THE BUSINESS MASTERCLASS FOR CREATIVES

ENROLLMENT IS NOW CLOSED

Make a living WITH
YOUR ART

Let’s dismantle the idea of the “Starving Artist,” because around here, we KNOW that Artists can THRIVE.

This masterclass is designed to help you create more, sell more, & run your business with ease.

During this 9-week course, I’ll give you the exact tools and strategies you need to turn your creative passion into a profitable, sustainable career.

Over and over again, MAKING art WORK students have said it is the best investment they have made for themselves.

This course is designed to empower you to grow a profitable, fulfilling creative career. 

Don’t take my word for it, hear for yourself.

You’re already making ART. Now, it’s time to MAKE A LIVING

You are in charge of bringing value to your work. If you don't value your artwork, then who will? You are the only person who gets to establish its meaning, value, and place in the world. What a gift.

This is where MAKING art WORK shines.

In 9 short weeks, I will help you to value your work, clarify your messaging, elevate your brand, and attract an audience that’s as in love with your creativity as you are! I’ve watched hundreds of MAW Alumni sell their high-end creative work consistently, they create collections that are often purchased in minutes, launch products with their dream companies, grow their collector base (way more important than your IG followers), and run profitable, sustainable, multi-passionate events, during economic uncertainty.

If you are serious about selling your work, this is the class for you.

Hi, I’m Emily.

I left art school with zero clue how to build a fine art career. At first, I undervalued my work, overworked my body, and found myself stuck in a cycle of confusion, success, and burnout. Not fun. So please—don’t do that, ok? Ok. 🙂

After carving my own (very rugged) path, I built a creative career that’s allowed me to thrive as a professional artist, retreat host, educator, licensing artist, podcast host, and speaker. And now? I help thousands of creatives—just like you—build a studio and a business that aligns with your unique dreams.

It would be an honor to share what I’ve learned and help you create more ease as you build a sustainable, profitable, and deeply fulfilling career.

Your art already has so much value.
And now, your business will too.

MAKING art WORK offers you the TOOLS & STRATEGIES needed to grow your art business and boldly share your creativity with the world.

How does this work?

The BREAKDOWN

  • MAKING art WORK is a 9-week masterclass. We begin with our Welcome Ceremony on March 21st!

  • 9 weekly modules, FULL of coursework + actionable assignments, are given each Monday (but you can walk through them at your own pace if you’d like).

  • Make connections with your peers daily in our private and thriving community space.

  • Weekly LIVE 90+ min Workshop sessions every week where we dig even deeper into the content and you get a chance to ask me anything! (Don’t worry these will be recorded if you can’t make it!).

  • We’ve lined up a new panel of Guest Expert speakers you’ll get to meet and ask questions throughout the course.

  • We also have 15 pre-recorded interviews from industry experts you know and love on key topics that will help you succeed in your business.

  • BONUS! Join a PEER GROUP of 8-10 creatives so you can move through the course alongside new friends who are just as invested in you and your journey as you are in them. Life-changing, long-lasting friendships have been born out of our MAW peer groups.

    • Build your foundation for a long-lasting Creative career

    • Define and establish your “highest work”

    • Identify where your energy best serves your business

    • Access the roadmap to success I followed in my own business

    • Clarify your business’ core values

    • Learn how to set quality, actionable, and aligned goals

    • Mindset Alignment

    • Define what a lifestyle brand is and how you can organically create one

    • Identify your ideal customer

    • Learn how to attract collectors to your work

    • The key difference between marketing v. advertising

    • Recipe for reception, how to hear “YES” way more often

    • Create a sustainable marketing strategy & calendar for the year ahead

    • Learn how to flow through marketing multiple projects at once

    • Create a clear brand aesthetic

    • Elevate your branding & visuals

    • Determine your brand’s voice

    • Styling artwork & products

    • Design, map, & story tell through your website

    • Create a sales pages that converts

    • Set up a shop that sells for you

    • Shop talk: nitty gritty aspects of running a complex online shop (listing descriptions, back-end listing details, shipping profiles, etc.)

    • Website traffic & SEO

    • Attract a devoted audience

    • How to build an authentic community & create real connection

    • The importance of sharing the lifestyle behind your work

    • Strategy for growth

    • Social media & mental health

    • All the apps, tech, & equipment

    • Tips for staying on top of the ever-changing algorithms

    • How I price everything

    • Pricing for the sale + pricing for the future

    • Establish a healthy money relationship

    • Create a high functioning sales funnels

    • How to stay “in the black” & create aligned sales goals

    • Expand and diversify the products and services you offer

    • Create a healthy product line — but maintaining the value of your highest work

    • How to offer commissions and not get burned out

    • How to host in person events: classes, retreats, workshops…

    • Licensing & Wholesale for Creatives

    • Create a body of work that is from your soul AND resonates with your audience.

    • The ins & outs of building, marketing, and launching collections

    • How to create excitement and anticipation in your audience so they’re ready to purchase

    • 4 Marketing methods that really WORK

    • 4 different ways to successfully release collections

    • What to do after your release (because this time is important too)

    • Create a sustainable release schedule and avoid burnout this year

    • Sharing your work in the “The 3 Spaces”

    • The Ultimate Marketing Plan Guidebook: a powerful marketing blueprint (used on thousands of multiple 4-6-figure launches to date by myself + MAW Alumni)

    • Content creation across multiple outlets for easeful & authentic growth

    • How to establish yourself as The Expert and also feel relatable to your audience

    • 3 methods for effective copywriting

    • How to run paid ads

    • Effective email marketing for Creatives

    • Let’s breakdown “Lead Generation”

    • 20 ways to attract an audience to your list

    • Design emails that convert

    • How to automate your email marketing

    • Sample marketing copy (designed to sell your creative goods)

    • Email templates you can start using today

    • Comprehensive press outreach & customer service trainings

    • Money mindset (again because we need it)

    • Setting your business up for success

    • How much is enough?

    • 8 Pillars of a successful business

    • Revisiting (and elevating) your goals

    • Creativity + sustainability

    • Reverse engineering your dreams

    • Affirmations to support you in your creative journey to come

What to see inside the course?

…plus all the BONUS content

WANT A DETAILED LOOK INTO THE MODULES?

A GENTLE REMINDER:

Your talent alone isn’t enough to sustain a creative career—you need the right business skills, too.

Until you learn how to run a profitable business that aligns with your creative energy, it will always feel like an uphill battle.

That’s where I come in. Making Art Work will help you master both—so you can thrive as both an artist and an entrepreneur. Yayyy!

What’s New in MAKING art WORK this Year?

  • Flodesk

    Flodesk

    This year we’ll hear from Flodesk’s Product Education Manager, Dawn Richardson, on the BEST email marketing practices for Creatives, how to grown an email list, and create engaging email campaigns.

  • Create! Magazine

    Create! Magazine

    This year I’m honored to host Ekaterina Popova, Founder of Create! Magazine and renowed Fine Artist. She’ll walk us through navigating opportunies like grant writing, artist residencies, gallery applications, and much more.

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Want to see the FULL list of Guest Experts inside the masterclass?

This year we are joined by seven new Guest Experts bringing our total to 17 industry insiders throughout the MAKING art WORK course.

  • Morgan Harper Nichols, author and illustrator

  • Tahlia Stanton, Fine Artist & MAW Alumna

  • Jenna Rainey, Fine Artist & Author

  • Gregg Irby, Gallerist

  • Ashlyn Carter, Copywriter

  • Shanna Skidmore, CFO for Creatives

  • Richard Eltringham, CEO Digital Butter

  • Juliet Meeks, Illustrator & Surface Pattern Designer

  • Meg Gleason, CEO Moglea

  • Kat Popova, Founder Create! Magazine

  • Dawn Richardson, Flodesk Product Manager

  • Tanya Val, Fine Artist & Educator

  • Tammy Adendorf, Lead Designer, Digital Butter

  • Meagan Williamson, Pinterest Strategist

  • Mariana Durst, Fine Artist & Brand Strategist for Creatives

  • Anna Nunez, Fine Artist

  • Jillian Todd, CFO for Creatives

  • Halie Torris, Fine Artist

JENNA RAINEY

MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS

TAHLIA STANTON

ASHLYN CARTER

MAW ALUMNA MONIQUE SAYS…

 “It’s the education you don’t get in art school, and the creative industry specificity you won’t get from business school. Worth every penny.”

Is Making Art Work right for you? Let’s see…

are you an Artist who…

☑ wants to sell consistently to a growing audience?

☑ has stacks & stacks of artwork but no idea how to sell it?

☑ knows your work is good but unsure how to market yourself?

If you said yes to any of those questions then…MAKING art WORK is right for you.

In 9 weeks, I will teach how to run a profitable, sustainable creative business that works for you.

Hear from Our Alumni!

Since 2019, I have been helping Artists and Creatives like you. I’ve watched hundreds of alumni sell their high-end creative work. They create collections that sell out, collaborate with their dream brands, grow their collector base, and run profitable, sustainable, multi-passionate events and retreats.

  • Launch day arrived, and I was set to release my collection at 2:00 PM. At 2:46 PM — 46 minutes EXACTLY — I had sold out completely. I was in tears.

    I had created my business & successfully sold out my first collection during a PANDEMIC.

    The call in my heart and soul was completely validated after all these years of struggling with how I would get myself to be a professional artist.

    Making Art Work’s greatest lesson is to first believe. Believe in yourself, in your art, in your message. It all matters. It is needed It is important.

  • “Before Making Art Work, no matter how hard I worked and how much energy I poured into it, I didn’t really feel like my business became more solid. The commissions started to wear me out, a lot of the money I earned went back into my business and little remained. It didn’t feel sustainable and I didn’t trust my work to support me.

    My husband and I wanted to start living and traveling in/with our self-built home on wheels in September , and I dreamt of providing for the both of us with my art. We wouldn’t need much – a minimal €900 a month was the goal, but I really wasn’t there yet. And so February came and I took the plunge!

    Boy did it pay off! Emily taught me so so much, I think even more than I can realize right now. I’m not only sitting in our self-converted van in Norway at the moment, but I managed to double my income, grow my social media following significantly, and actually enjoy marketing. I now can provide for the two of us and maybe most importantly: enjoy it all again.”

  • I have been on the cusp of taking my art and art education businesses to the next level and Making Art Work has helped hugely to really make that happen. Going through this course helped to push me over the line into taking action on things that I was holding off on.

    It filled so many crucial gaps in my knowledge on how to best move forward with my businesses in a style and form that best suits my needs and those of my customers. This course was an incredible investment that I know will pay off exponentially!

  • “I’ve elevated my conversations about my collections and my connections with customers (and would be customers). I’ve also been able to really improve how I share my process and my work - through video and photography. I feel like I have a much clearer path forward and attainable goals. MAW left me feeling like I am not alone, and our shared stories have been both affirming and inspiring.”

  • “I feel there is a lot more clarity and intention to how I've been operating for the past 6-months after completing it. I'm now thinking quarterly and able to plan out a lot of my content in advance which had not been possible previously.

    As an illustrator and author, my business has grown so much since joining. I feel confident in how I share my work with the world and love how it's connecting with them in the ways that I've learned to share it.”

  • Wow, I’ve met sooo many goals I've taken Making Art Work. I got special mention from an art competition from a dream store of mine, got picked up and featured as a new artist in a couple of very cool galleries, did heaps of commissions, launched a new website with an online store for original and prints, got so many lovely people following my journey on Instagram... what else? Oh, so much! I am so so so deeply grateful for all of Emily's teachings and for encouraging me constantly to keep doing the work. 

If you have any additional  questions, message us at learn@emilyjeffords.com! We’re happy to answer any questions.

Join us inside of this beautiful, transformational course.

FREQUENTLY

ASKED

QUESTIONS

✺

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ✺

  • Not at all. The concepts we are covering span all creative practices, businesses, and disciplines: Painters, photographers, designers, crafters… if you make beautiful things and want to bring them to the world as elegantly and powerfully as possible, this course is for you.

  • Nope! There will be creatives from all over the globe joining us!


  • NO WAY. We will be covering concepts that will stretch all of us, concepts that you can take as far and as deep as you need to. In my experience, the hardest thing about being a “successful” and “established” creative is knowing how and where to channel my [sacred and scarce] excess energy in the most powerful and effective way. This course will offer you the resources to knowledgeably and confidently decide what that means for your business. In addition, the value of community only increases the further down the path you get. It can be challenging to find peers who understand you business and will champion YOU as you become more and more successful. Trust me, I understand. Peek at the syllabus.

  • Oh gosh, NO. This course is THE COURSE I wish they taught in art school. It will give you all the tools, resources, mindsets, and goals needed to establish a sustainable creative business. As long as you feel good with creating, I can help you with the rest. ;)

  • Absolutely! Refinement and creating an attractive brand is a huge focus of MAKING art WORK. We touch on this topic in each module in one way or another. Outside of this, I will be doing a few portfolio, social media, and website reviews as a part of the course content so stay tuned!

  • Not many. You will need access to a computer or tablet, a camera (iPhone / Android, and/or DSLR), and some work you are proud of. As we get into the course, I’ll recommend some other tools, props, and supplies you might want to get, but these are the basics.

  • Oh YES! Both in the private MAKING art WORK Facebook group, in the Live Q&As, and in your smaller peer groups! Conversation is such a beautiful aspect to this process and the community you will find in this course will be life changing if you allow it!

  • I recommend at least 2 hours (one to breeze through the class content and one for the Live Q&A), but you will get much more out of the course if you are able to spend 3-5 hours with the content, workbooks, and in the community discussion each week.

    It’s worth stating again that this course is 100% SELF-PACED. The class content will be released each Monday and we will have a Live Q&A each Thursday, but if this feels too rushed for you, it’s totally fine! You are able to take it as slowly as needed.


  • The peer groups are 100% optional. If you opt in, we will assign you to a small group of 8-10 creatives based on your time preference and business stage. You will arrange meetings and talk via video chat as often as you choose (I recommend once a week). The benefits of a group like this are enormous! There is so much good in our collective wisdom, and it is so liberating and enabling to have a smaller community up to talk with and be encouraged by! These groups are self-directed so you can turn it into what you need. Some groups continue to meet even long after MAW is over, and these friendships bring me so much joy. Please note that there is a small opt-in fee for the peer groups (mostly so we can be sure that those who are in a group are committed!)

  • MAKING art WORK will be available in March 2024! Make sure to get on the waitlist for special information about an early bird discount in February.

    Remember, you can take this course on your own timeline. If March 22nd - June 5th is not an ideal time for you to focus on this course, no problem! You can dive in whenever your schedule allows. All of the content and Q&As will be waiting for you!

  • 24 months from the date the course ends. Each year alumni have the option to rejoin the course at a tremendous discount which also restarts their two year access. You will forever have access to the downloadable content including all workbooks and audio files.

    We retire cycles of the course that are 2 years or older because everything is evolving at an exponential rate these days and we want to provide you with the most up-to-date and accurate information inside of MAW). Visit the terms and conditions to read more. 

  • I’m so happy to hear that. I want you to know that you are on the right path and that your creativity is worth the all the investments you are already pouring into it (time, energy, love, money, passion, care…) because you are creating BEAUTY.
    I want you to know that you can move forward with confidence and clarity. Stress and fear and suffering DO NOT have to play a role in your creative process or lifestyle. I am an open book. I will share as much goodness and knowledge as I possibly can in this course, and you are able and encouraged to ask me anything as we dive into the content together.

  • You will have 14 days to request a refund. MAKING art WORK has been designed to perfectly fit the needs of professional, working creatives and I’m so confident in it’s transformative powers! If you get into it and realize we’re on different paths, that’s totally fine!

  • We have a need-based scholarship program and each cohort we offer 13 tiered scholarships. We also offer a three and six month payment plans as a means of financial aid. If you’re an alumni you’ll get a special alumni discount. Form more information reach out to learn@emilyjeffords.com.

Your studio is ready for this growth.