AUGUST -CELEBRATING 10 YEARS WITH 10 TIPS FOR SURVIVINg AS A CREATIVE BUSINESS...

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This summer marks the 10th anniversary of when I began my ‘Artwork By Angie’ journey.
 
It was during the school summer holidays 10 years ago, just before my eldest daughter was about to begin school and my youngest daughter start nursery, that I began building my first ever website and had ordered my first batch of greetings cards.  With a newly created, small collection of my designs - I’d found a printing company that did short print runs and offered multiple designs within that run, making my small investment of just under £100 feel like great value. So I placed my first ever order for printed greeting cards.  My plan back then was to finish the website then list those cards on the website and open a Folksy shop and list them there too.  Then I wanted to start a Facebook page to hopefully find people and direct them to my website and Folksy shop. 

I had no idea what I was doing really, I had seen some other artists were selling things on sites like Folksy and Facebook and thought it was worth a try.  I was simply learning as I went along!

I read all the help guides and advice I could find and it became an all consuming project. However, I was determined to stick with it because it felt so right and I was enjoying every minute of it.  Even though it was a struggle and seemed to take a long time to get going, each day spurred me on to the next without question that this was what I wanted to do. 

It has been a rollercoaster ride, but when I look back at the past 10 years, I can’t quite believe I am still sitting here with this little business I created from those tentative, brave steps from that summer of 2010.  Most of all, I am amazed by the body of work it has enabled me to create over that time and the fact that it has done nothing but grow my love of drawing and creating while connecting me with a whole community of wonderful, creative people.

To celebrate this milestone of hanging on in there for 10 years, here are my:

​10 Tips for Surviving as a Creative Business…

1. Love what you do and do what you love - You need passion for what you do above all else, because when things get tough - if your heart is not in it, it will be very hard to move on and get through it, recover and flourish.
2. Make a start, keep showing up, go at your own pace but value your time.  Small, regular, decisive steps will lead to progress.  Over time when you look back, you will be amazed at how far you have come and what you have achieved.  A little progress each day really adds up over time, especially if you make sure you value your time and ensure you get your pricing right to realistically cover both your time and outgoings.  There is so much guidance and help out there to help you learn how to do all of this.  My favourite resources to learn from are the sellers guide blogs over at Etsy and Folksy - they really do cover off all the topics and guidance any small creative business will need. There are also sites like Skill Share for more in-depth tutorials to develop the skills you may need.
3. Be clear about what you want to achieve and set a measurable, achievable goal.. so that you have a destination in mind to focus on and move towards to measure your success.
4. Be Social, but learn how each of the social networking platforms and search engines work and be discerning with your time on each. When I evaluated what value each of these platforms brought to my business, I began to see real, positive change.  One size does not fit all as we all have different goals and paths to follow.  All I know from my experience is, a lot of valuable time can be sucked up feeding various site algorithms that bring little or nothing to your business. Looking back at the past 10 years, I can see the precise moment the penny dropped for me on all this in my own business sales statistics - it was after I had spent time learning all of this and applying what I had learned.  Now I pay good attention to my stats and keenly watch how and where people engage with me - to use that as an indicator of where it is best to place my time and energy.
5. Comparison is the thief of joy…but it is also a natural human response, try to find a way to work with it.  It’s always better to compare yourself with your own journey and reflect on far you have come, but let’s be honest, we all find ourselves looking over at others and comparing ourselves negatively from time to time.  When that happens, I find it helps to stop and ask myself the question ‘What is that person is doing well that’s making me feel like this and what I can learn from that?’  By turning the negative thought into a constructive question to aid my own development and growth, it is much kinder and gives me the space to use it as a learning experience…or to put it another way…it turns feeling like poop into fertiliser for growth!
6. If you work from home, on your own for hours and hours each day - it is very important to take regular breaks, to get out and about and ‘un-isolate’ yourself.  This is something I’ve been practicing for years because I know it makes a big difference to my well-being and therefore my productivity.  As more people I know find themselves working at home in this way (because of the current situation) -  this is my main piece of advice to help them thrive.  My favourite ways to do this are to schedule regular coffee meet ups with friends and go for long walks.  Also, finding local businesses to work and collaborate with -  to get some important face-to-face social contact with like minded people who live nearby.  Things like my local Etsy Team meet ups, creative business events and craft fairs are also great ways to take a break from my desk and get re-energised.  Of course that’s not easy to do at the moment with lockdown, however now is a good time to use social media to discover such groups and events for the future.
7. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and make sure you have your own ’space’ on the internet.  I’ve found having my own website from early on in my business has been essential - it is my home on the web.  There are lots of inexpensive ways to set one up, even if it is mainly a holding page of links directing people to where you want them to go.  Running your own business off the back of other, big, corporate businesses (e.g. Facebook, Etsy, Amazon etc) comes with the risk that they may make changes that can severely damage your business model overnight.  It’s always good to try and build a little bit of security into your business by nurturing a few income streams and ways that people can find you, that you have as much control over as possible.   This is very tricky as it’s a delicate balancing act in terms of time, energy and focus - but it’s something I have been very grateful that I’ve done over the years, because it has helped me to be able adapt my business through the many changes I have experienced.
8. Start a mailing list as soon as possible for the same reasons highlighted above in number 7.  It gives you much more control in your business when you have your own database.  There are some great apps out there for this.  I’ve been using Mailchimp for years and happily recommend that as a great place to start.
9. You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.  This is where number 3 matters (i.e. be clear about what you want to achieve).  Knowing your goal enables you to focus and have the confidence to say no to things that are going to distract you from achieving what matters most to you.  It is OK to seek help, outsource tasks and say no to anything that takes you away from doing what you set out to do when you started your business.
10. Celebrate the good things and always remember that a heartfelt thank you goes a long way.  I am extremely grateful to the all the people who have helped me over the years.  From close family and friends who have supported me to those who have worked with me, or bought my designs and followed and supported my social media efforts...and especially those who have taken time to leave me lovely reviews and feedback.  There is no way I could be sitting here continuing to do what I love without you all - thank you!

​I hope some of my tips above are useful, perhaps to someone who may be reading it with similar aspirations to the ones I had 10 years ago.  At that time, i remember discovering other established designers, illustrators and artists who had shared their tips and experience based advice on their blogs.  Their generosity for sharing advice helped me learn how to make it through the last 10 years as a creative business -  it’s feels very good to be able to pay that advice forward in some way.

I hope that you all have a great August
​Stay safe and take care!
&
Best wishes