If you launched your art biz today

In this episode of the Art Business Morning Show, Patrick and Nick explore the concept of starting an art business from scratch in today's landscape. They discuss what to focus on, what to ignore, and provide key insights into effective practices for both new and existing art businesses. The conversation includes identifying stages of business growth, the importance of immediate sales validation, and testing different content to find what resonates with the market. Practical advice for entrepreneurs at various stages of their journey is shared, emphasizing constant adaptation and market feedback as crucial components for success.

Podcast Transcribe

Patrick Shanahan: Coming up on today's edition of the Art Business Morning Show, we are asking the question, what would your art business look like if you launched it today? What are the things you would focus on specifically? What would Nick and I do if we started our art business today? What you need to focus on and, perhaps even more important, what you can ignore. Welcome to another edition of the Art Business Morning Show, the show that will put you on the path to a six-figure-a-year-plus art business. Nick, I think this is a very interesting prompt. What would you do if you were starting your art business today? You and I are now no longer marketers and business people; we are artists starting our business today. What would we focus on? I'd love to get some intro thoughts from you, but for me, the most important part is what you can ignore when you're just getting started. 



Nick Friend: Absolutely, Patrick. I think this applies to people that are just getting started today and have never sold their art. It also applies to someone taking stock right now, maybe in year one, two, or three of their art career. You're looking back and asking if this business is growing to the size you wanted. It's a very interesting exercise and a topic we need to cover. It's extremely relevant to everything we're doing right now. 



Patrick Shanahan: Yep, absolutely. A lot of artists have an art business that might have been running for a year or three years or five years but never really got good traction, so they're basically still just a startup. These principles will apply to everyone because I know where I'm going to go with this. I'm going to drop a lot of value, but everybody's going to get something out of this. 



Nick Friend: Yeah, I think this topic today emerged from some internal conversations. We constantly evaluate our customers' businesses, asking how we can get them to success quicker. When you ask that question in an open-ended fashion, a lot of it goes to what are they working on now? Is it effective? Are they doing it consistently? Is it getting results? Is it putting the cart before the horse? That internal reflection on our part for your businesses is such an important and valuable exercise. We'll likely go into some tactical aspects, but the theoretical is the most important. You need to constantly be asking, "Is this growing my business? Is this getting me the feedback I need?" If it's not, why are you working on it?



Patrick Shanahan: Exactly. What does everyone work on? All the things that are not getting to sales, not getting them feedback or validation. I thought we would keep it open-ended. One of the joys for me in these sessions is putting the hot button topics of the day that are important up on the table and fleshing them out as we go along. I'm happy to go list item by list item. Maybe it might be fun to start like you're starting your art business right now today from scratch or reassessing after three years. Where do you start? Where do you begin?



Nick Friend: I've got a few points on that. For me and you, it's important to say who you're listening to and getting information from. I've been an entrepreneur for 25 years, started five companies, more if you count ideas and pivots. At Art Storefronts for the last seven years, we've got over 6,500 members who are individual artists and photographers, entrepreneurs running their businesses from home. We advise and help them build their businesses. 



Patrick Shanahan: So, going back to your thesis over a 25-year period, you think there are three stages or buckets everyone fits into. 



Nick Friend: Exactly. I'm not just talking about an artist or photographer business. This applies to any entrepreneurial business. Bucket one is starting from scratch, zero followers, zero email addresses, literally nothing. The second bucket is having friends and family following you, posting a bit here and there, but no real business or sales. The third bucket is having an existing business with some traction, maybe $10,000, $20,000, or $30,000 a year in sales. Each of these buckets has different paths and things they should do.



Patrick Shanahan: Another way to state it is zero to one, one to two, two to three. The zero to one problem is when you are literally starting from scratch with nothing figured out. The second bucket is side hustle, ready to get into a consistent side hustle. The third is taking the business seriously and growing it, ensuring you're getting the ROI from your time, energy, talent, and treasure. These three buckets are incredibly important, and what you focus on in those buckets is crucial. Underpinning all of them is the question: what is the quickest way you can get the answer to the question?



Nick Friend: Yes, exactly. Starting out, what's the quickest way you can sell a piece of art? Anything that prevents you from selling that first piece of art, why are you working on it? You don't need a logo, a bank account, or to figure out your niche to sell your first piece of art. It's about removing obstacles that get in the way of achieving your goal. Whether at the start or further along, it's about getting to the actual goal and what you need to do. 



Patrick Shanahan: The key thing is you only learn when you actually try to sell the product. You might think your customers' problem is a certain thing, but it's not. You have to move all the garbage out of the way and just go make some sales. You don't need a logo, business license, or to charge sales tax to sell 10 or 20 pieces. Just go out and make some sales to validate your product. This applies to the first two buckets. The person starting from scratch needs to build a basic following, do some lead generation tactics, and offer flash sales online to validate their product.



Nick Friend: Exactly. Offer your product to friends and family at a special discounted price, and see if it sells. We have a validation playbook on our blog that walks you through this process. You need to see if your stuff will sell. If it doesn't, there's a problem. Quickly pivot to a different subject matter and rinse and repeat until you get traction. Stay there until you get traction. 



Patrick Shanahan: Many artists paint or shoot what they want, which is fine as a creative outlet. But that doesn't mean it has to be the core of your business. Focus on marketable content and evolve towards more marketable subject matter. As you expand your potential market size, your business ceiling grows higher and higher. Test different subject matters, and as you expand, you'll see what resonates with a larger audience.



Nick Friend: Yes, and this applies to evolving your content and product. If you start off painting something very niche, it might not resonate with a wide audience. You need to test other subjects quickly and adapt. This is the mentality you need to have throughout your artistic career. The content you start with is not going to be the content that builds a 100k art business. 



Patrick Shanahan: To wrap it up, what's your favorite type of food?



Nick Friend: Probably Italian.



Patrick Shanahan: How do you know?



Nick Friend: I order it a lot and think about it a lot.



Patrick Shanahan: Because you've tried different foods and found what resonates with you. The same applies to your art. You need to try various subject matters to see what resonates. If you're not selling, you're not trying enough different subjects. How much time is adequate for sampling and testing? When you know, you know. Try different restaurants, and you'll find your favorite. Keep testing and iterating until you get traction.



Nick Friend: Yes, and don't be afraid to pivot and try new things. It can be medium-driven or subject matter-driven. Keep evolving and testing, and you'll find what works. Even successful artists continually test and pivot. Your content is your biggest limitation right now, no matter your talent or style. Evolving your content is the key to growing your business.



Patrick Shanahan: Thanks for listening, everyone. Keep testing and evolving, and you'll find success. Have a great day.









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