Marketing yourself as an artist

As a person who was recently laid off in these times of economic uncertainty I can say that this might or might not be a blessing. The blessing is that it made me wake up and say I am tired of doing these not so great art positions. I have been working as a fitter in fancy frame shops, I am good at it but I was constantly angry about my job and never knowing if it will lead to anywhere career wise. People would ask me about my job and I would tell them what I did and they would exclaim "that must be so interesting" and I said "Not Really". The blessing is I know what I want to do, and have known deep down for a long time that yes I want to be an artist, but I really want to open my own educational print shop. There since I have said it to myself I have been giddy and actually able to sleep at night, but I shouldn't be because I live in the New York area and our rent is crazy just like everyone around us, and I don't have any income at the moment.

Now I do sell drawings and prints on etsy, but I have only sold about ten things on there. I think there is a strong possibility for me to be able to at least pay half my rent or more by selling my drawings. I find these artists who consistently get four hundred views by buyers, and I am lucky to get fifty. I was excited about my fifty until I now need to make money from my art and I should need to make it after how many years of art school and making my whole life about drawing to not make a living at it seems, well, dumb. I am now on a quest to question, ask, beg people to teach me how to market myself on etsy and the web better because I love my art and I think others would enjoy it on their walls too.