Alternate Income: "The Starving Artist"
The best way
to avoid being a so called "starving artist" coined from
the artists that became richer after they were dead, is to have
an alternate income aside from your work. This means when gig's
are scarce and sales are low you can still be financially set and
have the freedom of working on your art. Lets take a look at some
possibilities that you could do
Merchandising
Why not have hats, clothing and other items for sale, not only will
these generate additional income but they will help promote your
business or artwork too. there is a website called cafepress.com
that allows you to create your own merchandise and sell it on a
per item basis with no over head expense required. so what have
you got to lose, this is a no-investment pure profit idea. These
products are also great to bring to gigs, and other promotional
events. Include ways to order your merchandise inside cd covers,
if they bought your cd chances are, that they are the ones that
will buy your gear too.
Sell your Old Junk on eBay
Everybody's heard the term "one mans junk is another mans treasure"
so search your attic for stuff you don't need and trade it in for
some dough, I'm sure that money is a little more versatile than
keeping boxes of junk around. Another great technique to use on
ebay is to sell off your top of the line gear before it becomes
out dated and use the money towards and upgrade, this works great
for sound equipment and computers and keeps your studio on the cutting
edge of technology at a very minimal expense.
Make Money with a Website
Hopefully if your an artist of any sort you probably have a website,
but if you don't get one. With a web site, you can not only sell
your artwork or music but you can also use it to sell advertising
space. the best way this is achieved is by signing up to an affiliate
program. Why not try to sell something else and get paid for it
if you have a visitor already waiting on your site. there are many
good ways to get paid for advertising, but I can recommend 'bid
clix' and 'googles adsense program'.
Save your Money
Saving money is the same thing as making money. If you can learn
not to be a wasteful spender, those rough financial times happen less.
Don't waste your money unless you have it to throw away. Be sure to
consolidate all of your debts and get rid of those nasty credit cards.
Learn to not spend money you don't have and you'll have more money
later on.
These are just a few methods of alternative income for artists
that want to continue to spend their time doing what they love and
not working a 2nd job they hate. I also want to wish you the best
of luck in your career as an artist.
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