When people think about launching an art business, they often imagine long nights in the studio, refining technique, building a portfolio, and maybe learning how to launch an online store and craft a beautiful social media presence.
But for me, none of those things truly moved the needle – at least not on their own. What gave me the real confidence to start and grow my art business wasn’t another painting class or branding course. It was spending 12 months knocking on doors and pitching products to strangers in Singapore. That experience taught me the one crucial skill many artists and creatives overlook: sales.
Sales is the single most important non-art skill that fuelled the success of my art business. Learning how to communicate value, handle objections, and build relationships with potential customers gave me the confidence that I could not only create, but also sell my work.
The practice of engaging in real conversations, refining my pitch, and facing rejection head-on completely transformed the way I approached my business. Without developing this skill, By Kerwin may never have gotten off the ground.
Read below to find out how immersing myself in the world of sales was the key to launching my art business. Read the full story of how and why I moved to Singapore – and how it was transformational for me – in my blog post here.
Spending 12 months working in door-to-door & face-to-face sales at a start-up in Singapore was the experience that provided me the final confidence to launch my art business, By Kerwin, in late 2019.
As an artist who launched my art business, By Kerwin, selling my original acrylic paintings and prints, in 2019, I am fortunate to have always had some degree of natural painting and creative ability. (I knew this aged 2 at nursery – I remember enjoying the arts & craft sessions, particularly the painting activities, and being able to accomplish these faster and better than everyone else.)
Many years later, in 2012, I enrolled at business school to study BSc International Business, Finance & Economics at the University of Manchester – I always had the ambition of starting my own business, creating some sort of product range one day, and this would provide much of the knowledge needed to do so.
Over the following few years, while learning many of the concepts and ideas required to build my entrepreneurial skillset, I began to sense that there was one glaring area I hadn’t exposed myself to in my first work experiences: that of sales, and performing the role of the salesperson. While I might have an idea of how the sales process should work, I knew that I hadn’t yet developed the skill of having difficult conversations or negotiations, and I knew this was a weakness in my current skillset.
While contributing indirectly to my previous teams’ sales efforts, I hadn’t yet put myself directly into a sales role, so I decided to take myself out of my comfort zone and gain that vital skillset that would provide myself with the evidence needed to one day start my own venture. And I did just that – while at the same moving to Asia of all places to do so.
During my Master’s degree in international development at King’s College London between 2017-18 – which I decided to pursue due to my interest in global business and economics, as well fascination with Asian culture and history, I was lucky enough to find and secure an internship at a retail start-up in Singapore. They needed fresh graduates to contribute to the company’s sales efforts, while also helping develop the product ranges (it was a florist and gift hamper delivery business) and general operations. For someone who was looking for hands-on sales and business experience while also experiencing living abroad for the first time, it was the ideal opportunity.
I ended up spending over a year at that start-up and gaining invaluable first-hand sales experience – practicing how to knock on the door of a cold prospect and initiate a conversation; pitching our products and then building the relationship, handling negotiations over the following weeks and ultimately closing deals. I had never envisaged myself working in flowers, but it’s an interesting industry that provided great work and sales exposure. I’d also studied the logistical challenges of working with fresh produce so this is another dimension I can now save I’ve experienced!
It was initially a daunting experience – approaching office reception desks in some of Singapore’s premier commercial skyscrapers, knowing the majority of attempts would be met with rejection, if not blunt refusal to even engage. But the practice of doing this dozens of times a day, several days a week – learning how to craft my elevator pitch of our services to meet the prospect’s needs and viewpoint – was incredibly rewarding.
Around this time I had also begun painting my new collection of portrait paintings, with the intention to start a small online shop selling these. Having also begun learning the technical e-commerce and website skills I needed to get started, it was ultimately this hands-on, face-to-face sales experience that provided me with the final confidence that I could sell my art.
I knew that if I had been able to emigrate 7000 miles across the world and succeed in my first sales role, I would be able to handle the challenge of selling my art and all that building a solo art business would entail.
One of the stereotypical images of a young, aspiring (and often “starving”) artist or creative is someone engrossed in their creative ideas and craft, but lacking the commercial acumen to sufficiently sell their work to meet their ambitions and make ends meet or really generate any traction as a viable customer-oriented commercial venture.
This doesn’t need to be the case – all of the commercial requirements of being a successful, profitable artists can be learned. One thing I’ve noticed holding such artists back however, is often their attitude to the commercial and sales side of their artistic practice – I’ve met many artists and creatives who are vehemently against the notion of pricing and promoting their work and themselves.
This attitude needs to change – and once this has then the process of learning and embedding the necessary commercial skills into their practice can be a rewarding and fulfilling one for such artists.
I would recommend all aspiring artists and creatives to gain some practical commercial experience – and sales in particular. This skillset will complement their craft and give them the knowledge and experience to more confidently pitch their art or work. My business, By Kerwin, certainly wouldn’t have been possible without it.
Read more of my exclusive insights into building my art business in my dedicated blog section, “Confessions of a Pop Artist”, here.
My full range of Jackson Pollock-inspired acrylic paintings can be viewed at bykerwin.com – the originals and prints of these are available to purchase, with worldwide delivery. You can follow my art progress on Instagram and Facebook.
