Artists often feel like they’re being pulled in two directions—toward the easel and toward the screen. One demands solitude and focus; the other calls for connection and visibility. Both matter. But the tension between creating and promoting can leave even seasoned artists feeling like they’re constantly falling behind.
Time is your most finite resource, and how you spend it has more impact on your art business than almost any other factor. In this article, I want to help you think clearly—and pragmatically—about how to invest your time and energy in ways that support both your creativity and your long-term success.
Studio Time vs. Promotional Effort
At the heart of the time/money equation is a question you’ll return to again and again:
How do I balance making the work with sharing the work?
If you focus entirely on creating, you may build a deep and consistent body of work—but no one sees it. If you focus entirely on promotion, you risk having nothing new to show (and burning out in the process).
There’s no universal formula for the perfect ratio. But a useful rule of thumb, especially for working artists trying to grow their collector base, is something close to 70/30—70% of your time in the studio, 30% on the business and marketing side. That balance will shift as your needs evolve. When preparing for a show, you may tip heavily toward production. After the opening, you might dedicate more time to outreach and follow-up.
What matters most is that you’re making that decision intentionally, not reactively.
Promotion Is a Financial Decision
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking of promotion as something you’ll do if you have time—as if it’s optional or extracurricular.
It’s not. Promotion is part of your job. The work doesn’t sell itself, no matter how good it is.
Every hour you spend reaching out to galleries, emailing collectors, sharing your work online, or improving your website is a financial investment. If you approach it with that mindset, you’re far more likely to treat it with the same seriousness and structure you give to creating the work itself.
Ask yourself:
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Which activities are actually generating results?
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Where am I seeing the best return on effort?
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What can I cut, automate, or hand off?
You don’t have to do everything. You have to do the right things—consistently.
Track Hours Like Dollars
Most artists have no idea how much time they’re really spending on various aspects of their business. That’s understandable—your work often flows from inspiration, not a clock—but it’s a missed opportunity.
Try tracking your time for a week or two. Nothing fancy—a notebook, spreadsheet, or simple time-tracking app will do. Log how much time you spend on:
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Creating new work
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Framing, packing, and shipping
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Social media
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Website maintenance
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Collector communication
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Gallery coordination
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Admin tasks (email, taxes, inventory)
Once you see the breakdown, you can make better decisions about what to keep doing, what to reduce, and what might be worth outsourcing.
If you wouldn’t pay someone $50/hour to do a certain task, you might want to question why you’re doing it yourself—especially if it’s keeping you from painting.
When to Outsource or Say No
As your art business grows, you’ll reach points where you simply can’t do it all.
That’s not failure—it’s a milestone.
Here’s how to know when to start outsourcing:
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You’re consistently selling and have predictable income.
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You’re spending time on tasks that are outside your strengths.
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The value of your studio time is higher than the cost of the task.
Examples of high-leverage outsourcing:
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Hiring someone to pack and ship sold work.
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Using a bookkeeper to manage your monthly records.
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Bringing in help to manage your mailing list or update your website.
On the flip side, sometimes it’s not about outsourcing—it’s about saying no. No to side projects that don’t move your goals forward. No to exhibitions that require time and money but offer little long-term return. No to social media trends that consume hours but rarely lead to real sales.
Every “yes” has an opportunity cost. Say yes to the right things—and let the rest go.
Energy Is an Asset—Use It Wisely
In the end, this isn’t just about time or money. It’s about energy.
Every artist has a different creative rhythm. Some of you are morning painters. Others come alive at night. Some can manage five projects at once. Others thrive with singular focus.
The better you understand your own energy patterns—what drains you, what fuels you—the better you can structure your day and your business to support both your art and your income.
The goal isn’t to hustle harder. It’s to work smarter, conserve your energy for what only you can do, and build a career that sustains you—not just financially, but creatively.
You don’t have to do everything. But you do have to decide where your energy is best spent. That’s the real work of the working artist.
Good advice.Early in my career I found it really hard to try to figure out how to do everything and I couldn’t. I had to hire help to help build my sculpture and I had to hire help to answer the phones and do paperwork and then I ended up with too many people and too high of an overhead. It’s never perfect. It’s just figuring the balance. These days I am very focused on the work, letting my years of experience and contacts float me through my career
A business consultant I worked with shared the following advice that I found to be very helpful.
1. make a list of the 10 things you are good at.
2. make a list of the 10 things you like to do.
Chances are there will be some significant overlap on these lists.
If there are things you don’t like to do or you aren’t good at, hire someone to do it. This frees up your time to focus on what you should be doing. I imagine most artists would rather be creating artwork than keeping their books.
Leo, that’s excellent advice from your consultant—and very much in line with what I encourage artists to consider. Making those two lists can be eye-opening, especially when you start thinking about your time as a limited resource. It’s not always easy to hand things off, but it often pays off in both energy and productivity.
It’s hard to strike a good balance between creating and promoting. Like most of the artists I know, I prefer to create new work than to spend my time on office work, to include promotion. This line strikes a chord with me: “The goal isn’t to hustle harder. It’s to work smarter, conserve your energy for what only you can do, and build a career that sustains you—not just financially, but creatively.”
Thank you for another great post, Jason.
That’s such a common feeling, Carol—so many artists I speak with share your preference for time in the studio over time at the desk. I’m glad that line stood out to you. It really is about being strategic with our limited energy, so we can keep creating without burning out. Thank you for reading and for your thoughtful comment.
Always great information, Jason. Thank you.
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It would be nice to divide matters into 70% creative and 30% ick. But as a practical matter, if an artist wishes to succeed, and includes shipping, crating, and framing and networking in the ick (because I include every-damn-thing that is not creative in the “ick” department, then I have found that it’s more like a 50/50 division. Because networking is the key to success, and networking often means going to a lot of meetings and (yuck) parties. And if you include travel time, which I do, that adds to the time they take.
The very best way to increase creative time is to offload it – to a loving partner, which a great number of successful artists do, or to a variety of paid services. What does not work is to attempt doing it all yourself.
There is simply no way to do it all and succeed. I actually ended up giving up my creative career and becoming the ick person for my much more gifted husband. That worked and resulted in his placement in 20 museums and a substantial career. Difficult decisions have to be made sometimes and the art world is full of them. Self-delusion is not helpful. Good luck to you all.
Michelle, I always appreciate your clear-eyed take on the business side of art. You’re absolutely right—when you count all the logistics and travel time, it’s often closer to 50/50, especially for artists working at a high level. I’ve seen that same dynamic you described, where a partner takes on the business and logistical load, play out very successfully. It’s a tough but often necessary tradeoff. Thank you for sharing your experience—there’s a lot of wisdom here for artists navigating their own balance.
I break my art business time down into just percentage hours of actual work/everything else (shipping, show time, promotions, etc…) but after reading this think it might be wise to split three ways to make sure I’m doing enough advertising, which I know my hours are too low in that category.
For now I’ll share my formula for judging worthiness of art shows that’s already worked for me over the years. Here is an example of my record from my last one.
BUCKMAN SHOW & SELL
$475 sales – $100 fees = $375
10 hours (show/logistics/setup/travel) = $37.50 per hour
1 coffee table book = $35
7 prints = $210
8 postcard sets = $120
1 ten card sets = $30
3 five card sets = $60
3 individual cards = $15
1 magnets = $5
Splitting your time into three categories—studio work, marketing, and business operations—can give you a clearer picture of where your energy is going. Mason, your show evaluation formula is a great, practical way to make decisions grounded in actual results.