How To Stop Working For Free
Part 1 of a motivational series addressed to myself
Greetings from my brand new studio! Last week my wonderful moving team (my fiancé Jack, my sister Pippa, and Jack’s dad Dave) carted four van loads of weaving equipment across East London, up two flights of stairs and into my new work space.
I will be sharing more of this new studio in due course, and will keep you all updated on how I'm settling in. But first, I want to share part one of a new series I've been working on for my paid subscribers, titled “How To Stop Working For Free”.
I started writing this series last month, and now with the new year dawning fresh and chilly, it feel like a good time to share it. It’s half helpful things I’ve learnt in the last year of running my business, and half a motivational message that I’m writing to myself. Most of all, it’s a way of thinking through the problem areas in my creative business, and recognising the roadblocks, pitfalls and unconscious assumptions that are tripping me up.
The spark of inspiration for this series came in my last paid post, where I wrote about the biggest mistake I’ve made in my creative business: not paying myself properly. I shared how ever since I began making art full time, paying my own wages was always the last thing on my list. So long as I had the big, impressive studio and enough to bankroll my business, I was fine with paying myself barely more than minimum wage.
But over the years, this haphazard approach to money started to affect more than just my personal finances. 2023 was a tough year for my business, but I’m resolving that 2024 will be better. After all, in 2025 I will have been in business for 10 years (!) My humble goal for that milestone is to be financially stable and making art in a sustainable way - and that starts with making sure I’m paying myself a fair wage.
Of course, in today’s challenging climate, that’s easier said than done! But in today’s post I want to talk about a lesson that I’ve learnt recently in running my business which is - the small things really do add up.
Let me tell you a story. When I first graduated from art school, I spent about a year working for a homeware designer in North London. I went to her flat three days a week, packed online orders and answered emails, and this was my first taste of what running your own business was like.