✏️🗒️ Summer School is now in session! Throughout the month of July, join me here on the Revenue Ready Creative podcast each Monday for conversations with guest experts in art and design who are ready to drop knowledge on topics like building resilience in self-employment, getting your name out there in the community, switching to a value-based pricing model and so much more. Sharpen your pencil and lean forward for today’s episode with Arts Council CEO, Jenn McEwen.

Jenn McEwen is the president and CEO of United Arts of Wake County in Raleigh, NC, where she champions local artists and brings the arts to life across the region.

Before stepping into this leadership role, Jenn built a successful career in arts marketing and nonprofit leadership in Atlanta, and even made history by launching the first government agency dedicated to the arts in the Town of Hilton Head Island.

In her position as an Arts Council CEO, Jenn works with hundreds of artists and arts organizations. She sees who stands out professional, who is reliable, who is engaged with the community and therefore who is getting their name out there via the many, many avenues available to artists.

And that’s what we’re talking about today.

If you’re curious about things like what it would take to get into the public art space or how to build a revenue stream as a teaching artist, there are some lessons here that you don’t want to miss.

Sharpen your pencil—we’re about to get a masterclass in the steps you can take to get your name out there in your community.

✅ Learn more about the United Artist Council:

https://unitedarts.org/

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

Chasing down material costs...

Trying to build a timeline you can share with clients...

Staring at a blank page when it’s time to write about your work...

Spending hours pulling reference images or mockups just to get your ideas across.

As a self-employed artist or creative business owner, these kinds of tasks can eat up your energy before you even start creating.

That’s where AI comes in—not as a replacement, but as a creative assistant! 🤖

In this episode, we’re looking at practical ways to use AI to support your process—from planning your budget and resources, to gathering inspiration, creating quick mockups, and even helping you communicate your final body of work.

It’s about freeing up your time so you can focus on the part that really matters most to you!

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

Hey, Creative Boss!

It's Quarterly Review time. A touchpoint in your business, four times per year, in which you assess and evaluate what matters most to you.

It's a healthy practice to have these specific touch points to see how far you are with your goals for the year.

I'll give you questions and prompts to help guide your Quarterly Business Review. However, this time, we're doing things differently by approaching your QBR with no numbers!

Let these equally important questions guide your review:

1. What are 10 things that you’re proud of yourself for accomplishing in Q2?
2. Which project or piece brought you the most joy to create this quarter? Why?
3. What feedback did you receive that felt especially meaningful or affirming?
4. What lessons did you learn from any setbacks or rejections?
5. What 3 challenges did you overcome this quarter?
6. What new skills, techniques, or tools did you explore or refine?
7. What moments made you feel most like a successful artist or creative entrepreneur?
8. What felt most authentic about how you showed up in your business?
9. What part of your creative process or identity do you want to honor more?
10. How did your work contribute to your long-term vision or goals?

And if you need the numerical guidance, simply listen to one of these episodes next:

• Episode 05: Get Organized in Your Business with this Sales Tracking Process for Creatives
• Episode 21: Guidance for Your Q4 Review: Sales Tracking for Commercial Artists, Makers and Designers
• Episode 33: Inspiration for Your Q1 Review: Peek Into a Profit Planning Session With an Artist Couple

✅ About Emily Grey

Follow Emily online at @TheFlourishMarket on Instagram or visit her store at TheFlourishMarket.com.

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

When you think about pricing your work, your workshops, your services, and your final collections ... do you just want to throw up?

There is so much emotional influence associated with landing on that final number.

And that's before even asking someone to pay it...

I get it. I’ve been there personally and I see it when I work with artists to define or refine the price points.

Coming up with your own pricing and what you’re going to charge for one-of-a-kind pieces, prints, and services shouldn’t be painful.

In this episode, let’s look at a stackable formula you can use to account for the true cost of your work. This takes you out of emotionally driven pricing – which can feel arbitrary to both you and your customers. And it gives you more control over your pricing decisions so you can set them once and for all.

✅ Referenced Episodes:

• Episode 15: How Much Does a Customer Art Commission Cost? Managing Client Expectations (Part 1)
• Episode 16: How Much Does a Customer Art Commission Cost? Managing Client Expectations (Part 2)

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

When was the last time you took a vacation?

Do you have one coming up?

Or do you have another type of leave of absence coming up (planned or otherwise) that will definitely interrupt your work?

Tune in for a few tips to help you prepare yourself, your inventory, and your customers for any pause in work that might affect your business and availability.

This episode includes tips from artist, Christy King, of Chapel Hill, NC.

✅ About Christy King

Christy King is a fine artist in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She sells work through the online galleries Well and Wonder, Serena & Lily, and Artfully Walls, and locally at the gallery and gift shops of the North Carolina Botanical Garden and The Carolina Inn.

After studying art and education at UNC Chapel Hill, Christy also earned a master of education at Vanderbilt University. She has ten years of experience teaching art to children in Montessori schools and art museums, including the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery and Frist Art Museum.

In addition to creating art in her home studio, Christy shares her love of representational painting through her online course and by teaching in person at local arts centers.

• christymking.com

• instagram.com/christymking

• christymking.com/online-course * Free Oil Painting Materials Guide will pop up after 3 seconds on this page

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

Feel like you're hitting low point? Are things dull, tired, or totally uninspired?

Do you find yourself in a rut lately? Feel like you’re just going through the motions?

If being self-employed—turning your creativity into your livelihood—is starting to wear on you and take it's toll...

If suddenly you find that the joy is getting buried under the hustle and you just want the freedom to play again, to try something new without worrying if it’ll sell...

This episode is for you.

Learn my S.P.A.R.K. method to find your way back to why you started your creative work in the first place!

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

Today, I’m taking you into a conversation with one of my current clients, Wisconsin-based oil painter, Hallie Kohn.

Hallie became my art business coaching client a few weeks after I became her newest collector. Right away, we worked through a visioning exercise that set her up for her own Revenue Ready Plan.

Ready to work together to create your own Revenue Ready Plan?

🎨 CLICK HERE TO SCHEDULE YOUR FIRST SESSION! 🎨

Additionally, these episodes will help you to envision your Revenue Ready future:

• Episode 18: How to Earn More in 2025!
• Episode 24: Curious about Passive Income on Etsy?
• Episode 28: 3 Must-Do's for Artists and Creative Business Owners to Plan for Online Sales Strategically

✅ Find Hallie Kohn on her website and Instagram, here:

• halliekohnart.com
• instagram.com/HallieKohn

✅ Next Steps:

1. Book Your Coaching Call!
2. Respond to the Call To Artists: Request for Topics
3. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
4. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.

You know those moments when you’ve poured everything into your work — your time, your energy, your heart — and then it hits you: you might be doing too much, stretching yourself too thin, trying to carry every part of this business on your own...

Or those long days where you’ve packed up your car, hauled your work, your displays, your tent, and that same folding stool to your booth — and by the time you pack it all back up again, you're completely drained. Not just physically, but emotionally, mentally and perhaps creatively, too.

And then there’s that moment after you finish a new collection — the part that lights you up and gives you the resolution you’ve been looking for — but now it’s on you to frame it, label it, hang it, promote it. And while you’re doing all that, the next idea, the next piece, the next collection? It has to wait. Because there's no one else to take care of the production and promo work.

You wear a lot of hats.

Let’s get you some support, okay? 💞

In this episode, we’re diving into what it looks like to get help, delegate, and build real support — so you can stay focused on what you do best. And so you can manage your physical energy without burning out or becoming exhausted in the process.

✅ Next Steps:

1. Get Your Question Answered! Have a question you'd like to have answered on the show? Click here to send Heather a voice message! Include your name, what you do (E.g., "I'm a painter"), where you're from (E.g., Portland, Oregon) and your question. Then tune in to hear it answered on the show!
2. Find more information at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com.
3. Buy a copy of the book "Let Your Creativity Work for You: How to Turn Artwork into Opportunity" by Heather Allen, MGIM-MBA at www.HeatherAllenOnline.com/book.
4. Click HERE to Respond to the CALL TO ARTISTS: Request for Topics