When my first child turned one I gave up any pretence of trying to be an editorial illustrator, as I just couldn't find the time to be a mother and meet deadlines. It was a tough decision, as I had no savings to fall back on, and my then husband was freelancing erratically in London. I call this the end of my first illustration career.
When my son started kindergarten (age 4) I decided that the stack of unused art I had from nine years of freelancing myself could be repurposed, so I uploaded it to an image library called Shutterstock. Quite frankly, these early submissions were not popular and I saw very few sales. But I started noticing a pattern when I included sets of Christmas images and icons, which sold exceptionally well. By cross-referencing some of the most searched for items and only offering line art, what I termed doodles, I was able to build up a salable body of work. This was the beginning of my quest for passive income. It took three years of persistence and concerted effort (in between feeds and after bathtimes), until I had over 2000 images and an ok passive income paid monthly. I had already planned to take the Make Art That Sells course in the autumn of 2013, and it was this income from my doodles that saw me through the next two years as I sought to transition from stay-at-home mum to food illustrator. And then, helped me further on, the 12 months after my separation and divorce until I had a far more stable income.
There are many reasons why passive income is vital for a solo creative business and entrepreneur, as the harsh reality is this work almost always involves a degree of uncertainty and shaky income. Passive income is where you do a lot of work up front to create a digital product, a course, or content that you earn money from over and over again. I was attracted to acquiring more passive income streams beyond image libraries. Although I’ve tried many platforms, at present I receive good income from:
And I’m still seeking out others so I can repurpose some of the art I’ve created over the last 5 years.
These are the ways I feel passive income has been a positive part of my art business:
1- Passive income frees up your time
I was always mindful to have enough to ensure that my passive income covered my monthly expenses, so I was free to spend my time building up my portfolio, taking more courses and creating personal projects to improve my skills, and looking after my kids.
2 It reduces your stress and anxiety over money
Since my kids were born, I felt the pressure that comes along with an inability to pay your bills, put petrol in the car and even heat the house. It caused plenty of anxiety, fear and an overall feeling of having a defensive mentality based on scarcity and lack. Knowing you have enough to cover the essentials is quite a relief — knowing that if I or my kids were to have a period of ill health, the bills would be covered.
3 It provides a platform for artistic growth
Passive income allows you to take risks. If you are experimenting with something new in your career or going through a slow period, passive income is the extra boost to keep you going. It allows me time to create classes that sometimes take 3-4 months from conception to launch (which in turn makes these classes semi-passive). I am at liberty to stay curious and explore new ways to further strengthen my brand, e.g. 100 day projects, any personal projects I dream up, and take more courses myself if necessary.
Creating a passive income stream can be a lot of work up front, with many hours or even years of time investment. If you’re considering adding passive income to your business, it’s best to thoroughly research which option is best for your needs and your business, as you most likely will have to stick with whatever platform or plan you choose for quite a while before you see a decent return each month.
Here are some ideas for passive income streams to consider:
Sell art / fonts / patterns as digital downloads
Art licensing
Print-on-demand merchandise with your art on it
Create instructional video tutorials or classes
Sell instructional ebooks
When I first started out, I thought it was unlikely I could achieve a passive income that exceeded my expenses. However whatever the mind believes, the mind can achieve. Like anything else you need to set a goal, focus and move towards that goal with persistent action on a daily basis. At the end of the day, it all depends on how important it is to you. To put things in real world context I have received over $100,000 in earnings from my stock doodles (from a portfolio of 2800 images) over the last 8 years. With the last 5 years of that have being totally passive; I haven't created or added extra doodles during that time.
So if you’re willing to put in the work and stick with it, you’ll probably be very glad that you did! Knowing a certain amount of income will arrive each month gives me so much freedom to concentrate on the tasks and projects that excite me, as well as security that I’ve been cultivating for years.