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I have a confession to make.

It's really more of a confession to myself but I might as well share. Going through these photos of the first stages of my "Art Business" was PAINFUL. The quality of my products and my art skills are almost embarrassing, it just goes to show that practice makes perfect (not saying that I'm perfect) but it was a great reality check. I really have come a LONG way since the beginning of this adventure and it feels good to be reminded of that but sheesh...so so bad.

Anyways, enough of my sentimental breakdown...# On to the real part of Part #3! #

The topic of this post is how I made my first dollar selling my art.

This goes back to around 2009 when I first discovered Etsy and realized it was the perfect platform to start a side art hustle with very little up front investment. Perfect for a broke 19 year old trying to pay rent in an Orange County. The idea I had for my Etsy shop was to hand paint custom designs on clothing. It actually ended up being somewhat successful and really taught me the first thing about owning a business and having to deal with every aspect of each sell, from start to finish.

Now before I show you all the photos of some of the custom shirts I did, I want to go ahead and tell you, what I feel, is the most important take away from this article....

If you have never ran a business before, it is SO important to start off with something small and manageable. This will allow you to get used to having to manage every "department" of a business and will allow for some trial and error.

Let me elaborate... As I mentioned, I started off just selling hand painted shirts. I knew that this was not my ideal goal but it helped me learn and grow a lot of skills while not damaging my ultimate "dream." I will now go on to list the skills that I believe are the most beneficial to learn but you made it this far so I will "reward" you with some of my embarrassing product photos...

Custom shirts for 5 year old twins.
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Flowers...weird flowers.
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( I will address the awful stitching you see in just a bit. )

Skill #1.

SALES! SALES! SALES! You can't get anywhere without being able to sell your item or service. You can't just sit back and wait for people to contact you, you need to go looking for customers and engage them. I did this on Etsy by searching key words in the forums and finding people who were specifically looking for custom shirts or screen printing. I would then contact them and explain the option of a hand painted shirt vs. screen printed. That is how I got 95% of my sales. Of course there are plenty of other sales skills and advice to learn throughout the process but, especially when you are just getting started, it is CRUCIAL that you hunt down your target clientele.

A shirt for someone who was apparently a fan of butterflies.
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Skill #2.

Customer service. The good majority of us have to have some sort of customer service skills in whatever industry we work in but it's a little bit more tricky when it's your business and reputation on the the line. I had people who were obviously trying to take advantage and would try to get out of paying full price for anything. That happened quite often. If I quoted someone $50 for a custom shirt, they would ask me if I would do it for $10. This infuriated me because they clearly didn't appreciate the amount of time and work that I put into each painting but I had to deal with it and in a professional manner. My reputation was on the line, no one else's. So no matter how difficult someone is being, you need to be as professional as possible and still keep good customer service. Once you are successful enough to have employees, then you can pay someone to be nice. Until then, suck it up buttercup!

Another thing I want to mention is how important it is to ship things on time and keep the customer updated if it's going to ship out late. We have all gone through this annoyance.

This one was actually for my Grandpa so he had to like it. haha
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Skill #3.

Quality. You need to have a quality product and constantly looking for ways to improve it. So whether you are selling jewelry, paintings, digital art etc... you need to make sure your product looks professional, is of good quality materials and is packaged nicely when delivered. We have all experienced the sloppily wrapped, broken from improper packaging and the infamous "This isn't what it looked like in the photos!" headaches. Don't be that company. No one likes that company. It will kill your reputation in a blink if you have poor, low quality and falsely advertised products.

Which leads me into... # Skill #4. #

Marketing. Two words, "Social Media." Now this is a skill that I am still learning. My 3 year old can work my phone better than me but it is SO darn important. We live in a day and age where almost everything has a social media presence. I could write a whole other article on this topic alone but chances are, if you are reading this, you are probably better at social media than I am.

Social media may be important but it is not the only marketing aspect that you need to succeed. Make sure you have a logo and use it on EVERYTHING. Business cards, return address labels etc... You get the gist.

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Clearly there is SO much more to add to this but these are the basics that I learned during my "Etsy Phase." If you focus of these 4 subjects, then you will be off to the perfect start!!