Artist in the material world

Credit Cards - Make It Easy for People to Buy Art

2011-11-05T23:11:00.002-04:00

People buy impulsively. Make it easy for people to buy art from you. Get a Credit Card system.

How much cash do you walk around with? Probably not much. Here, in the United States, in 2011, many of us have debit and credit card and that's how we pay for gas, lunch and even parking meters. We don't walk around with a checkbook.

If you're serious about selling, don't make it hard on your clients.

At AvantGarb, we create custom mascots. It took me a long time to get a credit card system. I thought I was too small to need one. Fortunately, I work with pushy people in advertising, PR & marketing who speak their mind with force and clarity.

Once, many years ago, one of those pushy people asked what kind of business I was running - if I didn't take credit cards. I took offense for a day. The next day I made bunches of calls - to my bank, to other artist friends, and I got something set-up with Cambridge Payment System. I have a wonderful consultant there, Lois Jennings, who checks in with me pretty often.

I'm a happy mascot maker, because with a credit card system, it's easy for clients to pay AvantGarb.

...and when AvantGarb gets paid, everybody gets paid.

Of course, love makes the world go round, but on time payments are pretty nice too.

Art & Shipping

2010-08-17T21:26:00.007-04:00

Remember.

To have an arty biz, you have to be arty.

....and remain arty.

....and keep up with the times.

To grow an arty biz you have to finish and ship on time.

the arty, biz babe

I'm Just Like Every Other Boss

2010-08-05T00:16:00.000-04:00

Aw geez - arrogant me.

I thought I was going to be a different kind of boss...don't we all?

I was going to be the one who understood the needs of the people who worked for me. I was going to be the one who really "gets" artistic priorities. I was going to be everybody's idea of the Perfect Boss - understanding, sympathetic, and the Queen of Flex Time.

Who do I think I am? Why would I be the exception? why did I think I was so special?

I turns out, I am like all small biz bosses. I want to get the product beautifully finished and shipped - in AvantGarb's case, that product is really cute, fuzzy mascots.

I have wonderful, talented, well-educated, experienced, smart, funny, good-looking people working for me. Some have dreams of designing for significant plays & films. Maybe they will.

Right now, however, they work for AvantGarb and there are schedules that have to be met.

I love talking about what's new in theater, film and the arts. My employees keep me up to date. My empoyees make my life richer and I love them for it.

....but, AvantGarb creates mascots and ships them out on time. We are not an art organization. Anything that gets in the way of production & shipping is a problem.

Any extracurricular outings, like theater design meetings during the day, are a problem. As a small biz owner, I have enough problems. Unless its a really big problem, I don't want to know it.

All bosses/small biz owners are the same. We're growing and nuturing our businesses. We have enough worries; getting the job done and making payroll.

Some people have been with AvantGarb for many years. Other for just a few weeks.

I like a team. I don't like a bunch of individuals who don't have AvantGarb's best interest at heart.

I used to think I was exceptional, creative, insightful & nice. But really, I'm just like every other small biz boss.

Payroll

2010-06-22T23:01:00.001-04:00

In art school, its hard to get basic business information. Here's an easy little tidbit to save on time consuming calculator time

Get a payroll service.

When you start hiring people with some regularity to work in your arty biz, it's time to get a payroll service. At AvantGarb we use Prime Pay.

A payroll service:

makes out the checks - real or virtual -
pays all the taxes, social security and whatever else gets deducted---ok they don't pay the taxes, they just swoop the money out of your account and send it to wherever it needs to go.
sends all of the end of the year W-2s
understands all of the quarterly reports that have to be done
keeps you sane
...and it doesn't cost much

I love my payroll service. You'll love yours too!

Pete Seeger - A True Blue American

2009-12-06T23:38:00.000-05:00

I saw Pete Seeger when I was in junior high at Carnegie Hall. In my mind he is the leading peacenik, the great folksinger, the ardent bring-us-all-together balladeer.

Now I'm watching Pete Seeger's 90th birthday special on PBS. I've been listening to the guy since forever. His voice is a bit wobbly, but his spirit is strong. He looks the same as ever. The long, lanky body, the flowered, peacenik shirt, the humble cap. He still plucks the the banjo, singing with chin jutting out, with pure exuberance, making the whole audience his chorus & back-up singers.

I remember riding a bus past the big NY public library - the one with the lions. Pete Seeger got onto the bus to take it where ever he was going - same peacenik, flowered shirt, same humble cap.

Listen to my 90 year old hero sing Amazing Grace.

Biz, blessings & a martini

2009-10-13T23:08:00.002-04:00

AvantGarb has been a growing, productive business for a really long time.

I started AvantGarb in my Berkeley, California garage when my youngest daughter was about 3 months old.

Month after month I have made money, and those dollars have increased through the years.

AvantGarb is a real, ongoing operation.

Even though we have been making money, and I've been paying my mortgage, buying shoes, clothing my children, getting my hair done and my eyebrows tamed, I still think, it could be over tomorrow.

This is crazy thinking.

When I am sitting with a curved needle, stitching yellow muppet fleece to green muppet fleece, I have taken to counting my blessing.

Here are some of them:

I have a really grand family. They keep me involved and interested in their lives. My husband is funny, handsome and sexy. My daughters are gorgeous and glorious.
I love my biz - making fuzzy critters that add a great dollop of fun to the landscape.
I've traveled everywhere--okay, not everywhere, but a lot of places - Kenya, India, China, Mexico, Mexico, Mexico, Taiwan, Egypt, and oh yeah, Europe. I feel fluent in the world. I like to be places where I can't speak the language.
... however, I can speak Spanish, stutter through French and be polite in Swahili
Every Monday I look forward to the week ahead.
Every Friday I come home to a really good martini.
I love going to church on Sundays, singing hymns w/ the congregation, listening to the sermon and being blessed for the coming week with the benediction.
I love reading the New York Times and napping on couch on Sunday afternoons.
I have gotten bit of fame for doing what I do.
...and friends. My galpals are coming to AvantGarb's new studio tomorrow morning for bagels and babble.

I am truly blessed. I have imagined my life, and it became real.

I suspect the story of other small biz people is similar.

The Auditor

2009-09-25T21:14:00.006-04:00

The State of Indiana decided to send an auditor to AvantGarb. Having an auditor---and our auditor, by the way was a delight, as a person---is really a creative buzz killer.

The auditor was at our studio for 2 full days. I probably lost 4 days of work. The day before she came I scurried around, collecting lots of pages and files full of numbers. For the 2 days she auditing us, the feng shui of my mind was ruined. Then she returned 2 days later to tell me the results of her audit.

I was never able to get into the the swirl of creation. I make the heads for the mascots here in MascotLand. When I'm in the thick of creation, its like I'm on my own planet. There are the materials, the worktable and me. Sometimes I feel like God in the Garden of Eden---oh gosh, is that an arrogant image.

The thing about being in business, is that you are in business and have to deal with the beauracracy of the larger, mainstream world. What I consider the minutia of business, others consider the nuts and bolts of business.

All in all, I'll pick difficult clients over an audit.

Twitter & the Twittosphere

2009-07-15T11:17:00.008-04:00

Hmmm...to twitter or not to twitter---awww, c'mon, join the twitterati!

Of all the social networking sites available, twitter is absolutely, beyond a doubt the most fun.

Now, of course, as a slightly grumpy artist---although de-grumping a bit everyday--I had my own, pretty boring rant about how silly twitter was.

Twitter is silly, which is a strength. It is also smart, compelling and mind-expanding. I am connected to a grand population of mascot people (remember, my arty biz is mascot-making) , marketing people, philosophers,news mongers, fashionistas and my Dad!

One of the people I'm following is Guy Kawasaki wrote recently, great companies are founded on the desire to make meaning—and not necessarily to make money. Sounds like art to me.

Here's the link:
http://beta.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/the-world/article?postguid=832894cd-cde1-413f-bd03-68a70ac49e28

A Dozen Don'ts for Entrepreneurs

2009-07-01T11:09:00.003-04:00

I've been twittering away and learning things. I came across this article - A Dozen Don'ts---good advice!

Here's the link:
http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/06/30/a-dozen-donts-for-entrepreneurs/

These economic times!

2009-06-18T21:45:00.003-04:00

Grrrr!

I have a lot of thoughts about pricing, marketing, promoting the work, but oy vey! these are tough times!

Am I the only small biz person who is working all of the time and kinda staying in the same spot?

Marketing - It's a Conversation

2009-05-22T16:20:00.002-04:00

man oh man---as far as I can tell, marketing is really a conversation. It is a relationship, and it had better not be dysfunctional.

At AvantGarb we chat, email, snail mail, tweet, blog and send out e-newsletters. We make renderings, chat some more, tweak this and that---chat some more.

I have come to think that business is what makes the world go round. As a pure artist, we make visible our singular vision, and if that vision makes it in a public venue, where people see it, experience it, react to it---that, alone, is a completely marvelous.

Art is the material world is a collaboration.

Marketing is a continuing conversation.

Common Language Contracts

2009-05-22T15:51:00.008-04:00

We are so fluent in what we do. If yours is an arty biz that creates custom projects/pieces, chances are pretty good that your client/customer really doesn't quite know what they're purchasing---or what the heck you're talking about. They aren't fluent in the language of mural painting, mascot making, school performance, storytelling, whatever.

We use lotsa different fabrics, at AvantGarb, when we make mascots. Cavalier as I am, I thought everyone knew what lycra/spandex was. They don't. Now we call it a heavy-duty, stretchy, athletic fabric.

I'm not fluent in computery talk. All of the computer geek guys around AvantGarb try to speak in the simplest, most remedial terms to me. These are just a couple of examples about how we speak the same language, but don't understand each other.

...so when you think everybody has agreed on what will be done where, and for how much, it's a good idea to write it down . Your client may see something in the description and cost they thought they understood, but really don't understand.

Although we speak the same language, we don't all understand the nuances or each others WorkSpeak. A contract may not be poetry. Ideally, it's clear, concise as possible, and blunt.

Here's a really simple sample of a contract. If you forget something important, it will become an issue later. The point of a contact is that everybody understands what is expected.

In a contract we try to find each other's common language.

Art Cred

2009-05-05T22:58:00.002-04:00

Fabric has always been the thing that moved me---its my medium. I saw a monumental, soft-sculpture Claes Oldenburg exhibit at MoMA when I was young, I was hooked on the creative possibilities of fabric and art. The giant, soft typewriter was just great and floppy and off kilter. Oh yeah, and the giant tube of toothpaste---ah, the 60's!

So, Oldenburg is partially responsible for my meandering path to art and business.Here's a little synopsis:

Friends of the Rag (FOR) in Seattle. We were a band of artists who put on really grand, arty productions at museums, bars, country fairs, society galas, even opening of the aquarium---where I was a Sexy Salmon!
Craft fair where I sold Soft sculpture plants in soft pots
NEA grant and a moved to NYC.
Concieved and produced a series of costume performances like Fashion Passion, Fashion Fever, Fashion Accident at St Marks-in-the-Bowery Church.--- Undercover Work at the Avant Garde Festival---She Shops for Bargains on Canal St.
I was a studio artist at PS 1 (now part of MoMA) way, way,way back in the day when artists were awarded studios there---What a place!
Worked at the NewMuseum and at MoMA,
Met a guy (Jim), fell in love (still in love), got married, had a kid (Annie!) moved to Berkeley
Costumed for Beach Blanket Babylon
Had another kid (Katie!)
Started AvantGarb!!!! - in my Berkely CA garage---where else would a little biz like mine start?

Would I have wandered down this path without Claus Oldenburg?

How much does it cost?

2009-04-22T22:37:00.008-04:00

At AvantGarb, my little mascot biz, there are many different jobs---designers, pattern drafters, stitchers, sales people, painters, IT people, web gurus, the HR department, the benefit package, accountants. estimaters, and oh-my-goodness-this floor-needs-to-be-swept people. At one time or other, all of those people were me. Sometimes, they still are.

When deciding how much to charge attach a cost to each job. some jobs may be $35/hr, some may have a set $500 cost, some may be $125/hour, some $75/hour. Even if one person does all of the jobs, attach a cost to each specialty.

Put together a spreadsheet to get a sense for the real cost and extent of the project. Attached is a sample spread sheet that AvantGarb uses. It simple, yet it gives us a handle on costs and time. A spread sheet is for the business's information. It is not a document to share with clients.

Taxes

2009-04-16T21:57:00.009-04:00

Running a business takes concentration. Don't lose concentration by obsessing over taxes.

Hire an accountant.

courage & marketing

2009-04-02T19:57:00.006-04:00

I'm a grumpy, introverted artist. In my weaker moments, I have this delusional idea, that people will somehow find me and recognize my talent---really, isn't this everyone's desire? Don't we all think we're magical creatures?

...well, we are all magical creatures---and that's where marketing comes in. Marketing is telling people about how the magical product/art/stuff we make will enhance the client's product/organization/life.

These times are great for the grumpy introverted artists. Most communication is done in cyberspace---e-mail and twittering and blogging is the way most business is done today. However, I love actually connecting people in real time and meeting with them to get advice or ---ohmygoodness---actually selling a mascot---or an awfully big puppet.

Now, I almost, completely, most-of-the-time, adore marketing---I get a kick outta the pull and push of the relationships I have with clients. Marketing art is a social network.

Flirtation

2009-03-31T20:02:00.001-04:00

Marketing any business---arty or just plain old big business---is really about conversation---or maybe flirtation.

getting the word out

2009-03-25T10:14:00.004-04:00

Mom & best friends might know you're in some sorta arty biz, but if they are the only ones who know, you will soon be outta business.

Tell absolutely everybody who might even be remotely interested about your business and what you're selling.

Word-of mouth only a small part of a marketing plan!

A targeted way to get the word out is through electronic newsletters through websites like ConstantContact. Do status updates on FaceBook, join LinkedIn and learn to Twitter---this is advice I should follow---I'm going to join Twitter this afternoon and start tweeting!

Blast the world with news of your business. Follow up with phone calls and e-mail. Make appointment to meet with people who might be able to send biz your way.

Send serious or wacky bits of this and that--anything connected with the idea of your biz.

...oh yeah, and have fun getting the word out.

Art & biz - the 1st step.

2009-03-15T19:00:00.002-04:00

There are a few artist who win the "Famous Artist" lottery and actually make a living making their art.

This blog is for the rest of us who make a living outside the art world. We are the artists in the material world and we don't have MBA's!

...but we do have imagination and ideas. However, the path from artist to business can be circuitous.

When I started my business, AvantGarb, I thought I was going to be a costume design studio for avant garde theater. It seems the cosmos had a slightly different idea. AvantGarb's first job was to create a large, wearable chocolate chip cookie for a very small cookie company, my second job was Captain H-P for Hewlett-Packard.

It turned out, I was in the mascot business.

The big decision is to make your art work become your business.

There will be a few twists and turns. You will probably tweak and refine your original idea. We tweak and refine our art. That's how artists do business.