If you have been following this blog since its inception almost a year ago, you’ll have noticed a dearth of posts lately.
If you’re new to it, don’t go away…yet.
The bold experiment is over. I am a year older, a year wiser, and I don’t regret a thing.
I opened my shop last May. It closes this May, 2010.
I would, of course, do it all again in an instant. I’ve learned so much about business, accounts, community, art, shops, the local council, publicity, marketing, everything. It has been fantastic. Utterly brilliant. I have worked harder than I ever thought possible. I’ve been so tired I’ve spontaneously burst into tears in public. I’ve gone months without a full day off.
The business is not folding: it’s evolving. The harsh reality is cashflow. I started with £2000 of capital. After one year, it’s been up and down but I’m finishing the year (slightly) in the black. That’s pretty good!
I had to take a long, hard look at the outgoings and incomings though. My main income is not shop sales. Just before Christmas was pretty good, but once I’ve paid my suppliers I’m not left with much commission. The stuff that sold well in the shop made the least money for me. My main income, month to month, has been from internet sources – my own design work, book covers, proofreading and editing – and from private tutoring. None of these incomes need the shop. And my main outgoing? The shop rent. At £150 pcm it’s peanuts for most shops these days. But even so. That’s 10 hours’ tutoring to pay the rent. It is not worth it.
I have met a lot of people through the shop and it HAS started to build my profile. However I’ve done a lot of successful internet promo – much more than I thought I could, actually – and I still get people emailing me for help.
Which leads me onto another thing – people that email me asking for help or advice, and then do not even acknowledge receipt of said advice. I have had contact from a lot of people trying to use empty shops as display, and also various artists wishing to sell their work, and some people doing research. Mostly people are very nice and we enter a bit of a dialogue. There have been some people, and more than I expected, who asked me lists of questions – I replied with detailed, long answers – and I don’t even receive a “thanks” in reply. That, dear readers, is rude.
So…where now? Well, I have got my employed work down to 2 days a week (though it is 70% of my income, still). I will be pursuing my tutoring, design work, and budding web work. I have a website called Understone where I showcase my work and a blog that links with this, called The Weekly Spleen, where I mainly sound off about art. But I am also building up some how-to articles here. I will also be reviewing books and products. I intend to get this to pay for itself eventually by getting an Amazon affiliates account to link to the book reviews.
I proofread and edit for loveyoudivine, and am taking on more of the administration for this site. It’s an over-18’s publisher of alternative erotica, so don’t follow the link if you’re offended by sex!
And I intend to bring together what I have learnt maintaining the online shopping cart for loveyoudivine, with my tutoring, to create a new website that makes available all the resources I have been developing for tutoring. Most of these resources will be free downloads, with collections of them available to buy as pdfs. It’s an exciting new business venture that I wouldn’t have even dared to do before!
I’ll be leaving this blog up. You may stumble across it in the future. It still has some useful information on it. The main thing I would say to anyone who has come across it because they’ve googled “business start up art” or something is…. DO IT! Try it. Remember: the only failure is the failure to learn from your mistakes.
Good luck and thank you for reading.
Monday, 15 March 2010
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye…
If you have been following this blog since its inception almost a year ago, you’ll have noticed a dearth of posts lately.
If you’re new to it, don’t go away…yet.
The bold experiment is over. I am a year older, a year wiser, and I don’t regret a thing.
I opened my shop last May. It closes this May, 2010.
I would, of course, do it all again in an instant. I’ve learned so much about business, accounts, community, art, shops, the local council, publicity, marketing, everything. It has been fantastic. Utterly brilliant. I have worked harder than I ever thought possible. I’ve been so tired I’ve spontaneously burst into tears in public. I’ve gone months without a full day off.
The business is not folding: it’s evolving. The harsh reality is cashflow. I started with £2000 of capital. After one year, it’s been up and down but I’m finishing the year (slightly) in the black. That’s pretty good!
I had to take a long, hard look at the outgoings and incomings though. My main income is not shop sales. Just before Christmas was pretty good, but once I’ve paid my suppliers I’m not left with much commission. The stuff that sold well in the shop made the least money for me. My main income, month to month, has been from internet sources – my own design work, book covers, proofreading and editing – and from private tutoring. None of these incomes need the shop. And my main outgoing? The shop rent. At £150 pcm it’s peanuts for most shops these days. But even so. That’s 10 hours’ tutoring to pay the rent. It is not worth it.
I have met a lot of people through the shop and it HAS started to build my profile. However I’ve done a lot of successful internet promo – much more than I thought I could, actually – and I still get people emailing me for help.
Which leads me onto another thing – people that email me asking for help or advice, and then do not even acknowledge receipt of said advice. I have had contact from a lot of people trying to use empty shops as display, and also various artists wishing to sell their work, and some people doing research. Mostly people are very nice and we enter a bit of a dialogue. There have been some people, and more than I expected, who asked me lists of questions – I replied with detailed, long answers – and I don’t even receive a “thanks” in reply. That, dear readers, is rude.
So…where now? Well, I have got my employed work down to 2 days a week (though it is 70% of my income, still). I will be pursuing my tutoring, design work, and budding web work. I have a website called Understone where I showcase my work and a blog that links with this, called The Weekly Spleen, where I mainly sound off about art. But I am also building up some how-to articles here. I will also be reviewing books and products. I intend to get this to pay for itself eventually by getting an Amazon affiliates account to link to the book reviews.
I proofread and edit for loveyoudivine, and am taking on more of the administration for this site. It’s an over-18’s publisher of alternative erotica, so don’t follow the link if you’re offended by sex!
And I intend to bring together what I have learnt maintaining the online shopping cart for loveyoudivine, with my tutoring, to create a new website that makes available all the resources I have been developing for tutoring. Most of these resources will be free downloads, with collections of them available to buy as pdfs. It’s an exciting new business venture that I wouldn’t have even dared to do before!
I’ll be leaving this blog up. You may stumble across it in the future. It still has some useful information on it. The main thing I would say to anyone who has come across it because they’ve googled “business start up art” or something is…. DO IT! Try it. Remember: the only failure is the failure to learn from your mistakes.
Good luck and thank you for reading.
If you’re new to it, don’t go away…yet.
The bold experiment is over. I am a year older, a year wiser, and I don’t regret a thing.
I opened my shop last May. It closes this May, 2010.
I would, of course, do it all again in an instant. I’ve learned so much about business, accounts, community, art, shops, the local council, publicity, marketing, everything. It has been fantastic. Utterly brilliant. I have worked harder than I ever thought possible. I’ve been so tired I’ve spontaneously burst into tears in public. I’ve gone months without a full day off.
The business is not folding: it’s evolving. The harsh reality is cashflow. I started with £2000 of capital. After one year, it’s been up and down but I’m finishing the year (slightly) in the black. That’s pretty good!
I had to take a long, hard look at the outgoings and incomings though. My main income is not shop sales. Just before Christmas was pretty good, but once I’ve paid my suppliers I’m not left with much commission. The stuff that sold well in the shop made the least money for me. My main income, month to month, has been from internet sources – my own design work, book covers, proofreading and editing – and from private tutoring. None of these incomes need the shop. And my main outgoing? The shop rent. At £150 pcm it’s peanuts for most shops these days. But even so. That’s 10 hours’ tutoring to pay the rent. It is not worth it.
I have met a lot of people through the shop and it HAS started to build my profile. However I’ve done a lot of successful internet promo – much more than I thought I could, actually – and I still get people emailing me for help.
Which leads me onto another thing – people that email me asking for help or advice, and then do not even acknowledge receipt of said advice. I have had contact from a lot of people trying to use empty shops as display, and also various artists wishing to sell their work, and some people doing research. Mostly people are very nice and we enter a bit of a dialogue. There have been some people, and more than I expected, who asked me lists of questions – I replied with detailed, long answers – and I don’t even receive a “thanks” in reply. That, dear readers, is rude.
So…where now? Well, I have got my employed work down to 2 days a week (though it is 70% of my income, still). I will be pursuing my tutoring, design work, and budding web work. I have a website called Understone where I showcase my work and a blog that links with this, called The Weekly Spleen, where I mainly sound off about art. But I am also building up some how-to articles here. I will also be reviewing books and products. I intend to get this to pay for itself eventually by getting an Amazon affiliates account to link to the book reviews.
I proofread and edit for loveyoudivine, and am taking on more of the administration for this site. It’s an over-18’s publisher of alternative erotica, so don’t follow the link if you’re offended by sex!
And I intend to bring together what I have learnt maintaining the online shopping cart for loveyoudivine, with my tutoring, to create a new website that makes available all the resources I have been developing for tutoring. Most of these resources will be free downloads, with collections of them available to buy as pdfs. It’s an exciting new business venture that I wouldn’t have even dared to do before!
I’ll be leaving this blog up. You may stumble across it in the future. It still has some useful information on it. The main thing I would say to anyone who has come across it because they’ve googled “business start up art” or something is…. DO IT! Try it. Remember: the only failure is the failure to learn from your mistakes.
Good luck and thank you for reading.
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
Problem solved...radically!
In my last post I mentioned my current accommodation wasn't suitable for working form home.
Solved that one; I've bought a house with a converted attic.
This means that the shop will be up in May and I will be working as an illustrator, designer, jobbing artist and budding webmonkey from my own home. It makes financial sense; the mortgage is less than my rent, AND I will be saving on shop rent.
If my business relied on passing trade obviously this is a bad idea. But as I can see that the bulk of my income is NOT from wandering shoppers, there is little point keeping this place on.It was a great stepping stone that enabled me to test out what works for me, and what doesn't.
It's also damn cold.
Solved that one; I've bought a house with a converted attic.
This means that the shop will be up in May and I will be working as an illustrator, designer, jobbing artist and budding webmonkey from my own home. It makes financial sense; the mortgage is less than my rent, AND I will be saving on shop rent.
If my business relied on passing trade obviously this is a bad idea. But as I can see that the bulk of my income is NOT from wandering shoppers, there is little point keeping this place on.It was a great stepping stone that enabled me to test out what works for me, and what doesn't.
It's also damn cold.
Friday, 11 December 2009
Forward Planning
I'm glad I said from the start that I was going to be flexible and responsive to the changing climate. It's as much a state of mind as what's in the formal business plan. I was always more keen to be self employed than to run a shop; the shop is a means to an end. The end is... well, what is self employment? For me, it's having control and making decisions and being flexible. For others, it will mean something different. But I think it's important to understand what it means to yourself, so that you'll know when you finally get it.
I think I've got it. My only paid employment for others now is a day and a half a week. That's my guaranteed, regular income. The rest of the time I'm a private tutor, I'm doing book covers, proofreading, pet portrait commissions, various small design projects, and lately, some web admin and design for people. I'm probably working longer hours than ever but it feels like I'm in control.
Ahhhh what about running a shop? Well, when I look at the figures for this year, since I started in May with two grand in capital, I have not dipped into the red. I've tip toed around the edges of it, but I haven't waded in. However the shop rent is a drain on my income, and is kept afloat by the design and tutoring work I do. I haven't had to subsidise it from my "mainstream" employment, though, which I feel is a success.
The lease will be up in May. After Christmas, I'm planning on a sale, and then I shall start to move towards being more of a studio. Already I advertise Saturdays as "shop day", when I'm guaranteed to be there, and other days as "studio days" when I may, or may not be present. It might make sense to keep on as a working studio; my current accommodation is not suitable for working from home. I have a few months to decide. I feel very glad that whatever happens, I'm not "giving it up"...I'm just changing the focus of my business to pursue the more profitable activities.
I think I've got it. My only paid employment for others now is a day and a half a week. That's my guaranteed, regular income. The rest of the time I'm a private tutor, I'm doing book covers, proofreading, pet portrait commissions, various small design projects, and lately, some web admin and design for people. I'm probably working longer hours than ever but it feels like I'm in control.
Ahhhh what about running a shop? Well, when I look at the figures for this year, since I started in May with two grand in capital, I have not dipped into the red. I've tip toed around the edges of it, but I haven't waded in. However the shop rent is a drain on my income, and is kept afloat by the design and tutoring work I do. I haven't had to subsidise it from my "mainstream" employment, though, which I feel is a success.
The lease will be up in May. After Christmas, I'm planning on a sale, and then I shall start to move towards being more of a studio. Already I advertise Saturdays as "shop day", when I'm guaranteed to be there, and other days as "studio days" when I may, or may not be present. It might make sense to keep on as a working studio; my current accommodation is not suitable for working from home. I have a few months to decide. I feel very glad that whatever happens, I'm not "giving it up"...I'm just changing the focus of my business to pursue the more profitable activities.
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Where's the Christmas rush?
Sales have dropped off recently. I'm not even getting the foot traffic past any more. In the summer, some of my custom was from tourists, but not much. Not enough to account for the last few weeks of poor sales.
I blame Christmas.
Yep. If someone wants to buy a birthday gift, they may well pop in to my shop. I also sell a lot of "treat myself!" stuff, mainly to women.
But now we're running up to Christmas, people are doing "a big shop" getting as much as they can in one go. So they're going online, and also hopping on the train to "do" Lancaster, or Preston, or Manchester.
On the other hand, I've just finished a pet portrait you can see here.
I blame Christmas.
Yep. If someone wants to buy a birthday gift, they may well pop in to my shop. I also sell a lot of "treat myself!" stuff, mainly to women.
But now we're running up to Christmas, people are doing "a big shop" getting as much as they can in one go. So they're going online, and also hopping on the train to "do" Lancaster, or Preston, or Manchester.
On the other hand, I've just finished a pet portrait you can see here.
Saturday, 28 November 2009
Business is fine, real life less so!
Running a business. They say it'll be tough. They say you'll work 26 hours a day. They say you'll go mad, go through madness, and hopefully out the other side.
All kind of true, but meh. You can cope.
The problem is having any kind of life as well as having a business!
If I had staff, it'd be great. If I didn't have to do the mundane things of life, like shopping, ironing, sleeping, cooking, it'd be fine. Actually, I don't do the ironing. And I recently bought a freezer so I can eat more frozen ready meal rubbish. A cardboard microwaved lasagne is better than nothing.
So I do the very minimum of housekeeping, and things go ok. But then there's family, friends, relationships to maintain. I have been very caught up in my commissions and projects lately, and it makes me very selfish. I have a great support network but I neglect them, and that's bad. It's very hard to make time for the important people in my life as I'm currently so driven, and I want to spend every waking moment on my projects. But it is crucial to switch off sometimes, I know. I have to turn my phone off, leave my work in the shop/studio, and make a very conscious effort to engage with others.
And then real life intrudes even more... my car went to the big scrap yard in the sky (or so I thought...) and I was given a second hand bike to get around. Fine. It gets me fit, and it is a nice bit of thinking time as I cycle along the prom. Last week, my bike was stolen. Ok. This caused hassle but luckily a neighbour gave me an old one, in exchange for carrot cake. This bike is unfortunately rather seized up, and I don't have time to unseize it, so I am mainly on foot.
And yesterday I got a speeding ticket through the post, incurred last week, on that car I scrapped two months ago... hmmm.
I don't want to be dealing with the tedious minutia of everyday life! I just want to work!
All kind of true, but meh. You can cope.
The problem is having any kind of life as well as having a business!
If I had staff, it'd be great. If I didn't have to do the mundane things of life, like shopping, ironing, sleeping, cooking, it'd be fine. Actually, I don't do the ironing. And I recently bought a freezer so I can eat more frozen ready meal rubbish. A cardboard microwaved lasagne is better than nothing.
So I do the very minimum of housekeeping, and things go ok. But then there's family, friends, relationships to maintain. I have been very caught up in my commissions and projects lately, and it makes me very selfish. I have a great support network but I neglect them, and that's bad. It's very hard to make time for the important people in my life as I'm currently so driven, and I want to spend every waking moment on my projects. But it is crucial to switch off sometimes, I know. I have to turn my phone off, leave my work in the shop/studio, and make a very conscious effort to engage with others.
And then real life intrudes even more... my car went to the big scrap yard in the sky (or so I thought...) and I was given a second hand bike to get around. Fine. It gets me fit, and it is a nice bit of thinking time as I cycle along the prom. Last week, my bike was stolen. Ok. This caused hassle but luckily a neighbour gave me an old one, in exchange for carrot cake. This bike is unfortunately rather seized up, and I don't have time to unseize it, so I am mainly on foot.
And yesterday I got a speeding ticket through the post, incurred last week, on that car I scrapped two months ago... hmmm.
I don't want to be dealing with the tedious minutia of everyday life! I just want to work!
Sunday, 22 November 2009
Head above water!
I'm getting there. It's happening. Bit by bit...
I've got a portrait commission to fulfil in the next few weeks. I've completed some book covers for a local writer which led to logos and a portrait, and a poster. I've done enough paid work now, to start to feel confident really calling myself a professional.
I do book covers, editing and proofreading for loveyoudivine.com, which has led to me taking a more active role in the back-end website management, leading to monthly payments for uploading and updating the weekly releases. I can't call myself a WebMaster... yet... there is a lot I want to learn. I have been curling up with tutorials on C++ and PHP. I can see where I want to be in the future, and it's basically as I am now - but with more knowledge, more work, maybe a bit more money.
I have enough to pay the rent and buy food, but that's it. It would be nice to start making a bit more, now.
But I'm pretty optimistic that it'll happen - things have developed well so far, so if I keep working and learning and say "yes" to everything then no doubt things will continue to develop.
I'm tired but I'm happy.
I've got a portrait commission to fulfil in the next few weeks. I've completed some book covers for a local writer which led to logos and a portrait, and a poster. I've done enough paid work now, to start to feel confident really calling myself a professional.
I do book covers, editing and proofreading for loveyoudivine.com, which has led to me taking a more active role in the back-end website management, leading to monthly payments for uploading and updating the weekly releases. I can't call myself a WebMaster... yet... there is a lot I want to learn. I have been curling up with tutorials on C++ and PHP. I can see where I want to be in the future, and it's basically as I am now - but with more knowledge, more work, maybe a bit more money.
I have enough to pay the rent and buy food, but that's it. It would be nice to start making a bit more, now.
But I'm pretty optimistic that it'll happen - things have developed well so far, so if I keep working and learning and say "yes" to everything then no doubt things will continue to develop.
I'm tired but I'm happy.
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