post #8 - from selling my soul to owning my shit...

as promised in my previous post (who runs this mother?) it’s time to find out what “sugar is to shite” or in other words how can an artist be a fempreneur when the very idea of advertising, marketing & sales give me the absolute f*cking ick! 

the story of my “ick” starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away called “art school”, uh well yeah so maybe the cinematic opening is a bit dramatic but so has been the effect of this on my psyche all these years! 

so, i'll continue with my drama & fill you in... 

"more fairy-tale than science fiction"

picture this you've worked your ass off for 4 years at art school, your degree show is looming & you’re waiting to be “discovered”, well that’s what they told us would happen, hmmm maybe i should have gone for “once upon a time” cause let’s face it, it is more fairy-tale than science fiction, right!? 

spoiler alert: my degree show came & went, & guess what? i wasn’t discovered, nor were any of my friends! 

ok so now what? 

oh yes, “New Designers” exhibit, London a few weeks later 

i wasn't for falling for that shit again & waiting around to be “discovered” so instead me & my mate created press releases, telling every god dam f*cking person in London who had a mailbox, that we were coming & we were f*cking epic! 

my work was a new take on headwear: crowns, tiara’s (my kweenie brand didn’t come from nowhere) & horns – yes you read right, horns!

all beautifully crafted in silver, resin & studded with diamonds (well cubic zirconia's really – but come on give me a break i was a skint student, diamonds would have to wait!) 

so, trying to think with a business head & who would be interested in me as a designer, i contacted accessory stores, milliners & bridal designers & outlets, think i probably even mailed McDonalds (they wear hats right?) 

"holy f*ck someone loved my work"

New Designers was a huge event, on day 2 i came back from lunch to find a note in my comments book: 

“Love your work, contact me 020 7946 0000 – Virgin Brides” 

holy f*ck someone loved my work, so who was Virgin Brides? 

double holy f*ck it’s only Richard f*cking Branson’s company! 

so off i went to find a pay phone (yup couldn’t afford a mobile back then, was when they still had aerials on them! - weird to think about that now, i know – the aerial i mean not the lack of funds) 

walking to the phone box a strange feeling came over me, wee beads of sweat started to flow, voice no.2 (you can read more about her here) in my head started her very f*cking unwelcome chit chat 

“you can’t phone, it’s Richard f*cking Branson!” 

“you’ve no clue what you’re doing!” 

“you’re too green” 

“what if they ask you stuff you can’t answer?” 

i could smell p*sh, aww f*ck had i wet myself, with fear? nope, i'd just reached the phone box (aka every drunk’s personal toilet cubicle back in the day) 

"ran for the f*cking hills!"

maybe it was the smell of p*sh, maybe i listened to voice no.2, maybe it was a mix of both but long story short i royally shat it, bottled it, ran for the f*cking hills! 

what a dick!

or was i just a scared kid who had, had absof*ckinglutely no prep for the business side of art, i think the latter is mostly true but i was also a bit of dick tbh! 

so, one wee incident & your mind was gubbed kweenie? you are a bit of a dick, a limp dick! 

well erm nope, 4 years of hearing constant negativity like:

"oh you're an artist you better learn your line!"

me: "what line?"

"do you want fries with that?"

& also there was another crushing event the year before graduation when i “sold my soul” 

my subject was jewellery & silversmithing, expected specialism for me at this point was silversmithing 

we had a project to sell our work to fund a trip to Munich. the bank of mum & dad wasn’t an option for me, so if i didn’t sell enough, there was no way i could go – i already had 2 part-time jobs on top of art school to just get by 

"simple fempreneurial logic, right?"

i made smaller, wearable pieces for the sale, still in my style & vibe but i knew affordable would sell as our main market was students – simple fempreneurial logic, right? 

& they did sell, they sold like hotcakes! 

not only did they pay for my trip but also extra spending money 

woohoo success, right? 

hmmm well, not according to my lecturers 

they basically told me i’d “sold my soul” for not sticking to silversmithing 

but here’s the thing – they didn’t have to worry about paying for a trip, & i did 

without that fempreneurial mindset of creating the size that what would sell, i wouldn’t have been able to go to Munich at all! 

it was one of those moments where the artist in me was kicked right in the vadge, but the businesswoman in me was flippin’ the bird at the traditionalists 

"making the business side of art my bitch..."

so, roll on to my 2nd time at making the business side of art my bitch & i now have hangs ups about: 

1. sales - “what you mean like talk to people about money & create a product line? pffft don't sell your soul” 
2. marketing – inner voice no.2 “you shat it last time” (with tongue stuck well & truly out at me) 
3. advertising – “you’ll be discovered” 

ick, ick, iiiiiccccckkkkk!  

"snog, marry, avoid"

it's like playing "snog, marry, avoid!" as a teenager all over again!

ok so seriously though WTAF should i do to exorcise those demons once & for all? 

firstly, i'll do what any self-respecting unapologetic pop artist would do: 

cry for what seems like forever until i make massive snot bubbles & scoff a family sized bag of chilli heatwave Doritos whilst binging the latest series to drop on Netflix (don’t worry this isn't an affiliated link – now that would be nice, imagine the kerching from that!) 

right now i've got that out of my system what are my options? 

1. avoid selling? - you can survive on air right? 
2. go to therapy? - have you got the money to pay for that if you don’t sell your art/soul?  
3. phone a friend? - they’ll know what to do 
4. research the dung out of this dilemma! 

so no.1 AVOID, strike that 1, i love food & i need to eat! 

no.2 THERAPY, strike this too, i can’t afford therapy so the next best thing is to phone a friend or maybe even 2 & finally research the dung out of it 

"business f*cking savvy?"

1st stop my bestie, i wanted to know her take on sales & “selling my soul”. this is the question i asked her: 

“is selling merch other than maybe prints of my OG art considered selling my soul or just business f*cking savvy?” 

her answer: 

“WHHHAAAATT are you mental? it’s not just business savvy it’s an act of survival & means you can make it last & turn what you love into something that pays the bills!” (as a graphic designer she’s ridiculously passionate about this kinda shit!) 

hmmm she’s 100% right though paint & glitter are not cheap btw & you can’t buy them with air! 

so, with that i took my 1st dive into official kweenie merch & created a wee line in greeting cards, here's a couple for you to take a wee swatch: 

kweenie unapologetic pop art greeting cards
featuring Audrey Hepburn, Dorothy Dandridge & Rita Hayworth
from kweenie OG's - "in the pink", "rose tinted", "blue for you"

kweenie unapologetic pop art greeting cards
featuring Marilyn Monroe, Dorothy Dandridge & Elizabeth Taylor
from kweenie OG's - "genius", "love & money", "X the line" & "for real"

they’re like a wee 2 for 1 deal as each one is a card & a miniature feminist kweenie work of pop art, from my collections; “heavy is the head”, "we see you" & “something on my mind” you could frame it up & level up your walls pronto! 

oh & heads up, i've got way more merch in the pipeline 

i have grandiose plans to drop a line of merch that fuses my jewellery past with my current feminist pop art collage paintings bubbling away BTS – behind the scenes (only just learned this acronym today, i thought it was a south korean boy band but nope! get more help on acronyms here) 

"wrestling (literally) with social media"

tackling marketing so far has been me wrestling (literally) with social media & it’s kind of a love hate relationship tbh, you might remember my post “how far would you go on a first date?” 

i've also dared to tell people i'm an artist & actually landed a couple of gigs for my bravery

"resurrect my hustling days"

but i need to think bigger than this & maybe resurrect my hustling days of New Designers, but with a fresh spin obvs 

maybe i'll hit up Richard Branson, just for the shits ‘n giggles & be like “yoooo hooo Richard remember me?” 

expect future posts if my hustling pays off, watch this space... 

in my quest to "research the dung out of my dilemma" though i must have listened, followed & subscribed to like a cajiliion "experts" you tubes, webinars & podcasts to become the next artist-based unicorn in business 

tbh they range from epic to the emperor's new clothes aka – a load of sh*te! 

i've got huge respect for the ones who are walking the walk & not just talking the talk: Mei Pak – kween, Steven Bartlett DOAC – kween, Ekaterina Popova – kween, The Jealous Curator – kween, inspiredtowrite – kween, Amanda Heath – kween  

"f*cking essential to my survival"

each one has made me realise that sales, marketing & advertising are not dirty ick words but they are in fact f*cking essential to my survival as an artist 

think about it how do people know you exist if you don’t tell them you are here? do you wait “to be discovered”? 

F*****CCCKKKK no! you share your art every chance you get - aka marketing! 

inspiredtowrite (amy mcnee) said think of it like this: 

“i’m not being annoying when i share my art, i'm being generous” 

& that’s the way i'm going to think about it from now on 

how do people know you are selling something if you don’t tell them? do you wait, hope & pray that they are psychic & “discover” the fact? 

F*****CCCKKKK no! you shout through a megaphone – aka advertising! 

another very clever kween who shall remain nameless (but you know who you are) also said: 

“hell, Tesco even have to advertise” 

& let's be real he has a point! 

"my enthusiasm for profanity"

hmmm my enthusiasm for profanity might be a wee sticking point in the old meta ads mind you! but i'll work on that 

the biggest aha moment for me & all my research has been that it’s taught me to keep on going, don’t give up, be relentless, make your own authentic unapologetic pop art, but also make that cold call & FFS do the follow up! 

someone who i love for never giving up is Marilyn Monroe 

at age 22 Columbia Pictures straight up told her:

“you don’t have what it takes”

people thought she was an air head & wrote her off but yet she had an IQ of 168, that’s higher than Einstein FFS! 

so, in her honour i created “genius”

kweenie feminist unapologetic pop art original featuring Marilyn Monroe - "genius"

who's your genius? 

did they help you get over your ick? 

shout them out in the comments, share the love kweens...

or maybe you’d like to shout out those who told "you don’t have what it takes" or taunted you with "do you want fries with that?" & show them some love too - negative energy is wasted energy! 

love you, bye 

kx 

PS things i've learned whilst getting over my ick: 

1. building a fempire as an artpreneur is not for the faint hearted 
2. if Marilyn Monroe, who literally redefined stardom, had to work to be seen, what makes me think i’m any different? 
3. to keep on creating my own brand of authentic feminist unapologetic pop art, my audience is out there i just need to find them 
4. F*****CCCK what i was kicked in the vadge for in the past, this is my future & i'm going to own it any way i f*cking want!

x