Being out there with a distinct outlook from those who accepted “the way things were” helped me enter the art scene with a certain naivete and zero preconceptions. This blank canvas allowed me to differentiate myself and my business in an industry known for chaining itself to old ideas.

Years after I opened my company, venture capitalists began funding websites that sold art online. Slowly, those websites started using content and social media to drive traffic and boost their sales. Brick-and-mortar galleries followed suit. Even until a couple of years ago, some gallery owners told me their businesses still hadn’t joined Instagram because they didn’t understand the value. It turns out that in 2020, Instagram was by far the most widely used social media channel by art collectors and 34 percent of them used it to purchase art .

It’s hard to disrupt the industry that pays your bills. People are taught a way of doing things, and companies pride themselves on their systems and processes, all codified in lengthy and monolithic manuals. “Reputation” and “experience” allow certain businesses to charge insanely high fees or pr...