My First Months Running an Art Business
Almost two months ago I opened an Etsy shop to sell my photography prints. I didn't really know what to expect. One part of me wanted to believe, who knows, maybe something will sell immediately!? The other part of me thought I'll never sell a print ever. Either way, I was already making prints for my own entertainment so the risk felt low.
As I began to build out my shop, I talked to ChatGPT about how to gain visibility on Etsy. I use ChatGPT a lot on this journey, for technical help, for business help, for moral support. It's nice having a coach, even if that coach is a language model.
Once I started shooting product videos, I thought maybe I should crosspost this content to social media. Maybe it's not the most engaging social content but it couldn't hurt. I decided to start with Pinterest and Instagram.
So it began to hit home that no, my prints were not going to sell immediately. I would have to gain visibility first and that would take time. I reset my expectations.
The gnawing question is whether my art is good enough. I fear I could post consistently to these platforms for years and still never gain traction because there simply isn't a demand for what I'm putting out there.
Patience and consistency are the name of the game. Volume of output is less important than showing up and doing a little something every day.
The actual work of running this business is pretty easy. The mental part is the hard part. Some days I don't get any visitors to my Etsy shop at all. Everything feels stagnant at the moment.
Many days I feel like quitting. I would have already if ChatGPT didn't keep telling me that these numbers are completely normal for a new business. I have a tendency to quit things too early and I'm really trying to give this a fair shot.
I don't know where any of this goes. Maybe nowhere. Maybe somewhere unexpected. But I'm here, showing up, one little piece of content at a time, and trying to give this a fair chance.
More posts coming soon in this little series. In this post I really wanted to cover what it felt like to start this business, but later I'll write more about some of the practicalities, the decisions I've had to make, and the things I've learned.