Your behaviors around money did not develop in a vacuum. They were shaped by what you observed and absorbed from the people around you. And in the art world, those behaviors tend to cluster into four recognizable patterns.
Avoidance. Not opening bills. Not tracking income and expenses. Not checking your bank account. Not following up on late payments. Not reading contracts thoroughly. Avoidance is often rooted in shame, fear, and overwhelm. It feels like self-protection but it removes your ability to respond strategically. The problem doesn’t go away. It just gets bigger in the dark.
Scarcity. Hoarding money rather than investing in your practice. An inability to spend on necessities because you are terrified of running out. Saying yes to every paid opportunity regardless of whether it aligns with your work. Scarcity thinking locks you into a cycle of anxiety that makes it very hard to see the bigger picture, let alone plan for it.This is also portrayed throughout institutions and much of the industry as a whole. The scarcity mindset is what prevents a lot of artists receiving fair pay or appropriate commission fees.
Abundance without boundaries. Overspending when money comes in. Giving away your work and expertise without limits. Subsidising other people’s projects with your unpaid labour. This looks like the opposite of scarcity but it is equally unsustainable. Abundance without boundaries is self-depletion.
Self-sabotage. Not invoicing promptly. Accepting exploitative terms out of fear. Underpricing your work. Not negotiating when you know you should. Self-sabotage is usually rooted in the belief that you don’t deserve to be paid fairly, or that asking for what you’re worth will cost you the relationship or the opportunity.
Most artists recognise themselves in at least one of these. Some in all four at different points in their career.
The good news is that none of these are fixed traits. They are learned behaviors, which means they can be unlearned.