Why Every Artist/Designer/Maker Needs To Learn About RGAs

Why Every Artist/Designer/Maker Needs To Learn About RGA’s

I’m guessing most of you are thinking – eh? What? RGA’s? What the heck are those?

Well exactly – I’m guessing most artists/designers/makers won’t have a clue what I’m on about, yet these are a VITAL part of every business…so let me explain.

RGA stands for – Revenue Generating Activity

So, every artist/designer/maker needs to learn about Revenue Generating Activities AND you need to be working on RGA’s on a daily basis.

Now hang on here, I hear you shout – but I do do this, I work on making my art every single day so surely I am working on a revenue generating activity?

Well heres the thing – if you are making your ‘art’ just for the sake of it or for an exhibition you are thinking of putting work into or to ‘have in stock’ this is sadly NOT an RGA. In fact this is COSTING your art business TIME and MONEY!!!

Why? – a piece of work does NOT generate an income until you have a buyer or customer and YOU SELL IT. If you are constantly making work and not selling it then you have surplus stock and you are out the time and money it took to create that piece.

I’ll give you another shocker – SOCIAL MEDIA is NOT an RGA if you spend all day ‘geeking’ on it and using it to post pictures of what you had for breakfast and you are not using it to actually bring value to your practice (more about this in future posts)!

To turn this around, you need to implement into your business, ON A DAILY BASIS, different ways in which you work towards SELLING your art.

So what are some Revenue Generating Activities?…Here’s a few examples…

1. Working on producing a Commission piece: this is one of  the ways you can turn your making/creating into an RGA – Why? – because a commission piece is a piece of your work that a client has pre-ordered and it is a guaranteed sale in which you can ask for a deposit and stage payments.
2. Working on an Stock Order that someone is buying: this is another way you can turn your making/creating into an RGA – Why? – because stock orders are generally paid for in advance or at least a deposit is paid. This does not include work you put into an outlet on a Sale-or-Return basis or in fact any work you make for an exhibition where the gallery is not buying your work – BOTH these drain your business of time and money.
3. Following up an enquiry: maybe you met someone who is interested in a piece and they gave you their number – FOLLOW THIS UP, it could lead to a sale.
4. Emailing and talking to clients: communicating with those clients you already have, maybe you need to discuss their order or maybe you’ve hit a problem and something is delayed, keep them informed so you don’t loose the sale.
5. A Newsletter: sending regular information to previous and past clients to keep them informed of what your up to, to share your story and to show them whats available to buy.
6. A Social Media Strategy: if used CORRECTLY and have a strategy in place you can use SM to share the story of your business and build followers, providing your goal is to make sales!
7. Selling: working out different ways in which your business can make a sale or bring in money!!!

So, to put it simply an RGA is an activity that can bring your business in money, not one thats costs you. I call them ‘The Money Makers’. We may all have slightly different types but ultimately you need to think about what you can do that could lead to a SALE!!

This may seem daunting and there’ll be plenty more posts detailing various methods, but for now, just pick one of the items from the list above that you don’t already do and GET IT STARTED!!!

#RGA #systems #makemoney #changeyourmindset #mentortip

So I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below & if you liked this post then please share it with a friend and spread the love!