Art Biz & Hiring

When first started AvantGarb (we're a custom, mascot making company),  I was the only employee. I did everything, designed, made the mascots, shipped them, did the marketing ---everything.

Quickly, I realized I was going to have to hire people. Just as employees have a learning curve at a new job, I had a learning curve as a boss. I'm still learning.

Hiring people is a puzzle. In a an arty biz like mine, creative decisions and problem solving are constant. Intuitive, improvisational communication is the lifeblood of the business.

We make mascots, which are like costumes and also like really, really big props. There is a huge amount of something I call, "non-specific engineering" that goes into them. We're engineering with foam, zippers and quick release buckles. It's a type of construction that requires whims of imagination and flights of fancy. 

Those with the most experience may not be the best ones for the job. 

Yup, it's true. We can teach someone to sew ---after all, sewing machines are really just power tools, and power tools are fun! It's hard to teach someone to take courageous, creative leaps
 - creative leaps and courage are so much harder than learning to sew.

When I started hiring people, I was interested in experience in making costumes and education. My hiring requirements have evolved over time. Education is nice, but I also want to know that there is something behind the education---like the habit of work. 
I hire from a wide range of sources. Currently we have some puppet/performance art people, theater prop people, a philosophy major who really understands interior, mascot structures, a cosplay person, a fashion person ---who always wears great clothes, a 2D artist who has a real knack for mascot shoes and accessories (in mascotdom, tails are accessories) and a former bartender who is totally charming on the phone and online, and understands quickbooks and social media.

It is a magical group. I look forward to working with them every day

 

Be Generous

It is tempting in a teensy business to keep all of the cash in the business ---to keep investing in the business to make it sustainable. 

Let me argue in favor of generosity. 

This has been a good year for my little business, AvantGarb. Besides giving a few raises, and paying myself just about every payday, we have been able to give money away. 

We make wonderful big mascot heads and bodies. It's a joyous business. We try to spread the joy by donating to some cool, do-good orgs. 

Some cool, do-good orgs we support 

We give to the Heifer Project, one of the coolest organizations I know. They give animals to people for whom an animal makes an economic difference. If you're at a loss for what to give the person who has everything, may I suggest the Heifer Project. You can give a hive of bees, a bunch of chicks and even an ox in their name, to support people around the world for whom a bunch of fluffy chicks is a big deal.

I'm an artist in business. In the interest of promoting the arts and entrepreneurship, AvantGarb is an ardent supporter of CreativeCapital, an organization that promotes innovative and adventuresome artists with funding, counsel and career development. 

Sometimes I even get on a plane & fly to NYC go to their wonderful parties where I get filled to the brim with art, conversation and pure delight.

 Other do-good, feel-good things we do 

During the summer, we spend some time working with children, in something we call the Handmade Parade. 

The children make big critters with cardboard and paint, tune up the kazoo band, practice some moves and parade through the neighborhood.

 Our Awfully Big Puppets have been making yearly appearances at the PRIDE Parade.

Our holiday balls and shiny, holiday trees appear in community parades

Generosity is good for the heart and soul.


©Jennifer Smith 2014

How to keep your soul, make art, do biz and tell a story

How to keep your soul, make art, do biz and tell a story.

...of course, that's the kicker. I read recently that truly successful people don't have a Plan B.

I never had a plan A. 

When I was young, this is what I knew:

I knew art made me swoon, and made me stand up straight and pay attention.

I liked cool clothes, big cities, funky apartments, meals with friends, and boys.

I liked stumbling through foreign countries and foreign languages.

It's a recipe for a rich life. 

...and a life filled with stories. I feel like a historian for my generation. I protested the war in Vietnam in DC & got maced. I met my first big deal boyfriend at a "Peace-in" at Cornell University.

I lived in Seattle when it was cheap and full of artists and punks. I made costumes with a costume performance group, Friends of the Rag. I was an artist in NYC (with a studio at P.S.1) during the disco years  and before AIDS broke our hearts. 

I celebrated my 19th birthday on top of the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico.

I can start sentences with phrases like, "When I was in Mumbai" ....or "compared to Shanghai, NYC looks like Colonial Williamsburg" 

However, not to seem too exotic, Thirty-four years ago, I married the handsomest of the boys. I have 2 fascinating, twenty-something/30 something daughters, and a funny, arty business that keeps my fingers and my brain nimble. I live in Indianapolis, Indiana and I'm a church lady.

After a couple decades making mascots as the Queen of Fuzz at AvantGarb, my soul is intact, art makes me swoon, biz is good, and ohmygoodness do I have stories to tell.

Get a Payroll Service

Most art students dream of making their mark through their art, and that often means they are going to step into the small business world.

When there is too much work for one person to handle, the hiring begins. It's an exciting time for a small, art biz.

When people are hired, they have to be paid.

Anyone who works in my little mascot-making business, AvantGarb, is put on the payroll immediately. This mean we're taking out taxes, Social Security and whatever else is required.

Here's an easy little tidbit to save on time-consuming calculator or Quickbooks 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 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

A payroll service keeps everything neat and clean, so you can pay attention to getting the work done and bringing in more work.

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

Credit Cards - Make It Easy for People to Buy Art

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.