Automated art business series, Part I

I am going to start selling my art online.

Me and lots of other people this year, I imagine.

But I don’t really want to spend time on some of the tasks that are quite central to this kind of project. So I am going to figure out how to sell fine art prints while automating or outsourcing most of the surrounding processes (or at least all the ones I think are boring or too resource intensive). YAY!

Why, though?

In no particular order (excluding the obvious lockdown activity lacuna)…

🎨 I really enjoy painting

And this is the perfect motivator to do it more regularly! Painting is one of those activities that gets me into the elusive flow state. But that flow state is only achieved once I’ve gotten going, and I sometimes need a little nudge to get myself there.

💸 Passive income experiment

Passive income. The dream! Or, rather, the second dream. Right after Universal Basic Income.

🔧 Learn about the mechanics of running an online business

I have always had an itch to be self-employed in some capacity and understand how it all works. I’m treating this as an immersive educational experience.

📈 Play around with performance marketing

I have recently started a full-time role as a data analyst working in part with the growth function of an exciting medtech company. Growth analytics is not something I am very familiar with, and I think that running some of my own ads and seeing how they fare will make me a much better analyst in my day job.

✨ Validation of people paying real money for my art

Let’s be real. The only thing better than affirmation is cash money to buy more indoor plants with.

🌱 See if I can create a sort of self-sustaining business that also donates money to charity

Charity is one of the few ways I can feel less helpless and swallowed up by the injustices of our world and, frankly, late stage Capitalism as a whole. Unfortunately, I don’t get to do as much as I would like on my regular income. But extra money feels like just that, extra somehow and so also somehow much easier to give away.

And the written series, Maeve? Self-indulgent much?

Three reasons (again, excluding lockdown 🙃):

1. I need to put some boundaries around this or it might run away from me. I tend to get a bit too immersed in passion projects, to the detriment of my life balance and occasionally mental wellbeing. I have an obsessive streak which I love very much but I am well aware that it can be destructive if I don’t keep it in check. So I am going to use this series as a tool for reflection. By articulating whether the project is still fulfilling its intended purpose, I will be better able to moderate its impact on my life.
2. When I started toying with this idea, I couldn’t find much content related specifically to setting up and running a low-effort e-commerce site for art, so I hope this series will be a helpful addition to that body of online knowledge. I intend to share all the information that another art-repreneur might find helpful, including financials and any specific tools or techniques that propel me forward.
3. All effective experiments need good documentation.

Initial Project Scope (just so we’re clear)

• Develop, launch and maintain a Shopify site to sell prints of my artwork.
• Ideally, launch in time to catch the Christmas gift-giving season 🎁.
• Run the site in the most environmentally-friendly way possible by looking for partners that are carbon neutral, printing on recycled or sustainably produced paper, etc..
• Donate a percentage of the profits to charity and set up a way for my customers to choose the charity that their purchase will support.

I will regroup in January to see if I want to take anything up or down a notch.

Constraints

Minimise the amount of time and effort that I put into, or ideally automate / outsource, the following:

• logistics and order fulfilment;
• bookkeeping (absolutely no thanks on this one);
• social media.

I don’t want to spend much of my own money on this, so I am giving myself a budget of £100. To put this into context I already have the following:

• art supplies;
• several finished paintings;
• digital copies of those paintings (£51 at Point101 in London for 3 A4 paintings at 600 DPI);
• all necessary tech and an internet connection;
• a free (at present) Revolut for business account.

I am not setting up as a sole trader or LLC until I hit my £1,000 tax-free trading allowance so I am also excluding that from my budget.

I do not intend to increase my productivity as an artist (much). My goal is to continue painting when I feel like it and launch new pieces when it makes sense, taking the natural cadence of my hobby into consideration.

Once the fun stops, so does the shop. 🙅‍♀️