How Artisan Advantage Started
If you’ve visited my About page, you know that Artisan Advantage started as a result of my work with my artist father, Robert Yonke. What you might not realize is that turning my father’s hobby into a business started with an experiment. I thought it would be fun to share the details over a few blog posts. My hope is to give you insight into how experimentation and stepping out of a comfort zone can take you to unexpected places. Also, to illustrate the importance of building a solid strategic web presence for your visual art business.
Part 1: A Little Background
On October 31, 2002, in the 16th week of a high-risk pregnancy, some very good doctors told me that I needed surgery or was going to risk losing my baby. I had the surgery the next morning, followed by five months of strict bed rest – meaning I stayed in bed for 99% of the day and only left the house for doctor’s appointments.
The baby was born early, but healthy, so the bed rest was worth it. But lying in bed for five months is not as delightful as it might sound. It was a challenge to pass the time. After reading, watching reruns of favorite sitcoms, and learning to knit, I turned my attention to the internet.
The Golden Age of the Internet
With time on my hands and a computer at my bed, I became fascinated with the new craze of internet blogging (and online shopping). I learned that you could find things online that you liked, buy them, and they would magically show up on your doorstep! You could play endless Pacman without a quarter! Reading and following political pundits was a thing! The early 2000s were an exciting time on the internet.
My background in advertising and communications made it particularly interesting. Graduating as an Advertising major in 1990, I just missed the advent of technology in the classroom. My class in the Penn State School of Communications was probably one of the last to use real paper storyboards for our senior projects. In my work at the time, we were using the internet for email and some basic sales programs, but that was it. “Surfing the web” rightly fascinated me. It interested me not only as a consumer but also as a communicator.
Once I found the internet on bed rest, I was hooked. I was reading everything from baby advice to political blogs to watching how-to knit videos using the internet. Then, our daughter was born, and I had little time to “surf”. But the seed had been planted.
I knew in the back of my mind that there was something to this, and I’d like to participate in it, although I was not sure exactly how…
Read on for Part Two: An Idea and an Online Course