For me, beginning my own business was something I sort of 'fell' into. I was feeling pretty lost over the summer. My art has always been a kind of 'blankie' for me, so I began to draw again. For fun one day my daughters and I went to the craft store and bought a block of clay to come home and play with.
Wow, it was like finding a new land to explore. We played that night, mostly just to see what we could come up with. After a few hours in between making dinner and getting the girls off to bed, I realized that no matter where in the house I was, I wanted to have that little wad of clay in my hands.
I sat down and got to work. Trying one thing after another. I played and folded, squished and molded until I created, what I thought to be an adorable little horse. The next day I showed my husband and girls. It was so exciting to see little 'creatures' seem to come to life as I molded them.
I was sometimes overly excited to show them to people. I wanted to hear their feedback and what improvements I could make. People really seemed to like them, enough to pay me money to make them one. At first I was just happy that someone else wanted something that I had created. But these gifts started to add up. So when someone would ask for one, I would only charge them enough money to pay for the materials to make a creature for them. It was great for a while. It wasn't very long before I realized this was something I could really bury myself in. I went to local boutiques and offered them samples to have in their shops. I posted on FB. I made a page dedicated to my art. Then I got frustrated with the lack of interest. "what happened? I thought. "Wan't this the way it is done?" I took the page down. Beginning to get depressed that I had not become an overnight success. I had not realized that the people that are out there making a reasonably decent amount of money, have been doing this for years. I had wanted it pretty much right away.
I researched names on the computer. I thought of so many. It really amazed me to see just how many names I thought were original only to find out they were already taken! I wracked my brain for days. I would pester my friends with various examples to see what they thought. It wasn't until one night that I was up particularly late working with my clay, I set it all aside and decided to go to bed. Somewhere in the middle of the night I thought up the name LemonDropsArt or LDA. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. I was afraid to look. There were a couple of things but nothing that matched exactly. It was so close...I had to check if it was too close. I asked an attorney {the one I'm married to} We looked deeper into it and it was available {insert cheesy smile here} I decided it was a good idea to trademark my name and so I filled out an application, a pretty lengthy process but relatively straight forward. You can find/fill out an application for your trademark at www.uspto.gov Viola!! The LDA was born.
I had business cards made and left them EVERYWHERE. I opened a shop on Etsy, and waited. For the time, my big sister was my biggest customer. She bought just about everything I could make. I started putting things up on ebay, and waited. I would check everyday and see...nothing...Finally I decided to 'take a walk around Etsy' I Favorited one lady's shop, who made similar creatures to me. I messaged her just to introduce myself. I looked at her shop even deeper and realized she had SEVERAL sales under her belt. "LIGHT" I asked her what her secret was. {This was the first correct thing I had done during this whole thing} She was WONDERFUL. I am still one of her biggest fans and we still keep in touch =) She taught me about patience. She shared with me her trials of when she first started and it was because of her, I opened a new FB page for my art. I no longer focused on how many people my posts were reaching. I was focusing on the content of my posts. Gradually more and more people were taking notice. Then one day *message* One of my figures sold to someone who WASN'T related to me! I was so excited! "I did it!! I did it!" I told myself all the way to the post office.
There I realized a whole new set of expenses and issues. What is the best way to send my creatures? Which service is best? What about packing materials. I soon realized the serious lack of a well thought out plan. I sent the item off to it's new home and drove home with a mixture of euphoria and anxiety. 'Am I charging enough to compensate myself for the materials to make the figures and the cost of packaging and shipping them? I definitely wasn't adding in the time it took me to create something. Because honestly, at the time I think Michael Angelo could have finished the Sistine Chapel faster. I had to recalculate everything.
I had to really think about this. What should I charge? What is reasonable? I have yet to figure out exactly what is right. In fact there may not be a 'right' but I think I have at least discovered what is fair. I am finding that people want fair. They want to know they are getting something wonderful for their hard-earned money. They want to know that they are not being taken advantage of. People are you, and me. I put myself into their shoes and looked at it from that point of view. Taking into account my costs, and now I am able to account for time. {Since I am getting much quicker and improving on my skills} It isn't perfect yet. When I write to you again, I will share with you the formula that I found. It is really a wonderful way to calculate what I spend vs what I charge.
I am still new to this and I am by no means 'supporting' myself yet, but I have patience and I push myself everyday to learn more and to improve my skills. I cherish every tidbit of advice I have been given so far. 'Shoestring budget' is how I refer to myself. I love that phrase and I got it from one of my heroes Heather Wells {you can find her on youtube}
My sculpts have come a long way from the 'rough little horse' in the beginning, and I am inspired by all of the other artists out there. There is SO much I still need to learn.
I hope that I will create some form of impact on the world through art, in some way. Thank you for reading =)
Until Next Time,
Alicia
Comments
Alicia, I look forward to future posts/blogs from you!
Thank you ALL for your wonderful posts. I am happy that you are finding this helpful. In answer to your question, yes. I am starting a blog. I will discuss every aspect of what I do and how/why I do it, both in an effort to help those who are struggling, and also to hear how others in our line of work have been able to tackle some of the obstacles that we all seem to face at some point or another. You have asked for information on networking and how to price your work. These will be the topics of this weeks blog =)
I hope for all of the wonder and creativity this world has to offer you, and as always,
see you next time.
XO~Alicia
Alicia, you hit on one thing that many artists struggle with. Pricing their work. Getting paid for the work you do is so hard to figure out, especially at first. It sometimes seems like you are working for 50 cents an hour by the time you sell a piece of your work in the beginning. I am sure many people would appreciate hearing how you arrived at pricing your work. We have members here who are waiting to do their first show and that would be helpful to them.
Thanks for sharing.
I have avoided taking my work seriously for fear of getting in a rut yet have been at it for 35 or more years. I took my time and didn't really equip myself for outdoor shows until the 20th! I still tend to try not to take it too seriously, but now that I "retired" from my "real" job I do consider myself working fulltime at my claywork. I've been on etsy for about 9 mos. and could use tips about what will really help my work be seen. I acquired my business name from a friend who used to sell my work in her gift shop when it closed and it describes one facet of my work perfectly--Gnome & Garden. These pieces do not ship well so are not available on etsy. I do a completely separate line of dishes which are what I sell (or try to) on etsy. It is called DoilyDesigns+. I think I myself tied up the name DoilyDesigns in an earlier attempt to set up a shop and was unable to retrieve it. Since then my daughter gave me tips on photographing and selecting tags, etc. when I set up under the new name. So far a very few sales. Mostly sell these in shops. She has had GREAT results on etsy staying very busy through the holiday season...but her sales are steady year 'round, but then she sells some very different work from mine. I'd love to hear more about how folks are promoting their work. I've found, though, that since my work is entirely handbuilt I cannot sell on a large scale at all and have to be selective. I need many weeks at home uninterupted by traveling to shows to keep up with orders and replace items for the next show.
Alicia, thanks so much for this encouraging post. I am in the middle of rethinking how "to do" my business. Your post lets me know I am not alone in that endeavor, and that success is still attainable.
Hi Alicia,
I love this post. I appreciate your total honesty about the process of getting started. This is exactly what I needed to hear this morning and I thank you.
You should start a blog or something.
Good luck to you!
Chris