Running a gallery alone: a day in the life of the solo dealer

01Before opening: the administrative morning

The morning, before the gallery opens to the public, is the most productive time for administrative and strategic tasks. The solo gallery owner must protect these hours and resist the temptation to open emails first thing, because the inbox is a time-consuming trap that devours the time available for tasks requiring concentration.

The first hour of the day, between eight and nine in the morning, is ideally devoted to accounting and follow-ups. You enter the previous day's invoices, check movements on your bank account, send payment reminders to collectors whose deadlines have passed. Galerie Chantal Crousel, despite its international renown, long operated with a small team where the director herself handled many administrative tasks, proof that this versatility is not a sign of weakness but a reality of the profession.

The second hour, between nine and ten, is devoted to communication. You prepare your social media posts, respond to emails from collectors and artists, confirm the day's appointments. Planning publications in advance using a scheduling tool allows you to maintain a regular online presence without devoting time to it every day. Three publications per week on Instagram, with quality visuals and carefully written texts, are sufficient to maintain your gallery's visibility.

The third hour, between ten and eleven, is reserved for curatorial tasks: research on artists you follow, preparation of upcoming exhibitions, exchanges with artists about works in production, writing exhibition texts. This is the moment when you practise your profession in its noblest sense, the one that made you want to open a gallery.

02Opening hours: welcoming visitors and selling

Opening to the public, generally between eleven and seven with a lunch break, is when you welcome visitors, collectors and the curious. The solo dealer faces a permanent dilemma: how to manage public reception while accomplishing tasks that can only be done in person (hanging, packing, receiving deliveries)?

The solution lies in organising the space. Your desk or workstation should be positioned so you can see the entrance and welcome visitors without completely interrupting what you are doing. Many gallery owners place their desk in the exhibition space itself, allowing them to work while being immediately available to engage visitors in conversation.

Welcoming a potential collector is the most important moment of the solo dealer's day. You must be able to switch instantly from your current task to a mode of attentive listening and advising. The collector who pushes open your gallery door does not know you were negotiating a transport rate or filling in a VAT return: they expect your full attention and a thorough knowledge of the exhibited works. Galerie Sultana, which grew from a small space in the tenth arrondissement of Paris, built its reputation on the quality of the personalised welcome offered by its founders, who knew each regular visitor by name.

A practical tip: keep a contact notebook in which you record information about each serious visitor (name, contact details, artistic preferences, mentioned budget, works that caught their attention). This notebook, which can be a simple file on your phone or basic CRM software, is your most valuable sales tool. When a new work arrives that matches the tastes of a collector you met three months earlier, a personalised email with a photograph of the work can trigger a sale you would never have made without that record.

03The lunch break: a strategic tool

The solo dealer's lunch break is never truly a break. It is a transition moment that can be used strategically. Two options present themselves: the working lunch and the networking lunch.

The working lunch, taken quickly on site, allows you to gain time for afternoon tasks. You use it to read the specialist press, check the previous day's auction results, or make progress on an exhibition text.

The networking lunch is an investment in your relational capital. A lunch with an artist, a collector, a fellow dealer, a curator or a specialist journalist is one of the best uses of your time. The art market is a relationship market, and the galleries that thrive are those whose founders maintain a living and reciprocal network. Galerie Nathalie Obadia, built over several decades of relationships woven with patience and sincerity, illustrates the power of a network maintained with constancy.

Plan at least two networking lunches per week. If your gallery is in an artistic neighbourhood (the Marais, Saint-Germain, Belleville in Paris, the Carree des artistes in Marseille), opportunities for informal encounters are numerous. If your gallery is in a more isolated location, planned lunches become even more important for maintaining your visibility in the milieu.

04The afternoon: hanging, logistics and appointments

The afternoon combines logistical tasks and appointments with collectors. Hanging and removing works, packing sold pieces, receiving deliveries: these physical tasks are often underestimated by beginning gallery owners who had not imagined they would spend so much time with a hammer, a tape measure and bubble wrap.

The logistics of a solo gallery require meticulous organisation. Each work must be documented (photographs from several angles, dimensions, weight, conservation conditions), and this documentation must be done at the time of receipt, not three weeks later when you have forgotten the details. A simple but rigorous system, such as a digital folder per artist containing photographs, technical sheets and consignment contracts, is sufficient to keep control of your stock.

Appointments with collectors are ideally placed in the late afternoon, between four and six. This is a moment when the gallery is quieter, when you can devote your full attention to the collector without being interrupted by other visitors. A dedicated appointment, with a selection of works prepared according to the collector's tastes, is infinitely more effective than an improvised visit. Galerie Georges-Philippe et Nathalie Vallois built its reputation on personalised appointments where collectors felt heard and guided with expertise and without condescension.

05End of day: review and preparing for tomorrow

The last hour of the day, after closing the gallery to the public, is devoted to review and preparation for the following day. You note the sales made, contacts taken, tasks left pending. You prepare the priority list for the next day, identifying the two or three actions that will have the most impact on your activity.

This daily review is also when you update your tracking tools: the stock file (which works have arrived, which have left, which are in the process of being sold), the contacts file (new contacts, follow-ups to make), the cash flow spreadsheet (the day's income and expenses). Five minutes of daily updating will save you hours of reconstruction at month end.

The temptation of the solo dealer is to continue working late into the evening, answering emails, preparing files, searching the internet for new artists. This temptation is dangerous: exhaustion is the solo dealer's primary enemy, and accumulated fatigue translates into errors of judgement, lower quality of welcome and declining motivation. Set yourself a closing time and respect it, except in exceptional circumstances (opening, fair, emergency). Your gallery needs you in good form, not exhausted.

06The closing day: essential and non-negotiable

Most galleries close one or two days per week, usually Monday or Sunday and Monday. This closing day is not a luxury: it is a necessity for the solo dealer who must preserve their energy and capacity for reflection. The closing day is also when you can carry out tasks impossible during opening hours: studio visits with artists, meetings with your accountant, scouting fairs or events, personal development.

Some gallery owners use their closing day for exhibition visits to other galleries and museums. This habit, far from being entertainment, is an essential professional act: it nourishes your eye, keeps you informed of artistic developments and allows you to meet colleagues in a relaxed context. Galerie Marcelle Alix, known for the relevance of its programming, always maintained an active dialogue with the Parisian and international art scene, nourished by the tireless curiosity of its founders.

07The solo dealer's toolkit: simplicity and efficiency

The solo dealer does not need complex tools: they need reliable, simple tools that they will actually use. Stock management software (even a well-structured spreadsheet), a basic CRM tool for contact tracking, online accounting software, a scheduling tool for social media and a good camera: these five tools cover the essential operational needs.

A presence on Artedusa offers the solo dealer a particular advantage: the platform handles part of online visibility and collector matchmaking, freeing time for tasks that only the gallery owner can accomplish, such as direct relationships with artists and personalised reception in the physical gallery space.