Over the past couple of months, NFTs and the millions that people are earning off them have been all over the news. It has been quite the hot topic and as the way things are progressing, it will continue to be quite the conversational topic for years to come. This blog is not about the conversational merit about NFTs though, it is about the potential that NFTs have for becoming a viable source of secondary or passive income for people who are looking to diversify their income streams.
As a contemporary artist who now extensively creates and works with NFT art, I have unique insight on the opportunities and challenges of working in this space and how you can benefit financially and artistically from them. In order to explore the money-making potential of NFTs, we have to look at them from the lens of artists that create NFTs and as investors that sell NFTs or trade them.
Creating and Profiting from NFTs as an Artist
Let’s just start off by acknowledging that artists who create and work on their art have a lot on their plate. From making sure that they are true to their artistic vision to worrying about the profitability about their art business…it is quite the cross to bear. NFTs can be quite helpful in numerous ways for artists in not only making money for them, but also protecting their art online and expanding the market of their artwork. As an artist looking to capitalize on NFTs, here are a couple of pointers to keep in mind:
- Before you even start doing anything with NFTs, read and watch as much content as you can about NFTs. You do not want to get into NFTs on a whim. This will only result in a loss, so understand how is an NFT created/minted, what are the various NFT marketplaces and their pros and cons and all the additional costs associated with creating your own NFTs.
- Be prepared to invest heavily in setting up your NFT minting and creating infrastructure initially. As creating and minting NFTs require specialized hardware and considerable computer processing power, we will have to take on the financial burden of these costs in the beginning, however, take these costs as investing into the “future-proofing” of your art business.
- Network. Network. And Network some more. You will NEED to connect with your local NFT communities in order to build up value for your NFT artworks and also build a support system for yourself, so you can stay updated with the latest happenings in the NFT world. As someone who is part of numerous NFT communities, I cannot begin to emphasis how helpful it is to have a community to turn to where knowledge sharing, and troubleshooting is done collectively.
- Keep working on your art. At the end of the day, you are an artist first and a creator of NFTs after that. So keep your art the centre of your focus, keep working on executing your artistic vision and everything else will follow after that. I understand the financial challenges of working as an artist fulltime, however, we owe it to ourselves to make the art that is true to ourselves and not the potential profit that we can make.
- Part of the struggle of creating digital art is protecting your artwork from being copied or stolen. Initially, it used to really bother me seeing my work being copied, imitated and profited on without my permission or involvement. With NFTs, however, I have come to find some comfort in the fact that the ownership of my work is unquestionable, as there is an immutable and transparent record on the blockchain that will always authenticate the originality of my artwork. Nobody can challenge that and it is on the internet for everybody to see.
Trading and selling NFTs as an Investor
Anybody following the crypto trend would be aware how NFTs are slowly becoming viable digital assets to invest in. If you are just looking to diversify your investment portfolio and eyeing NFTs as your next addition, here are a couple of things to keep in mind to maximise on your potential earnings:
- The importance of research and learning as much about NFTs before you put your money down cannot emphasised enough. You need to get over the steep learning curve of investing in NFTs and strive to stay updated on the NFT trends before you even open up your actual wallet to create a crypto one. Understand the kind of NFTs that are in demand and could be in demand in the near future, then start investing accordingly.
- Invest according to your risk appetite. If you are risk averse, try not to bite more than you can chew because the regret of losing money over something that you were not completely sold on initially will only put you off the whole thing. So, invest with what you are comfortable with: I suggest start small and build up your investment from then on.
- If you are looking for the right platform to get your start on as an NFT investor, I would suggest starting with OpenSea which is one of the most popular NFT platforms that has a very user-friendly interface and numerous language options. It is the perfect place to start understanding how NFTs are traded and how the market works Also, YouTube is an incredible resource for all the info that you could possibly need to understand important concepts like NFT staking, regardless of whatever language you are proficient in.
- As I mentioned, NFTs have a steep learning curve. So, if your resources allow, it will be a wise move to hire the help of an investment consultant who specialize in NFTs that can support you in navigating the intricacies of digital investments. Go for a consultant that has a track record of effective management of NFT investments and preferably comes with referrals.
As an artist and an investor, these are couple of pointers that you must keep in mind when looking to earn money or maximise your investments from NFTs. I would also suggest reading some of my earlier blogs on NFTs to help you get a better understanding on the topic. I will continue to write more on NFTs and my experience with them, so keep checking in weekly!
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