Does the topic of pricing your art just overwhelm or confuse you?

There are so many pricing guides out there, so how do you know which you should be using?

Are you wondering whether you're pricing your work too low or even too high?

In this episode, I'm removing all the confusion from pricing your artwork.

I'll be sharing how to price your art based on where you are in your business because this will change as your business grows & develops.

First, let's talk about why pricing your work correctly is so important.

You don't want to underprice yourself because this sends a message to buyers that your work is cheap & low quality.

It also tends to attract bargain shoppers which are not the kind of customers I want & you probably don't either.

Additionally, your business needs to be profitable in order for it to become sustainable & one day, support you full-time.

That means you need to cover your expenses & pay yourself fairly for your time, & I'll share how to do that.

You also don't want to price too high because this turns off potential customers, & if you don't have the demand to back up your pricing, then no one will be willing to pay your high prices.

You want to price yourself fairly without turning off potential customers, & I'll share how to do that based on the stage of business you're in.

I love talking about numbers & I really hope that this helps you out with how to price your work, no matter what stage of business you're in.

I'd love to hear what you thought of this episode - do take a screenshot & share it on social media with your thoughts, & tag @freelancetofulltime so I can see it.

Until next time artpreneurs, take care!

Manifestation is the act of visualizing your dream so strongly that all of your actions, whether consciously or unconsciously, bring you closer to that dream.

Learn how this mindset practice helps attract opportunities & buyers my way to get closer to my goals of making a full-time living as an artist!

Show notes: https://freelancetofulltimeartist.com/13

In this episode I'm going to prove how difficult it is to make money & connect directly with your ideal collector by selling through art galleries, two things that are necessary to having a successful art business, & how I increased my profit margins by thousands by learning to make sales directly on my own.

Are you struggling to grow your Instagram following?

These days especially with the algorithm it can be harder to be seen, especially when the art world seems so saturated with artists all trying to get seen.

I'll share how I was able to grow my Instagram following to right around 10K followers back in 2019.

These are the exact tactics I used to grow my first page, including what hashtags to use, ways to increase your chances of going viral, how to get people to hit the follow button, pleasing the algorithm, & finally, creating a personal brand that shows through in all the aspects of your content to build trust in your audience & make new followers much more likely to be drawn to your content.

Download my free guide in the show notes: https://freelancetofulltimeartist.com/11

I have to be honest, it's really disappointing to hear artists say things like, "I don't have what it takes to paint that well," or "I'll never be that good at painting."

But what's even more disappointing is hearing artists say, "I wasn't born with natural talent."

Not only have they decided they can't do something, but they've also decided that it's out of their control.

Natural talent doesn't exist & I'm going to prove it in this episode!

This is merely an excuse to not try.

Painting is a skill, not a talent! 

And that right there makes painting learnable for anyone of any age.

It starts with changing your mindset around succeeding at art, investing in your progress, & actually doing the work it takes to get there.

Have you hit a plateau when it comes to your art?

Do you feel like your skill level in painting portraits just isn't progressing the way you'd hoped?

Tired of searching endlessly for tutorials on YouTube that go too fast, are confusing, or that don't get you the results you want?

I know how frustrating it is to not see results and to not find information that actually helps.

This is where I was in 2015 before doing the one thing that changed the trajectory of my artwork forever.

This is episode 8, where I’ll be breaking down for you the five steps I took to improve my artwork exponentially over the last few years.

If you’re struggling to see improvement in your artwork, if you feel stuck & not sure how to level up your skills, this 5 step framework will help jumpstart your ability to start steadily growing in skill level as an artist.

This guide teaches you how to effectively study art & apply what you’ve learned, because there is a wrong way that was keeping me stuck at the same skill level for almost 2 years, as well as how to learn from your mistakes & start elevating fast.

Rinse & repeat these tips over several months & years & before you know it, your work will have immensely improved!

It can take a long time to see improvement with art, but I guarantee that by following this guideline, you will look back a year from now & be so proud of how far you’ve come.

I really hope you found this podcast inspiring, & I hope it gives you the energy to start creating some amazing artwork.

Why do so many artists have this fear of making mistakes in their work?

Whether it's being too afraid to try a new technique, leaving artwork unfinished because we're not proud of how it's turning out, having to start all over, or fear of others seeing our mistakes, this is a very limiting belief that you have to get over if you want to become a successful artist & especially if you want to do this full-time.

Fearing mistakes is holding you back from learning & improving.

My goal at the end of this episode is for you to no longer feel afraid to mess up, but to feel empowered every time you visit your canvas.

Yes, you read that right - I had an art Instagram page with close to 10K followers, I deleted it, & it was 110% worth it.

Just a few months later, I got more buyers for my work & more than doubled my sales by the end of 2020.

So why did I need to get rid of that big following, you might ask?

Well, I had to rebrand my art business because I had a mixed audience.

Of those 10K followers, most of them were other artists, others in my industry, & far fewer were actual collectors who had the desire & the means to buy my work.

I remember before getting rid of that page, I did a poll asking my audience if they were art collectors, or artists themselves.

Guess what - more than 80% said they were artists or admirers, not buyers.

The majority of my large audience wasn't even my target audience.

It was no wonder I was hardly making any sales back then.

You see, I had tried to brand my 10K page to target art collectors, & I had failed big time because I was unsuccessful in even attracting them.

Instead, I was talking to a different audience than I intended, the majority of which weren't even interested in what I had to offer.

It's no wonder that running that page felt totally exhausting & almost pointless.

Not only that, but it felt like I was reaching no one.

This was a huge mistake I made that I wanted to share with you so that you don't have to go through what I did.

In this episode, let's talk about why my old branding was attracting the wrong audience, what letting go of that page felt like (spoiler alert - it was soul crushing), how I dealt with those feelings by elevating my mindset around numbers & followers, how I've rebranded my art pages & how & why I was able to double my art sales by creating two separate brands.

Personal branding is the way you promote yourself to influence the public's perception of you, combining your skills, expertise, & personality to establish yourself as an expert & authority in your industry, increase your credibility, & differentiate yourself from your competition.

When you have a strong brand, your ideal customer will choose you over another artist if they strongly connect with your brand & trust you.

These 5 keystones to personal branding will help you stand out from the crowd & your competitors & give you an edge no one else has!