Journey into the NFT marketplace as an artist
Bonjour my creative passionate business people! Hope you are doing well and keep the focus on what is important to you.Metaverse, NFT, Blockchain, crypto money, crypto wallet etc. have been trendy words for the past 2 years. I remember being in New Orleans, LA when I first heard about NFT. I was at first: "yaaaaaaaay" because I have so much art to sell, individual pieces and collections; but then I learnt about the gas fees and that just crushed my hopes and dreams like: "There is that huge opportunity and I'm gonna remain POOR because I can't afford gas fee for over a 100 of artworks...!!!!" And this reality that "art is a career that only rich people can afford" hit me again... That sad truth... But NOT the only truth!! People who are not artists or not into art don't realize how expensive it is to be an artist and no, art should NOT be for free because artists/ creative people dedicate their entire life, money, sweat, energy to produce what is going to entertain people. And once again, without art, the world would be way more depressing. Art is love and they keep us alive.
Before getting into the blockchain
Back to my story: after being discouraged for a week about the gas fees (and they were cheaper back then lol), I decided to find solutions because I refuse to die like Van Gogh or simply broke! And my professional lifestyle at the time made impossible for me to invest in my NFT project (well, that's what I thought. Mental blockages). I was thinking about finding investors but it has been highly discouraged by some good friends of mine. They cared about my ownership in my own project. But honestly, I've mastered not to be too much attached to my productions otherwise I'd never sell anything. So it wasn't such a bad idea after all. In the meantime, I've been approached by people interested in my project but they were just people who wasted my time. And the NFT world got bigger and I still didn't have one foot in it. I was really sad but I'm good at focusing on something else and avoid the problem^^ But honestly, if you don't consider your NFT like your baby and/ or the project of your life, investors could be a good option. But remember that they will have a power of decision based on your agreement and the amount of money that they will put in. It's important to define how long the partnership will remain because you might not need them forever. I considered (and still do) a partnership based on one year, two max.Oh... I forgot to mention that I've chose Opensea as marketplace for my NFT's, simply because I did my research and they seemed to be the number one. Even if the gas fee was expensive, I was willing to pay more if the website has the most visibility and the most buyers (makes sense to me). I didn't want to use a cheaper website with way less visibility and less chance to sell big. But this really depends on your strategy and beliefs. Let's talk about marketing strategies. Of course I googled "how to sell NFT" but they're writing the same things: drop it on NFT Calendar, use Reddit/ Twitter/ Discord/ Instagram, pay for promotion, team up with an influencer etc. Huummmm seems good on paper and looks pretty easy to do BUT what if you're like me: you don't really like social media and you still don't understand Twitter? What if you heard about Reddit (if you did) but have never used it? What if you don't even know how to use pay promotion and HOW to approach an influencer?I'd say: create and focus on ONE strategy to start otherwise you're going to get overwhelmed and give up. There is not just one option and if you do it all by yourself, you'll need to be strategic and patient AND try one by one. Try, maybe fail or not, see any result, readjust your strategy, modify and change it. But don't give up easily.Then I thought about minting my NFT's one by one. I thought that it would be an amazing idea because as soon as I'd drop one NFT, I'll get buyers (of course Lya!) so I'll invest in other NFT's. With the Law Of Attraction combines with the Law Of Least Effort, I'll be rich in just one blink! (so cute and naive...)
My first NFT on Opensea
So, of course I didn't really figure out a marketing plan. I had a fragile one and twenty thousands back up plans since I hated everything about promoting. I wasn't sure about anything because I haven't been a successful marketer in the past. I thought about hiring someone or a company but this took me wayyyyyyy too much time because according to the internet, everybody is an expert in NFT. Everybody has trillion followers on IG to show how successful they are in that field. I tried to find on Fiverr or Thumbtack but I don't trust reviews anymore since everybody pays for reviews nowadays. I've been DMed a million of times on Instagram by "marketers" with automatic messages. And I don't know anyone who actually sold NFT's to recommend me someone or an agency... So I gave up on that idea of paying someone (plus I've been discouraged again by few people in the marketing field). I thought that instead of spending my time and energy in finding someone, I could just do it myself... I don't know if that was the right move to do but I'm being honest with you. And now, I understood more than ever recruiters and business owners: it is SO hard to find the right candidate for your business...Then I put the project in the back of my head again and focused on something else.But I was here and there posting some of my graphic designs on my Instagram stories (www.instagram.com/lyapouleyy), best place in the world to boost your ago and barely make sales jajajaja. And few friends of mine suggested to really consider NFT but one told me that if I do it, he'll buy my fist NFT. I was sooooo excited that I was willing to do it since I'll have return on investment as soon as he'll buy it. Which is right away^^So I did it!!!! And guess what? He didn't buy it jajajajaja! But it was ok, I wasn't mad at him, I took it as the boost that I needed. I used Ethereum as crypto, the most expensive one but the most popular. They had cheaper like Polygon but I didn't see the point since just few people were using that crypto. My goal was to reach a maximum amount of people, so that I didn't want buyers to convert their Ethereum in Polygon which is too much work when you're trying to do something simple such as buy art! Today, Polygon is much more popular, which is a great option.
Now time to sell my NFT
With only one NFT on Opensea, I thought that I wouldn't be successful at all. The easiest parts are the creations and having them on the website. Theeeeeen the promotion is the hardest part (at least for me). I know what I am good at and not good at. Promoting is my weakness... Well was my weakness. I tried a little bit of IG and decided to create a separate page just as a window www.instagram.com/lyapouleyy_nft. I added to this website an NFT section http://www.lyapouleyy.com/nfts/ . I updated my twitter that I NEVER use www.twitter.com/lyapouleyy . I created an account on Reddit and Discord to promote my only NFT online (I still don't get how the work though...). Aaaaaagggghhhh that was too much for me. I hated it! I was allover the place. This was so draining! But what I am good at is face to face conversations. I'm an extrovert and a social person so f*ck social media jajajaja! I spoke to different people who really seemed interest but they all spotted that I only have ONE NFT... Good thing was that Polygon by the time got more popular so I listed my NFT collection through Polygon and the great surprise was that I could list my other NFT's collections through Ethereum since I already had one token in Ethereum! Everything fell into place. Yay!My strategy now is to TALK IN PERSON about my NFT's and write about it. It's more exciting to me and makes more sense to me.That's how I was able to sell.All I can say is that there are so many ways to promote your NFT's and NFT collections. You have to define your fortes. There's no point at doing what you're not good at. If you can pay someone to do it for you, go for it. If you want to take course in NFT marketing, that's a good path to take but beware of the scams, appealing offers etc. The paid promotion is another good idea and I hope that you know what you're doing because paying $50 on IG promotion won't take you anywhere! It's just not enough. If you want to pay promotion, you have to go hard. Look at the most successful people in any industry, they invest a lot in ads. If you're a social media/ forum person, OMG, the game... the NFT game is yours!Whatever your strategy is, you need to do it and stick to it for a little while and see if you need adjustments and perhaps switch strategy if needed. But you need a plan, that's for sure^
New start, new collections with Opensea
I decided to start fresh with a new account. I actually have 3 collections
https://opensea.io/collection/selflove-vs-selfish
This is my most affordable collection. Powerful quotes illustrated in a fun way. My art is always meaningful because I'm a leader, a guide, an educator. https://opensea.io/collection/phrase-me-project I don't know if that's my favorite project but...I think it is so far. I started it almost a decade ago (we are now in 2022). It's my way to pay tribute to the Black personalities who influenced/ changed the world. More are coming. This project is unlimited so don't be surprised that your favorite Black super hero is not there yet. This is a lifetime project.https://opensea.io/collection/blackdragonballzThis project is dedicated to my Inner Child^^ I was a HUGE fan of Dragon Ball during the 80's then Dragon Ball Z during the 90's. In France, Dragon Ball Z was the number anime and remains undefeated ever since. With my brothers, we were watching it every Wednesday religiously like probably 90% of the French kids. My frustration was that there were no Black characters and I was pretty sad because I needed representation. It was kind of hard in France to have a good representation when you weren't Caucasian sadly... But things are getting more and more inclusive nowadays and the little girl in me was craving for some Black DBZ characters so Big Queen Lya just did it for her little princess.That's all for me my super creative business people!Hope it helped (you and me^^)Wherever you are on this Earth, keep believing in yourself and don't lose your focus. Keep your vibrations high and drink water and healthy juice!Peace n Kiss.