Brainard Carey - Sell Online Like a Creative Genius: A Guide for Artists, Entrepreneurs, Inventors, and Kindred Spirits

Copyright 2019 by Brainard Carey

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Published by Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Allworth Press is a registered trademark of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., a Delaware corporation.

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Cover design by Mary Ann Smith

Illustrations by Shiva Carey

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Carey, Brainard, author.

Title: Sell online like a creative genius: a guide for artists, entrepreneurs, inventors, and kindred spirits / Brainard Carey.

Description: New York, New York: Allworth Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc., [2019] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018034748 (print) | LCCN 2018036185 (ebook) | ISBN 9781621536512 (eBook) | ISBN 9781621536499 (pbk.: alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Electronic commerce.

Classification: LCC HF5548.32 (ebook) | LCC HF5548.32 .C3597 2019 (print) | DDC 658.8/72dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018034748

Paperback ISBN: 978-1-62153-649-9

eBook ISBN: 978-1-62153-651-2

Printed in the United States of America

This book is dedicated to youthe dreamer who wants to live life to the fullest and have an income stream that allows your dream to come true so you can embrace the best things in life, like the people you love.

Contents

Introduction

Selling anything online takes three things: a plan, determination, and ambition. And one more thing that will undermine the first three things if you overlook ityour issues with selling or promoting your vision, whatever they are.

In this book, you will learn how to manage your vision and keep going despite potential setbacks because failure itself is an experience that must be confronted; it will surely recur many times as you embark on an independent venture to develop an income stream of your own.

You will also learn what every entrepreneur knowshow to make a funnel that will automate sales and customers. It is truly the way everything sells on the internet, and while I will give some examples of other one-off methods, for those who want consistent sales, a funnel is something you must understand, build, and master.

Rest assured, there is a method here for you. If the funnel I describe seems too ambitious for you, there are other ways to generate sales that are simpler, though those methods often require more attention as they cannot be fully automated. Let me explain in detail!

Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.

Frank Zappa

Chapter 1

CHANGE THE WORLD

Who is your audience? How will you reach them? How will they buy what youre selling?

Change the world. Let your ambition lead you through this book.

If you want to sell something onlinefrom art you make to a small business with products you are launching or a service you providethere are three main things to think about.

One: who is your audience, and who might buy what you have to sell?

Two: how will you reach them?

Three: how do they actually buy and receive what you are sellingfrom credit-card processing to shipping?

Those questions may seem elementary, but actually they are part of what we will get into in the next chapter on funnels. Your audience is often more of a specific niche than you think. For example, if you are selling candles, you might think everyone needs candles, so your audience is everyone. But actually, age range, among other factors, will narrow it down. Children and teens probably dont want candles, and the technologically obsessed may not want your candles. Survivalists will want them for sure, and so will other people, depending on whats in the candles. If they are made of organic beeswax with no additives, for example, there is a specific audience that is concerned about indoor air quality and will be interested in a product that is less harmful to inhale.

If youre selling art, it may also seem like everyone can buy art, but there is an age demographic there, too. Perhaps there is an educational demographic as well because buying art is a bit sophisticated on one levelto understand why something is beautiful and of value as an artwork is not an easy evaluation to make as a buyer. It often takes an education to understand art and to make a decision about buying it. You have to have a form of visual literacy. All of these are parameters you need to take into account when deciding who your audience really is.

For the second element concerning how you will reach your audience, there is what is known as targeting an audience. Your audience may live in a certain part of the world or in cities or away from major cities, or they may be doing certain online activities.

In the examples I have discussed so far, I used survivalists and art collectors. Survivalists may not be living near a city center, may have specific political affiliations, and would most likely be interested in going to specific websites or attending events and camps designed to support their interests. Art collectors also have habits that are similar in terms of what they might do and see and where they live.

The third element of this book is about the funnel I will describewhich is probably of greatest interest to you, or at least that is the part where success is measured. How do they actually buy from you online and through what process? Are they using their credit card or PayPal, and how easy or difficult is it for them to go through the steps it takes to purchase your product? The final part of this is the cost of shipping and handling. That may seem like the easy part, but that is where many small businesses get bogged down in spending too much time on the processing of orders, which can cut deeply into profits.

Before we jump into the architecture of a sales funnel, let me outline a few basic methods that many people use to start making sales without a funnel.

The well-known site eBay is a platform with built-in buyers. You can sell your new invention or product or your art there. The process is fairly straightforward. On eBay, you can post images, make a video to help discuss your work, and of course, you have a few options in terms of selling. You can have a Buy-It-Now price, and you can also create an auction. The auction is an exciting format no matter what you are selling because people feel like they might get a really good dealand they might! You can always have a reserve price, but if you sell some of your products or your art at a reduced rate, it gets people interested. And when several people dont get the item in an auction, it generates a desire to want it in the future.