How to Become a Starving Artist - Get Yourself out There!

How can you ever become a starving artist (or, hopefully, ultimately a not-starving artist!) if no one knows who you are or has access to your creations?

Today's Internet marketplace provides unparalleled opportunities for marketing yourself and your art, writing, jewelry, etc. Of course, the world's premier source for handmade items is Etsy. Competition is stiff on the site, so you have to do your research, find a niche, and promote yourself in order to succeed. Or, so I am told by experienced Etsy user, RandomCreative, who has a series of articles on HubPages about how to create an Etsy store, sell handmade jewelry online, and develop a pricing formula. If I succeed at Etsy, it will be thanks to her knowledge and willingness to share her experiences. I'm still waiting for my first sale on Etsy, but my store has only been 'open' since Monday. If you want to become my new hero, visit my Etsy store, Stalking the Wild Snark.

Not only did I just open my Etsy store, but I also managed to get a limited selection of my items available in a brick and mortar establishment here in Charleston, South Carolina. I am deeply thankful to the store owners for allowing me the opportunity to sell my handmade coasters and doormats. The Silver Puffin is a fantastic gift shop in downtown Charleston and is known locally for its selection of high-quality, handmade items.

So, there you have it. A step on the way to becoming a genuine starving artist! If you want to open your own Etsy store, or try to sell your items in a local store, I urge you to read, read, read. RandomCreative's hubs and the Etsy blog are fantastic places to start. I read everything I could for about two weeks before even uploading a single picture to Etsy. I also took RandomCreative's advice and had professional business cards printed. They look fantastic and current online specials meant I spent less on professional business cards than I would have spent on the necessary paper to print them at home! I used Staples' online program because, as a former Staples Copy Center employee, I knew I could expect high-quality. I love my new cards and hope I have the chance to placed one in a box with a sold product soon!

Turk's Head Coasters now for sale on Etsy and at The Silver Puffin

Ways to Make Money Online - Amazon Mechanical Turk

I first discovered Amazon Mechanical Turk, called MTurk, about a year ago. I was very active on the site for about half a year (and by very active, I mean 'spent almost every minute of my free time working on MTurk'), and became quite successful. Some days I made over $100 from home, which is better than my 'day job' pays.

One day, I started to wonder about where everything I wrote went. Is it online? Is it someone's catalog? Clearly, someone planned to ultimately make more than they paid me to write articles. That is when I stopped working so much at MTurk and began trying to do my own thing on the Internet. As a result, I spend just as much time online, but make about 1/10 as much money.

If you want to make a reasonable amount of money, and are curious how to become successful on Amazon's Mechanical Turk, check out my HubPages Hub about the topic here. I share what I did, as well as how much money I made. If you follow my steps, I'm confident you can make decent money on MTurk, too.

Success takes both planning and dedication, but the payoff is worth it. If you do not have any freelance writing experience, or have no desire to jump into the world of SEO, social media, etc., writing for MTurk is a great way to get a feel for Internet writing without the hassle and stress of managing everything yourself.