The Art Biz

Ceramic artist Heidi Fahrenbacher opened her mailbox in 2021 to an anonymous letter saying she'd price herself out of business. Well, she's still in business, and her income has grown about 10% every year since.
In this episode of The Art Biz, Heidi talks with host Alyson Stanfield about noticing what isn't working, doing something about it, and the discomfort that comes with the territory.
Heidi reveals:
Why she burned her business to the ground and rebuilt it
What two anonymous letters couldn't change
How overproducing became a coping mechanism
The work she refuses to wholesale
Why she thinks artists should do less
Connect with Heidi Fahrenbacher
Read more and get links on the companion post
About Alyson Stanfield
Since 2002, Alyson Stanfield has been helping emerging and established visual artists find the right opportunities, gain recognition for their work, and refine strategies for sales through private consulting and group coaching. She brings experience as an art historian, curator, museum educator, and arts writer to her consulting work.
Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.
Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This
The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield explains why she won't tell an artist how to fix slumping sales until she knows their goals and their numbers.
She names the fears that keep artists from looking at their data, then lays out a simple monthly or quarterly check-in.
It covers the high-level numbers worth tracking, from revenue and email to website traffic, and how to get curious about what they reveal.
Alyson shares:
Why she refuses to prescribe a fix before knowing what an artist wants
The fears that keep artists ignoring their numbers until tax time
Why even good numbers can be scary
How often to check your numbers, based on how active your business is
The two numbers she asks about first when sales are down
Why tracking too much isn't helpful
Read the companion post and watch the video
Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.
Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This
The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

In this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield makes the case that comfort is the most dangerous place to be in your art business. If you keep doing things the same way, you are bound to miss out on opportunities as things in how we show and sell art are changing so rapidly.
She walks through three signals worth paying attention to:
The results signal :: that something familiar has stopped working
The joy signal :: that something is messing with your happiness
The external signal :: that a moment is emerging and worth paying attention to
She mentions the external signal that Jenny McCarty paid attention to and took her art viral in episode 277.
And the joy signal that moved Ali Cavanaugh to remove her work from 10 of her 11 galleries in episode 189.
Alyson also shares her own recent pivot away from group teaching toward strategic consulting after tuning into the results and joy signals.
Read the companion post and watch the video
 
Email Alyson to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.
Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This
The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

When the redesign of the 2026 national parks pass became a flashpoint, watercolor artist and ecologist Jenny McCarty noticed the uproar in her community — and used her art to do something about it.
What happened next landed her on Last Week Tonight, raised nearly $30,000 for parks conservation, and added thousands of names to her email list.
On this episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield talks with Jenny about what she built ahead of time to take advantage of the spotlight.
Jenny reveals:
The Instagram exchange that told her a sticker could be something bigger
Why going viral would have landed nowhere without her business systems
The partnership that let her keep the project alive when she couldn't do it alone
Why every collaboration in her business now starts with a contract
What the numbers told her about where her time was actually worth spending
Get all links on the companion post
Follow Jenny:
https://www.thesageleafstudio.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sage_leaf_studio/
 
. . . ✦ THE NEXT OPENING ✦ . . . small group coaching applications September only. Get the details and apply at https://artbizsuccess.com/next
 
Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.
Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This
The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.

Artists are a sensitive lot, and that sensitivity is what makes the work possible. It also makes everything else land harder.
It's easier to get tripped up by news headlines, family illness, and travel.
In this solo episode of The Art Biz, host Alyson Stanfield argues that it's more important than ever to keep making art. She also talks about what to do when you must keep the business humming so that it's there for you on the other side of the current obstacles.
She reveals:
Why not making art isn't the answer
Five reasons to keep up the work in the studio, even when it seems unimportant
Why it's much harder to restart a business you've stepped away from
The underlying machine that keeps a business almost on autopilot
Read the companion post
~ * YOUR ART MARKETING PLAN IS SEPTEMBER 10 * ~ *
Get your plan at https://artbizsuccess.com/yamp
Email me to discuss strategic consulting for your long-term career goals.
Think you'd make a good guest on The Art Biz? Read This
The Art Biz is recorded on the traditional land of the Cheyenne, Arapaho and Ute tribes.