How many do it all yourself?

[SNYD]

Yea wondering how many of you out there do it all yourself, meaning, make your products, market them, find new accounts, order supplies, book keeping, taxes, pay bills, you know all the stuff it takes to run a successful business.

I have done it this way for the past 7 years and I am just burning out. It may be that I stay home with my 4 year old, so I don't get a full work day like most, but it just seems impossible to stay afloat these days. I barely have time to make what I can in the shop, let alone come up with new ideas, find new places to sell my work, ect.........
I have a huge list of things to do and no time to do any of it. On top of it all I have chronic pain issues, so even on days like today where I have the whole day to work, I don't have the strength to get in the shop to get stuff made.
At this point I am considering dropping out of the game completely, but have no idea what I would do otherwise, maybe go back to school and become a programmer or something that I don't have to try and sell thing directly to people.

Anyway just wanted to here some opinions from all you great people on here.
Thanks
Nate

[p.j.]

i do all too, but im a piper. it is easier to stay afloat with constant demand.

i feel for all the artists out there who only make art in these weird economic times

[sasch74]

Sounds very familiar. I´m selfemployed for only 1,5 yrs. now but already can´t keep up with the book keeping, shop maintenance, material supply, shipping, marketing that´s got to be done. Got two kids and a beautiful wife I want/need to spend time with, tight schedules all the time... Lots of work in different fields can also lead to mistakes, which lead to even more work etc. I´m really happy to have found somebody to help me with simple prodo in the shop, leaves a little extra space for skill forming.

In the end I think the thing is that you really have to love the glass with all its aspects. I firmly believe that all hardships will be rewarded sometimes!

Best wishes!

[SNYD]

i do all too, but im a piper. it is easier to stay afloat with constant demand.

i feel for all the artists out there who only make art in these weird economic times

Seems like all I make is pipes lately, but the one account I have only wants $5 prodo. Do you have a distributor or just have a lot of orders froms shows?
I love making glass, even when dealing with pain. It's all the other stuff that just plain burns me out, but doesn't seem like I could pay someone to do it for me either.

[RedToroBoro]

Maybe go to your local collage and see if you could get an intern in the arts major or business student for that aspect. and see if they get credits for it. Maybe a high school ROP student. Just thinking out of the box, maybe, could get the help and employee cost down. Apprentice

Hope you can keep doing what your doing.

[zine74zcv]

Not to many smoke shops in utah huh? Start making phone calls out of state email and txt pics to shop owners but this only adds to your workload the only way to make it as a lampworker ive found is dedicating 40 a week to the torch and selling the glass in your free time haha

[hngntuf]

Book keeping? . . . taxes? . . . um . . . er . . .uh . . Let me get back to you on that.

Stephen

[Ronin]

I feel your pain, brotha. I do the work, the sales, the "bookkeeping", everything. Direct marketing to shops, a couple shows here and there, plus whatever direct sales I do. Add to that the fact that I have a day job and I work in music promotions a few nights a month... there just aren't enough hours in the day. So far my operation isn't very big, only being in four shops to date, but I still can't work fast enough. Good thing I don't have kids.

[Robert Mickelsen]

Nate - Your story is very familiar. I recognize several things that are wrong with your business model. Fixing them calls for some difficult choices and more than just a little self-discipline.

1. Staying home with your 4 year old. Your time is incredibly valuable in terms of earning power, but you spend at least half of it with your child. I completely understand the appeal of this. Kids are only young once and the experience of a close connection while they are growing up is priceless. However, your business is paying a steep price for this privilege. If this is creating a problem, the long-term penalty you pay may negate all the wonderful things you gain by spending so much time with your child. You might find scaling back your role as a kid-sitter may solve a number of your other problems without completely divorcing yourself from your child. Hire a part-time sitter.

2. Working at home. The problem is not just the kid. Home is home and work is work, unless they happen at the same time and place. What happens is that you never get all the way to work or all the way home. You are always stuck in a kind of in-between place where neither system works as well as it should. To solve this problem you have to create a clear delineation between "home" and "work", a line you do not cross (except in emergencies). This requires either a lot of self-discipline or a separate work place removed from the home.

3. Getting organized and sticking to a schedule. OMG, the whole point of being self-employed is the freedom, right? Wrong. Self-employment requires *more* discipline and organization, not less. My advice is to buy a large whiteboard and hang it in your studio where you cannot avoid looking at it and make it into a weekly or monthly calendar. Fill every day with the stuff that has to be done to meet all your obligations and then STICK TO IT. Set up times and days to do the bookkeeping, ordering, etc. Make sure you write in down time - weekends with the family, vacations, etc. The whiteboard will help you to see and understand the big picture and will make you a smarter, less stressed, more efficient, and more productive worker.

4. Hire help. If demands on your time are so intense you cannot get everything done, you are failing as a business unless you get some help. Hiring an employee should increase your ability to produce so you actually end up making *more* money, not less, with an employee. Consider hiring an accountant. He will probably be faster and better at it than you are. Hire someone to do mundane work like packing orders or sweeping up around the shop. This is minimum wage stuff and you don't need to be doing it if you have so many other more important things to do.

5 Develop a long-term business plan and strategy. Decide where you want to be in ten years and start there. Work backward to the present setting shorter term goals as you go. Get down to single years, months, weeks, and finally days. Get this stuff on the whiteboard and STICK TO IT. Knowing you got that day's work done and are on track for your ten-year goal will take away a lot of the stress you are experiencing.

6. One more and I will shut up. Pricing. I bet you are underpricing your work. Most flameworkers do this to some extent. Proper pricing can be difficult and complex, but if you follow a simple formula you will always get it right. Start by figuring out your yearly overhead - your rent or mortgage or percent of your home cost if you work from home plus utilities plus insurance, etc. Overhead is the fixed cost of maintaining your workplace. Then figure out your yearly material expenses. Then add all your other expenses. Come up with a single yearly figure for how much it costs you to operate you business. Then, do the same thing with your personal expenses - the amount of money you need to live for a year. Add those two numbers together and they equal what you have to gross in a year to get by. Call this number your *minimum gross*. Divide by 12 to get a monthly figure, by 50 to get a weekly figure (allow two weeks off), and finally by 250 to get a daily figure (you get weekends off for your family). Got it? You have to decide which model, monthly, weekly or daily, works best for you. But now you have a number you have to hit every workday/week/month. How many pipes (or whatever) can you produce in that workday/week/month? Divide your minimum gross by that number and you have your *wholesale* price. If the product won't support that price it is not marketable and you should drop it or redesign it.

In summary, get organized, hire help, get disciplined. These actions will increase your productiveness, decrease your stress, and make you and your family much happier and more secure. Your kid will thank you for it (after his teen years are over, not before).

Hope this helps a little. Best of luck to you!

- RAM

[EFS]

I used to do everything and it was killing me. I made a tough choice of having my wife quit her job which was ok paying but that is where our health benefits came from. After getting through the initial change of income and teaching her Life is much more balanced. I would suggest some help for you

[LunacyMountain]

nice input mickelsen pretty much covered all the bases....

[styles1 torchlife]

I'm always pondering this balance as well. I have started to delegate to more people and it has really helped, You have to take a chance on some one. Just make sure they know your taking a chance and if it means something they will treat it with care.

I use the white board also, I totally recommend it. $15 at homedepot and 4ft x 8ft.

I would also preach that you have to learn to make glass even when you don't have orders.

For the pain try adjusting height of torch table ect. to help. I put my torch up to chin height and was a great decision.

Good luck and learn to DELEGATE

[mer]

i think robin nailed it as far as increasing your power. i would suggest that another option would be to tighten your belt and re-evaluate your priorities. i did the same thing as you, child care or working outside the home were not possibilities. those were hard years but now my daughter is grown, i am still here and i didn't compromise anything except luxuries and social life. i had a wife who was helping when not working full time so that helped but i believe you can do it if you keep your priorities focused on your child. all of the rest of this is extraneous. your kid is all that really has to come out of this undented, everything else is gravy. the gift you are giving is more precious than time or money. the damage that split priorities could cause would not be fixed by either.

[Bunyip]

Amazing advice. It applies not only to glass but to most self-employment endeavors. Very well said, Mr. Mickelsen.

[rockstar glassworks]

I also do it all myself. Luckily though, I don't have any children and I don't think the wife are going to touch this decision for a few more years, even though the biological clock is ticking.

Self-employment takes amazing discipline. Staying organized and ahead of the game is incredibly hard. I find working from home to not be too difficult though, I think the no-children part really helps. Personally I find that doing my internet/emailing/graphic design/ordering in the AM with a pre-work cup of coffee (or 3) helps organize my day. I do use the house for bathroom breaks and food though but try to keep them short. Like making sure to only watch 1 15minute episode of Adventure time, or 30 minutes tops on a lunch break.

Pricing is stupid hard. You can use formulas all you want, believe me, I do...time/materials/overhead etc. Sometimes people just don't want to buy something, or they just have to get a discount to push a huge order your way. There's always the "damn, I really need the money" situations too, for those of us who don't live in our parents basements or have trust funds. I have found that now after 10 years in the business building a brand name and in a market with increased shop competition (they've popping up everywhere here) I can raise my prices almost in line to where they should be. Well, almost, there's still a lot of competition in the glass market and I have to stay comparable to other peoples products.

I haven't hired help yet. My shop's too small and full of crap, I just don't have the sales yet to fully bring in more people, we're looking into buying a house, debating on moving into a larger shop w/retail space, and I live in a rural area and have a hard time meeting people. Let alone finding someone I can like/trust who's got the talent to do this job.

As far as book keeping goes I run everything business related from my business visa. Print out the bank statement, highlight with different colors, and it makes it easier to be a one man shop. Regular life, cash or personal bank account...business, all business account.

Always work, always. Don't have an order? Just filled a giant order? Take and art day or two, make something for yourself that you don't care about the price and remember why you do this crazy life-eating job. Then get back to work on stocking up on pieces that you know will sell. Orders will come in, they always do.

Mr. Mickelson laid out some seriously good advice for all of us.

[Julian]

I think it's far more difficult to be averagely successful at being a marble maker than to do pipes. The need for proper promotion and presentation is so much greater - you can't just walk into a store and sell a bag of production marbles.

I could tell you've been feeling a bit pressured, Nate. Hang in there! If you want to know how much more boring it is to do a computer job - even self employed - than glass, just ask. On the other hand, the time that I spent taking my computer skills to a professional level was well spent.

[SNYD]

Thank you Robert for all of this it is really great info for everyone and I really appreciate you taking the time to write it all out.

My son is the best thing I have in my life and brings me sanity in the insane world we currently live in. He is in school part time right now and will be full time in sept. the cost of his school has been really hard to keep up with. Without going to much into detail, he is speech delayed, and two months of his private school has done more for his positive progress, than a full year of public school did. Its a whole other issue that I won't jump into, but our public school system just doesn't work for everyone so I get to pay for both.

Working at home is the only way to make this work for me, if I had more overhead it would straight kill me. I am really good at separating time out in the shop vs home life, it computer stuff that I have a hard time separating because the computer is in the house.

Right now a schedule is the only thing that has gotten me this far. When my son is in school from 9 -12 I am doing all my home stuff. Pick my boy up from school and give him all my attention until mom gets home at 6. Eat dinner, and then spend all night out in the shop working till I am ready to collapse. But the schedule doesn't always work as sometimes random things happen and it makes it hard to stay to the schedule.

I have hired help and that is where my money has vaporized, paying someone to do mundane thing that I don't want to do or have time to. I have an accountant and don't have the money to pay him right now.

Business planing is probably one of my weakest points, something I need to definitely work at, but it seams with my current situation this is the part that is killing me the most. In all of my years running businesses, trying to be an artist and a business owner to me seams impossible. When I am creating the product and putting my heart and soul into it, running it like a business seams to just kill me.
I have run construction business and been very successful.
Also trying to be a business with my art just seams to eat up all the money I make. In 2007 when I started my first business for glass I sold a lot of product and took in a lot of money, but didn't make any profit, only took on debt. When I work as a person, there is less cost, and sure a bit less money taken in, but in the end always seams like I have a good chunk saved and no debt. Even after paying higher taxes as a sole proprietor I still had more take home income.
This year after much counseling with successful individuals, I started a new business to try and sell prints of my work, to create a product that was very easily reproduced and that had a much higher earning potential. I worked my ass off, invested, spent tons of time researching and trying to do it right. I probably worked 500 hours in the month of june and it just isn't working out like we planed. Which leads me to your next point.
PRICING
I am not under pricing my work, if anything I am over pricing it. And this is where the majority of my frustration is coming from. Other artists and dealers want to tell me my prices need to be higher, but when my prices are where they "should" be I sell way less because all my collectors and return customers can no longer afford my work, and I don't pick up any new higher end collectors or customers.
I just did the Utah arts festival a few weeks ago, and sold non of my prints because I was priced to high.
Here is a video of what my booth looked like http://youtu.be/8HW6XC3ni7E
And it was by no means a "slow" festival, they said they had over 80,000 people come through in four days. The only reason I didn't lose my shirt at the show is I had a case of glass as part of my booth, which almost got me thrown out of the show because I got in for digital photography not glass, even though all my photo work was of my glass, which I explained to them, and they told me it could only be 20% of my booth.

When I have had the most success with making money off of my marbles and pendants is when I can keep prices lower and sell more, and therefor make more. Now when I say lower they are still in a profitable range, just not out of most peoples range. As far as pipes go I have no control over pricing as I have to compete with everyone else in the market, so the market dictates the price a lot more than I can.
A bit of a tangent and I am not even sure that all makes sense but I will add more later.

[SNYD]

On top of it all I am just not that good of a pipe maker. Its something I kind of have a love hate relationship with. I really like working solid and that is where the majority of my skills are. Besides there is just so many really good pipe makers out there that it really makes it hard to carve a niche in the market. Being in Utah doesn't help much either.

[bildo]

One thing that has helped me is that I try to remember that I do not always have to love making things. My aunt is a potter who now is close to sixty. I was having a discussion with her about crafts as a career. She told me about a kitty cat that she sells for 200 and makes it in 30 minutes. She hates making this cat. She doesnt like the gimmicky-ness of it. Pretty much everything sucks but the money. She told me she wishes she started making it twenty years ago.

My point is that some days coming up with what to make can lead to a lack of inspiration/motivation, but there is stuff we can trudge through to pay the bills when the feeling is not there.

Procrastination is my biggest problem.

[kq9ak]

RAM- great statement - thank you

[SNYD]

Just wanted to say thank again for all the responses and thank Robert for laying it out for us all to read, and thanks for the privet message.
I just need to keep working hard and not let all the little stuff get to me.
Thanks

[Black Fire]

Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin
Everyday I'm hussellin.........................

[FredLight]

I just got my wife on board with the show planning and paperwork aspect, she got laid off and is putting in some quality time with our son as well as making the business easier for me.

Still, its a shit-ton of work. For example:

Monday: studio production from 7am to 5pm. family time after.
Tuesday: studio production from 7am to 12pm....Craft show from 2pm to 9pm.
Wednesday: Studio production from 7am to 12 pm.....family time after.
Thursday: Family time until 12 pm, craft show from 2pm to 9pm.
Friday: studio production from 7am to 3pm, family time after.
Saturday: craft show 1 sat a month, otherwise studio time from 8am to 12pm.
Sunday: craft show from 7am to 3 pm. beach time after approx 2 hours.

I still kite a few hours here and there, maybe twice a week.

Hang in there.

[friendlykat]

i feel you man i just had a shoulder surgery and i own my own store and make most of the glass work that sells send me some pics of your work and prices and ill see what i can do to help

[Wilbur]

I would recomend approaching some distributors, or distribution companies to work with. In my experience, even with said distributor or company taking a percentage of the wholesale price, its easier and much less stressful to hit the production/money quotas that i need to keep the ship sailing.

Many people will say, fuck letting someone take a piece of my pie, but my attitude is my time if best spent making glass, not driving/packing/shipping/marketing my work.

I have consistent orders, immediate, hassle free payment, positive close working relationships with a small group of people, and i dont have to worry about hussling up my rent each month.

Theres lots of distribution companies/ road warriors out there that want more/new products to sell.

pm me and i can give you contact info if youd like.

[mikehighman]

Ive been at it for ten years, I went thru that so i toke three years off to become a handyman. since then ive designed and built a house, purchased and paid for my own home, and now Im back it in it stronger than ever! Just got a delta mag, just built a public studio downtown and finished my personal studio. I guess all im saying is deversify but dont sell your stuff because life is long and you allways be a glassblower , eventually you WILL come back around, you won t be able to help it cause glass is just that dam amazing and endless!