Go from an anxious artist to a confident creator
Your Creative commercial artist coach
Transform your artistic passion into a thriving business with personalized coaching.
I have a passion for sharing what I know and inspiring others to follow their own big ideas.
As a dedicated business coach for creatives, I offer a granular assessment of your business and tailor individual coaching sessions to your unique needs, helping you master the art of pricing, marketing, and selling.
With my guidance, you'll gain the skills and confidence to achieve financial stability and success in your art career.
Unlock new opportunities and elevate your art to its full market potential
aN artist with Over a decade of commercial art experience
In my art career, I've had some consistent wins too!
🌏 Flown around the world to paint
📞 I ran an agency with over 50 artists
👕 I organised multiple wholesale deals
💼 I've set up businesses in 3 countries while living abroad
🎒 Travelled and worked remotely in over a dozen countries
⚖️ I licensed my art to international businesses for 5 figure amounts
🚒 I am hired to paint massive murals for Expedia, Jack Daniels, Microsoft
💻 I've presented art tech demos with big creative tech hardware companies
🤏 I was able to do all this with less than 10k followers on Instagram - this is all achievable.
Now I live on an island in the Mediterranean and can take my work with me wherever I go.
AS Featured in
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Time Out Sydney
Time Out is Sydney's most respected arts, entertainment, nightlife and food website and magazine.
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Adventures in Design
Hosted by the brilliant Mark Brickey, this podcast helps you turn your daydream into your day job.
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Seanwes Podcast
Sean McCabe and Ben Toalson as they let you inside their discussions on the many facets of making a living online.
I’ve been there
Do you dread discussing dollars?
Can't find a consistent stream of clients?
Are your clients ghosting you after your quote?
Trying too many things and chasing the algorithm?
Are you struggling with clients who aren't willing to pay for your art?
Frustrated, wondering why other artists are making more sales than you?
Do you feel overwhelmed with all the marketing and promotion on social media?
✂️ cut through all the marketing mayhem 🤯
I help you find clarity on these steps to untangle your art business and use simple processes to create win-win offers your clients will love.
I've been where you are - for over a decade as a commercial creator and found some simple skills to master quickly that helped me find financial stability. I applied these in my own art hustle and brought my own dreams a little closer day by day.
Being an artist often requires both creative ingenuity and sharp analytical thinking. These qualities, combined with your passion and dedication, can put you at an advantage in navigating the complexities of business.
creative coaching helps you grow
📈 Sell more
💸 Increase your income
🚀 Attract more followers
🏖️ Enjoy more independence
Real world practical skills and strategies
🤖 Automate social posting to spread a wider net
📬 Filter out crappy low-paying clients from your inbox
😎 Become comfortable talking about money with clients
🤩 Find the freedom to choose the projects you want to work on
⏱️ Get paid upfront for your work, no more outstanding payments
✒️ Create an alluring bio that makes customers eager to work with you
📋 Easily create clear processes for payments and simplify your finances
🌏 Leave your day job and enjoy location independence to work when and where you want
you can do this even if:
Have a day job
Work on digital or analogue art
Don't have a lot of money right now
Haven't even registered an official business yet
Learn authentic, trustworthy strategies so that your customers are drawn to your professional page, and you sound reliable.
Never be associated with flaky artist stereotypes ever again
You can certainly wade through the endless swamp of bad advice on the web looking for the exact map and possibly take years to find it.
ORRRRR
I can tell you precisely what you need to hear, work with you to uncover the next best step to get to your artistry goals and outline a plan that we can execute together.
Learning from my experience means you can save yourself THE growing pains, and just grow
I’ve learned the hard way you so you don’t have to fail the same way
✅Get the confidence to quote higher rates
✅Find that your baseline finances are taken care of through your art
✅Feel comfortable at home, secure in the knowledge that your rent is well taken care of
✅Excitement at the possibilities that come from multiple income streams
✅Partner with someone who enjoys shop talk, and shares in your dream of being a successful artist so your family and partner don't have to listen to all your endless planning
✅Receive mentorship at your fingertips to guide you through the ups and downs of being an artist
✅Personalized feedback on your creative situation
THE real reasonS artists struggle in business
From my own experience, and countless discussions with artists over many years, I identified some recurring patterns from those struggling to make enough money. The core issues are inaction, inattention and self-limiting mindsets.
Understanding these pitfalls is key to avoiding them and achieving success:
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Many artists get overwhelmed by the plethora of available options and fail to make decisive choices, leading to stagnation and indecision in business development.
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A focus solely on the creative side while neglecting the business aspects, such as financial planning, client relations, and marketing, leads to missed opportunities and financial instability.
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Failing to develop a consistent and compelling brand identity, leading to a lack of recognition and connection with potential buyers.
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Having an inadequate or poorly executed online presence, including a weak website, sporadic social media engagement, and underutilized digital marketing opportunities.
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Underestimating the power of networking and community building, resulting in limited exposure and missed collaboration opportunities.
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Not actively engaging with their audience or failing to understand their needs and preferences, leading to a disconnect between the artist and the market.
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Not staying adaptable and responsive to market trends and customer feedback, leading to outdated practices and reduced relevance.
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Struggling to balance creative work with business tasks, leading to burnout or neglect of crucial business operations.
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Many artists are uncomfortable with self-promotion, seeing it as boastful or inauthentic, which severely limits their visibility and market reach.
if you identify with any of these common artist's situations:
✅Stress less about the value of your work
✅You want to quit your job and be paid to create
✅You desire to make a living from your creativity
✅You sold a few artworks but you're afraid to charge more
✅Overwhelmed and not sure how to turn a hobby into a job
✅Enjoy working a creative job outside of the traditional career paths out here
✅You desire to make your creative craft your job so you can do it from anywhere on your own schedule
Then this is perfect for you!
Book your complimentary 25-minute troubleshooting call with me today
That’s why a creative coach is a better approach because you get the specific information you need on demand, tailored to your situation.
Untangle your troubles with a complimentary 25 minute troubleshooting call with Sam today
Who this is not for?
❌ Absolute beginners in art who haven't sold anything yet - see my kickstart your art course you may want to get the ball rolling and build up some inertia before we can work together.
❌ Resistant to new approaches - Ideal for artists ready to embrace innovative strategies for financial growth, but not suited for those closed to evolving their business mindset
❌ For those seeking quick riches, this is about building wealth through consistent momentum and effort.
What are they key takeaways you can expect from these calls?
🎯Effective Pricing: Master the art of pricing. Walk away knowing how to set prices that attract your ideal customers and reflect the true value of your work.
💪Strategic Marketing: Discover personalized marketing strategies to elevate your visibility and appeal to a wider audience.
⬆️Sales Boost: Learn techniques to enhance client interactions, and presentations, and ultimately boost your art sales.
💼Business Skills: Acquire specific business skills tailored for artists, essential for managing and growing your art business in a competitive market.
🤯Mindset Shift: Cultivate a growth mindset, crucial for navigating the ups and downs of the art world and achieving long-term success.
These coaching sessions below are designed to provide you with actionable strategies and insights, helping you transform your artistic passion into a profitable and sustainable business. Stay on track with your goals and thrive in the art industry with expert guidance.
BECOME A CREative PROFESSIONAL
Choose your coaching STYLE
Choose between a one-time catalyst call to jumpstart your progress or opt for regular check-in meetings for ongoing guidance and support. Perfect for artists at any stage, whether you're facing challenges or simply need to realign with your goals
$0
Complimentary 25-min troubleshooting call
NEW!
$160
ONCe-off 60 minute catalyst call
“I was suffering from a fading vision of success’’
‘‘I couldn’t see how to model the success of artists I looked up to’’
‘‘I lost track of the artist I wanted to be, and why I got into creating in the first place.’’
‘‘It’s hard to take the time to overhaul your online branding alone.’’
⬅️ The good news is that these aren't the problems, these are the symptoms.
You're getting conflicting advice and feeling frustrated.
In the past I was asking lots of questions and that’s what changed for me. This was a turning point.
What it took me ages to figure out to take my business up a notch, was focus and a plan and inviting others into my vision to help guide me along the journey.
Now I've compressed all my experience into shareable knowledge and a process to follow. After trialling many systems and different failed client conversations, I’ve found some useful patterns. I have personal proof from over a decade of my commercial artist career. I've also spent quite some time in the futuristic creative tech software industry enabling artists to access 3D creation through simplifying VR and AI.
No more generic business advice
Creative strategies for creative businesses when bland business marketing won’t work
MEET YOUR coach
I’m an all-surface illustrator and creative coach working across both physical and virtual spaces to delight your eyes and minds.
I've learned what works and what doesn't to share with you the right steps to uncover your own shortcut to success.
Now you’ve read how I think…
I'm Sam Shennan and I'm here to walk you through the steps to your artistic creative business success
If I had been provided with a recipe or structure I would have shaved years off my journey
“I’m laying out a recipe to take you from here to there - if you haven’t dreamed of your ideal financial future we’ll figure out where that is together.
”
Mine is a story of small starts, stumbles and failures that led me here now.
I studied design at university because I was under the misconception that you couldn't make any money as an artist unless you were dead. I’d never seen the path to art, I’d never seen anyone doing it to make a living. So I studied design thinking it was the next closest thing to being an artist - or at least - it was creativity for a job. Nowhere during my degree was there any money or business skills taught- just how to get a day job. Right as I finished my course I went to a gallery and met illustrators and mural artists who were doing this thing full time working for themselves. They were doing it, I was enthralled. I'd found my scene - I thought to myself
‘’I can do that!’’ I wanted in!
I struggled with finding out how it worked, I was so poor I was eating bags of carrots for a buck a kilo for most meals and turned orange from eating too many carrots! I had to paint a mural on a staircase on crutches because I needed the money, but I turned a corner once I decided:
I wanted to make this a job, not a hobby.
(If you're not getting paid properly, it's a hobby)
My goal was to create a lifestyle where my creativity paid my way. My creative career was a real self-sustaining business.
I took artists and designers out to lunch, beers, and dinner to ask them how they'd done it. I hunkered down and spent a decade studying business on the side of my craft, I took courses, I got coached, and I got a second uni degree in business, growth hacking, I was selected for an exclusive advertising course. I slogged it out in the baking sun, rain and wind rain at market stalls, conducting field research on customer objections and haggling and getting beaten by the school of hard knocks. I even ran a mural art agency with 40+ artists to handle their business.
I relentlessly pursued these two questions:
- What does it take to go pro?
- How can I make a living from my passion?
Let me save you the time and effort of figuring this all out by yourself
I saw my other artist friends who were more talented than me at painting struggling to get the confidence to charge the right amount, It hurt to see how much they were blocking themselves.
I wanted to teach them the simple steps I'd followed
I used to be an archery coach a long time ago and I saw how different people struggled with the skills in different ways and I learned to tailor my teaching to get the best results from each student.
Now the best news for you is that learning the basics of business is easier than learning about art making.
The rewards are huge too, unlike studying other topics like oil techniques or new software, the more you learn about business and apply to yourself the more you earn. Pretty good incentive right? What a beautiful habit loop!
You can get from there to here
It's not a get-rich-quick scheme - it's hard but it's simple. It takes some time to set up and learn all the systems but I make that easier for you.
You can't expect yourself to know it all and do it alone.
Getting help is a tremendous first step to expanding your horizon of possibilities.
More brains working on the same problem can draw on different experiences and perspectives to accelerate your growth.
Do you know how to ask for 5 figure amounts with clients?
If you don't, then you're leaving money on the table. Until you know how to charge a client 10k+ you're losing 10k+ for jobs because of the opportunity cost.
Testimonials
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I decided to go for it, and couldn’t be happier with the results of that time. Sam is very intuitive and focused in his consultations. He is a great listener and provides valuable, targeted, feedback
Adam T, USA
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There is so much I didn't know, Sam's education and expereince is like a wellspring of ideas for getting me outta my hole
R. E., Australia
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Sam sparked an area of my creative mind that has been seemingly locked away for forever it seems. His experience in the field of art shows with his ability to communicate around the subject fluently. I can’t thank Sam enough for taking the time to reignite the creative in me, and I highly recommend a consultation with him if you too are feeling stuck in your creative journey.
James, B - USA
Whether you’re a first-timer or a full-timer there’s always room for a fresh take on your situation
If you’ve been thinking…
‘’This sounds like me ’’
then the time is now!
Click below to book your complimentary 25 minute troubleshooting demo session with me now to get clarity on your next steps to growth.
Limited sessions are available or first-come-first-served basis
I only have a small number of spots available completely for free while I work on my comprehensive master the money mindset course for creatives.
Unlock Your Artistic Potential Today
Limited Time Offer: Grab your exclusive opportunity for a FREE 25-minute art business coaching session with me, Sam Shennan. Don't miss out on transforming your passion into profit!
Why book now?
Tailored Strategies: Get customized advice on pricing, marketing, and selling your art.
Boost Your Sales: Learn the secrets to attract high-paying clients and increase your income.
Gain Confidence: Overcome money anxiety and discuss prices like a pro.
Actionable Insights: Leave the session with practical steps to immediately apply to your art business.
Empower Your Creativity: Align your artistic passion with a successful business model.
This is your moment to shine in the art world. Spaces are filling up fast – secure your spot and start your journey towards a thriving art business!