Ep. 37: Vanessa Piche on Starting Over as an Artist: What Happens When You Lose Your Audience?

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Art + Audience

Host: Stacy Bloomfield
Guest: Vanessa Piche
Episode: Ep. 37 – Vanessa Piche on Starting Over as an Artist: What Happens When You Lose Your Audience?
Date: December 16, 2025

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Overview

In this honest and relatable episode, Stacy Bloomfield speaks with painter Vanessa Piche about the challenges of rebuilding an audience after relocating and the shifting art business landscape. The conversation dives into the realities of starting over artistically and entrepreneurially, particularly as digital platforms and buyer behaviors rapidly change. With candor and vulnerability, Stacy and Vanessa unpack why building (and keeping) an art audience feels harder than ever, the impact of societal and industry changes since 2020, and how resilience and openness to new possibilities remain essential for creative careers.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Vanessa’s Backstory & The Big Transition

• Vanessa’s journey: Vanessa spent 15 years building a thriving in-person art business in Rhode Island, relying heavily on art festivals and her brick-and-mortar store. She also launched a T-shirt line to complement her oil paintings.
• Relocation & radical change: Inheriting her grandparents’ farm in Indiana, Vanessa relocated from an established scene to rural life with animals—a huge lifestyle and business shift.
• Losing the audience: With the move, she lost her in-person customer base and faces the daunting task of starting over in a place without built-in art events or an existing personal network.

"My whole time I was really in person building my audience... mostly it was all in person with the T shirt line that I started and the oil paintings that made my whole season."
—Vanessa Piche [02:41]

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The Struggle to Rebuild & The Broken “Funnel”

• Stacy and Vanessa both observe that the “organic growth” most artists depended on is stalling. Audiences aren’t converting, and acquiring new customers—vital for any creative business—has gotten much harder.
• Even seasoned artists with successful businesses are grappling with fewer “warm leads” and more unpredictable income.

"It's becoming harder and harder to get people to spend dollars with you, especially if they're not previous customers... Our top of funnel is really small right now."
—Stacy Bloomfield [05:22]

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Platform Changes, Social Media Fatigue, & Industry Shakeups

• The recent news of Etsy’s CEO stepping down, with a drop in both shop owners and buyers, signals deep shifts industry-wide.
• Social media is unreliable: algorithms obscure artists’ posts, audiences drift, and even followers can’t reliably see work.
• The pain of invisibility: As Vanessa notes, even dedicated followers miss posts because content gets lost in feeds.

"I've had a few say, 'Well, I hope to see you on my feed, because I follow people and then I never see them again.' And I'm like, well, that's a problem."
—Vanessa Piche [08:01]

• TikTok success stories exist but usually follow relentless posting—there are no guaranteed formulas; what works for one artist is rare for another.

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The Value (and Challenge) of In-Person Connection

• There’s a persistent theme that real-world events—retreats, shows, brick-and-mortar shops—build trust and lasting relationships in a way that pure online presence rarely does now.
• The Covid-19 pandemic fundamentally altered buyer behavior and, for some, severed the habit of shopping or mingling in person.

"A lot of my online sales came from people who bought from me in person already... So that was a lot of my online sales for people making a second or third purchase."
—Vanessa Piche [15:55]

• The “back corner at the art show” comparison for social platforms: Sometimes, no matter your effort, it feels like you’re invisible.

"It's like having a bad spot at an art show in the back corner. That's how Instagram is right now... nobody sees you."
—Vanessa Piche [09:56]

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Where Do We Go From Here? Alternatives, Experiments, and Community

• Stacy and Vanessa debate whether the answer is returning to more physical, communal events, with ideas including:
  • Organizing regional artist cooperatives and events
  • Simple, intimate retreats and classes
  • Combining in-person markets with online live-streams to serve both audiences

"What if it's different with TikTok influencers? What if what we need to do is make a list of the top 100 TikTok influencers for your niche... and then we cold mail them..."
—Stacy Bloomfield [19:59]

• The persistent need for experimentation: Mailing art samples to influencers, direct engagement, and doing the hands-on legwork many hope to automate away.

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Aging Audience, Demographics & Niching Down

• Vanessa points out her most reliable buyers are over 50 and are far less likely to be online, challenging the notion that all audiences can be reached digitally.

"The median age of my art collectors was 50 to 75... they had the income and guess what? They're not always online. Half of those collectors don't go online."
—Vanessa Piche [23:17]

• Stacy questions what niching down really means now: perhaps it’s about literally showing up where your collectors are—in person.

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The Importance of Resilience & Openness

• Seasons of struggle are inevitable; consistency and the willingness to try, pause, and try again is what differentiates sustainable artistic careers.
• Both women emphasize it’s normal—and survivable—for a business to have off years, and for the “right path” to be impossible to see until hindsight.
• Vanessa’s new mantra: “I’m open to possibilities.” [27:31]
• Stacy’s friend’s wisdom: “We’ve always had what we needed when we needed it.” [29:15]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On social media fatigue:
  "What do we do whenever what has always worked doesn't work?"
  —Stacy Bloomfield [08:17]

• On changing times:
  "What if a year from now... the path you thought you were supposed to go on actually was a different path. And even though it all added up on paper, what you're supposed to do is even better, but totally out of left field. That's kind of my hope."
  —Stacy Bloomfield [27:13]

• On keeping perspective:
  "I've never had two years the same in all of my years in business... Next year will not be like this."
  —Vanessa Piche [26:14]

• On trying new things:
  "I'm open to possibilities. Right. Maybe I'm looking at things a little skewed. Maybe I need to open..."
  —Vanessa Piche [27:31]

• Ending with humor and authenticity:
  "There's great peace in chickens and poop too."
  —Vanessa Piche [31:00]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Vanessa’s background & the move: 02:41–04:14
• Losing her established audience & current challenges: 04:14–05:22
• The struggle to rebuild online/organic reach (“top of funnel”): 05:22–08:01
• Platform problems and social media fatigue: 08:01–09:56
• Parallels of in-person vs online trust, pandemic shifts: 11:35–13:55
• Potential solutions, going back to physical events, and creative experiments: 15:55–20:40
• Audience demographics & niching down: 23:12–24:23
• Resilience & acceptance of business “down years”: 26:14–28:34
• Final encouragement and wisdom: 29:15–31:00

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Conclusion

Stacy and Vanessa offer no magic bullet but provide valuable solidarity, wisdom, and a host of questions worth considering for any artist in transition. If you’re struggling to reach your audience or questioning your next step, their conversation is a frank reminder that you aren’t alone—and that sometimes the next version of success requires both patience and a willingness to rethink everything.

Where to find Vanessa:

• Website: vanessapiche.com (under construction)
• Instagram/TikTok: @vanessapiche
• Facebook: Vanessa Piche

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“If we're having this conversation, I feel like, you know, we are on the side that we are going to survive it. Because we're willing to have the conversation, and we're willing to look at things differently.”
—Vanessa Piche [28:12]

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Transcript

[Mrs. Claus]

Guys, thanks for helping me carry my Christmas tree.

[Drew Ski]

Zoe, this thing weighs a ton.

[Vanessa Piche]

Drew Ski, live with your legs, man.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Santa.

[Vanessa Piche]

Santa, did you get my letter?

[Drew Ski]

He's talking to you britches.

[Vanessa Piche]

I'm not.

[Mrs. Claus]

Of course he did.

[Vanessa Piche]

Right, Santa, you know my elf Drew Ski here. He handles the nice list.

[Drew Ski]

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[Mrs. Claus]

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[Vanessa Piche]

Or give it as a gift.

[Mrs. Claus]

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[Drew Ski]

Nice. My side of the tree is slipping.

[T-Mobile Announcer]

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[Vanessa Piche]

Visit t mobile.com in 2020. You know how everybody kind of went online? Brick and mortar saved me that year. A lot of people went online, but then a lot of people also wanted to shop in person. It was a really weird time. You know, it's just. You think about it and I think either people jumped back in cautiously, right?

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yeah.

[Vanessa Piche]

Or they just never came back out.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Wouldn't it be nice if your art business was.

[Podcast Host/Leverage Your Art Account]

Loved you back. Hi, I'm Stacy Bloomfield. After years of trial and error and late night doodling, I went from being a coffee shop manager to running a vibrant seven figure art business that I love.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

And now I'm on a mission to.

[Podcast Host/Leverage Your Art Account]

Help more artists create an art business that they love too. So I invite you to find a cozy spot, pull out your favorite sketchbook, and listen in. It's never too late to chase your creative dreams. Welcome to the Art plus audience podcast.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Hello, Art plus audience. People listening. How are you guys doing? I'm so glad you're here for this episode. I'm here with Vanessa Piche, the most elegant last name. Today, Vanessa and I are just going to continue a talk we've been having which is about like, it's not going to be like sunshine and daffodils. Podcast, it may not be like the most like rah rah, shish boomba, but I think we're going to all have something to relate to and that is the fact that we are in a weird transition right now online to where finding an audience and building it is harder than ever. And that's pretty crappy. With your podcast is called Art plus Audience to help people build an audience, Vanessa. So why don't you tell everyone a little bit about yourself first as a creative and the transition you're in and then we'll get into it.

[Vanessa Piche]

Yeah. So the last about 15 years, you know, I've been an oil painter and I made a move in 2014 from Maryland to Rhode island, where my ex husband was from. And in Rhode island what I did is they had a ton of art market art festivals every weekend all around, you know, New England, Cape Cod. So my whole marketing scheme was to do all of these art festivals and sell my oil paintings and it worked. So I spent the whole 10 years there doing the art festivals and then I ended up also opening a brick and mortar there. So my whole time I was really in person building my audience, which is what I was doing somewhat on the online kind of happened. But mostly it was all in person with the T shirt line that I started and the oil paintings that made my whole season. Yeah, and then you picked up and.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Moved and you have chickens and horses. Tell everyone about this.

[Vanessa Piche]

Yeah, so I inherited my grandparents farm in Indiana which is like my favorite place ever. And I'm currently sitting here looking at my horse barn. Picked up and moved, built a new house, my 15 year old and I had the two horses. We all made the move and then I have also now have a minute pony, donkey and 25 chickens. So I'm slowly collecting animals and filling my farm. So a very different landscape than what I was currently looking at at the beginning of the year.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Different landscape, but also a completely different challenge which is the art. Opportunities for you to be in person are not the same. You don't have the brick and mortar store anymore and you are sitting where so many people are sitting right now, which is like how the heck do I start over and build a brand new audience from scratch? Whenever I used to be doing something that was consistent and predictable, like tell us about that.

[Vanessa Piche]

So I kind of had it down to a science. You know. Back in Rhode Island I knew what festivals were good, what I could usually pretty much take home. So there was a bit more of a predictability. Granted there were sometimes bad crowds or rain or, you know, things happened. But I kind of knew what my year would look like, how many. About how many paintings I would sell, and about where my income will be with my T shirts. But moving here, I was like, it's gonna be great. I'll build a whole new audience of people who love farm stuff online. You know, is it. Is it easy or is it more like crickets? Like, I don't know right now? So this is the honest conversation we've been having.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yeah. And we thought we would just talk about it here with you guys because, you know, I've been doing this stuff and so has Vanessa for a really long time. And we've seen a lot of changes in the industry over the years, but nothing quite like this, where it feels like the idea of organically just meaning, like, you show up, you share your work, people are into it, they follow you, they become your customers. It's becoming harder and harder to get people to, you know, spend dollars with you, especially if they're not previous customers. So what do you do when you can't acquire new customers, but you absolutely need them. You need a new audience of people. Angie and I were just talking about this, Vanessa, because we're looking at last year versus this year, returning customers versus new customers. And our, you know, in marketing world, they call it top of funnel, which I, you know, I sound like a bro. Our top of funnel is really small right now, and we have a three thriving business, but it's not going in the right direction. And I'm seeing this across the board here. My theories, Vanessa, about what's happening and this is not going to be like a solution, necessarily oriented episode, as much of a. If you feel this way, you're not alone. But I was just saying I've been through a lot of weird turns in the industry, different things, and I'm still here. So it's not insurmountable. It is this a year where we just gotta, like, hold on tight and close our eyes and just get through it, or is this a shift in how we market in general? So, first theory I have, I just read that the Etsy CEO who's been there for a while is stepping down because year over year, they have 10% fewer shop owners and 5% fewer buyers. So, you know, in one hand, I'd be like, yay, there are fewer people to compete with on Etsy. That's great. But if that many people are leaving and their sales across the board are down, I just saw this today. I'm thinking, like, it's not just me. It's not just Vanessa. It's even on platforms like Etsy, where they have their public and they hold stock.

[Vanessa Piche]

And that's a big search engine on its own. That's a huge platform. So that says something.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

It says something. And then to think about, you know, social media wars, you know, there's all these different social media platforms, and some people will be like, I'm not going to use this platform anymore because xyz. And then other people will be like, I'm not going to use this platform anymore. I'm wondering, like, where'd my people go? Like, I have my artists who are still sticking around on Instagram, but are the perfect buyers still there? And if they're not, where are they?

[Vanessa Piche]

Well, not only that. I've had people follow me lately, and then I've had a few say, well, I hope to see you on my feed, because I follow people and then I never see them again on my feed. And I'm like, well, that's a problem.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Exactly.

[Vanessa Piche]

How do we fix that?

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Like, what do we do whenever what has always worked doesn't work? I keep feeling like right now, TikTok, the people who are getting it right, the people who apparently are able to just keep posting and posting and posting until they just hit it. Once they hit it, it's like they take off and the algorithm favors them. And I talked to two artists in the past two weeks that literally this year was the year that their entire business surged because they'd been in the opposite. They hadn't been able to find their people. But this was the year on TikTok. They just posted consistently, and then they're growing their art businesses, but it's way less now. Vanessa, I feel like, about, like, perfect brand, perfect presentation, perfect lead magnet. Like, people aren't biting organically lead magnets right now. Unless they already know who you are, I feel like, and trust you. And then they're like, I'll get another one. I love it. So, like, what are our alternatives? Do we have to just find our craft shows to go in person to our art and craft shows? Like, what do you think?

[Vanessa Piche]

You know, it was interesting. I had this thought today. I showed up at all those craft fairs, and people were consistent in going to them because people like routines. So I feel like it worked in my favor because I knew people would keep going to those because they like to walk around and get food, right? It might be next to a restaurant, and then there's an activity. So it's like, what is that? Like if you took that onto social media, Right, how do you know they're consistently showing up? Because people are in and out of social media. You don't know. You can't track them. And it's like having a bad spot at an art show in the back corner. That's how Instagram is right now.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Oh, my gosh.

[Vanessa Piche]

Nobody sees you. They walk by you right to the bathroom, but nobody sees you over in the corner. So I don't know how to kind of get yourself out there. I've done consistency. Right. We've done more engaging reels. You know, you get some views. But is it converting to the buying? You know, it's the hard thing where TikTok. I feel like a lot of people are on it and they're entertained and they're scrolling. Yeah.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Will they buy?

[Vanessa Piche]

They buy. Can we get them off the platform.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Onto our website, onto our websites? And I'm in this place of, I think, as an educator, but also as someone who likes creative business. And I have one. I'm trying to see, like, if this isn't working, what are the alternatives? Are we missing something big that's right in front of us? What does this make possible? If everyone's looking over here, how do we get everyone to be like, all right, it's all crowded over here, but here I am. Come see me and support me. I had a thought last year to try to figure out how to re. This is me, Vanessa. This is just. I wanted to rebuild Etsy last year. I was like, I want start a new Etsy. I did, and I still kind of believe in it because I think that things were, like, birthed, they were good. They expanded too much and then they're collapsing under their own weight. So we have two options. Do we just get out in front of people again and reengage and just pretend that it's life running a business. Before we were all online all the time, before Amazon took over, I mean, there's a part of me that's like, maybe that would feel really good. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, I'm thinking maybe we're not off base here about getting back in person.

[Vanessa Piche]

You know, it was something I was reading or watching not too long ago, and they were saying that people go back to paper books now because they stare at a computer screen all day long, so they want to hold something in their hand. At what point is it going to be the pendulum swing of people are really tired of being on a platform and they actually want to have in person socialization and Experiences again, I don't know. Right. I think we need to think about.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

I think it needs to happen because before COVID happened, and that's actually whenever I think the biggest shift to being chronically online really happened. I heard this talk by, I think they're a sociologist, and they were talking about how everyone got locked in their houses in 2020, but some people never came out, so to speak. They might be out of their house, but their nervous system is completely stuck, still in fight or flight. And so just going on social media and scrolling and never engaging is hitting this dopamine thing that they have. But they're acting like they're still unsafe, but maybe they're not as unsafe as. As safe as they feel. So, like, what does it take for some people who. Maybe that 2020 situation was so impactful in a negative way? Like, a lot of people have never healed from that. A lot of people's nervous systems have never healed. And my husband and I were like, man, the world should do something about this. You know, like, we need to change the way society works because, like, what do we do? And I said, honey, no one's going to change it for us. It's now like at the individual's level to work on that stuff. Right.

[Vanessa Piche]

And you know what's funny? It's a very interesting story in 2020, you know, how everybody kind of went online. Brick and mortar saved me that year because all my art shows canceled. And then the guy who did my screen printing of my shirts, his mom was a landlord, she owned a building, her tenants were leaving, they were just retiring. And I did a pop up there for three months from, you know, end of October to Christmas, and that actually saved my whole year.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yeah.

[Vanessa Piche]

And I'm like, a lot of people went online, but then a lot of people also wanted to shop in person. It was a really weird time. You know, it's just, you think about it, and I think either people jumped back in cautiously, right?

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yeah.

[Vanessa Piche]

Or they just never came back out.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Never came back out. And there's a lot of people who never came back out. So maybe we're dealing with people who, what used to be our customers but can't be right now because they just literally cannot get out of like the whole thread. And then what happens? I feel like for me and you and these other people who are self employed, building their dreams, you know, it's like if our audience shrinks and the potential people that we want to impact with, our work kind of disappears or is inaccessible, like, what does that mean? For us, what does that mean for the ability to, you know, monetize our art, live off of our creativity? I think it's going to come back to organization. I think we're going to need to see creatives come together and organize events together. So it's like a cooperative. This is something I've been thinking about. Artists and regions building almost these cooperatives, not like just have a booth in a big warehouse. But like, how do we as artists create our own ecosystem of like, support for each other, promoting each other's work, bringing each other's people, audiences to each other, maybe even organizing in person events, turning the craft show on its head and instead making it like artists collaborating in a different way. Something I did with some gals was we used to run this retreat event called the Creative Social Retreat. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat if we could. We just rented a giant Airbnb and we all just split the cost, but we split all the profit and we fit as many people in those houses as possible. People would fly in, we would just teach art classes and make art together and talk and cook together. And at the end of it, those people ended up being the customers who then bought from me online later. But I think we needed that first, like together experience to build trust and relationship. But I don't know, I'm thinking that maybe that's where it's headed. Maybe you're not wrong to go to the horse show and do something there.

[Vanessa Piche]

To piggyback off what your retreat was. A lot of my online sales came from people who bought from me in person already. Yeah, because like you said, you already had that trust. So it's gotta be, you know, the whole thing with like AI and online and people are getting inundated with like emails and sales, you know, even on Tick Tock, it's like, my God, how many times do I have to scroll up because it's someone selling something. Right? But if these people we already had that relationship from in person. And so they were comfortable going on my website and buying from me. A painting, a shirt, a print, you know, so that was a lot of my online sales for people making a second or third purchase. So now I'm like, here I am selling stuff online, but do they feel comfortable buying because of just, you know, everything that happens, the good and the bad with online? Right.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

And how do you become someone's goto? I think maybe it's like, can you get a hundred in person sales and work with that list of 100 people that you've cultivated in person. Maybe it's at a show, maybe it's. I don't know how it happens, but I'm thinking, like, a hundred people who purchased from you in person. How many of them can you then nurture to come online with you? So all these artists, us included, we don't want to go in person and do shows. It's time. It's investment. A lot of us have kids and things like that. But what if that's, like, where we have to go next so that we can get back to the comfort of running our businesses from our dining room tables? Do you know what I'm saying?

[Vanessa Piche]

I get it. And, you know, I think in three years, my daughter will be done high school. And I have done some pretty crazy things as the mom. I've packed her in a car with 30 paintings and driven down the east coast to go to art shows around D.C. i mean, I've done everything. My kids been through it all. We did. She's been at all these art festivals and fairs, and. And I'm just thinking, like, maybe I just need a few years off. Right. Because it was a lot. I was a hustler. You know, you want to make six figures? I'll tell you how to do it. You get in that car and you go sell your stuff. Yeah. But, you know, I'm thinking, what would it look like when she's done high school and I can take my horse to Florida for three months and show my art and live this really nice, warm, comfy life instead of freezing? Like, that's kind of like, maybe that's my next possibility. Right? Maybe it's the next kind of thing down the road.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

So. And, you know, so then what do you do in the in between? Like, you can see yourself someday getting back there. Like, I can see myself, too, once. Like, my youngest is a little older. He's almost 11. You know, it's harder for me to get away now, but, like, I have these visions of myself a few years from now, like, hosting art retreats in Scotland. You know, I love Scotland or traveling and having this way to bring it with me. But the whole benefit of being able to sell online has been for the. The mothers whose kids are at home and the creatives who don't have that flexibility. So how much do we have to sacrifice now of our time while we still need to be tethered at home in person so that we can weather it? And, like, I bought this building, Vanessa, you know, and I was just telling someone yesterday, I'm like, I think I need to host like an artist show here, like a market, and I want to turn it on its head, but I don't know yet how. But I was thinking, like, is there a way to bring it online and in person at the same time? Right. How do we hype something so that if you can't come locally online, people get a little taste of it?

[Vanessa Piche]

Like live sale on TikTok. Right? You could be a live sale somehow. If you figure out how to do the whole TikTok shop thing, you can direct them to your website. That can be really fun. I know my crowd is out there. It's getting to them, right? When people see my art, they have nice things to say, but it's get. It's getting on their page.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

I have crazy ideas. Vanessa, I have an idea. We had stopped doing physical sample mailings to whole wholesale, like to retailers for a while because the juice wasn't worth the squeeze in terms of the amount of product we were sending out for free. But what if it's different with TikTok influencers? What if what we need to do is make a list of the top 100 TikTok influencers for your niche, no matter whether it's the guy cleaning the abscesses out of the horse hooves. What if we make a top 100 list of those people on TikTok and then we cold mail them because we're about to do that different version, but we're about to do that again for some product things because we went away from it, now we're going back to it.

[Vanessa Piche]

What are we going to send them?

[Stacy Bloomfield]

We're going to send them mini print of your chicken art or your horse art or whatever lovely art you have for the new audience you're trying to build and we just send it to them. It's different influencers. You know, it was the celebrity influencers at first where it's like, oh, like, okay. Years ago when I was in the baby industry, like trying to sell baby stuff, there was a woman who ran a influencer placement company. It was a total scam, I found out. But she got all these people to pay her money to get their products placed on celebrity social media. If you're listening and you're this person, I'm sorry, but I don't remember your name. But I remember, like, I'll get so and so. It'll be in these magazines. And so she was doing that because there are actual benefits to getting, you know, influential people to share your products. I just saw someone who said Beyonce wore Their necklace and you know they instantly sold like so much stuff. Right. I think we're fading away from celebrity worship and I think we're even fading away from like the type of influencers that are not like people working and living in their industry and sharing it. You know what I mean? There are professional influencers out there. That's not bad. But I think I'm seeing a decline. So what do our people want? That is their version of escapism? Who are they following that gives it to them and what do we give them in return? So they talk about our products.

[Vanessa Piche]

I mean if you open it up, how many accounts are you seeing homesteading and people doing like small farming and you want animals. I know they're out there.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

They're out there.

[Vanessa Piche]

We need to find each other.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

If you're out there listening and you are that person on Tick Tock, we have something for you. We have the best artist, Vanessa Piche, she's got the art for you. But you know, I think that we've all tried to automate so many things and we can automate once they get to you, once they get to your website. That's where the automation can happen. We can do automation of follow up emails. But I think we're getting back to the old I've got my briefcase and I'm going door to door sale encyclopedias at first kind of work. And I don't think that's sounds pleasant to many people.

[Vanessa Piche]

Right. We've been in the trenches, we can.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Do it again because there are going to be people out there who won't be willing to do that work. And if we're willing to not like, you know, sacrifice everything to do that, but if we're willing to kind of try the weird thing to zag when everyone else is zigging, what does that mean? Like two years from now or three years from now for us? Like is that where we stake our new claim?

[Vanessa Piche]

Think about to just popped in my head. People with buying power, right?

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yes.

[Vanessa Piche]

The median age of my art collectors was 50 to 75. Right. Like that was where the sweet spot was. They had the income and guess what? They're not always online. Half of those collectors don't go online. That's not their thing. So seeing someone in person is how they found and bought.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

I think I shared that diagram with you in the group in the mastermind about demographics of how old people are and where they are shopping right now. Like what platform they're on or where they're shopping. And you're right. If Your audience is literally 45 or above. It's shocking. Like, where it goes to and beyond that, 65 and above, it's in person. So either you have to compete with way more people for a more vast audience online and just hope you get picked up, or is this what niching down means now? Differently? You go where they're at and if they're not here, that means where are they shopping? They're going to galleries. Right. They maybe have art dealers who are helping them do placements. I don't know. What do you think?

[Vanessa Piche]

Yeah, it's definitely that. I feel like some of it's always kind of that timing, right place, right time. You know, I do feel some people get kind of seen and picked up by galleries online. But once again, how many people are inundating their dm, right? Like, it's so much easier to reach out to people now. So, you know, you have to think about that too. I would like to think in the last 24 hours I've had this moment that being in person is not dead. Right. I feel like there is a lot of wisdom in it and there's a lot of potential to gain there. In my mind, I'm mapping out a whole new route and plans and shows in the Midwest that I could do and all this other stuff, like Kentucky has all the horse parks, you know, things like that. So I think I might be formulating a plan. But it's a long term plan. It's not a tomorrow.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

No, it's a long term plan. And so I guess how do we tell ourselves as we kind of wrap up this episode? Because we just talked about all the things that aren't working and the pivots we're having to make. Because, Vanessa, you're going through it. I coach so many people who are going through it. It's not just our industry. It's across the board. It's not just us. Like, what do we do in the meantime? How do we tell ourselves this is part of our journey? This is the way it is right now. The long game is what we're playing, and a dip is here. And I'll say one other thing. My business, I've gotten in the habit of, like, every year. I want it to grow, grow, grow. But real companies that are not like small business companies, individually owned, very rarely are people actually growing every single year. There usually is ups and downs and ups and downs. But I don't want a down year. And if I have a down year, I am like, do I throw the baby out with the bath water. Am I completely off base? What if this is just the down year?

[Vanessa Piche]

I've never had two years the same in all of my years in business. Then numbers have never been the same. The whole landscape's never been the same. That's one thing I know is consistent. Next year will not be like this. Right. I can't predict it. There is some sort of camaraderie in knowing this and knowing that. It's like we're doing it. Someone might be having a great year and listening to this, and someone might be having a really down year and listen to this, but we. We've probably been in each other's shoes.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

We have all, probably all either been in each other's shoes or will be. So, you know, Vanessa and I have the benefit of wisdom, of having done this for a really long time. And what she's done has been completely different than what I've done in my career. But what I do know is the people who don't stop, even if they have to take a break for their health and their, you know, sanity, the people who keep showing up, even if you have to reinvent yourself over and over again, those are the people who, I think, you know, make the biggest impact. What if a year from now, we sit down and talk and Vanessa, you have found that, like, the path you thought you were supposed to go on actually was a different path. And even though it all added up on paper, what you're supposed to do is even better, but totally out of left field. That's kind of my hope.

[Vanessa Piche]

You know, a little mantra I said to myself this morning was, I'm open to possibilities. Right. Maybe I'm looking at things a little skewed. Maybe I need to open. I'm a very, like, point and shoot person.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Yeah.

[Vanessa Piche]

So I wanted it to go this way. But what if there was another possibility? What if there's something even better coming along right now? I just don't know it yet, but I'm preparing. Something's going to be good.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

So what does all of this weirdness where what worked in the past doesn't. That doesn't work anymore. What does it make possible for us? And what if it's right in front of us but we're not looking at it through the right lens, so to speak? How do we find the right prescription? I don't know.

[Vanessa Piche]

I don't know either. But the whole thing is, is if we're having this conversation, I feel like, you know, we are on the side that we are going to survive it. Because we're willing to have the conversation, and we're willing to look at things differently. You know, we're still willing to learn and pick up a new trend or, you know, a new way of doing business.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

I mean, there's new things being invented all the time. Maybe what's to come is actually even better. I've got a hope for that. And if you're out there listening right now and you're like, I've been pounding the pavement. I haven't had success yet. I am joining right now. It feels so hard. The beginnings feel hard. No matter how seasoned or experienced you are, Vanessa is case in point. I've started some new things. It's harder than you can imagine, but it was hard when I first started 17 years ago. But that's not top of mind now. So, like, how much hard are you willing to endure and how long are you willing to endure it on the journey to figure out what's next?

[Vanessa Piche]

I know every other day it's like, I'm gonna quit. I have to keep going. I'm gonna make it. I can't do this anymore.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

If you feel like you can't do it anymore and you're like, you know, just feeling what we're saying, just know that, like, I think it's important that we talk about it. I don't ever want to pretend things are fine when they're not fine. And I think that the more we talk about it, hopefully we can find solutions or collaborations. You know, as we wrap up, I'll just say that something my friend, whose name is also Vanessa, always tells me now, I think I've been friends with her long enough that I get it and believe it. She's about 10 years older than me. She's like my best friend. And she used to always say, stacy, we've always had what we needed when we needed it. We've always had it. Even in the moment, it didn't feel like it. We always ended up having what we needed. And that used to frustrate me because I like to make things happen. I don't like to feel powerless. But after going through the year that I've gone through, the only thing I can hold on to is, like, we've always had what we needed when we needed it. And it's just a matter of, are we willing to make the sacrifices that we need to during that time so that we can, like, find that appreciation for what we really do have?

[Vanessa Piche]

Yeah, I believe it.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Well, Vanessa, thank you for being here and just having a real honest talk about what so many people are feeling right now. Where can people find you online?

[Vanessa Piche]

Yeah, so vanessapiche.com is my website still a little under construction. We just did the whole Squarespace to Shopify. Switch over. Still working on that Instagram. Vanessa Pache, Facebook and TikTok. You'll see chickens and horses and all that good stuff. That's me.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

I held a chicken a few weeks ago and thought of you, friend. That's what happened.

[Vanessa Piche]

Love my. There's great peace in chickens and poop too.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

That's all. That's a good way to end this one. All right, everybody, tune in for the next episode of Art plus Audience for who knows? Maybe we'll have some solutions to some of the problems that we just kind of laid out. Who knows? Vanessa, Bye bye.

[Podcast Host/Leverage Your Art Account]

Thanks so much for tuning in. Hey, could you do me a favor? Could you subscribe to this podcast and then share it with one of your best art friends? I'd really appreciate it. And then head on over to Instagram and follow me at the Leverage your art account and you can keep up with all of our future episodes. Thank you so much for your support. It means everything to have you here listening and learning.

[Stacy Bloomfield]

Bye.

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