“How can I build a strategy around new projects to reach my income goal?” – Emiko Venlet

Jessica Craddock: Welcome back to Intuitive Art Sales. I am here with the beautiful Emiko who I've worked with a couple of different times over the years, and I'm really excited to get to chit chat with you again.

Emiko Venlet: Me too. Thank You so much for having me again.

Jessica Craddock: You are so welcome. I can't wait to see where we go today. So, Emiko, tell me a little bit about what's going on in your business, what you've been thinking about. Are you stuck anywhere? Is there a goal you're working towards? Gimme kind of the big picture overview of what you're thinking about.

Emiko Venlet: Okay. So last year was the busiest year in terms of making artwork for me. I had two solo shows and so many little group shows that I embark myself on, that I actually had a burnout. Like serious burnout last year, like the end of last year. So, the beginning of this year, I decided that it's just my direction um, that I decided to change just for this year, but I'm not going to do shows like deliberately. I'm not going to do shows. That means I have to think about other ways to get income coming in. so I decided to go do prints. I've never done prints before by myself. So I am going to create a series specifically for prints.

So that's one thing. It's going to be a big year for me, sort of, creating a new income venue. And another thing that I'm really excited about this year is that, I've been trying to manifest this dream of mine for the last couple of years. It was to either paint big paintings for restaurants, or do a mural for restaurants.

Cause my painting is all about food and I relate people through food and art through food. So, I got a big gig and it's going to happen in the summer. So, I'll be doing a mural for an entire restaurant, and there will be 15 walls that I'll be painting small and big

Jessica Craddock: Wow.

Emiko Venlet: I just had a consultation actually today with a friend of mine who is a professional muralist. And, we came up with an estimate, and it is the biggest money I'll be making out of my career. So

Jessica Craddock: Well, it's 15

Emiko Venlet: Yeah, so I am totally geeked about it, stoked but terrified.

Jessica Craddock: What is terrifying about it besides it being a big level up for you? Are there anything in particular that's terrifying?

Emiko Venlet: Well, it is a client-based work, right? It's not just me satisfying my art. you know, a curiosity. It is to deliver work professionally and on time. And on their satisfactory level. So that means that would be tons of conversation between me and the clients. And that client is not just one person.

 It's a company and, they have their deadline. So for me to be able to deliver what I promise, the fear is like, will I be able to live up to their expectations? Will I be able to deliver what they expect me to do? It's something that's really heavy on the shoulder if you think about it.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. And you said that was in June?

Emiko Venlet: So the restaurant will be finished by The end of summer, I think, this year. So yeah, I think actual mural painting will be like sometime in June. But between now and June is actually the most crucial time because this is where the design, lots of sketching, lots of designing, lots of conversation will be happening.

And I think this is more nerve wracking than, um, Not painting itself because I know how I know I can paint but coming up with the, uh, yeah, a good design work. That's more.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So we've got two real avenues that we're pursuing this year, this huge mural, as well as opening up prints. You don't have to give me a specific number, but compared to what you made last year, what percentage of that income will the mural make up?

Emiko Venlet: Oh, it's going to be actually double. It could double the income that I made last year because I didn't make much last year. I did a lot of shows, but doesn't mean it was like it was one of the years where I make tons of work. Didn't sell as much as I wish. So,

Jessica Craddock: Gotcha. Okay. So, if we, just playing the what if game here. If the mural was the only way we got paid this year, how would that work for you, feel for you? Is it enough? It's never enough, but is it enough to make you feel like I am safe in my income for the year? If the prints require more than I think they will, or I don't have time with the mural, et cetera.

Emiko Venlet: It's not enough. I mean, it's still one project and, it's absolutely significantly more than ever I could ever make from one project. But it's not enough to sustain my living with two boys in this expensive city.

Jessica Craddock: Gotcha. So if we are putting a percentage on that,

Emiko Venlet: Mm

Jessica Craddock: the mural is double what you made in your art business last year already. So you're already doubling year over year, but it's still not enough. So is it 25 percent of what you need to make for the year? Is it 50 percent of what you need to make for the year? Can we talk in percentages like

Emiko Venlet: Okay, the mural you mean I would say 25 to 30 percent of the year that I would like to make. Yeah, I think.

Jessica Craddock: All right. So I'm just going to play the questioning Emiko game for a minute, because this is what I do. Because you've never done prints, you don't know how well they're going to do. You know, people like your art, you know, people like to buy your art. But we've never tried prints. So asking prints to make up 75 percent of your income feels a little bit scary for me

Because there's such a, a low revenue compared to the cost to produce them. And then finding the number of people that you need to purchase them to make up that 75%. Let's call it. Are you solid in that is the thing I want to do.

Emiko Venlet: Not as to have to make up the percent of that annual revenue this year, but uh, it is crucial for me to try this prints this year because i'm not just thinking about

Jessica Craddock: You want to see how it works?

Emiko Venlet: I just, you this is something that I would like to continue for the next years. So this is a trial. yeah, I didn't think about that.

Um, this is going to make up for the rest of my year, but it's more like, I just need to try, right.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So we've got prints, we've got mural and we almost need a

third.

Emiko Venlet: well definitely originals and Well again like this year lots of new things are happening. Mural is new. Print is new and this paper mache is new too I did sell two already. So I know it's gonna go well and it's a it's still very much me. I'm hoping To make a lot more of those little papier mâché creatures and then sell them. So they're originals. I will still keep selling originals and then the um, the original work of this print, I'll sell them as original as well.

Jessica Craddock: So now there's a lot of things happening.

Emiko Venlet: yeah

[00:09:57] Being mindful of the risk of burnout can help prevent it.

Jessica Craddock: 15 original large pieces, cause 15 walls. We've got prints. We've got LSL originals, both paintings and papier mâché. I'm not saying this isn't doable, because it is. But I really want to try to simplify this plan as much as possible, because you already hit burnout last year. And the more things you put into the mix, the faster you're gonna go towards burnout again this year.

Emiko Venlet: I know. I might like burnouts, actually. I tend to go for it, right? Crazy.

Jessica Craddock: Let's see if I can do it

Emiko Venlet: I know, I know. I I just love making art. So that's where, right? So, if I were asked to paint, I could paint tons and tons and tons of work. But you're right. For me, this seems very simplified already, but I guess. 

Jessica Craddock: I feels like a lot.

Emiko Venlet: Really? Tell me, tell me more.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So, you've got two big new things that you've never done. You've got the mural and you've got the prints right. You said you're gonna start the mural in June. I'm guessing it'll take you two months if you hurry.

Between now and then, we're doing planning so that we can execute within their timeline. That's gonna take the majority of your time between now and, is it the end of August maybe? So, let's just block that off for a minute. Let's see. It is April 3rd. So April to August is gone. We're doing murals. 

Emiko Venlet: Right.

Jessica Craddock: Then, if we're doing prints, originals, papier mâché, we have September, October, November, December left. That's four months.

So let's, let's ask a different question for a minute. What have you done in the past that has been most successful? And when I say that, it could be a couple of different directions that you take that answer. It could be some way of marketing that you've tried. It could be a type of work you've made. It could be actually, those are probably the two big ones. So of the things you've done in the past, what has been the most successful that if you were to recreate that as your main last four of the year, do you have any idea what that would look like?

Which I think I asked too big of a question. What's been the most successful for you, however you define that in the past to sell your work, to make the most money selling your work?

Emiko Venlet: Well, I could say that the least successful was having the show, actually. Right, so just take that off. Um, the most successful in the past years would be hmm. I don't know. It's um,

Jessica Craddock: Can I tell you the one that I know of yours? Or I think I remember correctly. Let me put it that way. When you essentially were going to restaurants saying, this is what I make, can I make one for you? Do you agree or disagree? 

Emiko Venlet: Well, it was all through Instagram. I was just posting daily, like I was doing daily painting and I was posting daily. And, I mean, I took your advice, just reach out to local places say,

Hey, I am an artist. I practice in Vancouver. I've been to your restaurant or cafe, and I really enjoy having time there. With that conversation posting your paintings daily on Instagram were the easiest

I wouldn't say, I don't know if I can say most successful, it was just, it was the easiest way.

[00:14:13] Use past successful strategies to direct your future marketing.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So the easiest marketing was that. What about in terms of what you have sold? I mean, your work is pretty consistent. You do the still life, the old memories for you or your clients that have meaning that create narratives. So it's not just a still life.

It's a story in that still life, and they're almost always on a table. And a lot of time they are food or have food in them. The reason why I came back to that restaurant thing was two fold one, I remember that working well for you and your marketing and two, you just got your biggest year ever from one restaurant client.

Emiko Venlet: Hmm. 

Jessica Craddock: So, the idea of foodies, restaurants, places that really care about food and what goes on the table being your first round pick ideal client makes sense to me. Plus, they usually have the funds to be able to do so. I know we had a conversation not too long ago where you said, well, I think restaurants aren't doing as well, so they don't have the funds. In the way that I see it, this mural is proving you wrong.

Emiko Venlet: Well, it's the interior design that's thriving still in the city. And it's that's what I heard today. So the restaurant, yes, the owner probably has tons of money. And then they hired an interior design firm that creates the budget for the owner. And then they put the artwork within that budget so they can play around with that budget.

But you're right, in essence, um, there's still money in the city. And then where I want my money to come from is the food industry.

Jessica Craddock: Is this a restaurant group? The mural place, is it a restaurant group?

Emiko Venlet: I don't think, no it's not, I think it's one standing, Yeah. Yeah. But it's a, it seems like a big restaurant, uh, looking at the scope of the constructions. so this is, it's very new. It's like mural isn't new. I've done mural before, but this is very new to me. And the way I'm going to work with this project is it's absolutely new. But I'm just happy that it is where I've been picturing my artwork to go too, right?

Jessica Craddock: Murals would be the easiest way to make that income goal. However, you haven't done it before. I feel like, maybe, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you really want to experience doing it. This 1st time before you line more up. Is that accurate? Okay, so, you want to sell originals, you want to sell prints, you want to do papier mâché, what if that all got geared toward restaurants, foodie restaurants, where I can create original originals based on their story, their narrative, their tabletops. So we're still doing originals, but we are gearing it toward a client who, is an easier sell. They could offer prints of those originals for you. They could mark them up, like a retail type situation. You could incorporate paper mache if that was something that they were interested in.

So we're still hitting the paper mache, the paintings and the prints, but we're not doing it in 14 different spheres. We're gearing all our marketing efforts toward one thing, but being able to play with what we make within that.

Emiko Venlet: Well, it makes sense. I mean,

I think gearing towards to one place, which is a restaurant, which is food industry. But then what I was picturing while you were telling me that is. People will still look at my art on Instagram, right? And then and gearing towards one clientele, there are people around it that were interested in still buying the art.

So might not be a bad idea because the reason why I want to do prints, it's because, I don't know if I remember telling you this last time, Um, I have noticed a trend that, I don't know if it's a Vancouver thing here in Canada, but West Coast or whatever, a lot of people who want to do a gallery wall, they want to have them in frames.

, So, usually canvas is big and thick. I've noticed that people love to frame arts up, , so the print comes in handy. And then also at the restaurants, I visited a couple of different restaurants in the past, and then I do see art, but what I see mostly, recently, is print on the wall in nice frames.

Jessica Craddock: Mm hmm.

Emiko Venlet: And it's more accessible and it's better priced. Yeah. So I'm not changing my art, but I'm changing how approach to those people. I guess that's what I would say.

[00:21:05] You can create originals even if the buyer only wants to buy prints.

Jessica Craddock: Right. And even if, I mean, these are conversations to be had, but if that restaurant doesn't want to pay for an original, that doesn't mean you still can't create the original and sell them a high priced print and still have the original in your own arsenal.

So there's a lot of ways that you can go with it. They might want a mural, which you can decide down the line, do I want to keep doing these? They might want prints. They might want originals. They might think your paper mache is the coolest thing in the world, and they want some of that. I think that that's your easiest September to December activity. The other thing is once you get in with this one it's easier to get in with all the other ones, especially doing a project of this size.

Okay, so looking at what happens when September rolls around and you're starting from, not from scratch, because you're not, you have an audience, you have work, you have a name, all of that. But how can we set you up for the greatest amount of, it's a weird term, but it's coming to my head, so I'm going to use it, hit and run success in September, like hit the ground running. Which in my mind means while we're executing the mural, and even now, we're starting those conversations and saying, I'm booked through August, but I have space coming up. Here's some of my ideas of ways that I want to, provide a better. Atmosphere experience for your customers. Are you interested in having a conversation about it now?

Emiko Venlet: Mm hmm.

Jessica Craddock: What would that need to look like in terms of 75 percent of your income coming from September to December? I don't want to ask you numbers because some people are uncomfortable with numbers. I don't know if you're that person or not, but. Hmm.

Emiko Venlet: What could I do now?

Jessica Craddock: Does that feel reasonable? I guess is what I'm asking.

Emiko Venlet: To ignite something right now for the success after September, you mean. Is that what you're saying to generate 75

Jessica Craddock: and based on what you know already, do you think you can sell enough and make enough originals paper mâchés? I think the prints will be a thing that Is still being set up and tried and figured out. I mean, so some of that's going to come into play too, but really looking at the, the originals, do you think you can come up with that last 75 in four months or does that feel completely overwhelming?

Emiko Venlet: I can make work, like I have no problem making work. Um, the sales might not come at the same rate, but okay. Let's say I am. So I am selling this little paper mache work, um, six by six , 300 per item, uh, Canadian dollars. And I did, I did a little math. Like if I can probably make, let's say I can make 10 a month, right? 10 a month and 300. That

Jessica Craddock: If they all sold out and you did that for four months, would that be enough?

Emiko Venlet: A great successful year. I think because of the mural, right? So all together. It will be. Yeah, I think so, because that will prove to me that, okay, the year after, I think it only gets better. Um, so yeah, I have to see it that way. Otherwise, like you said, it's never enough, right?

Jessica Craddock: Because once you hit a goal, the goal automatically self adjusts and it's something new.

[00:25:06] Don't set yourself up to have to make 100 percent of sales.

Jessica Craddock: I don't like to set you up to have to make 100 percent of sales. That's not a peaceful way to live. So with the mural in place with, I know I can, I think I can sell these paper mache things cause I've already sold two of them and it was pretty easy to do. We've got April, May to plan the murals. Is there more space in those months or not?

Emiko Venlet: So, for the mural, you mean?

Jessica Craddock: Is the mural going to be a hundred percent of your time? Or is there spaciousness there?

Emiko Venlet: There should be tons of space. Yeah.

Jessica Craddock: Okay. So then I would say April, May, your top priorities are planning mural, reaching out to restaurants and asking them saying, here's what I do. Here's what I'd like to do more of. I have a couple of ideas. Do you have any interest in getting a spot in the last 4 months of the year? You would essentially take deposits that would hold their spot, meaning we've already got some guaranteed income coming in in the end of the year. So that you can also make your paper mache and sell that.

Emiko Venlet: Yeah, I never thought of it that way.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah. Okay,

Emiko Venlet: That's good. Yeah,

Jessica Craddock: Great. Okay, so we got a plan.

Emiko Venlet: Yeah, I already know a couple of places that I can approach with this. And I'll be making a proposal PDF, for this client. So, but I, I can tweak it to make it more like this is what I do, you know, like a presentation that I can send out the email. I did that last year already, and then I'm just going to tweak it more. Yeah, I know a couple of, interior design firms that I can approach already in Vancouver. So, yeah,

Jessica Craddock: Interior design and look at restaurant groups, because if you can get one restaurant in a restaurant group, you can get

Emiko Venlet: Yeah, Yeah, I can, I can reach out, an old friend of mine who's a interior designer. director at chain, you know, the big franchise restaurant here in Vancouver and also in Canada and in States. So just going to use my old, relationship.

Jessica Craddock: Those connections come in handy.

Emiko Venlet: Right. Yeah. Like, I think I couldn't do that before with confidence because I never done it before, or I didn't know how to present myself in that regard. I think that's what experience comes in pretty, graceful way because I've done it. I've done many things.

Jessica Craddock: I think you, you've already nailed down. I paint tabletops that hold memories and have meaning and create narratives. And I want to capture that for your restaurant so it can tell the story of your restaurant. Then you could even go in with, my typical size is 24 by 36, that's $1,500 for the original. If that's not an option for you, you can buy the print for half of that. It would be made to tell the story of your restaurant. Um, Here's some examples of my work.

I am looking at bringing paper mache into the mix. So that could be a potential add on depending on, you know, what kind of fun ideas we came up with together. I am currently working with this restaurant. I'm doing 15 of their walls with murals. So I don't have the spaciousness to do that right now, but I still want to be working with clients like you to tell your stories via your tabletops. This is how I can do it. I'm also open to discussing other options, but this is my typical way of working with people. 

Emiko Venlet: Yeah. I almost want the script what you just said.

Jessica Craddock: We can get it for you. I just made it up.

Emiko Venlet: Well, I think that is the hardest thing for me, actually. I'm sure a lot of artists will relate to me, like writing proposal like that in such a deliverable and concrete and specific, but also exciting way. Because we need to inspire them to buy our art. And then, yes, art is inspiring visually, but I think we also need to be able to inspire them verbally.

Jessica Craddock: Yeah, if you can put those together, that's super helpful.

Emiko Venlet: For me, that is the hardest thing.

Jessica Craddock: So you know about my ideal art buyer circles, right? So there's the, the, subject of your art that they can connect with, and there's the meaning behind the art that they can connect with. So what you just described was they're connecting with both of those things. And then if they also happen to think, Emiko is such a cool girl, then we got all three put together. And that's a t least three times more likely to get that sale when you have all three.

Okay. We got a plan. You know what you're doing? We're Gonna 10x your income this year. You know how to do it. Ready to go.

Emiko Venlet: There you go.

[00:30:35] Make a plan for creating the income you desire within your timeline.

Jessica Craddock: Okay, I gotta wrap this up, but your next steps give me, repeat back to me what your next steps are.

Emiko Venlet: Well, so the time that I have right now until the mural, uh, or the time that I have between I'll be approaching to restaurants and clients and interior design firms to suggest what I can do for them after this mural is done, basically. This is what I do. This is what I'd like to do. This is how I'd like to help. My time is booked until September, but after that I'm open.

Jessica Craddock: Well, and also I'm booking out the year right now.

Emiko Venlet: See, I almost need a little, like a Jessica something behind my ear. Yeah. I'm booking my year right now. See that's the planning thing that I'm lacking. Yeah. So I'm booking my year right now.

Jessica Craddock: Which is 100 percent

Emiko Venlet: Yep. Yeah, that's true.

Jessica Craddock: Not false urgency. It's real. We're already booked to September and we're going to book out the rest right now because that's how we're going to have space to do the thing we want and need to do.

Emiko Venlet: It's so interesting. I was having a consultation with my friend. She's a illustrator and also tons just tons of murals and stuff like that. And as she told me at the end of the meeting today that luckily she hasn't had any dry spells last year and this year that means their project keeps coming up and then I never had that. You know, cause I, my work is at the studio.

I make work and sell online. I didn't have any project or I don't book project or I don't book something in advance, like those illustrators, because they're client based. They need something, you know, they need to book them, right? Those work, but, but for me or for a lot of artists, I guess we don't book project like that, you know?

Jessica Craddock: Some artwork lends itself better to booking clients than others, but if you can find that sweet spot where you can make the art you want to make and book the clients, and it works together. Then you can set yourself up like those other people, which is very nice to be able to do. And I think you're going to like the mural.

I think it's really going to stress you out. Maybe burn you out a little bit because it's the first time and it's new and it's so big. But once you get over that, you're going to have some clout and some confidence, and I think you're going to like it. And you could, you could choose to go after more of those projects if you wanted to.

Emiko Venlet: Yeah. Yeah. I think I have a feeling I would like it.

Jessica Craddock: I think

Emiko Venlet: yeah, It's just the initial fear, right? This is more scary time than the actual work. I think at the site with all the people around me, construction people around me, it's going to be exciting because, you know, people coming in to train their staff and cooks and to be able to do what I do in that space. I'm so excited about that. So, that's the feeling I'm after. I'm going for it.

Jessica Craddock: Someone told me recently, I've been saying this a lot lately, so I don't know who's heard it already, but someone told me that fear is excitement that forgot to exhale, meaning the way that I translate that is fear and excitement. Always come together. You're not going to be excited and not scared, and you're not going to be scared and not excited. If you're feeling the fear, there's excitement with

Emiko Venlet: Yeah. Right.

Jessica Craddock: And it's learning that. That they come together. And if they come together, then it's like, okay, well, I just know that I'm just, I'm going to be scared if I'm excited about it and I want to be excited. So I'm just going to have to learn to work through, accept, get comfortable with the other side of it.

Cool. Emiko, people where they can find your work.

Emiko Venlet: You can find me on Instagram. My handle name is emiko venlet e m i k o v e n l e t, and my website is www.emikovenlet.com. Yeah, you can find me there. I post lots of stuff there.

Jessica Craddock: She's got a really fun feed. I enjoy following her. All right. Well, I am going to go do just a couple more things before I got to go pick up my son from daycare preschool. It's called preschool now.

Emiko Venlet: Oh, my God.

It's been so nice chatting up with you again.

Thanks for having me again.

Jessica Craddock: I'm going to challenge you to go do one reach out today just so you can already be in action and not waiting to start.

Emiko Venlet: Right? I'll do that.

Jessica Craddock: Hey, Emiko, I have this great idea. I want to talk to you about it. Do you have any time?

Emiko Venlet: I can do that. All right.

Jessica Craddock: We'll talk soon.

Emiko Venlet: Okay. Bye.

Jessica Craddock: Bye.