I’ve been running a creative business for a long time now. Over 7 years on this one and spent most of my adult life managing big business for other companies. I see lots of frustrated creatives out there right now and when I take a look at their business – there are a few things that jump out at me right off the bat. These things are easy to fix, seem obvious, but are being skipped right over. Below are some of the biggest offenders holding people back as I see it.

 

No Profile Photo

Trying to stay anonymous online? It doesn’t work when you are trying to build up a creative/art business. If you want people to connect with you and care about what you are up to, and buy the things you might have to sell, you MUST put your photo on your business. This includes your Facebook pages, your website, your personal profiles, etc…

Nobody cares about a random photo/logo.

You don’t build up trust with a random photo/logo.

You don’t build up a following of people who care about what you are up to with a random photo/logo.

 

This is a big deal and I’ve had and heard all the excuses people make for not putting up a photo of themselves on their pages. I’m too fat… I don’t have a good photo of myself… I hate photos of myself… I’m too old… etc… I have been there too. I’m too fat too. I hate my photo being taken. I’m getting old too… seriously… but you still see me put up my picture on my social media pages, my website, in my workshops, on video, and anywhere I wish to connect to people.

It lets them know who I am.

It allows them to put a face to the voice in my videos.

It allows me to build up trust with my audience since they can see my face and judge my intentions.

It allows them to make a connection with me and what I do.

It allows them to make “friends” with me and be interested in what I am up to.

There are people in my community and maybe even a friend or two on my Facebook page that has been there for years… and I still, to this day, have no idea who they are or what they look like. There is a random photo as their profile and when you go looking to see what your “friend” on Facebook might look like… nothing… nada… I find this soooo annoying and some of these people are trying to build up a little creative business like mine… but can’t figure out why they aren’t gaining any traction.

I can tell you – its’ because we can’t figure out who you are. People are nosey. They want to know who they are investing their time, interest and money in.

 

So… if you think I’m talking to you in this post and I was thinking of you when I wrote it... then I’d say… you are guilty of this exact thing and you should immediately fix it. Or give up trying to build up a little creative or art business – because you aren’t connecting with any of us and we aren’t going to care about an anonymous person. YOU are YOUR business when you are a creative. If we can’t figure out who YOU are – then you just confuse us and we lose interest in what you are doing.

 

Don’t have a good photo?

Then time to go get one.

Don’t put up a terrible 10-year-old, out of focus, badly lit photo of yourself.

It’s unprofessional and just as bad as no photo.

Go have one professionally taken.

Trade headshots with a photographer friend.

Set up a tripod and go for a self-portrait. (Which, by the way – the photo of me at the bottom of this post and on every one of my social media platforms – is a self-portrait taken on my back porch with a tripod – so if I can do it – you can too!)

Get someone to take a good lifestyle photo of you doing what you do.

Stop making excuses and put up a great photo of yourself that can represent your business and make us care who you are and what you are up to!

 

Selling cheap on a multi-user-platforms

This will hold you back for a long time in your efforts to grow your own little art business.

If you are selling your offerings on a multi-platform – Etsy, Society 6, Creative Market, Scrapbooker sites, etc… then you are never going to make enough money to turn your efforts into full-time work. This might even include multi-user-platforms for art like Fine Art America.

 

These sites have 3 huge problems 

They are distracting with all the other designers, artists and products they are pushing at your customer.

They take a cut of your meager profits. So you make much less than you should.

And people tend to undersell what they are offering because they feel pressured to price at what that platform’s market will bear. You aren’t going to get gallery pricing for prints on a mass print platform.

 

The biggest reason to be on these types of platforms is to further your efforts to grow your brand – not be your sole way to make money. If you are wanting to be a high-end artist – then these platforms are not for you. Don’t dilute your brand.

You must have your own website where you sell your product, drive your traffic, grow your email list – and you want to only be on these other platforms to further your brand.

If you are relying on these sites to grow your whole business – then you aren’t growing your business – you are growing their business. Every time you direct someone to their site – you are helping them out not yourself.

 

Not enough information about your product

This is something I see all the time, especially people new to selling. Not enough information!

You may know all about your product and assume that others do too. But we don’t. If you don’t give me enough information about what you are selling – then I’m not going to buy.

I need to know all the specs and sizes, how to use your offering, example photos, recommendations on how to use, instructions for install, etc… I need you to be overly informative in what you are selling so I have enough information to make an intelligent buy. You need to look at each of your listings as if you were the buyer and ask yourself what information would you be looking for.

 

Crappy photos and poorly made marketing materials

This is a business killer… poor quality photos and graphics.

 

In this age of high-quality imagery and Pinterest – the bar has been raised. You will not get very far with poor quality photos and marketing graphics. The even bigger problem here is you might not even recognize how bad your graphics/photos are – if you are new to the game – you might be super proud of what you are producing.

If you aren’t getting any traction in your business… if you aren’t making any sales… if your mom is the only one liking your posts and photos – then you might have a problem. You need to get some outside help. Someone that can coach you into a better business and show you where you need to improve.

If you are on my site reading these posts… then I am assuming you are some type of artist or photographer – DON’T USE STOCK PHOTOS to promote your offerings. Use your own original work in your offerings.

 

For instance –

I sell textures and presets. I take all my own photos to use my textures and presets on. It is impressive to others when you have an amazing photo you took, that you added your textures and presets to. People want to know how you did what you did. They are interested in getting the looks you are creating… so they come to buy what you are offering.

If I used stock photos – that isn’t impressive at all. People would wonder why I was using someone else’s photography and not my own. They would not even bother coming to look at what I was offering because I couldn’t even use my own photo. Not only is it unimpressive, it is a turn-off and you come off as an amateur.

So if you are selling creative things to creative people – master your craft, use all your own materials and photos, be so impressive that people can’t help but want to come to check out what you are up to and have to offer.

 

Not building a community around your business

If you are a creative business, then you want to start building a community around you and your art. You want to be growing a following of loyal raving fans.

So many people start making a product or want to sell prints – and can’t figure out why they are getting any traction. All their posts on social media and emails are all sell, sell, sell… but the thing is – people are being sold to all day long every day… so this strategy isn’t working. People are tired of being sold to all the time.

You want to create an environment where people feel like you care more about them than the next sale. They want to be part of a community. They want to grow with you.

 

So what can you do to start driving your community mindset?

I drive community by having some Facebook groups – bringing together like-minded people together that can enjoy being a part of something.

 

For instance –

• I had a project 52 photography group (currently closed so I can focus on a few new things) on Facebook where people could participate in taking photos all year around themes and show off their photos to each other. This isn’t a group specifically buying any products from me or that I sell to – but since my target market is photographers – it was a nice way to give back to the community and bring others with the same hobby together.
• I have a creative business group on Facebook (currently closed so I can focus on a few new things) where people who want to have small creative businesses could come together and chat with each other and comment on the creative business blog posts I put out. This is also not a group I try to sell anything to – but might want to have future offerings for – so why not give these people a place to gather and bounce ideas off of and then if I do make offerings – then I’ll have an audience ready for what I have to offer. Since I have been running a creative business for over 7 years now – I feel like I have things to share with others just getting started.
• I have several groups geared toward people who love adding textures to their photos – perfect for showing off what they are doing with the products they purchase from me and getting to find others who love the same hobby as them.
• I have a workshop group for people taking workshops from me. A great way for people to chat and see what others taking the class is up to.
• I have a group for people in my Texture Club membership also. A great way for people in the club to hang out with other people in the club.

 

So as you can see – there are all kinds of groups you can put together to build a community around your business. They don’t all have to be groups geared toward selling something either – and to be honest, they shouldn’t be about selling anyway – people aren’t interested in joining a group that is just going to try to sell things to them all day. They should just be a way to bring together a community of people that would enjoy having others with like-minded interests to socialize with, learn things, and share.

AND…. If you set up some groups for your community – BE ACTIVE IN YOUR OWN GROUPS!! You can’t set up a group and then just forget about it. You need to show up every day or at least every week and be social with people in the group. Otherwise, don’t bother. If you don’t care enough to show up – why should others?

 

Putting all your eggs in one social media basket

Kiss. of. death…

Putting all your eggs in one social media basket is going to be the death of your business. You don’t own the social media platforms so you are at the mercy of someone else to grow your business.

When a platform is new, they are spending their time trying to grow their business. They want as many people on their new platform as possible – so they give you the perk of letting you grow for free. Times are good. The traffic even better. But… then they get big and start to introduce algorithms… and this is the kiss of death for you.

They start to figure out how to monetize their business at the expense of your business. One day you’ll wake up to nobody seeing anything you do without paying for the exposure.

 

What would you do if you woke up one morning and all of your customers were taken away?

The key to bulletproofing yourself from a business failing is to diversify your efforts. You want to have your own website and email list – no one can take that away from you – you own that. Then use several social media platforms to drive traffic to your site and your own list. Don’t depend on any one method for your sole survival.

 

Not thanking people

This one drives me nuts. I have a pretty big following on social media… and what is the purpose of “social” media? TO BE SOCIAL… so if you put out photos like I do and you want to get the likes and comments on them – you have to be social with people.

 

When they go out of their way to put a comment on your photo letting you know they appreciate and love it – you better take the time to comment back and thank them. I thank each and every person on every single page I have.

You build goodwill and people appreciate that you acknowledged them.

They like you.

They start to care about who you are and what you are doing.

The next time they see your photo, they will make sure they comment and like it again – because you cared enough to thank them.

You should also be commenting on their photos also. You really build up a bond with someone when you take the time to let them know you see them and appreciate them and their art too.

 

I don’t care how “busy,” you think you are… you are never too busy to care about what others think about your business or your art… you are not too busy to check your numbers, likes and comments on social media… you are not too busy to fret if you don’t get any likes or comments… so you should never be to busy to thank someone if they go out of their way to let you know they love what you do.

 

This is an exact quote I saw someone put on one of their photos:

“I wish time allowed me to thank each of you personally for your wonderful, heartfelt comments but my days (and nights) are filled with mentoring new members in the group I started.”

 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You know what I did after I saw this – I immediately unfollowed the artist who was “too busy”. I no longer cared what they had going on. I was less important to them than the people in a group (who by the way, hadn’t commented on this photo). I was so unimportant that I didn’t deserve a thank you for taking time out of my day to make a comment.

 

You don’t have time for me? I don’t have time for you either!

Just remember this the next time you think you are too busy. I’m busy too… and I don’t have to follow you or your business. If you want to be creating goodwill and a large following – you have to care about the people who are following you first. These are actual people, not anonymous numbers you deserve, so make time for them if you want to build up a good following of people who care.

You don’t have to spend all day on this either – set aside 15-20 minutes a day and go in and thank everyone. Don’t let it build up so that it is overwhelming. If I can do this – you can too…