Foresthrt on mon 2 mar 98
Of course none of us will be able to say what your local zoning allows or not,
but I've long chosen NOT to have my sales from where I live, or even next
door/down the street. It's too easy for someone to see you are home, and even
though it's outside the posted hours, you know they NEED a present, right now,
and didn't think you would mind opening up for them (or they came a long way,
or they won't be back for a month, or her sister is visiting from Kansas and
this is the only chance she will have to come, etc.). The flattering aspect
of all this need quickly wears once you have been dragged out of the shower,
or come in to a cold dinner, or been interrupted during a party- at your own
house- repeatedly!
May I suggest that as an alternative- if your zoning allows it- you have an
open house/open studio sort of thing several times a year, or even monthly.
In central MD, there are several groups of studio artisans who jointly
sponsor a studio tour twice a year, putting out brochures with maps to all the
participating studios. Many are not open except for during the tour. You
still get your name and phone number in people's hands, so they can call you,
and you can have them come by appointment (which will sometimes be a work-
around a ticklish zoning law).
Mary Klotz
Forestheart Studio (13 miles away from my residence)
frequently opening extra hours to accomodate the needs of my visitors, but
guarding my home phone number (ever since one woman, who had called the studio
at 8 pm and found it closed, called me at home. If her dry cleaner were
closed, would she call him/her at home?). I want some time when I am off
duty.
David Hendley on tue 3 mar 98
Just to make things more interesting, I'd like to counter Mary's
admonition to locate your shop away from your residence.
I've done it both ways, and gee, I sure like having my shop and
studio next to my house.
I purposely made my posted hours for the shop very limited (1 to 5 p.m.
five days a week - 20 hours total). Those are the times I make an
effort to always be open. But some days I'll get several customers before
noon, and not one during the 'official' hours. That's fine.
As far as I'm concerned, if I'm home, my shop is open for customers.
I'm never too busy for people who want to drive to my place
to give me money. I've been interrupted during lunch more times
than I care to remember, but, wow, what a lucky guy I am, to be
able to make my living without leaving my place.
I kind of mentally divide my income from pottery sales into
two catagories: Hard money, and Easy money.
'Hard money' includes sales at art fairs, wholesale orders that
have to be packed and shipped and sold at a discount, and special
orders that need special treatment.
'Easy money' is an 'out of the blue' walk in sale. It's like, "Gosh, this
is fun. I made what I wanted to make, I sold it for it's full price, and
I never had to leave home or pack it." To top it all off, there were no
costs involved in the marketing, other than signs and brochures that
are amortized over thousands of pots. I'll take all of that I can get.
In fact, the goal of my marketing 'strategy', if you can call it that, is
to maximize the 'Easy money' and reduse the need for 'Hard money'
to take up the slack.
If I correctly remember the original question about selling from
your home, the writer also wondered about the safety of having
customers at her house. My situation, I realize, is different, being
a guy out in the country, but, I have to say that I've truly enjoyed all
the peole I've met at my shop. Never even the slightest concern
about safety, in fact, it has led to the development of friendships.
An equally great advantage of living next to your shop is being able
to easily monitor your work in progress. My life is so much easier
and my production more efficient when I can stroll over to the shop
at 10 p.m. to cover some things with plastic, rather than dealing with
mugs that are too dry for handles the next morning (or too wet, if they
were covered at 5 p.m., before leaving work). I can walk over and start
a pre-heat fire in the kiln before breakfast, and save an hour at the end
of the day by being able to start immediatley stoking a pre-heated kiln.
How about car expenses? Most weeks I have none. And I have an extra
___ minutes (fill in how long you spend driving to and from your shop)
every day to use for more producton, or to catch a few extra winks in
the morning. And, boy am I lucky to be able to go back to the house
at lunch time and enjoy lunch with my family, even if I'm occasionally
interrupted by customers.
My phone number is in the book. Call or stop by anytime
you need some pots.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
See David Hendley's Pottery Page at
http://www.sosis.com/hendley/david/
At 11:00 AM 3/2/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Of course none of us will be able to say what your local zoning allows or
not,
>but I've long chosen NOT to have my sales from where I live, or even next
>door/down the street. It's too easy for someone to see you are home, and
even
>though it's outside the posted hours, you know they NEED a present, right
now,
>and didn't think you would mind opening up for them (or they came a long way,
>or they won't be back for a month, or her sister is visiting from Kansas and
>this is the only chance she will have to come, etc.). The flattering aspect
>of all this need quickly wears once you have been dragged out of the shower,
>or come in to a cold dinner, or been interrupted during a party- at your own
>house- repeatedly!
>
>May I suggest that as an alternative- if your zoning allows it- you have an
>open house/open studio sort of thing several times a year, or even monthly.
>In central MD, there are several groups of studio artisans who jointly
>sponsor a studio tour twice a year, putting out brochures with maps to all
the
>participating studios. Many are not open except for during the tour. You
>still get your name and phone number in people's hands, so they can call you,
>and you can have them come by appointment (which will sometimes be a work-
>around a ticklish zoning law).
>
>Mary Klotz
>Forestheart Studio (13 miles away from my residence)
>frequently opening extra hours to accomodate the needs of my visitors, but
>guarding my home phone number (ever since one woman, who had called the
studio
>at 8 pm and found it closed, called me at home. If her dry cleaner were
>closed, would she call him/her at home?). I want some time when I am off
>duty.
>
>
jeff walker on wed 4 mar 98
I must agree with david!! all things considered we would be lost with out
our customers to purchase our wares. a little inconvience is worth the
"easy mony" and loyal customers.
potting out of love for the craft.
jeff walker
jdpotter@iland.net http://www.iland.net/~jdpotter
-----Original Message-----
From: David Hendley
To: Multiple recipients of list CLAYART
Date: Tuesday, March 03, 1998 11:58 AM
Subject: Re: selling from home Q & $$$
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Just to make things more interesting, I'd like to counter Mary's
admonition to locate your shop away from your residence.
I've done it both ways, and gee, I sure like having my shop and
studio next to my house.
I purposely made my posted hours for the shop very limited (1 to 5 p.m.
five days a week - 20 hours total). Those are the times I make an
effort to always be open. But some days I'll get several customers before
noon, and not one during the 'official' hours. That's fine.
As far as I'm concerned, if I'm home, my shop is open for customers.
I'm never too busy for people who want to drive to my place
to give me money. I've been interrupted during lunch more times
than I care to remember, but, wow, what a lucky guy I am, to be
able to make my living without leaving my place.
I kind of mentally divide my income from pottery sales into
two catagories: Hard money, and Easy money.
'Hard money' includes sales at art fairs, wholesale orders that
have to be packed and shipped and sold at a discount, and special
orders that need special treatment.
'Easy money' is an 'out of the blue' walk in sale. It's like, "Gosh, this
is fun. I made what I wanted to make, I sold it for it's full price, and
I never had to leave home or pack it." To top it all off, there were no
costs involved in the marketing, other than signs and brochures that
are amortized over thousands of pots. I'll take all of that I can get.
In fact, the goal of my marketing 'strategy', if you can call it that, is
to maximize the 'Easy money' and reduse the need for 'Hard money'
to take up the slack.
If I correctly remember the original question about selling from
your home, the writer also wondered about the safety of having
customers at her house. My situation, I realize, is different, being
a guy out in the country, but, I have to say that I've truly enjoyed all
the peole I've met at my shop. Never even the slightest concern
about safety, in fact, it has led to the development of friendships.
An equally great advantage of living next to your shop is being able
to easily monitor your work in progress. My life is so much easier
and my production more efficient when I can stroll over to the shop
at 10 p.m. to cover some things with plastic, rather than dealing with
mugs that are too dry for handles the next morning (or too wet, if they
were covered at 5 p.m., before leaving work). I can walk over and start
a pre-heat fire in the kiln before breakfast, and save an hour at the end
of the day by being able to start immediatley stoking a pre-heated kiln.
How about car expenses? Most weeks I have none. And I have an extra
___ minutes (fill in how long you spend driving to and from your shop)
every day to use for more producton, or to catch a few extra winks in
the morning. And, boy am I lucky to be able to go back to the house
at lunch time and enjoy lunch with my family, even if I'm occasionally
interrupted by customers.
My phone number is in the book. Call or stop by anytime
you need some pots.
David Hendley
Maydelle, Texas
See David Hendley's Pottery Page at
http://www.sosis.com/hendley/david/
At 11:00 AM 3/2/98 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Of course none of us will be able to say what your local zoning allows or
not,
>but I've long chosen NOT to have my sales from where I live, or even next
>door/down the street. It's too easy for someone to see you are home, and
even
>though it's outside the posted hours, you know they NEED a present, right
now,
>and didn't think you would mind opening up for them (or they came a long
way,
>or they won't be back for a month, or her sister is visiting from Kansas
and
>this is the only chance she will have to come, etc.). The flattering
aspect
>of all this need quickly wears once you have been dragged out of the
shower,
>or come in to a cold dinner, or been interrupted during a party- at your
own
>house- repeatedly!
>
>May I suggest that as an alternative- if your zoning allows it- you have an
>open house/open studio sort of thing several times a year, or even monthly.
>In central MD, there are several groups of studio artisans who jointly
>sponsor a studio tour twice a year, putting out brochures with maps to all
the
>participating studios. Many are not open except for during the tour. You
>still get your name and phone number in people's hands, so they can call
you,
>and you can have them come by appointment (which will sometimes be a work-
>around a ticklish zoning law).
>
>Mary Klotz
>Forestheart Studio (13 miles away from my residence)
>frequently opening extra hours to accomodate the needs of my visitors, but
>guarding my home phone number (ever since one woman, who had called the
studio
>at 8 pm and found it closed, called me at home. If her dry cleaner were
>closed, would she call him/her at home?). I want some time when I am off
>duty.
>
>
Jan Wax on wed 4 mar 98
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
David wrote:
>Just to make things more interesting, I'd like to counter Mary's
>admonition to locate your shop away from your residence.
>
>I've done it both ways, and gee, I sure like having my shop and
>studio next to my house.
I couldn't agree more, David, even though we don't have regular open shop
hours.If we're here and not off doing a show, we welcome visitors. Living
in the midst of rural Mendocino County, it's the wineries and B&B's that
send us the most business, bless 'em.But people have to call first.We find
that visitors to our valley are usually on vacation and in a really good
mood. Yesterday, a woman from Minnesota saw my celadon champagne bucket, in
use at Handley Cellars' tasting room, and,after a call to us, she and her
husband came by and ordered one like it,and also a vase.She turned out to
be a very knowledgable collector. Sales like that are sweet.. and easy. I'd
love to do all my business at home some day.
Jan Wax
Philo, CA
where today we had sunshine, and where it was actually possible to fire the
kiln and prune my apple trees at the same time.
http://www.pacific.net/~waxbing
KLeSueur on thu 5 mar 98
In a message dated 3/3/98 1:05:50 PM, you wrote:
<admonition to locate your shop away from your residence.
I've done it both ways, and gee, I sure like having my shop and
studio next to my house.>>
I agree David. I can't be in two places at once. If the shop is away from the
studio I would be giving up valuable production time to sit in an empty shop.
Besides I hate to travel and having a shop away from my studio would be as bad
as the time I had my studio away from my home. I can't tell you how many pots
I lost because they dried faster than I estimated. (BTW, I don't have an
official shop at my home. Ann Arbor is liberal about home businesses, but not
that liberal)
<to give me money. >>
I always try to accomadate someone who wants to give me money, too.
<<'Easy money' is an 'out of the blue' walk in sale. It's like, "Gosh, this
is fun. I made what I wanted to make, I sold it for it's full price, and
I never had to leave home or pack it." >>
Don't you wish they were all like that.
<your home, the writer also wondered about the safety of having
customers at her house.>>
I wouldn't be so concerned about my own safety as that of my customers. If you
are going to allow customers into your home or studio it is imperative that
you have adequate insurance to cover such visits. You need to up your
liability substantially.
Kathi LeSueur,
where it snowed last night. What is this, winter?
Michelle H. Lowe on thu 5 mar 98
At 09:03 AM 3/4/98 EST, jeff walker wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I must agree with david!! all things considered we would be lost with out
>our customers to purchase our wares. a little inconvience is worth the
>"easy mony" and loyal customers.
>
>potting out of love for the craft.
I'm with jeff and David on this one, and wanted to add, that if you *do*
have your shop at your home, and you have frequent intrusions/interruptions
in your "off-work" life, just come up with some standard non-offensive
answers (such as 'No, I'm sorry, we are closed now, please call/come back
later') to give those that call or come at inconvenient times.
Being a homeschool mom, my pottery hours are usually pretty limited to when
I can squeeze in time and run out for a few minutes or an hour or two here
and there. I would be unable to work at ALL if I were to have my shop away
from home!
Wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same? :-)
Mishy, rakuing for/with a buncha high school kids today from a private high
school in Scottsdale
Michelle Lowe, potter in the Phoenix desert \|/ |
mishlowe@indirect.com -O- | |
mishlowe@aztec.asu.edu /|\ | | |
|_|_|
http://www.amug.org/~mishlowe ____ |
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