Who Are We Without Our Battles?

Who are we without our battles?  Our internal struggles define us in our daily lives, in the paths we walk, in the choices we make. The artist's struggle for relevance and acclaim. The IT director's push for promotion. The human's yearning for acceptance.

Only in the silence of the night, in the murmur of cars on a distant highway, in the stillness of rain, in moments of deep water and slow summer days do the battles cease. And in the echoing silence left after the ringing of the bells we touch the edges if our potential outside the struggles and there is peace.

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All Buyers Are New

It occurs to me that marketing fine art isn't quite like marketing anything else.  Most marketing including retail marketing (which per most classifications is what artists do) focuses on encouraging repeat buyers, but in the fine art field its unusual to have someone buy more than one large piece.  Granted this is an over-simplification but the basic premise holds.  Fine art isn't transitory.  It doesn't expire or get used up; it goes on so long as its well cared for (and matches the couch…).  So theoretically each customer who buys a large piece from me is unique, a new buyer if you will.  The question becomes how does one go about attracting a steady stream of new buyers when most business models depend on repeat customers.

Looking at the sales situation I came up with three methods.

• Through organic methods.  This can be word of mouth or seeing someone else with a similar piece.
• My nod to this method leans towards the placement of pieces in local businesses with business cards displayed.  So far this method has had a lower success rate.
• Through a sales venue, like a gallery.
• Like organic methods sales venues have yielded a lower success rate for me.  Granted my sample size is two, a local co-op gallery with an advertising budget of functionally $0 and a local shop that doesn't specialize in fine art, where prices are marked up to accommodate the 30% commission.
• Through a placement firm, like a design firm.

As part of my day job I've lately been reading through a set of books on management and what motivates people.  The three methods above could theoretically be enhanced through fascination, both of the art I'm selling and of myself as a person.  Fascination with the art pieces is easier, that is to say by creating such an appealing presentation that people become enamored of certain pieces.  Through personal connection - that's much harder.  From the inside I don't see myself as that interesting of a person, and as an introvert having to talk to people about my creative processes is a bit like being on stage.  Over the past couple of years its gotten easier though, and I've found a higher success rate with people who feel a personal connection with me.

Interestingly art shows fall under the sales value method but because if the increased level of fascination I can impart through the presentation of my work and through my interactions with potential customers my sales rate is higher than any other method to date.

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Sally the Shark

In the hustle and bustle of daily life is so easy to become so overwhelmed with little details, with all the tasks and lists, that we forget to be truly present.  I found myself wondering this morning if other people feel a sense of dismay when they realize they've been basically sleepwalking, of not paying attention.  I've definitely been guilty of this myself over the past couple weeks as I prepped for next weekend's Art Denver show.  Even just now I had to stop and go look for bank deposit slips.

It hit me last night and then again this morning while doing laundry, that sneaking voice that says "but I just did this..." with a super vivid memory of the act.  "Yes," I tell myself.  "You just did this last week and now its time to do it again."  

The teacher for a class I attended last week for the day job on leadership styles talked about how most people live 5% in the real world and 95% in a story in their head.  I think to-do lists are definately part of a story.  I shall call mine How Sam Was The Stand-Out Artist At Art Denver and in my head it'll be a blockbuster.  Don't get me wrong; lists are important.  They help keep the little voices in my head that run around in circles reciting all the things I shouldn't forget in place.  They help me remember to tie a deposit account to my new credit card reader, to buy velcro to hang my business card holders, and to reply to emails.  But they're also overwhelmingly distracting.

Sally-the-Shark

Personally I've found injecting moments of whimsy into the lists, into the story helps.  There's an actual reason I have a bin of socks with things like winged-bunnies-holding-wrenches on them.  So yesterday while I was out picking up (hopefully) the majority of the supplies I'll need for next weekend I found up Sally-the-Shark.  Shes now handing off the handle of the cupboard containing the dishes, with her little fins and tail mounted on springs so it looks like she's flapping around like a happy goldfish.

Yes, its stupid and childish, but it also makes me pause on my journey to where ever and smile back at her silly grin.

Today is officially print-and-mat day, with a short break to buy groceries.  Who said the life of an artist wasn't exciting?

Its hard to be enthused about cutting 187 mat boards, and doubly hard today because I had to buy another mat cutter yesterday.  So glad I live in Denver, where the local stores stock these giant things and where they have 40% off coupons this weekend :)

And extra glad because I can go grocery shopping now and they'll have the fresh apple chansons :-) 

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Credit Cards 101

Is it possible to be the crazy print lady as opposed to the crazy cat lady?  After all I only have two cats but almost 100 prints to spend my Friday night with.

With Art Denver less than a week out show inventory has been much on my mind of late.  When stocking inventory for a show the line I always struggle with is the balance between having enough inventory that people willing to buy things have things to buy within their price range but not stocking so much that I end up holding inventory for months.

Larry Berman has a great article on the subject <article here> but the question is still how much is correct?  With new shows its extremely difficult to determine (via the uber geeky Drake formula) how much inventory to buy and so one ends up usually overstocking.

Drake Formula...

Needed inventory = <number of people attending show> x <percentage of people that stop at your booth> x <percentage of people that buy something> x <some factor to take into account the demographic of attendees>

Art Denver, however, is a whole different kettle of fish.  On one hand its brand new, which usually draws a smaller crowd but on the other is put on by the same people that do Cherry Creek, which draws a huge, higher-end crowd.  And they're charging for admittance which will either kill attendance or draw a crowd intending to buy.  One of my best shows three years running charges for attendance.  So yes, I've probably overstocked, again.  On the other hand I heard them advertising the show on the radio last week. 

Like most artists I tend to have cash flow problems right before a show.  Art shows are what banks consider a high risk activity.  There's no true predictor of sales because a myriad of emotional factors have to be taken into account.  These can include, oh, the phase of the moon, the weather, the most recent Pinterest fad, and what everyone else at the show is selling.  So, yeah, a bad risk.  Banks want a schedule of repayment, which I can't provide until after the show.  If loans are out and you're not independently wealthy that leaves credit cards.  Its basically a loan, with interest, but not made beforehand, and its not for the faint of heart.

Here's a couple tips from experience to financing your inventory this way.

1) Have several cards.  One with (probably) a higher interest rate, a nice cash back policy or airline miles (my favorite - hello Kyoto) or some nice perk and one with a high limit and a bearable interest rate.

2)  Charge your inventory on the card with perks and then before the first month's balance is due transfer it to the card with the higher limit.  If you can time it right you can hit one of the "0% interest for X months" promotions.  Yes, there's a fee, but the fee is usually equal to the first month's interest on the perky-but-higher-interest card.  And then pay it off using sales.

We all have bad shows and slow sales months though which leads me to point 3)

3) If sales at the show are sub-par and you're now sitting on inventory (and debt) use the high-limit, low-interest card to auto-pay some service fees you're already incurring.  This allows you to then pay a lower out-of-pocket amount against the balance (because you already have the funds allocated to pay the service fees) while keeping your card provider happy.

Example > I have website hosting fees and monthly gallery fees.  Together those fees add up to half of the minimum payment required on my high-limit card.  If sales are bad for a particular month, since I've already allocated for my fees, I can put less out of pocket against the remaining required minimum.

The one tricky piece of this balancing act is that its not sustainable over multiple shows unless you're reusing your inventory.  

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Sometimes Its Lemons

Sometimes life throws an unexpected wrench in the works.  For me this evening it was my financial backer for my upcoming show pulling out.  After I'd already committed to inventory.

My favorite quote from our conversation "I refuse to let you make me feel bad about this..."

Sometimes you just have to push forward anyways, jump and fall and trust it'll be okay.  Because frankly at this point its too late to do anything else.  Here's hoping I'll float instead of sink.

visit Samantha Byrnes' gallery online...