Self-employed Tactics

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.

Open Studio

Create Your Art Business From the Inside Out

Tag Archives: self-employed tactics

Dear Creative – DON’T do-it-yourself!