Why Every Creative Needs to Learn Business Skills
In this economy, artists and writers need to be able to create passive income streams and tap into their audience.
Want to make more money? Or tap into a larger audience?
Now, I know what you are thinking when you read that caption above. Ashley, I just want to create art. I want to write my little poems in the corner and not have to worry about them making it out into the mainstream world. And I want to tell you that is completely fine, but this is not the post for you. This post is for the hungry young artist that wants people to know their name and to make a successful income off of their art.
I think wanting to be successful as an artist these days creates a whole new breeding ground of what it means to be successful. The other day I was reading the biography of Andy Warhol, which you can find my review of here, and want Andy Warhol did to get his name out there was incredible.
He was an artist with an inherent sense of business tactics simply built into him, which is how he blew up to the level we now know him of today. Warhol was both an artist and a businessman, and these were two skills he honed in on until his untimely death at age fifty-eight.
Despite being an artist at heart, I received my undergraduate degrees in business management, international trade, and marketing. This was what sealed the deal for what I thought about writing, as you need to know the ins and outs of business if you want your name to be out there.
In the span of that year off, I successfully developed a journalism portfolio, became a certified critic in film and television, and built this blog from the ground up. Not only did I double my Twitter followers and increased my Instagram tactics, but I drove traffic into this website like a massive funnel. I’m getting my name out there. What about you?
By treating yourself as a business, you’re investing in both your art/writing and your future.
First step: find marketing courses. I recommend find free ones.
When I first started working with my mentor, she gushed about General Assembly to me. General Assembly is active in many cities around the world, but she had specifically worked with their paid programming to discover the ins and outs of industry.
I did not have the money to do that, unfortunately, so what I ended up doing was attending their free seminars/lectures, which are mainly hosted over Zoom. You can take anything from visual design/UX, SEO, public speaking, and social media planning.
Other resources I used during this time were the free courses offered on Coursera, as well as LinkedIn Premium, which I got for free via my university.
I took all the LinkedIn certification courses I could take, as well as the Google Digital Marketing course to get a certification in that. I also suggest taking advantage of any networks you currently have; you may not know XYZ program you did in high school might now be offering a bootcamp for alumni, which is how I ended up in workshops with organizations like StoryCenter and The Moth.
Start a blog and post consistent, quality content.
This blog has literally become a lifeblood for me. I post daily, which is unattainable for most people, and I realized constantly posting like this was pretty much damning me.
I ended up deciding to take weekends off in order to keep a consistent schedule, but, besides that, you’re getting daily posts from me. Once you learn the ins and outs of SEO, you’ll find your audience coming to you fairly slowly, but they’re coming. When I first started this website, I only had 300 visitors. Now I’m getting 300 visitors in two days.
During this phase, find out about other organizations and sites you can write for. Something that really boosts your ranking in the Google Search Engine is backlinking, which means that other organizations are linking back to your website’s pages.
If it’s a page like, for example, The New York Times, that not only will drive traffic directly through the link, but it also boosts your search engine results so that people will find your site more visible when they google, say, Ashley Hajimirsadeghi.
Not only will the blog drive traffic to your site, but it makes your name familiar to your audience. Find a niche that relates to the kind of work that you do, but make sure you’re passionate about it. I genuinely really love movies and books, so that’s my niche. I also love to travel, although that does not bring in as much traffic for my website. The book and movie reviews are my bread and butter when it comes to traffic.
Start networking online and in real life.
Have a local artists’ fair in your town or neighborhood? Set up a small stall! When I went to the Baltimore Farmer’s Market the other week, I discovered that there were quite a few local artists with booths and people were loving their goods.
Whether it was homemade cards with their designs or the kimchi they made in their backyard, people loved to stop and chat with the artists. Make a QR code that leads back to your Instagram, encourage people to post about your work, build connections with your local community. You never know who knows who, and they may recommend you to your next client or book sale.
Online, scope out who the people you love hearing from. Follow them on Twitter and Instagram, strike up conversations with them. Don’t be creepy, of course.
We do not encourage stalking or harassment in this household. For Generation Z especially, we’re so online so many communities, whether they are on Twitter, Instagram, or Discord, exist on the Internet. Don’t try to make yourself seem like a constant circle of sales pitch, make genuine connections. Friends love to support friends.
Know your budget, but take risks.
The only way to be able to grow financially is to spend money to invest in opportunities. Do not be afraid to buy yourself a domain name for your website, or pay a little extra for something nice-looking.
Eventually, you may need to bring in an accountant as the money comes rolling in, or you may find yourself in a similar pinch I was in. I did not get my taxes done properly (I did them myself) and that ended up being a minor mess that I had to sort out with the IRS (thus I lost money that I shouldn’t have to taxes).
Something I’m realizing the deeper I get into this business is that in order to make this more legitimate, I have to spend more money. I pay for my domain name and Squarespace website, but eventually I may want to hire a web designer to make this website look better than it does already.
The more I delve into the business world, you need to find innovative ways to stay afloat, which means taking some risks financially. Many businesses fail, but the ones that succeed often the best are the ones who took many risks during the process.
I do want to say, though, is that know your budget. Do not go over it in the name of quote-on-quote self-development or business. That is how you dig yourself a hole that only continues to get deeper and deeper the farther you go. I recommend being financially wise or reading up on financial literacy before getting too deep.
Don’t lose your passion.
At the beginning, you are going to find yourself in a cycle of productivity and burnout. There are many days where I do not feel like writing a blog post, article, or poem. I’ve learned time management now to the point where I work smarter, not harder.
There are shortcuts for everything while still producing quality content, so allow yourself the chance to find these habits and what works best for you. Whether it’s chugging a Darjeeling tea or listening to white noise, experiment until you find what works.
Also remember why you create art: you love it. I recommend diversifying your income stream so you do not solely rely on the act of art production in order to make your income; use your newfound business skills to freelance or help other artists.
Making it your job may completely suck the fun out of it, so I recommend having many different kinds of projects to follow at once. That’s how I stay sane. I work a part-time job at my graduate school, then I do freelance criticism, writing, and social media work. At one place, I even work on someone’s website for a small fee each month.
At the end of the day, do not forget why you’re doing this.
