In 2023 I wrote a few articles about my efforts to open my own online art shop. Throughout that year, I did a lot of research and talked with other artists, who were doing what I wanted to do. This research lead to the realization, that I needed to rethink some of my earlier decisions.

Related Articles. If your interested in how I originally started this journey my earlier articles are chronicled in order starting with my first article, Starting An Online Shop? Stores Open For This Absurd Reason. My second article, Launching Your Own Online Shop, Starts With Your Goals outlines my challenges towards my goal.

Changing Directions And Moving Forward

This change in direction has brought me more clarity; allowing me to forge ahead on a new path. During this discovery process, came the understanding that these artist—who were mostly painters—had set up their art shops differently than I had envisioned my own. The artists I spoke to chose websites like Square Space or Wix, which by design have a build-in e-commerce platform. So it was easy for them to launch their own art shops online.

Given my graphic design business was on WordPress, my challenges to create my art shop, were different. When I first choose my platform, having an e-commerce model wasn’t really a goal. But it is now. Through Wordpess I can add an e-commerce platform, but it requires more technical know-how to accomplish it. Weighing all my options, I did for a second consider having Square Space too. But given the extra cost and knowing I’d need to keep track of another website, it was not ideal. Therefore, adding an e-commerce shop to my existing WordPress site was the way to go—something which was part of my original plan.

Action Deliverables Can Make A Difference

Throughout this exploration, I found an action workbook entitled, “The Artist’s Marketing & Action Plan Workbook“. I opted to work through these pages and complete the exercises as a goal for the new year. One of the exercises invited me to take a closer look at the artist I admire. Through this exercise, the artists I admired were doing exactly what I wanted to do, so why can’t I?

With a new direction—and the goal of making 12 new pieces of artwork for my shop by the end of the year—I want to make my efforts productive. I need to figure out how to put the pieces together for my e-commerce shop to function, or reach out for assistance. Either way, new year, new challenge and I’m focused on completing the task.