by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 28, 2020 | Artist Websites, Learning, Resources
Recently I posted about staying on track during the “shut down” disruption. One thing mentioned was taking advantage of this downtime to focus on a project for your art business. One necessary but often dreaded task you might consider is working on your artwork inventory.
Putting together a comprehensive inventory is something that every artist needs to do. It’s one of those tasks, though, that can get put on the back burner. It’s probably not the most thrilling part of your art business.
If you are looking for something to occupy time when you aren’t creating, now is a perfect time to take an inventory of your work.
Inventory Solutions: Here are my Top Two Ways to Inventory Your Artwork
Artwork Archive is my-go to resource for maintaining an artist’s inventory. We use it for my father’s work. I love Artwork Archive for the following reasons:
1 – It’s intuitive and easy to use. I don’t think I’ve ever had to consult a tutorial or help desk once when using this system.
2 – It is much more than just an inventory tool. It also allows you to track your sales and contacts, showcase your artwork online, and store and share high-resolution images. You can also access your work anywhere from any device.
Artwork Archive costs $6 to $19 a month, depending upon the level you choose. They offer a free thirty-day trial. I recommend giving it a try.
Below is a screenshot of a piece of art that I’ve added to Artwork Archive. This gives you an idea of some of the detail that this system can capture about a piece of your work.
Spreadsheet It
If you want a free and straightforward solution to maintain a basic inventory of your artwork, use a simple spreadsheet such as Google Drive or Airtable, both of which are free. With this method, list each piece with a column for each bit of detail about the work. Columns can include details such as name, size, medium, price, location, status, and a link to the image. Depending upon your work, there are other pieces of information that you may choose to collect.
Be proactive and inventory your artwork!
You’ll be thanking yourself later for storing all of your collection details and financial records in one easily accessible place.
If you decided to test out Artwork Archive’s trial, and you have any other questions on using it, shoot me an email at becky@artisan-advantage.com and I’ll try to help you.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 27, 2020 | Artist Blogging 101, Learning
Artist Blogging 101: Outline Your Goals
Now that we’ve outlined the role that your blog plays in your marketing system, it’s time to get ready to build it.
Before you invest time in building a blog for your art business, you should take some time to consider what the purpose of your blog is? What goals do you want to accomplish for your business through blogging?
Your primary intent is likely to communicate with people interested in learning more about you and your work. However, If you have a vision for your art business (and you should!), then your blog’s primary purpose should be moving you closer to that vision.
If you’re not sure what the primary purpose of your blog should be, ask yourself these questions.
What made you want to create an artist blog in the first place? What was your first thought as to why it could benefit your business?
How do you want your blog to impact you as an artist?
How do you think a blog could improve your art business? What are you hoping it does for you?
What does your art business look like five years from now? What success would you have with your business between now and then?
How do you want your blog to affect your followers?
How do you want your income to change because of your blog?
Is there a specific project that you want to share with this blog?
Is there a niche that you would like to establish yourself in with this blog?
These questions should help you outline what goals you would like to accomplish with your artist blog. As you begin to set up your blog, keep these goals in mind. They may determine how you set up your blog, the kinds of pages that it includes, and the content that you share with your audience.
Assignment: Outline three goals that your artist blog could help you to accomplish. Send me an email at becky@artisan-advantage.com and let me know what your goals are.
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 21, 2020 | Learning, Productivity, Resources
So, today I picked up a lot of sticks. It was brush that fell on our property over the winter. It was very cathartic to be outside, keeping busy. My husband and I are both self-employed. His business is dependent upon people being able to visit him in person. We have a lot on our minds. There is a lot to think about as we consider how to maintain an income without leaving home Many of you can relate. Millions can relate.
Figuring it Out
At this point, our primary goal is to keep ourselves and our family healthy. After that, we are figuring out the best ways to adapt our business. Mine is easier, yet some tweaks need to be made. His situation requires more work, so I’m helping with that. We feel like me have to move fast in this regard, yet we are standing still.
As I make adjustments to Artisan Advantage, I will post them here, so that you can see what I’m doing. Maybe it will help you with something in your business.
Here’s a Tweak to Help Somebody
When we are not picking up sticks, tending to household tasks or of course the business dilemma, we are doing the same things that you are – reading, watching movies and playing games to name a few. These last parts are nice. We are reading a lot, so when I read this article, it clicked.
Stay Well!
Stay tuned for more updates including the next post in Artist Blogging 101 as well as how you can get in on some free consulting hours.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 17, 2020 | Learning
This is not the message I was hoping to post on St. Patrick’s Day….
A week ago, I was going about my usual routine – working on projects, planning for meetings, going to the gym, thinking about what we were having for dinner and what we were going to do for St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. It’s crazy how much can change in a week.
It’s completely normal to be fearful during this time. We should all be focusing on taking the mandated and worthwhile precautions to slow the spread of the virus. Our first priority is to make sure everyone close to us is safe. I do believe we’ll get through this and be stronger because of it, but it has been a struggle to maintain that mindset. While I’ve been having my ups and downs, I’m attempting to keep life on track as much as possible. It’s the only way I can manage through this.
There Are Still Changes and Challenges to Face
In addition to the stress of the virus and life basically shutting down, economic disruption is also a point of concern. Disposable spending is dropping, and original art and other creative products are often not a priority purchase for most people item in times like these. Please don’t give up your business goals. You may have to table some things right now, or put your focus on something else, but stick with some aspect of your work and business. Maybe it’s just creating the work – and that’s okay!
Here Are Some Ideas on How To Manage Through This Time
Create! You probably have more time in the studio now. Embrace it.
Take advantage of this time to cross items off of your to-do list or focus on a project like improving your website. I plan on continuing to offer free tips on blogging for your art business.
Take time to enjoy some hobbies that you don’t get to enjoy as often as you would like. In the past two days, I’ve read more than I’ve read in the prior two weeks. Also, I’m picking my knitting back up.
Spend time with loved ones. You may not be able to visit in person, but how about a nice long phone call or some Facetime? If you can be in the same space, enjoy that as well. Today I did some meditative coloring with my daughter. I can’t remember the last time we did that.
Here is What Artisan Advantage is Doing During this Time
Posting will continue here and on my social media channels as much as possible. I hope to finish some new resources that I’ve been working on. Any meetings that I had scheduled in person will take place via a video call.
If you’re looking for some help with your blog, I’m going to open up some free consulting hours during this time. I’ll be sending out a calendar where you can sign up in the next day or two.
If you want to send me a question about something you’re working on, please do! You can reach me at becky@artisan-advantage.com.
Let’s stay connected as much as possible!
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 11, 2020 | Learning
This is the last post in a four-part series of How Artisan Advantage Started. If it hadn’t been for The Bluegrass Painter blog, I’m not sure Artisan Advantage would have come to be. If you missed the first few posts in this series, start here.
After that initial launch, we tried all sorts of other things to promote his work, such as exhibit at fairs and festivals and entering group exhibitions. We sent handwritten thank you notes on his art print cards. We sent targeted direct mailers to people we thought would be interested in his work. We’ve tried making prints and we’ve used print-on-demand services. Some things worked better than others. Through it all, we maintained a blog. Whatever we were doing at the time, it was announced on the blog, which ended up serving as the focal point for all of his marketing efforts.
Through these activities, I started meeting other artists who were interested in what I was doing with my father. That is when I came up with the idea of an Artist Boot Camp. Artist Boot Camp was my one day seminar helping artists with getting an art business up and running.
Artist Boot Camp was well received. I attempted to cover all of the topics in that workshop on this blog and through individual consulting efforts. Eventually, I realized that my strength was helping artists to use a blog as the basis of their marketing system.
And that is how I got to be here at Artisan Advantage, encouraging you to blog about your art.
The Partnership Continues
As for my father, he is still painting and selling work, both online and in person. He and I are in different parts of the country geographically now, so most everything I do for him is online. One exception is his annual open studio weekend in the summer, which has proven to be a consistent success.
I look forward to sharing more of our story with you. Thank you for reading this series and I hope that you will continue to follow me on this journey.
I love to connect outside of the blog. Here are some ways we can do that:
Follow me on Facebook.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Connect with me on Twitter
Connect with me on Pinterest.
Pittsburgh artists, join my Create! Sell! Meet up Group.
