Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

How this physician became an art mogul

DocG, MD
Finance
February 8, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share

I truly believe that the business asset class is important in supercharging the race to financial independence.  While many dream of starting their own Google or Amazon, I find myself much more interested in the small, less scalable business.  The kind that spins off some revenue, builds experience and know how, and is fun.

Although I have owned multiple small businesses (mostly medical practices and real estate), the one that I am most proud of was relatively short-lived.

For a few years, I was an art mogul.

How, you ask, did a practicing physician stumble into an online fine art dealing business?  The answer, of course, was pure chance.

Living in St. Louis during residency, my wife and I bought a townhome.  Although we were not lacking in furniture, there were large expansive walls begging for attention.  While at the local mall, I became enamored with mesmerizing lithographs and serigraphs at an art gallery.  I fell in love with imaginative, figurative artists who painted swaths of color and texture.

There was only one itty bitty problem.  The price.  I just wasn’t willing to pay thousands of dollars to cover my walls.  So I went to the internet, scoured eBay (this was before it was so popular), and made scores of phone calls. After a few hours of work, my search turned fruitful.

I was able to find the same or similar high-quality artwork by the same artists at much lower prices.  So I did what any respectable FI person would do.  I dove deep.  I called every eBay seller, publisher, and art gallery I could find.  I asked lots of questions and made friends.  After a few chats, a world of secrets opened up.

So here is how the hustle went.  Artists signed up with publishers to help them publish, promote, and create high quality, signed and numbered prints of their artwork.  Those publishers created and marketed that work to art galleries.  If the retail price was $2,000 for a particular piece, the publisher would sell it to the art gallery for $1,000.  For any given run on a print, let’s say 150 signed and numbered copies, the publisher would quickly sell the first 100 and make enough profit to cover the full printing.  The last 50 copies were gravy, but often hard to move at retail prices.  Multiply those 50 extra prints by multiple different images per artist, and multiple artists.  There was a lot of extra artwork hanging around the publisher that had little value (for them).

So at any given time, the publisher would have thousands of extra prints that they had no interest in spending the time and money to unload.

Enter the large-scale discount buyers.  These were the guys I became friends with.  They would go to the publisher and purchase a million dollars worth of product for $100/print and then sell directly to the public at a discount,  or better yet, to me.

So to break it down:

Retail price (cost to public): $2,000
Price to discount buyer: $100
Cost to me: $250
Cost to gallery: $1,000
What I sold for: $500 to $1000

So I bought in bulk, and sold in the secondary market to galleries and individuals through a website or eBay.

After two years, I moved a few hundred thousand dollars worth of artwork, made a little profit, and kept a bunch for myself.

ADVERTISEMENT

Unfortunately, running my own medical practice became prohibitive, and the time had come to leave my life as an art mogul behind.

“DocG” is a physician who blogs at DiverseFI.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

People who grieve can live again

February 7, 2018 Kevin 0
…
Next

Should doctors be required to inform patients of their palliative care rights?

February 8, 2018 Kevin 4
…

Tagged as: Practice Management

Post navigation

< Previous Post
People who grieve can live again
Next Post >
Should doctors be required to inform patients of their palliative care rights?

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by DocG, MD

  • Financial independence should be peaceful

    DocG, MD
  • Fads in medicine and in personal finance

    DocG, MD
  • Being a doctor matters less to this physician

    DocG, MD

Related Posts

  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • How a physician keynote can highlight your conference

    Kevin Pho, MD
  • Chasing numbers contributes to physician burnout

    DrizzleMD
  • The black physician’s burden

    Naomi Tweyo Nkinsi
  • Why this physician supports Medicare for all

    Thad Salmon, MD
  • Embrace the teamwork involved in becoming a physician

    Nathaniel Fleming

More in Finance

  • The business lesson new doctors must unlearn

    Stanley Liu, MD
  • The hidden impact of denials on health care systems

    Diana Ortiz, JD
  • Why physicians are unlike the “average” investor

    David B. Mandell, JD, MBA
  • Signing bonuses and taxes: What physicians should know

    Shane Tenny, CFP
  • 5 steps to ride out a non-compete without uprooting your family

    Stanley Liu, MD
  • What every physician should know before buying into a medical practice

    Dennis Hursh, Esq
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How Mark Twain would dismantle today’s flawed medical AI

      Neil Baum, MD and Mark Ibsen, MD | Tech
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Marketing as a clinician isn’t about selling. It’s about trust.

      Kara Pepper, MD | Physician
    • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

      Anonymous | Education

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • Why Medicaid cuts should alarm every doctor

      Ilan Shapiro, MD | Policy
    • When the diagnosis is personal: What my mother’s Alzheimer’s taught me about healing

      Pearl Jones, MD | Conditions
    • Key strategies for smooth EHR transitions in health care

      Sandra Johnson | Tech
    • Reassessing the impact of CDC’s opioid guidelines on chronic pain care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why flashy AI tools won’t fix health care without real infrastructure

      David Carmouche, MD | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why shared decision-making in medicine often fails

      M. Bennet Broner, PhD | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How Mark Twain would dismantle today’s flawed medical AI

      Neil Baum, MD and Mark Ibsen, MD | Tech
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Marketing as a clinician isn’t about selling. It’s about trust.

      Kara Pepper, MD | Physician
    • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

      Anonymous | Education

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...