A CREATIVE MUM'S GUIDE TO BUILDING A PASSIVE INCOME BUSINESS, FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.
YAY! We're half way there!
If you’re following Dustin’s amazing free email course advice then by now you have created something, however small, and asserted your online presence by opening a Creative Market shop or similar, or perhaps you’re just posting on social media instead.
Dustin’s advice for the next step is:
• Brainstorm the things that make life difficult for your potential customers. Haven't identified your customer yet? Well that's a REALLY important thing to do but for the sake of productivity and to get the ball rolling, you can use yourself.
• ERADICATE THE PAIN! Yes I was saving that out loud in a futuristic Robocop style voice.
• Ignore the inner voice that says "But they might laugh at me!" (this is a repeat, but also super important not to forget!)
How I put that advice into practice:
Not to make excuses - I only have myself to blame! - but this post has been a difficult one to get round to writing down and publishing. The main reason is my poor time management when it comes to this blog! So in the timely fashion of a procrastinator, I have filled my time with making art (not such a bad thing really) and I have written another post about improving productivity (also not such a bad thing!) which you may also want to read at some point.
So I would say I have a few different 'customers' depending on which of my businesses I am looking at (I have this blog, I am an illustrator and I have an online shop selling stuff for 'alternative' parents and babies. There are lots of cross overs, if you'd like me to help you identify your customers' potential pains, why not email me and we can have a chat?)
* Using the example of writing this blog, I'd say I am looking to attract parents, probably more so female stay-at-homers, or those stuck jobs they don't love looking to use their creativity to make money; creative people looking to create an income through passive methods.These people are time-poor and probably live to a tight budget and have a daily routine of stressful but necessary events like the school run, the laundry, the commute etc.
Their pains include: keeping on top of household chores, finding time to themselves, lacking in self worth, struggling to find ideas to keep children entertained, wanting to be more creative in their lives, not having disposable cash for 'fun'.
* As an illustrator creating a passive income, I am looking at people who want to create or make something to sell or publish as an end product but don't have the equipment, skill or time to create the necessary artwork themselves. Maybe they write a blog and want some cute illustrations rather than stock photos to add richness. Maybe they make handmade books and want some patterns to adorn their covers. They make wedding invitations and want artistic elements to add a unified personal touch for the couple's theme.
Their pains include: not having programmes such as Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to create designs digitally, not having the skill or inclination to use such programmes. Not being able to draw or paint what they desire. They don't enjoy creating the art but enjoy making the end product. They don't have time to create new and unique art for every project.
* As a designer of 'alternative' baby and parent clothing and gifts I am obviously targeting parents, but also brothers and sisters, family and friends of those with a new baby in their lives. The baby is born to a parent or parents with an interest such as tattoos, heavy metal music, offensive slogans on t-shirts, those who don't like baby pink and flowers/baby blue and bunnies, those who prefer black clothing etc.
Their pains include: availability of clothing and gifts for babies that suit an alternative taste to the norm. Clothing on the high street is too twee. Wanting to find gifts and clothing that reflects an alternative lifestyle. Buying a unique baby shower, birthday, Christmas or christening gift for a parent with alternative taste.
• I have started commenting and having conversations with the people whose accounts I like and am inspired by on Instagram.
• I am posting more regularly to maintain an online presence. My aim is to post daily on Instagram, with a view to increase to 2 or 3 times a day. The more interesting and relevant content you post, the greater your engagement should be.
• I am creating art every day using the prompts by Lisa Bardot on her blog Bardot Brush. This is a means to increase my 'stock' of images which I can ultimately package up to sell via Creative Market or Gumroad; but also just get into a good practice of improving my skills and honing my style.
• I created a Gumroad account and listed my first vector illustration set, Little Birds, for sale.
• I created a Scandinavian inspired set of Procreate brushes and illustration pack which will be turned into a vector pack to download.
• I created a Spoonflower designer's account and am creating fabric for sale.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ON MY PASSIVE INCOME JOURNEY...
Well STEP 3 was a busy one for me..Christmas has come and gone and my maternity pay is almost done! Dustin's advice is to do each of these steps daily, and it's taken me well over a month so far! The journey has definitely highlighted the areas I need to improve on, such as my time management and where I need to organise myself a bit better. It has inspired some new post content which is good, and also cemented the fact that this is definitely something I want to continue as I go into a new year, 2020.
Engaging, interesting and relevant content is the best kind of content. I have really enjoyed creating the artwork I have, but I feel I should have been documenting the process a bit better to share with you all. Not just through this blog, but also through my Facebook and Instagram accounts. I am not reaching enough of the right people yet so need to continue to reach out to my target audience/customers and utilise more of their features like 'stories'. I really enjoy watching time lapse and tutorial videos so am thinking this is a good way of engaging more people.
As my day job is not currently one in a creative field, this passive income using my creativity is all the more important for my mental health and happiness. I definitely want to be setting a good example to my girls that hard work pays off and I'm excited about this coming year. Maybe I'll even see a change in career altogether!
Want to see how STEP 4 went? Be sure to subscribe as it's coming soon!