Balancing my life between being a home agent and artist

Working on the phone for a large company from home is great, if you find the right place to work for. Sometimes the work can drive you crazy, but usually, it isn't all that bad. I work for a company that sells every kind of magazine imaginable. It is a good place to work for, and incoming calls come to my home office. Then, I pitch magazines. Usually the people wanting them are enthousiastic, but there are days when they are unfriendly, rude and annoying to talk to. On days like this, I just act as friendly as possible, and kill them with kindness. No matter how much I'd like to take a magazine and ram it in their mouth for cussing at me. This job takes patience. At the end of the day, you leave the work mentally behind and forget it. I stay off the phone after work, to give my vocal cords a break!

My sales stats have always been high, and I've even been one of the top reps in my company. Still, my one true passion is my art and art studio. It is fun to see how many sales have been made at the end of each week. Art is a precarious way to make a living unless you have steady clients. Some of my clients do repeat buying, but in the art world, that isn't a steady way to live unless you hire in-house for a company. I tried that, but prefer having the creative freedom to work on my own, from home. Doing the subjects I want to do (natural subjects like plants and animals.)

Being a workaholic, having a life like this suits me. It would suit me more if I could fully rely on my studio for complete support. That takes time and much marketing. But, slowly and surely, I'm doing more every day to accomplish that goal. It sure does take a lot of patience. Word to the wise, if you are in art school and want to be a freelancer someday, take marketing courses so you will be able to market your work when you're out on your own. Most art schools don't let you double major in business and art. I know, I tried to do it but wasn't allowed. So, take any course you can, whether offering credit or not, just to learn ways to promote your work. Having an agent is good (I have one as well) but they take a chunk out of your profits. My agent handles my original art, and I handle my prints. This way profits are balanced and decent.