Apples of Gold in Settings of Silver
Have you ever wanted a one on one consultation about marketing? Or have you been a little at a loss as to how to go about online marketing? I not only was confused about my hit or miss marketing efforts, but really wanted to get a handle on it. I had taken advantage of a lot of the great info that FASO offers, but still at a loss as to how to put it all together into a comprehensive marketing plan. It was obviously working for some people, but why not me?
Just over a year ago I decided to get some help and scheduled a marketing consultation with artist, Leslie Saeta. I had first seen her work on Daily Painters a few years ago. I was enamored with her splashy sailboat paintings and the fact that she was selling them so successfully. I thought she had been in the art biz for decades. Then I saw a Facebook post she shared about the 30 Paintings in 30 Days challenge and decided to join it. It was a lot of fun and I was impressed with her upbeat, friendly and fun personality that was evident through the challenge. During the challenge I saw that she did marketing consultations and had spent her prior work in marketing. She had only been a professional artist for 7 years! Seven years! When I read a few short testimonies about how her advice had helped some artists I was aware of, I decided to schedule a consultation too.
Leslie sent me a list of questions to answer about my plans and what I wanted for my art business. I knew she would be reading these to get an idea of where I wanted to go and where I felt I needed help. I also knew she would be checking out my online presence, including my website, Facebook page, blog, newsletter, Instagram and any other places I was using. I knew we would have a full 90 minute consultation and I would want to take notes.
And boy, did I take notes! It was obvious Leslie had done her homework when she began discussing specifics of my website and Facebook sites. Leslie was fully prepared to answer my questions and advise me according to how I had answered the initial questions. She went far beyond just answering my questions in a general way, and gave me specific ideas (very specific) that were tailored exactly for me. We discussed things like pricing, how to build an email subscriber list, how to direct people to my website and never "waste" a post on Facebook, among other things. Leslie helped me take what I was already using and tweak it to make it work the way I wanted it to. She really took the time to help in everything I had asked. Not only did the consultation give me a comprehensive plan, but she also gave me the confidence to implement all of it.
I consider the consultation with Leslie to be the turning point in my business! I implemented everything she told me to and immediately began to reap the benefits. In no time I had more than paid for the consultation and have gone on to have the best year ever, tripling my previous annual income.
So, if you're serious about using the internet to make a living as an artist, do yourself a favor and schedule a consultation with Leslie!
Winter's Day Done, 12x16, oil on linen
Have you ever missed a deadline because you forgot when it was? Forgotten where a particular painting is? How do you organize and keep track of your paintings in all their various locations, along with the shows and exhibitions you enter? Or the galleries you have work in and what work is in them? For years I've used my own simple method making folders on my desktop to hold show info including what paintings were in them. It worked well for me, mostly because there weren't too many of them. But this year I almost lost track of a few things and decided I needed a more thorough system.
My current opening page on Artwork Archive
Enter Artwork Archive, art inventory system and huge help in organizing your art business. I was hesitant at first, because I'm a cheapskate. But after checking it out more I decided it was time to do something and it was a lot less expensive than hiring an assistant. With an assistant or this subscription, I still have to be in charge of making sure the right info gets to the right place. So, hiring a person had no advantage to me.
So far I have found that with Artwork Archive I can
Upload images of paintings
Enter all info concerning the paintings
Enter locations of my artwork
Move my artwork from one location to another
Enter show and competition info
Assign paintings to shows
Record sales
Generate reports
Make a consignment sheet for a gallery
Make labels for paintings
Keep a contact list
Make and keep notes about paintings and shows visible only to me
Get insights about my sales trends
See a list of sales
See my schedule of tasks for the next few months
Receive an email on Monday listing all the tasks I need to do for the current week
A public page where people can view my work
At this point my favorite benefits are that Monday morning email and being able to make consignment sheets. I think the show info is running a close second because I can see that I'll be able to edit the dates, etc for the next year, without having to enter all the show info again. As I said above, it still depends on me making sure I enter the correct info about paintings and shows, but once that's done, the program generates the reports, task lists, and insights. That's pretty cool!
I'm sure I've only begun to plumb the depths of this program, but already I'm seeing the benefits of being more organized. And I feel much better about expanding my business next year, using Artwork Archive.
How do you keep track of everything? I'd love to know, because I'm always on the lookout for making my life a little smoother!
Happy painting!
Wyoming Gold, 24x30, oil on canvas
Do you have a method or process you follow once you've finished a painting? I developed one years ago when I spent a year and a half selling on eBay. It was a time when I was consistently painting 4 or 5 paintings a week and selling each one. I had never done anything like that before and I wanted to be very organized about it. I didn't want to send the wrong painting to the wrong person! So I developed a work-flow.
It served me pretty well for a few years, even after I ended my eBay selling. Then, last year when I sought a consultation with Leslie Saeta, she helped my develop a new - and better - work-flow. It was similar, but had a few very important changes.
This coming year, I will be changing that work-flow a little bit. I thought I'd share my steps with you, incase you're looking for a method you can follow consistently. Here it is in a short list-
1) Photograph the painting
2) Save the photo in my 2017 Original Folder on my desktop
3) Edit the photo and save in my 2017 WebReady Folder on my desktop
4) Enter the photo and all pertinent info in Artwork Archive
5) List the painting on my website
6) Share the painting on Facebook/Instagram
7) Share in any pertinent groups on Facebook
8) Include in my next newsletter
9) Possibly include in a blog post
When I was selling on eBay I had a storage rack for the paintings. It was a board with slots cut into it. Each slot held a painting and I put them there to dry in the order I painted them and listed them. I'm not doing that now, because I'm not painting so many, but it was handy at the time.
The new adjustment to this process is the addition of Artwork Archive. I'll be exploring it this month and using it full-time beginning in January. More about it next time.
Winter Creek, 24x36 oil on canvas
Do you struggle with keeping all the balls in the air? I do! One area that suffers the most is my domestic life, especially meals! I often become so immersed in my art and business that when I look up at the end of the work day, I once again, have forgotten that we have to eat. That just is not a good thing. We can't eat popcorn for supper every night!
A few years ago this was bothering me so much, that I spent 3 months putting together an online menu planning business which I promptly abandoned once the fun of putting it together was over. I still have the menus, complete with shopping lists though. And I'm thinking of getting them out and dusting them off in an effort to get a little more organized in my domestic life. Being organized there frees me up to bury myself in painting.
And burying myself in painting is what I really want to do! How about you? How do you keep all the balls in the air? I'm looking for good ideas I can put to use too!
I've included a copy of one week's meals and shopping list, just in case you're curious. Here is a PDF file you can open to check out a shopping list and recipes for a week. I chose it randomly without looking at it, so I hope it's a good one!
Happy painting!
Winter Wandering, 18x24 oil on canvas
I have an Everything Notebook that runs my professional life. My friends think I'm tech savvy, but really I'm not. I know there are apps out there to do all the things my EN does, but I just can't think in an app like I can think with a notebook and a pencil. I always use a pencil. Not a pen. Pencils are for ideas and notes. They aren't permanent. Just enough to spark the imagination and jog the memory. This is the notebook I use for Marketing Mondays.
When I say everything, that's what I mean. I don't just use it for information. I use it for day-dreaming, for complaining, for scheming, for remembering the name of a book I want to read, the date I have a dentist appointment. Or what I ordered and on what day. Info about a show deadline. Or something I want to attend. Or a new email address to add to my newsletter list. Blog post subjects. Things to include in the next newsletter. You get the idea.
Each entry includes a date. There's no particular order to any of it. Just put it down when I think of it and sort it out later if I need to. It's a great reference tool! I used to keep different notebooks for different things. Like one that was full of musings and another full of business things. But I kept getting them mixed up and who wants to have to grab the right notebook when you have a brilliant idea!
I also used to use sticky notes for all these things but what a mess!! And I do use my phone to jot things in when I'm out, but then I transfer it to my notebook if I need to. It's much easier to just write it all in one place. When I fill one up I just get another out. On the front goes the start and end dates. I keep them for only a little while because they really don't contain things I need to keep for years.
How do you keep track of all your to-do's and ideas?
