Why do so many artists fail in their art business?

The number one reason is they quit. Building any business typically takes five to ten years, and art businesses are no different. Most artists come in with unrealistic expectations of overnight success, influenced by mainstream media stories that make it seem easy. When they don’t see massive sales in three months or a year, they quit. The reality is that virtually every successful artist selling hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars went through years of struggle—maybe making $500 the first year, $1,500 the second, $5,000 the third, before hitting $100,000 in year four or beyond. They tried 10, 20, 30 iterations of subject matter and kept the business alive until they figured out what resonated with the market. The biggest factor in success is simply not quitting.

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Asked by general audience · Answered by Nick Friend and Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2024-02-20