Collaboration 1.0

Now going it alone is also scary, to most, there are some that don’t bat an eyelid and go head on into anything and I’m not one of them, and I guess if you are reading this then you aren’t either. I have yet to join any support groups, entrepreneur social groups or anything like that but currently I do have a friend in a similar situation, he’s currently un-employed or rather between contracts but has decided to give the entrepreneurial side of things a bash, whereas before he’s been contracting for other firms and in a similar vein to myself always working for someone else, and not for himself

So we have a few chats over the internet now and again, we have a Trello accounts to collaborate and share info and ideas, the idea being that once every couple of months we will also  meet up in a coffee shop and go over any plans and brainstorm new ones. So far we have had only one such meeting as it’s early days but what we called our AGM was a success despite having to move between about 3 coffee shops as they got busier and busier. We’ve also just had an online meeting, as we both have access to Apple products with messages and FaceTime we simply used those bundled apps and shared our Desktops to show each other ideas, plans and inspiration we could both utilise

I’m also going to look into ETSY groups as there seems to be a good community there. So ETSY, something I’ll probably setup for the new project and I’ve used in the past for my local pictures and other products with mixed success, and yes some people love it, and some hate it. However as a marketplace, especially for those starting out I didn’t think you can beat it at the moment. There will be more of this conversation in the eCommerce category on this blog

I’m also thinking of joining or if it doesn’t exist creating a local group. When I first started with my local pictures, the first I created for myself as a passion project and as others took an interest I thought this may make a side hustle and generate some income. At least enough to make it a self funding hobby and not take any money from my much needed wage packet, having a young family money was tight of course. So I first started selling in a local shop recommended to me by a friend at work, she was selling in this shop and introduced me to the manager and we struck up a deal and had a good relationship for a few years until she sold the shop and moved on

The manager was interested in art and supporting local artists. She would not only sell the pictures for me but of course also process any card payments. She would wrap and pack them for customers and even deliver locally if on her way, very good service above and beyond I could have hoped for. The deal we made was on a sale or return basis. I provided the pictures, fully mounted and framed and ready to sell, she would put them on her walls and sell them, for this she got 30% of the price

Also note that running a shop on the high street, even a small town can be expensive so 30% is a relatively small percentage compared to the normal markup they would work on. They have rent, lighting and heating costs as well as card processing fees and potentially staff too, a high street shop will often work on a 100% or 200% markup, ie. double or triple the cost of the goods they buy in. So the 30% may seem small to them initially and they may need to supply a paper bag and card processing fees it should more than cover that when you consider they have zero outlay on the product, you supply the product free of charge and they have no cost or risk on that product

This is a good deal to strike if possible, it is no risk for the shop owner, they don’t need to pay for stock and have it sitting there waiting to sell, they get a ready made product they can either sell, or if not and its taking up valuable space then hand back, all at no cost. If however they do have spare wall space (sometimes this is more readily available than valuable floor space) then they are often more than eager to fit those blank walls with interesting images, all for free, and potentially with profit as well

Another good deal for artist is to do the same in local cafes, again on a sale or return basis they can pretty up their walls and potentially make a profit if any of your images sell. If the images are local or at least by a local artist that is a bonus as that local interest/artist tag not only promotes you but also the cafe as they are investing in the local area and its artists