The Art Biz ep. 80: Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks

Betty Franks loves her business and life as an artist. She just might have found the secret sauce—a healthy combination of passion for the work and a continuing curiosity about business and becoming a better CEO of your art business.

Betty's art business has exploded over the last four years. By 440%!

Selection of Betty Franks paintings photographed by Liza Head | for Art Biz Success
Betty Franks paintings stack up only long enough for the camera. Photo by Liza Head.

You can't have and sustain this kind of business growth if you don't have solid systems in place.

As I said back in episode #78, you need reliable systems to help you run a profitable business so that you can spend more creative time in the studio.

At the time of this recording, Betty has over 120,000 Instagram followers and sells paintings almost as fast as she makes them. In this episode, we discuss the digital and analog systems that she depends on to support her growth. She generously shares her real numbers, the new postage system she just started using (update since the recording: she loves it!), and how she organizes all of the digital images of her paintings.


Music by Wildermiss
 

Betty Franks mixing paints in her studio Organizing digital images - photo by Liza Head | for Art Biz Success
Betty Franks mixing paint. Photo by Liza Head.

Highlights

  • Betty Franks shares the moment she fell in love with mixed media and decided to start her art career. (2:20)
  • How to find your own style and way of making art. (7:20)
  • Staying organized through the process of handling a personal and business name change. (12:25)
  • Betty shares her business goals that resulted in a 400% increase in sales. (18:20)
  • A breakdown of Betty’s income streams and marketing tools. (21:03)
  • Knowing when it’s time to hire help for your art business. (28:13)
  • Developing routines that stabilize your workflow. (31:10)
  • Simple systems to help manage your inventory. (35:25)
  • Building an email list that works for your business. (42:55)
  • How to know when it’s time to make process changes for the better. (47:37)
  • A look at what is keeping Betty’s attention in the studio. (52:24)

Organizing digital images - Betty Franks | for Art Biz Success
The organization of Betty's digital image folders.

Organizing digital images - Betty Franks | for Art Biz Success
A peek inside one of the image folders.

 
 
 

Mentioned

JCO’s Art Haus in Los Gatos

PirateShip.com for small shippers

Betty Franks Quotes

“I love learning, and every day I am always learning something.”

“I’m always so fascinated by how I can improve my art business.”

“There isn’t a day that goes by that I’m not doing something to help move my business and my art forward.”

Related Episodes

Tools to Shape Up Your Art Business with Jennifer Printz (episode 79)
How to Increase Your Productivity and Creativity with Art Business Systems (episode 78)
Goals for Artists and What You Should Be Focusing on Instead (episode 71)
Growing Your Art Business on Instagram with Jeanne Rosier Smith (episode 67)

 

artist Betty Franks in her painting studio photographed by Liza Head | Art Biz Podcast
Betty Franks in her happy place—the studio. Photo by Liza Head.

 

About My Guest

Betty Franks was born in Toronto, Canada and raised in San Jose, California. She is a self-taught abstract artist who started painting when she turned 50. Although it seems late in life to take up painting, the timing was just right for her. After a long career in customer service management, Franks was ready to unleash her creative side.

Today her work focuses on her love of fields of flowers and flowers in general. She aims to share the emotion she feels about her subject.

Follow Betty on Instagram: @betty.franks.art


Music by Wildermiss

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22 thoughts on “The Art Biz ep. 80: Systems to Effectively Manage a Dizzying Increase in Your Art Business with Betty Franks”

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      Yes! I am so grateful to artists like Betty who are so generous with their stories. Thanks, Patricia.

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      Kristen: Yay! Hopefully the time stamps posted here will help you when you go back to listen to your favorite parts.

    2. Thanks so much for listening in and I appreciate that you’ll listen to it a few more times. I often do that myself when I listen to podcasts. There’s always so much great info packed into a short period of time!

  1. What a delightful interview! I really appreciate Betty’s openness about sharing her process and journey. So inspiring. I especially love that she’s always learning and looking for ways to streamline her processes. She seems to balance her art with business and life very well.

    Pirateship is one of my favorite resources. I use it for all of my web orders (and personal packages as well). It integrates with Etsy very easily, so you can import and print orders from there with a click of the mouse. You can save profiles and addresses. The commercial pricing really does save a bundle. Another benefit is that you can drop off at the PO counter instead of standing in line.

    I use a Dymo 4XL thermal printer for all of my labels. I’ve had it for just over 5 years and printed about 4,000 labels on it. Huge time saver and labels look very professional. I also use it for the backing labels for framed paintings (excellent adhesion).

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      Wow, Beth. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with Pirateship and your printer for labels. That’s very helpful.

    2. Thank you for listening to the interview, Beth! I’m learning so much about Pirateship and I’m loving everything about them. I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experience using them. Thank you!

  2. I loved this podcast. I’m currently working on IG training with Ready Set Gram. It’s great training but hearing what works specifically from another artist is so helpful.
    I love your podcasts!!

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      This is so nice. Thanks for listening, Renae! It means a lot to me that you find it valuable to tune in.

    2. Thanks so much for listening to the interview, Renae! I bet you’re learning a lot from Sue. I’ve enjoyed her tips and suggestions over the years.

  3. Thank you so much, Alyson, for your wonderful podcast in general and for this episode in particular, it is fantastic. My heartfelt thanks to Betty and best wishes for her continued success!

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Your Artist Mailing List: Rethinking + Assessing

Get a transcript of episode 182 of The Art Biz (Rethinking Mailing Lists for Artists) followed by a 3-page worksheet to evaluate the overall health and usage of the 3 types of artist lists.

Where can we send it? 

To ensure delivery, please triple check your email address.

You’ll also receive my regular news for your art business.

Privacy + Terms