Celebrating One Year

My art business has turned one, and I can’t believe it’s been a year since I decided to pursue my dream! It’s been an incredible year, with lots of ups and downs, and I can’t wait to share details with you about my first year of business, in this post.

The Beginning

I decided to pursue my art full-time last May after suffering from a panic attack that I had after realizing that Pepo, my soul dog, was no longer with us. Losing him was a very traumatic experience and the worst thing that has happened in my life. One of the many things that losing him taught me was that life is very short. He was a month away from turning five. When I realized that life is indeed short, I asked myself, “What are you waiting for?”. 

I’d always wanted to be an artist full-time, but I was putting it off for some reason. To heal from my panic attack, I started creating, without any expectations, every day. I wanted to have fun and learn how to improve my sculptural painting skills. I had started playing with clay back in August of 2022, but it wasn’t until last year that I found my artistic voice and realized what I wanted to do with clay.

Instagram Success

I started creating and sharing everything on Instagram. I showed up every single day in my art studio, shared Instagram reels from Monday through Friday, and shared behind the scenes footage on my Instagram stories. I didn’t have any expectations or a strategy, but I knew that showing up on Instagram every single day was going to push me in the right direction. After two months of sharing reels on Instagram during the weekdays, one of my timelapse videos went viral and received over one million views. A month later, another one, and another one, and then another one. 

At this point, I had nine reels with 1-12 million views. I also had many reels with over 100k views. It’s crazy to say this, but due to all those views on my reels, I gained 15,000 followers in 6 months! Not that it should matter, but this was the validation I needed to keep showing up in my studio and on Instagram. Besides having all these views and followers, one of the best parts about this has been connecting with fellow artists and art collectors on a personal level. I’ve gotten feedback from followers, shared and heard personal stories, learned from other artists, and have received opportunities that have pushed my art career in the right direction.

Mentorship

At the same time that I started showing up on Instagram, I was listening to art podcasts. I stumbled across the New Visionary Podcast hosted by Victoria J. Fry and I was hooked! She has a lot of knowledge about the art industry and I was able to learn a lot from her episodes. A few months later, I reached out to her because she shared that she had a 1:1 mentorship program. We talked about my goals and started working together at the end of June of last year. Working with Victoria was exactly what I needed. I’ve been painting and selling my work on and off for the last ten years but I never had direction on where to go or how to run an art business. Victoria taught me so much during the mentorship program. Some of the things she shared with me were how to present my work online, how to sell online, how to start a newsletter, how to reach out to galleries, and how to find opportunities. My mind was blown by all of her knowledge. We are still working together, and I owe a lot of my success to her mentorship.

Asking For Help

Another thing that has helped me, during my first year, is outsourcing admin tasks, so I can focus on creating. A few months ago I started working with Alexa from Wild Bliss Virtual, and she took on many of my administrative tasks. Some of the things she helps with include bookkeeping, posting on Tik Tok and YouTube for me, finding people I may want to work with, and so many other things. Having a virtual assistant like her was a big help. Another huge help I had this year was working with Racquel, from Memo Creative Group. She takes care of all my copyediting and some copywriting for things like interviews, submissions, and posts. Writing is not a strength of mine, especially in English, which is my second language. So, having someone like Racquel review my writing to make sure it still reads in my voice, but makes sense to the reader, was a huge help!

Successes

During my first year in business, I was selected to participate in a group show and an art event in Tampa, where I currently live, and was selected to participate in two online group shows. I was featured in multiple publications like Canvas Rebel, Visionary Art Collective, Women United Magazine’s print edition, and a print edition of New Visionary Magazine. I was also interviewed by Victoria on her New Visionary Podcast, and by Hayley Price on The Art Coaching Club Podcast. 

I was also selected to participate in the SuperFine Art Fair in Savannah, GA and the Emerging Artist Show with The Scouted Studio. Most recently, I was invited by PxP Contemporary Gallery to show my newest collection. I had my first sold out collection in January when I launched my ongoing Self-Love collection, and these pieces have been very popular since they launched.

Rejections

The not so fun part about this journey, is all the rejections. Most people don't share their rejections often because, to be honest, they can be devastating, but they are also part of the process. I’ve been rejected by four in-person group exhibitions, one print publication, and my proposal for a solo show in my hometown was rejected. Although I totally understand this is part of the journey, sometimes I get imposter syndrome and I question if my art is good enough for these types of opportunities. I’ve learned along the way that a show rejection doesn’t mean my art is bad, it’s just that my art may not work with all the other pieces in a show. I also realize now that a “no” is simply a “not right now”, because in the future that same “no” can turn into a yes. I’m getting better at accepting rejection, and I refuse to let rejections stop me. I’m here for the long run, and I know that eventually I will accomplish all my goals. ;)

A Day In The Life

When I started pursuing my art full-time last year, I was in my studio every day. It didn’t matter if it was for one hour or six hours, I showed up every single day, including weekends. I was creating constantly, experimenting with new techniques, and learning about my process. Even though I still show up every day in my studio, I don’t spend all of my time creating. 

A typical day during the week starts with me taking my dog out and giving her all of her medication because she has epilepsy. Then, I either go for a run or to the gym. When I get home, I start working my corporate job. Ever since I moved to Florida almost 5 years ago, I’ve been working from home. I’m online for 4-6 hours depending on the day, and then I switch to working on my art business. I either paint or handle administrative work like social media, marketing, outreach, etc. On the weekends, I try to spend 2-4 hours each day working on my business.

Mindset

One of the things I knew from the beginning was that I needed to change my mindset. Before May 2023, I would “hate” on Instagram. I was mad that I had to become a content creator and play the Instagram game. However, I decided to change my mindset because I knew all the benefits showing up on Instagram could have for a visual artist like myself. I changed my mindset, posted every single day like I mentioned previously, and everything changed for me. 

Another mindset shift, I had last May, was that I started treating my art practice like an actual business; meaning, I knew I had to do other tasks outside of creative artistry, like admin work, marketing, accounting, sales, etc. so I could have a legitimate business. I couldn’t treat my art practice like a hobby anymore if I wanted to succeed.

Rest

I have to be honest, during my first year in business I didn’t prioritize rest. I knew that I wanted to work hard during my first year of business to lay the foundation for my art career. I’m glad I did, because I was finally able to slow down in April of this year when I met all of my deadlines. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend going “all in” for a year straight, since it can take a toll on your health and relationships. However, at the same time, I’ve learned my lesson, and I now know when to rest so my creativity, health, and relationships don’t suffer.

Overall, giving my business all of my energy and showing up to do the work has opened doors for me and allowed me to attract new opportunities. I know there will be more of these in the future as I continue to grow my business.

Thank you for following my journey and for supporting my dreams!

xo,
Steph