Start with all money you have coming in (your job, selling your work, your rich uncle, etc.). Subtract all money going out (art supplies, car payments, mac and cheese, etc.). What's left is your profit.

If your profit is enough to live on, fabulous! Skip right to next month's article....

If your profit covers all your art costs (canvas, paper, paints, classes, etc.), congratulations! You're breaking even.

If your profit is ... uh ... a NEGATIVE number ... you've got a bit of work to do. But it IS pretty simple. And I'll show you exactly what to do.

But first, let me give you a little incentive to follow through. Here are seven ways a budget can help you become a better artist - AND sell more artwork:

1 - YOU'LL BE MORE FOCUSED ON YOUR ART. If your attention is on how much money you need - or how much money you don't have - it's not on your art. So do a budget. You'll see right away how to improve your financial situation. And that'll give you much more free attention for your art.

2 - YOU'LL HAVE THE TOOLS TO CONTINUE WITH YOUR ART AS LONG AS YOU LIKE. If you're spending more than you're earning, it won't be long before you run out of money to pay for your art. A budget will show you changes you can make - NOW - so that you'll be able to support your art in future.

3 - YOU'LL VALUE YOUR WORK EVEN MORE. The price you put on your artwork defines your income (the money coming IN from your art). Understanding your budget will help you price your work in a way that'll support you as an artist.

4 - YOU'LL NEVER DISCOUNT YOUR WORK. There are lots of reasons that you should never discount your work. Your budget is yet another! Once you see how important every dollar is to your profit, it'll help you stick to your prices - no matter how persistently someone haggles with you. (To learn more about why you should never discount your work, check out article "How much? You decide," here.)

5 - YOU'LL IMPRESS YOUR BUYERS AND COLLECTORS. When you have a budget (the basis of your art business plan), you'll be more professional. And that's pretty impressive to collectors! Just see how your sales increase once you start handling your art career as a business, rather than a hobby.

"I spent my life searching for perfect woman. I finally found her but alas, she was searching for perfect man." Anonymous.

I was a professional matchmaker for several years - trying to help singles meet others with whom they shared common interests and complementary personality traits. I met with my clients in person and they were screened to ascertain their real names, addresses, education, marital status. Most importantly, I tried to help them determine type of person they were really seeking and that's where most of problems arose.

Even though my clients verbalized that they were happy to be matched based upon compatibility, this was not true! The major problems I encountered were:

1) A number of clients were seeking others mainly based on appearance. I would show each new client photos of existing clients based on their characteristics as well as their appearance. Unattractive people sometimes became offended when I matched them with their physical counterparts. A dowdy sixtyish woman asked me, "Is that what you think of me?" when I attempted to match her with men in her age and looks category. Many clients seemed to be totally unaware of how they looked to others and wanted matches that were highly inappropriate. With these people, compatibility had no bearing on their matches. They wanted best looking people in my book!

2) Some clients refused to compromise - even when matched with someone they liked!