How She Made $1000 Selling Portraits (IN ONE WEEK!)

How much extra money for us did.

You make that week in one week? 1,000.

Is that the most you've ever made.

Through portraits with that short amount of time? Yes.

It is not uncommon for artists and creative people to be balancing a day job that isn't really the dream. And then also trying to build this side hustle over here where you're maybe trying to sell more of your work or trying to get more freelance gigs, or trying to get the right person to notice you so you can get a job that you actually like, that then supports the thing that you want to do. But what starts getting frustrating is when you know that you deserve to be doing more with this creative side. Like you're actually good at it, you got a lot to offer, but you're just not making any money from it yet, or you're not finding the jobs that you want. And the thing that's holding you back is really this fear of how do I try to sell these things that I have to offer? How do I sell myself more and not feel disgusting? Like you gotta take a flippin shower afterwards. Right, we're gonna talk about that. But I want to start by saying that if you're one of those people that believes that you can actually make a living doing something that you love, doing work that's meaningful to you, even if you only believe it a little bit right now, you are different. You are different. You are overcoming that feeling of not being good enough. You just need your first win. And so that's what we want to talk about today, is getting you your first win, your first sale. So you just get even a little bit of money and start to feel good about what you're doing and know that this is an option. Hey friend. My name is Lennon Bone and I am here to help artists and creatives stand out and make money doing meaningful work. I've been very fortunate to make a living doing music and creative work for 15 plus years now. My life is a blur. I'm a guy that just chases after the thing that he likes in that moment. And I've figured out how to capture that and make money from it. And so I want to share that stuff with you guys. That's what I'm here for. Seth Godin says what a salesperson does is bring emotion to the table. This is really the key to everything, is that selling something without feeling disgusting or like icky afterwards is all about understanding where the emotion is. And the problem is that we see all these salespeople talking about the emotions that you have in a really disgusting and, like, manipulative way. But they understand still that that emotion is important, because when we feel something, that's when we take action. But there's a way that we can understand this emotion and use it not only to our advantage, but to the advantage of the person that you're trying to sell to. And that's always my goal is not to just sell, but to serve somebody. So when you remember that you're serving somebody, you're actually solving somebody's problem. You just may not realize how to frame that yet. But truly, if somebody wants something, the reason they want it is because it solves some sort of issue for them. Whether that's, like, you know, saving them time or money, organizing something for them, or it's a motivator. It provides hope for them, it entertains them. In some way. There's some sort of value that's attached to it that allows somebody to get excited about it and feel good about buying that thing for themselves. So how do we take our art or our creative services that we offer and understand what problem that they solve for somebody? My wife is an excellent example of this, and we're gonna actually talk to her in a minute. What she does is she's a great illustrator, and she makes illustrations for moms that are dealing with, like, postpartum depression and stuff like that. And I actually want to have her on the channel a lot more because there's a lot of stuff that I talk about here that I'm sort of helping her with, and she's executing on and seeing some really awesome results. What we did with her is we realized, like, she's not selling portraits to moms when she offers them, you know, something where she draws their family. She's selling an opportunity for them to capture a moment in time, to think about it in a creative way and collaborate with somebody. So the problem here is that moms want to remember their families and these moments of love that they have for their families in a really creative way. The solution to this is my wife capturing these memories and making them something that is tangible, that they can have forever. So if you're a photographer, the problem that somebody may have is that they want to capture a moment in time without missing out on the moment itself. They don't want to be out here with their selfie stick. They want to actually still experience the moment. And the solution that you offer as a photographer is that you are there to capture those moments while they still get to fully experience them, and they can then relive those moments later so they get the visual impact of it while also fully feeling the moment itself. If you're a music producer, you're trying to help songwriters or hip hop artists, like, bring their art to life. The problem here is that this person wants to see their vision and their creation live alongside their heroes. And your solution here is to help them bring that dream to life by capturing and packaging the thing that they've done in a way that represents them to the fullest.

Okay, just have a seat. Couple questions here. What were your fears before you offered your portraits to sell?

Oh, man.

The main. The main thing is that I didn't really feel like what I was offering was good enough. I just didn't feel like I was good enough. I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't clever enough, whatever it was. I think the other thing was that I didn't feel like people really wanted what I had to offer. I felt like anytime I was like, hey, anybody want a portrait? I thought it was like a sympathy buy. You were trying to encourage me to raise my prices, and I didn't feel like anybody would want to spend that much money. At that time, I was charging $80 for a single portrait, and then $25 for each additional person. And other people would have these family portraits, anywhere from 25 to $80 for the entire family. And that was really hard. I couldn't price it at that because it took me. It takes me hours to do a portrait.

So what did I encourage you to offer it for?

I think I had two different ones, and one was a mom and baby for 100. A family of five, up to five people for 250, with a bunch of extras.

So what happened to you? But not just you, like your buyers, the people that bought, when you started to position it around, helping someone. And how did we kind of do that?

The main powerful moment for me was that you had me do a video call with the person and you had me word it as, this isn't just a portrait. This is a snapshot of hope for your family. This is remembering how far you've come. And I think that. That I knew I was offering that, but I didn't really have a way to put it into words. So you were able to do that. And then when I called the person. I've had these amazing conversations with women that have gone through so much. And the. The coolest thing is that I got to hear in their own words, sometimes through tears, what my work. Now I'm getting emotional. Anytime I talk about Tears, they get emotional. Freaking puppy dog. What my work really meant to them. And that was. That was huge. Hearing it from them was huge.

How much extra money for us did you make that week?

In one week? 1,000.

Is that the most you've ever made.

Through portraits with that short amount of time? Yes.

And how do you feel like that changed? Like that process and repositioning it about serving somebody? How do you think that changed the way you're thinking of your stuff moving forward?

I mean, I'm still in that mode where I'm questioning, because I've lived my entire life as an artist who has been struggling. It's an evolution. And so now I'm like, oh, people actually want to pay for these things. People want to have their lives changed. People want to feel things. People want to go through life with experiences. And so feeling like as an artist, I get to be a part of giving them that experience is really cool. And people will pay for that.

So. Thanks, babe. Yeah. So it boils down to three things. Figure out the problem that your ideal buyer has, talk about that problem to them, and then present the thing that you have as the solution. But not from a place of just trying to sell something, but from a place of service. You heard it in the way Jamie talked about it. When she added extra things that helped her to serve them better, like the bonus call and all this kind of stuff, it became more. And honestly, if you're having a problem figuring out how to make your stuff more valuable or digging into this more, I do have a free ebook, comes in audio form. It's called the Hidden Truth to Selling your how to Make a Livable Income in the New Creative World. I think it's really great to kind of dive a lot deeper. It takes about 20 minutes to go through it. It's gonna go a lot more in depth into this stuff. And you can download it in the description below, if you. And what you can see right there is that is a perfect example of me selling something. But I believe in it so much, and I've seen it affect other people. I feel completely comfortable saying that I have this thing to offer. You as a creative, have so much more to offer than you're giving yourself credit for. And I want you to remember that you have more to offer than you realize. So figure out what that thing is. Download the ebook. It's going to help you go through some of those things, and I think this is going to be a big help for you. And if you want to hear the story about how I went from making $0 to charging $300 a day. You can click on this video right here. This was a big, pivotal moment for me and something that I think is really important for all creatives to understand. So go check this video out. I'll see you over there. Remember, it's all rigged in your favor.