Yeah, can't read that. Not everyone uses the darker version of FA.

My bad....I changed it.

Thanks!

So I read most of it, and I have some concerns, some suggestions, and a list of 'totally do this, but here are a lot of things to know before you do's. Would you be interested at all in talking? I don't like just assuming everyone in the world wants to hear what I have to say before I say it.

Sure I'd love to. :)

Let's start with my concerns, because it's best to get that out of the way. There's a lot that people do not take into consideration when going into freelance art as a profession. Allow me to go over three of them so we're not over loading.

One of the biggest things is considering what happen when you don't make your monthly goal. Not an 'if', but rather the hard reality of 'when'. In this fandom particularly there are lulls that happen surrounding many things - who else is offering artwork (this happens especially around the holidays) causing the market to saturate, what conventions are occurring causing a decline in purchasing from people saving money or having already spent it, and just the natural low that comes with production - you will burn out every now and then, it happens, but most people bounce back. These are things that affect that 'when'. Plan, my fiend, plan!

Then there is the concern of taxes, book keeping, and the like. Things can very quickly get out of hand on spending when the money comes in, because bills need to get paid usually immediately, and so accidentally money doesn't get set aside for taxes. It happens, learning not to panic is very important, remember the IRS likes small businesses, they will work with you, HOWEVER, it's best to not get to that point. There's a lot of back work that goes into it that is tedious, can be over whelming, and can cost you a lot of money if you don't know what you're doing. I suggest to grab a copy of Nolo series 'Tax Savey for Small Business'. They also have a book on LLC. I suggest you look into what the difference is between the different business types before assigning yourself an ID with the state. Hell, or just find yourself a good Tax Adviser! Pan, my friend, plan!

The last concern I have is this - people forget to set up plans for how to handle clients as they come in, and make a pricing structure that will actually get bills paid. I'm not saying to charge $$$ for your art, what I mean is that it's not reasonable to do $20 pieces all the time. Yes, they tend to pour in at that price, but that's a great way to burn your creativity fast! It's better to charge $40-65 for basic art, and wait for the few to come willing to pay. It's this ridiculous balance that is very difficult do, but not impossible. Talk to people! Say "hey, I see you doing this. Any advice?" because most people are fine with a bit of advice giving. Approach people.

As for advices, here are the things I point out the most to my fellow artists - it's fine to 'work' everything likes it's a regular job working from 8am-5pm, but... how's that working for you right now? Can you really will your muse and creativity to work on a schedule? Some totally can! Just think about how you want to really clock hours.

The thing about art as a job is that is rarely gets treated like a job - everyone says they will but then they forget to schedule things like two days off a week, vacation time (savings), or sick time (savings), bonuses (yeah this one is weird, but it can be as simple as 'if I complete this commission I will eat all the candy in the house), and they forget that LIFE has to still happen around them. It's really easy to get lost in at first, and, owi, there's that burn out warning again.

As for suggestions - do you have another account? You should work a tad on building a watcher base. There are many ways to do this. Business cards are your friends! Also, don't be afarid to step outside the fandom. You have talent. Learn to piece together contracts, and put up ads on craigslist. I saw you have a DA. Good times! Do you have a Facebook, Twitter, all that? Social media is also your friend.

Personally, I know you're not the most popular artist out there, but I think you could do it. However, I'd not leave your job until you have a plans for all these things, and health care. Ugh... whole different ballgame there. But just plan, lots of plans, and research. Nolo books were my bestest friend back when I sold to furries for a living.

Good luck, my friend!

First of all, thanks for you input, I really appreciate the well thought out reply :3

I have thought of most of the horrible things along with the awesome things that go along with freelancing. Definitely my biggest fear is not meeting the monthly minimum income. And you're right, "shit happens" and suddenly people don't buy art much, or the burnout happens, etc. I haven't worked out what to do about this yet but the best I can think of is to have a reserve emergency savings before I ever delve into the freelancing world, so that in case I don't meet that monthly minimum, I've got a buffer. Plus at least I have another income in my household, so there is that, so not like I would literally be like "zomg I have $0 I can't pay the mortgage" xD But yeah, I know what you mean. And like I said that's my biggest fear, cause if it doesn't pan out then I hafta go get another job, and that would royally suck. However, if and when I do end up quitting my current job, I may look into some small part time work so that at least I have some sort of steady income to supplement.

Taxes & bookkeeping--definitely a must, and luckily, my boyfriend is an accountant! :D We also have a friend who is a CPA! Haha. My boyfriend does all the budgeting & financing for us and is very good at it. He's offered to help me with any bookkeeping and financial stuff if I ever venture into this. I already know that taxes must be paid, and have figured out already that it's best to save the tax % out of each commission payment rather than wait for it to roll around and then be like "I owe HOW much??" xD (I've been picking up tons of this stuff from talking to other people who are successful freelancers, researching, and just plain thinking it through myself.) But your'e right--even if I fall short, the IRS may work with me but that's just getting buried and it takes you a long time to make your way back on top again. I certainly don't want it to get to that point because it tends to just snowball. Thank you for the book suggestions though, I am definitely going to order those as soon as I can! :3

You're right about pricing structures. Right now I'm doing pretty dirt cheap work just because I could use a bit of extra cash and I'm trying to get my name out there. There are not a lot of people that want to buy anything more than $50 from me at the moment :/ I'm one of those people afraid to charge what I FEEL my art is worth, for fear people will be like "there's no way I'm buying art from you for THAT much".... But it's kinda disheartening because I see people selling stuff for WAY more than me and I feel like my art is better quality. :/ But you know, it's competitive, and people like to pay for "brand names".... so I feel that I just have to work more at becoming one of those brand names.

As for working 8-5 like a regular job--yeah, I can tell myself all I want that I would actually do that, although I have before! Every couple months I take a few days off of work for what I call art-cation! :D And I spend my days off getting up at my normal time and working on art all day.... It feels so good and is so rewarding. I love doing it! Would I do that for days on end year after year...? Probably not! xD But what I've "planned" (for lack of a better word) is that it doesn't matter what time of day, but I have to work at least 8 hours out of a day. I feel like I could do it; like I said on my "art-cations", I do it for regular working hours, and on weekends I do art from pretty much the time I get up until I go to bed, sometimes late into the night. I think the key is not overworking yourself... Even if I COULD do art for 12 hours a day, I won't, cause then I just get burnt out way too quickly after doing that for a few days straight! But, I realize there may be those times when there are deadlines, or a rush of commissions (such as holidays, cons, etc) where you gotta work that "overtime" so to speak. And yeah, you also have to account for sick days (everyone gets sick once in awhile!), life emergencies, and stuff like that. That's another one of those scary things I'm worried about... What if I get really sick and can't work for a week? There's no paid time off... unless you save for that!

Other accounts....... umm yeah I think I have that covered! :D They're posted all over every single one of my pages... I have FA, DA, Weasyl, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Patreon (*pants*) .... and even some smaller gallery sites that don't have much activity yet.... Nabyn, Furiffic, Wysp (I think?), and Shadowness.... (What are we up to, like 12 now? lmao xD) And I'm currently redoing my Society6 shop, planning to make a Redbubble, aaaaand at some point in the near future hopefully set up an Etsy shop with prints! I've tried to spread myself to the far corners of the interwebs as much as I can and be as active as I possibly can ;n;

OH and next month I am getting an FA ad! I'm very excited about that!!! ^_^ My Patreon goal was finally reached to fund an FA ad. I feel like this might bring a lot more traffic to my page... I hope I won't be disappointed in that. :/ A while back I clicked on random FA ads that were interesting to me, and I messaged some of those artists asking how it was working out for them. It was a mixed bag--a couple said it was FANTASTIC and they got so many hits and commissions, etc. The other was like "eh, it was a minimal pageview jump". So I was kinda like, well is it worth it really? Because I know a lot of people use ad-blockers and such. But some people (such as myself) don't, so maybe...... I dunno, I'm still gonna do it anyway and see what happens ^_^

As for social media n' networking with people n' all that jazz, I've been working at that lately too. I went to RMFC (my first fur con ever--just attending, not dealing or anything) this year and I met some really amazing people! I'm trying really hard to keep in touch with them and befriend some other people in the fandom, as well as branch out to get to know people that they know, and so on. That's something that's hard for me; I'm pretty shy in real life and it was REALLY difficult for me to just walk up to artists that I like at RMFC and be like HAI I'M LUCID. It was awkward BUT most of it worked out for the best, so I'm glad that I did it. ^_^ I really loved the con and I hope that next year I might be able to set up a table, as that would totally help too I'm sure. But that's a whole 'nother ballgame again--have read lots of stuff on that too and I'm prepared for a loss my first time, but if it means getting my name out there, then cool!


Wow sorry for the novel there.... >.>; Anywhoo, although I feel like I know a lot about jumping into freelancing, I don't have everything set up and ready to go yet. It's my goal to save up a good amount of money before quitting my job, so I have a buffer. I'm nowhere near that point yet, but.... I think it's about time to get another job where I can be just slightly happier at maybe... :/ I can't help it though, I get so jealous when I see people that are like "Art is my job and I LOVE MY JOB!" and I just die a little inside because I want to do that :'( Alright well I'm gonna stop rambling before I make this novel any longer. x'D If you have anything else to offer I would greatly appreciate it, and thank you again for taking the time to chat with me about stuff :3