The Downsides of Multiple Streams of Income as an Artist

As an artist, you may have heard about the importance of having multiple streams of income. And it's true, having various sources of revenue can be beneficial for your financial stability and creative freedom. However, there are also downsides to this approach that you should be aware of.

Increased Pressure and Stress

When you're juggling multiple streams of income, it can lead to increased pressure and stress. You may find yourself constantly switching between projects and deadlines, trying to keep up with everything at once. This can be exhausting and lead to burnout, which can affect your creative work and productivity.

Lack of Focus and Direction

Another downside of having multiple streams of income is that it can lead to a lack of focus and direction in your art career. You may find yourself spread too thin, trying to do everything at once without a clear vision of where you want to go. This can make it difficult to create a cohesive body of work or develop a unique artistic style because you are trying to to keep up with the requirements of all the sites instead of focusing on selling your products. Been there, done that - so totally speaking from my experience here!
The solution is to have multiple income streams if you want to but focus on your own website because on your website the requirements change if you want them to change and not if a CEO says they will (tomorrow) and you have to adapt your business to them.

Difficulty in Balancing Work and Life

Having multiple streams of income can also make it challenging to balance your work and personal life. You may find yourself working long hours and sacrificing your personal time to meet deadlines or take on more projects. This can lead to burnout and affect your mental and physical health.

There are two Things you need to consider

One thing I just learned is that for the last years (yeah, shame on me!) I was the person who tried to create multiple streams of income (speaking of various products here) on multiple partner sites. So while I created a digital graphic set for one site with its requirement (speaking of preview size and different previews) I had to change it for the other site if I wanted to sell the same product there. And, last but not least I also tried to add the product on my site where I had, of course, other requirements... 
But wait, I can make things even worse. I'm not just selling digital graphic sets but also online courses. Soooo I added those to other sites as well. One site required me to create a project video at the end of the class, the other doesn't. One site wants a product image with text on it, the other says that text on the preview image keeps people from purchasing the class.
So yes, I created several income streams but beside that a lot of stress, a lack of focus and definitely a difficulty to balance work and life. 

Conclusion

In summary, having multiple streams of income as an artist can be beneficial, but it's important to be aware of the downsides as well. Increased pressure and stress, lack of focus and direction, and difficulty in balancing work and life are all potential challenges you may face. As an artist, it's important to find a balance that works for you and prioritize your mental and physical well-being. By doing so, you can create a sustainable and fulfilling career in the art world. 

If you want to know how to handle multiple streams of income and learn on which to focus you might consider joining the Safari Lounge Designer Classes where we talk about all the issues we face as entrepreneurs.

Read more: Why Artists should learn to draw with Procreate