Monetizing Your Craft: Funding Tips for Creatives

Whether you are an artist, poet, writer, craftsman or other creative, you have a passion that drives you. Turning your passion into a profitable business can be a challenge when funding is not readily available. This blog shares five (5) ways that you can fund your creative pursuits. These funding tips for creatives can help you monetize your craft and turn your passion into profits.

1. Crowdfunding

Many of my clients tend to steer away from crowdfunding, but crowdfunding is a viable way to finance a business. Platforms like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Patreon are good tools for creatives seeking financial support.

With crowdfunding, you can choose to focus on one specific project or ongoing creative works. For project funding, you can launch a crowdfunding campaign for a book, a recording or album, or creating artwork or a series of art works. Here’s how it works:

For funds raised through a crowdfunding platform:

Research and select your platform. Create an account and write a detailed description of the project you want to fund. Set a fundraising goal and be specific about what you will do with the money you receive. Add images, video, and offer rewards to capture your audience’s attention and keep them engaged. Promote you crowdfunding campaign on social media, in email marketing campaigns, on your website. Be sure to monitor your results and thank you contributors.

For funds raised through Patreon:

Using a platform like Patreon allows creatives to set up membership-based support. Patreon allows you to offer exclusive content for subscribers who pay a monthly fee. For a musician or singer, this could be unreleased works, behind the scenes footage, or maybe exclusive interviews.

2. Grants and Scholarships

Many organizations, foundations, arts counsels, and state and local governments grants and scholarships that can provide financial support for creatives. You can do google search and set up search alerts that will send grant opportunities right to your inbox.

Look for grants that are relevant to your art form or niche. Search alerts can be set up for daily or weekly updates. I choose daily because some grant opportunities have a quick turnaround time, meaning, you may only have a few weeks, or sometimes days to apply. When applying for a grant or scholarship, prepare a compelling message for your grant application and provide samples of your work if applicable.

3. Self-Financing Through Sales

Creatives can fund their business from selling their creative works. This tends to have a low, and sometimes no, start-up cost, but it requires discipline because it’s very tempting to use revenue generated from sales for daily living expenses versus saving it or reinvesting it in the business.

Visual artist, craftsmen, and digital artist can explore selling their works online on sites like Etsy or Facebook Marketplace. You can also participate in local craft fairs and pop-up events. Writers can self-publish works with sites like Amazon KDP, Lulu and others. And if you are a musician, you can sell your music on platforms like Spotify, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Apple Play Music, Amazon Music and more.

4. Workshops and Classes

While teaching isn’t for everyone, some creatives do like to teach their craft to others. So, hosting workshops and online courses can be another source of funding, or stream of income. If this is an option you want to explore, identify what you want to teach. Develop an outline or agenda for your workshop or course. Then promote your course or outline on social media, in email marketing, and other marketing channels.

5. Art Commissions and Freelance Work

Creatives can offer their services as a freelancer. For instance, writers can offer writing services. Musicians can offer custom works like podcast theme music, music for commercials, intro music for independent films or television shows. And visual artist can create commissioned art projects like murals for cities, counties, or businesses. Networking will be important to make this approach successful.

As you can see, there are many ways that creatives can fund their passion ranging from crowdfunding to self-financing to commissioned work. Combining several of these initiatives can help you develop a solid funding strategy and grow a successful business. If you need assistance with exploring these options in more detail, Harmon Business Consulting is here to help! Contact me for a free consultation at katrinka@harmonbusinessconsulting.com using the subject line “Monetizing Your Craft.”