*UPDATED 10/24/23* How to Monetize Your Artistry: 5 Steps You Wish You Knew About Sooner

for the Creatives
by Mika Vonshá

We´ve all heard the humdrum phrase ¨struggling artist.¨ I must admit, I too wore that title for a long- long time. I wore it until I stood face to face with burnout, which had been stalking me for years. I produced seeming gems under the pressure of survival and the need to fulfill grant requirements. However, these so-called gems were mediocre at best -- simply glamorized by the amount of efforting I had been putting into my starving practice. And so the question persisted-- how (in the h-e-double hockey sticks) do I monetize any of this? With basic needs breathing down by back and my children´s fantastic stories painting their elaborate (expensive) futures, I needed to monetize and I needed to do it fast! But... how?! I dare to unleash the keys to this overly mystified question and bust all of your fears once and for all! -- or at least that is my hope for you and this article is a start... at best. 

One thing is for sure... monetizing your artistry is a process.

"The Un-Doing" - In honor of the process.

1. Clarify your honest desires. 

Creative Choices

Your honest desires and how you intend on acquiring them is your only honest work. In my humble opinion, there is nothing closer to honest work than artistry. If you want to monetize your artistry, the more important question than what your honest desires are is what products and services do you want to give? If your need is to unleash your artistry with the most ease, than this also begs the question, what products and services are born from you naturally? It could mean scheduling time to free play -- much like you did as a child and observe what it is you are naturally attracted to and what the outcomes are. 

Perhaps you already have a hobby or a craft and collection of things you´ve made. Yet when you attempt to share your creations with the world, you are struck by fear. What seemed so simple and natural now bears the weight of supporting you and your family. Now, not only are you faced with financial problems, but you are also struggling with an inner conflict stemming from self-limiting beliefs. Are you willing to take the leap of faith and trust in your ability to thrive from your art? Are you willing to take full responsibility for your income and really figure out what it takes to consistently produce all that you need to survive? 

You may have to go through a deep acceptance of who you are at the core of your being. It could mean unveiling the truth of your habits and committing to a conscious lifestyle in order to stay in harmony with your ultimate desires and stay on task for productivity. It could also mean letting go of what others may think of you and transmuting all opinions you are given (solicited or unsolicited) into your own benefit. Sometimes this calls for difficult conversations with loved ones as you unravel the layers of you that were once covering up your truth. 

For example, when I began settling into my honest desires and truth about being a musician, dancer, and creative entrepreneur, I kept receiving the energy of doubt and speculation from my loved ones who wondered how I would make money and survive if I were to go all in on my creative pursuit. While I understood their concerns given that they have their own experience of what works for them, I knew I needed to find my own way. What's more is that I also had to get out of my own way in order to find it. Even while writing this blog, I could hear that negative part of my mind asking questions like who do you think you are giving your opinion on how to make money. You haven´t made enough money consistently to help anyone else. Turn me inside out and scrape out that gunk please! The truth is that in order to succeed at monetizing your artistry, you absolutely must -- and I mean MUST persist. 

One way to sustain your determination is to act like a scientist. Test the fruits of your creative labors with your network. Create hypothesis for yourself and ask for honest feedback. Dive in willing to fall and get back up again. Take the plunge and be willing to improve. However, this does not mean to quit your day job right away. Be willing to meet yourself where you are. This brings me to the next topic:

2. Find easy ways to make extra money. 

Okay, so you've made up your mind about what you want to give and share with the world. You've taken the time to play and get to know yourself as an artist. But the money question comes up again. You are getting restless at work while you dream of spending more time in your studio. I don't mean to sound like a Debbie downer or a naysayer, but I am going to push that realist button a little bit because that is the one you will wrestle with most on your entrepreneur journey. 

Getting your revenue streams up and running can be a time consuming process. No one really speaks of the amount of research and writing that goes into the backbone of business planning and marketing. While you get your income ducks in order, you may need a side hustle (or a few) to keep your needs met while you teeter into self-employment or onto the other side of the Cash Flow Quadrant all together. (Thank you Robert Kyosaki for your work. Get your copy here.)

 

For example: (not that you have to do things the way I did them and by all means, if you know of a better way, please do inbox me and share!) before finally monetizing my most recent enterprise, I started several others that did not pan out due to several mistakes I am happy to say I have now learned from. To supplement my income, I took on many courier service gigs like Doordash and Instacart and then eventually began to post my articles on sites like blogger.com (the one you´re on right now!). The idea is to take a part time job that aligns with your business needs -- that way you are still contributing to the growth of your business while you earn the extra income. That could mean securing a part time gig that enhances a skill you've been needing to take on or even giving you an added advantage like being able to do your reading and research while on the job. 

Google's Blogger platform enabled me to set my own schedule so that I could begin focusing on building my studio up to par with the quality of sound I was ready to produce all while preparing and running marketing promotions for both the blog and upcoming music. I have time to generate other content for my social media sites and time with my family. You may have to play a bit to see which revenue streams make the most sense for your artist business and what you can consistently do to support them. After all, the independent contractor / sole proprietor lifestyle can mean juggling many hats at once. 

Here's a doozy: So here you are trying to be a business for yourself, but you know nothing about money. Before you start feeling bad about yourself, you never learned this in school. It will take practice, but with consistency and grit, you can let go of old habits about money and adopt new ones that build wealth like saving and making wise investments. "Overcoming Under Earning" by Barbara Stanny is a wonderfully written "five-step plan to a richer life." indeed. It helped me expand my vision of myself and realize my worth. I didn't realize how much my mindset was affecting my reality and that in order to take clear actionable steps towards my goals, I had to actually believe in my vision before it manifested. The truth is that you can only make as much money as you believe is possible for you. In order to make more money, you have to expand your vision. 

3. Research possible revenue streams. 

Here is a list of each of the revenue streams I have researched and played around with during my monetization journey: 

    AdSense 

With the support of Google, you can run ads that make sense for your website and earn. Might sound too good to be true, but you can sign up for free in 3 simple steps here.

    Affiliate Marketing  

This enables your website visitors to access products to purchase via affiliate links on your website. And when they purchase through your link, you get a commission. Read Larry Ludwig's article to figure out which affiliate marketing program is best for you to start with here. 

    Copyright Royalties 

Although your original sounds are protected by copyright law as soon as you create them, they still need to be registered and distributed to your target market. Registering your music compositions on BMI or ASCAP and distributing them through platforms like United Masters or TuneCore to make them available on streaming platforms like Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes means that every time someone plays your music/audio, you get paid royalties. If they would like to use your sounds, you can establish a business relationship and license it out to them. However, if you are not registered on BMI or ASCAP you will likely not get paid for your work. 

*UPDATE* (10/24/23 Edition) Now that I have been on this journey of discovering my abundance through my artistry, I have learned that it is also important to create and register ISRC codes for your sound recordings. Moreover, you will need to register each of your songs AND each sound recording at copyright.gov using the PA and SR forms respectively. You can read more in depth about this procedure in this wonderful checklist from MusicRadar here. Don't forget to connect with a marketing team or learn how to market yourself so that you can align with music production companies to get your sounds commercialized. One reputable company is called Taxi. If music commercialization isn't right for you and you want to learn how to build your own campaigns for your small business or organization, book a consultation with Mika Vonsha Productions, LLC today. 

    Products/Merch 

Canva is a great tool to not only prepare and run marketing ads, but also for creating informational posts and designing merchandise. There are thousands of templates, stock photos, elements, designs, and even an entire branding plan if you decide to go pro. Canva has been well worth the investment for this independent creative entrepreneur. 

    Services 

In conjunction to your website, blog, social media, or About Me page, post your services on platforms such as Fiverr and Bark with a direct link to book with you using Calendly or other appointment setting service and receive direct payment through Stripe or PayPal for your services. I like Calendly because it connects directly to my master calendar ensuring that I never miss an appointment. Just be sure you are available on your linked calendar before you set up your hours on Calendly. Otherwise, clients will have difficulty booking with you and it will appear that you are never available. What's more is that you can also use sites like Fiverr and Bark to find contractors to work with to complete certain projects and even find useful tools for connecting your calendars or finding the best times to meet. 

   *UPDATE* (10/24/23 Edition) As an aside and update to this 2022 publication of this post, I thought it would be extremely helpful to current readers to mention what actually HAS BEEN working for the services stream of my business. Over the past year, I have found that focusing on working for the sake of learning has been a game changer in that it has led to the development of community partnerships where I can use their spaces and networks to offer my music lesson and consultation services. In fact, we are currently focused on expanding our community outreach in this way by fulfilling the needs of our communities directly through the stakeholders like local schools and colleges in addition to advertising on virtual spaces like Craigslist and Fiverr. This opens up avenues for presenting your products and services at festivals and arts markets as well. 

AdSense, affiliate marketing, and copyright royalties take minutes to set up and can start generating income within a month. But remember, the same value you offer in terms of quality of your products and services and the quantity of potential customers reached through your consistent marketing strategy, is what you get out. That being said, I am no financial advisor and this is not a get rich quick scheme. Everything mentioned in this article takes hard work and dedication. Even what is considered "passive income" takes work to set up. The most challenging part for many is the tenacity it takes to work before getting paid anything at all and the patience to wait for the desired results. 

4. Stay cool, calm, and collected. 

Please do not be like me. As mentioned in the beginning of this article, I dodged burnout like a game of cat and mouse until-- I´m still dodging burnout! Connecting with other entrepreneurs and venting about common challenges helped me realize the ease of asking for help and expanding. This must be done without complaining of course! That would go against the law of compensation and opulence! (more on that later). While we are in the midst of pulling every intricate detail together into a cohesive and functional machine of systems, we must stay completely relaxed. It´s okay to ask for help. It´s okay to hire a contractor. If money is still heavy in consciousness, it is also possible to barter services. Many artists still practice bartering to fulfill grant requirements or get start-ups going. All in all, you will need a protocol in place to calm your nerves when things feel a bit risky.

For example: Meditation, yoga, autosuggestion, lo-fi vibes, and nature are some of the many ways I ease tension. Creative entrepreneurship is indeed a joyful ride, but I do hope you like rollercoasters.

5.  Take good care of your thoughts about money. 

The Law of Mentalism states that thoughts lead to things. I'd like to add that thoughts lead to words which lead to actions which lead to habits. Many of us have habits that we are not even aware of. Self-awareness is key to taking good care of your thoughts so that there is not even a chance for a bad habit about money to go unnoticed. However, it is a practice. Practice does indeed make the master and so with time, you will be completely free of any limiting belief around money and have developed the right routines for making it work for you. With conscious awareness, we can better see what is in our way, love ourselves through our shortcomings, and find the motivation to do our best. 

For example: I took Sunlight Tax´s Money Bootcamp course and met on an as-needed basis with an accountant to gain bookkeeping skills so that I could wear that hat too until I grew my business enough to hire an accountant full time. Bottom line - do whatever it takes to ease your tensions around money and support your knowledge in it so that you have the confidence to make wise investments and handle your dough like a boss. Money is linked to the vibrations of health and success as well, so keep your thoughts pure. 

"The Un-Doing" 

Conclusion

Thus far, you've gotten very clear about your honest desires: knowing what you want to give and why; you've found extra ways to make money to save towards your business and ease any tension; you've researched possible revenue streams that make sense for your business; you've adopted an emotional regulation practice leading to a growth mindset; and now it's time to share and promote! 

Even though these five steps to monetizing your artistry are numbered, they are in actuality, continuous. With all the negative talk surrounding affluence for artists, it is imperative that we incorporate emotional intelligence and social emotional learning into our practices. There is no need to harbor resentment towards anyone that has doubted your abilities or potential success as it would not be in your benefit. The real truth is quite simple: we ALL need to eat. As the old saying goes, "where there is a will, there is a way." If for you, the way is creative, the coolest thing about creative entrepreneurship is that the how is all yours -- you have full and free creative expression.  

For the Creatives is a blog for creative entrepreneurs desiring financial freedom. I am not a financial advisor, but merely a musician and dancer documenting the process of monetizing my artistry so other creative entrepreneurs can have their most pressing questions answered too.

Values: Family, Friends, Fun, Fearless Creativity, Freedom

Freedom =  Health, Wealth, & Success

My hope is that if I share my honest research with creative entrepreneurs through this blog, I will be rightly guided by their feedback to our shared goal of creative freedom. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 #creativeentrepreneur #monetizeyourartistry #strugglingartist #thinkandgrowrich #entrepreneurrollercoaster #universallaw #cashflowquadrant #overcomingunderearning #beyourself

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-With an abundance of Love, 

Mika Vonshá