5 Problems That Keep Artists Starving – and How to Solve Them

“How would it feel to be making a sustainable living from your art?”

That’s the question Miriam Shulman asked when she hosted an enthralling Virtual FieldTrip titled, “Artpreneur Roadmap: A Guide to Sell More Art FieldTrip.” She shared a 5-part passion-to-profit framework that any artist can use no matter what medium of art you create.

Miriam is the author of Artpreneur The Step-By-Step Guide To Making A Sustainable Living From Your Creativity, published by HarperCollins. Her FieldTrip walked through some of the key concepts from the book. She started with a challenging statement, “the difference between starving artists and successful artists is successful artists plan for profit.” Before she covered her passion-to-profit framework, she stressed that it was important to understand which problem is actually holding you back as an artist.

Here are the 5 common problems that keep artists starving:

1. Spending too much time on low profit art.

It might feel easier to sell a sticker or a small print, but small items have small margins. In other words, you have to sell a whole lot of them to make any substantial profit. Wouldn’t your efforts be better spent on high profit pieces?

2. Being afraid to charge higher prices.

Whether it’s imposter syndrome, worrying about the economy, or myriad other excuses, it’s understandable to believe that charging less will make it easier to sell your art. But price isn’t always the deciding factor and conversion rates can be high with high end art.

3. Treating Instagram like a sales catalog.

If you’re trying to sell your art, it might seem logical to just post a piece with a price and call it a day. But that’s not what people scrolling are looking for. They want to feel a connection to you and your work. Use Instagram to build relationships and your email list. Why? Because the average engagement rate on Instagram is 0.6%. But the average open rate of email is 24%! So, sell to people who are already interested.

4. Being afraid to sell.

Marketing is cringy. It’s a recession. It’s a pandemic. Nobody buys art in my town. I’m too introverted. Don’t listen to that negative voice in your head. You can embrace your inner weirdo and sell. In fact, it’ll help you sell more.

5. Indulging in overwhelm.

Making and selling art can feel like a never-ending to do list. It can seem like there’s never enough time to get it all done – not to mention managing the rest of your life. So, evaluate what is working and what you can eliminate.

Think about which of these 5 problems resonate most with you. Then, you’re ready for the 5-part passion-to-profit framework. It consists of 5 plans: Production, Prospecting, Pricing, Promotion, and Productivity. If you want to dive into the passion-to-profit framework, you can watch a recording of the Artpreneur FieldTrip here.

And you can buy Miriam’s book here.

Please note that the recording will be available until December 31, 2023.

We’re this excited to share it with you!