So many artists I’ve met feel that the only way to be a true artist is to have their hands in every part of their work along the way. The only true artistic venture is one where your hands are filthy and worn from the process of producing, marketing, selling and delivering your art to the world. If you believe that, let me ask you a couple questions.

How many times do you think Andy Warhol stood in front of a screen printing press to pull his own prints?

Do you think Damien Hirst applied all those diamonds to “For the Love of God“ skull?

Does Takashi Murakami draw every single smiling flower produced under his name?

If you said yes to any of those questions, please slap yourself in the face for being ignorant. It’s absurd to think any of those three artists, or many of their contemporaries, had more than a pinky’s worth of involvement in the actual production of their art.

The True Artistic Venture is in the Executed Idea.

Click that to tweet it while you let that percolate for a bit. The real art is not in how you put the pen to paper, or paint to canvas, or hand to clay; that’s technique. Sure, some people have more skill in processing the technique than others, but that can be learned, or in the case of the artists above, outsourced. Your ideas alone are not art either. They are merely ideas, and if you fail to act on them, they are worthless trash. What is the value of an unused, unheeded idea? None!

True art is in the transference of an idea into something tangible. Everything else is manufacturing. So if we reduce the rest down to a manufacturing level, why can’t we have others help us with that aspect? If art is in the idea, and the rest is production, why do we, as the artists, need to have our hands in that aspect of the work? Let’s run some numbers for a moment.

For the sake of argument, let’s say that your hourly rate is $100 for any of the work you do for your business. If you’re a one person shop that believes you need to have your hands in every aspect, that’s $100 an hour for the art, the marketing, the social media, the emails, the packing and shipping, and any other menial task that people making $100 a hour should NOT be doing.

What if you hired someone for $20 an hour to help you sort through some of these tasks, like packing and shipping, or answering customer service questions via email, or any number of other tasks that are not the creative, artistic aspects of your business. It’s fair to say that at least 75% of your day is filled with these menial tasks, so if that employee is doing them, your cost for a 12 hour day is now $480 (3 hrs x $100 + 9 hrs. x $20).

Of course, you didn’t only work three hours, and make your employee work nine, but instead of you spending those nine hours working on menial tasks, you spent them doing creative, artistic work; the work that is worth $100 an hour. Andy, Damien and Takashi understood this and used it to their advantage. Why can’t you?

Why the hell are you driving all over town to pick up all your materials?

Why are you packing those boxes?

Why are you stuck to your small-time thought processes that will only cause you to work harder in the long term, potentially killing your motivation for why you do this in the first place?

The less time you spend doing the creative aspects of your work, the less joy you’re getting out of your business. Eventually that lack of joy is going to murder your motivation.  Stop kidding yourself about the need to have your hands in everything because you feel “inauthentic” to your customers. They do not care, and if they do care, then they obviously deluded about what it takes to do the work.

You are not less of an artist if  someone else pulls the screen on your t-shirts, or prints your greeting cards, or paints gesso on your canvas. If you don’t outsource some of your work for fear of being inauthentic, that’s not being an artist; that’s just dumb.

Your Time is Precious—Treat it as Such.

Now that I’ve beat you up a bit, I want you to go be good to yourself. Find one aspect of your daily work life that you can hand the reins over to someone else while you do the work that’s important.

Start with one thing and see where that takes you. Then when you’re comfortable, give them something else to do, but don’t watch over them. Encourage them to come to you if they have questions, but leave them alone to it. Now go work on the things that really matter, the expensive things, the joyful things.

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Given the title of the post just before this one, I should probably have titled this one “The Scariest Post I’ve Ever Written”.

I woke up this morning, at 4am, from a vivid and traumatic dream.My wife had gotten me a face to face interview for a job with her company. As we drove to the interview, I realized I wasn’t dressed appropriately. This wasn’t the cliché “being in class in your underwater” situation.

Instead of a suit, I was wearing a t-shirt, shorts and a ball-cap. I turned to my wife just as we were about to enter the interview and said, “I guess I should have worn a suit”.

She looked me up and down and said, “Uh, yeah”, and wasn’t too happy with my clothing choice. Since she vouched for me, her reputation was on the line and here I was about to tarnish that, but we’ll talk more on that subject in a minute.

Then I woke up, or maybe I should say that my eyes were opened.

The title of this post were the first words in my head when I woke; I am unemployable. I no longer have the capacity to go out and look for jobs. I already have a day job with a large media conglomerate, but it doesn’t appeal to me any longer. My only goal is to move myself out of my corporate confines and into the entrepreneurial venture I’ve been planning for far too long.

The risk I take even writing this post is enough to warrant me getting Dooced the next time I step in the office. Do I plan on quitting my day job? No, not just yet. Until this venture takes flight, I will do my due diligence at the place that pays my wage; I owe them that much at the very least. However, the corporate job does not afford me the security I need for a viable future.

Corporate jobs in this economy are no longer safe. They are as unsafe an insecure, if not more so, as working toward an entrepreneurial future. Sure, the medical benefits are nice, and the job does afford a certain lifestyle, but it no longer fuels me with what I need. I’ll do the job until it’s done, and do it well.

The future is now and I’m taking bold action.

Starting this weekend and on through the week, I’ll be making some big changes to this site, transforming it from the misdirected mess it has been in the past to the new hub of my new business.

With nearly 2 decades of experience in marketing, design and branding, I’ll be offering my coaching and consulting services to creative solopreneurs and small businesses in order to give knowledge, experience and empowerment to help them take their business to the next level.

Even as I start this, I’ve already got my first client, a young artist out of Colorado who I connected with on Twitter years ago. She recently shouted out to me a desperate plea to help her get through a creative blockage and motivational slump. Because I was planning on starting this business this month, the timing couldn’t have been better, so I took her on as my first client. In exchange for my insight, she’s willingly allowed herself to be a guinea pig for my teachings, giving feedback about how she feels on everything we work through.

If anyone else would like to discuss how I can help you with your own business, please get in touch with me today so we can discuss your future. Email me: dc [at] daveconrey.com.

A little thanks and gratitude is in order.

None of this would be possible without the one woman who means the most in this world. My lovely wife, Leslie, is the rock in my world. She’s an inspiration, both in her spirit and in her professionalism. She’s an awesome mother to our little boy and because she knows I need it occasionally, she makes me feel like the king of the castle.

All my creativity and entrepreneurial spirit comes from my mother. Hustling as a single mother and business owner, she had a rough life when I was young, and I take that for granted all too often. I wouldn’t be the man I am without her.

Some of my brothers and sisters in arms who have helped me get to this place. Kathleen Connor, Jeanette Fanning, Adam Luedicke, Ameena Falchetto, Luis Cortez, Jeremy Ritchie.

There are plenty more that need attention, but I don’t want to ramble. Thank you all for all the love and support. I couldn’t do it without you.

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Have you ever done something new and nailed it so easily you figured the next time would be just as easy only to find out the first one was beginner’s luck and the next few times were much more difficult? Yeah, that’s me right now.

When my friend, Kelly Westover asked me for a private commission for her home, I was eager to please and more eager to put that feather in my cap, so I went all out for her. My initial intention was to create a piece for her that I could then eventually resell like my other prints, so I only charged her what I would normally charge for a single print. However, after creating the piece, I found it to be much to personal to sell to anyone else. Sure, I could have replaced an image here or there and make it work, but it just didn’t feel right. This was her piece and I wanted it to be an exclusive design. She wanted to give me more money, but I refused, so she sent me some earrings for my wife instead. Ultimately, it helped build our friendship, so that alone was worth the cost.

Lesson Learned: Be ok with charging more for custom work, but recognize other opportunities beyond the dollar sign.

The next piece I did was more of a custom request and a commission. Another return customer asked me if I would be willing to create an image based on her thoughts, but this one was less personal and I would definitely be able to sell copies after I created the first one for her. I started plugging away and I sent periodic updates, but at some point I got into a groove with the piece, going off on a tangent for way too long. When I sent the next update, she wasn’t 100% behind the direction I was headed. So I backtracked a little and started again. Eventually the piece came out way more awesome than I originally imagined, but even more important, my customer was very pleased, which makes me happy too. I liked the piece so much, I turned it into my first limited edition print.

Lesson Learned: When working with a customer’s vision and concept, leave them in the dark at your peril.

When the next private commission came around, I made sure to charge enough for the work, and I kept the customer abreast of the progress at all times. Before I go any further, I want to say that the customer was always very open to my point of view. She was cautious of spending the kind of money I was charging and wanted to have a guarantee of the work. I reassured her that she came to me because she liked the way I work—I promised to make this piece perfect to her requests. Unfortunately, she took that very much to heart.

We spent many conversations just in email before the purchase actually happened, and then when I started working on the piece and keeping her updated, I got numerous questions about the piece and lots of requests to make additional changes. Despite my “less is more” nature, we jammed a lot of imagery into this piece, perhaps too much, and the amount of time spent on the project went way beyond what I should have spent on the project; again, not her fault since she had no real expectation of how this process worked. I should have been more up front about how much work I would put into the piece, and also firmer about what to keep and/or delete from the piece.

Lesson Learned: Set up very direct parameters about the amount of time spent on a custom commission, and how many changes you’re willing to accept before charging more for the time spent. Also, do not be afraid to charge a rush fee and extra shipping if the customer wants to have the piece finished and shipped quickly.

Basically, it comes down to knowing how to balance between the value of the customer and the value of my creativity. I don’t want to be a art snob, but I also don’t want to be a whore either. I love the concept of making something ultra-personal for someone that resonates with them every time they see the art up on the wall, but I also need to stand up for my artistic integrity. Besides, that is exactly why they came to me in the first place, right?

Image courtesy of Evajuliet - Make it Happen print.

Well that experiment is over; onto the next one. I just wrapped up my Valentines sale with a resounding thud. Perhaps my art isn’t the kind of thing lovers share, or perhaps I just didn’t approach it correctly, but I honestly thought I would have done better, especially giving the amount of discount I was giving.

I’m not going to get down on it though. This was a learning experience and I didn’t really lose money, so that’s not so bad, but now I know what not to do. These are some things I’ve learned personally about my business in its current state.

Invest in Customers Instead of Holiday Sales

It’s the most insane thing, but every time I hold a sale, I never make any. Ok, well never is a bit overstating it, but I make less sales during a sale than I do charging full price. Here’s the kicker: During this most recent Valentines sale, the two people that did buy from me did NOT use the coupon code provided. They paid full price without thinking about it. Being an honorable man, I decided to give them the discount after the fact in a refund, but the idea that even though I was having a sale, people still paying full price makes me realize that the sale itself was a failure.

Instead, I’ll invest in my customers instead, offering deals to people I know appreciate the work; return visit discounts and referral codes could warrant more success than these holiday deals have done. Hell, even one sale as a referral is 100% improvement.

Photo Courtesy of ljpphoto - We Fix Anything But a Broken Heart

Etsy Showcases Do Not Work for My Art

I was told over and over again that they didn’t work, but I kept seeing the same people posting their work in the art showcase, so I had to wonder if there was something to it that I was missing. I’ve tried twice now with zero success. Just like the holiday sales, I have fewer visitors to my page when I do a showcase than I do when I do nothing. I could renew 35 items in the course of a day for the same amount and get more visitors, but still not a guarantee of sales.

Get a Better Approach for Listing Renewals

According to some, renewing listings is the be-all-end-all way to get visibility and sales on Etsy. Although I do make some money from doing renewals, I have yet to figure out the pattern. Some days I don’t renew very often and I make a sale and other days I renew like mad and make nothing. I definitely do not have a game plan, and that is a mistake. If I’m not careful, I could spend way more money than I make, which is obviously not the goal.

Of course, there is the possibility that even though I’m not selling anything to some of these people browsing, I am making an impression. Some will “favorite” my shop, and others might not, but make a mental note to return later. This is obviously not a promising approach. I don’t need mass amounts of ROI statistics, but I do know that callbacks do not equal greenbacks. A return visit does not necessarily equal a sale.

Image courtesy of Stoneburner Books - Prelimnary Plan Journal

Carefully Research Advertising Opportunities

Make no mistake about it, advertising is a crutch; a high, hot fastball over the plate hoping for a grand slam. At best, it’s good for a single or running double. Baseball metaphors aside, advertising opportunities amongst the handmade crowd are abundant. Every crafter and their mother (sometimes literally) have a blog with a marginal amount of traffic and their offering ad space for “sponsors”. The problem is most of these blogs do not have any real information about their traffic numbers; no quality demographics. They may have 100k visitors a month, but if the majority of the viewers are midwestern locals who have never seen an ocean, let alone surfed a wave, I’m not going to sell much through that site. I’m realistic that advertising these days is more about establishing brand than turning people into customers in a single-click, but with so many different options, its best to find sites where I feel the visitors are more in line with the type of work I’m doing.

One option I have yet to try is Google Adwords. The idea of truly targeted advertising is definitely of interest, but it could end up being a boondoggle. I know plenty of people that use Adwords to much success and I think I will give it a shot at some point, but I think I still need a little more keyword research before I invest. The idea is to make money, not spend it, right?

God Rewards the Diligent – Chinese Calligraphy by Yinganwb

Build More Connections Via Social Media

Sometimes the best things in life are free. The bulk of sales I’ve received have been through connections I’ve made through Twitter, Facebook and interacting with other artists on blogs and forums. It’s a big investment in time, but I don’t spend any money. The problem here is time. There is no overnight success, but social media is a slower process than throwing up a few ads around the internet. I can reach more eyeballs quicker with advertising and Etsy renewals than I can in social media, but that’s why the former costs money. The beauty of social media is the end result. Yes, I’ve made sales, but the friends are definitely the best part of that deal, and good friends become evangelists to your cause. I know because I feel compelled to share the work of the people I’ve met because I like them so much.

These are strictly my personal observations of my own work and I am sure do not necessarily apply to anyone else. My situation may be as unique as a snowflake or as common as clover. Ultimately, if you’re reading this, the real lesson is to experiment and find out what works best for you, but do so with caution. There’s no sense chasing a dream if you go bankrupt in the process. Take chances when you can, but be smart and learn from your lessons.