{"id":7071,"date":"2009-06-05T05:49:18","date_gmt":"2009-06-05T13:49:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/?p=3927"},"modified":"2009-06-05T05:49:18","modified_gmt":"2009-06-05T13:49:18","slug":"being-a-full-time-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drewbrophy.com\/being-a-full-time-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Being a Full Time Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"drew-in-studio-designing-shoes-jan-09\"<\/a>

Photo (c) Jason Wallis<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t be afraid to go out on a limb.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the fruit is.\u201d\u00a0 H. Jackson Browne<\/p>\n

I recently read an article written by long-time fine art consultant.\u00a0 This woman has a huge following and is well respected in her field.\u00a0 But I was floored when I read this line in her article:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will not be able to make a living off of the sale of your work.\u201d\u00a0 This was her advice to artists.\u00a0 It made me cringe, because my message to artists is just the opposite.<\/p>\n

You CAN make a living off of your art.\u00a0 It\u2019s done every day.<\/p>\n

Many well-meaning experts will tell you that you cannot make a living off of your art.\u00a0 Some of these people are teachers, consultants and accountants.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe it for a minute.<\/p>\n

You can make a decent living off of your art if you do the following:<\/p>\n

1.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Make the decision that this is what you are going to do<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Keep the fire of passion burning<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Kill any Plan B or Plan C \u00a0and focus 100% on your art business<\/p>\n

4.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Treat your art business like a business<\/p>\n

5.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Diversify \u2013 find multiple ways to sell your art<\/p>\n

Years ago I quit my high paying career in the insurance industry to join Drew full-time with our art business.\u00a0 At the time, our business was not run very tightly because I had been working on my Plan B (the insurance job) while trying to run my Plan A (the art business).<\/p>\n

We met with a business consultant to help us get our business on the right track.\u00a0 And what this highly paid consultant told us was earth-shattering!<\/p>\n

He looked me in the eye and said:\u00a0 \u201cMrs. Brophy, you and your husband are going to have to shut down your business and get jobs.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 This was after looking at the numbers on our financials for only five minutes!<\/p>\n

I went home and cried.\u00a0 Drew and I knew we would never work on anything but our art business, because it was our passion.\u00a0 We were determined to pinpoint where our business was in trouble, and then deal with it.<\/p>\n

Our source of trouble was that we were producing products ourselves, selling directly to retailers and the retailers were slow payers, which in turn caused great cash flow problems.<\/p>\n

Our next decision saved our business \u2013 we shut down the portion of our business that produced products, we let go all of our employees and our warehouse, and we changed our focus entirely to creating art and licensing to manufacturers instead.\u00a0 And we\u2019ve been making good money ever since.<\/p>\n

Thank God I didn\u2019t listen to that consultant-expert.\u00a0 Had I listened to him, I wouldn\u2019t be doing what I love, and taking 8 week vacations every year, and enjoying every day of my life in the art business.<\/p>\n

The moral of this story is three-fold:<\/p>\n

1.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DO NOT listen to the advice of well-meaning people who use the word \u201cCAN\u2019T\u201d (in other words, do not take advice from people who say you can\u2019t do it.)<\/p>\n

2.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Analyze and Correct:\u00a0 If you aren\u2019t making enough money as a full-time artist, take the time to analyze where your weak spots are and correct them<\/p>\n

3.)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Don’t Give Up and be Patient:\u00a0 It takes time to get it right, and if you love what you do and you are passionate about it, it will work out for you eventually<\/p>\n

There are many ways to earn a living as a full time artist.\u00a0 I think the hardest is that of a fine artist who relies entirely on selling original artworks.\u00a0 Unless your fine art is as popular as that of Wyland or Hazel Dooney or Goddard, you may need to cultivate other means of income from your art besides art sales through galleries.<\/p>\n

Here is just a short list of ways to earn money off of your artwork:<\/p>\n