THE MASTERCLASS FOR CREATIVES
ENROLLMENT OPENS MARCH 26TH
Create work you love, sell it more easily, and run your business with pleasure.
The idea of the “Starving Artist” is incredibly old school. We’re living in the era of the thriving artist (but it does take some clarity to get there).
Making Art Work is a 9-week course for artists who want steady income, clarity, and space to breathe.
Over and over again, other Artists have said it is the best investment they have made.
Don’t take my word for it, hear for yourself.Your art already has so much value. And now, your business will too.
We both know what it’s like to sit in front of your creative work and wonder, “Can this really support me?” I mean, that’s a lot to ask of some canvas and paper (or whatever your medium is). For a long time, I thought a real (profitable) art career could only happen for a very specific type of artist (wild-haired dude living in a vibrant city, not a care in the world, galleries always clammering for more work…).
Thankfully, experience taught me otherwise.
Here’s what I learned: you are the one who gives your work value. No preconceived ideas around what it looks like to make money in the arts need to define you! There are SO many ways we can succeed as artists today.
This is where MAKING art WORK shines.
I’ve watched artists just like us build steady sales, attract aligned collectors, and create businesses that support multiple creative paths (even in uncertain times).
I left art school with no clue how to build an actual fine art business. At first, I undervalued my work, overworked my body, and found myself stuck in a cycle of low profit and burnout. Not fun. So please—don’t do that, ok? Ok. 🙂
After carving my own (very rugged) path, I built a creative career that’s allowed me to thrive as a professional artist, retreat host, educator, licensing artist, podcast host, and speaker. I’m in year 10 of running a 6-figure art studio!
And now? I help thousands of creatives—just like you—build a studio and a business that aligns with your unique dreams.
It is an honor to share what I’ve learned to help you create more ease as you build a sustainable, profitable studio.
Hi, I’m Emily.
This year, we’re offering two ways to experience Making Art Work. Both options give you the complete curriculum and community experience. The difference is how long you have access to implement and refine.
Choose the option that feels most supportive for you right now2 Year Full Course Access + Live Experience
Option 1
✔️ full 9-Module curriculum with lifetime downloads
✔️ access to a private community with like-minded creatives
✔️ choose your pace: move through the course at a self-led pace or follow the guided weekly format with emily
✔️ Option to join a smaller peer group for more intimate accountability and feedback
✔️ 2-year access to all course materials, replays, guest experts, and community for 2 years after graduation
BONUS: The option to sign up for one-on-one or small group coachingBEST FOR:
Artists building a sustainable business who want to implement at their own pace and return to materials as their business evolves. You'll have 2 years to reference pricing strategies before a big show, refresh your marketing approach for a new season, or revisit legal templates as your needs change. This is your business library.
Three Month Access + Live Experience
Option 2
✔️ 12-week intensive access (9-week course + 3 weeks implementation time) to the full CURRICULUM, guest experts, and resouces ✔️ access to a private community with like-minded creatives
✔️ weekly Q&A with Emily
✔️ access to making art work 2026 through June 30, 2026 | Keep all workbooks foreverBONUS: The option to sign up for one-on-one or small group coachingBEST FOR:
Artists ready to transform their business in one focused quarter with the passion and accountability of a group moving through transformation together.
You thrive with structure and deadlines. You want to implement immediately, finish strong by summer, and keep the workbooks and templates as your ongoing reference guides.
NEW! NEW! NEW!INDIVIDUAL COACHING
After years of requests, I am honored to offer limited Making Art Work Students! Bring your vision & questions and we’ll spend dedicated time brainstorming and planning together
1-on-1 Coaching
Thoughtful questionnaire to help us both prepare in advance
Open and honest conversations, demos, and insights from my 18 years of running a sustainable studio and a high 6-figure business.
Follow-up resources
60 Minutes
Private zoom meeting
Small Group
Thoughtful questionnaire to help us prepare in advance
Open and honest conversations, demos, and insights from my 18 years of running a sustainable studio and a high 6-figure business, as well as valueable insight from 2-3 other Creatives
Follow-up resources
90 Minutes to accommodate individual and group discussion
A GENTLE REMINDER:Your talent alone isn’t enough to sustain a creative career—you need the right business skills, too.
Until you learn how to run a pleasure-centered and profitable business, running a studio will always feel like an uphill battle. That’s where Making Art Work comes in. It will help you master both so you can thrive as both an artist and an entrepreneur. Yayyy!
MAW ALUMNA MONIQUE SAYS…“This is the education you don’t get in art school, and the creative industry specificity you won’t get from business school. Worth every penny.”
MAKING art WORK is a 9-week masterclass. We begin with our Welcome Ceremony on April 3rd!
9 weekly modules, FULL of coursework + actionable assignments, are given each Monday (but you can walk through them at your own pace if you’d like).
Make connections with your peers daily in our private and thriving community space.
Weekly LIVE 90+ min Workshop & Q&A sessions where we dig even deeper into the content, and you get a chance to ask me anything! These will be recorded if you can’t make it!
How does it work?
The BREAKDOWN
We’ve lined up a new panel of Guest Expert speakers you’ll get to meet and ask questions throughout the course.
We also have 15 pre-recorded interviews from industry experts you know and love on key topics that will help you succeed in your business.
BONUS! Join a PEER GROUP of 8-10 creatives so you can move through the course alongside new friends who are just as invested in you and your journey as you are in them. Life-changing, long-lasting friendships have been born out of our MAW peer groups.
What to see inside the course?
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Build your foundation for a long-lasting Creative career
Define and establish your “highest work”
Identify where your energy best serves your business
Access the roadmap to success I followed in my own business
Clarify your business’ core values
Learn how to set quality, actionable, and aligned goals
Mindset Alignment
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Define what a lifestyle brand is and how you can organically create one
Identify your ideal customer
Learn how to attract collectors to your work
The key difference between marketing v. advertising
Recipe for reception, how to hear “YES” way more often
Create a sustainable marketing strategy & calendar for the year ahead
Learn how to flow through marketing multiple projects at once
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Create a clear brand aesthetic
Elevate your branding & visuals
Determine your brand’s voice
Styling artwork & products
Design, map, & story tell through your website
Create a sales pages that converts
Set up a shop that sells for you
Shop talk: nitty gritty aspects of running a complex online shop (listing descriptions, back-end listing details, shipping profiles, etc.)
Website traffic & SEO
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Attract a devoted audience
How to build an authentic community & create real connection
The importance of sharing the lifestyle behind your work
Strategy for growth
Social media & mental health
All the apps, tech, & equipment
Tips for staying on top of the ever-changing algorithms
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How I price everything
Pricing for the sale + pricing for the future
Establish a healthy money relationship
Create a high functioning sales funnels
How to stay “in the black” & create aligned sales goals
Expand and diversify the products and services you offer
Create a healthy product line — but maintaining the value of your highest work
How to offer commissions and not get burned out
How to host in person events: classes, retreats, workshops…
Licensing & Wholesale for Creatives
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Create a body of work that is from your soul AND resonates with your audience.
The ins & outs of building, marketing, and launching collections
How to create excitement and anticipation in your audience so they’re ready to purchase
4 Marketing methods that really WORK
4 different ways to successfully release collections
What to do after your release (because this time is important too)
Create a sustainable release schedule and avoid burnout this year
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Sharing your work in the “The 3 Spaces”
The Ultimate Marketing Plan Guidebook: a powerful marketing blueprint (used on thousands of multiple 4-6-figure launches to date by myself + MAW Alumni)
Content creation across multiple outlets for easeful & authentic growth
How to establish yourself as The Expert and also feel relatable to your audience
3 methods for effective copywriting
How to run paid ads
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Effective email marketing for Creatives
Let’s breakdown “Lead Generation”
20 ways to attract an audience to your list
Design emails that convert
How to automate your email marketing
Sample marketing copy (designed to sell your creative goods)
Email templates you can start using today
Comprehensive press outreach & customer service trainings
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Money mindset (again because we need it)
Setting your business up for success
How much is enough?
8 Pillars of a successful business
Revisiting (and elevating) your goals
Creativity + sustainability
Reverse engineering your dreams
Affirmations to support you in your creative journey to come
…plus all the BONUS content
Ok, so now that you’re done waiting around for your work to be “good enough,” perfect timing, or someone else to take you seriously, it’s time to build something real.
It’s time to build a creative career that actually supports you.Want to see the FULL list of Guest Experts inside the masterclass?
Along with Emily, there are also 17 industry insiders throughout the MAKING art WORK course!
MORGAN HARPER NICHOLS
ASHLYN CARTER
JENNA RAINEY
Kat Popova, Founder Create! Magazine
Dawn Richardson, Flodesk Product Manager
Tanya Val, Fine Artist & Educator
Tammy Adendorf, Lead Designer, Digital Butter
Meagan Williamson, Pinterest Strategist
Mariana Durst, Fine Artist & Brand Strategist for Creatives
Anna Nunez, Fine Artist
Jillian Todd, CFO for Creatives
Halie Torris, Fine Artist
TAHLIA STANTON
Morgan Harper Nichols, author and illustrator
Tahlia Stanton, Fine Artist & MAW Alumna
Jenna Rainey, Fine Artist & Author
Gregg Irby, Gallerist
Ashlyn Carter, Copywriter
Shanna Skidmore, CFO for Creatives
Richard Eltringham, CEO Digital Butter
Juliet Meeks, Illustrator & Surface Pattern Designer
Meg Gleason, CEO Moglea
Is Making Art Work right for you? Let’s see…
are you an Artist who…
☑ wants to sell consistently to a growing audience?
☑ has stacks & stacks of artwork but no idea how to sell it?
☑ knows your work is good but unsure how to market yourself?
If you said yes to any of those questions then…MAKING art WORK is right for you.
In 9 weeks, I will teach how to run a profitable, sustainable creative business that works for you.
FREQUENTLY
ASKED
QUESTIONS
❤︎
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ❤︎
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Not at all. This masterclass is designed to help every Creative, regardless of medium or practice, grow. The concepts we are covering span all creative practices, businesses, and disciplines: Painters, photographers, designers, crafters… if you make things and want to bring them to the world as magnetically as possible, this is for you.
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NO WAY. We will be covering concepts that will stretch all of us, concepts that you can take as far and as deep as you need to. In my experience, the hardest thing about being a “successful” and “established” creative is knowing how and where to channel my [sacred and scarce] excess energy in the most powerful and effective way. This course will offer you the resources to knowledgeably and confidently decide what that means for your business. In addition, the value of community only increases the further down the path you get. It can be challenging to find peers who understand you business and will champion YOU as you become more and more successful. Trust me, I understand. Peek at the syllabus.
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Oh gosh, NO. This course is THE COURSE I wish they taught in art school. It will give you all the tools, resources, mindsets, and goals needed to establish a sustainable creative business. As long as you feel good with creating, I can help you with the rest. ;)
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Oh YES! We take so much pride in getting to answer all of your questions in through our private Facebook group, in Live Q&As, and in your smaller peer groups! Conversations like these are such an important aspect of the learning process.
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The peer groups are 100% optional. If you opt in, we will assign you to a small group of 8-10 creatives based on your time preference and business stage. You will arrange meetings and talk via video chat as often as you choose (I recommend once a week).
There is so much good in our collective wisdom, and it is so liberating and enabling to have a smaller community to talk with and be encouraged by! These groups are self-directed, so you can tailor them to your needs. Some groups continue to meet even long after MAW is over, and these friendships bring me so much joy. Please note that there is a small opt-in fee for the peer groups (mostly to ensure those in a group are committed!). -
24 months from the date the course ends. Each year alumni have the option to rejoin the course at a tremendous discount which also restarts their two year access. You will forever have access to the downloadable content including all workbooks and audio files.
We retire cycles of the course that are 2 years or older because everything is evolving at an exponential rate these days and we want to provide you with the most up-to-date and accurate information inside of MAW). Visit the terms and conditions to read more.
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You will have 14 days to request a refund. MAKING art WORK has been designed to perfectly fit the needs of professional, working creatives; however, if you get into it and realize we’re on different paths, that’s totally fine!
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We have a need-based scholarship program and each cohort we offer 13 tiered scholarships. We also offer a three and six month payment plans as a means of financial aid. If you’re an alumni you’ll get a special alumni discount. Form more information reach out to learn@emilyjeffords.com.
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No! There will be creatives from all over the globe joining us! We have alumni from all across the globe and they have easily been able to translate the content to their specific region.
The only time zone thing to be aware of is that we meet on zoom at 11:30-13:00 est each Thursday for a Q&A session (but this is also recorded)
What’s NEW in MAKING art WORK?
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![Flodesk]()
Flodesk
This year we’ll hear from Flodesk’s Product Education Manager, Dawn Richardson, on the BEST email marketing practices for Creatives, how to grown an email list, and create engaging email campaigns.
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![Create! Magazine]()
Create! Magazine
This year I’m honored to host Ekaterina Popova, Founder of Create! Magazine and renowed Fine Artist. She’ll walk us through navigating opportunies like grant writing, artist residencies, gallery applications, and much more.
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![Digital Butter]()
Digital Butter
Tammy Adendorff, lead designer for Digital Butter has prepared a stunning presentation on the importance of creating a Brand Style Guide along with practical applications for how to use it to elevate your business.
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![Jillian Todd]()
Jillian Todd
Virtual CFO and Money Coach for Creatives, Jillian Todd, will teach us the ins and outs of cash flow for Creatives and help us understand how managing money is the first step to building a profitable creative business.
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![Halie Torris]()
Halie Torris
Halie is an inspiring figurative artist and storyteller! She’ll give us a behind the scenes look into her creative process and share insight into how to magnetically attract aligned collectors to your work.
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![Tanya Val]()
Tanya Val
Tanya is a multifaceted creative and business owner (and also a dear friend and my retreat co-host). She’ll speak with us about how to diversify your creative business in ways that align with your core values as an artist.
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![Meagan Williamson]()
Meagan Williamson
Meagan is an incredible Pinterest Marketing Expert & Educator with over 15 years of experience in helping businesses create a successful Pinterest Marketing Strategy boosting brand visibility and sales conversion.
