Every single day I sit down to write. And every single day I tell myself I am writing. The truth is, I rarely write. I write notes. I write ideas. But I don’t write full sentences, paragraphs, chapters, stories. Every day I study. I watch videos. I read blogs. I research plotting charts and how to develop characters. I learn.

I am a student of writing and therefore I write notes.

And every day I ask myself: When will I  be ready?

When will I feel secure enough in my craft to begin writing a novel? When will I know enough to move forward with my art?

You have asked yourself that same question. I know it to be true because we care about our art.

We care so much that we study and learn and absorb any information that will let us be better at what we love. But to what end? To be the best? To create a masterpiece?

I know, rationally, that if we are curious souls our best art is yet to come. I know that we learn by doing.

So, how do I know? How do I know when I’m ready?

You don’t.

There is no way to know.

And in not knowing, we have two choices. We can delay action indefinitely, which is too likely to mean forever, or we can dive in and make bad art.

That is, until we make good art. We try and fail until suddenly we don’t fail. But that success does come with a price, and the price is failure.

Logically, we know this.

But internally, emotionally, it is so hard to accept.

I spend my time and energy every day learning how to write. This has been beyond belief – total immersion student.

At some point, though, knowing that there is more to learn, knowing that we don’t know everything – we surrender.

We surrender to being less than we know we could be, because our ability to raise the bar is unparalleled and we may never meet that kind of perfection.

But we can begin anyway.

To stop striving for perfection, to stop worrying about not knowing everything.

To simply create. And create again. And again. Again, again, again.

Until our work teaches us instead of web pages and workshops. Until our work tells us where to go instead of educators and mentors. Until our work stands concrete and resilient instead of suffering darkness in our imaginations, never freed.

We begin.

Because at the heart of everything we dream, there must be action. Without it, there is nothing.

Let’s talk about the artist’s evolution. As you continue in your craft – grow, change, repeat – your art will grow with you. It will evolve and expand and collapse. You will hate it and love it and hate it again. You will want to change it, and you will, and you’ll regret that sometimes, and you’ll move forward.

I’ve been a photographic artist for 10 years. That’s a DECADE, people! And in my fairly young life, that’s a third.

In a fortunate turn of events, I’ve also had an audience for those 10 years that I’ve been an artist. From just a couple of weeks into creating up until now, I’ve had people looking at, and commenting on, my work.

Which makes it understandable as to why I’ve heard this comment more times than is countable:

“I prefer the old you.”

In my career this has meant anything from “the you of 10 years ago” to “the you of last week”. And it used to bother me.

Can’t they see I’m GROWING?!

It doesn’t matter if you have a big audience or not. Anyone from your mother to a stranger on the Internet will likely tell you the same exact words sooner or later. Here’s why:

1. People change.
2. People hate change.

…And we all have opinions.

I’ve had periods of what I consider really, really bad art-making in my life.

2013. What a bad year. I look back at that year of my art and cringe! It was so flat, so boring, so not where I wanted to go.

But I had to make that art. I had to do it to move myself forward. To experience, to know that it wasn’t me.

I used to get upset when people told me they prefer a different style that I used to make. I thought it made me less of an artist. I’d second-guess my artistic direction. I’d let it consume me.

Imagine a friend calls you up and they say: You know, I really prefer your personality from a couple of years ago. This one just isn’t cutting it for me. I don’t enjoy being around you as much anymore.

That’s basically the conversation around art and change.
(That might have been a tad dramatic).

So it makes sense that feelings get hurt and that it stings a little to hear it.

As an artist, you want to yell back: “Don’t you see?! I’m doing the best I can!”

But you can’t, without sounding paranoid.

The fact is that we are doing the best we can. Even if you haven’t created in months, that’s the best you can do for yourself right now. You might look back in a year at this time and recognize just how much you needed a break.

Maybe you feel your style shifting and it scares you. Let it, but keep going. You never know where that will lead.

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve made some art that I don’t like. And I don’t blame you for not liking either. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t worth making.

Perhaps the most difficult part of being an artist with an audience is knowing that, inevitably, someone will tell you that you were better before. And they’re not necessarily wrong. I value every opinion. I don’t disregard someone because they think differently from how I do.

But I do know that the bad art is as necessary as the good. That where I am now is where I’m meant to be. And that where I’m going will remain fulfilling if I listen to myself…

…All opinions valid, none as much as my own.

As I speak to more and more people from all age groups, there is a mounting desire to be self-employed and a growing frustration in corporate drudgery. In great numbers people are cultivating creativity and trying to go it alone. The problem is that we have been taught from very young ages which jobs matter and which ones don’t; which jobs make money and which will lead to a life of suffering.

At the top of the suffering jobs list is art. Parents worry about their kids when they want to grow up and be artists because it is a notably unstable profession. No one wants their kids to struggle. But what about the, dare I say, equal importance of struggling and succeeding? All the better if that struggle is in pursuing something you love instead of struggling against a job you hate.

Either way you were raised or what you were taught to believe, there is a growing trend toward creativity in the workplace and jobs in art. That desire often comes with conflict, as though responsibility and art are directly opposed to each other. If there is a cultural shift toward creativity, there needs to be an economic shift in that direction as well; our actions must perpetuate the creation.

We need to learn to value art like we value other commodities. If you ask the average person, they would likely say that buying a car is an easier investment than buying art. Naturally so – buying art is frivolous and buying a car is responsible. But is that really true? Let’s dissect what it means to invest in art, for yourself and for others.

There have been massive renaissances throughout history that favor beauty, desire, and art. These periods of time are ones that we look on with fondness, a more idyllic time that allowed us to partake in art as an everyday cultural experience rather than an elitist activity. Perhaps we’re moving into one of those art renaissance periods.

Investing in art brings about social, cultural, and economic changes. Socially, we learn to stop putting artists down for having ‘self-indulgent’ jobs. If we invest in art, we make art a natural part of our lives, one that brings a greater attention to beauty and darkness, to introspection and deep thinking. Culturally it brings attention back to those things that weave the fabric of our societies together. It highlights trends in popular and low-brow thinking, waves of inspiration centered around the time we currently live in, and informs us of how we evolved out of trends of the past.

Investing in art economically allows artists to thrive, and in doing so gives weight to those who are driven, creative, and forward thinking. In this great technological boom, a time that could be defined by mass tech and assembly lines, we see more artists than ever before stepping out with that technology and creating wild, mind-bending works. Those creations aren’t purely aesthetic or frivolous, though; they give us a lens to see our culture, our shortcomings and successes, and our place in the world. They teach us how to engage in business and relationships more freely and creatively. And most importantly, they teach our youngest generation how to incorporate creativity into every part of what they do.

Trends show that the more creative an individual is in all aspects of life – business, relationships, personal and beyond – the more successful they become. The rules of the economy are changing. I graduated college at the start of the recession in the United States and fell into my normal – a world where jobs aren’t secure, where a steady career isn’t guaranteed with a college degree, and where I have been continually rewarded the weirder and more creative I get.

I take that as personal proof of change for myself and others in my generation. The more we invest in art, the more we show the next generation that art is a worthy thing to pursue; that your vision and your unique voice is valued and heard. If you have something to say, you can not only say it, but succeed in saying it. In a world where art is valued, individuals are valued. Free thinking and creativity are pulled into the limelight. And in a world where those values are praised, artists can rise into beautiful inclusion in the topic of worthwhile careers.

If we want individuals to believe their voice matters, we need to begin investing in art. Through the commitment to personal expression, we create a world where anyone can change the future.

One of my friends, Heather, recently wrote to me “I see you as you are, soft and strong…” and those words really hit me. Soft and strong – how is that possible? I have often believed that to be soft is to be weak. I have massive issues in showing vulnerability to people I feel I should show command in front of. The problem is, I wrongly always see myself in a place of command, authority, and responsibility.

Over the years I’ve struggled tremendously with anxiety. Most specifically social anxiety, but it extends everywhere. From canceling tea dates with friends to refusing to attend entire events, I have too often let my anxiety cripple me.

But then again, I’ve also flourished in it. I realized early on where I fly and where I fall. I crave control, so if I am on a stage, I flourish. I know people are there to see me, so I take the control I was given and can seriously command a stage. But if I take on the role of my “normal” self, not the elevated person that people sometimes see, I flounder. A lunch with friends, a party…I shut down. I cancel, I won’t attend, or I try and I end up outside in tears.

All my life I looked upon softness as a defect. Push through, do what you have to. Don’t let others see your weakness. I know that were I in a room today with you, I’d still put that mask on. I know I’m not past it.

But I want to be. Many of us here are creative individuals – perhaps artists for a living or for a passion. We are largely drawn to that life because we feel deeply. I know that I feel deeply. But I find those deep feelings a very personal experience. I shudder at sharing it with others.

But I want to be, as Heather said, soft and strong at the same time. I want to learn how to be both, better.

I felt it was important to write this down here so that you know you’re not alone. If there is one thing I’ve always believed, it’s that if I feel something, I know someone else does, too. It also felt important to write this here because:

It is okay to be proud of yourself and still have moments of weakness.

It is okay to be confident yet still unsure.

It is okay to command a stage but flee from a party.

It is okay to be brilliantly yourself, even if that means you have mental illness.

It is okay. However you are is okay. I revel in myself today, all of my oddities and contradictions. They are what make me complex. And yes, that I know – I am wildly complex. Take ownership of that beautiful fact, because you are, too.

I have to let you in on a secret: the veil in my Begin Again series was actually just a curtain from Goodwill. I couldn’t find a veil in the style I wanted that looked antique enough. So, I went to my local thrift store and perused the bed sheet and curtain section. When I found the perfect little curtain I bought it for just a few dollars even though it was bright white and new.

When I got it home I brewed a giant batch of tea and soaked the cloth in there for hours and hours. The curtain I got was a synthetic blend and not absorbent, so it took a long time of dying to get anything to stick. Here’s an example of the veil from the series after it was dyed and photographed:

Tea dying is the art of antiquing fabric on the cheap. It doesn’t take a lot of effort or a lot of money to make the new look old. Here’s a breakdown of how to do it. If you try this, please share pictures of the results!

Materials:
Black tea
White fabric (preferably cotton)
Pot + water

Step 1: Unpackage about 20 tea bags of generic black tea. Alternately, you can use loose leaf tea (I might have done that if all that I had was pretty expensive to replace). Use more tea bags for a darker look or less for lighter.

Step 2: Boil a big pot of water, large enough for your fabric to be submerged.

Step 3: Put your tea bags in and soak for a few minutes.

Step 4: Turn off the heat and put your fabric inside the pot with the tea bags. Let the tea bags remain inside for the duration of the dying process. I recommend using the lid so the heat stays in.

Step 5: Wait until your fabric turns the color you want. I recommend at least 30 minutes which will yield the following results:

Step 6: Hang to dry.

Step 7: Use in your gorgeous photography! And show me!

A key component to my fine art work is texture. I add it to almost every image I create for many reasons: to make my work look more filmic, to make it look more painterly, to make it look old, and sometimes as a finishing layer to make it look polished.

There are countless uses for texture and each image calls for something a little different. That’s why it pays off to make your own textures, and it’s super simple! Here are 10 different textures I made in about 20 minutes within a 10 foot radius of my garage!

Materials (all optional):
Paint Brush
Paper
Baby Powder or Flour
Black Cloth

The goal is to create random smears or smudges, splatters, cracks, etc. Any pattern that isn’t discernable is great. You want to avoid too much contrast of light on your texture if possible – even, soft light is best from my experience. Get close to the texture so that it fills your frame. And finally, get creative.

You’ll find yourself looking at things you never noticed before in a whole new way! Here are my textures and the wider shots of where the textures came from!

Want to learn how to edit with textures? I have a whole tutorial about just that right here! On that same page you can also find my texture available for a totally free download.

Share this with any artists you think could benefit!

Happy Creating!

On today’s DIY list, we’re making wire sculptures! I’m demonstrating how I do this on a large scale, but you can try the same thing for tiny sculptures, too!

I started making wire sculptural pieces for a photo series, so my plan to use this wire is ultimately to be photographed. The next part of the DIY will go through how to finish the piece and photograph it.

MATERIALS LIST:
Chicken Wire
Gardening Gloves
Wire Cutters
Pliers

I use chicken wire because it is malleable but strong. It can be cumbersome to work with but once you get the hang of it, it molds into shape.

Step 1: Separate the edges of the wire from the roll.

Step 2: Bend the sharp edges inward for safe handling using either your gloved hands or pliers.

Step 3: Roll out the wire. As you go, bend it backward so that it doesn’t curl in on itself.

Step 4: Cut the wire away from the roll when it reaches your desired length.

Step 5: Bend the newly sharp edges inward for safety.

Step 6: Start bending the wire into the shape you want, hooking the wire to itself via the cut edges to hold it in place.

Step 7: Finalize the shape and admire your handy work!

My sculpture doesn’t look like much, but that is because it is only half finished and is meant to be extremely abstract. Remember, you can sculpt anything from abstract creations to little animals and more!

In the next blog about wire sculpting, I will show you how you can coat your sculpture to finish it. Here are two options:

Paper mache is a great choice for coating your wire sculpture. It can be done with newspaper and glue, or you can get the heavy duty stuff for things like body casting. Either way, this technique can be done simply and is great to utilize if you plan on painting it.

Because of the nature of my sculpture, I’ll probably opt for using spray foam. My final sculpture will be covered in mushrooms, and I want to keep the organic flow of it alive.

I hope this was helpful, and I can’t wait to see what wire sculptures you make!

Please share below if you have an idea,
tips for wire sculpting, or if you finish a piece!

I’ll be back soon with Part 2 of “How to Make a Wire Sculpture”!

When it comes to creating a strong portfolio, confidence is key. The more you can stand behind your work, the better received the work will be. This is true of anything we do in life. Our own confidence inspires confidence in others.

How do we gain that confidence, and how do we project it? That’s what this outline is for. These are my methods for creating a strong portfolio that I can feel good about.

I’ve been an artist for 11 years with a successful business for 10 of them. Five years ago I began attending portfolio reviews, and my work has only improved since then. In fact, it was a review that got me to create my first award-winning series. After that, it was a review that got me a book deal. I’ve had harsh criticism and soft, been praised and hugged and ignored. The gamut has been run!

I want you to go into crafting a portfolio with a good sense of what images to choose, how to print them, how to present them, and how to stand behind your decisions. Portfolios are useful for so many things. It’s your business card as an artist and the way you introduce the world to your work. You can create a portfolio in print, on social media, on your website, or any other way you choose!

Here is an outline I made to help with the portfolio process. I hope this helps, and if it does, let me know! In fact, leave a link to your portfolio in the comments!

Choosing images for your portfolio

• Think like a gallery owner (or whomever you’re going to show your portfolio to!)
  • Galleries, magazines, clients, etc., mostly want cohesion. They want someone who is known for something, who will deliver that thing excellently, and who will give them direction. All of this comes from understanding your niche.
• Multiple styles
  • If you have multiple styles, keep them well separated or only show the style that most pertains to the person you’re showing your portfolio to. Don’t mix them.
• Choose your strongest images
  • Don’t know which are strongest? Ask a diverse group of people, and then ask them why. Ask people who do what you do, who have no idea what you do, and in between. The people who know how to create can look technically. The people who have no idea how you do what you do can look conceptually and emotionally. And anyone else is a bonus.
  • Part of having an awesome portfolio is understanding intuitively and intellectually which images are strong. You should not rely on others to choose for you, and if you do, you have a lot of work to do in understanding your craft.
    • Start by looking at which images speak to you the most and that you were most excited to create.
    • Narrow that down by then asking which are technically strongest – that matters A LOT.
    • Finally, choose 2-3 images that are both emotionally strong and technically strong. Use those as your flagship images.
  • If you feel overwhelmed in choosing your strongest images, try studying your medium. Look into classic examples of well-received and critically acclaimed art. Dissect that like you’re in a classroom and ask yourself why they were applauded for their work. Chances are there are books about these people or at the least, blogs, that go into detail about their merit.
• How many images should you choose?
  • In my experience, choosing anywhere from 10-30 images for a printed portfolio is great. Any less, and you won’t seem experienced enough. Any more, and you won’t feel curated. I go for the higher number because my portfolio is massive.

Printing your portfolio – sizes, paper, order

• When you print a portfolio, you must consider how you’re printing it. Or, if you’re printing it at all! Are you presenting digitally or physically?
  • When presenting a digital portfolio, make sure you arrange them in an order that makes sense and keeps the viewer’s attention all the way through. I have reviewed a LOT of digital portfolios, and the biggest issue is that the sender puts too many images in. I lose interest and can clearly tell that as I keep moving through the portfolio, the work is getting older and older. There are glaring technical errors and the concepts aren’t as thought through. Limit yourself.
  • If you’re printing a physical portfolio, choose the paper that you would present your work on professionally. For example, I print my images on Elegance Velvet Fine Art Paper from Breathing Color. Therefore, when I show my portfolio, I make sure the images are printed on that paper. That way, if a gallery sees it and likes it, they know exactly the standard, quality, paper, ink, etc., that they would receive to hang in their gallery. There are no questions because it’s right there in front of them.
  • I recommend printing two different sizes to show people. I print at 10×10 inches and 20×20 inches. The 20 inch size is rather large for a portfolio review, but it always wows them.
• What order should you put them in?
  • Order matters a lot when creating a portfolio. Here are some ways you might choose to order your prints:
    • Color – by creating a through-line of color, you create natural visual cohesion and flow. You may go from cool tones to warm, desaturated to colorful, or you may even alternate color palettes.
    • Theme – Sometimes it’s great to combine like themes together. This is especially great if you are presenting a series (which would naturally go together) or if you are a concept based artist. This method has another bonus: it gives you more to discuss as you flip through.
    • Date – you may choose to order your portfolio chronologically, but I warn against this if your work continues to get less polished as you go.
  • Order matters because it shows you understand the work you are presenting. A sloppily laid portfolio will reflect that you aren’t sure how to curate your prints.

How to present your portfolio – questions to ask, type of case

• What case should you use?
  • The case is the least important part of a review. You’ll likely immediately take the prints out and then not bring the case back until the last minute. That said, cases are hard to come by. There are very limited options, and the awesome ones are so expensive it is often prohibitive. I got mine at a local craft store. It’s just a big zippered case where the prints sit lose inside. For this reason, I keep the different sizes sandwiched between cardboard. Don’t overthink it! The prints are the star.
• Questions to ask. This is vital to a successful portfolio review. If you have nothing to ask, your reviewer might be annoyed and it will reflect that you didn’t put enough time into preparing.
  • I would come up with a list of 10 questions to ask the reviewer. They can be generic, but slip in some specific questions as well. This lets them know you have done your research and you are looking for their specific expertise. Here are some sample questions:
    • Do you think I am technically ready to submit to X (galleries, magazines, clients, etc.)?
    • Do you think I am conceptually ready to submit to X (galleries, magazines, clients, etc.)?
    • What do you feel is the best niche for my work?
    • What stands out as most unique in my portfolio?
    • What stands out as most generic in my portfolio?
    • Do you feel my work is sellable?
    • How do my images make you feel?
    • Can you recommend any resources for me to look at after our review?
    • Does my work fit in to the industry on a professional level?
    • What do you feel would be a good next step for me?
  • When asking questions, remember to ask for detail. Don’t be afraid to ask: Why? How? Can you help me further? Ask them to be specific. You paid for a good 20 minutes and some reviewers will fall short – very short – of giving a proper review. Pull it from them.
• Finally, leave a leave-behind.
  • A leave behind is a piece of paper that they can keep with them. It could be as simple as a business card, or you could go my route:
    • My leave behind is on the paper that I print on for exhibitions, at the size of 8×8 inches. It has multiple images represented on it, plus my name, phone number, and website. This allows the reviewer to remember me, remember my paper and printing quality, and to follow up if they want to work with me.
    • Many reviewers are looking for artists to work with, so this is not far fetched! Like I mentioned, I’ve gotten shows and other good opportunities from reviews, so always be prepared.
      • There are reviews that have gone terribly for me, so I use my best judgment in giving someone a leave-behind. When in doubt, do it! They’ll politely take it whether they want to work with you or not.

I hope this outline has been helpful for you in growing your craft, business, and confidence! Take all these steps and you’ll be sure to present a more polished portfolio that you can feel good about.

Share a link to your portfolio here if you’d like!

Recently I sat in a room full of brilliant women talking about careers and dreams and goals. One after another I heard hopes of changing the world through activism, spreading joy, and setting a strong example to others like themselves. When our formal presentations were finished, talk turned to social media. Gone was the language of dreams and hopes, of confident goals and paths forward. Instead, an air of questioning and pleasing replaced that confident conversation. The language changed to self-doubt and subservience.

In our goals for our careers, it is simple to say I will do X to achieve my dream, because we recognize the power that we ourselves possess to make those dreams a reality. But in the realm of social media and marketing, we believe we are subservient to the greater population.

Much of this ingrained belief comes from entitlement issues online. Not long ago I fell sick and was unable to keep up with social media for one full week. I ceased all communication and didn’t touch my phone. When I finally picked it back up, read my emails, saw my DMs, and took a breath, I was shocked. I received emails and messages from all types of people with a similar message: we expect an explanation.

Certainly, there were well-wishes and genuinely concerned people, but even so, the underlying message (and sometimes overlying), was the same: a demand for information. This happens in big and small ways, and sometimes it is the small ways that are the most destructive.

We post an image on Instagram. We hear instant feedback, sometimes in the form of silence. We share an opinion, and we instantly know how people feel about that. This alone is not the problem. The problem is that we, as the sharers, begin to feel that that however someone reacts to our provocation (even if it is silence), is the right way to react. We feel that their reaction validates our contribution.

WE FEEL THAT THEIR REACTION VALIDATES OUR CONTRIBUTION.

This is how we learn about entitlement through social media. Because our careers, our income streams, or (and this is the heart of the issue) our self-worth are tied up in how people react to our social offerings, we become beholden to how people interact with us online.

And it is the acknowledgment of that relationship that pushes us to explore how to tide the ebb and flow of social media in our favor. We study charts and graphs, take classes, hire mentors, obsess over SEO, and for what? To find the best time to post online, in the most engaging way.

But really, all we’re doing is finding the most effective way of being beholden to someone else’s desires.

When I sat in that room of women all sharing “tips and tricks” for social media, myself included, I recognized the deep emptiness that had entered the conversation. Why, when we talk about our dreams, do we speak so confidently about what we will do to make them a reality, but when we talk about marketing those dreams, we demurely ask how we can serve others?

My social media strategy, if you can call it that, is an intuitive one. I do not study numbers or charts. I don’t care when the best time to share on Instagram is, or what type of post does best, or how to create cohesion in your gallery. Once, I cared. But a lesson, deep and nourishing, crept in at some point:

You can get people to follow your work. You can get people to take notice, you can post at all the right times, you can build a successful business by doing “all the right things”. People do it all the time.

But you can build something real and lasting if you let all of that go.

There is a way forward through authentic and intuitive social media marketing.

It’s called trailblazing. This is my social plan:

1. Care about what you put out so deeply that others care too, no matter what time you share your post.
   
2. Speak about what you care about so deeply that others are compelled to speak back.
   
3. Stop worrying about if you will offend or put off or alienate with your work. You will. GOOD.
   
4. Let your passion be the light that brings people to you. Not gimmicks. Please not gimmicks.
   
5. Let people go. If you lose followers, they were never meant for you.
   
6. Stop using the word follower, it’s yucky.
   
7. Start conversations that you want to have. Don’t start a conversation if you don’t want to have it.
   
8. Find your purpose in everything that you do and share.
   
9. Never let the reason for sharing be to satisfy a statistic (ie: when you should post, what you should post, how you should post).
   
10. Let your legacy fill your marketing strategy.

Go forth and conquer, Passionates.

In many ways, the dream of being an artist is the dream of being self-employed. Often when we think of working artists, we imagine a jet-setting life of all-the-time creativity. Sometimes that’s true, but statistically, that life isn’t the norm – not by a long shot. Being a full-time creative is about being a businessperson and entrepreneur. It’s about knowing how to manage yourself, how to diversify, and how to live within the confines you set for yourself.

Let’s break that down:

• How to manage yourself
• How to diversify
• How to set boundaries

These are the pillars upon which successful artists build their businesses. 

My career, which has spanned nearly 10 years of successful “artisting”, has consisted of adapting as I go. Realizing what works and what doesn’t, fast and with smooth transitions, is the life of an artist. 

Here are my top 10 tips for becoming a successful working artist. Or, for working for yourself in general.

1. Set boundaries. The self-employment life is alluring, largely for the freedom it will grant you. Especially if you come from a more structured job, it can feel all at once incredible and overwhelming to suddenly have no boundaries. The people I know who are self-employed have an insane work ethic. They know how to prioritize, how to set goals, and how to create structure. 
   1. Find your most productive 4 hours of the day. What time do you work best? Figure that out first. If your most productive hours are from 6am-10am (like me), prioritize those hours. Set your most difficult and, if we’re honest, least attractive goals for that time. You will feel naturally more energetic to get them finished. 
   2. Don’t let “norms” get in the way of you doing you. A lot of people I’ve mentored feel bad if they hate getting up early. My advice? OWN IT. If you’re a night person, utilize that time to get your work done. You don’t have to fit into a stereotype, and you’ll find yourself much more productive if you simply choose the times that are right for you.

2. Set goals. In this case, I don’t care if you’re not a goal-oriented person. If you’re not, it’s very likely that you will fail at being self-employed. You need to develop an amazing sense of forward momentum to be self-employed, and particularly as an artist. Your mind needs to be able to think in three ways:

1. The past – note what tactics work and don’t work, but be willing to move on fast. Analyze every decision you’ve made and don’t make the same mistakes twice. Even when you find yourself making great choices, try not to rely on repeating them. Always move a step forward.
2. The present – know what you want to accomplish day to day. 
3. The future – this is where you can let your big dreams shine. Think about the dreams that you wish your business would embody. After you’ve thought them through, start to set long-term goals to achieve until you fulfill the largeness of the dream down the line. 

3. Manage yourself well. Managing yourself has a lot to do with goal setting and organization, but it has equally to do with mindset. It is your job to figure out how you work best (alone or in a group) and where you work best (from home, in public on a laptop, or in an office).  

1. Set up the workspace you will thrive in. Don’t skimp. Many people, especially visual artists, are deeply influenced by their surroundings.
2. Set up a ritual. Light a candle, put on background music, have tea or coffee, etc. Find a routine that brings you peace. For example, every time I light the candle in my office, my brain knows to settle into work mode. Every time I play a certain playlist of songs, my brain knows to settle into editing mode. It’s great to have comforting sensory cues to dive into work. 

4. Diversify, diversify, diversify! I don’t know a single artist – literally, not one single artist – who makes their living through one revenue stream. This is how I’ve made my money: print sales, licensing images for book covers/album art/website design/movie posters, commissioned images for individuals/bands/authors, writing books and articles, teaching workshops, motivational speaking, sponsorship and partnerships, and hosting retreats….That’s 8 categories, and a total of 14 different ways that money might come into my life.

1. How can you diversify? Think of the ways in which your passions can be profitable. I’ll share a more in-depth version of this topic in the future. 

5. Plan, list, calendar, go. “But Brooke, I’m not a list person.” I. Don’t. Care. One thing all self-employed people have in common is they run a tight ship. Either they hire someone to take care of these things for them because they know they don’t excel at it, or they get better at it. I was not an organized person. Some would argue I’m still not. But I have learned how to be a list/calendar/planner person. 

1. Get a physical daily planner. You might balk at this, but my experience is that if I write it down physically, it feels more pertinent and important. It sticks in my head better. I am absolutely addicted to crossing items off a page. 
2. Sync an online calendar. I use Google Calendar for my appointments. I have reminders set to email me 20 minutes before my meetings. I write copious notes about said meetings in the calendar event. I sync my calendar with my husband and a friend who helps me out when I need it. 
3. Make a long-form to do list. I also use the Google suite to do this (tasks in the email client). I keep my everyday items that I want to accomplish in my daily physical planner, but I keep my long-running to do items in my more permanent list in Gmail. These items include things like: Emails to follow up on, people to pay or request payment from in the future, prints to ship, etc. Things that can’t be done today, but need to be done soon.

6. Get your email under control. Seriously. Are you listening? I used to be the worst at email – it would sometimes take me months to write back to people. I lost jobs, contacts, and respect by operating this way. Then I hired an assistant, and things got better, but still weren’t perfect. Then I lost my assistant, and I took over again 100% alone. Guys, I work entirely alone. I have no help. IT CAN BE DONE!

1. I have a 48-hour email policy. To be honest, it’s more of a 24 hour policy as I almost always respond on a daily basis, but I do take weekends off, so times can vary slightly. Choose a time frame that works for you and stick to it like your career depends on it. Spoiler: it does.
2. Choose a time to write your emails. I write my emails first thing in the morning. I feel most refreshed then, most eager, and it is the beginning of my peak productivity. I thrive off of getting emails done first thing. It makes me feel mega-accomplished and I love that I can essentially ignore my inbox for the rest of the day. 
3. Write email templates. I get a lot of emails that are essentially the same requests. For example, every single day I get an email from a school student who wants an interview for an assignment. There is no way I could answer all of those emails in the way they want, so I made a template. I send a generic, although very helpful, response to everyone. It essentially says thank you, that I’m busy, and it lists a bunch of links to interviews I’ve done so that they can find what they need there. 
   1. Think about what emails you get that you could streamline. Is there a generic response you could copy/paste to them? I save my templates in my email drafts folder and use them as needed. Another template I use frequently is for print requests. 

7. Artists, keep charts. I don’t know how you feel, but I feel a deep, intrinsic repulsion to excel spreadsheets. In all honesty, I really don’t love keeping them, but I so appreciate that I do. Before you even get your business up and running, or if it already is and you need to check yourself, implement the following:

1. Print Sales Spreadsheet. I keep a detailed list of all the images I’ve printed, where they are (with me or a gallery), if they have sold, when they sold if so, what edition the print is, what size the print is, what paper it is printed on, and the title of each image. Set up this spreadsheet asap and you’ll never lose track of your print info. I use Google Drive for all of this so I can access it anywhere, anytime, from any device (pending internet). 
2. Licensed Image Spreadsheet. Similar to above, I have a sheet that tracks what images are licensed (the terms, the date, the image, etc.). 
3. Income tracker! I’m the worst at this one. Anyone else feel a little yick when it comes to money tracking? My aversion is terrible. It’s not attractive. You know what is attractive? Getting paid what you’re due. Track the money you are owed, and ask for it, too. 

8. Create pricing handouts. When I say handout, I mean digital. For example, I have a pricing sheet for my prints that I can pass on to buyers, galleries, and design agencies. It’s a simple JPG that I email to anyone asking that states my print information, sizing/editioning stats, and prices. If you want to make money, chances are you’ll have to state a price. Making a price sheet is a great way of showing someone that you already have prices established and they will be less likely to haggle with you. 

9. Find a healthy reward that motivates you. It’s easy to get your emails finished with the promise of cookies afterward, but we can’t very well eat a bunch of cookies on a daily basis. Find a way to motivate yourself that is healthy for you. I have three main ways of motivating myself. One is to go to the grocery store. It sounds weird, but I LOVE grocery shopping. It’s one of my favorite things to do out of the house. If I have a task I’m particularly dreading, I take myself out after to do some meal planning. Either that, or I go for a hike. The second thing I do to motivate myself is a little thing I call “nice cream”. I am sweet obsessed, but too much sugar makes me feel sick. So, I make nice cream (spoiler: it’s just frozen banana, cocoa powder, and oat milk). The third way I motivate myself is to watch TV. I’m a total sci fi lass and I love getting to vegetate for a little while after doing something I don’t like. Find your own motivators! 

10. Do you know what every successful entrepreneur that I know has in common? They know their value and how they provide value to others. If ever you lack motivation to create or run your business (and yes, it will happen), make sure you know the answers to those questions. Write down what value you bring to the world. Refer back to that answer often. Make your answer a natural part of you. You’ll have to take breaks – that’s normal – but it’s good to go back to your why. 

Your Immediate To Do List:

1. Choose the time of day you work best. 
2. Write down your biggest goals of the future and save them in a place you can access regularly.
3. Write out all of the ways – no matter how far fetched – you could make money from your craft.
4. Get yourself a physical daily planner.
5. Set an email response goal for yourself.
6. Type out any email templates that would be helpful.
7. Establish your firm pricing and create a handout for it.

Would you like me to host an online seminar about this? Comment and let me know if it would be helpful!