Or, why there’s not one right way to make money as a creative business owner.
Sometimes, I write blog posts because I need to hear them. This is one of those posts.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 13ish years running my business, it’s that the ways you think you’ll make money probably aren’t the ways you’ll end up making money.
There’s a few reasons for that. One is simply that there are so many different ways to make a living as a creative individual. (More on that later in this post.) But the other is that the reality of running a business doesn’t always match the picture we have in our heads. Sometimes, we get what we thought we wanted and realize it’s not quite for us.
Let me clarify that.
When I was in grad school, I figured I would either become a university professor or run my own business. And I was lucky enough leaving school to get a one year position as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Metals + Jewelry. Which wasn’t exactly the magical dream job I thought it would be.
I loved teaching, but I didn’t like the bureaucracy that comes with teaching at a big university. And I didn’t want to job hop around the country while I looked for a tenure-track position.
Now I like to joke that the biggest thing I learned in that year was that I didn’t want to be a university professor.
So I pivoted towards my second goal – running my own business.
And the only model I had for that was doing retail craft shows. So I schlepped my tent from town to town and stood in the rain trying to sell my jewelry.
After a year and a half of that, I thought “there’s got to be a better way to make a living.”
So I pivoted again, focusing on wholesale and exhibiting at a few major trade shows a year.
Wholesale has been the backbone of my jewelry business ever since, though like so many artists and makers, I heard the siren song of the Internet, and tried my hand at selling online as well. (First through Etsy and eventually through my own site.)
I wish I could say that my online sales have drastically eclipsed my wholesale sales, but that’s not the case. While my online jewelry sales are generally higher than most of my peers, most years they are still less than my wholesale sales. And it took me ten years to grow my online sales to the revenue I hit in my first year of selling wholesale.
But here’s where ego comes into play.
Wholesale is by far my easier path to making money. And yet my ego wants to grow my online sales to a certain number. When my ego kicks in, I abandon my core business principles and start throwing stupid money at things that promise me instant growth in my online jewelry sales. (Spoiler alert: they don’t work. What does work is consistently connecting with my people through email and, you know, reaching out to my stores to see if they need reorders.)
But my ego thinks, “hey, the Internet is a magical place where all of commerce is happening” (except it isn’t – online sales still make up only about 15% of overall retail sales in the US) “so why the hell aren’t you selling more online? You should keep pushing that.”
And that has lead to some questionable decision making at various points in my business.
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I should mention there’s one area of my business where I am making good money online. (Though like I said, my online jewelry sales tend to be higher than most of the peers I’ve talked to.) And that’s teaching.
Because as you know, I never let go of my love for teaching. And after a few years of running my own business, I started Designing an MBA and began teaching my own classes online.
And here’s the funny thing about ego. Not only does it lead you to make bad business decisions, it can also make you feel guilty for focusing on what are actually the right business decisions.
You see, while this varies from year to year, last year the teaching side of my business brought in more revenue than my jewelry sales. There’s a few reasons for this. One is that I worked hard and ran four different classes last year (three of which were completely new content), not to mention my online mentorship program. The other is that I’m a damn good teacher who creates really good courses. So why shouldn’t I get paid well to do that? And it’s also because I can only do so much at a time. If I’m putting all that time and energy into creating courses and working with people in my online mentorship site, it means less time for the jewelry side of my business.
But my ego likes to jump in and tell me that if I’m not making more money from selling jewelry than teaching, I shouldn’t be teaching people how to make money from their own art or handmade products.
So I’m writing this post to tell my ego to f*ck off.
First of all, because I know that the income that I bring in (and have brought in over the last 13 years) on the jewelry side of my business (from both wholesale AND online sales) is more than most of my audience is currently making. (I know this, because I did a survey!)
And I know that my teaching helps lots and lots of artists and makers make sense of their own businesses. (I know this, because people tell me!)
But most importantly, one of my core tenets is that there is no one right way to run a creative business.
That’s because we all have different strengths, different creative visions, and different goals for our lives.
I have friends who (for the most part) love their university teaching positions. I know artists who struggled to gain traction in their wholesale businesses, but do really well on the retail show circuit. (And unlike me, there are plenty of artists and makers who truly love doing retail shows and connecting with their customers there.) I know makers who have built their businesses almost entirely around wholesale. I know artists and makers who have built thriving businesses around teaching. I know makers who have built businesses around selling kits and tutorials. And I know creatives who do a little bit of everything, because it’s what’s best for them and their businesses.
There’s no one right way to grow a creative business.
And your right way will likely change over time as you figure out the places where selling is easiest for you and the ways you do and don’t want to spend your time. Or they might change as your life situation, goals, and desires change.
But the most important thing is to stop letting your ego run the show. Because when you stop focusing on the ways you’re “supposed to” make money with your art, craft, and creativity, you’re free to experiment until you find the ways that work best for you.
Yes, that means there’s a fair amount of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.
But the only way to really know if something works for you and your business is to try it and see. (That’s why I wrote an ebook about that!)
Plus, when you stop letting your ego run the show, you’re free to let your business evolve as your needs and desires change.
Your path to making money and building a business you love might not be what you originally pictured. But by sticking to that rigid picture, you’re closing yourself off to all the potential ways to make money in your business. (And potentially to build a business you really love.)
So the next time you find yourself feeling like you need to run your business or make money a certain way, ask yourself if you’re really making the right decisions for you and your business or if you’re letting your ego run the show.
You might not always want to admit it when your ego has been in charge, but that one simple question could save you years of frustration in your business. And don’t forget to check in from time to time. Because as I’ve shown, even 13 years into business, I still have to step in now and again and tell my ego who’s boss.
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Looking to get a sense of right ways for you to make money in your business? I’ve got plenty of trainings inside Artists and Profit Makers (my online mentorship program) on the various ways to make money in your creative business and how to create a business model that supports your art. Plus, I provide hands on coaching in our private forum (NOT a Facebook group) to help you get really clear on the direction to take in your business. Click here to learn more and join!
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If you’re thinking that teaching may be in the cards for you in 2020 (or beyond), I invite you to take a look at my new course, Blog to Teach. This class will show you how to use the power of blogging, search, and Pinterest to build an audience for your online class. It’s perfect if you’ve been dreaming about doing some online teaching but are worried that no one will buy when you do! Class starts in February but there’s a crazy early bird discount if you sign up now! Click here to check it out!
