So, we now have January under our belts!
That also means I have my first month of ”experimenting” with approaching my art from a more structured perspective under my belt.
It took a while to learn how to drill stone, but now I make quite a few pendants.
Is it making a difference?
Well, so far I have managed to do fairly well at creating new work with the plan of "just doing a little bit every day." Of course I have been somewhat incentivized by the fact that we have our first arts and crafts show of the year coming up on the 11th and 12th of February.
My main purpose in becoming more ”structured” was to (a) pay more attention to my blogging and social media efforts, and (b) be more diligent in making sure that all the items in my somewhat extensive "inventory" of finished work are actually listed for sale in one of my online shops.
Didn't do so well on the social media end of things, although I did manage to update my website a couple of times and send a few pictures through Twitter… but it's still far from enough, so there's definitely room for improvement.
On the other hand, I'm more than two-thirds of the way through adding inventory that was just sitting in boxes and show bins to my online shop on Etsy. so I'm pretty pleased with that progress.
Yes, I recently complained about being squeezed financially by the major sales marketplaces… but you do get a lot of visibility when you use them, so I'm not quite ready to kick them to the curb yet.
I also feel hopeful that now that I have a lot more stuff listed for sale, the impact of any social media marketing I do has more potential to translate into sales.
Does this all sound rather "numbers oriented" for an artist? Maybe so, but you almost have to be that way if you're treating your art as your vocation/livelihood.
Gaining Focus...
Meanwhile, I took a long hard look at aforementioned online marketplaces and determined that rather than "spread the wealth" around — so to speak — I'm going to focus the majority of my efforts on the least evil — Etsy — and use the four other venues mostly as placeholders.
That will also simplify my marketing efforts in the sense that I can just tell people to have a look at my Etsy shop and be done with it rather than try to explain which items can be found in which online stores.
I do plan to keep Amazon and eBay and Facebook, but each of those shops will just have a modest but nice quality representation while the bulk of everything will be on Etsy.
Of course it's all rather an experiment, so there will be no telling how effective any of this is until we get to the end of the year.
Meanwhile, I have been cautiously contemplating whether or not to actually invest in paid advertising.
For the moment I think I'm going to give it a pass, but it's mostly a soft pass.
I really need to do something to stimulate the number of followers I have on my social media accounts. I know this can be done, because several of my rock painting colleagues around the world have tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of followers. And their work is not that different from my own, and I've actually been doing this work longer.
So there's a challenge!
But now I must get back to creating more work for the upcoming show!
Thanks for stopping by and reading; Do leave me a comment if you feel so inspired — interaction and engagement are always welcome!
If you enjoy painted rocks, do check out The Hive Rocks Project and help spread the word about Hive, while also being creative!
Because I am trying to make some semblance of income — a part time living, even — I now add this footer to all my posts, in the hope that someone, somewhere, might decide to take a further look at my work, and perhaps consider supporting independent art.
Thank you, in advance, for your consideration and support!
My Alchemy Stones Patreon appeal
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