Profits differ from net income, and no where is there clearer than for small business owner-operators, artists, and creatives. Just because you have a certain amount of money left over after covering expenses doesn’t mean you’ve made profits. Why? Because you have to factor in the cost of your labor and the risk you took and so after factoring that in, millions of small businesses and artists and creatives are operating with little to no profit. However, it doesn’t have to be this way and so we wanted to create a space where sharp entrepreneurs and creatives could come together and discuss the challenges to profitability and potential solutions. If you have something valuable to add to this conversation that can help others achieve profitability, please reach out to us as we want to get your ideas in front of our readers.

Maribel Habib Groth

I would say some times costumers do not understand this is Art and we invest a lot of time and money to make our work some of the best and great quality, they don’t value our hard work.. Some costumers want cheaper and try to bargain to make artist in this industry try to price match some other artist prices But they don’t see experience and amount of training we had to get to be some Of the best PMU artist in this industry. Read more>>

Deb Neulreich

Can’t speak to the entire apparel industry, but I can address small boutiques and probably other mom and pop type stores. The internet, and folks who shop almost entirely from home, do harm to the viability of brick and mortar shops. Little shops have overhead, and whether anyone saunters in and purchases our goods on a day-to-day basis, our costs are pretty fixed when it comes to rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, payroll, and the like. Shoppers will say they want places to shop, but they often opt-out of going to their local independent store and supporting it. Read more>>

Jack Ludlam

I believe that the because challenge to be profitable as a fine art photographer is consistency. Once you make the conscious decision to rely on your creative outlet as a source of income it can drastically affect the way you create work. In my experience, the work that sells the best is the work that I care about the most. The work that I am the most excited about. And that is because I naturally want to talk about it, share it with people, share it on social media etc.. Read more>>

Kelly Bolen

With any type of blog, it takes time to get traction and recognition on Google and other search engines. With a lifestyle blog it is even harder because I cover so many subjects. But I absolutely love it! And I have dreams of it being a full time job one day. But for now it does make money, and it satisfies a creative need for me! I could not imagine not having it as part of my life! Read more>>

Sara Brand

There are definitely many challenges to profitability when you are in the antique field. The most current issue is the new, large companies that are creating brand new light fixtures that are made to resemble the antique versions from the early 1900s. They are taking these unique models, created over 100 years ago by original designers, and re-fabricating them to sell for lower than the antiques themselves. Read more>>