Starting a Business on a Budget: Key Investments
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I’ve been wanting to write this blog post for quite some time. Many of you ask, “I have around $500-2000 dollars to invest in starting my own business, what should I put that money towards?”
I thought about this for a long time because there are so many things you can do within that range that would make a really big impact on your new business. And they’re the same things that get overlooked because they’re not on your radar as a new business owner or artist. When you’re just starting out as an art entrepreneur (or really, this applies to any creative business owner), you likely haven’t been exposed to the side of your business that lies beyond your craft—things like a marketing strategy, a professional website, and art brand-related investments. You’re laser-focused on getting better at your artistic skills, art supplies, building inventory, trying to figure out your workspace, shipping, pricing strategy, and social media, and that consumes ALL YOUR TIME. There are a lot of things, right? Coincidentally, they’re also the aspects of my own business that I wish I had focused on from the start, so this is also a bit of a lesson post to do things better, earlier on.
For clarity, I’m going to break down this post into two budget categories because the difference between $500 and $2000 is quite large. This isn’t to say $1000 isn’t enough to get started. It absolutely is. But it takes a little bit more self-initiative to make it work, and the order in which you do things also varies. Therefore we’ve got two budgets—under $1000 and anything up to $2000.
Note: Being in Canada, I’m using CAD dollars and pricing here, but the principle remains the same.
Budget 1: $1000
1. Professional Website: Theme, Domain, and Hosting – $150-400
First thing. Regardless of where you are in your career, having your own domain and your own website is one of the most important elements of your online presence. Online platforms are plentiful, but having your own space is critical for an online art business. What I mean by this is that you have a web address that is your name or business name that you own and have full rights to. The cost of purchasing a domain lies somewhere around $20 per year, so it’s worth buying and holding onto it until you’re ready. Once you have that, you can purchase self-hosting through a platform like WordPress, apply your domain, and start building your site. Side note, you can also purchase your domain through WordPress, but it’s typically industry preference to have these two things separate in case one fails. WordPress hosting will cost you around $130-200 a year. (And yes, that’s a lot less than Wix or Squarespace, which are not self-hosted).
Now, if you’re in the $1000 and under category and hiring someone to build your website just isn’t in the cards right now, you’re better off purchasing a theme (a downloadable website template that manages the front-end design and functionality of your website for you), installing that theme into WordPress, and making the adjustments yourself. Don’t panic; this isn’t as frightening as it might sound. The theme will come pre-loaded with pages, sections, fonts, images, and all that is required to really have a well-designed but customized website. So if you choose one that is very closely aligned to your art brand and aesthetic, you won’t have to do too much designing or customizing. In fact, if you’re new to all of this, it’s best that you do as little yourself as possible and work slowly so as to not confuse the theme and layout. Been there, done that.
Some of my favorite theme designers are Restored316, Brand and Build, and Hearten Made. The easiest theme to install and work on when you’re completely new to all of this is Kadence WordPress Theme. You’ll likely also come across Divi and Elementor. While those are great page builders, they take a little bit more patience to learn and customize. You’ve been warned!
Themes are priced anywhere from $40 to $300 dollars, the more expensive ones having many more pre-designed page options, functionality, and plugins built into them. So if you can afford to and it aligns with your business model, look at themes that are around $150 or more. That seems to be the magic number…
Now we’re obviously not factoring in the time it will take you to figure all of this out, learn a bit of WordPress, and customize your site. Anyone who owns their own business knows that we have to be aware of what our time is worth. For the purpose of this exercise though, I’m going to leave that up to you. Just keep in mind that whatever time you spend on building your site is time away from other things. Regardless, it’s a must. So whether you’re doing the work or someone else, there will be an expense.
2. Brand Photos – $350-500
You may not think it, but having a few really nice professional-looking photographs of you, your work, your studio space, or whatever it may be is going to make your marketing efforts a lot easier and more effective. And you might not be thinking marketing quite yet, but trust me, you will be very soon. And yes, while photography can run you well over $500, we’re going to be very strategic with this and have a plan that gets you a variety of photos that you can use in your marketing over and over again.
What you’ll want to do is get a few quotes from photographers that will include the following:
- Details, Supplies, and Stills: A series of close-up shots (your desk, hands, devices). These are relatively easy for a photographer to shoot, and if you do your work upfront, much easier to execute. Curate a series of props and supplies within your workspace that align with your branding—your colour palette and style of your work. Have some taller and shorter things, and some backgrounds to place them on—neutral desks, fabrics, or DIY backdrops. A photographer then can come in quickly, rearrange things a bit to work better, and shoot them.
- White / Negative Space: You’ll also want to have some white or negative space in your feed and image folder that you can use to create pause or space within your branding. These are typically clutter-free images, secondary images that you can add to express an idea, emotion, or content pause. In my own work, I use patterns, textures, and very beige/white images that give space between content that is brighter, more informative, or both. You can use stock photography for these, but you’ll find you run out of originality pretty quickly. So if you’re hiring a photographer to come in and shoot your space anyways, ask them to take a few of these for you as well.
- Lifestyle / Bio Photos: These are the YOU photos. They’re the photos you’re going to use to welcome people to your website, newsletter, Instagram, Pinterest, anything! You’ll want to carefully consider how you want these photos to come to life and reflect your brand. That’s where your photographer will help immensely. You’ll want to have anywhere between 6-10 images of you doing various things or even just sitting and smiling that you will use every so often to give a face to your brand.
*Do I have to show my face? Well, no, you don’t, but when it comes to creatives and selling online, creating a non-owner dependent brand is a bit tricky because in most cases, your potential buyers will want to know who they’re buying from. Of course, there are ways to really downplay the who and focus on the what or solution you’re providing, but you’ll want to at least have a few of these to use to welcome people into your brand. Once you’ve done that, you can concentrate less on showing your face and more on building your brand narrative.
What will all of this cost? The range here can be quite broad because photographers can have greatly varying rates depending on their experience and popularity. My suggestion is that you reach out to a number of local photographers and explain to them what you’re in need of and ask them for suggestions to stay within your budget. They might have suggestions (such as you driving out to them with your props, or the quantity of images, or cross-promotion), or if not, even point you in the direction of someone they know just starting out or looking to build their portfolio of work with slightly lower rates. You also have something you can trade for! Offering one of your products or services in exchange might be a good way to get a reduction on the standard price.
3. Email Marketing Platform – $19 *monthly ($230 annually)
Again, if you’re just starting out, your mind is probably on your workspace, software, integrations, tools… all the things. But if there is one thing that I wish I started on DAY ONE, it would be my email list. My newsletter is my most cherished business asset. I have thousands of emails that I’m able to reach weekly—sharing news, content, and resources that can help those readers. I don’t need to pray that Instagram shows my content or that they remember me and stop by my site. I have a direct way to communicate with them, and THEY have chosen this by sharing their email with me. And the reality is, most of mine (and your) sales will come from your newsletter.
So what is an email marketing platform? Simply put, it’s an online subscription that you pay to manage your email list. Your subscribers (via forms and signups on your social media accounts) will add their email to your list, and you’ll then have a list of emails that you can categorize, segment, and share content that gets delivered to their inbox. You design and build out your emails on the platform, and then the platform sends it out to your list and provides you with feedback on how your emails perform and how your list is growing.
I’ve partnered with flodesk because it’s one of the easiest and most beautiful platforms to learn and use, and therefore get a 50% off discount that I’m able to share with you.
You can also use our free email welcome sequence templates to get you started. They’re designed for creatives and they’re a great way to build out an automated welcome sequence to help jump start your conversion rate. You can download those here.
And if you need some help with email marketing, give us a shout. We offer coaching and monthly newsletter growth management for creatives just like you!
BUDGET 2: $2000
Professional Branding
If you’re able to spend a bit more, my suggestion would be to apply this difference towards branding and custom web design elements. While this isn’t enough to purchase a fully customized website handed back to you, it is enough to get a fully designed branding kit that you can upload and apply yourself to your theme. Branding is really important for small businesses because you have only a few ways to get your message across and to the right people, it’s money really well spent to clarify your message, find your target audience (art collectors) and significantly improve your marketing strategies and promotional materials. This will typically include a custom logo(s), colour palette, typography options, templates and a brand narrative. When we create these curated branding kits for clients, we also include custom high-quality visuals that you can use in all your content, in turn reducing what you need to hire a photographer. A Branding Kit, in addition to a really good theme will result in a beautiful website and afford you years of content creation that is aligned with your aesthetic and brand message.
You can learn a bit about The Good Canvas Branding Kit Here, which includes everything from market research, targeting customer research, branding, visuals and all things graphic design to get you sharing your business in a clear and consistent way.
Apply for Coaching Now!
For those who are in need of a one-time, INTENSIVE session to tackle everything their business needs and the steps to implement it. We’ll custom scope your project, put together a timeline (typically 2-3 months) and then execute to create exactly what you need. If you do not need on-going support and just want a business strategy and implementation strategy, then this might be the best option for you!
If you’re looking for ongoing coaching and business growth guidance, Our Creative Partnership is a great way to strategically work from the inside out, creating an online presence that is aligned with your professional goals. This is best for businesses who want support from consulting all the way through brand implementation, website design, marketing strategies and learning to sell art or products online through ongoing support.
Ready to get started? Head over to our coaching page and apply! I’ll get back to you with a scheduling link for a free consultation.
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Helpful Reads and Resources
GUIDES AND RESOURCES
- Curious to Learn How To Add Links To Your Site? Download our Free Internal Linking Checklist
- Download Our Free Pinterest Guide – How to Create, Schedule and Post Pins
- How To Index Your Website With Google
- Get Our Free SEO Guide Here
RELATED READS
- Our Marketing Tips For Introverted Creatives
- Free Flodesk Email Welcome Sequence Templates
- How Often Should You Pin On Pinterest?
ABOUT THIS POST
This post is written by Donata Delano – A Professional Artist, Graphic Designer and Architect based in Canada and Mexico. She specializing in visual communication and web design, creating branding solutions and websites that are thoughtful, unique and aesthetically pleasing.
