A very nice way to kick off the long weekend

Perhaps I am jumping the gun, but I wanted to share my good news. I was contacted today by someone who was inquiring about the pots I have on display at Sunlife and if any of them were still available for purchase. Up until now, I have not had anyone express an interest, or contact me about them, so yes, they were all still available. I sent him a price range and thought he might be interested in one or two pots. The response back was that he would take them ALL. So if you are the one that just bought all of my pots, I thank you, A LOT.

I must say that my experience with selling my work has been “interesting”. I have met a lot of people and I have sold a lot of pots, but man, is it hard work. I get the tire kickers; the ones with $20 in their wallet who try to spread it around as many vendors as possible; or the ones that will try to chip away at your price because you should be so lucky that they want to buy your work, but at the price they want to pay. I also get the ones that love the work, and will buy a piece without even knowing how much. The ones who boggle my mind are the ones that ask that age old craft sale question “what would I use it for?”. Usually they are referring to a bowl. I mean really, what would you use a bowl for? Oh ya, the other question I get is “ooooh, I like that, but do you have it in blue?” These people never buy anything (at my stall anyway). They will not flinch at paying $20 for a temporary tattoo though…..weird.

I began selling my pots a couple of years after I joined Fairview Studios at one of the semi annual pottery sales that Fairview puts on. I was a bit hesitant and nervous, having never put my work out there for the public to openly judge, but was pleasantly surprised when I made $400. I thought that was fantastic and have been present at every Fairview sale since. I soon realized that the quality of my work was getting better and that the prices I was charging was not fair (to me). So I upped the prices a bit, not much, but enough to help me continue doing this crazy pottery thing. A couple years later, I started selling at Galleria and was again amazed that people buy my pots (I am my worst critic). I participated in a group show at Centennial Gallery and was essentially Shanghaied by a gallery member to join and start selling my work there permanently.

I like selling out of galleries for the ease. I don’t have to work hard to keep my pots on display and they sell them for me, what a deal.

I have also occasionally entered into the world of commission work. Some successful, some not so much. I won’t go into the bad, but there has been some good and that is what keeps me open to commissions. This is a scary way to sell work. It is basically like buying a house on spec. I can tell you what it will probably look like, or show you a similar example, but the finished piece probably never matches what the customer had in their mind’s eye, especially when it comes to glaze colour. Expectations rarely match reality. Although, sometimes reality surpasses imagination.

So, from kitchy craft fairs, to more sedate gallery settings, dealing with demanding and unknowledgable customers asking for the unattainable, to the most amazing clients that keep asking for work and never balk at your prices and then sometimes pay you more than you ask. It is a crazy thing trying to be your own sales person. I almost feel embarrassed asking people to pay me money for something that is not (and never will be) a “job”.

New Years Resolutions...

I never make New Years Resolutions, but I am going to put this one out there so that hopefully I will make more of an effort.

For a while now I have been saying to myself that I should create more of an online presence for my pottery with the hope of creating more sales and therefore more revenue ($$$). The gallery sales have been slow to say the least, and I have to say that for the 3 sales that I was a part of this past fall, the numbers were not generally good. I did well at the studio sale, but then, I always do OK. But even then, the overall sales were down by at least 1/3, and my personal sales were a little less than normal as well.

SO, here it is. I will attempt to open an Etsy shop sometime before the summer of 2012, and if that works out and I sell enough via Etsy to pay for it, I would like to branch out to an actual website (not just a blog) that showcases my work. I don’t think the website is as vital to get going right away, as I don’t think I would use it for selling work directly. However, it could be a place to funnel people to the work for sale on Etsy. I am going to actually try and use my holidays this year so I should have a little more ME time to work on this goal. I have collected a few friends lately that are directly involved with website creation/design and marketing, so I may have to pick their brains over a beer or two…

I have the space that I will dedicate to this endeavor mostly finished at home, I just need to put up 1 more shelving unit to store all the work that is for sale so it doesn’t get all mixed up, get some decent lights for photographing items, and then  eventually get a decent table in there for wrapping orders (crossed fingers).

My one big obstacle will be my penchant for procrastination, and my fear of the unknown. I do tend to put things off if I am at all unsure about the outcome, or if the process is not clear from the beginning. I had done some research a while ago on setting up an Etsy store and a pay pal account etc, but as it was not something that was in my immediate plans, I did not really take it seriously. So that is something else I will have to do…research what my start up costs will be. I have no idea what it costs to sell stuff this way. I know that with Etsy, there is a per upload cost and a cost per sale, but I have not gone very far with the credit transactions and figuring out what my costs would be for Pay Pal etc. Then there is the shipping costs. I have no idea how to calculate shipping costs on a per item basis. If the customer is buying only 1 item, then that is easy, but if they buy multiples, then more items can fit in a box, and the cost for a bigger box may not equal the cost of shipping them individually. Should I standardize my shipping container sizes? Ie: 4 different box sizes and then work out what the average box would weigh when full of pottery and figure out the cost to ship each size. Do I ship via Canada Post or a company like Fed Ex, Purolater, or UPS? So many questions and not enough knowledge. I have actually only made one Etsy purchase, and my motivation was twofold. First, I really liked what I bought, and second, I wanted to know what the process was like. I could do the shipping thing like the merchant I purchased from. They had individual shipping costs noted for each item, but when it came time to ship them, he was charged a little less than what I paid, so he refunded that amount to my credit card. That is something else I will have to figure out, how to refund money once I have already processed the transaction.

So many questions….

 

Dreaming

Here we go, I’m putting it out there. Ever since I was unceremoniously laid off this past spring, I have been pondering the possibility of trying to make my entire living from pottery. I have been thinking that I might just try out selling my wares online. Etsy.com is one online option I am considering.
Right now, I think my biggest barrier to starting this is knowledge, specifically, business knowledge. Sure, I can make the product, and I can ship the product, but other than that, I don’t know the finer details that I probably should know before embarking on a venture that will make me financially vulnerable (in my eyes anyway). Oh ya, I am a humongous procrastinator, that would be the other barrier :)
I’m pretty sure that unless you have a good reason, and a vision of what you want to achieve, then it will not be as successful. If the only reason is to make money, then it probably won’t be enjoyable either.
My Reason:
I want to have a more personal relationship with my customers, and broaden my customer base. I sell out of a couple of Galleries in the city, and although this is a relatively pain free method of getting your work out there (no overhead etc), there is a lack of connection to the public. I am never sure if what I am making is what will sell, I just take it to the Gallery, cross my fingers, and never get any real feedback from the customer.
I enjoy participating in the semi annual sales that Fairview Studios puts on. You get to meet the customer first hand and find out directly from them what they enjoy about the pottery they are purchasing. The one thing I HATE about these types of events is the strain on the body. It is a lot of work getting ready for a show, and by the end of the day, I am hunched over like an old crone from all the heavy lifting, my feet hurt, I’m starving, and since I had to get up at the crack of before dawn on a Saturday, I’m tired.
My Vision:
To work full time, running the production out of the studio that I currently work out of. I get 24 hour access as I teach there, so that would not be an issue. Turn my condo into my business and marketing nerve centre. I would like to turn my 2nd bedroom into an office and warehouse. I would conduct all transactions from my home, as well as the shipping of all the orders.
My Hopes:
That I can make this a sustainable venture. That doing this gives me the ability to learn more. My thoughts are that by not tying myself down to a traditional 8-5 job, I will be able to attend more workshops and participate in seminars and symposiums in order to expand my skill sets, and let the creative juices flow more.
I know that working for yourself is hard, but if you truly enjoy what you are doing, is it really work?

So, If anyone out there wants to chime in with their two cents about how to make a pottery business work (or not), or want to impart any salient words of wisdom, please feel free to comment.