Hey, this week is a bit lean because I got hit with severe shingles. One side of my face looks exhausted, and the other side looks like a prize fighter who went one round too many.

Don’t worry. I still brought the thunder, but it’s more like California thunder than the typical Midwestern monsoon you usually expect from this gold nugget of a newsletter (at least my humor is still intact).

This edition of The Hungry is in partnership with Printify.

Questions for the Cook

I asked people on Threads about their most significant obstacle in the creative business.

​Jennie Traill Schaeffer responded, “Growing my business again after relocation and huge family challenges. Finding a place for my work, improving my art-making practice, building out a new website, finding new collectors, and a focus on a stable income. Unicorn?”

Finding unicorns might be challenging, but here are my thoughts on the rest:

• Growing the business/family challenges: Pick one area of focus and lean in. Spend all your energy doing that one thing until it becomes natural and comfortable (Cough: email list)
• Finding a place/new website: Maybe your area of focus is your website, and you can share about your journey to make it the best site ever
• Improve art practice: Find a time of day that you can dedicate to your work, even if it’s only 30 minutes a day, and make an agreement with your family where they respect your need to create in that time slot whenever you need it.
• Finding new collectors: Read below!
• Unicorns: Paint them!

How to Migrate Fans Off Social Media and Onto Your Newsletter

Let’s face it, social media sucks for genuine engagement and connection, yet we spend so much time there knowing how often our efforts are fruitless.

The Hungry is on a permanent crusade to help creative business owners do more with their audience, and it starts by directing them to a place you control—your email list.

However, that can be challenging because of the nature of social media attention. Consider these options to help guide your lambs to slaughter pasture.

1. Forms Everywhere: Visitors to your website don’t look for your newsletter form and will likely miss the first one they see. Remind them by strategically placing them on as many pages as possible and at least two on your home page. It’s also a good idea to have a dedicated page for a sign-up form that tells people exactly what they get when they sign up. Here’s the Hungry’s: https://thehungry.art/newsletter.
2. Bio Link: Instead of having a link to your website in your social media bios, send them directly to that dedicated newsletter page. They can still navigate to whatever else you have on your site, but if you put the idea of an email list in their head from the beginning, they'll think about joining anytime they see a form on your site.
3. Get Magnetic: As much as I dislike the phrase lead magnet, there’s truth in the concept that some people will need a reason to join your list. What you offer will be specific to you and your brand, and it should mutually benefit you and the audience. Here are some possible ideas, but use your imagination and come up with something unique to you and your ideal customer:
   • Behind-the-scenes content
   • Limited edition print or digital artwork
   • Invitation to a live Q&A session
   • Early access to new collections
   • Discount or credit toward a future purchase
   • Personalized art consultation
   • Collector’s guide
   • Exclusive access to art events
4. Get Automated: Last week, I tested an online service called ManyChat. The app uses automation to help direct your audience creatively to whatever you want them to see. For instance, I posted a video on Instagram about my lead magnet (5 Day News), and by typing the word newsletter in the comments, the app would reply in my name and send them a direct message with a link to the website. There are many other uses for ManyChat that I haven’t explored, but since the robots are already going to take over, we might as well use them to our advantage.
5. Ask Them: Whatever your lead magnet is, share it on social media and ask people to join. You have already put out tons of free content, and you’ve earned the right to ask people to add themselves to your list. If you’re fearless, slide into the DMs of your most loyal followers and tell them about your newsletter.

Incorporate some or all of these techniques, and you’re guaranteed to get more people on your list faster than ever before. Then you have to make it worth their while.

The Peach Fuzz Makes Big Money Without Sacrificing Identity

This should be a deep dive, but since I can barely see out of one eye, we’ll keep this one short and promise to revisit it later.

I want to share The Peach Fuzz with you because the founder, Elizabeth, shared a graphic on Instagram that blew my mind. For the first time, their company broke $100k in monthly revenue selling stickers, cards, clothing, and trinkets.

The two best things about Elizabeth:

1. They abhor gatekeeping and share all her secrets (follow her!).
2. They're outspoken and have strong stances on many topics, and she’s sacrificed very little in terms of customers.

They started The Peach Fuzz with a clear identity and built upon that identity over the years to become a voice her customers trust and rely on.

In other words, stop hedging your bets and go all in on what you believe. Stand true to your convictions and create the identity you want to share with the world, and you’ll find your people.

Waivering will disenfranchise the people who don’t appreciate your view, and those who believe what you believe won’t know what to think of you and your low-key approach to those beliefs.

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Art Snack: Tyves Oben

What I dig most about Tyves, besides his gritty art aesthetic, is that he takes chances and hustles. He’s not afraid to ask for what he wants, and he follows through.

I ordered a copy of his recent zine, “Distortion and Aesthetic of Mithing, and because it was coming from Eastern Europe, I knew it would take a while to get to me. Tyves was so concerned that I got my copy that he checked in with me regularly, which I appreciate.

Tyves has a second edition of the zine coming soon, so if you dig the grunge aesthetic, give him a follow and tell him I sent you.

​Instagram​

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Small Bites

💥 - Creative Boom recently polled a group of design experts about the industry's future in a world filled with AI, and the results may surprise you. But really, does anybody know anything? F*ck everything, and become a pirate seems like the best plan of action.

🐨 - Aboriginal artist Vincent Namatjira paints the wealthy, powerful, or significant in his country, but the richest woman in Australia didn’t like her depiction and pitched a fruitless fit.

📧 - You may have a custom email signature (probably not, but go with it), and I’m willing to guess you’re not using it to its full potential.

🧦 - I once used Printify to make myself a pair of socks. I love those socks, and I thought maybe others would, but of course, I didn’t have the time to start a print-on-demand sock store, but perhaps you do.

📷 - Having trouble finding the perfect copyright-protected image for your meme account, but none are large enough? Sticker Mule just upgraded their image upscale generator, and it’s awesome.

🙄 - File this one under Thank You, Captain Obvious. Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri says that sharing is a key factor in engagement and virality.

📚 - I don’t know if we’ll ever stop debating whether self-publishing is better for authors or not. As someone who self-published a few books... maybe?

⏰ - George Mack is a smart guy, writes one of the best newsletters on big ideas, and this week, he hit with a wallop when he questioned, do we waste our years by not being able to waste our hours? The question broke my brain a bit but in a good way. (That link is to a Twitter thread which you may not be able to see. If so, here’s a screenshot.)

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Dessert

The way your ideal customer looks at you when you finally start focusing your efforts on the ones with the money instead of other broke artists.