A career in the arts can come with many emotional obstacles that can make it harder to succeed if you don't get them under control. There is more rejection, vulnerability, and self-doubt in the arts than in many other fields.
We deal with extreme imposter syndrome, creative blocks, and varying degrees of unsolicited advice on making our art or running our creative business. And a lot of the time, we weigh too much on others' opinions when they have never been in our field or even bought a piece of original art.
IT IS HARD. We look up to people and see others who are successful in their field. So, we automatically think it is a great idea to take everything to heart without filtering out people's own blocks and ideas of what an artist should make or do.
I mean, we grow up hearing that artists are poor, struggling, suffering. The starving artist complex.
Society often sees artists as unreliable, unable to finish tasks or successfully run a business. What the hell, man?? No wonder we find it so hard to work past these blocks in our careers. The world often doesn't believe we can do it.
I have heard it all. People have said it is "nice", with a slight disbelief in their voice, that I want to have a career as an artist, and the worst I have ever heard is, "Well, at least you are cute, you can marry a well-off man, and you can just do your art." I don't think these people are trying to be rude; it just is how our society has been conditioned to view artists and female artists.
As I have started to work past my own blocks and beliefs over the years, I have started filtering what I take to heart.
I have never taken people's opinions of my art personally. Art school was great for that. It wasn't uncommon to get your work ripped apart, so hearing it in the real world... I just shrug my shoulders and carry on, especially if it comes from someone who doesn't make art or has never made art.
However, the things I found more challenging to get past were the business-related comments. People saying I should do email marketing, even though I never saw them on my email list. And sometimes it was just about price even though they had no idea how long something took me or how much just the materials cost, or that I should look into this job or that job, often jobs totally unrelated to what I do.
Granted, I could always do more. But balancing something like consistently creating art while growing and running a business with one employee (me) can be difficult. In most companies, someone is running marketing, another running the books, one running customer communication, another managing the website and products, another thinking up and designing the products...so, it can be exhausting.
I have spent years learning about marketing and business to get better at selling my artwork and making it my career.
I have had many hard F***- ups and times where I just wanted to throw in the towel, delete my Instagram, and go apply for a regular job... at least then I would know when I would be paid next.
Art is the only thing I had ever truly wanted to do, aside from being an astronaut or professional surfer, or runner when I was younger.
I realized at one point that I was fed up with people not taking me seriously and thinking it was just a "nice" hobby, despite having a Bachelors and a Masters in art and the fact that I started practicing selling my work when I graduated high school. And I know that some of you feel the EXACT SAME!
So, I hit the books, took online courses, webinars, read countless articles, asked people questions, watched an insane amount of youtube videos on business, entrepreneurship, and marketing. I will always feel like I have more to learn, but it wasn't until recently that I realized I am already answering questions from other artists who are starting out about how to manage certain aspects of an art career, keep up with the creative flow, work past mental obstacles in this field. AND I ENJOY IT!
I LOVE talking with other artists and helping them work through problems I have found myself in before. I really LOVE it! But it was always via DM, an email, or something of the sort where I couldn't really go into depth with them. Sometimes I would find myself spending an hour or more trying to help them, answer questions, and suddenly realize I had to finish some other work for the day.
So it brought me to here. Artist Coaching.
Where I can delegate a specific time to other artists, dive deeper into their work, help guide them through creative blocks, and personalize an action plan that would be more beneficial for them. The thing is, I want to help more. I want to be able to make it more worth their time.
I get my fill of working with other artists, and the other artist gets my undivided attention to help them work through obstacles that pop up for EVERY artist.... it's a win-win, really.
So, when signing up for a coaching session, the artist is prompted to share a couple of pics of work with me and share some of their major pain points. Then I go through this questionnaire leading up to our session, and I gather resources and figure out the best way to help. That way, when we have our session, the time is used effectively.
If you feel like you are trying to work through creative blocks, you want to become more visible online, you are just trying to figure out where to start... or maybe you are trying to keep consistent, working through technical, artistic problems, or anything in between, we can work together, and I can help you get to that next step.
Check out my available time slots and book your one-on-one session with me! And don't worry, it won't feel like school all over again, it will be more fun than that!
Let’s work together