For years I’ve heard clients and students say they want to replace their corporate salary with income from their creative business. There’s something about hitting that level of income that somehow justifies us leaving our “responsible” desk job — have you ever felt that way?

Here’s my 3-step plan to replace your corporate salary from your creative business income!

3 Steps to replace your corporate salary with income from your creative business.

Perfect your sales process

Sales isn’t taught in art school (nor business school for that matter!). There’s an art in asking someone to buy your work. If you find yourself cringing every time you press send on a quote, you aren’t alone! Getting better at sales takes practice, practice, practice.

Increase profitability on your goods and services

I often hear clients say they want to sell more… when often the solution is to squeeze more profit out of each sell. Ie: I’d rather make $20 profit on each product and sell 100 = $2,000 in profit, then make $10 profit on each product and sell 200 = $2,000 profit. More profit off each sell means less transactions, less time, and higher customer satisfaction.

Define “enough” —ie. How much do you need to sell to hit your salary goals?

Saying “yes” to every client out of fear of not having enough? Sounds like a seat on the burnout train. How good would it feel to know exactly how much you need to sell so you can hit your income goals and then rest?! I believe the most important number you can know in your business each year is your sales goal (I call this your “enough” number). Reverse engineer your sales goal with this formula:

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Calculating your Sales Goal

Personal Income Need (including money saved for taxes) + Annual overhead expenses + Cost of Goods Sold (ie: the money to produce your goods or services) = Your Sales Goal

Example: Salary need = $3,000/mo + additional money for taxes = $900/mo + $1600/mo to cover business expenses.

Let’s calculate : $3,000 + $900 + $1600 = $5500/mo x 12 = $66,000 a year

While the calculations are a little more complicated than this simple formula, it really can be quite simple to set a sales goal for the year in order to  hit your personal salary goals.

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I hope that helps you get started making the income you dream about with your business!

xx,

Shanna

If you’d like to dig deeper into knowing your numbers, I’d love to help! Here are a few ways to get started:

1. Learn more about my signature business course, The Blueprint Model.
2. Register for a Free Online Class with me.
3. Stay in the loop for upcoming trainings, events and business content by joining my newsletter.

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