Part II - 10 Lessons I Learned from the Circus Sideshow or what the sword swallower taught me about making money

So, I set up my cart on Halloween after the mall had closed and I was very happy with my display and I started walking around checking out my cart and signage from various angles and distances when suddenly ... I spied about 100 feet or so away from me ...

(maybe 1000 feet, maybe 10 feet, I am bad with things like this)

another cart selling prints and as I got closer I realized they were .. personalized prints ... uh, wasn't I selling personalized prints?!

Now, they were cartoon pictures with very simple illustrations (not the same prints I was selling) called Friendly Folks or something or other. And the prices were 20% less than my prices and the guy selling them was super nice

(the Friendly Folks people really got their money's worth with this guy)

and having been warned about "the cart people" he brought DONUTS!

Lesson 4- Bring treats (it can never hurt to be really nice to people and people always remember the guy who brought the donuts or the girl who baked the cupcakes- note- I was not that girl)

The first few weeks were very slow. The "cart people" were up in arms that the mall wasn't doing enough to bring in better foot traffic and they were complaining about the crazy high rents. I instinctively didn't join in the whining (well, maybe on Wednesdays)- something was telling me that my stuff was cool. Something was telling me to stay positive. People would find me. I would be ok (maybe not $100,000 ok, but ok, anyway).

(although everytime I saw a customer walking around with one of those Friendly Folks personalized prints wrapped up all, well, friendly-like under their arm I did get a little knot in my stomach - luckily I was close enough to the Cinnabon store to iron out that knot with a little pastry)

Lesson 5 - There's no Crying in Baseball Retail (or whining about business being slow because the complaining is re-active and when things get tough you need to be pro-active)

(the donut guy lowered his prices - they were now 30% lower than mine- I made bigger arrows)

Soon, it was Black Friday- I had always heard this was the busiest shopping day of the year and I was ready .. sort of. The day came and things definitely picked up- the mall was packed, but I did some quick math and realized if that was my busiest day, I wasn't going to be making alot of any money.

Luckily, that busiest day of the year thing turned out to be not true and my sales went up and up everyday. The mall hours got longer and longer. I was exhausted.

The mall management told me that a very busy day was approaching; it was Macy's last one day sale of the season and my cart was right outside of Macy's main entrance. They warned me that I needed help. I didn't listen.

That night with a line wrapping around my cart and past the cosmetics counters of Macys, I called my brother and managed to sputter out just one word - "HELP" - he was there within minutes. I have never forgotten it (thank you Vinnie).

I think I would have had a breakdown if he had been at the movies or the gym or cutting his toenails or something.

The rest of the night flew by. I was down to one frame and one mat. My last customer was buying a picture of a red, white and blue uniformed hockey player which she had personalized with her son's name and number. That last mat was mint green, the last frame was hot pink. I framed her picture and turned it toward her. I couldn't even look her in the eye.

"Gorgeous. I love it!" - she exclaimed.

Vinnie and I high fived each other (I was so thankful to live in Jersey).

Lesson 6 - Get help. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. You can't do it alone. Studies show that providing support is just as important as getting support. People like to help. I know I like to help.

(well, unless someone asks me to do something I don't really want to do and since I am a wee bit lazy and most things are a wee bit efforty, this could include alot of things, unfortunately)

Seriously though, I am often quite helpful.

Part III tomorrow- I will wrap up our week under the big top by answering those burning questions and my final 4 lessons, which I am pretty certain you will not want to miss- unless you have something better to do like a root canal or a makeover from your mother-in-law or something ...

penelope the sword swallower print from thestapeliacompany

Part I - 10 Lessons I Learned from the Circus Sideshow or what the bearded lady taught me about making money

I used to sell things from carts in malls. This was quite a few years ago when people still did most of their shopping there,

before the internet, I guess.

(or before anyone knew about the internet)

When did Al Gore invent that anyway?

(actually, I love Al Gore and he didn't say he "invented" the internet- he said he created it and he did support funding for it while in Congress. I wouldn't quite say he "created" it either, but I do forgive him because his book, "Earth in the Balance" rocked my world)

It started when I bought a business that I knew nothing about.

(I think it is easier to be fearless when you are young and have nothing to lose- it is harder and even more important that we continue to live fearlessly when we are maybe not so young)

All I knew is that this business looked pretty cool to me and I'd never seen anything like it and I was out of work and I had been selling things I made at craft shows and not making much money and I needed a change.

(preferably something that didn't include going door to door with cosmetic samples wearing opaque stockings and the wrong shade of lipstick)

The business was called Dream Scenes. Dream Scenes were personalized matted prints (there was a photo of a jet plane and I would put any name on the jet so the picture looked like the buyer owned a jet plane or a photo of Madison Square Garden where I would put any words on the marquee, you get the idea).

This is something that a 5th grader could Photoshop today, but you will have to trust me that this was very cutting edge at the time.

So, I approached the local mall manager about a Christmas cart location (this was even before I bought the business, but I did have a few sample pictures and I just pretended it was my business).

It was late September (mall holiday spaces were booked by May, luckily I didn't know this at the time). The manager had been on maternity leave and was way behind with her bookings. She thought my Dream Scenes were pretty cool, too and offered me the best location in the mall.

(even though I was probably wearing opaque stockings and the wrong shade of lipstick).

Lesson 1 - Timing is Everything - sometimes things like this just fall into place and I think it is like a huge green light is flashing at us from the universe.

(now, I think this is kind of a beginner's luck thing - because maybe next time the universe will flash a yellow proceed with caution at you and sometimes a flashing red STOP to see how badly you really want something or sometimes STOP really does mean STOP - figuring out which is which is the tricky part)

Then she dropped a bombshell- the rent was $10,000 for 2 months!

As the blood rushed from my face, she told me that top products had grossed $100,000 in 2 months and I could pay the rent as I went along. So, even though $10,000 was about 2 zeros greater than any check I had ever written and $100,000 sounded like a gazillion and I couldn't even factor it into my thinking-

I gulped, signed the lease, went home, bought the business and started cutting mats (the only part I already knew how to do).

(now I realize that things like rent are negotiable and I should have been negotiating that rent, but in those days I couldn't even negotiate my way into a parallel parking space and didn't even think of it)

Lesson 2 - When You Decide to Jump, Jump With Both Feet- you don't want to end up doing one of those "one leg in, one leg out" hokey-pokey things- where you will almost certainly fall on your ass. You have a better chance of a good landing with both feet. Commit.

The mall manager also told me that the year-round "cart people" were a pretty tight group, kind of like a side show circus within the larger circus of the mall. They wouldn't like me coming in at the last minute and grabbing the best space and I would have to get along with them.


(they had names like PinkPatty and HeatPress and OneEyedMac - I had dreams of being a barker in a traveling circus and slapping back cast iron skillets filled with greasy bacon and bottles of whiskey for breakfast - sometimes my performers would get mad at me and threaten to quit my circus and shave their beards, surgically remove their twins or slice off their snake's extra head)

Anyhoo, I set up on Halloween night with my cool new product and my gigantic laminated arrows that read ANY NAME HERE and pointed to the part of the picture that could be personalized (the cart people quickly christened me "anynamehere girl"). I had a brand new MAC and color printer (cutting edge in its day) that I was totally unfamiliar with.

(in fact, one day I had a paper jam and I couldn't get the top back on the printer after clearing the jam- my customer had to tell me I was trying to put the cover on backwards)

Lesson 3 - Sometimes you have to figure things out as you go along, you can't prepare for everything

(now it is good to be prepared, but if you are the kind of person who has to prepare for every eventuality- well, things may not ever go terribly wrong for you, but they may not ever go terribly right either)

Now, this is getting a bit lengthy, even for me, and I do have 10 valuable lessons to share here, so will continue this series tomorrow as I let the suspense build- ask yourself - Will Cat make $100,000 in 2 months? Will PinkPatty find Cat the correct shade of lipstick? Will Cat figure out how to change the ink in her printer? I hope you are not reading this late at night because I know you will be up for hours pondering these questions - please don't hate me for this.

Sunday Flea Market Finds - hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." - Thomas Edison

Friday Finds - Birds of a Feather ....

"The word pigeon brings to mind images of quirky birds scavenging for crumbs on city streets, but perhaps the next time you see a pigeon consider they have saved thousands of soldiers lives during 2 world wars, have carried messages to the ancient egyptians and can travel up to 100 miles per hour for hours at a time! This amazing and bold bird has much to teach us about the things we consider ordinary in our lives!"

a little pigeon love selected by Kella MacPhee

1. pigeons by andrew blechman
2. jailbird pigeon print by poor dog farm
3. pigeon tote by my cute handbags
4. designed threads t-shirt
5. sophie blackall print
6. pigeon feather souvenir from brooklyn rehab
7. jackie lehmann print

Thoughtful Thursday - Too Many Choices

"... too many choices.

If it's thrilling to imagine the wide open spaces, go for it.

If it's slowing you down and keeping you up at night, consider artificially limiting your choices.

Don't get on planes. Don't do spec work. Don't work for jerks. Work on paper, not on film. Work on film, not on video. Don't work weekends.

Whatever rule you want ...

But no matter what, don't do nothing."

Conversation by Seth, Photo by SuzanneMarie

Value Pricing for the Designer/Maker - something else to whine about on Wednesday

As makers we typically underprice ourselves. Several factors have converged on me lately that have forced me to relook at my pricing.

I did my taxes- ugh!

My online retail prices are forcing me into lower wholesale price points than I can work with as the wholesale percentage of my business grows.

And, I read an article about my work that said I "simply solder" a little eyehook to a car part with a soldering iron and visit a hardware store.

Now the writer of that article was talking about ingenuity and simplicity in form and function and meant no disrepect to me or my work, but it did make me realize that my price points and my own language about my process (I have never used a soldering iron in my life) reflected a certain value to her.

(it is totally up to me as a maker working with recycled and lower cost materials to educate people about the process that goes into each piece and the design behind the piece that adds to that value)

as well as the fact that "simple" design leaves the maker with no place to hide imperfections and isn't usually anywhere near as "simple" as it appears

Pricing our work is a complicated part of this handmade journey and a process for most of us.

Mistakes I've made with my pricing:

1. I did not think about wholesale pricing when I set my retail prices.

2. I set my prices based on my own pocketbook (which was likely empty at the time; it usually is)

and 3. Because I am related to a talented artist and could not see myself in the same way- I didn't understand my own skill set.

Bottom line- I didn't see my own value. And, I didn't see the potential wholesale problems with my pricing.

The mistakes I made are all about my own mindset and I have been adjusting them over time ever since.

I would say to hubby- but I can make X amount in X amount of time and he would say, "right, because you have done this thousands of times, other people can't- your customer can't".

As you become better and better at what you do, you will usually get faster and more productive. Does the fact that you work faster mean that you should charge less? Where else do we expect to pay less for experience?

This is why you can't just calculate your actual production time (although you must know how long things take you to produce).

And what about all the time it takes to do the kind of things we need to do to grow our businesses- how do we calculate that time in, when it is often more time than the actual making?

Factoring in our direct costs (raw materials), indirect costs (taxes, overhead, fees, etc) and labor time for each piece (production, marketing, packing, shipping, etc) is a good place to start with our pricing.

And then we need to take a look at the more complex issue of value.

Pricing needs to take into account all these varied aspects.

What is the value of your work to the customer?

Maybe starting at the end zone is a good idea -

(and working through a pricing exercise)

the price my item would sell for in a retail store that my target customer would be shopping in.

Value will take into account what other items are selling for in the marketplace, the uniqueness and skill set of our work and materials and the fact that our work is handmade and designed.

(we need to factor in costs and labor time when pricing our handmade work and we need to think about value, too - what is the value to our customer?)

I recently asked a few boutique owners (that I do not wholesale with, but have my target customer) what my product would sell for in their shops. I would recommend this if you struggling with the value component of your productline.

I will likely need to reduce costs by 10-15% and increase prices by 10-20% to get to a place where I can focus on wholesale. I want to stay fair to my retail customers (by doing what I can to reduce costs and expenses), but learn to be fair to myself, too.

One easy fix - in my Polarity shop I have always charged less for my small lockets even though they cost me exactly the same amount and take me exactly the same amount of time to make as the regular size locket.

A customer buying a medium size shirt in a department store would not expect to pay more than someone buying a small shirt. It is me who has trained my customer to see this as the way it should be by the way I have set up my pricing. No one buys my smaller locket because it costs less- they just want a smaller locket.

(and I will also be changing the wording in my locket listings from "I solder" to I clean, drill, braze with a flame at 800 degrees, grind, paint, polish and seal - well, maybe not exactly that- I don't want to put anyone to sleep, but maybe something that reflects the actual nature of the work a little bit better)

*sigh*

Take 10 Tuesday- some cool stuff you might have missed last week!

1. Yes, that's cork and yes, I am totally excited that Brazilian design firm Oiti are working with it in such an amazingly, unique way!

2. Amanda over at kindovermatter is taking a little break to have a baby! Her and Jenn are the nicest gals with the nicest crafty blog out there!

3. For the most amazing recipes from the most amazing jewelry designer- check out Lillyella's blog and be prepared for some yummilicious goodies!

4. The 7 Deadly Website Sins from Kirsty Hall - I may be committing a couple of these - hopefully not the mortal ones.

5. Loving the amazing studio series over at Art21 - they are seeking donations of as little as $1.00 to keep this all happening

6. Fearless launches e-mag- you will love this!

7. What WE can do about the Gulf Oil Spill

8. The Undeniable Imperative of Community over at the Indie Business Blog

9. The amazing Stephanie Fizer's ecourse Flourish starts May 31st!

10. Noelle from Xenotees great interview for Etsy about quitting her day job and she even mentions me, she's a sweetie!