Reflecting on My First Year as a Part-Time Artist

Hello, lovely souls, and welcome!

I'm Shayn, and I'm the owner and artist behind Shayn's Art Studio.

I wanted to create a blog to accompany my portfolio and share my experience with running a small business as an artist.

I feel like when I'm on social media I see a lot of people talking about leaving their full-time job to live out their dream as an artist. I applaud those who have the courage to do this, however, I do not intend to quit my full-time job to run my art business because I enjoy my full-time job just as much as my art business.

With that said, I would like to share with you all my experience with how I started my art business, explaining what it's like to work full-time while running a small business, share my experience attending vendor events as an artist, what I learned in my first year as a small business owner, and lastly my goals and overall outlook for 2026.

Why I Started Shayn's Art Studio

I started dot painting in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, and during that time, I received my first set of dotting tools, acrylic paint, and canvases. I learned how to dot paint by watching YouTube videos from other successful dot painting artists.

I used the next 5 years to practice and hone my skills in dot painting, as well as branching out to acrylic silhouette paintings.

For a while, I put down my brush and dotting tools but I quickly found that art was an important part of my life.

In 2024, I picked up dot painting again and I began acrylic and watercolor painting as well. At this time, I began thinking about running a business as an artist so I started researching all of the things I needed to do to correctly start a small business.

In January 2025, I decided to launch my small business as an artist with dot painting as my focus.

Although dot painting was my focus, halfway through 2025 I decided to start introducing whimsical watercolor paintings in addition to dot paintings, so for the latter half of 2025, I was painting with watercolor and gouache paints as well.

By the end of 2025, I decided that I wanted my art business to focus on dot painting in 2026 as dot painting is my strength.

Working Full-Time while running a Small Business

One thing that I should note about myself, as I want to be transparent with all of you lovely souls, is that I do work a full-time job so making time for my side business can be tricky because my full-time job and my career as a journalist is just as important to me as being an artist.

2025 was tricky. It really was. I won’t lie, there were many times where I questioned what I was doing, asking myself why I’m doing this, who I’m doing this for, and if I should continue. But ultimately, I love creating art, regardless if it sells, but if it does sell then I have the business to ensure I’m making sales accurately.

Working full-time meant needing to arrange time to create my artwork outside of my full-time job, which led to some stress because I was using all of my free time in the evenings and weekends to work on my small business.

This is when I learned that I need to be more selective about how I manage my time for my small business.

My Experience at Vendor Events

In April of 2025, I attended my first event as a vendor, and planned three other events throughout September, October, and November, which you would think would give me plenty of time to prep for each event, but I was scrambling and staying up late the night before each event to prep and pack my supplies.

My experience at vendor events was good overall, and I enjoyed meeting and interacting with everyone. I received many compliments on my art at all of the events and met some amazing new souls. I'll be honest, I didn't make very many sales but it was also my first year doing this so I didn't have high expectations to make a lot of sales.

My biggest takeaway from being an artist at vendor events is that not any and all vendor events are profitable for artists, and I will be more selective about which events I apply for and attend in the future, as I learned that craft fairs and art fairs are two very different types of events.

Now, as I say that, I am not doing these vendor events for financial gain. I'm doing these events to gauge what the interest is surrounding my artwork, who my audience is, and where to find them.

Throughout 2025, I did one art fair in the midst of craft fairs, and I made the most sales at the art fair.

So, my interest now lies in Art Fairs and Exhibitions, which is a trickier process to get selected for the events, but at the same time, being selected means that my artwork moves the organizers enough to offer me a spot at their event, and that means a lot to me. It means that they see potential in my work and in me as an artist.

What I Learned

What I learned from working full-time while running a small business is that it’s a lot of time and energy to run a small business.

The reality of being an artist is that you’re not always making sales and commissions. You’re doing the administrative work, you’re the social media manager, you’re the brand manager, you’re the vendor coordinator, and you’re the face of the business. All of this combined makes for a lot of late nights and weekends spent working on the business.

What I didn’t expect going into this was how much administrative work it takes to run a small business. I knew there was administrative work involved, but I didn’t expect it to be as much as it is, and learning everything from applying sales tax to sales to filing business taxes for the first time was a lot to learn and understand.

I learned a lot about managing social media as an artist, how to streamline posts to get the best views and have content for future posts.

I started on Facebook first then jumped onto Instagram, and eventually I started sharing reels on YouTube as well.

I started 2025 with less than 50 followers on both Facebook and Instagram and 0 subscribers on YouTube, and ended the year with more followers on Instagram than on Facebook, which tells me that my audience is on Instagram. YouTube audience is growing slowly.

Goals and Outlook for 2026

One of my goals in 2026 is to be more selective and organized with the type of art that I’m making and how much time I put into my side business outside of my full-time job. Because honestly, my full-time job is more important than the side business. It’s what makes all of this possible. So I need to be at 100% for my full-time job just as much as my side business, if not more, which means creating a sustainable routine and ensuring I get adequate sleep, meals, and free time to relax is important.

I do think my stress level was high throughout 2025 because I was trying to start a business, and it takes a lot of energy to start a brand new business. But I think the stress ultimately led to burnout and poor health – more headaches, migraines, and getting ill easier.

So, the overall goal this year is to use my time wisely and to be practical about my art business.

My second goal is to find my art style and let it grow. Let it create what it wants.

I think my calling is dot painting, but I also enjoy watercolor, gouache, and digital illustration art, and I plan to dabble in all of these areas in 2026 with dot painting being my main focus.

My next goal is simply to be more organized with my small business, especially when it comes to tracking expenses, and using spreadsheets and tools like QuickBooks to streamline this process.  

The outlook for 2026 is looking good. I have new energy flowing that has me in a painting mood and I'm excited for what the year will bring.

I've applied to an art fair that is in March in my town and awaiting a response from the organizers on if I was chosen. In May, I'm lined up to be Artist of the Month for an art organization that I'm a member of as well, so I'm super excited about this opportunity.

I'm also exploring ways to increase sales in 2026, such as possibly implementing an online store on my website and allowing shipping for people who are interested in purchasing my artwork.

Lastly, I'm interested in getting back on YouTube, showing my face, and sharing my process videos for dot painting and other artwork.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I learned a lot in 2025 as a small business owner and as an artist. I'm grateful for the opportunity to run my own business and to create art all year.

I will strive to manage my time wisely, lower my stress level, and be more organized, so that all aspects of my life are thriving.