Five habits of successful artists

There is no single perfect way to run a creative business, but among the most successful full-time artists you will notice the same basic habits. Professional creatives have dialed in their time management, their creative practice is regular and consistent, and they hold themselves accountable to peers.

Whether your goal is to quit your day job or you just want a nice side hustle, slowly integrating the top five habits of successful artists will set you on the road to better success in your business. 

Let’s take a look at the habits shared by most successful full-time artists, and how you can start integrating them right now.

They follow the 50/50 rule

Successful professional artists are sure to spend at least half of their time on marketing. This may sound intimidating and perhaps even impossible at first, but the truth is that unless you are giving a generous portion of your time to the following tasks (as they apply to your business model), you’re unlikely to see growth in your business.

• Answering emails and phone calls.
• Connecting with potential shows, collaborators, galleries, and clients.
• Planning and running promotions, marketing campaigns, and giveaways.
• Designing and implementing sales funnels.
• Identifying your ideal customer and discovering where to find them.
• Networking.
• Creating promotional materials.
• Applying for art fairs.
• Regular social media posts, networking, and collaboration
• Applying for grants.

If you are painting for 20 hours a week but only marketing for two, you will find that your business seems to stagnate even if you are producing fantastic work.

Make a goal to spend half of your time on marketing. This might mean spending an hour on Instagram every morning connecting with influencers who may be interested in working with you. Or it might be finally committing the time to fine-tuning and maintaining a series of Facebook ads.

These tasks will vary according to your business model, but the important thing is to treat your business like a business and put in the time it takes to get noticed by your ideal audience.

They maintain a daily art habit

The discipline of a daily art practice has sustained many artists through a creative slump. When your art is your livelihood, you can’t afford to be creatively blocked.

A daily creative practice ensures that you are able to keep showing up in the studio and creating work every day, persevering through slow seasons and keeping your work fresh. You may want to start this habit with a creative challenge like Inktober or creating a small square painting or a themed photograph every day.   

A creative challenge can even be a great way to garner increased attention for your business! Send out a daily email with your new work, or start a hashtag so your fans can follow along on Twitter or Instagram.

You can even sell your daily pieces in flash sales or give your email subscribers first dibs on your new work. There are dozens of ways to use a creative challenge in your favor, both for your creative practice and for your business.

They are accountable to a group

Artists who are serious about growing their business will benefit greatly from a group of peers who are all in similar stages. The support, accountability, and perspective provided by a group of peers can provide you with fresh insight and encouragement to persevere through slow seasons. Sometimes these groups take some trial-and-error to get just right: members who are too far ahead of the rest or too far behind are unlikely to benefit as much. 

To that end, while it isn’t required that you find a paid group, often paid mastermind groups are more successful than unpaid because they tend to have a greater degree of structure and are more likely to be composed of individuals in similar stages of their business. There will usually be a trained facilitator who keeps the group on track, asks pointed questions, guides individuals in the right direction and makes sure the time is being used efficiently. 

Another option is to join your local artist’s guild or other nonprofit associated with whatever medium you work in. A quick Google search for “[art medium] + [your area]” will bring up a list of local organisations. This is a great way to dip your toes into an organised artist community without too much commitment up front.

They raise their prices

Artists with their sights set on success are not afraid to raise their prices. (Or even if they are afraid, they do it anyway.) They stay competitive within their niche, comparing their work to other artists of a similar skill level and pricing accordingly. When they begin to feel too busy and overwhelmed, they recognize this as a sign that they need to raise their prices to match the demand for their work. 

You’re likely to plateau or even burn out if you don’t regularly raise your prices in accordance with the growth of your business. There is the risk of becoming resentful of collectors if you perceive that your work is worth much more than you’re charging, and you may even become resentful of the work itself.

To prevent this from happening, professional artists pay close attention to the demand for their work (which will slowly increase as they continue to spend half their time on marketing). As the demand rises, so do their prices. 

They invest in themselves

As a creative professional, you are your business’s greatest asset! When is the last time you took a class, tried a new technique just for fun, or went on a retreat?

Successful artists view their work as a business, but they’re not afraid to have fun and push the boundaries. This can look like many different things, but the key is to stay flexible, stay curious, and continue to grow.

Here are a few ways that professional artists invest in themselves:

• Hiring a business coach
• Taking an art class, online or in-person
• Attending art retreats and workshops
• Replacing art supplies regularly
• Taking holidays
• Paying for a high-quality mastermind group
• Joining a gym
• Prioritising their health with regular checkups, therapy, massages, or chiropractic work

Whether you’re already practicing all of these habits to some degree or you’re currently 0 for 5, there’s always room for growth. Habits do not set themselves in stone overnight, so set one or two goals at a time and work at them slowly. Before you realize it, you’ll be steadily devoting half of your time to business and marketing, creating art in a daily rhythm, meeting with an accountability group, raising your prices, and investing in yourself.

Did we miss any? What habits do you see consistently among professional artists and other creatives?

Sharayah Pranger writes for The Abundant Artist, where you can learn how to sell your art online. She is a marketing content strategist and has been writing professionally for ten years. In her spare time she likes to draw, crochet – and prevent her two young children from burning the house down.