S2E3: Why working with art consultants is perfect for introverted artist with social anxiety

In this episode of Quietly Thriving Artist, I, Patricia Vargas, share with you four reasons why working with art consultants is a perfect fit for introverted artists with social anxiety. Let's dive in!

Transcript:

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Quietly Thriving Artist. I'm your host, Patricia Vargas, and in today's episode, I'm gonna share with you why I love working with art consultants as an introvert with social anxiety. And just a refresher. If you haven't listened to the previous episode, I encourage you to do so because I explain in more detail what art consultants are and the process of working with them.

[00:00:23] So definitely check out that episode if you haven't done so already. Okay. But as a quick refresher, art consultants are people that help procure art for hotels, restaurants, and more. And those are the people that I work with to get my art into these spaces. Their job literally is to find the perfect piece for their clients, and I like to think of them as the art matchmakers between the artist and the hotel.

[00:00:50] The thing to know about working with our consultants is that it's all about forming and maintaining relationships, and believe it or not, [00:01:00] that's actually a strength for many introverts, even those of us with social anxiety, because we're often very empathetic, we are great listeners, and we pay attention to the little details.

[00:01:13] So those are our superpowers, and again, working with art consultants can be a great fit for people like us. Okay, so let's dive into the reasons why. So first, for the most part, you're gonna be working with individual consultants or a small group of consultants, which is great because for someone like me, who's an introvert with social anxiety, I don't like large crowds.

[00:01:40] I don't like to be in a position where I'm suddenly talking to a bunch of strangers. I don't necessarily like to be the center of attention. All of that stuff causes me to just freeze up. Like literally, my brain goes blank. When I'm really nervous and talking to someone new, particularly in person, and I get super [00:02:00] awkward, and it's actually the reason why I've never done art shows or fairs or markets.

[00:02:04] I just don't think that I could handle it. And even just thinking about it makes me really nervous. But when I'm working on a project with an art consultant, I'm usually only talking to one person, and sometimes they have like someone CC'd in their email, or even if they wanna get on a Zoom call or something like that, it's again, usually just one person.

[00:02:28] So it's not like a whole crowd. And you're not doing like this giant presentation in front of a ton of people. So, like I said, for the most part, you're working with individuals or in small groups, which is really nice because it feels personal and a little bit more intimate. And just knowing that a bunch of people aren't on a single email thread or on a call just feels so much more comforting and less intimidating.

[00:02:56] So the anxiety doesn't completely go away, but it does [00:03:00] lessen it for sure. Okay, which leads me to the next point. So knowing that I get like super awkward in front of people that I don't know, I really appreciate that most of the process of working with art consultants is done over email, which, one, allows me to process what they're asking for or what they're saying or proposing.

[00:03:23] And two, it gives me time to formulate a coherent response that doesn't make me sound like a robot because if I have to think on the spot, I usually don't do very well, and I feel like I don't say all the things that I wanna say or say them in the way that I want to say them. So being able to take my time to choose my words carefully is so incredibly valuable for me.

[00:03:48] And like I said before, sometimes I do wanna hop on a call, and this has happened to me once or twice, and even though I was incredibly nervous, I did do it because at the end of the [00:04:00] day, this is all about forming relationships, and if getting on a call helps that consultant remember me later for another project because they saw my face or they heard my voice, then I think it's worth the effort, even if I do have to go lie down to recover afterwards and just take the entire day off.

[00:04:18] But like I said, for the most part, you're gonna be doing everything over email, and those phone calls or Zoom calls are really kind of rare. And then it's up to you whether you want to take the call or not. Or just say, I am only available through email right now, or whatever. That's totally also in your control.

[00:04:38] Okay, so let's move on to the next reason. So if you've never worked with our consultants before, it's really easy to think that in order to get more projects, you constantly need to be pitching your art, but that's not necessarily the case. If you're just starting out, you may need to do some more pitching in the beginning just to get your work in front of consultants and have [00:05:00] them be aware of your existence and what you offer as an artist.

[00:05:04] But once you start working with a couple of consultants and they like working with you, they will keep you in mind for future projects. So if you remember from my last episode, they're the ones with all of the big clients, and they have clients all the time, year-round, and because of that, you don't have to necessarily go and search for the hotels, restaurants, et cetera.

[00:05:28] Like the consultant's job is to find the art. They are the ones who are connected from both sides, the side of the hotel or the corporation, and then the artist side. And if they have a project that they think you would be a good fit for, then they will reach out to you about it, not the other way around.

[00:05:49] You are not constantly reaching out to them and saying, “Hey, do you have any more projects?” They will reach out to you, especially if they like working with you. And to me, this is really great [00:06:00] because reaching out to people gives me a ton of anxiety, and it's like walking up to people that you don't know at a party and trying to start a conversation, you know, that hardly ever bodes well for me.

[00:06:12] So I actually prefer it when people come to me first, and I love that this process does that. And so it can feel very passive because you're just kind of like waiting for them to reach out. But just because you're not actively going after the projects themselves doesn't mean that things aren't working on your behalf.

[00:06:32] And you can kind of think of this as a word-of-mouth or referral system. And like with any good referral, the role that you play is to provide excellent service and high-quality art to your consultants, so to any current clients that you have, you need to be 100% on top of your game and really provide that top tier service, and that's what's gonna get you more projects, not necessarily [00:07:00] pitching your art a ton of times.

[00:07:01] You just have to trust that people like working with you, that people love your art, and that more good projects are gonna come your way because you've done a great job. Okay, and the last reason why I love working with art consultants as an introvert with social anxiety, which I've already alluded to, is that you don't need a ton of consultants in order to make a fairly decent income from this, because again, they're the ones that have all of the connections with

[00:07:33] the clients and stuff, and they're constantly having new projects come in to their company all the time. And that means that if you have three, four, or five consultants in your little Rolodex, then that's really gonna make a difference, especially if they keep using your work for multiple projects. So this isn't like having to build a massive email list or having to gain a massive following on [00:08:00] social media or waiting to go viral or anything like that.

[00:08:03] That can sometimes feel so outta reach, especially if you're just starting out in your journey or if you're an emerging artist. Like knowing or thinking that you have to get over 10,000 followers or you have to add tens of thousands of people to your email list, like that can feel really daunting. But if you think about just adding a few consultants into your network, that feels so much more doable.

[00:08:31] It kind of feels like. when you have our consultants that keep coming back to you again and again, it feels like you have an agent, like a licensing agent or something, but you're not necessarily paying for one, and they're not taking like a cut of your pay either. And of course, they're not obligated to use your work because at the end of the day it's the client who decides whether or not to use your artwork.

[00:08:55] It's not the art consultant. They can propose your artwork to their client, but [00:09:00] it's the hotel or the restaurant or whatever who has the final say. But again, just knowing that they're constantly championing for your work feels really good. And again, it can make a difference in your income. So if you want to learn more about how to license your art to hotels, I go over this in detail inside my guide, How to License Your Art to Hotels, and there's a link in the show notes if you are interested.

[00:09:25] Alright, so that is it for me. I really hope that you have enjoyed this episode. Next week is an episode for all of my international artists, and we're gonna go over if you can license your art to hotels, even if you live outside of the US. So you're gonna wanna stick around for that. Thank you again for listening.

[00:09:46] If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing or sharing it with a friend, and I will see you over in the next one.