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Does Your New Grad Want to Be an Artist?

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Many of our children have just graduated, and some of them want to be artists.

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For many parents, this may be a disconcerting thought, because it will lead many grads down the path of entrepreneurship. This will be the only path that will allow them to pursue the type of art they are passionate about.

This can be a concern for parents as they understand how challenging the path of entrepreneurship is and only want the best for their children. They don't want them to experience setbacks or failures in life.

So, what should a parent do if they have a grad that wants to be an artist? Don’t worry!

I asked this very question to a friend of mine, a successful artist and entrepreneur Craig Alexander of Craig Alexander Photography in Franklin, TN.

His response may surprise you as he suggested three steps a new grad should take to begin to establish themselves as an artist and sell their work.

First, Craig suggests they need to know their market. Survey them. Find out what they are interested in buying. Ask questions of your market and see what their responses are. Get real live feedback… they may give you four answers, three may be dull, but one their eyes light up when they say it. Choose that one.

Second, they will need to become the best salesperson they can be. Most people, when they hear that, will roll their eyes, and say 'I don't want to be salesperson, I just want to create my art.'

Most artists… 99% of the most fantastic, talented, amazing, brilliant, kind, wonderful artists don't know how to sell their stuff.

An artist who can sell is 100,000 times more likely to make it than an artist who can't sell.

Third, and this one is likely to come most naturally to them, they will need to create content on social media, whether it's the process that goes into making their art or people's reactions to it. Show the successes, show the conflict, show what they are struggling with themselves. Show anything to let people in… they will need to show them their world.

To sum it up for grads, if they survey their market, become the best salesperson they can be, and show it all on social media they are much more likely to succeed.


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