Ever wonder why many artists struggle with sales? Do you?
It isn’t your fault. It’s complicated brain stuff. But some understanding will help you navigate both the creative and business sides of your business.
The Left Side of your brain is the more structured, analytical, methodical side. (Consider it your 7th grade math teacher – it’s all about rules and order) Things that are processed here include: words, sequence, numbers, math, logic. People that are heavy ‘left-brainers’ are probably working as journalists, accountants, insurance adjustors and of course, 7th grade math teachers.
The Right Side of your brain is the creative, free-flowing side of things. (The hippie stringing flowers in their hair and telling the left brain to ‘chill, man, chill’) Things processed on the right side include: pictures, music, imagination, rhythm, rhyme. So if you are an artist, the right side of your brain is in charge most of the time.
Do you see where I’m going yet? 
Artist: Right Side of the brain is in charge
Sales / Marketing: Left Side is in charge
It stands to reason that artists who are just starting to do their own marketing and build their business, could end up with some serious headaches!
I’m one of those odd-ball artists who has a business background. My accounting professor in college was after me to go into accounting until my junior year – he finally gave up when he realized I’d have to add a year or more to graduate at that point. I am good with numbers but I’m not passionate about them. I prefer creative thinking, interacting with people, playing on the right side of my brain. I went into sales and enjoyed it. But in the end, what I really wanted to do was create first, sell second.
And I have to tell you, the longer I work my business, the harder it is to “switch sides”. Weird. But I find that I need to stay in my left or right brain for periods of time, if I try and do it all jumbled together (5 minutes right, 10 minutes left) I don’t do as well. There is truly a difference in focus and energy.
You need to decide if you want to stretch and learn to do the marketing, accounting, and interacting with manufacturers or if you want to find someone else to do it. Either answer is fine, what feels the best to you will give you your best creative results.
The information above is included in my eBook, “How to Find, Interact and Work with Manufacturers who License Art”. It gives practical, do-able steps to marketing art for licensing. If you think you want to stretch your left brain, get more details and see if it is for you. CLICK HERE
No matter what you decide, I wish you much success in your art, your business and your life!
~ Tara
Good job Tara! I love this book. It is really informative, easy to read and humorous besides having great advice on finding, interacting and working with manufacturers. I really liked the dialogs and questions an artist should ask when approaching manufacturers. It is so difficult knowing what to say to them. My favorite part of the book is the section on interviews with others in the art licensing industry. I find that it is really helpful in marketing my own art to learn how other artists approach manufacturers and what manufacturers want from artists. I’m looking forward to your future books on art licensing!
Great post! Now I understand why marketing is so difficult for me to grasp.. my left brain is busy coding while my right brain is busy eating snacks and pondering the wonders of the universe in crayola form. Don’t you think the left and right brain battle is the reason an artist’s “organization” method is so “colorful”?
I’ve decided your brain doodle looks so much healthier than mine.. I need to stop drawing cupcakes and cheeseburgers. Thank you so much for sharing!
do you do ink drawings?
watercolor with pen & ink