UPDATE - 05/04/2023

Take that glass ceiling and make it your floor.

When I first started Chub Cat Art, I was overwhelming myself with things that had nothing to do with building a brand. I initially did a lot of random things, was unfocused, and was inconsistent with my messaging. As a multi-passionate person, trying and exploring everything is not the problem - the issue is that if you are trying to build a business and are unsure of what you want to do, your audience will also be confused about who you are and your brand. Unclear messaging will also result in building an audience who may not have aligned values or interests.

At the time, I also naively thought that if I make something fun and cute, people would naturally come. I had no idea that in business, building an audience is the core foundation of your brand and, ultimately, the thing that leads to sales. Instead, I made greeting cards and stuff that I liked and just hoped that somebody would also like and buy them.

Understandably, art is subject and people will either like your work or not. If your primary intention is to sell art, you will need to find a balance of making art you enjoy and making art that your audience enjoys too. Even if you have a specific style or niche, there is usually a community of people who would appreciate your art - you just need to find where they are.

As someone who started Chub Cat Art three years ago (and have been in the creative industry as a professional landscape designer for over 8 years), I wanted to share a couple of tips to help with the beginning stages of your journey as a creative entrepreneur. I made a ton of mistakes early on in my journey and want to help you avoid the same mistakes like I did when I first started to build a creative brand and business.

My website back in August 2020, when I first started Chub Cat Art!

It is very different from what you see now because you will evolve your art, skills, and brand over time.

Tip #1: Start Making Art, Even Before You’re Ready

I did not start for a long time. I was too engrossed in my head about my fears of what others will think, that it might be a waste of time, and the possibility of failing. We usually are afraid to start something new because we will be heading into unexpected territory and we are not sure what happens next. So, I stuck to my comfortable, usual habit of mildly exploring arts and crafts and helping friends out whenever they needed custom party decor.

While these were still fun and great projects to do and allowed me to focus on my career, they did not fulfill me. As I got better at being creative, I slowly realized that I needed another outlet to harness my creativity and my creative skills. I have been honing them for so long that it was getting incredibly difficult to only use them for work or friends’ projects. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, I finally decided to make something for myself, whether I was ready or not.

The first step will always be the hardest and, frankly, the scariest. This is because the first step involves a lot of what to dos, how much, etc. There will be feelings of doubt, fears, imposter syndrome, overwhelm, and scarcity that will also come into play. The beginning steps can really make or break you and you will constantly doubt yourself before you even begin.

My tip is to just start, despite having these thoughts and feelings. This is not to ignore them, but to just be aware that it is normal to think and feel this way (and will continue no matter how high up you go). Though, I do hope the feelings of excitement and thrill of starting something new would give you the momentum for you to start. Your confidence will build as you build competence in your work. I share a little more about this in the video below.

I have learned that while you can never really be ready for what’s ahead, you can still start before you are ready. The reality is that you will mistakes, you will fumble, and you will not know what you are doing a lot of the times. But the beauty is that everyone goes through this and carves their own path. Also, it is not such a lonely journey as you think - once you start to share your art with the world, you will find and meet other like-minded artists like you.

Looking back, I wished I had started earlier and not be so wishy-washy about my decisions. I encourage you to start and keep that traction going. You will find the other side incredibly rewarding when you do, as you slowly start to build a community, a presence, and a collection of art that you love.

Tip #2: Focus on One Thing First, Then Expand Later

When you start making art, it is important to keep making it. Focusing on this will help you hone in your style, improve your skills, and get better at the tools you are using (e.g. Procreate for digital art). Building a collection of work will also allow you to have an art portfolio for brand collaborations, art licensing deals, and other opportunities later on.

A portfolio tip is when you are first starting out, share all or as much art you have made, no matter how mediocre, awkward, or cringy it is. Your portfolio can still show a bit of your style, personality, and skills at the time, even if you will evolve your art later on. You never know who will see your art - doing this allowed me a brand collaboration with just 150 Instagram followers at the time! You can always refine and update your portfolio as you make more and get better with your art later on.

Just getting into the groove of making art will be a challenging transition, which is why it is important to focus on creating art first. Build a good habit of making time and incorporating this into your regular schedule, ideally during breaks and outside of your work hours. Set up a positive, calming environment that allows you to focus and to get your mindset to create.

Using Social Media to Share Art

When it comes to social media in the early stages of a creative entrepreneur, it is best to start with one or two social media accounts that you can familiarize with, become comfortable learning, and learn to use their features. It is important to also schedule in time to post in a consistent manner.

While social media can often be lumped as one, big entity, each has unique tools, capabilities, strengths, and downsides. Below is a quick pros and cons summary of the social media accounts I use:

Instagram: Good for building a community, meet like-minded individuals, and share your art through posts or videos. Ideally, post your art in a way that is visually appealing and eye-catching because this is also a space where brands can potentially find you. The downside is that you will need to be consistent with your content to maintain visibility and that can take a mental toll.
Pinterest: Pinterest is a great platform to share your work and create DIY or how-to tutorials because users are primarily there to get ideas and tips. The best thing about Pinterest is that it can optimize your content with its built-in SEO feature so your content will be more visible and can generate organic traffic to your profile (and website). It does take time for you to gain traction, but it will be worth it later as you start to reach more people.
LinkedIn: For those who want to interact with professionals, LinkedIn is an ideal platform to reach other professionals and companies. Though, LinkedIn is not strictly career-oriented, you can share relatable stories, educational videos, and informative content. Compared to the other platforms, the reach you get from posting can be astronomical if you provide good content, so do not dismiss this platform so easily!
Facebook: This is a good platform to join different and niche Facebook groups in order to either find like-minded individuals, job opportunities, or clients. Once you are in a group, you cannot simply post stuff to sell. You still need to play the long game and be an active member to provide tips and advice to others - this will build trust in you and your work. Be mindful that you might come across community members who may not see eye to eye with you, especially in large groups.

Making and re-purposing content across different social media platforms is a strategy in itself. I highly recommend sticking to 1-2 social media platforms when you start, and once you get better at being more efficient with your time, then you can expand to other social media platforms.

Tip #3: Build Your SEO Game and Online Presence

The truth is that your work will not be visible or discoverable if it is not searchable or if you do not have an online presence such as a website for people to view your work (beyond social media). While you can get discovered on social media, having a dedicated website to showcase your work shows professionalism and so many other sides of you, such as your background story, your writing skills if you have a blog, and other content you have created.

If you specifically just want landing pages to lead clients to a product or service, then that is okay too. But, if you are an aspiring creative and if you are multi-passionate like me, I believe you should have a dedicated website of you and your work, especially if you want to do this long-term. Also, there are paid website platforms that integrate SEO tools to help increase visibility of your website. Starting early will help build searchability of your website and allow your website to rank higher on search engines. This will benefit your business and attract customers in the long run, especially if you have a highly competitive niche.

If your business is linked to a Google account, you can use Google Sites to build your website for free. They provide tools to create a simple website with different pages and you can connect the website name to a custom domain name. The tools are much more limited and basic than other paid website platforms, but this will at least you get you going. A tip is to not get too hung up on the website themes, colors and style - keep it simple, concise, and clear for now.

SEO is a powerful way to be discovered by people, but it is not something that happens overnight. It takes time for SEO to work because search engines need to ensure a website is valid, has relevant keywords, and is regularly updated with content people are searching for. It is an incredibly important marketing channel and it’s free! Do be patient because SEO does take time to recognize your website and can sometimes take longer than 6 months.

My recommendation is to also start posting what you can on Pinterest because of its SEO features. Again, the earlier you start optimizing your content and build an online presence, the better position you will be in search results and increasing chances of discoverability.

Tip #4: Identify Your Goals

Give yourself permission to dream a little. What is the ultimate goal of your creative business? Do you want to create art and content full-time? Or do you want to display your art so you can attract brand collaborations and other job opportunities?

It is important to have a target goal in mind because that way, all the art and content you make is geared towards that goal. You can build skills and knowledge and become an expert at what you are doing, which can lead to fascinating and creative opportunities later on. Of course, goals change and can be a moving target, but I highly recommend having a big picture goal in mind when you start.

A lot of us dream about having a huge following on Instagram or TikTok and, to be honest, I wanted that for a long time too. But I have come to terms that social media is a “rented” platform and can go away at anytime. You are also at the mercy of the algorithm to keep creating valuable content so users can stay longer on the app. Instead, I believe you should prioritize making art and creating content that leads you to your big goal and using social media as a secondary means to display your work and creativity.

You should still stay active, answer questions, and interact with your community on social media, but strategically use social media as a leverage to provide informative, inspirational, or educational content your audience enjoys.

Tip #5: Be Willing to Learn New Tools

Consume as much as you create.

When you first start your business, you will need to wear all the hats and learn new tools and programs so you can have a visible presence in the online world. This means learning how to use social media, managing a personal website or store, figuring out SEO, and everything in-between. It is hard work and does take time to build, but as long as you are willing to spend time to learn the tools and make them work for you, then you will be able to keep moving forward in your business.

A new, exciting tool is a free business name generator that helps entrepreneurs create brand names via a unique combination of crowdsourcing and AI. This is a useful tool and resource for anyone who wants to start a business, launch a brand, or is struggling to find the perfect name. This name generator can come up with creative business names based on your keywords and provides matching domain name suggestions, along with current availability of these domain names.

Essentially, it is a powerful way to do two things at once: to find a creative business name in minutes while simultaneously checking domain availability. This will help you save time from doing administrative tasks and allow you to focus on what actually matters: making art and building your brand!

Let me know in the comments what you used for your brand name, I would love to know!

Good luck,