Today I’m doing a special episode to celebrate this podcast. After 2 years, 3 months, and 177 episodes, I have reached 150,000 downloads! This episode will give you a small history of my show, and I’ve included clips of some of the best art business tips. I’ve also included some behind the scenes clips and bloopers. I’ll be back to artist interviews on my next episode next Wednesday. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, CastBox, or Stitcher. Suzanne Redmond Thanks so much for listening to my podcast! You can follow me on Instagram @suzanneredmondart or @theleftbrainartist And on Facebook Suzanne Redmond Art.

Artist Lindsay Ostrom started her art career as a retail shop owner who specialized in craft supplies like paper and rubber stamps. As the art trends changed, so did she, and she evolved into a scrapbooker and a lettering artist. Just since the pandemic began, she has brought her artwork to a large Facebook community, and she creates art with them every morning. She’s published many books and has quite a few online lettering art classes. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, CastBox, or Stitcher. Lindsay Ostrom This is Lindsay's website: Lindsay Ostrom -- Creator of Cuteness. And her blog: lindsayostrom.blogspot.com This is her Etsy shop: the paper rabbit....Lindsay Ostrom. creator of by ThePaperRabbit Instagram: @lindsayannostrom You may also join her Facebook group, where she hosts daily art making get togethers, Creative Hand Lettering with Lindsay And this is her Facebook page, Lindsay Waltman-Ostrom. Lindsay was recently a guest instructor on Tracy Weinzapfel's 12-hour Art Party. You can find out when Tracy is hosting that again by going to her website yourartfuljourney.com or her Facebook page Art Journaling with Tracy Weinzapfel. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: I think Lindsay is a prime example of “If you build it, they will come.” When the world first went on lockdown due to Covid-19, she went on her Lettering Facebook page, and just started doing art, every morning. Soon others joined her to see what she was doing. She has been showing up every day ever since, and so have a lot of other people who want to make art with her or just watch her make art. Consistency is key in this case, to growing an audience. For Lindsay, it’s important to have your own hand lettering in your art. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it means so much more when it is your own. She suggests that you do a little bit of hand lettering every day and you will get better at it. For her classes, she teaches techniques but also provides sheets to download for practicing. Lindsay offers classes on Facebook that are done Live or later if you didn’t get to it Live. She also offers classes on her Etsy shop that you can do any time. Lindsay told us about a Facebook feature called Units and Files. These are great to use if you are offering a series of lessons within a class. The group of lessons can be called a Unit. Then people don’t have to search through your page for a certain lesson, they can just look up the Unit and see which Files are in that Unit. She has also taught through other artist’s sites. That’s a great way to get your name out to a whole new audience, because all of the hosts followers could potentially follow you now that they’ve heard of you through a class you’ve taught on their site. Lindsay has used a licensing agent before to get her artwork on products.…

Artist London Kaye is an LA-based yarn bomber. In her form of street art, she creates crocheted art pieces that she leaves in a public place for others to enjoy. She gets commissions to do large crocheted pieces, and has made a name for herself in both New York and Los Angeles. She’s also written a book about the art of crochet and she has patented her own style of crochet hook. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, CastBox, or Stitcher. London Kaye Justice for George Floyd: London created this and flew to Washington, D.C. to place it at the fencing in front of The White House. It is now a part of the Smithsonian's records of the Black Lives Matter protests. Crocheted billboard in Times Square. London's website is londonkaye.com. She can be found on Instagram at @madebylondon. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: London is doing street art, meaning she is putting her art out in public places. She installs her creations during the day so she is clear in what she’s doing, and people can engage with her as she is setting it up. She will try to get permission if she can, or she will move something if she is asked. She also leaves a tag with her name so people can contact her if they want. More than once, that has given her additional future work. When she does very large crocheted pieces, she will get other crocheters to help her make some of the panels. Always remember that you can ask for help if you have a big project and a tight deadline. Now that we are doing so many events virtually, think about doing art get togethers through Zoom or other platforms. Everyone can be home working on their own projects, but socializing with other artists virtually. London talks about a challenge she heard about on a Ted Talk. It suggested doing something new for 30 days. If you still like doing it after 30 days, then that’s probably something you should stick with. That’s a great way to find out what your true passions are. When accepting commissions, you need to make sure you have a clear budget and timeline from the client, and they have accepted your sketched proposal. When creating pieces for an installation, it’s best to make extra pieces and also bring extra materials in case you need to alter it at the installation stage.

Megan Auman is a jewelry artist from Pennsylvania. She majored in metalsmithing in college and now makes stunning jewelry from steel and silver. She has many years of experience with retail sales as well as showing her creations at wholesale trade shows. She now teaches other artists how to profit from their creativity through her classes and coaching. Listen here or download from iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, CastBox, or Stitcher. Megan Auman You can see Megan's jewelry at meganauman.com. Her classes are on that website but also on designinganmba.com. Her newest class is called Sell without Shame. Registration is still open, so you can jump in any time. Megan can also be found on Instagram. Here are some great takeaways from our conversation: Megan went to a trade show to sell her jewelry to wholesalers. One benefit of that is she knows exactly what items to make and how many. She’s not playing a guessing game and making the items before hand like she would when she was selling in a retail show. If you are looking to create your first online class, start with something that you really know well. Megan’s first class was about how to work trade shows, because that’s where she had a lot of experience. For anyone who has had a blog for many years, realize that you have a ton of content. That content can be a source for online classes or ebooks. Megan has kept her blog posts about business on a separate website from where she sells her jewelry. This is a good idea since they are two very different things. Some of her online classes are live and some are prerecorded. Even with the prerecorded ones, she gives her students a way to interact with her. She has changed her classes to a self-paced style. That way her students can take it when it is convenient for them. When you are making an online course, you don’t have to have all the lessons created before you launch the course. You can let the students work through the first couple of lessons, and you can respond to what they want and design the next lessons accordingly. When offering an online course, you need to have a way to interact with the students. Some instructors do that through a separate Facebook group. Others use a platform that provides that. Megan uses the platform Thinkific which has a discussion section built in. You don’t have to look at your art as if it will only sell if it solves a problem. Your art can sell simply because it gives an emotional pull to the viewer. Video is a great way to sell your products now, but the camera doesn’t have to be on your face. It can be on your hands and the product. However, you should at least have a photo of yourself on your About page of your website. People want to see the artist and know who they are buying from.…