The Art Biz

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield goes beyond the to-do list and shares five lists every artist should keep: good ideas, absolute no's, things others could do, 10 to 30 minute tasks, and what you've done.

She explains what belongs on each one and why the done list is the one to start with. She shares where she keeps hers, because a list is no good if it can't be found and revised.

Alyson reveals:

• Why the to-do list is only the beginning
• The list for dreams that could turn into projects someday
• How the absolute no's list can turn into a business policy
• What to reach for in a spare 10 minutes
• The list that gives you credit, and the joy of writing tasks down just to cross them out
• Where each of her lists lives, and why digital is her go-to for forever-keeping

Read the companion post, get mentioned resources, and watch the video

Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Search has changed, and Google's AI summary now bypasses your website to answer most questions before anyone clicks. SEO expert Meg Casebolt returns to The Art Biz to update what she shared in episode 222.

Artists can respond to the search evolution by considering these three levels on their site: their name and bio, their art, and individual images. Host Alyson Stanfield puts it to the test with a live search.

Meg reveals:

• Why the decision now happens on the search page
• What AI tools say when someone searches your name
• The question that shows when a tool would recommend you
• Why a bio in your footer works harder than it looks
• Where poetry still belongs in your art descriptions

Connect with Meg

See Jessica Falcone's art

Read more, and watch the video on the companion post

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Ceramic artist Heidi Fahrenbacher opened her mailbox in 2021 to an anonymous letter saying she'd price herself out of business. Well, she's still in business, and her income has grown about 10% every year since.

In this episode of The Art Biz, Heidi talks with host Alyson Stanfield about noticing what isn't working, doing something about it, and the discomfort that comes with the territory.

Heidi reveals:

• Why she burned her business to the ground and rebuilt it
• What two anonymous letters couldn't change
• How overproducing became a coping mechanism
• The work she refuses to wholesale
• Why she thinks artists should do less

Connect with Heidi Fahrenbacher

Read more and get links on the companion post

About Alyson Stanfield

Since 2002, Alyson Stanfield has been helping emerging and established visual artists find the right opportunities, gain recognition for their work, and refine strategies for sales through private consulting and group coaching. She brings experience as an art historian, curator, museum educator, and arts writer to her consulting work.

Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield explains why she won't tell an artist how to fix slumping sales until she knows their goals and their numbers.

She names the fears that keep artists from looking at their data, then lays out a simple monthly or quarterly check-in.

It covers the high-level numbers worth tracking, from revenue and email to website traffic, and how to get curious about what they reveal.

Alyson shares:

• Why she refuses to prescribe a fix before knowing what an artist wants
• The fears that keep artists ignoring their numbers until tax time
• Why even good numbers can be scary
• How often to check your numbers, based on how active your business is
• The two numbers she asks about first when sales are down
• Why tracking too much isn't helpful

Read the companion post and watch the video

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that comfort is the most dangerous place to be in your art business. If you keep doing things the same way, you are bound to miss out on opportunities as things in how we show and sell art are changing so rapidly.

She walks through three signals worth paying attention to:

• The results signal :: that something familiar has stopped working
• The joy signal :: that something is messing with your happiness
• The external signal :: that a moment is emerging and worth paying attention to

She mentions the external signal that Jenny McCarty paid attention to and took her art viral in episode 277.

And the joy signal that moved Ali Cavanaugh to remove her work from 10 of her 11 galleries in episode 189.

Alyson also shares her own recent pivot away from group teaching toward strategic consulting after tuning into the results and joy signals.

Read the companion post and watch the video

Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

When the redesign of the 2026 national parks pass became a flashpoint, watercolor artist and ecologist Jenny McCarty noticed the uproar in her community — and used her art to do something about it.

What happened next landed her on Last Week Tonight, raised nearly $30,000 for parks conservation, and added thousands of names to her email list.

On this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield talks with Jenny about what she built ahead of time to take advantage of the spotlight.

Jenny reveals:

• The Instagram exchange that told her a sticker could be something bigger
• Why going viral would have landed nowhere without her business systems
• The partnership that let her keep the project alive when she couldn't do it alone
• Why every collaboration in her business now starts with a contract
• What the numbers told her about where her time was actually worth spending

Get all links on the companion post

Follow Jenny:

https://www.thesageleafstudio.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sage_leaf_studio/

. . . ✦ THE NEXT OPENING ✦ . . . small group coaching applications September only. Get the details and apply at https://artbizsuccess.com/next

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Artists are a sensitive lot, and that sensitivity is what makes the work possible. It also makes everything else land harder.

It's easier to get tripped up by news headlines, family illness, and travel.

In this solo episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield argues that it's more important than ever to keep making art. She also talks about what to do when you must keep the business humming so that it's there for you on the other side of the current obstacles.

She reveals:

• Why not making art isn't the answer
• Five reasons to keep up the work in the studio, even when it seems unimportant
• Why it's much harder to restart a business you've stepped away from
• The underlying machine that keeps a business almost on autopilot

Read the companion post

• ~ * YOUR ART MARKETING PLAN IS SEPTEMBER 10 * ~ *

Get your plan at https://artbizsuccess.com/yamp

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that a marketing plan doesn't have to be a spreadsheet full of self-imposed deadlines. She argues for routines over rigid plans, walks through three distinct ways she sees artists approach their marketing, and reframes marketing as something bigger than self-promotion. If you've ever built a plan and abandoned it by week two, this episode is the reset you need.

Alyson reveals:

• Why routines stick when spreadsheets don't
• The three profiles most artists fall into — and why even the best one isn't ideal
• What marketing actually includes beyond self-promotion
• The foundation work that makes promotion pay off
• Why 30% more structure is enough to count as a win
• The two kinds of plans every working artist needs

Read more, get links, and see featured artists

* ~ * YOUR ART MARKETING PLAN IS SEPTEMBER 10 * ~ *

Get your plan at https://artbizsuccess.com/yamp

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield names three paths a serious artist can take — and makes the case for the one no one talks about. After more than two decades of teaching online, she's changing how she works with artists, shifting from multi-month courses to coaching groups and private consulting.

She also announces The Third Path, a new group for artists staying in the work on their own terms.

Alyson reveals:

• Why "ambitious" doesn't describe every serious artist
• What's changing at Art Biz Success after more than 20 years teaching online courses
• The three paths a serious artist can take
• Why the third path has never been modeled
• What The Third Path group is — and what it isn't
• Who it's for and how to get on the list

*~ * THE THIRD PATH BEGINS IN OCTOBER * ~*

Email Alyson if you're interested in figuring it out with a group of other artists. Watch your inbox for her short set of questions.

Read more, get links, and see featured artists

Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Many artists know exactly what they need to do to move their careers forward. They just aren't doing it.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield talks with Georgie Coote, a National Board certified health and wellness coach who specializes in ADHD in adults, about what's often underneath that gap and why standard productivity advice tends to fail the people who need it most.

Georgie reveals:

• Why so many artists know exactly what to do and don't do it
• The pattern behind late-in-life ADHD diagnoses in women
• What most productivity advice gets wrong for ADHD brains
• The difference between ADHD and ordinary overwhelm
• Where strategies fail and what helps instead

https://georgiecoote.com

https://www.instagram.com/georgiecootecoaching

Read the more detailed post

. . . ✦ THE NEXT OPENING ✦ . . . small group coaching begins September 1. Get the details and apply at https://artbizsuccess.com/next

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that waiting isn't ambition — it's longing.

She unpacks why so many artists organize their careers around a big break that rarely comes, names the three kinds of openings available to every artist, and offers a simple five-step cycle for building real momentum on your own terms.

She covers:

• Why waiting has no relationship with ambition
• Why hustling isn't the alternative most artists think it is
• The 3 kinds of openings, and the one most underused
• What "building a career on someone else's schedule" actually costs you
• The 5 A's that turn intention into follow-through
• Why doing this alone is exhausting and often uninspired

Read more and see featured artists

The Next Opening is a small coaching group for ambitious artists who are done waiting for the big break and ready to make their next move. A year of aiming, acting, assessing, adjusting, and doing it again, with support and accountability. Application only. Next cohort starts in September. https://artbizsuccess.com/next

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

You worked hard to get your art on those walls. So when only a handful of people show up to the opening, it stings.

In this episode, Alyson Stanfield looks at the most common reasons your supporters stayed home — and what you can do differently before your next show.

In this episode:

• Why the 5-10 days before a show are too late to fix most attendance problems
• How a cold list can cost you the people most likely to show up
• Why you can't rely on the venue to bring people to your exhibition
• Why one or two social media posts won't cut it
• The power of a personal invitation and letting people know why the show matters to you
• Why sending one email isn't enough, and why your supporters will thank you for the reminder

Read the show notes, get links mentioned, and watch the video

July 9 workshop: Follow Up Already

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The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that your best salespeople are already in your life, just waiting to be asked to help.

This episode isn't just for artists with collectors. If anyone has ever responded enthusiastically to your work, it applies to you.

Alyson reveals:

• Who counts as a potential advocate
• Why these people genuinely want to help
• Why the relationship has to come first
• How to make it easy with tools whether they are tangible, in-person events, or digital tools
• When and how to make the ask, and what it doesn't look like

If the follow-up is a weak link for you, join Alyson for Follow Up Already: Don't Let Good Opportunities Go Cold.

Read more, get links, and see featured artists on the companion post.

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

There are many ways for artists to make money, but more income sources don't always lead to more income.

In this episode, host Alyson Stanfield looks at the difference between an income source and an income stream—and why that distinction matters when you're deciding what belongs in your art business.

You'll also hear about:

• Why adding a new income source can mean building a separate business
• The time, energy, marketing, and systems each source requires
• Why so-called passive income is a myth
• How to evaluate profitability, potential, and return on your time
• Questions to help you decide whether to add, keep, or let go of an income source

The goal isn't to have as many income sources as possible. It's to understand what each one requires and decide whether it deserves a place in your art business.

Read more and get links and resources on the extensive companion post.

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that research is not an academic exercise. And it's not separate from your art practice, but part of it.

She encourages you to think of it as leading with curiosity, which strengthens the work and builds confidence.

Alyson draws on her background as an art historian and her own current investigation into timelines to show what this actually looks like in practice.

Alyson reveals:

• Why "I've always been drawn to this" isn't a good enough answer, and what happens when you push past it
• The difference between work that is beautiful and work that is about something
• Why you mustn't research to find the right or best answer, and why you cannot rely on Google and AI for a true research practice
• How a serious inquiry practice changes your artist statement, collector conversations, and confidence in the work
• What it means to make curiosity a practice rather than a phase you move through before a project begins

Read more and get links and resources on the extensive companion post.

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Every artist wants to know "how much time?"

How much time on the business side, how much time making the work, and how long before any of it pays off.

In this episode of The Art Biz host Alyson Stanfield gives straight answers to the two questions that matter — including a number you might not want to hear — and offer a better question to ask yourself instead.

She covers:

• Why "how much time?" is the wrong question, and what to ask yourself instead
• The difference between your daily time and the longer stretch it takes to establish yourself
• Why willingness and commitment matter more than the number of hours you have
• How much of your working time goes to business and marketing when you're serious about income
• Why more success means more business, not less
• The timeframe to expect for the hard work to pay off and why steady work matters most

Read more and get links and resources on the extensive companion post.

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This.

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Making a living from your art takes more than passion and talent. In this solo episode, Alyson Stanfield walks through the real considerations — from committing to your studio practice to making friends with marketing — for artists who are serious about turning their practice into a livelihood.

It starts with a question worth considering: is this really for you?

In this episode, Alyson covers:

• Why marketing your art too early can undermine everything you're working toward
• The financial math many artists avoid, and why ignoring it is not an option
• The old stories that hold you back and what it means to let them go
• Why your artist community is a valuable asset
• The difference between being busy and being productive
• Structure is what makes creative freedom possible
• Why you need to make friends with marketing.

Read more and get links and resources on the extensive companion post

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Venues aren't looking for artists who need them, they're looking for artists who are ready.

Host Alyson Stanfield introduces the attraction method: a way of building genuine relationships with venues long before you ever make an ask. For alternative venues, the timeline from first contact to a yes can be weeks instead of years.

In this episode, Alyson covers:

• Why readiness is more than finished work, and what signals to a venue that you're prepared
• How alternative venues operate on an entirely different timeline than galleries
• The research and in-person visit steps that show a space you're worth talking to
• What separates "Can I show my art here?" from an opener that actually starts a conversation
• Why consistent, genuine presence means venues sometimes do the asking before you do

Visit this episode's page for all resources

MENTIONED

Beyond White Walls workshop

Elevate Your Art workshop

RELATED EPISODES

The artists who don't wait to be chosen (264)

Use the attraction method for art venues before you make the ask (265)

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

You don't need a gallery to put your work in front of people. You don't need to wait for the next juried show application just for the promise to compete with a hoard of other artists.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that waiting for gallery representation — or cycling through the same juried shows — keeps artists from the kind of visibility they could be creating themselves. This is a practical, imagination-expanding episode for artists who are ready to take control.

In this episode, Alyson shares:

• Why "white walls" can be a metaphor for playing it too safe
• Three real art shows she attended that will stretch what you think is possible
• The lesson a hotel show taught her about personal invitations
• The difference between announcing, commanding, and inviting, and when to use each for promoting your show

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Elevate Your Art on-demand workshop
• Why the lone artist mindset keeps you small (263)
• How to write an art show invitation: announcing, commanding, or inviting? (article)

BEYOND WHITE WALLS :: May 7 Workshop

Your next exhibition space is closer than you think. Join Alyson on May 7 for Beyond White Walls, a 70-minute live workshop on finding and approaching non-traditional venues for your work. Registration is $37 and includes email templates, a companion guide, and the recording. Details at https://artbizsuccess.com/whitewalls

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this solo episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield explores why collaboration is often the missing piece in an artist's growth. While working alone feels easier, it can quietly limit what's possible.

This episode makes the case for thinking bigger by asking a simple but powerful question: Who else belongs in your work?

Alyson shares:

• Two powerful examples of artist collaborations and how they reached audiences that the artists couldn't have reached on their own
• How collaborations build accountability, momentum, and deeper work
• Why it's important that your work be part of the larger dialogue
• What to look out for when collaborating

Visit this episode's page for all resources

RELATED EPISODES ON COLLABORATING

This Artist Turned Six Partnerships Into a Sold-Out Gallery Show with Meredith Nemirov (262)

A Collaboration Between 2 Artists that Led to Creative Growth (183)

Multiply Your Audience and Expand Your Show's Impact with Jill Powers (27)

Multi-State Multi-Year Multi-Artist Art Project with Marilyn Artus (30)

Knit Democracy Together with Eve Jacobs-Carnahan (64)

Collaborating on Your Art Business with Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin (86)

Play Tops Work, Connection Tops Solitude, and Confidence Tops Fear with Willie Cole (126)

Expanding Your Skillset to Respond to Opportunities with Detour (128)

Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.

Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This

The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.