Ultimate Paper Mache | Profit First: What I Wish I'd Learned Earlier About Owning an Art Business @UltimatePaperMache | Uploaded October 2023 | Updated October 2024, 1 hour ago.
I started my first art business over five decades ago, and I've started several other art businesses since then - and I always made money. Or, I should say that I made enough get by, at least for a few years. But I didn't truly understand what profit meant, so the businesses were never really sustainable.

😜 Oops - I almost forgot to give a link to the book so you can actually find it. Here it is: amzn.to/45negrt (affiliate link, of course.)

I found an interesting interview with the author - you can see it here: youtu.be/cHhcpT6qZA8?si=R_PO3WawICPNiM5F

Like many of us, I believed that as long as there was some money left in my pocket after covering costs, I was running a profitable business.

One of the most crucial lessons I wish I'd learned earlier is that an art business should be treated as a separate entity, just like any other business. Blurring the lines between personal income and business revenue can lead to significant challenges - especially when a recession hits, or you see an opportunity for expansion but don't have the capital to take advantage of it.

I tell everyone artist I know that they should read this book, but I've never explained it well enough to convince anyone to read it. Hopefully, I've done a better job this time. If not, I found a video that might do a better job, and it explains some of the things that you'd also have to consider, in addition to the information in the book itself: youtu.be/VB84FqReKgU

Or, do a search on YouTube for "Profit First." Or read the book. :)

If you would like to make some of the sculptures or masks that appear behind me in the video, I have patterns for those. (Those patterns support this channel. 😊 ) You can find them at ultimatepapermache.com/patterns