by Carolyn Edlund
Entrepreneur Magazine recently released a podcast titled How to Make Money as an Artist. It profiles an aspiring New York City photographer transforming a dream into a business.
Matthew Cortellesi’s photography website
Editor-in-chief Jason Feifer of Entrepreneur contacted me a few months ago with an invitation. He asked me to join him and New York City photographer Matthew Cortellesi to give a live art business consultation, recorded online. The finished product was recently broadcast on Entrepreneur’s Problem Solvers Podcast. Jason introduced this episode by saying,
We had an idea: What if we took a talented but financially struggling artist, and paired them with a coach who helps artists build businesses? The result was magic! Today, you’ll hear art-business coach Carolyn Edlund work with photographer Matthew Cortellesi. At the start, Matthew was selling occasional photos but had no idea how to create a real business. By the end, he had a new website and an entirely new sales strategy. This episode is for anyone who makes something they love, but can’t figure out how to make money doing it.
The three of us worked together over the course of two long interview sessions, taped several months apart. As a group we identified Matthew’s challenges, goals and aspirations. He wanted to work full-time with his photography business. Matthew already had an appreciate audience on social media—but he wasn’t making enough regular sales.
During the consultation, we discussed his strengths, developed strategies to construct a solid small business. I was able to suggest some quick fixes to get his financial funnel working. We also went over longer-term planning to attract customers and follow up with them. After that first session, I got him set up work with our team member Hallie, who built a gorgeous new website for him that engages visitors and is fun to visit. It has lots of great photography, stories about each shot, and a shopping cart for purchases.
Our second taped session covered the steps he had taken to solve the problems he was facing and position himself for new, repeat and referral sales. Matthew was excited and ready to move forward. He reported experiencing an immediate increase in sales of his New York-themed photographs. Going forward, Matthew was ready to tackle ongoing marketing plus follow up and relationship-building activities to grow his small business.
Entrepreneur Magazine also published an article about this art business transformation, which you can find here.
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