i went to an art festival on the boardwalk earlier this summer without a budget or cash on hand to make any purchases. i merely went to spend a few hours with my brother and check out the different booths to see if anything spoke to me in any way. i saw a few pieces from a handful of artists which really intrigued me and won me over, but—without the cash on hand—i collected their business cards instead to check out their work later on and perhaps make some purchases online.

however, of all the artists, not a single person had an online store which completely perplexed me. in this modern technical world where an etsy storefront, a paypal account, or squarespace e-commerce website are mere clicks away, it just doesn’t make sense that an artist would be held back from making sales by anything other than their own ability to create their art.

whether it’s a simple email form on a personal website or a fully-developed online store, a funny thing happens when you make it easy for people to give you their money: they do.