Although I graduated from Art School in June 2011, I consider that my business was born at the end of August that year, when I offered my work for sale to the general public for the very first time.
The last twelve months have felt like a baptism by fire at times, and I’ve learned an awful lot of lessons about being in business (this post started out as three lessons and grew!). Here are a few of the most important ones.
1. Nothing happens as fast as you’d like it to.
And I mean nothing. Galleries take ages to respond to your submissions. Wholesale pitches go unanswered. Weeks pass between one newsletter subscriber and the next. Your precious prints arrive with a big scratch on them and have to be reprinted.
Everything seems like it’s moving at a glacial pace when you’re watching your savings tick down daily.
Selling art is not a fast business but this could equally apply to any business. People are busy, they’re distracted.They’re moving house and going on holiday and fighting with their boyfriends and redecorating the spare room.
Occasionally there will be moments of true momentum when things take off and you’re an exhilarated passenger, riding a wave of the amazing freedom of being self employed. Most of the time you will want to staple your business card to people’s heads to make them remember you.
Accept it. Don’t take it personally. And if you have any option to stay in employment as you begin your business, make the most of it, at least until it begins to hinder your growth.
2. Great things happen when you stop waiting for your Fairy Godmother to step in.
We all have it. That one thing that, if it came off, would kick things off and you’d never look back. Perhaps it’s press in your dream magazine or newspaper. Maybe it’s a TV appearance. Maybe it’s that one big retailer you’d absolutely love to stock your work. You dream about it. You even take steps towards it. Maybe you even get it.
And, guess what? Nothing really changes.
The single biggest lesson I’ve learned this year (and actually in any year) is that big leaps forward come from putting in the hard work day after day. Action builds upon action. Consistency makes all the difference. Stop waiting to be rescued and make it happen yourself.
3. When you don’t know what to do, doing nothing is rarely the best option.
Sometimes you just don’t know what to do. You’re trying to break new ground and you don’t even know where to start. You worry. You talk about it. You talk about it some more. You worry some more.
You wonder if you do x, will you make a crucial mistake that will mean you will never be successful and will die alone in a garret, eaten by cats? You wonder what it might be like to live in a garret and what kind of cats you’d get. You watch some YouTube videos about cats….including this one. (yes, it’s awesome – the light flare at the end is my fave part). You drink a bottle of wine and decide to worry about it some more tomorrow.
In all seriousness, this year I have agonised over decisions that have meant nothing. I worried all the time that I was doing something that would ruin my career or that I was screwing it up in some way I didn’t even understand.
The truth is, any action is better than none. Act with integrity and the potential for career limiting moves is quite slim. You’ll figure it out. Get started and correct course along the way.
4. Be wary of big expenses but be even more wary of thinking small
Sometimes you just have to buy that piece of equipment that terrifies you, or invest in that trade show that costs a fortune, because if you don’t you’ll never know if it will work for you.
Budget accordingly and know exactly how long it will take you to make a return on the expense but don’t be afraid to spend on your business.
When I bought the equipment to be able to print onto fabric and plastics I actually felt physically sick, but it has been one of the single best investments in my business, allowing me to have a much more consistent income and a much broader customer base. If I’d been too scared to take the chance, I would never have known how well it would work out for me.
5. It’s never about price.
I want to absolutely shout this from the rooftops. It is never ever ever about price. Let me say it again. It is never ever ever about price.
If you’re anything like me, when you first begin selling anything you made yourself to members of the general public you will sweat from every pore when they ask the price. You will say it with a breathy voice and you will smile nervously while avoiding eye contact and qualifying it by boring them to tears with an excruciatingly detailed explanation of the print process.
At the beginning, any time your business isn’t working, you will be tempted to believe it is about price. I experimented a lot with pricing in the beginning but eventually I came to understand that it is not about price, it is about value.
People find the money for the things they really want so set your prices with integrity, value your time and your hard work and then communicate that value to your customers.
6. Learn to ignore advice from people who mean well but don’t know what they’re talking about.
This is a tough one because we may get lots of advice from people who care about us and genuinely mean well. However, as I have learned this year, being an entrepreneur or small business owner is a whole universe away from corporate life (and if I could think of something bigger than a universe I’d use that word here).
There are struggles and anguishes that we go through that those working for other people cannot possibly understand, unless they have been through it in a previous career.
There are moments of real darkness when our desire and our very sanity is tested, and there are moments of unadulterated pride and joy.
Seek out those in similar situations. If you’re an artist, seek out other artists. My life changed a lot when I started participating in Arts Trails and met other artists with similar struggles. Sometimes you meet people a year or two ahead of you on your career path who can offer invaluable advice. Sometimes you just find people who understand what you’re going through. Community matters. We can’t do it on our own.
7. You can work far harder and do far more than you believe you can.
Focus is unbelievably powerful. It’s beautiful and it’s meaningful. It’s a real sign to the Universe (or whatever you believe in) that you are prepared to walk through the fire for your career. You’re prepared to give it everything you’ve got physically, mentally and emotionally.
I have worked harder this year than I ever have before. I have worked more hours than I did as an exhausted stockbroker. When the work is meaningful and you’re building your own future you’ll be able to do more than you ever believed possible.
8. Never Give Up. Ever.
There will be moments of despair. There will be moments of doubt. There will be moments of financial desperation. There will be moments that will test how far you are willing to go. There will be more than a few moments when you have absolutely no idea what to do next. But most people fail because they give up too soon. Remember Lesson Number 1 and just keep going.