Imagine you are in a place where you have too much work. Too much work to have around the house- too many paintings to fit on the walls. Too many candles to give away to friends and family. Too many songs rattling around on your computer!
What do you do with them once you have them?
Maybe you aren’t in this place- yet!
But one day you will be if you keep creating. And it’s a good place to be.
It’s a nice problem to have.
You will need to consider your possible next steps.
- Stop creating. Hopefully this one is not an option. If you love to create, it shouldn’t be!
- Keep giving stuff away. This works for a while, but that can be unfulfilling. Art can be expensive to make and it is nice to get compensated for our efforts.
- Find a market for your stuff. This is what we will talk about today.
You have stuff to sell. Other people want what you are offering. How can you connect with your potential buyers?
There are a lot of options.
- You can do direct marketing and connect with people directly.
- You can sell to stores who will then sell your work for you.
- You can sell online- there are a ton of different online marketplaces to do this.
Start by brainstorming a list of potential markets, or gig locations, or publications where you can be published.
This could be the local coffee shop down the street that has art, poetry readings once a week and open mikes for musicians on Fridays. Maybe it is Etsy, Soundcloud, or a well known writers blog. Make a list of as many places as you can think of. Then start with one. Make a goal for the end of this week. You will call the gallery. You will email the host of the blog. You will set up an Etsy account. Start small. Make a list of all of the things that will have to happen in order to reach your goal. Each teeny tiny thing. Then just start. Do one at a time. Maybe one a day, maybe one a week.
You will face rejections. That is all part of it. Think of the rejection as being one step closer to getting to your goal. Perhaps you will have to face 10 rejections or 100. Facing each one means you are one step closer to your goal. Celebrate it. Keep moving.
If you are not in a place to start selling your work, spend 5 minutes imagining yourself being in that place. How does it feel? Is it exciting? Overwhelming? Inspiring? Not everyone will end up selling their work. But maybe you will.
Dream big!