“Business” doesn’t have to be a dirty word.

Ever feel like you’re drowning in the business side of your art? You work so hard and you’re doing as many things as you possibly can, but it’s just not coming together. You want the money to flow as much as the praise does. Those compliments make you feel great, but the resentment creeps up…
because compliments don’t pay the bills.

Deep down, you know you need a strategy of some sort if you want to make the money (honey), but writing a business plan is so daunting.

You’ve got to do projections and a market analysis and a SWOT. And once it’s done, you don’t even know how to use it. Not fun.

But you can write a business plan that’s simple and totally useful for YOU. An artist’s business plan.

Artists often find ourselves amidst the wreckage of our studios, trying not to get paint on the laptop, despairing over the lack of Likes on our latest Facebook post. We tend to look at what’s in front of us right now and feel overwhelmed, so instead we dream about the perfect future without actually creating that bridge from here-and-now to pretty-picture-future.

Even artists have to make plans if they want to succeed.

Consider a blueprint. Sure a well-seasoned architect can probably build a house without a blueprint, but it’s not going to look as good or function as properly and he might make some little mistakes that cause big problems.

And while your art might not need blueprints, sketches, or underpainting – your business does.

A business plan is the sketch you need to go from here to ideal. It’s the map to building your art income. In the Artist’s Business Plan, you’ll learn how to assess the most important aspects of your business (whether you’ve been at it for a while or you haven’t even put your first piece of art online) and pull them together into a proper strategy so you know what to do at every stage of your business.

What else is great about a business plan?

• Become a total goal slayer! You’ll know exactly what your goals are right now, so you’re more likely to hit them and to avoid opportunities and decisions that pull you away from them.
• The sort of plan you develop in The Artist’s Business Plan is as flexible as Simone Biles - enough to adapt if something awesome comes up, whether or not it fits the plan you originally made. (Tried doing commissions and hated it? You can strike it from the plan and the other pieces will bend to make it work.)
• Reality Check: you can easily figure out whether a new marketing opportunity is actually a good fit because you know who your customers are and what they respond well to.
• Here’s a crazy thought – you won’t have to sit in front of the computer wondering what to do next, because you’ve already decided what makes the most sense and what’s the most important. Awesome, right?! And bonus – you’ll not only know you’re working on the right things, those right things are going to pay off in spades!
• Don’t tell your family… you’re going to have free time again! You won’t overwork yourself because you know what needs to be done and what doesn’t, so you can stop doing what doesn’t. More time for the studio and more time for friends and family!
• Wanna feel like a badass CEO? Hiring will feel like a breeze because you can easily integrate anyone you hire for a project, letting them know the basics of your business almost at a glance.

What’s in the Artist’s Business Plan?

There are 6 lessons that walk you through the process of building your plan, from the prep work to how you use the plan in your daily business life.

1. Target Market – The most important thing in your business, without a doubt, is knowing your target market. It’s the first thing that makes your business plan work too.

2. Vision Board – While this is an optional lesson, a lot of artists find it to be the most fun of the business planning process, and the most enlightening.

3. Revenue Streams – You’ll decide what you want to sell and figure out exactly what your target market will buy, aligning the two.

4. Revenue Plan – You’ll decide how much money you want to make and outline how the money comes into your business.

5. Marketing Plan – Without this, the rest of the planning is useless. You’ll develop a smart strategy for bringing customers into your business.

6. Using Your Plan – You’ll learn what to do with your plan now that you’ve got it, and how to adjust the plan as your business changes and grows.

7. Bonus lesson – I go a little more in depth into why clients of mine chose the revenue streams or marketing strategies they chose for their art businesses. Personalities and preferences that could lead to particular changes in your business plan are given as examples to help you begin to envision, especially if you’re struggling.

8. Extras – examples throughout the course of different parts of your plan, lists of potential marketing strategies and revenue streams, and a printable pdf version in case your brain works better on paper.

Can I Trust You?

I've been teaching artists how to sell their art for 10 years! But here are a couple things my students have said about me:

"You seemed to have a way of articulating things that had been flying around my head or staring me in the face that I just couldn’t quite get into focus… like how to describe, succinctly, what I’m about as an artist!” – Meredith Mallin

“I so appreciate your approach to business coaching and your truly useful information. Believe me, you’re rare in your field!” – Wendy of Hemmed In

"Creative, thoughtful, organized and a wealth of information. Thank you!” – Metrohippymom