Art Business 2021 Review
Get nerdy with me!
I want to get down and dirty breaking down the business side of my art life as I review 2021!
I love finance and I love talking about money, even though it seems a bit taboo. I just think artists and creatives should get PAID. I also think that all artists and women in particular should talk more about the business side of what they do so I am going to plunge it and open the curtain for you. If you need some extra help with pricing your art, I have an amazing free download that will break it down for you! Get it here:
In 2021 a few big things happened.
Late in 2020, I joined Quickbooks and hired a bookkeeper to help me set it up. Okay, it’s not sexy but it’s ***necessary***! I maintained it myself by updating it at least weekly. I may be a bit unusual (okay, definitely), but I enjoy monitoring the financial end of my business, and it helps me make adjustments in the middle of things. My business has been doubling year over year for the past 5 years or so, and my basic excel spreadsheet of yore, did not have the necessary tools to keep up. Quickbooks gave me so much more clarity on the day-to-day operations and I never regretted it one time.
More 2021 milestones, my husband left his corporate engineering job of 17 years to come and be the operations director at Josie Lewis Art Inc! This is HUGE and it's been so fun to have him on the shop floor so to speak. The man can literally make ANYTHING if I have a concept I need help with (shaped canvases! Oh yeah, he made them) Rainbow molds, yup, he made it! He's also a business genius so having him fully involved is the best thing EVER.
My art revenue increased by 50%!
I came in with revenue in the mid 6 figures. Intense, but great.
Here is the breakdown of my revenue streams:
About 55% of revenue was original art or prints. I created about 4000 shipments from my house, I don't sell wholesale at all and I haven't done any live events for 7 years, even before COVID. I have a studio shop update about once a month and more during the holidays. I rarely do commissions, although I did a few in 2021.
35% of my revenue was from online courses and watercolor supplies. I have a really cute watercolor set that I've been retailing for about 3 years. I also expanded my watercolor online courses, and near the end of the year released my first ever acrylic course! I'm super excited about this. For 2022, this is my main goal area of focused growth.
The remaining 10% of revenue was from licensing jigsaw puzzles! So fun! I also did some creative video and illustration work for clients like Target, and Blick Art Supply.
My expenses categories are as follows:
40% of my expenses were supply related. The Home Depot and Blick.com line items are PRETTY CRAZY.
20% of my expenses were contractor related. I hired temps and specialists to help with shipping, video editing, video production, photography, studio and shop help, expertise in facebook ads, etc. I would love to pay more people more money to help me, but since my husband was the big hire of 2022, the employee growth curve will be smaller this year.
15% was shipping and freight--mostly USPS because I find them to be reliable and fast.
10% was advertising and marketing, this number surprised me especially since I don't think it brought it much business, facebook ads are HARD.
Another 10% was Digital stuff like maintaining websites, URLS, subscriptions, memberships, internet, etc.
And finally, for those keeping track, the last 5% is random overhead type stuff.
I have a home studio which is more like: I have a bedroom in my studio. About 65% of my total home is studio related.
My net profit margin was about 60% which I think is pretty legit!
Things I want to bring into the new year: excitement of working with Ryan the cutest shop director a girl could ask for, continuing to bring beautiful art to people and developing new ideas, expanding the digital product suite, and bring more of The Josie Show to YOU!
