Greetings!
The world economy news is so bad it leaves one with so many questions but few answers. As many of you know I am working on getting my small ceramics and crafts business going. But now with predictions of gas rising to $4 a gallon by summer and $5 a gallon by next year the big question is what direction do I take my business in? My plans seem to be changing faster than I can get merchandise made.
At one point I had planned on advertising in Country Sampler, but the cost of advertising has ruled that out. They have deadlines 6 months prior to the issue coming out. And they come out every other month. So basically if I want to have more than a one time ad, which would be preferable, I would be paying for 3 ads before the first one hits the news stand. That adds up to a lot of money not knowing if the ad will bring me enough business. Money I do not have right now. So with that ruled out for at least the time being, on to the next plan.
I wanted to go to a shop in Arthur, IL and rent a booth to sell my wares. I have sold there before and believe it has potential. But Arthur is an hour and a half south of me. At $4 a gallon for gas that would be another expensive proposition and I would have to raise my prices considerably to cover the cost of gas to get there and back. Raising my prices too much will cost me business. So now I am questioning if this is a smart direction to go in. On to the next plan I had.
I had also planned on selling at 3rd Sunday Market in Bloomington, IL. It would be about a 45 minute drive to get to the market place. OK, that is better than going to Arthur, but still would be an added expense in gas that I would have to try to recoup in prices on my wares. Would it be worth it? Would it hurt my sales? Some might say, "well that is the cost of doing business." And while that is true to a certain degree, you can rest assured that no company will ever just chalk it off to a necessary expense and not try to recoup that money. You have to, or there is no sense in having a business. Folks are not in business to give their products away.
So now what? Along with higher prices will come higher shipping fees. Will people stop buying on places like eBay and Etsy because of the shipping costs? When and where does it all stop?
I have heard rumors that coffee will be over $30 a can by the year's end. Naturally, the price of all food is going up and up and the packages are getting smaller. How long will it be before people can not afford the extra things in life any more? I know I can't now,,, but obviously it is going to get much worse.
I don't mean to sound like I am all doom and gloom but I just don't see anything positive coming out of this economy, especially where my business is concerned. I do not have a big budget to put into getting this business off the ground. In fact I don't have much of a budget at all.
I have so many questions and so few answers as to what would be the best direction for me to take at this point. So, here is a temporary game plan. Stop, think, and regroup! I am going to go ahead and work on making inventory, as without that, there is no business anyway, LOL. As I am doing that I will watch the economy and see what it will do. I can try my hand at online sales only for a while. I might not get as many but I think it would at least allow me to keep my prices reasonable as the customer pays the shipping. Then go from there.
If you have any ideas I sure would appreciate hearing them.
I pray the economy does not get as bad as predicted. Survival for some will be difficult at best if it does.
Until next time,,,,,,, blessings!
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Tourism and the small business,,,
Greetings!
I have been fortunate enough to have had two teaching ceramic studios over the years and learned many valuable lessons. A teaching studio offers classes to those wanting to learn the wonderful hobby of making ceramics. It mostly caters to local business and does not encourage tourist trade. It can often take several weekly classes for a student to complete one piece so therefore would not work for tourists who might be here one week but not the next. Classes are usually held once a week.
Living in a large community or city, this principle works quite well as there are a lot of people to draw your business from. However, if you are like me, in a small town, drawing enough business from the locals might not fare too well. Even during the height of the "hobby ceramics" boom, there truly was not enough local business. If I had to rely on the business to be my sole source of income, to not only pay my business over head but personal overhead I would have wound up in bankruptcy court in a hurry.
Well, I still live in that same small town. So now that I want to get back into the ceramics business again. I have had to change how I do things. I will no longer give classes as my primary business. I will be making and selling finished wares.
In this small town I cannot rely solely on locals for the bulk of my business, if I do, it will surely fail. I must market my items to other areas. Tourists that might come through the area once or twice a year, or even just once. With a web site up and running, even if the tourist never returns to this area they still might become a repeat customer.
Many people do not like a bunch of tourists coming into their towns causing the congestion, extra traffic and all the negative things that can pop up with tourists flooding the town. However, as a business owner, I have to look at the positive side of tourists. Tourists do create revenue. The general public often does not see this but business owners do. Most small town business owners will tell you, without tourists or outsiders their business would not survive.
But having a tourist come into town and buy from you once is also not a sound business plan. You must have a way to keep in touch with that tourist and keep them as a customer even after they have gone back home, whether it be to another town in the same state, across the country or around the world. Today, the Internet is the best tool we can use for that purpose. Emails announcing special sales, new items, etc. Web sites featuring your items. And of course networking on places like facebook. Blogging keeps you and your products in front of interested customers.
Web sites like eBay and etsy can also be useful tools. I would suggest however, if you are an individual making items to sell such as ceramics or crafts that you do not over extend yourself on your Internet activity. Focus on one or two things. After all, you still have to have time to make your product.
Trying to determine which you will focus on depends on your personality. If you like writing then perhaps blogging would suit you more than eBay or etsy. If you would rather put a picture up with the information of the item for sale and move on to the next thing, go for eBay or etsy. Maybe you can't do a web site yourself. You could always pay someone to set it up for you. I do believe having a web site for this particular type of business is essential, whether you blog, network or sell on eBay. Have a web site for the customers to go and look at other items you have available.
Whatever you choose to do, don't count out the tourist. They can become repeat customers with a little nurturing and communication.
Until next time,,,,,, blessings!
I have been fortunate enough to have had two teaching ceramic studios over the years and learned many valuable lessons. A teaching studio offers classes to those wanting to learn the wonderful hobby of making ceramics. It mostly caters to local business and does not encourage tourist trade. It can often take several weekly classes for a student to complete one piece so therefore would not work for tourists who might be here one week but not the next. Classes are usually held once a week.
Living in a large community or city, this principle works quite well as there are a lot of people to draw your business from. However, if you are like me, in a small town, drawing enough business from the locals might not fare too well. Even during the height of the "hobby ceramics" boom, there truly was not enough local business. If I had to rely on the business to be my sole source of income, to not only pay my business over head but personal overhead I would have wound up in bankruptcy court in a hurry.
Well, I still live in that same small town. So now that I want to get back into the ceramics business again. I have had to change how I do things. I will no longer give classes as my primary business. I will be making and selling finished wares.
In this small town I cannot rely solely on locals for the bulk of my business, if I do, it will surely fail. I must market my items to other areas. Tourists that might come through the area once or twice a year, or even just once. With a web site up and running, even if the tourist never returns to this area they still might become a repeat customer.
Many people do not like a bunch of tourists coming into their towns causing the congestion, extra traffic and all the negative things that can pop up with tourists flooding the town. However, as a business owner, I have to look at the positive side of tourists. Tourists do create revenue. The general public often does not see this but business owners do. Most small town business owners will tell you, without tourists or outsiders their business would not survive.
But having a tourist come into town and buy from you once is also not a sound business plan. You must have a way to keep in touch with that tourist and keep them as a customer even after they have gone back home, whether it be to another town in the same state, across the country or around the world. Today, the Internet is the best tool we can use for that purpose. Emails announcing special sales, new items, etc. Web sites featuring your items. And of course networking on places like facebook. Blogging keeps you and your products in front of interested customers.
Web sites like eBay and etsy can also be useful tools. I would suggest however, if you are an individual making items to sell such as ceramics or crafts that you do not over extend yourself on your Internet activity. Focus on one or two things. After all, you still have to have time to make your product.
Trying to determine which you will focus on depends on your personality. If you like writing then perhaps blogging would suit you more than eBay or etsy. If you would rather put a picture up with the information of the item for sale and move on to the next thing, go for eBay or etsy. Maybe you can't do a web site yourself. You could always pay someone to set it up for you. I do believe having a web site for this particular type of business is essential, whether you blog, network or sell on eBay. Have a web site for the customers to go and look at other items you have available.
Whatever you choose to do, don't count out the tourist. They can become repeat customers with a little nurturing and communication.
Until next time,,,,,, blessings!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Learning from the Amish,,, Keep it simple stupid!!
Greetings!!
Ha! I thought that title might catch your eye!
Regarding crafts and business what can I learn from the Amish that will benefit my business?
As you know the primary thing I make and sell is ceramics. All other crafts are just an add-on. So, I have been thinking about this very thing this morning as I plan on putting my ceramics and crafts in a rented booth in the heart of Illinois Amish Country, Arthur, IL. I want to offer items that not only will attract the local buyer but also the tourist who come through Arthur each year. So I have been doing a lot of reading up on it.
I have found, the Amish have no reservations about buying useful items for their homes as long as they are not overly decorated. For example,,,, those nice painted items I posted yesterday, would not fare well in Arthur. They are too fancy. Keep it simple stupid!! Because of their religious beliefs Amish would not own such fancy things.
Take for example the little green table with the roses painted on it. The Amish might have use for a table of that size but would never buy it with the roses on it. They would pay the same price for a plain green table, with no roses. So things like that, which I enjoy painting, need to be sold in another venue away from Amish country.
But you are thinking, "yeah, but what about the tourist trade in that area"? Well, I believe when tourist come into an Amish area, for shopping, they tend to want what the Amish want or what the Amish themselves made, either way. They look for the simple things that the Amish would have in their own homes rather than the fancier items. They can find those items else where.
So, on my list of items to sell in Arthur are plain, basic ceramics with solid colors and not a lot of decoration. Hand made pure soaps without fragrances, and hand dipped beeswax candles. I might make some other candles as well but not necessarily with a lot of fragrances. Keeping things as simple and basic as possible will allow me to pull sales from the Amish as well as the tourists in that area.
Another thing that keeping things simple is it is less labor intensive and therefore I can charge a little less for the same piece that I might have put more decoration and design work on. A lower price will attract more buyers. More buyers, more sales. You can't make a living on one piece!!
I'm liking the idea of "keep it simple stupid" so much that I might just carry that into a couple of my other venues as well. I also plan on selling at the 3rd Sunday Market in Bloomington, IL next year. 3rd Sunday Market runs once a month, on the third Sunday of the month, from May through October. It is like a giant antique and crafts fair. They get thousands and thousands of people coming through each market. Not only could I sell my wares there but I can promote my booth in Arthur. I think dressing "plain" and selling "plain" wares just might be the ticket. Hmmm, I should think about this some more.
I also plan to have a web site up and running by early spring. I might just have one page of the fancier items but keep the rest along the same lines as what I would have in Amish country. Again I can promote the booth in Arthur as well as 3rd Sunday Market on my web site as well as facebook and here.
Sounds like I am coming up with a pretty good business plan. What do you think?
I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Until next time,,,,, many blessings!
Ha! I thought that title might catch your eye!
Regarding crafts and business what can I learn from the Amish that will benefit my business?
As you know the primary thing I make and sell is ceramics. All other crafts are just an add-on. So, I have been thinking about this very thing this morning as I plan on putting my ceramics and crafts in a rented booth in the heart of Illinois Amish Country, Arthur, IL. I want to offer items that not only will attract the local buyer but also the tourist who come through Arthur each year. So I have been doing a lot of reading up on it.
I have found, the Amish have no reservations about buying useful items for their homes as long as they are not overly decorated. For example,,,, those nice painted items I posted yesterday, would not fare well in Arthur. They are too fancy. Keep it simple stupid!! Because of their religious beliefs Amish would not own such fancy things.
Take for example the little green table with the roses painted on it. The Amish might have use for a table of that size but would never buy it with the roses on it. They would pay the same price for a plain green table, with no roses. So things like that, which I enjoy painting, need to be sold in another venue away from Amish country.
But you are thinking, "yeah, but what about the tourist trade in that area"? Well, I believe when tourist come into an Amish area, for shopping, they tend to want what the Amish want or what the Amish themselves made, either way. They look for the simple things that the Amish would have in their own homes rather than the fancier items. They can find those items else where.
So, on my list of items to sell in Arthur are plain, basic ceramics with solid colors and not a lot of decoration. Hand made pure soaps without fragrances, and hand dipped beeswax candles. I might make some other candles as well but not necessarily with a lot of fragrances. Keeping things as simple and basic as possible will allow me to pull sales from the Amish as well as the tourists in that area.
Another thing that keeping things simple is it is less labor intensive and therefore I can charge a little less for the same piece that I might have put more decoration and design work on. A lower price will attract more buyers. More buyers, more sales. You can't make a living on one piece!!
I'm liking the idea of "keep it simple stupid" so much that I might just carry that into a couple of my other venues as well. I also plan on selling at the 3rd Sunday Market in Bloomington, IL next year. 3rd Sunday Market runs once a month, on the third Sunday of the month, from May through October. It is like a giant antique and crafts fair. They get thousands and thousands of people coming through each market. Not only could I sell my wares there but I can promote my booth in Arthur. I think dressing "plain" and selling "plain" wares just might be the ticket. Hmmm, I should think about this some more.
I also plan to have a web site up and running by early spring. I might just have one page of the fancier items but keep the rest along the same lines as what I would have in Amish country. Again I can promote the booth in Arthur as well as 3rd Sunday Market on my web site as well as facebook and here.
Sounds like I am coming up with a pretty good business plan. What do you think?
I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.
Until next time,,,,, many blessings!
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