5 Tasks to Outsource in Your Art Business

One of the smartest lessons you’ll learn as a business owner is that you can’t do it all. (You've probably learned this the hard way already!) If you want your business to grow, be sustainable and profitable, at some point you’re going to need to delegate.

An easy way to do this is by outsourcing some tasks in your business you don’t need to have a direct hand in. The things you do every day, week, or month that take up a ton of time and that you actually kind of hate doing. (We’re looking at you, packing and shipping.)

Outsourcing doesn’t have to cost a ton of money, or mean hiring professionals (although it can if that works for you). You can hire a studio assistant to help a few days a week or ask a friend or family member looking for extra work. Whatever works best for you so you can free up some time to spend doing more productive things!

If you need some inspiration on tasks to outsource in your art business, here are 5 recommendations. These are ones that we currently or have previously outsourced in our own businesses!

Prints

This one seems pretty straightforward but we’ll say it anyway. You don’t have to be printing your art prints yourself. While it’s something you can do if it’s right for your business model, print reproductions are something you can easily outsource. Depending on how you structure your print shop, there are many different print options you can choose from. Giclee Today is a good place to start!

Social media

The love/hate relationship we all have with social media likely isn’t going away anytime soon, and if using it to promote your art is something you truly dislike, or something you feel is too time consuming to do yourself, it can be outsourced! Whether it’s done by a studio assistant or someone else, make sure to give clear instructions on what, when, where, etc, to post.

Packing/Shipping

Packing and shipping is one of those things that has to get done, no matter how much we dislike doing it. It is, however, a task that you as the artist don’t need to have a direct hand in! Hiring someone to do this will save you a ton of time you could be using to do other more pressing things in the studio!

Website Building

Building and designing your website shouldn’t be something that causes you hours of frustration and stress-it’s one of the reasons we created a Squarespace Website Template for artists - but if you’ve tried everything and it’s still proving to be too time consuming, you may consider hiring someone to do it for you. You can hire a professional website designer, or you can ask a tech-savvy friend to help you out.

Photo Editing

We talk about this with artists often, but the quality of your photography is important. In addition to being high-res and clear, your photos should also be bright- and sometimes this means brightening them using programs like Photoshop. Like website building, if you find that this is something you struggle with, or simply don’t have the time for, outsource it!

Don't worry if outsourcing isn't something you can afford right now. If it's something you think will help your business in the future, make it a goal for 2024! Speaking of... We'll be hosting our Annual Business Planning Workshop for our members in the New Year- but if you're not in The Residency and want to learn how you can get in on this amazing planning workshop, sign up for our Insider's List to be the first to know!