Being a creative and running a small business is great in so many ways. I love being able to make my own hours (usually), call the shots in my business, and express myself through my work. For me, that means tattooing people and creating something meaningful they get to carry forever.
What I don’t love is the low ceiling that comes with it, meaning the fact that my income is directly tied to how many hours I work. If a client cancels, I don’t get paid. If I take a vacation, I don’t get paid. If I or my kid get sick… yep, you guessed it. I don’t get paid.
For most creatives, that creates a constant cycle: you finally save a bit, then watch it disappear when life happens in the form of illness, injury, slow months, or time off. It’s not sustainable, and it’s definitely not setting us up for long-term security (or things like maternity leave, purchasing a home, retirement, or even just peace of mind).
The best way to change that? Build multiple income streams. By diversifying where your money comes from, ideally with a mix of active and passive income, you create more stability and freedom. Most passive income does take work upfront, but it pays off later when it keeps working in the background.
Here are five ways to start building multiple income streams as an artist (and my personal experience with them):
1. Digital Products
Create and sell downloadable products: things like tattoo flash sheets, digital art prints, downloadable sewing patterns or templates. Once they’re made, they can sell over and over again through your own website store or platforms like Etsy.
In my experience, you really do have to place emphasis on the regular promotion of these items, as well as optimizing your website or store SEO and keywords in order to be found. You also need to have a fairly substantial catalogue of products (eventually, these take time) to not be lost in the MASSIVE market that is digital products.
2. Online Courses or Workshops
Share your skills through virtual classes or recorded workshops. Whether you’re teaching drawing techniques, tattoo design, or creative business strategy, you can run them live or sell pre-recorded versions for ongoing income.
I have had success doing both virtual classes and pre-recorded workshops, though I do feel like being live has the best response. I have also had success in hosting in-person workshops in small groups, especially for skills training because it gives the opportunity for hands-on or real-life explanations and demonstrations.
3. Print-on-Demand Merchandise
Upload your designs to print-on-demand platforms like Printful, Printify, Society6, or Redbubble. Your art can end up on shirts, mugs, tote bags, notebooks or literally ANYTHING you can think of, and you earn every time someone orders without having to handle production or shipping.
That being said, my personal experience with these sorts of platforms has been limited. I do think that like Etsy (and similar sites), you really need to have a large body of work to have decent sales and you need to be able to market it consistently. You should also have the money to invest in samples, because like anything on the internet, the proof of value is in seeing something tangible in the hands of the person promoting it.
An important note with this is to ensure that the production facility and packing/shipping facility (sometimes one in the same) is well researched. Shipping costs can largely eat into your revenue if you are not shipping from somewhere near your customers, so be very sure that you have looked into this and accounted for it in your pricing.
4. Licensing Your Artwork
License your art to brands, publishers, or product lines so they can use it while you keep ownership. This is perfect for artists with a strong visual identity or repeatable design style.
I have not personally done this, but have spoken with a lot of artists who have. It’s my understanding that this can be successful, with or without a licensing agent, but you will likely need to have a large body of work presenting in a portfolio, and it should be updated regularly to follow the market trends. If this is something you are interested in, there are a number of free resources on YouTube, or reach out to me directly for links to my favourite licensed artists.
5. Patreon, YouTube, or Membership Content
If you already share your process online, you can monetize it. Platforms like Patreon, YouTube or Instagram (assuming you’re over 10k followers) allow you to earn from the content you’re already creating, building a community that supports your work directly.
One thing I will note is that content creation really is a full-time job when you’re looking at a subscription level, but if part of your normal is already creating content, then there is no reason you couldn’t be charging for it. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t still offer some valuable content at no cost, because that’s one of the most effective ways to build your platform, but more extensive education can become a passive income avenue, especially when coupled with product affiliation.
Want more ideas?
I put together a more extensive (and also free!) guide with 20 more income stream ideas for artists, including tools and platform recommendations to get started. I know this stuff isn’t one-size-fits-all; we all have different limits, interests, and ways we like to work. Hopefully you’ll find a few ideas or bits of inspiration in here that feel like a good fit for you (and maybe even spark something new).
👉 Download it here: 20+ Ways to Diversify Your Income as an Artist
Diversifying your income isn’t just about making more money; it’s about building stability as an artist. It’s about creating space for rest, for creativity, and for the life you actually want WHILE building a rainy day fund and saving for emergencies.
I know it seems big and scary to begin with, so I recommend starting with one idea. This is not a go big or go home scenario. Start small, build it out. Then add another when you’re ready. You don’t need to do everything, you just need to build enough to give yourself options.
Because being an artist is hard, and your creativity deserves to grow in a place that feels safe.
With love,
Erin
