Russell Collins Art

Making More Money From Art-5 – A Review of Previous Posts

I have been pleasantly surprised by the reaction to my series of posts in numerous art groups about how artists can start to make more money from their art.

This post will review what I have written in the past few weeks. It will also answer a few questions raised by readers, and I hope clear up some misconceptions.

I will then talk about some of the subjects I will cover in future blog posts.

At the very end there is some information regarding removable car headrests. Few people know that a car seat headrest has been designed the way it is, to be a life saver. Knowledge of this information could have saved the lives of many people trapped in cars if they had known about it. It is something that every car owner should know about.

Making More Money From Art

This was the post that started it all off. I said that artists could make more money from their art by making a few small changes to add value to their art or workshops. Adding value means that you provide something that costs very little, but has a high value to your customer. You could add something that costs 5 (a bigger canvas say), but allows you to charge another 10 -15. Adding something that costs you 5, might not allow you to charge more for your workshop, it might though get more places sold.

Making More Money From Art-2 – Government Art Subsidy

I said that profit was not a dirty word, and that artists should try to maximise their profits. Many artists do painting courses to improve their skills. Many artists do recognised certification courses that teach the techniques of well known artists. the names Gary Jenkins, Bob Ross and Bill Alexander come to mind. These courses are expensive, but artists who get certified can then teach workshops for a fee. This means that they can recoup the cost of their certification courses, earn extra income and make more profit. I also said artists could get a form of Government Art Subsidy, by claiming back the cost of producing and selling art.

Taxation

Governments raise money by taxation and they can only tax a profit. If you sell your art or crafts you make income and you should be taxed on that income. You have a legal and moral duty to declare ALL your income for tax purposes. You have no moral duty though to pay one penny more tax than you have to

To produce your art or crafts you need to buy materials.  You also need to travel to the shop or store to buy materials, and this travelling costs you money. You might also have exhibition, workshop and craft fayre costs. All these are your outgings or expenditure.

You are taxed on your income…minus…your legitimate expenditure. There is nothing wrong with maximising your income. There is nothing wrong with claiming back every single penny of legitimate expenditure and using it to reduce your level of taxable income. Just make sure you keep all your receipts, Keep receipts of all your out goings, the materials you buy, the services, training, tools that you buy, Keep accurate journey mileage and dates so that you can add the cost of fuel, or claim the cost per mile that you are allowed.

When it is time to do your tax return, make sure you add the income from your sales, and deduct the expenses that you have. This will help you reduce your tax bill, and give you a form of Government subsidy for your art.

Making More Money From Art-3 – Economics of Art

I made the point that the price of a product or service is the price that people are willing to pay for it. Factors such as subject, colour, your name, and location all contribute to the price people are prepared to pay for your art or tuition.

Painting Workshops

If you don’t sell many spaces in your workshop, then maybe your price is too high. I think it more likely that you haven’t advertised your workshop very well. What you can do to get more attendees, is to keep in touch with your existing customers. Do a mailing letter every month, make a few phone calls, maybe advertise. Do the normal marketing things that anyone should do when they want to sell their product or service.

If you have too many people wanting to attend your workshop, or buy your art, then your prices are too low. You can increase your prices to a level that will fill your workshop thus making you more profit.

Making More Money From Art-4 – Painting Workshops

This post described how you could get additional income from your workshop by uploading high quality photos of your student’s artwork to a POD (Print On Demand) service. Your students will be producing their own masterpiece during the workshops that you run. They would probably like some reproductions of their masterpieces. If you upload photos of their artwork to a POD site, this would give them the opportunity to get copies of their masterpiece in many different formats. Because they would effectively be buying these reproductions from you, they would be providing you with additional profit.

This was a difficult concept for a number of people to understand. Some thought that I was suggesting that an artist can use POD sites to sell their own artwork, and of course they can do this. What I was suggesting is that YOU set up a POD site that will be used to store YOUR student’s images. Your students could then buy reproductions of their artwork from the POD site if they want to. Because they will be buying from the POD site that you set up, then you would gain extra profit from their purchases.

Future Subjects

I will write articles that cover workshop strategy, additional extras, marketing and advertising. I am getting quote good at the SEO side of things now and will write some articles on SEO for artists.

And Finally

How The Car Seat Headrest Could Save Your Life.

It is not art, but it is an example of creative thinking. Do you know why headrests can be removed from the back of your car seat? Do you know why the metal rods that hold them in position taper to a point?

The headrest of car seats are deliberately kept detachable and the rods sharp. This is so that they can be used to break open the windscreen and window glass in an emergency. Car glass is also designed to be weaker when broken form the inside, than when broken from the outside.

How many people have died because they could not get out of a car after an accident.

Making more Money From Art-4

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