Artist: Pam Baumeister; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
QUESTION: What was your biggest challenge as an artist?
Pam Baumeister: Feeling like I was qualified to be an artist.
Ann Rea: Oh. What does that mean? How does one qualify to be an artist?
Pam Baumeister: I just didn’t think that I was a real artist because I hadn’t gone to art school and I didn’t have any formal, I mean I had formal training but I was mostly self-taught so I didn’t really feel like I, I belonged in that group of people that call themselves artists.
QUESTION: Did you have enough time to be an artist?
Pam Baumeister: I didn’t feel like I had time to pursue it because I am a mom of four children, four daughters, and I work full time and I was just, I felt like I just didn’t have time to do it and I didn’t know when that time would be. I felt like maybe it would happen when I was retired but I didn’t want to wait that long because I still have a long time before I would retire.
QUESTION: How did you make time to sell your art?
Pam Baumeister: The main thing is a commitment because if you don’t have a commitment to something you’re not going to do it. And just knowing that someone, someone like me who deeply deeply desires to have art be like the main part of my life, the main way that I make my income. If I say that but I don’t do it, then I’m just lying to myself. So I think the, I listened in to one of your calls on Saturday morning and you said something that actually like brought tears to my eyes and it actually kind of makes me feel emotional right now just explaining it. You said that if someone offers to buy your art, you’re good enough to be an artist. You’re good enough to sell your art.
Ann Rea: Right.
Pam Baumeister: So I was like, what? Really? Because people have offered to buy my art. And it was a revelatory moment for me that I was good enough to do art. And so just knowing that I, I realized that it was all up to me. Because it wasn’t going to land in my lap. I had to actually make steps and so I made the decision that I would no longer work out in the morning, I would do art and I would work on my art business. And that’s what I’ve been doing and I actually have lost 30 pounds since taking your course. You changed my health and everything has gotten better.
QUESTION: Why did you make time to sell your art?
Pam Baumeister: I actually decided that the time, where I spend my time, is a direct translation, should be a direct translation, to my top commitments.
Ann Rea: Correct.
Pam Baumeister: If my top commitment was to work out then where was that going to get me with my art? So I changed. And I made a commitment to focus on my art. And I heard another mentor say if you were the best in the world at what you do how would that change the way you live? I thought
Ann Rea: Good question.
Pam Baumeister: I need to change the way I live. I need to change my commitments. I need to change my time, my, where I prioritize.
QUESTION: What’ve you learned most about selling your art?
Pam Baumeister: There’s a lot of people who sometimes get resistant to the things that you tell them in the course
Ann Rea: Yes.
Pam Baumeister: The things that you resist are the things you need most.
Ann Rea: Yes!
Pam Baumeister: When someone tells you that you need to do this and you don’t want to do it, and you feel like that’s stupid I don’t want to do it,
Ann Rea: Right.
Pam Baumeister: That’s the thing that you need to do most. So it requires humility.
QUESTION: What advice to you have for other artists?
Pam Baumeister: One you need to do the work and commit to doing the work.
Ann Rea: Yup.
Pam Baumeister: And two, your community and the people you surround yourself with, is vital to your success.
Ann Rea: Absolutely.
Pam Baumeister: Seek positive people and I found so many I mean I have so many new friends from this program. You know we just met last week in New York City
Ann Rea: No!
Pam Baumeister: For the first time I met, I met five new friends that I’ve seen on, you know on the Facebook page, and one of the study partners that I’ve met with for two solid years. We’ve met with, you know, long distance.
Ann Rea: Wow.
Pam Baumeister: The first time we spent a week together and it’s just so it’s such a support. It makes you feel like you are, that you can’t, you can’t fail. It actually boosts you up. It actually makes you feel more energetic. It makes you feel more excited. And it makes you feel like you have your tribe, like you have your have your peep, you have your peeps.
QUESTION: What else would you tell artists?
Pam Baumeister: You don’t know everything. You just don’t. You might think you do but you don’t. And to stay humble and stay teachable and moldable because that’s the only way you’re going to grow.
QUESTION: How have some artists reacted to your success?
Pam Baumeister: I have been public. I have been attacked online. I have a fairly large Instagram following now and I was attacked by one follower who said who asked me where I went to school, where I went to art school. And just attacked me for my lack of my lack of education, I guess. And he told me about all of his credentials and he told me all about what he’s doing. And I said well are you selling your art? And he, he said no.
QUESTION: What have you learned from the haters?
Pam Baumeister: And you realize it doesn’t matter what other people say. If the people, if your audience loves you and loves what you are doing because you have made your mission and your vision so clear that they completely identify with it and it makes an emotional connection with you, they make an emotional connection with you and your art, then it won’t matter what other people say because those people aren’t your people.
QUESTION: Why don’t you work with art galleries?
Pam Baumeister: I’ve had collectors who ask me and people who are not my collectors ask me, oh do you have in a muse, you know, do you have your stuff in a gallery?
Ann Rea: No.
Pam Baumeister: I don’t. And they’re like oh you should try this gallery, you should try that gallery, and I said actually I prefer connecting directly to my collectors because it’s more meaningful for them and it’s easier for them because I sell it all online. I can meet them in person if they’re local but selling it online makes it easier and everyone is online. So, why not? I mean Amazon is not huge, a huge conglomerate because you know by accident.
Ann Rea: Right.
Pam Baumeister: The way that the consumer goes, the consumer consumes things through the Internet. And so that’s what I’ve built and I’m building and I’m continuing to build that easy access to the art and they don’t have to actually go into a gallery.
QUESTION: Why is it better to sell your art yourself?
Pam Baumeister: And your connections directly to, and your contact with your collectors, is like gold. It’s like money in your pocket. Because if you’re collecting all of those email addresses and all of that contact information, you can continue to market to those people. And you’re not going to get that if you have a middle man you know, keeping you behind the curtain. And you’re not, you know, it’s just, it’s not, it’s not a real connection if you sell your art to somebody you don’t know and you’ve never spoken to.
QUESTION: What’s it like having Study Partners?
Pam Baumeister: It’s fun, number one. Number two, we’re all connected on the same like I want to sell my art kind of thing.
Ann Rea: Yeah!
Pam Baumeister: So I think this person can help me, you know. So um, and then you find out yes they can help you and yes they have your back and yes they want you to succeed as much they want themselves to succeed.
QUESTION: Are you and your Study Partners the same type of artists?
Pam Baumeister: And you know what’s interesting, and when I met the women last week in New York City, we all have different art styles. I had really seen much of their art before. But it almost didn’t matter, because like you could do whatever you want. You could make a giant elephant with you know, glitter poop.
Ann Rea: Yeah!
Pam Baumeister: It doesn’t even matter to me.
Ann Rea: Doesn’t matter to me.
Pam Baumeister: It doesn’t matter. It was a revelation to me that you don’t have to, your art doesn’t have to be any one certain thing. It just has to have a purpose and it has to have your vision tied into it. And the people that you serve, your clients, your collectors, have to identify with this.
QUESTION: How many Study Partners do you have?
Pam Baumeister: I have probably, I mean try to continually even though I’ve graduated, I try to continually meet with more people whenever people ask me to study with them I’d be happy to do it.
Ann Rea: That’s great.
Pam Baumeister: And so I probably have at least 20 different study partners, maybe 25. And continue to get more and more and more.
QUESTION: What’s it like to collaborate with other artists from 19 countries and counting?
Pam Baumeister: Yeah, I love it, it’s such a it gives me such a rush whenever I have new study partner and I talk to them and I’m a little bit further down the road and so I’m able to tell them hey, it’s great. You know where I am right now is great. But you have to go through all these different steps to get there and just like you said, you know Rome wasn’t built in a day, you don’t have to do everything all at once. You’re going to get there eventually, but you are going to get there, especially if you keep moving forward and you don’t give up or beat yourself up or anything like that.
QUESTION: Must artists suffer for their art?
Pam Baumeister: When Elizabeth Gilbert in Big Magic says you know that people feel like you have to be tormented to create work, but you don’t have to. You know what if everything turned out? What if you apply for this course and suddenly you’re making money? What if? What if suddenly you connected with all your fans that are out there that have wanted, looked for something like your art? What if? What if everything you ever imagined could happen? I mean like, turned it around and reframe it.
Ann Rea: I love it.
Pam Baumeister: You don’t have to be miserable. You don’t have to be conflicted. You don’t have to be, you know, I hate my day job and I wish I could sell art full time. Make steps to make it happen. But you don’t have to be, you don’t have to be unhappy or acerbic or angry or you know whatever. You can be a productive member of society and someone who is enjoyable to be around.
QUESTION: What if we did a live event?
Pam Baumeister: Can you imagine the energy in that room? I mean it is, it would be like practically, you could practically reach out and touch it. That’s the, when we met, the four of us, or five of us, it was, it was almost tangible. It was like a palpable energy. We were just all so inspired by each other, just by being together.
QUESTION: A plan to sell your art without a plan is a plan to sell no art.
Pam Baumeister: You either make a plan or you can make an excuse.
Ann Rea: Mmm.
Pam Baumeister: And if you don’t have a plan. If you have no plan to succeed then that’s a plan to fail.
Ann Rea: Right?
Pam Baumeister: So, invest in yourself because when you spend the money, when you invest in your art business, in your artist, in your artist, you know, in your artist business. If you invest in yourself, you’re more likely to do it. So why not just invest in yourself? Unless you don’t want to do it. And then if you don’t want to do it, then just stop tormenting yourself.
QUESTION: Do you have to do it all yourself?
(transcript)
Pam Baumeister: Hire people that can help you. This is one of the things that this course taught me. It’s to, you don’t have to be amazing at everything.
Ann Rea: No.
Pam Baumeister: You can hire people and you can have people help you, because you’re going to be better if you hire people to do what you can’t do.
QUESTION: What’s it like to be a graduate of MAKING Art Making MONEY?
Pam Baumeister: It’s really empowering to have the, the tools in my tool belt, to know how to, how to move forward with my art business.
And you gave me those tools so thank you very much.
MAKING Art Making MONEY
Someday is Today
