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I’ve been having the same conversation a lot recently.

Artists who are exhausted. Creatives who have built something real, something that worked, and are now finding themselves running on empty trying to keep up with a world that keeps changing under their feet. People who just want to stop thinking about selling and get back to making art for the joy of it

And I get it because I’ve been there too.

Why This Happens

First, let’s just say this out loud: feeling this way is completely normal.

We go through cycles. We ride waves. Some waves last for years, and everything flows and the work sells and the process feels good. And then the wave crashes, as waves always do, and suddenly the thing that was working isn’t working anymore.

Sometimes that’s because we’ve changed. We’ve evolved, we’re craving something different, and this creative restlessness is the signal that it’s time to move into something new. Sometimes it’s external. The platforms have changed. The buyers have shifted. Social media that used to bring people in has gone quiet. The world has moved on and left our old way of doing things behind.

And sometimes it’s both at once, which is where a lot of people find themselves right now.

What I Did When The Pressure Got Too Heavy

I want to be honest about this because I think it helps to hear it from someone who’s been running an arts organisation for ten years.

Last year was hard. We have a team, we have overheads, and our events, which had always worked, suddenly weren’t working the way they used to. I was spending significant money on advertising and relying on our events to cover it. The pressure was real and it was constant and it started to colour everything.

So I asked myself a question that changed how I was looking at things.

If I didn’t need to make money from any of this, what would I still be doing?

And the answers surprised me. I love our Creative Living membership. I love going live every week. I love the podcast and having guests on and producing content that helps artists. And there were other things, things I’d stopped doing because they weren’t the biggest revenue drivers, that I realised I missed deeply.

The question gave me the direction I needed. It reminded me what I was actually there for.

Around that same time I was offered an opportunity that would have meant stepping away from United ArtSpace almost entirely, working a couple of days a month for the same financial return with none of the pressure. I genuinely considered it for a moment. And my heart immediately told me everything I needed to know. I couldn’t do it. I love this too much. And that was a really important reminder.

If You Still Need To Make Money In The Meantime

I want to be realistic here because telling someone who needs to pay their bills to just stop thinking about money isn’t helpful.

So while you’re finding your way back to the joy of it, look at what I call the low hanging fruit. Go back to the people who have already bought from you. Reach out. Let them know what you’ve been making. Show them a new collection. Ask how they’re doing. Artists often forget that people who’ve bought art once are very likely to buy again, they just need to be reminded you’re there.

Think about what’s already at your disposal. What’s worked before. What can you offer that doesn’t require starting from scratch? Take some of the pressure off with those easy wins while you reconnect with the bigger picture.

Fall Back In Love With The Process

Here’s the thing about selling art right now: It’s harder than it’s ever been.

And it’s not because your work isn’t good enough, but because we live in a world that is absolutely saturated with selling.

People are bombarded with buy this, try this, sign up for this every single day. Trust is at an all time low. And the old seven touch points rule that used to say you needed seven interactions with someone before they’d consider buying from you? That number has tripled.

What that means is that the only way through this for artists who want to build something sustainable is relationships. Real ones. Human connection. Conversations. Stories. Showing up consistently as a real person who genuinely cares about what they make and who they make it for.

And you can only do that sustainably with something you love.

I’ve been teaching The 7 Keys course for nine years. When I first wrote it, people copied it. Took it, repackaged it, put it out as their own. And I can say with complete certainty that those people are no longer teaching it. Because it wasn’t their passion. The moment it stopped being easy, they moved on to something else.

I’m still here. Still teaching it. Still rewriting it, not because I know it will make money, but because I absolutely love it and believe in it and know it works.

That’s the foundation everything else has to be built on right now. Because the artists who are going to make it through these changing times are the ones who love what they do enough to keep talking about it and keep building the relationships around it even when it’s hard.

Now is the time to build your art village. The people around you who trust you, know you, and want what you create. It’s going to get harder from here before it gets easier. But the people who are building those real connections now are the ones who will be standing on solid ground when it does.

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Have a great week & take care,

Michelle xo