Art &
Business:
How to hit your creative, personal, and professional goals as a photographer
THE ARTIST’s STRUGGLE IS REAL
Doing your art is one thing.
Doing business is another.
Putting art and business together? Oof. That’s a project!
The business of art is wrought with special challenges. And the art of business can be difficult for those with an artistic mind.
Pretty much every artist gets stuck here and there. And many artists are alone with their stuckness.
Most people know they need a little help getting unstuck so they go on the journey looking for help.
ABOUT YOU
-
• How do I price my work?
• How do I market myself?
• How do I handle tricky client situations?
• How do I get others to see my work and me the way I see myself and my work?
• Is my work actually good, or not?
• How can I make my work better?
• What is my market?
• How do I improve my work?
• What would be the best way to do social media?
• How do I get collectors?
• How do I get commissions?
• How do I build or rebuild my portfolio?
-
• I’m struggling to find my voice
• I could use some honest feedback on my work
• I get in my own way sometimes and need some outside perspective when that happens
• I could use some advice on how to recover from some mistakes
• I have a tricky client issue and am not sure how to handle it
• I don’t know how to organize myself
• I don;t know the next steps
• I don’t know where I’m going or how to get there
• I feel a little lost
-
• You feel your work is worth $1,000,000. But you also feel nobody would hire you.
• You’d do your art for free because you love the work. But you like making money and/or you have bills to pay and want to monetize.
• Sometimes you know you’re really, really good. But sometimes you feel you’re an imposter.
• You want to keep some of your work pure and for yourself. But you also want to sell your services and pieces.
• You ask your friends what you think about your work and you say it’s perfect. But you know you could use some improvements.
• You want to scale your work. But you don’t want to “sell out.”
• You feel can do it on their own, but it would help astronomically if you had someone who could talk with you along the way.
Finding help for YOUR journey can be hard
You end up searching books and YouTube vids and TikToks looking for scraps of advice. You want help. You need help. But the help out there is not interactive - it’s just content that isn’t contextualized for you and your situation.
So you go to friends and family for help. Friends will tell you “Your work is the best thing ever! You should be charging $100,000!” You know this is shit advice because it’s just not that easy and not connected to your current reality.
Or a family member says “Well, art doesn’t pay. You should give up. Do it as a hobby. Go to school instead.” But you know art can pay, you just haven’t figured out how yet.
A coworker says “That’s great, but don’t quit your day job!” Well, no shit! If you were making enough money, you’d have already quit your day job! But one day you’d like to quit and do the art full-time.
ORRRRR maybe you don’t even care about money and just want to do art for yourself! The people in your circle don’t understand that concept - they feel the need to commodify everything.
You’d talk with your spouse or partner or whatever but you are sort of tired of bothering them with details about your work. You realize it’s draining to be with someone who is always talking about their art and/or struggling business so you just try to figure it out in your head.
So you contact other artists. Many are busy and don’t respond. And sometimes they respond with really great advice, but it’s rare to get that good advice and they don’t have time to focus on you and your goals. Sometimes it’s awful advice. Sometimes it feels like they don’t want you to truly succeed. Other times you can tell they’re bitter and the advice just sucks. And of course, you eventually run into jealous artists.
You eventually look at people you know who are good at business. But most aren’t artists. Or they did art, but they’re no longer doing it, and/or their work sucks so they may understand business, but they don’t understand good vs bad work. They don’t understand the struggles of mixing art and business.
Then you find some “guru” who runs courses and workshops. It’s one-sided just like everything you got from books or social media, but more expensive. You quickly realize these are cooking cutter programs intended for the course creator to get rich while they sleep and you struggle. So the advice is all good, but it’s also sort of wack-a-doodle and not priced right.
So now what?
So you do it on your own. You’re back where you started. Now you’re doing things but you don’t know if it’s going to lead you to your goals. You keep doing it and hope something clicks. And it’s frustrating.
Finding good help can suck!
I truly feel for you - I’ve been there myself.
WHY it helps to work with someone
The possibilities with this time are endless and up to you. Here are some benefits:
• Honest feedback so you can move ahead with confidence
• You get asked questions so you can find your truth
• You have structured time to focus on your path and goals with art and/or business
• Undivided attention used for your growth
• You get a sounding board for ideas
• You have someone who is on your side and wants you to succeed
• We discover the emotional and social aspects that affect your art and/or business
There’s more. Just like the trainer at the gym, we customize your experience depending on your goals and where you’re at with each goal.
LET’s GET
YOU MOVING
How I CAN Help You
I’m here to be your guide. I want you to succeed. I want you to spend your days creating your work and doing the things that you actually enjoy.
Together you and I go through your work, your biz, your marketing, your preferences, etc.. we look at it all and figure out how to have a balance that works for you.
WHY THIS WILL HELP YOU
For starters: this is undivided attention with someone who is focused on helping you.
It’s a call FOR YOU that is ABOUT YOU
It’s HONEST feedback with context so you can move ahead with confidence
It’s a SAFE PLACE to ask questions and get answers
It’s a way to get a SOUNDING BOARD with another professional
You get another artist who is ON YOUR SIDE
It will be a structured time for you to focus on YOUR PATH and goals
We can cut through any EMOTIONAL or SOCIAL aspects that are holding you back
There’s more. Just like the trainer at the gym, we customize your experience depending on your goals and where you’re at with each goal. But you get the idea. This is time FOR YOU.
WHO I HELP
I’ve been helping artists since 2021. Technically it’s been MUCH longer but 2021 was when I officially opened my doors to help in this capacity.
Some are people just starting out. Others have been doing it for 5-7 years and need help getting unstuck or moving to the next level. And others have been doing it for 20+ years and just need a guide for the new complications.
Sometimes people hire me for 1-3 months and they’re good - we often do follow-ups here and there when they are stuck again. I have others I’ve been working with for years.
RATES
I have two basic packages:
• Single Sessions $300
• 4 Sessions $1,000 (Pre-Paid)
Calls typically average 90 minutes. You can spread the sessions out over weeks or months. 95% of the people I’ve worked with end up booking multiple sessions over time - I get to the point and it’s worth it.
I help you with your vision. I get you moving confidently toward your goals and help you where you need.
MY BACKGROUND
I’ve been doing sales and art since I was a kid. If I wasn’t making art, I was involved in sales (either selling or managing salespeople). The intersection between the two is “interesting” to say the least.
I’ve been a professional photographer since 2006 - working for clients and selling my art. Before that, I was doing some standup comedy. I lived and worked in NYC for 10 years alongside people in the photo community and fine artists.
Well-known clients include Sony, Interscope, American Eagle, Vogue, Frankie’s, and others. I have also spent a large amount of time working with small, medium, and emerging clients.
I still do my art and run my photo business. I love it and don’t see any reason to stop. I create new work weekly for both myself and my clients.
Due to my schedule, I can only work with 5-8 artists at a time. Each artist gets individual attention so this is all I can afford with my current schedule.
The sessions are billed monthly, and you can end at any time (the goal is to help you build good patterns, habits, and confidence so that you eventually roll on your own!).
HOW TO BEGIN
Let’s make this easier for you. Here are the steps to you getting going,