Holy Crap! What Do I Do Now?!

First, please take a deep breath…and exhale. Now do that two more times. Understand that no matter what happens, we’re going to get through this. Our communities will figure out this new paradigm thrust upon us all. Most of us will come away with an opportunity for reflection. We’ll discover a buying public that is very eager to come to events.

How does that help me now?

Right now, this very second, while you’re probably in some form of isolation or lock down? It may not at all. I’m adapting to the change, I’m focusing more on building an online audience and streamlining my website ordering/fulfillment systems.

Yeah, but what do I do now?

Bottom line is that I’m an artist. I make art. It’s what I do…in good times and bad. My audience isn’t in the same place it was so I’m doing live videos of me drawing and sketching to attract an online audience. I’m offering “name your price” options on things like coloring pages to help parents offer their kids something fun to do that doesn’t cost money if they can’t afford it. Thankfully a majority of people are paying the recommended price. That means my bills aren’t putting me into debt as fast as if I had zero income happening.

Use what you have

I’m pushing my art on social media. I have a website, so I’m laser focusing my traffic-generating efforts to driving my customers there. My full Spring market schedule got completely wiped out. I’ve been in touch with some market organizers and suggested we turn the events into virtual markets. Ones where they showcase all the vendors who were going to attend and encourage shoppers to head to the vendors pages to buy as they would have. Some organizers were proactive on this, too! I’m also offering discounts to help absorb a little of the shipping costs that customers wouldn’t have had to deal with.

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Governments are helping

I live in the US. We already had one of the worst social safety nets in the industrialized world. Our federal government isn’t covering 60-80% of wages for months for workers who qualify, it’s just not what they do. Our culture, even to our detriment, is all about “rugged individualism”. So we’re using the same system that’s normally in place (State Unemployment Insurance or UI), which covers about 50% of wages up to a specific (and low) maximum amount, and for a very limited time. The particulars vary state-by-state.

Some extra policies have been enacted at the federal level to help (CARES Act of 2020 – a dry read for sure), especially small businesses and self-employed people, who don’t qualify for the state UI. Information is still spotty since our government and these programs tend to be big lumbering beasts about the rules and qualifications. As far as I can tell, however, because I don’t work as a freelancer or “independent contractor” and therefor don’t receive 1099-MISCs, I won’t qualify under the expanded state UI (for my state of North Carolina, your mileage may vary), so I will have to rely solely on that federal level temporary UI program in the CARES Act. That act has also opened up the opportunity/chance/option/nightmare of taking out a low-interest loan to help cover all my expenses.

I have, however, also written before about how we need to build up some kind of emergency funds. This isn’t a told-you-so moment, this is a “because you never know” message. Hopefully you did that during the “easy” times in preparation of “tough” times.

Final word

This is a tough time, and there’s very little I can do to feel “normal”. Should I feel that way, though. We’re going through a global shared experience, something which hasn’t really happened since the last world war. Let’s not sanitize it with “normal”–I know, poor choice of words–I want it to have a lasting impact on our culture. I doubt that I’m heady enough to make art to speak to the events going on…I suspect that I don’t have a Guernica in me, but someone out there might, and if they read my blog I want them to know that they should make it. Regardless, I’m going to make art. I’ll make the regular coastal-themed stuff I’m now known for, but I’ll also make the designs I share on separate brands to make people laugh and think.

I’m an artist. I make art. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be one.

Go make art.