I had a conversation today around the connection, or disconnection, between creating art and selling it. For the longest time I struggled with valuing my work (I still struggle a bit these days) and often I would always opt for the lowest price, even though my work was far more valuable than that. One of the challenges I faced was thinking that letting my work speak for itself was enough. It is nice to get compliments for my work, but the majority of those people aren’t customers, or will ever become customers. Out of the ones who were interested, an even smaller amount would actually go through with purchasing my work, because of my price range, my terms and conditions, or their own personal reasons.
I’m still navigating the business side of things and learning how to market and sell my work to the ideal customer. I haven’t put enough into that side and my reality reflects it.
I had a realisation the other week around my view of my work and the number of customers/clients I have, and they didn’t align, so I pulled my head out of my ass and started saying yes to more work, more specifically design and illustration work, which I usually say no to. I don’t have people banging down my door trying to give me thousands of dollars to do the exact work that I want to do, so I’ve had to humble myself and take on a greater variety of work. It’s been quite refreshing approaching things this way and I feel like a student again, being constantly challenged and doing things a little out of my comfort zone.
Once I start having my door knocked down by high paying clients, or they answer the call when I put it out, then I’ll start reducing the types of jobs I take on, but until that day, I’ll keep working and learning.