I downloaded a book to my Kindle a couple of weeks ago. It's called The Handmade Marketplace by Kari Chapin and it is a business oriented book on how to sell handmade work online and offline. She takes the reader step by step through some of the basics of business practice such as advertising, blogging, podcasting, using social networks, setting up an online shop, selling to local businesses, doing the craft fair scene. It's an overview to turn the serious amateur into a professional. I bought the book because I was curious and because I really do want to earn some income this year, however small. Ms. Chapin made it clear that there are lots of options for selling one's work (as long as the work is good quality). It also became clear to me that in order to start a small business it takes a lot of effort and a certain amount of enthusiasm. In addition to creating quality work you absolutely have to promote yourself to others and on a regular basis and that's something I have resisted.
So I've decided to start small, do a garage/yard sale in about a month. I haven't had a sale like that on my property since I arrived over 20 years ago. I've always been a very private person, to the point where I barely know my neighbors. But if all goes well, I will try to lure people to check out my stuff. This means I have to clear out the garage and organize it and make good signs to display outside my house and maybe along the road. I will also be crocheting, making hemp jewelry and trying my hand at tie dyeing. I don't know how far I'll get with that in a month, but I'm willing to try. Ideally, I would like to sell my crafts from out of my garage during the warmer seasons, become an actual small business, have a professional sign made, but I don't know if it's legal yet. I talked to my therapist about it and she said that she knew that she could have a business from her home, but she didn't know the particulars. I have to do some research.
I'm going to need some help too from my brother and Richard. I'm going to ask my brother to act as a bridge between me and potential customers because he's good with people, loves to talk whereas I am rather shy. He might eventually get into making some of the tie dyes too. I need Richard to help me clear out the garage and reorganize it. I'm thinking about at least putting a coat of primer on the walls to lighten the space up more. I'll need to buy a couple of tables and maybe a double clothes rack to hang up used clothing and the tie dyes. And so I'll be spending a couple of hundred dollars on that, but I see it as an investment. I also need to use one of the tables to do my tie dye work on in the garage, so that will be part of my shop. The other half of it is in the adjacent laundry/kitchenette room. I was going to try working out of my former darkroom, but the ventilation is so poor and the darkroom sink is not hooked up and there are all kinds of chemicals that have been sitting around for years in there. Not appropriate right now, though I would like to clear a lot of the junk out of there so that I can use the space for some supply storage.
There are some local craft fairs that go on in the spring, summer and fall. I won't be able to apply for them this year, but I can go and check them out and apply for next year. Hopefully by then I'll be able to afford a good tent with four sides to it and maybe an outdoor storage house to keep my work clean and away from the cats. The acid test is whether I can be successful at garage/yard sales, whether I can promote myself, interact with people, handle money, produce cool crafts and display them properly and get help from family and friends. I honestly don't know if I can. Somedays I'm all gung ho and others days I'm anxious and withdrawn. I'll have to wait and see how much I get done this month.
On another note, on Friday I got a 30 minute audio tape from one of my best friends from my adolescence. This past year we got in touch through facebook, but she works full time as a teacher, has two small daughters and a rather unhelpful partner and so she's been very busy and hasn't had time to keep in touch with me. A couple of months ago I sent her a 60 minute tape telling her some of my story in a very honest and forthright manner. I told her I didn't expect her to send me back a tape, but if she could swing it, I would love to hear from her. And so now I have and it was wonderful to hear her voice after over 25 years with no contact. I felt a bond with her right away because a lot of her voice and mannerisms were as I remembered them. Of course, now she's older, wiser and tougher and yet still her own bright and sweet self. She graduated from art school in the 1980s and has returned to her artistic pursuits off and on during the last 20 years. Though her passion now is teaching and tutoring children, she says she wants to continue drawing again. She mentioned a particular type of sketch/journal book that she particularly liked and was planning to get and so yesterday I bought her one and some drawing supplies and I will be sending out a care package to her early next week.
I have been blessed twice this past year and both through facebook. First, when I reached out to an old friend from grade school and junior high school. We have been exchanging tapes for months now and I love it. And now with one of my best friends of my youth. Living with schizophrenia these past almost 13 years, and even before that, has left me quite isolated. What I had only dreamed about sometimes, that I would re-connect with old friends, has become a budding reality. Living in the computer age has salvaged some of my relationships and also has allowed me to write this blog and connect with other great people online. Though mental illness is still a serious affliction, access to the computer and the internet and medication takes quite a few of us out of the dark ages of permanent institutionalization. It give us a voice and the means to be creative with what talents we have.
2 comments:
Kate,
I think it's great you're starting your small business from your garage, so you will have little overhead. I think you are an excellent artist, and perhaps sites like etsy.com would help you sell more of your artwork and crafts. You are an excellent artist, and it would be good if your art was more readily available for people to buy.
I had an unsuccessful garage sale this past weekend, because I live in a low income neighborhood and I guess people could not afford to buy stuff, even though it was sold very cheaply. I made very little money. One mistake I made was not investing in a newspaper ad that would have my address, because I didn't wasnt to spend the $40 on that. However if I had spent it, I might have had much more success. You can get good signs at Home Depot and they are important, to make sure you have them on the road so people can see them. That is where a lot of business comes from at yard sales. You wll also need to get out there early in the AM, because yard sale people show up very early! That part was hard on me because I am not a morning person.
I think you live near a college, right? College students are always looking for cheap stuff! Your tie dyed stuff would sell well to them too, I bet. If you could put up a sign or two on a bulletin board at that school, that might help. You could call the student activities office and ask about being able to do that. Atl east that's how it works at my school.
As for online friendships, I totally agree that the internet is an excellent tool for bringing people like us out of isolation, and giving us a chance to be
cpmmected with others. I have one online friend I have known since the 90's,and we are good friends, even though we have never met. I am also grateful to the blogosphere for allowing me to meet friends like you!
I know a schizophrenic man who has just reconnected with children he hasn't seen since they were 10 and 11. They are now in their twenties. This schizophrenic man has endured a lot of homelessness, but the way he found his children was through facebook. Someone at the group home where he is living helped him to do it.
I have mixed feelings about contacting old friends. I think that there was so much emotional abuse in my household that that gripped my mind. I have two friends from college who I loved, but I remember neither of their last names, and we drifted apart, one because she started becoming promiscuous with older Japanese business men and the other started doing heroin. My heroin friend called me once when she was high, and I got mad and said "don't ever call me when your high" and she never did again. I regret being on a high horse like that. She was sharing needles when AIDS was big in NYC and there were no medications for it.
So I have lovely memories, but I don't know how to reach out to those people. And I'm afraid they wouldn't remember me. Those that would remember me, I'm just afraid to talk to. All I have are my paintings and a good marriage to show who I am. I think you were so gutsy going after an old friend and being honest about your journey.
I wouldn't go to my 25th high school reunion because I felt like a failure and I felt too fat. But I would go today. I think therapy has helped me like myself more. I would just take a bunch of photographs of my artwork, print them out, and when people were passing pictures of their kids, pass my photographs.
Love,
Karen
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