Hello World! Welcome Friends! Working as an artist (or as any creative entrepreneur) comes with a whole host of both benefits and challenges. On the one hand, you get to be your own boss, set your own schedule, and pursue whatever you love for a living. On the other hand, you also have to pick up your own slack, maintain your own motivation to meet deadlines, and maintain your own consistent sources of inspiration. To stay on top of these goals, you need to have a solid game plan. Here are a few tips to help you stay the course working in the field as an artist or other creative.
Photo by Chuck Hildebrant on Unsplash
Utilize Your Tools
Many artists find themselves overwhelmed with all of the work that must be done to keep themselves afloat, often including their own administrative work. If hiring a personal assistant or paying for a social media expert isn’t in the books for you, you can still outsource many entrepreneurial tasks by letting technology do some of the work in your stead. Website building apps, photo editing software, automated workflows, social media schedulers, and text editor programs are all great examples of tools you can use to dramatically reduce the number of hours you have to invest in administrivia.
Channel Your Strengths
Whatever you excel in should be your primary focus as an artist. Don’t just create what you like, create something you love. As Ashley Longshore puts it, “I wanted to find my passion and work hard…I found a joy in making art that is unbridled happiness and freedom.” When you make art that reflects your passions and dedicate your energy to projects that you whole-heartedly believe in, it will impact and improve the quality of your work. The more invested you are, the more authentic your art will be, and the more you’ll resonate with your audience.
Be Authentic
If you’re real, your audience will know. Your art should be a reflection of who you are and the messages that you feel are most important to communicate with the world. Beyond that, any interviews, social media posts, or other PR should also clearly and genuinely reflect who you are. Many celebrities who take this to heart (think Ellen DeGeneres and Jennifer Lawrence) wind up being as real as can be, thus being more relatable as people, more likable to their audience, and ultimately more successful in their field.
Learn to Market Yourself
While creating passionate art is one thing, pure passion won’t pay the bills — you need to get your name out there and learn to market yourself as an artist. Keep a pulse on sales trends; if your work isn’t selling, you probably need to adjust your marketing. Maybe your message is off, or your work is not defined well enough. Maybe your branding needs some work. Maybe your advertisement strategy could be improved. If you’re not sure, get in touch with experts, hire a mentor, or reach out to your network. Marketing help is available, but you need to be proactive in seeking it out.
Maintain a Routine
Many entrepreneurs will tell you that one of the biggest make-or-break elements when working as a self-employed person is maintaining a consistent routine and schedule. This starts with your morning routine and habits: do you tend to sleep in until mid-morning, or do you make the most of the first few hours of the day? How about your health habits? Are you maintaining good sleep hygiene, getting consistent exercise, and eating nourishing meals? These factors all have an impact on your success as an artist. In addition to daily habits, it’s helpful to keep a regular rhythm to your workweek by keeping consistent working hours, tracking progress, and holding yourself accountable to goals and deadlines.
Don’t Reinvent the Wheel
As the saying goes, the only way anyone has made progress is by “standing on the shoulders of giants.” No one exists in a vacuum. Rather than completely starting from scratch, consider building on the work of others. Gather inspiration from the generations of creatives who have gone before you — the old masters of centuries past, the modern big wigs, and even the trending artists on social media platforms. Art is, in a sense, collaborative by its very nature, sharing the same messages in different mediums and out of different minds over and over, to great effect. By contributing to that collaboration, you keep the dialogue going. Isn’t that the purpose of art anyway?
Life as an artist and creative entrepreneur is simultaneously exciting and daunting. As you are forging your own path through uncertain places, the way ahead may be unclear, but the payout of reaching your audience with your message is priceless. By intentionally planning and using strategies effectively, you can not only keep your head above water: you can thrive.
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