Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in fine arts but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Andrea Hurtarte, founder of ANML Studio, located in Montréal, QC, Canada.

What's your business, and who are your customers?

ANML studio offers emotional and evocative art in limited edition archival quality prints. My customers are usually strong, intelligent, confident women who see themselves in my artwork. ANML studio's limited prints often portray complex women through graphic, figurative imagery juxtaposed with abstract, colourful, and instinctive visual expressions.

Tell us about yourself

Although my passion for painting and drawing started at a very early age, my love for watercolour really flourished during my studies abroad in Rio de Janeiro and has continually led to a profound exploration of the medium. My artwork has a strong sense of spatial depth due to my architectural training, obtaining a Bachelors and a Master's from the Université de Montréal. Following a few years of working in the architecture field, I decided that I wanted to work for myself and that I wanted to have more agency in what I was working on in my day-to-day as well as in the long term. In 2018 I started operating my own studio, ANML, to pursue visual explorations.

What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?

I believe that my biggest accomplishment as a business owner is to have created a platform for myself that enables me to share my art and connect with so many people on such a profound and vulnerable level. To make a living out of something that is so precious to me is a real privilege.

What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?

One of the hardest things as a business owner is having to make so many decisions on so many different aspects of your business. Since I work alone, all of my decisions are taken solely by myself. Although you may ask for other people's valued opinions, at the end of the day, making the right decision for your business relies ultimately on yourself.

What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?

  1. The first advice I would give someone looking to start a business is to 'just do it. Be honest with yourself and if it is important to you, go for it.
  2. Second, I would say to trust your gut. Often we waste our time overthinking things to the detriment of what, deep down, we already know is the best decision for ourselves and our business.
  3. My third tip is to remember to have fun while you do what you do because that's the point!

Where can people find you and your business?

Website: https://www.anml.ca/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anmlstudio/

If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solopreneur that you'd like to share, then email community@subkit.com; we'd love to feature your journey on these pages.

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