Turning Your Creativity into Cash - Money from Art

A long time ago I realized I couldn't handle a regular 9-5 job for long because it got in the way of my need to create. So the alternative was, find a way to earn a living from my creativity. Essentially, working for myself.

I'll be the first to admit it's not been an easy path to follow. Society is constantly pushing you back to that 9-5 job because you need to be able to support yourself financially. Turning your creativity into cash is definitely not the easy option but people do succeed at it. So there's no reason why you shouldn't too.

The Business Plan

Many business advice advocates will tell you that, to succeed in working for yourself, a business plan is essential... and I agree it certainly is so, do as I say and not as I do. I've tried to write myself a business plan but since I have no intention of ever approaching a bank or investors for funding, a formal, written plan seems like over kill.

Here's the simple business plan:

• Look for opportunities to make money.
• Never spend more than you earn.
• Keep an eye on the bills - be prepared for when they come up.
• Enjoy some of the money you've worked to make.

I think most of those are fairly self explanatory. Keep them in mind at all times. On the last point about enjoying some of the money you've worked to make, keep your sensible shoes on. Make sure you have money that isn't needed for bills or materials before you spend it and even then, don't spend it all. Keep some just in case it's longer than expected before the next opportunity to make money arises.

Cash Flow Budget

If you're really serious about tracking the money you make and are wanting to plan for the future then I'd strongly recommend learning how to create a Cash Flow budget. It's not as hard or complex as you might think  and you only need a very basic understanding of working a spread sheet to set one up.

I'll look at Cash Flow Budgeting in more detail in a future article but if you want to get started now there's a good article and a template you can get started with on the SME Toolkit website.

Opportunities to Turn Your Creativity into Cash

So you probably weren't expecting all that 'businessey' stuff when you started reading this article but if you're serious about making money from your art then it's important to understand there is a business side to what you're doing. Working for yourself you have to keep the business side in mind and work on it too.

Finally, though, it's time to look at what opportunities you have for turning your creativity into cash.

If your art is something that creates a finished product like a painting, jewelry or pottery then obviously these are items that you can either sell or create on a commission basis. Look around for places where people are likely to shop for your items and start selling. Online, Ebay or Etsy are good starting points.

Perhaps you create art that would look great reproduced on T-Shirts and other products or you have an image that would sell many times over as a print. Print on demand sites like Cafepress, Redbubble and Imagekind are among many that can help you earn money from prints.

Another option for photographers and illustrators is creating royalty free stock images used on web sites and other applications the world over. Shutterstock is one of the biggest in this field. Your images can earn money several times over - each time a business chooses them for their needs.

What if you're a writer or a cartoonist. There's plenty of opportunities to earn money whilst your waiting for that big publishing deal or world wide syndication of your cartoon strip.

Writing a blog or posting cartoons to a blog are an obvious starting point. Blogger and Wordpress are free to use. You won't earn money directly from your work but if you sign up for Google's Adsense program and place ads around your blog - where people will see them - eventually you'll get a small but constant stream of income. Especially if your work is focused on a specific theme.

There are more ways to earn from writing and drawing cartoons than I can list here but one avenue you might want to look into is self publishing. Lulu is the largest site for self publishing online in both printed and digital books. It costs almost nothing to start and who knows, that graphic novel you've worked so hard on might just take off despite what publishers have said.

My latest venture is animation. You wouldn't think there were that many opportunities to earn money from animation but, in fact, businesses love animation. It's an easy to understand and engaging tool to explain their products and services. Whilst you're turning that big idea into an animated feature why not earn a little money on the side creating web video for business? Jobs are a little harder to find but odesk has a whole section for animation.

I could keep listing more opportunities to earn from your creativity such as web design, copy writing, graphics etc. you'll find many opportunities for these kinds of jobs on odesk and similar sites like elance where businesses and individuals contract freelancers to work for them.

One interesting site that could prove to be a good testing ground for a service based business is Fiverr. It's a site where people offer all kinds of creative services for just five dollars. If you're not sure if your service is in demand, it could be worth creating a five dollar deal just to test the waters.

Getting Paid

Don't worry too much about taking on work or selling to people that aren't local or even in the same country as you. Accepting payments and invoicing through PayPal makes it simple for anyone anywhere to pay you in their own currency and via credit card. Many of the sites I've mentioned will also pay your earnings into your PayPal account too.

Don't believe all the horror stories about Paypal either. So long as you never give out your password and always log in directly from the site (and not by clicking a link from an email) you should be okay. Many of the tales of woe with Paypal are down to human error.

Get Rich Quick Schemes - I don't think so!

None of these ideas are get rich quick schemes. However all of them could grow into profitable businesses with plenty of hard work and keeping an eye on the business side of things. Quite a few of them allow you to build up a body of work that continues to earn money as you create new work.

For myself, I write regularly for three of my own blogs, which currently earn a small but consistent income that's growing each year. I also sell my art on ebay, which at times, has been a very good money earner for me. My animation business is new but growing into one of my best opportunities to date. And, if all else fails, my web design service always seems to pull through with new work, even though I barely advertise my services.

There really is no reason why you couldn't turn your creativity into cash if you are looking to earn a bit of extra money. It's just a matter of looking at what it is you create and thinking about how you could sell that as a product or service that people would buy.