Personal Tips for Starting An Art Business

When I started this business, I didn’t have a whole lot of people I could turn to for help. I had amazing teachers who helped me with calligraphy and art. But the business side has been something I waded through on my own. Recently, I’ve been seeing a slew of useful articles and courses! So I wanted to share some personal tips if and when you want to start your own art business. By no means are these the ONLY tips you should follow. I have worked as a freelancer designer since 2005 before I started this art business in 2014. All the tips below are based on my personal experience that I felt might be helpful to anyone out there. For more professional help like CPA, lawyer, marketing or business professional, please seek out accordingly.

Protect Yourself

Get A CPA (unless you’re an IRS whiz). I’ve known mine for 17 years when I first started working out of college at MTV. One my ex’s mother is an auditor and she used to tell me stories of young women who would get audited and it struck fear in me. I’m very keen on saving my ”work-related” receipts and putting down all the numbers. Nothing is under the table for me. I try my best to abide by all the rules and pay all my taxes even if it hurts my bank account.

Make friends with a lawyer or paralegal. A good lawyer is someone you trust who isn’t shady. It takes time to find someone who you feel won’t take advantage of you. It’s a lot like finding the right doctor for you. Don’t go only when you’re in trouble.

Have your contracts in order. I’ve lost money once when I was 23 because I didn’t have a contract. Don’t make my mistake. You can find some online or ask a law firm if they deal with small businesses what their fees are to review a contract (see above bullet point).)

Have your business plan in order. Businesses can pivot so don’t feel like you’re stuck to your model. But know where you came from, learn from your mistakes, and look at how far you’ve come. Plus, knowing your business will make it easier to apply to sell at markets or to show to potential corporate collaboration.

Know your revenue and yearly profit goal. A P&L (profit and loss) is great not just for your CPA but also when you decide to take a loan to buy a house or whatnot. The banks will want to see that p&l—at least they made me show mine because of my freelancer status and having one ready is good practice anyways.

Time Management

Make time for content building. I have 1-2 days a week to create new contents for my portfolio, store, blog, or social media photos. This is outside of my client time.

Always have time for administration work. I like to end the work day going through my revenue and inventory but always have 1 day where I go through it thoroughly.

Relax. Set aside 1-2 days to reset, relax, and breathe. Go shopping, read, soak in a bath, face mask. Put away the phone and the computer and all devices during off-time.

Make time for education. Life is about learning. Don’t forget to take a new class, course, workshop, anything to help you grow as a person or a business.

Client Interaction

Be courteous. Write clean and clear messages (use spell check) and answer within 48 hours for email or phone responses.

Know your worth. If someone reaches out and tries to haggle, decide if you want to take them as a client or not. I’ve come to find the clients who haggle also are the clients with the most changes and are most likely to be dissatisfied with the work. In the end, I never feel great at the end of that project.

Money first. Never start a job before getting the money first (even if it’s non-refundable 50%). Did client send out an RFP? Decide if it’s worth the time to send something back but never create anything new. Show some old stuff that might be similar.

Never put down your own money for someone else’s project. Did a client ask you fly out or drive to another town? They should pay for that fee (unless it’s free consultation—I offer 30 minutes free to my clients when I meet them for coffee).

Social Media Best Practices

NEVER DO BUSINESS through social media.

Social media is meant to be social. You’ll end up losing time there instead of actually making real money.
Prep contents in advance. New item? Take lots of photos so you can post in the future. You’ll get new followers who might not have seen those pieces before. Use them!
Use an app to autopost your content.
Take 1-2 days a week to prep your social media calendar (also a great day to review inventory and revenue).
Don’t delete negative comments. Sometimes, it helps to see 1 or 2 bad reviews. If you have 100 good reviews, people might think it’s odd.
Don’t engage in bad reviews. Let them know you’ve heard them and ask them to contact you via email.
Don’t let bad reviews personally hurt you. It’s the nature of business. You can’t please everyone.
Do DELETE trolls and spams. Those hurt your account if you ever decide to collab with a corporate account.
Don’t let social media be the only engagement tool. Use email campaigns, live events, and conferences to meet potential leads.

Artist Support Artist

Sharing is caring. Stealing is thieving. Imitation is not a big deal for me. But when someone takes my work and profits off of it, that’s when it’s wrong. I’ve gotten clients who’ve shown me logos or artwork they found on Google and asked me to duplicate for them. I always decline and tell them to hire that artist/designer. You would want the same thing too if you know someone is using your exact same product and putting their name on it without acknowledging or crediting you.

Support others. Offer words of encouragement to other artists and small businesses when you can.

Final words…

Most of all, believe in yourself and don’t give up! You can pivot, you can change, but don’t give up on yourself! You are MORE THAN YOUR BUSINESS. Do it because you LOVE IT.

Disclaimer: The content in this blog is solely my opinions from my own experience. Please use for personal growth and enjoyment and at one’s discretion and common sense. Please research and form your own opinion and/or seek professional advice as needed.