You make a product that everyone tells you is incredible.  You’ve diligently worked to perfect the design and production of your line over time, and you finally have it down.  Your friends and family tell you your product should be sold in Nordstrom’s, Barneys, and Saks, along with every trendy, local boutique around you.  After years of hearing how talented you are, you relent and finally take the step to make your hobby in into your profession: You create a website and get a PayPal account to accept online purchases, create a company logo that’s been dancing around in your head for years, purchase your business cards and brochures, and apply for your sales license with the State.  You’re finally, officially, a BUSINESS OWNER.

Now that you’re the master of your own domain, it’s important to push your product to the marketplace.  But first, we all must consider, sigh, that the times, they are a changin’.  By now, we’ve all felt the economic crunch of the “impending” recession, an event that has greatly impacted everyone in the art and craft world, from the crafter/artist, to the boutique and gallery owner.  People are struggling to keep the lights on in their stores, and enough money in their pockets to purchase supplies.

The Beehive became me and my sister's first retail location when we joined the Co-op last November.  With my sister living in St. Louis, I went at it alone, and carefully settled into our retail space as a Beehive featured designer.  There, I honed and perfected the style of the jewelry, saw what the customer liked and disliked, and – most importantly – took the time to ingest and digest every single piece of information I could garner from the fellow designers around me.

For the emerging artist, the Beehive serves a similar function as this Peer-to-Peer blog; it provides the artist with a support system that fosters creativity, and allows the emerging artist to become comfortable with all the elements of business in a small, comfortable, microcosmic setting that is representative of the larger, more scary marketplace that is retail and wholesale.  Like the Beehive, this Peer-to-Peer blog, written occasionally by my Beehive brethren and me, will provide you with the trials and travails, and successes and failures of what it is to be a small business owner in the world of arts and crafts.  You will hear me and my sister's stories of iram-inal designs, and the stories of other vendors, who are currently at all levels in their businesses.

So, getting back to basics: You have your product that you know will sell.  Our economy pretty much is in the dumper right now, on so many levels.  How does one – whether established in the marketplace, or just starting – proceed to get their wares out to the masses during this crunch?

To answer this question, I talked to several of my Beehive sisters to see if they’ve had to modify their approach to business in their effort to expand their brands. 

But before we get to them, let’s start with our (iram-inal's) approach to the marketplace.... From my conversations with other artists, I’ve learned that our grass-roots approach to getting boutiques and galleries has been a bit “unorthodox”, but it’s sure simple to us.  Here are the steps:

• I conduct in-depth market research on boutiques and galleries in the area where we want to sell our wares, both online and in-person. 
• I seek locations in relatively large cities.
• I make sure that the location has an online presence (a website or blog where customers may go), and has previously promoted their location to the public. 
• If all of those things check out, I’ll contact the store owner via email only, referencing our website, and attaching specific photos of one-of-a-kind pieces recently sold. 
• I attach the additional jpgs as a frame of reference of our breadth of work (we ain’t no one-trick pony, and I want the gallery/boutique owner to see that clearly).

For every eight-to-ten locations we contact, I normally hear back from two of them, on average.  From there, I will narrow those two locations down to the one we like the best, after an in-person visit.  I’ll place the locations I did not hear from in a rotation system, with a calendar reminder to contact them at a later date. 

The next step is the part where our approach becomes unusual to my arts-and-crafts makin’ brothers and sisters….  Because my sister and I realize that some of these businesses are struggling, I’ll approach them offering to sign a contract on a consignment basis, only.  This frees up any possibly-struggling business from having to make a commitment in purchasing my wares, and possibly losing out on their investment.  I always negotiate a relatively high percentage cut to our business (70% to artist, 30% to location), and negotiate to have a contract re-evaluation after a few months to turn the relationship to wholesale, if our product creates and provides a proven sales record in their store. 

Overall, we’ve had great success with this approach, expanding the locations that carry me and my sister’s designs from one in March of this year, to eleven more today.  We sell regularly in all of our locations – and extraordinarily well in a few -- and the owners are happy carrying our product. 

When I share this approach with more established vendors, the response always involves the same three things: 1) The look on their face is incredulous, 2) they tell me it’s too difficult to collect payment every month from consignment locations (of which we have not had any issues – knock on all of the wood in my vicinity), 3) and trade shows and wholesale markets are the only way to go.

But upon further inspection, it appears as though everyone, even trade-show veterans in the business, have had to modify their approach to selling their wares in additional stores.  I talked to Amy Leff, of Throwing Stars Jewelry, about her approach.  Like me, Amy is one of Beehive’s jewelry vendors.  Her line consists of sterling silver and gold-filled, hand-hammered metal pieces of wearable art that she designs and produces in her home studio.  In addition to the Beehive, Amy sells in several locations in and around Atlanta. 

   

I also talked to Arwen Fine of A. Fine Shirt, designer and creator of a limited edition apparel and one-of-a-kind screen-printed line made with vintage fabric overlays.  Arwen designs and makes all of the vintage overlay and screen-printing seen on her apparel in her studio in Atlanta, as well.

   

Amy and Arwen are both relatively new in pushing their products to the marketplace.  Unlike iram-inal, however, Amy has already tried trade shows as a venue to sell her jewelry, but also believes in the tried-and-true “pound-the-pavement” approach of stores she selects. 

For her approach, Amy will enter her target location wearing a piece of dynamic jewelry from her line, and attempt to engage the person in the store with conversation.  Normally, the person comments on the jewelry she is wearing.  If conversation is not naturally engaged, Amy will inquire to the salesperson about with whom she should speak about selling her jewelry.  Once she collects the information, she is duly-diligent about follow-up, follow-up, follow-up.  She’ll call and email until she hears back from the location.

Arwen has had much success making contacts at local boutiques during her work at art festivals, where she participates as a vendor.  She takes the opportunity at a one, or two, day fair to present that 1) she has a superior product to what’s out there on the market, and 2) shows she is a professional in charge of her own business.  She, like me, believes consignment is currently the best way to go, as it does not place any undue pressure on the storeowner.  Also, (as an extra-added bonus) with consignment, the designer still retains “ownership” of their product and can thereby maintain control of the way the products are displayed.

What about the veteran vendor’s approach?  Amor Owens, a 15-year veteran in the business, is the owner and designer of Beau Beaux , Inc., a high-end childrenswear line started in 2005.  Amor started her line at the Beehive Co-op, but has since expanded to owning her own showroom at the Atlanta Apparel Mart, and sells wholesale to retail locations.  She is currently in over 30 stores. 

  
Because of the rapid growth in her business, wholesale is currently one way to go for Amor, but she also is focusing on her retail opportunities, as well, which is why she carefully maintains her boutique space at the Beehive.  Amor says that's it's important to diversify your product between wholesale and retail in order to fully capture the market.  She intends to continue to expand into both.

Even though her business is successful, she, too, feels the impact of the times, and offers important advice to those new to the marketplace:  NEVER compromise your vision, or your product, to fit in with the changing style around you.  If you’re not specific about your line, no one will be able to identify the product as being yours, and people will know that you’re a designer without a vision.  For success in the design world, you MUST have a vision.

What about a new designer using sales reps to identify retail opportunities for you?  As an artist, hiring a rep leaves you with time to concentrate on other important items for your business, such as production or brand management.  Amy tried to use a rep for Throwing Stars, but found that at this point in her business, no one sells her jewelry as well as she does. 

In a lean economy, it’s best to find a way to make your business expenses lean, as well.  While some more established businesses would not think of pushing their wares without the assistance of a rep, newbies like me believe it’s a cost that is better spent after some visible growth to your business.  Ultimately, the choice must be made as to what works best with your ability to push your own product, and the amount of time and money you have to adequately do so.

In addition to attempting to maintain wholesale accounts, Amy says that expansion of the brand via websites (such as Etsy.com) and supportive retail marketplaces (like the Beehive) are ways to go when your wholesale vendors do not renew your contract in a time of economic crunch.  While she has a proven sales record at some of her stores, she has not heard back from some of them about carrying her new line, and she’s even waiting on a check from one of them. 

Like me, Amy has found that some of the more popular stores where she wants to sell her wares will only accept her jewelry on a consignment basis, for now.  This is a pattern and shift that seems to be occurring throughout most large marketplaces.  Through it all, she remains hopeful.

So what’s the advice we working girls have for artists brand new to the marketplace?  Persistence, Persistence, Persistence.  Amy, Amor and Arwen all agree on this point, and say it’s the key to success.  Amy further articulates by saying it’s the age-old issue of out-of-sight, out-of-mind:  For the store to remember you, and remember your product, you must be a present force to make the next move. 

As newbies, we’re all plagued with having that “disease” where we’re afraid no one will want or like our product, and that fear prevents us from seizing every opportunity that presents itself.  Amy probably heard it best when a friend said to her, “if you don’t [get out there and] do it, somebody else will.  They’re already doing it, and you’re competing with someone who’s already doing it, and succeeding.”  The bottom line?  Persistence and patience is your key to success.  If your time is not now, your time is coming.  Keep working hard, and it will reach you.

Until next time, creative people….