Creative Business Handbook: Follow Your Passions and Be Your Own Boss

By Alicia Puig, Ekaterina Popova and Leila S. Hayes

Offering veteran insight and friendly, actionable advice from two self-made women who manage three six-figure businesses, this practical handbook acts as a roadmap to guide anyone wanting to build a profitable venture out of their creative passion.

Figuring out how to make a living from your creative work poses unique challenges and obstacles. From choosing the right business model to building a brand, from managing your time to scaling up your production—starting your own creative business often means doing it all yourself. Enter The Creative Business Handbook by Alicia Puig and Ekaterina Popova, the dynamic duo behind Create! Magazine.

With its conversational tone and accessible advice, this handbook lays an essential foundation for anyone wanting to earn a living with their art—no fancy business degree required! In addition to nuts-and-bolts advice based on the authors' real-life experiences, each chapter of the book includes an interview with a creative entrepreneur from a different background and craft, and ends with action steps that will help keep you on track. Written by creative business owners for creative business owners, this is the perfect book for anyone with a vision who is ready to hit the ground running.

EXPERT AUTHORS: Informed by the authors' decades of experience founding and managing three successful creative businesses—as well as the lessons they learned from some projects that didn't stand the test of time—this book offers tried-and-true advice for artists looking to get their creative enterprises off the ground and achieve real financial success. Popova and Puig have also included interviews with other self-employed creatives across a variety of fields, giving you a window into the myriad paths available to you as you embark on your entrepreneurial journey.

FOR ALL CREATIVES: This book offers real wisdom for starting and sustaining your unique creative business no matter your passion, whether you are a career artist looking to make a living outside of the gallery space, an experienced freelance writer interested in mentoring your peers, or a podcaster who dreams of sustaining yourself by making content that you genuinely care about. From advice about best marketing practices to striking the ever-elusive work-life balance, this guide will help you to understand the business side of your creative practice.

Perfect for:

• Artists, designers, makers, illustrators—recent graduates and budding professionals—looking to start their own businesses
• Creative people exploring career ideas and looking for practical advice and inspiration
• Graduation, birthday, or holiday gift for artistic and entrepreneurial friends and loved ones
• Readers of Create! Magazine, Steal Like an Artist, Big Magic, and Untamed

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: May 23, 2023
• ISBN: 9781797223094

Alicia Puig

Alicia Puig is the curator and cofounder of the gallery PxP Contemporary, the director of business operations for Create! Magazine, and an independent arts journalist. She is based in Costa Rica.

Book preview

Introduction

Hello and welcome! We’re so thrilled you picked up a copy of The Creative Business Handbook , and we’re excited to guide you along the way as you start your own venture. Before we dive into all of the relevant, practical information and action steps for launching your own company, we want to take a moment to introduce ourselves and tell you about why we decided to write this book.

Who We Are

We met at Kutztown University, a small state school in rural Pennsylvania, while working at student-run art galleries (Kat off campus and Alicia at the university). It was at these gallery jobs that we learned about filling out expense reports, coordinating events, implementing various marketing strategies, managing a staff of student volunteers, and creating a budget. It was clear from the beginning that we were both interested in how running a small business can bring people together and create opportunities for others. Although neither of us was a natural from the beginning, we quickly learned from our mistakes and began to build our professional networks, which have continued to serve us to this day. We were able to earn income and develop entrepreneurial skills (e.g., time management, leadership, communication), even at this introductory level.

Kat’s Story

For Kat, managing the small nonprofit Eckhaus Gallery, which was about two blocks away from the main campus, planted seeds and ideas that would come to fruition years later. After a difficult season of couch surfing, staying in someone’s basement, and scraping together funding to attend her first year of college, an opportunity to become the director of this space felt like a welcome change. When she applied for the role, it felt impossible that someone like her, an immigrant who barely passed math in high school, would suddenly be charged with overseeing this community organization. But the promise of a small income and hands-on career experience was not an offer Kat could refuse at the time. Though she was terrified and felt utterly unqualified, she said yes—and it changed her life.

When Kat first began the learning process, she had so many questions: How will I have time for schoolwork, art, and friends? What if I make a mistake? How will I figure out what to do? The exciting thing was that when Kat committed to this position, her grades began to improve, too, and she saw a noticeable, positive difference in the artwork she was producing. Instead of obsessing over each project, she learned to work efficiently, enabling her to tackle multiple projects simultaneously. This skill still serves her today. During this gallery experience, she figured out how to book incredible artists for exhibitions, get help from volunteers, and even write grants—one step at a time. This was the first time Kat had said yes to something scary yet exciting. It taught her the very basics of running a business, which she then applied to the first publication she launched, FreshPaintMagazine. She learned that while taking responsibility for yourself, your business, and even your employees can be uncomfortable, it is also massively rewarding.

The truth is, Kat loved working at this gallery and tried to recreate her experience there for years after graduating. At first she thought the solution was working for someone else in a similar role, until she realized that the job she really wanted didn’t exist. She realized that to have her dream job, she would have to create it—and so, she did.

Alicia’s Story

Securing the manager position at the student union art gallery marked a turning point in Alicia’s life as well. She immediately realized how much she enjoyed helping her peers mount their first-ever solo exhibitions and organizing their opening receptions for family and friends. Around this time, Alicia also became a bit obsessed with doing internships. Of the eight in total she completed, several were paid, but some she had to balance part-time for the experience alongside other jobs and a full course load.

The most formative internship in terms of her future professional life was with a Delaware gallery owned by two women art dealers. Alicia saw a classified ad online that the gallery was seeking an assistant and, guessing that they could use an extra set of hands, she pitched the idea of her joining the team as a summer intern. She is forever grateful that they took a chance on an eager-to-learn, but also quiet and very green, twentysomething considering they’d never had an intern before. Over the course of three consecutive summers, they introduced her to working in the art world. Alicia met artists, collectors, and other industry professionals and learned about the inner workings of an enterprise that had been in business for almost thirty years. Her college job at the gallery and this internship laid the foundation on which she was able to build the rest of her career.

Alicia got her first full-time job working in a gallery two weeks after finishing her master’s in art history. After two years of living on a measly graduate student budget, she was thrilled to have landed a salaried position with benefits in an industry almost everyone had told her she’d never survive in. She learned as much as she could about sales and marketing, doing a lot of additional research and workshops on her own. Eventually people started asking Alicia if she was considering opening her own gallery someday. Initially, she said no, because she didn’t see herself in the bosses she worked for at the time. She went on to work at art fairs, museums, an auction house, and more, learning new skills in each role, but never quite feeling like any were the right fit for her.

Fast-forward a few years to when Alicia lived in Amsterdam and ended up working for two different galleries. Instead of following the traditional rules she thought you needed to abide by to have a successful gallery, the women who owned these businesses always treated the artists they worked with as equals, embraced the early growth of online sales, and established clear boundaries between time at work and home life. They inspired Alicia to realize that she could own a company selling art on her own terms. This, coupled with a friendly nudge from Kat in early 2019, finally convinced her to take the leap and launch her own gallery, PxP Contemporary, in May of that year. Thanks to her ten years working in the arts, Alicia was able to hone in on the mission for her new company from the start and identify the audiences that she would serve.

What Do We Mean by Creative Business?

Although we both got our start in the art world, for the purposes of this book, we are taking a broader view of what creative can mean in the context of entrepreneurship. A creative business can be anything from selling products you make or services you provide to running a community space or building an online platform. In the following chapters, we will show you the unlimited ways you can bring your vision to reality with strategies that can be used both in person and online.

Adding the word creative in front of business may be a trigger for some. You might hear questions like, Will you even earn money doing that? Or, Why don’t you just pursue this as a hobby? In fact, for many years, we held back the desire to start our own brands. We bought into the narrative that making money from creative endeavors means selling out. But in fact, the practice of artists and creatives running their own businesses goes back centuries. The painters, sculptors, designers, musicians, performers, and others like them who treated their creative pursuit like a business were more often than not the most successful.

So, eventually, we realized the error in this line of thinking and forged ahead. Whatever creative business means to you, we’re glad you’re taking the next step to embark on your journey as an entrepreneur. In addition to our book, know that you’ll have so many tools, apps, and sources of education available to you as you take charge of your own career and create the job of your dreams. Throughout this book, we’ll point you in the direction of many of them, so be ready to take notes!

Why Start a Creative Business?

Since you’re reading this, it means you are dreaming of creating something that doesn’t yet exist or, if it does exist in some form, you believe that you can do it better. Like us, you may have thoughts about not being knowledgeable or qualified enough, but if we can do it, so can you. We didn’t have any particular advantages when we got started, just curiosity and a desire to improve our lives by giving ourselves the freedom and flexibility to do what we enjoy most from anywhere in the world. There are so many reasons to start your own company and we would guess that one of your primary ones is to create something that can support you, your family, and your community.

Gaining Financial Independence

While we were writing this book, the labor force in the United States and around the globe was going through The Great Resignation, in which workers quit their jobs en masse. Stagnant wages and benefits, especially in the face of the rising cost of living, were a major motivator, as well as the unique challenges and dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic.¹ Many people took this time as an opportunity to reevaluate what was most important in their lives. People who had previously defined success by owning material goods now realized that true wealth for them meant certain life experiences (travel, time with family, hobbies, etc.), and that generating income need not be limited by what an employer could offer.

One of the best parts about running your own business is the opportunity for financial independence. Retirement isn’t an age, it’s a number, says finance executive Andrew Lokenauth, which underscores the idea that you don’t have to work any set number of years before you can leave the workforce with enough money to be set for life. Being your own boss can also allow you a flexible schedule so you can pursue other passions or interests, all while working and consistently earning money.

You may have heard of FIRE, which stands for Financial Independence, Retire Early. Perhaps this is your primary goal for starting your business and, indeed, it is a great one. With our book and the additional resources we recommend, we aim to assist you with getting you to your ideal FIRE number (i.e., the amount of money at which you’ve built enough savings that working is optional). If you don’t have this number yet, look for the Time article by Rita-Soledad Fernández Paulino called How to Calculate Your FIRE Number.

Traveling or Living Abroad

Another incredible benefit of starting your own business is the ability to work from anywhere in the world (which is most easily achieved by running an online business). For Kat, not living in a big city prevented her from getting what she thought would be her dream job in the arts, but by launching her own online company instead, she now dictates the terms of how much, where, and with whom she works. For Alicia, who enjoys traveling and eventually decided to move outside the United States twice, finding a quality employer in a foreign country presented numerous challenges. But by starting her own business and side hustles, she freed herself from the limited opportunities she found available to expats.

Building Community

When Kat started her magazine, she did so out of her own need for community, opportunities, and connections. She didn’t think it would turn into a business, but the motivation behind her idea was precisely why it worked in the long run. Alicia, who created her business later on, did launch it with the intention of making it a profitable venture. That said, the same desire to build a platform that fostered connections (in her case, specifically between new art collectors and emerging artists) was also her driving force and remains her primary motivation. When we create what we wish existed, we find other like-minded souls and people with similar visions. As a result, running the business becomes more fun, social, and fulfilling, and we stay accountable to those in our community.

Finding Personal Fulfillment and Work-Life Balance

Creating a business that generates income allows you to do something you enjoy and enables you to work anytime, creating space for more passion projects and time with your family. You won’t feel that same drain on your energy and creativity that you would from a day job that forces you to work in a toxic environment, doesn’t treat you well, or simply isn’t a fit for your skills and passions. Although we have reached a level of success in our respective businesses now, we can assure you that we both spent years in jobs where we were underpaid and unhappy, and where our skills were underutilized. These gigs paid the rent and served their purpose, but they also motivated both of us to create our own opportunities so we wouldn’t have to return to unfulfilling work again. As long as you are willing to put in the hours while building your new brand, it will reward you with flexibility, time, and money in the long run.

Leaving a Legacy

If you dream of making a positive mark on the world, building a business can be a powerful way to achieve this. The world needs more leaders with unique perspectives from diverse backgrounds to be examples of what’s possible for future generations. Neither of us had direct role models in the arts who looked like us or had similar backgrounds, but today we know of numerous incredible people paving a new path for creatives and empowering them to lead bold, abundant lives by building something new. Your unique perspective, values, or life experiences might be precisely what allow you to construct a company that fills in the gaps in your niche or industry, and to become recognized for it.

Challenges You May Face as a New Business Owner

There is no guarantee of success and no singular career path when choosing to become an entrepreneur. Every season can be full of new challenges and puzzles for you to solve. This lifestyle can be a big adjustment if you are transitioning from traditional employment with a set schedule and salary. But if you are up for a challenge and are willing to adapt, learn, and stay humble, this will be an exciting adventure toward realizing your wildest dreams as a creative individual.

For us, it’s been worth it to overcome financial setbacks, uncertainty, personal fears or flaws, and the sometimes soul-crushing disappointments we felt at times. We had to learn to trust our vision and define what true stability meant before we took a single penny of profit from our businesses. In addition, we were forced to think on our feet and make quick adjustments in times of loss, mishap, and failure. We hope that sharing our true experiences will empower you and encourage you to step outside your comfort zone and try something new by starting your future business.

What You Can Expect from This Book

We organized this book into six sections, with practical information illuminated by anecdotes from our years in business. Throughout each chapter, you’ll also find action steps for designing, launching, marketing, and growing your new company. As a result, this book is content-rich, and we don’t necessarily expect that you complete each step as you read it. The sections are clearly defined, so you can always come back to specific parts as needed. As you plan for your thriving business, revisit the assignments and apply them to your brand when you can. Even if you are in the early stages of brainstorming your business idea, you can use the journal prompts provided throughout to help you get clarity and take the next steps with confidence.

For as much as we wrote and put into this, we also realize that it’s impossible to include every detail in one book. We both consistently listen to educational podcasts, take courses, and read business literature to keep growing and learning—and we encourage you to do the same. You will find references to our favorite resources in the coming chapters.

Because we built very niche online businesses centered around artists, we also wanted to offer interviews with other CEOs to expand the scope of this book. At the end of each chapter, you will discover stories from successful gallerists, advisors, artists, educators, designers, authors, art fair directors, and more. We want you to fully believe in your dream. By highlighting a variety of creative entrepreneurs, we aim to back you up with examples of those who have come before you, so that you feel inspired to move forward with your idea.

Finally, we write from the honest perspective of two women who built creative businesses from zero. We didn’t have many of the tools we’ll share with you in this book when we first began, which is why we are so passionate about sharing them with you. The more bighearted, ambitious creatives choose to build businesses and contribute to change and economic growth, the easier it is for others to believe that they can actually achieve this too.

Thank you so much for trusting us and reading our stories. It’s time to get started and begin building your thriving creative business!

1Ishaan Tharoor, The ‘Great Resignation’ Goes Global,Washington Post, October 18, 2021,https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/18/labor-great-resignation-global.

chapter one

Identifying Your Big Idea

When it comes to starting your business, you will have to make many important and exciting decisions along the way, but the first step is to figure out the basics. This chapter gives you an overview of how you can structure your brand to lay the foundation for profitability and growth. We want to help you discover your unique contribution to the world and tell the story behind the creation of your dream company. In addition, we will help you find the confidence, clarity, and inspiration to pursue your vision without anxiety or fear holding you back. If you find yourself worrying about all the details, take a deep breath, pause, and refocus on the topic at hand: What does the bigger picture look like? Once you can answer that question, the details will begin to come together.

What Will Your Business Do and Sell?

When Kat started her first magazine back in 2013, she didn’t think about it as a business. She was intuitively filling a gap she saw in the art community based on her experience as a recent graduate and a very broke artist. Gathering the only resources she had at the time—her creativity, her resilience, and her MacBook laptop—she put together a modest little zine to help support fellow creatives. Feeling isolated and disconnected pushed her to create a platform that fostered community, and she quickly discovered that she was not alone in her desire to connect with other young artists. After several years of working hard and learning from her mistakes, this fledgling idea turned into a lucrative business. Despite what her career looks like now, she is the first to admit it was certainly no overnight success. And yet, it launched her journey as a creative entrepreneur and also opened up numerous opportunities for her work as a fine artist.

Success rarely happens by accident. Thanks to the success of her first business, Kat learned the importance of finding the right idea and understanding what your audience wants. Over the years, though, she realized that when you do things with intention, you can increase your chances of getting the results you want. She invested in education and research, acquiring the knowledge to make informed decisions instead of guessing. As a result, her second business saw a smoother launch and immediate explosive growth.

In the spring of 2020, Alicia, like many small business owners, wondered what the future would hold for her gallery. She braced herself for what she thought would be her most difficult months yet. But the previous year she had spent laying the foundation for her business—building out the technical functionality on her website and incrementally growing an online presence—served her well. Instead of business coming to a standstill, the gallery’s sales increased significantly month over month, allowing her to continue to expand in the following years. We’ve both gained a wealth of knowledge in business through our experiences and believe that our success has come from a combination of practical strategies and mindset.

Which brings us to this book. The following guidelines and ideas will not only empower you to build your business and career based on your passion, creativity, and inspiration, but they will also provide a solid understanding of foundational business concepts, so you’re not just jumping in and hoping things will work out. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with having faith and being optimistic. But there are some things you should know before you commit to the challenging, and often unpredictable, path of being an entrepreneur. This book will help you remain calm, calculated, and confident as you grow your brand.

There are many factors beyond your control in this world. Launching your idea with clarity and prior knowledge will go a long way to prevent anxiety and overwhelm, which can quickly turn into detrimental obstacles for new business owners.

Both Kat’s DIY learning experience and Alicia’s background in the business of art have made us passionate about empowering others to embrace their inner creative entrepreneur. When we first met, we didn’t think we’d both end up running our own businesses. An immigrant? A person of color? Women? Not who you might think of as typical CEOs. But here we are! And we want to share what we’ve learned. We aim to help artists and creative people reframe their understanding of what it means to start a creative business and know that it is within their reach.

When we started our companies, the world of business seemed mysterious and confusing. Maybe, like us back then, you think creating a brand is reserved for already well-connected individuals who have ample resources at their fingertips. Or perhaps you fear that your background or lack of training means you’re not ready or qualified to start a creative business. We’re here to show you there are countless possible paths to entrepreneurial success. People from all cultures and walks of life who desire to create a brand of their own can now do so on a small budget and, in some cases, even for free. We’ve included interviews and essays from creative entrepreneurs and role models in each chapter to share their experiences and expert advice and, most importantly, to offer motivation and inspiration that you, too, can achieve their level of success and more.

What Are the Options When It Comes to Creating Your Company?

Before nailing down anything else (yes, even your company name or logo), you need to decide what type of business you want to start. The most common business types are product based or service based. Many businesses eventually become a fusion of both, but let’s stick with these two simple options for the purpose of this chapter. Think about which is the best decision for you at this point in your life, considering any other work, family, social, or health-related commitments. We recommend taking things slow at first and starting with one low-risk idea so you can polish and perfect it before adding anything new. This decision will do two things: (1) give you confidence once you start getting results and (2) make sure you avoid the overwhelm of creating too many offers at once.

Just because you see other entrepreneurs juggling multiple products and services doesn’t mean this is the wisest or most appropriate way to get started. Business coach Rachel Rodgers, founder of Hello Seven, advises new business owners to identify one core product and focus solely on that. Yes, there are successful entrepreneurs with a wide variety of offerings, but they typically build up these sorts of empires over the course of many years. Trust your intuition and remember that this is a lifelong journey. You will have plenty of time to try new things. If you are multi-passionate, however, staying focused on one product at a time may be incredibly challenging. Try to keep your offers to a minimum if you absolutely can’t choose one. One of Kat’s favorite entrepreneur coaches, Marie Forleo, uses the term spotlight to talk about focusing on one specific area at a time to avoid confusion and unnecessary stress. This way, if you have multiple projects going at once, you can shift your focus to one for a designated period