I have a few opinions about why this is important. 
1) Art making is all about making decisions, lots of decisions.  If you aren't organized in your own mind those decisions become slower to make and much more frustrating.  

2) When you are organized you can:

• a) see your numbers and measure your progress
• b) make decisions based on those details. 
• Note: measuring money is not always the most motivating. 

3) It's easy for you to look up the information you need.  When a customer is wanting to know a detail about the painting you have all those details in one place, easy to find.  This really builds trust.  The customer sees that you are organized and you are a real business person. 

The #1 place to start is getting your artwork into a spreadsheet. You can use a sheet of paper, of course, however a spreadsheet can do all sorts of calculations automatically making your numbers much easier to understand. 

The first spreadsheet is an inventory list.  This is a list of everything you have finished, sold, and pieces in the works.  

Here is a little video walking you through the set up of your first spreadsheet. 

Before we begin, do you see the diagonal arrows in the image below?  If you click on the them they will expand the videos below so they are easier to read.  You can find the arrows by rolling over the bottom right hand corner of the video. 

At different times I want to have different information so I create several spreadsheets to track different things. 

One of those things I track are my materials. Namely canvases.  What sizes and how many blank canvases do I have in inventory.  Maybe you have none, then this is something unnecessary for you to track.  For me, I may have an addiction to purchasing canvases... seriously.  I think I have 70, that's 7+0, canvases waiting in the wings for new paintings.  Sheesh.  

In order to keep the inventory of available canvases in order, I created a new spreadsheet to track them. 

You will see I've added a donate button below.  Why?  Helping you comes at a cost to me for my time and the fees to run the technology necessary.  If you are able, and you found value, please make a donation in an amount that you decide.  I will say thank you in advance.  I'm grateful to be in this relationship with you.  Please let me know if you run into any questions of need help.  Message me at: [email protected]

This is a dream of many artists and unfortunately it can seem like a daunting task because honestly there are so many decisions to make.  Decisions that are necessary, sometimes scary, and you don't know if you are doing it 'right.'

As I've built my career, I've learned a lot, made some mistakes, and found a rhythm that works for me and my clients are more importantly my customers are confident to purchase from me.

From a talk that I gave at the Langley location of Opus, I wanted to share the topics that I touched on.   

• Pricing
• Prints
• What to paint
• How do you find your market
• Pricing
• Shipping
• Multiple styles of artwork
• Do I need a website
• Confidence
• Getting organized
• How do I organize my time in order to meet the submission/commission deadlines.
• What to measure to know if I'm even making progress
• What are you capable of from a spiritual, physical, creative aspect
• Steps necessary for getting your business together
• How do I change the style of my art without losing my followers?
• What if I’m not tech savvy
• Reading list of inspiring books
• Does my art matter
• “It’s so scary putting yourself out there” 

In the coming weeks I will be writing to answer these questions and providing pdf downloads where possible to support you in the growth of your business. 

Let me know if there is a topic that you would like me to cover if you don't see it here simply by leaving a comment below.