Hi there! I’m designer, metalsmith, and educator Megan Auman and I teach artists and makers how to profit from their creativity. I firmly believe that art, craft, and design make the world a better place, which is why I hate to see artists and makers undervaluing their work.
Whether that’s underpricing, burning out, or not marketing or selling to their full potential because they “don’t want to bother people,” I want to see artists and makers ditch the guilt and fear and start making real money from their work.
Here at Artists & Profit Makers, I share business advice I’ve learned running my eponymous jewelry line over the past seventeen years – everything from pricing to wholesale to product photography to yes, sales and marketing.
But more than that, I help artists and makers bring their businesses into Alignment so you can build a business that makes you money AND makes you happy!
Megan – After reading this week’s “Profit Week” I was inspired to create an Excel spreadsheet to really figure out my cost per piece (including materials and time) and then I added a profit column at the end, so I could figure a true price for my work that included a way to grow my business. Thank you for inspiring me to finally look at the true cost of my work, so I was not selling myself short.
That’s great Jennifer – I think it’s so important to know what our products cost to make so we can set our prices accordingly.
Megan,
Thank you so much for this week’s posts. I have not been rewarding myself for all of my hard work. I have been putting every penny earned right back into my business. I think I will start paying myself a small percentage of my sales each month. I especially like the idea of taking that money and buying something from other indie entrepreneurs.
Keep up the great posts!!!
Thanks Stacey – If we don’t take the time to reward ourselves for our hard work, then we’re more likely to burn out.
This has been a fantastic series and very thought provoking. As someone restoring an older home, I liken this topic to “there’s no such thing as a cheap paint job.” Either you have to spend a lot of time painting if you do it yourself- like 2 years or so, or you have to spend a lot of money hiring others to do a good job. It gets done faster, but it will cost money. There’s no way you can get a cheap paint job, period. This is true for e-commerce. Either you do it yourself and realize it will take a lot of time, or you spend money to hire professionals. It’s one or the other- there’s no such thing as cheap e-commerce help. This is where lots of people get burned- like hiring SEO help when in reality most could do a better job themselves. I think it’s wise to take some time to try things out on your own. After a while you learn what is beyond your capabilities, just like working on an older home. If you jump right in and make quick decisions, you end up wasting time and money.
Faith – That’s such a great point. I also think it’s important to get recommendations from friends and colleagues when considering a potential person or business to outsource to.
. Your favorite jiautficstion appeared to be at the internet the easiest factor to take into account of. I say to you, I certainly get irked even as people think about worries that they plainly don’t recognize about. You managed to hit the nail upon the highest and outlined out the entire thing without having side effect , other folks could take a signal. Will probably be again to get more. Thank you
I’m so appreciative of your posts about profit this week Megan. They were so well thought out and informative. I will say that studying them this week has been life changing for me (or at least business changing)
Some of the things that hit me like a ton of bricks were:
1. But as a sole proprietor (or sole owner of an LLC), your salary does not count as a business expense. You are free to take money from your business at any time to spend on personal expenditures.
*I’ve been doing this, but never thought it was really ok to do it. I thought the only funds I should be taking out was the labor costs I had of making the products. This was very freeing and made me think differently about how I’m pricing things.
2. Myth #5 You should raise your prices to make more profit. Well, for every product, there’s a sweet spot – an ideal price where the trade-off between profit on the product and quantity sold results in maximum profit for your business.
*I knew this to be true. I’m fond of saying “Nothing sells like selling.” I have some journals that I would like to raise the prices on by just a little, but that would take them over $50. I think it’s important for me to have a good assortment of under $50 merchandise, so for now the price stays. I’m willing to take a little less profit percentage in order to keep selling these in greater quantity.
And yesterday’s post was the biggie…
3. The fastest way to grow your business is to stop doing all the things that someone else could do as well as your better than you.
And the way to do this is to spend money to hire good people.
*I knew I wasn’t ready to hire anyone full or even part time and I kind of thought piece work would be degrading to someone. When I sat down last night and figured it out, turns out they’ll be making a really good per hour wage when it’s all said and done. I have someone in mind for this so now all I need to do is get it set up!
4. Focus on your primary revenue stream. (And be consistent.) Pick one revenue stream that you really want to see take off, and decide where you can spend money to drive traffic and sales. Then give yourself a few months of focus (and cash) on that one revenue stream. Stay the course, because most results aren’t instant. If you keep jumping from one area to another, you’ll never build momentum.
*Wow, what can I say. I think it’s important to have several revenue streams, but I’ve been going crazy trying to determine which lines/ where/ how much etc for each one of them. Now I have a plan and will implement it.
Oh dear, I know I’ve gotten wordy and probably wrote too much. I was just so very excited about all I learned this week and wanted to let you know how much I appreciated your posts.
Thanks a million,
Julie
Thanks Julie – It’s great to hear which points resonated with you and your business!