We were lucky to catch up with Sam Skrimpz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Sam, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think it takes to be successful?

Success to me is measured by being able to meet your own goals on your own terms. success is also not linear. Sometimes you have to take 2 steps back to move forward. I am currently in a space of considering my success as an artist. I recently had to take on a part time job because murals aren’t coming as consistently as they when I had a fully established client base in New Orleans. At first, I thought I was failing myself but not being able to fully support myself on my artwork alone. but then I realized I was putting too much pressure on myself to get work, and feeling desperate. Having a part time would help with the financial stress so that I didn’t have to grasp for work. I also have to keep myself safe so that I can continue to make art and meet my goals, and the part time helps with that. So of course, when I got that part time, I got my first solo show here in Richmond. And that to me is a form of success and alignment.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I had just quit a job working at the department of justice in New Orleans and decided to travel to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I went to Guatemala to learn spanish and bop around Central America for half a year. My travels were cut short and I landed back in New Orleans, but I decided to pursue the artist lifestyle in the first way that I knew about- art markets. I got a permit to sell paintings in Pirates Alley, which is a sidewalk market in the French Quarter. And I sucked at it. I was making tiny matchbox sized paintings and trying to sell them to drunk tourists in a space of constant chaos. I went home crying most days. Then covid struck. I was somewhat relieved that I didn’t have to go back to the street market, but I had no idea what to do next. I posted on the internet that I was interested in painting a mural, since we were all stuck inside anyways. My friend hit me up- her dad wanted to gift a mural to his wife in their bathroom. I had no idea how to price it, but I figured it out. It came out really well, I posted it on social media, and it went locally viral. that whole summer I was doing a mural a week, and threw together my business as I went. I was able to do this by continuously seeking help every step of the way. I took a muraling business course, and from that I put together my website, my contract, my onboarding system, and began building my artist community, which I believe is any creative’s biggest asset. I was able to hone in on my mission as a muralist, which is to activate spaces for my clients with art that adds to their business messaging, or how they want to feel in their own spaces. And personally, as a trans person, living in the current US political environment, I want to take up space with my art and represent my community by letting them know we have a right to exist, thrive, and create. I am most proud of that in this journey, I have changed from being a fearful, shy, artist, who had no clue who he was, and was afraid to connect with others, to being a confident, organized, business owner, creator, teacher, who is in love with the process of making work, bringing others in to create as well, and always excited for whatever new opportunity lay on the horizon. My work as muralist is a large piece of me, but it also largely inspired by and belongs to the space it lives in, and the people who support its creation.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

There’s a number of factors here, which I’ll divide into social media, networking, and word of mouth. Murals are nice because they are themselves promotional items for the artist. They are seen at their sites, people ask the owner about them, the owner tells the story about the interaction with the artist, bam, word of mouth business.
Networking consists of practices I’ve adopted to build artist community. When I see a mural, I look up the artist on instagram and send them a message. I’ll usually ask them out for coffee. I also try to collaborate with other artists too, to deepen friendships and merge creative worlds. I’ll go out of my way to offer my help on big projects. I often go to art shows to support artist friends and meet their friends, acquaintances, collectors there. Doing all these things help to develop a network of friends that you can share work with, and mutually support each other.
Social media sort of lends itself to the other two and i generally use the same principles i mentioned. When someone has a show, or a mural they’ve finished, I share it. And I also talk about myself, share silly things, and post projects I am working on. If there is a city I am trying to get art in, I will follow the local muralists and like all their work, ask questions about making work there and try to meet up if I can. I will also look up developers and architecture firms as well and send them emails. Also through connecting with people on social media, I learned how to set up my business by taking a specific muraling business course with my now friend Jess @whitecoffeecreativeco. Social media has given me the ability to build, grow and connect in the world of murals.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Yes, I had to change my thinking a lot from when i first started. I very much was in scarcity mindset and had to read several books to break out of it. It also changed my general outlook on life, which was a nice unexpected thing.

You are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero
Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller
The 4 hour work week by Jim Ferris
Make Your Art No Matter What by Beth Pickens

Podcasts were also extremely helpful too
I like your work podcast
The School of Greatness
All it takes is a Goal
Choose FI
The Badass Roadmap
21 Days of Abundance with Deepak Chopra
2bobs
The Savvy Painter podcast

I also watched a lot of “A day in the life of an artist” videos early on in my journey.
It helped me to see what I could form my life into as an artist and how to use my time, what to put my energy towards.

Contact Info:

• Website: friedskrimpz.com
• Instagram: @friedskrimpz