With July behind us, we have hit the home stretch for the end of the year.

Now is an excellent time to look at the business plans we all talked about (and you made) in January and see what the results have been so far.
It’s pretty easy to know what you have been able to cross off your “to do” list but it’s not always so easy to see where you were sidetracked-either accidently or on purpose.
All business plans need to be flexible. That does not mean you do nothing to reach your goals until the end of the year
It does mean that you should be able to look at the directions/s you intended and see if anther route turned out to be more profitable. Sometimes we aim for a particular area that we are familiar with and do not investigate other opportunities.

So to simplifly:

Don’t put all your eggs into one basket! Whatever way you have been selling your art product, if it is not selling now or is selling poorly-re-evaluate other avenues. Even if you ARE doing well in one area, the fallout from the economy today has shown that too many people were caught unawares and had no back up plan. There is a good reason we hear that phrase “multiple streams of income.”

If you did not make a plan in January, make one NOW! It is never too late to think about how you are going to handle the holidays and what art products you have been making that may be consumer friendly and attract buyers!
No matter what you create, it is an Art Product! Stained glass, paintings, commissioned art, quilts, etc. Offer your client choices when pricing your artwork. Go down in price? It may not be necessary..offer what you do in a different format-smaller, less intricate, etc and that way you have something available for most price ranges.

Theresa