What motivates artists to keep going when sales are slow?

Nothing fills your emotional reservoir more than forward motion and sales of any dollar amount. When you’re feeling burnt out, discouraged, and like you can’t continue, a single email notification that says ‘order confirmed’ - regardless of the dollar amount - can instantaneously transform your motivation, inspiration, and encouragement to keep going. This is true whether you’re just starting out and making your first small sales, you’re established and making mid-level sales, or you’re successful and making larger sales. The emotional boost from any sale, even a small print, provides the fuel to maintain consistency. This is why consistency is so important: it creates the conditions for those sales to happen, which then provides the motivation to stay consistent, creating a positive cycle.

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Asked by general teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-06-20