 Well, hello and welcome to this video today. I'm talking about how do you balance your art business alongside a full-time or part-time job? Now, this is something I get asked about a lot. Lots of people are still working full-time Would like to start the art business or perhaps they're studying full-time and shout out to the lady who actually asked me to create a video like this You know, I know that you're all out there and it can seem like a really massive task So today, I'm going to share with you seven seven seven Seven things that you can do or seven steps you can take in order to Best manage your art business while you're still doing something else Well, hello, welcome or welcome back to my channel My name's Sophie and I help artists just like you to make a living from their art by creating a stable profitable business Doing what they love if you'd like more tips and tricks on how to build your profitable art business Then you're in the right place on this channel We share all things art business related And if you want to make sure that you don't miss out then hit that subscribe button And also don't forget to ding the bell to get notified every time I post a new video Okay, let's talk about how to balance building your art business whilst in your job or in full-time studies Now the first thing I want to say number one is we want to be realistic about what's actually possible I've worked with so many people who say I'm so excited. I want to leave my job at the end of the year I want to build the business and then I say, okay So what do you want to achieve in the first year and it's like there was no job at all I want to achieve a hundred thousand turnover and I say, okay, that's great. That's lovely That's your first year in business now traditionally when we start out any business You know actually getting to break even in the first year would be a great achievement Lot of businesses because you front end with an investment of of materials or maybe a working space Traditionally a lot of businesses will actually make a loss in the first year We'll break even in the second and go into profit in the third as very general But if you think like that, then I think that's going to give you that's going to keep you in good stead for what you're doing So this first thing is we need to be realistic You've now got a full-time occupation perhaps during the day and this is going to leave you little bits of time And what we want to do is make sure that you maximize that time but be realistic about it, too If you looked at the percentage of your whole week and you said, okay What is the percentage of time a wake time that I've actually got is it 20% of my working week? I've got is it 15% of my working week? So what's the reality of what I could actually achieve? And I think as soon as we can get an angle of reality We feel a little bit better about it instead of setting this huge goal It's a bit unrealistic if we've only got 10 15 or 20% of our working week to achieve it in And I want to say of course that this is just the beginning so for those of you thinking Oh, no, but I want to go straight into profit. I've got all these ideas I've got all these things, you know, this is very general and anything is possible But I think if you start from a place of reality That is going to be the best place to start and if you over achieve that then great. That's fantastic Okay, so the second thing you want to do is you do definitely want to set a working goal for yourself Now once you've worked out and you said, okay reality now What percentage of my week have I actually got to do the business bearing in mind if I have a job Or I have studies. I also have you know traveling to and fro I might have a partner or children that I have to look after meals that need to be cooked You know, perhaps you have a gym membership. So you go to the gym. You take exercise You've got a dog that needs walking you get the idea. We've got to be realistic about that time So if you say, okay, I've got 15 percent of my of my working week to do this Then what's a good goal is that first goal to actually create a really solid collection and body of work So you say, okay over the next year I'm going to spend 80 of my available time creating a body of work and 20 to start building An audience and foundations of marketing so that I have of course people to actually offer this work to Okay, step number two is you want to have a working goal Because having a goal keeps you very focused and on track And we know now that we have a limited number of hours in the week So make sure we get a little bit realistic of what that goal might be Now the goal might be to Have booked in your very first exhibition. For example, if you're a 2d painter, for example, or 2d You got 2d artwork. You say, okay, it's january now. For example I'm going to have a show in november and I've got until november To create all the things I need to have that very first show So your goal might be to have a successful show and selling, I don't know Your first five paintings at a show in november in this particular gallery. All right, the goal don't forget has got to be smart So by saying I having a show doesn't mean to say you're selling anything But if you want to sell something then you need to say how many or you might say By making this amount of money at this particular show So let's keep the goal really really specific and measurable and tangible. Okay, so that's step number two Step number three, you do want to create a good weekly timetable Especially if you've got the job that's going to take you from I don't know nine to five Then you've got getting home time. What are you going to do in the evenings? If you've got life things you've got personal stuff to do you've got exercise You've got cooking you've got kids to get to bed And then you're going to perhaps work in the evening So create a timetable for yourself or do you for example work only four days a week? And you've got one whole day that you can actually work on the business Write it out make a timetable. When will you actually do the things or perhaps you work Monday to Friday? And it's just you and you say well, okay I'm going to I'm going to work on my business over the weekends Make a timetable Write it out make the little slots and don't forget to allow slots for exercise and downtime and seeing friends and family Etc etc because you need to be putting a holistic approach together Otherwise you'll end up just burning out. Trust me. I know because I've been there So number four step number four you really want to get super Organized the way that you're going to get maximum out of your time is by being very organized with it So therefore the space you're going to work in needs to be organized You need to make sure that you have everything where you need it If you have a dedicated space, that's great. Get it sorted get it organized Can you switch off from one thing walk in there? Everything's ready. You don't have to rummage around and look for things What about on the computer your files folders files is everything organized? So if you want to Do a little bit of marketing you're not rummaging around looking for files and folders And where was that thing you created over there? If you are that person you want to watch look out for later in the month I'm having some organizational videos that I'm making so look out for those They're going to help you a little bit if you want to get super streamlined You do not want to waste that precious time that you have looking for things misfiling. It's just it's we all know It's a huge time suck Step number five This is the one that some people really hate, but you've got to become super disciplined with the time that you have That means when you've slotted into that I'm building my art business time Somebody rings you and says hey, do you want to go down, you know a bar for a drink? You don't just go. Oh, yeah. Okay. I can do this later off I go you have precious slots of time that you have Allocated and said that you want to use in order to get started with that business in order to achieve that goal of having that show In november in our example Okay, so make sure you do allocate that time for other things and then when you're in the zone be disciplined Turn the phone off. Turn the pings and notifications off. Let people know, you know what I'm working I'm being creative in this. I don't want to be disturbed Be you know protect it with your life. It's this bubble. It's your future It's the thing that's going to get you out of the job or get you out of student status The thing that you really want so you need to honor it Step number six something we talk about so much on this channel and I'll link to a video on up here This is about creating your business plan Even though you're just starting very part time Again, you want to be clear on what you are doing and what you're heading towards You want to start starts by creating a simple artist business plan So that you are going to stay on track and you're not going to be sidetracked off over here by distractions For example, you get an email from somebody saying, oh, hey, do you want to put a few pieces in this show over here? Well, you have a goal and limited time and you want to put you want to put everything into the solo show in november And you start getting distracted over here It's going to take time that you didn't allocate for energy that you weren't prepared You might sell stock that you need for november by having a simple business plan That will just keep you on track with where you want to go And then lastly step number seven, of course, you want to split the time you do have between creation and business Now that's going to be up to you as to how long it takes you to create And how savvy and fast and good you are with business So for example, you might want to say 80 of my time is Creation and 20% is business. I'm fast. I'm on it. I've got systems. I'm all good Or I'm a little bit slower and the business is really important to me. So 40% on the business and 60% on the creation That's what I would recommend because I think whilst it's wonderful to build the product or service You need to have the business set up in order to have people to launch to Marketing that's being done etc etc and I'll link below this video to some useful free resources that will get you started And other videos that might help you again with everything you need going forwards I hope you've enjoyed today's video and as I say make sure that you hit the like button so that other artists like you Can get shown this video and that will help them too. All right. Thank you so much for watching. See you on the next one