The first question is about your routine.
If you’re serious about earning a living from your art — aiming for profit and increased income — you’ll spend an average of at least half your time on business and marketing.
In a 40-hour week, that’s 20 hours on everything outside making the work itself: updating your database, writing a newsletter, sharing on social, packing and shipping. If you only have 10 hours for your art business every week, 5 will go to the business and 5 to the studio.
And contrary to what you might expect, success doesn’t shrink that number. The more your career grows, the more demands arrive from galleries, museums, collectors, and the team helping you manage it all.
More success means more business, not less.
That figure might be lower when you’re heads-down focused on a new body of work and higher when you’re busily promoting your upcoming show. You have to account for your schedule and obligations and, again, know what you’re willing to spend on your goals.
If you want a rewarding art business, meaning you’re aiming for profit, you have to be realistic about what it asks of you when you make the commitment.