Creative Success With Multiple Skills

In this sea of everyday web designers, artists and writers, finding out where you fit in may be the hardest task. As I watch the news every night with much trepidation, it seems like unemployment and closing businesses are on the rise.  If there is one thing to take away from this, it’s ‘don’t limit yourself’ - learn a second, or even third, skill. Having multiple tools in your tool belt will allow for additional avenues of income and potential success where you least expect. It all depends on what you are doing with your time.

My Experience
When I graduated Grad school, I wanted to be a full time illustrator, paint each day, but I knew that was not financially possible, so I learned how to animate in Flash which lead to creating websites. Thankfully, I was able to get a full time web design job where I excelled in the interactive and creative design category. During this time I was also involved in developing an Arts web-zine and crafting a small amount of custom furniture.

I started my business with the intention of doing what I love; illustration, animation and creative web design. I have the ability to juggle multiple tasks, so my focus wasn’t an issue. But, I do find myself getting bored very easily and not all of them pay very well. Collectively, my skill-set has allowed me to financially survive, but I also follow the Ramen Method.

The Ramen Method is something we have all done in college or at one point in our early adult lives. It is the belief of spending only as much as we need to, and only consume the minimum amount of goods to survive, like eating Ramen everyday, hence the title. By eliminating any unnecessary spending, you learn to be resourceful and frugal, and any profit can be applied to the growth of the business.

For example: I have a gallery show of 30+ pieces of artwork. The gallery insisted that I have frames, so I went to the Scrap Exchange and bought a number of $2 frames, and built my own as well. I also needed to make nice digital prints so instead of spending the money upfront to get prints of paintings that just might not sell, I waited until the show was over and made prints for those who specifically requested them. The money I gained from sales paid for the prints and for a new camera.

Have A Cause
“Idle hands are the devils tools”. If you cannot work on a personal project, then do something for a cause. You may not get paid monetarily, but by helping someone with their business, you’ll reap the rewards in other forms. You are able to work on perfecting your craft, use the project as a case study, and the “client” gets a solid product or service in return. You look good by volunteering your time and services. It is also a great way to make connections and continue with your word of mouth marketing. We keep a meter on our about page which tallies the total number of pro-bono hours we put back into the community.

Barter
Once again the barter system has surfaced, and we like it! These tough times are a great opportunity for trade work and helping others stay afloat. A good friend and musician was in need of web design help and I wanted guitar lessons. Not necessarily an equal trade in terms of cost per hour, but both services are valuable in their own right and therefore equal in our minds. Laura volunteered her time at the Arts Center and was able to take a dance class she could not otherwise afford.

Free time
Every artist has some form of OCD, or at least some type of visual obsession. You will find that most successful artists, designers, musicians are obsessive about practicing, developing and experimenting with their skills. Sitting around waiting for things to happen will never work. At this point, my hobbies and free time are still spent being creative. Whether it’s building furniture, painting a picture, or writing a blog post, I make an equal effort towards personal projects as much as commercial projects. The hope is that eventually my personal projects will transfer into “commercial” work.

Post by matt on 04/06
Artwork • Business • (0) Comments •