3 Surprising Mistakes Artists Make Selling Online

Welcome to the Stop the Starving Artist Podcast. My name is Lennon Bone. I'm so glad to have you here today. We're talking about three mistakes that artists are making all the time when they're trying to sell their work online. So if you've been selling your work in real life in some way, shape or form, whether it's at art markets, through galleries, or you're a musician or a photographer and you're out doing the thing in public and you're trying to figure out why isn't this working online? So this is absolutely for you. We've been fortunate to see our community so far this year make $145,861. And they're doing these things that we're talking about today. Or actually, they're doing the reverse of the things that we're talking about today. Although we all make these mistakes. And the first one is that you're showing too much of your art. This is crazy, right? Like, what do I mean by this? Because everybody says to me, well, Lennon, there's no way I'm showing too much of my art. Isn't that what this is all about? Like, aren't I supposed to be showing my work? Because isn't that what I'm trying to sell? Yes and no. Because there's two things that need to happen. One, you need to be getting in front of new people, and two, you need to be building trust with those people in order to get in front of new people on social media. We need to be educated, entertained, or inspired by you in some way, shape, or form. These are. I didn't make the rules, so don't shoot the messenger. This is what people go to social media for. And a lot of artists just tend to sort of post just their art or their process. Well, if someone's going on social media and they're going to be entertained, educated, or inspired. Well, who gets entertained, educated and inspired by buy art in the process? Well, of course, other artists. This is why we see a lot of artists draw other artists in. And I'm not saying that other artists won't buy your work, but I am saying that there is a statistic that says most artists don't actually purchase your highest level stuff. So what should we be doing instead? If I'm showing too much of my art, Lennon, like, what the hell do you want me to do?

I always hear the trolls. I know you guys aren't the trolls. I always hear the trolls in, like, my Facebook comments, you know, where they're like, you Know like you're just full of horseshit. So anyway, that's like what's in my brain sometimes. So if I. I don't mean to make you sound like I'm just picturing the trolls. So what do I do? Right? Okay, fair question.

You show yourself, right? You show the things that you value as a human being. You show like what you're all about. I have a whole workshop called the Post to Profit Workshop that walks through all of this stuff and how to like what you should be posting about, how to turn that into a 30 day sales plan, all that kind of stuff. The link for that is in the description. So all you gotta do is click on that link and it'll take you to it. So go check that out if you wanna know more of like what you should be posting. But suffice it to say, we need more of you because you are the art. Right? I say this at the end of every episode. You are the art. The art is a vessel, a connector, right? It's something people buy as a story piece. It's something people buy as a status symbol, right? If you're only selling art as a decoration, you're selling a commodity.

We don't want that. Right. That's why you can go to Target and get commodities Like I don't want your art in Target unless it is being mass produced and you are making millions of dollars off of it. I would love that for you. But I don't want you pricing your work on your own as if you're selling it at Target. Why would you do that?

So how do we get people to connect? We get them to connect with you, the artist, your stories, your experiences, your beliefs, your ide, that sort of stuff. So if you're in a growth phase, I would encourage you to do 80% of your posting about you and your values and 20% directly about the art and what you're selling. Doesn't mean you can't show bits of you in process in these other videos. It doesn't mean you can't express some how you are an artist. But I invite you to look at how can you get people to connect with you on a human to human level so that they build trust with you and so you're broadening your opportunity for reach. Because again, if you're just thinking about the art and the process, you're so narrow in your content opportunity, you know? So blow that thing out. Alright, so that's mistake number one. You're showing too much of your art. Mistake number two, you're not tracking anything, okay? You're not looking at what your posts are doing every month to see which ones are the best so you can replicate that. You're not looking at your website numbers to see what the conversions are. You're not checking your email open rates. You're not treating yourself like a business. You're not looking at the revenue that's coming in most of the time. You know, it's because of this excuse, and that's really what it is, because I had the same excuse that you are not a numbers person. So let me tell you a vulnerable story, right?

There were years where I was broke. Like, so broke. Paycheck to paycheck, barely making it happen. You know, I figured out how to make a living doing creative work. But, boy, it was just barely, right? And what changed? Well, I started looking at the numbers, started figuring out where I was spending money, what I was spending it on. And I started to see that, you know, let's be frank, spending a lot on going out, like hanging out with friends and, like, drinking, right? Spending a lot of money on.

Things that made me happy in the moment. I was spending a lot of money on equipment that I thought would grow my business, when really the equipment isn't what matters. It's me. And. And the thing I'm trying to say, freaking ironic, right? I was, you know, all these other things. I wasn't investing in the real things that mattered. I wasn't investing in people that could show me where I was doing things wrong. I wasn't investing in any coaching or. I wasn't buying, like, anything that would actually benefit my business.

I was doing all the things that would benefit me being busy.

I wasn't spending money on things that would benefit my business. I was spending money on things that kept me busy. And I knew that if I looked at that, I would have to face the truth. And that was scary. It's freaking scary, Guys. Like, you know, our relationship to money is screwed up for all kinds of reasons. We've all got reasons. Mine, you know, mine comes. Has a lot to do with the fact that I can remember my mom saying things like, you know, people that made more money than us. She would say things like, well, they're just not in our class, you know, and she would say it in a pretty derogatory sort of way.

Well, we, you know, they just don't really understand us, you know, that kind of thing. And just always drew this line that made it feel like, well, if I tried to be someone with more money, then I would never be able, like, then that would make me somebody like that. That would make me a bad person. That would make me somebody who was out of touch. That would make me somebody who, you know, didn't actually.

Operate in a way that helped people. I love what Mother Teresa says about money. She says it takes a checkbook to change the world. Freaking amazing, right? Because it's so true.

So I would really, really encourage you. And one of the things I do with my clients inside my program is we have trackers for your sales. Every month I keep a track of sales that are coming in so that we can see.

Not only what numbers are happening inside the community, but also I have people write how they're making those sales. And then at the end of each quarter, we look at that and we do a diagnostic together and we see like, okay, here's what other artists are doing to make sales, right? Which is really cool.

I also have artists tracking their social media numbers every month to see like, what are, what's performing best. So you can either A, repost those things or B, you know, duplicate the idea in some way and create something new out of that, right? It takes a lot of work to get your art business going online in the beginning for sure. But you better believe that once you have some momentum, it gets a lot easier.

You know, it's such a fascinating thing. Mistake number three, and this is the biggest one, you're letting fear get in the way, period. End of story. You're so worried about what people are going to say about you. You're so worried about, you know, what if you do it wrong. You're so worried about, well, I'm going to lose this, that and whatever, right? All these fears, what my coach, Ellen Broen says, false evidence appearing real, right?

So much of that is coming up that you stall yourself out.

Like, I don't know if this is you, but unfortunately I see this a lot. Sorry, my tone may be a little more like ramped up today, so I apologize if that's like a bit much. But I'm just like feeling it today because I just had a conversation where I was, I was like, wow, this is really hitting right now. Like, this really feels important to say, you know, so this fear thing, right?

It's so fascinating because.

The thing that we fear is the thing that we usually focus on and then it becomes what we call a self fulfilling prophecy. So here's an example of what that has looked like in my dumb life as an idiot of a human being. There have been times where I think, well, I'm just so afraid of investing money into my business, right? Or time or whatever, because what if it doesn't work? And then that fear gets so wound up and that concern that it's not going to work gets so heightened.

That I put off doing any work at all. Because I now say, well, I'm not in the right state of mind to do this thing. I need to go do something else. And then what happens? Well, then I don't do anything. And then what happens? The very thing that I was afraid of comes to existence, which is this didn't work.

Right? And it didn't work not because of me taking an action, but it didn't work because I let my fear cause inaction.

This happens to me way, way, way less. The last two years, I've finally gotten a grip on this. And there's some things, if you want me to go over, like how I personally expel sort of my. My fears and get past things to keep things in momentum. And I'm not perfect at it at all, but I've gotten way better. If you want me to go over those, let me know in the comments, because I'd be happy to, like, make a podcast episode about that, because it's really, really important stuff. But, you know, I really have gotten much, much better at it. And I want to tell you that there's one thing that is true. You'll either have fear or you'll have regret. I think I got this from Alex Tremozi. He says if you want things to work.

Your desire.

For.

Getting past the fear.

Has to be greater than your desire for regret. So you're going to either fear that it'll never work right, or you're going to regret the fact that you never tried, like, never went full out. And the worst that happens, and this is crazy, y', all, the worst that happens, especially when you're running an online business, is that some trolls show up and they run their mouths. And by mouths, I mean their fingers. They run their little troll fingers with their hairy knuckles, and they're like eyebrows that go out to here, and they're pale, translucent skin because all they're doing is hunched over behind their laptop. You know, like, that's what they do. And then you go look at their stuff. Guaranteed they don't have anything public. Why? Because they are much happier and much more fulfilled, they think, by not doing anything for themselves but bringing everybody else down with them. So that's the worst that's going to happen, is you're going to have some people that think less of you. Let me tell you something. You're going to have that either way.

It's not something we can avoid. Our life is full of people judging us every single day.

I have people in my life that I love dearly, that I think so highly of, and I have let their perceived. It's not even a real opinion. It's what I think their opinion of me is. I've let that steer me and keep me from doing what I thought was my calling. When I started Stop the Starving Artist, when I started this business.

Six, seven years ago.

What was wild to me, and I was working a regular day job at the same time, but what was wild to me was that I had to shut down my Instagram and start a new one because I was so afraid what my cool friends would think, the ones that are out there doing the cool artist stuff.

Meanwhile, you know, I literally had somebody tell me, oh, Lennon's trying to be an influencer. And I thought, no, that's not what I'm trying to do. And you know what I learned? I ain't trying to be an influencer, but I'm trying to have influence.

I don't think there's anything wrong with that. As a matter of fact, I think that's one of the most powerful things I can do with my life, because it is my personality type. I've been some sort of teacher since I was 18 years old.

43 now. Right. So for a long time, I've been teaching in some capacity. It only makes sense.

And I hear it. Oh, my gosh, I hear it. Well, let me see you sell your art. Let me see you do this. I get it, y'. All. Listen, if you need me out there slinging my art and spending half my time worrying about, like, the clients that I have, that's okay. I'm not your guy. Totally fine, you know? But what I know is that for me, working with artists in this way and figuring this stuff out is my art right now. And I have this. I will say, like, I have this complicated, weird, like, battle that's going on internally of, like, what is my creative output from a visual art or a musical standpoint, you know, because music is my real. That's my background. That's, like, where I started. And I still. Professionally, I play drums every week, you know, so I'm constantly still gigging and doing things, but, you know, people online always showing up, well, let's see you do it. It's like, well, I am doing it, but, you know, the main thing I'm trying to do is help you do it. Like what? I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. Just this fascinating thing where people will troll you. You do not get the option.

But you'll either have fear or you'll have regret. And I'd much rather you have fear and get through it than have regret. We get this life once, y'. All. This is all, it's all we get. So I hope that you'll consider what, what that looks like for you.

So if you're thinking, well, what is the plan for actually marketing this stuff? How do I make this work? So I do have a workshop. I mentioned it earlier. You can look for that in the description below and I'd love to see you check it out if you would like. There is zero pressure. I do tell you how we can work together if that's something you would like to do. But it walks you through step by step. This is how you would set up a 30 day plan to, you know, start to sell your art online. Everything from understanding like what your mission is as an artist, how to utilize that, what you can be posting to, then get people on what we call a priority list, which is how you get people into your world and get them to raise their hand and say, yes, I want to buy your stuff. And then how to sell to them. Right. Do that over a 30 day period of five days a week because I am a big proponent of taking weekends off. So go check it out links in the description below and I will see you. Hear you. I won't hear you. Maybe I'll hear you. I don't know. Just know I love you and I'll see you in the next episode. Hear you in the next episode. Whatever it is I'm supposed to be doing on this side of the audio or the camera. And don't forget, you don't make art. You are the art.