Side-step 50 common mistakes that most fine artists don't know even know they're making.

(Transcription)

Ann Rea: (00:01)
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Making Art Making Money™ School of Business Five-Day Workshop.

Ann Rea: (00:07)
I’m going to go ahead and share my screen. Please familiarize yourself with the chat, and ask any questions you might have about selling your art.

Ann Rea: (00:25)
In the meantime, just give me one minute. What I’m going to be doing is just configuring some settings so that we can get started. Alrighty, I’m setting up this live stream in Facebook so we’re good.

Ann Rea: (00:37)
We’re live in Facebook and we’re live here in Zoom and I cannot wait to get started. We’ve got Joie. So today the first lesson we’re going to be talking about very, very crucial information that’s not only going to save you time, it’s going to save you a tremendous amount of time, which is going to free you up so that you can be more creative. 

Ann Rea: (01:07)
And it’s not only going to save you time, it’s going to save you a tremendous amount of money. And that is also going to save you a tremendous amount of confidence, which is being crushed for a lot of fine artists. It just gets crushed. 

Ann Rea: (01:29)
So what I’m going to do here is invite you if you have questions that you’d like to have answered when it comes to selling your art. You can come to this pre-show, which happens 15 minutes before we start the five-day class. And you can ask anything that you want. Most fine artists, a typical question that I receive is, “How do I price my art?” 

Ann Rea: (02:03)
So I can’t answer that question in the context of this five-day workshop, but let me give you some tips on how you can answer this question. First of all, no one can set the price for you. You have to set your own price. Now why is that? Because the only way you’re going to have confidence in asking for that price is if you are the one to set it. 

Ann Rea: (02:28)
So that’s number one. No one can do this for you. Number two, you have to look at your expenses and the time that it takes to create the average piece of art. And then based upon that, you want to multiply that by three or by six so that you have a profit margin. 

Ann Rea: (02:49)
Now why is that important? Well, if you’re not selling your art at a profit, you shouldn’t be selling your art at all. Reason being is this, if you don’t sell your art at a profit in a consistent way, your taxing authority can actually deem your whole artistic enterprise a hobby. If that happens, God forbid, then your income tax deductions will be disallowed. Once that happens, you’re out of business. So it’s really important that you only sell your art for a profit and that you price it for a profit. 

Ann Rea: (03:29)
So we have Christie here. Christie, congratulations on showing up early! Says a lot about you. You’re free to ask any questions you like about selling your art while I just go through a little bit of pre-show. There’s Lorraine.

Ann Rea: (03:43)
So again, pricing for profit is key. Here’s what happens for a lot of artists, because they’ve engaged in 50, at least one or more of 50 things that I’m going to warn you not to engage in. Their confidence has been crushed and the price that they will ask for their art is very tied to their level of confidence. Confidence is a huge, huge, huge factor in doing anything well or anything ambitious. 

Ann Rea: (04:19)
But however, most of my students start off  with a very low level of confidence because of these 50 things I’m about to cover today. And so we have to build them back up using performance psychology techniques. The average student increases their level of confidence. They triple it actually. So if you’re in a place where you don’t feel all that confident asking for a high price for your art or approaching affluent collectors, you are not alone.

Ann Rea: (04:52)
This is a really common symptom. Here’s the good news, which is the good news is that can be cured. We actually have a process and even during this five-day workshop, we’re going to do a very powerful exercise to help increase your confidence. And just by being exposed to principles, luxury marketing and sales principles that are designed specifically to sell art, you’re going to notice your confidence is going to increase over the next five days, which you’re also going to notice is that your focus is going to increase.

Ann Rea: (05:34)
Because today I’m going to dismantle a lot of myths so that you don’t have to spend time and energy on things that don’t work and that never will, and it’s not your fault. We’re going to go over those today. That in and of itself, just day one, just today, is completely game-changing. Completely game-changing.

Ann Rea: (06:00)
So what I’m going to ask you to do is, on a scale of one to 10, I’m going to ask you to rate your level of confidence. So if you’re in the chat right now, I would love to know what do you, where is your level of confidence when it comes to selling your art on a subjective scale of one to 10? And why am I asking you this question? Really simple. It’s because what we measure improves.

Ann Rea: (06:27)
Let me offer you an analogy. Let’s say you wanted to lose 10 pounds, right? A lot of people say they wanna lose 10 pounds or 20 pounds or five pounds, whatever it is, just play along with me. Let’s just pretend that’s what you want to do. Well,  if that was your goal to in a healthy way lose 10 pounds, you would have to step on the scale every day to see how you were progressing. 

Ann Rea: (06:54)
If you added weight, you’re like think I’ll back off of that croissant or ice cream, right? It would give you feedback. Or if you’re seeing yourself losing weight, then you say, “Okay, I am headed in the right direction.” It’s that feedback. So that’s why I’m going to ask you on a subjective scale of oneto 10, where do you rate your level of focus when it comes to selling your art? Do you feel super focused? Like you know exactly what the next step is that you need to take? Then you’ve got a high level of focus. Then I’m going to ask you to rate on a subjective scale of one to 10. Where’s your level of confidence when it comes to marketing and selling your art? And don’t feel bad if it’s low because most artists I work with, it is either one of these factors is low, right? What I want you to notice is this, your level of focus is tied directly to your level of confidence. 

Ann Rea: (07:55)
See, what I’m going to teach you today is about 50 ways to waste your money, try to sell your art, kill your confidence, and waste time– we’re going to get rid of all of those today. Today you’re going to get rid of all of them and that’s going to free you like nothing else. What it’s also going to do is instead of you trying to focus on one or more of 50 ineffective strategies to sell your art, we’re going to this week teach you to focus on one thing. 

Ann Rea: (08:32)
Do you ever notice that when you focus on one thing, your confidence goes up? Like I’m just super focused, I’m going to get this done by this time. And your confidence goes up when you’re kind of scattered and you’re just doing this and dabble in over here and doing this and that and you’ll kind of get to it when you get to it. 

Ann Rea: (08:52)
You don’t have any timeline, eh? Your confidence isn’t great. Your focus isn’t great. Okay? So we’ve got, Vicky says she’s a five. Okay, great! Lorraine’s a four. Excellent! Okay, Christie’s a five. Great! We’re going to get it even higher by the end of these five days. We’re going to get it even higher and you’re going to notice a marked difference. Okay? 

Ann Rea: (09:15)
So I will tell you this, when I started, my confidence was super low. Do you believe it? There was a time in my life where my confidence was very low and it was very low because I didn’t know what to focus on. I didn’t have a roadmap. So the analogy that I often use is I’m in San Francisco right now. I want to get to New York City actually to the Statue of Liberty by a certain time, right? If I had no roadmap to follow, I just got in my little fiat here in San Francisco and I just started driving, what would happen?

Ann Rea: (09:58)
I probably wouldn’t make it to New York City ever. And I certainly wouldn’t make it to New York City in the timeline. That would be desirable, right? So that’s what is happening for a lot of artists. They just don’t have a roadmap. So they’re driving around in circles, wearing down their tires and burning their limited fuel. That’s a big problem, right? It’s a huge problem.

Ann Rea: (10:25)
So what I want you to do is consider for a minute that there is a roadmap, right? Remember, did you see Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz? What does Glinda the good witch tell her? “Keep those ruby slippers on and just fall yellow brick road.” Now she does encounter like trees throwing apples at her and she falls asleep in the poppy fields for a minute. It’s not like it’s completely smooth sailing, but she knows that if she just follows a yellow brick road, she’s going to get there, right?

Ann Rea: (11:01)
So right now a lot of artists don’t have a yellow brick road. They’ve got nothing to go on except guesses, and that’s not good. Alright, so what I’m going to do next is I’m going to share my screen with you and we’re going to dive into this class today. I highly recommend that you save your comments till the end or questions to the end. ’cause I can’t actually look at the slides and look at your comments at the same time. So it’s pretty challenging. Save, save them all and then we’ll get to them to the end. And I’ll try to answer as many questions as possible.

Ann Rea: (11:45)
If you’re in the Facebook group, I highly recommend if you’re watching this from the Facebook group, then I highly recommend that you tag either myself or Jina, which is JINA. She is one of my former students who’s a coach and she’ll help you with any of your questions. She’s incredibly helpful. So let me get to this and we’re going to get started. Now, what I highly recommend is that you take notes, like physical notes, and there’s a reason for this. You tend to absorb the information and retain it if you actually take notes. If you don’t take notes and you sit there passively, you’re not going to get as much out of it. And I want you to get the most out of this as possible.

Ann Rea: (12:39)
Alright. So you can see my screen, I’m trusting. All right, so let’s get started. So welcome to the Making Art Making Money™ School of Business Five-Day Workshop. We’re on day one and what we’re going to learn today is how you can sidestep 50, yes, 50 common mistakes that most fine artists don’t even know that they’re making. But you at the end of this class are going to know why these are mistakes and what they’re costing you. You’re going to be receiving in an email afterward, a link to some homework and it’s really short, really sweet. Share your homework in our private Facebook group. And if you complete all the homework, you could win a private coaching session with Jina, which is really valuable.

Ann Rea: (13:32)
So do yourself a favor, shut your phone off. You know why? Because once you’re interrupted by that damn phone, it takes the average human 23 minutes to regain their full attention. So by the time 23 minutes is gone, you’ll have lost so much ground. 

Ann Rea: (13:51)
So let me just ask, let you know, what are we requiring of you? So I’m offering this live workshop at no cost, full transparency. It’s just part of a goodwill marketing effort. That’s all I’m up to. It helps me attract and identify prospective students. And the class recordings will all be available to you after the live broadcast for $1,000. But during this week, the live broadcast and the replays are available at no cost. 

Ann Rea: (14:22)
So I have two students, former students who are volunteering to help you, Jina, and Travis in the Facebook group. So if you haven’t joined the Facebook group, Joie, would you please put a link to the Facebook group in the chat here in Zoom? Cause if you haven’t joined, because that’s where you can ask access a lot of feedback. So all we’re asking of you is that you fully participate, you contribute in a constructive and respectful and positive manner. That’s it. It’s all I’m asking of. I’ve got to give you a warning. Unfortunately, if you choose to be unprofessional, we will remove you without any notice and you will be permanently banned. And that’s to protect my time and effort and all the other people who are here to learn.

Ann Rea: (15:06)
So what’s my promise to you today? My promise is that I’m going to help you sidestep 50 common time-consuming, soul-sucking confidence, crushing expensive mistakes, common mistakes that most artists don’t even know they’re making and don’t even know their mistakes and they don’t know why. So don’t feel bad if you’ve been doing these things. I did a lot of these things myself. That’s how I know.

Ann Rea: (15:37)
And so that you, why am I doing this? Cause I want you to start making a better living as a fine artist by saving money, saving time, increasing your art, sales and making more money, and doing it with more dignity. That’s my aim. So are you ready?

Ann Rea: (15:53)
If you’re ready, type in the zoom chat right now, “I’m ready.” It’s important that you do this ’cause you want to be awake at the wheel. And if you engage your mind and your body, you’re going to get so much more out of this. So does any part of what I’m about to say feel like you or do you identify with any of this? 

Ann Rea: (16:15)
“So despite my best efforts, I feel like I’m falling short of my full potential.” Anybody feel like this? Type in the chat if this feels familiar. “I’m not meeting my expectations. I should have been much farther ahead by now.” Do you feel like that? Type it into the chat. The truth will set you free.

Ann Rea: (16:35)
“I’m extremely dissatisfied with my art representatives performance. I’m not making near enough money.” I don’t know many artists who are satisfied with their artist’s art representative’s performance, but they might be thinking this in their head. I’m hesitant to have an honest conversation with my representatives because it will result in the termination of our relationship leaving me with no alternatives. Is anyone afraid of this? This is a real common fear, which has artists tolerating a lot that they should never tolerate and no reasonable business person would ever tolerate. 

Ann Rea: (17:15)
“Despite the time, effort, dedication, and creativity I’ve invested in my work, I’m frustrated with my art sales.” Does that feel like you? What if this class is just another damn sales pitch and I don’t get anything valuable out of it? That’s really common. Do you feel some skepticism, right? Like this is just a sales pitch. I’m not going to get anything out of this. Do you feel like that? You might as well admit it. Well, let me just ask you now, are you ready to make a positive change? Because if you’re ready to make a positive change, we’re about to do that. Just type into the chat. “I’m ready.” Okay?

Ann Rea: (17:50)
I want to give you a warning. What’s at stake if you don’t learn how to effectively market and sell your fine art? Okay, I’m not saying this to scare you. I’m saying this to warn you. If you’re not producing a consistent profit from the sale of your art, your taxing authority could classify your artistic endeavors as a hobby. Check with your tax advisor. 

Ann Rea: (18:14)
If your taxing authority deems your artistic endeavors a hobby, then your income tax deductions will be disallowed. Without income tax deductions, you’ll be unable to make a living as a fine artist, not even a decent living. You probably would be unable and then your dream is gone. So that’s why I said you got to sell at a profit. Now, don’t take my word for it. I work with artists from all around the world, all different taxing authorities. Check with your tax advisor and you might be a little nerve-wracked about what I just said and worrying that they will deem your artistic endeavor as a hobby preventing you from ever making a living as a fine artist. If you’re feeling that way, stay with me. I’m going to help you just check with your tax advisor after this workshop and see where you stand. Because if you lose the opportunity to make a good living as a fine artist, what’s at stake for you? Type that into the chat. What’s at stake for you?

Ann Rea: (19:15)
I mean for a lot of artists it’s very soul-crushing. So type it into the chat and let’s find out what’s at stake. Now, I want you to flip the script and picture this, where you’re in a world where you’ve got full authority over the sale of your art and you’re selling your work with the utmost respect to collectors. And the mere thought of having such autonomy over your art sales fills you with excitement and inspiration every day. 

Ann Rea: (19:46)
Imagine that you can’t wait to create, engage with art enthusiasts who share your passion for your work. This is possible with this newfound confidence and control. You’ll walk into your studio space with a sense of purpose and endless possibilities. 

Ann Rea: (20:04)
What would that feel like? Your family has taken note of this positive change in your demeanor. They’re suddenly on board with you doing this. And they’re intrigued. They want to learn more about what’s driving this transformation. This happens for my students all the time. Fellow artists are starting to take notice of your enhanced sense of direction, creative direction, business direction, focus. And they deeply admire that newfound confidence they’re witnessing in you. 

Ann Rea: (20:38)
This happens all the time, every day in my program. It’s possible and it’s going to actually happen for you during this five days. So does this feel like a vision that you’d like to manifest? Type into the chat. If it is, ask yourself this question. 

Ann Rea: (20:38)
If you don’t take what’s left of this one precious life and go for what you want before it’s too late, what’s at stake for you? Type your answer into the chat.

Ann Rea: (21:07)
For most artists, this is a big deal that other people in their lives who are not artists don’t really understand this craving for validation, this desire and drive to make art, and to receive that exchange with a collector, it’s magic. 

Ann Rea: (21:25)
My name is Ann Rea. I’m a fine artist just like you. And I’ve been an advocate and a mentor to thousands of other fine artists, photographers, and craftsmen from 23 countries and counting since 2005. So I know what I’m talking about. The scarcity and permission-based artist establishment is preventing you from making a better living as a fine artist. They’re not helping and I’ll explain why in a minute. So that’s why I’m on a mission to help other fine artists just like you take your power back and today’s the day that you start taking your power back by making a better living as a fine artist, without feeling pushy, without paying anyone sales, commissions or referral fees, without an expensive, complicated e-commerce site, without writing a cringy artist statement. None of those is necessary. 

Ann Rea: (22:16)
Now, in January, 2005, I moved to San Francisco to become a full-time artist and I was determined to sell over $100,000 of my fine art. And my first step was firing my representatives to their shock. My very first step, and despite having no contacts, family support or trust fund, I sold $103,246 of my art during my first year as a full-time artist, okay? 

Ann Rea: (22:45)
And then in 2007, the Great Recession hit and my art sales stalled. But fortunately what happened was I was commissioned to paint an oil painting for Bob Proctor’s 70th birthday. Bob Proctor was the host of the movie, “The Secret.” He was a self-development author. And I was flown to Toronto to meet him and to create a piece for him. And he was at that time coaching Ellen DeGeneres to beat Oprah Winfrey’s daytime TV show ratings. So it was a real privilege to meet him and to witness this kind of historical event right in media. And Ellen won and I witnessed it how we can manifest our goals by seeing them and feeling them as if they already existed. 

Ann Rea: (22:45)
I’m going to teach you what Bob Proctor taught me on Friday, so you can do exactly what he taught me, what he taught Ellen, and what I did to hit my goal my first year as a full-time artist. But here’s the real secret, success at the 80% psychology, but it’s also 20% strategy. So you can be really positive and you can visualize. You can do all that. 

Ann Rea: (24:08)
But if you don’t have a strategy to back it up, you don’t have a roadmap to get you from San Francisco to New York City, it’s not going to work even if your attitude’s great, right? Success requires productive psychology and strategy. And that’s what we’re going to get into this week. So every successful artist who determine their niche knew four clear elements. Actually, let me go back up here. So what happened was I realized,
Yeah, Bob. That’s as great, but I need some strategy.” He didn’t know about how to sell fine art. It’s a very specific strategy, right?

Ann Rea: (24:44)
So what I did was I started searching my old art history books in search of a strategy ’cause I figured history leaves clues, right? Well, what I noticed in reviewing my old art history books was that every successful fine artist who determined their niche, meaning they determined who wanted to buy their art, why they wanted to buy it, and where and how to find more people just like them, knew four clear elements, which I’m going to cover on Thursday. I’m mentioning this to you now because there is a process. There’s a process to selling your art. Stabbing in the dark is not a process.It’s like throwing things against the wall and hoping something will stick is not a strategy, okay? But that’s what we’re left to. We’re left to our own devices. 

Ann Rea: (25:40)
So again, what does it mean to know your niche? It means that you know, you can’t guess, who wants to buy your art, why they want to buy it, where to find more people to buy your art, and how to find more people to buy it. That means you know your niche.

Ann Rea: (25:56)
And then what happened was, after I studied art history, I started studying luxury marketing and sales, which I’m going to be teaching with you today. And I’m going to be teaching– I’m teaching you this week. And I started generating 80% more sales just on average, and I kept 100% of my money. So just think about this for a minute. This is conservative too. Imagine if you sold 80% more of your art and you kept 100% of the money. Do the math. What would that look like for you? You can certainly go way past 80, but let’s just be conservative. Just do the math right now. Now what would it look like? Look at your last 12 months sales. What if you added 80% more and you didn’t pay any sales commissions or show fees or anything? And all I did was focus on one proven luxury marketing strategy and I increased my average sale price by 400% quickly.

Ann Rea: (26:58)
My average sale price was only $2,000, and then within six months it was $10,000 without ever feeling pushy, without paying anyone a dime, without writing a cringy artist statement, which are just as difficult to read as they are to write. And can you identify with any part of my journey? Let me know if you can type your answers into the chat. So I’m going to ask you to make five shifts in your perspective, right? Because when we see something differently when we shift our perspective, you know this as artists, when your perspective shifts, the thing that you’re looking at actually shifts, that actually changes form. You actually have– it actually takes on a different meaning. It actually takes on different possibilities.

Ann Rea: (27:50)
So I’m going to ask you to make five shifts in your perspective every single day. And today, the first shift I’m going to ask you to take or make is to take a moral stand.  Yes, take a moral stand. You’ve got to stop living under the tyranny of hope. Hope is a beggar. And that’s what most artists are living under. I don’t believe in hope. I believe in a plan. Okay? So freedom from the tyranny of hope comes from taking full responsibility for your successes and your inevitable failures. This buck stops with you. No one’s coming to save you. 

Ann Rea: (28:33)
You’re not going to be discovered. You already know that you are in charge of this and you know that you’re never going to be discovered and no one’s coming to save you. You know that. But here’s the thing, you don’t need anyone’s damn permission to sell your art. You only need permission to show your art. You have more capacity and possibility in your hands right now than you’re aware of yet. And I’m going to show you this in the next five days. You alone are responsible for the art that you make, right?

Ann Rea: (29:11)
So you alone are responsible for selling your art. And I’m going to tell you, I’m going to break down the consequences of giving away that responsibility and what it’s going to cost you. What’s already costing you, more than likely. if you don’t take full responsibility for success and inevitable failures, type into the chat right now. 

Ann Rea: (29:32)
What’s at stake for you? So my question is, are you ready to take a moral stand? Are you ready to take a stand for yourself? Type your answer into the next question into Zoom or comment in the Facebook group. Let me know. 

Ann Rea: (29:49)
So the second shift in your be in your perspective is you got to be willing to change your behavior, right? Different actions, different results, simple, different actions, different results. So what I’m going to ask you to do is act as if you’re a member of the new creative class. What the hell is she talking about? I’m going to break it down.

Ann Rea: (30:09)
There’s a stark difference between the artists who are struggling and the artists who are thriving, those who are members of the new creative class. So what I did was I wrote something called the Making Art Making Money Manifesto that breaks down in 10 key areas. The difference between the artists who are struggling and the artists who are actually making money. So the artists who are part of the new creative class. Well, we’re selling our art. We’re not just showing our art. Think about it. Selling your art and showing your art are two very different objectives.

Ann Rea: (30:46)
We are building businesses. You know, when you sell art, you have to file a profit and loss statement for your business, or you have to pay sales tax on the products that you sell. Your taxing authority considers you in business when you sell your art. So what most artists are doing mistakenly, is they think that they’re building careers, updating their resumes instead of–  and with their list of exhibitions, instead of building a list of prospective collectors, very different objectives.

Ann Rea: (31:19)
We take full responsibility for our success. I’ve covered this. And we’re not waiting to be discovered. We’re not waiting for anyone to do this for us. We’re also planning for our success. We’re not just hoping for success, and we’re working so that inspiration finds us, right? We have some semblance of a discipline. We show up to the studio or the space in your home where you make your art and you just start, see what comes to you. It’s like exercising, right? But we’re not waiting for inspiration. Inspiration might hit us, but it’s much more likely to hit us if we’re actually just doing the work like you’re doing right now by being here.

Ann Rea: (32:05)
We understand our product. So even artists who have been successful entrepreneurs, or even have MBAs have joined my program, but they struggled to sell their art because they didn’t understand their product. They thought they were selling goods or services, but they’re not. Your product as a fine artist is actually emotion, because if someone feels it, it’s art to them. If they don’t feel it, it’s not art to them. Art is in the eye of the beholder or the heart of the beholder. No one’s right or wrong. It just is.

Ann Rea: (32:38)
We also create clear value above and beyond our art. That’s important because then we don’t have to compete with other artists because we have additional value that we’re offering and we can charge much more money. We also guide authentic conversations that inspire. We’re not using pushy sales tactics that won’t work anyway with the affluent. That doesn’t work in luxury marketing and sales. And that’s what you have to employ. It’s art is a luxury. It’s not a necessity. It’s not like basic food and shelter. It’s a luxury. We don’t have to have it. So that means the affluent are going to consume your offer. And how they make decisions is very different than mainstream consumers. 

Ann Rea: (33:31)
We’re also serving missions, a greater mission greater than ourselves by selling our art. We’re not trying to sell ourselves. A lot of artists think they have to sell themselves, but you’re not for sale. We understand that real relationships equal revenue. It’s actually not who you know that breeds success. It’s like who you know and who you have a relationship with. You could just know someone. But having an honest, meaningful relationship, that’s where the keys are. And we’re just not giving away our power to the middleman because people who care about art don’t care about the middleman, they care about the artist. And that’s your advantage. 

Ann Rea: (34:15)
During the pandemic, it just, the pandemic destroyed the success of a lot of fine artists who were not members of the new creative class who didn’t understand these 10 tenets. So type your answer into this next question into the chat. If you don’t join the new creative class, if you don’t take on this perspective, what’s at stake for you? What do you think?

Ann Rea: (34:38)
So the next shift in your perspective is I want you to use a secret strategy. I want you to eliminate the middleman. Today we’re going to detail how most fine artists are giving their power away instead of doing business on mutually beneficial terms. Let me bottom line all of this. You own your own business. So you alone are responsible for setting the price and the terms of selling your art. If and when you allow other people to set the terms, they will set the terms in their favor, not yours. So we’re going to address how a lot of what I’m going to present has created some wounds, right? And some unnecessary rejection. But we’re going to start healing that tomorrow.

Ann Rea: (35:30)
And then on day three, we’re going to detail how you can establish more real relationships, which I mentioned during the Making Art Making Money Manifesto by eliminating the middleman so that you can start selling at least 80% more of your art on average and keeping 100% of your money. So let’s go to these 50 big mistakes that a lot of artists make. They ask other artists for advice who are also struggling. Well, what kind of advice are they going to give you? Not much, right? They have, unless they have actually proven success themselves. These are not a good source of information and insight.

Ann Rea: (36:07)
Art contests, art contests. The only people who win art contests are the organizers themselves. You’re literally paying an entry fee to get rejected because by and large, you’re going to get rejected. I don’t care how prestigious the art contest is, it’s a bogus revenue stream. If you really want validation that you think might come from an art contest, sell your art. That’s the best validation.

Ann Rea: (36:32)
Art councils. Arts councils are all over the world at the state, county, and federal levels. They are not designed to help individual fine artists make a good living. They’re just not. I wish they were all your tax dollars, including mine, support these arts councils. But they often, what do they do? Invite artists to join art contests. 

Ann Rea: (36:58)
Art critics. The only critic that matters is you and your potential collector. Art critics are part of the secondary art market, which you’re not going to be in and you don’t need to be concerned with. So this is also a scam where critics will often tell artists, “Hey, I’ll write a favorable review of your art or critique, but you’re going to have to pay me money. 

Ann Rea: (37:22)
Don’t bother art fairs. Art fairs are quite a schlep. They cost money. They cost a lot of time. And most of the time artists are sitting there bored out of their mind, hoping that they’ll just make the feedback. It’s the most inefficient way to sell your art. 

Ann Rea: (37:38)
Art galleries don’t even get me started. The one’s terms that are imposed upon artists from art galleries are often illegal in many jurisdictions, but artists are so desperate that they agree to them anyway. And it’s not just that they take 50, 60, 70% in sales commissions. That’s actually not the worst of it. You’re going to learn on day three how much they’re actually impeding your progress. 

Ann Rea: (38:06)
Art representatives. Same problem with art galleries. Art shows expensive art shows are expensive and they’re highly ineffective. It’s a crapshoot. You might sell something but it’s not the most efficient way. And you’re gambling with paying so much money and so much time to go to create an art show when you don’t have to. 

Ann Rea: (38:30)
Artists in residencies, these are nice, but they’re not going to help you sell your art. And a lot of them are actually charging artists a fee. Artists in residency programs are supposed to give you a stipend and a place to live and work. And they’re not. It’s a scam. 

Ann Rea: (38:46)
Artist statements are conversation killers. We don’t do that in Making Art Making Money™, which we define our mission. Artist statements are just as difficult to readas they are to write. I don’t recommend them. 

Ann Rea: (39:00)
Business volunteers. There’s a lot of well-meaning business volunteers who will help you. Here’s the problem, unless they themselves are fine artists who’ve done, who’ve been successful in selling their art and they’ve helped a lot of other artists be successful in selling their art, they’re going to send you down the wrong path because they’re going to assume that the approach you need to take is as if you’re selling goods or services. But earlier we established your product is emotion. I’m going to get into what that means and what that looks like in much more detail on day four. 

Ann Rea: (39:37)
Calls for artists are basically calls for artists to work for free or for a pittance. Don’t bother.

Ann Rea: (39:42)
Catalog listings are bogus. You pay a fee to put your supposedly feature your art in some slick catalog, then I doubt ever even gets produced in a lot of instances. And this is not where collectors look to buy art. They would much prefer to buy directly from the artists.

Ann Rea: (40:01)
Changing genres. So sometimes what happens is if artists aren’t selling, they think, “Well, maybe if I change my genre, then it will sell. Maybe if I change my medium, then it will sell. Or if I change my style, then it will sell.” This is all wrong. You have to be authentic. You want to choose the style and the medium, the genre that’s authentic to you. That’s where your power lies.

Ann Rea: (40:22)
Chasing influencers is wasting time. 

Ann Rea: (40:26)
Co-op art galleries. The problem is you have to pay a membership fee and you have to volunteer or you have to pay a higher membership fee. And they don’t sell very much high ticket art. They sell really low price items. Why? Because the artists volunteering in these co-op galleries have not learned luxury marketing and sales. So they’re not that good at it. And serious collectors won’t go into an art cooperative to buy a piece of art. 

Ann Rea: (40:56)
Digital advertising. Please don’t waste your money on digital advertising until you know your niche, and even then you don’t really need it. 

Ann Rea: (41:07)
Directory listings, same BS as the catalog listing. You’re paying this annual fee for a listing that’s not going to yield anything. 

Ann Rea: (41:15)
Discounting your art is one of the worst things you can do. You can all just stop doing this right now and your sales will increase, and your confidence will increase and you’ll restore your dignity. Don’t discount your art. It signals to the marketplace that you’re not confident in the value of your art and it’s hard. They won’t buy it. And you immediately devalue your art when you discount it. 

Ann Rea: (41:38)
Donations, A lot of artists will make donations thinking, “Oh, I’ll get in front of an affluent audience if I donate my art to this auction.” No! Cause it’s going to sell out at a discount. You’re not going to be able to take a tax deduction except for the materials. I’m talking about the US right now. It’s not a good idea. Do not donate your art. One collector came to me and asked if I would donate a piece to an auction. And I explained to him what I just explained to you. And he bought two pieces at full price and he donated them himself. Fine by me, I got paid. But once he understood this, he just said, “All right, I’ll just buy it then.” 

Ann Rea: (42:17)
E-commerce sites. You do not want to invest time and money in an e-commerce site until you know your niche. Go to Instagram shops, it’s free. You get more online traffic there anyway than if you have your own URL or there’s a company out there where they’re going to charge you a ton for your art-focused e-commerce site. And you’re not even going to own the URL. Don’t ever do that. 

Ann Rea: (42:45)
Email newsletters. You don’t need to be sending out newsletters if you don’t know your niche. There are other places where you want to start. 

Ann Rea: (42:53)
Exclusivity agreements. Don’t sign these things. They sound really flattering. They’re horrible. They’re often illegal. They’re locking you down to sell your art only within their gallery. Or they’re representation and they’re not selling enough. So no, don’t think so. 

Ann Rea: (43:14)
Free advice. Well, you get what you pay for. 

Ann Rea: (43:18)
Fundraising sites. Ineffective unless you know your niche. Again, we’re going to cover what knowing your niche means in day four. Yes, day four. 

Ann Rea: (43:30)
Giveaway contest. This is some cockamamie BS strategy that’s out there that you’re supposed to buy reproductions and then give them away for free in a contest in exchange for someone’s email. Those are the worst email subscribers you could ever have because they’re expecting that they don’t have to pay you for anything. That’s not who you want to attract. So don’t waste your time and money. 

Ann Rea: (43:52)
Grant programs. By the time you’re done applying for a grant and standing in line with all these other artists hoping to get a grant, you could have been selling your art. This isn’t an efficient waste of time. It’s inefficient, it’s a waste of time.

Ann Rea: (44:08)
Juried shows. Again, do you want to sell your art or do you want to show your art? We’re interested in selling the art. And you literally have to like, who cares what some self-appointed jurists say about your art? Unless they’ve got a Black American Express card and they’re ready to buy your art. I don’t really care.

Ann Rea: (44:27)
Licensing. You’re not going to get a licensing deal unless you know your niche. And even then you might not want it. 

Ann Rea: (44:34)
Low-cost reproductions, I can’t tell you this is a severely wrongheaded strategy. It is so much easier to sell a $10,000 original than it is to sell 100, $100 reproductions. The affluent don’t buy low cost reproductions. They’re not interested in them. 

Ann Rea: (44:56)
Marketing firms can’t help you unless you know your niche. You can get an MFA if you want to. But I will tell you right now on good authority that the academics who run these programs are going to shame you for having any concern about making money.  Ironically, in North America, it costs more to attend the top art and design schools than it does to attend Ivy League schools. Yet they’re going to tell you, “Don’t worry you’re pretty little head about money.” Not a good message.

Ann Rea: (45:27)
New bodies of work. If what you’re– you don’t need a new body of work to sell your art. This is so, it’s a big mistake. What happens is your representative or gallerist will say they want a body of work. Why? Because they want to cherry-pick from the BA body of work and not buy, but only consign. Whatever they feel like they want to consign in your body of work, it’s not necessary at all. If you want to create a new body of work, that’s fine, but it’s not going to be the way you’re going to sell more art.

Ann Rea: (46:03)
NFTs, unless your niche actually is in the market for NFTs. This is a tremendous waste of time. It’s an interesting concept, but again, unless your customer type is someone who buys NFTs, don’t bother.

Ann Rea: (46:17)
Online art marketplaces is a ton of places where you can upload your art for free. Saachi, Fine Art America. Here’s the problem, they’re overcrowded. You’ve got to ask yourself, how do they make their money? Well, they make their money because you upload your art with a gazillion other artists, it doesn’t sell. And so they come back aroundand try to sell you advertising, which also doesn’t work. 

Ann Rea: (46:39)
Paying to submit, don’t pay to submit to anybody for any damn thing. Paying your dues. This is a really wrong, wrong, wrong-headed. You don’t need to pay your dues. You can start selling your art. If you already sold your art, you can start selling more of it immediately.  If you use the strategies I’m teaching, then you don’t need to pay your dues. This is just wrongheaded advice.

Ann Rea: (47:07)
Print advertising. Don’t pay for any advertising until you know your niche. 

Ann Rea: (47:12)
PR agencies can’t help you unless you know your niche.

Ann Rea: (47:14)
Renting gallery space. So galleries rent out space because they’re not selling any art. So if they’re not, how are you going to sell any art? Plus they want to take a commission on top of it. Don’t waste your time. It’s not a good look. It doesn’t work.

Ann Rea: (47:31)
Searching online. if you’re blindly searching online for ways to sell your art, not a good idea, not a good idea. You’re not going to be served. You’re going to serve whoever’s paid for the algorithm. It’s not going to work. You need curated information.

Ann Rea: (47:46)
Selling yourself. A lot of artists believe they have to sell themselves. You’re not for sale. You don’t have to sell yourself, I promise you. You just have to serve a mission that’s greater than yourself. We’ll cover that later. 

Ann Rea: (48:01)
Showing sold work. A lot of artists show sold work because they feel insecure and they want to show that, “Hey, I’ve sold some art.” Here’s the problem. If you went into a beautiful boutique and you found a gorgeous dress and you tried it on and you thought, “I’m wearing this to the New Year’s Eve party.” And then you took it up to the counter to pay for it and the proprietor said, “Oh, I’m sorry that’s sold.” How would you feel? So that’s what you’re doing to people when you show sold work, right? 

Ann Rea: (48:29)
Social media blasts don’t be blasting anybody. The affluent are very sensitive about their social networks. So you have to use a very deliberate strategy when it comes to that. 

Ann Rea: (48:44)
SEO search engine optimization does not work for fine artists and it never will. Here’s why, because it’s so subjective. SEO only works on objective searches like a pair of black pumps, and patent leather size eight four-inch heels. That’s something SEO can help with. But you can’t describe your art in such objective terms. No one can. 

Ann Rea: (49:09)
Trades. A lot of artists are afraid to ask for money, so they’ll trade for services. There’s some tax consequences to this that might not be good for you and it’s not the best practice you want to get paid.

Ann Rea: (49:23)
Unproven courses is a lot of, I’ve been at this since 2005, and a lot of copycat unproven courses have arisen and they have no guarantees associated with them. And they’ve got no case studies of substance to show. So beware.

Ann Rea: (49:23)
Vanity press. Do not pay for press ever, ever, ever. I was actually doing a strategy call with an applicant a couple months ago and she was telling me she was about to spend like $4,000 or something like that for vanity press and I stopped her.

Ann Rea: (50:03)
So just during the application call itself, I saved her a ton of money and humiliation. So do you see why most fine artists struggle to earn a living? Because this is what we do. I did the same thing. But if you keep making these 50 time-consuming soul-sucking, confidence-crushing mistakes, what’s at stake for you? Type that into the chat right now. What’s at stake? 

Ann Rea: (50:20)
So the fourth shift in your perspective is just kind of getting the glue that holds it all together. You have to. This is the glue. You don’t have a career as a fine artist and you never will. Why? Because there are no jobs for fine artists. There’s a few jobs for commercial artists, but there are no jobs for fine artists. And as soon as you sell your art, your taxing authority once they’re taxed. So by definition, not just my opinion, legally you own a business. And so you’ve got to build a business. 

Ann Rea: (50:53)
So I decided to turn my dream into a plan. Many of you might have this in the realm of a dream. Let’s make it a plan. So in 2005, I moved to San Francisco to make a living as a fine artist. My goal was to sell over $100,000 in my first year, which I mentioned earlier. But, and I stated this in present tense. “I’m so happy and grateful now that I’ve sold over $100,000 of my art in 2005.” Okay?

Ann Rea: (51:21)
What did I do first? As I said, I fired my representatives and I sold $103,246 of my art during my very first year as a full-time artist. This is my profit and loss statement from my business 2005. And there it is. Okay? I didn’t have any contacts. I just moved to San Francisco. I didn’t know anybody. I didn’t have any family support. They thought I was nuts. I didn’t have a trust fund or a big fat savings account. I didn’t have any representation ’cause I fired them all. So how did I feel when I hit that goal? Oh my god, I felt so damn happy and so very grateful. 

Ann Rea: (52:01)
So we’ve covered a number of these. You’ve got to stop living under the tyranny of hope. You’ve got to join the new creative class and you’ve got to eliminate that middleman and you’ve got to build a fine art business. And if you don’t make these critical shifts, what do you think is at stake for you? Type your answer into the chat. 

Ann Rea: (52:19)
All of this is possible, you guys, it’s absolutely possible. But you’ve got to stop trying to figure this out all by yourself because it’s taking you time and it’s costing you money and it’s crushing your confidence. You’ve got to stop spending your precious money and time at any of these 50 things. 

Ann Rea: (52:39)
Anyone who’s committed to growth should invest in a mentor. Anybody. I mean, don’t all the top athletes have coaches? How do they become top athletes? They have coaches. They don’t try to like coach themselves, right? So why do you need a mentor to grow a profitable business?

Ann Rea: (52:58)
A mentor can provide you with valuable insights and advice based on their experience and immediately save you time, money, and effort in the short run and the long run. That’s what I actually just did for all of you by going over these 50 things done. Look, it took me five minutes. But a mentor can also offer guidance in areas where you might lack expertise and experience and help you avoid common pitfalls and mistakes. And they can provide you with accountability and motivation  and they can help you set goals like I shared my goal with you, and to hold you accountable and encourage you to achieve them. 

Ann Rea: (53:39)
And a mentor isn’t invaluable resource for anyone looking to build a successful and profitable fine art business. You’ve got to ask yourself this question and be honest. If you could have figured all this out by yourself, wouldn’t you have done it by now? No one succeeds alone. You’ve got to find the right mentor with the right expertise.

Ann Rea: (53:57)
If you need a screwdriver, don’t use a hammer. So when I wanted to learn how to make better art, I didn’t. I asked Wayne Thiebaud to be my mentor as it related to making art, not selling it, making it. And he did. Right? But if you keep trying to figure this out all by yourself, do you know how much I learned from him? It was amazing. I just shortcut a lot. But if you keep trying to figure this out by yourself, what’s at stake? Type your answer into the chat.

Ann Rea: (54:31)
So when Jina, who was in the Facebook group ready to help you guys this week when she joined the program, she said, “I was really depressed at the time. I saw your Instagram ad. And then I thought, this is a sign. Someone’s giving me their hand and I need to grab it.” And when she started, she said, “My average sales price was $250,” for her art. And then she said, “I just sold my last piece for $12,000.” You can have a chat with Jina. This is all real. These are all real people.

Ann Rea: (55:01)
When Temi joined, she said, “There’s so much that goes on in my life. I’m extremely busy with an autistic son.” She’s very, very busy. She joined the program. She said, “Last year I only made $700 in sales. After I shared my mission, my painting sold for $4,200. That’s just one sale. You’ve blessed me and many thousands of other artists.” 

Ann Rea: (55:22)
When Andres joined, he said, “I wasn’t aligned with my purpose.” He didn’t know his purpose or his “Ikigai,” my reason for being, “And I was missing other pieces of the puzzle.” He knew he was missing other pieces of the puzzle, he just didn’t know what the pieces were. And then during the program, he said, “I found my purpose. You could have easily been charging 10 times more for this program.”

Ann Rea: (55:43)
So if you identify with any of these case studies, I’d like to know who you identified with and why. Type your answer into the chat or in the comment section.

Ann Rea: (55:53)
So, my promise to you today was to help you sidestep 50 common mistakes that most fine artists are making, including myself. I did it too. I don’t even know what I’m making. That was my promise to you today so that you can make a better living as a fine artist by saving money, saving time, increasing your art sales, making more money, and doing it with more dignity.

Ann Rea: (56:18)
Did I keep my promise? Type into the chat. Did I keep my promise? Did I cover those 50 things? So what do you need to do to start making a better living as an artist? You’ve got to– let’s go over these. You’ve got to stop living under the tyranny of hope. You’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to join the new creative class. You’ve got to really take a look at those tenets. You’ve got to eliminate the middleman. Who’s setting the terms for you? You’ve got to set the terms and you’ve got to build an art business and not a career. Cause you’re never going to have a career Cause you’re never going to have a career and you’ve got to stop relying on your limited expertise and invest in a mentor.

Ann Rea: (56:52)
That’s how you’re going to do this. But now you know you have a choice. So how can we help? My program is tailored to meet the needs of serious fine artists who are looking to take their art sales to the next level. And my approach is best suited for those who are truly committed to their art and they’re looking for a mentor to help them achieve their goals faster. So note, if you’re looking for a cheap and a quick solution to an very expensive problem, it doesn’t exist. 

Ann Rea: (57:21)
A lot of artists will say, why are you doing this? And I’ll tell you why I’m doing this. I refuse to tolerate a longstanding injustice when I have the expertise and I have the will to help solve it.  I mean, it just, I can’t stand it. And it’s so satisfying to see students transform. You saw the case studies that I just mentioned of Jina and Temi, and they’re different people. Their confidence was not, their confidence was so low when they started the program and then I saw them transform.  I am on a mission to help other fine artists just take their power back from the scarcity and permission-based art establishment. And I’m accomplishing it. I’m accomplishing it by helping artists sell more art, make more money, and do it with more dignity. Tatiana says, “I have a Bachelor’s in Fine Art and this is accurate for art programs. Waste of time. Yes, I’m ready.” Lorraine says, “I’m ready to take a moral stand to succeed.” Excellent! “Have to take a stand to make a proper profit.” Exactly, Christie! Exactly you do. And I want to support you in doing that. Vicki said “I would have to work a full-time job. That’s not something I enjoy. And battle depression again.” And Vicki, it’s really common for artists to be really depressed because they can’t figure this out on their own. I quit making art for 12 years. It was horrible. Alright, everybody, so what I want to encourage you to do is do the homework. It’s really powerful and it’s not really hard.  

Ann Rea: (58:53)
And go ahead and share it in the Facebook group so that Jina can help you out. All right. “I know that mentors make a difference.” Yeah, Christie, they really do. I’ve had many mentors in my life. I had Wayne Thiebaud. I had Bob Proctor. I mean, I have a pretty long list. Why would I try to figure it out all by myself when they can help me save money and get to where I want to go faster and save me time. You know, why not? It’s worth the investment. So that’s what I’ve done all throughout my life and it’s always paid off, always. So, I’m glad you understand that. All right, everyone, thank you so much for your time and attention. I will see you tomorrow. If you want to come early to the pre-show, I highly recommend it because I can’t answer the questions during the class. But if you come early, if you come at 11:45 Pacific Standard Time, I’m happy to answer any question you have about selling your art. So see you tomorrow. Bye!