From Hobby to Income: How to Know When You’re Ready to Sell Your Art

Is it time to take the leap and start selling your creative work? Here’s how to know if you’re ready—and what to do next.

I know you’ve spent hours stitching, painting, crafting and doing all those wonderful things that you love. It’s in your blood, in your soul. And you can’t stop making, can you! Me neither.

Over the years you’ve had friends and family say that you should sell your creations and your artwork. And those words bring a little tingle to your soul, when you hear them.

Your beautiful pieces might be sitting in the cupboard, and you’re wondering what to do with them. You’re spending money on materials for new projects, and want to recuperate that.

Or, if you’re like me you just really want to share your work, make an income, and be able to work for yourself. That’s how I started – I didn’t want to go back to work after I had my children and worked hard to make that happen.

Perhaps most importantly of all - you feel ready, you know that your work is good enough. You’ve been building the confidence and you’re ready to step through that fear.

I wanted to help you walk through the process of deciding if it’s the right time to take your hobby to the next level and start selling it. When you’re asking -

“Am I really ready to sell my art?”
“What if no one buys it?”
“Do I need to be more professional first?”
“How do I start? What do I do?”

I’m here with you. 17 years ago, I saw a callout for someone opening a new shop and wanting some handcrafted pieces, so I sat down and sewed some little handbags. It was scary and exciting, and all sorts of other things. One of the most wonderful parts of it all was walking through the city one day and seeing someone carrying one of the bags.

My work out there in the world, bought and appreciated and enjoyed by someone I didn’t know. Someone who paid their money for something made by my own hands. What a feeling!

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The jump from hobbyist to creative business owner can feel scary and overwhelming - do you need permission to do this, or a “real” plan, and biggest one of all – are you even good enough for this!

Guess what – you are good enough. You’re better than good enough! And, you don’t need to have it all figured out to begin.

In fact, you probably won’t ever have it all figured out. Lucky you’re an artist and a creative thinker; this is why you’ll be so great at running an art or craft business.

Don’t get me wrong though – it takes hard work, a willingness to keep on trying, and the deep yearn to ‘make it’ as a professional artist.

So, let’s dive in … Are you ready to sell your art?

Here are a few signs that it might be time to take your creative work out into the world:

1. You’ve developed a style or approach that feels like “You”

If you’re making work that feels like an extension of your own creative voice—your magic, your energy, your story—that’s a good start. People are drawn to you, not perfection. When people purchase art, they’re purchasing you and your story.

That’s the magic of being an artist – your artwork is you! This means that it is often easier to create a business with a distinct style of your art, rather than an always changing looks. Your customers get to know you and your style of work.

I have many people say that they know it’s my work as soon as they see it on Instagram or Pinterest – and gosh that’s feels wonderful to hear.

This is not to say that you can’t evolve or change your style (in fact you probably will over the coming years), but it’s best to know when you’re starting that you have a ‘style’.

2. You’re creating more than you can gift or keep

If your home is full of stitched cushions, watercolour landscapes, ceramic mugs, woven wall hangings, or naturally dyed fabrics, it might be time to explore sharing them with a wider audience.

Have all your friends and family received one of your precious pieces over the past year? Is there no more wall space or shelf display space for your work?

But you just can’t stop making. And you want to keep making more and more.

I do want to say that this isn’t primarily a reason to start selling your work. Just because you love making and creating things, and your shelves are overflowing doesn’t mean you need to start selling it.

Sometimes when people turn their hobby into a business just because they have too much at home, they start to resent their hobby. And that’s never a fun thing.

3. People are already asking if your work is for sale

This is a big one. If people are commenting, DMing, or asking if they can buy your work—even if it’s just once or twice—it’s a sign that your art is connecting with someone emotionally. That’s the heart of sales.

This is an exciting one, because it means that your work is being seen by an audience and potential customers as a saleable artwork, rather than a lovely hobby.

But a word of caution – don’t jump into a business simply because you had a few people tell you that you should start selling or because you had two or so people ask to buy it.

If now doesn’t feel like the right time to start a business, then you can simply sell those few people your work, as one-offs here and there. No need to make it a whole official business if you don’t want that.

Though, yes yes – this is a great sign if you have been pondering if you could possibly sell your work. People asking to buy it is YAY!

4. You’re willing to learn a little about selling, even if it feels uncomfortable

You don’t have to love pricing, admin, paperwork, or writing product descriptions. You don’t have to become a full-time marketer (in fact, let’s hope you don’t!) —but if you’re willing to learn a little, that’s enough. Curiosity is a powerful sign you’re ready to take the next step. If you’re open to that—you’re ready to start.

You should also be open to knowing that you probably don’t know what you don’t know… which means that there’ll be a lot of mistakes while you learn the ropes. Taking in as much as you can from other sources is a great place to learn it all. But also realising what are the best ones to ignore is important too.

If you decide that you’re going to try these hard things, rather than declaring ‘I’m no good at maths, or selling, or photographing my artwork’, then I know that you’re ready to start your business.

5. You’ve been dreaming of it and looking at all the other people who have started selling their work.

Come on – if you know you know. There’s a part of you that’s been going to market stalls not to buy something (though you do that while you’re there) but because you want to check out everyone’s stalls.

You’ve been following the journey of other creatives and artists you know – even the ones you don’t personally know online – and feeling a little jealous that they’re selling their work, showing up at market stalls, launching their websites, growing a customer base.

There’s a quiet shift that happens when we move from gifting or undercharging to honouring the value of our work. If you’re feeling the nudge to stop giving it all away for free—that’s a powerful sign.

Now if you’ve decided that “yes, yes I am ready”, then let’s go –

But first, here’s what you don’t need before you start:

Based on my conversations and experience with being a creative coach over the past years, I know that many times the reason someone doesn’t start a business out of selling their artwork is because they think they need a whole lot of things before they begin.

And the truth is there’s a whole list of things you don’t need that are possibly currently holding you back. So, here’s what you do not need:

• A full product range

• A ‘perfect’ brand or logo

• Thousands of social media followers

• A professional website

• Confidence 100% of the time

• A solid typed up professional business plan

• A ‘customer avatar’

• A giant studio

• Lots of finances to back you up

• Experience in marketing.

Sure, some of these can be helpful, but these aren’t the things that make your business. Having lots of money, a fancy website, a degree in marketing, reels that go viral doesn’t automatically mean a successful business.

You can start simply. You can learn as you go. You can evolve as your business grows.

What to focus on first (instead of a fancy business plan)

If you’re ready to dip your toes into selling your art, here’s where I recommend starting:

1.   Choose 1-3 pieces you feel proud of

Pick work you love—not what you think will sell. If you start your business by pandering to ‘likes’ on Instagram then there’s every chance that you’ll quickly be making artwork that doesn’t feel like you, and you’ll forever be chasing the next ‘like’ or trend. This is not a happy place to make art in, which in turn doesn’t usually make great art, which in turn doesn’t usually mean great sales.

2.   Decide how you’ll offer them

Will you sell on Instagram, Etsy, your website, or at a local market, or even wholesaling? There doesn’t need to be only one, you can experiment and see what works, you can try something and change it up afterwards. Remember evolution in your business is a good thing!

3.   Work out some pricing for your work

Truly this is one of the hardest things – and doesn’t really get a whole lot easier over time. But it’s a good idea to know the cost of your materials, what price you would happy selling your work for, what’s a viable price – ie what does the market support. I’ve got some more blog posts about pricing your art and craft here.

4.   Decide how much you can make and sell

Are your pieces one-offs, will you launch a collection or just a few pieces at once. How many pieces can you make between when you want to start and when you want to launch / sell.

How long until the market stall you’ve applied for? Can you make enough works for that, or should you cancel the stall?

Will you offer a few on Instagram this week and a few next week?

Or are you going all in and just going for it?

5.   Tell your community

Email your list (if you have one - if you don’t, then I do highly suggest that a newsletter list is near the top of your to-do), post about it on social media, or text a few friends, tell you family, post it on the local town’s Facebook page. Start small. Real connection goes a long way.

6.   Celebrate the first sale!

 This one is super important. That first sale – someone giving you their money for the thing you made with your hands. Mine was a blue tote bag, slung over a young woman’s shoulder spotted in the middle of a mall in Brisbane.

Leave me a comment here and we can celebrate together!

Here’s a gentle nudge from me: You don’t need to be “Ready” to begin!

Many artists wait too long to start sharing or selling because they feel like they’re not good enough yet, or don’t know all the right things.

I know it can seem like everyone else has it together and knows what they’re doing. Like everyone else is growing the art business of their dreams; selling out on Instagram, growing a giant audience, showing beautiful artworks and photos, being celebrated by ‘famous’ people, or just keeping on showing up everywhere you look.

And this has been putting you off – hasn’t it?

But, here’s the thing The only way to build confidence is by doing the scary thing, and keeping on doing it.

Starting small is still starting. You don’t have to go all-in—you just have to begin.

Even if you’re nervous, there’s a part of you that’s wondering, “Could this be something more?” That little spark of curiosity is worth following.