Featured Solopreneur Amy Pryor: “Embrace Social Media”

This is “Featured Solopreneur,” an ongoing series that gives all of us a glimpse at how other solopreneurs operate their small businesses. Click Here to read more Solopreneur Success Stories.

Name of solopreneur:
Amy Pryor

Name of business and city:
Amy Pryor Fine Art, Newport Beach, California

Web site address:
www.amypryorfineart.com

Type of business:
Fine art

When did you officially go into business?
July 2010

Why did you start your own business?
The business was officially started because our family had experienced some difficult financial times due to the economy. I first started out teaching kids art from my daughter’s second-grade class. Since my son was now going into kindergarten, I thought I had more time to explore selling my paintings. The classes started getting bigger and I needed to start offering more classes. I started having success selling my art, so I knew it was turning into more than a hobby. I officially opened shop in July.

What was the best thing you did when you were starting up your business?
I think the best thing so far has been getting involved in social media. So far, all of my sales and my art classes are from my personal network. That can only go so far to sustain or grow a business. I started a Facebook page, than added a Twitter account, and about three weeks ago I started blogging. Spending time with those media has allowed me to interact with people I would never had met otherwise. It’s also opened the door to guest blog or be interviewed by people such as yourself.

What is a mistake that you made that you have learned from?
It’s a toss-up between two things. One is not have a good handle on how to run a business. Things like good bookkeeping, necessary licenses, paying taxes etc. I even wrote a blog about it titled, “Wow, Starting a Business is REALLY Tough.”

The second thing is regarding attracting fans. I thought if I keep putting stuff out there, people will become a fan on Facebook or follow me on Twitter. The more I read about social media and search engine optimization, the more I realized I was going about it backwards. I need to write content that allows people who are searching for fine art to find me. Luckily I hadn’t been doing it very long and I didn’t need to back track or anything. I just needed to adjust from that point on.

What is your biggest current challenge in the business and what are doing to try to solve it?
I think my biggest challenge now is finding more people interested in buying fine art. Luxury items are items that people stop buying when the economy is poor. They may be remodeling a house, but their budget is being cut, so they might be looking for prints instead of originals. Some of things I am doing to solve it is keep my prices reasonable, offer digital prints and volume discounts. Social media is definitely another way I am trying to overcome this challenge.

What are your goals for the next 12 months?
My goals are to be represented by a gallery in Orange County, California and establish relationships with several interior designers who appreciate my bold and energetic style. I am currently represented in Chicago, Illinois and Stockton, California but it is difficult for me to support them being so far away. I would also like to be considered a very advanced artist in the area of SEO.

Where do you want to be with the business in five years?
I think the best way to answer that is to compare it with another artist who is about seven years into her career. That’s Chandra Michaels of Sugarluxe.com. She has a thriving digital art business. She did it all herself and she is incredibly knowledgeable about social media. She has a team of employees and interns and, of course, has a profitable business. I hope five years from now, someone is describing me in that way. I would also like people from around the world to see a painting of mine and say, “that looks like an Amy Pryor.”

What are your main software programs?
Photoshop, Quicken for Mac, and iWeb are what I’m using on a continual basis.

What lifestyle choices have you had to make to stay in business?
I haven’t had to make lifestyle choices to stay in business, but I have had to go into business in order to keep our lifestyle choices the same.

What are your strategies for staying competitive?
That is such a good question. You probably know there is an ocean full of artists. I have found that most artists do not like the marketing or selling aspect. I feel like my business skills will give me a great advantage because I’ll do a lot more things to get my art in front of people. Unfortunately, most artists want to wait for a prospect to find them. I also think artists make mistakes about pricing their art. I’m just starting out, so I think my prices are very reasonable for an emerging artist. Also, the economy is tough. Home prices have come down, interest rates are lower and stock prices are down. Why should it be a negative to think art prices should come down as well? As I said earlier, I think embracing social media and learning SEO will be a strong advantage.

Do you need a second household income to support your lifestyle? (Is the business primary, or supplemental to the household?)
My business was created to provide a second or supplemental income, which we were lucky to never need before. But times do change.

If your business should fail, what is your fallback position?
I can’t think that way.

If you could start your career all over again, what would you do differently? Why?
I started so recently that I haven’t made all those mistakes yet, but I’m sure I will.

What’s your advice for aspiring solopreneurs?
Be organized with the business early; the longer you stay disorganized, the harder it will be to get organized. Embrace social media completely. The more research I do, the more I realize people do not want to talk on the phone. Besides, Facebook and Twitter are incredibly cheap ways to market. You can’t get any cheaper than free. Don’t worry so much about finding fans. Worry more about writing good content and offering a good product so people find you.

Are you glad you became a solopreneur? Why or why not?
I only wish the circumstances were different for me to have to become a solopreneur. I love the idea that I could ultimately create something from nothing. Of course, I love that someone else isn’t telling me what to do and what time to do it. My husband is also able to help me a lot and that is a big plus for me.