So You Want to Be a Full-Time Artist? Read This First.
Every few weeks, someone asks:
“My {insert relationship} wants to be an artist! Can you have coffee with them and share your experience?”
Truthfully?
Most times I politely decline, and here’s why:
There’s no straight line to success, no start-up funding fairy, and it takes ruthless lateral thinking to survive.
(And no shade to anyone who’s asked, by the way — this is bigger than a coffee can cover.)
The unconscious bias when I tell someone I’m an artist is that my life must be endless fun — “You just get to create all day!”
Meanwhile, I think: “How nice for you, getting a paycheck every two weeks with benefits and a pension.”
But this isn’t a rant about how hard my job is.
If you understand what it takes to run any business, you’ll already know: it’s a hell of a lot of work.
If you’re serious about making the leap, here’s my best no-nonsense advice — drawn from experience, not theory.
1. Cultivate Pure Grit
Entrepreneurship is brutal.
If you don’t have the guts to weather years of storm cycles, get a corporate gig and do art on the weekends.
No shame in it.
Around 50% of small businesses fail within five years.
Artists are often even worse off because art school teaches you how to paint, not how to pay your bills.
Here’s why most businesses die:
- No real market research.
- Underestimating capital needs.
- Struggling to find customers.
- Cash flow chokeouts.
- Failure to adapt.
If this sounds scary — good. Fear sharpens instincts.
2. Get Educated (Beyond Art)
Making the art is 10% of the job.
The other 90%?
You’re the marketing team, accountant, shipping department, strategic planner, grant writer, photographer, and customer service hotline.
Do yourself a favor: take a basic accounting and/or business course.
If you can’t read a balance sheet or map a market, you’re winging it blind.
It’s never a question of can you make good art.
It’s always: can you get it into the right hands at a price that sustains your life.
ATB has a good small business blog if you need a starting point:
ATB Business Blog
3. Fund Yourself Before You Jump
There’s no “Dragon’s Den” for artists.
Art is a luxury item, judged by subjective taste.
Translation: banks and investors don’t line up to throw money at you.
Grants exist, but they usually cover just enough to complete a project — not to build your business infrastructure.
You need:
- A nest egg for start-up costs (licenses, materials, space rentals, marketing).
- An emergency fund (or business line of credit) for when things go sideways — because they will.
Pro tip:
Map your true costs for a year. Overestimate by at least 10%
Then save enough to cover at least half before you even think about quitting your day job.
4. Master Revenue Streams (Yes, Plural)
Can you survive six months without selling a single piece?
Because that’s a very real possibility.
Most artists diversify their income:
- Teaching workshops.
- Licensing prints onto cards, mugs, shirts.
- Running side businesses that build visibility.
Cash flow ≠ Profit.
Cash flow keeps the lights on while you wait for high-ticket sales.
Smart artists turn everything into a marketing loop:
- Sell a workshop → Upsell small merch → Grow a mailing list → Promote future shows → Build patron loyalty.
Nothing happens by accident.
Everything is connected.
🧨 Final Word:
Art isn’t just a calling.
It’s a high-risk, high-burn business venture.
If you have the grit to survive the desert years — the low sales, the lonely studio hours, the financial storms — you earn the right to build a life most people don’t even dare dream about.
But if you’re not ready to bet on yourself harder than anyone else ever will?
Save yourself the heartbreak.
Author’s Note:
“I’m sharing this because I want the next generation of artists to be better prepared than I was. If you found this useful, feel free to share it — it might be exactly what someone needs to hear before they take the leap.”
Everyone loves the dream. Few survive the desert.
👉 If you can answer these 10 questions brutally honestly — and still feel unstoppable — you’re ready to fight for it.
1. How many months of living and business expenses do I have saved?
(If the answer is less than 6 months, reconsider your timeline.)
2. Do I know exactly who my first 20 customers could be?
(Not “everyone who likes art.” Specific buyers.)
3. Can I explain my art’s value clearly to a stranger in 60 seconds?
(If you can’t, you’ll lose the sale.)
4. Am I ready to spend more time marketing my art than making it?
(At least at first? Be honest.)
5. Do I know how to read a basic profit/loss statement?
(If not, start learning now.)
6. Can I mentally handle long stretches of low sales without giving up?
(You will face droughts. You need resilience, not just optimism.)
7. What are my backup revenue streams?
(Workshops? Freelance design? Merch? Teaching? Plan them before you leap.)
8. Do I have a plan for health insurance, retirement, and emergencies?
(You are your own HR department now.)
9. Am I okay with people misunderstanding or undervaluing my work sometimes?
(Art is subjective. You need thick skin, not just talent.)
10. Why am I really doing this?
(If the answer isn’t burning a hole in your chest — if it’s not survival-level motivation — reconsider.)
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