When people find out I am a full-time artist, they often ask, How did you start?
It was a dark and stormy evening… no wait. Okay look I am not a writer nor was I an A+ student. Not even a B+ student. And I have a splash of dyslexia. I am diving in to write this post to help other creatives (artists, entrepreneurs, etc). Why? Because being creative is hard. A lot of organizing and work goes into running a creative small business.
I started my very small business out of my sunroom after giving birth to our bouncing baby boy. While I loved being a mother and enjoyed every single second being a stay-at-home mom, that boy slept a lot! I mean all day. And all night. So to keep busy I went to the library and pulled out every single book I could possibly read about crafts, genealogy, and more. After reading them I still had spare time. Being a creative is an energy you must harness. And put to use. If not you will explode in 5 million colors. Well not really but that is what it feels like to me. This was over 24+ years ago so the internet was really new and starting an online business even newer. I started out making homemade cards with my art and painting them by hand and adding loads of sparkle. I went to local craft shows and sold $600 that year. I took all my receipts to our accountant and he looked at me like I was a hobbiest gone mad. He really had a hard belly laugh at me. I made $0 that year.
Next, I started a free website on AOL to reach more people. I mean craft shows are fun and all… but I wanted to expand my horizons! The URL was so long people really had a hard time typing it in. I contacted a local website designer to design my site. After getting the quote, I knew it was best to purchase my own computer and build my own site. I mean holy cow that was a lot of dough! After I sat up my computer on a card table, I built my site, and then waited. Crickets. When I first started my online business I thought where was my traffic? Why wasn’t anyone finding me? Then I contacted that web designer and asked his thoughts on my new site. He was so kind and totally understood my budget. He asked me, where are your meta tags? That’s when it all began. They hard work paid off and my reach started to flow and grow over the years. Want to learn more about Marketing Your Small Business? The following easy ideas can help.
Leave a Reply