Affiliate links

Antique Carved Chess Set - Ebony and Ivory

So you may notice some new tabs in grey at the top of the home page. One is a quick way to get to my newsletter sign up page, but the others are Affiliate Links - that is to say I get a tiny commission from purchases. I'm trying to monetize a little bit, without packing a ton of ads into my pages, and this way seems pretty unobtrusive.

These three things seemed to be links to actual products or useful information instead of pyramidal marketing schemes, and not super expensive. So click at your own risk, and if the products turn out to be interesting, please let me know. You will be happy to note that I refrained from including a "get a job" site with broken links, and avoided the...ahem..."dating tips" affiliate link.

Uptown Village Market

The Gallery 9 is kindly giving me an exemption to sell my dolls here at this juried affair. No mass market imports here - all local artisans with handmade wares. My art dolls are all one of a kind! See you there. 

COME SEE ME AT:

Uptown Village Market on December 2^nd and 3^rd.  

The Uptown Village Market is THE newest place for all of your LOCAL AND HANDMADE Shopping Needs.  This 2 days event will host over 60 artists and creators of well-crafted goods to show and sell their work. Expect a myriad unique, high quality, and, above all, HANDCRAFTED.  Don’t miss it!!!

Visit http://www.uptownvillagemarket.com/ for details.

EXPO ARTS CENTER

4321 Atlantic Ave
Long Beach, CA 90807

Hours:

Fri 5 pm - 10 pm

Sat 10 am - 4 pm

{ My } customers value my work

"When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are"

— Oprah Winfrey

If any one should know what it means to be valued, especially professionally, surely it is Oprah.

Like many professional artisans, I have a hard time pricing my work to accurately reflect the time it takes to create it. It's always a balancing act between what time and effort I have poured into any piece, and what the market will bear. In my recent foray into time budgeting (see my last entry) and the faux interview I conducted for myself, I was looking at what I value and where I need to direct my attention. 

I believe there is a perception out there in the world that if an activity brings us joy, visible, expressed joy, then we should receive no other compensation. If we are defensive about wanting to be paid, we only exacerbate the misconception that we don't deserve to be paid.

I remember 23 years ago when I was in college, working for Greenpeace collecting door-to-door, with my earnings based on commissions. I was, and still am, passionate about the environment, and the job was a bit of a dream at the time. Sometimes people would attack me with the accusation that I was paid for my work. I found that if I cowered and apologized, I got no donation but smug looks and a closed door. 

But if I immediately, with great conviction and no trace of humility, said, "Of course I'm paid! I proud to work for Greenpeace. We're doing important work!" the prospective donor's whole demeanor changed, and perhaps their thinking too. Usually I then got some donation or they joined.

What had to change was MY thinking. I had to value the work I was doing, even though I was enjoying it and believed in it. I was helped by some training materials from the office, talking about the value of professionals in the environmental awareness movement. They recommended speaking about being a professional with valuable time to our leads. 

But I think what really made the difference was me conveying the idea that I was affronted at the suggestion that I was a mere unpaid volunteer.  We weren't some penny ante, half-baked, nickel-and-dime, amateur hour outfit, you know. We were professional activists.

People sometimes undervalue my art. They look at my dolls or bags and sneer at the prices. Well, clearly they don't see the work or the value to themselves in something beautifully hand made. These are just not { my } customers. There is no trying to persuade them differently - that is just another poor use of my time. And it is certainly not useful to me to charge less.

People who do value the dolls, seem happy to pay, as if they have found a wonderful bargain. (They have.) 

Now I have started my new scrap booking business, and I am seeing the same kind of dichotomy of response to my prices. My prices are perfectly in tune with what others are charging, and frankly it's not worth it to me to work for less. My time is valuable. Some people say, "How can you afford to charge so little?". They know the time a good page takes - usually because they are croppers themselves. Unfortunately that means they aren't my customers.

Others say "$30 a page?!" with incredulity, and think that they should pay less. Folks, minimum wage is $8/hour. Your page will take at least three hours plus materials. Still think it's too much?  You are just not { my } customer. 

Why I Love My Job

Yesterday was the Feast of the Epiphany, Christmas Day for Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, or for the Western churches the day on which the Three Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem, and Jesus was revealed to the world as the Son of God. January 6th is therefore the Twelfth Day of Christmas with 12 Drummers Drumming being quite a lively announcement.

Aside from the manifestation of a deity meaning, Dictionary.com defines Epiphany as:
"a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience."

I've been working at Michaels Arts and Crafts store for 7 months now, going in for two or three shifts a week. My very recent epiphany is that I love my job there. I'm surprised because this is not my first foray into the world of retail. As a school leaver I worked at Grace Brothers part time  - a department store like Macy's. I worked at the Information Desk at the Broadway flagship store and that was fun, and then I worked in Men's Knitwear at Bondi Junctions and that was appallingly dull. Dreadful. Dreary. Monotonous. Luckily I got a theater job and was able to quit.

Now I have come to realize that it wasn't retail itself that was the problem - it was the department.

Working at Michaels fills me with joy - just walking into the store makes me start smiling. But why?

First of all, I constantly receive positive validation from the customers. To my own surprise I know tons more about almost every craft that Michaels covers than I realized I knew. A shallowish but expansively broad sea of knowledge with a few deep sinkholes. I find I can help just about everyone who needs it - and some people really need it. I get to share my knowledge with people who really do want to hear what I have to say, and are grateful for my suggestions.

Second, working at Michaels is a nice workplace environment. The management is flexible about schedules, and at least at my store, very involved and present. They encourage self-development, reward good work, are gentle over mistakes. I have a special dispensation on cashiering. I don't do it, won't ever do it, can't be made to do it. That's another story.

The other associates are lovely, likeable people, each and every one fun and creative. We workers have a huge amount of autonomy. We see what needs to be done and just do it - recovery, go backs. There is never a moment when I feel bored. On the contrary, my shifts fly by regardless of length.

The store itself is a delight. There is always some new product to discover, new materials, more old favorites; the fact is that as a customer I would wander these aisles just for fun. For a crafter, it's like being paid to hang out in a beautiful garden with your friends while music plays in the distance.

Finally I realize that this job, even "closing" - that is to say restoring the store to a functional and tidy appearance after store hours in preparation for the next day - fulfils my liking for neatness, "a place for everything, everything in its place", that my sadly overstuffed home does not permit. I did not realize how much I craved order, ever unattainable at home, until I was in a position to experience it on the grand scale of a well recovered store.

I'm so grateful to be here. To be helping and being of service, to be learning, to be getting paid something at least, for the staff discount, for the opportunity to have epiphanies and share them.

Not modern......

Here is an IT blog post that I wrote in November 2008. I've decided to keep it and bring it here because there are a couple of ideas I'm still winkling out - ideas about proficiency and finesse, ideas about age, maturity, and the concept of many lives in one lifetime. Many of the people in the doll clubs of which I am a member are older than I am - venerable in fact. Some are both mature and very experienced; others despite being grandparents or retirees are neophyte doll makers. I would like to think that creativity is ageless - in fact it is one of the foundations of my life. I can learn something from every other maker, regardless of age. Anyhoo, I didn't reapply as planned, but not because I felt unwelcome, but because of changing situations in my life. I hope to return to craft shows in the next year or so, especially if I have some books to promote.... ****************************************************** I applied to a local (Los Angeles) craft show, but I didn't get in because my dolls, while acknowledged as beautiful, are not modern or urban enough to fit in. I was invited to reapply next time to sell my crocheted bags in the eco section. Fair enough, I'll do that. But it sure is strange to be reminded that I am getting old enough that my vision is no longer cool or hip. I should have applied as planned for the Pasadena Art Show, which is huge, established and has the grandeur of history behind it. But is is a big schlepp, and that deterred me. Too late now to apply, I think. Sometimes I think there is a philosophy in the "indie craft" world where being hip is more important than being technically excellent. There is a lot of work being done and published by young (not kids but young adult) crafters that has a level of craftsmanship (especially in the sewing) that I would consider unacceptable for something I was planning on selling. I think there should be both proficiency and creative thinking if I'm asking people for their money. Now I really sound like a crotchety old codger!

Pricing and Value

I've recently landed an awesome new job. I'm demonstrating the Provo Craft Cricut in my local Michaels craft store. I spent two and a bit days in Las Vegas doing intensive training in the product and sales techniques. When I interviewed over the phone - twice - for the position I was a little thrown by some of the sales jargon in the questions. I had to pause and think, which has got to be a good thing, before answering. However pauses in the middle of a sales pitch had better be brief, or the prospect might wander off without a conversion. As you can see I've been researching some of this jargon that eluded me during my interview, to be better prepped for my working days. I've also been researching the Cricut and reading on the blogs of scrapbookers and artists who use the Cricut. I've learnt that really the only criticism anyone has of the product is the price. I was asked a question about price and cost in my interview, and although I can't remember my exact words, eventually my answer came down to talking about "value", rather than "price", demonstrating to the potential client how the product has value to them. All this reading about sales, marketing and Return on Investment (ROI), and thinking about the concept of value TO THE CUSTOMER, has got me looking at my Etsy store and the objects I have for sale, and rethinking about my pricing. I make and sell a couple of decorative luxury items. My art dolls, especially the Bead Head dolls, have no practical purpose beyond the spiritual lift created by seeing and appreciating an object of beauty. The Bead Head doll currently for sale is priced at $250.00, while the eight inch Dream Star dolls are only $30.00. No one has ever complained that the Dream Stars are too expensive based on examining the amount of work involved and their pretty appeal. However evidently in these times of economic downturn, most people think two fifty is too much to pay for something that is essentially eye candy, even if it is thoughtful eye candy. I have come to realize that the process of setting a price based on how much work I have put in, how much time I took, how costly were the materials I used, leaves out the one thing that might be the most important factor - the customer's need. In my product description - my sales pitch - I have completely left out why my art doll at this price would have value for the customer, what would make this doll, beautiful as she is, worth the relatively high price to the customer. Doh! The workmanship is obvious, the photos show plenty of detail, her story is cute. But where is the value of her to the customer? Why would a customer want her in their home? What good and positive result will the customer have from having her there to look at? "She costs this much because of the time she took me," isn't much of a pitch, is it? So I'm going to be doing some brainstorming, and some more reading of product descriptions on the Etsy stores of people who are run off their feet making sales, whose items appear and are snapped up, and see what I can do better. I know "Journey" has a home somewhere out there, where she will be valued, and I just have to make sure her future owner realizes what that value will be.