Having Fun With Acrylic Paint!

I don’t think I’m qualified to be an expert and I’m not sure there is such a person. What I do know is each artist must find his or her balance when running their own art business. When you don’t have a staff of people or even a single person to help with the elements of the business, then by default, the artist has to make time to run the business which includes all the elements of any business including supply procurement, inventory management, accounting, marketing, and all the rest. This work comes at the cost of the artist’s creative time.

What I’ve learned becoming an artist later in life is that my skills in running a business have given me a bit of an edge which I believe means I spend less time doing those tasks which means it is not only more productive than the average person but even better, I’m not impacted by the feeling of dread when it has to be done. For me, running the business is just like having to go to the grocery store each week or mowing the lawn. These are not fun tasks but I don’t dread them either – they just need to be done.

I wanted to share some tips on how I make the most efficient use of my time when I’m balancing my creative time and running my art business.

• Setting goals for both my time to create my art as well as what I’m doing with my art business. Goals allow me to prioritize my time for each area

• Like many things in life, I find having a set schedule keeps me on task. Knowing what I’m doing when and how much I plan to spend allows me to adjust and scale my time and intensity

• Of course, like many artists, I set aside much more time for my creative efforts than the business side. This I think is especially important for artists who are starting. Refining my skills, learning new techniques, and trying new approaches are way more valuable than making cooler spreadsheets or spending hours on making videos for social media – people don’t buy videos, they buy great art

• When I do work on the business side, I find it helpful to set aside specific blocks of time on certain days. It doesn’t always work but that’s my goal.

• I have to have a social media presence as that is the reality and opportunity we have today. Not everyone can be in a gallery and the world is a much bigger place than a single location. So part of the balancing act is just making sure to recognize that marketing my art is a big bucket and managing social media is a big part of that.

Next month I will continue this topic and finish it up.  Thanks for reading along. Let me know if you have other ideas or suggestions on how your find your balance!