Three Types of Goals to Help Artists Turn Their Passion Into Profit

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 17-04-2010

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If you have ever read a goal setting book before, you probably found the first third of the book devoted to finding your passion. As artists, we have a head start because we know what we are passionate about – our art. You probably know what kind of art you are passionate about as well. You may be a painter, sculptor, collage artist, or videographer. Photographer, quilter or jewelry maker.

You know your passion. Now how do you translate that passion into profit? What steps are required to turn a hobby into a income?

How do you follow traditional goal setting systems that to many creative types, seem constrictive, leaving little room to work from inspiration?

These are questions I have struggled with personally. An artist with a marketing degree, I have built my art licensing business from the ground up. How do I balance the need for marketing and systems with the need to be free to create the art at the core of the business, when inspiration hits? How do I continue to balance things as my business grows?

I have concluded that to succeed in building a creative business, you need to set goals in three core areas on a regular basis: goals to create your art, promote your art and recharge yourself.

  1. The core goal is to CREATE. Without creating art you won’t have much of a business. If, in any given month, you feel you can only focus on one of the three primary goal setting areas, creating art is the one I never want you to miss.
  2. The second type of goals should help you to PROMOTE your business. People need to know that you are in business. So someone, either you or an agent or an employee, needs to get the word out.
  3. The third type of monthly goal is to RECHARGE. Since you, the artist, personally create the heart of your business, it is important that you don’t run out of steam. You need to relax, refuel and rejuvenate your mind, body and soul. Recharging will help you stay inspired, creative and passionate about what you’re doing.

Source by Tara Reed

10 Business Ideas For the Artistic Soul

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 17-04-2010

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Are you an artistic soul? Do you have an entrepreneurial attitude? Are you looking for a way to quit your 9-5 and work in a field you are truly passionate about? There are many creative and highly talented people out there that never got the education needed to succeed in the business world. Or perhaps you did but the career you have studied for is not what you are truly passionate about.

Those that do quit their “day jobs” to pursue their artistic love are often left poor and unemployed. They struggle to get published, get noticed or get jobs. Is there a way to have your cake and eat it too in the business world?

Actually there is! But you need to be aware that it’s not always easy. You will have to work hard if you want to get paid for doing what you enjoy. However, there are many options now available for someone who wants to work in the arts and has the talent and the drive to do so.

What kind of jobs are we talking about here?

The ideas below are possibilities if you want to earn a living while still doing what you love.

Here are 10 great business ideas for those of you with artistic aspirations:

1. Illustrator
2. Web design
3. Writer
4. Interior designer
5. Graphic artist
6. Painter
7. Book editor
8. Photographer
9. Musician
10. Floral design

There are markets available online, in your community and even through freelance markets and third party marketplaces. You can sign up and get connected with people who are looking for people just like you with your talents and expertise!

There are many organizations dedicated to helping people who want to pursue jobs in these fields. Do some research and find out how you can get started even if you don’t have any prior experience.

Source by Lisa A Mason

Selling Art – How Do I Learn the Business of Selling Art?

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 17-04-2010

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How do I learn the business of selling art? For upstart artists, this is the most important question that they can ask themselves and the most crucial to find the answers to. One mistake young artists make and even some older veterans make is they think of their art as an artistic creation rather than a business.

The truth is, if you intend on selling art you’re in the business of selling just as much as you are the art of creation. It is just as important for you to learn the business of selling art as it is the business of creating your art. While there are many opinions about how selling art should take place there are some solid business ideas that should go behind the selling of art.

Marketing your art is the most difficult and time-consuming part of being in the art business. It is important for you to realize all the available art marketing options that you have today. Some of these include newspapers, radio, TV, and Internet just to name a few. Each one of these comes with a positive and negative side, but not understanding the benefit to each possesses and how to harness these marketing outlets will substantially increase the duration in which the artist makes little if any profit.

Out of the before mentioned, art marketing options. Probably the most beneficial to an upstart artist would be the Internet. There are more opportunities via the Internet to get your name and art in front of millions of people than in any other conventional way.

When starting out in the business of selling art you should consider creating a website, blog, Facebook page and a Twitter account. Your website should showcase your work and be a place to sell your paintings online. Use your blog to keep potential buyers informed of your activities in any new or recent paintings that have been added to your website. Use your Facebook page to engage potential buyers and create frames and lasting relationships that can help foster or encourage others to buy your art. A good use of a Twitter account in addition to trying to make daily posts on your twitter account you should also set it up to post short clips of your blog postings.

If you are interested in the business of off-line marketing in here are some ideas for getting noticed. Participate in local events such as art fairs, charity auctions or the like. By participating in your local community you will build a name and reputation for yourself and you will be able to tap some additional off-line resources such as radio or TV or even a write up in the local newspaper. Something to keep in mind is to try and not oversell yourself, but rather let the business of selling art become second nature to you and a part of who you are. Today, buyers are just as interested in the story behind the artist as they are the quality and beauty of the art.

Source by Juzer S Kimti

The Indian Handicraft Industry

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 13-04-2010

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India is a land where exporting is much a necessity than a preferred choice. It is a highly populated land where commerce and business are the need of the hour. And then, India is also a leader in various fields, and the abundance of few specialized items can afford it to export such items. However, when we talk about the Indian Export Business, do we easily think of Handicraft industry? Not really, because Agriculture as a major export area is a famous and popular concept, overshadowing many other fields.

India is indeed one of the major exporters of handicrafts and gift items. Owing to a heritage of rich art and craft culture in ancient times, Indian Handicraft sector is recognizable for their most popular craft items like earthenware, pottery, woodwork, sculpting, scarves, shawls, textiles, embroidered and knitted goods, zari items, jewelry, etc. Indian Handicraft goods have a great demand overseas, as they are a perfect mix of traditional designs with modern techniques. The export of Handicraft items in India is growing exponentially, and so-much-so that it is emerging as the second largest employment generating sector after Agriculture. Hence, a large number of artisans are engaged in designing pottery and other craft work.

The Agriculture Export Business is increasing at a consistent growth rate and is spreading its wings to various nations. India has been exporting its products to USA, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, UAE, Canada, Belgium and others countries. From various exported handcraft items, few that are high on the demand list are Wood wares, Hand printed textiles, Shawls, Zari Goods, Imitation Jewelry, Crocheted Goods and more.

Another reason for the popularity of Indian Handicraft goods is the exceptional and varied design items. Consisting of 28 states, India offers an enormous range of handicraft products, where many states have their own handicraft USP. Following is listed the various Handicraft items and the Indian states they are associated with it.

  • Wooden ware- Saharanpur, Hoshiarpur, Srinagar, Amritsar, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Mysore, Madras, Kerala, Behrampur
  • Marble and Stone Craft- Jodhpur, madras, Agra
  • Zari Goods- Madras and Rajasthan
  • Art Metal- Moradabad, Aligarh, Rewari, Jodhpur, Jaipur, Delhi, Madras, Beedar, Kerala, Jaisalmer
  • Jewelry- Delhi, Moradabad, Kohima
  • Papier Mache items- Kashmir, Rajasthan and Bihar

The Indian Handicraft goods are used for leisure pursuits and as a style statement. The manufacture of Handicraft goods is giving employment to many people in India, and has forged an unsurpassed reputation in the international market.

Source by Sanjeev Pandey

Arts and Crafts Business Plan

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 06-04-2010

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It can be said that comprehensive plans certainly do take many resources to formulate and appear as formidable documents. These large plans do however still follow a basic structure which is fleshed out to suit the purpose that the business needs the plan for. The process of writing a plan for your own business is also a great journey that will allow you to focus and elaborate on each element resulting in a clearer business path.

There is no specific right or wrong way to write a business plan but the seven key elements as mentioned below will be suitable for nearly any arts and crafts business.

1. Executive Summary

This section is often written last as almost a precis of the body of the plan. Normally the purpose of the arts or Craft business and how you intend to achieve this purpose is written in a very succinct manner.

2. Company Information

Generally a few paragraphs on essential contact information including start up date, incorporation numbers and so forth will do the job here. If the craft business is not yet formed, your intended dates and information can be entered here.

3. Craft Products or Art Services Offered

With regard to any designs or processes that you may use, you would provide in some detail an explanation of the origin or inspiration of any art or craft piece and what components may make that up. This would include techniques that you use to manufacture these products. There are subset areas within this heading such as the operational plan which defines who by and how the product is manufactured or if parts are outsourced.

4. Market Analysis

Here is where you elaborate on your niche art market, the size and potential growth of that market and who the main competitors are. Often a S.W.O.T analysis ( Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities and Threats ) grid is useful in defining how your art and craft business will fit into the market overall and how you will beat the competition.

5. Organization and Management

For a one man show this is a fairly concise section. Larger businesses should use a flowchart to detail job roles and accountabilities such as who is responsible for financing, production or human resource issues.

6. Craft Marketing Plan

Paretos rule is often applied by the business man in the street which states that any business involves 20% internal administration and 80% marketing. This is one area that you should brainstorm heavily. All your efforts are in vain if nobody even know’s you exist. Searching to see how your successful competition promotes their arts and craft business is a good way to start your marketing juices flowing. Note all your ideas down and then present them in a bullet format.

7. Operational Plan

Imagine waking up in the morning and heading down to your arts and crafts business whilst writing down every process and system that you use to order stock, create your gifts or artwork, fix the plumbing and pay your employees. Describing how all these essential daily elements work is essentially the focus of the operational plan. A successful operational section should enable an external manager to come to grips with the day to day running of your business very quickly if it has been written correctly.

8. Financials

An established business can draw on history if presenting a business plan to a bank for funding, but a start up arts and crafts business has to do a lot of guesswork. If you have spent the time in the sections above with regard to market size, costings etc, you increase your chance of being somewhat accurate within this area.

Source by Marc Brook

Photography Business – Defining Fine Art Photography

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 05-04-2010

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Fine art photography, by definition, are the photos that express an artist’s creative vision. This is quite the opposite of photojournalism and commercial photography business. You’ve got a very clear objective with those commercial images: to sell a product or service. Then, photojournalism is necessary for any sort of magazine that utilizes documentaries. None of these really define what fine art photography is.

There are some genres that define this type of photography, and they include natural landscapes, portraits and nudes. Nowadays, there are far more exhibitions of this kind of photography arranged and organized than before. It is becoming quite a trend to use prints and frames for too. Many studios now display these photos without directly on boards without glass. Depending on the purpose and the theme of the stills, the scale of the prints may vary significantly.

One can’t simply ignore the beauty of such photography. In very artistic displays, photographs can be staged and lit so a new dimension is added to the photographer’s vision. With the introduction of full spectrum photography for electronic cameras, improvement in aesthetic refinery has been achieved. So much can be accomplished with an easy filtering of visible, infrared and ultraviolet light.

Many options are available now in terms of photo-shooting models and printing capabilities. It’s quite amazing that a lot of fine art photography items sell in auction rooms every year (not to mention for very high prices too!). While many still don’t go for this type of photography, the collector’s market is very active here. A lot of cultural events and shows include this type of photography.

Also, this type of photography may stand in opposition with commercial or home photography business and photojournalism, but somehow it owes them a lot. At times, the separation lines between the various models can be identified barely. We see this taking place each day with some of the photos and stills we admire in magazines as they are designed to be both artistic and commercial.

Source by Michael Araujo

Art Publishing – How to Make Money in the Art Business

Filed Under (Arts Crafts) by admin on 31-03-2010

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There are a few ways to get into the business. You can be completely independent; creating, printing, marketing and distributing your own images. This is a worthy aspiration. You can also work with a publisher and have your work published by them so that the bulk of the financial responsibility rests of their shoulders and you receive a royalty based on sales. Both of these work, yet are vastly different. It’s up to you to learn the difference and decide which direction to go in.

If you decide to publish your own work then it’s a matter of making your images print ready as you will be responsible for selling them. Preparing your art for printing means cleaning it up through Photoshop to make sure colors are working, the digital files are clean and there is proper copyright notice included. Your digital files should be at least 10 megabytes but not much larger than 50 or 60. You may want to create the digital file so that the images can be printed in a variety of sizes.

Once you have cleaned your images and they are print ready you can upload them to user generated on-line galleries that will feature your work and sell it and you will receive a royalty. They will be the printer – all you have to do is add your images. Imagekind and Finerworks are two sites that offer this feature. If you decide to be entirely responsible for printing it then you will need to work with a printer who will give you a cost per print, decide with you on the paper quality and will be open to drop shipping to your customer. It is up to you to market your work. You can do this through blogs, Twitter, word of mouth, brick and mortar galleries and Facebook. It’s a tough way to go but if you enjoy social web sites and marketing then this is all part of the fun. You reap the rewards of 100% of the profit.

If you decide that working with an art publisher is the direction to go then it’s up to you to do the research into which publisher. You can attend tradeshows to meet them or gather information through internet searches. Once you have a list review their sites to see if the work they publish is similar in style to the kind of work you do. If they are a publisher of very traditional western art and your work is urban inspired and very digital then this is probably not a good match and you are wasting your time. Look for a good fit. Once you have found that fit you will need to find out who the product development manager is and contact them. They will want the quickest and easiest way to review your work. Try sending them either your web address or a photo sharing site like Flickr that can be a quick way to review it. If they reject it, don’t take it personally…everyone gets rejected some time or another; just keep trying till you find one that fits. However if you have little success signing with a publisher then you may need to take an honest look at your art. No one wants to hear that their art isn’t good enough however a publisher is making large investment in your art – they need to be reasonably certain that it will sell. If they don’t feel good about it then they won’t work with you.

Finally, do your research. Find out what the hottest trends are and try new artistic directions. Be bold and understand that making money from art is a good thing. You aren’t compromising yourself if you earn money from it, you are making a living and being paid for something you are good at. Rejoice in that.

Source by Jan Weiss

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