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8 min 59 sec

Freelance Illustrator Helps Other Artists Sell Their Work

A successful illustrator creates a side business earning more than $25,000 a year by helping artists sell their work online.
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What It's About

A successful artist finds a way to help other artists be successful as well.

Business Model
Coaching
Skills Required
Artistic & Communication
Complexity
Medium
Profit Potential
Medium

Words of Wisdom

To get artists to sign up for his newsletter, Chris offers a free 10-day email series, with nine free lessons on how to use story to sell art. Then on the tenth day he tells them about his paid workshop. Regardless whether they sign up or not, he makes sure that the weekly article and newsletter he send out contains valuable content.

This free series generates the most sales for him, and it's a great example of offering a soft sell for additional services.

Fun Fact

One of Chris's favorite things about his side hustle is getting to interact with people from all over the world. He’s helped artists from over 30 countries—from Zimbabwe to Croatia—sell their art online, all from the comfort of his home in San Diego, or from a hotel balcony when he’s out traveling the world.

Notes from Chris

Episode 81

There are a lot of artists out there, and the majority of them don’t make much money off of their art. Today's side hustle story features a successful California illustrator named Chris Wilson who makes more than $25,000 a year on the site by helping artists accomplish their business goals.

This is not a unique business model—it's a textbook example of "Information Marketing." Chris shares a lot of valuable information and resources with his subscribers, and then offers premium (paid) content for those who are willing to invest more time and effort into mastering the material.

This model has been changing though with the rise of technology. It’s a lot like art itself, or music, or any form of publishing in the fact that it won’t ever go away completely. Instead, it evolves.

If this is something you're interested in and want to create a hustle in this field, here are few tips:

1. Provide a real unique selling point (USP), and make sure that it appeals to a specific need of your audience.
2. Make sure that your content is results-focused.
3. Be a legit authority in the field. In other words, actually do what you're claiming to show people how to do.
4. Provide high-quality content and include some kind of wow factor or hook to reel them in.

It definitely is an attractive business model with a lot of benefits—you just need to be able to work hard at it.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

SEE ALSO:

  • Art Biz Coach: Alyson Stanfield is an art business consultant and author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio: The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion
  • The Abundant Artist: Cory Huff offers hundreds of free blog posts, podcast episodes, and instructional videos on selling art online
Inspiration is good; inspiration combined with action is better. Now get back to work!

Yours in the revolution,

Chris Guillebeau
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Resources

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Quote of the Day
"A driving force in my teaching is getting an excited email from a student who made their first sale online. I’m so stoked I can help artists turn their art into a business. It makes everything worth it."
—Chris Wilson #SideHustleSchool

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To infinity and beyond,

Chris Guillebeau