5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting An Art Business

I started my business the first month of this year so my business is not even a year old. In these few months however I have made small milestones but I also realize that there a certain things I should have done differently. There are several things that I wish I knew before I started. Here are five of them:

1. Start as soon as possible because there is no perfect time to start.

While working on my business I can't help but think about how far I would have been if I had started years ago. I knew that I had wanted to start a business but I kept waiting for the "right" time. I wanted to start a business after I made a certain amount of money, had certain connections, and established myself in the job world. I realized now that those were not reasons to wait to start a business they were just excuses and if I had started a long time ago I would be further ahead now.

2. I did not need so much research to begin.

No one researches more than me when it comes to starting something new. When it came to knowing how to start a business I went through so many articles, watched a ton load of Youtube videos, and went through more webinars than anyone can count.

I thought that the main reason that I did so much research was to start a strong foundation for my business, and that was one of the reasons but there was even a bigger reason, the reason was fear. I was scared of making mistakes that would eventually lead to failure. When I finally started my business, however, I realized that no amount of research would prevent me from making mistakes and no matter how how much reading I did I will only fully learn how to run a business by doing. The mistakes I had made in my business were beneficial because they have made me smarter as a business owner.

3. Slow growth is normal and expected.

One of the reasons I started a business is because I want to make money doing what I love. I also want to become an established artist with an audience.

I knew that I was not going to have a large audience or make thousands in sales in the first year because I do understand that these things take time. Despite knowing this I was still frustrated when I would see Instagram posts from other business owners sharing how they made thousands of dollars in minutes and how they gained thousands of followers in such a short time.

Even though it was easy for me to become jealous I was able to keep myself in check by researching about when most businesses do actually make profit and reminding myself that I can't compare my beginnings to a business owner who has many years in the game.

4. Expensive business courses are most likely not worth it.

Before I even registered my business I did much research on how to make digital products and on how to sell them. There was so much amazing free information online that I began to wonder what a paid course can offer. Well I am still wondering because I still have not bought a business course.

There is one main reason for me not purchasing any business or business type courses, the prices. I found the prices of many of these businesses to be suspicious. Several of this courses were several hundreds of dollars to thousands. My heart almost stopped beating when one course I came across was $8,000. I understood that these courses were supposed to help me avoid making mistakes in my business but at the same time any mistake I made most likely would not have costed $8,000.

Not only was it hard for me to believe that these courses was worth so much money I also began to realize that several of these courses were scams. I remember a few years ago I came across a course that teaches how to make courses and the course was around $2,000. The maker of the course was clearly well paid since she was able to show on her Instagram how she was able to buy a home for one person and make other large expenses. I began to ask myself could this woman's course be that good and worth the money? My inner voice told me no and I refused to buy the course. I am glad that I listened to my inner voice because I found out this year that the same woman is being invested for scamming her students.

5. I will be my hardest critic.

When I first started making pet portraits for my followers and subscribers I became nervous that my customers would be underwhelmed by my art. Whenever I painted a portrait I would always see another 'mistake' I would have to fix before sending the portrait to a customer.

When the portrait is sent I become worried if my best was good enough and if there was more that I could have done.

No matter how much I worried about of I did a good job so far the result has always been the same - the customer loves the portrait.

Just like any artist I have high standards for myself but I also have to remember that perfection does not exist.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, most of the things I wish had known I actually already knew deep down inside. There was one main reason it took some time before I acknowledged them - fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, and fear of putting myself out there as an artist. By no longer allowing fear to be a barrier I am able to put more work into my art and business. Living a life of fear is not a life worth living.