Many years ago when my daughter was born, I started airbrushing and hand painting clothing which I could buy from many places in the United States who catered to people, like me, who sold the artwear we created on clothing. I also had a seamstress who went to a mill and bought wholesale fabric and I would give her my designs and she would send them to me.I used silk screening and did mixed media.

My “artwear” was sold in galleries, boutiques, and art shows.

When I moved to a rural community, and had a large house to take care of and more responsibilities of taking care of an active child and being “the soccer” mom…(only in my case, it was a “theater, 4-H, and a myriad of other activities), I stopped creating my works of art on clothing.

Twenty five years passed and I found myself divorced and not exactly a hot commodity in the job market. Companies knew about the impending labor shortage and were hiring the young people right out of college.

I found myself not very marketable. (And they say there is a thing called “age discrimination”)
Now I know what that means.

So, I thought to myself, “I’ll just get into the e-commerce explosion and sell my artwear on the internet. Simple. Everything I every painted sold. I was featured in the Pittsburgh Magazine, and was in the newspaper every week for being the featured artist at a Gallery, with my name next to the Andy Warhol Museum and I figured it would be a breeze just to have my own business.

Hey, if you can’t find a job.

Make one.

Then, I went into shock.

The fashion district in New York was gone. All the companies I had bought my wholesale clothing from had disappeared overseas.

The textile mill had closed. My seamstress had grown elderly.

And the Deka non-toxic fabric paint I loved and adored was no longer available in the United States. Toxic plastic paint had replaced it.

The silk screen industry had completely changed. The competition had exploded.

The art supply stores had closed, since graphic arts had replaced the skill of hand-painted signs. No more good one dollar paint brushes.

But I refused to give up.

I thought I would just find a target niche for my art and I did, but it took years of revamping my business plan. And the alimony was running out fast.

But I prevailed. I always a had a website up, even if I was financially strapped and just used it for a resume for my work.

And, last week, I had my first sale.

That wonderful first dollar you get when you open a store which hangs on the wall next to the cash register.

But, instead of doing things the way I had done them years before, everything had changed.

And now I have joined the ranks of sole proprietors who outsource everything.

I am just the artist. And if I am ever successful, I will even outsource that and be the art director. Because to me, a good business can run itself without you. I learned that early in life.

But, hopefully as time goes by, and I work on new and better designs, just maybe I’ll be able to supplement that social security check.

In the meantime, I spend 10 hours a day almost 7 days a week, learning what all the kids know about how to market your product in cyberspace.