Artists: The algorithm isn’t why your'e not selling — this is.

People don't buy art online the same way that they do in real life. I wish that they did. But when they're showing up to social media, they're showing up on the Internet, they're not in a state of wanting to buy your work. They're in a state of wanting to connect with something, wanting to be educated, wanting to be inspired, wanting to be entertained. And if you don't get people to connect, you won't get them to buy. If you don't get people to connect, you won't get them to buy. Buy. So how do we get people to connect? Well, there are four levels of value that every business has, whether you sell hamburgers or you sell art, right? And those four levels of value also apply to connection and what gets people to connect. So today I'm going to walk you through these four levels of value, and then I'm going to walk through how those four levels of value apply to your content. Because most of you don't have a content problem. You have a connection problem. If you're new here, my name is Lennon Bone. Welcome to the Stop the Starving Artist podcast. I'm so glad to have you here. We've reached over 10,000 subscribers, which absolutely blows my mind. I'm so freaking honored to have you be a part of this group. We've seen artists in my community generate over $380,000 in art sales so far. We still have a month and a half left here in 2025. And I'm not kidding you, I couldn't go to sleep last night because all I could think about is how am I going to get my clients to get to a million dollars in sales in 2026. How are we going to make that happen? I am dead set on seeing it pull through in 2026, but we still. We can still hit half a million this year. Let's freaking go. Anyway, if you want to have more sales, you need these four levels of value, but both in your business and your content. So let's jump over to the computer and I'll show you these slides. Level one of these four levels of value is artist as a maker. Now, I'm going to parallel this with let's call it a hotel, right? So in a hotel, their version of the maker is essentially the doer. It's the hotel cleanup staff, it's the waitresses, it's the front desk people, right? It's the people that are actively doing or making the thing happen, right? And these people primarily, unfortunately, make less money. Right. Overall, and do More of the physical work. So you as an artist, the artist as a maker, you create the art and then your value equals your output. So however much art you make, that's how much value you have available. So this doesn't scale. What does scale mean? Scale just means that you can't keep doing this and make more money. You're essentially trading your time for money, right? So at level one, you create the art and your value equals your output and it does not scale. So level two is artist as an organizer. So again, back to the hotel analogy. This would be management, right? This is someone who oversees more things, makes more things happen, right? Maybe is in charge of some of the staff. Okay, so for you as an artist, you, this is where you build structure so your art is easier to buy. So the manager or artist as an organizer is the artist who also can set up a website and do marketing online or do things that allow you.

To get the work out there in a more simple way. So at level two, you build structure so that your art is easier to buy. And you're creating systems around pricing, around releases, offers and processes. Okay. Now again, in the payment scenario, typically the management starts to increase their pay, right? So level three is artist as a communicator. This is where you're sharing the meaning behind your art and you're building trust and emotional connection. So if you think about this, this would be, in the hotel analogy, upper management. This is where someone comes in and casts a vision about what we're trying to achieve here. So at level three, for an artist, this is where you have the opportunity to cast a vision not only to yourself, but to the people that are in your world, to your potential buyers. If you are a staff of one, like you are doing all these things, then, you know, not only should you be building emotional connection with yourself, but with those people that are potential buyers of yours, right? This is where everything starts to change. Now upper management usually what makes more money because they have essentially more responsibility. And then level four is the artist as a visionary. This is the highest level of value that you can offer. This is essentially, you know, if you're looking at the big Steve Jobs or the Elon Musk's or whatever, right? They're the visionary.

Their company. So you are also the visionary in your little company. This is where you get to say, okay, my art is a message. I'm building a movement here. What is that movement and what is the story that I can tell that people want to belong to? Right? But everything has to start here. And unfortunately, what I see is most artists start at level one. I. I make things, and now I need to organize how to get these things out there. But what's it look like if you start to reverse this and you say, I'm trying to build a movement here, and there's a story that I want people to feel like they belong to. And now your art becomes more than just a product. It becomes a message and a story that people not only want to belong to, but they want to tell. And when you know what that is, it's much easier to be the communicator that shares the meaning behind your art, allows you to build that trust and connection. Right? And then when you're organizing your sales processes, your releases, your offers, your systems, and the trust is built with your people, it's a lot simpler. And then you take the stuff that you've made and you're going to more than likely sell more of it. I hope this makes sense. Right, so these are the four levels of value. And, you know, I love this as a concept because this exists in every marketplace. And I think as artists, we want to romanticize art and say, oh, well, it's this magical thing. And it is magical. Right? But I'm going to be real with you, like a great restaurant with a great vibe, a great story, and a vision and a mission behind it. Just like Tom's as a shoe company. Like, anything can become something really special and really exciting and magical. And that's art, right? Art is what we do. Right? It's an act of courage that we take that creates change for somebody else. That's Seth Godin's version of it. I love that as a definition because it's an act of courage. So now it's not just about this vision, and it's not just about the thing you made. It's both. Right. Because the thing you made is a piece of the vision that you have. All right, great. Lennon, Like, I understand that as a concept in business, but how does this apply to social media? How does this apply to building more connection? Well, if you think about social media, the algorithm rewards these same levels of value, not just when it comes to art, but in all kinds of content. Right? So the algorithm's only job is to put the right content in front of the right person at the right time. It only pushes what people care about to those pockets of people. And you can see that this is true in your own feed. I guarantee you, you follow people in your social media feed that you don't actually follow they keep coming up even though you haven't hit the follow button. Why is that? Because the algorithm knows that you're the kind of person that will like that. But if you don't have a vision for what you're trying to say and the message and the movement that you're trying to build, it is much harder to get the algorithm to understand who you are. So what does the algorithm reward? It doesn't reward your art. It doesn't reward your skill. It doesn't care how long it took you to make a piece. And. And to be frank, most people don't care how long it took you to make a piece or how studied you are. Right. It rewards connection and meaning. Why? Because that's what people want. People want something that means something to them. They want something that they can connect with. So let's look at this in terms of the same levels, but in regards to making your content. So level one content is, look what I made. And I see a lot of artists do this where it's like just a photo of the finished piece. Maybe it's a caption that says something like, hey, there's some new artwork available.

And you don't even tell, like, where to buy it. You're just like, hey, I got this new artwork that's around, and no shade. If you do this, like, we've all done this, right? This is so normal. I can't help. We just kind of have to laugh about it at some point and go, yeah, okay, yeah, I've done that. Right? There's no real story. There's no context, there's no meaning. And you may, let's be real, you may think there's meaning or a story or context, because you may think, well, they saw this other post, or I posted this other thing. Let me tell you, people, on average, only see about 10% of your posts. So most of you are out here worried about making somebody annoyed. Let me tell you, like, that's not a thing that actually exists. Like, annoying people. I wouldn't even worry about it, right? So this level one content, it just shows the art. It's pretty, but there's no real emotional signal, right? So it's low reach, easy to scroll past, that kind of thing. Unless you make art that is, you know, really, really, really unique. And I'd say 98% of us just don't do that. And that's okay. You know, it's like we may be on the path to that, or we may feel like it's really unique. But what makes it unique is what's underneath the piece itself, right? Or behind the piece itself. So level 2 content is more of the process, how you made it. This is where we see people do, like, time lapse videos. Here's how I created this behind the scenes of your process, maybe your studio, those kinds of things. It shows how you made it, and it's more interesting than level one. But it still doesn't create belonging except for a certain kind of person. And who is this kind of person that really resonates with this? Well, it's other artists. Because, you know, if people come for connection and meaning, who connects and finds meaning in these process videos? People that are also into the same process. And that doesn't mean that, like, that could be for artists, that could be for sculpt. Like, I'm thinking of, like woodworkers. That could be for cooks. Like, you know, when you think about the process, like, if you follow someone that does cooking videos, you're following them because.

That is something you are also into, is the process. Right. And not to say that buyers aren't interested in the process, but if this is the majority of your content, which I see it for a lot of artists, that these two levels are the majority, you're in trouble. You're probably only reaching other artists. Right? So what does level three look like? Level three is, here's what this means to me. It could be.

I created this during the hardest week of my year. This piece represents blank. Here's why this color palette matters to me. Level 3 shares what the art means to you, but it could also share what the world means to you or what your vision means to you. Right? This is where people stop scrolling and emotion starts to create engagement and then engagement. When you have more engagement, it creates more reach. Right? So level four content is. This is what we believe here. So I believe the world needs blank. Well, if it's joy, great. What is joy? What does joy look like for you? Or I'm building a world where. Insert your mission here. So for my wife, for example, you know, her mission was, you know, I'm building a world where moms can see their imperfections are what makes them a great mom, you know, and that allowed moms to feel seen and heard, and she would use her artwork as well as herself to showcase that for women. It was really, really a beautiful mission. Right. So level four is about identity based messaging. This is where movements start to happen. So it's no longer about art. This is what's beneath the art. So this should be the majority of your content. And if you think about, you know, for instance, my. My wife's situation, where she was all about helping mom see that their imperfections still didn't make them a bad mom. It actually made them a good mom, then you might see how, like, all right, this is what this means to me. This is what the vision means to me. So it might be like, this is what motherhood means to me. This is what my kids mean to me. You know, my kids represent blank. Here's why my kids mean this to me. Here's why motherhood means to me. Here's why these challenges that I'm going through and as a mom means something to me. Here's why I think moms need to be represented or spoken about this way. You see what I mean? So we have these levels where once you understand the bigger vision, the bigger thing that you believe, it's much easier to work your way backwards. And so you now have this, like, here's what we believe here. Here's why this means something to me, and here's how I'm making these things that represent.

What we believe here, right? And look at what I made. Here's how you can get it. You see how simple that is? Once we have this communication that's happening first, right? This bigger vision, we communicate the vision. We have systems in place that allow us to communicate and create this mission. And then we say, here it is. Here's what's available to you. So art doesn't go viral. Emotion does. So if you see pieces of art going viral, it's not just because of the art. There's something there. It's creating an emotion. It's creating intrigue, it's creating excitement, right? Maybe if it's a process video, it's really unique.

It's really well done, right? And you're the one who gets to communicate that emotion with your people. So I want to ask you, just based on this, which level do you feel like you're currently creating from? And here's an assignment that you can do to get you moving in the right direction. Go look at your last 10 posts. Which level were they? Were they? Here's what I make. You know, just the art, or here's the process. Here's how I make it. Or are you getting into. This is what I believe in. This is why this matters. And here's what we believe here. Are you in or are you out? Right. Most artists are bouncing between level one and two. So I want you to challenge yourself to create at least three Level 3 posts this week, if not a Level 4. If you don't know what a Level 4 might look like, that's okay. I have a whole workshop that walks through more of this. The description has the link, or you can just go to stopthestarvingartist.com and you can sign up for that free masterclass there. It's all the same one. But if you have a clear mission of like, I make art for X kind of person so that this transformation happens, try 1 level 4 post and see what happens. See how people respond. And I think you'll be blown away at what you see. Even if you have a small following, you start to show up and Showcase these Level 3 and Level 4 pieces, people will start to connect in a different way. And the scary part is, in order to get to these level three and level four things, you got to be vulnerable. You got to be willing to show up, you got to be willing to say things that matter to you, and you got to be willing to have some people not agree. And that's challenging, but it's incredibly powerful. And I'm going to say something that I think is really important. Your business as an artist. And what I mean is you trying to make sales as an artist and not about money. It's about something completely different, right? Your business, selling art, the desire that is within you exists to do something very, very specific. And I talk about that in this video here. So I hope you'll go check that out because this may be one of the most important messages that I have to offer right now, especially as we're ending the year and we're moving into 2026. So go check that video out and I'll see you over there. And don't forget, you don't make art. You are the art.