How to Become a Successful Professional Freelance Artist

Being a business takes a lot of work, to put it mildly. Being in the art business takes serious committment. After twentysomething years of working on it, life is pretty good. Still hectic, but that goes with having your own business. It pays to work hard, to avoid that horrible starving artist cliche. Who needs to starve? By spending a lot of time building a reputation and trust in clients, the business will grow all by itself. The trick is to think like a businessperson, not a fine artist.

First of all, advertising is very important. Without it, nobody knows who you are and what you have to sell. Learn how to sell, read, and absorb as much marketing knowledge as possible.

Join many clubs and organizations. Think like a business not a hobby. Don’t go crazy with fees and big titles. Just get your name out there, and do it as cheaply as possible. Word travels fast if you’re good and have products that people like.

Be realistic. Don’t expect to take over the marketing world overnight. Build on your knowledge. It may take years but that’s ok, it’s to be expected unless you have an unlimited marketing budget or an MBA to move ahead quicker. I had a BFA and no marketing experience, had to learn it all via my father and trial by error.

Be professional. Copyright everything. Keep up with the legal side of everything. It pays to be professional and expect nothing but professionalism back from others you deal with. Customers will try to get something for nothing. Don’t take it personally but don’t cave in, be firm with what you think your items are worth, document everything and believe in yourself. Don’t let others control your business decisions unless you hire them to do so.

Put out a quality product. That goes without saying. Lousy product, no repeat customers, and your reputation suffers. To stand out you must be a class act and so must your products.

Network, network, network. Attend functions, luncheons, fairs, whatever fits your niche in the world. Get to know others. Big executives do their networking on golf courses. You can network yourself anywhere. Keep business cards on hand and pass them out, don’t be shy.

Be picky about assignments. Don’t accept anything that comes along. This keeps your standard of work high and uncompromised. I stopped doing freebie projects for those who don’t want to pay years ago. If you don’t, you’ll be inundated with those who will tell you “I don’t have any money, but I can give you exposure if you just do ___ for me”. Nope. Get exposure on your own. You can bog yourself down with these kinds of projects and make nothing from it. If I want to donate work I will do it to charities or organizations, not fly-by-night book publishers who have no money. Be picky.

Have a budget and stick to it. Don’t get extravagant with spending or you’ll end up broke. It pays to be sensible with money. It takes practise, I made many money mistakes in my past but the school of hard knocks taught me to be better with money in the end. Now I am not struggling because I do not buy things I don’t need.

Paying for a separate studio is great if your’e independantly wealthy, if you aren’t, having one room of your living space for your art is best. For many years, my living room was my office, now the whole place is. Now, though, I live on a lake, in better surroundings. I take work seriously and so it is incorporated into my life as tastefully as possible. It pays off not to have an extra rent to pay for. It’s all about the profit at the end of each month.

Promote others, and they will in turn promote you. Spread the word about yourself and others, and it’s amazing how fast good news travels.

If you aren’t fully self-supporting, get a side job. It’s part of paying your dues. Learn from any part-time job you have, try to get something that will teach you something about marketing, art or whatever your business is about. If you are highly skilled in a particular craft, teach it to others, who will pay good money to learn from you. Earlier in my career, to get my name out and build my client base, I taught classes in a variety of media to adults through art centers and community centers. I also gave private lessons. Some of my best clients came to me through teaching.

Submitting artwork to galleries is an option, but don’t rely on it to make you rich. Make sure if you do put your work on consignment through a gallery, to choose reputable galleries who have been in business awhile and get a high volume of customer traffic (location, location, location). Using new and unestablished galleries is risky, as they may close on a dime. I have lost artwork to gallery owners who closed up shop and disappeared, without returning my artwork. Word to the wise, if you do leave artwork with a gallery, get a reciept for all your work and make sure it is signed by both you and the gallery owner. Make sure to have their contact information away from the gallery as well, in case it closes, you need to know how to contact the owner. Do nothing without a contract. Be careful, there are many wonderful galleries out there, but it pays to be safe than sorry. Put the artwork you submit to gallery on “back burner” as you go about your life. If and when it sells, the check will be mailed to you. But don’t expect anything, as sales may be slow and it can take awhile to get a sale.

If I had to do it over again, I would’ve double majored in college in not only illustration, but marketing. But, I have managed to make a good living for myself even without this degree. The key is persistence and never to stop learning. If you’re an artist, it’s fun to do art you like doing, but also keep in mind, if you plan to sell what you do, you must appeal to your audience. Who is your audience? Target your work to them. You can still be yourself, you still call the shots. In art, whatever you do is your right. Artistic license. To be successful it is important to balance your uniqueness with being appealing to your customers. Make it work for you.