The good news is that in spite of the economic woes that are obviously world wide, we find that “having” to sell to pay bills makes us more creative, taps into set aside skills and opens the door to continued creativity!  IF you want guarantees, a magic bullet, a secret to success…well there are plenty of people out there professing to know the answers-go see them!

But if you have figured out that maybe, just maybe, success in what you do is down to hard work and that there is no ONE answer or secret, then everything we have written so far has made an impression on you! And we have done our job:-)

So are you a problem solver? Or are you still blaming everyone but yourself for your lack of what you consider to be success? Do you meet every suggestion with a whiny voice “But I tried that and it didn’t work!”? Things are changing daily. Look at what was available 20 years ago, 10 years ago and look what is available electronically today! How are you sending mail? How are you communicating?  But marketing means you are marketing not just your art product but your skills as a communicator.  Can’t communicate well? Then FIND someone to help you!  Seriously folks…when I make a suggestion and get a bunch of whiners who say “But, but, but…..” then I am speaking to the wrong entrepreneur and you need to keep your day job! Plain and simple. An entrepreneurial artist FINDS solutions and answers and does not offer up excuses as to why something will not or did not work. I have heard EVERY problem imaginable from artists concerning their careers and when my every suggestion is met with a negative, I am wasting my time. You fall down, you get up. You get lost, find a map. You need sympathy? Go to your mom.  Honestly artists, if you want success in your area of expertise, forget everything you ever learned in art school about selling your art and start listening to artists who sell.

Having said that, guess what? We have tried to help you-Don’t try to stab us in the back! We have had artists post on our Facebook pages, show up  where we are, steal our articles to promote their own “how to sell your art” sites, try to monopolize our time at a show for free advice (surely worth a cup of coffee?) Seriously? Get your own life!  I solved many of the unethical problems by simply slowing down my postings, not giving our locations or specifics and in general, spending more time in the areas in which we do ourselves the most good!

Art is all about problem solving-from creating your art to how to sell it. There are NO shortcuts. If, after all these years you are still waiting for me to give you the key to success, well you’re too late. You could have been there by now. So today you have to make a decision-re-think your goals and get to work or  not.  Yes. It’s that simple.   BUT, if you decide that maybe the life of a full time artist is not for you, have the courtesy and maturity to accept that decision as one that YOU have made and not “blame” your spouse, your job, your kids or life in general for your decision!

Enjoy what you have and be happy!

For the totally self employed artist, the past few years have been a huge challenge. If big businesses have failed with all their marketing expertise and service businesses have failed with their consumable products, then what possible chance does an artist have of surviving the lean years? To be frank, no one “needs” your art. No one “has” to have it. Art is a want, not a need.
So just how do you survive financially? And how do you cope emotionally when no one is buying your work? And just how are we, Theresa and Steve, staying in business and paying all of our bills (ie: mortgage, car payment, health insurance, utilities and everything else!)

Above all, we do what successful artists have done all along-we get creative!
Creativity encompasses not just artsy inspiration but creative marketing and the willingness to explore options. The key to our survival during this dry spell has been versatility. Artists have always been told to focus on one aspect of their art. Good advice until it stops selling. But was it all for nothing? No. Nothing is ever “for nothing.” It all joins together to create what it is you identify with as an artist. Picasso is a good example of an artist who used his wits to re-invent himself every time one phase stopped selling. The phrase “growing in my/her art” is so overused. The reality is that you can offer your collectors more of your artistic abilities-not just one thing! If you need “proof” of the many artists who were amazingly versatile and offered clients many options within their abilities to collect more than one form, type, medium of art, spend some serious time studying art history. And if you want to be successful in this challenging economy you need to be able to offer your clients the opportunity to add YOUR art to their collections with more than just the one form you have always offered! Not only does it generate new interest (and sales) but if they have already purchased work from you, they will again!

Encompassing your new found decision to explore other art forms means getting rid of whatever emotional baggage or education has held you back!
Giving yourself permission to step out of the box you or someone else put you in as an artist is serious emotional power! And it is the hardest thing you will do in your journey for versatility. Working on another art form, medium, genre…..you are experimenting, sharing with your collectors, seeing what is working, what is not. It is art entrepreneurship at its finest. It is creativity at it’s finest. And it is perfectly all right to do so! Shake off any negativism. It takes determination and courage to stand up to or ignore the opinionated “wanna be’s” out there who feel their job in life is to make you doubt yourself. Don’t give them that power!
If your slow sales the past few years have left you discouraged and uninterested in creating your art, the huge positive in your versatility explorations is discovering (or re-discovering) a new excitement in creating your art. You will find new enthusiasm in experimenting, thinking about and researching your ideas. And it will show in your work!
For us, now half way through 2013, our niche of the economy is showing signs of a comeback. People are slowly loosening their purse strings and allowing themselves to feel it is OK to make a “want” purchase. Our collectors enjoy seeing what new things we have created and that adds to our encouragement and explorations of new art forms.
Perhaps the best bit of advice we could share with you is simple: “Nothing works if you don’t try it!”
Until next time!
Theresa and Steve
http://www.artcareerexperts.com

…..Consumer demands are changing. Customers want more immediate access to the best relevant deals and are using the Internet as the primary way to redeem coupons. Now, one in five smartphone users use mobile coupons and the demographics of coupon users are shifting……..

The Rise of couponing in small Business

Greg Voakes

This week, couponing and consumer savings site Coupons.org launched an infographic called “The Coupon’s Comeback.” The graphic argues that couponing, a phenomenon largely dormant for the last 20 years, has found a resurrection in the form of online media, social couponing sites, and more traditional dashboard sites. “The Coupon’s Comeback” explores the rise in coupon offers and redemption since pre-recession times, the surprising demographics of coupon use, and the evolution of online couponing.

According to the graphic, Americans have been engaged in a “long-term affair with the coupon,” which is not entirely surprising, since the coupon has been around for over 100 years. Recently however, there has been a huge surge in coupon use and as a result, spending and savings are up. More and more small businesses are offering coupons, and the number of online coupons increased 360 percent since 2009. As more retailers get online, that number will continue to multiply. By 2014, the number of mobile coupon users is projected to grow a staggering thirteen-fold.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/greg-voakes/the-rise-of-couponing-in-_b_1291453.html

OK. It’s been a tough couple of years. We all admit it. Everyone and every business has felt it to some degree.   As working artists, whose total income comes from the sales of our art,  we have had to improvise, expand,tweak, adjust, invent, add and scramble to live a comfortable lifestyle and pay our bills!  To us, making a business plan has always been a call to action and we have done it successfully for over twenty years but never so much as the past two years!
So, IF you have heard enough of all the artist whining that has been going on about the economy and how no one is buying art  and how no artist should have to sell or market and where is the guaranteed way and place to sell one’s art, then this article is for you.   The economy is what it is and to achieve your goals in your plan of action, you simply have to make a few adjustments in your thinking and decide to work within the framework of what is here and now.
And as you can tell, at Art Career Experts, when it comes to selling your art,  we have always felt that there is WAY  too much emphasis on “making the artist feel good” talk and not enough on action. In a world where people feel it is their right and duty to  “feel good” about everything,  the fantasy world of expectations of what being an artist is all about has led to many thousands not realizing a dream. The reality is that all successful artists have had to work hard.  Developing a strong work ethic has never stunted any artist’s creativity.  And whoever thinks that is simply looking for an easy out!

So with that in mind, if you need your ego stroked and your hand held, and my “get ‘er done” directness offends you, there are plenty of other bloggers making big money soft peddling the “artist life fantasy!”  So I won’t apologize for skipping the feel good stuff because if you are serious about making a living with your art, you will be more interested, and won’t mind, getting down to brass tacks and making a  Plan of Action for the year.   Your mindset needs to be on getting it done and turning it into your reality. The one guarantee is that once a plan is written out and put into effect, it is a record of each quarter and each year of your art business and shows you exactly where your ideas are or are not working.
1. Start with what you accomplished last year. It does not matter how you felt your year should have been-  look at all the positive events and accomplishments.
2.  Look at how these accomplishments helped you realize or move toward your goals. Look at what you planned to do and didn’t get done. Did that hinder you or did you end up taking another path toward your goals?   Everyone has a goal whether they wrote it down or not.  Let’s assume for the sake of this article, that you are a visual artist and that your goal is to make  $50,000 in art sales income this year.
Let me digress as I am going to assume that you have the ACE  marketing book  or audio or workbook or even the basic business plan. To have and have read or listened to them indicates your decision to get serious. Because the basics are in them all and you will already know the over 75 places online and offline to sell your art! To not have any of our marketing tools means you’re not  ready to  commit to ANY plan as you are still seaching for the one that suits your needs.  Be truthful and know yourself
Now, what you want to do is look at how what you did or didn’t do last year moved you towards or away from this goal. This is what you need to know to be able to make this year’s Plan of Action and make it work.
The Goal: Earn $50,000 this year in art sales. That is approximately $4200.00 monthly. It is a figure that needs to stay in the back of your mind.
The Action Plan: So how are you going to do that?
1. List every place or way that you sold a piece of art last year or recently and decide that you will improve on it!
2. Look at every place on the ACE list of where YOU can sell your art in public.
a. Narrow the list to 2 places that you can actively pursue
3. Commit to either Etsy or Ebay for your online store.
a. Set up the store
b. Monitor it daily
4. Look at WHO else can help you sell your art.
a. local Gallery
1. contact them with portfolio of work
2. see what they do that will help you
b. Friends, co-workers, family
c. art groups, co-ops, businesses
5. Art Shows
a. which ones will support your kind of art?
b. use common sense and decide if local or distance is the way to go
6. Newsletters-monthly
7. postcards/snail mail-quarterly
8. emails, phone calls, follow ups
9. What else can you do with your art? Multiple “streams of art income” WORK!
a. classes/workshops
1. online and/or offline
b. new products
1. online/offline and where
c. reproductions in all forms-same thing
d. etc.
10. Social Media
a. commit to Facebook and develop your page or your friends
1. Hint: stay away from controversy on your business page!
b. Linked or Twitter-you can survive fine without them-work them if you want
11. Website-
a. This is all in the ACE books -you need one
b. Blogs-yes and keep it up
c. Youtubecan be a good thing for traffic-no experience required-simple
12. Cut your losses-eliminate or cut back your time and effort on anything that is not giving you some return for your investment in time and money!
13. ALWAYS know where you are financially! And which one of your streams of income is falling behind or not working!
14. Plan your marketing using all the free outlets-be very selective with paid advertising.
15.  The five words that will stop you from being successful are “I don’t feel like it.” Decide to change the way you are working and stop complaining! It’s too negative.

Remember the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of your effort leads to eighty percent of your results. Look at what worked last year. Build on that. Look at what MIGHT work this year. Build on that.  Nothing works if you don’t try.
We want to work smarter not harder. It’s hard enough already. If you didn’t love doing it, you probably wouldn’t.  Keep you eye on the ultimate goal. Think of it as a destination. Your action plan is your ACTION PLAN.  It is way past time dreaming that past artists had it easier or that an artist should not have to market or that marketing is a “necessary evil.”
Does it really matter if you get to your destination by a different route than you planned?  No. What matters is your attitude. Stop blaming others.  Then add your determination to roll up your shirtsleeve, work with what you have and start making your goal a reality.
“Even a kick in the rear is a step forward.”

So this article in the Associated Press caught my eye.  Are we really so different from other retailers?

J.C. Penney Says ‘No Sale’: Cuts All Prices, All the Time to Simplify Bargain Hunting

J.C. Penney (JCP) is permanently marking down all of its merchandise by at least 40% so shoppers will no longer have to wait for a sale to get the lowest prices in its stores.

The plan is similar to Walmart’s (WMT) iconic everyday low pricing strategy except that Penney’s goal isn’t to undercut competitors. Instead, Penney aims to take the guesswork out of shopping in its stores by offering customers fewer sales and more predictable pricing.

Penney’s plan comes at a time when stores are struggling to wean shoppers off the profit-busting bargains that they have come to expect in the weak economy. The move is risky because shoppers who love to bargain-hunt may be turned off by the absence of sales.

The Fast and Easy Shortcuts to Success?

by M.Theresa Brown

An interesting discussion began the other day when, on a yahoo group message board, a list of the 12 ways to be successful as an artist were published. The 12 steps were “OK advice” but pretty generic and from a popular Internet art marketing site  and I responded to the post with the following:

“Oh my, real world experience counts for a lot in these discussions.

It is telling that the most often asked question in our art marketing seminars is “How do I price my work?” The artists who ask, regardless of what they just heard from me in the seminar, are searching for an easy, magical formula for instant success. And top of their list is the thought ” skip the rest-just tell me how to price my art so I can sell”

Those artists are not understanding or accepting that there is no single answer. I tell them it is the “whole package” which is the key to pricing their art. But even putting the “correct price” on a piece of art will not sell it!
From what I have seen and heard, very few artists today are willing to work as hard as it takes to develop that package

They pop from one guru’s message to another looking for the yellow brick road and a way to the top with as little effort as possible:-) And along the way, they go nowhere because there is always the underlying voice telling them “but that’s a lot of work” or “I don’t know if I can do that” and off they go looking for a message that sounds more in keeping with what they’d like to do.”

Want to read the rest of this insightful article?  You can subscribe to our monthly newsletters and enjoy articles from us and our knowledgeable guest artists by signing up for our FREE newsletters at Art Career Experts.

BTW-did you notice the “teaser” form of writing? This seems to be the era of a new news form of  Internet writing. Gone are the days when the summary of the whole article was in the first paragraph. Now most headlines when you turn on your computer are questions. “Did the man jump from the building?”  “Did the war end?”   The old time newsmen would roll over in the grave.

What we learned about dismissing  or negating a compliment was that you are essentially telling the person giving you the compliment is that “his/her tastes are not very good.”Think about that and it will make sense!

“I love this art piece!”     “Oh I was just playing around in the studio!”

In the art world I recently congratulated an artist at an opening on her long distance sale via telephone. I happened to be in the gallery when the owner received the call and the sale from another state after seeing the email with images! The artist’s response to me was “Oh that was just a very old friend from Florida who wanted to help out!”   Now seriously. The best response to me would have been a simple “Thank you.”  But to diminish the sale (after all it WAS a sale) by dismissing the buyer also put her confidence in her own art in question. Better for me to think that buyers were flocking to her art than only a close friend would buy my art. See the difference?

I have had students in art workshops who go on and on about how bad their attempts are until it becomes very trying for the other students! At one such event I finally said “OK. it’s not good.” There was a moment of silence but the other participants laughed and then I laughed too and said “I am the teacher. If it wasn’t good I would tell you. And I have told you it’s good! But you still don’t believe me so I might as well agree with you!”  The woman laughed as well and agreed that she would accept my compliments as fact from now on. Silly story but it happens ALL the time. You might  dismiss compliments because you honestly fell you don’t deserve them but to dismiss them because you’re fishing for more compliments is manipulative

Read the article and see whether or not you agree with it.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/emotional-health/why-you-cant-take-a-compliment.aspx?xid=aol_eh-emo_19-_20110905&aolcat=HLT&icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-bb%7Cdl7%7Csec1_lnk3%7C94744