I tell everyone starting a business is easy, but keeping it up and managing it is HARD. Some might think because it's a more creative business venture, that it just involves coloring books, painting inside the lines, and drawing on paper all day...As adults, we spend a lot of time telling our kids that there's no money in art, and that they should find something more profitable than being a starving artist, but there's nothing more profitable than doing something that you love and making profit from it!
So, here are a couple of things that I did that helped me get started:
1.) Find your own path or creative venture that works for you. Do what makes sense...
A lot of times we tend to just look at what others are doing in hopes that if we do it too, we can reach the same financial status as them. Actually it's best to just do what your good at, and let the customers demands, and value of the market lead you. When I started Addie's Baby, it was actually more of a graphic design studio than paint & wine - we kinda just fell into that business model. Yes, I was still servicing clients for design work, but I always had a desire to teach art, so I decided to give it a try. We started just doing 1 class a week, then it turned into 3, then people started to book private parties, and the list goes on, LOL. So, with that being said, we just decided to rock with the idea of becoming a fully ran paint & wine studio.
2.) Start with what you have, use what you got!
Listen, we tend to look at these large corporations and franchisees and spend big money to try & copy or mimic what they have, when really we should just use what we have at the time (especially when you have a small budget). For example, when I started my business, do you know what I used? I used my old paint brushes and acrylics that I had in storage from college. When the business started to make money, I was able to make a return in my investment by being able to buy more art supplies and needs that would better suit my customers and enhance the painting experience at the studio. As the class sizes and support grew, my budget grew - and I was able to buy nicer products and even have table easels for customers to have their canvases on while painting during our lessons.
3.) Find Interns or Volunteers that can grow with you - and then train them to become leaders/managers or potential workers for your business.
There are many challenges when starting a business. My biggest challenge was letting go of responsibilities, lol. When I opened, I made myself responsible for everything - open and closing the store, emails, meetings, designing, web design, graphic design, you name it! When things got very overwhelming for me, I decided to look for an intern that could help out when needed. When Brittney Cotton came along, she made EVERYTHING so much easier for me! she handled my emails, conference calls, went on long distance business trips with me, and even helped interview for more interns!
Soon after, I felt she was able to handle managing the office and private party bookings.... so I made her our Booking and Office manager of Addie's Baby Studio! Keep an eye out for talent and train them to become leaders - always keep in mind, you as the owner don't build the business, you build PEOPLE, THEN PEOPLE build the business!
4.) Create a great support system - don't listen to critics
Sometimes when people don't have or don't see the vision you have, its hard for them to see success being the outcome for it. Please believe it - if you are starting something out of the norm, people WILL doubt that you will succeed or even be profitable from it. If you start with a solid plan, continue to build relationship with the right people, and never give up, you will be successful.
5.) Stay Focused &; consistent - consistency keeps you relevant
Staying relevant, means constant revenue for your business. Always make yourself busy whether its doing charity work or fundraising in your community, linking with a school in your area and becoming a mentor, or simply creating new ideas and marketing to constantly stay fresh in the minds of your customers and in your community. For us, we do seasonal window changes, promotions and holiday deals, visual merchandising in the studio by re-working our walls, and much more. Please believe, that your customers are noticing you put forth the hard work!
Want to paint with us?
Go to www.addiesbabystudio.com
check out our calendar to see what we're painting!
RSVP via text with your name at 843.229.5862
Written
by
Winter Moore
No comments
Post a Comment