I am a ceramicist and love making large, expensive art pieces, but unfortunately, they don’t sell very well (yet). I am working on my profile but it takes time. I have approached galleries and hope to show at CAF, but in the meantime, I have had to create a collection of more affordable vessels, bowls, and vases, which is selling much better.
But should I create more than one brand to avoid confusion? I really don’t want my luxury collectors to see my more commercial, lower-priced range. What would you do?
Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust, answered this question as The Design Doctor in Crafts Magazine March/April 2017 on page 32, where it was called ‘Spinning two plates at once’. Although this article is now a few years old, we think it’s still very relevant, as many creatives struggle with this question.
“Considering having more than one brand is a common dilemma for many craftspeople.
The simple answer is that if your client groups, positioning, pricing, and materials are similar then it’s best to stick to one creative brand or business. Then you are really able to focus on what you want to be known for, develop your niche and particular talent, and you will understand your ideal clients better, which will make it easier to attract them and sell to them.
But it isn’t always that easy of course!
There might be a (big) difference in ‘purpose’ and price level between your pieces and the type of clients who can afford that.
Other creatives work with very different materials or themes, and their work doesn’t look like it comes from the same person. One of my previous clients creates very socially engaged, large pieces of fine art under her own name, that don’t sell very well. She ‘subsidises’ this part of her work with a range of highly commercial giftware products that sell very well on Not On The High Street. She presents these under a brand name, as she doesn’t want some of her friends to know how commercial she is!
The challenge obviously is that if you want to create and maintain more than one brand then you will have double the work!
In fact you would be running two businesses in terms of marketing, maintaining your website and database, attracting traffic, your social media networks etc.
For many creatives running one business is already a juggle, and with two brands that becomes even more complicated. It’s up to you to decide if that’s worth it and if you are able to manage both.
Therefore I would dig a little deeper to really understand why you want to create these two different ranges.
You say it’s about the price level and increased potential of sales.
But is having more than one brand also about other motivations?
What does having more than one brand offer you, as opposed to choosing a more focused approach?
Do you want the freedom to create for a broader audience and make lots of different types of pieces, from art pieces to functional work?
Is your default position to sell at the top end and to galleries, as that’s what most graduates consider ‘success’, or is this something that you really want to do?
What do YOU want to create?
What impact do you want your work to have?
Who do YOU really love to create for?
Where do you want to see your work shown in a couple of years’ time? And have you got the marketing skills, confidence, and patience to make it work – whatever option you would go for?
Lots of deep questions there for you to work on to help you make the right decision on the direction of your ceramic career.
How can you make a clearer distinction between the two brands?
For example could you …
Get more selective about which ceramics you show to whom and when.
Show your high-end art pieces at shows like CAF, and your lower range at a good Christmas craft show.
Present your functional range mainly to shops and galleries, and the higher end to collectors and the top of the market.
Create a separate ‘shop’ category on your website with prices, and a ‘commissions’ category that explains your process more and ‘price on application’.
Also within your collections, you can still have a range of price levels, to encourage up-selling and showing diversity:
Individual ceramics are now often sold in small groups. Your display of smaller and larger pieces, in combination with some “wow pieces”, can make all the difference. Really show off your talent and ambition in your work and presentation, to build your profile (and the higher price tag!), to attract clients and to get collectors coming back again and again – both at the lower and at the higher end.
Also be aware that functional pieces have a lower value than most ‘art’ pieces, and you can play with this notion of “what is art?” and “what is functional?” beautifully in ceramics.
Get creative! Not just with your ceramic products but how and where you present them, your marketing, photography and social media.
But make sure that you keep a distinction between the two sides of your work as you will end up in the middle of the market, which is a very tough place to be right now. It’s full of struggling ceramicists, who are often too expensive and competing with the High Street on one end, but too lowly priced for serious collectors and the top galleries.
Do your maths (how many ceramics at what price level do you need to sell each year?) and then position yourself correctly.
Whatever direction you choose … work out what will work best for you and your clients.
What do YOU want to be known for?
WHO do you want to work for and with?
Choose wisely and with the longer term in mind. Continue to connect with ‘your’ clients with consistent and the right kind of work and marketing to build your reputation and business, step-by-step.”
Have you considered having more than one brand? Why? Did this article help you find a solution to your challenge? We would love to hear from you in the comments box below.
‘I’m an embroidery designer. I’ve been a freelancer working in fashion and interiors for about 15 years, I have recently started to create and sell my own designs and work. I sell to a London shop who puts their 250% mark up, which makes my work very expensive. And if I sell online on my own site do I have to sell at their retail prices?’
This question is answered by Patricia van den Akker, the Director of The Design Trust:
‘You are not the only creative wondering why shops and galleries charge so much commission! This is a very popular question and many (especially) new creatives often struggle with this.
To be honest a mark up or commission of 250% or 2.5 is very standard for galleries and retailers, and not that expensive after all. Some retailers might charge less (200%) while others a bit more (300%).
What does this mean? If you sell something to a retailer then they will add their commission rate to calculate the retail price. For example if you sell a shop buyer an embroidered cushion at £80 then they will charge anywhere between £160,- and £240,- for that cushion in their shop. Most likely they will sell your cushion for £195, and yes this means that you will also need to sell it around that price on your own website or at an event.
So why do shops and galleries charge so much commission?
This commission rate has been in place for a long time and is not something that you can really change because it is based on what retailers need to charge to cover their own cost. The reality is that if they sell something in their shop for say £100, then they have to pay the following:
roughly 45% goes to you the creative supplier
20% or £20 goes to the VAT man in tax
15% goes to business rates and rent/mortgage
15% goes to staff costs
which means less than 5% profit!
So, no: shops and galleries aren’t raking it in! They do need to add this commission to make sure that they cover their high (overhead) costs!
What to do if you are too expensive to sell to shops and galleries?
It is actually one of the major challenges for many new creatives to start selling wholesale because of this impact of the retailer’s markup. My advice often is that as a new maker you’ll need to focus in the first 2-3 years mostly on selling direct to consumers rather than to retailers. Build your profile and credibility, create a brand, and focus on selling at hand-picked events that are right for you and build an online presence, driving traffic to your website through regular emails and social media. Learn at a smaller scale with consumers first before going to potential stockists. And yes, that might be harder work but it will pay off.
You might consider selling to some shops that would give you increased profile for a lower profit margin for yourself, or you might consider selling only certain products for wholesale to begin with – if this makes financial sense and you use this as an investment in the future. But this is not a long term option!
Or you might consider creating and selling a collection specifically for wholesale, with these price levels in mind before you start designing.
And as you are working in textiles you also might want to consider approaching interior designers as trade clients. They often work with embroidery designers like you but they would charge a lower commission rate than a retailer has to charge. If you build up a good reputation and approach them directly you can really increase your trade orders!
Don’t despair – Your time will come, and you will learn potentially loads from the feedback you get from consumers!
Avoid these common newbie retail pricing mistakes
It is crucial that you understand how these retailer’s margins and wholesale price calculations work.
If you don’t then you will simply not be able to sell to retailers, and also it will really show that you don’t understand how business is done, which will damage your potential reputation and credibility.
Recently I noticed a new designer who I had been working with at Top Drawer, the giftware & jewellery trade show, who had a price list with a wholesale price of £60 and a RRP of £90. Any retailer would have known straight away that she didn’t know how these margins work, and would not have bought from her. Very damaging for her reputation.
Be aware that you can’t dictate what the retailer will charge.
Once they have bought from you, they can do whatever they like with it (more or less). You can provide them with a Recommended Retail Price list (RRP) but they can charge far more or far less (e.g. in a sale period) if they want to.
It might mean that there is a slight difference between the retail prices that consumers will pay between a shop in Sheffield and one in Penzance, but that doesn’t matter. Also, if your retailer would purchase a larger order then they might want to get a discount on their trade order too.
One of my clients got in touch with me in a bit of a panic because one of her stockists was selling her ceramics at a markup of 300% and she wondered if she had to increase her retail prices too? I checked with her that she had followed the principle of the 2.5 markup and she had. So indeed clever consumers could buy directly from her website, which would be cheaper than from this larger online retailer!
However, I did say to her that as this trade client was obviously being able to sell at this higher price level (as they were buying from her regularly!) it might actually be a sign for her to increase her prices too!
Don’t get cross with retailers about these margins.
The rate of 2.5 or 250% is standard across all creative retail businesses. Retailers have far higher costs than you have and need this to cover their costs!
I fairly regularly see people getting cross on social media about these rates. It might get you a few supportive comments from your friends, but most retailers and professional designers and makers will realise that you don’t know how business works. Not recommended for your credibility.
Also, see what you actually will get in return for your commission rate. Some galleries or shops are great to increase your profile. And if a gallery or independent retailer is doing a great job in promoting you as a designer, maybe putting on a special display with your work, including you in newsletters or even organising a Private View or solo exhibition then the commission will often be worth it! Discuss with them what to expect in sales and marketing, and how you can work together.
Selling on the High Street is a challenge right now as we all know. Work together with your stockists and retailers, you need to be a team. Get feedback regularly, show them how to display your work at their best, educate them on your way of working and your interests, so that they can tell their customers.’
Did you wonder why shops and galleries charge so much commission? Has this blog post explained the situation to you and have you found a practical way forward for your own situation? If this blog post helped you then please share it with others who might find it useful too. If you have got further questions then post them in the comments box.
Do you struggle to understand the difference between cost price, wholesale price, retail price, consumer price, trade price, …?
You are not the only creative struggling with pricing terminology!
In this practical blog post, Patricia van den Akker (The Design Trust’s Director) explains what the cost price, wholesale price, retail price, and consumer price actually mean, how to calculate them and how they work.
These are the different price terms that trade buyers refer to and it is essential that you as a creative know exactly which price term to use, otherwise your professionalism and credibility will take a big hit!
The cost price
This is your own calculation of how much it costs you to actually produce one of your (craft) products or art pieces.
This is the first step in identifying the costs that you need to cover and to help you price your creative products.
The cost price will cover your time x hourly rate, your material, and marketing costs, but also overheads such as studio rent, telephone, and transport.
If you are a designer maker or other creative professional and you want to learn how to calculate your cost price in 7 easy steps, then click here.
Keep your cost price confidential. Do not share with others (including your retailers or competitors!) It’s nobody’s business how much you want to earn or what your annual costs or overheads are.
Trade or wholesale price
This is the price you charge to trade buyers (e.g galleries or shop owners) so that they can sell your creative products in their shop or gallery.
You calculate your trade or wholesale price based on your cost price. As a guideline, this is around 2 x your cost price, but your actual trade or wholesale price depends on:
If your cost price is relatively high (more than £100 per item) then you decrease this percentage. For example, if your cost price is £150, then your trade/wholesale price would be around £250.
If you are very new then you will probably take more time to create products you can sell, therefore you can’t double your cost price as it would be too much. But be aware that this will cut into your income!
If you sell most of your stock then you can increase your percentage. Doubling your cost price to get to your trade price will help you to cover for the amount of unsold stock so that you still reach a decent turnover. If you are selling most of your stock then that might be a sign that you are actually too cheap (!) and also by increasing your prices you can actually earn more money or you can produce less but still earn the same amount.
If you only sell to consumers (and not to trade at all) then you can increase this profit percentage too, because this is your ‘final price’ that you sell online or at events to consumers for. There won’t be any additional commission added by a retailer and therefore your price point might be lower than other creatives who sell wholesale (see below).
Remember that calculating your trade or wholesale price is up to you, and that you can decide what profit margin to use.
Share your trade price or wholesale price with your retailers only, e.g. publish a trade price list in a wholesale catalogue or you send one out to a gallery or shop. Do NOT share this list with the general public or with the media (they might accidentally publish the wrong price!)
(Recommended) Retail price
This is the price that a consumer pays, and which is displayed on your website or on an event’s price list. This is the same or approximate price that retailers charge to consumers.
The retail price is normally around 2 to 3 x the trade or wholesale price, depending on the mark up of the retailer.
It’s best practice to charge around 2.5 and this has been the case for many decades.
So, for example, if your cost price is £20, then your trade/wholesale price is £40 (what you sell it for to a stockist, see above), then your recommended retail price is between £80 and £120 (what a consumer pays online or in a shop).
Do you think that these markups by retailers are excessive?
Please note that the retailer really needs this mark up to cover their own higher overheads such as the shop rent, taxes, business rates, and staff.
Do not undercut a retailer, as they will very quickly stop buying work from you! You can read this blog post from a gallery owner about what happened when a jeweller undercut them.
Some retailers might charge less and others might charge more! Why is that? Retailers who charge a rate of around 200% are more likely to be smaller retailers, away from larger city centres, with lower rental costs, who use family members to work with them, and who are not likely VAT registered. Retailers who charge a higher rate of around 300% are more likely based in London, where costs are higher for their space and staff. They also probably have clients who can afford to spend more.
Be very aware that the consumer will always pay more or less the same price, but that your trade price can fluctuate.
What do you do if your stockists charge different amounts? If your trade clients buy from you there is actually very little you can do about dictating what they charge! You can give them a recommended price, but indeed it’s recommendation only! If you keep to the advice of calculating your own retail price at 2.5 x the wholesale price then you are always safe. It doesn’t overly matter if a gallery in the north of England would charge say 10% less than your boutique in south-east London because it will be rare that their audience overlaps.
If your trade client places a very large order from you then they would probably expect to pay less per unit anyway! To find out more about what to do if you get a large trade order click here.
What about trade discounts?
Great question! If you are selling to trade buyers who buy regularly from you, or order larger quantities, but aren’t buying for a shop (e.g. a public art consultancy or an interior designer) then I suggest you offer them a trade discount.
This trade discount is often around 20% – 30% off the retail price, so sits between the trade and retail price. Depending on the quantities and your negotiations this can vary.
Did you find this blog post about cost price, wholesale price, retail price, and trade discounts useful? Please share it with others on your social media. If you have got any further questions or comments then do let us know in the comments box below.
I am a new freelance web designer and need to know how much I can charge for my daily or hourly rate. Do I just charge what others are charging, or is there another way? How do you calculate your freelance design rate?
The Design Doctor is Patricia van den Akker, Director of The Design Trust who answered this popular question on how to calculate your hourly or daily design rate:
“Web design is a very competitive area to work in and very often the price is set by your employer or the recruitment agency you work for. Your daily or hourly freelance design rate depends on:
What experience you have for the job and how unique your skill set is
Where the work is e.g. London pays higher hourly rates
How long the work is for: if the work is for a longer period then often the daily rate goes down
The market rate. What are others charging? How competitive is the job?
When the work takes place. Night or weekend work gets a higher rate, or if there is an emergency job to be done
Your ability to negotiate
As a web designer, you might like to check out in particular ‘value-based pricing’ where you look at how much financial value you add with your work. For example, if you can show that your web design has increased a previous clients’ turnover by 25% then you can charge a higher rate than if your design has had no or little-proven value.
There are three steps in calculating your freelance design rate:
Step 1: Identify your annual business costs
Firstly, identify how much you spend annually on your business: what are your annual overheads and other costs?
You might need to go through your previous years’ bills to get the facts. Don’t forget to include your phone, travel, insurance, work space, materials, and marketing costs.
As a freelance designer, your business costs will be much lower in comparison to people who run a product-based business, who have stock and require a studio.
Let’s say for this web designer who works from home or his client’s offices the total annual business costs are £ 3,500 p.a.
Then identify how much you would like as a salary.
Be aware that you will need to deduct tax and National Insurance in the UK, so let’s say that you would like to earn £27,000. (This figure very much depends on where you are and what seniority you hope to get within the business).
So this web designer would need to earn £30,500 to cover their annual overhead costs (personal and business costs = £3.5K + £27K).
Step 2: How many hours can you invoice for?
This is tricky! You will need to have holidays (we all do!) and you might get ill. You will need to spend time on admin and marketing too.
And then there are slow periods in the year such as Christmas or the summer holidays (although you might actually get booked for that to cover employees’ holidays!)
As a web designer, you might get fairly regular bookings with the same business clients for a longer period, so I would expect something like 60 – 70% of your hours to be billable throughout the year.
If you are a recent graduate then I would expect your billable hours to be far lower, and if you work in other design sectors it would also be harder to find regular repeat business, so then you might be looking at 25 – 40%. This means that you get paid on average for only 1 – 2 days per week, other days you might work but don’t get paid for it.
My suggestion is to be on the cautious side with the number of days or hours you will be able to invoice for.
So I would expect you to have something like the following annual billable hours:
48 weeks x 40hours x 60% = 1,152 hours p.a.
Step 3: Calculate your freelance design rate
Now divide your total annual business costs (step 1) by your total hours invoiced (step 2) and you’ll get your hourly or daily freelance rate that you need to charge to break even:
In our case that is £30,500/1,152 = £28 p.h. or £212 p.d. for an 8-hour day.
And that’s it! That’s how you calculate your freelance design rate.
Does that hourly freelance rate look high to you?
A couple of notes:
You might be earning a far lower hourly rate than this in a PAYE job, but remember that this is an hourly freelance rate from which your tax, National Insurance, and all expenses will be deducted.
Also be aware that you actually need to get the work to get this hourly rate! If your billable hours are far less than anticipated then your annual income will decrease dramatically. However, when you become better known with potential clients or employers your billable hours’ percentage should naturally increase due to repeat work, which means that your annual income will increase without having to change your hourly rate!
Your actual daily or hourly rate will depend on a variety of factors, incl. market, your expertise and experience, total work involved, and budget.
Be flexible with your daily or hourly rate. For long-term fixed contracts decrease your hourly rate in return for a more steady stream of billable hours. Longer term (part-time or full-time) contracts provide stability and increase your % of billable hours in the year. Be prepared to negotiate about your daily or weekly freelance design rate.
Get it in writing. Make sure that you get your hourly or daily rate confirmed in writing or in a contract.
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Did you find this blog post about how to calculate your hourly or daily freelance design rate helpful? Then do let others know on your social media or ‘like’ it. If you have got any feedback or comments then please let us know in the comments box below.
“50% of all small businesses in the UK fail in their first 5 years”
“Creative arts grads in the UK earn £17K, females earn £12K”– source: Institute of Fiscal Study
“Self-employment in the UK has grown by 40% since 2000” – source: RSA
“The average gross income of makers in the UK is £23,485” – source: Crafts Council
These statistics don’t make pretty reading for anybody who is thinking about or has started a creative business in the UK or abroad (where the statistics are actually very similar).
In 2016 I was invited by the Small is Beautiful conference in Edinburgh to do a research project about what makes a creative business successful and got detailed responses from more than 400 creative professionals. From this research and from my experience as a creative business adviser, trainer and coach who has worked with 1,000s of creative businesses over more than 25 years, I have compiled this list of the 8 most common reasons small creative businesses fail, especially in the first 5 years:
1. Lack of direction & vision
Most creative businesses are started because the owner has a love of material, technique or has a special skill or talent. You love making and designing, realise that you are good at it and decide to make a living from it. Or you go to art school, try to get a job, but that’s often very hard or near impossible, and then decide to become your own boss.
Many creatives don’t consider themselves to ‘be a business’.
They don’t like the word.
They don’t associate with it.
The wrong images of what it means to be ‘a business owner’ or ‘entrepreneur’ come up.
But the reality is that if you want to make a living from your creative talents, you will need to become a business.
Many creatives have become a business ‘by default’.
Because they have a skill and want or need to be their own boss.
But they didn’t really set out to become a business.
The metaphor that comes to mind when I work with many small creative businesses is that of a little boat in the middle of the ocean. Happily sailing along, making some sales, going where the wind is going.
But the problem is that when there is a big wave or a storm brewing, they are not prepared.
And they struggle.
There is no direction.
There is no harbour to aim for.
Nobody is really ‘in charge’.
From my research into successful creative businesses it became very apparent that successful* creative businesses had a very different mindset from many creative professionals.
Successful creatives are different.
From the start they had really set out to create a successful business.
They set a financial goal, that underpins their marketing plan.
They have a very good idea who their ideal clients are.
Also, more successful creatives often …
Have a very clear idea of what they want to create with their business. Very often they are on a mission and have a clear purpose, beyond just making money.
They know exactly what their definition of success was, and what they are aiming for
They are very clear about their own strengths and weaknesses, and how to overcome their challenges and what they need to do (in great detail!) in the next 2 – 5 years to achieve their goal.
They also tend to spend more money and time learning new skills. Including marketing and business skills!
Also, the successful businesses often create and focus on more commercial products, often working in giftware. They know their market very well, and create and launch original new products within their niche.
Some of their descriptions of what they wanted to achieve were so visual that I could imagine them very clearly. The respondents who had a turnover of less than £15K often had very vague goals (if any goals at all); often mentioned that they ‘didn’t do it for the money’ (very few of the successful businesses didn’t either!); and more often had ‘fantasy’ dream income targets (far more likely to mention round figures like £500K or £1million, without a clear idea of how they would get there). This vague future vision was clearly one of the reasons small creative businesses failed.
It was very interesting to see that high earning businesses were NOT more likely to have a written business plan, but they did seem to have very clear goals (in their mind, or written down) and knew what actions to take to get their business there.
Take action: Get super clear on your business dream, and how to get there
What is your definition of success? What would make you feel proud? Think about successful creatives or your role models, what have they got or achieved that you haven’t got yet?
What do you want to achieve in the next 5 years? Think in terms of income, product range, partners or clients, innovation and creativity, profile and getting recognition and respect, the space or location you want to work in. Be specific.
What do you want to achieve in the next 2 years? Create a so-called SMART goal (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timebound), put a number on it and a date. What do you need to change, create, learn and stop doing to achieve that goal?
Write your goals down and review them regularly (monthly or quarterly). What is going well? What needs more work? What are the fundamentals in your business that need work? Writing down your specific goals has been proven scientifically to help you achieve them!
What products can you create that your kind of clients would love to buy? You don’t need to sell out! But starting to understand more about who your clients are can really help you to become more successful.
(* For the sake of this research and post I have identified successful creative businesses as those with a turnover of £50K or more. I am very aware that money is only one aspect of creating a successful business (!), but this seemed to be the dream turnover number that most of the research participants were aiming for. Indeed one of the questions was what their ‘dream salary’ would be and more than half gave £50K as their answer, without being prompted.
It was very clear that the successful businesses very often had broader aims than money, and were very often on a mission to teach others or to employ them, or they had a mission around creativity, recycling etc.)
2. Lack of business & marketing knowledge
Many creative businesses in the UK are started by people who lack basic business and marketing skills. I studied in the Netherlands and in Belgium, and in both countries, I was taught fundamental business skills (including accounting/bookkeeping and marketing) as part of my creative studies. If you want to start a shop or work as self-employed in the Netherlands you will need to train and show a certificate that you have these basic business skills. Otherwise, you can not start your own business.
In the UK there are no such rules and regulations. And indeed, I sometimes wonder if it is too easy to start your own business in the UK. Especially when I see people who have taken on huge loans or are in debt. Is this one of the reasons small creative businesses fail in the UK?
Of course, you didn’t become a jeweller, ceramicist, graphic or product designer to do marketing or bookkeeping (…) but that lack of basic skills and understanding is scary to me.
It will far more likely set you up for failure.
I do think that art colleges in the UK should provide a far better grounding in topics such as marketing, financial management, and bookkeeping to their graduates, throughout their degree. Not just to ensure that their students are better prepared for real life beyond college, but also to create better and more innovative products and services.
Knowing your clients and market at a deep level will no doubt help you to become a better designer.
But I also believe that new creative self-employed business owners need to take some responsibilities for themselves.
So that their chances of succeeding will massively increase.
Say things like: ‘I am not a business person. I am a creative.’
Unfortunately, they don’t realise how creative marketing can be!
Marketing isn’t just about earning money, it is about reaching your audience. And especially if you are advocating social, environmental and political issues you will need to learn some basic marketing, so that you can reach your audience, increase your profile and reach, and get your message heard.
Marketing isn’t just an after-thought that you bolt on once you have created a product or service.
Marketing for me starts with the ideation of the product.
By really getting to understand who your clients are.
What they really want. What their real needs and wants are.
Often creatives with limited sales come to me and ask my advice for creating a more successful business.
My advice is simple:
Identify who your potential clients are, find out where they are and when they are most likely to buy, and build a relationship with them. That’s how you start to get sales. That’s how you create and grow your business.
Spend time learning about marketing and getting to know your clients deeply. Create new and creative products that your clients love. Start to spend 40% of your time on targeted marketing to build your profile & credibility with the people who matter to your business. Listen to them, be pro-active and reach out.
That’s what successful businesses do.
Take action: Help yourself to succeed
If you want to become a more successful creative business then you will need to make sure that you help yourself to succeed. Write down:
What do you need to learn about business and marketing? Marketing is much more than spending time on social media!
What do you need to learn about marketing and sales? Costing and pricing? Branding and photography? Selling online and social media? The Design Trust has many free blog posts on these topics or check out our one-day online workshops or our Business Club with a wide range of video recordings teaching you practical business tools and marketing tips. We also recommend a wide range of books on these topics and other online training providers too. For example, the Etsy Seller Handbook is available online for anybody and has got loads of practical posts for people who want to learn about how to drive traffic, SEO and how to create professional images.
What do you need to learn about bookkeeping and finance? Did you know that HMRC (the taxman in the UK) provides free videos and webinars on a wide range of tax and bookkeeping topics? Loads of information is available for free. Start to make time to teach yourself the basics and face up to your financial and legal responsibilities!
Write down 3 specific things you want to learn in the next 3 months and how they will help you (the latter is to keep you motivated!). Then make 3 hours/week available in your diary to work ON your business and learn.
Start taking charge of your business and career. Get into action and avoid the reasons that small creative businesses fail!
3. Your numbers don’t stack up
When I am running workshops online or live with other organisations then very often this is a topic that comes up:
A lot of creatives aren’t really failing, but they aren’t thriving either!
Very often I see a fundamental challenge:
Unsuccessful creative businesses are not creating and selling enough products or services at a price level that’s sustainable.
Many creatives I speak to, and indeed the 400+ I researched, are aiming for a turnover of around £50K (which will give most ‘regular’ product-based business a salary of around £20K – £25K, which would make most creatives very happy. Jewellers and others with a high studio rent or material costs would need to have a higher turnover to reach this salary as their business and material costs are far higher.
So how would you make £50K per year?
Often creatives haven’t done the number crunching on this.
This is basic back-of-an-envelope-financial-management.
For example, you could sell 1,000 products at £50 or 50 products or services at £1K. Both of these would generate £50K.
The next questions then are:
Do you want to make and sell more products at a lower price level, or fewer products at a higher price level? Where do you want to position yourself? What does this mean for your marketing and branding? Do you like selling to rich people or do you want your work to be more affordable? How many people would you need on your database to achieve that amount of sales? What marketing would you need to do to reach your ideal clients? How can you build your profile and credibility?
What will your job and responsibility be on a day-to-day basis? If you are going for the high-end, then you will need to provide excellent customer care and be very good at your job, and have a good dose of confidence too! If you are wanting to sell at the lower end, then you will very likely need to outsource and you will need to work on your online and retail sales to reach more people and sell higher quantities.
How will you create that many products, especially if you need to produce more than 100? Will you need to outsource? Will your job be more of a designer with good quality control? Or do you need to look at other income streams like licensing to earn more income?
Why would somebody pay £50 or £1,000 (or more!) for your products or services? Would there be enough people willing to pay that amount? Have you got products or services at these price levels available? What new products or services could you offer to your existing clients?
Get more creative with who your clients are and how you can get repeat business (the key to any successful business!). Think about interior designers for example, but also licensing and working in partnership.
What I often see is that creatives haven’t got a plan when it comes to pricing and positioning themselves. They want to sell to rich people, without really understanding what that means and entails.
Another strategic mistake I have seen a lot in recent years is creatives offering products and services in the ‘middle’ market.
The reality is that the middle market is struggling the most right now!
What do I mean by that? If you are trying to get to £50K by selling 250 products at £200 (for example) then you will be struggling more than if you were aiming for the lower end or higher end of the market.
Why? A product at £200 is still a luxury product for many of your potential clients, but it’s too cheap for the high end of the market (who won’t buy because it’s too cheap, and they worry it’s not good enough!). And being able to sell 250 a year means that you need to sell one of these every single day to achieve your financial target!
That’s a tough one to achieve.
Doing financial calculations like this isn’t just about the money and the finances, it’s about how you position yourself in the market, your ideal clients (consumers and trade), your branding, marketing actions, and your day-to-day job.
All of these decisions are connected to result in:
What business do you really want to create?
Take action: Do your numbers stack up? Is your business viable?
Write down for yourself:
What salary do you need to earn in the next 12 months?
What turnover do you need to get to pay yourself that salary + your tax + all your business costs?
How will you achieve that? How many products and services will you need to create and sell at what price level?
What will this mean for you in practical terms of what your responsibilities are, your marketing, positioning, branding etc.
4. Lack of finances
You might be surprised I only mention this one now …!
Many creatives blame the lack of grants and finances for not being able to start or grow their business.
I have found over the years as a creative business adviser and coach that it is actually more the lack of financial skills and understanding that stops businesses from succeeding, rather than lack of finances.
The reality is that there are very few pots of funding around to start a business. This isn’t due to the recession, or Brexit or Covid. For many years now most creative business funding (which mostly came from the EU by the way …) went into providing free business support or creating marketing opportunities and events or trade shows.
In the last couple of years, it has become a lot cheaper to start a business. Especially if you are providing a design service rather than a product, then your startup costs have fallen dramatically. You can generally work from home, and all you need is a good computer, software and a good contact list of potential clients. Keep your costs down when you get started, get recommendations and introductions, and get clients, and get repeat business. That’s how you build a successful freelance business.
But of course, if you are creating a product-based business you will need to get money to create stock.
The biggest financial issue for most new creative businesses is cash flow and underestimating their own living costs. Many creatives ‘forget’ to include their own salary in their cost calculations.
I see a fairly clear pattern in the first 5 years of every creative business:
First 18 months: expect to lose money and not be able to earn a proper salary. You are still trying to work out what your talents are, who you are as a creative, and who your clients might be. Your main job is around creating a collection of products or services, starting to find clients and driving traffic to your website.
18 – 36 months: You know your niche and talents much better and have identified in more detail who your clients (consumers & trade) really are. You get more regular sales but cash flow is an issue as you need to invest and your sales come in peaks and troughs. You are often still not able to pay yourself a proper wage.
After 3 years you will find it gets easier as clients start to come to you. You have got a better profile and more credibility. Appropriate and proactive marketing and taking part in the right events will help. Hopefully, you are starting to get more repeat business and you might get more wholesale income too. But often income is very irregular and unpredictable, so you’ll need to save in the good times and do additional marketing or get clever about selling in the quiet periods, or use your time and energy wisely.
After 5 years it often gets easier as you are more established, have more confidence, clients know you and will come back. You will know the routine and the flow in the market. You know better what to expect, and what to do and when. You might not necessarily earn more, but you know what to expect.
Recently I have seen creative businesses over 20 years old struggling as they didn’t manage to adapt to the new market situation, in particular, the decrease of market share by galleries, the increase of online sales and competition, and the increase in craft and trade shows. (More about this later).
Get into action: Face up to your financial facts!
Cash flow is a major issue for creative businesses at all stages of their development, and there are different reasons and different solutions for each stage.
Identify new potential income streams, including getting a part-time job elsewhere, which is very common in the first 3 years of running your own business.
Let go of non-profitable products or services: when was the last time you reviewed which products made money and which ones were loss makers? Do you know what your bestsellers are?
(Often most importantly!) increase your marketing to your ideal clients who can get you better or more regular work.
5. Undervaluing & underselling yourself
This is a chronic issue for many creatives who are struggling. In particular, women seem to struggle with valuing their work and pricing it appropriately.
It’s partly the lack of financial and basic marketing knowledge that I discussed earlier, but it often goes deeper than that.
It’s often a mindset issue, more to do with confidence and self-esteem than with financial ability.
But if you don’t value yourself, then who will?
Your price tells a story and sets an expectation.
Setting your price too low will make people wonder ‘What’s wrong with it?’ rather than ‘That’s a bargain!’.
Take action: Stop undervalueing yourself
Your thoughts, ideas, worries and expectations around money, rich people and ‘selling out’ have a major impact on how you do business, and what you charge for your work.
There are some really good books available that can help you to tackle this issue:
Overcoming Underearning by Barbara Stanny. One of my most recommended books as it really delves deeply into some of our behaviours around money and valuing ourselves.
How to become a money magnet by Marie-Claire Carlyle. A really practical book by a British author with loads of great exercises to work on your confidence with money.
Playing Bigger by Tara Mohr. A practical book aimed at intelligent women who ‘play small’.
6. Not selling online (seriously enough)
One of the key observations from my research was that less than half of the creative businesses that I researched that had a turnover of less than £10K sold online.
Of course, online selling isn’t for everybody, and it’s not right for every product or service.
But, online selling is a major opportunity for creative businesses to raise their profile and credibility and to sell to clients across the world. It has opened up a lot of opportunities in the last 15 years or so.
One observation from the research was that many of the older creatives (both in age, but also in terms of business age) did not sell online. There might be a training issue here around the lack of technical skills required to sell online, or also an aversion to online selling and what that entails.
I have recently come across various well-established designer-makers in particular who are in their 40s or 50s who have a very high profile, but whose income has been slipping dramatically over the last couple of years. Especially worrying, as they are getting closer to retirement age.
Against their expectations, these designer-makers have fewer sales and commissions, often because they relied heavily on craft galleries (who have closed down or decreased their sales) and certain craft shows.
They aren’t used to having ‘to sell themselves’ and aren’t used to having a lot more competition.
They might have a very limited social media presence or a less active approach to marketing.
Sometimes their work is well known and they find it hard to adapt their signature style to today’s market.
The other thing to mention here is that although a lot of creative businesses might have an online presence, they actually don’t work on driving traffic to their website, Etsy shop or other platforms.
I worked for Etsy on an online training programme for new Etsy sellers and I observed that many creatives expected that by just opening an Etsy shop the clients and sales would come. They were disappointed and some even seemed to blame Etsy.
The reality is that Etsy (and other platforms and your own website too) are just online marketplaces that create an opportunity. They are extremely popular and you need to do your best to stand out online and to be found.
It’s up to you to put in the work to get clients to visit your online shop, and then to get them to order from you online.
If you want to be successful online you will need to work on driving traffic to your site, work on your SEO (search engine optimisation, AKA how you will be found) and have a strategy to stay in touch with your clients and reach out to potential new clients. Social media can be a great first step in this process, but you will need to create a broader strategy that includes newsletters, events and social media to get online sales.
Get into action: Selling online is hard work! Do you put in enough time & energy?
To get more online sales you’ll need to put the work in. Expecting to get sales without doing any marketing is just very unrealistic and one of the key reasons small creative businesses fail.
Are you driving traffic to your website? Have you got a database and do you stay in touch with your clients and audience through newsletters, social media and invites to events?
SEO can be tricky as there is so much competition! Think broader: How will you make sure that people remember your name (that’s the first step if they need to Google you!) next time they want to buy a gorgeous creative product? If you are selling on Not On The High Street or Etsy or another niche marketplace then your keywords are crucial. Spend 2hours/week in the next month learning how SEO works (The Etsy Handbook is a great resource to get you started!) and then spend 2h/week implementing what you learnt.
Email marketing and social media are key too to driving traffic to your site. There are plenty of blog posts on The Design Trust website to help you get started.
7. Over-optimistic about the challenges (in life and business)
You need to be a bit naïve and very positive to start a business, don’t you?
Otherwise, you wouldn’t start one in the first place!
Apparently from every 1,000 people in the UK questioned nearly 1/3rd wanted to start their own business. Only 3 out of 1,000 (!) will actually do it.
There are 101 reasons not to be self-employed, work for yourself or start your own boss.
You probably know them all.
Despite all the financial hardship and insecurity, it turns out that the self-employed are happier than employed people. (source: Royal Society of Arts self-employment research)
There is something special about running your own business!
But being prepared for the future and being aware of the risks is useful. Not preparing for the future is one of the main reasons small creative businesses fail! Being prepared can help to overcome the storms ahead! (Back to our ‘boat in the middle of the ocean’ metaphor.)
In my research I also looked at key moments in creatives’ lives.
As so many creatives are sole traders or work mostly by themselves they are particularly vulnerable to changes in their personal lives.
Some very interesting (and quite unexpected!) observations came out of this:
Starting a family had obviously a major impact, often being the key reason they started working for themselves. But it had two rather opposite effects: either work became much less of a priority, or it became a key focus to provide a living for the family (while raising children). A few of the highest earning creatives that I researched had children at pre-school age.
Divorce was also a very interesting topic which had a major impact. It seemed to have a bit of a delayed effect, with women who were divorced 5 years ago being really ready to start working on their business. Often they had ‘muddled’ along but now really wanted to show the world what they could do and create a living for themselves (and their children). One of the most motivated groups of creatives is divorced women. And indeed nearly half of the highest earning creatives I researched (over £100K) were divorced. I don’t want to draw any conclusions from that yet, as it might be a chicken and egg situation and the numbers were relatively small, but it’s very interesting to note.
Another observation from my research was that the successful creative businesses were more adaptable and more flexible. They reviewed their plans regularly and launched new product collections properly.
Successful business owners had similar challenges as less successful businesses but they seem to enjoy the challenge, rather than use it as an excuse. They realised that running their own business isn’t always straight forward, and that challenges are part of it.
Less successful businesses had more excuses for why they couldn’t create the business they wanted, why they weren’t selling as much. Some had a very rose-tinted, nearly fantasy-like idea of what running your own business would mean. They tended to look backwards more too, from where they came from, rather than what they could do to change their own destiny.
It seemed that there was a mindset difference around what’s hard and what is challenging, but also what ‘failure’ means.
One great observation was that many successful businesses don’t think in terms of success or failure … they continuously saw the work ahead of them as a challenge to learn from and conquer. As something exciting.
Indeed Seth Godin talks about this in his book The Dip,which is something that everyone who starts and runs a business will come across at some point (and often several times!) but it’s about what you do when the going gets tough that will make you successful, rather than what you do when things are easy.
Get into action: Are you prepared for change?
Have you had major changes in your life recently? Have you started a family, did your child start school or leave home? Did you or a loved one get ill or have you had any bereavements? Did you divorce? Did you move house or work space? All these life changes will have a major impact on your business and can be both negative or positive. Take your time and write down what impact they have had on you and your business. Are you looking after yourself well enough?
Are you planning any major changes in your life in the next 3 years? How will this impact you and your family? How can you be better prepared for these changes? What do you need to do, change or learn to minimise the negative impact?
What would happen if you got ill, or somebody close to you would? Can you afford insurance, or have you got some financial resources or savings to help you? Can you change how you work to accommodate this?
8. Too much focus on being creative and ‘the air sandwich’
As a creative sole trader, you have to wear a lot of different hats and juggle a lot of different responsibilities: you are the creative, but you also need to be the marketing manager, the finance manager, the social media manager, the IT manager, and the tea lady sometimes!
Creatives focus a lot on their creativity and their creative skills. They often spend most of their time on making and creating.
But to become a successful jeweller, ceramicist, interior designer, illustrator, stationery designer … you will need much more than just creativity.
Every day I see creatives who struggle because they spend most of their time on the creative side of their business and too little time on creating a business. That’s one of the key reasons small creative businesses fail.
Especially creatives who have a strong passion or started their business as a hobby seem to struggle with this. They are passionate about the making-part, hear of people who have made it their living, and want to have a go to. And the approach to making from an amateur point of view is very different from the point of view of a professional creative.
You will need to work ON your business. Be able to think BIG, create a future vision. You need to be a strategic thinker and work on the future of your business and the fundamentals such as systems, growth, workspace, branding, and relationships.
You will need to be able to plan and prioritise, know how to get from A to B, and focus on the right things at the right time, as many creative businesses have a strong seasonal element to them.
And you will need to work with a purpose, have a plan in place of what you want to achieve, and stay on track.
Often creatives are good at either thinking big OR working on the detail. Architects are known for their vision but struggle with the detail. Jewellers are very good with detail but often find creating a vision or big plan hard. It’s rare that a person can do both.
The result is what Nilofer Merchant calls ‘The Air Sandwich’; there is no or little connection between the strategy and the day-to-day actions. Your future vision is not connected with what you are doing. There are loads of ideas, but they aren’t being executed fully.
Being able to combine your creative & technical skills, with having a strategic overview and future vision, and have a clear direction and accountability is what makes a creative business successful. To connect the dots and create a successful business plan and model is the reason I created DREAM PLAN DO, the planner journal for creatives who want to succeed. It helps you to look at your Big Picture and turn all your ideas into reality. It helps with looking at ALL aspects of your business, from planning and finance to production and marketing. It connects the dots and will help you to turn your idea into a more successful creative business.
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Did you find this blog post on the most common reasons small creative businesses fail useful? What is your own experience of starting or growing your own business? Which of the action tips above did you find most useful? Share with us in the comments box below. We love to hear from you!
It can be really tough to name your creative business successfully!
Some creatives have identified a business name months or years even before they are ready to launch, but then find that ‘their’ business name has been taken already …
Other creatives simply decide to use their own name as their business name. It is the easiest and often a default option, especially if you are already ‘known’ under your own name prior to leaving art school.
Using your own name gives your business a more arty and personal touch. (It can get a little tricky if you use your maiden name and marry later on, but that’s another story!)
Some designers use their initials or attach their discipline to add some clarity to what they do, such as Jo Jones Design, AAJewellery or Studio Dumbar.
Others prefer a ‘professional’ business name or brand so that it is less personal and not so focused on an individual. This option comes across as more professional and allows your creative business to grow beyond you as an individual (also good if you wish to build a business that you can sell later on).
Some people use both: their own surname for artistic one-off work, and a business name or brand name if they want to have a bit more distance, privacy or work with others. In fact, you can be self-employed (using your own name) and run a limited company (using a business name) at the same time.
Naming your business is often one of the most exciting parts of starting your business!
Although identifying a business name is important (and fun!), don’t waste too much time.
Just like any child ‘grows’ into their name, your business will have to grow into its!
I have come across people who had a business name in mind years before starting their own creative business. But how to name your creative business (or even just a new collection!) can be tricky.
Here are 5 practical steps to help you in the process. Get a piece of paper and start answering the practical questions below:
Step 1: What are your business vision, values & passions?
Your business name should reflect your creative business vision, values, and passions.
Why do you do what you do? Why did you become a knitwear designer, ceramicist or cartoonist? Did you choose your craft or did your craft choose you? What’s the bigger picture?
What do YOU want to be known for? What makes you different and stand out in the market?
What is your vision of the future? What is the legacy you want to leave behind? What are you really creating – not just with your creative products or service, but with your business? Is this to create a job for yourself, do you want a business employing others, or do you want to create something bigger than that?
What are your values? What is really important to you in your work and how you work with others? Is it about your expertise and professionalism, quality of the materials, innovative solutions, playfulness, affordability, sustainability, made by hand, working in partnership, …?
What are you passionate about? A little bit geeky? What can you not stop talking about? What inspires you?
What are your recurring creative themes? What are the stories you want to tell?
Who or what inspires you?
GET INTO ACTION: Take your time to answer the questions above. Don’t overthink it too much – use your gut feeling. Then try to get your answers down to 8 key descriptive words about your vision, values and passions, and use this as a starting point to brainstorm your business name. To find the perfect descriptive words to name your creative business might take a while, and you might need to dig a little deeper with the help of others.
But looking at your bigger picture as an inspiration for your business name will ensure that your business name is more likely to be future proof, as your vision, values and passions are unlikely to change dramatically over the years.
Step 2: Does your business name reflect you and your niche market?
A good business name reflects who you are and who your ideal clients are. Why they are attracted to you and your work.
Your business name is the introduction to your business. Before people meet you in person they will see or hear your business name.
What will your business name say about you?
Brainstorm the following questions:
What do you do and for whom? Don’t just think about what (your products or services, your materials or techniques) but what your work really means to your clients.
Who do you want to attract? Get into detail! Saying that your clients will be ‘women between 25 – 45’ isn’t detailed enough. Think about their values and creative style especially.
What images does your business name create in their head about your business? Will it be clear to your potential clients what you do or for whom? Or would you prefer to be a little more intriguing and not reveal too much? Are you using words and language that will really attract your ideal clients?
GET INTO ACTION: Identify your niche market and define what you do and for whom. Identify your specialism and unique talent. What do you really want to be known for? Who are your ideal clients (in detail)? What makes you stand out? Are you attracting the right clients or are you trying to please ‘everybody’?
Step 3: Get more inspiration to name your creative business
When I did a little research on how to name a creative business it was really interesting to see how many people had named their creative business after their gran, pets or children! There were lots of references to favourite songs and fairy tales too.
GET INTO ACTION:
Brainstorm (ideally with others) loads of business names around your values, vision, passions, your specialism, your ideal clients. Think about feelings and emotions as much as concrete words.
Check out what business names your competitors or role models use. Which ones work? Which ones don’t? What’s the image they conjure up?
Write down words but also use images. Create a collage, mood board or mind map around your values, vision and ideal clients. Very often the creation of the business name goes hand in hand with creating a brand and doing these creative exercises can help you with that too.
Make sure that at the end of this stage you have got around 5 potential creative business names.
Step 4: Reality check to name your creative business
You need to take a couple of things into consideration when naming your creative business:
Is the name easy to spell? This is especially important now as people want to be able to find you quickly online. Avoid quirky spellings such as ‘gr8’. Although it is often the most common names that can be hard to spell like Johnson, Jonson, Johnsson! And if you use ‘and’ how will you spell that; and, & or +? Avoid any potential confusion.
Is the name easy to remember? If you have a memorable name it will be far easier to remember and for people to find you again online.
How does it translate? If you work internationally (and that is everybody with a potential online business!) then make sure that your business name doesn’t mean something offensive in another language … There are some really funny stories in the advertising and branding world of big businesses that got this one wrong!
Your creative business name should also be future proof as it is difficult to change your name later if you have built up a profile. Naming your business is a bit like naming your kids … does it still sound right 20 years from now? And what if you want to change your maiden name? See this interesting article by well-known small business guru Tara Gentile who created a very strong personal brand and then decided to change her business name.
Is the name still available? Check out if anybody else is using the name through a Google search and also check the Companies House website for a detailed business name search. Check if ‘your’ business name is still available for a web address or social media account on this handy online business name checker.
This is the step most creatives like to avoid, but it is essential. To register or use your creative business name there are a couple of legal implications.
Firstly, you need to make sure that nobody else is using your proposed business name as you might be legally required to stop using or publishing the name.
In fact, this happened to my sister’s business which had done some name research in The Netherlands where she lives, then launched her business with a new website, business cards, and other promotional material and within 2 days of opening received a letter from a solicitor to inform her that she had to change her business name and destroy all promotional material as the name was trademarked. This to a great financial (and at that stage also emotional) cost.
One of the easiest ways to check if the name is already in existence is to check this online business name checker where you can conveniently check business names, trademarks and web domain names that have been taken already.
GET INTO ACTION: At last! You are now ready to register your business!
Please note that registering your business name with either HMRC or Companies House does NOT give you any legal protection against other people using your business name. If you want to do that then you will need to trademark your name. Also, this doesn’t give you any protection online with other people purchasing your business web address.
And … although identifying a business name is important, don’t waste too much time on it. It is far more important how you use your business name consistently over time, the way your logo and corporate identity works, your branding, images, and packaging etc. It is all those elements together with your work and behaviour that will make your business name recognised and remembered by the right people, rather than what your actual business name is.
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Did you find this article on how to name your creative business useful? Then tell us in the comments box below. Or tell us why you gave your business name it has. These always make for interesting stories too.
Are you worried that your creative products or designs are too expensive?
Are you not selling as much as you would like to because your clients tell you that you are too expensive?
These concerns are fairly common. Here are 8 ways to respond next time you hear a client say that you are too expensive …
Because YES it is up to YOU which response you use.
Response 1: Say nothing at all
There is no reason why you should feel the need to defend yourself.
So, don’t respond.
And stop thinking about it. And stop taking it personally either!
In fact, seasoned negotiators very often use this ‘stay quiet’ technique, as the other party (often less experienced) will feel uncomfortable with silence, and they start talking, hereby often lowering their negotiation power.
So next time: smile nicely but say nothing. They probably don’t know any better.
Response 2: Say in your most friendly & confident voice: ‘Yes, you are right’.
(Top tip: the success of this one all depends on your tone of voice!)
Your work is high quality, an original idea or design.
You have taken years to develop your skills, so yes: it is expensive.
And worth every penny!
It might be that your client might not (yet) understand the real value of your work, your skills, your materials.
So is it time that you start educating your potential clients of your worth? Instead of getting frustrated and talking yourself down?
Educating and reaching out to the right clients is part of your job if you want to create a successful creative business.
If they are buying a unique piece of craft of which there is only one in the world …
If you have spent many years improving your skills as a jeweller, ceramicist or illustrator …
If you are a highly skilled designer who has helped business clients become much more successful and confident because of your design skills …
If they are buying a future heirloom that has been lovingly created and which will be enjoyed for decades or even centuries to come …
In all of these cases you and your work are worth it!
Get into action: Show your value to your clients
How can you start to share with your audience & clients the value of your work, the creative processes and time involved? Get creative! Educating your ideal clients is often the crucial first step to getting better sales and commissions.
Get creative rather than defensive and frustrated!
Present yourself and your work in the best possible way. Use a professional photographer. Create a professional brand. Improve your website.
Share videos about what’s involved in your creative process on your website and on social media. Share your true passion and talent and the skill involved.
Write blog posts with detailed case studies to share your passion and customer care skills, as well as your creative skills and clever design solutions.
Present yourself in high-quality venues or online boutiques with your peers, where there can’t be any doubt that you are a very talented creative and where potential buyers are more likely to appreciate your work.
Let the world know that you are top class. Share your education and exhibitions on a CV, make a stockist list or event list available, show high-quality images of you at work.
If you communicate and present your work at the right level, consistently and professionally, then your potential clients will realise it’s worth it. It’s not necessarily about real value, but about perceived value.
What will you do to start educating your clients? Let us know in the comments box below.
Response 3: Ask your client: ‘What makes you say that?’
(And yes, once again … the success of being able to pull this one off all depends on the right tone of voice!)
Doing events and talking directly with potential clients is a great way to find out more about them, and to discover what motivates your clients but also what stops them from purchasing. Ask questions in an inquisitive (non-aggressive or frustrated!) way to let them open up to you. You can learn so much from this!
If you listen to their objections carefully then you can find out how potential clients perceive your work.
You can respond to potential misconceptions by answering their questions clearly or by making strategic changes in your positioning or presentation. Add a FAQ on your website, improve the quality of your website and images, talk about the creative process more in your product descriptions.
It might be that your potential client doesn’t know what it takes to run a successful creative business and what the true value is of your handmade products or design services, so this is a great opportunity to educate them.
Many people don’t know what’s involved in running a successful creative business or what it takes to bring a product successfully to the marketplace. They might never have thought about how their ceramic mugs or plates are produced, how long it takes to create that handwoven scarf of yours or that you have 15 years experience in designing websites for businesses that increase their sales by 25% on average. So you need to tell them!
Or it might be that your potential client really needs to think about their purchase. Because it is expensive and because they don’t purchase that often, they may need to discuss it with others or they like browsing and looking for nice things for their home. When we were refurbishing our attic a couple of years ago I spent many months looking and comparing for just the right sofa, paintings, and rugs for our space. Your clients are not trying to be difficult, it’s part of the process to make purchasing decisions, and asking questions is perfectly normal.
Sometimes the might be right that your work is too expensive …
But if a trade buyer or seasoned collector says that your work is too expensive, then take note because they know what something is worth!
It’s also very common for new designers and craftspeople to be too expensive to sell their work to trade. It’s very likely that you are slower than more seasoned creatives, and you might not be aware of price terminologies and calculations for trade. If you want to sell wholesale in the longer term, then you might need to focus first on selling to consumers, become more efficient and effective in your working methods over time, so that your prices become more competitive for retailers. Because if a retailer purchases your products then their markup will double or triple the retail price that the consumer will pay, and what you need to charge too. You need to be aware of the calculations trade buyers use to take this into account.
Response 4: Ask your client: ‘What’s your budget?’
If your client is commenting on the price then they are often already in a ‘buying mood’, or at least they are considering your work. And that is a good sign!
If they are looking to buy they will often have a budget in mind. If not, then they might (not yet) be ready to buy anyway. So asking for their budget is a great way to find out how serious they are at this stage about purchasing.
If they give you a budget you can explain what you could do within their budget. You could show them a similar product or commission at that price level. If you do this in some detail in writing in the form of a design brief and quote, then that sets very clear, and professional expectations from the start, and stops wasting your and your clients’ time.
Get into action: Find it difficult to talk about money with your clients?
Do you find it difficult to ask clients about their budget? You are not the only creative who finds that difficult.
Rather than asking them only about their budget, you can instead ask them various questions: What are they really looking for? What’s the style they are looking for? Is it for a special occasion? Who is it for? What’s their time frame? And then also: what’s their budget?
Wrapping up the financial question with other questions can be really useful. And it will help you to get rid of the time wasters!
Response 5: Ask yourself: ‘Has my client actually said that, or was that me thinking that?’
Very often (newish) designers and makers worry that they are too expensive. That they themselves would not be able to afford their own work.
But … you are not your own client!
Make sure that you are dealing with the facts and not with your own worries or insecurities about the value of your work.
Get into action: Stop under-valueing yourself!
Many creatives don’t charge enough for their work, and often find talking or thinking about money and selling hard.
You need to start working on that, as otherwise it will be an ongoing issue and it will be very hard to create a successful creative business. I love suggesting books that can help you with this:
I highly recommend this money mindset book by journalist Barbara Stanny called ‘Overcoming Underearning’,which is a very thought-provoking book about your thoughts around money and how they impact on your ability to ask for the right price. It’s one of my most recommended books.
Also check out the book Resilience by creative business coach Mark McGuinness, which deals with the challenges of being a professional creative.
Response 6: Ask yourself: ‘Is cost an ‘easy’ excuse?’
So your client has said that you are too expensive.
But is that actually true? Are you too expensive?
For many people who are buying something mentioning the cost is often the easiest way outif they don’t want it.
What they actually mean when they say you are too expensive is …
‘Re-doing my website is a lot of hassle, maybe it can wait’,
‘I can’t make my mind up, let’s wait till after Christmas’,
‘Will my husband like this bright red necklace too?’,
‘Maybe cousin John can do my photos cheaper’, …
So do dig a little deeper and don’t always believe their word for it!
They might have wanted to be kind to you, and used cost as an excuse, while frankly, they were never that interested in the first place …
The real reason wasn’t actually your price but they weren’t convinced yet that they needed it enough in their life.
Are you showing and talking to the right customers who really want what you create and sell, who can afford it and are happy to spend right now?
Response 7: Ask yourself: ‘Are you selling in the right place, to the right people?’
Pricing your products or services isn’t easy, because it often comes down to where you want to position yourself.
Pricing is relative – what might be perceived ‘expensive’ in one place, isn’t in another place (especially true online when you sell on marketplaces such as Etsy or online boutiques, but also at craft markets were people try to haggle more often than in shops or at craft fairs.)
So, if you are considered to be too expensive then do more research into where your peers are showing and selling, what their price levels are and start showing in places more suitable for your pricing and positioning.
Response 8: Tell yourself: ‘If your clients never tell you that you are too expensive, then you are probably too cheap.’
I got this advice a couple of years ago and realised it’s very true.
Be prepared for a little bit of negotiating, especially when dealing with trade buyers, as it’s part of the game. It’s nothing personal, it’s how some people do business.
And … start showing your work in places where people appreciate your creative work and talent! What is expensive in one place might not be elsewhere!
How do you (honestly!) respond when people tell you that your creative products or services are too expensive? What will you do (or stop doing!) next time a client thinks you are too expensive? We would love to hear from you in the comments box below.
Want to increase the prices of your jewellery, textiles, photographs or designs? Double your prices or fees even?
But are you worried that you will disappoint your clients? Or that they won’t buy from you anymore?
Many creatives worry about increasing their prices. But the fact is that most creatives don’t charge enough!
So, what are the professional ways to increase your prices or design or commissioning fees? Here are my 8 ways to increase your prices confidently, without losing any clients!
1. Warn your existing clients in advance
It’s always good to be professional with your existing clients. Let them know in advance that you will increase your prices, and when this will happen. You don’t have to give them any reason why you want to increase your prices (see our blog post with 8 good reasons to increase your prices here), and there is no need to defend yourself either!
But it is professional to let them know in advance that you are going to increase your prices at a given time. It will build professional and trustworthy relationships.
And in fact …. your price increase might even create a sales opportunity for you! By getting in touch with your clients about an upcoming price increase might actually spur them into action to buy or order before your prices go up, or simply reminds them of you and they may place an order! It’s a ‘trick’ that many businesses use.
2. Only increase your prices for new clients (to start with)
If you offer a creative service then you might like to keep your existing clients on your older, lower rate, but increase your prices or rates for new clients.
It’s far easier to raise your design fee or hourly rates if you are delivering design services (e.g. commissions, workshops, design work, freelancing) than when you are supplying creative products, because services are more intangible and therefore harder to compare with each other.
Plus you might not publish your prices as openly as creative product-based businesses.
3. Increase your prices in January
It’s very common to increase your prices in January, especially if your business or material costs have gone up (think about the constantly fluctuating gold price) due to economic circumstances and inflation. Many businesses increase their prices by a certain percentage without batting an eyelid! So what’s stopping you as a creative?
Having a sale in January to get rid of old stock is a great idea and then you can increase your prices afterwards.
4. Stop selling old stock and launch a new collection!
One of the easiest ways to avoid disgruntled clients is to discontinue certain products that don’t sell well or aren’t profitable.
Many creatives are a bit like hoarders and keep making more and more and more …
GET INTO ACTION: What are your best sellers?
Get into the healthy habit of reviewing your products and collections at least once a year and check out what your bestsellers and most profitable products or services are. Don’t guess, do factual research!
Become aware of the so-called Pareto-principle: 20% of your products generate 80% of your profits!
As part of your annual clear out make a decision to discontinue 20-25% of your existing range, identify some gaps in your collections and add new variations to your bestselling items (e.g. a change in colour or use different materials?), and then relaunch your collection at a higher price level.
This is a far better and more strategic way to create new work and launch successfully. You can get in touch with your previous clients (both trade and consumers) to let them know you are stopping certain products (see tip 1 above) but are introducing new complementary products or colours. This is a great way to upsell and get happy existing clients to purchase from you again.
5. Are your branding & photography in line with your price positioning?
Why can others charge more than you can?
(Great question! Think about it for a moment.)
Often the answer is that they have a better profile and branding than you! It takes time and dedicated effort to improve your profile but it does work and is very effective in the long term. A good starting point is to improve your brand and photography, which can be a relatively quick way to increase the perceived value of your creative products and you can, therefore, raise your prices!
REAL LIFE STORY: How our client tripled her sales
A couple of years ago I worked with a textile artist as part of Get Clients Now marketing course. She had an illustrious 20-year career but sales and commissions had gone down considerably. Together we worked on identifying who her clients really were, and the exact galleries and high-end events she wanted to sell at. She started working on a database with the right interior designers, galleries, commissioners, collectors, and journalists. She realised that she needed to improve her website and that she wanted new images of her work, so we introduced her to a great photographer who created stunning interior images for her website and social media. She took nearly half of her old work off her site. And when she launched her new site she was confident enough to double her prices. She was selected to take part in three major events too, which further increased her profile – and confidence!
Guess what? Last year she sold three times as much as she had done in the year before. And nobody questioned her prices – not even once!
The key to increasing your prices? Boost your confidence and raise the perceived value.
6. Are you selling in the right places?
Pricing is relative. What’s expensive for one person is very affordable for another.
If your work is very high-end and luxurious then selling it on Etsy isn’t probably going to work because visitors there expect a lower price.
If you are selling at a local open-air craft market then the price you can charge is limited, purely because visitors don’t expect to find good quality work there (unless it is an event with a good reputation of course …)
If you are selling low-priced products at a well-known craft event then people-in-the-know will think ‘What’s wrong with it?’ rather than ‘That’s a bargain!’.
Galleries in big cities can often charge more than local galleries.
Indeed, the places you sell and what you can charge really depend on each other.
If you are selling in the wrong place then clients might not value your work, and therefore it’s too expensive (for them).
GET INTO ACTION: Focus on your ideal clients
Think about the price you want to charge, and then work out: “Where do the clients that WANT my work AND can AFFORD it shop? Do I know the SPECIFIC shops, boutiques, online retailers and events that my ideal clients go to?”
If people in your local area can’t afford your work then it’s time to start looking further afield and find people in other areas who are interested and who can afford it.
Are you worried that clients might think you are too expensive? Read this blog post.
7. Get more confident. Stop undercharging!
So, what’s one of the most important aspects to changing your prices?
Frankly, it has a lot to do with you simply making the decision that you are worth it and getting the confidence to charge more!
Of course, that’s often easier said then done …
Many creatives undercharge for their creative products and services … for many different reasons! If you struggle with charging the right amount, seeing the value that you create for yourself, or you struggle with money hang-ups and your confidence then I highly recommend this book by journalist Barbara Stanny Overcoming Underearning. It’s one of my most recommended books and although I am pretty confident about money I did get some great insights from it about my money mindset and worth too. Go on, sort yourself out. You are worth it!
8. Some clients might actually like it that you are charging more …
The weird thing is that increasing your prices isn’t all that bad …
If your work is appealing to collectors they might actually love it when you increase your prices … their collection is rising in value and they know that they backed a winner early on!
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Have we inspired you to get into action to increase your prices confidently without losing clients? Or do you want to share with us how you increased your own prices? Please let us know in the comments box below.
