Hello! I am so very excited to try this new adventure with you all! For a while now I have been trying to make it out here in this big scary world with a crumbling economy as an Artist. This has been no easy feet and I have struggled a lot and learned a lot.
I tried the word of mouth and purely gallery method of selling my art but that was very hit or miss and very slow. Then I added having an online presence and talking about my artwork/advertising it or trying to sell it through videos/content on social media. Which was confusing and not successful except maybe one sale a year. Then I added a website and tried directing people there with links to contact me directly about prints or original art or printed product that people would want. Which, you guessed it was also very slow. Finally, I made the plunge and made an Etsy Account, trying to sell through their platform. Which I worked on for way to long (years) with barely any success. This to no one's surprise did not do well and was actually worse then my other methods. So then I settled on doing in person sales at vendor events/art markets/bazaars and that has remained the main method for getting income for my work. However, the more I've been creating, sharing, and advertising my work the more comments and email's I've received from my audience asking about easier ways to purchase my work online.
So I started doing some research and even made a video about it calling to my online mutuals and followers to present ideas for which platform would work best to sell on. The most frequent and informed comments being about this site called Mayhem Marketplace. So I did some research and thought about the pros and cons then settled on giving it a try. For any new investment venture I want to always give it a good chance and this platform has a deal for one of their better plans by paying upfront for you page for the year (which is cheaper in the long run). So I thought, "Why not?! Let's give this a try!".
My expectations are this: From what I've discovered this appears to be a basic, straightforward, and user-friendly platform. It is also very low cost and beginner friendly, and there are no extra fees unless you add on things like having them process your card payments and stuff like that. So why not give this a good go and see what happens. The best that could happen is that I could experience a very nice platform to easily and inexpensively sell my work. The worst that could happen is that it could be just like Etsy and not generate any revenue leaving me to my in person events for income only. Either way choosing to try Mayhem Marketplace could really only benefit me since you never really know what platform will work the best for you until you try.
Though I will be using Mayhem Marketplace as a online Storefront my vendor event's and other methods of generating revenue will still continue. Plus I still fully plan on exploring other artist funding options like grant writing and possibly Kickstarter's for projects or fun services like a monthly art Print Mailing club that I could figure out. These are important and useful alternate forms of funding for my life and passion that is Art. Join me on my journey in exploring and learning how to grow my Artistic Career.