Designing for a living or Why you will never be Cath Kidston

I'm on maternity leave. I sort of thought this might be my opportunity to crack the world of design, become an overnight star and have my very own Cath Kidston style shops springing up over the world, run by minions, raking in millions, so that I never have to work ever again. I daydream that I would have one of those infinity pools with a butler bringing me sidecars in martini glasses in the mid day sun. I would laugh out loud in a haughty rich way as I muse over the fact that I can't swim and therefore my pool is purely for show. How decadent of me.

I exaggerate, but drawing for a living would definitely be my idea of bliss.

But it just aint that easy.

The whole point of having a company or shop of any kind is to make it look good. Sparkles, colour, clean as a whistle containing those must have items of 'want' not 'need' that your client will be clicking their pointy finger to snap up thus paypalling you some spondoolies.

Sounds great, instant affirmation of your brilliance, a constant pay packet trickling in the background. Once its set up, it runs itself! Wrong.

I'm writing this slightly moany blog today, not to make you hate the world and to rain on your parade, but to make you think, if you are really thinking about crafting for a living, about all the ins and outs of what you are going to have to tackle. I confess, I didn't realise what an uphill struggle it would be at first but as with all things, sometimes you learn the hard way.

I started off with an etsy shop. If you don't know what one is, check out my one here https://www.etsy.com/shop/DotRogers (how's that for a shameless plug). One carefully set up selfie shop owner image later (see above) and I thought I was ready. It seemed like a jolly, friendly arty community which was quite like minded and would surely love my collection of goodies. It would be the perfect platform for my work. Etsy is all of these things, but don't be fooled, what it isn't going to do is get your stuff noticed. You're going to have to do that yourself.

First: There are probably millions, literally millions of sellers on etsy, all peddling their wares uploading new stuff every day and the competition is stiff. People are putting really high quality products on here, approaching magazines to showcase their work, paying extra for etsy priority adverts etc. If you live in New York and are well connected or loaded, then this might be quite easy to do. I live in Seaforth, which is a whole different kettle of fish. The old maxim of, 'it's who you know not what you know' counts for a lot here! I'm not saying don't do etsy, but don't expect it to make a living for you while you sleep unless you have created a whole nest of networking for it to nestle in. Shamelessly exploit your connections, if your friend has a blog, get them to link to your shop, post on your facebook and get people talking about your product. Contact like minded crafters and swap a like for a like.

Incidentally, my friend Lisa Webb has a very good blog here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lisa-stadnykwebb/a-glimpse-into-a-school-lunchroom-in-france_b_6919654.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000037 ! wink wink!

Profit:

Small and frequent is key. A friend was talking to me the other day, saying that at 2.50 I must be making a packet on my greetings cards. I agree, it sounds great and personally I think 2.50 is far too expensive for a card, but here is the realistic breakdown before you get carried away and pre-order that speed boat. After tax, printing costs, envelopes, cello packets, the sellers percentage and VAT you will be left with about 12p per card and that's if you aren't employing anyone else (which means you are going to be doing the licking and sticking yourself). You will never get a profit that reflects the time that you are putting in, so if you don't enjoy the work, then jack it in now or you will drive yourself bonkers. However, by selling lots of items with small profits you will eventually start to see the benefit. This will still be negligable. This brings me onto the next issue....

My cards in www.utilitydesign.com. A proud moment, although the baby is clearly underwhelmed. Quite right.

Not my cup of Tea and The Compromise

You have two options with your clients, give them what they want, or be prepared to lose some along the way. People are fickle and picky, As lovely as buyers are, they have their own taste which isn't necessarily anything like yours. DON'T TAKE IT PERSONALLY. As my mother would say, 'you can't please all of the people all of the time.' If you want my advice and you want to keep some creative sense of yourself, don't try. Some crafters do, you will see them along the way and in lots of ways they will be doing much better business than you. They will certainly be getting more orders and this will make you cry when you see them writing on their facebook that they are overcome with requests so can't take any more before Christmas when you have only sold one, highly stylised gorilla statue hand crafted out of satsumas...cos it seemed like a great idea at the time. It's all about what you want out of your biz. If cash is what you are aiming for then all power to you! Fair enough, I'm clearly just envious! But if you want to have the odd swear word in your humour and have a slightly oddball style then expect people to tell you in no uncertain terms when they don't like it or to vote with their feet and not buy it.

Surprisingly, by far my most popular item above. The items below were always going to be more 'niche'.

Know your audience:

Most people want bespoke products at bargain prices. They will never understand the work you are putting in and you shouldn't expect them too. Look at your local high street, its all about cheap, your average schmo doesn't have much expendable wage. You are not a charity and if you are getting miffed cos nobody is buying your 'hand painted, gold leaf embellished, rare hoobady bird eggs' which you abseiled down a cliff to collect, then you are either pricing them too high or nobody wants one. Period. Be honest and cut throat with yourself, chalk it up to experience, take it off the market and have a party with the most expensive scrambled eggs of your life. Hell, do it for breakfast and buy champagne to wash it down. Life is too short to cry over spilt milk and failed plans.

My dou dou dolls below were pretty much a sales disaster from start to finish.

Packaging

You cannot underestimate the power of the package. Look at the successful sellers on etsy. They are spending as much money and time on their packaging as they are on the items themselves. Your item must arrive looking like the 'eat me, drink me' bottles in Alice and Wonderland, alluring, yummy, quaint, special and not at all looking like potentially deadly hallucinogens or worse still, poison. Your client is demanding and wants to feel loved, adding the extra nicety can do wonders. If you are selling antique items, add some info about where it came from, some personal details etc. Adding a small extra like a personalised message, a free gift, some pot purri like the jewellry salesman in Love Actually, it all helps to make your customer feel that they have lucked out. If they walk away with an excessively happy experience, they are going to talk about you with their friends and hopefully one of them will visit your shop at some point.

Some examples of packaging...

Safety Regulations (Home and Abroad)

This is a necessary and depressing consideration. Choose your product wisely. I came a cropper here. I spent an insane amount of time making dolls for children, designing my own fabric and having it printed by Spoonflower.com. I then fell victim to massive import tax (be aware of this as it will blow your profit out of the water, making your item too expensive for anyone to ever buy). I then realised that, as a toy, each one would need safety testing, adding further costs which made the whole thing totally unsupportable as a product. I gave them away to friends and family, then had a quiet weep and ate some chocolate. The upshot is that kids products are tricky. To get a CE mark you have to jump through some hoops which this blog explains well http://oddsandsoxlets.co.uk/handmade-toys-ce-marking/. For me, the best policy was to just stay away from them altogether as the thought of some kid stuffing a teddy bear full of pollywadding in their gob and permanantly damaging themselves keeps me up nights. Never work with animals or children.

Tax

You will have to pay tax on your work. For me, the alternative isn't worth the risk or the worry. It's a bugger, but there it is, The tax office don't seem to want to make it easy but once set up, it's not anywhere near as bad as it sounds. You can make a start here https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/registration

Import Tax: Don't get stung using companies like spoonflower.com. Email them first to see if your raw materials are going to get import taxed. I was taxed more than the price of the fabric itself which made the product I had planned completely untenable. You have been warned.

VAT

Not straight forward to set up (again, it seems they want to make it awkward for you) but it's not at all impossible, Don't try and do it while doing anything else. Give it your full attention and make sure you keep good records as you go along. Catching up every 3 months is a real pain. KEEP YOUR RECEIPTS IN ONE PLACE.

Shop overheads and Flogging a dead Horse:

Again, the etsy rent charges seem small but they add up. Keep track of how much you are spending and when your rental outgoings start to overtake your profit, cut the cord and delete the products that aren't working from your shop. Get rid of dead wood before you start paying more to keep it on there, thus making your items totally non profit. Etsy is great as it shows you how much you have spent so far across the entire history of your shop. Use these statistics and don't be too sentimental about products you think should be doing better than they are. As it happens, I'm going to close my current etsy listings and start again for this very reason.

Don't read about the success of others

This will only make you cry. It seems, some people, like with the lottery, have all the luck. You will see some (lots actually) who seem to have made the most cack-handed products and yet have sold 80million of them with a collection of gushing reviews to accompany each sickening sale. Tough. Just focus on what you are selling and how it needs improving. There is always room for improvement but don't beat yourself up about the fact that your take over of the world isn't happening in quite the way you wanted it to. It might do in the future....it might not. Revel in the small victories and drink wine when you are fed up with the whole thing.

Finally, for the ultimate reality check, read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cath_Kidston and realise that unless you are born into aristocracy and surrounded by socialites from Hampshire, you are very VERY unlikely to make it big. It often IS about who you know and not what you know. Sorry, but there it is....know it, suck it up and move on....buy some fabric off ebay to cheer yourself up and put the kettle on.

Oh....and dream big obviously!

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