Networking Sells Art
Networking is not what I want to do. Artist create beautiful environments for us to explore in many different mediums. We love transfer our creativity in everything we do and networking can be an art form as well.
Actively promoting our work can get neglected because we are working at creating more work. One of the thing I have trouble with is to put myself out there.
In my case I had to get over my insecurities because I want to succeed. I would like to think that my work be enough, but it isn’t. People want the story behind the work, they want to know who you are and how you came to create the pieces they love.
Networking is the process of putting yourself in the position to bring more eyes on your work. We are the creator and the sales person. Meeting and greeting the potential buyers is connecting your face with your art. People open up to people they feel a connection to which leads to more exposure and sales.
The hardest part of the process for me was to separate my emotions from my work. I know that was what was holding me back. You see every person wants to be accepted and appreciated for who they are and what they do.
Judging my work, felt as if they were judging me
It’s okay as long as I was not around to hear criticism of my work. I did as little as possible to put myself out there. I did do shows and I joined art associations in the city where I live and nearby communities. My thinking was that the work spoke for itself and I was selling work but not as much as I was producing.
I knew that I did not have the means to open a gallery where people could view and purchase my art. So traveling to shows was my best way to connect with people.
Traveling was getting more difficult and I still want to sell my work so, I was looking for a new option. I checked into local opportunity and found that I still was not getting my needs met. Then I came across an opportunity to market products on the internet. I felt it would help me earn money as I gained knowledge to take my networking to another level.
My focus is to open my own gallery. So for years I was learning everything about networking and marketing products on the internet.
Doing it for yourself
Deciding that all the efforts I was putting into other’s products I should be using to marketing my art. Getting myself and my product in front of as many people as possible is the key and this platform is a great tool.
To do this I have to put all the training to work for me. I thought there must be other artists out there that are having similar issues and maybe I could help them with along my journey. I use social media as a tool.
You must actively be networking to sell your art successfully. Artist are prone to find beauty in all things. We are impulsive individuals on a mission to share our ideas and skills with anyone who will appreciate them. We are all different just like our work and the best person to show off our talent is us.
