E6 | Unlocking Success: Embrace What Works in Your Art Business

In this episode, Patricia discusses the importance of focusing on what works in your business and letting go of what doesn't. She shares her personal experiences of initially struggling to sell her original acrylic paintings and how she pivoted to selling art prints and digital artworks, which became more successful and enjoyable for her.

- 00:58 The challenge of recognizing what is truly working in your business.
- 01:24 The balance between doing what you love and what generates income.
- 02:01 Patricia's journey from focusing on original paintings to embracing digital art prints.
- 08:11 Failing to recognize what was working.
- 09:05 The question that changed everything.
- 09:39 Looking at business with a new perspective
- 13:37 The concept of allowing your business to be easy and finding the path of least resistance.

•Easily see where you're succeeding with the Multiple Income Tracker

Transcript

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Quietly Thriving Artist Podcast, a podcast designed for sensitive and introverted artists who are looking for alternative ways to build a flourishing business that works in harmony with who they are. I'm your host, Patricia Vargas. Join me as I share how I let go of the extroverted marketing and sales advice and embarked on a journey of self discovery.

[00:00:21] Through a combination of licensing, selling art prints, sustainable marketing, and implementing human design, I shifted my business from burnout to one that honors the natural rhythms of my energy. My mission is to guide introverted artists in discovering their path to a quietly thriving business.

[00:00:38] Hello, and welcome to another episode. Today, we're going to be talking about doing more of what's working in your business.

[00:00:47] I know that this can sound a bit obvious, but sometimes it can be really hard to see because our own ideas of what we think something should look like can get in the way of what actually is or what could [00:01:00] be. And it can sort of put blinders on us. And if we don't, every once in a while, stop and look at our businesses objectively, we can be left wondering why finding success is so hard.

[00:01:12] And It could be because we're fighting against the current. You know, we want to go one way, but our businesses, which can take a life of their own, want to go another way. And at the end of the day, creating a thriving business is about leaning into what is working and letting go of what's not.

[00:01:30] It's about finding this delicate balance between what you like to do and what's actually making you money.

[00:01:38] And in today's episode, I'm going to share with you a point in my business where my ideas of what should be really prevented me from seeing and embracing what was actually working.

[00:01:52] And when I look back at it now, I can so very clearly see the signs. But when you're in it, it can be really hard to spot. 

[00:02:01] When I started my business in 2013, I originally had the idea of selling my original acrylic paintings. And I wanted them to be the bread and butter of my business because they were the thing that I loved to make since I was a kid.

[00:02:19] And I had this big grand vision of selling out collections and people lining up to buy my paintings. And I was so certain that I was going to be doing this for the rest of my life. But what ended up happening was quite different. So when I started Prima Studio, I was pretty much broke and I was living in a small space.

[00:02:40] The room that I had was quite compact and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to create and invest in a ton of paintings in the beginning, especially large ones, and then wait for them to sell. To solve this problem, I heard other artists were selling art prints, and I thought that was a perfect solution.

[00:02:58] I could create some paintings, and then turn them into prints, and then continue making money without constantly creating new work and filling up my already cramped space. Also around that time, I was getting into digital painting and creating my style of abstract art digitally, and decided to also turn those into prints as well.

[00:03:22] So the first year that I started my business, I was mostly selling on Etsy. I had my own website, but no one knew who I was, so there wasn't much traffic on there. But through the power of Etsy, I got my very first sale of a print of an acrylic painting within just a few weeks of opening my business. And that was really exciting.

[00:03:41] And then even more exciting was the fact that more and more sales came in for my prints of both my acrylic paintings and my digital artworks.

[00:03:50] But as the years went by, I noticed that while I was selling some of my originals, I was nowhere near the point of selling out an entire collection even years later Though I was getting requests for commissions here and there. And I really wanted my originals to make up the large portion of my sales and not the prints. So at the time the stories and the evidence that I saw around me from other artists was that this was the way. Like, this is how you earned your stars as an artist.

[00:04:23] Your originals should be the big thing. And I really let other people's ideas and expectations influence me. And because I didn't see anyone else do it differently, I had no idea that I could.

[00:04:37] And just a side note, I now know that there are a plethora of ways to make money from your art, but at that time I had locked myself into this little internet bubble. And I compared my experience to those around me. So I was just following what I saw other people doing. And I thought, I just need to figure this out.

[00:04:57] You know, people obviously liked the artwork [00:05:00] because the prints of those paintings were selling well. So, maybe if I just offer them in a different way or shared more of my process, then that would get people excited. And so I threw myself into a frenzy. Like I started experimenting with just doing small pieces, and then I did some with resin, and then I focused on only doing large artworks.

[00:05:22] And all the while, I was doubling down on creating content for social media, aka Instagram, because that's what I still loved to use at that time. And a little bit of Facebook, but that was kind of already going on its way out. But I would show snippets of my process and shots of me working and styled images.

[00:05:41] And I would share the progress of my work and try to give my audience an inside look at who I was and what I made. And I also made a, sign up email form so that people could preview the collection and get first dibs. And I really tried to build I tried to build as much hype around that as I could, and another thing that I [00:06:00] did was, or I guess I didn't do, was that I hardly ever showed my progress of my digital works because again, my goal was to sell more originals.

[00:06:11] But even with all of that effort, they were just not taking flight at all. And funnily enough, my print sales continued to climb. Then I remembered hearing an artist that I admired say, that even if your highest work doesn't sell as much, it's okay because it still serves a purpose in that it sets the tone and value for everything else. And I thought, “Yeah, I guess that kind of makes sense” and it sort of made me feel better, but it also made me feel sad.

[00:06:40] And I think it made me more sad, than happy thinking about that because I would see my paintings in my drawers and on the walls and in the closets and on the floor and pretty much anywhere that I could fit them. And seeing all of them just sitting there really filled me with sadness, like knowing that they were just never going [00:07:00] to sell, put this rainy cloud over my business.

[00:07:03] And I began to lose some of my enthusiasm to make paintings for sale. And I started making less and less and less. And in turn, and I think that this was an unconscious move, I started making more digital artworks.

[00:07:20] And then one day, maybe about six or seven years into my business, I walked into my studio, which had since been upgraded to a spare bedroom. And I stood in the doorway and I looked at all of my supplies, all of the half inch pieces and completed paintings waiting to go to a new home. And it just felt so heavy.

[00:07:42] That feeling was so strong that I walked right back out because I just did not want to be in there. And I legit felt like I was failing because I wasn't reaching this goal that I had.

[00:07:52] Even though, arguably, I was doing fairly okay in my business. I mean, I was making money and I had gotten press [00:08:00] and other types of opportunities like getting my art into hotels and other licensing projects. So I was doing all right, but because I was so focused on the fact that my paintings were not selling, I failed to recognize all of the things that were working despite me not giving them my full attention.

[00:08:19] By my 7th year, the prints of my digital artworks were by far the most popular, the most profitable, and even though I didn't recognize it at the time, it was the art that I genuinely enjoyed making as a product. So I think by now you get the picture. I was just clinging on so tightly to this original idea, and the more that I tried to make it work, the more frustrated that I felt.

[00:08:45] At the end of 2019, maybe 2020, I took Jim Fortin’s TCP, which is short for Transformational Coaching Program. And it's mind blowingly good, by the way. But during one of the [00:09:00] sessions, one of the coaches asked “How can you allow this to be easy?” And that is a question that has really stuck with me. “How can I allow this to be easy?”

[00:09:11] And I kept repeating that over and over and over again. And to this day, it's still something that I ask myself. It's a simple but powerful question. And coincidentally, around that time, I signed up with my business coach and she was also asking me similar questions and I just felt like it was this confirmation from the universe that something needed to change.

[00:09:34] And that really prompted me to look at my business objectively, which I had never really done before. I had looked at it always from the perspective of what it is that I wanted, and not necessarily looking to see what it was that the business wanted. And so, when I started looking at it objectively, I wanted to see where it was that I was thriving, which obviously I was blind to, I couldn't recognize what it [00:10:00] was and where I wasn't.

[00:10:01] And so the numbers and the data spoke for themselves. You know, I was doing well in selling prints of my digital artworks and passive income. And seeing that made me acknowledge this underlying question that had been quietly brewing over the years, which was, “Did I like making Acrylic paintings as a product, as a business model?”

[00:10:25] And those are important questions because I was not asking myself if I like to make acrylic paintings, I was asking if I like to do them as a job and those distinctions produce different answers. If it was simply a question of making them for fun, then the answer was yes, I did like making them. But if it was to make them as a product to sell, then the answer would be no. And even though I just said that yes, I do like making them. In the later years, I think the pressure of having to make them as a product really hindered my creativity.

[00:11:00] And so mentally and physically, I just couldn't bring myself to create at that time.

[00:11:05] And the things that I did manage to make just didn't feel like my best work. I think I really needed to separate myself from the paintings. And then when I compared it to my digital artwork, I found that my creativity in that regard came much more readily,

[00:11:22] because even though I was listing both of those for sale there wasn't that same pressure on the digital artwork as there was with the paintings. 

[00:11:29] And so I decided to remove them. And it took me a long time to come to that conclusion, and I battled with myself if I should or shouldn't, but once I decided, I instantly felt relieved, and that told me a lot.

[00:11:45] It meant that I was making the right decision. And that is not to say that my original desire to sell my paintings was not valid. It was very much valid, but it's true purpose was to serve as a fire starter and [00:12:00] the catalyst that put me on the path and helped me gain recognition. But I don't think that it's necessarily meant to be the thing that is going to bring me long term success.

[00:12:09] So I think it has served its duty in that regard. And I think seeing the silver lining in that really helped me let go of the paintings. It gave me the sense of peace and closure.

[00:12:21] And I know that earlier, it might've sounded a little bit like I was making my decisions solely based on the fact that they were not selling, and that is partly true. It was definitely combination of them not selling and also, me just not having the enthusiasm to keep making them for sale because you know- 

[00:12:38] Because if you're going to be spending all this time and money and energy into creating something that is ultimately not going to sell, that might not necessarily drive your business forward.

[00:12:48] Though you could argue that there are some scenarios where something like that could work. So say for example, my paintings were not selling, but the prints of those paintings were outpacing my digital [00:13:00] artwork, then I would see the need to keep making them because they in turn would allow me to make prints that

[00:13:06] would continue to make me money. And if I was still feeling some sort of disconnect, then maybe I would experiment with adjusting the way that I was making them. So instead of focusing on large pieces, I would maybe do smaller ones that I could easily store, photograph, style, and scan myself to make prints.

[00:13:24] But like I said, my digital artworks were vastly outperforming my prints of my original artwork. And so just from a business standpoint, it really didn't make sense to keep them.

[00:13:36] And I have learned not to cling to ideas so tightly now. I'm much more flexible and adaptable, and I continue to ask myself, “How can I allow this to be easy? What is the path of least resistance?” And I'll ask you the same thing, you know, “How can you allow your business to be easy? Where are you experiencing frustration, resentment, or bitterness?

[00:14:01] What is your business telling you about what is working and how has your business grown and in what areas are you thriving? Where can you make adjustments? What is your path of least resistance?” And sometimes it's not about letting something go completely, but letting it go for right now, for this period in your life.

[00:14:23] And other times it's about tweaking or eliminating certain elements or components of how you offer certain things or the way that you do them. And if you think about it, building a business is just another art project. And just like with any other art project, reflection and contemplation are a big part of that process.

[00:14:42] And it's important to check in with yourself and your business, because even though you and your business are intricately connected, and they can feel like they're one in the same, they are not.

[00:14:54] So, you know, similarly, our artworks can feel like a big part of who we are and can feel [00:15:00] like an extension of ourselves, but sometimes they take a life of their own. And you and your business

[00:15:06] are separate entities.

[00:15:08] And You can think of it more as like having a close working relationship with your business. And if you take the time to listen, it can shed some light on your unique path to success. And the more that you can lean into what is working, the easier it will feel.

[00:15:26] Again, as I mentioned earlier, it is a delicate balance between finding the thing that you like to make, and the thing that is actually going to make you money. Because without money, then what you really have is a hobby and not a business. So I'll ask you one more time. “How can you allow this process to be easy?”

[00:15:51] And with that, I'll end this episode. And if you have enjoyed today's podcast, please consider subscribing or sharing it with a fellow [00:16:00] artist. Thank you for listening, and I will see you over in the next one.