what then? How do you speak to the media? Do you fax or e-mail? Please, hire a publicist. Your hand-woven purses are stunning. Do you know how many should be in your Spring line or what types of bags buyers are looking for? If you don’t, hire a merchandiser.
You can’t afford all of these specialists? Most small businesses can’t so decide what areas are the most important to you at this moment and search for professionals that can work within your budget or that you can barter your talents with. Another reason NOT to DIY, you want people to bounce ideas off of and to guide you. You’re brilliant and creative and you are VERY used to doing everything yourself, but please don’t. It’s not healthy for you and your company will have a very hard time growing if you’re the only one nurturing it.
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Andrea, I always have difficulty with advise that says don’t do something…. I agree that colaborating with others is always good and asking for help when you need it is also great. But surely if we don’t try to do things then we will never learn? How do we grow ourselves if we just outsource as soon as things get a bit tricky?
Hi Andy!
Thank you so much for visiting and commenting! You are correct – it’s important to learn and grow in as many ways as possible but when artists try to do EVERYTHING themselves, it can be overwhelming and it will take away from the time they get to spend on their art. If an artist can hire someone to research stores/galleries, they should. If an artist can hire someone to sell for them then they should! If they can afford to hire someone to help them with their social marketing, then why not?
I agree with you and I DO think that it’s important that a business owner try to understand every facet of their business so that they can oversee and communicate with the people helping them but there is no reason that they have to DO everything themselves. If they can afford assistance they should get help plus bringing in others will give them fresh insights and creative options that they may not have been able to think of on their own. And by doing that they will also learn from the experts they are hiring.
Getting help may not be for everyone and I expect that each person will run their business in the way that works for them but I also want people to realize that they have to take care of themselves and that it’s not a bad thing to outsource if they feel they need it.
Thanks again and I’m thrilled that we connected here as well!
Best,
~Andrea
My personal experience with publicity people, sales reps, etc.: Very few actually specialize in the fine arts. It’s pretty easy to promote a mass mfg product line or even a ltd edition product line, but when you work with one off originals, the task is a little trickier.
It would be very helpful,to those of us with limited budgets, to have a list of those with proven track records. Is that possible? Maybe one exists now.
Thanks,so,much for all you do for the arts. Looking forward to your reply.
Warm regards
Erlenbach Searle
Hello Erlenbach,
That’s true – I do not mass product and very little limited edition so the sales rep has to be comfortable with handling the final product and not a sample.
There are some sites for Sales Reps but they aren’t for Fine Art. It’s worthwhile to speak to galleries and see who contacts them about art work. Plus they can give you their feelings about each rep. And get in touch with artists in other mediums (so you’re not a competitor) and ask if any of them use art reps.
Join an art association and pose the question to their members.
Sales Reps are elusive and a GOOD one is even more elusive but with some elbow grease and asking around, you can find one.
Best,
~Andrea