An Artist's Guide to Starting a Profitable Side Gig
Liam Andrew
May 24, 2021 • 8 min read
Building a career in the arts requires a great deal of time and commitment. You must have a strong willingness to practice, learn, and grow as an artist and as a person. However, you cannot simply neglect your daily needs and obligations in favor of focusing solely on your art. At times, you may even require some healthy spiritual stimulation to renew your inspiration and motivation.
Starting a side gig is one way you can keep a functional balance between your financial needs and your drive to further your art. Here are some tips from Collective Minds, Inc. to get you started!
Understand What a Side Gig Can Do For Your Art Career
While your main focus may be to make a living through art, having a side gig can grant you some stability until you are able to consistently earn enough as an artist. If you treat your side gig as a part-time job, you will also have the time and flexibility to continue honing your craft. Even when you feel confident in the level of your ability, building a following can take some time and effort as well.
Keep in mind that running a side gig can give you valuable hands-on experience when it comes to marketing and business management. When your art career takes off, you will be grateful for what you learn from your part-time hustle.
Find the Right Opportunities to Further Your Goal
There are many business needs that you can satisfy either locally or online. Take the time to consider whether you would like to provide a service to your community or work remotely with clients. Reflect on what you are passionate about, aside from your artistic dreams, and use that as a starting point. Some side gigs idea you might consider include:
- Teach others how to create art or music
- Become a makeup artist
- Gather freelance writing gigs
- Find your niche within e-commerce
- Live stream your art or progress
This is also a good time to update your resume. You don’t have to have a stuffy, boring, Times New Roman version, either. Look into resumes for artists, musicians, or whatever creative avenue you are passionate about pursuing. This free resume tool can help you by providing great templates into which you can add your experience, so you don’t have to spend forever fiddling with the formatting. Instead, you can focus on the content and showcasing your art-related experience.
Build Brand Awareness for Your Services
Whatever path you choose for your side hustle, Emeritus emphasizes that marketing is an essential part of finding success. The first and most important thing you need is an appealing logo. You can attract a customer’s attention and build long-lasting awareness by designing a stellar image that conveys the spirit of your business.
Keep in mind that you do not need to hire an experienced graphic designer to get an eye-catching logo. Instead, leverage your artistic talent and create your own brand imagery with an online logo maker. The best platforms provide a variety of templates, fonts, and colors that you can mix and match until you have the perfect logo that fits with your business.
You can also work with Collective Minds, Inc. to get your name out there. They push your art using their digital marketing methods so that you can stay focused on your passion.
Establish Yourself as a Formal Business
Even if you view your side gig as little more than a way to make some extra cash,
establishing it as a formal business can make a huge difference. Your audience may take you more seriously and you can enjoy certain benefits. For example, forming a limited liability company (LLC) can grant you tax advantages, flexibility, and fewer liabilities.
Should you decide to form an LLC, be aware of the rules and regulations that exist in your state. There are also lawyer fees to consider; however, you can bypass these by filing yourself or better yet, enlisting the help of an online formation service that’s already familiar with all the LLC regulations in your state.
Learn to Fund Your Passion
If you are a student or otherwise working to improve your art skills, starting a side gig might be your best option for making ends meet. Cision Distribution reports that almost 40% of young people aged 18 to 24, many of whom are students, have a side gig. Following a few business best practices will help you start a profitable hustle and give you peace of mind as you strive to become a full-time artist. Determine what roles will best suit your skill set, think about ways to build brand awareness, and establish yourself as a business to underscore legitimacy. In no time, you’ll have a profitable side gig that allows you to follow
your artistic dreams.