Because there's something society (and probably your art school) doesn't want you to know... You can be an artist without starving. You can make a living by creating things and doing the work you love, without having to become a thought leader, strategist, or social media influencer.
The second my studio started creating the work we wanted more of— without any clients telling us what to do— was the second we started booking more projects that we loved and we started loving our business again.
But life in our studio wasn't always dream project after dream project. We're talking nightmare project after nightmare project— we attracted all the red flags. And that's just not the way to keep a business (or a marriage) healthy. And the problem was our portfolio— the work was quality. But it attracted all the crazies!
So we completely burned our business down— and that started with only showing the kinds of projects we wanted more of, ditching anything that might raise those red flags, filling our portfolio gaps with self-initiated dream projects, and taking 100% responsibility for making sure the right people saw our work— no blaming an algorithm around here.