Now is a great time to be an independent artist.
The whole world is pushing back against AI and the enshittification of art. People are increasingly demanding work made by human minds and hands.
Buyers want to form a human connection with artists. That means they’re increasingly buying directly from artists instead of through intermediaries like galleries or other forms of resale.
Independent artists have more ways than ever to connect with and sell directly to buyers. Artists can build a digital presence and a digital storefront without funding or technical expertise.
The political, social, and economic turmoil the world has found itself in provides countless opportunities for artists to teach us with their work. The world needs artists in moments like these. That’s why new artists usually emerge from them.
That turmoil has also impacted careers. Disillusioned professionals are looking for purpose, fulfillment, and income from a full time creative practice.
That’s what this advice seeker is facing.
I have built a following of about 1.7 million across platforms teaching people about off-grid living and prepping. I have written books and everything but I really want to concentrate on my art. I’m tired of talking about my niche and not making money if I don’t constantly post. How can I make the most of this situation?
Zani, @offgridhomesteadfam
Zani, you have every reason to be frustrated. We’re told that building a large social media following is a path to certain wealth. You’ve learned the hard way that it’s not, even after doing everything right.
You also have everything you need to build real wealth with your art business.
Finding Your Foundation
You said something in a recent post that surprised me: “I’m not a good marketer.” That got me wondering how it was possible for someone who isn’t a good marketer to build an audience of almost 2 million people. Maybe you just got lucky? But no. I’ve seen your content and you’re a brilliant marketer. I’ll address what might be missing in a moment. But what’s more important is what that statement says about your mindset.
You’re thinking about your weaknesses, not your strengths. What you don’t have instead of what you do. Let’s start by shifting that thinking.
Every successful business is built around a few core strengths. Apple was built around human-centered design, technological expertise, and brand marketing. Amazon was built around customer focus, distribution infrastructure, and technological expertise. Disney was built around storytelling, innovation, and intellectual property management. All of these businesses have significant weaknesses to manage. But what’s common among them is that most of their energy and their investment goes into reinforcing their strengths, not addressing weaknesses.
The question is, what strengths do you already have that you can build a successful creative business around? You have plenty to choose from but here are three I see immediately.
Your Story
You probably already know that as the artist, you are the brand behind your creative business. You’re the reason people will buy your work and why they’ll pay you lots of money for it. Your buyers are seeking a human connection with you. And even though you’ve only recently begun to share your art, I can already see people making that connection.
I’d love to see more of your story. What made you disconnect and go off grid? Why do you feel the need to help people do the same? How does your creative work connect to that?
Answering questions like this publicly takes vulnerability. But it’s hard for me to imagine that you’ve built such a large audience without being vulnerable with them.
Which brings me to your second strength.
Your Audience
You’ve built an audience of almost 2 million people and you might be thinking that you’ll have to start from scratch to build a new audience of art buyers. Before you start down that path, find the answer to this question: What are you giving your audience that your art can also give them?
I have an idea that might get you started. I imagine people who follow you want to disconnect from the world and maybe signal to others that disconnection is a part of their identity. Art can solve both of those needs too. And buying art is easier. It requires less emotional and financial commitment while providing faster emotional benefits.
This is all a hypothesis. You know your audience better than me. Which brings me to your third strength.
Your Skills
You said you’re not a good marketer. But whatever you want to call it, you are great at building a large audience. You’ve proven you can do that better than most marketers in the world. I suspect you did that with years of applied creativity, experimentation, and hard work. Those are the exact skills that you need to test hypotheses like the one I just mentioned.
Growing a business is really just testing hypotheses with an audience over and over. You have an idea, you structure experiments to test it, observe the results, and use those results to feed the next ideas. Over and over again until you’ve achieved whatever financial goal you want to achieve. You might not use those words in how you’ve gone about building your audience but I bet the practice is in there somewhere.
What’s Next?
The main gap I see is an art offering that helps you meet a financial goal. But you also just started sharing your work. It’s good to explore. When you’re ready, start by setting a near term financial goal. How much money do you want to make per month from selling your work? Then decide how you’ll actually achieve that with your first offer. What will buyers buy from you? At what price? And how many do you need to sell per month to meet your goal? Then how will you convince them to buy?
You have the story, the audience, and the skills to drive all of it. Redirecting those strengths will redirect your business into whatever you want it to become.
