How to Find Clients to License Artwork

1. Introduction: Be amazing to see your artworks on fabrics, greeting cards, or even puzzles? Licensing your art can open doors to a whole world of creative possibilities. In this class, I'll share my ten years of experience to help you find clients and get your work out there. One of the most common questions I get asked by artists and surface pattern designers is, how do you get clients? You may already have an amazing portfolio, but if you don't know how to get it seen by the right people, you won't be able to get license. Hello, I'm Mel Armstrong and illustrator and Surface patent designer from Wellington, New Zealand. I've been licensing artwork for products for over a decade, and it's one of my main incomes now as a full time artist. Found clients via my agency, but also on my own. I've worked with publishers, such as Clastic and Harbor Collins, and I've also licensed artwork and patent designs to clients such as Spotlight stores, hallmark, American greetings, Wentworth puzzles, Azure, and many, many more. In this class, we'll be looking at three main strategies that have helped me find and secure clients. This includes e mailing directly. Social media, and utilizing the power of spoon flour. For each of these three strategies, you'll have actionable steps that will help you secure clients that suit your style and align with your values. Are you ready to unlock the secrets of finding clients for successful art licensing? Let's get started. 2. What is Art Licensing?: Before we jump into the three strategies for finding clients, let's talk about art licensing. Art licensing is a business model where artists grant permission to companies to use their artwork on products. It's a fantastic way to generate income, gain exposure, and see your designs come to life on a variety of products. Art licensing is for those who have a strong portfolio, which I do believe is essential for attracting potential licenses, although not always necessary. When I started out, I didn't have a portfolio, and my first few licenses were from companies reaching out to me after they saw my work posted on Instagram. So I think as long as you have a strong base of a few designs, then, I think you're ready to go. Art licensing is also for those who have a good understanding of licensing agreements. Understanding the terms and conditions of licensing agreements, including royalty rates, the rights granted and the territories is really necessary for negotiating clients. I highly recommend this book here, which is the pricing and ethical guidelines book. This book has guided me throughout the past decade to negotiate licensing agreements, both through my agent and also on my own. So I highly recommend it I'll put a link below for you. So, and also, art licensing is for those who understand royalties and payments. Understanding how royalties are calculated and paid, and having a good system in place to keep track of them is really essential. And once again, this book can really help you with that. So by understanding the art licensing process and preparing yourself with a strong portfolio and knowledge of the industry, you can increase your chances of securing lucrative licensing deals and achieving your artistic goals. Now, I'm not going to be covering all of these topics in this class. This class is focusing on finding the clients. But if you are looking for more information, I do have lots of other classes which I've listed in the description below, as well as my online community, where I help guide others through the process of licensing agreements. So check that out as well. So art licensing is not for those who want to earn money quickly. It takes years and years to build up a consistent income from art licensing. But once you do, the rewards are amazing. I think this really is one area where perseverance and trust in the process pay off over time. Art licensing is not for those who don't want to produce commercial art. You have to be prepared to change your art slightly to fit in with the company's brand, which means you may have to give up a little bit of artistic license. I love art licensing for a number of reasons. Number one is the passive income. Now, in the beginning, I probably wouldn't regard it as passive income as you do spend a lot of time and effort producing art that may not even get a license, but once a licensing agreement is in place, you can earn royalties on the products, featuring your artwork, generating a passive income, and this can build up over the years, turning it into a real passive income. I still earn royalties every year on licensing agreements I made eight years ago. Licensing your art can expose your work to a wider audience, increasing your visibility and building your brand. They think licensing your art to reputable brands can enhance your credibility and establish you as a sought after artist. Of course, see my art on products never gets boring. Art licensing is now one of my largest sources of income as an artist. But you have to remember this took years and years of hard work of building up my skills as a negotiator, finding clients, and building a reputation. But it truly is worth all that hard work in the end. Up next, we will dive into part one of how to find clients for licensing. I'll see you there. 3. Part 1 - The Art of the Cold Email: Targeted e mail outreach can be a very effective way to find clients for licensing your creative work, especially when used strategically alongside other methods, which we will talk about later. With direct communication, you can directly reach out to potential clients who might be interested in your work. This allows you to personalize your message and highlight the specific benefits your designs offer. Unlike social media marketing, email outreach allows you to target your message to specific companies brands or individuals who are likely to be interested in your style and licensing needs. Targeted e mail outreach can be the first step in building relationships with potential clients. A well crafted e mail can spark a conversation and establish you as an expert in the field. Also, direct e mailing allows you to track the open rates, click through rates, and responses to your e mail outreach campaigns. This data allows you to measure their effectiveness, and that in turn allows you to refine your approach. To do this, you can install a plugin called streak, which I've provided a link to in the downloads. You will need to be using G mail for it to work, though. So how do you find these clients to e mail directly? Well, research comes in many different forms. I personally like to go out to shops and take photos of products. As I do this, I add them to my dream clients list in my little notions database. I also like to take note of what other artists who have a similar style are licensing to. I have a growing list of clients I want to reach out to, but before I reach out to them, I like to go and have a look at their website, or anywhere else, I can gather information about them such as Linkedn, that will reveal to me if my values aligned with theirs, and if I believe my art will actually suit their products. You don't want to be reaching out to clients that you can't see yourself working with due to ethical issues or clients that don't put art on their products that isn't somewhat similar to yours. Now you also want to find the right person to reach out to. Now, this could be an art director or a creative director or even the owner of the business if they are more of a boutique sized business. This information can be found by some of the following methods. Firstly, have a look on their website for any website submission form. This is also the first place I check as they may have submission guidelines, and you really do want to stick to those. Another place to check is Linked in. I will search for art director or creative director, or even owner. Also, other artists can be very helpful. There is no harm in asking other artists. I've often had people reach out to me to ask how I felt working with a certain client. Also, Instagram, try sending a personal message on Instagram. When crafting your e mail, try to ensure the following three elements are in it. Ensure that the e mail is short and to the point. Art directors don't have time to read through your whole life story. So here are some things that you should try and include. Start with a strong introduction. So maybe open with a compliment about their product and then introduce yourself briefly. You can include what you do, what inspires you, and where you are base. Then make sure you add a portfolio link or link to a sale sheet or have that attached, as long as it's small in size. Now a sale sheet is generally just one illustration or a collection as opposed to a whole portfolio of multiple illustrations or pattern collections. Lastly, add some call to action. Now, this could be an invitation for them to visit your website or social media channel, or it could be an invitation to them to reply to your e mail with a question or to discuss anything further. Here is an example of an e mail I might send to say a stationary client. I have included a template in the downloads for you to use as well, but please ensure you modify it to suit your creative art business and to be specific to the client that you were sending it to. You do not want to send the same e mail to ten different clients. And here is an example of a sale sheet of a patent collection that I might send to a potential client. I might also mention that I have other colorways if they are interested in viewing them, and that could be a call to action as well. So also check the downloads for sale sheet template, which you are free to use. Here is an example of a sale sheet for a greeting card collection that I might send to a greeting card company. So before moving on to the next lesson, I want you to get out there and start identifying your dream clients and researching their contact information. Also want you to download and install the notion template or you could use a spreadsheet. Find potential clients, go window shopping for clients, take photos or write down information in a notebook or directly into your notion database. Check other artists who have similar styles and see who they're licensing to. Check their Instagram feeds, Linked in post, and website for collaborations that they have done. It's okay to do a bit of sleuthing. Doing this will allow you to find potential clients that you know collaborate and license designs from other artists such as you. When I'm on social media, I save any posts I see like this into a folder called potential clients, and I will later put them into my notions database to research further and possibly reach out to. And then at home, research, each of these clients, find any submission forms or details on their website as a first point of contact. Locate on Lincon and try to find an art director or someone similar that you can reach out to. If you recognize any work by a friend or someone you know in social media, Don't be afraid to reach out and ask for information. You could ask for their opinions or what it was like, working with that particular client, did they pay well? Would you work for them again, et cetera? You could also e mail or ring the company to find out the correct person to send your portfolio to and if there are any requirements. You could also message them on social media. Also ensure that you develop a template for personalized e mails with a strong introduction, a portfolio link, and a call to action, and practice writing concise and impactful e mail pictures. In the next lesson, We'll look at how we can build a client attracting social media presence. See you there. 4. Part 2a - The Power of Social Proof: A strong social media presence can help you attract potential clients for collaborations or licensing opportunities. My first ever licensing deal came from a designer posted on Instagram around ten years ago. I didn't have a website or a portfolio and only had a handful of designs on my Instagram channel. The company was a children's shoe company, and they wanted one of my designs I had posted, and they also wanted me to create another coordinating design. And it was the start of many, many licensing deals and collaborations that have come from art directors or businesses that have reached out to me via social media after seeing something that I have posted. And social media, while often frustrating, is undeniably the marketing platform of our era. And to succeed in today's landscape, artists must strategically utilize these platforms. Traditional marketing techtis from decades ago simply won't cut it. Artists who view themselves as business owners are also more likely to thrive. Creating art is essential, but it's only one piece of the puzzle. For me, it's about 30% of my daily work. Some days I don't even create art at all. Here are a few strategies that will help you get noticed and build up a loyal client base. Showcase your work and your skills by posting captivating images and short videos of your artwork. Showcase your design process and versatility by featuring a variety of patterns and styles. Whenever I'm creating, I make sure I video small snippets or even take progress photos. Is really easy to do as you're creating and will make easy quick reels and posts. You don't have to video the whole thing, just take snippers. And by tailoring your content to the types of clients you want to attract. If you have a niche, such as children's clothing, make sure that you target customers such as small clothing businesses and Etsy sellers. Also consider featuring mockups to show how your patterns can be applied to products that your target audience sells. Establish yourself as an expert by offering valuable content beyond just showcasing your art. You call shear industry trends, design tips, or behind the scene glimpses of your creative process. Also, position yourself as a thought leader in your niche. Also participate in discussions and groups related to surface pattern design and the industries you target, such as textiles or homeware. Respond to comments and questions, demonstrating your knowledge and passion. Build relationships and credibility by following and connecting with brands, licensing agencies, and art directors. Show genuine interest in their work and projects by liking and commenting on their posts. You can also partner with artists or complimentary businesses for joint projects. This expands your reach and showcases your collaborative spirit. Share positive client feedback or showcase products featuring your licensed artwork. This builds trust and demonstrates your effectiveness. You can increase visibility and discoverability by employing relevant hashtags to get your work seen by potential clients searching for specific design styles. Make these purposeful. So if your target audience or client is a children's clothing business, ensure that you use hash tags that they would use on their posts. Maximize the different features on each platform, run polls or host live Q&A sessions to increase engagement and drive traffic between your social media accounts and websites. You can do this by teasing content on one platform and directing viewers to another, announcing upcoming content on a different platform to peak interest. For example, on Instagram, you could post a story, saying, check out my latest YouTube video for a deep dive into whatever. With a link, of course. You could run contests or giveaways that require following you on multiple platforms. This incentivizes people to follow you everywhere. Include handles to bios and posts. Clearly display your user names on all platforms, in your bios, and encourage people to follow you there as well. Also, try to maintain a consistent brand identity by developing a cohesive visual style across your social media profiles. This will convey professionalism and memorability. It makes you stand out as a professional rather than a hobbyist who just creates for fun. Try to post regularly. By maintaining a consistent posting schedule, you'll keep your audience engaged and coming back for more. Most importantly, make it achievable for you and make it consistent, that might be just one post a week or it could be three posts a week. Lastly, it's important to be approachable and enthusiastic. Respond to inquiries promptly and professionally. Let your passion for your work and desire to collaborate shine through. Next up, we'll have a look at the different social media platforms and their pros and cons. See 5. Part 2b - Social Media Platform Choice: M. There are many platforms to post on, and they all have their pros and cons. I don't recommend posting on all when you're building up a strategy, but I would at least choose one or two to focus on. And there are also some really great tools to help you with posting. So identify the types of clients that you want to attract. Are they art directors at major brands, independent product makes, publishers or interior design firms. I have found Twitter or to be good for targeting publishers if you want to go into children's illustration. Instagram is great for attracting small businesses to license and collaborate with. And then Linkedin is great for attracting larger sized businesses and art directors. Consider the type of content you excel at creating. Do you primarily create visuals, or do you enjoy writing informative captions and interacting in discussions? Instagram is great for visuals, both still and moving. Threads and Linkedin is also good for writing informative captions, and TikTok is great for fun and compelling videos. So choose the platforms that you enjoy using and where you feel comfortable creating content. Don't post on a platform just because you feel you need to. So here's a breakdown of some popular platforms and how they can benefit artists and surface pattern designers. With Instagram, Instagram is a highly visual platform perfect for showcasing your artwork. Utilize high quality photos and videos of your patterns and leverage hash tags to reach potential clients. Explore features like reels and stories to share behind the scenes glimpses and design inspiration. Interest is a visual discovery platform, ideal for showcasing your pattern, and how they could be applied to product, create mood boards and collections featuring your artwork alongside complimentary visuals. Lincoln is a professional networking platform. You can connect with art directors, licensing agencies, and potential clients in the design and product industries. It's a good place to share industry news, showcase your expertise through articles or posts, and actively engage in relevant discussions. You can join Facebook groups and both public and private Facebook groups related to surface pattern design, product creation, or your target industries. Here you can network with creators, learn from other industry professionals, and share your work in a supportive community. With Twitter, well, while other platforms like Instagram are great for showcasing visuals, Twitter offers a unique blend of visibility, community building, and real time engagement, making it a valuable tool for illustrators and artists to promote their work. I particularly find it's great for the publishing sector. Cara is a new platform for artists made by artists, and it was created out of the frustration with Meta who weren't allowing people to opt out of out of AI bots, training against their training of their art. It's relatively new, so we don't know how it will evolve, but it is useful to get on board, even if it's just snagging your user name and posting a couple of artworks. And here are a few additional tips. Firstly, don't spread yourself too thin, and I'm a corporate for this. Focus on mastering a few platforms rather than being mediocre on many, and choose the platforms where your target audience is most active. Promote your social media profiles on your website and other online presences. And encourage website visitors to follow you for more updates. Analyze your social media insights to see what content resonates best with your audience, adapt your strategy based on the data to maximize your reach and attract clients. By understanding the strengths of each platform and aligning them with your target audience and content style. You can build a strong social media presence that attracts the right kind of attention and fuels your career as an artist or surface pattern designer. Be sure to grab the PDF download as it will help guide your choices, as this is a lot of talk. Up next is part three of building a client attracting social media presence, which is all about the content strategy itself. See you there. 6. Part 2c - Social Media Content Strategy: Your content serves as the cornerstone of your social media identity, emphasizing the need for purposeful consideration in crafting photos, videos, and captions. In essence, your content should fulfill one of the following four objectives. Ensure that your content actively motivates your audience to participate. Engagement means things like likes, shares, comments, and saves, and more. They play a pivotal role in your Instagram growth. Therefore, it should be an integral component of your content strategy. Revealing the process behind the finished artwork allows followers to connect with you the artist on a personal level. It humanizes the creative journey and makes you the artist more relatable. By consistently providing value, you not only enrich the experience for your audience, but you also establish a loyal and engaged community on social media. This in turn contributes to your growth recognition, and success on social media. Set up a schedule and be consistent in both when and how you post, and how often you post, as well as consistency in the look and feel of your profile. It not only enhances your visibility, but it also strengthens your brand, fosters audience engagement, and also contributes to your long term success on the platform. Previously, my primary content on Instagram predominantly consisted of just sharing images of my completed artworks or patterns, often featuring several color variations, things like that. Now, while this approach is quick and straightforward, it tends to garner a minimal engagement. To enhance interaction, consider incorporating more engaging and interactive captions as well as carousels of a range of images. Check out the examples provided in the PDF download for inspiration on crafting captions that spark conversations. Now, similar to posting finished art pieces, adding mock ups can really take your content to another level. Try adding a few different mockups for maximum attention. You can create your own mock ups using stock images or photos you've taken yourself, or you can purchase mock ups ready to use in photoshop. I have put some links in the PDF download for you. To find those online. Now, reels have provided the highest amount of engagement for me in recent years on both Instagram and YouTube shorts. In fact, when I completed the 100 day challenge on Instagram a couple of years ago, I was posting reels of my daily paintings and my followers more than doubled. I went from about 18,000 to 50,000 in just three months. Eels and videos allow you to show your whole process. They can be really simple, beginning and end shots or they could be full on time lapses. I also encourage you to provide as much information as possible in the caption, such as a list of the materials you used and anything else you think that your viewers might ask. Reels also don't need to be very long or complicated. A very short five second snippet of you drawing with some transient music is all you need to get engagement. Also, check out my YouTube video on how to create quick yet efficient art reveal reels. I'll put the link in the PDF as well. You can try encourage interaction by running polls, quizzes, or Q&A sessions to engage your audience. You can encourage followers to share their thoughts or interpretations of your work. You have a skill or a design tip to share, tutorials are a great way to build an audience, but they can also show clients that you position yourself as a thought leader in your niche. Here are a couple of ways I use tutorials. I use them as a reel to showcase a quick tip for followers, or I show a snippet of my skill share class or one of my YouTube tutorials, or I use an Instagram carousel containing images and videos to teach your skill. Also, flip throughs have been some of my highest engagement pot. They are really easy to f and edit all on the phone. And I recommend finding some trending music to go with it and make it no longer than 60 seconds. Ask them to choose between different color ways or between different art pieces. This is a great way to encourage engagement with your followers and potential clients. It often leads to higher engagement metrics like likes and comments and shares resulting in more people looking at your So sparks conversations, creating a sense of community and keeps your audience interested. And it can give you a great insight into what potential clients are looking for. If you sell physical products or print on demand products, social media is a fabulous way to promote them. Here are a few of my ideas. If your country allows it, try to link up your online shop to Instagram and Facebook, so you can link your products when you post about them. You can do this easily with website platforms such as Shopify and square space. Sadly, for me, down here in New Zealand, they have switched it off, and I can no longer do it, but I think for most other parts of the world, you're all good. You create real showing your package of your products for delivery. You can create real sh you prepare your products for a shop that you sell through. Quote seem to work well for engagement on Instagram. They are quick and easy to create. Simply grab a pattern or an artwork and pop a creative quote on top. Ensure you credit the author and write a caption that will encourage people to comment with their thoughts. And lastly, introduce yourself. I understand that this might seem a little bit intimidating, but revealing the person behind the art is incredibly beneficial for your audience. It establishes a more personal connection between you and the artist and your work. I encourage you to pin this to the top of your Instagram page also. Now, having a content plan really does take the stress out of scheduling posts and actually free up time. So I highly recommend sitting down each month and planning out the next month. Now, you don't have to post every day, but I do believe posting consistently, whether it be once a week or five times a week is the key. Now, I've included in the download a template that you can start with and just adjust it to your own purposes. Now, I also recommend using a scheduling tool. I've been using metrical, which you can use for free. It's the only one I've found that allows you to set the cover image on reels, and I also find it's the easiest to navigate. Also think the analytics on it are pretty good, especially for a free plan. You can upgrade to a pain plan, but the free plan is good enough. It's amazing. So here are your action steps for building a client attracting social media presence. Number one, identify the most relevant social media platform or platforms for your target audience. Number two, develop a content calendar featuring high quality artwork behind the scenes glimpses and inspiring posts. Use a tools such as metrical scheduling just to make your life a little bit easier. Number three, utilize relevant hashtags and engage with potential clients and industry professionals. Now, in the next lesson, we'll look at how spoon flour is not only great for selling your designs, showcasing your portfolio, and earning a passive income, but how it can also be a great place to attract potential licensing partners and clients. See you there. 7. Part 3 - Leveraging Spoonflower as a Client Magnet: Spoonflower is not only great for selling your designs, showcasing your portfolio and earning a passive income. It can also be a great place to attract potential licensing partners. To give you an example of how lucrative spoonflower has been for me, outside of just selling designs, let me show you a few different licensing deals that have come from having my designs on spoonflower. So the first big deal wasn't a licensing deal. But I did manage to get a commission to illustrate my very first picture book from someone who found my design on Spoonflower. So a home for Luna came after a publisher, found one of my cat designs on Spoonflower. They then asked me to illustrate a picture book based on a cat that becomes stateless. That book even went on to win a Rubery Award for the Best Children's Book of 2020. Now, since illustrating this picture book, I've gone on to illustrate 15 more to different publishers such as Schlastic, Hallmark, and Harper Collins. And it's been a great income stream to compliment my licensing income. This company, Lomwll, discovered one of my designs on spoon flower and asked if I could create another similar one plus a few more to make up a collection for wallpaper. And just a very recent one. An architect discovered a couple of my designs on Spoonflower. They reached out to the company in Auland who make wall panels and wallpaper to then license from me to put these wall panels into this brand new shopping mall in Manoa Bay in Aukland. This has just opened in Aland. I haven't actually seen it myself. So if you're in Akland New Zealand, you should go check it out, although you might want to wait for it to calm down a bit because apparently it's been super busy. But this is just an example of all sorts of categories and licenses I have received from people seeing me on spoon flour. And I shout it from the roof. If you're not selling many designs on there, but you're still on there exposing yourself to potential clients, and they could be more lucrative than actually selling on Spoonflower. So how do you optimize your Spoonflower shop to attract clients? Now, you want to ensure that your title description, extra detail section, and keywords are all optimized to attract licensing partners. And let's have a little look at that now. Okay, I'm showing you a design that I've got here. This is my twe design that I sell on spoon flour. I also license this out to a couple of companies. And I just wanted to show you how I've used all the title and description areas and the keywords. So this is where you enter all of those details. I have a title here that basically just says it's a New Zealand Tewy bird. Amongst the Kiwi flora on a dark background. So I've described it as it is rather than giving it a fancy name as that's way better for the SEO than giving it some fancy name that nobody's really going to search for. And then I've added more details in the description about what the design has in it. I've also written in there how to pronounce TE because not a lot of people know how to pronounce it, and some of the other motifs that are included in the design. And then down in the keywords, I have used all of the keywords, and I have selected a style, a pattern technique. And then I've included all the rest of them here. It didn't really fit into a season or a holiday or an occasion. So I've left that one out, but that's okay. And then down the bottom here in the additional details. It's really important to put something that will allow the customer to reach you if they want to. So I have my e mail address. I have my website. I've also said, why don't you check out the rest of the collection, and that might prompt them to go look at other ones and maybe want to license them as well. So that is how I generally go about editing my design so that they are easily found on spoon flower. Another thing you can do is try to think about who that target customer will be and ensure the keywords in particular, are going to speak to those customers. And make sure you use every single keyword you can. You have up to 13, and you can include colors, you can include products, you can include scale and style, and include all the motifs that you have in your design. Include as much as you can. Also check that you are using some trending keywords. Now to check what keywords are trending, just go to the menu and spoon flower and find the trending categories. Another thing I recommend is to become a little bit of a sleuth and find your own clients on spoon flower. You can start your sleuthing by first finding potential clients on the web or on social media, and then see if you can locate them on Spoonflower. Take notice of who is hearting your designs. If you discover that any of them look like they might be a company or an art director, you could reach out to them directly, sending them a message to say, Hey, I noticed you heart or what are my designs, and then offer some sort of service or incentive for them to contact you. If you receive a message from a customer on spoon flour, asking you to provide a different scale for one of their customers, then you can pretty much be sure that they are some sort of decorator or interior designer, and they are working for a client. So when you message them back, ask if you can then add them to your list so that they can be notified of any new releases, as well as offering your licensing and commission services. Jump on any chance like this. These ones are the lucrative one. So jump on them. Promoting your spoonflower designs on other platforms such as Pinterst, is also a great way to attract clients. To promote your designs on spoonflower, I recommend downloading their mockups. So, to download one of these mock ups here, all you need to do is actually right click on the thumbnail. Open image in New Tab. We jump across to there, it is quite small. So what you do is you go up into the URL up here, and you can see it says Extra X S. If you just change that to L for large and then hit return, you will then get a large scale of that mockup. And then if you just right click, like that. And that's all we need to do, and then you can post them onto social media and promote your designs. And then you can post these onto social media or in particular Pinterest. I recommend posting on Pinterest and Instagram regularly if you can. Here are your action steps to optimize your Spoonflower shop, to attract clients. Now, if you don't have a shop already, create a profile on Spoonflower and upload a curated selection of your best artwork. Optimize your titles, your descriptions, your keywords, and try to target those potential clients. Number three, utilize social media and relevant online communities to promote your Spoonflower shop. And do your own sleuthing to find your potential clients. Schedule time in each week to do these action steps to help optimize your spoonflower shop to become a client magnet. In the next lesson, I'll run you through your project for this class. But if you've been doing the action steps along the way, then you're already well ahead. See you there. 8. Your Project: Now that you've learned my top three ways of attracting and finding clients for licensing, it's now your time to get started. For your project, I want you to identify at least ten dream clients and research contact information. Develop a template for personalized e mails with a strong introduction portfolio link, and a call to action. Identify the most relevant social media platforms for your Tig audience. Develop a content calendar and schedule out a month's worth of content. Create a profile and spoon flour or optimize your existing shop, and finally research potential clients using my sleuthing strategies. Most importantly, just enjoy the process. 9. Conclusion & Mindset: Thank you for getting to the end of this class. I hope you're now feeling more empowered with the strategies in place to help build that client list. Remember, these strategies are what have worked for me and have helped me become a full time illustrator and surface patent designer over the past decade. Also know that implementing these strategies are not going to get you clients straightaway. It takes time to master these strategies and build up a consistent approach to this. I consider my art practice a business. I not only get to draw and paint and create pretty things, but a lot of my time is taken up by strategizing, researching clients, pitching to clients and marketing my work through online platforms such as social media and spoon flower. There is no overnight success in this business. It takes a lot of work and a lot of drive. But if you have that determination and that drive, then I know you can create a wonderful career like I have. There is also an element of luck involved. If you just happen to pitch to a client at the exact right time that they are looking for something that you happen to have designed, then you're in luck. Don't ever think that you've been rejected when you don't hear back from a client, you've pitched to or even if they respond with a no. It's more likely the timing wasn't right. To never hesitate to reach out to them again at a later date. Also, try to think of rejection as a learning tool and think of ways that you can improve your art moving forward to make it more attractive to clients. If they gave you some feedback, then use it. It is gold. Also, if you get a bad vibe from a client, then don't pursue it. I made that mistake early on, and it just wasn't worth the stress. Move on and only work with clients you connect with and can build a relationship with. Thanks again and happy patent making. Sea. 10. Bonus Lesson: Notion Client Database: Okay, so I've created this notion template that you can use to keep track of your dream clients, and then hopefully eventually clients themselves. It's really simple. Basically, I've got three views here, one's called dream clients, one's called researching and one's called clients. So when I'm out and about and I'm finding potential clients. I will generally chuck them into this database here called dream clients. And so if you click on the new, it will just create a new one. You can create a title here. I'm just going to say dream client. A, you can select a category. You can also add more categories to this. This is just a couple of categories to start you off, but then feel free to add as many as you as you want. So let's say this is a fabric client. This type here is basically saying if it's the dream client or if you're currently researching it. And then once it turns into a client, you can change that to client. You've got fields here for the contact person, e mail address, phone number, and website. And then down below in here is a contact record. So if you e mail them, you can create a contact record here that you can then follow up and say a couple of weeks, it's just a good way to keep a record of how many times you contact them. You can select the type of contact that you had, say it might have been a web submission, and that sort of thing. Also, you can write some notes down the bottom. You might have some additional information that you want to write about this client, and you can put them all down there. Now, if you've done one of my notion classes, I've got two classes on Skillshare. This database comes with those, so you may already have it if you've done those classes. But this is more for those who don't have one already. You can also use a spreadsheet, and I've included that in the downloads. So that is pretty much it. There's nothing much more to it. You can customize it to fit your business. So feel free to add more categories, change the way it looks, add a cover, all that kind of stuff. And if you want to learn more about notion and databases like this, go and have a look at my other two classes that should help you out.