I hope you had a good weekend.
As we get ready to launch into a new work week, I wanted to share this sketch below that I did while I was listening to the No Pants Show, a new podcast by No Pants Project founder Mike Shreeve.
The podcast episode is about standing out as a freelancer, which if you are an artist who takes commissions, you are a freelancer. Even if you don't work for clients, a lot of what you'll hear is relevant to staying visible in a sea of artists.
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| By 2027, half of the workforce will be considered Freelance. Is your business prepared for the influx of competition? |
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In case you weren't paying attention, this is a daily podcast, which is mind-blowing in and of itself. But yeah, he does an episode every single day including weekends. I joined Mike's coaching program during the summer, and it's awesome. If you have questions about it, get at me.
Anyways, I didn't take notes for the show. Maybe I'll start taking notes to share on Starving Artists Anonymous. But whatever the case, I drew the sketch below while I was listening to this episode. When you get to the place that inspired it, you'll know why.
The mindset of wanting to be paid a living wage for doing almost nothing is a strong mindset amongst a lot of artists I talk to. I definitely catch myself making the mistake of expecting clients to know what to do with my art, instead of showing up able to explain why they should pay me for my work.
Getting the jewel embedded in this point alone will raise your income as an artist. So if you're trying to make any kind of living with your art, you will do well to pay attention to this episode. |
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Anyways, here's the sketch.
I'm sending this one out to you if you're on the Starving Artists Anonymous list, the Daily Sketch list, and the comic strips list.
I realized recently that the reason I don't send out emails and post on my blogs more is that often when I do, a client who is mad at me for some reason pops up and gets in my face about how I've screwed up or let them down.
Yeah, I've been freelancing a long time... but I have not always done a very good job of it. Taking a coaching program about freelancing has really shown me how I've been inconsistent! So since this is going out to a lot of my list, I expect to get lots of ... feedback from my long-suffering clients.
And that's okay.
For a long time, I avoided responsibility for whatever problems existed in my relationships with clients. These days, I am more inclined than ever to face the truth:
The degree to which I have struggled as a professional artist has never been about my talent, and if you're struggling, it's probably not about your talent either.
It's about being a professional. Running my art business AS a business.
Not as a paid hobby, that I do when I "feel like it."
Not as a "hustle," which is about beating people out of money, without necessarily looking out for their needs.
Not even as a job. There is no "boss" to take responsibility for delivering results. No "company policies" to use as an excuse for bad service. No other department to blame. No one else at all to take the weight when things go bad, or steal the credit when things go well.
It's all on me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
So, I started doing a comic strip called FREELANCER LIFE for the No Pants Project blog in January, that is currently running twice a month. In addition to the strip, I do a 1700-2000 word blog post about how to do freelancing (especially as an artist) correctly.
I FREELY admit that I am not an expert in this area.
I am simply willing to do research to learn as much in this area as I can, and passionate about helping other artists pull themselves up out of whatever level of failure and struggle that the Starving Artist Mindset has entrenched them into.
Because making omelets out of broken eggs is kinda my thing, I started a series in the strip called #FreelancingFAIL, where I address common mindsets freelancers (including me) fall victim to, and how to beat them. |
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| Speaking of which, I'm glad to announce that #FreelancingFAIL Number One, broke into the top ten for posts generating organic traffic to the blog! So far, so good, huh? |
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A brand new #FreelancingFAIL joint just dropped last week that is particularly relevant to artists, so CLICK HERE to check it out!
In case you missed the self-help post on Starving Artists Anonymous about this common strength and weakness artists have, click the link below.
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| I'm always down to discuss and share content about ways artists can use their talents to pull themselves out of poverty and mediocrity. So get at me with questions and recommendations, and click here to add Starving Artists Anonymous to your reading habit, if you haven't already. |
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That's all for now, fam. Feel free to respond with any comments, questions, concerns, or whatever
Peace, love, etc.
-Samax
StarvingArtistsAnonymous.com |
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