Tag: how to make money with art

Need a Physical Location for Your Art-Based Business?

But not sure where to start? Keep reading to get started in securing the right location for you.

Much of today’s business is done online, and while you can’t escape it, you may also be interested in opening a physical location for your art-based business. Here are 5 important considerations to keep in mind:

1. Think about how much space you’ll need

Based on your business model, what activities will take place in this location? Based on those activities and the number of workers and customers you might expect to be in the space at one time, how large will your location need to be? Be realistic and understand that more space means more money in rent.

2. Think about how much you should spend

Based on your business model and expected target market size, understand how much revenue you expect to make. Many experts advise that your rent cost should not exceed 20%. Of course, the lower your rent is, the more profit you’ll make. With that being said, there are factors other than rent that should be considered when looking for a location.

3. Think about what area would be best for your creative business

Who is your target customer? Where do they live and what other areas do they frequent? Think about what factors are important for your kind of business. For example: Depending on if you’ll need lots of foot traffic or a large industrial building, your ideal area will vary greatly. So ask yourself what you’re looking for in a perfect location. Do forget to ask: What other businesses would be best to have as neighbors?

NOTE: Develop a list of important criteria you can use to help select your final location. Prioritize those criteria and refer to them whenever making a decision about a potential location.

4. Research local commercial real estate agents

Finding a real estate agent whom you think is honest and benevolent is an ideal situation. While that won’t always happen, its important to try your best to find a knowledgable and connected real estate agent. Ask around for recommendations and scour the web for reviews. Once you start working with an agent, share your prioritized list of criteria with them.

5. Visit multiple locations, if possible

Its often helpful to have multiple locations to choose from, so that you don’t find yourself settling on an almost-perfect location. With that being said, there is almost never a 100% perfect location. So make sure to keep your list of prioritized criteria handy and refer to it often. Discuss your available options with your business partners. If you’re a “soloprenenur,” ask your friends and family, or your SBDC Business Advisor, what they think. Talking through your options can often help you understand which selection is best.

Looking for your ideal business location will take time, so plan ahead and try to be patient. If you’d like to read about securing a physical location in more depth, leave a comment below. There are many aspects to finding a great business location; these five tips are the best place to start. Good luck!

Peace, Kayla

Follow Artrepreneurship – where ‘art’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ meet to get straight-to-the-point information that will help make your artrepreneurial journey easier!

5 Things to Avoid When Monetizing Your Artwork

Thinking about these 5 things early on in your artrepreneurial journey will help you avoid time-wasting mistakes.

1. Undervaluing Yourself

As you start to think about asking for money for your artwork, it can be hard to place a dollar amount on your value. But doing so is one of the first steps to monetizing your artwork. It’s important to strategically price your artwork–learn about how to do so here.

If you’ve never charged for your art before, it can be easy to undervalue yourself. You might sell your first oil painting for $300 and realize later that it was worth at least $1,000. A mentor once told me to start high to test the market; if people won’t buy my product because it’s too expensive, then lower my price. Do this until they finally purchase, and you’ve found your sweet spot. Unfortunately, lots of artrepreneurs (myself included) do the opposite. We price too low and gradually increase as we realize the value that we’re really providing. Save yourself some time and lost money, and make sure you are valuing yourself and your artwork fairly.

2. Undervaluing Others

Artrepreneurs are often “solo-preneurs”–people who are building a business on their own. As a solopreneur, its easy to undervalue the help and support of others. You might think that it’s easier to do things on your own, but have you tried working with someone else to accomplish the same goals? Of course, working with others isn’t always easy, but the power of teamwork makes the collaboration worth it. Instead of trying to do things all on your own, start off your artrepreneurial journey with others on your side.

3. Not Thinking About the Customer First

Being an artrepreneur is unique because artwork is often more important to artrepreneurs than other products like, let’s say, toilet paper or toothbrushes. Artrepreneurs are so connected to their artwork, that they often forgot to think about their customers first. Remember: As an artrepreneur, you are creating for other people, not for yourself. The customer must be the core of your creative business. Your art-based product or service is made for them.

4. Only Creating for Money

However, artists also need creative time that is not restricted by product limitations or the wants of the customer. As an artrepreneur, remember to take time to create for yourself, not only for your customers. Become dedicated to working on art for your business AND art for yourself. If you forget to create for the sake of creating, you risk losing the joy of creating artwork for others by burning yourself out.

5. Not Asking for Feedback

Depending on the creative product or service you offer, you may have a close interaction with your customers or you may not. Regardless, you must find a way to ask for their feedback. Understanding the experience of your customers will:

– Help you ensure that your product or service is of quality
– Help you improve the customer experience in the future
– Help you identify important changes that you might need to make to your business model
– Help you develop trust with your customers

Whether you create a standardized digital survey, informally ask your customers about their experience in person, or do something in between, getting feedback from your customers and your partners can mean the difference between building a sustainable creative business and not. Don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from others; its purpose is to make you more successful in the future.

Thinking about these 5 things early on in your artrepreneurial journey will help you avoid time-wasting mistakes. But also remember to revisit each of these points as you grow your creative business. All are important to your continued artrepreneurial success!

Peace, Kayla

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How to Build a Business Model Around Your Art

VLOG: Thinking about building your very own art-based business? Here are 5 steps for getting started, in under 5 minutes!

No time to watch? Here’s a RECAP:

1. Identify the product or service you can offer

Depending on what kind of art you create, you may need to make adjustments in order to make your art a sellable product or service. Think about your art and interests… What products or services can be created from them?

2. Think about why people would want to buy your product or service

Once you’ve discovered your sellable product or service, you must ask yourself: Why will people buy my product or service? Think about “pain points”–these are things that your potential customers either can’t do on their own, or it’s really hard for them to do on their own. If you can solve a problem for your customers, or fulfill a need or want that they have, you’re in good shape to move on to step #3.

3. Ask yourself how you can deliver your value in a unique way

You’ve found your product or service and your best-fit customers, now you need to think about how you’ll offer your value in a way that’s different from your competitors. This is called your differentiation. Without it, you’ll struggle to capture the attention of your potential customers.

4. Look around for organizations or individuals who can act as your strategic partners

Now that you’ve solidified your value and how you want to deliver it, think about others who can help make your vision a reality. Who can help you create your product, market your product, and sell your product? Who can you partner with in order to make your artrepreneurial journey easier?

5. Visit this article to flesh out your creative business model

If you’ve gotten this far, its time to flesh out the details of your creative business. Visit the One-Page Business Plan for the Artrepreneur to finish developing a creative business model around your art!

Best of luck in your artrepreneurial journey! Follow Artrepreneurship – where ‘art’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ meet to get more straight-to-the-point information that will help you develop your very own art-based business!

Peace, Kayla

Tips for Naming Your Art-Based Business

Naming your business is an important step in developing a recognizable art-based brand. Here are some tips to help you find the “perfect” name!

1. Be clear about the product or service you offer

Every see or hear a business name and have no idea what the company actually does? Be careful with creating a name that is hard to directly relate to your business. Many artrepreneurs choose a descriptor word that follows the core business name to help give customers a hint about what they do. For example: Creations Film or John Doe Design. Others select names that play on the product or service provided. For example: The Sound Station or Artist’s Cafe.

2. Reflect your brand

In this article, we talked about building a brand around your art that acts as the core to your business image. Keep your brand in mind when developing a business name. Does your proposed name fit with the messaging style that you’ve decided on?

Some artrepreneurs name their business first, and then build their brand around that name. This is a slippery slope that can cause you to lose sight of the value you’re trying to offer. Instead, think about the value you’re providing your customers and how your business name can help to enforce it.

3. Be original, but easy to remember (and even familiar)

Originality is often praised in artrepreneurship, but Derek Thompson, author of the book Hit Makers, makes the argument that originality on its own is not king. People are more drawn to things that feel original AND familiar. Familiarity makes a business name easier to remember and creates a positive feeling in the hearts of consumers. So when naming your business, think about names that are somewhat original, and somewhat familiar or recognizable. This meet-in-the-middle method will help you create a business name that is preferred by most consumers.

4. Do your research

So you’ve gone through tips #1-3 and think you’ve found the perfect name for your business. Before you get too attached, make sure you do your research to confirm that the name is not already in use. There are 4 main places you’ll want to visit:

Google

A simple Google search can tell you right away if your potential business name is already in use. Is there another business or blog that floods your search results? If so, you’re going to have a hard time getting to the front page of Google, and a harder time becoming the very first search result that people will see. Check out what already exists online so that you can get an idea of the plausibility of your new business name.

NameCheckr.com

If you don’t see any competing online presences that might threaten the success of your new business name, it’s time to check out NameCheckr.com. This site allows you to simultaneously check all top-level domains and social media sites for your preferred business name. For example: You might want to name your business: Artist’s Cafe. On NameCheckr.com, you can see if that name is available for a .com domain, and as a username on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Using this kind of resource helps you to think about name consistency across your many digital presences.

USPTO

The United States Patent and Trademark Office should be your next stop. Here, you can search all trademarks to understand if your potential business name has already been trademarked. You can search all US trademarks here (search for “Basic Word Marks”).

NOTE: Trademarks rely much on the “Likelihood of Confusion.” If your trademark is too similar to another in your same goods or services category, you may get denied. However, let’s say there is another “Artist’s Cafe,” but the associated goods and services category is Clothing. Since you want to open a Coffee Shop, this other trademark will not be a problem, because it exists in a completely different industry.
But, if there is a trademark registered for “Artist Cafe” in the Coffee Shop industry, you might have a problem. “Artist’s Cafe” and “Artist Cafe” are too similar, and are considered to have a high likelihood of confusion for consumers–so you will most likely be denied a trademark under that name.

State Business Entity Search

The last place you’ll need to visit to confirm the eligibility for your potential business name is your state’s business entity search portal. This search engine will populate any competing business names in your state. If another business has already filed a business license under your potential name, you’ll need to choose another. To find your state’s business name entity search, go to Google and type in: ‘Your state’ business entity search.

Here are the Business Entity Search Portals for both Nevada and Oregon:
Nevada Business Entity Search Portal
Oregon Business Entity Search

Naming your business is one part heart and one (large) part strategy. Work through tips #1-4 as you develop the right business name for your art-based business! Remember: There is no formula for developing the perfect business name, so don’t drive yourself crazy trying to find the perfect one. Once you find a name that checks off tips #1-4, stick with it and get started on building your very own creative business!

Follow Artrepreneurship – where ‘art’ and ‘entrepreneurship’ meet to get more straight-to-the-point information that will make your artrepreneurial journey easier!

Peace, Kayla

Artrepreneur Caitlin McCarty Shares Her 3 Main Tips for Artists Turned Entrepreneurs

VLOG: Want to create your own art-based business? The importance of learning from real artrepreneurs cannot be overlooked. Caitlin McCarty, Founder and Artistic Director of contemporary dance company Collateral & Co., is here to share her top 3 tips for all artrepreneurs!

Don’t have time to watch? Here’s a RECAP:

1. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.

“The worst they can say, is no.” Ask others for what you want and need–you’ll be surprised at how willing they might be to help. But remember, don’t just think about WHAT you want–think about the HOW behind implementing what you want.

2. Use your contacts to make more contacts.

“Someone you know probably knows that person.” Take advantage of your network. Each member in your network has a network of their own. Your contacts will be able to help you make new contacts. Like #1, don’t be afraid to ask those in your network if they know anyone who… or if they know a contact at… You’ll be surprised at how quickly your network will grow when you use your existing contacts to make new contacts!

3. Be consistent.

#1 and #2 are more likely to work in your favor when you are consistent in what you do. Be consistent in:
– Creating and delivering your product or service
– Building and maintaining relationships
– Branding yourself and your creative business

Caitlin writes about how to startup, market, and manage your own business. Check her website out here:
Creatively bringing your goals to life | https://caitlinmccarty.com/

If there are additional topics you’d like to hear about from real artrepreneurs, leave a comment below!

Peace, Kayla